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 -