Wind Things Video

In the rear yard of a store in Tubac are these Wind Things and I took this video of them. Due to the size of the video file I'll save photos of Tubac for tomorrow. It's a really interesting place.

Beach Boys

The day after we arrived here we attended a Beach Boy's concert at the Desert Diamond Casino. Jim and Bobbie had purchased our tickets and we were in a great location with a great view.

Although they were kinda low energy to start by mid point in the concert they revved it up and presented a good concert overall. And there were two real original Beach Boys still in the group.

This is look out Jim and Bobbie's front gate to their home.


And a their view from the patio of the mountains across the valley.


Tubac is an artist's community just south of us. It has many shops with a variety of art mostly with a southwestern flavor.

Sunday I took my broken ball post down to see if I could find somebody to weld it since it popped back off after my attempt to peen it onto the bracket. I checked most of the shops on the main street and was referred to one that did welding. It was closed and the sign on the door said, "Open by chance and appointment". I didn't think I was going to get this guy to make a trip to the studio to do a five minute weld job.

It was discouraging until one of the shop owner's I had talked to previously found me and pointed out a shop at the end of the street. I found the artist in his studio to the rear side of his gallery. He stopped what he was doing to look at what I needed done. He then said if I could wait he could do it while I waited. He pulled out his arc-welder and did a great job. He didn't want anything for doing the weld, it only took about five minutes including getting setup, but I ask him if twenty buck it would be an insult. He said no.

I re-installed the door strut and tried it out. It held together so it looks like that problem is fixed. I am going back to get a picture of his shop and art. Tomorrow I am going to try to post a video of some wind things that you have to see to believe.

A Look Back At Quartzsite

We have been enjoying our stay here in Green Valley and visiting with Deb's folks. I have been a little lazy when it comes to updating the blog. I still have a lot of photos of Quartzsite so I will get back into the writing habit with some of them and then try to catch up on our time here in Green Valley.

The sunsets in Arizona are sometimes amazing.


At the edge of the RV park there is a large rock outcrop. The park has placed their water tanks on the top and there is a dirt road carved up the side. I climbed to the top to take some pictures of the park. Here is one of the RV park a little after sunset.


Weird cat! During a walk in the park Ty noticed a couple of plaster burros. I guess he thought they were some kind of desert animals. He very slowly and cautiously circled around them as he approached and finally gave one a tentative sniff and then lost interest.

Amado, AZ

We arrived safe and sound in Tucson, actually Green Valley south of Tucson, well we are in Amado, south of Green Valley, staying at the De Anza Trails RV Resort.

Debbie's folks, Jim and Bobbie, came down to greet us from their home in Green Valley. We had dinner in the rig and a visit. We had to move indoors because of the rain. What's that about? More rain and blog predicted for tomorrow.

Next Stop Tucson

We will be leaving for Tucson and a visit with Debbie's folks later this morning. They live in Green Valley during the winter and Pismo Beach during the summer. We missed them at Thanksgiving due to my right turn deficiency and we're looking forward to our visit. We always have a great time with them, they are great hosts.

Spent most of yesterday watching the Presidential Inauguration. Later in the day put up the BBQ and chairs. And finished reconnecting the gas strut on the basement door. Started to close the door and the ball popped off again. Oh well. Guess I'll have to order a new part to make a proper repair.

The Big Tent

We left early, for us, around 9:30 in the morning for The Big Tent in downtown Quartzsite. We had to really hunt to find a parking place. We passed by a lot farther out that was charging $3 and just had a few cars parked. We finally found a spot in the back row of the free lot. It was a long walk over to the tent which is a big circus tent about 300 yards long. It is full of vendors of all types which was a little disappointing. I exspected to find mostly RV related vendors. The crowd was so heavy you could hardle move. It was like walking through live spam with all the vendors hawking their wares.
We walked back over to the Sell-A-Rama where pick up where we left off the other day.



When we returned to the MH we both had a nap. Later I finished repairing the gas strut on the storage door. Here are a couple of pictures of the strut hanging down and a close up of the bracket I had to re-rivet to the door.




Here is a shot of our MH at sundown. Every site has it's own shade tree!

Itinerary

I had a request for our itinerary so here is a list of the cities in order of our stay in them.

• Quartzsite, AZ - 7 days
• Amado, AZ - 12 days
• Gila Bend, AZ - 2 days
• Puerto Penasco, MX - 8 days
• Amado, AZ - 3 days
• Las Cruces, NM - 2 days
• Carlsbad, NM - 4 days
• Midland, TX - 1 day
• San Antonia, TX - 3 days
• Beaumont, TX - 2 days
• New Orleans, LA - 3 days
• Mexico Beach, FL - 3 days
• Saint Augustine, FL - 3 days
• Savannah, GA - 3 days
• Myrtle Beach, SC - 2 days
• Wilson, NC - 38 days
  

the Desert Bar (con't)

Saturday at the Desert Bar continued. Debbie and I walked up and around a small hill behind the bar and had a look at the back side (east). The scenery was pretty much the same as what we saw driving in. In this picture you can see a jeep just rounding a curve on the dirt road and there was another one behind it. Don't know where they came from but I know where they were headed.

Went we reach the far side we could see a residence across the way. It's not visible from the bar area. I assume this is the owner's home. The towers on the house and bar are cooling towers. They are passive, operating similar to a "swamp cooler". The wind blows in, is cooled, and blows down into the living area. Electricity is furnished for the bar and residence by solar panels.


The crowd was larger when we returned.


Debbie stopped at the restroom and came back out for the camera. The wall on the outside only goes halfway up so the gals have a view while they wash their hands. It was too bright outside to capture the view and the inside in the same photo.


After riding in the back of the Jeep up and back Ty found a quite place in the storage above the bed to recover. He wanted to go. And no, he's not expired, just tired.


Sunday Debbie continued to work on a quilt she has started with some fabric she pickup last week in Buellton. I mostly watched football. I also went out to see if I could re-anchor a ball post on to a flange. The gas strut on the left side of middle storage door fell off when the post pulled out. I was able to re-anchor the post but I need some washers to go with the pop rivets to attach the flange back on. I guess I need to take a picture, it's hard to explain. I think Robinson, when they replaced the door, filed down the back of the post too far casuing it to fail.
Today we are going to hit the Tyson Well 'Sell-A-Rama' and the RV show.

the Desert Bar

The road to the Desert Bar is an unmarked dirt road off US 95 about ten miles north of Parker, AZ. We drove past but Debbie spotted it as we went by and we turned around and started up approximately five miles of rough road.


Toward the end of the road is the Desert Bar. You can just see the bar in the distance. Look for what looks like a couple of white towers against a grey background. Just a little right of center.


We arrived and parked in the parking lot across from the bar. You use a covered walk way to cross over the wash which is also part of the bar.


What are all these people doing here? How did they find it and why did they suffer over the washboard road all the way up here.


Looking down from the bridge into the wash. As you can see a lot of cowboys brought their horses with them.

At the end of the bridge we were met by a long line up to the bar. Those people are all standing in line and this is only the front half!

We met Stan and Pat who said they would be here. Some of their group four-wheeled across the open land from Quartzsite to the bar. They had a tough time. Their route required winching and some fender scrapes. I thought the dirt road was long and bad! I have some more pictures and I'll post the rest tomorrow. We plan on sewing and watching the football playoffs tomorrow.

The Main Event

Friday morning we went into Quartzsite to a large area called "The Main Event". Many acres of vendor booths with everything you can think of for sale. The first place we stopped was located in a metal building. Debbie found small folding scissors - ten for a dollar!

Inside One of the Many Vendor's Buildings

Other End of the Building

I bought a pair of clip on sun glasses from Bob. They are cut from a blank of material to exactly fit my glasses. Bob is here from Minnesota while his wife had to stay home. He said she has a real job.

Bob Fine Tunes My Clip-Ons

Open Air Vendors

Farm Equipment and Oil Pumping Stuff

Old Gas Pumps and ...

... Oriental Stuff

After "The Main Event" we left Quartzsite and headed north out of town to meet up with some friends from Concord, Stan and Pat. We did make a stop on the way at a fabric store. They are part of a rally group of 186 motorhomes which are boondocking way out in the desert. We found them with the help of Pat's directions. Stan, who has had some medical challenges, was looking great and in good spirits and we were so glad to find him feeling well. We had a nice visit with them and met some of their friends. They told us about a BBQ stand in the Tyson Wells "Sale A Rama" that made fantastic pulled pork and tri tip and we decided to stop for an early dinner.

We made it to the "Sale A Rama" around 4:30. It's even bigger with over 750 or so vendors. We were too tired to see much of it but did find the BBQ stand and we both had a tri tip dinner. Thanks Stan and Pat you were right on!

Tomorrow we are going up past Parker into the wild to a place called the Desert Bar. You can follow this link to find more about this unique place way out in the middle of no where!

Brenda, Arizona

Our new home is at Desert Gold RV Park. Weather is slightly cooler here than it was in Palm Desert. Also the campground is more like a real desert campground. Instead of green grass between the sites we have desert gravel. The site has cement patio and is really wide. You can see where our car is parked and there's room to park another one next to it. The RV park is about 10 miles east of Quartzsite.

Space #46

Taking the Cat for a Walk

An Ultralite Aircraft

An ultra lite aircraft came by overhead and cruised in the area for a while.

Today we are going into Quartzsite and check out the "Main Event". A swap meet on 5 or 25 acres I forgot which but it is large. There are also other large swap meets going on. One is the Tyson Wells Sell A Rama and another one called Rice Ranch. We may not make them all today!

Leaving Emerald Desert

Our site at Emerald Desert.


The view outside our front window. Actually its across the street from our site. We left around noon for Desert Gold RV where we will stay for a week. We stopped at a FlyingJ truck stop just after we entered Arizona. What a madhouse. RV were lined up three or more deep and stopped out on the frontage road blocking half the roadway. We weaved our way around and pulled into the truck pumps which were also all full but only one or two deep. Get back to the highway also entailed weaving though RVs stopped in the road as it seemed like it was getting busier.

We are very excited that Frank and Shirley, my aunt and uncle, contacted us and we plan to make a stop in their town of Midland, TX. for a visit. We haven't seen them since they hosted a family reunion at their home many years ago and Debbie and I a anxious to visit.

Palm Desert

We have had a great stay here in Emerald Desert. What a great place too bad we only scheduled a two night stay here. Today we pull out and head for Quartzsite, AZ. It's only around a three hour drive so we will take our time folding our tent and leave around check out time, noon. I was going to take some pictures of our RV and our site but Debbie said I had enough pictures of the front of our motorhome. So no pictures this morning but I am going to go out a grab a few before we leave.

We picked up a Wii Fit to use in the motorhome for exercise. It's really a ball and fun to use. After I got off the board Ty decided he wanted to try.

Ty Grabs Possession of the WiiFit Exercise Board

He can't quite get the concept of standing on the board or watching the TV for instructions.

Ty Gets Instructions on the Proper Technique (He ignored them)

This park allows you to wash your rig so I completed that task today and it looks like new again. We went into town and found a Trader Joe's and stocked up so we won't have to go shopping in Quartzsite unless we want to. Yeah right!

Southern Cal

Welcome to LA! We left Buellton around 9am for Palm Desert. The traffic was light until around Carpenteria when it came to a halt. Fortunately it was a fender bender that had just happened ahead of us and the line of traffic was relatively short. Just north of Ventura we were stopped again. We saw two helicopters circling in the distance and guessed they were news choppers filming a wreck. There was no traffic in the north bound lanes.

Welcome to LA. Just North of Ventura

When we arrived at the scene it turned out to be a travel trailer and a rolled pickup truck. The truck trailer was coming down a slight hill and curve. It was extremely windy and possible a gust caught the rig as it was negotiating the curve. The wind followed us most of the day.

Traffic was a lot heavier on US 210. Near where US 215 crosses we slowed down again. This time it was a truck-trailer that hit the center divider.

A while later we came upon another accident but it didn't affect traffic. Gee this is much more exciting that sitting at home!

Finally we arrived at Emerald Desert RV in Palm Desert around 2pm. It was 78 degrees and now only a light wind was blowing.

Stopped in the Registration Lane - Office in Distance

Ty Rests

Ty didn't read the rules that said "No Pets On the Grass Or Putting Greens!" The putting green is directly across the street from our RV site.

Solvang

This morning we headed a few miles over to Sovang, a Danish replica village. Our first stop though was a quilt store. It must have been a good store because Debbie came back to the car with a big bag of material.

Fabric and Quilt Store

Fortune was with us because when we arrived in Solvang we found a parking place right away, centrally located and in the shade! That may not sound like a big deal but the tourists were out in droves and although it's only around 74 degrees the car gets pretty hot in the sun.

Solvang

After walking all over the village, we stopped for lunch at the Red Viking. We both had their Danish smorgasbord. I even tried the pickled herring! Not so bad but I didn't go back for seconds.
We had a nice leisurely lunch, window shopped some more and decided to return to the rig for a nap. On the way back I notice a unique town clock and grabbed a picture. Although it's not a steam clock it was interesting.

Solvang Town Clock

This morning we are heading to Emerald Desert RV in Palm Desert if we're not stuck in the mud here. Last night I washed the windows and decided to fill the water tank. I turned on the fill and because it fills slowly I started doing other things. Then I walked the garbage to the dumpster and took Ty along. Ty wanted to do some exploring so I went with him. I was just after nightfall and very quite. I kept hearing water quietly making a babbling sound and surmised it was the underground system watering the lawn. On our way back I realized the water I was hearing was my water tank over flowing. The site is crushed rock with lawn on each side and its now muddy crushed rock. Maybe frozen this morning!

Flying Flags Buellton, CA

We left Concord around 10:30am, only a half hour later than planned.

Ty Helping us pack

The traffic was light as we headed down 101 and left San Jose behind. Because we had used the heater a lot because of the cool weather we needed Propane again. We filled up as soon as we arrived at Flying Flags RV Park in Buellton, CA around 4:15pm.

Jorge Filling the Propane Tank

After filling with propane we pulled into our site and got set up. I took the bikes off the car and rode up to the office to pay for the propane.

As Evening Falls Our Site at Flying Flags

The park is very well cared for and the facilities are very clean. The WiFi is fast and we had a strong signal. After riding all day, when we stop, Ty thinks it's time for a walk or maybe he just needs check out his new environment. He gets very vocal and demanding so Debbie took him out for a walk in a large grass area. He found some gopher mounds and had to stop and concentrate on one. As we watched, I caught up with them, a little blade of grass started to wiggle. In a moment a gopher head appeared, looked at Ty and disappeared down the hole with Ty in hot pursuit. He stuck his whole arm down the hole but the gopher got away. He wanted to sit there and wait but we convinced him the gopher wasn't coming back and we continued with the walk.

Ty Shows His Retriever Stance

After the walk Debbie and I headed over to Anderson's for dinner. It was surprisingly not very busy for 7pm on a Saturday night. We both had a bowl of Split-Pea soup and Pot Roast. The service was very poor. We never saw the waitress after she brought our food even though less than half the tables were full and most of the other staff that I could see were standing around talking. The Pot roast was tender but very bland and disappointing. The soup was very good.

"Split-Pea" Anderson's

We woke up this morning to 36 degree temperature but it's suppose to be 74 later today. We are planning on running over to Solvang to check it out and also a quilt shop on the way.

Debbie is growing grass for the cat and it's amazing how fast its growing. You could almost see it grow as we were driving down yesturday. I took a picture this morning to compare with future pictures. So far Ty hasn't shown any intrest.

Debbie's Grass