Week 116 - Yuma AZ, El Centro CA - 11-02-2008

Greetings from Church, we wish!

Two weeks ago we left the Walmart in Winslow, Arizona. We headed on Sunday morning to Camp Verde, AZ, picked out a church and arrived 30 minutes early. We sat next to this little community church and waited but no one came. So we searched the web and found that the Nazarene Church was not too far away. We pulled into their parking lot to find only seven cars. And church was going to start in a few minutes! We entered the foyer and no one was there, but we heard voices and donuts were on the table. So we waited and waited and no one came out. Curious, Pete wandered the hall only to find out that the service was already in progress! Oops, we came into Arizona the day before and Arizona does not change their clocks as California and New Mexico do.

We were an hour early at the little community church and an hour late to the Nazarene. So we ate some donuts and left! So after a week in Camp Verde and Goodyear, we made sure that we had the right time and the right place for church last Sunday. We left Goodyear and traveled 10 miles west to Buckeye only to discover that the road to this church was dirt! In a motorhome, you don't do dirt. So we found the only church in Gila Bend, AZ and headed out. But by the time we got there, their service was almost over.

There is something to be said about staying put and knowing where your home church is!

Arizona Hwy 85 from Goodyear to Yuma.

Yuma has over ninety (90) RV parks! We drove around and sampled a few and stayed a night at Cocopah RV & Golf Resort. A very nice resort with 18 holes of golf, big pool, spa, exercise room and more. Very nice.

Enter Lauren and Jeanette, stage left.

On August 21st we had pulled into the Elks in Westminster, Colorado. It was dark and as we were parking, a gentleman came out of his motorhome to help us back in. That would be Lauren. We thought he must be the camp host. No, he and his wife Jeanette are just plain hosts, great hosts. We chatted with them the next morning and they told us about the Elks in Colorado Springs, CO. Lauren and Jeanette are Christians and members of the Christian Motorcycle Association. A week later we stayed in Colorado Springs and who did we see? Lauren and Jeanette! They were pulling out and heading to the Elks in Pueblo, CO. The next day we went to Pueblo and camped next to them. On Sunday we had breakfast and went to church together. They were headed to Yuma, one of their two "homes". And, as gracious hosts, they invited us to visit. Warning! If you ask us to visit, we will! And this week we stayed with them. You meet the nicest people when you travel in your RV.

Lauren and Jeanette took us to lunch at Lutes Casino. It is not a gambling casino but an long standing restaurant with hundreds of photos and memorabilia of cars, planes, bikes, guns, girls and everything old! A must see in Yuma. Thank you, Lauren and Jeanette, we look forward to seeing you again.

From Yuma we headed to Sunbeam Lake RV Park in Seely, California just west of El Centro. A very nice park where we enjoyed the heat, the pool and spa; and we got to play pickleball every morning.

We had a very relaxing week, and on Saturday arrived at Indian Hills Camp in Jamul, CA. We have joined SOWERS: Servants on Wheels Ever Ready. This organization partners with Christian groups that need volunteers to perform construction, maintenance and other functions. The volunteers come and stay in their RV's with hookups provided by the project host. The projects are four weeks in length. This is our first project and we are very excited about it.

Praise be to God and to Him be the Glory.

Love, Pete and Ellen

Photos from Nov 2008