KOFA KO-OP, Yuma, AZ (Needles, AZ)

We traveled most of yesterday to Needles, CA.  So, here's our Travel Blog post about KOFA KO-OP, Yuma, AZ:  

We stayed a week at the Escapees' KOFA KO-OP in Yuma AZ.  Our first impression upon driving into the park is that it looked more like an over 55 mobile home park instead of an Escapees co-op.  

The second thing that came to mind is the extra living space compared to the other parks.  There are still some sites with just  a storage shed and it doesn't look like anyone turns their shed into a Casita.  

bare lot with shed

Permanent homes with nice porches

Since we plan to keep traveling after we lease a site, we will not want a permanent home.  This is perfect for a couple wanting a winter home in a warmer climate and not wanting to deal with a motorhome or a trailer.

Pool and Hot tub

Other extras are the swimming pool and hot tub.  They also have clothes lines near the Laundry room.  Sandy thinks that is a wonderful idea.  Clothes would not take long to dry during Yuma's warm winters.

There is a wide variety of stores for shopping, lots of restaurants, and a Marine base nearby for the retired military.  We also heard that Algodones, Mexico has great shopping as well.  We did not cross the border to check it out.  Maybe another time if we are ever back this way.

Common areas with small gardens on 4 corners

One of the plants in the common area.

Our decision:  Yuma isn't for us. We find that we like the high desert more than the low desert.  The idea of having more living space is appealing, but the sites are a little smaller and feel just little cramped. And while the winters are nice and warm, the summers are very hot.

2 permanent homes

The nicest site

On Thursday 29 March we will move to a Coast to Coast campground in Needles CA for 2 nights, then on to the Pahrump NV Escapees co-op Pair-A-Dice for one week. After that we have booked ourselves into the Thousand Trails Campground in Las Vegas NV for three weeks to use our membership. We may not stay the entire 3 weeks, as we watch the weather up north and decide when we want to head towards Spokane WA.

Not So Wordless Wednesday (Yuma, AZ)

I'm finding Yuma to be a wee-bit warm, but I am enjoying all the blooming flowers in the area.  Here are a few I found during our visit downtown and around the RV park.  I haven't seen much in the way of birds or wildlife since we got here.  I'm sure I will see more as we travel north, but in the meantime, I thought I would work with my Macro lens and play around a little with processing.  I hope you will like the results.

On the Cutting Board

I found this cute fat quarters pack with lots of kitties on them.  Oooooo! I can't wait to make something from this pack.

Moving along rather nicely with the Snowman Collector.   I'm almost done with Mrs. Frosty.

 The nose is all french knots as a filler.

Happy Quilting!

Learning From My Mistakes (Yuma, AZ)

On the Cutting Board

I'm almost done with the first of three Uncle Sam mug rugs.  Yesterday, a dust storm kept our errand running short, so I managed to get quite a bit done on this mug rug.

Oh, and remember the applique Art Nouveau that I posted recently?  I had to toss it out.  I must have missed two of the greens for pre-washing.  I was spraying out the water-based pen and ...you guessed it!...the green batik bled all over the white background!  Oh man!

Well, I'm starting from scratch.  A little discouraging, but I learned a lot while working on this first one, so I'll try not to make the same mistakes.  In the meantime, all the batiks will be getting a pre-wash before I start.

New Cat Box

Another recent mistake came to our attention when the cats recently started missing their litter box.  Talk about a pain to clean all the time. ugh!  We also noticed that Dusty would often wait until I pulled the larger box out from under the bathroom cabinet to be cleaned and use it. We thought he just wanted a clean box, but now we are thinking that he did not like the cramped space under the bathroom sink.  So, maybe it is time to make some changes for the cats.

We decided to find a larger box for them, but one that would not get in our way when sitting out in the living area.  Considering our small living space this wasn't going to be an easy shopping trip.  Surprise!  We found the perfect litter box at our first stop at PetSmart.

Thank you for the new kitty box!  I can see everything from here.

It is shaped to fit in a corner with a wide entrance and a tall ceiling.  Not to mention, it is big.  So big, I can put a 20 lb container of litter in the box and it barely gives them the three inches deep of litter.  The cats seem to like it especially Dusty, our largest cat.  I hope he feels a lot less cramped sitting in this one.

Hitch does know he can use the bottom level too.

Oh, and as far as cleaning up the cat urine, we are going to try Fizzion.  We caught a couple of shows called "My Cat From Hell" with a cat whisperer - Jackson Galaxy.  I found the show interesting to watch a spitting, very unsocialable cat become man's best cuddly friend.  Whew!  and we thought we had problems with Dusty missing the box.  He's just a pussycat compared to some of these troubled cats.

Anyway.... While watching one of the shows, Jackson said the only way to clean up cat urine was with CO2 Charged cleaner.  The only pet urine cleaner with CO2 that I could find on Google was Fizzion.

Our New Toy!

I rarely carried my cell phone because of bulk and I never used it.  A couple of calls to or from family was about it.

We received our new Droid Razors in the mail a couple of weeks ago and I'm carrying it all the time.  This is our first smart phone so we are slowly learning all this phone has to offer.  The best part is being able to find restaurants or stores while we are visiting a different town.  We try to look everything up on our laptops, but we can't always think of everything or always know where we will be when we get hungry.

I like having my Kindle books available along with iBird.  I used my phone to identify a couple of birds so far.  Pretty cool!  Yea, it's just the beginning of opening up a whole new world of technology....for me that is.

Bougainvillea

Happy Quilting!

Desert Touring (Benson, AZ)

Still catching up on our Tourist Moments....  Before we left Benson, we visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  Big mistake!  Between Spring Break and warm weather, not to mention, a Friday, the place was hopping....and they don't even have a single bunny or jackalope.  Even some of the employees commented this had been their busiest day in quite awhile.

Since we were already there, we decided we might as well brave the crowds and enjoy ourselves.  The highlight of our visit was the Hummingbird Aviary.  Hummingbirds were buzzing all around us.  Adults and children were quietly walking around in awe of the little guys.

very neat looking nest

It was so cool to have several different hummingbirds buzz our heads and go between people.  Sometimes pausing between people as if to say "funny, this wall wasn't here before".

Costa's Hummingbird

There was another bird aviary with a lot of doves and a few different birds, but it did not compare to the Hummingbird Aviary.

Am I feeling blue?

We checked out the Cat Canyon with Bobcats, Mountain Lion, and Ocelot.  Of course, on a hot afternoon,  they were not moving around too much.  The Mountain Lion was belly up in a deep sleep next to the window while the bobcats were bathing themselves in the shade.  At least, we got to see them.

Peek-a-boo

We did not stick around for the Raptor Free Flight since we figured we would not get a good spot for viewing on such a busy day.

Kestral

I was framed!  I'm breaking out!

After spending a winter with 320 acres filled with wildlife, the Desert Museum did not seem all that appealing to us.  The best part of walking in the woods was the anticipation of meeting something along the way and if it was a bird or an animal we had not seen before....well, that was just an extra bonus for us.

Saguaro National Park

The Saguaro National Park is actually located in two areas.  One is on the west side of Tucson near the Desert Museum and the other is on the east side of Tucson near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.  We have visited both now and we agree the east side was a lot nicer, but the west side had wonderful vista views of the valley below with Saguaro cactus stretching out for miles in of us.

Okay, caught up on Benson.  Yea!

On the Cutting Board

I finished the last two rabbit mug rugs and they are now listed on Etsy.

I'm giving my fingers a little rest from working the needle through layers of Steam-A-Seam2 adhesive, so I thought I would practice some different embroidery stitches on the Snowman collection.

 And practice my applique techniques on an Art Nouveau wall hanging.

I'll start working on the Uncle Sam mug rugs soon.  Got to get them done before the 4th of July!

Celebrating 3 years on the Road (Benson, AZ)

Today is a travel day for us.  We are heading for Yuma, AZ, but first we want to do a little reminiscing.  Why today?

Well, three years ago we started our new life on the road filled with many adventures, new friends, and interesting places to visit.  It is hard to pick out one favorite place because each one is unique in its own way.  There have been no regrets in selling our sticks & bricks house.  Look at all the things we would have missed if we had stayed in Albuquerque working 40 hour weeks with only a 2-week vacation.

Ready to start our adventure on the road.

 We would never have been able to see our granddaughters or our daughter as often.  We have seen both granddaughters do a lot of growing up in the last three years into well-mannered young ladies.

And some of our family has been able to visit us in our different locations.

Our son, Shaun visiting us in Patagonia

 Sandy's brother Jay visiting us in Key West  

Dan's sister and her husband visited us in Patagonia, but we never got around to taking any photos.  We'll have to make up for that next time.

Then there's many adventures we would have missed.  We would never have been held up by the Burro Gang in Custer's State Park in SD.

Give us all your apples!

 We never had views like this from our home....

South Dakota

Key West, FL

Florida

Arizona

Some places are filled with friendly people....

Saguaro Skp Co-op, Benson, AZ

 Other places are a lot less populated...

Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve

And I have to slip this in..
  I never would have seen half the quilt shows, shops, or museums....

We never would have kayaked in the Florida Keys...

 or have seen the Arches....well, maybe since we did live within traveling distance for a 2 week vacation....

Anyhow.....or climbed rock fins...

 or frozen our feet to see Crater Lake...

How can you beat views like this?

Northern California

Shenandoah National Park

So much more to see and do.  It will be a long time before we get tired of our lifestyle.  Happy Trails to all!