Hanging Out Around Home

We have been hanging out at home for several month now. Debbie and I both had scattered appointments and they didn’t leave enough time between them to get very far from home.

In mid January we did meet with the Concord Caravaner’s on their weekend outing at the Vineyard RV park near Vacaville, CA.

The fog came in on Saturday and gave the park a surreal look.

The office is dwarfed by large eucalyptus trees. The park had under gone considerably upgrading and had ambitious plans for the future.

The club house is behind a large wisteria arbor.

It was great to get together with good friends and of course great food.

The Horizon was park at the end of the row. Yes it did rain a little.

We are planning to leave soon for our summer lot in Port Susan and rear dual tires are due to be replaced. It’s hard to replace tires that have more than half an inch of tread left, but the prevailing knowledge is that they are done after 6 or 7 years and ours are pushing 8! We’ll stop at the Les Schwab tire store in Albany, OR where we replaced the two front tire last year. Better safe than sorry and it will be one less thing to worry about as we travel down the highway.

We’re On Our Way (Morgan Hill, CA)

Finally with everyone’s teeth problems repaired or removed we are on our way. The first stop is a club outing in Morgan Hill just south of home.  It’s being held at the Coyote  RV Resort along Hwy 101.  Ty walks by our club placard.

Saturday a local winery provided wine tasting in the club house.

Horizon is snuggled in at Coyote RV Resort under a blue sky.

Eating is our favorite activity at outings and this one didn’t disappoint.

Next the 2nd leg of our trip; to Santa Maria.   Travel plan map HERE

Busy December

NEW Follow our Route

Now you can see our route on Google Maps: Horizon Travel

Debbie’s mom is back on her feet and doing well so we are back home in Concord. We had a busy month.

Brad, number three son, had another birthday and we had a party.

Our club had a Christmas outing at The Lakes RV and Golf Course in Chowchilla. The hosts did a great job of decorating and feeding the group.

Debbie get a helping of ribs.

Now Blake, number two son, and his wife Stacey are over to open their Christmas presents early. They are going to be in Cancun for Christmas week and we wanted to make sure we had a chance to celebrate with them before they left.

Ty attacks a empty plastic bag from one of the presents.

And he folds it up cat style.

Then there was the water pump. I have noticed water accumulating off and on in the service compartment. I have tried to find a leak but had been unable to until now. It turns out the water pump seals had been leaking. Finally it stopped working entirely. I called around and the closest Camping World to us said they had two in stock. Debbie and I drove from Concord to Vacaville, about and hours drive. Unable to find one on the shelf I asked a sales person who after checking told me the two that show in inventory had been installed in MH on the lot. We then went to Alameda to a chandlery and found one there. After I replace the pump we discovered the old pump had been making a very different sound than the new one makes, so the old pump had been going out for over a year.

Now we’re on to the New Year’s Eve club outing and celebration.

We ate…

drank…

conversed…

We also played a game where everyone antes up a couple of bucks. Then roll dice and give a dollar, either to the person on you left of right or you keep it. At some point one person ends up with all the dollars. This time the last two were yours truly and a young six year old.

And the most skillful player won.

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!

New Year

We went over to Lodi to Flag City RV Resort with our camping club for New Years week.

Some of the group. Looks like Father Time Just Walked In!

We had a great time and it was good to see everyone since we hadn't made a club outing, and thus hadn't see most of these friends for several months. As usual the food was great. Dick and Gail deep-fry'd a fresh ham for our first dinner. Everyone brought hor'dourves New Year's Eve. We made a half-heart'd effort to stay up till midnight and made it to about 9:30!

Wine and Cheese

Friday evening started out with a cheese and mystery wine tasting. Debbie covered six bottles of wine, 3 red and 3 white. She said all of the wine was less that $5 a bottle and was purchased from Trader Joe's. "Two Buck Chuck" was not included. Here Debbie is unveiling the wine.

Wine and cheese was followed by Clam Chowder and French Bread.

Ty wanted to join the group but he is complaining about being stuck in his cage so Blake and Stacey put on his harness and took him for a walk.

For dinner Saturday night we had Chicken Marsala. Each chicken breast was individually wrapped in foil with mushrooms. You unwrapped the chicken and then covered it with Marsala sauce. Others members of the club brought vegetables, salads and desserts. Jeff unwraps his chicken.

Everyone enjoyed a great dinner. An unusual dish was brought by Betty, pickled zucchini from her garden. Boy they were good, as was everything on the dinner plate.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Seven Feathers RV Resort on our way to Port Susan.