Jan 30- Ft Stockton, TX

Travelled I-10 to Ft Stockton. Possibly 100 deer killed along the freeway. Lots of windmills, oil pumpers and huge patches of prickly pear cactus, some acting as fences around the acreages. Stayed at Parkview RV.
From here we travelled west over many miles of flat vacant desert to Deming, NM where we stayed at Little Vineyard RV and were invited to the Burger Bash for $3.00 each. Was fun and we met Mary & Rick, full-timers from Minnisota. Ended our day in the indoor hot tub.
Feb 1 - Checked into Valley Vista RV in Benson, AZ at 2:30 so had time to spend the afternoon with Carmen & Rich Biggs, another couple from our NZ/OZ spring trip, in their lovely new desert home. Lots of reminiscing about our travels and their trip to the Outback, which we missed out on. We joined them at Magaly's for a great Mexican dinner.
Feb 2 - We checked into Western Horizon Desert Shadows in Casa Grande by noon so spent the afternoon at the pool while Norm polished the bus. We were invited to a pot luck supper so took advantage of that. It is always interesting to meet new fellow travellers. Next day we drove into Phoenix to try to find upholstery fabric to re-do our couch cushions, The 2 warehouses that we were going to had both shut down so we were out of luck.
Feb 4 - We got away early so we could get to Algodones, MX for Jan's dentist appointment at 1:00. We checked into Pilot Knob, RV in Winterhaven, CA, only 15 minutes to the MX border. As usual, Arturo was on Mexican time (out for lunch) but he did manage to fix my broken tooth and clean both of our teeth for $120. On our way past the new Quechin Casino we noticed a lighted sign advertising steak & shrimp dinner for $7.77 so decided to give it a try. Good choice, with Caesar salad, the best french fries & organic yellow carrots, and a bottle of Mondavi wine = $34.00 !!! We, of course got our players cards to get free gambling money and cheap meals. We each got a $10 credit for the machines so in the end mine became $11.50 and Norm's became $12.50. The last of the big spenders - but we had a fun time while it lasted :)
Feb 5 - We went back to the Q casino for $2.95 ham & eggs breakfast then headed off to the Yuma Swapmeet, where Jan got more fabric for another quilt and our discount supplements. We spent a great couple of hours with Jim & Gisela Spires, our wagonmasters from our NZ/OZ caravan, at their little home out in the foothills of Yuma. Heading back to camp, we got pulled in once again to the Q casino for another delicious dinner, repeat of last night as it was so good. No gambling tho.
We shared our table with a younger couple, Ed & Suzanne Thiel, from Leonville, SK who are first-time campers. Dinner was slightly interrupted by a live band playing LOUD blues, very good but killed the conversation so we headed home and they went dancing.
Feb 6 - We took Hwy 111 up the east side of the Salton Sea to Indio then checked into the Palm Springs Thousand Trails park. We picked up Jan's southwest quilt that was at the quilters since last March. Karen Lummis did an amazing job on her long arm quilting machine and admitted that both she and her husband didn't want to let it go. We went to Trader Joe's for our Two Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw) wine then went over to Andy & Joanne McVagh's for happy hour and eventually out to dinner at the new Mimi's. A great meal for the value -3 courses for $12.95 plus wine, of course !!
Feb 7 - We went to the College of the Desert Street Fair and several golf shops.
Feb 9 - We took our 3 couch tops to the Upholstery Outlet to have them re-padded. This took all day and when we got back there they were closed so checked into Indian Waters in Indio for the night. We went and took a look at The Vineyards Luxury Motorcoach Resort and at Del Webb's Shadow Hills Community. Some interesting properties at very reasonable prices. Norm took the coach toPete's Road Service to have the oil changed and lubed.
Feb 11 - And finally to Blythe in beautiful sunshine after 227 days on the road and 15,500 miles under our butts. It will feel good to just sit and enjoy our spot, schedule-free for a while. BUT, WHAT A TRIP. We hope that you will all have an opportunity to do some or all of it someday. So long from this end.