Annual Snowbird Migration (part two)

Leaving Pahrump on Monday April 7th we headed for St. George, Utah. The Dingmans and the Mays had made reservations there at a Western Horizons park.


Western Horizons is a members only organization with several parks scattered around mostly in the western states and operated similar to timeshare condos, etc. Members park free, however as non-members we could get in for two days as guests of the Dingmans for $25.00.night
Panoramic view from our site.

The park, called St. George RV was located about 15 miles north of St. George. We arrived mid afternoon, paid $50.00 for two nights, got set-up and Teddy at once, set out to hike & explore the surrounding areas. I, as is my wont, spent my time chatting with other campers. The Dingmans & the Mays both planned on staying about three days before heading on to their respective homes in WY & WA. We were to leave Wed. morning after using up our two day guest pass. However, Tue morning a member approached me with a coupon for 5 free nights on the condition that we sit through a sales presentation. I took the coupon to the office and asked I could use it to extend our stay to Saturday. The said yes and also refunded my $50.00.
All was right with the world...and then...
**BOOM** Larry falls down!!
Tue afternoon about 5 pm we were rerturning to our trailer after playing Pegs & Jokers in the clubhouse with the Dingmans & the Mays. I was riding my Segway and had stopped to chat with some folks while the others continued on. They were curious about the Segway and I began showing off a bit and made the startling discovery that I am not quite as agile as I was in my twenties. In short I got pitched off, landing squarely in the gravel on my left elbow.
OUCH
Benny May took Teddy & I to Emergency at the St. George hospital and you do not have to be a radiologist to see that my arm was broken just above the elbow where it enters the joint.
The hospital bought in an Orthopedic surgeon and he wanted to do emergency surgery that evening...until...wait..oh oh! Larry is on the blood thinner, Cumiden. So they splinted me up, sent me home and scheduled surgery for three days later on Friday.
I spent the next three days in a drug induced haze, during which we had to endure a one-on-one session with a very rude Western Horizions salesman who seemed very pissed that we wouldn't fork over $12,000 to fatten their coffers. Another reality that now became apparent was that with 2000 miles to go, Teddy was going to have to take over the driving. She had driven the rig before but only in rural areas and never in cities nor on & off into fuel stations.etc. She was stressed to the max and nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof but bore up through it all. Benny and Sandy delayed their departure to help Teddy cope and to prepare her for the drive back.
Friday afternoon came and into surgery I went. Spent one night in the hospital and was released Saturday noon.As you can see from these post-op picts, they managed to get a whole lot of metal into my poor little arm. :-(

Benny got Teddy all hooked up, Sandy made me some tuna salad sandwitches and we headed north toward Salt Lake City and then east toward Wisconsin. Although I was wierded out on Codene I was still able to help Teddy through the cities and into
and out of Wal-Mart parking lots. To tell the truth I don't remember a whole lot of the trip back but nontheless we arrived here in Appleton on Friday the 18th.
Since we have been here, we have seen our dentist, been to the doctor twice about my arm, went out for fish with Greg & Sue Madson, had dinner at Tom & Carol Sykes with the martini group, had the tires rotated on the truck, and got all of our maintenance problems fixed at Appleton Camping. Tonight we are going out to dinner with Mike & Toni, Monday we are going to martinis at Dick & Jenny Orrs, and Tuesday we plan on completing the last leg of our journey to Traverse City & Cedar, Michigan.
Have an appointment May 8th with my Ortho doc. (Dr. Peters, the one that did my knee last summer) and a perscription for rehab from the doc. in St. George.
See you Kal. :-)
On the bright side...things are bound to get better! Right!!

Annual Snowbird Migration (part one)

Today is Tuesday April 22nd and we are currently parked in a motel parking lot in Appleton, Wisconsin.
On April second we joined the annual snowbird migration to the northern climes. As we didn’t plan on arriving at our summer digs in Leelanau County, Michigan until around May first, we thought we would take our time and explore some of the areas of the country that we hadn’t yet seen.
Alas it was not to be.
Our first stop was in the small Nevada town of Pahrump on the southern edge of Death Valley. We were to meet up with two other couples, Don & Carol Dingman from Wheatland, WY and Benny & Sandy May from Turnwater. WA. From there we planned on a day trip to visit the usual Death Valley tourist sites. Lady luck, however had other plans. We were going to drive our truck as it was the only one of the three that could comfortably accomidate all three couples.
We had all made reservations at different RV parks in Pahrump and were to get together after we arrived. Teddy and I stayed at




Terribles Lakeside Casino & RV Resort which turned out to be the best of three. It was a beautiful park with the RV sites surrounding a huge man made lake fed by underground springs.
The lake is stocked with fish and guests are invited to fish, paddleboat or kahyak on the lake. The lake is also home for a great number of ducks, coots, and other birds.









Unfortunately when we unhitched we discovered a problem with the front jacks on the Cardinal. Fearing that we would not be able to hitch up again once unhitched, we decided to not take a chance on unhitching. Therefore our Death Valley plans were cancelled.
However, we stayed there for five very enjoyable days, taking photographs and getting together with our friends for dinner and visiting a winery.


Up Next … Bad luck continues as distaster strikes @ St. George Utah.

Southern California’s Golf Ball Orchards

Last weekend we took a day trip to visit Southern California’s famous golf ball growing region. Few people know of this small valley south of LA. Over 90 percent of the worlds golf ball crop come from this region where growing conditions are perfect for the golf ball groves of golf ball giants such as Bridgestone, Callaway, Hogan, Ladies, Maxfli, Nike, Pinnacle, Precept, Slazenger, Taylor Made, Titleist & Top Flight. It is hard to imagine as you see them setting out the tiny seedlings that in just three years that seedling will grow into a tree capable of producing over 1000 balls in a single growing season. As the balls reach maturity they begin to whiten and develop their characteristic “dimple” patterns. When the time is right they look like this and are hand plucked from the trees by nimble fingered pickers. They are then sun dried, aged for 30 days and then sorted, packed and shipped to golf courses throughout the world.
Incidentally, scientists in the labs have altered the DNA of individual varieties so that the actual Logo of the owning grove forms on the balls during the aging process. In the late 50s the dreaded “red stripe” disease invaded the valley but it was quickly brought under control and now those with red stripes simply become the now familiar range balls.