Sunday, December 26, 2010

After Christmas 2010

New Year's Eve party at Lynda Vista. Pat, DD, Pebbles, Katie and Jim.


Mickey, neighbor in the park


The entertainers were from Branson. Good music


This was his Johnny Cash outfit. He changed to Porter Waggoner next, and I can't remember the rest


DD in a nice Tye Dye

Jim took a lot of pictures with his new camera.


Romy got leid at the party.

Katie, Pat and Jim. Pat has to get up at 4:30 AM and drive for 13 hours tomorrow. So, we left the party before midnight

Katie and Pat

The later it got, more people danced. This man could barely walk, but he was out on the floor.

Didsbury Dave

Getting ready to leave for the party

Jim and Katie looked like a million bucks! I think he's putting on her prom bouquet. Actually, installing a name tag

Katie made this lovely cake to take to the "finger food" table

There was tons of food. This is just one of the tables

Romy and Katie polish off a few Old Fashions

Some of the park people


Jim & Katie went for their first ride on the "T-dub" this New Year's Eve. We're now ready to attack the desert and visit some ghost towns!

Jim tried on a lot of hats today. Thought this one is pretty cool.


Where the Mermaids come to shop. They have to trade in their tail fin for one of these.


DD headed for the rice paddy.


Jim and I agreed that this is a "Stewey" size margarita glass.


Dave and Romy had a snowy trip down from Calgary. They were tired, but made it fine.


Jim and Katie brought over food to share. We had a nice dinner!


Sure nice to see this international couple. New Zealand, South Africa, and now Canada. And, practically Arizona :-)


Katie


Jim has his Classic ready for shopping!


This VN2000 was for sale last year. Still in the same place. It may be a hard sell...........


Ms. Captain America!

After shopping at the "used food store" :-)


Jim and I were on a ride today. Now, why did we think of our NZ friends when we passed this field??


He looks good on a T-Dub!

Pat and Katie did the cooking for our dinner tonight. Everything was good

Jim (Wrong Turn's) plate this morning. We ate in a little open front cantina in Mexico. Add several fresh "hot off the grill" flour tortillas, and it was a pretty substantial breakfast.


Algodones, Mexico. This is the first time I've ever been down here that the sun wasn't out. It was cool and cloudy, and even a little moisture in the air.


Early morning food vendors are set up and dishing out food. Lots of the the locals that work in the shops come over here to eat.


Katie shows me her "End of the Trail" pin. One of my favorite pictures.


Huevos Rancheros, a side order of pork, beans, some fresh vegetables, Chips and 2 different salsas, and a container of fresh, hot, tortillas. Topped off with big cups of coffee. Not a bad snack.

Jim trying on hats. He looks good in this one!


Katie had a hard time getting away from this jewelery seller. Both Jim and Katie ended up with some goodies.

A few years ago, I'd have done anything for a shirt like this. Now, Kokopelli is every where. Dozens of similar shirt designs, and well as a full line of other items. Not so much fun now that he's everywhere :-) We had fun over there. (12/29/10)


27 Dec. Jim and Katie are leaving for a little shopping in Yuma. No socks, but at least Katie put on her Arizona riding boots this morning. Jim has 4 saddle bags and a rear travel bag on here. Wonder if they will come home with them all full...............:-)


Dec 26th. Jim and Katie wanted to do some experimenting with their cameras, so we went out to do some night shots. Theirs are much better than these of mine! :-) This is the last bridge across the Colorado River. It tied the Atlantic to the Pacific without having to take any ferries. It was US Highway 80 back then.


A park at the famous Yuma Crossing. It was a route for the pioneers, Army, Indians, and anyone that wanted to get from Arizona to California. The joining of the Gila and Colorado Rivers.


The end. (s)

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve 2010

Go Girl! Katie with a high energy drink. I ended up doing some sort of duplicates, since I was using two cameras today. Hope you like the pictures of Christmas Day, 2010. Yuma, Arizona.


Tom And Patti are enjoying the music. This will be the entertainment for New Years Eve. They are GREAT!


The guys are building a fire to roast hot dogs in.


You may have to click to see, but note the back of the chairs. They came from a grocery store in Cortez, Colorado. Skid and Sandy bought them to sit in while watching the Rodeo Parade. Then didn't have a way to carry them on the bike..so.......


These ladies are "dancin' the to music"


Katie back there strolling around taking pictures


Jim is cooking 4 Hebrew National hot dogs.


Pat is setting up the table for our food, Katie clapping for the music! or, maybe just because she's happy!


Chef Wrong Turn.


After a little liquid encouragement, some of the guys got up to dance.


Katie is ready to chow down. She loaded it up with Guacamole


Jim is fixin' his up


A couple that perform in Branson, MO, are in the park. They decided to entertain us on Christmas afternoon, so we had a hot dog roast.


Jim is back to wearing his riding shorts. Pretty warm for the 25th of December. High 70's out her in the sun.


This couple are professionals! Excellent music!


Jerry the Jammer is playing on his porch I stopped tell him about the entertainment going on at the Gazebo.


After the hotdogs, we decided to go on a short ride before Christmas Day is over.


We're at the Border. That's Algodones, Mexico in the background.


Old Highway 80 just West of Winterhaven in California


We rode in 2 states and touched the Mexican border, all in about 30 minutes.


Yuma Crossing. The Ocean to Ocean Bridge.


Prison cells in the Old Territorial Prison


Redd has another new dog. He's meeting Jim.


Bull, Redd, and Baby the new Min Pin. They traded little Lucy for her. Made me sort of sad.


The sun is going down over the Desert Oasis. End of Christmas day, 2010.


Jim & Pat and one of the tanks. A chilly 69 degrees today for our ride. A nice dry Christmas Eve! We're at the US Army Proving grounds looking at old machinery of war.


Both Katie and Pat read a lot of the descriptions. It's an interesting place


Some of the pads are empty, they have moved some of the guns to a different location. There is a new museum area that we haven't seen yet.


I think I saw Slick and Biglefti riding on this last Spring :-)


Small rocket launcher


Mostly old, some newer tanks and equipment


Two mighty fine looking motorcycles...well, maybe one motorcycle and one little scooter.


One of Jim and Katie's cactus fell over. I loaned them a long bungie cord, and they carefully got it standing up again. Katie picked it up just like she knew what she was doing!


Yet another picture of our Christmas Cactus. It gets better every day. And, tomorrow IS Christmas!


Christmas Eve! These Tamales were made fresh this morning. There is a family in Algodones, Mexico that makes them up every week for special orders. Tamales are the traditional item to eat on Christmas in Mexico, so this is the busiest time of year for them. They are moist and delicious. Seasoned ground corn meal stuffed with shredded beef, some sliced potatoes, a piece of Jalapeno or other chili, a couple green olives, and sometimes other vegetables inside. All seasoned to perfection. Then, wrapped in corn husks and steamed. They are best when still warm.
"Not so old" sidewalk in Algodones. Very few dirt sidewalks any more. The appearance of the whole town is looking new and clean. No one has told the dogs they aren't suppose to walk on fresh concrete.


This is the back of a pretty nice restaurant. The back of the properties don't always look as nice as the front :-)


Something was torn down recently here. Probably in a few days something new will be going up. This is a Rubbertree. If you look close, you can see Goodyear imprinted on each leaf.



These room are used by "ladies of the night" here above the Hawaiian Club.


This lady makes several hundred tortillas a day. They use real lard, the the taste is indescribable

!
Pick your meat! Just point to the picture of what you want to eat. They had about 20 chickens turning on a big spit outside on the sidewalk. Was going to get a picture on the way out, but was too full to remember. :-)


She makes the dough right there, then runs blobs of it through this machine to smash it, then she pops them on the grill. When cooked they go in the cloth lined basket to be served.


We had some kind of egg dish, had ham and bacon in it, and all the vegetable trimmings. VERY good. The cook brought us a basket of fresh tortillas right after I took this picture. They were WONDERFUL!


These babies were hot off the grill. Soft, warm, and delicious.



A Mexican dog. Resting in the early morning sun, after a big night of running the streets.


One of the 350 dentists in Algodones. I think this one specializes in Wooden teeth.


This place was painted green last year. Still the same good stuff inside. I got out with a large sack of goodies. Total out the door was $3.00


This is a new sign I hadn't seen before. Doctor Edna was the first dentist we used down here. She does an excellent job, and has a very clean, modern office. Have tried 2 others since. They all do a fine job.