Day 115, Monday, November 27, 2017 - La Posa West, LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 12

Stone Art (Not Mine)

Monday, November 27, 2017 - La Posa West, LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 12, 0 Miles, 3,253.8 Towing Miles For the Trip

After my usual walk for coffee to the 76 gas station (I believe I misnamed it as an ARCO station in a previous post) I ate breakfast, then read for a bit. Cooler than the last couple of days, and windy. I checked out what I need for parts to repair the awning - a right end cap. I'll try one of the Quartzsite RV shops to see if they can order one. Being a Dometic part, it shouldn't cost much more than the trailer!

After lunch, I drove to the Road Runner grocery store for supplies to make a pot of chili. They had everything I needed, although I realized once I got back to the trailer that I didn't have any cilantro. Well, it is OK without it, after all, I'm camping!

I ordered a birthday present for my almost 10 year old granddaughter from Amazon. For some reason, I couldn't get them to put a gift card in with the item I purchased, so I'll have to do that as a separate card. They have a wonderful email animated card, but I don't have her email address (if she has one).

I did have to sit outside at the stove while it cooked because the wind blew out the flame when set low enough that the chili simmered rather than boiled. I wandered over to an art piece someone made next door. Very impressive work, by someone that had too much time on their hands.

Dinner will be what else? - Chili. There will be enough for tomorrow, and at least one meal in for the freezer.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 114, Sunday, November 26, 2017 - La Posa West, LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 11

My Very Open Site

Sunday, November 26, 2017 - La Posa West, LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 11, 0 Miles, 3,253.8 Towing Miles For the Trip

Another quiet day in Quartzsite. After my walk for coffee, I made bacon & French toast for breakfast. A nice morning for sitting outside, although by afternoon it was in the mid 80's, and shade was necessary. I've mentioned before that I preferred the old manual awning with arms because you could tip it to change the angle, both to adjust shade & for water to run off in the rain. The new one on the 21 is electric, with no side arms. It just goes out & in.

Well, just before dinner I discovered another reason for disliking the new version. I had the awning out all afternoon providing shade, but when I ran it in, the guide on the front side that forces the awning header into position as it closes missed the plastic guide and broke. It jammed the awning partially closed, which involved some back & forth & using the power off & on switch to unjam. While I got the awning closed, I will have to guide it by hand every time I close it unless I can come up with a way to attach a new guide. I suspect it could be a warranty repair, but that would mean hauling the trailer somewhere and finding a place to live. Maybe this summer at home. I really liked the old technology!

I got a question about Quartzsite at the escape Facebook page, and posted a photo to show how much room there is around my site. Of course that could change at any time. The BLM requirement is that there be at least 10' between RVs. Most people leave far more room when they park in an area that already has an RV, but as the place fills, they do get closer & closer together. Mid January, during the big tent show, it gets really crowded, but for now I have lots of open space.

Dinner was a couple of grilled cheese & peanut butter sandwiches. For those that find that a bit strange, I can only say try one. Go light on the peanut butter or you will have a drippy mess, but the combination is good!

Until Tomorrow -

Day 113, Saturday, November 25, 2017 - La Posa West, LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 10

New Location at La Post West

Saturday, November 25, 2017 - La Posa West, LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 10, 6 Miles, 3,253.8 Towing Miles For the Trip

I got a real late start to the day, still in bed at 9:30AM. When I finally dragged myself out of bed I discovered that the class A motorhome parked in my usual area was gone. I made breakfast, skipped the walk for coffee, and waited to see if they just went to dump, or what ever. After 2 hours, they didn't come back, so I decided to move.

I didn't stop at the dump & fill stations on my way into the campground, so I was on empty for fresh water, and 1/3 full for the black tank. While there was enough for another couple of days, even a week, I decided as long as I was thinking of moving, I might as well dump the tanks & fill up with water. No line at the dump station, although there was a volunteer checking for long term stickers. I dumped the tanks, then headed to the water fill stations. It takes a long time to put 29 gallons of water into the fresh water tank! I was a bit concerned about loosing too much tongue weight with a full fresh water tank (it is behind the axles) and one partially filled propane tank, particularly because my actual tongue weight with a 1/3 full fresh tank was 450 lbs, slightly under the minimum 10% of total weight, but it did fine at 55 MPH on the 3 mile drive back to the La Posa West area, particularly because I didn't bother to hook up the weight distribution hitch & anti sway for the short trip.

So, I have a new site photo, although it doesn't look all that different from the last one. I moved about 100' from the old location, and aligned the trailer north & south rather than east & west in the previous location. I have to say that packing up the trailer for a move, even a short 6 mile round trip, was a pain. It is amazing how "moved in" you get when you are in a site for more than a week. I even had to move the hummingbird feeder. They took about 5 minutes to find the new location.

I worked up quite a sweat moving all the outside stuff the 100' or so to the new site even with the 85°F "dry heat". I sat in the shade of the trailer cooling off for the rest of the afternoon, and made dinner around 5:00.

Dinner was a turkey Bubba burger. For some reason, it already had cheese mixed in with the frozen patty. I don't remember that with the previous ones, but with a bit of lettuce & mayo, it was OK without an additional slice of cheese. The vegetable was the last of my broccoli.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 112, Friday, November 24, 2017 - La Posa West, LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 9

Another Hummingbird

Friday, November 24, 2017 - La Posa West, LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 9, 0 Miles, 3,247.8 Towing Miles For the Trip

Another warm night. After coffee, I sat outside for a bit, then headed to Quiet Times to pick up a package from Amazon. It was there & everything worked out OK. I also stopped by a couple of the tool & hardware booths, looking for a pin punch & some bolts that fit the hinges I got from Home Depot. All I could find was tapered drift punches, which did fine for driving out the hinge pin, bit the pin was slightly under the diameter of the 1/4" bolts I bought to replace it. The drift pin did an excellent job of enlarging the hole in the hinge at both ends, but couldn't do the middle. I'm either going to have to find a slightly smaller bolt, or drill out the center part of the hinge. In any case, I'm putting off the "Tilt the Panels" operation for a bit. I also looked for some stainless bolts to attach the hinges to the panel & supports, but the only stainless I found were in a bin of loose screws & bolts. I did find a couple that were the right size, but after 5 minutes of digging through the mess, I quit. I'll pick some up when I got to Lowes to pick up my 5" fence post.

Other than that, the day was spent reading forums, journals, and my current book.

I got an email from the Tadi Brothers, a company that I have purchased back up cameras from. They asked me to stick a link in one of my blog posts, and since I've been happy with they service, here it is: Tadi Brothers. I really liked the mirror mounted monitor for its location, however the first one that came with my system was too reflective. Since they expect you to use it as both a mirror & monitor, it is coated. I asked if they had anything less reflective & they sent me a replacement. While it was much better & I used it for the entire time I pulled the 17B with the truck, I still wished they (or someone) made a non reflective, mirror mounted monitor. Since I remove it when not towing, I don't need or want the reflective coating. In any case, I found Tadi Brothers a good company to do business with.

I took a few more hummingbird photos while sitting around, this time at 1/8000th of a second. A bit noisy due to the high ISO, but it did completely freeze the wings. More photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Around 4:30 I started thinking about dinner, and decided to go to Silly Al's for pizza. For those that don't plan to stay in Quartzsite, Silly Ala is worth a stop if you are in the area. Excellent pizza with fast service. They have a loud live band on weekends, so if you want to chat with who ever you are with, either eat early or on a weekday.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 111, Thursday, November 23, 2017 - La Posa West, LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 8

Thursday, November 23, 2017 - La Posa West, LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 8, 0 Miles, 3,247.8 Towing Miles For the Trip

Happy Thanksgiving, at least to Americans - the Canadians had theirs a month and a half ago. After breakfast I sat around for a while enjoying the warm morning. Around 1:00 I headed to Sweet Darleen's for Thanksgiving Dinner. Lots of food, but only barely acceptable. I much prefer cooking my own turkey. It is one of my favorite meals that, when home, I do for both Thanksgiving & Christmas. Since I haven't been in Oswego for the last few winters, I made a Thanksgiving dinner last July. It was hot enough that I cooked the turkey outside on the Weber grill. First time for that; it worked out OK, but not enough drippings left to make good gravy. We still had all the fixings to go along with the turkey, although at that time of year I had to settle for a frozen turkey rather than a fresh Plainville one - a local non hormone & non antibiotic injected bird.

After dinner at Sweet Darleen, I headed back to the trailer & made a couple of phone calls & FaceTime connections to friends, as well as Skyping my daughter & family in Takoma Park, MD. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the hummingbirds, reading, and visiting with one of the Canadian regulars. Rudy pulled into La Posa West yesterday.

As mentioned, dinner was turkey at Sweet Darleen. I may snack on some cheese & crackers later if I get hungry, but now at 5:30 I'm still full.

Until Tomorrow -