Test

Quartzsite and Bloggerfest

We like Quartzsite  but not in January while the big RV show is on, this year we had a couple of reasons to want  to come  here and share the desert with  several hundred thousand RVers.

We had been trying to hook up with our friends  Dianne and Tom  since October, somehow life got in the way and last week was the time it worked for us and them.

Dianne and Tom were camping with their friends from the Escapee group  Classless Class, the day we arrived two couple were putting on their Quesadilla and Margarita night.
  We were invited to the campfire and enjoyed a quesadilla and a margarita complete with a salted rim. Everyone was so nice and made us feel very welcome.

Tom and Dianne 

Bob Richie took this picture, he and his wife Karen are from Chase BC

We have never camped with a group before, but it was fine, even with our three dogs, Most of the couples had left  by the end of the week. Unfortunately several people came down with cold/flu so we didn't see too much of them
Skip was really interested in the windscreen Tom had built, so Tom assembled it so Skip and Robbie
could have a look.

Skip and I attended the 2nd annual Bloggerfest in Quartzsite last Saturday. We were actually in town last year , but didn't attend mainly because it was too overwhelming for me. I get very nervous and uneasy in large groups of people.  I regretted  that decision  for a whole year.


This year I was  determined to attend  and I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach. I really wanted to see  Al and Kelly,and there were bloggers attending that I had met  over the years. Plus I was hoping some of the people I had been reading for years would be there.

Kelly with Marykay and Craig

Lorne Green the back of  Ivan and Retired Rod, I didn't know everyone

We are both so glad went.  It was fun to see our old friends and meet new ones. We finally met Croft, who we was one of the first blogs we discovered, and Sue Malone who writes such an interesting account of her and her friend Mo's travels.

Croft .. George and  Suzie on the left

Al

Sassy 

It's really  awesome to be surrounded by so many people with the same love of south west and the RVing be it full time, part time or any time.

Thanks again George and Suzie for organizing and getting the word out about Bloggerfest.

Jean

We Turned Left

We had intended to leave Ogilbe Road and go to either Quartzsite or Joshua Tree National Park, the night before we  were to leave we decided to go to Ajo.  Ajo and Darby Well Road BLM is one of our favorite boon docking spots.

We loved camping a long Darby Wells Road

We were on the road by 8 AM, but by the time we dumped our tanks  and took on water at the Giant/76  gas station in Yuma, stopped at Walmart, and Tractor Supply ( like  Buckerfields ) and got propane in the foothills, it was almost noon. We stopped at Date Land for a date shake and drove straight to Ajo, and turned on to Darby Well Rd. We knew that the mining company had fenced  along the road, and that are favorite camping spot likely wouldn't be available. We stopped unhooked the car and Skip went in search of a spot. It was a major disappointment when he couldn't find anything we could fit into. The one place that was big and available was at the Y in the road and it was littered with rusty cans and broken glass. So we hooked the car up and headed 10 miles down the highway to Why and the BLM at Gunsight Wash.

And are we ever glad we did. We really like it here, we have a big private site along the wash, It is so green here, lots of Mesquite Trees, Palo Verde and Desert Broom, some of the Creosote bushes are in bloom.

Our Site

There is a camp host here,  we had to sign in, but she said the ranger hadn't bothered to give her the proper forms, so she didn't care how long we stayed. There are about  a dozen or so RVs here, but there are many many sites.

There are lots of coyotes here, so the dogs have lost the freedom they  enjoyed on Ogilbe Rd. The coyotes know that they are here and have got really bold coming close to the RV several times a day. I am never fast enough with the camera to get a good picture of one.

Jake almost 12 years

Jake is doing ok, he's given us a couple of scares this trip,but the last month he has been pretty good.

He is full of lumps  and doesn't go on long walks, but he is still really strong, and doesn't appear to have  any pain.

Our Big boy

There is nothing much at Why except a gas station  and Granny Macs Restaurant, and three Rv parks.

We go to Ajo for our groceries, Olsons IGA is a great store, we've always liked shopping there.

It's also an Ace Hardware.

Ajo also has the coolest library, or at least the coolest library  building.

We are going to hang out here at Gunsight Wash until Monday when we are heading to Quartzsite to catch up with our some  of our boon docking buddies. The big RV show will be on but we can avoid
most of the crowds by staying out of town, We did go to the big tent last year, the only thing we saw that we wanted was this beauty.

Jean

The Old Plank Road.

A few years ago  we saw a reference to the Old Plank Road that  was built to across the sand dunes to to shorten the route from San Diego to Phoenix,

 We knew roughly where there were preserved remains of the road and on Sunday we  set out to find them.   Grays Well rest area is in California roughly 16 miles east of Yuma  on highway 8, at this time of year there are lots of atvs, dune buggies  etc on the sand dunes  surrounding the rest area.

The Imperial Sand  Dunes are quite high  and we saw these brave souls on the top of  one across from the rest area.

They look like little ants 

Until I zoomed in

Looks like a lot of fun.



 We  drove down the dunes access road from the rest area and at the end of the road we found the
fenced off area that contains about 1500 feet of the plank road.

This is what  a section of road looked like in 1916

 A hundred years later

The road was built in sections  and set in place by cranes. The sections were built in town of Ogilby

.

Not much left of some sections

There is an interesting article in Desert Usa   about the building and the demise of the old road, basically it was  just too difficult to maintain and despite a rebuilding by the government it was only
used until about 1926.

We also saw  George and Suzie  this week, they are staying at Pilot Knob RV Parks just a few miles down the road from us. We had a good visit sitting in the sun catching up on all the news. We will see them again  in January  after the big show in Quartzsite.

Suzie and George

We are getting ready to leave Ogible Rd, either Sat or Sunday, We are heading to Joshua Tree BLM for awhile, it will be colder than here but everywhere seems to be cold this winter.

Our Site

Did you know that the Guinness Book of World Records says that Yuma is the sunniest city in the world, not the hottest, just the sunniest.

Jean

Desert Winds Make It A long Day

Like everywhere else in south west Arizona the winds came with a vengeance, the forecast was for the winds to begin at 4 Am, which they did, at 9:30 pm they have finally eased a bit. When the winds blow that  hard there is nothing to do but wait it out.

Just before dawn

The sun shows a little

This was our view the rest of the day

There is probably fifteen RVs out there.

We were lucky in that we are parked along a deep wash on our north side, so although we were rocking in the wind we didn't have as much dust.

We are still on Ogilbe Road and we are so ready to move on, I have another dentist appointment next Tuesday, and then I don't have to go back for three weeks, so we will be on the road to somewhere likely either Kofa  Wildlife Refuge or Joshua Tree Park,  Maybe both.

This is  the Christmas morning full moon, the Nikon Camera's battery was too low so I just used the Canon point and shoot.

Skip says it looks more like a Halloween Moon.

This was Christmas Eve Sunset

I just lost a whole paragraph on Christmas Day,   So I'll just say it was a good day we didn't do anything but make dinner.

Jean

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND A HAPPY SAFE HOLIDAY SEASON


FROM JEAN AND  SKIP

A few pictures of the fire damage at Mittry Lake

When I wrote the last blog I couldn't find all the pictures I took of the fire at Mittry Lake, I still can't upload pictures in Windows 10...last I checked blogger wouldn't work at all in Windows 10, so I am still uploading to Skip's laptop, and mailing the pictures to myself and accessing blogger through chrome.

These pictures give a better idea of the extent of the fire.

That is our rig in the distance,

I know quite a few bloggers are having problems with live writer, that is one of the programs that
was removed when  windows 10 reinstalled  on my computer.  I  miss it too.

 Skip is coming along with his boat. It is a 1949  Chis Craft 19 ft Runabout.

We visited with  Denise on Thursday, she's loving it at the lake.

One more week and  I go back to the dentist, the last of the stitches has finally dissolved,so I must be healed up. One appointment for impressions and one more for the  fitting of my new partial  and I am done.

We are trying to decide where we are going after we are done here. We are really missing Borrego it is probably our very favorite spot, but there are others too,we like Ajo  a lot.


Jean

Mittry Lake and Ogilby Road.

Since my last post we have spent a couple of weeks in Quartzsite , part of the time with  friends from

Nanoose Bay. We went with them to Mittry Lake, we weren't aware that there had been another fire,

last August, this one started at the boat launch and burned towards the campsites. It is quite a mess.

We stayed a few days and after they left for Apache Junction we continued on toward Yuma.


We are staying just off Ogilby Rd. we have been here several weeks and will be here at least two

more weeks. I had a run in with a dryer door, ended up with a bloody lip and a broken  eyetooth. I

made an appointment with Nina's dentist, Dr Eva Urena .I was  hoping for a quick repair but she was

unable to save the tooth.  So it was pulled two weeks ago and I don't  go back  until  Dec.21.





Her Office is in the bottom corner.



Denise is now at Mittry Lake, and we had lunch with her  the other day. It was so good to see her.

Skip has been working on his model  boat, it is slow going, because he doesn't want to make any

mistakes, and he has had to special order some items.

My computer is still the same, I did reload Chrome with no difficulties, but I still can't import

photos, or access the apps that were removed. I believe it has to do with my Samsung computer, not

being compatible with Windows 10.


Jean

Lone Pine to Lake Havasu and Windows 10

Last post we were about to leave Carson City on our way to Lone Pine,  we decide to take the dogs

for a quick walk, that's when we noticed  a large swelling under Jake's armpit and up on his shoulder.

Jake has a lot of lumps but nothing the size of this one. We were lucky enough to get an  appointment

 with the Docs  Veterinary Hospital  in Carson City, the swelling was a lymphoma. The vet decided

to treat it with  antibiotics, in case he had  an infection. He's finished his two weeks of antibiotics,

some of the swelling has gone down, although he has  had some swelling of other lumps. He isn't in

pain and he is eating well most days. Jake is almost 12, which is pretty old for a big dog, so we keep

our fingers crossed  that he will stay mobile and pain free.


A day later  than planned we headed for Lone Pine, what a beautiful drive, the road , Highway 395

was good most of the way and the  traffic was light. We spent the first night boon docking just off

Mount Whitney Portal Road, our Verizon signal was poor to nonexistent.

Our boon docking spot.


The next day we moved to Tuttle Creek Campground for seven days.  The  mountains were

spectacular, the weather was good, other than one rainy day.

Lone Pine Mountain

 

First Light on Lone Pine Mountain

 Mount Whitney


Then Windows 10 crashed or something.  One morning I  turned on the computer clicked the start

button and   got a message about a critical failure that  windows 10 was repairing,  a few minutes

later another message came up that that the repair was almost  done then I could restart, so I waited

 until it said it was 100% and restarted  the computer .... and got the same message about the repair,

waited again, restarted again got the same message.  Finally a message came saying that a reset was

needed I had two choices  I could keep my personal files and lose apps or I could have a complete

 reset and not keep my personal files. I chose to keep my personal files.

The reset happened my personal files are there, but everything else is gone. Chrome , Picasso, I can't

upload pictures because it doesn't recognize my camera I guess. I haven't reinstalled Chrome because

I don't know what caused the crash in the first place.  Yikes!


So I loaded my pictures on to  Skips  computer emailed them to myself and I am accessing blogger

from Internet Explorer, where I have to got to get my mail because Windows 10 doesn't support

Shaw webmail or blogger.


Sorry this is so  long,    for once I had something to say.

Jean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on the Road

We are back on the road and heading to the south west for the winter again.


We left  the Island earlier than we  had originally planned,as usual we took the ferry to Anacortes Wa

where we had a short visit to with Skip's sister Pam,

We stopped in Eugene at one of our favorite overnight spots,

  This time we spent two days and met our friend Marylou, who treated us to a lovely lunch  at a

small Japanese restaurant in downtown Eugene.


We had planned to meet Denise (Sassy) and Tom and Diane, but our early departure messed that up.

We traveled to Bend Or last Thursday and found a  Campground near Terrebonne  where we

stayed for two  nights,  Skull Hollow is a  forestry campground that  caters to tenters ( we were the

only RV there) Every site was full of mostly young people. Unfortunately  it rained hard and was

very cold on Saturday and Sunday we woke to dense fog. We had planned to stay around Bend until

Tom and Diane  arrived, but we couldn't find any suitable boon docking spots close by. We ended up

At Chickahominy Resevoir  on  highway 20  where we spent two nights. We loved it there it was so

quiet, sunny and warm.

  We had great neighbours .
 

We will see Tom and Diane later down the road and Denise is on her way to Arizona, so we will see

her in a few weeks.


This morning we are in the Carson Nugget Casino parking lot, which is not great, but the Casino was

really good to us.


Today we are heading down Highway 395 to Bishop and on to Lone Pine.....an area we have

been wanting to visit for a number of years.


Jean