Fulltiming Road Runners

Things are going on as usual, except very slowly and in a bit of a fog.  Thom and I are still recovering from our colds.  I’m a step ahead of him, but still am not 100%.

We worked Thursday and Friday.  It’s a good thing they were slow days.  We signed up 11 on Thurs. and 15 on Friday.  That was just enough to keep us from going crazy from boredom and not enough to overwork our befuddled heads and aching bodies.

We needed to get more dog food for Willow and the best price is WalMart so we went to Parker yesterday to get the dog food and some groceries from Safeway and Basha’s.  We had a 60% chance of rain yesterday and it definitely gave us 60% worth.  On our way home from Parker we had a real downpour.  We could barely see 10 ft in front of us even with the wipers going full speed.  Luckily it only lasted a minute or two.  Once again our world is absolutely gorgeous today with the sun shining on all the new washed brush ‘n trees.  As soon as I can breath normally and have a bit of energy, I’m going for a long walk in the desert to the Southeast where the campers aren’t.  It’s lovely out there with ancient Ironwood trees, and I suspect the flowers should be opening again within a week or so.

With many of the campers going home and not many coming in, the BLM has cut back our hours.  The station is still open every day, but instead of being open until 5:00 p.m. we close at 4:00.  It won’t be long until they have us shut down every other day.  When we do that, the days we are closed the station across the street will be open so people can still register.

When you’ve been sick and pretty much out of touch, you don’t have much to report, so I’ll say g’bye and go do 3 days worth of dishes - yuck!

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

Thom decided to join me in being sick.  I don’t think I gave it to him though.  He came down with it just 2 days after I did.  I’m definitely getting better… last night for the first time since I got sick I managed to spend the whole night in my bed instead of upright on the couch.  To top it off, I slept almost all night long.

We’ve met a very nice couple from Oregon at the contact station.  We signed them up and did a bit of talking during the signup, inviting them to stop by anytime.  They visited us last week a couple of times.  During our discussions we invited them to come setup in our area and yesterday afternoon they finally moved in.  With us being sick AND having to work today and tomorrow we haven’t had time to spend with them yet, but plan on changing that soon.

We have an issue with the lights in our bedroom and it’s driving me crazy!  We have 3 florescent fixtures on the ceiling in the bedroom.  The first fixture entering the bedroom had to be replaced under warranty the first year we had the trailer.  It still seemed to go thru tubes much more often than any light fixture should.  About 2 months ago the bulbs died again so Thom took the bulbs out of the second fixture (which was working fine) and put them in the first fixture… no workie.  Then he took those bulbs and put them back in the middle fixture… no workie.  What the hell’s going on?  We put brand new tubes in the middle fixture… no workie.  Now we have 2 fixtures that won’t work and the 3rd one we have to tap to get the bulbs to light.  Scarey.  Tonight the 3rd fixture quit working.  Thom put new bulbs in it… you guessed it… no workie.  I guess we need to check the ballasts, but the way things have died, I personally believe (with no electrical knowledge at all) the wiring in the bedroom is all mucked up!

We count on Marv way too much, but maybe he can help us out when he gets back.  He had to go back to Utah to deal with medical/housing issues with his father and will be gone a week or so.

It’s time for me to hit the shower.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.

Sore throat, fever, stopped up nose ‘n all.  Sorry I didn’t get a post done yesterday.  It seems this is the season for Judy to get sick.

Do ya think Mari’s germs just sat and incubated for a whole month before they attacked me?  Prolly… She’s a unique person with unique happenings in her life.  Nothing is normal with her.  LOL

While Marv ‘n Deb’s friends, Randy ‘n Char(lene I think), ‘n Deb’s brother Bob ‘n his wife, Susie were here we took a drive to the Desert Bar  The desert bar is a must see (one time) but Thom and I don’t have any desire to to go back.  Click on the words “Desert Bar” to visit their website.  After the Desert Bar we went on to the west side of the Colorado River.   Driving along Hwy 95 south we pass several campgrounds.  The wild burros frequent this area and again I got shots of a couple of them.  This time a Momma ‘n baby (Jenny?).

Four days ago Thom and I decided to go on the first leg of our exploring trip along California hwy 95 north.  We had Bob & Susie with us.  Just outside of Blythe we found a “farmer” who was selling grapefruit for 8/$1 and tangerines 15/$1.  Sue and I both picked up the grapefruit and I grabbed some tangerines.

About 10 - 12 miles outside of Blythe there is a turnoff to the Blythe Intaglios.  I took a couple of photos but the Intaglios are so big you can’t get a decent shot without being at least 30 feet in the air.  By the way, the word Intaglio is the opposite of embossed.

I do have a shot of the gorgeous mountains to the south of the intaglios.   That’s our car in the shot.

Further north I saw a great white Heron on the side of the road.  Thom was kind enuff to stop and stalk the guy so I could take photos.

One more photo… A couple of days ago Deb came over and asked me what I’d do with a hummingbird just sitting on the ground in front of her trailer.  I instantly thought the hummer had whammed a window or a pole of their canopy.  I went over there and picked the hummer up and just cupped it in my hand until it started moving around a bit.  I then put it on the hummer feeder and it flew to Marv’s car.  It was still stunned so I got a few really good shots of it, and then it “woke up” and took off.  I was especially pleased because this hummer was a Costa’s Hummingbird

n I’ve not gotten a good shot of one showing the purple gorget.  This photo shows him still fluffed out with gorget spread out in a threatening manner.  This is his way to appear bigger and a threat even though he was totally out of control.

Today we went with Marv ‘n Deb to Mexico to pick up prescription drugs ‘n a few things in Yuma.  I felt pretty good this morning heading out… no fever… etc., but by the time we got home I had a fever and felt like crap!  This evening my fever is at 101F ‘n I’m trying to figure out a way to breath with my sinuses all stopped up.  Wish me luck ya’ll!

Sorry this is such a weird disjointed post, maybe next time I’ll be healthy again.

Sorry I’ve not posted in a few days.  Just been busy.  Right now I’m just posting to let ya’ll know we’re fine, have had some very good days and I promise to post a more informative blog by Sunday.

Tonight we went to the Fireball’s concert here in Quartzsite.  Tremendous show!  They are the group that did Sugar Shack and Bottle of Wine.  We’re tired, it’s nearly 10 p.m. and we have to get up early to go to work tomorrow, so I’m not going to rattle on.

As I said I promise to post again by Sunday and share some pics I’ve got from the last few days.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles.

Another big storm, this one was the worst we’ve ever seen out here.  Actually we had 3 storms in a row, the 3rd one the heavy duty one.  Tuesday night we got 1/4″ of rain from the 2nd storm.  Wednesday we had a respite and then Thursday the big one hit!  Around 2 p.m. we were told to close the contact station and go home.  The winds were fierce and it was pouring.  Our garage managed to stay up, but one of the straps still tore off a corner at the bottom while we were at work.  Marv managed to tie it down so it wouldn’t be further damaged.

After we got home when we’d take Willow out to go potty she didn’t know what to do… her potty spot in the wash north of us was covered with a foot of water.

This is a shot of the wash on the south (back) end of the trailer.  The pic was taken shortly after we got home from work around 2:30 or 3.

The skies just kept getting darker and darker and the wind fiercer.  Marv called a little before 5 p.m. telling us he’d been watching a weather channel either on TV or his computer and there was a tornado to the south of us heading our way.  We all got in our cars, drove out to a more open spot east of our trailers ‘n motorhome and faced into the wind and waited it out.  It was way too dark for us to see anything, but we didn’t get hit by a tornado.  The rocking of the car sure felt like it though.  When the skies to the south of us got a bit lighter and the wind died down  a bit we went back to our trailers.  Deb’s brother’s motorhome is parked so it blocks the wind’s full force from my weather station, and yet, the weather station registered winds at 40 - 45 mph.  I wonder how fast they really were.  According to my weather station we got 3.2 inches of rain in the hour of the tornado scare.  The wash at the back of the trailer (5er) was at least 3 feet higher than in the picture above.  The worst of the storm was over by 5:20 p.m.  but the winds were still very high, so we were rocked to sleep Thursday night.

We’d stowed the internet satellite dish  Wednesday night and didn’t bring it back up until yesterday after work.

The rain had softened the ground at least a foot deep and some of our tie down stakes on the garage pulled out, the shepards crook the bird feeders were on pulled out of the ground from the feeders blowing.  Our Weber Big Q bbq blew over along with our bikes on their stand and one of the ladders.  Because we worked yesterday we haven’t been able to get out and take inventory of any damage, but it looks like it was minimal.  Our BLM Ranger, Clyde, told us yesterday they’ve found at least 6 beautiful Saguaro cactus fallen/blown over.  He and Larry went out late yesterday afternoon to try to get them upright using a back-hoe.

It was quite windy yesterday, but little to no rain and fairly sunny.  Today the skies are a beautiful blue with just a few cottonball clouds, a bit of a breeze (6-8 mph) and cool.  The high temp today is supposed to be below 60F.  As a matter of fact, the highs all week are supposed to be between 55 - 64F.

It’s now time for me to get my dishes done, then get outside to help clean up the wind damage.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles.

It was sunny, more or less warm, and a bit breezy today… the calm before the storm.  The biggest storm of the three is supposed to hit tonight after 11 p.m. and then start raining with the winds increasing through tomorrow.  NOAA says 80% chance of rain tonight and 100% tomorrow & tomorrow night.

Of course,  Thom and I work tomorrow and Friday.  My big worry is the contact station is across the wash from our RV and I’m worried about it raining all day, washing out the road going across the wash and we’re stranded away from home.   We refuse to leave Willow outside in her pen all day tomorrow in the rain, so we’ll be taking her to work with us.  I’m hoping that if the rain and wind gets bad enuff the BLM tells us to shut down the station and go home.

It’s near impossible to get downtown or anywhere between here and downtown with the Big Tent shows going on.  I had to go into the Intown Pharmacy to pick up a prescription yesterday and it took me 1 hour and 40 minutes to drive 6 miles and back.  Good grief!!

Our friends Don and Arlene left QZ yesterday.  We didn’t get to see them off or anything, but hope they know our thoughts are with them and we hope they made their next destination safely.  All the best guys!  Hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday.

It’s about time for me to hit the shower, tomorrow’s a work day.

I’ll be sure and take my camera with me to work tomorrow and will share any pics I get that are worth sharing.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles.

Until a few minutes ago (it’s now 10:40 a.m.) we’ve had a morning of beautiful glorious sunshine… not even any wind.  We didn’t get much rain at all last night, just enough for the sound on the roof to put me to sleep.  So far the storms haven’t been half what the weather forecasts have predicted… here in QZ anyway.  But now we are clouding over and the breeze is picking up, so it looks like the 2nd storm is coming in.  This is what NOAA says is gonna happen:

Today: A 40 percent chance of showers, mainly after 11am. Increasing clouds, with a high near 66. South southwest wind between 6 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tonight: Showers, mainly before 11pm. Low around 48. Breezy, with a south southwest wind between 17 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

I just got a call from Phyllis.  Our pump is replaced and the LTVA’s have water again.  I think the BLM did a great job in getting it back so fast considering the pump was 400 - 500 feet deep and all the pipe as well as the pump had to be replaced.  I think if this happened at home, you’d be hard pressed to have it up and running again in 2 working days.

If the weather doesn’t come on as predicted this evening, I most likely will add a bit to today’s blog.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Tah

…but with the weather forecast, all the campers out here should just put buckets out to catch the rain water!  We got a bit of rain (unmeasurable by my weather station) last night, and a few showers today.  The weather report says 90% chance of rain tonight with winds 15 - 22 mph, gusts to 35.  That’s enough to get us to bring the internet satellite dish down for the night.  Tomorrow is 50% day and 70% night chance of rain.  I’m hoping the storm isn’t near as bad as the reports predict.

We aren’t sure of the status of the water well here in La Posa South LTVA.  We do know they went back to the well with a new pump and new sections of pipe, we just don’t know if they finished today or still have more to do.  I am impressed they got the pump here as fast as they did.  Now maybe all those folks who say they BLM just doesn’t care and is pretty lackadasical about providing the services as “advertised”, will change their tune.

Yesterday Marv ‘n Deb, their friends Randy and Char, and Deb’s brother and his wife Susie, ‘n Thom ‘n I went to the Desert Bar just northeast of Parker.  Going there is one of those things one just has to experience at least once if they winter down here.  I was unimpressed, but now can say I’ve been there, done that. Thom and I didn’t even buy something to drink.  We’d been told the prices on the menu were expensive, but in reality, they are really low.  A hamburger is less than $4.

After the Desert Bar we went back to Parker by way of the California side of the Colorado River, then back to Quartzsite.  It was a nice day even if we don’t intend to go back to theDesert Bar anytime soon.

Today was relaxed and easy.  Because it was supposed to rain all day, we didn’t plan anything, so we pretty much stayed home and did a lot of nothing.

With luck we’ll be back online tomorrow, but tomorrow night we’re going to put the dish down and leave it down thru Thursday unless the weather forecast changes.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles!

Yesterday the pump in the well here at La Posa South broke and water stopped running.  A new pump has been ordered but we don’t know when it will come in.  I hear they’re saying today that it probably won’t come in until Tuesday.  In the meantime we have some very very unhappy campers in the LTVA areas in Quartzsite.

Most people travel in their RV’s with the fresh water tank empty, to avoid having to pull all that weight.  Thom and I ALWAYS travel with the tank at least 1/3 full (about 33 gals) just in case something like this happens.

Yesterday at the contact station was a zoo!  We registered 111 campers.  Most of these people came in in groups so there would be 8 or more people in our little building.   Of course, they were acquaintances and the chatter just got louder and louder.  On top of all the campers coming in to register, we had campers from all 4 of our LTVA areas coming in to complain about the lack of water.  I don’t blame them for being unhappy about the situation, but it’s not the fault of the volunteers here and there’s nothing we can do about it other than give them directions to water supply in town or the phone numbers of the businesses that will deliver water out here (at a hefty price of around $20 per fill-up).

By the time we got off work at 5 yesterday both my feet and my back were super duper achy!  The New Christy Minstrels show was last night and to be honest, I was both excited and dreading it.  I love their talent but the QIA chairs are those folding metal chairs and my back already hurt like I’d had a stampede of cattle run over it.  I did a whole lot of squirming while enjoying the show.  Don and Arlene got there before us and had saved seats for us.  We rode in with Marv ‘n Deb, but decided this would probably be the last chance to see Don and Arlene and we’d be camped right next to Marv ‘n Deb for the next couple of months, so we sat with Arlene & Don.

Today was opening day of the big tent RV show.  Everyone should experience opening day at least once… but I’m telling ya, never ever again!  We were shoulder to shoulder and even elbow to back or chest in the tent and we had absolutely no control over where our bodies went.   We’d see something we wanted to check out, but were 2 to 4 bodies away from it.  Believe me, those bodies were not giving an inch for us to get there.  We just rushed thru the tent and plan on going back when the crowds thin down a bit.

The weather is changing.  We have a storm coming in that will start affecting California tomorrow, and from tomorrow night all the way thru Thursday there is a high probability of rain here.  The weather report says we could be getting a substantial amount of rain.  Poor Deb ‘n Marv… Deb’s brother arrived this morning for a couple of weeks visit and they have a couple that is coming in later today to stay a week I think.  They will be staying in Marv ‘n Deb’s 5th wheel with them.   That’s going to be pretty close quarters if it rains the whole time!

The sun has decided to hide behind the clouds and not work much on charging the batteries, so I better shut down and keep from using up all the charge.

If any of you are coming to QZ next year, the New Christie Minstrels concert will be here on Jan 14th .

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Tah!

Ummm… you could say business picked up today at the contact station.  They’ve changed the hours from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  We signed up  96 short terms and 1 long term today.  Larry and Phyllis stuck around to keep an eye on the back up and when we got more than 2 campers waiting to sign in, they came over to help.  Boy, were they appreciated!  Last year at La Posa North we had two women filling out the registration forms, 3 guy running to sticker the rigs and Phyllis to do the paper work beyond filling out the registration forms, and we kept all 6 people running/busy…. and that was with from 70 - 80 registrations, and one day of 150.  Today with just the 4 of us (with a bit of help from Reese for a bit of the afternoon) we worked our butts off!  I only managed about 30 minutes all day to sit down.  Just about noon we took out our cheese, cold cuts ‘n crackers for lunch and for me, it was somewhere between 3 and 4 p.m. before I finished my lunch.

Okay… all that above sounds like I’m whining and complaining… but to be honest both Thom and I prefer being busy like this than sitting and waiting for people to come in.  97 registrations beats 13 registrations anytime!

I have to admit that after standing on concrete floors all day has me with my shoes off and me wiggling toes to try to get the ache out.  I’m awfully close to sitting on the couch and giving Thom my feet to massage, but boondocking chores get in the way.  Thom just checked the black tank and it is full.  We need to dump it tonight into the portable tank.  We tho’t we had another day before we’d have to dump, but no such luck.   That means Thom has to fill 3 six gallon buckets with water and tote them to the bathroom.  Then when he dumps the holding tank, after the tank has emptied, I have to fill the toilet to the rim and dump it, then take the buckets and dump them one by one to break up the dam that builds in the tank because we aren’t traveling and sloshing the fluid to break up the “pile” or dam.  Both of us have achy backs tonight so it should be an interesting operation.  At least I’ve gotten quite good at pouring the water straight thru the riser in the toilet so it hits full force on the “pile” to break it up.

I know this is pretty crude sounding to many of ya, but it’s all part of the life of the full time RVer.  We do everything we can to keep from having to hire someone to come out and clean out our black water holding tank.  We’ve seen to many people trying to figure out how to deal with a plugged black tank because they didn’t know how to effectively deal with it.

For those of you just starting out.  If you have full hookups… don’t hook up the sewer and leave the valve open!  Keep the valve closed and let the tank get close to full, then pull the valve and let it drain, and rinse it out well.  If you leave it open, the fluids drain out and solids build up to a big dam.

Good grief… I never thought I’d present a discourse on poop.  Newbies need to know though, so here it is.

We work again tomorrow and after work we have the New Christy Minstrals concert.  It should be a great ending to a busy day.  This group never fails to get me involved in their show.  They are wonderful entertainers.

Okay… I feel this post is very disjointed, so I’m going to end it.  I have to go help dump the black tank anyway.  What a way to end a long hard day!

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Tah!