Same Old, Same Old

Like most days I went for a walk in the desert this morning. I don't know why, guess I am hoping someday I will see a burning bush or a stone tablet with some new marching orders on it, but so far no bueno, nada, nothing. I do get to see some cool cracks and crannies though. Today I headed up closer to TV hill, the big pile of rocks to the SW of our spot here. A dozen years ago when we first came here I saw some Desert Big Horns up on that little mountain, so I am always hopeful to repeat that experience. I remember from that first encounter that the first indication I had that those critters were up there with me was hearing the rocks moving around as they moved around. They are pretty well camoflauged to keep well hidden on those rocky hillsides so I spend a little time just listening to the sounds of silence when I get close to the mountain.

It is quiet up there in the early mornings, so quiet you can hear the grass growing and let me tell you it grows quietly here in the desert.

Although we are not having those dramatic skies that are so common at Dogpound North, there is always a splash of colour on the horizon for sun-up here at Dogpound Anywhere in the desert.

After my walk today, and a little book reading we decided it was time to head into Parker and try out a new Mexican restaurant, Lily's Mexican Cafe, that I had heard about. It was a cafeteria style place and our food all came in styrfoam boxes, probably because it seemed most of their business was takeout, but nevertheless it was good and hit the spot. We of course also popped up to the Safeway to gather a few things we might need back at home. I would show you a picture of the restaurant, but Brenda took that one and if you want to see it you might have to slide over to her Twitter page, not sure how you find that but you can try searching "fringe minority, with unacceptable views", inside joke for our Canadian readers, but that will certainly get you in the right neighbourhood to find her account. Here we just have pictures of the desert.

That was a hidden little arbour in the wash I came upon on the way home. We pretty much live in a postcard out here, the shot below is a commission piece Brenda requested after seeing it out the window over our headboard.

You gotta Love the Desert

Off on my morning hike today, years ago when we were first to this place I spent a lot of time hiking around the desert, put on a couple of hundred miles back then with my old dog Meg wandering the trails here, and then some years later I had our Can-Am here and drove most of those trails again. One thing about hiking is you can really kind of wander, while with the side by side you are staying on the old existing trails. I kind of prefer the freestyle hiking method, truth be known.

Once I got back from my walkabout we decided to run into town(s) for supplies. Brenda uses some CBD cream that they have at the local pot store to deal with some of the nerve issues with her CRPS and we needed to resupply that stuff so ran into Quartzsite for that, and to drop our trash at the local transfer station, as well as fill a propane bottle at the Pit Stop there in town.

Then it was back on the Highway for a run up to Parker. The "Q" doesn't have much in the way of grocery stores so we do most of our reprovisioning in Parker. We decided to not shop on an empty stomach so stop at a local pizza place we have visited before to fill our stomachs. Then it was off to Walmart for supplies, followed by a dash back down the highway to our spot near Bouse. It was 34C today in the neighbourhood so HOT, HOT, HOT again.

Time Flies

While other than our misguided adventure to see the IRS it has been a while since I updated our travels. Last time I wrote we were in Gila Bend on our way to Foothills over near Yuma.

We ran over there and did a little moochdocking with our friends Angela and Don Ritter. Their landlord allowed us to avail ourselves of the extra spot in his yard so we had a good 3-night visit, including a day trip down to Algodones for lunch one day.

We had our rig washed and waxed while we were in Foothills so when we pulled out we were gleaming in the sunshine. We intended to head over to Ogilby Road just west of Yuma for a couple of weeks but it seems that the BLM folks were telling those already there that they had to move out in a day or so, so we headed north to our favourite spot NE of Quartzsite. We spent pretty near the entire month of February there and were joined for a time by Skip and Jean and the legendary Wandering Willy, and even had a short visit from Ivan and Hailey. Kim and Wendy Johnson also stopped by as they were wandering their way south and west towards California.

A month is a long time to spend even in that perfect spot so we reluctantly hooked up and headed north looking for another spot to while away the winter. We popped into Telephone Cove up near Laughlin but that road didn't look all that conducive to a rig our size meandering down it, so after a short visit with Ivan while he changed a tire alongside of it we headed back up and hooked up and headed north.

That night we ended up in the Sam's Town KOA and experience we won't soon repeat. It was pretty close quarters kind of like sleeping in a sardine can with neighbours so close you could swear you were hearing their stomachs growling and other less pleasant bodily functions.

One night was it and we headed north out of Vegas looking for wide open spaces. About a week ago we arrived here at Snowbird Mesa/Poverty Flats just out of Overton, Nevada. Overton/Logandale are nice little towns and have most services you could need except for a laundromat.

The view just a short half mile from our campsite here at Poverty Flats

A desert oasis and spring along the side of Lake Mead

Also in Lake Mead NRA, they tell me those were Sand Dunes at one time

The Logandale Trails wind their way through these Red Rocks

We did run back into North Las Vegas last Sunday and had a great visit with our long-time RV'ing friends Randy and Sue Beck, folks from North Pole, Alaska who we first met in Nashville, Tn when we began this adventure way back in the fall of 2007. We have kept in touch and crossed paths a few time since then but always love to see this couple on our travels.

That missing element I mentioned, the laundromat, is driving us to head for a little-used laundry room that we know about so later today we will be loading Blue II and prepping to make a run for the Medicine Line. Hope I have some clean socks waiting at Dogpound North.

Matt has been working the last two weekends trying to get the snow cleared off our road so we are hoping with his hard work and a little chinook weather the road to Dogpound North will be passable in a few days when we make the turn off of Range Road 41. We are big and that road is small and our old John Deere has been giving Matt a little trouble so wish us luck.

All Alone in the Desert

We headed away from the crowds in California and headed for our all time favourite boondocking spot. We tend to like a little space around us, and Max and Maya love to be able to be off leash at our spot, which they are not able to do if we are surrounded by other rigs in close proximity. Our nearest neigbour is probably a five or six hundred yards away and that suits us just fine. Them too I bet.

We have made a couple of trips into Parker, one for groceries and one for Brenda to get her hair cut and me to pop by the La Paz hospital to let them practice sticking needles and sampling my blood. That keeps my doc back in Canada happy and me ticking. Just a heads up though, it cost exactly 5 times as much to get my blood drawn there as it does to do it at my old regular spot Sonora Quest Labs, but on the positive side they had the results fax to the Doc within the hour. While in their our second time this train crossed in front of us, it is the Arizona and California Railroad.

Other than that we have just chilled here at our spot, with the exception of taking the UTV on a run over to the dump to get rid of our accumulated garbage.

Today I took a spin over Plomosa Road to attend a Meet-up of folks who follow Olivia and Kyle Brady and their Drivin' and Vibin' group, the Vibe Tribe they call us. As I got down Plomosa to the BLM camping area this is the site that greeted me, wall to wall RV's.

Way more neighbours than I want to have

As usual with RV'ers there was a lot of commonality in the group although the ages were widely divergent, and not a frown in the bunch. Check out their blog at this link "Drivin' and Vibin" and their Youtube channel for some great video's.

Kyle and Olivia from Drivin' and Vibin'

And of course Arizona has some great sunsets

Yellow Bird Country

Well we got done Brenda's mission in Vegas and headed south for a old favourite spot near Bouse, Arizona. Along the way we crossed through California for a short distance and caught this train headed for the coast.

It was pulling hard on an uphill grade and within 10 miles we passed two more hot on his tracks, literally.

We ran down through Lake Havasu, and stopped in Parker to pick up a few things and then we were off to the desert for a little down time before we head the rest of the way into Dogpound South. As I said this is maybe our favourite spot to decompress and get away from the rat race. Our solar panels keep us in power and we have a new WeBoost system for our cell phones so we might even have decent internet, although the country around here is pretty nice and we don't have much time for the internet anyway. Today we took a couple of runs on the Can-Am and saw some of the country, even passed through this high security gate with a keypad to open and shut it.

That was on our trip to the dump to get rid of our garbage, and then we headed around the mountain for a short ride. The desert is a beautiful spot and we enjoy seeing it in all its wonder.

Had a little excitement back at Dogpound North today, I won't bore you with the snow pictures but my Thermostat sent me an email about 4:30AM this morning to tell me we had a low temp situation going on back there, so I had a peak at the camera in the Furnace Room as sure as shooting the pilot light had gone out. I waited a while and then caught Matt on his way to work and he ran in and relite it for me so we have heat on the Northern Ranges as of this writing, but our furnace guy is headed there in the morning to give it the once over anyway, and probably replace the thermocouple as a little preventative maintenance.

It is a beautiful night in the desert tonight and thanks to WeBoost we are able to write this blog as Live Writer doesn't work so well in the Mac Ecosystem and it has to be done online.

One last shot of the moon tonight off our dining deck.