Work, Work, Work

Not on the bus this time, but a REAL job!

We spent the last few weeks just outside of Yuma, Arizona on some BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land out in the California desert. We were only 8 miles from Yuma and only 3 miles from the Mexican border! Very peaceful, very sunny and warm, but sometimes very windy. And of course, no wi-fi. Which is part of the reason I haven't updated in such a long time. The other reason is that I've been very busy working.

"Working? But we thought you were retired!" Well, not quite. In order to make this work pemanently we need to have some cash coming in. So I went to look for a temp job in Yuma and found one at Penn Neon Sign Co.

Penn is owned by Perry Penn, the son of the founder who started the company after serving in WW2 in 1946. They employ about 17 people and are a full service sign company serving all of SW Arizona and SE California. I was a helper in the vinyl dept. under my new amigo Geraldo, a twenty-year veteran of Penn and really decent guy. Geraldo lives in Mexico and has to cross the border every day, which can take an hour and half each way!

I gotta say that everyone I worked with there was great. Perry is one of the best people I've worked for, very fair and straightforward. Ron Contreras is extremely knowledgeable about the business and I very much enjoyed talking with him. Carlos and Hebert (pronounced ay-BEAR) in the fabrication dept. went way out of their way at every opportunity to lend me a hand. I often felt like I was in their way but they made me feel very welcome on their turf. Javier and Ryan really helped me out with everything they could and I definitely had fun giving Rodney a lot of crap. Danielle had a lot of patience with me trying to figure out time cards and work orders.
I miss all of you guys and I hope to be back again someday!

While in Yuma we attended Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Pastor Kugler went my alma mater, Manitowoc Lutheran High School and knew my late uncle Eugene. We met many poeple there who knew some relative of mine, but we also found someone we knew from years ago when we live in Stoddard, WI. Ralph Proksch and his family went to our church there when he was involved in a car accident and almost died. They moved away to Apache Juction, AZ until a number of years ago when they moved again to Yuma. He is mostly confined to a wheelchair but is in very good spirits. We hope to visit with him when we return to Yuma.

Right now we are in San Diego, CA. After I left Penn, we went to a bluegrass festival in town (which would take a whole blog in itself) and drove out here for a few days. For a big city, it is absolutely beautiful. We spent an afternoon at Balboa Park and the whole next day at the San Diego Zoo which was wonderful.

Next, we will be going to Tucson, AZ after a short stop in Yuma.

Sorry for no pics, but we need to check out of our site by noon and it's almost 11:30. Hope to update more soon!