The Last Stand Bea often reminds me how fortunate we are that we can live a life like we do. And look how right she is. We do not need to sit out a nasty winter up north, we travel in comfort and every day we can buy our food without fear for the next day. We are relatively healthy, we have lots of dear friends all over the world, but yet we catch ourselves time after time complaining about high gas prices, the pot holes in the road or a closed bridge. :-)) Just to mention a few examples. And yesterday was a day when I really felt like thanksgiving. Whether we call it the Last Stand or the Last Supper, it was a nice gathering with our “family of friends” in the warm afternoon sun. Almost all the meatballs were eaten and yes, there was a rich dessert for Peter and his friends. After supper we lit the fire and were sitting and chatting around until a cool breeze sprang up and made us look for a warmer place. Pulling up Stakes  Today the last day at the Hot Springs, we have to pull up stakes, and start stowing everything away. It won’t be a long drive – just 40 miles to Yuma, but yet it is the final Good Bye to the Holtville Hot Springs. Maybe I take a last soak in the hot water.

The Annual Holtville Carrot Parade


While Peter is still away, I went with a friend to watch the 65th Carrot Parade. Celebrating the  producing and harvesting of lots of fresh vegetables in this area.
I have already seen it several years in a row but, again I took many photos. 

Lots of spectators, the weather was brilliant, though on the breezy side.
All the schools contributed with their music corps, various businesses had their floats nicely decorated.

The Centre Piece of the Day

The Cattle Rodeo Queen

Actually, if you went to see the the Christmas Parade you probably have seen it 
all, but so what? Parades are fun and entertaining. The theme for this season: "Home is Best" and "The Wizard of OZ."

Horses for the Ladies...

The down side of it: It marks the beginning of the end for our stay down here in the California. In only a few weeks time we will be on our way home again.


I let the photos speak for themselves.

Look at that seat!

This horse danced to the beat of the band.

and more cars for the guys..

Thanks for visiting this our page!

We learned that 'the event cooks about 12,000 pounds of specially ordered fresh pork ribs. Ribs are not the only thing on the menu, as tacos and side dishes will be sold by vendors. And for dessert, there will be home-made ice cream.'

12.000 pounds of pork ribs...

..waiting to be consumed

'There will be 750 volunteers and around 1,200 to 1,500 people are expected to visit. All proceeds from the ribs sold go to different charities and programs across Imperial County. 25 teams participating in the rib contest. A $1,000 grand prize is up for the team that makes the best ribs. But most of the prize money usually is donated back. '

Source: "Thousands are expeceted at the Rib cook-off"

Long lines everywhere

It was pretty breezy but that did not deter people from participating. When we (5 adults and 3 dogs), arrived at around 10:30 AM, the place was packed with locals and winter visitors (snowbirds). The aroma of grilled, smoked meat wafted through the air. 

yummy.....

spicy chili

Long lines everywhere for the ribs and other goodies. We got our tickets and found a booth with no line at all. 

...yummy

Their grilled ribs were tasty nonetheless. Additional we got a bowl of spicy Chili. 

From up on the bleachers we got a real good look over the area.

View from the bleachers

Then back again into the line for ice cream.

The dogs tried to get our attention in vain.  

Miesha, Taffy and Molly

We enjoyed great food and good music of three bands. Now we are looking forward to the "Carrot festival" in February. There is always something going on!

Thanks for visiting! (Bea) 

For us snowbirds and boondockers it is important to be not too far removed from common town facilities, such as fresh water and propane supply. Also shopping for groceries should not necessitate a 100mile-drive. 

Thus the small town of Holtville, being 8 miles away is just what we need to have nearby. Holtville has a privately  run dump station two grocery stores and a couple of gas stations. Of course we also receive our mail there and there is a local bank in town. That, pretty much covers the basics. For other things we make the drive to El Centro or sometimes even to Yuma, AZ.

The city of Holtville was founded by Swiss-German settlers in the 1880s often coming in through the U.S.-Mexican border from Mexico. The construction of railroads in the 1890s, the All-American Canal in the late 1940s, and U.S. Route 80 in the 1920s which later was converted to Interstate 8 in the 1970s, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) led to an economic boom in the 1990s and brought more people to Holtville and the Imperial Valley.

The city of Holtville, which was originally called Holton, was founded in 1903 by W.F. Holt, and incorporated on June 20, 1908. The name was changed to Holtville due to a request by the Postal Service because the name Holton sounded too much like Colton, (in San Bernardino County), the regional headquarters of the Southern Pacific Railroad at the time.

The city lies on the northeast bank of the Alamo River formed by the floods of 1905-07 when the Colorado River break made the river's course turn west and filled the low-lying depression of water now the Salton Sea.

The old U.S. Route 80 once ran along Fifth Street through the center of town. A small obelisk in Holt Park, just north of Fifth Street, gives the distances to various points to the north, east and west. U.S. Route 80 has been decommissioned and made a County Route S80 in California.

Much of the east-west automobile traffic has been diverted to Interstate 8, about 2.5 miles to the south. Holtville is easily accessible through the Orchard Road interchange. The newly constructed State Route 7 connects Holtville with the factories and industrial areas of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico.

The city was once joined by railroad to El Centro, but this line (nicknamed the "Holton Interurban"), and another railroad line going to the north, have been abandoned. The closure of the railroad station brought on economic decline to the town in the late 20th century.

The city's major civic event is the annual Carrot Festival, held in late January or early February. It usually features a parade, a carnival and other activities over a 10-day period.

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 Yet another follower has jumped aboard, and I dare say it's someone
I know very well. Wilfried is a fellow I went to school with back in the sixties in Germany. Willkommen an Bord Wilfried! I know Wilfried would prefere everything I scribble in German, but that's too much of a work load.


Thanks for looking in here.

When it hits me...
The ceiling fan in the bathroom hadn't been working for quite some time. My early remembrance of it starts 2 years ago, when suddenly the propeller (made in China-Land??) disintegrated and simply fell off the axle. That's when I went to Yuma to get a new propeller. However, the hole for the axle was too wide, so the new propeller never stuck to it, and ever since, the loose propeller has been lying useless on top of the mosquito screen.
Today I decided to do something about it. First I tested whether the little electric motor was still able to make it turn.


It did not.


I by-passed the switch with the wires and hesitantely, and with a screech, it sprang to life. So the cheap little made-in-China-switch had signed off. Huh, where would I get a 12V switch? My mind was set to one of the auto part supply stores.
There are enough geeks out there always trying to alternate a factory-made product.
So again, I went off to town, this time to the city of El Centro.
At an "Auto Zone" store I stopped and went ransacking the shelves. I found a "toggle" switch which should fit through the hole. 


Coming through Holtville on my return I discovered a sign at the hardware store: "Auto Chip Keys made her". Now, did I mention a couple of blogs back that we had only one car key left? And that one is a chip-key! Yep, you can't start the dang car with just the metal piece, but it's gotto have a programmed chip in the key.
I went inside to check out the offer. 


For less than $90.00 they said they would be able to make the key, which made me a happy camper.  Try a Chrysler dealer and you'd appreciate the $90.00 price tag! 
When the key was done, they went out to the car for probing and trying. After 20 minutes of that, they had found out that our car has a stick-shift and that the clutch needs to be depressed for starting. I noticed their relief on the faces when they came back in. But there was another problem. When I tried the new key in the door (there was no remote on it) I could lock the door with it but not open it.
Store employees tried it --- but it did not work in the lock.
This missing little feature rendered the key pretty useless and I ended up with a full refund, still having only one key.


Being in town I had also gotten a few groceries and on my way back I put in a stop at a Mexican Dougnut joint in Holtville. These guys are renown for the best doughnuts in the Imperial Valley.  It is fitting to say that the two doughnuts are intended for me alone, as I know Bea is wrinkling her nose at such disgusting food.


Back home I mounted the switch, but only after I had increased the diameter of the hole a bit. For the loose propeller I had a special trick up my sleeve. For years I have carried a heat-glue-gun with me, and with that I filled the center hole in that propeller with glue. Then I put the thing into the freezer for the glue to get real hard. 
After 10 minutes in the freezer I took it out and chose the smallest little drillbit I had to drill a new tiny hole through the glue. Then I pressed it hard on the axle and it stuck. I turned on the fan and everything worked. 


That is the kind of satisfaction a handyman needs and I already know how to celebrate. Look down below and you know.

And now it's time to enjoy another bonfire. I just hope that scorpion has disappeared. Maybe I shall have my boots on, huh?

Thanks for stopping by!