Baking on the bus

Dwayne has been enjoying making cookies in the bus. Carol and Charlie that we met at the Birdsnest in Quartzsite had shared some lemon cookies that were very yummy. She told us that they were Krusteaz brand, so we've tried a number of their mixes. Walmart generally has them for $1.68 (other stores will have them on special for 2 for $5, so Walmart definitely has the price advantage). Dwayne makes the lemon ones, snickerdoodles, and sugar cookies.

Dwayne in the midst of an afternoon's baking

I bet you thought this post was going to be about how HOT Patti is on the 90 degree days on the bus! Well, that is also true! And... when we're plugged in to 30A (at Thousand Trails) we can't run A/C and the oven...

Flat land biking

Much of Yuma is pretty flat. The neighborhood streets are not busy and have caused us to think about getting a bicycle. Of course, we also need to consider how we're going to store the bike(s) and transport them from one camping location to the next, but right now, we're just thinking about getting a bike.

Patti had looked at Craigslist thinking that there might be others who had purchased a bike but found they weren't using it much. There are a few for sale, but we weren't sure what we might want. Patti's pretty sure about what she DOESN'T want: none of those handlebars that curl under where you have to sit hunched over and bend your neck way back to see where you're going, and not one of those skinny seats that attempt to cut you in half. I think what she's looking for is an "old lady bike".

We went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and next door was a bike shop. We went in just to see what they might recommend. The salesman we talked with said the best seller was an Electra Townie:
http://www.electrabike.com/Bikes/townie?field_markets=am&field_pricing=1

He offered to let Patti try riding it in their back parking lot... she had looked at the price tag of one of the bikes, and since it was well above her desired level of less than $100 (the pricetag of another bike in the store that she had looked at was over $500, but she didn't look at the Townie), started to refuse, but then thought, "why not?".

The concept of the bike is that the pedals are a little ahead of the seat, so you have a little feeling of a recumbent bicycle, can get full extension of the leg in pedaling, and still be able to put your foot flat on the ground when you stop.

So... it has been a while since Patti rode a bike, so she asked him about the brakes. He pointed to the brake handle near the left grip of the handlebar and said, "That's the left brake" and to the one on the right side and said, "That's the right brake." Now, Patti's trying to figure this out (she's remembering that the tractors on the farm growing up had the ability to just apply the brake on the right or left so you could turn more sharply, but doesn't that take having two wheels on the same axle?). The sales guy then helpfully contributed, pointing quickly, "this is the front one and this is the back one, just like on a motorcycle". Does Patti look like someone who would know how the brakes are situated on a motorcycle?

<<< updated to add: my brother said that it was due to all the tattoos that I have that the salesman thought I would know all about motorcycles - hah!!! >>>

At any rate, she successfully navigated once around the parking lot, trying out the gears and eventually the brakes as well. It is indeed a very comfortable and easy-to-ride bicycle. Whether we think it is worth $500+ for a bicycle or not... well... not so far! But it was fun to look and try one out! And, we could rent one for a week for a mere $100.... hmmm...

Purchases at the Arizona Marketplace

What did we purchase at the Arizona Marketplace yesterday?

This shows the project in the midst: we had decided that we wanted to get reflective material to put into the front windshield of Miss Doozie when we're parked, particularly as we are here, heading toward the west. We had priced the material at Lowe's and a hardware store in town, and found the price at the Arizona Marketplace was the best - $2/foot for 48" wide material. We needed just under 9 feet. Here is the process where we've cut one side and had it inside Miss Doozie, and we're in the process of measuring and cutting the other side.

 Underneath the foil material is another relatively recent purchase - a patio rug that we got from Blair Station. We think we could have gotten one for a better price at Arizona Marketplace, but we like the design of the one we got.

Reflective shades installed inside the windshield of Miss Doozie. We also have a section of pool noodle holding the windshield wiper blades off the windshield that we've been using when we're parked, hoping to reduce the wear on the rubber blade.

Dwayne is modeling one of the other things we got at Arizona Marketplace - lounge chairs! We've been looking at them... we have brought two old folding yard chairs to have for outdoor seating, but we had tried the lounge chairs of one of our neighbors in Palm Springs and decided we would really like them. Dwayne plans to use them to star gaze at night!

Patti has one too! And you can see on the side of Patti's that there is a small tray that can be attached to be able to place a drink or a plate.

Ultimately, we will probably replace the old folding yard chairs with something that we would like better, but... for now... they are working fine, and... we are cheap... errrh... frugal... and if it is working, don't fix it!

Who needs the Big Tent?

We had heard that there were a number of flea markets / swap meets here in the Yuma area, but we hadn't gotten to visit any of them yet - until today! We decided to head out to visit some of them today - we only made it to one but really enjoyed it!
Arizona Marketplace: http://arizonamkt.com/

There were 6 buildings of vendors. The building covered over at the top, and the shops had closures on the outside. It made it reasonably cool inside, even though the temperatures outside were mid-80s to 90.

We took a look at this Car-cleaning Brush - it seems that our vehicles are always dusty. When we read the information on the back, we had to laugh...

Text from the Car-cleaning Brush:

• Make the surface of the car shiny and bright, just like being painted the cerate (sic) originally.
• Can be used in dryness, as water is not necessary. And soft cotton and fibrous textilesard (sic) both OK. 
• Weguarantee(sc) having no harm to the surface of the car.
• You will not be bother of cleaning and painting your beloved car frequently by using our brush. So it saves your money and time.
• Clean the house conveniently and effectively.
• The more often you use it, the more effective.
• The effect is lasting and durable.
• Clean any corner without dirt sqreading (sic) all over.
• If you have anything you can contact with us:

 I guess getting an English speaker to proofread would add too much to the cost of the product...

How'd those clearance lights get turned on?

Every once in a while we will notice that the clearance lights on the rig are turned on after we've been parked at a campground for a few days... how does that happen??? Could they have been on from when we drove in and we just didn't notice until now?

Could it be that, since the switches are on the flat part of the panel next to the driver's seat, someone else in the coach, besides Dwayne and Patti, adjusts them?

Just kitty sized panel...

Who, me????

Celebrate!

The retreat owner here at Cactus Blossom had told his business assistant that he would get her a bottle of champagne to celebrate once all the spaces were full... well... the sixth rig moved in yesterday morning, so we all got to celebrate last night with owner Mark and his business assistant Lonnie and the other guests here at the RV Retreat.

Mark (standing) brought his motorhome over to bring supplies and shade.

He provided quite a spread!

We enjoyed getting to chat with our neighbors...

More of our neighbors...

Savings catcher

Have you noticed that the bottom of your Walmart receipt says "Savings Catcher! Scan with Walmart app"?

Y'all know that we stop at Walmarts for the night quite frequently as we are driving from one place to another... we also use the Savings Catcher to help with saving a little money.

We started using Savings Catcher in October of 2014. Usually as soon as Patti gets into the car after leaving the store (or into the RV if we're parked there for the night), she brings up Savings Catcher on her phone and scans the receipt. You can scan up to 7 receipts per week and the receipt needs to be submitted within 7 days. If a competitor in the local area advertises a deal for a lower price, Walmart credits back the difference. You can get the credit back in a Walmart eGift card or Bluebird card.

We get the credits back as a Walmart eGift card and use it to pay for our next purchases at Walmart.

Now... it isn't going to fund an RV... but... it is easier than searching the ads myself and going to the other stores to get their specials, or, bringing the ads in to Walmart and asking Walmart to match the price at the register. To date we've gotten a little over $26 in reward dollars. We got a lot recently and paid for all the items we purchased when we were in Brawley with reward dollars ($19.46). As a result of scanning the receipts, we also have a listing of all the receipts from Walmart and can easily compare prices when we're at another store to see if the sale price there is cheaper than what we usually get the item for at Walmart.

Note: if the receipt has gotten crumpled, or if the QR code is not printed well (as on this receipt) you may need to scan the TC (bar code) or enter its numbers manually. But usually, it is just as quick as taking a picture of the QR code.

https://savingscatcher.walmart.com/faq