Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Day 52, Wednesday, December 21, 2016, La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 4

An Unusual "RV"
Wednesday, December 21, 2016, La Posa West, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 4, 0 Miles, 3,855.7 Miles For the Trip

While not the greatest sunset, I did take a photo of the view from my back windows, and a panorama of the area around my location.

There were a few short sprinkles of rain overnight, but it was nice enough for my usual walk to the 76 gas station for coffee. Not much sun, and little is expected for the next couple of days. After breakfast & forum reading, I walked around the La Posa West area to take a few photos for those that wonder what the place is like.

La Posa West does not have any bathrooms or dump stations, so only self contained RVs are allowed in this section. They don't consider a Porta potty self contained. You need a minimum of a "permanently affixed, 10 gallon black tank" to meet the BLM's definition of self contained. They do have dumpsters, and I included a photo of the entrance station where you get your pass, maps, and trade books. It is usually open daily from 9:00AM to 4:00PM.

The "Little House" is back, a bit more finished than last year. Still the most unusual RV in the area. I didn't see the people living in the boat in La Posa South when I went to fill up on water, but that would be a close second. Lots of solar; you can the the long time visitors by the tilted panels. There are even a few that have wind generators, probably useful since there is usually a breeze during the winter. All kinds of RVs, from older ones that amaze you that they made it here to huge 5 slide out motorhomes.  More photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

After my walk I went to open the top silverware drawer & remembered it was broken. For those that know me know I have this problem. I can't stand anything that doesn't work, and insist on fixing it, whether it is mine or someone else's. Maybe that is why I carry over 100 lbs of tools & 50 lbs of parts in the truck & trailer. Of course I didn't have what I needed to fix the drawer, so I headed into town & the local Ace Hardware. An interesting hardware store, 1/2 hardware, 1/2 groceries, with a liquor isle divider between the two sections. I did find a mending plate. Because of the tight quarters, I was hoping for some Robertson head bolts, but this far from Canada, that is wishful thinking. They did have some metric bolts with Allen wrench heads, but no nuts to fit them. I couldn't even get Phillips head bolts; settled for straight slot heads, which were a joy to tighten in the confines of the drawer space.

Back at the trailer I dug out some tools & went to work. Very tight quarters, with a vent pipe in the way. My plan was to use the mending plate on the inside as a drilling template, then mount it on the back side, but I found that the plate cleared the drawer while mounted on the inside; much easier to do (and, I could have used screws to mount it; much easier since I had them & they were Robertson). Tough on the knees, even with a foam kneeling pad (I can remember when I could spend an entire day in the garden on my knees pulling weeds, but that isn't happening any more!)

Anyhow, after about an hour the project was done and I no longer have to align the drawer every time I close it. I do have to say that the method Escape used to assemble the drawer frame is one of the first poorly constructed parts of the trailer I've discovered. They used a single staple to bridge the two parts of the frame. One too many bumps along the road of the drawer broke the joint. It may have been glued but since it was two edges of plywood, glue would not be the most effective way to make a joint.

It is 2:00PM, and pouring outside. Not enough rain to make puddles, but that is probably in the future since the prediction is 80% for rain tonight. Since the desert here looks like sand, you would expect that the rain just soaks through it. Nope, it is hard packed enough that it absorbs little, lots of run off forming washes throughout the camping area that combine to large run off trenches that look like dry river beds most of the time. Woe to anyone that decides to park their trailer in a wash - what looks like a nice, sandy flat area becomes a raging river! Another interesting thing is that what looks like sand sometimes becomes an unsuspecting 6" deep mud pit when you step in it. It is hard to tell the difference between walkable ground & mud.

Dinner will be the other half of the Taco dinner. They come with 10 soft tacos, & enough "stuff" to make that many, but I can't eat that many. At home I cook the entire package, and reheat the meat in the microwave, but this time I tried to split the ingredients to make 2 meals of 5. We will see how it worked a bit later. It will probable be cooked inside since it is still raining.

By the way, for those that post comments, they may take awhile to appear. I have had to set up screening because of a couple of spammers that keep posting to the site.  I couldn't keep up with deleting their posts, so I now have to pre approve all posts.  If I'm in a non internet area, that will take some time.  Please keep the comments coming - I enjoy them!

Until Tomorrow -

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