Around and About

Another sunny warm day, it reached the low 80’s today and never dropped below 50F last night. We took a drive today over to Blythe and then north to Parker, Arizona before returning to our camp at Quartzsite. While we were in Blythe we needed to cash a travellers cheque. I went into the Provident Bank and asked it they would cash a travellers cheque and they said sure. After signing it and filling out all the details they informed me that they could only cash an American Express travellers cheque if I had an account at their branch. Hmmmm, wonder why a person would need a travellers cheque if they already had an account in the bank. Strange rule, so I took it down the street to the Union Bank of California where they were much more understanding of the fact that folks who are cashing travellers cheques are probably not from around here and don’t have an account with them. Another strange thing was obvious from the security in both banks, I think Bonnie and Clyde live near here or something. You have to enter the bank through a bullet proof air lock that only allows one person at a time through the door and the same thing happens when you try to exit. There were enough camera’s in the bank to film a Super Bowl game also. This is all in a sleepy little border town. And that is the reason I like to travel, you get to see so many different things. Back home we expect folks with travellers cheques are travelling and we still don’t have to go through an air lock to get at our bankers.
The drive around the loop was interesting though, it certainly is obvious where the irrigation is and where it is not irrigated in this country, even the cactus look for an irrigation ditch to root themselves beside.

Even from afar we are watching the goings on up north in Ottawa, tough to believe that the New Democratic Party, the Old Democratic Party (Liberals) are joining forces with a party that’s sole purpose is to tear apart Canada to try and wrest control of the government that was supported by the largest number of Canadians just 6 weeks ago. I guess that’s what happens when you threaten to take the politicians off of the public teat. But they claim it is for the good of us all. I am wondering how good it is when the TSE drops farther than it every has, in its history, in one day. Well I am sure after they tax the oil business into submission and transfer anything left over to the auto plants in Ontario it will become clear that unless someone buys the damn cars there is no point in building them and with the great relationship (Hah!) that the NDP and Liberals have fostered over the years with the United States we certainly won’t sell many that way.

Tuesday we just hung around camp most of the day other than a trip into town looking for a visor for the window. The power blind on the passenger side has a problem that will be fixed next week in Las Vegas so I will have to remove it tomorrow for the drive north. I have been in contact with Fleetwood and they were very helpful and although they couldn’t repair it over the phone they certainly helped with the removal process.

Other than the trip to town I spent most of the day stalking some hummingbirds in the area. It is quite a challenge to catch them close enough for a picture with the right background and enough light to allow me to use a fast enough shutter speed to stop those little wings. I’ll try to post a couple of shots of the ones I did catch.



Pretty nice sunset tonight also.



And a desert landscape shot.

The last couple of weeks we have been camped in a 14 day area near Quartzsite called Dome Rock Road. It is just to the south and west of town, out past the Love’s station and the Super 8 motel. It is a great desert spot, picturesque with mountains to the west and one between us and town. However that one between here and town seems to block the cell signals pretty effectively. Our Trac Phone doesn’t work out here except in a very few select spots and even with the booster the Sprint Air Card has difficulty with our internet connection. Good enough for email but not quite good enough to manage posting on the blog. We will be leaving this spot tomorrow, December 4th, and moving north towards Lake Havasu before heading to Vegas for the rodeo next week.

Rain!!! - in the Desert

We had to run into Blythe, California this morning as we needed a few groceries and had some shirts at the cleaners there. We picked all that up and posted a bit on the blog and then thought what the heck we are in town so we might as well go whole hog and have lunch at Sizzler while we were there. It was pouring rain in Blythe and is still pouring now that we are back in the desert near Quartzsite. You’d think this country would just suck up the rain like a sponge but it hardly soaks in at all. All the gullies and washes around our site are running like creeks and the water is just washing the quartzsite off so it looks like some of the hills have snow on them. A pretty scary thought for us snowbirds but it is just an optical illusion caused by all the white rock.

Looks like this will be a stay inside and out of the rain day, but things can change fast here. It rained off and on most of the afternoon and then this evening (Wednesday) the skies opened up. Thought we were back home for the monsoon season. It rained most of the night and quite hard too. There appeared to be around 2 inches when it was all said and done. Now that has to be almost a years supply for Quartzsite.

Thursday, Thanksgiving for our American friends, dawned sunny with a few clouds drifting around. We decided with Bill, Marg, Dennis, Diane, Michael and Shirley that we should all get some Chesters Fried Chicken from the Love’s Truck Stop and have a kind of Thanksgiving dinner of our own. Michael brought some pasta and we sat around the campfire and ate our fried chicken. After dinner Michael and Dennis brought out the banjo and guitar and kept us entertained far into the night.

Friday was a beautiful day here and I took a couple of walks in the desert. Brenda joined me on the afternoon trek. It is really a beautiful day here and the solar panels are making up for lost time. Dennis and Diane headed off for Yuma today. We ran into town today and picked up some books at the used bookstore and a few groceries to help us fend off starvation. Also managed to check our phone messages and I guess the good news is there is no news so all must be well on the homefront.

We tried to post on Saturday but that didn't appear to catch so we will try again today. It is another beautiful Quartzsite day, mid 70's and a nice soft breeze.

Quartzsite

Here she is in all her desert finery with her solar panels and the dish deployed as well as the awnings down.

Yesterday we were in Blythe and managed to post our update. We ran in there to do our laundry and also to pick up a few things. I got a new antenna for the cell phone booster but it doesn’t give us a good enough signal to manage posting anything, although we can get email now, so at least twice a day we fire it up and see if the world has missed us. So far nothing (grin)! Thanks again Mick for your concern and Brent for the updates on Dad.

Blythe is a small California town right on the border with Arizona and appears to be a pretty laid back place. Even on main street a traffic jam consists of 3 or 4 vehicles. Hot and dry but very comfortable. We also had some running around to do and some supplies to pick up also, can’t live without things, like cheese for the lasagna and beer for Bill.

Once we got back to camp I installed the cell antenna and Brenda made a lemon meringue pie. That meant that she had to run the generator for a while to operate her convection oven. “Roughing it, smoothly” they say. Our extra batteries (4, 8 total) and the solar panels sure seem to do the trick with the power though, we have been doing almost everything we please including watching some TV at night and the power system manages to bring itself back up to 100% by early afternoon.
The last couple of evenings we have had a bonfire so are also getting to enjoy the desert evenings. Through the day it has been into the high 80’s here but it cools off nicely at night. Last night it dropped down to 51F by morning. Perfect sleeping weather.

We’ll see what today brings but I think we are going into Quartzsite for a look around and that should give us a chance to post another update.

Rain!!! - in the Desert

A look at the clouds behind our rig.

Desert skyscape

Sunup

Desert landscape - it is a great place to just walk for miles.

We had to run into Blythe, California this morning as we needed a few groceries and had some shirts at the cleaners there. We picked all that up and posted a bit on the blog and then thought what the heck we are in town so we might as well go whole hog and have lunch at Sizzler while we were there. It was pouring rain in Blythe and is still pouring now that we are back in the desert near Quartzsite. You’d think this country would just suck up the rain like a sponge but it hardly soaks in at all. All the gullies and washes around our site are running like creeks and the water is just washing the quartzsite off so it looks like some of the hills have snow on them. A pretty scary thought for us snowbirds but it is just an optical illusion caused by all the white rock.

Looks like this will be a stay inside and out of the rain day, but things can change fast here. It rained off and on most of the afternoon and then this evening (Wednesday) the skies opened up. Thought we were back home for the monsoon season. It rained most of the night and quite hard too. There appeared to be around 2 inches when it was all said and done. Now that has to be almost a years supply for Quartzsite.

Thursday, Thanksgiving for our American friends, dawned sunny with a few clouds drifting around. We decided with Bill, Marg, Dennis, Diane, Michael and Shirley that we should all get some Chesters Fried Chicken from the Love’s Truck Stop and have a kind of Thanksgiving dinner of our own. Michael brought some pasta and we sat around the campfire and ate our fried chicken. After dinner Michael and Dennis brought out the banjo and guitar and kept us entertained far into the night.

Friday was a beautiful day here and I took a couple of walks in the desert. Brenda joined me on the afternoon trek. It is really a beautiful day here and the solar panels are making up for lost time. Dennis and Diane headed off for Yuma today. We ran into town today and picked up some books at the used bookstore and a few groceries to help us fend off starvation. Also managed to check our phone messages and I guess the good news is there is no news so all must be well on the homefront.

Today, Saturday morning, we have run into Quartzsite to get our laundry all caught up and post this blog as well as returning some calls. We are able to post a few more pictures from here.

Well, it's now Sunday and it appears that the blog never made it to the internet. I'll try one more time and see what happens. It's another beautiful day in Quartzsite. Mid 70's and a soft breeze.