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 -