30th Anniversary!

February 7, 1986 my life changed forever for this is the date that I married my soulmate. Actually, my life changed a few months before that when I met Barb and a mere 3 months later we were married. In my early 20’s I thought I knew what love was but it was not until I met this wonderful woman that I truly learned what love is. I often think that there is no way I can love her any more but our love continues to grow and I can honestly say that I love her more today than any point in our marriage.

February 7, 1986

So what does one do on their 30^th wedding anniversary in the desert? Why, you  start the day off with strawberry waffles with a heart and “30”  made out of Redi-whip on it…. and bacon of course! It was a splendid start to the day sitting in my recliner eating waffles with Daisy on my lap staring at the waffle just mere inches from her nose. She would alternate staring at me then the waffle, me then the waffles and so on…as if willing it to levitate from the plate into her waiting mouth. You could see the hope in her eyes… no way Daisy these are too delicious! It was not looking good for poor Daisy, so with less than a ¼ left she decided to take matters in her own hands (paws). She looked at me then the waffle and sneezed! And that is the story of how Daisy got some of my anniversary waffle.

Breakfast complete I went out to work on the truck. Earlier in the week I had loaded up the water barrel to go fill it. Drove it to the water station, filled it up, got in the truck and it would not start! It would turn over but would not start. We’ve all seen that guy….the poor sap who was at the gas station or store parking lot just cranking their engine hoping it would start while trying to ignore all the people around staring at them….ya I was that guy. With time ticking by and people starting to pile up in the water line behind me some guy walks up to my truck and says “Truck won’t start?”. Well, no sh#t Sherlock! With a little help we pushed the truck out of line and I took the walk of shame back to our rig. Barb and I went back with the jeep and towed the truck home (tow of shame). You feel like you are in a damn parade as everyone has to stop what they are doing and watch you go by, seriously don’t these people have anything better to look at? No, no, they don’t.

A few of us (Red, Steve) looked at it, checked fuses, bleed the fuel lines but it still would not start. The next day Dino came over while I was looking at it. It just so happens he has some experience with diesel engines! We were trying to prime the fuel filter when he looked under the truck and noticed there was fuel on the ground under the engine! Upon further inspection it looked like it was coming from the fuel filter. The problem is you cannot get to it without taking off a tire and the inner wheel well.

Since we had day trips planned the next two days we decided to work on it later.  Day trip one included taking Dino and Lisa up to Palm Canyon we hiked all the way up to the palms, took some pictures and relaxed for a while enjoying the view.

 

 

 

Dino and Lisa up top!

 

After hiking down we jumped in the jeep and headed to another area of Kofa for a hike to some remote water tanks and a "Grinding Cave". I had read about the hike in this area from fellow blogger Pam who had hiked it last year. The hike itself was pretty easy but the road in was pretty remote and rough.

Horse Tank

The grinding cave consists of over a dozen ancient mortars or "morteros" which were used by early inhabitants to grind grain several hundred years ago and remain intact today. 

 

The "Grinding Cave" was filled with over a dozen mortars

Some of them are very deep!

Sleeping Man Cave

 

Day trip #2 was a trip with them down to Cibola NWR. Although Cibola was a bit of a disappointment this time as the wildlife did not cooperate.  We had a great time and picked up a new fuel filter in Blythe on our way through. 

 Dino took this picture of us as we were walking through Cibola

A pair of Pintails resting on the shoreline

Found this guy looking for a snack

 

Fuel filter in hand I set out to get the truck running again. Borrowing a jack stand and jack from Red I removed the front tire, removed the wheel well and old fuel filter. Now just to get the new one on. Dino was there to help and with seeing all the activity at the truck several neighbors started to arrive. Not counting Dino and I, 9 others were there to lend support. We installed the new fuel filter, crossed our fingers and turned the key…..nothing! Just turns over and won’t start. We set out to pump and bleed the fuel filter in case there was air in the lines. After 10 minutes of pumping and alternately trying to start the engine it finally started! Hopefully that solves the issue.



Dave, Steve, Dino and Red (not pictured) lent a helping hand.

Our plan to end our anniversary day was to head to Grubstake with Dino and Lisa to watch the Superbowl. But before we did that I headed over to Steve and Dianne’s to chat with them a bit. They told me that they received a call that day from their credit card company asking if they had charged any transactions in Georgia at a Waffle House. No, they were in Arizona, not Georgia……their credit card had been compromised! Bummer…. After chatting with them for a bit we picked up Dino and Lisa and out to watch the big game. Half way through the first quarter I received a text from the fraud department of my credit card company asking me if I made a purchase at a gas station in Georgia. When I texted “no” I received another text to call them immediately. Ends up there were 4 other fraudulent charges….all in Georgia. Two people credit cards compromised in the same day? Coincidence, I think not. The only place we used our cards in common in the past week was the Pirates Den restaurant in Parker where a bunch of us had went last Saturday. I texted Steve and Dianne to let them know what happened and they responded that another couple who were with us had been compromised as well! I am not pointing fingers but just pointing out the similarities…… By the way, the day could not have ended better…. The truck started when we left and the Bronco’s won!

Our geocaching adventures this week included two days of riding with Dianne, Steve, Red and Pam. We put on a lot of miles and managed to find over 60 caches! We also got a few random caches with Dino and Lisa when we were out and about.


Thanks for the "Doggles" Hobie!

There was one really cool stop called Magic Footprint where there appears to be a footprint impression in the stone. You have to used your imagination but you can kinda see it.... (photo compliments of Steve)

Look just to the left of Steve's foot



Barb looking for a cache



Dianne headed off for another one



Steve.....look no hands!



Lunch stop!

We used the last of our eBay money to buy a new camera this week! We got a Panasonic FZ200. Fellow blogger and virtual friend Ingrid from Live Laugh RV takes absolutely stunning photographs and recommended this camera so if I buy it my photos will be equally as stunning right? Well not quite…… although I read an eBook on how to use this camera most of what I read disappeared when I got into the field. I did notice an improvement in my photos during this first week, they are nowhere near Ingrid’s. Time and practice….. That's the beauty of this lifestyle, there is always more time!

See ya next time!