Friday, March 13, 2015

Snowbirding for Fun and Definitely Not Profit....(chapter one).

As some of you might know Mr. Lucky and I do the ‘snowbird’ thing. We try to escape to warmer weather for a while in the winter. Countless hours are spent loading the motor home with enough food to feed a high school football team for a couple of months, a supply of clothes for cold weather, rainy weather, snowy weather, and of course warm weather. It could happen that we would not be able to find a grocery store or a place to buy a sweatshirt or tank top. (Ha)

Our first night was spent in beautiful downtown Emmett, Idaho. I used to say that there was not much of anything more unpleasant than snow on a Firebird, but I have since changed my mind. Snow on a picnic table in your RV park is not at all pleasant or pretty.  
 
Our first final destination was Bullhead City, Az. To get there one must white knuckle their way right through the freeway traffic in Las Vegas or attempt to skirt around it. Our previous navigator, which we affectionately called Helga, directed us right through through Vegas. (Helga speaks with what appears to be a Swedish accent). Oh, yeah. We don’t always call her Helga. Sometimes Mr. Lucky will ask "What did that bitch say now?" Well, Helga had to be replaced. As yet the new one remains nameless, but I’m sure that will change as we become better acquainted with her. She didn’t take us through downtown Vegas, but on our way to Emmett she allowed us to tour nearly every barn and farmhouse from the Oregon/Idaho state line to Emmett. I did not know that so many rusty tractors existed.

When in Bullhead City we like to take in a few of the local attractions. One of them is a wild animal rescue place called Keepers of the Wild. We opted for the guided tour which was on an old Austrian military transport truck, circa 1953. It was a 6 cylinder job running on at least 2...sometimes. Uphills were a bit of a challenge. However, our driver/guide didn’t ask us to get out and push. I don’t recommend taking pictures through a chain link fence but the options were somewhat limited..

Another hot spot near Bullhead City is a little town that refused to die. Oatman. It is noted for its burro population that wanders about the streets and into the stores, looking for a handout. One of the several eateries in town staples $1.00 bills all over the place. I’m not sure why, but it tends to make me crazy thinking about how many pair of shoes I could buy with those bills if they were all stacked up neatly in one pile. Rumor has it that there is in excess of $40,000 stapled about on the walls and ceilings.

Then there is the car show held every January in Laughlin, NV. For the second straight year we have had the pleasure of seeing a 1960 Studebaker Lark like the one Mr. Lucky had when we got married. The young man who owns and loves it has worked diligently on the nearly complete restoration. Kudos to him.

We have been told many times that if you are going to go to Arizona you must "see Quartzsite". It is billed as the biggest flea market in the world. Ok. Last year we decided to check it out. You can see that someone from 3/B Idaho gave it look as well. In Quartzsite it is likely that you can buy just about anything you might want. True to form I bought a t-shirt. It’s Amazon.com in real life. One thing I missed was a book store which is owned and operated by a part time musician who generally wears nothing but a sock on his, well you figure it out. He did have the book my friend was looking for when she happened in there. Hmmm. I like books, too.

And once in a while you’ll see one of these...Beep Beep!





To be continued.....keep checking....piecefromthevalley.blogspot.com. for more of our RV adventures.  Better yet...add your name to the "follow by email" thingy. You’ll never miss one of these exciting and thought-provoking blogs.