SUNDAY WAS THE FIRST TIME I MISSED A POST IN A YEAR & A HALF

TWO LONE FISHERMEN ON THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON SUNDAY

I came away with a feeling of disappointment after reading a friend's blog Sunday morning & that kind of set the tone for my day.  It would be a full 24 hours before I sat down at the computer again.  A work related schmozzle later in the morning didn't help my frame of mind any & I had to finally throw my old sack of bones in the Jeep & take them for a long drive along some quiet country roads.  Every once & awhile I just have to get away from things so I generally grab my cameras & some favorite music CD's & away I go for a few hours.  It is a good way for me to mull things over in my mind, make some decisions, see some different scenery & just generally get myself back on track with myself.  I once again questioned this whole blogging thing & by the time I got home in the late afternoon I just didn't have the mental energy to put a blog together.  It was the first day I have missed writing a blog for about a year & a half.   I like writing & I like the photography end of things, so with a few necessary changes, a short one day blogging break & a self motivated pep talk I am again back at the keyboard:))

 

SUNDAY FELT LIKE A 4 BUZZARD DAY

We are into our second day of exceptionally warm weather.  Mid 60's yesterday & today coupled with a healthy splash of sunshine  this afternoon.  In fact it was so nice it actually spurred us on to make a last minute renovation to the rig's interior.  Some of you may remember a couple years ago in Quartzsite when we took out all the cheaply made & hugely uncomfortable furniture in our rig.  Sold the dinette, tub chair & couch at a business called, The Gambler.  A few days later we headed east & purchased all new stuff at the Ikea store in Tempe/Phoenix, AZ.  You can see our shopping spree here....IKEA 

NEAR THE BENMILLER INN.....BENMILLER, ONTARIO

But, going back to Quartzsite for a minute.....we were looking for a computer desk & Kelly found a used one that had come out of a Tiffin Motor Home at the Le Mesa RV dealer.  I think we paid $40 for it.  It was made of oak with a marble like top & of course was very heavy.  It was a solid good quality desk but it was actually too big for our rig.  We liked it anyway & that's what we have been using the past couple years.  Last winter we finally accepted the fact it was maybe not the best desk for our particular set-up so this morning, that desk came back out of the Motor Home!!

 

We had a much smaller el-cheapo wooden student's desk in the carport but when we put it in the rig we realized it was much too high for a laptop computer.  Kelly set off for Goderich to see what Zeller's & Wal-Mart had in the way of desks but came back saying all the computer desks were too long for our short space.  We have now opted to have handyman Bruce build us a nice shelf type of thing for the laptop & he's going to do that this week-end.

I again recognized our latest blog supporter, cowboy hat & all.  That's Froggi Donna from 2 TAKING A FIFTH.  I first met Froggi D here on my blog about 3 years ago.  I had written a post about a bunch of vehicles I had owned over the years & a comment came in from a 'Froggi' person saying they once had the same type of vehicle as one of the one's I had.  Well, with a cute name like that we had to email her back of course.  Froggi D was traveling solo in those days & Kelly actually met her in Ajo Arizona one day when the Froggi gal was filling up some propane tanks.  Kelly recognized her rig from the pictures on her site.  She & Stu were two of the people who came out to our boondocking spot last winter in the Kofa Mountains.  I've always had one regret though since that day.  We never really did get to know anyone really well that were there & I remember thinking that as I watched Froggi D & Stu pull out on their motorcycles heading back to Yuma.  Yes, we had met them alright, but we really didn't get a chance to talk to them much.  Maybe next time we can make it 2 on 2 & do that "Howdy Neighbor" thingy all over again,  Thanks for your blog support guys:))

PORT ALBERT, ONTARIO.....

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A big earthquake with the strength of 8.1 on the Richter scale hits Mexico.  Two million Mexicans have died and over a million are injured. The country is totally ruined and the government doesn't know where to start and is asking for help to rebuild. The rest of the world is in shock.
Canada is sending troops to help the Mexican army control the riots.  Saudi Arabia is sending oil.  Other Latin American countries are sending supplies.  The European community (except France) is sending food and money.  The United States, not to be outdone, is sending two million Mexicans to replace all the people lost in the earthquake.
God bless America!!!!

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Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

2008-SOLD OUR RIG’S FURNITURE & HEADED FOR THE IKEA STORE

CLICK THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE & HOVER YOUR MOUSE OVER THEM FOR THE CAPTIONS

By January of 2008 our minds were finally made up.  We were totally fed up with the cheap uncomfortable furniture in our motorhome.  The tub chair was too small & had a comfort level of about 20 seconds.  Couch was the same & the pull out bed must have been made in a hot place somewhere underground.  The cushions for the dinette were obviously designed by a worker who attended Weight Watchers because you couldn't comfortably sit on the them long enough to finish you supper, let along dessert!!

But, here we were boondocking out in the desert & how could we get rid of & replace this stuff.

WE HAVE SINCE ADDED AN AMERICAN FLAG OVER TOP THE CANADIAN FLAG….PROTOCOL:))

Getting rid of the stuff turned out to be easier than we thought because we were in Quartzite, Arizona & it was January!!  Quartzite in January is the buy, sell, & trade Mecca for RV'ers all across America.  It didn't take Kelly long to get into town & do some wheelin & dealin & before we knew it I had my screwdriver out taking our dinette apart……because she had sold everything!!  When your not using power tools it seems the number of screws to be removed triples & by the time I had the million plus screws out of that thing I practically had to let my sore wrist soak in a pale of hot flaming water for the whole rest of the day.

As I'm typing this I seem to recall blogging about this Quartzite furniture story before.  (my apologies if I did) I took apart the dinette & we piled it outside.  Next came the tub chair which was securely bolted to the floor.  Had to get under the motorhome to loosen the bolts with nothing more than a pair of vice grips but finally it was done & out went the chair!! 

Took Kelly a couple trips into Quartzite to 'The Gamblers' new & used trading post where she had struck up a deal to sell our motorhome furniture.  We were able to get the  dis-assembled dinette & tub chair into the Santa Fe alright but the couch was another matter so decided to leave that until we left the Q (Quartzite) a few days later.  I wasn't looking forward to having to try & get that couch out by myself so on our way through town later we stopped at the Gambler's & the boys there came out & hauled the couch out of the rig.  Kelly told people inside the Gambler's new & used store that we were selling our furniture for gas money to get back to Canada.  I had to pull my hat down even further over my face to conceal my embarrassment!! 

Within half an hour we had left Quartzite in the dust & were heading furnitureless for an RV Park in Casa Grande that we had stayed the year before for a couple days.  Sure seemed weird not having any furniture in the rig & the furry guys were in bewilderment as to where they were all going to sleep that night....as was I.  Stopped at an RV Park in Tonopah on the way that night & it was so cold our water froze up outside & an alarm went off warning us of a propane leak.  Turns out there was no leak but the cold had somehow set off that alarm or something.  Had to wait until around 10 in the morning before we could get our hose unthawed from the outside water tap & head off to  Casa Grande.

Arrived in Casa Grande OK & readied ourselves for our shopping sojourn the next day.  Kelly, being the experienced shopper she is, had been in Ikea stores before over the years.  Me, not being a shopper, had no more interest in getting dragged through another dumb store than I had of trying on dresses at a Seven Eleven convenience store so it was with much grumpiness on my part that we headed off in the car towards Phoenix early the next morning.

It was the size of the parking lot that first caught my attention as we approached Ikea.  Looked like enough room to land a Jumbo Jet if it wasn't for all the stately palm trees.  After grubbing it in the desert for the past few weeks I thought we had entered the twilight zone.  The store front was very big & impressive as we walked across the manicured & well landscaped parking lot to the front entrance.  Best part so far was the total lack of cars & people because we were actually there before the store was even open.   Hmmmmm, this was turning out unusually good for me & I was impressed.  Front door was open & Kelly explained Ikea has their own restaurant that actually opens before the store did.  Wow, I could feel some excitement coming to-gether already.  But wait, how could it be possible for Al to feel a twinge of excitement about.......shopping!!  Well, I was about to find out.

 As soon as we walked through Ikea's front door I knew there was something different going on here about this store.  Our blog for that day is HERE & the photos of our Ikea store experience are HERE.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

And here’s the best part.  Sold the RV furniture for $450 & our total Ikea bill was…..$400 so we came out of the whole deal $50 up.  That Kelly is quite a wheeler dealer:))

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

THE IKEA STORE...."WOW & DOUBLE WOW"

THURSDAY JANUARY 24/08
Well, what a totally pleasant experience that Ikea store was this morning. And getting there was an even better experience. The traffic on I-10 to the easily locatable Ikea store in Phoenix this morning was light & non threatening. Fortunately the store is in the south end of Tempe & situated only about a block from the interstate. We timed it to get there around 9 to take advantage of the in-store restaurant at Ikea. As we neared the store it reminded me of being on the grounds of large estate. Big palm trees, landscaping, & not at all like some ordinary run of the mill shopping mall. The super large yellow & blue store stood in the middle of it's own acreage.
We entered a very clean & well organized lobby, followed the arrows on the floor to the escalator, & let our noses lead us to the well laid out & colorful restaurant. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy Very, very, impressive to say the least. Breakfast is fast, & cafeteria style, & the prices are right out of the 1950's. As I ate my breakfast & looked around at all the colors, designs, windows, & decors, the thought occurred to me, "finally, a store that knows how to do things right!!"
And how to price things right as well, because as we made our way around the store looking at a ka-zillion million things I was amazed at the sensibility of the price tags. No gouging here, no silly "sale" signs, no gimmicks, no glitz & glammer like some stores. I think the retail industry should send their CEO's, sales staff & managers here to see how a business can & should be run. The showrooms are beautiful & tastefully done. Colors, colors, colors. An interior decorator's place to be, for sure. The whole store is like a piece of yummy eye candy.
And then we got to the warehouse. This place is humongous & it is set up in such a way that you pick up your own stuff that you had previously marked down while up on the sales floor. I've worked in warehouses for Eaton's & Sears many years ago but this warehouse dwarfed them many times over. Even the check-outs are different. You can scan your own stuff, which we tried, but gave up. Just a little too techno for us bumpkins from the north. And, when you leave the checkout, there is a bistro with 50 cent hot dogs, dollar cinnamon buns, etc. And the 25 cent coffee is great. Even outside, they have people there to help you load the merchandise in your car. And everybody is friendly.
I think all retail business would do well to take a lesson from Ikea & learn how to do things right, how to treat people right, and.............how to make cinnamon rolls right:))

It was an easy drive back from Phoenix & reminded me a bit of the days when I used to drive, almost daily, the infamous 401 in Canada between Kitchener & Toronto. Nice to dust off some good old superior driving skills again.

As soon as we got back to the rig we started on the assembly of the Ikea furniture we bought to-day. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy Unfortunately that is an area where I do not posses any superior skills so it's always a stressful event, but between the two of us we managed to put to-gether 4 pieces of furniture. We're saving the hardest one, the chair/bed, for to-morrow & that will probably wreck up most of our day. Kelly says we can do it but she is just being her usually silly optimistic self. Me, I'm the eternal pessimist. We ain't got a chance in hell of putting that chair/bed to-gether!!!!

P.S. Can you tell I really liked that Ikea store:))