We made it to the SLABS

We left Patton's Museum dry campground this morning after 4 nights. We loved it for the price and I could do with a bit less of the highway music. The campground is about a quarter of a mile north of the interstate, but with no trees to block the sound, it comes through loud and clear.

Yesterday we toured some of the Joshua Tree National Park. We wanted to tour the old farm, but because of the rains last Friday, they claimed that it was flooded. So no tour. We went to another area for a short hike and gave up on it because we didn't feel like climbing the boulders. Okay, they were not large ones, but it was wet footing and a fairly strong breeze.

Tonight we're in what some call “Slab City” near Niland, CA. The place is about as we remembered it with a different set of folks. The regular fellow that we met 2 years ago isn't here and we miss his updates. So we'll make some new friends. As another camper said this afternoon, “the price is right”. They were going to a private park west of here that had a hot water spring and decided not to because of the campground daily rate of $38 per night. That hurts when this place is free, just pick out a spot that you like.

For those that don't know about it, you can pick just about any kind of environment that you like. We're in an area that is very clean (no garbage) and with some brush on the ground. (When I asked Sandy about my description, she kind of wrinkled her nose. I guess it is not quite as good as I thought.)We do have nice neighbors, one of them invited us over for visiting this evening. We met them 3 years ago at a rally and we had a brief meeting with them in a Walmart Parking lot last fall. We had a great visit after so many years.

More later.

Gene

Visiting Patton's Museum

Visiting Patton's Museum

We're boondocking in a “wide spot on the road” called Chiriaco Summit. It is about 50 miles east of Palm Springs, CA in the high desert. The local attraction is a museum honoring General Patton. It is also next door to the south entry to Joshua Tree National Park.

Today Gene toured the local museum honoring General Patton while Sandy remained in the rig doing financial books and surfing. (This morning was cloudy and I knew it was not going to be a real solar day. I assumed that it would be generator time this evening and told Sandy to surf away.) So this evening we ran the generator for an hour to charge the batteries plus Sandy could use the microwave oven to help make dinner. She loved that.(and so did I.)

Yes, I enjoyed touring the museum, but it isn't a real barn burner that I had expected. The one thing that came across was that Patton's defensive strategy was very simple, just keep charging ahead. Don't give the enemy time to organize against you. It was not mentioned, but I'm convinced that had Patton been running the show, there would not have been a “Battle of the Bulge”. His troops would have engaged the Germans before they were ready.

While here, we're planning to meet up with an Air Force classmate for lunch in Palm Springs, half way between where we're at and where he lives. It will be an interesting lunch, as we have had no contact in 50 years until we called him last winter. There will be a lot of catching up to do.

Obviously, we're intending to tour Joshua Tree N.P. How long we stay here is also not set yet. In other words, we have no schedule. From here, we're heading south to the Salton Sea, and some nearby sites. We have a rally in Yuma the second week of March, so there is no hurry. Also, the weather has been very nice (with a rumored chance of rain tonight.)

Gene

We've got Hitch Itch!

We have been here at Quartzsite on the desert for almost a month and we have hitch itch to get the rig moving down the highway. Sandy is feeling much better, so it shouldn't be a show stopper now. Today we did a drive north to Plomosa Road where our Winnebago group parked to get some Lat/Long measurements. Then it was Laundry time again plus we picked up some odds and ends before returning to the motorhome. She was tired, but ready to go again this afternoon when I wanted to take a drive out west of Quartzsite to an area we have not camped at.

On the return, we stopped at an RV place to see about a backup video system for our rig. The one we have went belly up and I do miss it. Yes, they had one, but I decided to learn more about it online before buying. Well, it is available via Amazon.com for about half of their price, so we are waiting a bit longer.

With all of the activities today, there has been no adverse reaction from Sandy, so I think she is much better. (Perhaps a bit tired, but we expected that.)

When we leave here, our destination is the General Patton Museum at Chiriaco, California. It is right at the southern entrance of Joshua Tree National Park, so that will be our next destination.

The weather has been very decent lately, with rain predicted for Friday night. So I think it is time to move. One thing we have noticed in the desert is that there are lots of tiny grass shoots in the washes. With the rains they've had in the last 2 months, it ought to be a good year for flowers on the desert in the spring. But we're not waiting that long!

Gene

Sandy is on the Mend

I've mentioned it a few times in the last 2 weeks that Sandy was suffering from a sinus problem. Well yesterday, we bit the bullet and took her to the ER at the hospital in Parker. At the nurses check her in, I was pleased to see that she had no fever and that her blood pressure was normal. The end result was that they prescribed an antibiotic plus a cough syrup to cut down the coughing. Both seem to be working and last night, Sandy enjoyed a long nights rest. It was so nice for her that she bounded out of bed at 5 AM saying that she just couldn't sleep any more. So guess who else also was up?

Anyway, it is nice to have her on the mend. I'm still the chief dishwasher, which I'd be happy to pass back to her at any time.

The rally that we attended this week ended Thursday night and most of the rigs left yesterday. However, there are enough rigs left so that we're by no means lonely here. Several have told us that they are here until the middle of next week. Why not? The price is right, and we're away from the road noise and best of all, our parking area is like a dead end road. So there is very little dust. Of course, since the rain, the dust level is much lower. One thing we've noticed on our walks is that there is green stuff beginning to grow. It won't be long before the ground will have a greenish tint to it. However, I doubt that we'll be here long enough to see any desert flowers blooming. Some day I'd like to see a Saguaro in full bloom.

Some time next week, we'll pull out of this site. The timing partly depends upon our tank capacities. We still have fresh water and there has been space in the gray and black tanks. When one of the three hits the limit, it will be time to move

This afternoon, I went to the antique car show at the tent and checked out the flea market area again. The cars were nicely polished, mostly old cars that were souped up with bigger engines, etc. My own opinion was that it didn't rate a visit. Yes, they are proud of their work but no, I'm not interested. In the flea market area, I visited with a couple vendors briefly. There has been a moderate amount of traffic, but getting people to part with their money is very difficult. It won't go down as one of their better years!

With that, it is bedtime for me also. (Thank goodness it isn't snowing like it is in the east.)

Gene

Another Rally ends

Here it is Thursday evening and we're all but wrapped up another very successful rally. This rally was about/for those involved in the new hobby called Geocaching. I know folks did it, I just didn't know how rabid ordinary retirees could be about being a geocacher. They are almost worse than kids.

For those that don't know what geocaching is all about, it has two parts, the cache owner who hides the cache and posts the location on a web site called Geocaching.com and the hunters who read the web page and go looking for the cache. Doesn't that sound exciting? But it gets even better. The cache may not even contain anything but a marker of some historical geological event. Or it may contain a box which contains what may appear to be useless trinkets And the list goes on and on.

I was not out prowling the highways and byways for the many caches here in the Quartzsite area although I did go looking for (and found) the caches near the rally parking that served as a test case for all of us. I should also say that the hidden cache may not be something the size of a breadbasket. They showed us demonstration containers the size of a fountain pen cover. These small caches are referred to as micro caches. And the list goes on and on.

I did think of two places in my old home town that could use a cache. One is in the city library. Caches have been hidden in libraries in a book with a false set of hollowed out pages. Obviously, this needs the permission of the librarian. The end result of locating a cache is that it brings people into the area. Many caches are located off road on trails that people wouldn't other wise go on. My second candidate cache location is the cemetery where Eugene Ely is buried. Mr. Ely was the first flier to land and successfully take off from navy ship. (It was dead in the water and Ely's plane barely made it, with his wheels hitting the sea water for a few moments.)

Sandy continues to cough and she has finally agreed to visit the emergency room in Parker Friday morning (if she isn't better). It has now been 15 days of coughing and some folks will probably feel that it is “about time”! (In the mornings, she always tells me she feels better. But by nightfall, you wonder about her.)

We're doing well on the desert. We have now gone almost a month using solar to generate our electricity and have never run the generator to bring the battery up to par. Our biggest improvement has been the amount of LED lights we are now using to light up our living room. It is a bit dark to read by, but it is great for working on the computer. LED lighting does not use near the power of an incandescent lamp. There are some newer more powerful LED assemblies now available and when the price becomes a little bit more into our price range, I shall have me some of them.. In the meantime, I have several first generation lamp assemblies that will serve us well. I should say that we also have not used the TV.

Gene

Geocaching 101 in the Desert

Geocaching 101 in the Desert

The weather has improved considerably here on the desert since the last blog on Thursday. (Others would say that it was an outstanding solar day for charging our batteries.) The Amateur Radio rally is over and we have also moved to a new location, about a half mile west of where we were. This group is into Geocaching. I thought I knew a little bit about geocaching until I listen to these people start talking. Suddenly, I'm back to square one. I guess that is why we're here.

Sandy continues to nurse her sinus problem that seems to have turned into an upper respiratory something. She does a lot of low volume hacky coughing. Today we went grocery shopping and she bought a different cough syrup, so maybe that will help. I didn't confirm with her, but I also bought some medication that ought to help her coughing (80 proof). Almost as good as white lightening.

For groceries today, we drove over to Blythe, CA, which is just across the river into California. Like so many small towns across America, Blythe is also struggling to hold on. They do have an outstanding Albertson's grocery store. On the way back, we stopped at the local Flying J to top off our fuel tank in the Saturan. We have never been by that place when there was no line and today was no exception. Fuel is about 10 to 15 cents cheaper than in California and most long haul drivers take this last opportunity to top off the tanks.

We have new batteries in our GPS, so perhaps tomorrow we'll learn more about what it is that we came for.

Gene

Rocking and Rolling in the wind

We arrived at the Amateur Radio Quartzfest site yesterday morning and promptly got ourselves parked. There are over 125 registered hams here, which is a reasonably large number. We attended one seminar in the PM entitled, “Pic-axe.” it is a micro-controller on a PC board especially designed for experimenters. It is programmable via an RS 232 port and supposedly lots of support is available free. Just my idea of a deal.

Last night, we ended up with two seminars, one on the nuclear test site north of Las Vegas and the second on LED lights. I was floored that they actually give public tours of the nuclear testing site. It is somewhat restricted, with a large form to fill out, but very interesting. I wish I could see it.

The LED seminar was by the same lady that visited our WIT group on Tuesday. This time it was outside so we could see her display etc. Yes, I wish I had some of her lights, but the price scares me. Eventually, the wind and cold chased all of us away. (Since it was outside, she could use her display board built into her van.).

Today was the real deal. It rained most of the night, so immediately any thought of going into Quartzsite was debatable because of water over the road. But eventually a good radio operator told us that the road was open. So Gene went to town for some medications for Sandy. She is still fighting the sinus problem that appears to have turned into more of a cold. She was up last night (or this morning) with a severe cough. We finally got her settled down in the easy chair and plenty of blankets around her so that I could get back to bed. Today, she is better. The test will be tonight.

After I returned from Quartzsite, the weather turned nastier and nastier. We had lots of rain and wind. Eventually we pulled the slides in and hunkered down to ride it out. For the most part, the wind came in from our rear so we were pretty safe. We did hear that 5 semi's were tipped over on I-10 just north of here.

But eventually it also subsided and life is getting back to normal. The wind still blows at a moderate rate. This afternoon, a local weather nut measured 62 mph gusts. That is enough. Then the weather channel announces that this corner of Arizona and California may have tornado warnings..So where do we hide if there is a real problem out here? Desert bushes don't offer much protection and the deep washes were full of water! But by 6 PM, it passed us and what a blessing. To all of our friends and relatives east and north of here, be ready, this is a bruiser of a storm. Notice how California has been hammered in the last couple of days.

Okay, this is a bit longer than desired!

Gene