Trip to Lake Havasu City

Sunday, March 25, was our wedding anniversary and we wanted to celebrate in style..  so we planned to go to the "hoppin" town of Lake Havasu City - 85 miles north from Quartzsite.  Actually, compared to Quartzsite, it REALLY is a busy metropolis complete even to having airline service.  It's on Lake Havasu, part of the Colorado River.  It has a city park and beach on the river, lots of tourist stuff, and lots of stores and restaurants.  Housing there is pretty pricey, compared to Quartzsite, although Quartzsite isn't cheap.   Only about 5% of the land around Quartzsite is privately owned - the rest is owned by the Federal Government.  So that drives the price up.

We headed out from the camping area when Sheryl said "look at the pretty orange flowers on that bush over there" (the bush was right beside the trail out to the main road).   I looked at the flowers and saw the 3 foot rattlesnake coiled, hissing and rattling at the truck.  I maneuvered so Sheryl could see too (I'm not sure she needed to see the snake too).   Sheryl mentioned taking a picture but we were late for church so I didn't.   I'm not sure I wanted the picture anyway.

35 miles later on the way to Lake Havasu City, we stopped in the town of Parker - mostly known for the Wal-mart and Safe Way stores.  We found a United Methodist Church to attend, slipped in, sat down, and enjoyed the service.   Let's just say that people are very casual out here.   After church, we stopped at Mickey D's for coffee and ran into two people who we recognized from the church service.  Had a nice visit.   They had moved from Phoenix to Parker to retire on the Colorado River six years ago.

We hit the road after the coffee stop.  The drive to and from Lake Havasu City was scenic.  It was a beautiful drive

God's created beauty is wonderful.  The closer we got to Havasu, the more it reminded us of the Grand Canyon.   We found a couple of other places to camp along the way the next time we come out West.

The attraction we came to see was London Bridge.   It was purchased by a local developer from Lake Havasu City, dismantled and each stone labeled, shipped to Lake Havasu, and reassembled in 1971.  The inner structure was strengthened so it could handle automobile and truck traffic.   It serves people who live on the island next to the city. 

 

Sheryl is a great photographer..  She makes me look better than I am.

Mid-week, I called the Yuma office of the Bureau of Land Management to find out if we could collect some rocks.   They said yes and told me what guidelines to follow.

So today, Friday March 30, we decided to brave the rattlesnakes and visit an area where we had previously trekked with the truck.   It had a really interesting rock formations and Sheryl wanted to collect some samples.  We hit the "mother lode."   We are bringing back ROCKS.   Here are some pics of where we were:

 This is the "trail" we followed with the truck until it got too rugged.  Then we stopped and hiked for awhile.

 We found this LARGE arrowhead shaped (very large Indian used this?) outcropping back in a gorge that we hiked into.

Most of the people who are from Quartzsite look even more "grizzled" than we do.   We still look like "outsiders."

We have learned to flip over rocks carefully here.  I flipped one today and underneath was a flesh colored 2 inch long scorpion.   He did his normal scorpion thing - tail up in the air and I avoided him.   We tried to take his picture, and I got video instead.   And I haven't figured out how to post it on this blog yet.   If I do, you'll see the varmit in all his glory.   Watch it when you pick up rocks in Arizona.

This is our last night at Dome Rock 14-Day Camping area.   We are going back to one of the long term visitor areas where we will pay $40 for 14 days with unlimited water, dumping, and trash pickup.   We have an area already picked out to stay in and we hope someone else isn't already on it.  This is our last sunset here.

From the rock pickers, Rog and Sheryl, have a great day.  Oh..  did I ever tell you how much fun it is to follow a cattle truck when you are riding your motorcycle..  Ah.. another day in Quartzsite..  And we got behind (don't even GO THERE)  the same truck TWICE on the same day..  Oh Well!!!

Mountain Climbing and other Things.....

It's March 22 and soon we will celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary.   We think that maybe we'll drive the 85 miles to Lake Havasu, enjoy a Chinese Buffet, and walk the London Bridge (brought to Lake Havasu City in 1971 from London England).   It's the second biggest attraction in Arizona behind the Grand Canyon.  Ya just never know what you will find here.

One of the joys of camping free here at the Dome Rock BLM (Bureau of Land Management) area is:

Enjoying the campfire and some wood-roasted hot dogs and grilled buns..  um, um, um, um
It's not fair that it's been warmer in Michigan for a few days than it is here is south west Arizona!!  Next week will be in the high 70's to mid 80's though...  That will be great...

Another enjoyment is hiking up the side of mountains that are close by.  The first one we climbed had a lot of loose shale on it, which made for interesting climbing.   But we made it to the top.   When we got there and looked down the other side, here was a trail that came up close to the top of the mountain.   Oh, well, we enjoyed the climb.

We carefully took this self-portrait while standing on the top of the peak.  What a view.

 looking southeast toward the La Posa Plain.  Visibility is over 8-9 miles

Our truck is in the middle of this picture, if you can see it.

We checked out a shallow cave we found.  Nothing in it..  It has been pretty windy here the last couple of days, so it is good to have a hooded shirt.

When we got back to the RV after the climb and the hiking, we discovered muscles that we forgot we had.   Sheryl said we needed to take a walk or a climb the next day too, or we'd have sore muscles.  I wasn't quite sure of that logic 'cause the fronts of my legs were already hurting from trying to keep from rolling down the mountain instead of walking.   So at 4 p.m. the next day, we set out to walk to and then climb the mountain directly in front of our door..  about 1/2 mile away which doesn't sound like much.   But there were four washes to traverse.  And that adds greatly to the walking time. This Mtn is 1/3 again higher than the one yesterday! 

It may not look too much like a mountain but trust me, it is!   We decided to walk up the left slope because it looked easier.   And it was, until we got 2/3 up the mountain and the small rocks that we were walking on and around turned into BIG rocks and boulders that we had to climb around.  But we made it to the TOP.

On the way up, we spotted a couple of barrel cactus getting ready to flower.

There was actually quite a bit of desert vegetation on this mountain, more than on the mountain we climbed the previous day.

 The way down the mountain with shrubs

 Desert Cactus.

 The blooms are quite pretty...  and the spines are very sharp.

Our RV and truck are just about the middle of the picture.  There's another camper and truck to the right of center.  This is taken from the rocky top of the mountain, even though you cannot see down the side of it.  We are a LONG WAY UP...   2/3 of the climb was gravel and small rocks, but the top 1/3 was all ROCK .

Sheryl is standing in front of the mountain (which is one-half mile away in the background).  And would you believe that when we got to the top of the second mountain, we saw ANOTHER trail leading up to the it's backside.   Go figure.  I guess that next time we should check out all the back trails first before we going climbing.

The next day we decided to take a trail up Dome Rock Mountain with the truck.   About a third of the way up we discovered an old mine shaft.

We got our flashlight and started in.   There was evidence all around that people had been here OR might BE HERE!...  We stopped and turned around rather than go in a startle someone.  Since there, we've read that there are many old mine shafts around the area.. some that are still active and producing precious metals and stones, even some gold.

Sheryl loves to look for rocks.  True to it's name, there are beautiful, white QUARTZ rocks scattered all through the landscape. Naming the area (Quartz-site) Quartzsite. There are many different varieties of rocks just laying around. 

So goes another great day in the land of the desert of the "Republic of Arizona."

We're at a different campsite

We've moved a little way.  We could have paid another $40 for another 14 days at La Posa, BUT, being frugal (Sheryl more than me) we decided to move to another BLM camping area that is totally free BUT doesn't have any sewer dump or water (we call it our twins - Dump and Fill).  But the views are great.  The picture below is the view out our front door. The mountains are even closer than they look here. 

We did three loads of laundry and filled up with water at La Posa when we left and then headed for Dome Rock (about 7 miles away from our campsite in La Posa) late Saturday afternoon.

The flag in the lower left corner of the map is our new campsite.  You can see part of the town of Quartzsite in the upper right hand corner.

Sunday morning found us at the Quartzsite Alliance Church 11 a.m. service.  We enjoyed worshiping with them.

We have also been to the Burger King in Quartzsite quite often.  Nice people work there.  Don Premo should schedule some time out here.  It would be fun and different.

Yesterday was very windy here..  and I mean WINDY (25-35 mph gusts).  We are on a knoll and the trailer was swaying around quite a bit.  We went to bed, only to wake up at 2 a.m. to MORE WIND (40-50 mph gusts).   I got up and went outside to secure the solar panel (we haven't mounted the panel to anything yet so we tie it down with bungee cords).   I came back to bed.   I laid there about 5 minutes, then got up again, went outside, took all my tie downs apart and brought the panel into the RV.   It was then I realized how cold I was.   After Sheryl warmed me up, I went back to sleep listening to the "hurricane" outside.

After sleeping in this morning, I set up the solar panel this morning and now we're getting "free" electricity again, thanks to the Sun.  After breakfast and reading our Bibles, we went into town, picked up some groceries, gassed up and ate lunch.  Then it was "hit the trail" time.  We headed toward the mountains behind us with the truck.

We could see the trails from our RV but couldn't figure out how to get to them.   It looked like the Old West as we " 4 wheeled " our way about 2 miles around checking out the trails.  We finally found a good "hiking" area, and enjoyed the close up experience.  Some of the most beautiful quartz rocks and flowering cactus.   

 

We enjoyed the views, the cactus in bloom, the different kinds of rocks and the fresh air.  I even went up the side of a small hill that looked a lot steeper climbing down than it did Climbing up.  We decided to go back to the RV, which we could see off in the distance so we just started working our way toward it.

We were going up and down on a trail when we spotted a jack rabbit in a wash.   the ears..  WOW!  In another wash we scared up a coyote.   There's lots of wild life around here.  We soon found a trail that led back to our front door.

 We had rain here over the weekend - a rare thing in Arizona.  Everyone was looking forward to it.  We even had a puddle in the wash leading to our RV in the background.  There are very few campers in this new area. 

 

We have nothing like this back in Michigan.   A "wash" is a low area that the water follows after a thunderstorm.   You don't park your RV in a wash and if you're walking in one and you notice rain or hear thunder, you get to higher ground because you can be inundated with high water before you know it.  This puddle was only 8 or 10 inches deep.   In many places in Arizona, the washes cross the roads regularly AND are MUCH deeper.  You would be in serious trouble if you try to cross when there is water in the wash.

After supper tonight, we decided to take a walk around the area of the travel trailer.  It wasn't long until we spotted another animal...  it looked a little like a coyote and had long ears.   We figured it must be a desert fox.   We followed it through a couple of washes and rises and then lost it.   It was getting dark.  Time to get back to the RV.

When we first arrived in Quartzsite, we noticed the welcome sign with the three camels on it.

So what about the three camels.   We didn't have a clue until we happened upon the cemetery and came upon the story.   It seems that during the Civil War, the Confederacy experimented with a plan to use Camels to transport men and gear across Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.   They brought some Camels from the Middle East, and after the war, one of the camel drivers settled in Quartzsite.  Check out the rest of the story at http://www.azcentral.com/travel/visitor/oddballaz/articles/2006/06/13/20060613hijolly-CR.html.

It's peaceful tonight.   The winds have died down and it's quiet.   Another beautiful day in the Quartzsite, Arizona area. Hopefully, more hiking tomorrow.

Day Trip to Parker and Back

Yesterday was bright and sunny and a perfect day to take the Interstate RV batteries in to a dealer to have them checked out.   The closest dealer is in Parker - roughly 35 miles to the north.

Our starting point was a couple miles south of Quartzsite (E) and our first destination was Parker (B).  Parker is about twice as large as Quartzsite AND it has a Walmart and a car wash, for starters.  We headed first to Arizona Battery where the owner put a gauge on both my batteries and pronounced them "good."  With that task out of the way, we priced-shopped items at the Walmart and the Safeway grocery store across the street.  We bought groceries at both stores BUT the roasted chicken came from Safeway.  We ate some of the chicken and a 1/2 gal of ice cream while sitting in the truck overlooking the Colorado River, which runs through Parker.

We found a place to wash the "dessert dust' off the truck, then we headed out toward letter "C" on the map with our eventual destination to be back to Quartzsite via "D" Blythe, California.  And here's where things become interesting.

We headed west across the Colorado River into CALIFORNIA.  Yup, we made it into California. 

I had checked the GPS map a couple of times and noticed a "short cut" driving along the Colorado River.   We started down the road at 45 mph posted speed limit for about 20 minutes until the paved road ended in the desert but there was still gravel to follow.. so we started driving on the gravel, following the GPS.  The GPS map indicated a "sub-division" up ahead about a mile, so we went up and down around and around on the gravel through the desert and creosote bushes until we got "into the sub-division," according to the GPS.   It was a sub-division that "never was."   It must have been plotted out about 30 years ago and never developed.  We came to a railroad track and another "road" that, according to the GPS, paralleled the tracks to our destination.   One look down "the road" and we decided to backtrack the 20 minutes and go the long way on main roads.

At the intersection of 62 and 95, we came to our first mandatory California produce "checking station."  We pulled in and the officer asked where we came from.  I gave him our trip itinerary and he smiled and told us to get going.  So we headed south on 95 and along the edge of the Mojave Desert.

We were 12 miles north of  Blythe on curvy two lane road and we had just managed to pass a truck and travel trailer when we noticed a sign on the side of the road for a pull off to see the "Blythe Intaglios."

They are large drawings on the ground made by Indians... but we never found them.  The road was really rough and we decided that we'd gone far enough.  So back to the main road we went and headed off toward Blythe.

At Blythe, we got back on I-10 headed East.   Just after we crossed the Colorado River, the traffic started backing up.   It was a Border Patrol check.   We eventually cleared that and headed toward the RV at Quartzsite.   123 miles round trip and a great day.

We enjoyed the rib-eye steaks tonight that we got at Safeway yesterday - grilled to perfection over a charcoal fire.  It was a beautiful sunset too.  We feel like we are living the dreams that we had before we retired.

Settled in at La Posa South - Quartzsite, Arizona

We've been here in the desert since Saturday and we are enjoying everything EXCEPT the dust storms.  There have only been a couple and they eventually pass.   Oh.. I think I forgot to mention that the speed limits out here are a little higher than back home..  even on the back roads..  some back roads are 70 and the interstate is 80:

We never worried about going over the speed limit pulling the trailer.  We only went over 60 going downhill.

Our current coordinates are 33 36.0500' N, 114 11.6390' W.  Those coordinates work on Google Maps and Google Earth or any other program capable of using latitude and longitude.  We are camped between two mountain ranges in a wide valley.

I crawled up the ladder to the roof of the RV to shoot two 180 degree panorama shots to give you an idea of what it looks like.

Went to a church service here in La Posa South on Sunday under the pavilion.

The people who hold the service put time and effort into being here to serve an RV congregation.  They are here on a regular basis during the season.

Because of the winds yesterday, we headed to town to check out the location of a notary public as we have some papers to sign on Friday.  We can get mail at the post office in Quartzsite addressed to general delivery, BUT there are always at least 20 people in line ahead of you when you get in the door, all standing in line to get general delivery mail also.

After the post office, a Value Menu Burger King meal was in order.  They have a larger $1 hamburger, larger small fry, and a nicely larger fudge sundae than the other "Mc" place.  We'll go back again.  Gas is $3.85 per gallon as we filled up.  After the gas station, some exploring was in order.   We found two more BLM areas to camp in - FOR FREE - 14 day maximum.  We checked 'em both out and located some areas that we could camp in.   More on that when we decide which one we'll go to on March 17 when we check out of here.

The first day we ran around, we used the motorcycle.  It is now COVERED in desert dust.   I hope it comes clean.   The dust is like Talcum powder and it sticks to everything.  There is no car wash in Quartzsite - the locals go 20 miles to Blythe, California if they think their vehicle needs a wash.

We mostly stayed inside today except for getting the solar panel back online.

I'm on my third solar panel controller.   The controller "controls" the amount of voltage and current going to the batteries.  I accidentally fried the new  controller that Morningstar sent me under warranty.  I called them, explained what I did and the company representative said he would send me another one no charge.  Wow!   What a company.  I made sure this time that there were no mistakes in hooking it up and it's performing beautifully.  We use a generator and the solar panel for our electricity needs.

It's after 8 p.m. mountain time and the winds have finally died down.  It's supposed to be a nice day tomorrow - Sunny and low wind speeds.   We'll figure out something to do.  We are living what we dreamed about doing.  It's a good feeling.

We Made It! La Posa.. ah!!!

We rolled into Quartzsite, AZ and headed for the La Posa LTVA (Long Term Visitor Area) -- our ultimate destination on our trip to warmth -- about 2 p.m. this afternoon.  

But before I tell you the rest of the story about today, I should try to clear something up about the last blog I wrote about Guadalupe Pass..  what made it so horrendous was climbing from 4,000 feet to 5,600 feet using a 5.3 litre truck towing a trailer that, well, is really heavy.  I'm so glad that we got the brakes on the trailer working correctly while we were in Florida.

Okay, back to La Posa.  We found helpful volunteer campsite hosts who answered all our questions about camping in the desert on Bureau of Land Management property south of Quartzsite.   We elected to pay $40 for 14 nights and that included access to a dump site, fresh water, and garbage pickup.   You can come in September and pay $180 and stay until April.

There are actually four sections to La Posa and we are truly camping in the desert.

We are camping on very hard gravel and dirt.  When you pay your fee, you drive out on one of the many "roads" in the area to a spot you "like" and park.   You must be at least 15 feet away from anyone else and you can run a generator from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.  We're 600 feet from our nearest neighbor.  We have mountains to the east and west of us.  We will be going into the town of Quartzsite on Monday to pick up a package that will enable us to get our solar panel going again.

We quickly unloaded the motorcycle..

We promptly got on our little Suzuki and did some exploring.  It is now a VERY DUSTY bike.  If you ever watch a western movie and you see the scene where the cowboy gets off the horse after riding into town and he beats the dust off his clothes and hat, BELIEVE IT!   It's really dusty... like a fine powder.   I'll have to figure out the best way to clean it as water is at a premium.  It's going to be fun running around on the bike here at La Posa.

Sheryl is doing dishes outside.  She said she has been looking forward to being able to "live outside."  Notice the cactus "guarding" our site.  

We are in the middle of nowhere and we still get 15 digital TV channels.  And Quartzsite is only about 2 miles away.   Yet we are in the desert.   It's a neat place with enough space to have lots and lots of campers yet not be crowded...  at least not this time of the year.   If we would have come in January, we would have found a lot more people, as Quartzsite hosts the largest RV, car, and craft shows in America.  But I'm glad we're here "off season."

More later..   reporting from "warmth."

Whoops.. a SIDE TRIP.

There are hundreds of miles between San Antonio and Van Horn Texas.   One thing that gets me about Texas is that it's almost 900 miles across I-10 to get to New Mexico.   It brings personal reality to the phrase:  "Everything's bigger in Texas."

 

The countryside is endless and rolling in West Texas.   And you start seeing real mountains.   And the road gets steeper as you head toward El Paso.

We stayed in a couple of Walmart parking lots along the way as we progressed.   When we got to Van Horn (on I-10) we noticed that the winds had REALLY picked up and that there was a lot of dust in the air.  We ate lunch at a McDonald's and made a spur of the moment decision to go north to Carlsbad Caverns first before continuing on to El Paso.   The first 60 miles of 2-lane road wasn't bad.   But the worst was yet to come.

Normally, I do research on where we are going.   I hadn't researched Carlsbad at all because it was quite a bit north of I-10 and had a high enough altitude that the nights might be too cold for us.  But we traveled toward the caverns, mostly to avoid the HIGH HEADWINDS we were running into.   Our gas economy was in the tank and the truck was struggling heading westbound on 10.

We were looking forward to seeing the caverns until we got to a place called "Guadalupe Pass."

 

And yes, we had to climb the mountains in the background of this picture.   The first steep grade that we came to reminded me of a hill that we climbed with an old Greyhound bus in Carbondale, Pennsylvania.  We only made that hill with the grace of God.   And I was praying a lot about this hill, thinking about the trailer and the truck.   We were down in 1st gear and the tach said 5,000 rpm and we were moving about 15 miles per hour.   We stopped at a pull-out to "rest" the transmission.   After a few minutes, the trans fluid temperature had cooled down and we headed back out on the road - up hill of course. We celebrated when we crested the top of the hill.   There were many more hills to come before we started down the backside of the pass but none as bad as the first hill.

We got to the entrance of the Caverns, only to find out that there was no campground on the National Park site.  But, there was a nice little campground near the entrance and the price was right.  We paid for our site and set up camp.

The next day we did the 7-mile drive to the entrance of Carlsbad Caverns.

We went into the Visitor Center and purchased two tickets for the "self-tour" of the "Big Room."  We took an elevator 750 feet down to the lunch area.   That's right.. you can purchase lunch 750 feet below the surface.   We followed the signs and started the tour of the Big Room.

'The "self-guided" tour is fool proof.   It is a very visible 1.5 mile path with guard rails on either side and it's a tour that we could take at our own pace.  We saw some awesome sights.   And my camera can't do it justice.   Here's a small sample: of what we saw

Presenting pictures of Carlsbad Caverns is like presenting pictures of the Grand Canyon.   They are nice BUT they can't do it justice.

We headed out from the caverns the next day back toward El Paso which meant we had to GO BACK OVER GUADALUPE PASS.   God gave me peace about it and going back was easier than getting to the caverns in the first place.   We chose to head straight to El Paso via a back road, rather than go back to Van Horn and take I-10.   But it also meant no gas stations.   We took a 26 mile detour just to fill up but we got rewarded.  We paid $3.27 per gallon instead of the going rate on the interstate of $3.59.  

We got to El Paso, got on I-10, looked left and saw Mexico, and headed west.   Just before we got to New Mexico we saw signs along the freeway to pull over and go through a border patrol checkpoint.  We waited patiently in line and answered the questions asked of us..  and put it all behind us as we motored into New Mexico - "the land of enchantment."

We saw our first real cowboy in New Mexico, spurs and all.  Not in Texas - but in New Mexico.  We also saw some very interesting rocks.

These are the "small rocks."   The bigger ones by the freeway were as big as houses and cars.

Which brings me to Arizona.   We decided to visit Tombstone Arizona - the OK Corral and everything that goes with it.  We headed south off of I-10 at Benson, New Mexico for the 25 mile trip. It was another unplanned side-trip that worked out pretty well. 

The old section of Tombstone is a couple of blocks off the main drag but it looks like an authentic wild west town.   And it's all walk-able. 

The downside is that there are only 3 main attractions in Tombstone:  The OK Corral, the County Courthouse....

 and the cemetery.   Everything else is gift shops and eateries.  For someone into western lore and looking for something to do, it could be an interesting place to visit.

Coming north out of Tombstone, we had to stop for another border patrol inspection.   

This time they looked the trailer over, but were very respectful.   We're glad they are on duty.  

We stayed at a Walmart on the north side of Tucson last night along with a bunch of other RV'ers.  This one was the most unique.

It just proves that if you have a desire to camp, you can do it, with almost anything.  We have seen a few people walking with LARGE backpacks.

This morning we paid a visit to Harbor Freight to get a new electric trailer tongue jack to replace the one we had purchased January 3, 2012 in Lakeland, Florida.   We walked out with a new one - no charge and no hassle.   Thank you Harbor Freight.   Our rig headed for I-10 again.

We made it through Phoenix and are now in another Walmart parking lot in Buckeye, Arizona.  Rev. Paul Castle, our conference superintendent, pastored at one time at the Free Methodist Church in Buckeye.  I don't know if we'll get to see it or not.   We want to be in Quartzsite early tomorrow to pick out a camp site on BLM property (Bureau of Land Management) where we can camp free in the desert. It's also called "dry camping" or "boondocking."   Thousands of campers do it every year and we're going to find out if we like it.

Until the next blog......