March 19, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in Roswell

Before I start this blog post, I want to take a minute and thank everyone who has read the blog. We just reached 100,000 hits, which is amazing to me. Such a nice feeling to know that what I am writing is getting read and thanks so very much for making that happen!!

We left on Tuesday from the City of Rocks and headed toward Roswell, NM. For the first time ever I think we will be staying two days in a location, moving on then another two days. We were both pretty excited about Roswell, because it’s an area of the country we have both been hearing about since we were kids. We are pretty fond of City/County parks and Lee found a small city park called Lake Van Recreation Area in a small town called Dexter about 10 miles south of Roswell. It turned out to be a very interesting park. Some enterprising soul took a gravel parking lot along the edge of the park and put in full hookups. Can’t beat the price at $15 a night, but it is a very unusual park. Lots of people use the park during the day and at night there is some traffic because you are next to a neighborhood road. I didn’t feel unsafe so much as exposed, but since it’s only for a couple of nights no big deal. Oh and just so you know this park is in the middle of dairy country and when the wind is right the cow manure smell is pretty strong. I grew up near a farm so the smell doesn’t bother me that much, but you should know in case you stay here. The coolest part was real grass with lots and lots of birds who were all in a mating frenzy. I saw lots of ducks and geese but couldn’t identify several of them. Possibly because they were domestic? Not sure.

Our campsite

The dock

Behind us

The view across the street

Never seen a water hookup like this before, but it works

Nesting ducks (update: Jim a friend of mine actually said these are two male ducks…so not nesting lol)

Have no clue what these ducks are either except for the mallard

I think these are snow geese 🙂 (Update: Nope they are domestic geese. thanks Jim!!)

After having a cleaning frenzy and a super long shower, I got a great night’s sleep. Then we got up on Wednesday and headed into Roswell. Now before I start this post I should probably clarify where I stand on the whole alien thing. I completely believe there is other intelligent life in the universe. Mathematically it is extremely probable and from a spiritual perspective I see no conflict with there being other beings in the universe. On the other hand, I find it unlikely we have been visited and the government knows about it. If we were, I would hope they would be spending a lot more money on our space program. Then again who knows, and as I am picturing a possible future president Donald Trump negotiating with alien visitors I think that it is probably a good thing no one has stopped by yet. 🙂 All that being said, I was really walking into the experience with an open mind and interested in seeing the evidence. I also really wanted to eat at the UFO diner.

Had to stop outside of town for this picture

I had this picture in my head of a quaint little town with lots of UFO stuff in it so I didn’t do any research at all. Well, it turns out Roswell is the fifth largest city in New Mexico and a perfectly nice little town. There is a sprinkling of alien references on main street, but mainly it’s just a town. The UFO diner closed down so we had to settle for Red Lobster, which turned out to be a wonderful lunch since I have had a huge crab legs craving for days. It’s wasn’t my UFO diner experience, but wow it was good.

Red Lobster

Next we drove downtown to check out the International UFO Museum. It was only $5 to get in and there was a line out the door the entire time we were there. I think it’s spring break here because there were tons of kids checking it out and even though it didn’t look like much I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. It started out OK, with a timeline of Roswell events and lots of information and affidavits. It was credibly documented that something unusual did crash on the site and the government said it was a weather balloon to cover it up, so I was interested. Then it got pretty hinky. There was tons of second hand witness documentation, especially around the 4 bodies supposedly found there, but it just got wilder and wilder. I found myself getting somewhat offended by the whole thing but hung in there until I got into the back and saw the big alien display. I get it, they are trying to appeal to kids, but there is an intellectual argument to be made for alien life and despite the tons of documentation they really missed the mark in a big way. Even the library which looks like tons of information, was largely magazine copies and some collections from UFO believers. Anyways, I was super disappointed in the whole thing.

The downtown

Some gift shops

The museum

Should have known from the lobby

Line out the door

A credible affidavit from a military officer that materials were found at the site and the weather balloon was a cover up

A second hand account that was presented with equal validity as the affidavit before

The UFO exhibit in the back. Occasionally it blows smoke

This library has lots of UFO related titles

The “research library” was largely UFO magazine

It fif have some government materials that were interesting

It does have some government materials that were interesting

Lee checking some out

And this guys private collection which reminded us both of one of those scary guys that live in a trailer in the middle of the desert…Hey wait a sec we lived in a trailer in the middle of the desert….hmmm

So the museum was a bust but thankfully my friend Deb reminded me about the Tree sculpture at the Roswell Public library. The tree was a community project where people of all ages submitted words, authors names, or snippets of books and they created tiles to create a beautiful tree bench. The leaves are even inspirational words and it was truly lovely. It really saved our sight-seeing day, but I would have to say unless you are passing through Roswell on your way to somewhere else I wouldn’t make a special stop here. Next we are on to Pie Town though and anyone who knows Lee knows how much he loves his pie. An entire town devoted to pie, well I may never get him to leave. 🙂

Wonderful bench/tree sculpture. It was super comfortable

The tiles were amazing

And the leaves

Always need to remember especially on the days that don’t quite turn out how you think they will

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March 16, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

Exploring the City of Rocks and Surrounding Area

The day after White Sands, Lee and I made the trip into Las Cruces (two hours away) to the nearest Staples and Best Buy to look at laptops. When I turned in my company laptop back in November I started to use an older one we had, but it’s been very slow and never really felt like “my laptop”. So I was using our main computer for pictures and blogging and squeezing it in when I could around Lee’s video work. When Lee started adding small videos to the blog posts we kept running into each other with needing the computer and this led to some conflict. So we sat down and talked about it and my stance was to just buy a laptop. In a role reversal, Lee wanted to be careful we weren’t just throwing money at a problem instead of solving it, so we sat down and really talked it through. Ultimately we decided to go ahead and buy it (I think my point is that if we were in our 30’s we wouldn’t even be having this conversation) and we made the long drive into town.

This area has three cities in it; Silver City which is north of us and known for being a home for Billy the Kid and having the largest open pit copper mine in the word; Deming which is south of us and has numerous RV parks and the best laundromat Lee has used since being on the road, and finally Las Cruces, which has all the major stores like Target, Best Buy etc. and is close to the border. To be honest I don’t particularly care for any of them. This part of the country seems to be economically depressed and the towns are showing it. I do appreciate that they all have Walmart with excellent selections and prices, but other than that there is not much to recommend any of them. (As a side note Cori really likes historic Silver City which does have a funky vibe and she found a pizza place there that tastes like her Philly pizza so she’s pretty happy.) Anyway, we went to Staples first and then Best Buy and I ended up finding a very nice computer HP 15-AC163NR for $399. You may be wondering why we made the drive and just didn’t order it online and the argument is similar to the one I made for trying my new hiking shoes on at an REI. How the screen looks and the mechanics of typing are very individual experiences and Lee was absolutely correct in insisting we go look in person. I tried out over 10 of them between the two stores and there were absolutely models of computers I did not like at all. And since Staples had price match going on for other retail establishments I knew we were getting the best retail price we could. Yes, I could have then taken the model number and gone home and ordered online and saved a few bucks, but in a case where I am working with a salesperson, I don’t personally feel right about that. I’m just old school that way.

When we got back to the camper the day was beautiful. No wind and we all ate outside, watched a beautiful sunset, had a fire, and listened to what I believe was a very active mating ritual by a couple of owls. Really lovely and I was excited about getting up the next day and really exploring the campground.

Lee took a couple night shots of the stars for me. There are so many!

Unfortunately the next day was cold and windy, and the next, and the next. When I say windy by the way I don’t mean a light breeze. It was full on, push you off balance wind with tons of grit in it. Going outside was unpleasant and there were no fires or eating outside. Since our rig isn’t set up very well for guests we ate and hung out at Cori and Greg’s. The days were spent getting the new laptop going, catching up on blogging and other emails, and puttering. And after a couple of days I started to get really antsy. It was so bright and sunny outside, but every time I walked outside to test the wind (or smoke) it was not pleasant. So here I was in what most people who know me would think is the perfect place on earth for me and I wasn’t happy. Generally when we have bad weather we do things in the area that are inside, but there really isn’t much to do here inside in a two hour radius. So I started getting cranky about the whole thing. Turns out March here is generally windy and those big open copper mines I talked about throw lots of sand and grit into the air. Plus the campground lies smack dab in the middle of a huge plain and wind comes from a long way away before it hits here. I actually thought about just packing up and moving on, but since we pre-paid (no refunds) and Cori and Greg were here and heading back to Tuscon when we were done I just stuck it out. I did force myself out on one day for a couple of hours to take some pictures and although they were amazing the conditions they were taken in not so much.

Our rig

Table Top mountain which I never climbed because it was just to windy

Indian Mill grdining stones in the park were very cool. I can imagine plains Indians coming here to grind their corn

Indian Mill grinding stones in the park were very cool. I can imagine plains Indians coming here to grind their corn

The worn sections of the rock were very neat in places

The eroded sections of the rock were very neat in places

One of my favorite formations. Looked like a sea monster to me with the head on the right and the tail on the left

One of my favorite formations. Looked like a sea monster to me with the head on the right and the curled up tail on the left

Beautiful right? And I have been back and forth in my head on how to talk about the experience. It’s tempting to let the pictures stand as they are and not talk about anything unpleasant. You can’t see the wind or the fact that I snuck these pictures in during very short walks because the winds drove me back inside. Plus if you are a hardier sort of person than me you might laugh off the wind as nothing or even enjoy it. But after some soul searching I realized I couldn’t just let the pictures stand without the rest of the story. The company was great, the campsites are perfect, but I am not going to be in a big hurry to come back here. And it’s sad for me because I have been wanting to see this place since before we went on the road. And I am sure for those of you just trying to get through the winter a big boo hoo for me. But after a year of being on the road I get to be a little more selective. There is still magic and wonder in new places, but the realities of weather, internet connection, surrounding area, services etc, do factor in. As we often talk about this is life not vacation and for me the area is not so great for living my particular life. Now all that being said, you should definitely come here at least once and hopefully you will absolutely love it. Just please realize that there is always more to the story than the pretty pictures.

A huge heart shaped rock

The “toilet rock”

Neat walking path

The sign was nice but the garden was kind of lame. Has tons of potential though

This is a mesquite tree btw

And Yucca plant

Another “sea monster” with the eye and mouth to the right

My very favorite campsite is tucked into the crack in this rock with the big rock on top looking like it could fall down at any minute

On the first few days the wind was pretty light so Lee was able to get some drone footage of the campground.

On Monday (our last day), we all decided to get out a bit and try nearby Rock Hound State Park. Well to be honest Cori pushed for it. I think she was tired of me feeling sorry for myself (which was fair) and off we went to try another park. It was still windy, but a little warmer and it was nice to get out for some different views. Rock Hound State Park has its own campground and allows people to take up to 10 pounds of loose rock away. I love rocks, but am woefully uneducated about what is what, but we walked up the path and took some nice shots of the vista and I did pick up a view rocks that were pretty. Then we drove to the Spring Canyon day use area which was 2 miles away and that was spectacular. Both places had a $5 day use fee but we didn’t pay them in either case because we were paying for our campground nearby. Use your own judgement on this, but I don’t know that either would be worth $5 a person although Spring Canyon has a very difficult hike to try and the picnic area was fantastic.

Rock Hound State Park Campground

Nice views

Some flowers were blooming which was beautiful

We walked up a 1/2 mile trail for some views. Lots of loose rock but pretty level

The surronding mountains and cacti were great

The surrounding mountains and cacti were great

I particularly likes this nountain that part of it had slid away

I particularly likes this mountain that part of it had slid away

Spring Valley picnic area

No way were we trying this with Cori’s ankle but Lee would like to give it a try

It led up to this peak

A different view, was really majestic

Afterwards we stopped at Spanish Stirrup Rock Shop and looked at their wares. They had tons of bins outside for reasonable prices and then the nicer pieces inside. I bought a rock magnet for $2 to commemorate our stay in the area.

Then we went to Benji’s in Deming for Mexican which was very good and stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for dinner. Finally Lee and I stopped at the Diaz Family Farm stand and bought some onions and tomatoes. They had bags and bags of roasted chili peppers there for $2, but as much as I love getting local produce I just don’t cook with chili peppers. The kid working there was super nice though and told us June – August are the nicest time of year in the area. He also said it was on the windy side, but it does get windy in March. When we got back Cori and Greg fixed a great fish dinner and we sat and talked for awhile. It’s the first time we will be leaving each other with no firm plans to meet up in the future and it’s kind of sad. We had a wonderful time with them, traveled very well together, and of course I adore their puppy Hobie. There is not a doubt in my mind though that they will continue to be a big part of our full-timing life it just may be awhile until we are in the same place again. So it is bittersweet that we are moving on. Excited to see some of the rest of New Mexico (and hopefully escape the wind), but sad that they won’t be with us. Safe travels my friends.

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March 12, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time at White Sands

For a variety of reasons, we all decided to skip Carlsbad and stay here at City of Rocks until the 14th. This required that we all move to a first come/first serve site, so late on Monday we toured the campground to see what had opened up. Finding two spots that were large enough for us and near each other was tough, but luckily we found two that did the trick, all the way in the back away from other campsites, which was a nice bonus . Plus I was hoping it would be less windy down among the lower level. Deb had warned me that it was much colder in New Mexico in March and that has absolutely been the case. Nights have gotten down to the high 30’s and the days are in the upper 60’s but many have been overcast making solar generation less than optimal. But the campsites are the most interesting any of us have ever stayed at and we are making the internet work. As I mentioned before there is no ATT at all and Verizon is 3G without the booster. Unfortunately the booster is a bit of a power hog (costing 10 amps to run), so we can’t really leave it on all the time and since we are sharing it between two couples it’s been a bit of a challenge. Thankfully I do have my Verizon phone so we can at least get phone calls and as much as I hate spending the $57 a month it is times like these I am glad I have both carriers.

All of that would be fine though if it wasn’t for the wind. Unlike Quartzsite this wind has gritty stuff in it and it has blown pretty much non stop since we got here. It makes sense really, since the park sits in the middle of a huge flat plain and the rocks themselves can act as a wind tunnel of sorts depending on which way it is blowing. On Tuesday we all moved down into the sites we had selected by 8:30 am (to ensure no one else took them) and then I tried to walk around and take some pictures of the rocks. The pictures were amazing, but it was just too windy for me, which ultimately drove me back into the rig. So extremely beautiful and unusual, but weather really can be a huge factor in how much you can enjoy an area.

Greg and Cori’s next spot. He did a fantastic job squeezing in there

Here’s us right next door

The rocks right behind us lit up by the sunset

Truly spectacular sunsets

On Wednesday, another windy day, we all drove the two hours to White Sands Monument. White Sands was on everyone’s list and even though the drive was on the longish side, we all wanted to see it. Initially I had pretty low expectations, but have to admit I was very impressed. The white sand is made by gypsum rocks being broken down by the elements and the dunes it creates looks an awful lot like sand dunes on a beach. You keep expecting to see an ocean over each next rise and many parents bring their kids there to sled down the sand. It is a National Monument so it was free with our America the Beautiful Pass, but only $5 to get in if you don’t have one. So it’s a big family destination and there were lots of families enjoying the day there. The easily accessed part of the park is pretty small, but well worth the stop if you are in the area, and we all really enjoyed the picnic area. Plus we found a quiet spot away from everyone and Lee got some stunning drone footage, which I hope you will enjoy.

Gipsum rock sample in teh visitors center

Gipsum rock sample in the visitors center

The big version of the rocks, this one was about the size of a small car.

Looks just like ocean dunes

But with some cacti thrown in which is weird…cool but weird

Kids “sledding”

Whole families were there

Hobi was a bit tentative about the boardwalk

Hobi was a bit tentative about the whole thing including the "boardwalk" so Greg carried him

So Greg ended up carrying him

He seemed happier at the end of the boardwalk. Probably was confused like me on where the ocean was

But I got him to walk back with me by coaxing him through it

I did get him to walk back with me by coaxing him through it

One of the coolest things was they had a whole section for people to grill out full of “beach cabanas”

Afterwards we walked into the group area which wasn’t being used

The vast expanses of sand with mountains in the background was great

I walked up a big dune and got this shot. The cliff was very steep

It was a fun couple of hours and high marks certainly for a novel activity, but we had driven a long way and still had plenty of daylight left. We decided to drive to the White Sands Missile Range Museum, which Lee was very interested in. Turns out the museum is on an active military base and in order to drive on you need a background check (which they did for free), driver’s licenses, car registration, and proof of insurance. Once all that was done (which took awhile unless you are a retired government employee with ID in which case you can just walk on and vouch for a guest) we had to have our trucks searched. He did a somewhat thorough job. making us get out and looking in all closed areas of the truck. Finally we were in, expecting something spectacular I suppose and instead we got this dinky little museum. The museum is a hodge-podge of all kinds of collectibles, with a pretty decent missile garden, but not sure for me or Cori it was worth all the fuss. Lee and Greg really liked it though, so most of these pictures and the corresponding comments are from him because frankly I didn’t know what I was looking at half the time. It was free though so that was a good thing.

This Pershing missile I actually recognized because our friend Larry drove these around Germany in the 80’s when he was in the Army.

I recognized the Patriot missile of course

This V-2 Missile was the first of it’s kind used by Nazi Germany to bomb London. They were huge!

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This is a drone helicopter used as a target.

This is the Fat Man bomb casing. Fat Man was the code name for the plutonium weapon dropped on Nagasaki August 9, 1945. It was the same design as the first nuclear detonation in the world, at the Trinity Site here at White Sands on July 16, 1945. After that first detonation, the only other available weapon was “Little Boy” which was a much less powerful uranium weapon, dropped on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. Little Boy was a 16 kiloton bomb, compared to the 20 kiloton Fat Man. To give you a size of scale, that casing above is 10’8″ long, is 60″ in diameter, and weighed 10,000 lbs. And one final bit of trivia, the code names are both characters from “Casablanca”. -Lee

This is a scale model of the Trinity test bomb, which was known as “The Gadget” during development, construction, and testing.- Lee

The museum

As you can see the displays were often different items thrown together

This is a cinetheodolite, a motion picture camera that has been in use at the missile range since the beginning. It films a rocket in flight, and at the same time it prints the time, elevation and azimuth of the lens on each frame. Since the precise location of the camera is known, the data can be used after a test from multiple cinetheodolites to compare actual position of the missile or rocket to the flight plan, and the data is accurate to within 2 feet, allowing for very detailed understanding of the performance of a flight. Originally it took two men to operate one of these, now one can do it via a joystick. – Lee

This is a piece of twisted pair cable along with a lead splice, the large grey tube in the background. Prior to fiber optics, a telephone call required two of the hundreds of wires shown here. A fiber optic cable, which is a strand of optically pure glass as thin as a human hair is capable of carrying nearly limitless conversations or data.- Lee

Helicopter drone target. – Lee

This is a control system for flying target drones. It has been in use since 1973, and the same model is still in use today. – Lee

This was what a drone controller looked liked. Now Lee uses a smart phone. Crazy leaps in technology

This is “program” card for a radar system used from the early 1960’s to the 1986. The unprogrammed board was a plate about the size of a standard piece of typing paper, and was full of tightly packed holes. Think of the board from the game “Battleship”. Placing wires with pegs into the holes allowed programmers to create complex program instructions, as well as subroutines with the board, and between-board commands. There are nearly 800 holes on the board, and each connection had to be made by hand. The farther you got, the harder it got to identify the holes, because of all the wires. In addition, there were two additional boards for each board created; one for calibration, and one for testing.- Lee

This is trinitite; a substance created from the Trinity test explosion of the first nuclear weapon. It’s a green glassy substance that covered the depression in the ground made by the explosion. It was originally thought that the heat of the blast vaporized the steel tower the weapon was mounted to, and melted the desert sand, creating trinitite. In 2004, Los Alomos scientists took a closer look and determined that the sand was first scooped up into the fireball, and melted inside, then the tiny drops of melted sand behaved as water in a cloud-collecting into bigger drops that remained too heavy to be suspended and fell as a rain of molten glass. Radioactive molten glass. – Lee

One of the nifty toys at the range is a solar furnace. Flat mirrors track the sun, and reflect the rays into concentrating mirrors which are curved and pre-focused to a small area, around 6 inches. This allows scientists to recreate the heat of a nuclear explosion, using the sun, to about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a sample of half inch thick steel that was burned through using the device. – Lee

This Darth Vader helmet was presented to the base because some of the sound effects for Star Wars were gathered here

Loved that this water tub also included instructions on how to turn it into a toilet!!

And the sanitation kit cracked me up as well

Can you believe the rocket scientists used this to perform calculations

Then they eventually upgraded to this…crazy!!

My favotie thing in the museum was this podium where JFK spoke

My favorite thing in the museum was this podium where JFK spoke

Using the picture as a reference I got to put my hand exactly where his was on the podium. That was cool

So mixed reviews on the museum. The guys loved it the girls would have given it a pass since it took so long to gain admittance, but either way it was a good day trip. Lee and I have really let other projects build up since we have been traveling so much, so plan on staying closer to home over the next few days and just enjoying the City of Rocks.

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March 10, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in Gila National Forest

We landed at City of Rocks campground with no issues and found that our sites were directly next to each other. City of Rocks is the most unusual campground I have ever been in and the campsites are spread on the outside edges of a couple of huge gigantic rocks with smaller rocks on them. It is a New Mexico State Park and although most sites are first come first serve, they do have a few that are reserveable and we were in the Pegasus loop. The “city” is completely surrounded by flat plain and then a few mountains including the very distinctive Table Top Mountain, so when you are driving up you really can’t see it until you are a few miles away. Then out in the middle of nowhere there is a campground. The attraction is the unique campsites, hiking trails, and some local hot springs in the area, plus at $10 a night the price can’t be beat. The whole vibe of the campground is extremely relaxed and the volunteers and rangers are very mellow in comparison to some other State Parks we were in. So we very quickly checked in and then found our spots.

Greg parked in his site

Our front window view

Picnic table and grill area

We got a bonus fire pit surrounded by tall rocks on each side

And what an awesome fire we had

That first day we just settled in and worked on some chores. I like to clean when I first arrive in a place so took advantage of full water tanks to scrub a little. I had also gotten a hole in my favorite blue jean shorts and Lee was kind enough to sew a little butterfly applique I had bought on for me. Plus we worked out the itinerary with Cori/Greg , settling on a day trip every other day with the day off between to explore locally or work. The only downside to the park is no dump on site (Lee took ours into Deming using the Blue Boy) and no ATT at all. Verizon was working pretty good though and since C/G have a Verizon Jet Pack with unlimited minutes they were kind enough to let us share. Since we have a secondary phone with Verizon service we were all set and the group was already talking about whether we should extend because the park was so great.

Truly a renaissance guy. He can sew and drill 🙂

Saved my shorts!

The sunsets are pretty here

On Monday we all drove to Gila National Forest to see the Gila Cliff Dwellings. Greg is particularly interested in Indian ruins and the rest of us were happy to see it as well. Wow, what a terrific experience. First the drive up was amazing. We traveled along a scenic route called the Trail of the Mountain Spirits and it was absolutely breathtaking. Plus we were up in the mountains so we got to experience some cold and even see a little snow on the ground which was a cool change for the last couple of months in the desert. Once we arrived, the Cliff Dwellings themselves were also spectacular. It only costs $5 to get in (free with the America the Beautiful Pass) and you get to climb a very nice 1 mile trail (moderate difficulty) and then actually go inside some of the dwellings. The staff was excellent, very friendly and passionate about the dwellings and we had a terrific time. Even Cori who is waiting to get surgery on her split tendon next month made the trip and as long as she went slow it went fine. I do recommend taking hiking poles though as coming down is a bit steep, but absolutely make sure you see this at some time or another because it is amazing.

First waterfall I have seen in months.

The road was well paved and maintained, but super twisty turny

The views were stunning

Man mad lake at the top of one of the mountains

Man made lake at the top of one of the mountains

A little snow

This was our view as we ate lunch prior to hiking up

The initial bridge that takes you over the creek and on the path

Cori making her way on the trail

Our first views of the cliffs

I left the people in so you could see how big they were

The view across from the dwellings was amazing

We finally made it to the mouth of the caverns

The houses are in amazing condition

The rooms were either family homes, storage, or community rooms (Lee’s pic)

This corn is original to the time. See how small it is in comparison to todays corn (Lee’s pic)

Love this shot (Lee’s pic)

Despite being in a cave I didn’t feel any claustrophobia at all, maybe because it was so open (Lee’s pic)

Great view from their windows

Entrances were small (Lee’s pic)

Really beautiful and we were all so glad we got to see it (Lee’s pic)

Coming down was a little trickier and the poles came in handy

Coming down was a little trickier and the poles definitely came in handy

Between the drive, the hike, and seeing the dwellings it was definitely a full day, but there was one more surprise for us. As we were driving home on a different route we ran into this small town that was settled in 1803. Just had to stop for Lee to take a pic of this Opera House and Saloon.

Really special day and we have more to come. We decided to skip Carlsbad and extend our stay in City of Rocks and every other day we will be having a field trip of some sort or another. Been really great getting to explore a new area, especially with friends!!

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March 7, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time at a Man-Made Biosphere

After the fantastic experience of the Tuscon Desert Museum we knew it would be hard for anything else nature related to compete, so we totally switched directions and went to visit Biosphere 2 on Friday. But, before that, on Thursday we had two very important social interactions. The first was lunch with Lee’s step sister who he has rarely seen, since he was very young. We moved to New Hampshire and she moved to Phoenix so it was wonderful that we were close enough to visit and the two of them could get caught up. It was a great lunch that ended up being 3-1/2 hours (luckily the restaurant wasn’t that busy so I didn’t feel bad about camping out there) and I am so glad I got to know her better. We plan on spending quite a bit of time in the Phoenix area so we look forward to spending more time with her in the future!
lisa

On the way back Lee heard from Scott, his good friend from RV Tech school. They happened to be in the Tuscon area, and wanted to have dinner. After months of preparing they were finally full timing and we were excited to catch up with them and hear the story. Plus I had never had a chance to meet his wife Bonnie. So we all met up at a Chinese restaurant and spent a couple of hours with them (and Cori and Greg) swapping stories and commiserating over how tough the first few months of full timing is. Very few couples launch into the lifestyle without some initial challenges and Scott and Bonnie (who bought a 1998 Beaver Class A) were no different. Things were smoothing out for them though, and I was really interested to hear how successful Scott had been getting his RV Tech business going in their former hometown in California prior to them heading out on the road. So it was a nice (but somewhat expensive) day, and it was so great to meet up with them. As a side note I didn’t get any pics,but I find it awkward to pull out my camera and take pictures when I don’t know someone that well. Feels rude or something, although I am sure they wouldn’t mind.

We were all ready to head to the Biosphere on Friday though because the clock was ticking on our time in Tucson. For the first time we are trying staying in an area for a few days and then moving on, and I have to say neither one of us is much of a fan. Tucson was amazing and there were so many things we wanted to do, you simply couldn’t fit it into a few days. Plus we essentially lose a day every time we move (between packing up, dumping, and unpacking) and the more “lost days” the less things you can do. And to be honest the pace was just too hurried for me. It’s one thing if we take several days to move between point A and point B, but stopping and starting is just not for me. Since that was the plan for New Mexico I’m not sure how that will play out over the next few weeks, but we are already talking about extending one stop and skipping another altogether.

For those of you who don’t know, Biosphere 2 was a privately funded project where 8 scientists lived in a closed dome environment for 2 solid years. There is a ton of misinformation about the project, but the real story is fascinating. First off Biosphere 1 is Earth. Biosphere 2, which was man made, had two separate missions. The first went the full two years and the second was cut short at 6 months. Despite the rumors the scientists did not cheat on food, and ended up losing an average of 16% body mass in the experiment. So in order to survive they needed to spend the bulk of their time raising food which seriously cut into research. That was very interesting to me and falls in line with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory. The theory states human beings have to take care of each level of need before they can focus on higher functions. That’s why third world countries aren’t as developed technologically as more advanced countries are because so much energy and time goes towards the physiological. As you can see problem solving and creativity are way at the top.

Sorry, went on side track there, but I do think it is important because Biosphere 2 was supposed to be a test to see if people could live on Mars, or in or outer space. Aside from the food issue, the real failure ended up being the inability to create enough oxygen to sustain the project. About 6 months in they discovered a raising of CO2 levels and lowering of oxygen levels. Turns out that as concrete cures it lets off Co2 which they did not originally account for. Eventually they made the choice to bring in oxygen and complete the full two years of the project to see what else they could learn. I ended up buying a book written by one of the inhabitants called The Human Experiment which I am a few chapters into and is very good so far. Even if you don’t care that much about the science stuff, it’s still a neat tour. We got a 2 for 1 deal with our Tuscon Attractions book so it was $10 each. Brian, our tour guide, was excellent and really took his time to explain each area which I appreciated. Plus the absolute coolest thing was in parts it felt like you were on an actual space station and I loved that.

Entrance

The building that held the rain forest. The green behind the glass is trees.

The Crew Quarters and to the right is the “lung” which has a 16 ton rubber membrane that would expand and rise as the air inside the closed system would expand as the day got hotter, and then contract and lower as the air cooled, to prevent the windows blowing out, or in.

Entrance which was sealed during the experiment

The rainforest was amazing

They created a small ocean with waves

And experiments are being done in the facility (which is now owned by the University of Arizona)to this day

The view is really neat but the person whose book I am reading said after awhile she yearned for a clear view of the skies without bars which makes sense

Some trees were brought in as saplings (such as this one) and have grown and many others have grown by natural methods

Greg and Cori listening to the tour guide

Huge circular room with a giant rubber dome that expands and contracts with gas.

Close up of the rubber bladder, made by Dupont and rated for 99 years. It’s the black curve behind the railing.

This is the walkway outside the lung and the air is really strong when you walk in here

This is the walkway outside the lung and the air flow is really strong when you walk in here

Outside view of the lung

These generators were built originally to create enough power for the biosphere, but ultimately it was determined that using grid power was cheaper.

These propane generators were built originally to create enough power for the biosphere, but ultimately it was determined that using grid power was cheaper.

The grounds were really pretty as well. U of A has a summer camp for kids to live onsite and help the scientists with their experiements. How cool would that be!!

The living quarters were pretty nice. All 8 crew members cooked for one day each on an 8 day rotation.

Each crew person had their own space (bedroom upstairs we didn’t get to see)

They also experiemented with growing food in these 100% self contained containers. Greg found this particularly fascinating

They also experiemented with growing food in these 100% self contained spheres. Greg found this particularly fascinating

View from their “front window”

Here’s a short video Lee made of Biosphere 2. All of the video was shot on his phone, so it’s not as good as he likes, but it’s better than nothing.

As if that wasn’t fun enough, we got a text from our good friends and fellow Class of 14ers Gene and Eileen. They had been delayed on their trip out west because of some family health issues, but were finally on their way to meet Kelly and Bill at Quartzsite. Since they were passing right by us, they drove to Tucson and we had a lovely dinner and catching up at our campground. My favorite part was reuniting with Max who is a cavachon just like Hobie.

Cori and Eileen…they could be sisters

Greg cooked some excellent hamburgers

Gene catching us up on what they had been doing

Max with his pre Quartzite clean neat look. He is so so cute

Hobi looking rough and ready post Quartzsite. The contradiction cracked me up. He was happy because Eileen brought lots of dog treats.

It was so great seeing them again, but it was time to move on to City of Rocks. We are absolutely coming back to Tucson and the Gilbert Ray campground in particular which is one of my all time favorites. Oh, and on our way out we met a couple from Keene (our former hometown) at the dump station. Liz and Peter became full timers (in a very cool airstream) 45 days after we left Keene and we have roughly been following the same route this entire time. We didn’t know them when we were in town, but Peter had read the story about us leaving in the newspaper. What a great couple, and it was such a nice surprise. They gave us a beautiful book they had made about the Monadnock area and we exchanged cards and promised to stay in touch. It truly is a small world and if you are interested in their adventure you can read about it on their blog.

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March 6, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

February 2016 Budget

February was the worst budget month we have had in a long time, with $5386 in expenses. Not surprising really since we crammed a ton of activity into February. We went to Vegas for 9 days, then to Kartchner and finally back to Quartzsite, and another Mexico trip. Some of the expenses we can ultimately write off as business expenses, but most were frankly us having a good time with our friends and not being cautious. We didn’t have one budget conversation all month, and it shows. I think it just goes to prove you really have to stay vigilant or costs can quickly get away from you. The details are below.

Campground Fees – $494 went to a nine day stay at Circus Circus for Lee’s work. Since this cost is directly attributable to our business it can be written off at the end of the year, but I included it here since it was an immediate expense.

Propane – Propane was a little higher because we started and ended the month in Quartzsite. This off course is offset by how crazy cheap Quartzsite is.

Groceries – We didn’t do a very good job this month dividing out consumables from expendables (food versus non-food) so the individual categories aren’t right but the overall cost is correct. This is the one category we saw a huge improvement in and that was despite many shared meals with friends. I attribute that to all three couples sharing the cost evenly, we ate out more, and Lee eating at work some.

Dining Out – These categories were both terrible. We had our anniversary and several meals out with friends, didn’t keep track as we should have and really just blew the budget.

Entertainment – We really did pretty well in this category considering all the stuff we did, and the overage was caused by $120 in books Lee purchased. He loves the west and they had some very unique books in Tombstone and Yuma and I encouraged him to buy them as well. Neither one of us realized it added up to so much though until the end of the month which would have been solved by having our regular mid month review which we skipped this month.

Home Furnishing Mandatory – This was the other really tough category but these expenses are attributed to two things. Lee accidentally left the surge protector at Circus Circus and of course it was gone when we called. Since a new one was going to be a couple hundred of dollars we decided to upgrade and invest in an inline system that could never be lost or stolen. All in that costs around $500, but it was a decision we made together. The other expense was $173 for new sheets. For some reason the sheets got totally destroyed and needed replaced. Now you can easily say, that is a ridiculous amount to spend on sheets, but we have 800 thread count sheets because it is incredibly helpful controlling my hot flashes. For me (and Lee who I woke up a lot) it is a small price to pay for a good night’s rest. It does stink though that the sheets lasted barely a year. I am not sure if this is because we are washing them in public laundromats or they are stretched too tight on this new bed, but hopefully it was an anomaly and they will last the several years that the precious pair did.

So this $935 overage was a tough one, but we know it was fully within our control which is comforting in an odd way. Nothing that blew the budget was absolutely necessary (except maybe the sheets) and if we needed to we could have avoided or delayed the costs. Since my work paychecks stop in March this was a bit of a last hurrah, but obviously we cannot continue at this rate of spend and be successful.

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First Time in Tucson

We had driven through Tucson a couple of times going between Kartchner and Quartzsite (once at night), but I didn’t see much besides the freeway so I was very excited to spend a few days there. (Side note: I love the artwork on the infrastructure in Tucson, it’s really beautiful and every place should have it). Cori did the bulk of the planning for the next several weeks for us and her talent for finding awesome campgrounds has served us well. We are staying at Gilbert Ray Campground in a county park called Tucson Mountain County Park which is right next to the Saguaro National Park. At $20 a night (electric on site, water and dump station on premises) this park is amazing. Although some of the sites are a little tight, we did find spots for both of our rigs and once we were tucked in I absolutely loved it. Each site has lots of landscaped desert plants and we also have a view of the surrounding hills. The only bummer is they have a 7 day limit and we are only spending 4 days here, but we will definitely be coming back.

Campground’s nicely paved streets

View from our door

View from our front window

Since we were in and settled by 2pm we decided to run into town and take care of a few errands. The drive into town was beautiful with spectacular houses on the hills surrounding Tuscon and I really liked what I have seen of the town itself. First we went to REI and finally chose some hiking boots. Lee and I have been putting this off since we went on the road, but my recent sprained ankle convinced me I needed to break down and spend the money. Since REI has a generous return policy and knowledgeable sales staff, we decided to buy them there. Yes we could have gone in and tried them on then gotten them cheaper online, but I wanted to hike at least once in them and be able to easily return them if needed. So glad I did because despite spending $110 I am extremely happy with my new pair of Merrill’s and Lee (who coincidentally bought the same kind I did) loves his as well.

Next we stopped by the Container Store (Lee’s Mecca) and did some browsing. I will say Lee showed extreme self restraint and only bought one small thing for $2, which we actually needed, but we did spend quite a bit of time in there. He likes to look at everything lol. Next up was Costco. Most of our friends have either Sam’s Club or Costco, but I have never been convinced it was both a good deal and in the case of RV living we would have the space. I was pleasantly surprised and after walking around a bit and shopping with Greg, I was sold. Many of the prices were excellent (not all you do need to look), but I was more impressed by the quality of the meat and the fact that they carry brands you can’t easily find in other places. After the store we were all getting pretty hungry so we went back and ate the leftovers from Taco night and planned our next few days. We usually stay in places much longer, so this is the first time in a while we have had too long of a list of things to see for the time we have. We ended up prioritizing by all throwing out our favorites and decided that the next day we would visit the Arizona -Sonora Desert Museum which is right down the road.

We thought we would only spend a couple of hours there, take a lunch break, and then head to the miniatures museum but wow were we wrong. We spent five hours there, walked 3.2 miles (shoes held up great), and saw every single thing there was to see. It is not a traditional museum as almost all of the exhibits are outside and more like a combination garden, wildlife area, and museum. I loved it and if we lived in the area would become a member. The cost at $20.50 was more than worth it (we got 2 for 1 with our Tuscon attractions coupon book) and by the end it was my second favorite museum of all time. The DC Smithsonian Natural History Museum is still number one, but it was close. It has an enclosed bird area, an enclosed hummingbird area, butterfly gardens, desert trails, mountain trails, and some native animal exhibits. All I can say is wow and if you are in this area, please take the time to do this.

Entrance

I loved these Javelina sculptures which were also piggy banks for kids to make donations in

The trails were flat and well maintained with numerous shaded areas to stop and drinking fountains along the way

Since it does get hot here I absolutely recommend going first thing in the morning

So m,any beautiful flowers to see and all from the Sonoran Desert area

So many beautiful flowers to see and all from the Sonoran Desert region

Lee’s pic

Beautiful butterflies (Lee’s pic)

This tree was gorgeous

The flowers had no scent though

Saw my first ever flowering cactus

Lee's closeup. The bees in the area were all the solo bees and non stinging according to the signs we read

Lee’s closeup. The bees in the area were all solo bees and non stinging according to the signs we read

Numerous plants I had never seen before also. This one is a relative of the more common ocotillo

Bishop’s torch

Really liked the organ cacti

This funky plant is a relative of the ocotilla

Lots of cool little knooks along the trails

A few had these neat metal sculptures in them

Snowball cactus

Even the trees were nice and green

The views of the surrounding mountains were beautiful

The bird area was really neat

Saw a Western Tanager

Cactus Wren

And a very cool road runner

The hummingbird area was even better

First hummingbird in a nest

Anna’s hummingbird (Lee’s pic)

And this beauty the Costa Hummingbird

Black chinned hummingbird (Lee’s pic)

My favorite was sitting and watching this hummingbird build a nest

We took a break and had lunch there at the grill. The food was on the pricey side but good, but if we had planned better we would have taken a lunch. Afterwards we walked the Desert and Mountain path loops. These are out in the sun more and much hotter, so probably should have done these first. These loops hold most of the mammals. Each animal display kept the animal in it’s natural environment and it felt less like a zoo and more of a natural extension of the plant life. Very well done.

Greg taking a little siesta after lunch

The Desert Loop

Little shade stands for some sun break which was nice

This grey fox was very active

Desert Bighorn

I didn’t even see this guy but Lee got the most beautiful pic

Couldn’t get over how much the coyote looked like a dog (Lee)

(Lee’s pic)

Vultures perform a very important role in the desert (Lee’s pic)

The mountain lion was huge and extremely restless

Look at the paws on this guy (Lee's pic)

HUGE paws on this guy (Lee’s pic)

Our favorite though was the prairie dogs

Eating some grass (Lee’s pic)

Check out the claws on this guy (Lee's pic)

Check out the claws on this female (Lee’s pic)

I had to leave the reptile house early. There are numerous types of venomous snakes in the desert and this one would blend right in ::shudder

After the walk on the outer paths we were all pretty pooped so we went back to the rigs and took a little break. Then at 5pm we drove the loop in the National Saguaro Park which is right next door and took some nice afternoon/sunset pics. Really amazing day. Love the area, love the museum (would buy a membership if I lived here) and it was great hanging out with Cori and Greg. Really a perfect day.

The loop road

Lots of walking trails although we stayed close to the main road

Hard to capture the detail in a pic

Gila Woodpeckers make nests in the cacti for their eggs. Pretty safe place for them

The views were spectacular

Took these all by myself!! See I have been listening to you Lee 🙂

Lots of walking trails although we stayed close to the main road

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March 2, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

How To Survive (and even thrive) in Quartzsite

After two visits and five weeks camping in Quartzsite I am by no means an expert. I do think I have learned enough though to share my thoughts on how newbies to the area can survive and even have a good time here. That being said, please keep in mind there are as many ways to boondock out here as there are people, and your mileage will definitely vary.

Make sure you visit before or after the big show – Seeing Q during the show is fun and definitely something everyone should do once, but to really experience the area come before or after the few weeks surrounding the show. If you only experience it during those couple of weeks, you will definitely get a skewed idea of what it is all about and in my opinion miss out on a lot of the fun of the place. Plus, if you are working, the internet is awful doing the two weeks around the show.
Have a plan and know your limits – Understand what your rig can do and what your individual limits are prior to deciding where to stay. You don’t have to have a full solar array or huge tanks to make boondocking work. You don’t have to be able to scrape by on the bare minimum either. What you do need is a thorough understanding of your boondocking tools, a willingness to try something new, and good communication skills. If you don’t feel up to trying it, you can still experience Quartzsite. There are many reasonably priced, full hookup parks. Yes, they are stacked pretty close together, but staying in one of these makes your visit no less of a Quartzsite experience. Kudos to my friend Ellen by the way for knowing up front they would need hookups for an extended stay and getting an excellent seasonal deal at Quail Run, which was a very nice park.
Be careful choosing your spot – Chances are once you get in a spot you probably won’t move, so choose it carefully. Park on rocks instead of the sandy areas in case of rain. Make sure your solar and/or windows are faced in the direction you want them. Think about which way the wind is blowing, where the sun rises and sets, how close are your neighbors, etc, prior to settling in. As first timers I do recommend La Posa South simply because the water, sewer, and trash dumpsters are on this piece of BLM land. The other BLM areas are also very nice, and if you are willing to travel a little farther to dump, give one of those a try. Once you choose your spot make a rock boundary. Yes, technically it’s against the rules, but they aren’t enforced, and it does help maintain a little space around you as things started to get crowded. Also make sure you respect other people’s boundaries when you park near them. It’s a big desert and the socially accepted space between rigs is generally larger than you are used to.
Conserve but don’t make yourself crazy – Here’s the thing; it’s not a competition. There is no prize for going the most days without getting water or dumping, and since everyone’s tanks are different sizes it wouldn’t be fair if it was a competition anyway. I shower ever day, some people every other, still others go three days. Does that make me a bad person? Heck no, I just like to shower everyday and since Lee is willing to dump a little more frequently. who cares? I do strongly recommend though that you invest in Chinet paper plates. They are strong and practically leak proof and not only does it save tons of dish water but it also is great not to wash a lot of dishes. Huge fan.
Explore the town – There is a surprising amount of stuff to do in Q besides the tent show. The local QIA has free dance and yoga lessons. There is a local remote control plane club. There are tons of hikes and ATV trails close by and lots of local shops to see. See it all, but try to hold onto your wallet. It’s tough, because there are lots of products designed specifically for RVers, but remember any purchase may end up in a future “purge” pile.
Get social – Whether you are meeting friends or not there are so many ways to meet people here that you could literally do something with people every day. Most groups and clubs have events here and if you are active on the forums or RVillage you will see tons of people wandering through. This is probably the largest gathering of like minded people any of us will ever experience and it is wonderful to spend so much time with people. Make sure you take time for just yourself and as a couple. Take a day trip or take a day off once in awhile and don’t forget about your day-to-day chores. Bills still need to be paid, laundry, grocery shopping, housework etc.
Get out of town – There are many wonderful things to see out of town. Go to Cibola or Kofa for a little nature. Visit Blythe or Parker to see nearby small towns. See the Desert Bar, travel to Mexico, or visit Yuma. Q is a great jumping off point for many day trips.
Enjoy the downtime – Despite all the things to do you may experience more downtime than you are used to. That’s part of the fun of it, just doing nothing sometimes. If you are a go go go person, just be prepared for it.
It will be dusty – It’s dusty here and the wind does blow. The good news is the dust is not gritty, it’s more the consistency of talcum powder, but it does get everywhere. If you are a person who needs a spotless rig all the time this is probably not the place for you. My recommendation is clean when you get there and clean when you leave. In the middle just straighten up but sweeping, mopping, and dusting is pretty much a wasted effort.

So those are my thoughts as a no longer newbie in Quartzsite. We will definitely be coming back again and I really do recommend that everyone who full times tries this at least once.There truly is nothing quite like it!

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February 29, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

Busy Week in Q

Whew, what a busy week in Quartzsite! I have to say for such a small town there is a lot to do here, and showing it to Kelly and Bill we saw lots of things we never got to in the first month we were here. Also there has been tons of social activity. Most of the folks here are leaving the 28th or 29th so lots of people are getting together to spend time or see last minute things. The only negative time this week was our trip to Phoenix to Aspen Dental. Previously I had blogged about our trying to use Aspen’s Dental’s network to solve our dental needs and I had some mixed success. This time though we were driving 2 hours to Phoenix to get Lee setup in their system. I tried to make an appointment for an extended cleaning with them and explained we were coming a long distance but they absolutely refused. So long story short when we got there they refused to clean Lee’s teeth because of lack of time and then after my initial exam refused to clean mine as well. I immediately called their 1-800 number for patient concerns and was told I would get a call back in 48 hours. No phone call. So I will never be going there again. The only positive to using them was that your patient files were on their national network and you didn’t have to go through the new patient rigmarole every time. This office hygienist, Sunshine, refused to accept the patient records on file because “80% of the time the other offices misdiagnosed people.” Ok so that’s enough for me, and on the drive back we said screw it, and decided to get it done in Mexico.

We had plans to go with Ellen, Mario, Kelly, and Bill to Mexico the next day anyway and I reached out to Ellen and explained the problem. Not only did she make it a priority for us to see a dentist, she sat in with Lee during his cleaning the entire time. The dentist (who was smoking hot, per Lee) spoke great English, but Ellen sat there with him anyway, just in case. Such a wonderful friend, and we had a terrific experience. It was $25 for the cleanings and we learned they fill cavities for $40 and offer teeth whitening for $150. The prices were great, the office was clean, and she was incredibly professional. Can’t ask for more than that. We are already starting to reach out to our bosses in Alaska to see if there is an office close by so we can make cleaning appointments now for the summer and hopefully get some minor work done. By no means am I satisfied with any dental solution I have found, but at least Mexico opens up more options. We also had a fabulous lunch and I got another $6 haircut. Kelly also got an eye exam and ordered some glasses saving around $400 in the process since she has a complicated prescription. Very productive day, and Ellen and Mario were kind enough to shephard the newbies through the process.

Getting my haircut at Marilyn’s

Mexico days are long days, but more excitement was to come. Jo and Ben drove 7 hours each way from San Bernadino where they are on a contract just to spend the weekend with us. They made it there by 8pm and we all had some drinks, sat around the fire, and caught up. It’s so amazing to me what people will do to see each other in this lifestyle and we were all super grateful they came. In the morning we had lunch at a fantastic breakfast place, Bad Boys Cafe Ben had heard about. I had probably passed it 10 times and never even seen it and was I missing out. This is my kind of diner and had wonderful prices, great service, and was clean as a pin…no small feat in this dusty environment. Lee and I had huge breakfasts, coffee, and bottled water for $13 total. Loved, loved, loved it and give it my highest recommendation.

Me, Jo, Kelly, Bill, Ben, and Lee

Afterwards we came back and chatted for a bit then in the afternoon we went out to Beer Belly’s Adult Day Care. This is a popular bar right in the middle of the vendor tents downtown and I had never been there. It was nice and cool in the shade and the music was really good, plus the place had a good vibe. Best of all this fantastic home made ice cream stand is right next door and I had a terrific creamy vanilla cone.

Cori(not pictured), Pam, Red, Greg, Bill, Kelly, Ben, and Jo (not pictured)

Then we all went back and prepared for our big Margarita/Dance Party night. I set up a little dance area and prepared my music and Bill set up his bar. Cori organized a taco dinner and everyone chipped in on either something either to eat or a mix for the drinks. It was a great time, the only bummer being I had sprained my ankle on the Palm hike and really couldn’t dance on it. (I did get some excellent free medical care from Jo and Ben). We switched over to 70’s music (which made Jim VERY happy) and hung out by the fire until late in the evening. Jim and Barb actually stayed awake until 9:30pm so I guess it was a good party 🙂

Steve, Dianne, Dino, Lisa, Jo, Ben, Bill, Red, Greg, Cori, and Pam

Jo and Ben talking to Jim and Barb about the trip they made to Alaska in their truck camper. Jim and Barb are doing something similar this summer

Bill outdid himself…he really is an excellent bartender. Not one drink ran empty all night, plus he gave great advice on how to avoid a hangover to the crowd (tall glass of water, two advil, repeat as necessary)

The taco buffet!!

Beautiful sunset and a picture of jo and Ben’s “shuttle craft” that they take weekend trips with

Pam was dancing away. both Cori and I on bum ankles could only hop a little …bummer

Hanging around the campfire

It was a great night and then in the morning the Class of 2014 gathered for a brunch. Kelly organized it and the spread was amazing then Cori and Lee worked together to get a group picture of us all. It’s been such a good time this week and so glad we got to experience Q with Kelly/Bill and Jo/Ben. Also Looking forward to heading back to Tuscon and doing some exploring and then New Mexico!!!

Bill, bartender by night and bacon chef during the day!!

From left: Mario, Ellen, Greg, Bill, Red, Lee (first in line shocking :P) and Pam

Ben and Jo

So this is how you do a communal breakfast. Eggs by Kelly, Hash Browns by Greg, French Toast by me using Mama Jo’s recipe, Pancakes by Pam using Kelly’s blueberries, Jo bought bacon which Bill cooked, and excellent coffee by Mario!!

Bill/Kelly, Ben/Jo, Red/Pam, Mario/Ellen, Greg/Cori, and Lee/Tracy

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February 25, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

Quartzsite Redux

Our last day before leaving Kartchner was a busy one. Greg finished his install, Cori/Kelly and I went looking for sand hill cranes (no luck there) and Lee and Bill had a great time at the Pima Air and Space museum. Lee took lots of pics and may do a supplemental blog post later. The last night I made a meatloaf dinner for everyone and then we went to see an observatory that Kelly found on trip adviser. This small observatory holds about 17 people, but has a huge telescope and a rotating roof. It’s free if you stay at the Butterfield RV Resort and only $2 a person if you aren’t staying there. You need to call first thing in the morning though, and make a reservation, and I absolutely recommend you do it if you are in the area. Lee said “This is the coolest thing we have done since being on the road,” when we finished, and those that follow our travels know that is no small statement. The work kamper, a retired chiropractor and amateur astronomy enthusiast, was very knowledgeable and entertaining. More importantly instead of seeing the stars on a screen we all got to step up to the telescope and look in the eyepiece. Everyone took a turn seeing two stars in the Orion constellation, the Orion nebula, the seven sisters (my favorite), the moon, and Jupiter. Obviously their was some down time between turns, but it went quicker than you would think and there was a lot of interesting information while you were waiting. Although I wouldn’t say it was the coolest thing we have done, but I definitely would recommend it one evening if you are in the Benson area.

We may not have found any birds but I did buy a bag of locally grown pinto beans for $4.50!

The observatory. Sorry for the quality, night shot with phone, not great

Pretty big telescope inside for the room's size

Pretty big telescope for the room’s size

Beautiful full moon in Kartchner

It was only a 5 hour drive to Quartzsite the next day, so we decided to all go separately and then make sure someone met Kelly and Bill at the front when they arrived. Normally we would not have come back to the same area so quickly, but we wanted to be with Kelly and Bill when they experienced Quartzsite for the first time. And we had left some things undone, believe it or not, despite being in Q for a month. We ended up driving on HWY 8 and bypassing Phoenix and I really recommend that route. It goes right through a beautiful section of nationally protected Sonoran Desert and there wasn’t much traffic on it compared to HWY 10. Cori and Greg took the straighter route, plus Greg drives faster, and they got to Q around 2:30. We got there at 3pm and had just finished dumping and filling with water when Kelly and Bill arrived. Our old spots were open again, so back we went and getting settled in was much faster the second time around. Pam was nice enough to organize a hot dog dinner and had a huge turnout of folks for Kelly and Bill to meet which was very nice.

Travel day potluck

Rick (in hat), Dino, Harry, Vicki, and Steve

The number 1 thing I wanted to do when we got back to Q was go on a hike with Jim and Barb. I absolutely love their blog Jim and Barb’s RV Adventure, and although we have gotten to know them better in a group setting, we really wanted to do something with just the four of us. We had planned this hike, but other group activities kept getting in the way, so we were all committed to making this happen. And boy am I glad we did. Several people have hiked the Palm Canyon in the Kofa Wilderness area, but the pictures really don’t do it justice. That’s not a slam on the photography, by the way, it’s just one of those places that’s tough to capture but takes your breath away. Because the hike is very steep and goes through some narrow crevices these pictures were taken by me, Lee, or Jim. The good news about this hike, which was the toughest we have done from a footing perspective, is you can drive the 8 miles right up to the canyon, then park and walk as much or as little as you want to. All the pieces of it were beautiful to me and even though touching the palms was cool and all, the views were more amazing.

The desert leading up to the canyon was very green in late February

Loved that the ocotillo’s had leaves

Still lots of thorns in there though. Hope we get to see the flowers before we leave the desert

The canyon with the little windy road at the base

The view from the end of the road back to the desert

The view from the end of the road back the way we came in

The canyon was cool in the shade and had tons of greenery

Barb previously climbed up to this ridge and saw lots of relatively fresh bighorn sheep dung

Finally we got to the spot where we could see the palms. These are the only indigenous palm trees in Arizona and many people stop at this point and turn back

Finally we got to the spot where we could see the palms (in the center crevice). These are the only indigenous palm trees in Arizona and many people stop at this point of the trail and turn back

We kept going and the views got more spectacular

Barb initially found this way to the palms, you have to climb up on the right hand side.

Lee was great keeping up with her. I took a little longer

Finally made it

And a little bit farther to touch the palms, which were very big. I was breathing a sigh of relief

Thanks Barb and Jim, no way we could have done this without you guys

The way down for me was actually worse

Lee once again did great

I held my breath a lot and scootched on my butt in several places

I held my breath and scooched on my butt in several places

The views were once again spectacular but I really wished I had my poles for the way down

Look in the bottom middle of the pic and you can see a person down there. It was a long way up, but very glad we did it

And if that wasn’t enough dare devil activity for one day, a bunch of us went to Silly Al’s for pizza and karaoke and I actually got up and sang. I dedicated my one karaoke song “Honey I’m Home” by Shania Twain to Red and Pam and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I may not sing very well, but I am sassy which works very good for that song 🙂 Plus I got to sit at the end of the table with Harry and Vicki and I really enjoyed getting to know them better. They have a great story. Harry worked a corporate job and when they retired they went on the road. Vicki works in quality assurance for an IT department so could work out her few remaining years on the road and she works and Harry takes care of everything else. He plans their routes, cooks dinners, and has done work kamping stints, including one at Amazon!! I really love what they are doing and like them very much as a couple so it was great to learn more about them. They have a blog, and although Harry doesn’t post a ton, I really like his writing style.

So we have definitely hit Q running. Looking forward to Jo and Ben getting here this weekend to hang out as well and a big Margarita/dance party on Saturday. Stay tuned!!

The gang at Silly Al’s

Red and Pam dancing!

Me getting my karaoke on

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Camper Chronicles

Travel Tales from Working Full Time RVers

Lakeside

First Time in Roswell

Exploring the City of Rocks and Surrounding Area

First Time at White Sands

First Time in Gila National Forest

First Time at a Man-Made Biosphere

February 2016 Budget

First Time in Tucson

How To Survive (and even thrive) in Quartzsite

Busy Week in Q

Quartzsite Redux