Living On The Road

One of the great things about this lifestyle is meeting new people.  It sees that folks on the road are for the most part incredibly friendly.  Some of the people that we have met in this park I am sure will become life long friends.  One of those is Susan.  On our first day back she invited us over for a bar b que because she figured we were tired after the drive.  We werent but hey, a bar b que, who can say no...haha.  Steaks on the grill, baked potatoes and a salad with Susan and Robert (Robert is at the grill Susan in on the chair), John and Colleen (John is the second fella in the picture who is doing nothing but sitting there looking good-Colleen is out of the limelight talking with David.  Great people and good times, thanks for the hospitality Robert and Susan.

And this winter has been one of running into friends from 'the old days' for David.  Deb V, a friend from StPeter called to say that she was in the area and could we meet up to say hi.  Well sure Deb sounds great. We met at the Road Runner Floating Bar.

Here's the group as we walked up

David is catching up with Deb, Hermie (in the orange) and Dive K who we have not seen in years and years.  It was a blast listening (once again) to David and friends talk about the old days.

So I admit it, I am a Harley girl at heart, love the bikes and the lifestyle, just too danged old to feel comfortable on a bike anymore.  Both Hermie and Dive are living the lifestyle.  Both are retired, live in MN during the summer and AZ in the winter (or wherever the breeze takes them).  They get up in the morning and wonder where they should ride for the day.  It was so fun to watch these two guys as they just calmly looked out over the water watching the boats go by not a care in the world.  I have known Dive forever it seems and he has been sober for 20 years now.  There was the Marlboro man, well Dive is what I think of as 'the Harley man'.  Layed back and just seemingly at peace with life...pretty damned cool I say.  Hermie is right beside him in that catagory.  Yep life is good for these two riders.

Just a cool shot of "The Harley Man'

Saddled up and ready to ride.

And they are off...I was tagging along in spirit :)

Damn that was a fun trip down memory lane for both David and I.

And It Begins

 This motorhome process has been an interesting one.  The dealership seems to be less than stellar
 ( although we do like our salesperson), they make promises that they think will make you happy but they cannot keep which does the customer no good at all.  It all started out when we test drove the coach.  Something or other was beeping and a computerized dealy displayed that there was a default code in the air leveling system.  The day that we were supposed to pick up our home the tech told us that he had reset the system and it was fixed.....and....then we arrived on the lot for our walk through (a tech is supposed to walk you through the coach and explain everything to you).  This coach is pretty high tech and as savey as David is with tools even he was leery of this thing.  So....I ask the tech how to hook up the blue tooth-he looks at me and says, "I don't know I would have to ask my 10 year old son how to do that" and so it continued.  These techs had no clue how to do much of anything on our coach.  In fact David asked them to show him how to check the transmission fluid. The tech started up the coach and pulled the engine oil dipstick out.....what a dipstick!  Needless to say we did not pick the coach up that day but when we did bring her home the beeping began once again as David was driving it.  Hey we said, we thought the tech fixed that.  Once home we called right to Monaco (who made our coach) getting some person or another who tried to walk David through how to fix the problem to no avail.  He did say however that we had to call the manufacturer, we did and were told that we should no way have driven it with that error code.  The techs came out to us to see if they could fix it...nope of course not.  So off we go to Mesa to the shop (we over-rode the error to allow us to drive it to the shop) and hope that they can find the short that is causing the error.

Here she is ready for the trip to Mesa


 Now years ago we said that we didn't really want a motorhome because if your engine goes your home goes as well.  Yup our engine and our home are going to the shop.  Most shops though do have spots for you in their lots to hook up to electricity so that you don't have to evacuate your home whilst it is being worked on.  Thank goodness this shop had just that.  We backed into a narrow spot and hunkered down for what we were sure would be a week's stay.

While in Mesa we once again hooked up with Tud and Diane who were staying in Apache Junction.  We had been told about the Organ Stop Pizza and joined the Johnsons there for supper.

Quite the place it is.  None of us are much on organ music but this really is a must see....and the pizza is awesome.

The first show brings the organ and musician up from under the floor and the show begins.  The building is surrounded by organ pipes.  The show was colorful and interesting...and did I mention that the pizza was awesome :)

Day two was the day the techs looked at our coach to see what they could see.  Off David and I go to spend the day in Mesa.  We returned later in the afternoon to find that our coach....WAS FIXED.  Now that was truly an unexpected surprise and restored our faith in McMahon's RV.  Not only were the techs very well trained but they were professional and friendly as well.  We actually received an official walk through that was very informative.

We moved from our lovely spot at the RV shop to the resort where Tud and Diane were parked and spent a few days on vacation.

We took a desert cruise with a bunch and found ourselves at the Coke Ovens which are located in what used to be the town of Butte.  They were built in 1880 by the Pinal County Mining Co and were used to make charcoal from Mesquite wood.  The mesquite charcoal was a hotter burning fuel and was used to melt gold and silver ore.  It doesnt look like it in the picture but the ovens are 25 feet wide by 35 feet high.  We were told that at one time someone attmepted to make the ovens their home.

Another stop at what our leader called Boulder overlook. A placce we all said would be a good hiking stop one day...next year :)

This particular desert was beginning to bloom

And is loaded with tall Saguaro cactus and the desert floor is greener than in the Parker area.

 Our trip was supposed to last the entire day but alas we ended up following the wrong car (go figure) and found ourselves back home sooner than intended.  No worries, it was a good day with great friends and Tud's truck needed a wash job.

We intended on driving the Apache Trail (88 miles of beautiful scenery) but cut the trip short as David wanted to check out the local swap meet.  Anddddddddd Tud and Diane did the totally unexpected and became motorhome owners.  We had to be back in the afternoon to give the coach a test run.

Here she is, their new winter home. (they went from a small 5th wheel to this)

 Test drive

I dont know who was more excited-David and I or the new owners themselves.

All vacations must come to an end and we are now back at Emerald Cove with a fully functioning motorhome.  The trip home went exceptionally well however...one of the beauties of traveling in a motorhome home is the freedom to get up to get a cookie and a cup of coffee while going down the road.  Not so much me because my lap seems to be full

I had so hoped that these guys would find a nice comfy spot on the floor when we were going down the road...not....

New Friends and Old

Oh Tud I so hate to do this but I must begin with the old.  Our friend Tud is now medicare eligible and to celebrate David and I presented him with a hunk of store boughten carrot cake.  Nothing is too good for our friend Tud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since Tud and Diane were spending time in Havasu City we hooked up with them for a day of fun.  First stop was Lake Havasu to watch boat races.  Nope this is not one of those large expensive boats that you would expect to see at Havasu, this is one of those tiny expensive boats that adult kids race.  They certainly do whip around that little track that is layed out.

And when those expensive little boats crash and burn it's the boat ambulance to the rescue.

We hope to hook up with Tud and Diane this coming week since we have to make an unexpected trip to Mesa...more about that later.....

Since coming to this park we have met a lot of great people.  David is busy most of the week shooting pool Tuesday and Thursday nights, cribbage tourney Wednesday at 9am and then again at 7pm and to top it off he is going to another park on Friday nights to play Texas hold em.  Me, I'm finally feeling settled in enough that it must be time to get my sewing machine out...soon....

On Valentine's Day a bunch of us headed to town for pizza and beers and or pop.  It was great fun with a table full of BS-ers.

And then yesterday was a full day at the clubhouse.  A few years ago some folks put together a casino day and it is an annual event.  As you can see it was pretty high stakes, funny money and all!

Everyone that bought in with $5 received one blue ticket giving a chance to win this kindle fire.  I so wanted this...and so did everyone else.  My ticket was not the lucky one however.

 The red tickets gave you the chance to win one of these four cameras.  Once again, mine were not the lucky tickets.

And to gain additional red or white (not blue) tickets you had to play (and win) Texas hold em-where David spent the afternoon

 Or plain old black jack-where I spent the afternoon having my funny money robbed from me by this damned dealer.  Unlike real casinos where dealers take a break this guy did not, even though I tried to get him to do so.  He was a hoot and it was a blast.

And then there was the roulette wheel, a popular station it was.  All you had to do was give it a spin getting a chance to win more funny money in which to buy  more red or white tickets (nope no blue, only one blue ticket per person).  The white tickets were small prizes given out every 30 minutes...barely worth mentioning and no I did  not win one of those either.

Gayle felt the need to count her money every ten minutes or so....and nope she didn't win a camera or that much sought after Kindle either.

 David turning in his funny money for red tickets....nah he didn't win a thing

 I'm pretty sure I was babbling something quite important here, notice how everyone is hanging on my every word!

Yup it was a fun day of cards and friends and a steak fry for supper.  It just doesn't get much better than that.

Quartzsite And Beyond

Somewhere it said that 'Quartzsite, the only place in the world where you will find 'Half a million dollar coaches towing $50,000 vehicles looking for a FREE place to camp'  When I read that I thought that it totally describes Q to a 'T'. 

Of course most units parked in Quartzsite are not million dollar rigs but there are quite a few of them.
While sitting around the campfire one night two big black SUV's pulled up.  We all wondered exactly which political person or famous person was coming to join us...HA.  A young gal jumps out and says, "This is going to sound strange but" and she went on to say that they were a crew from CBS in Quartzsite filming the life of those of us that camp and live the full time lifestyle.  She then asked if they could film us just sitting around the campfire talking amongst ourselves...sure we say.  This is supposed to air tomorrow (Wednesday Feb 8) on the CBS early morning show.  It is supposed to be on line as well.  Who knows if it will be on but if anyone sees it please let me know.

I didn't get many pictures of our week in the desert this year because David and I were busy....more about that at the end of this post.  We did run into a couple of long ago friends of David's though.  When we drove up to the group David said, "Hey I know that guy" and over he went to find Tud and Dianne.  Tud and David have known each other for years and Dianne and her family went on vacations with David and his family when they (David and Dianne) were young kids.  Lots of laughs about the old days and fun for the three to catch up to be sure. It turns out that their son Justin graduated with our Lenny, it's a small small world.

From Quartzsite we headed back to Emerald Cove to clean the dust out of our pores, take a real shower and wash clothes.  Dianne and Tud spent a few days at Emerald Cove as well and of course we had to take them on a little drive.

David and Tudd checking out an old mine

And this little thing popping through the rocks-it's a wonder how anything can grow in these rock hard mountains but they do.

Tud and Dianne had heard about the Desert Bar and wanted to go so David and I gladly went with them.  This time we went early before the crowd arrived and I was able to get some good pictures.

Solar panels galore

Just a cool shot of the church steeple from one of the patios

As we were enjoying our beverages in flies a helicopter.  Dianne wondered if it wasn't some country star or another-I of course cannot remember who it was.  Tud hoped it would be Skynard-I agreed with him :)

Alas it was to be neither and certainly no one famous just a copter filming crew that was in the area for a race that previous weekend.

We did run into some other Minnesota folks however.  They were pretty full of BS and we had a nice time chatting with them.

Here we are, the motley crew, in front of the old church.

It was a nice few days with lots of laughs and the company of great people...how could they not be they are StPeter people!


OK so now the Beyond section of this blog.  David and I have spent the better part of our time here researching motorhomes; size, kind, diesel or gas etc..  While in Quartzsite we finally found our new home

 And bought it

It was/is a huge step for us never having purchased an actual 'new' home before but motorhomes just are not as easy to remodel as stick houses are...hell at our age stick ones are no longer easy either

I only have pictures of the kitchen and dinning rooms for now

 There is quite a story and I will make it short.  Anyway before we picked the motorhome up we unloaded everything (except our cloths) from our 5th wheel and put it outside on our lot so that we would not have to spend so much time transferring stuff at the dealership.  We are almost to the dealership at the appointed time when we get a call asking if we can wait a few days to pick the coach up!  Whatever....

So here we sat for a few days with our belongings outside looking like Sanford and Son

It was a mess.  Our neighbors have been swell offering tarps, the use of a trailer etc etc and of course they were all very curious about the entire ordeal and 'when is the coach comeing'.  We too were curious about that one.

But we did finally pick here up and here is David looking pretty darned small behind the wheel.

And here she is going down the road.

We spent the next three days transferring out clothing from the 5th wheel to the new home, took the 5th wheel to the dealer and spent the next three days getting our stuff from the outside in.  Today is a day kick back, relax and enjoy our new home.

The Desert Bar and More

We had not a speck of dirt gather under our feet last week.  Momma Loi and Kelly were here and we ran everyday.  Between sightseeing and motorhome shopping we racked up the miles, saw quite a few 'sites' as well as motorhomes and nope we have not yet purchased our permanent home on wheels.  Anyway-on one of our drives David spotted this big boy.






And found  this old mine (or what we imagined was an old mine) on a hillside and pulled over to take a look.

 After a little prompting Kelly decided to check it out.  No bats and if there were any gems in the walls they had been mined out.

 Kel had to take a hike up to see what she could see

 And Loi, well she decided to stay safe and look for something fun from down below.

Rather than try to tell it in my own words-which can often be a mumble jumble-I am going to cut and paste from the Desert Bar website.  This is one of the coolest places ever (just ask Kel ).  It is powered totally by solar and is open from high noon till dusk, as the sign says.  The food is great, not very expensive and the beer is the coldest I have ever tasted (well the Odules was cold anyway and Kel reported that yep the beer was as well).  David and I will go back and spend an afternoon some day just to listen to the music and enjoy the people.  So, on to cut and paste.

The "Nellie E Saloon" (DESERT BAR)
is in the Buckskin Mountains,
in Parker, Arizona, on land that was
an old mining camp. The camp was
located on the portion of land that is
now the parking lot


This is just one view as we drive the almost ten mile, barely maintained road back to the Saloon.  The road winds through the mountains so far that you wonder if you will ever get there.

It wasn't easy to get good pictures of the place just because of the hoards of people that were there but this is a view of the band's stage.

The "Nellie E" was completed in 1988.
The inside of the saloon is unique in
many ways. It has windows that are old
glass refrigerator doors, the bar stools
are made of steel and they sway from
side to side. The top of the bar is
brass and the ceiling is made of
stamped tin purchased from a factory
in Missouri. The saloon is powered by
solar energy and is stored in batteries
and run through inverters.

You can see solar panels on the roof of the building top of the picture.  Below is the long line to purchase a smoked tri tip sandwich, or a huge philly sandwich and feel free to add beer batter fries to your order.  The hamburgers are made in a structure up above.  The building with the solar panels is an indoor bar that does have a wood stove for heat on those windy days.  We were told that when going you should get there early because the place fills up quickly.  We were there before 'high noon' and followed a string of vehicles out to find the parking lot full and loads of people already enjoying the day at the bar.  A popular place.

Built in 1981, the covered walk bridge
was the next big project. It was
dedicated in October of that same year.
The church was started in 1993,
completed in 1996 and dedicated in
October

 Across from the saloon is an outside
bar, cooking area and stage.
The tall structures you see on the
property including Ken's house,
located across from the parking lot,
are "cooling towers". They work similar
to an evaporative (swamp) cooler,
except they don't have a fan. When
you wet the pads on top, cool air falls
and you get a nice cool airflow.

Tri tip and philly sandwiches in the making.  And yes this too is powered by solar.

When Ken opened the bar, he hauled
water in a 50-gallon tank loaded on the
back of his truck. Then he purchased
an old fire truck, which he used to haul
water. In 1989, he started using a well
in the canyon as his water source. In
the summer of 1997, Ken drilled a new
well on the north side of the saloon
that operates on solar power, with the
pump set at 360 feet.

Rachel, Melvin and Dezbah joined us for a day.  Melvin and Dezbah taking a walk outside the bar.

The long bumby windy road on our way back to civilization. 

 

Sunday was the day to take Loi and Kel to the airport.  We waved goodbye and headed back home to take our last shower for a week.  We are now parked in the desert in Quartszite living on not electricity, not solar power but a generator and only the water that is in our tanks.   We crank up the generator in the am for coffee and evening to charge our phones etc. and because our water is limited to what is in our tanks we use it sparingly.  I love Quartzsite!