Thursday, January 31, 2008

Lots of Company

Location, Bouse, AZ

After a frustrating 2 weeks on Plamosa Road North of Quartzsite, AZ with no internet service, we have moved East 25 miles to our friends Jack and Judy’s property South of Bouse, AZ.

To recap the last 2 weeks: I have posted entries for Jan 16th and 17th and this entry will be a catchall for everything else. There was no internet café in Quartzsite this year. The only public internet access was at the public library which had 6 computers and WiFi access. Needless to say, they were swamped with users and we found it impossible to get a connection so didn’t even try to post anything after that experience.

Quartzsite is a mere shadow of its former self. Oh, there are still plenty of vendors and shoppers but the changes made by the city council as to vendor sites, buildings vs tents, etc, have changed the way people do business here. It seemed to me that most people came just before the big RV tent show opened last Saturday and left on Monday after the tent closed. Quartzsite has become a one-week wonder.

I arrived on Sunday Jan 13th. Budd and Brenda came from camping along the Colorado River on Friday afternoon t he 18th. Don and Bev brought Clyda and were in camp by late Friday afternoon. Dick came Saturday as did our friends Cindy and Gary who flew in from the Bay Area and spent the weekend with us. Charlie, our friend from Pioche, NV came on Sunday.

Clyda went home on Monday with Don and Bev as Craig had a major Doctor’s appointment on Tuesday and she wanted to make sure he didn’t miss it. She came back on Wednesday with Paul and Sandy. Larry and Margot also came on Wednesday. Charlie left on Thursday, Budd and Brenda left on Sunday and the rest of us left Tuesday except for Larry and Margot who had a complete solar system installed and wanted to stay in the area and test it before going home. It was a really impressive installation done by Discount Solar in Quartzsite.

We had rain twice while camped on Plamosa road. The last rain on Sunday was quit substantial for the desert and we guessed it to be about 1 ½ to 2 inches. Some of the washes ran a foot or so deep with water. An inch of rain here in the desert is quit a sight. It doesn’t sink in to the ground but stays on the surface and looks like a lake until the rain quits.


On Sunday the 19th we went to “The Desert Bar” which is North of Parker, AZ and 5 miles down a dirt road. It is only open on weekends during daylight hours and is entirely operated by solar power. There is a band with quite good music which the mostly older crowd likes, a bar, “The Nellie E. Saloon” which serves your favorite libations, and a small food service area with hamburgers and hot dogs. As the sigh said on Sunday, “NO CHEESE” so you get a naked hamburger.
Most of the pictures I took had people in them and I will refrain from posting those. The one here is of the sun shades with the church steeple in the background. As the owner said, “ Every old Western town had at least a church and a saloon”.


We went to town every day to shop and eat. Mostly eat I think. We ate Indian Tacos at our favorite place, bought home made apple pies at Grandma’s Pies, ate ice cream at several stands, and had lunch a couple times at “Bad Boys” café. We toured the big RV Tent Show, which has a lot of STUFF no RV’er would ever use. Who needs a set of waterless cookware, or a “As seen on TV” food chopper. And why did every other booth sell “Genuine Egyptian Cotton Sheets”? It looked like they filled the booth with whatever vendor showed up. Of course, we still bought enough STUFF.

It has been quit cold most nights. Last night it was 32 degrees. It really makes the propane heater run full time. I have gone through 2 bottles of propane since I got here. Those are 7 ½ gallon bottles. Most days have been sunny and are pleasant if you are out of the wind.

Here are some photos taken over the past 2 weeks.

Sunset over Plamosa Road.



Lunch at Bad Boys Cafe.

Desert Bar.

Cocktails around the fire with Clyda and Sandy.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Cold in Quartzsite

Location, Quartzsite, AZ

Boy, was it cold last night! It was only 31 when I got up this morning and 38 in the trailer. I didn’t get up until the sun came up which is about 8 AM.

After breakfast I got my grocery list together, loaded the flat trailer tire in the truck and grabbed the ice chest and drove to Parker, AZ. The first order of business is to purchase a new tire and have it mounted. I also had them check the rim for roundness just in case it got damaged. It was fine but the tire was expensive.

I stopped at Ace Hardware and bought a heavy duty lock for the generator cable and a new lock for the fifth wheel plate in the truck. The old one was a Chinese knockoff which was getting rusty.

I drove up the California side of the Colorado River looking for the Retzloff’s who are camping with friends. I found them at Echo Resort. They have a nice spot backed right up to the river. It was cold and the wind was really blowing there. They will move out to Plamosa Road tomorrow and camp by me.

I grabbed a quick lunch at Jack-in-the-Box and then bought groceries at Safeway. I needed to stock up for this weekend when everyone is here. I will do the meal for everyone tomorrow night.

The round trip to Parker is about 75 miles so I arrived back at the rig about 3 PM. After putting away all the groceries I made myself a cup of tea while deciding what else should be done tonight. I decided to hookup the generators so I could type this entry. They both needed fueling and I got to use my new cable to lock them up.

There are a lot more rigs parked in this area than there were 2 days ago. Everyone is coming for the RV show which starts Saturday. It happens this way every year. It looks like no one will show up but within 2 days, the place fills up.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Arriving in Quartzsite

Location, Quartzsite, AZ

I don’t know when this will get posted as I have not found an internet café here in Quartzsite yet. Truthfully I only did a quick pass through town so I will look more today.

To back up a bit, I did leave home on Sunday morning the 13th. I pulled out at 6 AM with the hope I would beat the traffic through Los Angeles. After a stop in Fillmore for breakfast, I took the 210 freeway which had light traffic. Before I got to Pasadena I heard a loud bang as if a piece of wood had hit the trailer. I managed to pull over and got out to check the tires, etc, but could see nothing so I drove on. Several miles later someone was blowing their horn at me and pointing at the trailer so I pulled over and saw that one of the curb side trailer tires had blown. I managed to get the trailer further off the road and proceeded to change the tire. The new heavy duty jack I had purchased in Wisconsin this summer did a quick job of lifting the axel so I could remove the tire.

Within a half hour or so, I was back on the road hoping the spare would get me the rest of the way to Quartzsite. I made two more stops, one to check the tires and one to put in 10 gallons of diesel which I was carrying with me. It beats looking for a station to fill up while pulling the trailer. Access too many stations is very iffy when you are pulling a 32 foot trailer.

I arrived at Plamosa Road North of Quartzsite in the BLM area about 2 PM California time. I pulled into the same site we have been using for the last several years complete with the same fire ring plus someone had left a little wood for me. Cool! It was windy so I didn’t do much of a setup today.


Trailer at Plamosa Road.

On Monday morning I finished putting down the jacks, putting out the rugs, unloading some of the wood, etc. In the afternoon I drove to Bouse to see the Hickey’s at their property. I had a nice visit.

Jack picked me up on Tuesday and we went to Quartzsite to see what was going on. Vendors are still arriving but some areas are still very empty. I bought a heavy duty cable to lock up my generators but still need to find a heavy lock.

We had a pork sandwich for lunch at Prospectors Panorama which was very good. Jack dropped me off at Plamosa Road and I had time for a shower before I drove back to their place for cocktail hour in honor of Jacks birthday. All of our old friends from Desert Gold RV Park were there and it was good to see everyone. Jack and Judy fed me a great meatloaf dinner before I came back.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Pruning fruit trees

Location, At home, CA

I find it interesting how fast the days fly by. I think I have recently written in the blog but when I check it has been several days.

We are still in a holding mode as far as our trip to Quartzsite goes. I may leave as soon as Sunday or we both may leave as late as Thursday or Friday next week. If I leave on Sunday, I will drive through Los Angeles as it is the shortest route. Clyda would come with the Marsh’s on Friday and return home with them on Monday. Later that week she would drive back by herself and we would spend at least 2 more weeks in the desert.

I have been pruning our fruit trees this week. Late December or early January is the time to prune them before the buds swell. We have two kinds of plum trees and an apricot tree. All are almost 40 years old and have just about out lived their useful life. In recent years they have grown tall to the point that we can’t reach the fruit when it ripens. The birds get most of it. I decided to top them all and see if they will survive and put on fruit.


The fence is 6 feet tall.

One of the plum trees is full of termites and really should be cut down. There are two thoughts on that. If I cut it down, where will the termites go for food? Not that I really care if they get fed or not, but most likely they will go to my house which is full of good termite food. Think about all those 2 x 4 studs to eat. If I leave them alone, maybe they will stay in the trees for a few more years.

After I finished pruning I ran all the branches through my chipper. That gave me 4 garbage cans full of wood mulch. I will let that sit for six months in the cans to heat, after which time I will spread it in the garden along with other mulch.

I try to recycle as much of our garden clippings, grass, etc, as I can to use as mulch in the garden and flower beds. You can never have too much mulch!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Home with more rain

Location, At home, CA

It started rain about bedtime Friday evening in Tehachapi and rained most of the night. Saturday dawned with over cast but no rain. We decided to drive home as the roads were clear according to the Cat-Trans website. We loaded the car and drove everyone to breakfast at Denny’s. After breakfast we dropped Budd, Brenda, and Betty back at the house, loaded last minute items in the car and left for home around noon.

The drive home over the Grapevine (I-5) took about 3 hours and the only rain was a short shower along the Rincon North of Ventura. We were home by 3 PM.

Last night it rained some more and the electricity went off for about 90 minutes. We were about to go to bed when it came back on.

It started raining again late this afternoon. I haven’t looked at the satellite website to see how widespread this storm is but the original forecast was for rain through tomorrow.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Tehachapi

Location, Tehachapi, CA

We still in Tehachapi with Budd and Brenda and Budd’s mother, Betty. Every day we make the decision to stay or go home based on how much work we still need to do on the new laptop. Yesterday we spent 1.5 hours on the phone with Dell, fixing the wireless link to the printer. It all worked last night but not this morning which was frustrating. We reloaded the printer driver from the disk and it is working again.

It has been somewhat frustrating to work with Windows Vista. It also appears there are issues with context sensitivity when dragging files. It has been a real learning experience that’s for sure.

Besides the computer work, we have been watching football games of course, eating way too much good food, and setting a puzzle. We completed one puzzle and started a second. This one is much harder.

We have been waiting for rain for 2 days. It is overcast and stormy looking but so far no rain. It is raining at home and else where along the coast. In some places it is very windy also.