TOWERPOINT
WELCOME BACK
PARTY


Halloween afternoon was the welcome back party at Towerpoint. It included a free Hamburger dinner, a band played Western music and then a costume contest was held. The patio area was filled with people, I don't know where everyone is going to sit once they all get here. But it always seems to work. The weather was perfect for being outside.























"I have my hat, I have my gun and I have my sandals"

On Saturday, October 22, 2011 we arrived in Mesa, Arizona our winter

destination.

We have spent the last 4 days getting things set up. Tonight is Texas

Hold-em.

We are a bit rusty as we have not played since leaving here last April,

but we areready to give it a try.

Saturday, October 8, 2011 we are finally on the road. Our final destination will be Mesa, Arizona for the winter. It takes a lot of time and major thought process to pack for 6 months. We are taking several side trips on the way to Mesa this year.

1. Farmington, New Mexico to attend the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) rally.

2. St. George, Utah to visit Myrna, a friend from our Mexico travel days.

3. Henderson, Nevada to visit with our son JB and his family. While in Henderson we will stop and see some friends from home who spend the winter in Nevada.

Mike decided to avoid the Provo road construction mess, so we took a route (Utah 91, Duchesne to near Helper, Utah), through the mountains to Green River, Utah, where we spent the first night. While on the way via the mountains we encountered beautiful scenery. From the looks of the snow I was glad we didn’t leave a day earlier.

The coach got really really dirty going through the mountains, so on our way out of the campground we took advantage of the car wash for motor coaches and knocked off some of the dirt.

Monday, October 10th we arrived in Farmington, New Mexico, YEA! NO SNOW HERE! The rally is being held at the San Juan County Fair Grounds. There are about 400 Motor Coaches with 168 first timers at this rally. This is the cleanest facility that we have ever been to, “kudos to them”. They have capabilities for water and electric for 500 coaches. The nightly entertainment was great, an award winning high school chorus, a country western group, and a barbershop group. As we were leaving Sunday morning, we could not get the left turn signal to work on our tow vehicle. Mike worked on it from 7:30 AM until 1:30 PM, to no avail. We decided to go and dump at the facility within the Fairgrounds, on the way Mike noticed a truck with a sign that read Mobile Repairs and Parts. Knowing that this must be a sign from god, we stopped. Two and a half hours and $250.00 later, we now have the best turn signal/braking light system in the valley.

We are a day late leaving New Mexico so on Monday we drove 9 hours to St. George, Utah. It was a long day but we are camped at the Elks and enjoying a beer in the sun on the patio.

Wednesday, October 19, we arrived in Boulder, Nevada and are camping at the Elks for a few days. We have a great parking space and we are loving the temperature, it is 83 degrees, another beer on the patio evening. We will be going to JB’s early tomorrow morning so Mike can take a skype call with the Condo Board. JB has offered to cook breakfast, so of course we will accept.

Sunday, November 7, 2010. We have settled into our winter habits, which include Texas Hold'em on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Bingo on Wednesday afternoon, exercise every morning, stained glass, fused glass wood shop, and tennis. We have some new courts for bocci ball, pickle ball and horseshoes which we have not used yet. Yesterday we went to the monthly patio sales in our park where we came back with some new treasures. Denise came back with a bag full.

We finally arrived at our winter destination; Mesa, Arizona on Wednesday, November 3, 2010. It is 94 degrees and feels wonderful. Now the fun begins. On the way to Mesa we went over the new bridge that was build to bypass Hoover Dam. It was completed within the last month. When you are down below looking up it is scary, but when going over the bridge you don't realize how high you are because you can't see down. It is a major time saver to go over the bridge. The picture shows the new bridge behind us.

Thursday, October 28, 2010. We lost the operation of the "Smart Wheel", thereby leaving us without Cruise Control and Windshield Wipers when we left Mary's. We are now in Sparks, Nevada at a Cummins repair shop, waiting to see how long it will take to fix the problem. We are camped at Cummins parking lot, lovely accommodations. It appears we will do about anything to camp for free.

The tech working on our Coach thinks the part should be here by Monday. Wow, another 3 days in the parking lot.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010. We left the Winery today with sadness, because we are leaving good friends and because the loss of the grapes affects Mary's livelihood. Under normal conditions, when we leave the Winery, we have approximately 23 barrels of Marechal Foch and approximately 12 barrels of Chardonnay barreled down (stored in barrels). This year we have 3 barrels of Marechal Foch and no Chardonnay. By the end of harvest the barrel room is full. It holds around 160 barrels, that would equate to approximately 4,000 cases or 48,000 bottles of wine just from the barrel room. In the past the large silver milk tanks were full of Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewuztraminer, and Miller Thurgau. This year they are making a little Champagne with the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes that we picked that were salvageable.

We are taking with us great memories and lots of pictures. We will be making our way to Mesa, Arizona over the next several days.