Sunday, February 23, 2014

Sort of a lost week.



Location, At home, CA

Sort of a lost week.

Not much got done this week. Just a few odd jobs around the yard and house and a few more in the RV. I did scrub the shower and sinks and dump the tanks last Sunday and vacuumed then vacuumed the floor.

During the week I replaced the stove vent on the outside of the RV. The old one was yellowed and partially broken. I had picked up a new one in Quartzsite for $7.95. Before installing it I painted it white with plastic paint which comes in a spray can. I also had to replace all the old caulking which required some ingenuity on my part. I had caulking but it was old and in lumps. I put it out in the sun for a while to soften it then rolled it out into long rolls like Play Dough. I need it to be thin strips so I flattened the rolls with a wine bottle to the required thickness then cut narrow strips with a knife. This worked well. After installing the vent I caulked around it so no water can penetrate the wall.

I also moved some of our larger ice chests from the garage to shelves in the outside shed to make room for a few more items in the garage. I am trying to get all our food preparation equipment (which is seldom used) in one place.

Today I finally tackled the problem of excess computers. I removed the hard drives from my old XP machine which has just been sitting there for 2 years or more in preparation for taking it to the recycler. I am hanging on to my old Dell XP laptop for the foreseeable future as I use it to run my slide copier. I also got rid of some extra card board boxes I have been hanging on to.

Not a biggy but progress never the less.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Update for this past week.



Location, At home, CA

The wind was still blowing out of the west when I left Boron at 7 AM last Saturday but it was not gusting so I took my time and didn’t push it. There was little traffic at that hour so no long line of vehicles behind me to worry about.

After fueling in Mojave I drove to I-5 on Hwy 138 again against the wind. I stopped near I-5 to have breakfast before I started down the Grapevine to Hwy 126. A short stop in Fillmore and I headed towards home arriving about noon.

I have spent the last week unloading the RV, vacuuming and dumping tanks. I think I am ready for the next trip.

I finally downloaded some photos I took on the last ATV ride. These have been on my cell phone as I forgot to take my camera with me. It is too bad I didn’t get photos of us crossing the water holes in the Bill Williams River. Our ATV’s looked more like amphibious vehicles than ATV’s.

The Venice (known as Venus) McDuffies cabin.


Cabin history.
A gaggle of ATV's.

 The McDuffie cabin was located at a deadend road with no way out except to back track all the way we had traveled. We had hoped to go on through and make a circle route for the day. As it turned out, we traveled about 70 miles all told. Quit a long trip and by far the longest I have done on an ATV.



Friday, February 7, 2014

Heading home.



Location, Boron, CA

Headed home.

I am on my way home after 12 days at Jack and Judy’s winter residence near Bouse, AZ. I am breaking my trip up into 3 legs which should put me home on Saturday in the early afternoon.

I spent last night in Needles, CA at the Elks Club. They have 6 pull through sites with water and electricity. By stopping there I could drive across the Colorado River to the Arizona side and buy diesel much cheaper than in CA although not as cheap as in Quartzsite. I paid $4.24 in Mohave Valley just over the bridge from Needles while fuel in Needles was $4.69. Fuel in Quartzsite was $3.84.
I will fuel up in Mojave tomorrow.

I arrived here in Boron about 12:30 PM after driving in wind for the last 40 miles. I am glad to be off the road as we are having gusts to 45 MPH now. The rig is rocking and rolling as I write this.

My plan is to get up early and hit the road hopefully before the wind comes up.

On Wednesday we had a final (for me) ATV ride. After trailering the ATV’s about 20 miles, we road to the Bill Williams River past the ghost town of Swansea and further on to a deserted cabin. We had to ford the river in 3 spots to continue the ride. None of us got our feet wet but we did all put our feet on the front fenders to stay out of the water.

At one point we were within sight of Alamo Lake which is a long way east of our starting point. Unfortunately, we could find no way to complete a loop ride and decided to back track the same way we had come. Jack did add a few new routes on the way back which added interest.

In all we rode 70 miles which is the longest I have ever ridden. I woke up yesterday morning with my hands twitching from holding on to the handle bars tightly all day. We all had similar problems.

After packing the trailer and getting everything ready to roll I stopped by Bill and Karen’s, and Gary and Norma’s to say goodbye. I also said goodbye to John and Connie and finally to Jack and Judy. I owe them a debt beyond measure for allowing me to stay at their River Front Campsite (private joke) for those 12 days.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Coasting in Bouse.



Location, Bouse, AZ

Greetings from Bouse, AZ.

The weather has returned to the usual Arizona winter weather of cold nights with warm days and wind. However, at the moment there is no wind.

I have been spending my days reading and visiting with Jack and Judy. In the evening I have been doing something I rarely do and that is watching some DVD’s Judy loaned me.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday and we will watch the game at Jack and Judy’s RV.

We do have another ATV ride scheduled for Tuesday. It will be a long ride requiring trailering the ATV’s to the area we want to explore. It is much easier to do that than riding all the way from here.

I have a few photos from last weeks ride. There were nine of us on that ride.

View from Picnic Point near Hope , AZ