Another Busy Week

Its been a fun and busy week.  We have been enjoying increasingly warmer weather ...it was 80 degrees here today!!  I think yesterday was just as warm but we spent the day four wheeling and were shaded by the roof of our razor all day.  I can't sleep right now so I am up on my computer at 1:30 am listening to the coyotes howl!!  Seriously!

Let's see - last Friday we drove to Blythe, California,  with Ed and Jo who are from Longview, Washington.  We found a fun produce stand and bought all sorts of fresh lemons and tangelos, lettuce and tomatoes, pistaschio's and dates!  Then we went to KMart and to Albertsons....much better prices than here in Quartzsite.  Blythe is just 28 miles from Quartzsite.

Sunday we drove to Dave and Rhea's winter home in Yuma to watch the Super Bowl. Betty and Don were there too and we had a fun time - Rhea had been cooking all day long I think and Betty brought some yummies and so did I.  (I took a small basket of dates and cut them in half, removing the pit, and then spread cream cheese on them and topped them with a half of a walnut.  Delish!!  We got the idea from the samples at the produce stand in Blythe.  I normally don't care for dates but combined with the cream cheese and nuts they were great.  So we visited and ate and visited and ate...the guys watched the ball game while we visited some more.  I was/am still gimping so they babied me along but I helped out where I could.  Finally about 9:30 pm Ed and I left and drove over to the Homewood Suites where we had a room reserved....and wonderful, wonderful, they had a BATH TUB!!!  After weeks of just showers I was able to soak to my hearts content and it sure felt good on my sore knee.

Monday morning we found a store about a mile away that rented wheelchairs and got one for $15 for the day and went to Mexico for the day.  We met Rhea and Betty and Donnie for lunch and had a fun time looking at all the stuff for sale.  Bought a few things, not too much.  Most snowbirds go for the dentists or eyeglasses or prescriptions.  It seems like they have the same merchandise for sale year after year and most of it comes from China...not Mexico!

Back to Quartzsite that evening and then we hopped up the next day and headed into town to do our laundry.  Ed carried all the bags of dirty clothes in for me and then he went looking for stuff to build a wind break (for those days that are warm except for the cold north wind) and I crutched around filling the washers with clothes and soap and bleach...then on to the dryers....it seemed like it took all day but we finally got home with clean clothes, towels, sheets etc

Wednesday was crafts day for me and Ed kept busy with odd jobs all day long.  Thursday we met our group of 4 wheelin friends at the guard station coming into LaPosa South campground where we stay with our rigs loaded onto trucks and trailers and headed East on Interstate 10 about 30 miles away.  That was at 8:30 in the morning so we were all well bundled to keep warm because it was still in the 50's when we got the bikes unloaded and headed down the trails.  I should say all of us were well bundled except for Edward who was in his short sleeved shirt and knee length jeans!  I got cold just looking at him!

 We went back into the KOFA Wildlife Refuge and saw some gorgeous country.  Here we are heading up a hill with Jo on her Polaris right in front of us.

 Lots of thorny trees, bushes and Rocks....that is what we see everywhere we look around here in this Desert of Western Arizona.

 I took several pictures trying to get the three or four machines all in a line going up this hill but the sun was right in my face and I couldn't get a good shot...so again, just Jo.

 I thought this escarpment was interesting - also the fact that it continued on in front of us across the road made it even more so!

 Looking down at a desert canyon as we drive along the route.

 One of our stops at an old  cabin built in the 30's - one of the few cabins built with wood in this area from long ago.  Most were built with the easiest materials at hand...which would be ROCKS.  There were 10 rigs with 12 people in our group.

 Kathy and Carolyn - getting ready to go check out the cabin.

 Just a beautiful mountain

 or should I say cliffside

 We got to see lots and lots of Saguerros, Palo Verde trees, Yucca plants, paddle cacti, Teddy bear choya, plus a few yellow flowers and lavender flowers!  By the time the day was over we had taken off the coats and hats and gloves and sweatshirts and were down to jeans and t shirts - nice weather for four wheeling in February.  We traveled a total of 70 miles on bikes over some really rough but beautiful terrain.  It was 5:30 pm by the time we got back to our trailers.  My poor knee was just aching from all the jouncing it got over those rough roads....and that was from JUST sitting in our side by side.  I wouldn't have been able to go if I had been driving my own ATV.

 This was last months trip - you can see we were bundled.

 The Ocatilla have blossomed and now their fresh new leaves make them look so pretty - they are still covered with thorns though.

 A view up the hill

 I took these pictures from my 'front porch'....I wanted to get the skyline all lit up just as the sun is going down.  This is the view looking East.

 This is the view looking West....it is beautiful

 This is our yard.  As you can see, Ed has spent a lot of time laying out the driveway (hence the rock lines) and it lights up at night with our solar lamps.  You can see Ed and Jo's trailer ---they are are nearest neighbors to the South of us.

...this is the 'wash' next to our trailer...I just hung a hummingbird feeder in that middle tree yesterday as the hummers are starting to show up.

Just another view....you can see that we are well spread out here but we get together with our neighbors almost every day with different activities at the group Tent (BIG) ...dances, parties, TV, movies, karaoke, crafts, etc.

Next time I will take pictures of our trailer and 'front porch' or rather big mat that we set out chairs and chaise lounges on.

Anyway - that was the pictures (plus some) of Thursday's big ATV ride - we left our trailer at 8 am and got back home at 6 pm, so it made for a long day.  I figured that I probably redamaged my knee with all the bouncing and jouncing but my knee felt better the next day than it has in a long time!!

Friday morning we got up, ate breakfast and headed in to town to the 'QIA for their local swap meet and Ed set up his two generators that he is trying to sell plus his motorbike he wants to sell.  I added some necklaces and watches.  There are so many people here making jewelry that it is really hard to sell any necklace sets but the watches were popular.  I sold four of them.  Ed didn't sell anything.

Ed went over to K&B tools to get what stuff he needed to build us a five foot tall windbreak to go in front of our trailer while I went after groceries and the mail.  We met back up and headed back to the trailer about 2 pm - it was so warm in our trailer we immediately had to open all the windows and vents and the big back door to make it livable.

Today was a relaxing day - reading, making a new necklace, visiting with friends and then going over to the big tent tonight to see War Horse.  Goooooood movie!!  We thoroughly loved it both of us -- I cried the whole last 30 minutes of the movie.
'
Tomorrow is church and Monday I need to go find somewhere to get  my nails done and then Tuesday is the poker run (ATV ride) over in Brenda.  Should be fun.

Quartzsite 2011

We have been down here in Quartzsite since Thursday afternoon. It stormed the first several days but now it is trying to warm up; - We went to Church on sunday - I still feel like I am one of the youngest women there!! I was talking to one lady that used to live in Kaysville and I asked her if she went to Davis - she said yes, but didn't graduate as she got married instead. She would have graduated in 1946...that was a whole year BEFORE I was even born!

We went on a fun four wheeling trip yesterday with our friends that are already down here - there were about a dozen people and about 9 vehicles. Quartzsite is ticketing people that are riding double on normal 4 wheelers because of the sticker on the machine that says we shouldn't do it. We have our razor that of course rides two people but we also have my Suzuki and we want to be able to have kitty and Larry ride on it!! I don't know how we are going to handle that.

Today is supposed to be 4 degrees warmer than yesterday (probably about 65 NO WIND!! There is a good breeze blowing but there is not a cloud in the sky! Beautiful!) I am sitting at the laundromat right now (we could have waited a few more days before doing laundry but I wanted to check for emails!!) As soon as I get back to camp I am going to find a lounge chair in the sun!!

Tomorrow all the ladies in our group are going to carpool up to the Blue Water Casino outside of Parker and go to lunch and then to a movie!! FUN!

Not too many open air stalls left - we definitely missed the big shows ...oh well, less temptation to spend money.

We are enjoying ourselves and watching lots of movies so far because of the cooler weather.

We are missing you all but excited to have this vacation!

Home away from home!

It has been fun to ride around out big camping area and see how some of the people have set up their homes away from home. I took some pictures and I hope you can appreciate their beauty! Remember please, this is a DESERT...a very dry desert!

These people have created a border of large rocks - most of them are about 8 to 10 inches in diameter...so they have been gathering rocks for some years. You don’t find these lying around in the desert - you have to travel to and through the mountains surrounding the Quartzsite town. I am sure that this arrangement has taken years to create. They probably have been coming back to this very spot every year for a long time. I particularly like the large piece of driftwood from which they have hung the basket of flowers and have placed a wooden sign with their name on it.

I took three pictures of this household - they have used solar lamps to delineate ‘their’ property line. I counted 48 lamps!! It is probably so bright around that trailer after the sun goes down that they can’t even sleep at night!

These are some of the many desert landscapes created to add beauty to their areas - You have to give them credit for creativity because there surely isn’t much to work with!

Another ‘front yard’. Notice also the fenced in area - they probably have a small dog that likes to play outside. Also - note the satellite dish!

This is the house that made me decide to create this blog!! Just as I was ready to take a picture a jeep pulled into the yard and I didn’t want to upset them by taking a whole slew of pictures so I only took the one. This area is huge with rocks lining the driveway to the trailer, a second driveway to the garage; the big garden area in front and rocks lining both sides of the road leading farther West! It is saying “this is our house!!!!!!”


This is a huge rock picture - (the rocks on the top of the picture!) we didn’t get off our bikes to go figure out what it is a picture of but there have been lots of hours put into it. Interestingly enough, there is no trailer spot near it. Its simply there!

This one was the most amazing. This guy is actually growing a garden!! We stopped and talked with him. He is from the West Coast of British Columbia. From the Frazier Valley - I think we were supposed to know all about that place. He says its near Vancouver and it has mild summers and mild winters. A gorgeous place to live!! He drove down by himself the first part of December and set up his tent and planted his garden. It has gained him some notoriety which is fun. He says he has lettuce, spinach, swiss chard and green peas growing. He has already eaten some of the lettuce. He drove an OLD toyota bus all this way and was there alone. He talked about how he had to cover the garden several times during December to keep it alive and also one or two nights in January (this week being one of those times). He had wind breaks on both sides of his tent. He said a harsh wind came out of the South one night and ripped his tent pegs out and damaged his tent somewhat but he was able to repair it. So he put up the black mesh wind break. Then the wind did the same a couple of weeks later from the North so up went the white wind break on the North. He says he hasn’t had any trouble since then. He said that next year he will probably build a small greenhouse to protect the garden and help it grow faster during December. This was his first year in Quartzsite and I told him that he just plain didn’t give himself long enough to have everyone tell him he COULDN’T grow a garden in this desert!! He laughed and agreed. He told me that he had to water it twice a day - realize please there are no hoses to drag over and turn on. He has to drive up to the water and fill his jugs and bring them back for the garden. Interestingly enough - he had no shower or toilet facilities for himself. But his garden was well cared for.

We have seen lizards, a chipmunk, a jack rabbit, and a couple of coyotes while we've been South this year. Also, each night about 11 pm we are seranaded by a whole passel of coyotes - since I am warm and protected inside my trailer I can really enjoy listening to them.

We will be leaving :-( this warm mecca on Friday morning, probably spending that night in Beaver and then heading North again on Saturday until we arrive home. We are definitely NOT ready to face the ice and snow ... you can bet when we finally retire we will stay All of January, February and MARCH!!! You will see us for Easter! I do miss you all and you are ALL in our prayers every day. See you soon.


mom

Quartzite, the pictures

It is Tuesday morning, January 27: I woke up at 7:30 and it is too cold to get up so I decided to blog. I just downloaded my pictures to my computer so I can share some of what I see every day with you all. I know I won’t get any sympathy when I say that it only got up to about 55 degrees today - but there was a bitter cold north wind blowing all day so dad and I stayed in the trailer all day. Hope-fully tomorrow we can go wander through the bazaar again. I understand it was really cold up North today too and the storms from Sunday and Monday are now causing all sorts of havoc clear across the nation. (It is now Thursday and much much warmer. We will go four wheeling this afternoon - yeah!!)

Anyway - this is a picture of our home away from home. As you can see we have ‘prettied it all up”. The morning after we got here I opened the door and here was the rock decorations with the solar lights - Ed had gotten up a couple hours early and had set out a row of rocks and then a circle of rocks with a solar light inside it and then more rocks and then another circle and so on. We bought the woven mat down here and it matches the color of the trailer really nice. The hummingbird hook holds the pretty metal wind decor so we are in great shape.



To the right of the trailer is my whirligig that blows in the wind. Here is a picture of it but its not blowing enough to make it spin. Then of course, the American Flag is always flying every day.


This is a tree that is just behind our trailer - it has such a personality. I think it is gorgeous! Of course it is desert green. And its prickly. Everything in the desert stings, pokes or pricks!!





I mentioned in my last blog that I ran into a friend that I used to work with at Job Corps and she and her husband went four wheeling with us.

I thought that this picture shows very well the type of country we are traveling over and camping in. Lots of rocks and desert landscaping. Very dry country.






Here is a picture of Jimmy and Jana and our friend the teddy bear choya where we stopped for an hour for lunch. We hiked around and sat and visited and relaxed. The choya are so big and full this year...I don’t know if its because of last years cool winter but they all looked so healthy this year.



The red barrel cactus show up well in this picture. I thought they were so pretty I had to buy some!! Ed and I picked out about six or seven different types of cactus and we are going to plant them out in front where the trees used to be. The only one I didn’t get that I would like to was the saguerro. I hope we can keep them dry enough!!!



The picture on the right is just a gorgeous canyon above Dripping Springs











This is the actual springs - very small and just dripping, not running!

Quartzsite

WOW!! there are sooooo many people here right now. But the weather is nice - it has been in the 70's almost every day although a little too windy. It rained off and on yesterday but still is warm. We have had fun shopping in the open bazaars - all the booths are crazy...and they are selling all sorts of fun stuff.

We bought a propane campfire that I am going to love. You can expect to get to roast marshmellows and hot dogs at grandma's house from now on.

We have tried all week to get online - the local library has Wi-Fi and we go and get the code and then can't get on because there are way too many all ready on line. I was lucky today.

I have taken time to read and comment on everyone's blogs and they were so fun. I am not even going to take the time to read my emails today. I've been here almost an hour just reading the blogs!

My Aunt Bonnie passed away - she is the one that lives in Littlefield AZ and we knew the end was near. We stopped on the way down and visited with her a little bit. She has had emphysema for years and now her poor heart simply gave out. Dad and I will drive up for the graveside services while Ed heads to Dayton Ohio. Littlefield is about 15 minutes from Mesquite.

Your cousin Sheena has thyroid cancer. I know very little about that cancer. Tbey removed part of her thyroid and when it was discovered that it was malignant they have set up another surgery to remove the rest of the thyroid. We will try and keep you all updated on it. SCARY and she is only 34! Same age as Mauri. Also, I just heard that Misty had a miscarriage on Monday and is broken hearted. Kevin's family are really suffering right now. Keep them in your prayers

I ran into a friend at Church Sunday that I worked with at Job Corps just before I quit in 04. Jana and her husband Jimmie also have 4 wheelers and we all went for a LONG ride on Wednesday. IT was great fun. Your poor grandpa was so totally exhausted - we were gone for five hours although we did stop at dripping springs for lunch and stayed about an hour there. So only four hours of riding. (He wasn't sure he could handle two!!) He was a trooper though and seemed to enjoy it all.

Well - I've been gone for almost four hours doing laundry, shopping and blogging. I better close and head back to the trailer.

We love you all and wish you could come down and enjoy the warmth for a few days with us. Take care - I love you all.

mom