Sunday, January 30, 2011

We’re in Yuma, Arizona

 

Sunday, January 30, 2011                                                                                                                                  Lorraine’s report

We’ve moved on and are now in Yuma, AZ. It’s so nice to have water, 50 amps and sewer. After 7 days of dry camping in the dusty desert, it’s nice to have all the comforts of a stick and brick home. I know Norma and Joy were happy to move into town and get power, water and sewer so they could have a nice hot, long shower. I think they missed that the most, and although they were only 5 days at Quartzsite, it was a bit long for them.

As it seems to be the case for us, we were busy the entire week, except for last Sunday. We got the blog done and Chuck and I stayed home the entire day. He watched the playoffs with Richard, Mark and Steve, while the gals, Patsy, Sue, Sandy, Joan and I played “Pass the Love” all afternoon. Fun times for all of us.

For dinner, Sandy and I threw together our food and had a nice dinner for the 4 of us. Rob/Norma and Rick/Joy came over for a visit and to share their experiences of shopping at the Big Tent at Quartzsite.

Monday morning found Chuck having the Hydro Hot service man come in to service the Hydro Hot. He was here from 10 am until after 2 pm. There were several problems, and the guy would have to finish the job the next day.

When the repair man left, 4 couples left the Tiffin Group to head over to join the RV America Group. Steve/Sandy, Rob/Norma, Rick/Joy and Chuck and I made it over to their campsite by 3:30 or so, while Chuck stopped at the extremely busy dump site to empty the black tank and take on water.

We enjoyed a very nice 5 o’clock happy hour with all our “old” friends and met some new friends there. I’m not sure, but I think there were at least 13 or 14 people in that group and we made it 19 or 20. There was a lot of food, fellowship and laughter around Virgil’s campfire that evening.

Tuesday found us waiting for the repairs to be finished on the Hydro Hot. I think he had to replace a circuit board for that area, an unexpected expense. When the repair man was done, we went in to Tyson Wells for shopping/looking.

We spent another wonderful evening eating and visiting around Virgil’s campfire until it got to cold to be out. That night was also the new bee’s initiation into the “Trailer Trash Club”. Each year Mike has a ceremony for any man, new to the group to be initiated in a short ceremony, the only requirement is that you have to spend one night camping with us at Q.  I think there were 5 new couples.

This year was a first; Linda talked about doing something for the gals of the group last year with me and she started the “Quartzsite Diva’s” group for the gals. Each gal who has stayed at least one night became a Quartzsite Diva. It was a lot of fun for everyone. Thank you Linda and Mike, it was fun!

The gals then came into our rig where Linda taught us a new game called Blind 5. Linda, Sue, Sandy, Norma, Joy and I had a great time playing and enjoying each other’s company.

We also had to say our “goodbyes” to Richard and Patsy, who would leave the next morning to head back to Texas. Thank you both for all the great times we had with you; we will miss you and wish you safe travels and we’ll see you “Down the Road”.

Wednesday found us heading into Rice Ranch, Tyson Wells and to finish up the “Big Tent”. Virgil and Carl had to figure out a wind break for us to eat out, as the wind was blowing pretty hard for 5 o’clock. We didn’t have a fire that evening and we went into Norma’s rig to play games fairly early, since it got cold and was so windy out.

Thursday we said our “goodbyes” to Steve/Sandy and Mark/Sue and Debbie/Bob. We headed out with Rob/Norma and Rick/Joy and went on into Yuma with our destination being Fortuna De Oro RV Park on the east side of town.

We arrived with no problems and were put into spots right next to Interstate 8; the gal at the office said there was a big cement wall blocking the highway noise. Wrong, we spent two nights right by the freeway, with Norma and Joy having to put in earplugs to try to get some sleep.

Chuck wanted to go to Cracker Barrel for dinner, so off we went. We enjoyed a very nice evening there.

Friday morning Chuck took Rob and Rick over to check out a place that puts a water filtration system into your rig; we got it last year. They came back and off we went to the Yuma Swap Meet. We all enjoyed a warm sunny afternoon looking and shopping around. But I must say the swap meet is a lot smaller than in previous years, with lots of shops gone. I was told by one shop owner that a lot of the people have moved to the old Mervyns store site and are now selling there. We will have to check that out.

Joy’s sister, Angela and her friend, Gordy were in Yuma for a bridge tournament and wanted to meet up for dinner. So I got on the phone and found a place that took reservations for 8 people. We ended up going to the Outback Steakhouse for a very nice dinner with a lot of laughs and some great food. Again, we had to say our “goodbyes” to some new friends.

By Saturday I finally caught up on the laundry, with me washing up the last loads-10, with all the rugs. Chuck, Rob and Rick were going to stay home and wait for the guys that came by the other day to wash and wax the rigs and cars for $100.

While they were doing that I wanted to head over to Dillard’s with Norma and Joy for some looking and then to Wal-Mart for restocking. The gals liked Dillard’s and ended up buying some great outfits. Wal-Mart was packed with everyone coming out of the desert.

But before we left, I wanted to stop by the front office here and see if my friend from Bellingham, Diana could do something for us about the unbearable site, with all its noise. I have known Diana from our Hospital Auxiliary Days, when she was president and I was the treasurer.

Well, Diana took very good care of us and got us moved to a much quieter area away from right next to the freeway. So the guys moved the rigs while we went into town for shopping. Thanks guys, we all appreciate what you did for us.

We arrived back home in plenty of time to get ready to head out with some of the people from Q to go to see the Yuma Lights. The Yuma Lights are phenomena out in the desert about 10-15 miles outside of town on a hillside. So we packed up a bunch of food and headed out. There were about 18 of us that enjoyed another great evening of a fire over which we cooked hot dogs, since the grill wouldn’t light, food, fun and what I thought were the lights. We had a very enjoyable evening.  Thanks Joe and Alice for showing us the lights 4 years ago.

That was our week. I want to wish Sue D a very “Happy Birthday” on Monday. I also want to say “Hang in there Manuel. We’re praying for you.”

Until next time……Lorraine

 

1/30/11                                                                                                                                                                              Chuck’s report

Ok, we are back into a much more normal life for us, we have electric power, water and a sewer hookup, life is good.  We spent 7 days in Quartzsite boon docking or camping without any of the above utilities so we had to conserve water (read that as short, Navy showers) and watch our electrical usage.   We had to run our diesel generator at least twice a day to recharge our batteries and anytime we needed more power, ie to run the microwave or when Lorraine used her hair drier.  We got better at this as the week progressed but we like to not have to worry about it when we have full hookups like here. 

Let’s see, last week we were still with the Tiffin group, about 50 coaches, until Monday afternoon.  I had an appointment to get the annual service completed on our Hydro-Hot diesel boiler.  They showed up right on time on Monday morning for what was supposed to be about an hour’s worth of work, changing filter, changing the burner tip and cleaning the combustion chamber.  We found a couple of other items that needed taken care of and they had to trouble shoot it.  Ended up they found we had a bad control board and they found a small leak that they would have to take care of the next day.  So after about 4 hours of work, they finished as much as they could do and told us to let them know where we were moving and they would see return in the next morning. 

We were planning on moving over to camp with the same group we’ve been with for the past three years, RV America.  Steve/Sandy, Rob/Norma and Rick/Joy were also moving over with us.  While I was getting work done, Rick/Joy went to get in line for the sewer dump and to take on water.  With all the folks camping in the desert and only two sewer dumps and four water hookups, there can be quite a lineup and wait to get this done.   Lorraine had already put everything away so as soon as the maintenance guys were finished, I headed over to get in line.   Lorraine took the car and helped direct all the others over to our new spot, I got there about an hour and half later after dumping our holding tanks and taking on a full tank of fresh water. 

We got set up and ready for the normal 5:00 get together they have each night, weather permitting.  This has evolved into a full meal deal, with the gals outdoing themselves with snacks and other goodie to eat.  We all fill our plates, sit around the campfire and visit until it gets too cool, then head into someone’s rig for cards or dominoes.  After all the fresh air, I think everyone sleeps pretty well while in Quartzsite. 

Next morning the techs for the Hydro-Hot showed up to finish up with us.  They changed out a pop off valve that was leaking and  changed out the control board.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out they didn’t charge any labor time, they worked on our system for over 5 hours and only charged us for the annual maintenance and the cost of the parts they replaced.  So even though the control board was expensive, the lack of labor costs made the bill much less than what I was expecting.  They also cut an access panel to allow easier access next time we need to do the annual maintenance work.  All in all, I am pleased the work they did and the price they charged. 

Tuesday and Wednesday we returned to town to complete our visits to all the shopping areas in and around Quartzsite.  We didn’t find too many things we needed or wanted, maybe we’ve finally outfitted our coach the way we want, yea.

Our friends from Louisiana, Mark/Sue came over to RV America group on Wednesday also.  Sue is a professional painter and has been painting name signs for folks to hang in their windows.  We got one from her a couple of years ago but they have a different style now and Lorraine wanted a new one.  Sue has been so busy painting these, I think she said she’s painted ten while in Quartzsite, that she didn’t have much time for anything else.  But we did get to visit with them a bit more while they were here.

The RV America group was much smaller than the TRVN group we were with, 12 rigs compared to 50, so we could spend more time getting to know everyone.  Mike/Linda sort of set this up every year and in the past years they have initiated any of the guys who were there for the first time into the group and give them a baseball hat with the words “Quartzsite Trailer Trash” on it.  This year Linda also surprised all the gals with a visor hat with the words “Quartzsite Diva” on it.  So now all the guy have their hats and the gals have their visors too, thanks to Mike and Linda. 

Thursday morning found Rob/Norma. Rick/Joy and us getting stuff put away and getting ready for travel.  Steve/Sandy stopped by for a quick visit before we left too, they had left the day before while we were in town and we didn’t get to see them off.  So with handshakes and hugs all around and lots of “See you later” type of farewells, we started down the road towards Yuma.  We made one stop at the Yuma Proving Grounds to visit the big guns then pulled into Fortuna De Oro campground. 

They assigned us to a spot way in the corner, up by the freeway.  They said it had a concrete wall to block the noise but it didn’t work too well.  We tried it for two nights before we decided to ask for new spots.  We are now settled into our new, quieter spots more in the middle of campground.  Our dog, Misty, doesn’t much care for this place, she was raised in the Northwest and had a big, grassy back yard, she really misses the grass, this place is all gravel, concrete and asphalt, no grass anywhere. 

We have friends who have a lot here in the foothills area, in fact, we’ve stayed on TJ/Sharon’s lot with them in the past.  They had a house built there last year and they’ve been down since September, I think.  We asked them if we could have our mail sent to their house, we would pick it up from them, saving us the hassle of going to the post office.  TJ called us to tell us our mail had been delivered so I made a quick trip over to pick it up but we didn’t stop to visit with them yet. 

Our first evening here we headed out to Cracker Barrel for dinner, one of our favorite restaurants we’ve found.  They have lots of them down South but this is the only one we know of from here to Washington.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal, Norma said she calls that kind of food “comfort food”, I call it Southern style.  I’m sure we will be stopping by there before we leave here. 

Friday we headed out to the Yuma Swap Meet.  Lots of the vendors from Quartzsite move over to the swap meet here plus lots of vendor that only display here.  We spent about three hours going up and down the isles and once again we didn’t find much we couldn’t live without.  I think there are less vendors this year than in the past but one of them told us some vendors have moved to a new spot, we might have to check it out later. 

After the swap meet, we returned to the rigs and got ready to meet with Joy’s sister, Angela and her friend Gordon, for dinner at Outback.  We had a good dinner and a very good visit. 

There are a couple of local guys that do a great job of washing/waxing people’s rig that come to the campground here in Yuma.   We haven’t washed ours since before Christmas and it’s showing what a week in Quartzsite can do also.  So we told the guy to wash them on Saturday morning, wax them Saturday afternoon. 

Well, they didn’t show up on time and by the time they did come by, the gals were already in town on a shopping trip and we guys were in the process of moving to our new sites.  I told the guy where our new sites were and they were supposed to show up in about an hour but once again, they were late.  We made arrangement to have them show up early on Monday morning, it they are late once again I think we will just go with a different business this time.  But here’s hoping they show up and do a good job.  They charge a lot less than the guys in Palm Springs but do a good job, or at least have in the past. 

Last night we met with three car loads of folks who we were with in Quartzsite at the RV America group to head to the Yuma lights.  Our friends, Joe/Alice, introduced us to these three years ago.  There is a hill out in the desert that has some sort of unexplained lights that show up after dark.  These lights are more like a backlit fog, appearing randomly for differing amounts of time and differing intensity.  The first year we were there, we were amazed and having been unable to come up with a definite explanation of what causes these lights.  Everyone who has seen them go through the same thought process as we did, lights from the nearby trains or cars from the freeway, reflections from the train or planes, some sort of gas from the mountain to I don’t have a clue. 

The first year, the lights were “out” a lot and each year we’ve seen less and less of them.  Last year was a “bust” as the lights never did come out for our viewing, this year there was some sort of lights that showed but I think it was different that what we’ve seen in the past.  The folks who have gone last year and/or this year haven’t seen them as well and they are pretty much non-believers in them but I still remember the first year and still have hope they will “return” next time we go out. 

But even without the lights, we still have a good time with all who were there.  I think we had 18 people in our group and there were three other groups close by.  We had a fire going, cooked hot dogs over the fire as we couldn’t get the Bar-B-Q to light.  We all had a good time, a good visit and most said they would return another year, hoping for a better viewing then.  I doubt we will go back this year, once a year is good enough for us, even if we don’t see the mysterious Lights Of Yuma.

Our plans are to stay in Yuma for about another week or so.  We will be walking across the border into Mexico to Algodones on Wednesday and Thursday to visit our dentist and so a little shopping. There are lots of pharmacies, dentists, eye glass places, liquor stores and locally made “stuff” that make up this border town.  I know most of the Mexican border towns are having lots of gang problems but there aren’t bars and such and the town is only there for the day tourist, sort of closes up at night I’m told. 

Once we leave here, we will head back to the Bay area to visit with our daughter and grand daughter once again.  We will be there in time for Susy’s birthday on the 16th.  Rob/Norma and Rick/Joy will be leaving here on Thursday or Friday, heading back towards their homes in British Columbia.  They will be there about a week ahead of us, I hope they get all the bad weather out of the way before we get there.  We will probably show up somewhere around the third weekend in February as my j-j-jo-job starts on March 1st and I have to have a physical and drug test first. 

And now for some pictures of our week. 

The Tiffin group at Quartzsite, lots of Tiffin Motorhomes here. 

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Setting around the campfire with RV America group.

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Another sunset. 

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Linda took this picture from the roof of her motorhome. 

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The guys getting their Quartzsite Trailer Trash hats and joining the club. 

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Lorraine and Linda with the new visors for the gals. 

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On the road to Yuma.

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Lots of crops being grown around Yuma. 

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The tunnel we have to go through to get to the Yuma Lights. 

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Around the fire at the Lights. 

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So that was our week once again.  We are sure having a good time down South again this year, don’t know why we waited so long to come down.  It’s a good life for us.

 

Thanks   Chuck

Sunday, January 23, 2011

We’re in Quartzsite, Arizona

 

Sunday, January 23, 2011                                                                                                                                       Lorraine’s report

Hello once again from Quartzsite, AZ. We are parked here in La Posa South with about 50 plus Tiffin Motor Homes and a variety of Some Other Brands or “SOB”. We came here on Thursday from Palm Desert. While the weather here has been great, it is quite a bit cooler than in Palm Desert, with the highs in the mid 60s, with lows down to the lower 40s.

We are here for the annual motor home show held here every year, with thousands of other motor homes that come to the desert to dry camp, some for as few as a day or two up to weeks or even months. We must be crazy like the rest of those attending the goings on here, because we enjoy doing this once a year. Now mind you, I still like having 50 amp, water and sewer, but I can do this week here at Q for the enjoyment we get in seeing some old friends and making new ones. Sacrifices have to be made, sometimes for the common good.

This past week was more of the same. Sunday we spent a quiet day home, watching the Seahawks lose.

Monday was going to be a girl’s day out, but it didn’t quite make it. The gals had other things going on and I never got together with them until late in the day. The guys, Rob & Rick and the gals, Dorothy, Melissa, Joy and Norma joined Chuck and me for a late lunch at the buffet at Augustine Casino. We played a bit, and then headed over to Shields Date Farm and Store so Norma could get some dates and date shakes. We spent a quiet evening home after that.

The next morning found me headed over to Wal-Mart to get my hair done. My goodness that place was jumping; the 3 workers had at least 10 people waiting in line to get their hair cuts, colored and perms the entire time I was there.

I have decided I need to find a new gal to do my hair whenever we are back in the Palm Springs area, since the hair dresser changed my formula again. The last time she turned it too orange while this time she made it too dark. Thank goodness my hair grows fast.

When she was finished, I did my shopping for coming to the desert here. I think everyone else who was coming to Q had the same idea because it was so packed in the grocery part of the store that even some of the shelves were empty of your basic food items. Chuck and I spent another quiet evening in.

Wednesday morning found Chuck and I headed out to Costco for the rest of our supplies for Quartzsite. We finished up and took the groceries home.

We decided we wanted to go to the Salton Sea, about an hour away from us, since we hadn’t been there before. We enjoyed a nice drive there on a sunny, warm day.

When we arrived at the visitor center at the Salton Sea we got out and were overwhelmed by the smell of rotting fish. We walked on over to the edge of the water and saw lots of dead fish with lots of birds feeding on the fish.

We headed inside the visitor center to learn that there had been a huge fish kill two days earlier from the water temperature turning so cold, below 60 degrees. The hosts said the fish were Tilapia, a warm water fish from Africa, and that there were 10,000,000 fish in the lake there.

We watched a short movie on the history and formation of the Salton Sea. I was surprised to learn that the Salton Sea is the largest lake in California, and sits directly on the San Andreas Fault Line. Like Death Valley, it is below sea level; currently, its surface is 226 ft below sea level. There are 400 different bird species that have been spotted there on the lake. We learned a lot of information in a very short time and enjoyed our visit there.

From there we decided to head on down to try and find Slab City. We knew it was close to Niland, CA, but we didn’t know where. We went too far by one town, and then stopped to ask how to get there. We found it after we stopped a second time to ask for better directions.

We were surprised by what we saw. Slab City is “The Last Free Place.” Squatters and snowbirds have taken up roost at an old, abandoned military base, once called the Marine Barracks Camp Dunlop. It was shut down back in 1961. Some military servicemen remained after the base closed, and people have been living there ever since. There is no charge for parking or camping. There is no running water or electricity. Just the slabs from the old military buildings remain. Most of the campsites are marked with a trailer – other sites just have piles of junk strewn about. Some trailers are well kept and others not well kept at all. One hill side where the caves are is painted boldly.

Chuck had commented on a run down looking trailer/rv park on the way to Slab City. On the way out Chuck made another comment saying that those old, run down rigs in the trailer/rv park looked good after seeing the ones in Slab City. You just never know what you will see on the road.

On the way back home Chuck dropped me off at Casino 29. We were meeting Rob/Norma, Rick/Joy, Tom/Dorothy and Melissa for the dinner buffet. All of them except us and Tom/Dorothy had vouchers for a free buffet dinner. They wanted to use it before we all left the area. We all met up and enjoyed a wonderful meal together before we left the Palm Springs area the next day.

Thursday we were on the road by 10 am. I really enjoyed our time there in the Palm Springs area and look forward to going there again.

We were into Quartzsite by 2 pm, I forgot we were loosing an hour heading east and going into Mountain Time.

We were happy to see our friends, Richard/Patsy, Mark/Sue, and Steve/Sandy when we arrived. We set up the rig and visited a bit before heading out to dinner with Richard/Patsy and Steve/Sandy. Dinner was at The Grubsteak where we all had a good dinner with tons of food.

We got back home and Chuck and I headed over to see other friends from Yuma, TJ and Sharon. Chuck had a call from TJ at dinner, and said we would try to visit them before they left for back home. They were here at Q with Larry and Kathy and 3 other friends, just down the road from us. They came up from Yuma to ride their ATM’s and explore the area. They had a nice campfire going and we enjoyed a nice visit. We’ll see you all next week in Yuma.

Friday found us getting out of here after a slow start. We went over to explore the “junk/antique” area of Q. with Richard/Patsy, Steve/Sandy and Mark. Sue stayed home painting the name signs you put on your rig, for her various clients for orders she took here at Q.

The guys took off one way while the gals stayed together going the other way. We got a call from Chuck, asking if we wanted to head over to another area. We wanted to go so headed back to the cars.

Well, when we arrived, we learned Richard had locked his car keys in the car. We decided we would take Richard back to his rig to get his spare keys. Patsy, Mark, Richard and I rode back with Chuck; Chuck dropped us off and took Richard back to get his car.

We are here at Quartzsite with the Tiffin Forum Group. Most of the people here have a Tiffin built motor home, but there are other types of rigs here too. The first scheduled event was a “Meet and Greet”. Four o’clock came and everyone showed up for fellowship, good food and visiting. The organizer started us off with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Two fires were started when it started cooling off.

When it became too cold for me we headed into the rig for a nice game of “Pass the Love” with Steve and Sandy.

Saturday we head off to the big tent with Richard/Patsy, Steve/Sandy and us. Again the guys and gals split up. The big tent was packed with everyone that came to see and enjoy Quartzsite. We finished up and headed back to the rigs, none the worse for the wear.

Everyone rested since the Potluck Dinner was the scheduled event for the evening. Again everyone enjoyed a great meal with too much food and great fellowship.

When it started getting cold, the gals, Patsy, Sue, Sandy, Joan, Joy, Norma and I came to our rig and played “Pass the Love”. Sue told us another way to play a shorter game which we did with everyone having a lot of fun.

So that has been our week. I would like to wish my niece, Ashley a very Happy Birthday on Tuesday; also, my nephew, Carl a very Happy Birthday on Saturday.

Until next time……Lorraine

 

1/23/11                                                                                                                                                                                  Chuck’s report

Wow, another busy week, I just can’t seem to get this retired, slower lifestyle down I guess.  But I’m working on it, I hope to have lots of practice. 

We started last week with us still at 1000 Trails in Palm Springs.  We were able to watch the Seahawks play their playoff game which they lost to the Chicago Bears.  The Seahawks didn’t play a very good first half and by then they were out of the game, shoot, maybe next year.

Monday we spent time with our friends, went to the buffet at Augustine Casino then to Shields Date Farm.  Shields has been in business for over 100 years growing and producing dates from the palm trees.  They have a store where you can buy lot of date type items, other food stuff, tourist trap junk and such.  And of course, they have an ice cream fountain where you can by a date shake, very good by the way. 

Tuesday cleaning day around the coach once again.  Lorraine wanted to get all of our clothes washed before we headed to Quartzsite as we wouldn’t have any utility hookups there.  She then took off to her hair appointment and I continued cleaning up while she was gone, even to point of giving our dog a bath.

Wednesday we made a trip to Costco to get the last of our supplies for our week in Quartzsite, we’ve learned from experience to bring what we need, there aren’t any grocery stores or such here. 

Later we drove down to the Salton Sea, home of the largest lake in California we found out.  This lake is below sea level so it’s very salty but there are lots of fish in it and LOTS of birds around it.  They had a huge fish kill two days before we got there and the place was smelly but still we were able to walk around and we learned quite a bit about it from a movie and the hosts at the visitor’s center. 

We’ve heard about Slab City for a few years, an old military base where folks stay.  They call it the last free spot because the isn’t anyone in charge, no city or county government to bother them and they have a free life.  Some of the folks seem to be down and out and their places show it.  Others have nicer rigs and seem to be more snowbirds type, just there for a place to park their rigs without any interference from officials.  I will try to add some pictures of the place but they don’t show it off very well.  After visiting here, I’m glad we don’t have to live there, that’s for sure. 

Thursday we got on the road, headed for Quartzsite.  We’ve been here before, this makes it four years in a row we’ve come here for RV week.  In the past we’ve stayed with a different group, this year we decided to stay with a group of Tiffin owners.  There are supposed to be  almost 60 rigs here and I would say we are close to that, we’re spread out and cove a big area.

When we got here and set up, we visited with some of our friends who were already hear, Mark/Sue, Richard/Patsy and Steve/Sandy.  We also met lots of others, many who’s name escapes me but all nice folks.  Later we went to dinner with the above named friends and had a very good time visiting and eating.  It’s been awhile since we’ve all been together as not all of them were here last year and therefore everyone had some catching up to do. 

Later we drove over to visit with our friends, TJ/Sharon and Larry/Kathy, who came in from Yuma to ride their four wheelers and do Quartzsite for their first time.  They are planning on leaving today but I haven’t heard if they’ve changed their plans or not.  But in any case, we will see them in a week when we head to Yuma.

Friday we took tow car loads of folks into town to “shop” on of the areas.  This place, Tyson Wells, is mostly vendors set up for the season, lots of rocks, gems and such, clothes, tools but mostly junk.  When we got ready to leave, it seems Richard had locked his keys in his car so we made a quick run home, dropped of some folks, picked up his keys and then everyone got a ride back to the campsite.  Richard was pretty good about the whole thing and promised to buy us all dinner for any inconvenience he may have cause us, (at least that’s what I’m sure I heard him say.)  I don’t know when he is planning this big event but I’m sure he will let us know. 

That night we had a Meet and Greet here at the campsite.  Everyone brought some food, we lined up and had a prayer and said the pledge of allegiance then loaded up our plates and ate.  Rob/Norma and Rick/Joy were staying in Ehrenburg at a campground but they happened to stop by to find us just about the time we lined up to eat they were able to join with us, meet some of the folks and find out where they would park the next day when they moved over to here. 

Saturday we headed over to the “tent” along with what seems to be 100,000 other people, it was crowded.  We only stayed there for a few hours, didn’t buy much but did look around and see who was there.  It was too crowed to do much shopping as most of the vendors we were interested in had folks standing three deep, waiting their turn to talk, get information or buy whatever.  We quickly had enough and came back to the coach to get ready the evening’s affair, a pot luck with all the folks staying here with the TRVN group.  That’s Tiffin RV Network, an internet site with a forum and such, set up for Tiffin owners and anyone else interested in learning about Tiffin Motorhomes.   It was from this forum that we all got together here. 

So once again we had a good meal and a great time visiting with friends, both old and new ones.  It’s tough to meet and talk with all the people here but we are sure trying to at least say Hi and shake their hands.  Everyone has been nice and friendly and very supportive.  Sure a good group of people here, that’s for sure. 

This morning they have it set up for anyone who wants to, to cook an omelet in a bag.  They have some cookers going on, put the eggs and whatever fixings in a seal-able sandwich bag, put the bag in boiling water for 14 minutes then open and eat.  We decided not to attend this morning as the wind is blowing and it’s a bit too cool for us but there was a large group that did show up and they said it was worth it, even with the wind blowing.  Correction, Lorraine took the bags out and they cooked the eggs and they were good.

Everyone has to run their generators for electricity and their heaters or whatever they have to keep the coaches warm.  I think everyone is following the generally accepted practice of observing quiet hours from 10 pm until 6 am, not running their generators or engines during those hours.   But boy can you hear them start up at the crack of 6 and by 7 I think almost everyone is running their generator, charging their batteries, running their microwaves and such.  We can use everything in the coach, with the generator running, as if we where hooked up to 50 amp power in a campsite.  Tiffin’s motto is “Roughing it Smoothly” and that’s what we are attempting to.

This week the weather has been cooler than what we were experiencing in Palm Springs, by about 15 degrees.  The highs have in the low 70s, getting down to high 30s at night.  We also had some wind the day we arrived and the wind is blowing a bit again this morning, making it feel colder than it really is.  The sun, however, is shining brightly and It’s starting to warm up once again, life is good.

We plan on moving over on Monday afternoon to stay with the group we’ve been with the previous three years here.  We have friend there we want to visit with and catch up the happening in their lives since we saw them last year.  It is amazing how we can see someone a year later and almost start the conversation off where we left it a year ago.

But we will soon have our fill of this boon docking stuff and head out to a campground.  We are thinking we will leave on Wednesday, head to Yuma and find a campground there for a couple of weeks.  We haven’t spent any time yet trying to figure out where we will stay or make reservations but I’m hoping every place won’t be full.  If the number of folks we can see camping out here in the desert and the size of the crowds in town yesterday are any indication, I think there are more people here this year than any year we’ve been here, hopefully because the economy is improving and they are feeling better about things and able to travel more.  Only problem with that, if it’s true, there will be more people trying to do what we want to do and you know about supply and demand. 

So guess with that, I’ll add some pictures and get this posted.  We plan to go to town again this morning and I want to be back in time to watch the NFL divisional championship games this afternoon.  Here’s hoping the winds die down and the temperature warms up enough that we can turn on the outside TV and have group over to watch with us.  I only have one team I’m rooting for and that’s whoever is playing against the Steelers, in this case that would be the New York Jets.  As far as the NFC game goes, I’m just hoping to see a good game played in some cold weather. 

 

The Salton Sea

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The fish kill.

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Those are dead fish, not rocks.  It’s like that all along the shore here, lots of dead fish. 

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Here’s Slab City.

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On the road again, here is the Colorado river, crossing into Arizona.  

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In Quartzsite, heading towards the BLM land area where we are going to camp. 

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Mark, Chuck, Robert and Richard.   And the guys at dinner. 

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Patsy and Joan.  Lorraine and Sandy laughing at something.

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Lorraine and Sandy.  A huge seafood sampler plate, I didn’t see anyone eat the whole thing. 

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Charlie and Steve with their seafood sampler plate.  They both had take out boxes too. 

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The group at Quartzsite. 

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The food set up on the tables. 

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Lined up for food. 

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Another set up the second afternoon. 

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Lorraine, Steve, Sandy, Patsy and Richard. 

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Sunset from our site. 

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The gals playing Pass the Love at our place.  They wouldn’t allow the guys in with them, must have been talking about us. 

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And now to get this posted. 

 

Thanks   Chuck