Day 132, Friday, December 14, 2018 - La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 7

Geminid Meteor Streak on Right

Friday, December 14, 2018 - La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 7 - 0 Miles, 8,082.2 Miles for the Trip

I climbed out into the frozen (well, 42°F) night to watch the Geminid Meteor Showers last night around 10:30. Saw lots of meteors, but didn't have much luck photographing them. They always seemed to streak by when the shutter was closed. I did a bunch of 20 second exposures, most with no meteor in them. In any case, here is one with both an airplane on the left and a meteor on the right.

Today was restaurant day. I went to the Bad Boy Cafe for breakfast - pancakes, bacon & one egg for $7.00. Not bad, but I really only needed one rather than 2 pancakes - they were huge. Back at the trailer I did some reading - finished T. Jefferson Parker's The Jaguar, an excellent read. I also did my usual on line reading, and Skyped with my daughter in Washington. We had to switch to Facetime; for some reason, the current version of Skype won't turn on my laptop microphone. I checked it within the Apple preferences & it works fine, as well as with Facetime, but it is dead on Skype. In any case, we had a nice chat.

Around 4:30 I headed to Sweet Darlene's for the Friday all you can eat fish dinner. Nicely fried pieces of Cod, a baked potato, & coleslaw for $10.00 (it went up $1.00 from last year). Still a good dinner worth the $.

Not sure if I'm going to venture out to try for more Geminid photos. While the sky was clear last night, it was (and still is) cloudy all day. There is also lots of spill light on the fringes of La Posa West from the buildings in town and the traffic on I 10 & AZ 95. The moon will also be out until close to 11:00.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 131, Thursday, December 13, 2018 - La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 6

Thursday, December 13, 2018 - La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 6 - 0 Miles, 8,082.2 Miles for the Trip

It took longer to cool off overnight, but because of the clear skies, was down to 39°F by early morning. It warmed up into the 70's during the day with clear skies - not a cloud to shade the solar panels.

Today was laundry day. No big changes at the laundromat; same prices for both laundry & the showers. I forgot my shaving kit, so I'll go back for a shower either tomorrow or during the weekend. After putting the laundry away & making the bed, I sat outside and read. As soon as the sun ducked behind the mountains to the southwest, it cooled down enough to chase me inside the trailer. By then it was dinner time anyway.

Dinner was the last of the chicken & potato salad. Even the small chickens they use for the ready to eat bags are way too much for one person, at least me. I do remember back when I was a teenager, my father putting a rotisserie in the living room fireplace at home. Probably not good for the chimney, but he'd put one chicken per person on it, and somehow I always ate all of mine. Teenagers have a bigger stomach!

Until Tomorrow -

Day 130, Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 5

Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 5 - 0 Miles, 8,082.2 Miles for the Trip

A cloudy morning, but around 10:00 the sun came out & stayed for the day. I called the Blythe Rite-Aid to see if my prescriptions had arrived, and all were waiting.

I've finally accepted that it is better to have your doctors call in new prescriptions, even if you have refills from the same chain, let along a different one.  The druggist at the pharmacy that has the refills has to be called to release the refill to the current pharmacy.  My own doctors do that more reliably than other pharmacies. The only hassle is there are only 3 records for pharmacies at my GP, and since I am on the road, they have to keep getting rid of old ones to add a new one. There is either a book or country wide database of pharmacies - the office finds them by zip code, then confirm the address, but they can't fill a prescription unless it is in MY records, a minor hassle of on line medical records.

A 23 mile drive on I 10 into California. Even got waved through the border check station without having to tell them I was a US citizen. Picked up my prescriptions, then drove across the street to Albertson's for a few things. They had Turkey Bubba Burgers, the first grocery store of the trip that had them.

Back at the campground, a large class A RV moved in next door. While they are fairly close to the front end of my trailer, it is a better position than when they started - their original position would have blocked my solar panels during the late afternoon. This section of La Posa West is more crowded than it has been in previous years, at least for this time in the season.

It was nice and warm out - a peak of around 72°F. I enjoyed sitting out in the sun reading for much of the afternoon.

Dinner was leftover broasted chicken & potato salad.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 129, Tuesday, December 11, 2018 - La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 4

Tuesday, December 11, 2018 - La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 4 - 0 Miles, 8,082.2 Miles for the Trip

Very little happening today. On my walk back from picking up coffee, I met Rudy, a Canadian that I've seen here in La Posa West for the last 3 years. Other than catching up on things, some on line & Kindle reading, that was about all I did. We had good sun for part of the day, but by early afternoon the clouds moved in. I still got close to 30 amp hours worth of charging & use, and at 3:00, was down 8 amp hours from full.

Dinner was broasted chicken & potato salad.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 128, Monday, December 10, 2018 - La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 3

Tilted Solar Panels

Monday, December 10, 2018 - La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 3 - 0 Miles, 8,082.2 Miles for the Trip

Another cool night & cloudy day at Quartzsite. I did swivel the trailer a few degrees & tilted the solar panels. That dull spot between them is the sun. Tilting did almost double the panel output with the heavy clouds to 4 amps, but at the end of the day I'm still down 10 amp hours. Let's hope for sun tomorrow!

That was about it for the day. I did drive to town for a loaf of bread & some cottage cheese. As I mentioned, there are two grocery stores, The Roadrunner & The General Store. The General Store seems to have better meat, while the Roadrunner has a better overall selection of groceries, particularly fruit & vegetables. In any case, I usually stop at both. There is also a Family Dollar & Dollar General in town, both of which seem to have more groceries than most of the usual dollar stores. I generally don't bother with them, but they are there. There is also a booth that sells outdated food & over the counter drugs in the vendor area. I don't know if they actually went out of business as they were advertising last year, but the stuff they sold looked pretty bad.

I tried sitting outside, but without the sun and at 62°F, and a light breeze, it is just too cold. The inside of the trailer, ever my larger 21 does get a bit confining so I like to sit outside, but today wasn't a good day for it.

I had a good sized hot lunch, so dinner will be just a salad.

Until Tomorrow -