Flying the Coop

It's time for us to hitch up the truck and say farewell to El Centro, California...

We're following the lead of the cute pigeon family living in the palm tree outside my office window and "flying the coop". We've been watching this little family with great interest as the father has busily been finding fill for the nest and the mom has been sitting on her egg(s) for weeks. We've seen on very large egg, so I'm assuming there's only one in the nest. The nest is adorable (it's much larger now - it's been growing daily) and with a "birdseye" view - literally - of this mom, it's been such fun. She's high up in the palm tree and my office window is up in the top part of our coach so we watch each other every day.

We're busily cleaning and packing up the trailer as we get ready to leave El Centro first thing tomorrow morning. The truck is hitched up to the Gypsy Rose and we've got our site nearly cleaned up outside. The only thing left is the girls dog pen and my flowers and plants!

These are my parents funeral plants from 2015 and 2016.
This year mom's plants BLOOMED! They have never done that before!

It's a far different look now than it's been around here with all the boxes all over the coach - inside and out - as I've been scanning day in and day out for 3 months and now gradually fading to nothing. I finished all the scanning last night about 8 pm! There were stacks and piles of boxes EVERYWHERE! I've label and filed every photo, paper, homework assignment, documents, certificates, etc. You name it - it got scanned and filed! Now, I have a bunch of boxes packed up to give to my children and siblings as we travel the country this summer. They can enjoy the same trip I took down memory lane.

The girls all got groomed on Friday, so they are at their peak and look so pretty. Of course, Miss Coco had her bows out in about 15 minutes. She's our tom-girl dog:

Roxy kept them in for 1 day. She's our no-nonsense, don't bug me dog:

And good old Chanel still has hers in her hair after 4 days! I'm pressed! But, then again, Chanel is the girly-girl of the three poochies.

We've had so many fun experiences here and made so many great friends! Our neighbors next door, Richard and Purita left this morning, so no photo. Our other neighbors on the other side, Erv and Jo from Nebraska will be staying here permanently as poor Erv was diagnosed with Mesothelioma while he was here and their treatments are in San Diego.

Mickie (Jo's sister) and Ben, her dog, across the road is leaving tomorrow, too.

Mickie and Ben

Ginger across the way is leaving next week. She's from Idaho; up by Coeur d'Alene where it is very cold and snowy. She along with a bunch of our neighbors have been piggybacking off our Internet, but we don't mind sharing. She has a fun contraption on the back of her camper that he cat can exit through the back window into a 2-3 story cat hotel. Pretty nifty.

Judy and her husband have been very fun. We always seem to do our laundry on the same days and have a fight for who gets to the machines first...I have always lost. Hmmm. I'll have to work on that.

Mary & Roger will be staying for another month before they head back home to New Mexico. Roger grew up in Utah - only about 35 miles from where we lived. He is a master woodworker and his work is just amazing!! Unfortunately, he isn't doing well as he is constantly using an oxygen tank. But, they are such wonderful people.

Everyone is leaving and within a few days this place will be a ghost town. It seems nearly all of Desert Trails is flying the coop. We had one last big farewell dinner on Saturday that the park catered for us. We feasted on Beef, Chicken, Potatoes and Green Salad with an Ice-Cream Sandwich thrown in. Beer was on tap and there was unlimited wine on the house, but we don't drink so we just enjoyed our water. The room was packed all the way to the back wall and over to the exit doors! I will be glad to get back on a healthy eating regimen. With all the scanning and sitting on one place day in and day out I've gained 15 pounds and I need to get that off ASAP. Once dinner was over Richard (our next door neighbor) and John from the band played "On the Road Again" while every danced. It will be sad to go but exciting to move on in the same breath.

A few nights ago we took the girls on their last walk around the park where we enjoyed another wash tub fire pit like this one. Once we get done RVing I really want to make one...or just do it and lug it around. They are so cool and mesmerizing and those vent holes sure let off a lot of heat. Perfect on a cool night any time of year. I think this one below is my favorite one...neat and tidy. It's only 4 pieces: (1) Wash tub, (2) Cement concrete tree rings and (1) Water Heater pan. Simple.

The saddest part of leaving for me will be missing my wonderful yoga friends at Desert Yoga. I started Yoga in January with Sara Rosas (Gentle Yoga) as my first teacher. I've had Jason Barniske (2 Special Classes), Dipa Patel (Hatha Yoga), Brittany Morgan & Gabbee Lofton and Jisel Martinez (Yin Yoga) as my teachers - each with their own special personalities and have made my yoga experience so much fun! Today, Sara was, as should be, my last yoga teacher in El Centro since she was my first, bringing my yoga experience here full circle. I've met some great people also - Emily and Rae, Mario and Nellie. It's been such fun and I'd encourage you to do yoga. It's amazing! It's helped my hip open up so much. I wish I had done it years ago!

L-R: Rae, Sue, Emily and Sara

Nellie and Mario

And, finally, we saw our last movie at the Imperial Valley Mall Theaters a few days, ago - Disney's, A Wrinkle in Time. It was nice to get out of the RV and away from scanning. I really enjoyed this one. Great child actors but I thought the ending could have been stronger. All-on-all, well done.

Tonight, we went to Famous Dave's for our farewell meal. We went about 5:00 pm and it was empty...by the time we left, it was getting full of people. We had the Feast for Two with leftovers for tomorrow night. Great food. Yet another reason why I've gained 15 pounds! Uggh!