New phone number and Youtube channel

A quick update on the eye: things are improving and although it sounds like it'll not get beck to pre-detachment shape it'll be acceptable soon.  I have an appointment with the retina surgeon on Thursday and hopefully we'll be pointed south again by next Tuesday.

We've switched over to a new phone number now... eight nine five two seven eight eight still exists but it's been converted to pay-as-you-go and we'll use it as a backup phone and my phone while in Canada.  Our new main phone number is two zero eight eight zero five five one three four, and this number will work whether we're south or north.  Yes, it's a US number so if you don't have a US calling plan it may cost you a few cents... but if that's the case you can just blast us a text and we'll call you.  Or email us, as that's free for everyone.

If a Canadian cell company ever offers a plan with no roaming charges anywhere in North America we'll consider switching again but in the meantime we just gotta go with the guys who offer the service...

Also, I've been filling in the time between eye drops and doctor appointments with playing around in Youtube and getting some video uploaded.  The results are still pretty poor so far but (I think) I'm getting a little better.  If you want to have a peek then check out my channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkzXY5tKJAwcQgH3oxJa7lQ or search for Vic and Wendy Johnson in your Youtube app (there were too many Vic Johnsons already!).  Comments welcome, but please be kind.

Finally, if I don't get another post in before Christmas... or even if I do... I wish you and yours all the best of the season and a very healthy and happy new year!

Fast trip north for eyeball repairs

We dropped the motorhome off at the storage lot on Nov 15 and headed north via Blythe CA.  Not a leisurely trip this time as there wasn't much point dawdling, especially once the weather turned colder.  We put in a long first day and stopped just north of Salt Lake City the first night (actually around midnight, having left Quartzsite shortly after noon).  With my loathing of SLS traffic I wanted to get past there with the least traffic possible, and it worked as we cruised right through with no problems.  We listened to the radio next morning and traffic was brutal headed into the city with accidents and gridlock everywhere... but we were headed AWAY from the mess and quite happy to be doing so.  We stopped at Great Falls in late afternoon on the 16th and rewarded ourselves with a hotel with pool and hot tub.  La Quinta is a nice spot, and I recommend it if you're passing through there.  

It's always a little somber when we discover fall again on the way north.  We know what's coming, soon! 

Got in for surgery on the 24th, and unfortunately things did not go swimmingly.  The new lens placement wound up being "not ideal, but OK" (I think that's a direct quote from the doc).  Even less desireable though was the fact that some large pieces of the lens cortex escaped him and were floating around inside the eyeball.  Sometimes the eye can absorb some small bits, I'm told, but these were just too many and too big to leave alone.  

So he gave me a basket full of prescriptions and made me an appointment with the retinal surgeon for the following week.  

Every 2 hours for the first one, 4 times a day for the next 3, 2 times a day for the 5th, and once a day at bedtime for the last one.  Oh, and wait 10 - 15 minutes between drops.  This was pretty much like having a full time job again!  

So December 5th was my next surgery day, where the retinal surgeon vacuumed the junk out of my eye.  Very similar process to last February, except of course the retina didn't need to be re-attached.  And no gas, so no travel restrictions.  

Nope, not a duplicate picture... this one's after the Dec 5th surgery.  Just noticed I wore the same shirt both days though... 

December 6th, after getting the patch off.  Vision is 20/60 in that eye and will get better... but it's already a big improvement over the past 6 months of cataract and 4 days of shadows.  Here's hoping that things are now on the upswing!  

On the brighter side, there's been a lot of humidity around so combined with the cold it's made for some nice hoar frost on the trees.  Here are a few pics to finish this post off on a nicer note.  Cheers! 

A meatitarian supper and vacation in Buckeye

With the work now done on the motorhome, all we can afford for a while anyway, we can head north anytime for my surgery.  Still seems a wee bit early, though, and since it's still quite warm in the desert we decided to skip into Phoenix for a few days for a bit of R&R (and shopping).  Well, not exactly Phoenix - Buckeye is a half hour away still.  Close enough for us though, and all the shopping we want within a few miles.  So we booked into Leaf Verde RV park (33.43261 -112.57522) for Nov 12 - 14 and will head north Nov 15 after a quick run back to Quartzsite to put the motorhome in storage.

First though we had to take stock of the fridge and freezer contents, and we discovered we have not been eating nearly enough meat.  Consequently our last night (for now) on Plomosa Road turned into a grill-fest of hamburgers, steak, chicken, and pork chops.  A Golden Corral worth of meat, and lots of leftovers to munch on the trip home☺

Chicken, and beef, and pork, oh my!  And a couple rounds of yam for colour.  

Have to have a campfire on the last night in the desert, too. 

This is certainly a change.  And I took this Monday after a lot of rigs left.  

Parked in the trees so Sara wouldn't notice.  Shhhhh! 

Back in Bouse / Quartzsite - Motorhome bling

From Winslow we took Highway 89A/89 through Sedona, Jerome, and Prescott to Congress and Bouse.  A very scenic windy road, however I took no pictures or video for some strange reason.  Highly recommend you look it up on Youtube and drive it if you get a chance.  Since we did it in a 40 foot motorhome towing a jeep you should be able to drive it in almost anything, but the north section is restricted to 50 foot and under and the southern part 40 foot and under so keep that in mind.  The tightest parts are going through the streets of Jerome.

We spent one night on the Bouse side (33.85845 -114.03971) but phone and internet were even worse than last spring so we gave in to the dark side and moved over across the mountains (33.76702 -114.17723).

Temps have been unseasonably warm - high 80s during the day and high 50s at night - so we've been spending a lot of time just trying to stay cool.  This involves driving during the day as the temp is not too bad with a 60 mph breeze through the window, and running the AC for a couple hours in the evening to cool off before bed.  Were it not for needing to be near Q to get some work done we'd be back in the mountains!  Anyway, I have my surgery date now (Nov 24th) so we'll stick it out til it's time to head north.

Not as impressive as the sunsets on the Bouse side, but always worth a picture. 

A rare cloudy afternoon.  

Doesn't look like it, but they're both washed and waxed.  They don't stay clean for long though.  

First appointment in Quartzsite, Nov 9th at Discount Solar.  

Second appointment Nov 10th at Satellite Advantage.  

Ta da!  Roof is full, wallet is empty.  We now have 800 watts of solar (5 x 160 watt [one not visible in the pic]) and an automatic Shaw Direct satellite dish on board.  No receivers yet for the dish; we'll get those when we're back in Canada.  Oh, and yes, the panels do tilt I just haven't got to that yet.  Starting to look like a boondocker's rig now...   

Standing on the corner...

Time to get out of Utah and make the trek towards Quartzsite, so we can get some doo-dads added to the motorhome before I have to head back to Alberta for the cataract surgery.  It's been quite warm down there which is part of the reason we've been dawdling in the higher country.  On the way, though, we have to pass right through Winslow so I get to cross one more thing off the bucket list.

Fortunately Winslow has the song, because they don't seem to have much else going for them.  Some other high points downtown: 

Good try, but the motel was in similar shape to the sign.  

Perhaps he was also selling some golf clubs.  I should have stopped to ask.  

Huh.  

We stayed over a few days at McHood Park (34.97221 -110.64347).  This is a little campsite and day use area operated by Winslow and about 6 miles south of town.  Kudos to the town for operating it, as well as for making it no charge camping, although they could maybe put a little gravel in some of the deeper potholes.  Still I can't complain too much at that price - it's certainly nicer than the truck stop we were going to overnight at.  We stayed for two nights rather than just one as planned, and we'd definitely stay here again on my way through.  

I got in a few hours of fishing as well, and... better sit down for this one... managed to catch my first ever Arizona fish.  Remember they all eluded me last winter.  So I'll now have TWO great Winslow memories.   

I apologized to the little guy for laying him on the rock for the pic.  Bass are pretty tough though (so I hear) and he seemed happy enough swimming away.  He must have spread the word to his buddies though as they all ignored me after that.  

Blanding day 4 - Monument Valley, Goosenecks State Park, and Valley of the Gods (again)

For our final tour from Devil's Canyon, we headed down to Monument Valley which is a Navajo tribal park just on the Arizona side of the border.  $20 entry and you get to drive around a gravel loop and look at the rocks along with a few thousand other people.  To be fair, it was also a Saturday.  Was impressive but our preference is for Valley of the Gods... which is why we drove that loop again on the way back (but from east to west this time, to keep it different).  In between we stopped at Goosenecks State Park which we'd missed last time by cutting off on the Valley of the Gods loop.  Tried to talk the boss into going up and down the Mobi Dugway again but she wasn't having any of that.

Why do people do this?  Are they trying to copy the spires or something?  Or just prove that they're co-ordinated enough to balance a rock on another?  

If you do this, please stop because it looks stupid.  Or pile your rocks in your own yard where the rest of us don't have to see them.  

Unless you're legitimately trying to mark something, or point a direction.  Or keep the coyotes from digging up a body.  

Just north of Monument Valley is the town of Mexican Hat.  Just north of the town of Mexican Hat is this balanced rock.  Not sure how any of this relates, but thought it was interesting.  

OK, my pictures of Goosenecks aren't that impressive, so just a couple here.  Google up some images to be really impressed.  

Monument Valley pic out of order?  Nope, Valley of the Gods where you can drive where you want at your own pace and only meet 1 or 2 other vehicles... 

Blanding Day 3 - Hovenweep National Monument and Cortez Colorado

Not many people realize that the place where Gandalf met the elves is right around here, but when we found out we had to go see.  Kind of surprised us as we thought the Elves lived in the forest and these houses look more like something Dwarves would build, but I guess if this is the way the government archaeologists say it was then that's that.

Miles and miles of flat ground around, and these guys liked to build on the edge of the cliffs.  

Ah!  This must be the tower where the princess lived.  

The map showed a few ruins off to the northeast of the main site, some accessible by 'high clearance 4WD' only.  You KNOW we're gonna go see those... 

Oh come on. Now they're just being silly.  

Unless there were a lot of bad kids in this group and carrying rocks up a cliff kept them out of trouble...

If this rock shifted while they were still living here I bet there were a few quick sacrifices...

There's a pattern here... the buildings that are hardest for us modern-type people to get to seem to be the most intact... curious... 

A tower with a walk-out basement suite... 

After listening to ads from the Cortez marijuana grow op on the radio all week (my favourite:  "Hunters! Show us your license and get a free joint!") we had to go see the town.  Sadly no debauchery or wasted pot heads laying around the streets that we could find.  We did park by this cool mural though.  And got a couple nice Sonic milkshakes for the drive home.