Monday, April 24, 2017

Cool Friends, Hot Town, Good Times

April 19-23, 2017
Laughlin, Nevada

For the first time since we've been on the road, our "friend worlds" have combined! One of our friends from high school and her hubby are full-timers since January!

It is really cool to have the history of our wonderful hometown, as well as the excitement of this life style in common. Especially with a couple as fun as Dina and Audie :-))) I have yet to remember to get a pic of them!

We have a quick meet up with them in Las Vegas before we all move on to the reunion in Laughlin. And because our homes are on wheels we're able to "move in right next door" when we get here!

Wednesday is another beautiful drive through a very green desert, down a very steep hill, and into our very familiar location - Riverside Casino RV Park. This is our third year here and with FHUs, 50 amp and good water pressure, a level site, plenty of space between sites, and those fun friends across the street, we're happy to be back :-)

We have a tall, skinny tree at the front of our site which blocks our satellite, but since we spend very little time at home, it's not an issue.

Thursday folks start arriving and we spend several hours by the casino pool greeting them and getting caught up.

Every time the sun moves, we tuck in further to the shaded corner.

Jimmy, Kevin and Mike - we visited all of them in our travels, and here we are together again :-)
Thursday night there's already a couple dozen of us.

Cool friends reunited - Jimmy, Coy, Bill, Rennie and Donnie

Stupid doesn't take long.......
6:30 AM comes early on Friday when Jimmy picks Bill up for the first annual golf scramble. I meet some friends for breakfast and then we're off to play in the desert.

Our first stop are the Laughlin Labyrinths, six patterns beautifully laid and well maintained. We each walk one, seeking answers and appreciating the spirit here.

Cheryl, Patty and Dianne
No Sue, we aren't skydiving - but yes, it's very windy!
We had such a fun time.

Our Patty-wind-gauge says it's still blowing......

We get to the golf course as the first team comes in - Donnie, Bill, Jimmy and Harold. Did they win the tourney?

When asked "Who won?" 
In the evening we head to the casino for our meet-and-greet with 200 people - our largest turnout in 15 years! Well organized as always, everyone has a wonderful time getting caught up with classmates, spouses and teachers. Former choir members sing our alma mater with our music teacher, Mr. B. leading us like it was 45 years ago. We get class photos from 1968 to 1979. Our own Maggie Stiles sings and gets the dance floor rockin'. Alcohol and food are consumed. Tessa gets 5000 pets. What a special night!

A gathering of Eagles.

Rhonda was in my class and I haven't seen her or sister Carlene (with her husband) in four decades.

Alumni from our "oldest" class - 1968

Jodee's class - 1973

Bill's class - 1974

Our youngest class (note how much more limber they are!) - Class of 1979

Bill with Mr and Mrs B.
Glad I got to see Jacquie who could only be there the one night.
The answer is yes, this team won the tournament :-) 
Saturday I do something I haven't done in a very long time. In fact, the last time I played Bingo we used cardstock and little colored discs to mark the numbers.....nothing like the fancy "IPads" they use now! I opt for the paper and "dabber" instead, and have a lot of fun with a half dozen friends. Best of all it's smoke-free and very quiet, like the Zen of the casino :-)

Jodee and Diane. None of us won :-(
Bill and I get a nap and head for the Tie Die Booze Cruise. 90 people on a fairly small boat makes for a tight squeeze, but the river is beautiful and the company is the best.



Rennie and Cheryl own the hippie vibe.

What's a hippie?

Anna and Bill

Cruisin' the Colorado River



We had a fun time!!
Some of our high school friends are retiring this year and came up to visit us on Sunday to plan some RV trips together. We've been so excited for them to start traveling too! It's too hot to do much else until dinner.

Yuk!!
I don't get any pics from our final gathering as I'm starting to feel pretty funky. I'm awake most of Sunday night with a hard cough and fever.

Monday morning we decide to stay another day and hopefully I'll feel better.

















14 comments:

  1. There's a flu going around that is a cough and fever. See a doctor soon in case you need an inhaler like I did. I couched so hard I couldn't get my breath and found myself thinking about a tracheotomy. Please, take care of yourself.

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    1. I'm praying this isn't the nasty three week crud that so many people have had! Too much driving to do over the next week :-(

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  2. It was very obvious that everyone was having such a great time at the reunion. Having smaller classes certainly has its benefits. I'm sure Tessa was quite spoiled after all the attention. Love the photo of you and Bill!!

    Hope you feel better real soon. John had this when we were in White Tank. He was only totally out of commission for one day, but didn't have any energy for the few days, but could do happy hour! We were only there for five night so luckily he could drive when we got ready to move on. He had the terrible cough for weeks and just yesterday (five weeks later) he finally made it through a day with little to no coughing. Take care of yourself.

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    1. Everyone did have a really great time - especially Tessa!

      Fingers and toes crossed that I survive the long drive and high winds tomorrow - such bad timing to be sick!

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  3. Looks like a great time. Love that even Tessa has flowers in her hair. Take care of the nasty cough before thinking of heading down the road, please.

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    1. She was a cute hippie girl :-) If the cough doesn't improve we'll reroute to our HMO.

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  4. What a fantastic gathering! And maybe that's the answer to my question--I just assumed you and Bill graduated in huge classes--NOT--just like the Cowboy. I had 155 people in my graduating class. Hope you feel better soon Jodee!

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    1. Bill's class had 48. mine had 45. 300 kids in 7-12 :-)) Every year we gather and folks from lots of classes show up to reconnect. We love it.

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  5. That's the problem with large gatherings...passing those nasty bugs around! Hope you feel better soon!

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    1. Yep, we've been so fortunate not to have a cold or flu in over six years, but with all those "options" in a big group this time I didn't dodge it :-((

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  6. How totally cool to have high school friends who are full timers. I can’t even imagine any of my friends from my former home town let alone college or high school choosing this life. They all think I’m still just a little “far out”. Some things don’t change.

    TWO HUNDRED people. You must have one heck of an organizer! That is just fantastic, what fun. Definitely nice to have a small school. There were FIVE HUNDRED in my graduating class. I'm in touch with one of them at this point. Your pictures are great and show how much fun everyone is having. They will all love reading your post.

    I absolutely love Labyrinths. I had one mowed into a remote field by a stream on our farm. I must walk these. Thanks for telling me about them. They look wonderful!!

    I also am a serious sucker for BINGO. But on an Ipad? Not thanks, give me paper and “little colored discs”.

    Oh dear, cough and fever. That sounds like the crud we had back in February. Hope you get over it quickly. I won’t tell you how long it lasted for us. Hint: I still have a residual cough thanks to Disney.

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    1. I'm really hoping I have the much quicker version that some have had. As soon as I started coughing I thought of your extended stint this winter!! These are some of the most unique labyrinths I've ever seen. The triangle one - very masculine - is especially awesome.

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  7. What a blast! The Tie Dye Booze Cruise is hilarious. Love the photo of you two. :-) And Tessa makes a good little flower child even if she's too young to remember the hippie days (or would that be daze?). So fun that you have good friends joining you on the road. We have friends teetering on the brink, but they haven't yet made the leap. Hope you're feeling much better by now.

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    1. We really did have such a great time!!! Tessa did very well on her first cruise :-) Wish I were feeling better but after seeing the doctor yesterday I'm hoping that will be the case soon.

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