Day 179, Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - Agua Caliente County Park, CA

Eclipse Blocking Mountain

Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - Agua Caliente County Park, CA, 0 Miles, 3925 Towing Miles For the Trip

Well, the internet, slow, but usable on AT&T seems to be working today as well. I'm still adjusting to unlimited electricity & hot water (water, for that matter). It has been a long time since hookups. I'm even running the air conditioner. I set it at 77°F, and it ran off & on both yesterday & today. Yesterday hit 87°F outside, while today is a bit cooler at 84°F.

One big difference between here & Quartzsite - flies. There are very few bugs at Quartzsite, one of the reasons I prefer the southwest over Florida. Here at Agua Caliente, there is enough water that flies are abundant. While they don't seem to bite, they land on your legs when sitting outside. One managed to get in the trailer, and he (or she) seems to be swatter proof. It is very good at landing in your hair, face, etc, but pick up the swatter & it is gone! Even if you find it settled down, somehow it manages to evade every swing of the swatter. Very annoying!

After breakfast, I slowly read some forum & web pages, then took a walk around the campground. Paved roads with most of the sites on sand. The section closest to the hot springs are water & electric or dry camping. The layout is a bit confusing, but I managed to find my way back to the trailer!

After lunch, I made another round, this time with the camera. Campground photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

The plan is to take photos of the eclipse of the moon tonight, but that may be a problem. First, there is this big mountain to the southwest, and since the major part of the eclipse is late morning, I suspect the moon will be behind the landscape. I suppose I could climb to the top & get a great view, but that was in the old days! The other problem is it is very cloudy. Unless it clears overnight, there won't be much to see.

Dinner was a couple of Chicken Quesadillas. Although there is a little left over, three days of pork tenderloin is more than enough.

Until the Next Internet Connection -

Day 178, Monday, January 29, 2018 - Agua Caliente County Park, CA

Site 81

Monday, January 29, 2018 - Agua Caliente County Park, CA, 178.8 Miles, 3925 Towing Miles For the Trip

Rather than walk for coffee this morning, I decided to save time, eat breakfast, then stop at the Pilot station for gas & coffee. Good coffee, but a refill was more expensive than at the 76 station in town.

I drove by Dome Rock on the way to I 10, and the area we usually set up in is still filled with "sun blockers". I hope they will be gone by Friday when I get back to Quartzsite.

I stopped along the way at the north side if Imperial Dunes (a couple of years ago I did the same driving along I 8 and the southern side). Pretty sand dunes:

Most of the drive was on CA 78 through the many farms in the Imperial Valley. I did stop at the Blythe Albertson for a few supplies on the way I had to buy bags since I forgot to bring any of the 10 or so in the truck, and California doesn't do free plastic bags anymore. I don't know why, but when I'm on the road I never remember to carry bags to the store. At home in NY, where the stores still supply plastic bags, I always remember to bring my cloth ones in. Oh well, it was only $.20.

I arrived an hour early (for the official check in time) because as usual, I forgot the time zone change. No one at the entrance station, so I pulled into the campground looking for site 83. They hid it well - I had to make a couple of loops around the campground, finally asked someone raking one of the sites & they gave me directions. It is a full hook up site for around $31.00 per night (I say around, because I can't load the web page reservation. While there is a bit of a Verizon & AT&T signal here (one bar with the amplifier), there is no Verizon data coverage, and very slow email only AT&T. The campground is surrounded by mountains, so along with limited cell coverage, there are no NPR stations. I do get XM Radio, and lots of commercial AM stations.

So, while I'll write a page each evening, you won't see them until I get back to usable cell towers.

Well, I tried uploading the site, and evidently AT&T uploads are working OK, although very s l o w l y. Still can't download web pages or forums, but it looks like the web based version of my journal is going through. I'll try the Google Blogger load a bit later. For pictures, you will have to go to the LakeshoreImages webpage.

Dinner was another pork loin sandwich, but broccoli rather than coleslaw.

Until the Next Internet Connection -

Day 177, Sunday, January 28, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 70

Sunday, January 28, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 70, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Not much happening today. Lots of RVs have moved out, and while today is the last day of the Big Tent show, at least 1/3 of the vendors have already packed up & left. (Yes, I had to go back just to see if there was anything I missed; there wasn't).

I started putting the trailer together for travel since I'm heading to Agua Caliente County Park tomorrow morning. The truck is hooked up, the stove, table & mat are back in the truck bed, the portable solar panel as well. I'll wait until the last minute to fold down the rooftop solar panels, then in the morning all I have to do is crank up the stabilizers, pull the chocks & levelers, and be on my way. Looks like about 3 hours to the park. I may be out of touch until Friday. According to the campground website, there is no cell coverage in the park. I'll try the amplifier, but if that doesn't work, I'll catch the site up when I get back to Dome Rock.

Dinner will be a pork tenderloin sandwich, along with more coleslaw.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 176, Saturday, January 27, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 69

Vixen 21 Motorhomess

Saturday, January 27, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 69, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Back to cool nights - down to 33°F overnight, although it warmed up to 67°F during the day. On the way to coffee, I saw the group of Vixen Motorhomes from a California club that comes for the RV show every year. An interesting RV.

After breakfast I headed to the Main Street Laundromat to do my usual 2 loads of laundry. I skipped the shower since I had one in the trailer the other day. I also purchased a tank of propane at Herb's Hardware (same price as everywhere in Quartzsite @ $2.20 per gallon, and no lines). So far, I've spent $80.81 on propane, $55.86 here at Quartzsite.

After folding the laundry, putting the propane tank back on the carrier, and sitting outside reading, I started an early dinner. I do have to include a photo of the bag of ice I picked up at the Parker Safeway the other day. Look closely at the lower left corner - a label that says "Keep Frozen". Now I know the lawyers for companies insist on all kinds of warnings, but telling the purchaser of a bag of ice to keep it frozen strikes me as a bit overboard!

I cooked a pork tenderloin along with coleslaw (well, I didn't cook the coleslaw), although I did make it from bagged cabbage & Marie's Dressing. Not to bad, particularly when washed down with a glass of Zinfandel wine and finished off with Tillamook Old Fashion Vanilla Ice Cream.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 175, Friday, January 26, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 68

Mountain Quail Cafe

Friday, January 26, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 68, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

A little cooler than yesterday, but still a nice day. After coffee & breakfast, I read blogs & journals, then drove out to Dome Rock to see how many fiberglass trailers had already arrived. The area we usually set up in is still filled with large "Sun Blockers", but there are some fiberglass trailers on the hill and in an area further east. Most of them are Olivers. They sure are becoming popular - I didn't see any at the first Quartzsite rally I attended 3 years ago, there are at least 10 of them here already. Not sure all are staying, but they are at Dome Rock now.

On the way back it was 2:45, and I thought it might be a good time to try the Mountain Quail Cafe for Friday fish. I have to say that both previous times I ate there the food was fast & good, but this time slow & just OK. I ordered at 2:55, and my food was delivered at 4:10. It was busy, but not packed - there were empty tables all the time I waited. The fish was plentiful, but a bit greasy, the sweet tea watery, the coleslaw dry & tasteless, and the tater tots OK. Although their chicken fried chicken dinner was great, all in all, next time I want fish, I'll go Sweet Darlene's!

On the way back to the trailer I stopped and picked up my last bag of kettle corn.

Dinner was my late, late lunch!

Until Tomorrow -

Day 174, Thursday, January 25, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 67

Thursday, January 25, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 67, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

A busy day. After breakfast I headed to Parker for some supplies & a hair cut at Mike's Barber Shop. I stopped by Quiet Times to pick up a package shipped via UPS. That would normally be a $2.00 pick up charge, but because UPS used the US Mail system for the "last mile", it cost me $5.00 to pick up the package. By the way, the "last mile" was all within the post office since it was delivered to a PO box. Quiet Times charges more for post office packages since they have to often wait in line, sometimes for more than an hour, to pick them up.

The package was a new propane detector. The original one died & blew the 15 amp fuse it was connected to. So far the new one is working.

I didn't do much else for the day; a bit of reading, and a shower to wash off the short bits of hair left from the haircut. I have to say I appreciate the few barber shops that vacuum your head. A bit strange, but you don't itch for the rest of the day. Since I'm leaving Monday, I didn't even make it a quick, Navy type shower. I still have 2/3 left in the fresh water tank, an the gray is still showing empty. I do appreciate the larger tanks (as well as the larger shower) in the 21!

Since I had an excellent ham breakfast burrito this morning, I felt full all day, so dinner is going to be snacking on cheese & crackers.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 173, Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 66

Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 66, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

A little warmer last night and, during today, we reached 70°F. After breakfast I did my usual forum & journal reading, them said goodbye to Linda, Michael & Joyce. They are heading to Yuma & Algodones, Mexico for glasses & meds.

I made my, what has become daily, wander over to the big tent, this time for a multiple output USB cable. I have 6 different USB cable types, of which I regularly use 3. One of the booths had 5' cables with the three ends that I use. Since I can never find the right cable stored in my computer carrying case, now if I find any cable, it will be the right one!

Other than that I didn't do much else other than sitting outside reading.

Dinner was a chicken & apple sausage & Bush beans.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 172, Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 65

Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 65, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Same overnight temperature as yesterday, but much warmer during the day. I made the usual walk for coffee, and read blogs & forums during breakfast. I talked awhile with Linda & her son Michael, then we headed over to the big tent. They were looking for the rechargeable keychain light I picked up yesterday. It took me a couple of tries to find the booth, and when I did the price had gone up, from $20.00 to $25.00. Linda offered to buy 2 for $40.00, but no go. Evidently, they have been a popular item, and he said he raised the price because of supply & demand. Since they are $30.00 at Amazon, he will probably get away with the higher price.

Not much in the way of Swag. I picked up a Honda hat, the only hat giveaway I've seen at the show, and a enamel mug at Progressive.

Back at the trailer, I did some more reading, then headed to town to buy milk. Of course that turned into $45.00 worth of groceries, but at least the traffic was fine.

Dinner was a couple of grilled cheese & almond butter sandwiches, along with some Cape Cod chips & half a tray of strawberries. The strawberries were OK, but nothing like the early summer Oswego berries. Oswego berries are sweet & juicy, the best I've ever had.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 171, Monday, January 22, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 64

Monday, January 22, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 64, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Another cool night, down to 33°F by morning. I hung out in the trailer waiting for it to warm up to at least the high 40's before heading for coffee at 11:00. Rather than go all the way to the 76 station, I stopped at Marie's booth. It was backed up enough that I decided to head across the street for a Cinnamon Bun, a mistake. Good coffee, but a lousy $5.00 Cinnamon bun.

Back at the trailer I ate the bun, drank the coffee, and finally decided it was warm enough to sit outside. Eventually I decided to make a run through the tent, looking for Swag (free stuff). I picked up some Bear Bells & a couple of pretty printed microfiber glasses wipes, a squeeze tire (not sure why) and a 10% discount offer from SuperSprings. So, if you want to a set of SuperSprings or Sumo Springs for your truck or RV, and order them directly from SuperSprings, give them the initials MJ 10 off for a 10% discount. (Mark Jutson said posting the offer was OK).

Back at the trailer I discovered I missed a visit from Hugh & Denise, fellow fiberglass trailer owners. I'll see them at the Quartzsite rally.

That was about it for the day. We survived the 3 day government closure. I'm not sure when they closed & opened the water fill & dump station since it seemed to change between the signs and actual closing, but the dumpsters stayed open all weekend, and at 7:00AM this morning the garbage truck came & dumped them. Everything is suppose to be back to normal by 12:00 tomorrow.

Dinner was the last of my chicken patties Alfredo, and the rest of the collard greens. I hate to say it, but I'm going to have to do some shopping if I want to eat cold cereal for breakfast since I'm out of milk. When I was in Alexandria, LA volunteering with the Red Cross during Katrina, we had lots of cereal, but no milk. My table mate suggested pouring coffee on the cereal since "it was all going the same place". Maybe so, but if you ever get the opportunity to try it, I suggest you don't!

Until Tomorrow -

Day 170, Sunday, January 21, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 63

Sunday, January 21, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 63, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

It definitely cooled off last night ; 37°F at 5:00AM. Even by the time I went for coffee at 9:30 it was still in the 40's.

During the morning we discovered that the dump station & water fill stations were still open, so those that needed the facilities headed out. Long waits since it is during the Big Tent weekend. There were 17 RVs ahead of Linda at the dump line. Joice went over later, and the line was just as long, plus they decided to shut down the water. Who knows how long the dump station will stay open. While I do everything possible to keep politics out of this blog, it sure is getting difficult to do!

Other than that, we pretty much sat around much of the day. I did walk over to the tent to pick up a new Kokopelli 9' X 12' mat. Of course I had to make another round of the booths, and ended up buying a new keychain flashlight. My current one is over 20 years old, and while it still works, the technology has improved since then.

Back at the trailer we sat on the down wind & sunny side for a bit, then I decided it was dinner time.

Dinner was my last Amy's Bean & Cheese Burrito. Wish I had picked up a few more the last time I was at Safeway - they are an easy, fast (at least when cooked in the microwave) tasty meal.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 169, Saturday, January 20, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 62

The Big Tent

Saturday, January 20, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 62, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Our warm weather went away. Only 59°F today, lots of clouds, and, during the afternoon, a bit of rain. I did wander over to the Big Tent & picked up a battery watering system. This will make it easier to keep the batteries under the rear seat of the Escape up to level. The Tadi Brothers came through with a donated rear view system for my mentioning them in one of my posts & adding them to my supplier's page. Since I don't charge to list suppliers (I do it as a favor to anyone looking for "stuff", although Google is probably faster & easier) but I appreciate the camera. I plan to add it to the front of the Tacoma for off roading. The high hood makes it difficult to see just where your front end is.

I did find some 9'X12' Kokopelli mats to replace my worn one, but the design has changed. Of course, I prefer the old one, but all three booths that have them (all at the same $) have the same new version. I didn't pick one up today since I already had about as much as I could carry, but will pick one up on the next visit.

As usual, most of the booths in the big tent are the usual state fair type - cookware, hot tubs, cell phone accessories, etc. There are a number of campground & state information booths, and maybe 20% actual RV related booths.

I also picked up a Bogart solar controller. I may wait until I get home to install it, but I want to get rid of the GoPower controller located under the passenger side seat. It is difficult to view; the Bogart controller sends the solar information to my Bogart battery monitor, which is mounted in an easy to see location over the stove hood.

I drove to the campground entrance station to see if there was any information of what effect the government shutdown had here at the Long Term Visitor Area. The station is closed, with a sign stating it is closed until further notice. There is another sign listing the locations of the local commercial water fill & dump stations. I didn't drive out to the dump station at La Posa South, but I suspect it & the water fill stations are closed.

Dinner was a chicken & mushroom pot pie.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 168, Friday, January 19, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 61

Sunset With Crescent Moon

Friday, January 19, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 61, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

A nice, warm 75°F day here at Quartzsite. My weather app tells me it is going to cool off with the possibility of rain this weekend, but this week has been great. It looks like I've been here for two months. Much nicer than Oswego!

I stopped and talked with a guy from Montreal on the way to breakfast. We had been passing each other on the walk for the last couple of weeks. He is just out for the exercise, but does a couple of miles every day.

We are getting close to full in this (and probably all sections) of the campground. A couple of Toyota Class C owners that I've camped with before will be here today. Joyce joined us this afternoon, and Mel is coming in later tonight. That pretty much fills up out neck of the woods. We chatted a bit during the sunset.  A couple more photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

I spent most of the day reading. I did set up my WiFi repeating system just to see what it would pick up. It didn't reach McDonalds, but did provide a usable signal from the Love's next door. Both are a couple of 1000 feet away, so I'm impressed. The internal WiFi router provides a stronger signal than my Mobley or Jetpack, but not quite enough to reach the other trailers in our group.

The plan for dinner was the fish special at Mountain Quail, but when I got there all the benches by the door were filled & there were lots of people wandering around outside waiting for a table. So, it was back to the trailer.

Dinner was Spaghetti Alfredo, a quick meal since I use frozen meatballs and canned sauce when on the road. While made from scratch at home is much better, it is a bit too much cooking time for on the road meals.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 167, Thursday, January 18, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 60

Thursday, January 18, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 60, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Another nice day at Quartzsite. It took a little extra time going for coffee with all the new RVs in the campground, but I made it. It must have been my lucky day - when crossing Business 10, usually a minute or two wait for the crossing sign to light up, I didn't have to stop in either direction. Small things, but...

Back at the trailer I met a couple of new arrivals in our area. There is still room for me to get the truck out, probably even the trailer, so no problems. I had said I didn't want to drive with all the new traffic, but broke down and headed for the Roadrunner Market for some vegetables, eggs & cookies. I picked up a pork tenderloin for later in the week. They also had Tillamook Old Fashion Vanilla Ice Cream, one of the best I've found, other than my home town Perry's Ice Cream.

Bach at the trailer, I sat outside doing some reading.  Linda's cell phone insisted on an update, and it sat on my WiFi network all afternoon. I don't know if it is hung, or the network is just slow. With all the additional RVs in Quartzsite, both AT&T & Verizon are bogging down. I checked both networks, and both are under 2MB download speed, and about the same upload.

Dinner was a turkey Bubba Burger & collard greens.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 166, Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 59

Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 59, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

A beautiful day. 55°F on the way to coffee, although I do admit to a late start - I changed the sheets on the bed, which took close to 1/2 an hour. It is getting difficult to weave around all the new RVs between mine and AZ 95, the road that goes to the 76 gas station where I get my coffee. There seems to be 3 or 4 new ones every day.

After breakfast & a bit or forum & journal reading, I filled up the laundry basket and headed for the Main Street Laundromat. Even though Quartzsite is very busy, the laundromat was fairly quiet. No problem getting washing machines or dryers. I had my usual shower while my clothes dried, then stopped by Quiet Times to pick up a package. Traffic, parking, etc was terrible. I believe it is time to park the truck for the next 2 weeks!

I sat outside & read for the afternoon, then did an update on the Nikon D850 firmware. Afte that I headed in for an early dinner of left over chicken & chicken soup.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 165, Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 58

Snowfall

Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 58, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

No charging Dachshunds this morning on the way back from coffee. I made a couple of breakfast burritos to go with the coffee, then changed into jeans from shorts. It was a cloudy day that just made it into the 60's, so long pants and a long sleeve shirt were necessary to comfortably sit outside. I did more reading, then drove to the Quartzsite General Store for a couple of chicken leg quarters. I decided to make soup & chicken. I don't call it chicken soup, because I keep the chicken on the bones & eat it separately from the soup. Drove all the neighborhood dogs crazy cooking the soup pot  outside on the grill/stove for 2 hours. Made enough for two nights.

If anyone is wondering why I'm here in the desert rather than home in Oswego, NY, here is the January 6th snowfall report for the area:

Notice that Oswego has the second most snow...

That was about it for the day. We had 4 different RVs move into the area during the day and probably 50 or more into LaPosa West. It is getting crowded!

Dinner was the chicken I spent the afternoon cooking.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 164, Monday, January 15, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 57,

Evening Light

Monday, January 15, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 57, 0 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

The sunset last night wasn't anything special, but the setting light on the mountains to the east was wonderful. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of RVs & power lines in between me & the mountains, but it was still pretty light.

On the way back from coffee I was "attacked" by the wild Dachshunds living in a Dutch Star Class A for the second time. They didn't bite, but climbed all over me, which can be painful when wearing shorts. A little different this time; the owners, rather than apologizing, also joined in the attack when I suggested that there was a leash law here in the campground. I was told that I should walk somewhere else, not past their RV and to go away. Nice folks! Most of the people here are thoughtful of their neighbors (well, other than the construction generator guy). Unfortunately, there always seems to be one or two that pose a problem.

Another nice day, although a bit cooler than yesterday; only in the mid 60's. I did sit outside and read a bit - current book is Ian Rankin's Black & Blue, a Scottish police procedural. I've read a number of his books in the Inspector Rebus series, but found a few that I missed. It is a little strange going back to the middle of the series since I've read the end, but still well written books.

Other than that. not much happening today.

Dinner was a couple of Chicken Empanadas, and the leftover Knorr Garlic Noodles.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 163, Sunday, January 14, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 56

Sunday, January 14, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 56, 6 Miles, 3,746.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

I headed to the dump station today. It has been 33 days since I filled the fresh water tank & dumped the black & gray tanks. Going by the gauge, I suspect I could go another week before making the trip, but that would put me at the dump station in the middle of the Big Tent RV Show, a time the population of the campground increases by at least 1000%. So, I packed up & headed out today. There was still a 45 minute wait, with one of the slowest dumps I've ever seen in front of me. I met a fellow New Yorker while waiting in line.

I folded down the solar panels. The might have been OK for the 3 mile drive to the section of the campground that houses the dump station, but that includes part of AZ 95 that has a 55 MPH speed limit, and the backs of the solar panels are a pretty large area; I decided to fold them down. It took about 20 minutes, including one galled stainless bolt. I have a large can of stainless lubricant at home, but none with me & naturally, one of the bolts galled. It snapped off when I forced it so I needed a replacement. Other than that, the trip was uneventful. The panels are back to being tilted.

It was another 70°F day, so I called my son in Oswego to gloat. They are having weird weather (nothing new for Oswego). A couple of 57°F days last week; 6°F today. At least the two feet of snow on the roof melted, but they got another foot last night. It looks like a great winter to be here in Quartzsite!

I also talked with Don & Anne in Binghamton; the same strange winter weather in Binghamton, NY.

Dinner was international night - a couple of burritos made from left over pork chop, and a Greek salad, along with some Italian wine.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 162, Saturday, January 13, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 55

Iron Pyrite (Fool's Gold)

Saturday, January 13, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 55, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Another quiet day at Quartzsite. I took 8 already read books to one of the book stalls & traded them in for 4 new ones, wandered around the booths in the area, and bought a few more books, and my annual rock. So far it has been a meteorite (maybe) in 2015, A piece of Malachite in 2016, a chunk of obsidian last year, and a 3" diameter, 3 pound piece of iron pyrite (Fool's Gold) this year. All inexpensive pieces (Today's was $18.00) that are used to decorate my TV stand at home. Photos of the meteorite & Malachite are on today's LakeshoreImages page.

That was about it for the day. I did stop at one of the dollar stores for some Knorr's sides, and cooked their garlic shells to go along with a couple of pork chops for dinner.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 161, Friday, January 12, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 54

Friday, January 12, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 54, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

I spent much of the day installing a JVC radio in the trailer. Whether it is better or not than the Pioneer, it is the final installation! I haven't run it much, so I don't know if it is an improvement or not since I had to leave just as I finished to pick up my Rite Aid order in Blythe.

It must be my lucky day - they had all my prescriptions in the right amounts; no second trip necessary.

Since the prescriptions wouldn't be ready until 4:30 Arizona time, the plan was to pick up some Albertson's baked chicken for dinner. I have some pork chops that were the original plan, but I didn't want to grill them after dark. The Albertson's chicken looked terrible, so I skipped it. Dinner was a microwaved Amy's Thai Pad Thai dinner.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 160, Thursday, January 11, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 53

Thursday, January 11, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 53, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

This morning I took the short walk for coffee & stopped at Marie's stand for coffee and a breakfast burrito, this time stuffed with Chorizo. Not bad, although still too much for me for breakfast.

A nice day to sit out and read. While it started out cool, like yesterday, it warmed up quickly, and only a light wind.

I checked with the Blythe Rite Aid &, of course, my prescriptions were not ready. No FAX from my home town doctor. I called them and evidently, the method of ordering refills changed since I left home. When I left, the nurse said just have the pharmacy you are at request refills & they will FAX them while I wait. Well, they did, but it seems Oswego Family Physicians doesn't trust California pharmacies. When I called they said they were waiting for a call from me before they would send the refill scripts. I'm so glad "This will be easier than carrying paper prescriptions". Right! So, I have to wait until tomorrow to find out if they have gone through the system.

On the good news front, the 5th wheel with the loud generator moved. Someone (maybe who didn't hear the generator running or is deaf) invited them to move next door to them on the other side of the wash, moving them about 500' away. We can still hear the generator, but it doesn't prevent conversation.

I need to start thinking about heading for the dump station. While I am pretty sure I could go at least another week, that would put me in the middle of the RV Show, where the dump station line goes from the usual couple of minutes wait to hours (although Linda headed over to the dump station an hour ago and still isn't back, so it may be getting busy already. It has been 30 days since I dumped & filled the tanks, which is almost double what I could do with the 17. The larger tanks on the 21 are handy. Maybe I'll head over during the weekend.

I did run out of bottled water, so I made a trip to the Roadrunner Market for a gallon. I'm going to wait until I get back to New York to install a faucet & filter so I can use the fresh water tank for drinking & making coffee. While the water in the tank is potable, the water here in Quartzsite is a little salty, and since the unchlorinated water sits in the tank for weeks or months, I prefer to use bottled water or a separate filter.

Dinner was the last refrigerated bowl of rice & orange chicken. There is still one in the freezer.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 159, Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 52

Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 52, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Back to cool nights; 48°F at 6:00AM, but with the clear skies, my quilted long sleeve shirt was way too warm on the walk back from coffee. It does warm up fast as long as the sun is out. Yesterday's rain stopped for a bit around dinner time, then started up again around 11:00. When I looked outside around 3:00AM, the stars were out.

We had a 5th wheel move in directly across the road from Linda's Sunrader & my Escape trailer. Not the largest 5th wheel in the area, but they take the prize for the loudest generator. They have a construction generator mounted in the back of the truck, and while I couldn't make an exact distance measurement (I didn't have the nerve to ask them to hold one end of a tape measure) at roughly 21' (the standard distance for measuring generator noise), it measured 78.5db on the "A" Weighted scale. In other words, loud! They ran it for a couple of hours during the morning, and again for an hour during the afternoon.

It is a new, nice looking trailer; I don't understand why, after spending the money for a new trailer, one wouldn't spend the $600.00 - $1000 for an inverter generator designed to be nice to your neighbors. Since they never unhooked the truck from the trailer, there is reason to hope they plan to move on SOON!

Another new arrival is a large Class A that moved in on the other side of Linda. So far, no generator noise from them. It is that time (a week and a half) before the RV show that this part of the campground gets crowded.

I did very little during the day. Lots of reading, answered email, and tried to get my next batch of prescriptions set up. I still don't understand the refill process. Before I left Oswego, my doctor gave me a set of prescriptions with 2 refills. I got one set of fills in October at a Rite Aid. I was told that while the individual pill bottles stated there were no refills, my hometown Rite Aid still would show one refill left & when I went to another Rite Aid 3 months later, I could get the last refill. Nope! So, I asked what needed to be done, and the Blythe Rite Aid faxed requests to my 2 doctors for new prescriptions. My hometown doctor told me this would work like a charm; I could even do it while I waited at the drug store (he no longer will write paper prescriptions). Well, so far it didn't work at all. Neither doctor sent back scripts as of this afternoon. I'm glad I start the process while I still have at least 2 weeks worth of meds.

That was about it for the day. Dinner was microwaved left over orange chicken.



Until Tomorrow -

Day 158, Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 51

Sunset With iPhone 10

Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 51, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

The day started warm at 60°F, but with heavy clouds. On the way back to the trailer after getting coffee, the sun came out. Very windy - it blew over the hummingbird feeder. I sat outside using the trailer to block as much wind as possible, but eventually headed inside. I wrote a couple of postcards for my granddaughters, and a couple of birthday cards for my brother & sister in law. Since both birthday cards stated extra postage would be required, I made a dreaded stop at the post office. Actually, the wait wasn't all that bad. I took my Kindle, and read while in line for about 15 minutes.

Back at the trailer, it started to rain, the first since early November. Lots of heavy rain & wind, although not enough (so far) to have water running in the small or large washes around the campground. There are wet areas that you have to be careful of. What looked like solid sand when it was dry ends up a 6" sink hole when wet, and it is difficult to identify the bad spots, including one that I discovered under my ground mat when I went out to take the sunset photo. Depending on how much rain we get overnight, I may either make coffee here in the trailer, or tread carefully! The radio says that the rain will continue overnight in Phoenix, but since it is coming from the west & Phoenix is 150 miles east of Quartzsite, maybe we have already had the worst of it.

I decided that it was warm enough that I'd hold off on the pot pie, and instead cooked up a frozen orange chicken dinner. Somehow, my plain rice disappeared, so I had it with Spanish Rice. A bit different, but OK. Lots left over, so it will probably be dinner at least for tomorrow as well.

While there is little red in the sunset, it does have a great golden color. I ducked the raindrops to take a photo with the iPhone 10 since the Nikon was in the truck. The rain let up about 20 minutes later, so I did another image with the D850. For images for web pages, the phone does a pretty good job, although the results from the Nikon are more realistic and a much wider dynamic range.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 157, Monday, January 8, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 50

Monday, January 8, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 50, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

A very cloudy day. I still got enough sun (although it might be better to say daylight) to bring the batteries back to within 3 amp hours of full, so I can't complain.

After breakfast, I tore the bed apart (well the sheets & blankets, not the bed), packed up the laundry and headed to the Laundromat. Quite crowded. Although I didn't have to wait for washing machines, all the dryers were full. A bunch of us were waiting, and sort of went in order. I was lucky that as my turn came up two dryers next to each other stopped, were quickly emptied, and filled with my stuff.

Back at the trailer I made the bed, put the laundry away, and moved half my socks to the dead storage area under the bed. The tray I kept them in was overflowing, and even on the longest times between laundry runs, I never got through half of them. Boy, am I running out of things to write about when I get down to describing my socks bin!

It hit 70°F outside, and the wind was very light, so it was comfortable to sit out & read, which I did for most of the afternoon. I also started a map update on my Garmin. Even with a fairly fast AT&T data connection, it is taking the entire afternoon to download the map. I probably should have started the Verizon Jetpack since it is quite a bit faster than the AT&T service, but I didn't, and don't want to change in the middle of a download.

Dinner was a couple of cashew butter & jelly sandwiches along with some cottage cheese. I was going to do a pot pie, but the forecast is for rain tomorrow, so that might be a better time to run the oven for an hour.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 156, Sunday, January 7, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 49

The Bad Boys Cafe

Sunday, January 7, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 49, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

I decided to head to the Bad Boys Cafe for breakfast this morning. Had their stuffed biscuits special - 2 biscuits stuffed with sausage, gravy & one egg. (A good healthy breakfast - not!)

After breakfast I finished off my mug of coffee back at the trailer reading forums & blogs, then sat outside reading. I eventually went back in the trailer to change to jeans; with the limited sun & wind, it was a little too cool for the shorts I started the day with.

I dug out the more difficult puzzle my daughter & son-in-law sent me for Christmas. The first one was easy & only took a few minutes to take apart, but the second one was tough. I probably spent a total of 6 - 8 hours over the days since Christmas, but solved it today. Don't look at the photo of the opened puzzle if you want to do it from scratch - the photo gives a big hint. Puzzle photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Later in the day I chatted & drank a glass of wine with Linda, then got a call from Don & Anne. They made it from South Carolina back to Binghamton, NY OK, although they had a full driveway when they got home.

Dinner was a veggie burger & the remainder of the asparagus.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 155, Saturday, January 6, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 48

Another View of the Big Tent

Saturday, January 6, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 48, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

On the way to coffee this morning I got chased by a pair of dachshunds. Annoying since dogs are suppose to be on leashes. The lady who owned them kept saying "bad dog", but they kept nipping at my heals as I went by their trailer. Maybe I should start carrying pepper spray (which would be best used on the owners)! I stopped to take another photo of the big tent as I went by. It gives you some idea of the size of the thing.

While it started out cloudy, the sun came out for most of the afternoon, although some haze moved in around 2:00. Still very pleasant - 78°F, and the haze provided some shade. I called my son in Oswego, and it is well below freezing, with below 0°F windchill. Unfortunately, they sent him outside to shovel at work last night. At least he knows about dressing in layers!

I spent part of the afternoon chatting with Linda, and sitting around. Since the trailer batteries were fully charged by 1:00, I fired up the inverter & charged all my devices requiring 120V chargers. The output of the solar controller went from loafing a 1.5 amps floating the trailer batteries to 11 amps running the chargers. A good way to avoid wasting solar energy once the batteries are full.

After that it was a bit more reading, then an easy dinner out of the freezer - the last container of left over Chili.


Until Tomorrow -

Day 154, Friday, January 5, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 47

The Big Tent is Up

Friday, January 5, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 47, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

A warm night and even warmer morning. During the walk for coffee, the big tent was still only the main poles. After eating breakfast & reading for a bit, I stuck my head outside the trailer & the tent was up. I don't know how they do it as fast as they do, but at least the shell is in place.

I did a bunch or reading of blogs, journals & forums, as well as some of David Brin's last book in the new Uplift trilogy. It was a beautiful day, although one had to sit in the shade - too much sun. It was 72°F around 3:00. That was about it for the day, although I did step outside to catch a photo or two of an Ultra Light paraglider going by. Images at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Dinner was the left over pieces of baked chicken & asparagus, along with a couple of spoonfuls of cottage cheese. This brings up 2 interesting problems. First, I don't know how you eat asparagus, although I suspect you are suppose to cut it into 1" long bite size pieces & fork them into your mouth. Well, my method is to steam them whole, in 6" long pieces for about 5 minutes so they are still slightly crunchy, then pick up the stalks one at a time (usually with a fork) and pop them into your mouth. Well, if you are missing one of your front teeth, that doesn't work all that well. The stalk of asparagus always manages to slide into the missing tooth space so you can't bite a piece off. It is frustrating, but eventually you learn to slide it to the sides.

The second problem, although not new or connected to my missing tooth, deals with how many glasses of wine are in a bottle. Using the fancy, but plastic wine glasses I carry, 4 seems like the right amount, as does the amount of buzz you get from the glass. The problem is no matter how hard I try, when pouring the third glass there isn't enough left over for a fourth, but a bit too much for a third. Not wanting to waste good wine, my third glass always seems to be more than it should be. Since I won't be driving after dinner, it doesn't really matter, but you would think that I could get it right! I'm probably telling you all this because of the extra wine!

Until Tomorrow -

Day 153, Thursday, January 4, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 46

The Big Tent Main Poles are Up

Thursday, January 4, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 46, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

A beautiful day for the walk for coffee & sitting outside. I stopped along the walk to take a photo of some of the "Sun Blockers" (A name fiberglass trailer owners give to 40' Class A RV's). There is quite a range, including used & new, with some of the new ones listing for 3/4 of a million dollars. There is an empty parking area next to the walkway that fills with RV's during January. I don't know how many they sell, but it seems like an awful lot of work to bring 50 or so large Class A RV's in for just a couple of weeks. Photo is at today's LakeshoreImages page.

They have raised the main poles for the big tent so I took a photo of them as well.

After breakfast I read for a couple of hours. It took a bit to figure out how to send the borrowed copy of David Brin's book to my Kindle - I started reading it on the iPad, but that was a bit large to take to the dentist, and mailing to the Kindle required doing some set up at Amazon. Eventually, I got it transfered.

Around 2:00 I headed to Parker to have my implant checked at the dentist. Everything looks OK, and he adjusted my "flipper" so it fits a bit better. It is still a pain in the butt in that you have to take it out to eat, and with or without it, my speech is really screwed up by the missing tooth or the chunk of plastic pushing on my palate. Glad I'm not still teaching, and I sure plan on keeping as many of my teeth as possible, or, if not, get implants rather than bridges or even worse, false teeth!

On the way back from the dentist I stopped at Safeway & Walmart, picking up stuff I probably didn't really need, although I did buy replacement pillows - the ones in the trailer are getting pretty flat. I'm going to use one of the old ones as a throw pillow to lean against when sitting at the dinette reading. I made fun of one of the posters at the Escape forum for her collection of pillows, but I have to admit at least one is useful!

Dinner was baked chicken legs & thighs & a Greek Salad picked up at Safeway.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 152, Wednesday, January 3, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 45

Wednesday, January 3, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 45, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Another late start. I did watch a beautiful sunrise through the trailer windows, but was too lazy to go outside for photos. The sun came out behind the clouds on the way back from getting coffee & I found I was way overdressed. The day went from clouds to sun & back to heavy clouds by the end.

I got some interesting email from a couple of readers of my journal - from Loui, a loaned copy of David Brin's Heaven's Reach, the third book of the second Uplift trilogy. I also got a recommendation for the author Paul Theroux from another follower. I've read his novel The Mosquito Coast, but didn't realize he wrote a number of travel books. I'll be looking for a copy of Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads on my wanderings around the many Quartzsite used book stores & stalls. Many thanks to both!

I didn't do much during the day other than read. Some outside, but when the sun ducked behind the clouds and the wind kicked up, it got cool enough to head inside. I noticed that the main tent poles for the big tent are up, so it shouldn't be too long before the whole thing is in place.

I did take a shower in the trailer, the second on this tank of fresh water. So far it has been 24 days & 2 showers on the fresh & gray tanks & the readout says they are both 1/2 full. We will see how long I can go before needing a trip to the dump & fresh water station.

Dinner was a couple of Chicken Empanadas, and asparagus.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 151, Tuesday, January 2, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 44

Site For the Big Tent

Tuesday, January 2, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 44, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Linda & her son arrived yesterday, her in her Sunrader, which looks as new as ever & Michael in a van. We chatted a bit while they moved in.

I made a shorter run for coffee this morning and stopped at Marie's stand for a bacon breakfast burrito along with the coffee. Like the last one, huge, freshly made, and very good. I took a few photos of the start of "The Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show". The big tent isn't up yet, but there are a number of smaller ones already up, some of the Porta potties have arrived, and they are starting to lay out the carpeting for the tent. While the show doesn't start until January 20th, there is a lot to putting it together. More photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

I drove over to Quiet Times to pick up the Kirk plate for my new D850 that the post office tracking said was delivered, but Quiet Times still had not stopped at the post office, so it wasn't there yet. I also checked a couple of used book stalls for David Brin's third Uplift book, Heaven's Reach. Since I read the first two, I probably should finish the series. If I can't find it wandering around Quartzsite, I may purchase the Kindle version.

I started reading Dan Brown's Origin. I'm not sure why I read his books since they tend to drag out what ever his is trying to say, but I'm doing it again! While sitting out reading, a hummingbird is buzzing the feeder. It never stops, but goes by like a bullet, letting out a loud chirp as it passes. Not sure why, but this is the second day it has been happening.

The only project for the day was 5 minutes putting the new end cap on the awning. I sure hope the new one doesn't jam when the awning goes in on windy days like the old one.

Dinner is going to be something simple; I'm still stuffed from the huge breakfast burrito.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 150, Monday, January 1, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 43

Monday, January 1, 2018 - La Posa West LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 43, 0 Miles, 3,740.2 Towing Miles For the Trip

Welcome to 2018! A very quiet New Year Eve. While there may have been fireworks in town (or even in the campground even though the rules say no), I didn't hear a thing & fell asleep at 11:30 Mountain time. I did get a text message with photos of Zoe (my granddaughter) celebrating around 11:30 Eastern time, so even the grandkids outlasted me.

A cool walk for coffee this morning with a fairly heavy haze hiding the sun. I didn't get to any projects today other than trying to improve the radio reception. I dug out the 20 db amplifier that didn't do much good with the old antenna. Before hooking it up to 12V, I plugged in the new antenna & radio, and the reception got better. Hooked the amp up to 12V and it got a bit worse. Turned on the amp & everything went away. It boils down to hanging the amp outside the cabinet with the 12V power disconnected & turned off works great. Stuff the works into the cabinet & everything goes away. I give up!

Other than that I sat outside and did some reading. I'm currently reading David Brin's book two of an Uplift Trilogy: Infinity's Shore. A many page book that I'm half way through. Of course that is why yesterday I got notice that my 2 week reservation of Dan Brown's Origin has arrived, another large book. I better read fast!

I talked (well, Facetimed) with Don & Anne (mostly Don). They are in South Carolina visiting their daughter & grandkids. Even there it is in the 20's. I talked with my son in Oswego yesterday & they had 3' of new snow on the ground, 5°F, and he was snowblowing for the 4th time this winter.

Since I had left over vegetarian pizza for lunch, dinner is going to be cheese & crackers.

Until Tomorrow -