Quartzsite Round-up

Desert flora

What a fantastic time!  Friday, January 20^th we spent the afternoon with the Thomas family (and had Michelle’s tasty jalapeno poppers.)  Wednesday afternoon, January 24^th, the McCloskey family arrived and we started our caravan circle.  The Travaglino’s pulled in, followed shortly by the Garrison’s and the Engledrum’s.  Thursday the Baker’s joined the circle, then Friday the Montgomery’s arrived.  The Mulac’s and friends came out to visit, the Seeley’s and parents joined the group, and the Gardner’s came for a day.  I hope I didn’t miss anyone!

Missy Baker crossing the circle while the techies work on the Travaglino's solar panels.

Re-installing the Travaglino's batteries so we could have "solar" coffee

Communication is the key to friendship, and keeping track of kids.  We love to watch kids meet and grow together.  You know how close we all have gotten when it is time to leave.  Reminds me a lot of camp.



I woke up at 6 and couldn't get back to sleep so I got to see this sunrise.
  It was amazing ....

....for those who got up early enough to see it!



Sunset when the hills start to turn red...

...the clouds catch the glow...

...and the sky ignites.

There were big campfires at night, lots of stories exchanged and some concerns amongst the first time boondockers about life without water, but everyone survived and even had fun!  Several attended the Thomas’ tent revival on Friday night.  It was great to watch all the kids play together so well and make many new friends and special memories.  Despite all the dry skin and dust-coated … everything…., we loved it all.  Hope to meet up with each and every one again.  And who’s up for Alaska this summer??          - Dana
Next stop:  St. David, AZ until February 13, then a week roaming, and then Sedona area.

Quartzsite, part 2

Back in Quartzsite, back at Scadden Wash.  Laundry’s done, groceries bought, water tank filled, waste tanks dumped, propane and fuel are full.  This time we’re parked in close by a main road, so we can watch all the different rigs that come through.  The RV Show starts this weekend, and we’ll be making some decisions on solar power, batteries, a catalytic heater, and no doubt see many things we’ll wonder just how we’ve ever survived without them.

Walked the vendor booths this afternoon and chatted a bit with our favorite vendors – Don and Mary from SD.  They sell jerky, pemmican and cheeses.  It was good to see them again.  We found the RV mat we wanted and carried it home with both of us on the scooter.  That was interesting.   And our neighbors, Ron and Claudia brought over homemade apple pie with French vanilla ice cream.  Perfect ending to fried chicken and mashed potatoes (add that just for you, disinherited daughter! J )   

Looking forward to meeting some FtF families next week.      – Dana

Joshua Tree

January 3rd we decided to go on to Joshua Tree NP.  Thanks to the Peel's, we knew to dump the tanks and fill up with water first, because the only southern campground was closed (so no water and dump station available), due to flooding in September (3 inches of rain in 3 hours; moved large cement tables around, damaged most of the campground there and Kent's favorite hiking trail, along with 1/2 mile of road.)  FYI: All camping inside JT is paid dry camping.  And only three of the campgrounds have water fill and a dump station.  For more info on JT, see our Favorite Places link.

We ended up at one of our favorite BLM sites just out JT's southern entrance.  A little less than a mile off the interstate, it's scenic and quiet, but still has a phone signal - an important issue to a worrying mom (plus Kent's dad was in the hospital, so it was needed.)  It's a nice, free place to park, but since most of the hiking is in the northern part of the park, we decided to check out a bit of BLM land between Twenty-nine Palms and Joshua Tree entrances up north.  We stayed one night but wouldn't go back - felt safe, but it wasn't too close to the park, and very rough to get into. 

Our campsite at Jumbo Rocks in Joshua Tree

Moon rise between the rocks

So we ended up staying in JT - and it was great.  In 2010, with the 5th wheel, we were "too big" for any available sites, so we just drove back and forth through the park to the southern BLM land.  This time, we had room to park (Jumbo Rocks campground) with our short RV, and it was easy to take the scooter around to wherever we wanted to hike.  (Kent did ride out each day to check for messages.)  We visited Keys Ranch (a paid tour), Barker Dam, Lost Horse Mine, Desert Queen Mine, Keys View, Hidden Valley, Skull Rock, Wall Street Mill, Ryan Ranch and some other sites and trails not in their literature.  The first weekend a high school classmate of Kent's came with his wife for a daytrip, and we got to introduce them to one of their California masterpieces.  It was good to meet you, Bob and Karen!

Buffalo Rock inside Hidden Valley - Joshua Tree

The main house at Keys Ranch - Joshua Tree

Stamping Mill at Lost Horse Mine - Joshua Tree

Keys View - Joshua Tree
The dark horizontal line is the San Andreas Fault

We knew our batteries needed replaced, but had hoped to get a couple more weeks out of them until we got back to Quartzsite.  But that was not to be ... so we've moved back out to southern BLM land, where we could run our generator as needed (limited hours in JT.)  It cut our hiking short, but we're getting the bathroom painted!  Plus we're back to phone and internet, and that's a good thing. 

A beautiful blue desert bird.  The were about two
dozen flitting from bush to bush.

Skull Rock - Joshua Tree
I wonder why they call it that

As before, our time at Joshua Tree was too short, too many trails left to explore or revisit, so we will just have to come back again!          - Dana

On our way and Quartzsite Part I

Happy New Year!  We spent (as usual) a quiet New Year's Eve.  We arrived in Quartzsite, AZ, December 31, and set up in Scadden Wash, way back in the desert away from other RVs, just taking a couple of down days.  Hope everyone had a great Christmas! We certainly did - Christmas Eve services at church, then our traditional dinner, and Christmas day with the family.  We were with the kids/grandkids in Moline, IL - just love watching the little ones at Christmas.  (We gave both of the one-year-old grandsons toy workbenches, since they love to help Goomba with projects, and they ran around with the power drills running all day. Should have given their parents batteries!)

On December 23, the doorbell rings - a daily occurence this time of year.  I open it, expecting UPS (I'm sure we are personally responsible for creating seasonal jobs at both Amazon and UPS).  But no - IT'S MY PARENTS!  They have contrived with the kids to come and surprise us for Christmas.  Just the night before I had been talking to Mom, telling her we'd arrive at their house the 26th.  So we had a 4 generation Christmas (Kent's dad was there, too) and followed my folks back to Missouri, where we spent a couple of days.
December 30 we toured Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.  Kent finally got his Senior Pass for national parks, and it's already paid for itself just in entrance fees that day.  We took the two self guided routes, which were amazing, and were thankful for an elevator for the return trip (754 feet) to the outside world!  We also discovered that this is another place where no matter how many pictures you take, they never do justice to what you saw.

Carlsbad Main Entrance

The lighting highlights the beauty of the cave

Stopped our stagecoach here for a bit

After lunch in the parking lot, we stopped briefly at Guadalupe Mts Natl Park
(Salt Flat, TX) and stopped at a former Butterfield Stagecoach Station. The
rest of the drive was pretty standard - including the part in Phoenix where I
say "There's Ikea" and Kent says "Yup" and keeps on driving.  (In his defense,
he usually stops when I say something like that.)

NewYear's afternoon we decided to explore the desert a bit on Kent's new toy - a Honda Elite 110 scooter.  What a blast!  We rode lots of trails south of Dome Rock, learning to avoid soft dirt (this is definitely not a dirt bike, but was often a dirty bike with all the dust!)  While riding, Kent got a call from Greg Mulac, so we took off to meet the Mulac's and Peel's.  We found Peel's campsite and spent a couple of hours getting to know some fellow travelers on a beautiful afternoon.  What a wonderful life!          -Dana