February 22, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

More Western Fun

Friday, Greg started his solar install (he owns RV Solar Solutions and does solar installs for RV’s on the road) and Lee worked on wiring a permanent outlet for our macerator pump so we don’t have to run out a 50′ cable to clip it to the truck battery every time we want to use it or our freshwater fill pump. So Kelly, Cori, and I went to do laundry and to the grocery store. I am not a huge fan of laundry mats, but it’s certainly much nicer when you are with friends, plus as these places go it was clean and all the machines worked. That night Bill and Kelly cooked ribs and wings for the group. Bill makes the best ever chicken wings (I’ve included his recipe below) and we were all very happy by night’s end.

Greg working on the install

Bill and Kelly cooking

Yummy ribs

Amazing, restaurant quality wings

Beautiful sunset that night

Saturday, Lee and I took the day to ourselves and went to see Johnny Ringo’s grave. The grave is along Turkey Creek out in the middle of nowhere next to where his body was found, and on private property. The owners of the property allow visitors, and although they don’t charge anything they have a small donation box. We actually left $10 in it, because the grave site was beautifully maintained and we appreciated the fact that they allow visitors between 8am and 6pm. It’s also a beautiful drive in and of itself and took us very close to Chiricahua National Monument, which we also drove over to see. Unfortunately their scenic drive is closed down, but they have lots of hiking trails I would like to try out on a later occasion. It was a really nice day and meant a lot to Lee to be able to show it to me since this area had such a huge impact on him 20 years ago.

This was the road we went down to see the gravsite

Lee got this shot of one of the many hawks we saw along the drive

Lee got this shot of one of the many beautiful hawks we saw along the drive

The gate to walk back to the gravesite

You do need to watch for snakes along the path

The ranch house of the folks who own the property

It is really beautifully maintained and there are worse spots for a a final resting place

He was found in the crook of an oak tree by teamsters with a bullet in the right temple. IT was ruled a suicide, but many people think it was murder

He was found in the crook of an oak tree by teamsters, with a bullet in the right temple. The death was ruled a suicide, but many people think it was murder

The original oak tree is the log to the left

The creek itself was beautiful and the largest body of water we had seen in awhile

The view from the gate

This is cattle country and they stayed pretty close to the small bodies of water

This bull was beautiful, but the horns were wicked scary

We stopped so I could get pictures of this hawk in the tree

He was a big one

Look at the muscles in those legs

The Chiricahua National Monument had some beautiful rock formations

And since it’s at a higher elevation some plant life I have not seen

The property started as a guest ranch and eventually was turned into piblic land

The property started as a guest ranch and eventually was turned into National Forest

On the way back to Kartchner, we stopped in Willcox and ate at The Dining Car, which is a restored train dining car with a BBQ smoker in the front. Lee had the Beef Brisket sandwich for $9.99 and thought it was excellent. I had a salad, which was not so great, but that’s my fault. Not sure what I was thinking ordering a salad at a BBQ place.

Wall mural in Willcox

The Wilcox train station

The smoker fot the BBQ is in the front

Loved the old piano in the back

We called it an early night, but Cori/Greg and Bill/Kelly went to a show in Old Tuscon and had a good time. You’ll have to read about that in their blogs,though. The next day, we all decided to go see a Western town re-creation and movie set that Cori found, Gammon’s Gulch. It was only $8 (cash only) and the tour was given by the long-time owner and creator of the property, Jay Gammons. We all really enjoyed it, as he took the time to explain where many of his collectibles came from and what movies they were in. He rents authentic antique props to film companies and rents out the entire town as well. For only $750 a day, it is a bargain in the production world, and he also rents it our for parties and weddings which would be fun. After his tour he also lets you walk around the town for as long as you would like taking pictures. The only sour note for the day was when the owner’s wife wouldn’t let Lee take some aerial shots of the town with his drone, even though he offered to give them an immediate copy of the materials for their use at no charge. It’s unfortunate that people really don’t understand how drones work and are often so negative against them, because the footage would have been stunning. Still, we took lots of pictures and had a great time, culminated by another group dinner of orange chicken and rice and a fantastic game of Cards Against Humanity (a truly terrible game that leads to all kinds of laughter).

The wild west town

Jay the creator and owner was a hoot

This lamp was in the movie tombstone

Sherrif’s Office

The jail was built and I loved the detail of the hangman’s noose right outside

We couldn’t go into the church because it was recently infested by black widow spiders. It is the desert after all

The general store was full of items collected or donated

This old french ice chest was pretty neat. The only one I have ever seen that was round

I loved the barber pole which he made exactly like the most common poles of the time

This well is a movie prop and can be moved throughout the town

He has numerous old cars in various stages of repair which Bill liked

They made this casket which was in the Sharon Stone movie The Quick and the Dead

The salon was great, although apparently swinging doors were not that common in the Old West

One of my favorite parts of the tour was when Jay played this old piano

And then the banjo which was awesome

He found this beautiful light fixture and cleaned and repaired it. IT pulls down from the ceiling

Here are pictures of people either he or his dad have worked with. His Dad worked quite a bit for John Wayne and Jay got to meet him as a kid. What was believable about the stories was that they weren’t to over the top. Plus he told us who was nice (Sam Elliot) and who was a pain (Michael Landon).

The old trunk in this bedroom was beautiful and has been in his family for over 100 years

This beautiful bar was an original and I loved the picture to the right, which he hurredily explained to me was art. I actually agree. Beautiful painting

I find flyer recreations like this fascinating as it says something about the times and the people

We walked up the hill to an old mine recreation

Bill was the only one brave enough to go into the “Bat Cave”

The view from up there was nice

Recipes

Bill’s Amazing Restaurant Chicken Wings

Fresh chicken wings from meat department
Frank’s Hot Sauce (Bill swears this is the best)
Butter
Oil
Blue Cheese or Ranch dressing optional

Cut chicken wings into drums and wings
Boil in hot oil submerged for 8-12 minutes (small are 8 minutes large are 12)
Let drain on paper towels
Toss with mixture of equal parts hot sauce and butter
Serve with blue cheese, ranch, or alone

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February 21, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time (for Tracy) at Tombstone

Twenty years ago Lee was driving a truck cross country for work and he took a route that led him through Tombstone and ultimately to the site of Johnny Ringo’s grave. As with Hearst Castle, this was high on the list of things he experienced alone that he always wanted to show me and I was curious as well. I am not a Western buff by any stretch of the imagination, but I love the movie Tombstone and everyone knows about the gunfight at the OK Corral. So we jumped in two vehicles and Greg, Kelly, Bill, Lee, and myself went to Tombstone. Cori unfortunately had to work that day, but she encouraged the rest of us to go. The town is remarkably close to Kartchner State Campground (23 miles) and although Lee warned us it was on the touristy side we all wanted to see it. Tombstone is a regular town, but the old historic part of it is closed off and you can wander around, similar to Silver City. What is somewhat unique about it though was the many folks in period costume and character that wander around also. They have some shows you can see, and restaurants, and numerous shops, and there was definitely enough to keep us busy.

The main street

People were going on stagecoach rides throughout the day

Lots of guys in costume, smoking cigars, and trying to encourage folks to attend their particular show. These guys were in front of Big Nose Kate’s Salon. Big Nose Kate was the girlfriend of Doc Holiday

And Kelly was getting her cowboy hat on!!

Greg decided to try out a cigarillo

I enjoyed a quilt show they were having in town

Although there were several show to choose from, we chose the re-creation of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. It takes place on the actual site of the OK Corral and the actors who played the parts were pretty good. Plus we had a 2 for 1 coupon from the Tuscon Entertainment book we all purchased, so it only cost $10 per couple to get in. Even better, as a bonus we got tickets to the newspaper museum (which Bill loved) and a movie about the town with it’s own spinning diorama. That was my favorite part as it was very Disney and the movie screen kept lowering and raising to show the rotating diorama behind it. Made me feel very nostalgic for my childhood and the movie was narrated by Vincent Price and actually pretty decent.

They had some memorabilia in the OK Corral such as this saddle used by Kurt Russel in the Tombstone movie

The Earp brothers and Johnny Ringo in the town street

Virgil, Johnny, Wyatt, and Morgan in front of the OK Corral

Johnny Ringo in the street before the show

The guy that played Johnny Ringo was very good

The stage for the reenactment

One of the Cowboy gang

The gunfight was short and loud!!

Afterwards we ate lunch at the Crystal Palace, one of the first brick buildings in town and then Kelly and I wandered in and out of some very unique shops while the guys took in the newspaper museum. On the way back to the campground we also stopped at Boot Hill Cemetery, which I really liked. Lee said the cemetery had changed the most in the 20 years since he had been there and it was free to get in with only a $3 donation for a grave map if you wanted one.

The inside of the Crystal Palace

The food was great and the service was actually pretty good although there was a long wait for the food after the show let out

The food was great and the service was actually pretty good (outfits aside) although there was a long wait for the food after the show let out

Real coyote pellets. Never seen these in a store before

Coyote pelts. Never seen these in a store before. There was lots of unique western clothing in the stores.

Sign on the door. We say no firearms signs on many of the stores, but this one was funny

We saw many no firearms signs, but this one was by far the best

The graveyard was beautifully kept

With some interesting stories of how people died

A few of the graves were more ornate than others

This same headstone is in the movie Tombstone. When they are pulling into town it’s in the shot

There was a Chinese section in the graveyard. The marker makes it clear they were not always treated well

There was a Chinese section in the graveyard. The marker makes it clear they were treated as second class citizens

This member of town though was rumored to have ties to the Tongs back in China

This Chinese citizen though was rumored to have ties to the Tongs back in China and was given a much nicer burial

And this grave was erected for an African American solider who lived in the town

And this grave was erected for a former slave

These graves are for the three people that dies in the OK Corral gunfight

This grave was for Marshal Fred White whose accidental killing started the war between the Earp’s and The Cowboy Gang

A separate section of the cemetary was for the Jewish pioneers and some native americans

This was the grave of the three men killed at the OK Corral

And it seemed appropriate that since Lee had bought Cactus Jack 20 years ago in Tombstone we finally replaced him with Cactus Joe. It was a sad day and hard to say goodbye, but as you can see the time had definitely come.

RIP Cactus Jack

Welcome Cactus Joe 🙂

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First Time at Kartchner Caverns

We have been incredibly blessed to meet so many wonderful people in this lifestyle. The support and friendship we have received has not only enriched the experience for us, but also in my case has really made this much personal growth possible, and no one has logged more hours in “help Tracy not be a crazy person” time than Kelly and Cori. We have been there for each other since the very beginning. Truly the very beginning since the first RV thing we ever did was go to the Hershey RV show in September 2013 and Kelly/Bill/Cori/Greg were were in the same first full timing seminar we attended. They had contacted each other on the RV-Dreams forum and actually met for the first time at the Hershey show. We had plans to meet a totally different couple, but they flaked out on us and we ended up being alone. So initially when we went into the seminar and I looked around, all I saw was older people. Keep in mind this was my very first experience with full time people in person and the presenter was pretty awful. He was very dry and even a little negative. and his wife didn’t say two words. and honestly I was feeling a little panicky about the whole thing. We were there to select a fifth wheel and I was still VERY on the fence about whether full timing would be for us and the presenter was not helping. In desperation I started scanning the room and in the back corner saw four people who looked like they were close to our age. Kelly had a smile on her face and looked so friendly and Cori looked her usual professional self and just seeing them made my anxiety level go down a ton. I had no clue who they were, but they helped me even back then!

Fast forward to the 2014 RV-Dreams Spring Rally, and I got to meet both of them in person. It was clear by this point (through the forum) that we had lots in common, but I still had no idea they were the people from the Hershey Rally, and I would love to say I recognized them from that even when we first met in person but it wasn’t so. Not until we were sitting around talking one night and Kelly mentioned they had been there that it all clicked. Over the next 7 months as we were all preparing to full time, they were both a huge part of my support system. I will never forget talking through having my near panic attack at giving my notice at work with Cori or calling Kelly in tears when I missed the initial basic training phone call from my daughter who was in the Air Force. The unconditional support from all of our RV friends is something that is very important to me. Common circumstance and common fears have created wonderful lasting friendships that have only been solidified by time spent in person on the road. Schedules being what they are though, we haven’t seen Kelly and Bill for over 6 months and we were all very excited to be together again in person.

Cori and I had booked Kartchner Caverns State Park last spring, and luckily Kelly was able to add the same days there. So finally our wandering routes met in the same place, and what a great place this is. The campground is $30 a night, but it’s really nice. The sites are very deep and level and the campground has a community fire pit with wood. The campground is in the same state park as the caverns and visitor center, but also close to Tombstone, Tucson, Benson and multiple other attractions in the southeast corner of Arizona. Plus, there is lots of foliage and the state park even has a 2-1/2 mile walking trail. We are also within walking distance to a great visitors center and a hummingbird garden, which is nice.

Very deep sites

Front slide view

In our side yard but no so close it’s dangerous

The communal fire pit

Love this view from our desk window

So what do we all do when we are together?

We talk

We laugh

Bill makes drinks…

And eat.Lot's and lot's of snacking and easting

And eat. Lot’s and lot’s of snacking and eating

We all sort of work off a communal kitchen when we are together. It’s great because since space is limited I always have recipes that call for items I don’t have, but invariably either Cori or Kelly will have it. We also just start throwing out what we have together then wham! a nice meal is put together. One night we had Hawaiian chicken, fruity rice, and mixed vegetables together. Another night we had fajitas and in every case everyone pitches in what they have and it all comes together. As a side note, the communal kitchen think works great as long as everyone involved is very careful to contribute somewhat equally in either labor or raw products. Otherwise, the cost or labor burden ends up being unequally distributed which is not sustainable. This time we came together with pretty full pantries and are all trying to get rid of stuff we have been hanging onto for awhile. Since none of the guys are picky eaters, it has worked out great so far.

We also share ideas with one another. We somewhat jokingly say we can’t hang out together too much because it costs us money because every time we are together we end up buying something else. I bought my Magma nesting cookware set after Cori showed me hers. I bought my Instant Pot once Bill and Kelly tried theirs out and gave it two thumbs up. This time I was sharing my new Chefmaster Indoor Grill, which I have been using all the time and Kelly tried out by grilling some pineapples on. It’s just relaxed and easy and fun.

We all like to do things as well, so once we got settled we all went to the caverns together on Wednesday. Each tour cost $23 a person so we decided to just pick one and since Bill has seen the most caves we let him pick. They both looked pretty good but he ended up picking the Big Room Tour. When he was doing the research to decide he googled which cave tour was the best and a post by Howard and Linda at RV-Dreams showed up in the search engine. He ended up deciding by re-reading Howard’s blog and then checking various reviews. One of the downsides to this particular cave though is absolutely no pictures of any kind are allowed. Actually you can’t bring anything into the cave, not even a bottle of water. So any pictures you see here were taken from the internet and I will give credit the best I can. Not being able to take pictures was dumb. I understand no flash photography, but their reasons for no pictures at all were pretty lame. That being said, in general I do really admire the lengths they have gone to to protect the cave.

It’s a pretty interesting story really. In 1974 two college aged amateur cave explorers were searching the area (based on the childhood memories of one of them) and discovered a grapefruit sized sink hole. They enlarged it to barely large enough to squeeze into and discovered a huge cave which no man had discovered. What is interesting is the lengths they went to to keep it a secret. First they tried to buy the property, then they entered into partnership with the owner of the land who also kept it a secret, and finally in 1988 it was sold to the state as a state park. They kept it a secret because so many other caves had been seriously damaged by visitors and they wanted to keep this one as pristine as possible. The movie that they show in the visitors center was very good and then the Big Room tour itself talks about how they found the cave and shows both the outside entrance and the very small area they crawled through. This is a living cave and they go to great lengths to keep it that way. They add humidity to your clothing when you are headed in, close the caves for bats from April – Oct, and tag any area you accidentally touch so that it can be cleaned overnight. These ecosystems are very fragile and although the measures seemed extreme, the cave itself is so beautiful that I also felt they were necessary. All except not allowing any photography of course. Lee said he would pay extra for a photographers-only tour that allowed folks to take some pictures.

One of the many beautiful large formations (tuscon.com)

Somewhat unique turnip formations which are only found in one part of the cave

A living formation where we got to see the trips coming from the ceiling and going into the pool (azcentral.com)

Lots of beautiful “bacon” formations (mikeswebcorner.com)

The tour guide, a retired naturalist, was excellent. She has been full timing for 8 years and wintered here for the last several. The tour was jam packed full of information, which was a good thing because as many of you may remember I am claustrophobic. I was nervous about doing a cave tour at all, but decided to give it one try and overall it was OK. My claustrophobia is directly related to ceiling height and in most of the tour the ceiling was quite far away. During those sections I started to get uncomfortable I either held Lee’s hand or Greg told me quiet jokes under his breath. They are both sweet like that. After experiencing it, I am glad I did it once, but I will definitely never be a spelunker. The thought of that tiny hole those guys originally climbed through puts me in a cold sweat. But I am glad I did it at least once. Oh, and on a completely side note they also found several cool skeletons in the cave. One was a giant sloth from 70,000 plus years ago and was a major scientific find as it shows the climate used to be very different in this part of the world. A sloth isn’t really all that interesting, but this particular variety is is almost as big as a bear.

Giant sloth re-creation in the visitors center.

While we were there we also bought a Tuscon attraction passport book that Cori had found. For $20 you get numerous 2 for 1 deals in the area, and the book will definitely pay for itself with all of the day trips we have planned. So, look forward to several posts on local attractions. We are really in a nice jumping off point for several places and plan to do Old Tuscon, Tombstone, The Biosphere, and the Earth Space Museum over the next several days. Plus more drinks, food, and laughter I am sure.

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February 16, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Driving in the Dark

Since Lee got home around 3 am on Saturday morning he slept in a bit on Valentines Day. He has had such a good time though working with his old friends from Mills James Productions and it’s been a great way for Lee to get a hand back in on a job he hasn’t done for many years. He mostly ran handheld camera and look how sexy my guy is with his big camera.

Love that smile

Since we had the entire day off I wanted to go the the Natural History museum, but changed the plan because Lee seemed tired and instead decided on a trip to the Las Vegas version of Chinatown. As I have mentioned before, I love Vietnamese food and they had numerous restaurants in town, so after doing some research on Yelp decided on Pho Kim Long. They had a line out the door at 11:30 and almost everyone eating there was Asian. I apologize for using the generalized Asian, by the way, but simply cannot tell what ethnicity people are and the only thing worse than using the general is mis-identifying ethnicity. Despite being 6th or so on the wait list (quick tip: you sign in your own name, they don’t do it for you) they turned the tables quickly and the wait was only about 5 minutes. I spent the time watching their operation and was incredibly impressed. Everyone was working very hard, from the hostess to the kitchen staff and I was incredibly impressed. I have spent a lot of time in poorly run restaurants lately and it was a treat to be in one that was firing on all cylinders. Plus the food was great. The fried egg rolls were perfect and Lee’s Mongolian beef was outstanding.

They had tons of 8 top tables and really knew how to turn them

Loved these combination chopstick, soup ladle, and ramekin holders

Afterwards we drove next door and went into the “Mall”. The main strip itself was a little disappointing and the merchandise was nothing special, but I love asian stuff in general and still had fun walking around.

Chinatown Gate

Cool statue outside

The absolute best part though was the grocery store, 99 Ranch Market. This was a great one with a fantastic meat section (whole haunch of goat, anyone? How about beef bung?), amazing produce, varied seafood section, and of course dry goods. Here’s the thing about Asian grocery stores in my opinion. The prices are competitive and in general the quality of the product is great. To make a generalization, Asian folks are foodies and very selective about the product they put in their food. Thus, in order to get their business the grocery stores that cater to them need to be top quality. Almost everyone walking around in the shops was Asian and unlike many sections of town, I felt completely safe.

Highly recommend this grocery store

Afterwards we came back to the rig and just relaxed and watched an absolutely amazing episode of The Walking Dead (as a side note they are really doing amazing job of keeping that show going strong), but frankly we just didn’t do the pre-leave prep that we normally do. I did some things here and there but we had originally planned on getting out very early because of the long drive day and that didn’t happen. (We ended up not getting out early at all, we didn’t leave until 10am. And on top of that, I was so distracted and not focused that I left behind our 50amp TRC Surge Protector. I disconnected the voltage regulator and power cables, and then got distracted. I didn’t realize my mistake until this morning, and now I’m trying to see if some honest soul turned it in to security or the lost and found at Circus Circus. I’m not optimistic. – Lee) We haven’t driven such a long day in quite a while, but we didn’t want to try to find a campground in the Phoenix area (the halfway point) in February and we aren’t big fans of the Wal-Mart or Cracker Barrel overnight stays. Unfortunately, when making that decision we forgot to take into account we lost an hour to time change and certainly didn’t plan on a major accident on 93 which delayed us another hour. Between that and stopping to eat twice (lunch and dinner) it was dark and we still had 90 miles to go. We did split up the driving between the two of us, but I started looking around to see if we could find a place for an overnight. Lee wanted to press on though, and after grabbing some Arby’s (which we ate in the truck) I took the last turn at driving.

This was the first time I had ever driven in the dark and I definitely don’t recommend it unless you’ve had some practice. You can’t really see the back end of the rig for one thing and rely on the headlights of upcoming cars to help you see. Also, wildlife jumping out into the highway can be an issue at night, and although we didn’t see anything, it certainly heightens the amount of vigilance you need to drive with. Even with my glasses, my eyes started to get tired but there was really no where to get off and switch over easily. One of my biggest complaints about driving is the lack of places to pull over and take a quick bathroom break or switch drivers. I like to switch out and stretch my legs every two hours but sometimes that is just not possible when towing. The rest areas are few and far between and sometimes closed or too small for us to get into. Pulling off to the side of the road is an option, but we are not comfortable unless there is a pretty wide space and that’s next to impossible to determine at night. Anyway, I get now why most people are hesitant to drive at night and although I am glad I am able to do it, wouldn’t make a habit of it.

The good news was Kartchner Caverns State Park was very easy to find and the roads getting to it were nice and wide. It was very quiet when we pulled in around 8:30pm and thankfully it was relatively easy to get into the back-in spot and setup. Definitely a two person job in the dark though, as I had to hold the light on the blacktop so Lee could see where it ended and the sand began. The sites are huge and it looks really nice in the dark, plus Kelly and Bill and Cori and Greg will all be here tomorrow which I am super excited about!!

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February 13, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

We are not on Vacation

Full timers often talk about the fact that you absolutely have to treat this lifestyle as “regular life” and not “vacation”. Even the most experienced of us struggle with that on occasion and when you hit a spot that you frequently vacationed in, even more so. For us Las Vegas was our “go-to” vacation spot. Lee came almost every year for the National Association of Broadcasters conference and saved up all year long to really enjoy himself. He brought two of our daughters here when they turned 21, and he and I came on several other occasions. So it’s not surprising that when we hit the town those old vacation feelings were stirred up. But of course, it’s not vacation. He’s here to work, and we are also here to see if we could spend winters here. Still, we added a couple of days at the beginning of this work trip, and a day at the end, and the desire to “live it up” a little is strong. Eat an expensive dinner, do some gambling, see a show, all the things that have been a regular part of our Vegas trips in the past. Those things all cost serious money though. The days of cheap buffets and show tickets are largely gone, and we could easily blow a month’s entertainment and dining-out budget in one day here. So what does that leave? That’s a good question in a town that is one of the best in the world at “helping” you spend your money.

On Tuesday I dropped Lee off at the Mirage so he could work and I took the truck to get an oil change. We pre-bought all oil changes and regular services with the truck so I can go to any Ford dealer for those maintenance visits. I picked Friendly Ford here in town and after some difficulty getting me into their system, they did a nice job. While I was waiting, I had a nice long chat with my Mom (who also loves Vegas and has a timeshare here) and then decided to go to the Bellagio. All of the casinos are celebrating the Chinese New Year this week and the solarium of the Bellagio was decorated to match. Generally I am a big fan of the solarium, but this time it fell a little short, although I had a wonderful chat with the woman running the Chiluhy glass store. Lee and I tried glass blowing a couple of years ago and the Chihuly folks are some of the best in the world. The pieces for sale start at $5K, but as someone who has tried it, I now know the level of artisanship required to get those pieces. To me it is art, and the woman was very nice even though it was obvious I didn’t have the kind of money it would take to buy one of those pieces. So feeling a bit emboldened I decided to wander a bit and took $20 out of an ATM machine to play some slots. So the ATM’s have a $5.95 fee AND you can take up to $3K out!! The main screen starts at $100 and I had to go to a secondary screen to even get the $20 selection. Sure! We’ll help you spend your money! Since I was feeling a little ritzy I played a 25 cent machine (I always play pennies or nickels) and very quickly lost my $20 and felt very wasteful and a little bit guilty. $20 can buy a lot in our new life. I wandered outside to see if the fountain shows were playing, but they don’t start until 3pm on the week days so finally just went back to the truck and left.

View from the rooftop of the parking garage where I parked

The conservatory

The Chinese New Year is the Year of the Monkey

The Chihuly store was the best part

It’s hard to express how amazingly difficult this piece would be

One of my favorites for the mere price of $5K

The lobby ceiling is full of Chihuly glass and absolutely amazing

Loved this piece as well near a high rollers room

And of course a 200 year old bottle of Cognac, cause you know some people have stupid money to spend

Unfortunately the fountains only run after 3pm on weekdays

OK, so the pretending to be rich feeling fell flat, let’s try something totally different. I used to travel quite a bit for work and in the evenings often watched Pawn Stars. It’s always on, for one thing, and you can really sort of half listen to it in the hotel room. Plus, I like Rick and the history of the items. I had read it was best to go early morning and mid-week, so off I went. It was busy but not packed and it looks exactly like what you would see on TV. None of the stars were there, but I had a great moment of luck when a salesperson pulled out a $100,000 2001 Patriots super bowl ring. The sign on the ring says “No, you can’t touch it”, but he brought it out for a potential buyer. Since I was standing there and basically drooling, I asked if I could see it. He was a little gruff about it, but relented when I said I was a huge Pats fan and let me take a picture of it. Then I asked to touch it and he let me, so yes, I have touched an actual Patriots Super Bowl ring. It was really pretty!! I liked the shop actually, they had some cool stuff, and I bought a $15 T-Shirt and was on my way. Still the touristy things were not really doing it for me, and since I needed to stop spending money I went back to the rig and went on a domestic binge. I cleaned everything in sight and even baked a carrot cake. The I watched all the Bachelor’s I had been saving up and basically just chilled. Not the most exciting of days but better than the alternative of wandering around and spending money.

It really looked quite a bit like what you see on TV

A huge case full of sports memorabilia

And rock and roll memorabilia

Some cool art work as well

Wednesday, Lee needed the truck for work so I spent some time blogging and then looked to see what kind of work was here for me in Vegas. I was pleased to see there was a lot of opportunity out there for someone with my skill set, although it is more difficult to find short-term positions in my field. Lee has had some great conversations with some local folks here and it seems there is plenty of work for him as well, so it definitely seems like a good choice for us when we come back from Alaska in the fall. After I did all the cleaning and job searching though, I sort of ran out of things I needed to do. Here I was in a city where I used to have so much fun, Lee was working really long hours and I felt …well bored. I’m not saying I haven’t had the occasional moments of boredom over the last year, but they have truly been brief. Between acclimating to the lifestyle, working my old job, dealing with the logistics of moves and new places, being with friends, and working through the emotions of the lifestyle, there hasn’t been much down time. There hasn’t really been much down time in my life in general. I was always a person who filled things up with kids, work, school, Lee…my days have always been overfilled. So here I was with some precious time finally, and I had no idea how to fill it. That’s not exactly true, I have a list of things I always said I would work on if I ever got the time. Home projects, craft projects, reading more books, more time researching the lifestyle, starting to write a book of my own, are all things I would think of with longing and the idea if I only had the time I would do them. I didn’t do any of those things. I played computer games, watched some TV, and sort of wandered around aimlessly spending my energy on not walking over to the casino and spending money. And I really felt like I was in a parking lot all day which was not so fun.

Thursday was a half day for him and he and his friend Brian, who he is working with, came back to the rig and we went to the buffet at Circus Circus for lunch. I was thrilled to get out a bit, but terribly disappointed in the buffet. $17.99 was waaaay overpriced and frankly I have had better buffets for way less money. Still it was great getting to see Brian and we hung out until Brian had to go back to work.

Friday Lee was working noon – 10pm so I decided to ride with him and then walk back to the camper. The Mirage is one of my favorite casinos and Treasure Island and the Fashion Show mall are also on the way back. I went through tons of Celestial face moisturizer in Quartzite and they have a Lush in the mall.

The lobby of the mirage

The waterfall outside that turns into a lava volcano at night

The Venetian

Outside gondola

Gondala inside the shopping area

I love these living statues. This guy was really really good

Wandered through Treasure Island

The Wynn and Encore

The Fashion Mall

The had a DJ playing at Nieman Marcus. First time I have ever seen that

Everything was great until I left the Fashion Mall. The walk between the fashion mall and Circus Circus is on the sketchy side and I was definitely glad that I didn’t do it at night. Still it was a nice way to spend a few hours and walking around and taking pictures doesn’t cost anything. Saturday I finally worked on a project I have been putting off for some time. My awning really needed cleaning and since I am in a parking lot and no one is next door to us I figured why not. It was pretty hard to do since our awning doesn’t fold down and I had to use a ladder and it is no where near as clean as I wanted it to be, but it does look somewhat better than before. Lee’s last work day is today from 4pm – 2am and then we have Sunday as a day off together. Looking forward to it.

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February 10, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time RVing in Vegas

Talk about a dichotomy. To go from a deserted piece of BLM land to camping at Circus Circus right on the strip. Well when the Perkins’ change it up, we really change it up. So what does a girl do when she has full hookups for the first time in over a month? Well I would love to say that I continued on with my conservation ways, but that would be a total lie. What you do if you are me is wash dishes with a full sink of water, start the ice machine, log into the free WiFi, turn on the TV for no particular reason, pull out the electric heaters, and take long, hot showers. Basically all the stuff you couldn’t reasonably do when boondocking. You also start cleaning things, not only because there is dust everywhere, but because you have unlimited water to use while cleaning. The shower needs a good scrubbing, the windows are a mess, and everything needs swept or dusted. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way a neat freak, but the combination of dusty conditions with limited cleaning resources even goes beyond my comfort level. What does Lee do on full hookups? He fills and dumps the black tank…5 times! Lee’s method of keeping the black tank clean is to drive some with the tank somewhat full to loosen everything up and then dump it when we get to full hookups. Then he uses the johnny chock in the toilet to hold the valve open and fill. He has timed it and it takes a little more than 10 minutes to fill the black tank this way, so he sets the timers and then stops it when its full, dumps, and repeats until the water runs clear. This may seems a little like overkill, but I never have to worry about the dreaded poop pyramid forming and we have very clean black tanks, as these things go. Have you noticed how all of my blog posts keep coming back to poop lol.

Getting here by the way was pretty easy. We drove 95 north through the Mojave Desert and came in on the east side of Vegas pretty near the strip. We turned onto Circus Lane and then into the parking lot that is the RV park. Yes it is a parking lot with some rock dividers between the sites, but my expectations were so low that really it’s not so bad. Our little divider next to spot 42 even has a tree. The only bummer is because we are a 40 foot fifth wheel the back-in sites with lower rates cannot be used. So we had to pay for a pull through site which upped the ante for 9 days to $494. YIKES!! That is the most we have spent anywhere (except for one night in a KOA in Napa for $56). The only good news is it is tax deductible and because Lee is working right down the strip at the Mirage will be easy to get him back and forth to work. Plus I am within walking distance from a few casinos and of course right next door to Circus Circus. And the view isn’t bad. I will say that they really need a security gate here though, because we get walk through traffic and I keep the doors locked during the day. I don’t exactly feel unsafe, but it’s not a residential area by any means and the security guy in a golf cart that rarely patrols at night doesn’t exactly instill confidence.

Here’s our spot

Most of the spots have little dividers between them

We even have a little tree

From our front door

Lee and I have been to Vegas many times, but we have never lived here, so although this time we stayed on strip this time we both know if we came back we would be staying farther away. We believe this is a serious contender for our winters, because of the relatively warm weather and hopefully work for both of us, but before we can make that decisions we needed to check out some RV Parks in the area and see what the rest of the town was like. We started out by looking at the camp grounds here. There are less than you would think (we visited 9) and only two of those would I consider for a long-term stay. The ones associated with casinos are parking lots and pretty expensive, the inexpensive ones are combination trailer parks and most were on the scary side. The two nicest were the Oasis (which is the most expensive and aside from the gorgeous pool area was not that great) and my favorite The Las Vegas RV Park. Lack of security was an issue in almost every park, but not only were we stopped at the Las Vegas RV Park, but directed to the office to get a pass before we drove around an took a look. The woman working at the office was extremely nice and we got a wonderful tour. They have a work out facility (first time I’ve seen that in a park anywhere), two laundry rooms with clean and most importantly functional machines, a nice club house, decent pool area, and the deluxe spots have some landscaping in between them. Don’t get me wrong it’s not a state park or anything, but I really liked the people at the front desk and really liked the vibe. Plus the monthly winter price ($655 including tax) was reasonable for this area. They also charge straight city rates on electric with not to exceed amounts of $100 in winter and $150 in summer which is great. The electric costs can add up. And although the Oasis was ok, I much preferred The Las Vegas RV Park because it is in a neighborhood of condos and apartments with a nice Wal-Mart right down the street. If we are going to live in an area then I want it to be livable. Anyways, it was a good exercise because we really got to see more of the city outside the strip and also saw the stark contrasts between parks.

After touring parts of the city we still weren’t feeling like the “new us” here until Lee decided we should go see the Valley of Fire. Both Pam and Cori mentioned it to us as a day trip and Cori was married there, so we made the 1 hour drive north, paid our $10 per vehicle admission and wow. This is definitely the type of place we like to be now and the day was not only beautiful, but it helped ground us in a way we really needed. So here are the pictures. you can tell by the smiles on our faces what fun we were having. We absolutely want to go back and stay at the campground we saw there. Plus there are two hikes we weren’t really equipped to do, although we did take the petroglyph trail which was really amazing.

I’ve seen this picture so many times, glad we got to take ours

The “beehives”

Taking a queue from Debbie and taking pictures through things

Emulating Debbie and taking pictures through things

One of the things I really liked is you can climb on the rocks or walk out into the desert. Very cool

One of the things I really liked is you can climb on the rocks and just walk around. Mostly no prescribed trails.

You simply couldn’t take a bad picture. My favorite kind of place

For the first time I saw pools of water in the desert

This piece of land was largely untouched because only the native americans knew where the water was

I was fascinated by this rock in a dry gully and climbed down to sit on it

We started down the petroglyph trail which is flat, mostly pink sand, and only .75 miles out and back

The remaining petroglyphs were very cool and Lee was wonderful at spotting them

Even without the petroglyphs the rock walls were amazing

And there was a ton of greenery in the canyon

Amazing formations carved by wind and water

Even an arch. Go all the way to the end and then turn around and you will see it.

Even an arch. Go all the way to the end of the canyon and then turn around and you will see it. Look in the middle of the picture.

This area was where a bandit called mouse hung out

There were several water catches here

A huge rock with petorglyphs

A cave above

My new favorite rock ….So so cool

Had to hug it. I know total nerd

Some other really neat ones in this area

Lee liked this one because it looked like a wave

And even got up to do a little surfing 🙂

What an amazing place

After the petroglyphs we drove down towards the campground and saw this amazing view

Seriously, put this place on your bucket list. I had heard people talk about it, but never expected anything this great and we are definitely going back. They also have an RV campground with big sites with electric/water (dump station on site) for $30 and a smaller campground with no services for $20 a night. The campsites are right in the rocks and was pretty empty in February . It was a wonderful day and I can’t believe that as many times as I have been to Vegas I never went here. One of the many benefits of really staying in an area instead of just passing through.

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February 7, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Alone in the Desert

Although the word “boondocking” is used interchangeably, there are many different types of experiences that fall under this category. You can boondock in a parking lot, or in part of a campground, or in the middle of nowhere. None are more or less valid than any of the others, but they are all very different experiences because of location and how close your resources are. When we first started talking about becoming full timers, Lee always talked about boondocking in the desert. Although Quartzsite was the desert, it wasn’t exactly what he had in mind because there were lots of people around and resources were relatively close. Probably why I liked it more than I thought I would. But for Lee, the number one thing he has wanted to do since we went on the road was find a little piece of isolated desert and camp. He had this vision in his head, and as fun as La Posa south was, it wasn’t the vision. So I went to my Ultimate Campgrounds app to look at the nearby BLM land. There are several major BLM areas in Quartzsite and we took a drive and checked some of them out. Some were near the mountains and others were a bit more isolated, but none were exactly what he was looking for. Since we had to head north to Vegas anyways, I started to look around the Lake Havasu area and finally settled on “Standard Wash”. This BLM land allows a 14 day stay free of charge and is right off 95. It also has the benefit of being reasonably close to Havasu which has water and dump stations. So after doing some minimal research and then saying goodbye to everyone, we packed up and went down the road.

This was our very first time driving to an unlabelled “spot in the road” and predictably it was a little rocky at first, both literally and figuratively. There is no big sign saying “Stop Here” and even thought the GPS coordinates were pretty accurate we still missed the turn. So we drove to Havasu City (about 5 miles north) and turned around. Then we missed the turn off a second time, mainly because you are going 60 mph on 95 North and the turn-in is literally a dirt road, with no slow-down lane on the approach, and no left turn lane coming from the other way, and no space on either side of the dirt road to ease in. Lee was pretty uncomfortable making that turn without solid information, so we stopped at a little industrial company parking lot a few hundred yards down the road, and asked the security guard at the gate. Yes, we were in the right place. So we went back on the road one more time and turned in at GPS coordinates (Latitude 34.420426 Longitude -114.199165).

Right about then a second vehicle would have been a huge advantage. I walked up to a very small BLM sign and yes, we were in the right place. Lee walked up the hill the road disappeared over to make sure it did indeed continue to be a road. It was, so we started down the track. We could have dropped the trailer and continued on with just the truck, but that is a pretty major pain, so we decided to drive slow and check it out with RV in tow. I’m not sure if this was the best idea or not, but that’s what we did, and the road, although rocky and narrow, was passable. It does have some deep dips though, so slow and careful driving is definitely called for.

We kept passing up spots that weren’t that great and finally settled on a spot exactly one mile back. GPS coordinates were 34° 25’53″N, 114 ° 11’29” W. (It’s a good thing we stopped when we did because about 100 yards farther, the road completely deteriorates into a narrow track impassable even by just the truck, much less the truck and trailer) The view on three sides was amazing and the large hill behind us would provide a bit of a wind break. Best of all, totally deserted…and quiet. Someone had even built a large fire pit there so we were sold. It took a few minutes to position ourselves perfectly for the best views and then Lee just smiled. He was happy and I was happy for him, plus curious about how we would do being so isolated. Well not that isolated. We have solid ATT 4 G and town is only 5 miles away, but the most isolated we have been. But judge for yourselves, here’s the pictures and a drone video Lee made. At the very end of the video look in the lower left corner. You’ll see Lee trip and fall as he walks down into a wash.

See us in the back…teeny tiny

Amazing views right? I absolutely agree, but as Paul Harvey used to say, “And now for the rest of the story.” It’s equal parts cool and creepy. Keep in mind this entire account is 100% subjective and depending on your personality you might absolutely love this. I found all the lonesomeness unsettling and my unease seems to be heightened by the fact that the desert itself is inhospitable. No big sagauro cacti I am so fond of and you really have to watch where you step because things can hurt you out there. So no casual walks in this place. Even Lee admitted it was a bit weird and for the first time since going on the road I seriously wished I had a gun. Not for the animals, although we have heard coyotes a couple of nights, but for potential human wanderers. I know it’s extremely unlikely, but I haven’t been sleeping well and Lee is double checking the doors at night so I know it wasn’t just me. Still it’s a cool picture right and the kind of place we all dream about going before becoming full timers. Fair enough, but I do think you deserve to hear about the things you don’t see in the picture.

There is quite a bit of trash. Shell casings, beer and water bottles, an old TV, wood stands. It’s not dump yard trashy, but it was disappointing how much there was. I walked around to pick some of it up and filled a tall kitchen hefty bag in less than 10 minutes. I could have done more, but frankly the level of trash was a bit overwhelming.

There is some road noise. Not much, but it is so quiet that some highway noise did travel at night. Oddly that made me feel better.
Driving in and out was a pain. We went to town twice and both times it was a bumpy ride getting to the highway. We weren’t crazy about leaving the rig alone when we went into town either. The area is used by ATVers and cyclists every day, so it wasn’t completely without traffic, but since our little spot couldn’t see the road, the road also couldn’t see us. Nothing happened, but we did feel a bit like we were rolling the dice each time.
I never knew what time it was. We are close to the California border and when we went into Havasu City it was mountain time, but out in the desert our phones changed to pacific time. Took us two days to figure out what was happening, and apparently I am ok with not knowing what day it is, but I really do need to know the time!
It’s very windy. Despite the hill behind us the wind was gusting almost constantly and it was pretty chilly wind. Only on the last day did I think it was nice enough to take a walk in the desert.
The walk in this patch of desert was tense. I started out with a geocache heading which was 1.2 miles away. As soon as I went past the first hill and lost sight of the camper I ended up turning back. The desert is not empty. There are lots of little scuttling things that you catch out of the corner of your eye and the plant life itself of course is often dangerous. The rock/soil combination is loose and you really have to watch your footing, especially when going down a hill. Maybe if I had a dog I might have felt more comfortable. Did get a few good shots though.
It’s kind of boring. With no ATV that leaves walking and since the walking was out for me, not a lot to do. I don’t mind just chilling with a book for a few days, but when Lee started to look to me for entertainment I knew we were in trouble 🙂

Some fire ants

Even the dead stuff on the ground can hurt you

To be clear not all desert is the same, and not all BLM land is either. This is the most ill kept piece that we have ever been on, which is maybe why it was so deserted. I really miss the large Saguaro cacti which I think are beautiful, but there are none of those here. I would definitely be up for trying someplace this isolated again,but maybe that will never be my thing. I have been low level tense since we arrived here and despite my best efforts that feeling has really not gone away. Not the greatest way to live.

It wasn’t all bad though. I caught up on blog work I needed done and it was perfect for Lee to get some editing work completed. And the sunrises and sunsets were beautiful. I just wanted to take this opportunity to say life itself is not always like the pictures portray. I understand why that annoys me. I want the picture, but the reality is there are often things not shown in the pictures that can changes the experience. Then again there are the sunsets, which don’t suck.

Sunrise in Standard Wash

Sunset

Not photo enhanced in any way

We also celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary in Lake Havasu and that was really fun. I looked on YELP for someplace to eat dinner, but nothing really seemed right. Finally I decided to have an anniversary lunch instead. There is less pressure on lunch, less cost for one thing, and I think in general we have lower expectations and are more willing to try something different. Turns out this was a good call as we drove down to the London Bridge area of Lake Havasu and found a tiny place called Splash Grill that was only open for breakfast and lunch. It only had eight tables inside and four out on the little deck. So we asked for a seat outside and had a great lunch and lovely views (in the sun but out of the wind) for only $20.08. Score!!

The bridge was purchased by a real estate developer from the City of London and transported here brick by brick. It was one of four London bridges and obviously not the one with the watchtowers.

They built a man made canal which created an island the bridge could go to and the island has a golf course and upscale homes

They built a man made canal which created an island the bridge could go to. The island has a golf course, resorts, and upscale homes

Gateway to London Bridge Waterfront

They did a nice job with the surrounding architecture

In the warmer months this looks like a party place

In the warmer months this must be a party place

Loved this pontoon boat

The restaurant we found was on the third level of a building along the waterfront. Accessed from the top of the hill

Courtyard at the top of the hill. Weird to see fountains, but I suppose the Colorado makes it possible

Lunch spot

Lee’s fish and chips were very good and reasonably priced. Plus look who ordered water and used the lemonade pack!!

They also have a free ferry to a casino on the California side of the lake. It only ran on the hour out and half hour back so we didn’t go, but many folks were taking advantage of the free service.

After lunch we went to the 99 only grocery store. Yes you heard that right, there is a grocery store where almost everything is 99 cents. They have produce, dry goods, and a freezer section. Many of the products are off brand, but they also have plenty of name brands in smaller sizes. For example, I got a box with two name brand corn dogs for 99 cents. We also found shredded cheese at 99 cents, some dole shredded cabbage…oh tons of stuff. We ended up getting 5 bags of stuff for $34. A pretty good deal. Then we went to Safeway and Lee bought a couple beautiful rib eyes. Since we were not having dinner out, Lee decided to cook me one at home and it was really lovely, plus less expensive than the restaurant alternative.

So our time alone in the desert was a mixed bag. Would absolutely do it again, I wold just be a lot more selective about where we stayed. Still, it was a good learning experience and Lee got to experience the picture he has been carrying around in his head, which is no small thing.

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As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Search Amazon Here
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
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February 5, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

January 2016 Budget

Well here we are at a new year. You are going to see lots of new categories as after 2 hours (no exaggeration) of negotiation we determined what level of reporting we wanted to do. Since we use this budgeting process to help control costs, you will see several high dollar categories broken down into discretionary and non-discretionary divisions. Mainly this will help us focus on the discretionary spend this year, since before those costs were often lumped in with non-discretionary purchases. So this month we did worse than we wanted but better than I thought we would. For more detail you can see below.

Campground Fees – This year we adjusted our budget down to $600 a month from $750. In January we only spent $80 in Quartzsite. This was somewhat offset by higher propane costs though as we filled our tanks three times. Still, even if you look at those together, $140 for a month’s camping is pretty darn cheap.

Groceries – Groceries we have broken out into consumables (food, drinks, etc), expendables (soap, toilet paper, etc), and alcohol. We kept the overall budget at $600, just broke it into the three categories. We were under by about $80 which is still disappointing because we stocked up in December. Still we also spent $50 on alcohol which is pretty rare for us, but we knew we would be with friends and took advantage of California’s low wine prices.

Dining Out – this will be a major area of focus this year and we have broken the category into fuel versus experience. I am fine with spending money on experience dining, but largely the dining for fuel category can be avoided by packing lunches. This month we went over by $100 and this was mainly due to the necessity of eating locally at the Rose Bowl Parade (packing would not have worked well since the bus was so far away) and Lee needing to eat when he was driving back and forth to Phoenix for work. Since we could have chosen to move the RV to Phoenix (next time we absolutely will), these costs could have been avoided.

Entertainment – We did great in this area ($66 under budget) since there is a ton of free to near free stuff to do around Quartzsite. The bulk of the money spent was $60 for all of the Cards Against Humanity Expansion packs, which was a great price for a truly awful game we like to play with our friends.

Memberships – We renewed our Escapees membership at $39.99 and finally renewed Passport America. I’ve been waiting for a good deal and chose the $109 for three years with 7 months free. Now we have it all the way until September 2019 and I know this will eventually pay for itself.

Fuel – We actually spent less in this category than we budgeted, but still overspent in our minds because Lee was traveling back and forth to Phoenix for several days. All time low fuel prices and the fact the mileage is all tax deductible make the spend more palatable, but we would probably not put ourselves in that situation again.

Home Expenditures – The most talked about category in our two hour budget discussion was this category. We ended up dividing the purchases into new items we need versus the ones that were optional, and repair, which is not optional. The idea is to get a handle on the discretionary spend and truly see where we are at in this category. From a budget standpoint I combined the budgets for repair and home improvement and added another $20 a month for supplies (Tiki torch fluid, fire starters, etc) which were going into the grocery budget previously. So it was all divided out and ready to go and then we went to the Quartzsite RV show. As much as you save in campground fees in Quartzsite, it is VERY easy to spend money at the show. The good news is we spent $489 and $300 of that was for non-optional things. We bought a fresh water pump, fresh water tank, and multiple repair items for small issues Lee finally had time to fix. The not so good news of course was the $180 discretionary we spent on top of that. Some of the purchases I already regret, but the one I am the most happy about was a stove grill top I bought for $25. I have used this three times when the weather made grilling outside unpleasant and it is absolutely great. It’s the perfect size for meat and veggies for two people and there is no propane taste. Also, the frozen chicken breasts or thighs that Walmart sells can be quickly cooked on the grill without even thawing them. Huge fan of this appliance. As you can see from the link though I could have purchased this from amazon for $20. As a matter of fact almost everything at the show was cheaper on Amazon and there was precious little in the cool new idea category. So let the buyer beware on the show.

Miscellaneous – This $47 was for medicine purchased in Mexico. Since it was sort of a one shot deal, I don’t really have a category for it.

So we were $368 under budget but still higher than Lee was hoping for. Let’s see what next month brings.

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February 3, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in an Old Mining Town

Greg really wanted to see either Indian ruins or a ghost town, and since Greg hardly ever really wants to do things (he’s a go with the flow kind of guy), both Cori and I tried to find some in our area. Unfortunately, the Indian ruins are really more on on the east side of Arizona, but Cori did find an old mining town nearby. As we later discovered the Castle Dome Mine Museum is a re-creation of the mining community that was on that site since the 1800’s. There are 7 original buildings and several original mine holes and the re-created buildings were often made with materials that were left in the area. The historical accuracy of the mining town is somewhat in dispute, which bugged Lee a little, but someone obviously went to a great deal of trouble and at $10 a person the price was right. I thought it was pretty cool and particularly liked the little stories they had gathered from children who had lived in the community. Also, it is way out in the desert and next to a national refuge so the surrounding scenery was pretty beautiful and we got to see one of the border balloons up close. Overall I would recommend it, just don’t expect a typical ghost town, or you will be disappointed.

Beautiful views of Castle Dome driving in

The signs along the dirt road were a little scary though. Definitely no wandering off the path

And we got to see the cool border balloon coming in

Luckily when we were leaving they had brought down the balloon (not sure why) and you could see how much equipment was attached to it. Plus it anchors into the cool antenna looking thing. Very, very neat

After a 9 mile trek down the dirt road we arrived at the site

The outside was not much to look at but did have some really cool cacti around

These we haven't seen much and they were all around 3 feet tall

These cacti (I just like saying cacti) we haven’t seen much and they were all around 3 feet tall

They even have little flowers on some and you have to be careful because the needles will “grab” you

After paying $10 (cash only) we went inside and it was much better

Schoolhouse for the kids. The manikins were pretty cheesy

The outer edge had a mine cart

Barber shop

Huge mining equipment. I made Cori stand there for scale

General Store

One of the 4 bars. The bad itself was really neat and old

Apothecary next to the dentist

Church

Sheriff’s office with jail

My favorite building was the old hotel

Really beautiful inside and the upside was being used as a private residence. the owner perhaps?

I also loved the blacksmith with the huge forge and bellows

One of several cabins

There were good pictorial descriptions of the smelting process. Essentially they heated the mixture, poured it into a mold, and then broke off the top piece which held the precious materials.

There were good pictorial descriptions of the smelting process. Essentially they heated the mineral mixture, poured it into a mold, the precious metals floated to the top and they could then break off the section that held the precious materials. the mine has been used for silver, iron(during WWII), and a little bit of gold. It still has silver deposits, but the price of silver is to low to make active mining cost effective.

The bank which was totally made of stone

The bank which had walls of stone

Makes sense for money secruity but it made it pretty dark on the inside

Makes sense for money security but it made it pretty dark on the inside. The safe is right behind the window so now I get why they robbed the banks from behind.

They had numerous antigues scattered throughout and one of my favorites was this old typewriter

They had numerous antiques scattered throughout and one of my favorites was this old typewriter.

They even had a small mine re-creation you could walk through which I did after I made Cori go first 🙂

After seeing half of the town we walked over to the “70’s” area. This property has been owned by numerous people and the last was an eccentric guy who was convinced he could make the mine work. Apparently he did most of the mining himself and eked out a living. He must have gotten lonely though, because occasionally he would go into a town, present himself as a rich mine owner, and talk someone into marrying him. He did this 6 times because when they got a look at the place it didn’t last long.

The trailer the last owner lived in

Honeymoon suite lol

It was actually pretty nice and roomy

Even had a bathtub…ok so seriously if they could have a bathtub in the 70’s why can’t we have one now??

The funniest part was when I pulled the sheet aside to look in the bathroom I screamed very,very loud, because this is what i saw….

Hey you glance at this quick. It looked like a real guy. Scared the crap out of me…pun intended.

After seeing the town we drove over to the mine itself, which holds the 7 original buildings. Since this was from a higher vantage point, the views were very nice and we could bring Hobie out to see.

Combination post office and pay office

Several orginal holes which go about 150 feet straight down

No timber of any kind to hold up the sides

This mine shaft went much deeper and had a ladder and metal cage around it

The bunk house

My favorite antique was this bathtub which was carryed from mining camp to mining camp by a madam and her girls. Say what you want but there were limited job opportunities for women in the west and for the times she was an entrepreneur using what she had to work with

My favorite story was about this bathtub which was carried from mining camp to mining camp by a Madam and her girls. Say what you want but there were limited job opportunities for women in the west and for those times she was an entrepreneur. Plus she lived to the age of 93 unlike so many pioneer women who died young due to childbirth in harsh conditions.

One of the nicest things the couple who bought the property and built the attraction did was restore the graveyard. They honored the remains and reburied them in a safer way.

Not many miners were buried here because those bodies were trapped in the mine shafts. Mainly it was due to jealous brawls and illness

Not many miners were buried here because those bodies were trapped in the mine shafts. Mainly these deaths were due to fights and illness.

After we finished with the mining town we still had some daylight hours left, so where do you take Greg on the spur of the moment? Why prison of course. The Yuma Territorial Prison was relatively close and only costs $6 to visit. The site has had numerous purposes over the years and was in danger of being destroyed when a local nonprofit formed to save it. Eventually it was turned into a state park and for $6 is definitely worth the visit. Many western outlaws were incarcerated here and even some women women murderers. It was alternatively known as a “hell hole” prison (because of the insane heat) and as a “country club” by the locals because the prison had electric and forced ventilation which few of the surrounding houses had. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. The guys really enjoyed the prison and I did find it interesting, although it’s not something I would have picked on my own. That’s one of the fun things about hanging out with people, you get to try new things.

The watch tower at the prison, also used to watch for Japanese in WWII

View from the watchtower

First flowers I have seen in awhile

A very beautiful original Gatlin Gun

One of the famous gunmen who was incarcerated here

The line of cells

six men to a very small room

Greg was kind enough to sit on one of the ion bunks for me and I found a use for his grumpy picture face. I swear he smiles all the time except when you try to take his picture.

Some of the 29 women who were incarcerated here. Most for killing their husbands or lovers for cheating or domestic abuse.

The women’s bunks were like the Hilton in comparison to the mens. One woman even gave birth and raised a child here until he was 2 and they were both released.

The Dark Cell was where people, including the occasional woman, were sent for punishment. I gave it a pass, not so into small, dark places.

After a long day in the sun, we were all ready to head back and Lee and I watched the movie 3:10 to Yuma that night. It was an excellent movie, and I really enjoy watching movies about the areas we are in.

The next day our friend Rick arrived with his faithful companion Maxine. Rick is a really sweet guy with a nice blog that I enjoy and we were very glad to see him but bummed because the weather was supposed to be so bad. Cori and Greg made Fajitas for all of us and we ate them in the rig, but we called it an early night so we could batten down the hatches. Turns out the winds were around 50mph (the outer limit for our Flagpole buddy) and since Lee only partially lowered it, the very top snapped off. Lee thinks he can fix it though and it could have been quite a bit worse. Many of our neighbors have slide toppers and ended up putting in their slides for the night. I think Cori and Greg’s rig sort of wind blocked us because it really wasn’t that bad for us.

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February 1, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First time Seeing an Intaglio

Sorry I have gotten so behind but it’s been a busy few days. On Wednesday the Class of 2014 girls had a women’s lunch and we had a great time talking about how the lifestyle is impacting us more than a year in. It was a terrific conversation in an interesting setting as Cori offered us entrance to the local yacht club. A yacht club in the desert, you say? That doesn’t make much sense, you wonder? Understandable, as that was pretty much all of our reactions. Greg’s parents had done some research on Quartzsite knowing that their son was going there (and how cool is that?) and bought Cori and Greg a membership to the Quartzsite Yacht Club. Some enterprising soul started the Yacht Club many years ago and for $30 you can become a member. Most yacht clubs across the country have reciprocal arrangements and now Greg and Cori can gain entrance to yacht clubs everywhere they go. Yep, they are fancy like that. The yacht club has a membership of over 10,000 people and is billed as the largest (by membership count) yacht club in the world. There must be something to the reciprocal arrangement because the place itself is your basic bar. The prices on food are reasonable and although the burgers aren’t that great, the fish and chips was excellent and it was fun for the sheer novelty if nothing else.

The motel sign adds a special ambiance to the site

The motel sign adds a special ambience to the site

It does have a boat out front

Inside the Yacht..the flags add an international flair 🙂

From left: Deb Barb. Ellen, me, and Cori (our sponsoring member)

Afterwards, we discovered the Hi Jolly cemetery was close by. Deb loves old graveyards and Hi Jolly’s grave is the most visited spot in Quartzsite. We were instructed on how to find it by a local and after asking twice more along the way we finally found it. For the most visited site in Q it’s not that easy to find and the locals like to gesture vaguely and say, “Walk until you see the pyramid,” which isn’t entirely accurate. Still the story was neat and the grave very unique so I am glad we went.

Look for this sign to enter

This is the grave site

Hi Jolly was from Syria and was recruited by the government run a pilot program for the miltary to use camels. The experiment failed but Hi Jolly stayed and became pretty legendary as a local resident. Legend has it his favorite camels ashes are buried in the time capsule in the grave.

Hadji Ali or Hi Jolly as he was called by the Americans came from Syria with 70 camels for a camel calvary experiment that was run by the military. The experiment failed but Hi Jolly stayed and became pretty legendary as a local resident. Legend has it his favorite camel (Hop) ashes are buried in the round metal capsule in the grave.

And as if this much excitement wasn’t enough in one day, Barb decided that she wanted to check out the naked book store guy. Yes there is a book store here in town and the gentleman who runs it is pretty famous for running the place in a loin cloth. I had visited the bookstore when we first got here and was thrilled it was a cold day and he had his clothes on, but things have really warmed up since then. And since Cori was driving and I was pretty much a captive audience, off we went. They both went inside, but I stayed outside and looked at a $1 per book section. Of course, they just couldn’t leave it at that (it’s always the quiet ones you need to watch out for) and encouraged him to come outside and say hi. Let me just say here, there are things in life you can’t unsee, so please feel free to close your eyes and scroll past the next picture. Also, keep in mind the front picture is waaaaay better than the backside. I am still somewhat scarred by that view. And it’s important to note he loves having his picture taken, practically demands you take a pic with him, so I am absolutely not sharing anything he doesn’t want to be seen. He’s also a pretty good blues musician.

As much as I have been enjoying the quirky side of Quartzsite, I was really missing nature. Yes we are in the middle of the desert but La Posa South hasn’t cleared out that much, plus Lee and I haven’t had any alone time in the three weeks we have been here. We have noticed we start getting a little snippy with each other when we don’t take time for each other, so I planned a nature date for us at the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. Cibola was number one on my list of things to do near here because it is on the Colorado river and is a haven for wild birds in winter. So off we went and although the visitors center was closed it was awesome. They have a 3 mile auto tour and a 1 mile nature walk. They ask that you stay in your car and go very slowly so you will not spook the animals. The variety we saw was amazing, and I got numerous first time bird pictures!!

So many ducks and geese

I spent a lot of time combing through the birds for new identifications. You can see why that would be difficult

The lower Colorado River

Family of Northern Pintails. first for me

American Wigeon’s another first

The 1 mile nature hike it was nice seeing trees again

they had nice benches everywhere and really recommend you sit and wait for awhile to see the birds or other widllife

They had nice benches everywhere and really recommend you sit and wait for awhile to see the birds or other wildlife

At the end of one of the trails there was a nice viewing station of the pond

Beautiful trees

And nice mountain views

We saw numerous small songbirds on the trail but they were very difficult to photgraph

We saw numerous small songbirds on the trail but they were very difficult to photograph

Lee got a shot of this Yellow-Rumped Warbler

And this Southwestern Willow Flycatcher

Birds nests everywhere

After the nature hike we continued on the auto tour which was laid out in four grids. the small birds were going nuts for whatever was in these fields

So of course there were hawks. Lee got this beautiful shot of an American Kestrel…a first for us

We saw a herd of mule deer pretty far back from the road

And Sandhill Cranes!!! they stayed back very far as well and I was tempted to get out of the car to get the shot but I follow rules that are arround animal habitat

And Sandhill Cranes!!! They stayed back very far as well and I was tempted to get out of the car to get the shot but I follow rules that are around animal habitat. Luckily my camera just barely got the shot

My favorite was these owl habitats they had set up which had burrowing owls living in them. They were close to the road and not afraid of the truck at all so I got tons of great shots. My first owl of any kind. So cool!!

Then to top it all off we saw a Giant Egret and Blue Heron

Then to top it all off we saw an Egret and Heron

Love catching these in flight

After the auto tour we still had some time and decided to go and see the Intaglios near Blythe. Intaglios are made by scraping away darker rock and then pushing down the stone underneath. These results in a depression full of light stone which holds up remarkably well over time. They are hard to see from the ground and these particular ones were first seen and reported by light aircraft. Due to some damage being done by four-wheelers the government has put them behind a chain link fence to protect them. Deb recommended Lee taking his drone there and I am so glad we did, because he was able to not only get aerial photos but also some cool video. The place was pretty far down a dirt road and there was only one other couple there besides us. It was really neat though and I am so glad that we got to see these important historical artifacts.

The entrance to the gate is carefully constructed so only walkers can get through

Each one has a plaque next to it which helped you see the picture from the ground

One of them I could get a pretty decent picture of

But Lee’s drone picture was much better. You can see where ATV’s made tracks and damaged the image some

This Animal shot was nice. They are not sure what the curl at the bottom is supposed to represent

I didn’t even notice this at the time, but this is the only known Intaglio with a penis. Of course Lee picked up on that right away

The surrounding desert was also beautiful and you could see the farms near the Colorado river

Lee was having a blast with the drone

It was wonderful getting out with just the two of us and being surrounded by nature. Have to make sure it doesn’t go so long before we do this again. Next up we are going out to an old mining town with Cori and Greg so stay tuned.

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Camper Chronicles

Travel Tales from Working Full Time RVers

Lakeside

More Western Fun

Recipes

Bill’s Amazing Restaurant Chicken Wings

First Time (for Tracy) at Tombstone

First Time at Kartchner Caverns

First Time Driving in the Dark

We are not on Vacation

First Time RVing in Vegas

First Time Alone in the Desert

January 2016 Budget

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First Time in an Old Mining Town

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First time Seeing an Intaglio

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