Fulltiming Road Runners

I don’t know if I’m getting tired of having wind blowing nearly every day and being colder than I like, or if I’m just ready to move on now that we have a place to go for the summer.

We went into the Hobby & Craft show at the Big Tent yesterday… it was nothing! All we saw was vendors leftover from the RV show. We did go through Rice Ranch after the show. We hadn’t been back there after several new vendors came in, so we decided to stop and check them out. & I did buy my requisite 3 tee-shirts for $10. Wonder why most of we fulltimers feel the need to have a tee-shirt with “trailer trash” on it… I bought one.

Even though it wasn’t very windy today it was colder than usual. We walked into the post office and back this afternoon. My cheeks and nose were super chilled.

Our neighbors were going to come over for dinner but she’s sick with a cold / ear ache and felt miserable, so instead I threw together a couple of plates of dinner and took it to them. Sure hope she gets better soon. I miss her cheer.

Ummm… what else…

…not a lot. Guess I’ll go check my emails then shut down for the night.

…but a good day

Thom finished sawing the pallets into firewood today. He did 7 pallets in 2 days. No wonder he’s losing weight! I just did the standard stuff like dishes ‘n putting things away, etc. I also created 2 more notecards, 1 of the roadrunner and the other of the coyote.

The weather was 150% better today than yesterday. The temp only got up to 59F, but the wind was down to near nothing, so we could sit out and soak up the sun & feel warm. I even went for a short walk this afternoon.

This afternoon the Good Year Blimp went over our heads on it’s way to Phoenix and the Super Bowl.

For the first year ever, I don’t even know who’s playing on Sunday.

Time to shut down and head for the last 10 pages of my book (Pillars of the Earth).

We had wind warnings today… and they weren’t lying!  The wind blew like crazy.

We did go out this morning to get our mail from last week, hoping to have the paperwork for our summer camp host job, but it wasn’t there yet.  We also went by to pick up the one pallet we noticed last night when we drove by our pallet place.  When we got there, there were 3 of them.  Yay!

After we got home, we pretty much stayed home and puttered about here.  Thom sawed (hand saw) a few pallets into fire-pit size pieces, while I stayed inside being domestic.  I made bread, baking one loaf and freezing the other one unbaked.  While doing the bread I prepared date bars and threw them in the oven right after the bread came out.  Not sure how the date bars came out, they are sitting over there now cooling off.

I also spent about 1/2 hour packaging my 11 lbs of dates into recipe portions.   I don’t know if I want to freeze the packages or just store them… after all, the dates are dried, aren’t they?  Suggestions?  Maybe I should freeze a few of the packages and just store the rest.  I’ve got at least 14 packages.

Thom is doing laundry right now and watching TV (big generator is running for washer/dryer) between loads, so I think I’ll go take my shower and get comfy with my book.

Today was the last day of the QIA PowWow, gem & crafts show and we were going to go this morning to look for craft suppiers.  It was raining so we decided to drive rather than walk.  We got down there and discovered there was no parking within 1/2 mile or more of the show… no parking on the street, the parking lot was full of vendors and the only parking area within a decent distance was charging $5 to park.  We chose to forget it and went home, packed some snacks and headed for Yuma to scout out the BLM LTVA’s there, look for a good buy on dates and get Thom a date shake.

We finally found the Imperial Dam Long Term Visitor Area where I went into the Contact Station to gather some printed information.  The volunteers asked me if we wanted to register.  I said no thank you, our RV was back in La Posa North in Quartzsite.  You’d have thought I said a nasty word.  They went on and on about why Imperial Dam was so much better and we should move.  I didn’t argue with them, just said we were happy where we were, gathered my info and left.

We went down CR24 from Imperial Dam and stopped at the first place that sold dates &  date shakes.  We had been there last year when Mom was with us.  I wish I could remember the name of the place.  Thom got his shake and since they had a couple of specials going, I bought an 11 lb box of Medjool dates for $17.95.  That works out to $1.63/lb.  In the stores in Utah they sell for $8/lb, and even at the vendors here in QZ they sell for anywhere from $8/lb to $10/lb.  I’m going to make date bars, keep a bunch out for munching on, and freeze the rest in recipe quantities.

It rained all the way down to Yuma and back to the north border of the proving grounds.  I’d say we ran out of the rain finally around 4:30 p.m.  It’s wonderful for AZ and the desert, but I’m sure Thom’s eyes were tired from driving in it all day.

It’s now time for me to grab my book, sit back, & enjoy.

I wonder what makes people think laws and rules do not apply to them.

We have the Big Tent Events going right now and parking is very hard to find. Along Hwy 95 in front of La Posa North are signs clearly stating “No Parking”. People park there anyway.
Those signs are for everyone else, not me!
When they come back to their cars and find a $50 ticket on their windshield they scream like a banshee!

Here on the Special Use area Long Term Visiting Area there is a rule that you CANNOT dump black or gray water on the ground. We had a big $300,000 motor home on the way out pull over, open the hose valve on his gray water and leave a swath of gray water on the road as he drove out of the campground.
We have a big, expensive, top of the line RV, we’re special, rules don’t apply to us!
So we little people have to smell their stink because they’re too big for rules.

There is a rule in the Special Use area Long Term Visitor Area that all pets must be on a leash when outside. We had a couple park directly across the wash from us who have a lovely Chocolate Lab. The day they came they immediately let their dog out, off leash, to run spiritedly in the wash & through other’s camps. I told them of the leash rule and that if the Ranger’s caught the dog off leash they would likely get a $125 ticket. The dog hadn’t been on a leash at all from the time I warned them, until the Ranger warned them… now the dog is on leash outside until after 5:00 p.m. (rangers go home?) when it is again allowed to run free.
Tonight around 5:45 I was outside grilling and saw a gorgeous, golden coyote trotting north across the wash, then another darker, peppered coyote following directly behind the golden one. I yelled to Thom to look at the coyotes, and all off a sudden that lovely chocolate lab came running after the coyotes with her hackles up and ready to attack. I yelled at the neighbors to call their dog off and having just remembered her name, yelled it, hoping it would stop her. Either they called her or my calling her stopped her. If she’d have caught up with the two coyotes she’d have been carrion for the ravens & stink bugs to pick at. If she’d been on the leash it wouldn’t have been an issue at all, she’d have been under control, at the trailer with her people sitting outside. But… the leash rule is for other peoples dogs, not mine!

Why do people think they are beyond rules and regulations?

We only work 2 days a week, today being the first day of the 2, and we’re as tired as if we worked a 5 day week.  We only had 39 registrations today, but were on our own for all but one of them.  About 30 minutes before closing time we had 7 registrations come in at the same time and Phyllis & Larry were out of the campground so we had no help.  Luckily everyone was very good natured & patient while I got writer’s cramps & Thom ran his legs off stickering RV’s & autos.  As Thom just said, it’s a good tired.

We ran into a bit of a dilemma with our summer work camping.  On Wednesday, the 23rd we were contacted by the Fish & Wildlife in Oregon offering us a job as Volunteer Falcon & Seabird Interpreters on the coast in Cape Meares.  This is the type of thing I dream of doing… YIKES!  What do we do?  On one hand we have a paying job in Utah where my grandchild will be born, on the other hand we have an unpaid job on the Oregon Coast doing what I love to do.  Utah is 600+ miles away & Cape Meares is about 1200 miles away.  It would cost us tons to drive to Cape Meares, especially since most of the miles are in California where diesel is terribly expensive and our budget won’t handle it.

I’m going to email the Fish & Wildlife and tell them I hope to get there another time but just can’t afford it this year.  The good part is I will love what I’m doing, and where I am, no matter which choice we make.  It’s gorgeous in the Ogden Canyon in Utah and the campground is loaded with birds, hummingbirds, moose, deer and other wildlife, plus the fishing is GOOD in the Ogden River (outside our door).  That’s what it’s all about… being happy where you are.  We’ve got the whole rest of our lives to get to the Northwest Coast.

Today was a pretty productive day for us.  I talked to the Area Manager for the Campground we want to work at.  She wants us for the Upper/Lower Meadows campground and is sending the paperwork for us to fill out.  We’ll start sometime between May 1 and May 30, depending on the snow melt and will work into September.  Again the closing date depends on the weather.  After looking up the campground online I realized we were there one day while on a drive.  There were fields of dry thistle and I wanted a picture so Thom stopped at the entrance to that campground and I got pics of the thistle fields and walked out on the bridge over the Ogden River and took pics of the river as well.  I’ll browse through my 2004 photos to see if I can find the photos to share.  The upper campground has 9 sites and the lower campground has 24 sites.  Thom & I’ll take care of both of them.

This afternoon we drove to Parker to do some banking and grocery shopping.  I think I’ve got enough groceries now to get us thru the busy registration season without having to leave town.  I sure hope so.  Phyllis called me today needing my help and I was in Parker.  I felt so terribly guilty.

Thom wanted to top off the diesel tank in the truck so we came home by way of the Colorado Indian Reservation road.  My mind was off day-dreaming somewhere when Thom slowed down, pulled off the road and backed up a bit.  He told me there was a huge hawk on the telephone pole across the street.  I grabbed my camera, changed lenses to the 70-300 (zoom) and got out of the car.  These two pics are part of the result.  This huge Redtail Hawk was beautiful!
I got several photos of him sitting on the pole, but the photos were too busy with wires & pole paraphernalia.

To top off a very nice day, there is a full moon tonight which is always special to me, so I’ll share my photo of tonights moon and then go sit out by the fire and stare at the real thing in the sky.

Today was a good day, but first I guess I ought to try to cover yesterday… if I can remember anything.

We had made arrangements for Bill Adams to come install our Moto-Sat internet satellite on our 5th wheel at 10:00 yesterday. He and his wife arrived around 9:30. It’s unusual for vendors to be on time or early. We appreciated it. Bill and his wife are a perfect team and work like a well greased machine together. The two of them got the satellite & hardware to the top of the rig, then, …get this!… Janet takes the tools topside and she installs the satellite while he installs the controller, etc.inside. They both know their product inside out & we couldn’t be happier with the whole system. We recommend them highly. The name of their business is Internet Anywhere and you can find it online.

Yesterday was a wonderful day… warm, just a small breeze if any, and sunny. I took my windswept tree outside to the table by the fire pit (in the sun light) and finished it up except for a couple of roots to be glued down. Of course, this is a craft object that is never finished. Everytime I walk by it I see a branch that needs to be turned a touch or a wire that somehow jumped way out of place and needs to be put back. I guess you could say it’s an interactive piece of art.

I took another pic (or 2) of our radishes. I put the mesh cover for the fire pit over them to keep the critters from eating the greens. This is a photo with the cover.

And this is without the cover… see how healthy they look! Forgive me if I sound like a proud momma, I’m quite pleased with their progress and hope to have first harvest in a couple of weeks.

Today we went to the Big Tent and wandered the whole tent and even went back to a place or two. I’m cheap, we didn’t buy much.

We did check out the many workamper / camp host opportunities. The main recruiter for American Land & Leisure (manage mostly US Forest Service) told us we were shoe-ins for camp hosts just outside of Ogden in the Upper & Lower Meadows Campgrounds. That is just 30 minutes from my Son and Daughter-In-Law’s home. She is expecting their first child in May. This means we get to be in a place we already know and really like AND get to be nearby when my grandsonis born. I can’t wait to get that phone call from the area managers to confirm.

Gotta go finish dinner before the rice gets cold. I’m cooking one of my favorites…… Kung Pao Chicken.

We worked yesterday and today and Thom worked day before yesterday.  The big influx of people started on Thursday with 150 registrations.  Friday we had 149 registrations and today we had 91 (I think).  I’ve found my feet still don’t do well standing on concrete nearly all day long.

We meet so many different kinds of people here, we could practically write a book of stories about them and keep you either rolling on the floor or seething with indignation.

Working with Sandy & Bob & Phyllis & Larry all day Friday and Phyllis & Larry all day Saturday has made me feel closer to all of them and want to keep in touch wherever we and they go.  Being here in QZ this season and being Volunteers for the season has been an experience we cherish and would love to repeat.

I’ve put our resume’ up on Workamper’s site and filled out an application for BLM/ForestService/State positions for volunteers in the western states.  We’ve gotten one response from the Workamper site.  It’s in Port Aransas, TX as camp hosts.  Really attractive offer and the only thing keeping us from giving it a try is the salt air.  We’ve got way too much exposed metal on our RV and truck for us to coat and get ready for the erosive properties of the salt air down there.  The campground is right on the beach, there is fishing,  bird watching, and so on and so forth…… We just don’t want to give it a try this year.  Hopefully we may be ready for that type of issue in the future and can take advantage of an opportunity like that.

We are supposed to get our new internet satellite installed on our trailer tomorrow.  Thom may be at the contact station helping out, but I have to be home all day to “go to school”.  I need to learn what the system is and how to make it work properly.  It’s my understanding that it’s a full day of installation and training.

I intend to take pictures out my windows again tomorrow, to show how many more are coming in and how close they are getting.

I love the excitement of the big shows, but I’ll be quite happy when the end of Feb. gets here and it’s back to 1 rig every 100 yards or so.

Misty arrived Monday evening. We sat around the campfire that evening playing catch-up. Tuesday and Wednesday we went through the Main Event, Desert Gardens and the south side of Tyson Wells. Yesterday was really windy - from the North… COLD. Misty has finished Christmas shopping, but still has a birthday to do. She loves the fossils, and the prices here are about 1/4 to 1/3 what she pays in Utah.

Last night we went to the New Christy Minstrals concert at the QIA (Quartzsite Improvement Assiociation). We’d bought a ticket for Misty too so she went with us. Misty is in her 20’s, so this was a real experience for her. All 3 of us loved it! The New Christy Minstrals’ voices have matured very well and not aged much, if you know what I mean. We had several good laughs. Every member in the group is a great performer.

Thom worked this morning to fill in for our Camp Coordinators while they ran a necessary errand down to Yuma. Misty and I went to Sandy’s (of Colored Outside the Lines fame) to learn how to make the windswept trees. The time consuming part is preparing the wires, but once they are counted & cut it’s pretty easy and quick to put them together. How good they look depends on how creative you are. Sandy’s will ALWAYS look better than mine. She’s very talented in all the crafts she does. Her glass beads are gorgeous! She showed me several necklaces she’s done… WOW!
Thank you so much Sandy, for your time!

I’m all alone at the trailer now (2:15 p.m.) and it’s kind of nice. Misty has gone off trail riding in her jeep, and Thom walked into town to check for mail. I’m going to shut down my computer and go for a walk out in the wash to find just the right rock or chunk of wood to put my tree on.

This is a picture of Sandy’s tree.

Post Script:
Misty got a phone call this afternoon.  Her father-in-law went into the hospital last night to be tested for Sleep Apnia… apparently there is more to it and he is being kept in the hospital.  He is 80+ years old.  She left this afternoon for home.  At least she’s not going to drive straight through.  I’m going to miss her.  She’s so easy to have around… kinda like my Mom.

Time for me to go join Thom at the fire… not sure how long I’ll last.  The wind has died down, but it’s still cold out there… for me anyway.