** Where we are now**
January 31st, 2006
Currently we are still in the Sonoran desert. Been almost a month now and we are holding in there real well. Getting water and dumping the tanks is second nature now and the solar is doing fantastic! All of our friends are gone now and headed to other places. Today we said goodbye for a while to Terry and Dale and Mark. We will meet up with them in Elkhart Indiana next April for a rally that Terry and Dale are having and we have attended for the last 3 years. We will be back home on about the 5th of April and be there till at least till the 21st. Then it is up in the air as the rally is starting on the 21st and we may come back to Ohio after because of the doctor appointment I have. BUT if I can wiggle out of that appointment we can leave from Indiana making a stop to visit my niece Christine and family Brian and Ema headed for our NEW JOB! Yep we landed a job as camp hosts in Tonto National Forest in Payson Arizona. Elevation 5100', temps in mid summer of low 90's and 60's at night. We will be hosting a part of the campground called 'Horsemans Camp' , it is a section that only people with horses can stay in. Limited hours of 25 per week between us and a salary to boot! That starts on May 1st and goes thru Labor day. Hopefully that will get our foot in the door for other National park jobs. As of now we are planning a trip to the Grand Canyon when leaving the host job as it is only about 275 miles away. From there who knows?
Right now we are waiting for the house to get closed on and soon as that happens we will leave the desert here in destination for the Central California Coast, Morrow Strand Beach and visit our friend Tony who camp hosts there. A couple of weeks on the beach sounds pretty interesting eh! Then when leaving there we will come back thru here headed for Yuma to meet some of our other friends to camp in the desert there for a week or so. After that we will travel with Ken and Kathy along the southern coast headed for Florida (Tampa area) to visit Mike for a week or so. Then from there to Ohio to visit Bill, Molly and kids and check up on Tabitha to see how much she has grown in the last 7 months.
Well it is nearing sunset here 6:10pm and it is going to be another beautiful one. Sorry all of you guys still have to work cause it is just fantastic out here roaming around. Hope you are all well and staying healthy. Till next time, see you under the moon!
January 27th, 2006
Well, our graduation rally is basically over. There are still several of us left and we have moved up front to get off of the rough road we had to travel to get home. We are now sitting pretty close to the front gate 1/8 of a mile or so. Water and dump facilities are much closer. Town will be a breeze to get to now. We finished up our seminars I had planned with Nick Russell from the Gypsy Journal and a guy named Marvin for on the road connectivity that Ken and Kathy ran into. Both were very interesting to listen to. My time as a planner/coordinator have now come to an end and I am certainly going to enjoy that! We have made so many new friends since we have been here it is unbelievable, and yet some of our best have moved on such as Mickey and Patti. They have gone south to Yuma for a full hookup stay in civilization. At the height of our rally we had probably 32+ rigs show up. Altogether approximately115 people have shown their faces here and that is fantastic! Has been a great time but we are exhausted. A couple of my favorite web status people came to join us and that is Tony Cornett and Malia Lane. Malia is still with us but Tony had to return to his camphosting job. I can not thank the two of them enough for showing up here to share our rally with us. Many thanks guys! Looks like the house deal is about to finalize and soon as that happens we are going to move on from here. The dust is terrible but the solitude is great and the sunsets and sunrises (when I get to see one) are FANTASTIC. Everyday they repeat themselves. Today it is near 70 and is suppose to be all next week. The wind is always blowing to some degree but today it is only about 5 mph at best. I just can't believe how blue the sky is and dark the nights are star lit and incredible. Our next move will most likey be the California coast to Morro Strand Beach. Once again it will be boondocking but being on the beach just sounds soooooo good. Malia just got an arial photograph of where we were so when I get a copy of it I will post that. Critter update: So far I have seen, a Sidewinder Rattlesnake, a small Scorpion, multiple lizzards and a Roadrunner. Have not found the Tarantula or Gila Monster and probaly will not. :( but anyway I have met some of my goals ! That is enough for today so we are gonna go in town and get some hot dogs to roast on the grill tonight and some propane to stay warm. So from sunny Arizona, so long!
The picture to the left is of the big tent area taken a week or so ago.The picture to the right is of our RV's where we had the rally. This was after most had left. We are to the right of the road 3rd RV in.
As you can see there is a vast area un-used.
January 23, 2006
Our rally here in Quartzsite is well underway. With a little over 30 rigs showing up and some drop in's during the week. We have a group photo here you can see that it is quite a crowd. We have some seminars happening this week on various topics like camphosting, rv maintenence and metal detecting to name a few. Tonight we are having a potluck dinner with the group and the other night we had a great campfire with donations from most of the campers for wood. Not really to much available here in the desert and you are not allowed to collect it anyway. At the campfire we gave away a bunch of shirts donated by the RV.net forum group and my cyber friend Tony donated some Firedude t shirts. Tony is a retired firefighter who camphosts at Morrow Strand Beach in California. He came to join us for the rally. So we gave away all kinds of freebies. Some other friends of ours sent me coupons for 15% off on anything.
Update 1/24: The most recent updates disappeared because I did not get a chance to finish the update and saved it as a draft so it returns to the previous finished post. Anyway the last couple of days have been great. We have had some seminars on RV maintenence and camphosting, software and Dri Wash and Guard. Tomorrow we are having Metal Detecting and live music but the most waited on is by my friend Malia Lane. She has been a big inspiration for me as she writes and posts the most beautiful pictures and articles on places she visits. I have followed her site for a couple of years now and seen her ups and downs as she goes along. She tells it like it is. If she is happy she posts she is but if she is depressed she tells you so. The most honest site I have ever found. I asked her to come to our rally to do a year book and she graciously agreeded. Meeting her is a special treat for me and many others here. People have read on the websites I frequent, and emailing her personally that she was going to be here and they just flow in looking to find and meet her.
On Thursday we have Nick Russell from the Gypsy JournalNewspaper coming to talk to us and also a guy on Connectivity on the road. Nick is a seasoned RV'er that has been in publishing for many years and produces the paper Gypsy Journal. Him and his wife Terry travel all over the United States searching out back roads and places of interest and reporting on them so the rest of us can experience it. With several years of full time rv'ing under his belt he is a pro at this.
Several of the folks left today and 5 or 6 more are leaving tomorrow. That will leave probably 18-20 still here though. After this week we will move up closer to the road. The 3 miles back here into the desert is a pretty rough ride. I will try to post some pictures later. Our good travel friends Mickey and Patti are wore out with all the dust and heading on to greener pastures and hot showers with hookups! We will miss them but know that they want to get back to traveling. We can connect with them later if they want and share some more UNO games so that I can maybe win a game. We have had the greatest time sharing experiences with them. Good luck guys!
The big activities in town are well under way and WOOOOOO what a mess! Yesterday the traffic was backed up 1.5 miles past our exit out of the LTVA area here and we are 4 miles from town! Cops were having a hayday passing out parking tickets all weekend. We made it into the big tent on saturday. Some pretty good deals there. Elbow to elbow people though and lots of rude ones at that ! But in the overall it was worth experiencing. We will hang out here for a couple more weeks and then decide if we can make it to Morrow Strand Beach (central California coast) where Tony camphosts. Then back to Arizona but down south of here to Yuma to the LTVA (Long Term Visitors Area) there. Cost is only $30 for 2 weeks. We are really getting the hang of this boondocking with no hookups. Be we are both looking forwared to taking a nice long hot shower. Navy showers get you clean but aren't as relaxing.
In hunting for our resident lizzard today, while looking under the rock he hides under I came across a scorpion, but a small one. That is another one off my list. Still need a Tarantula and a Gila Moster! Well it is currently 11:30 here or 1:30 Ohio time and time to shut it down. Will write more when the wind moves me! See ya.
January 16th, 2006
I need to go back and fill in a couple of days. When we left Huachuca City we made a stop in Apache Junction which is right by the Superstition Mountains. The mountains are said to have been the spot of many deaths due to people trying to find the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. I guess they get lost or fall to their death but either way they are dead! We stopped and stayed in a KOA that faces the mountains but we saw no one attempting to climb them then. :) This was a convenient spot to stay as we came this way to visit my Uncle David. We got over there that night we arrived and visited for a while. His son Dick and his wife have opened a restaurant called "Nozzleheads". Dick is a firefighter and is using that theme for the business. Uncle David took us there that night to eat and it was fantastic! We went back on the next day for lunch with our friends Mickey and Patti, Glenn and Diane. Food is great and I have put some pictures here of the restaurant. We had to leave on Wednesday but on Friday was Uncle Davids birthday and they were having a big party for him there. It's a great place to eat so if you are ever in the area please stop by and enjoy one of their great burgers or pizza's. Nozzlehead's Grill & Pub, 4920 S. Gilbert Rd., Suite 3, Chandler Az 85249
We are slowly getting some of our classmates here. We now have a total of 9, 1 coming in tomorrow and 3 on Wednesday and another Thursday. By the weekend most should be here. We are expecting about 40.
Have been metal detecting and snake hunting and neither is going very well. Have found some bottle tops and pull rings buried 4 inches in the ground but no gold. Glenn found a small piece of gold last week in another area near here. Mickey has now bought a detector so I think we will be doing that again real soon. As for snake hunting, no go but we did have a lizard come thru camp the other day and was kind enough to let me catch it for a show and tell period. It was only about 4 inches long and was quite colorful under his chin, a deep brilliant blue with some gold specs. We turned him loose after a quick peek and off he ran. I have seen many so far basking on rocks. The largest probably about 8-10 inches long.
The solar is working well and we have no problem catching up with what we used the day before so that is good. Have added water a couple of times and dumped some of the waste tanks. They have everything here we need as far as trash, water and sewage disposal. There is even a nudist colony a half mile away called the magic circle.
The wind was terrible last night as a cold front came thru. We had winds in the 40-50 mph range! It was good for getting rocked to sleep! They have died down now but the temps will be cooler for about a week only getting into the high 60's :) .
Gotta go eat some goodies over and Mikey and Patti's so that is all for now. Peace out!
January 16th pictures
| January 8th, 2006 |
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| Today I finally achieved one of my goals and that was to find a Rattlesnake! We are walking in the desert about 75 feet from the trailer and Patti say’s “you suppose that is a snake hole” pointing at it with her finger, I said look out there’s a snake! And it was, a Sidewinder Rattlesnake about 10” long just hiding in the weeds! See today’s pictures. Now I need to find a scorpion and a Tarantula. :) I have also included pictures of the lava rock here and the innards of a cactus. Enjoy! |
| Well we are now in Quartzsite Arizona which has been my destination for the last 2 years. Desert is the proper term but not what I expected. I thought we would be in sand with cactus and that’s about it, well there are cactus and big beautiful ones obviously very old. Sand on the other hand is pretty non existent as the ground is almost like gravel but I believe it is probably lava rock. Lots of scrub trees and dead bushes also. There are some large stones that are quite porous. I will add a picture of one soon as I take it tomorrow. The temperature is fantastic, it has been mid 70’s since we got here and today was the first day you could actually call it cloudy and even then it was mostly sunny. Humidity here is like 3 percent so static electricity is terrible. Get out of the chair and get shocked, slide out of the truck and get shocked, pet the dog and get shocked..... get it? |
| In town is quite a show, there are hundreds of vendors selling everything you can image. Surprisingly there are some pretty good deals. People are all over the place and everywhere you look are hundreds and thousands of RV’s of all types. The big climax show isn’t for 2 weeks yet so things will be getting a lot busier yet. Rocks and Gems are a big deal here as this apparently is Gem central. Vendors bring in 1000’s of pounds of rocks and Gems to sell. Services to cut polish and turn your stones into jewelry is quite plentiful. |
| We are currently about 3 miles off the main road. The pavement ends 1.5 miles from where we are. There are RV’s all around us in the distance but none really close, other than there are 4 of us here right now sharing the same space. This should grow to about 50 rigs from our class of Fulltimers we started. There are cactus here probably 20 feet tall. I was checking out a dead one that had fallen a long time ago and was surprised to see that the inside is kind of like a tree in that there is a wood structure but it looks like wooden rope. I will also get some pics of that and post here. Critters are not apparent yet, we saw a dead tarantula at the check in office about 3 inches in diameter. We need to be aware of scorpions, rattlesnakes, spiders and who knows what else. No sign of any living things yet other than I did see a Praying Mantis but wondered what it is eating as everything here is pretty much dead. |
| This is our first real chance to test our solar use. The first day we used WAY to much as expected and it took us all the next day with solar and our little generator to recover. Today was much better and we recovered all the used electric by about 1pm. It takes a little getting use to as today was cloudy so we need to be aware of tomorrows weather to prepare for it. Our water supply is doing well. We store about 60 gallons and have maybe used 8 gallons so far in the last 2 days. Obvioulsy showers are Navy style in that you get wet soap up and rinse off. But at least we are clean! |
| Getting mail is our next obstacle, but we will probably go to a nearby town in California to see about either getting a PO Box or general delivery |
| January 7th pictures |
January 1st, 2006
Well Happy New Year to all of our friends and family! Hard to believe that it is 2006 already. We will be leaving for the desert on tuesday making a stop in Chandler Arizona to visit my Uncle David. We have had a great time lounging her in Huachuca City for the month of December. Today we are going to try to get over to Fort Huachuca to see the museum there. It is still an active Military Base. Interestingly enough down the road on the east side the land is marked off as military installation and warns "no trespassing, artillery impact area!" Probably not the place to go rock hunting I suppose.
I took a drive east thru Texas Canyon to try to find a piece of land he had bought a couple of year ago. On the way there I passed a sign that said Amerind Museum. So on the way back I stop to see what it was all about. It was American Indian relics including some dated BC. Behind the museum is part of Texas Canyon.
This is another beautiful sunset on New Years Day evening. Temps were high 60's with some floating clouds. We sure love this area as every day is sunny and warm and then we are rewarded with sights like this!While taking a hike thru a local State Park I got a shot of this Jack rabbit (Hare). Gotta Kind of look close cause I did not want to scare it away before I got a picture of it.
