Look Mom..new glasses

Day 16, Sunday January 24
6 weeks after cataract surgery on both eyes, I finally received my new glasses in the mail at my brother-in-law's house.  I had my final exam the day we left home, so had them send my new glasses to me in California.  Today we went to an optical store to have them fitted.  What an improvement!!  Even though the replacement lenses in my eyes made quite a bit of correction, I still needed glasses and I can now see distances to drive and reading is much clearer (getting old is the pits).  Ran some other errands like Camping World and Walmart and stopped at Arrowood Golf Course for some time on the driving range.  Got back in time to watch the Arizona/Carolina game.  Leaving Monday, so started tidying up.


Day 17, Monday January 25
Left Guajome about 9:30.  For the most part, it was a relatively easy drive east on I-8 until we headed over a couple 4,000+ft mountain passes.  We hit really gusty winds (est. a good 30+mph) at our left front for miles.  The winds continued all the way down the east side of the mountains into the Sonoran Desert...thus the wind turbines.

A long stretch of I-8 hugs the Mexico border, so we saw lots and lots of border patrol and we followed the border fences for quite a few miles.  We passed through one border checkpoint where all cars must stop, but they just flagged us through.  Guess we didn't fit the profile :~).

Just before stopping for the night, we went through Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area.  The Imperial San Dunes are the largest sand dunes open to off-highway vehicle use in the United States.  The Algodones Sand Dune system covers 1,000 square miles, making it one of the largest dune complexes in North America.  The dunes begin 10 miles southeast of the southern edge of the Salton Sea and stretch all the way into Mexico, over 40 miles away. Quite a few movies have been filmed here, including Star Wars, The Return of the Jedi.



We knew we were probably going to give dry camping (without hookups) a try in Yuma and we had scouted out a couple casinos that allow RV parking for free.  We saw lots of RVs parked in the desert and briefly considered parking on BLM land, but thought better of it with the sand blowing so hard.  Figured we'd be sandblasted by morning.  Decided to stop at the first casino to check it out because it had easy on/off access from the freeway.  The place was packed at 3:00 in the afternoon!!  Guess lots of seniors spend their days in the casinos.  Some of these folks looked like they were there to stay for a while.  The wind was howling, so we parked with the wind to our backside and decided to spend the night (along with 100 of our closest friends...and we were parked close together).  Quechan Casino is on the California/Arizona border in Winterhaven.  It's a nice new casino and though they have no smoking ban and no non-smoking section, it was surprisingly clean air.  We each spent $5.00 and played for quite a while and quit when we were $2.16 ahead.  We're such gamblers!  Back at camp, we visited with some of our neighbors.  We'd followed another Phaeton into the parking lot and come to find out, they too were from Redmond (Ames Lake).  They dry camp quite often, so gave us some pointers.  It was an early evening.

Day 18, Tuesday January 26
Got up early and headed to the casino for our $4.99 ham and egg breakfast.  That's one thing about a casino you can't beat...their food prices.  Left Quechan at 9:30.  Another windy day of driving across southern Arizona.  Lots of cactus and miles of solar panels on this drive.  The solar panels belong to the Solana Generating Station, a solar power plant near Gila Bend.  When it was commissioned in 2013, it was the largest parabolic trough plant in the world and the first US solar plant with molten salt thermal energy storage.

http://www.powermag.com/solana-generating-station-maricopa-county-arizona/



We stopped for a quick lunch break at the Sonoran Desert National Monument and then on into Casa Grande when we picked up I-10 south to Tucson.  We arrived at our RV Resort (yeah, an RV Resort), Rincon West at about 2:30.  It's a large 55+ park with about 1100 sites being a mix of RV and park models (mostly park models).  Like most RV Resorts, it has all kinds of amenities like exercise facilities, pool, court games, propane delivery, gift shop and beauty salon.  Much like Trilogy, there are a gazillion different clubs and organized activities to participate in (or not).  We're in a section with primarily RVs.  It's hard these days to find an RV Resort/Park that is strictly RVs and no park models.  There is a bike/hiking trail right behind the park, so we hope to get out the dirty old bikes one day.  The first thing we did after getting hooked up, was get the car to a car wash.  What a deal!!! $4.00 for a drive through (and then we saw one for $3.00).  Guess everyone's car gets dirty here in the desert.

Just look at that blue sky!!!  Not warm (mid 60s), but lots of sun:

Before the car wash

Day 19, Wednesday January 27

After a lazy morning, it was errands and shopping.  Chores done, we came home, got cleaned up and went north to Saddlebrook to meet Jim and Kathy Parks and John and Jamie Calhoun for drinks and dinner.  The Parks and Calhouns used to live at Trilogy, just down the street from us, so we were anxious to see their new homes and get caught up.  Jim and Kathy live in a beautiful home that has a gorgeous patio that faces the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains (dang..got so busy visiting I forgot to take a picture).  The 6 of us went to dinner at Saddlebrook's Clubhouse and had a wonderful dinner and more catching up.  It was a really fun evening and great company.  Miss these folks.  Planning to go to John and Jamie's house on Saturday.  (Oh yah...meant to take a picture of the 6 of us, but forgot to do that too....geez, I must be getting old).