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Nick's Blog Thursday, January 31, 2008 In yesterday’s blog I wrote about the cost of our two week boondocking stay at Quartzsite. Someone e-mailed me to point out that I had not included the cost of setting our bus conversion up for dry camping, and that I should have included the cost of our battery bank, solar panels and charge controllers, and generator. I’m not sure how I could amortize that over the number of days we have spent dry camping over the years. We included the generator and our first inverter when we built the bus several years ago, and installed our three AGM house batteries long before we added our original solar setup. So it was an investment over time. Not every RV is set up the same, many do not have the dry camping equipment that we do, nor do you necessarily need solar panels, an inverter, a huge battery bank, or even a generator to spend time off the grid. You can either adapt your RV to the boondocking lifestyle, or adapt your boondocking style to your RV’s equipment. Not everyone is a night owl like me, most will not need to work several hours a day on a computer, or run a laser printer, so it is entirely possible to get along just fine without using the amount of power we consume. On the other hand, if you do like to watch several hours of television daily, brew coffee, surf the internet, cook with your microwave oven, and other activities that use a lot of power, you can do that just fine if your RV is set up properly. Here in
Quartzsite, we have seen people boondocking in everything from bus
conversions and diesel pusher motorhomes, to pickup truck campers, fifth
wheel trailers, and even Class B vans. The one thing we all have in
common is that we are all enjoying the desert sunshine every day, those
beautiful Arizona
sunsets in the evening, and the star filled sky at night. No matter what
you came here in, it’s better than shoveling snow in Michigan
or
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 Yesterday was a day for visitors. Longtime
subscribers Ray and Wanda Trash stopped by in the morning and chatted
for a while. The last time we saw them was at an FMCA rally in The rally starts in less than two weeks, and reservation are pouring in. We also have a lot of people who have said they will pay upon arrival, so it’s going to be a nice crowd. We sure hope you join us for all the fun. I talked to Dennis Hill from the RV Driving School yesterday, and he still has several openings for driving lessons at the rally. This is not the driving seminars he will be doing, but rather behind the wheel classes in your own RV. Folks, if you have ever sat in at one of my classes
at Life on Wheels or an RV rally, or read much of what I write in the Gypsy
Journal, you know that having both partners know how to drive the RV
is something I really believe in. We have seen three or four incidents
first hand where the husband became ill or something else happened, and
the wife was left stranded until someone could come and move the RV. We
also had an incident ourselves, when my vision was going bad, where I
suddenly lost most of my sight while driving the beltway around Please, whether you take a driving class with Dennis or someone else, take one! All of Dennis' classes are by appointment, which you need to make BEFORE the rally, so he can schedule instructors to be on hand. You can call Dennis at 530-878-0111 or visit www.rvschool.com for more info. Some people have a misconception that boondocking is "free." It is not. It can be inexpensive, but not free. For example, I have reported here before that our nightly camping cost is $4.67, averaged out over a year. This includes not only all money paid for a campsite, but also includes expenses involved with dry camping that we would not have in a full hookup campground. For example, gas for our generator, and the cost of going to a laundromat, since we would use our onboard washer and dryer if we were in a park. We have been at Quartzsite for almost two weeks now. We paid $40 to park in the LTVA area for fourteen days. (Yes, there are free fourteen day areas, but we chose the LTVA because we had friends parked there, and because there are free water and dump stations, which we would have had to pay for in the free areas.) Gas for our generator came to $45. Monday we did laundry, which cost about $18. If you factor the cost of gasoline in the van to run to town for generator gas and the laundromat, let’s call it another $5. That comes to $108, or $7.71 a day. That’s still pretty inexpensive, but not free. But if you would have been with me last night when I spent a few minutes stargazing at the lights twinkling in the desert sky overhead, looking so close you would think you could reach out and touch them, I think you’d agree that it’s a heck of a bargain. Thought For The Day – Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 We expect to achieve a major milestone today, logging in the 250,000th visitor to our website. Wow, that is a lot of visits! Terry and I really appreciate your continued support. Your visits, your input and feedback, has helped make the online portion of our business as much a success as the printed side of things. The rain is gone,
but yesterday was a very windy day, with gusts reported at over 45 miles
per hour. Though the temperature People watching is a great form of entertainment. People are strange, even out here on the desert. There are hundreds of square miles of BLM land here to dry camp, and all over the place we see RVers who have lined out their own personal space with rocks, sometimes as much as a quarter acre. This is public land, and anyone can camp anywhere they want to, so these improvised boundary markers have no legal standing. But some of these folks will defend their space against anyone even walking past as if it were their family homestead. I wouldn’t want to park near a jerk like that, but sometimes Bad Nick, that mischievous little imp inside of me, wants to pull the bus up next to one of these clowns just to be obnoxious. We had a large gathering of Bluebirds coaches parked near us for a while. I’m not sure if musical air horns come as standard equipment on a Bluebird, but I think they must. All day long one after another would play some little tune on his air horns, and someone on the other side of the encampment would meet the challenge with a tune of his own. About the time the last note died out and you could begin to enjoy the sounds of nature again, they would start with another volley. The first time or two or ten it wasn’t too bad, but after the second day of this nonsense, I began to think we were in the big city, not the open desert. I’m sure these clowns really find themselves charming, but I think it’s kind of rude to impose your entertainment on the entire area like that. Yesterday most of the Bluebird crowd left, and of course they each had to play their air horns to announce their departure. How many stanzas of On the Road Again do I need to hear? These guys are so darned original! When I walked down to the trash dumpsters, I was surprised to see three or four people standing in line at the porta-johns on this chilly, windy day? Why? Don’t they have bathrooms in their RVs? Are their holding tanks full? If they are full, why aren’t they in line to dump? A long line at the dump station in the comfort of your RV is still better than a short line to get into a stinky porta-john on a nasty day. Besides, in my bathroom I have my own personal library. What is there to read in a porta-john? Thought For The Day – I
had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me. Monday, January 28, 2008 Yesterday was very dreary, with rain showers off and on most of the day that left puddles of water everywhere and channels of water in every gully. Having lived in the desert for much of my life, I was glad we were not parked near any arroyos or dry washes. I’ve seen dry creek beds turn to raging torrents of water in minutes when desert flash floods occur. In my newspapers days, I reported on more than one careless hiker or motorist who drowned in raging floodwaters. Yesterday was the last day of the RV show in the Big Tent, and things will start winding down here in Quartzsite now. In spite of the rain all day long, RVs were pulling out headed off toward new adventures. I spent much of the gloomy day at my computer, cranking out about 10,000 words for the next issue of the Gypsy Journal. Finally, aching eyes and a stiff back and neck forced me to stop, but I was happy with the amount I had done. Cheri Holcomb is a Mary Kay cosmetics representative, and Miss Terry and Connie Simpson spent several hours in Cheri’s motorhome doing facials and other girl stuff. The results were outstanding, and all three ladies looked gorgeous when they finally reappeared. During the afternoon we had company. First subscribers John and Judy Bennett stopped over to visit. They also have an MCI bus conversion, and I’m looking forward to seeing it when they are at our rally in Casa Grande. Just as John and Judy were leaving, longtime subscriber Ron Butler came by to chat, and we had a good visit with him as well. Myself, Terry Simpson and Gene Holcomb decided that we needed to take our pretty ladies out to dinner, so we all drove over to Silly Al’s for pizza. We thought that between the bad weather and so many people leaving town, we would not have to wait long for a table, but we were wrong. The place was packed, and even though they had several empty tables, the staff was completely disorganized. Our group waited in line to be seated like we were supposed to, while other customers walked right past us to take empty seats. After about a fifteen minute wait, the hostess came by to rudely tell us we would have to wait at least an hour for a table, even though I pointed out empty tables to her. We decided that while their food is pretty good, it wasn’t good enough to put up with the long wait and rude service, so we went down the street to a new place called simply Best Mexican Food, where we walked right in, were seated and placed our orders immediately. The food was pretty good, and compared to Quartzsite standards was exemplary. We have really enjoyed our time here with our friends and had a great time at dinner. Back at the bus, the sky had cleared and a magnificent blanket of stars covered the sky. Until you have seen the western sky at night, far away from the lights of the big city, you just don’t know how pretty it can be. I could have sat outside all night looking at it, but the cool night air changed my mind pretty quickly and drove me inside. We only have a few more days here before we have to move on to Casa Grande, but I’ll be sorry to leave. In our visits to Quartzsite the last two years, we did not have nearly as much fun as we have had this trip. It’s been a special time for us. Thought For The
Day – Why
do we only have two people to choose from for President and fifty for
Miss Sunday, January 27, 2008 No matter what kind of RV you drive, from a small Class B van to the multi-slide Bluebird diesel pusher that costs as much as the annual budget of some small countries, we all have one thing in common. Eventually we all have to make a trip to the dump station. (You can tell the difference between bus conversion owners and Bluebird owners, because at the dump station, the Bluebird owners say “Well, ours doesn’t stink” Yesterday was our day. We can usually go a week to ten days easily on our holding tanks, but since there is a dump station, and water spigots to fill our freshwater tank, we have not been very conservative while dry camping here at La Posa South LTVA near Quartzsite. Most days there is a fairly long line at the dump station, but I seemed to have timed it right, and we only had to wait for a couple of rigs ahead of us. Once we had dumped and filled our fresh water tank, Terry drove the bus back and slipped us into almost the exact tire tracks we had been parked in before.
The weather reports say today is supposed to be cold and windy. It is also the last day of the show in the Big Tent, though I’ve been told some of the vendors closed up shop yesterday afternoon. The last two years we have seen a big exodus of RVers the day the show ends, so I suspect the crowds will start thinning out pretty fast around here now. Terry and I will hang out for a few more days, and leave for Casa Grande about the end of the week to get things laid out for our Gypsy Gathering rally February 11-15 at the Pinal County Fairgrounds. For anyone interested in joining the Loyal Order of Moose, we will be holding a Moose signup at the rally. This is a great opportunity to join a group that does a lot of civic good deeds, and also offers RVers many low cost overnight parking opportunities. Several people have called or e-mailed to ask if they can register and pay upon arrival at the rally. No problem, we’re looking forward to seeing you all there. Thought For The Day – Borrow money from pessimists - they don't expect it back. Saturday, January 26, 2008 Yesterday’s blog got uploaded several hours later than usual because the geeks at Yahoo web hosting moved us to another server again and forgot to move all of the files again! It wasn’t as bad as when they pulled this stunt in early December, when we were offline for a couple of days. At least people could access the website this time, but I could not upload the blog or make any changes. Just as they did the last time, when I called tech support and waited on hold for 30 minutes, the first tech assured me the problem was on my end, even though by now I knew exactly what was wrong. But he assured me that it was my fault and hung up. Fortunately, this time around it only took two telephone calls and less than an hour total on hold before I got a real person (the same one who solved the problem in December), and he had us taken care of in less than a minute. Someone asked me
just when I post the blog, because they have found the new listing at
different times in different parts of the country as they travel. I try
to post the blog at or close to midnight local time. Here in I have to make a correction to something I said in Thursday’s blog. I wrote that Terry Simpson is helping us mount a couple of extra solar panels on our bus. Let’s be honest here. Most of you know my reputation with tools. Simpson is doing all of the work, while I try not to get in his way. He’s a master certified RV tech and, and I’m the clown prince of clumsy. We already have three 100 watt AM Solar panels on our roof, which have served us well. But recently my son-in-law, Jim Robinson, gave us two 120 watt panels and a charge controller that were on his father’s travel trailer before he passed away. We didn’t really need two more panels, but we have the space on our roof now that Terry Simpson has pulled off our HughesNet internet dish, and free is a great price. So why not?
Once they are online, I think we’ll really be able to cut our generator use even more. As I’ve written before, solar is not a replacement for a generator, only an expensive supplement. At least for our needs. We use a lot of power compared to many of the hardcore boondockers out here. Once Terry had the panels mounted, we all piled into Gene and Cheri Holcomb’s car and drove into town for the delicious Friday night fish fry at the VFW post. Even though we got there before 4 p.m., the place was really busy. But it was worth the wait. Yummy! Now, don’t tell my doctor about this, because I’m supposed to be on a diet, but when we left the VFW, Gene insisted (after I mentioned it for the fourth or fifth time) that we stop at Carl’s Junior for milkshakes. What could I do? It was his car! Even at my age, peer pressure can be a terrible thing. Thought For The Day – The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once. Friday, January 25, 2008 We were at Herb’s Hardware in Quartzsite yesterday and overheard one end of an interesting telephone conversation from another shopper. He was obviously upset and on his cell phone talking to an RV dealer. He was complaining that his new coach, which apparently has a hard plumbed in macerator, had a long list of problems. The conversation went something like this: “I picked up this damned thing on Monday and there was a long list of things that were supposed to be fixed when I got there. Not one of them was. You had it all day yesterday and never got to it. Now you’re telling me that I have to take it clear back to the factory because you’re too busy this time of year? And how am I supposed to use my bathroom in the meantime if I can’t dump my holding tanks?” I’m not sure what the reply was, but then he said “I bought a half million dollar coach and I can’t take a dump in it?” He listened for another moment and said “Well, here’s what I have done already. I called my bank and stopped payment on my check. So I have your coach and you have my non-negotiable check. So just who do you think is in a position to negotiate here?” There was a reply and then he said (and I love it) “What you need to understand is that a man who can write a half million dollar check that you can call the bank and verify funds on has his own attorney!” I just love it when the sharks meet a barracuda! What ever happened to pride, integrity and customer service in this country anyway? I know that you cannot please everybody every time, but it is a goal that every business, large or small, should strive for. I know I have upset a few people recently. Some had valid reasons, from their point of view. Others I just don’t understand. I made a comment in a blog last week about our old bus looking like a “red headed stepchild” parked next to our friends’ beautiful coaches. One person wrote that my words were just as offensive as Don Imus’s comments about “nappy headed hoes.” I’m still not sure if my leg was being pulled on that one or not, but I apologized anyway, because I really did not mean to offend. If I want to offend redheads, I have my dear cousin Beverly down in Tucson, whom I have lovingly picked on for years. I got two separate e-mails about the same blog from people who said they had been stepchildren as kids, and always felt like second class citizens. My first reaction was “Get over yourself. Someone cared enough about you to make you a part of their family. That’s more than many kids have.” But I have not walked in their shoes, so I just responded with my apologies. I have also upset a few vendors who wanted to come to our Gypsy Gathering rally next month by declining their entries because we already had vendors selling the same or very similar products. Terry and I have been vendors at many RV rallies ourselves over the years, and we know how hard it is to make a profit. The pie can only get sliced so thin, and if we have two, three or more vendors selling the same products, nobody will make enough to justify coming back again next year. One vendor, who sells Pressure Pro tire monitoring systems, understood our point of view. Since we already have a Pressure Pro dealer registered, the other vendor will not be displaying his systems, but he does have other products he will be selling. Some other vendors have not been able to see my point of view on this. One said “It’s free enterprise. We should all be allowed to come, and whoever makes a sale makes it, and whoever doesn’t, loses out.” We could make more money renting a vendor site to anyone who shows up, as most rallies do. But quick profit at the expense of long term growth is not our motivation. We want our vendors to have a successful rally, so they will come back next year, and the year after. Another vendor has expressed an interest in a space at our upcoming Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally in September. I have had business dealings with this person in the past, and found him less than reputable, so he will not be at the rally. Just as we will not accept advertising from someone we don’t believe in, neither will we allow shady vendors at our rallies. I’m sorry, but it’s my sandbox, and I make the rules. Thought For The Day – It
is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it
and remove all doubt. Thursday, January 24, 2008 Blog reader Janet Hollister wrote to say “I have been reading your daily blog about Quartzsite, because that is something my husband dreams of doing when we start fulltiming late this year. My question is, once you have dealt with the crowds to shop in the Big Tent and the other vendors in town, what’s next? Are there any other activities there? It seems like a very small town except during the big RV doings in January.” While Quartzsite does not have outlet shopping malls or movie theaters, and is not known for its culinary delights, there is so much to see and do that very few RVers who spend any time here seem to get bored. There are small groups of RVers with special interests scattered all over the desert for miles in every direction. The Loners on Wheels (single RVers) have a gathering in one area, the Escapees SOLOs (also single RVers) camp together somewhere else, as do the Escapees Boondockers group, some Life on Wheels alumni, friends and graduates of the RV Driving School, and the Escapees Boomer group. Other groups are made up of bus converters, owners of various brands of RVs (we have a large cluster of Bluebird owners parked near us), folks who gather with friends from their home states, groups of Canadian RVers, ham radio operators, military veterans, retired postal workers, and even a group of nudists who gather out in the Magic Circle, away from other RVers. Most of these groups will have some planned activities, potluck dinners, and usually an evening campfire gathering. Besides all of
these organized or semi-organized groups, you will finds many RVers
either parked off by themselves, or together with one or two other
friends’ RVs, like Terry and I are with Gene and Cheri Holcomb and
Terry and Connie Simpson. Except for the naturists at the Many RVers are into riding motorcycles, everything from dirt bikes to highway cruisers, and we see a lot of bikes and ATVs scooting all over the place. Our friends Terry and Connie Simpson have two nice quad-runner ATVs and spend a lot of time exploring the trails for miles around town. If you don’t have an ATV, don’t worry, there are dealers in town who rent them by the day or week. For those really looking for adventure, you can even book a tandem ride on an ultra-light aircraft with an experienced pilot for a bird’s eye view of the RVs scattered across the desert. You will also hear a lot of music around Quartzsite. There are scheduled and impromptu jam sessions all over the place. So bring your guitar, fiddle or mandolin and join in, or just sit and enjoy and tap your toes to the music. RVers are a friendly bunch, always willing to help out, and you will see a lot of fellows helping each other on RV projects. Terry Simpson is helping us get a couple of extra solar panels mounted on our bus this week. The desert itself offers a lot to see and do. Miss Terry and her gal pals have been walking several miles every morning, and lots of folks enjoy hiking or riding their bicycles through the desert. At first glance, the desert may seem a rather barren place, but it is full of life and holds a beauty all its own. We have seen some beautiful photographs taken by shutterbug RVers here in Quartzsite. But you don’t have to be busy to have fun in Quartzsite. You can have a wonderful time just sitting in your lawn chair reading a book under the bright blue desert sky and watching the world pass by. Thought For The Day – Coincidence
is when God chooses to remain anonymous. Wednesday, January 23, 2008 After dealing with the crowds at the Big Tent here in Quartzsite twice, we were amazed at how deserted it was on the north side of Interstate 10, in “downtown” yesterday. Compared to the crowds just across the highway, it was a ghost town! In the past, the small vendor stalls and flea markets to the west of Highway 95 were crowded with shoppers. On our trip to town yesterday, there were very few shoppers and almost no traffic. The last two years we had to search for a parking spot, but yesterday we had our choice of places to park. We also noticed that a lot of the vendors from the past are not here this year. We walked through the Main Event flea market, which once took us most of an afternoon to see completely, in less than 30 minutes. Two years ago, when we were vendors in Quartzsite, a local business owner told us that the town fathers are ruining the community in their constant thirst to draw in big money. We are seeing that prediction come true. In the past, RVers came here to camp out in the desert and shop the hundreds of small vendors peddling everything from satellite dishes and RV parts to geodes and kitchenware. In the last few
years, a large percentage of those small vendors have been pushed out by
big business. Highway frontage on both sides of Interstate 10 that once
held small vendor stalls has been gobbled up by RV dealers greedy for
every square foot of ground they can get to park a display rig on. Can
there really be that many people shopping for an RV in One would think that the small vendors would be clamoring for what little space remains available, but it seems like many have already given up on what they must perceive as a sinking ship. Two years ago, vendor spaces in town near the Main Event were going for big bucks. We were quoted from $650 to $1200 for the month of January. Yesterday we saw plenty of empty vendor spaces, and one sign advertising spots for $195 a month. I believe that business owner we spoke to two winters ago (whose place has since disappeared) was 100% correct. The Quartzsite of the past is fading away, and at the rate things are going, in just a couple of years there will be almost no small vendors left, just an endless line of RV dealerships. The RVers will still come to camp out on the BLM land that surrounds the town, but the holiday atmosphere and bargain shopping of the past will be just a memory. Thought For The Day – If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. Tuesday, January 22, 2008 The cold front that seems to be following us through life has caught up with us here in Quartzsite, where the strong wind and cold evenings have made sitting outside not nearly as much fun as it was a day or two ago. I am well known for telling both the good and the bad about the RV lifestyle, and when a company makes junk or will not stand behind their products, I don’t hesitate to tell the world about it. But I think it’s just as important to tell you about the good guys out there who go the extra mile for their customers. One such company is Progressive Industries, manufacturers of the Electrical Management System (EMS) www.progressiveindustries.net. I reported
yesterday that our Progressive
Industries has been great to work with. A year or so after we installed
the Yesterday I went into town and talked to Robert Schneider at the Progressive Industries booth in the Big Tent. Robert made an appointment to come out to La Posa South LTVA, where we are camped later in the afternoon. When he arrived, after fighting his way through the madhouse that is Quartzsite traffic this time of year, Robert quickly diagnosed the problem. Since he did not have the part with him, he bypassed the board and had us up and running in just a few minutes. Robert said he will have a replacement board to us by priority mail in just a few days, and explained how to install it when it arrives. When I asked what I owed him, he said no problem, he was just glad to have us as customers! Now that is a company I feel good about promoting! I wish more people in the industry had their attitude toward customer service. If not for going to see Robert, there is not enough money in the world to convince me to deal with the crowds in the Big Tent again. You don’t browse the vendors inside the tent, you just sort of get shoved and bumped along with the crowd. When they stop, you stop, because there is no way to get past the throngs of people. On the other hand, you had better be ready to move on when the crowd starts moving again, because I really think some of those people would trample you if you got in their way.
Monday, January 21, 2008 Yesterday was a
beautiful day here in Quartzsite. We were up late the night before, so
we slept in and awoke to a bright blue sky and warm temperatures. Soon
after we were up and about, two couples, Joe and Marcia and Ray and
Ellen Harper, came over to say hello. We met Joe and Marcia, whose last
name escapes me, when they attended several of our classes at Life on
Wheels in Bowling Green,
We installed our new Olympian Wave 8 catalytic heater, and no sooner had we thrown our worn out old Wave 6 in the dumpster than a blog reader wrote to ask if he could have it for parts. I felt bad that we had not held onto it a few more minutes. I spent most of the day writing, trying to get some stories finished for the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. A couple of other readers, also from the Class of 2007, came by to ask if we had room for them at our Gypsy Gathering rally next month, and to also invite us over to visit. We assured them that we’ll have plenty of room for everybody who shows up. Just as the sun went down, Terry and I went over to the Class of 2007 parking area and received a warm welcome from everybody there. They sure are a friendly group! There were so many new faces that I’m afraid I can’t remember everybody, but we certainly won’t forget how nice they all were to us party crashers. Several couples from the group have promised to join us at our rally, and we’re looking forward to getting to know them all better. Back at the bus, I fired up the generator to charge our batteries a bit. A short time later, Miss Terry realized that we were still running off the inverter and the battery charger was not working. I checked things out to the best of my ability, which consisted of confirming what Terry had already told me, and then I called my friend Terry Simpson, who is parked here with us. Terry is an RV tech and I jut know he cringes every time his cell phone rings late at night and it’s me calling. Even though it
was after 9 p.m., Terry came right over and diagnosed the problem as our
Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS). This unit is
designed to protect our bus and the appliances inside in the event of
high or low voltage, power surges, open grounds, and all sorts of other
nasty electrical problems. Twice the system has saved our coach from
damage in the past. Power is
going into the Progressive Industries has a booth at the Big Tent in town, and I’ll ask for their input. I don’t know if we need to replace the entire unit or just a circuit board. In the meantime, Terry Simpson can at least bypass it so we can get power from our generator into the coach. The wind brought a big drop in the temperature last night, and we really appreciated the warmth our new catalytic heater put out when we took our showers and got ready for bed. Thought For The Day – The
problem with the gene pool is that
there is no lifeguard. Sunday, January 20, 2008 Yesterday Miss Terry started her day with a brisk 3+ mile walk around the area with Connie Simpson and Cheri Holcomb, enjoying the clear desert morning and some girl time with her friends. Not wanting to be left out of this personal fitness regime, I sat with Terry Simpson and Gene Holcomb and we exercised our jaws and vocal cords. I tell you what, when I get together with those fellows, the first liar doesn’t have a chance. I like to think of myself as somewhat of a BS artist, but I’m an amateur in comparison. Sometimes it’s just nice to set back and watch genius at work! J We had visitors
about noon, when subscribers Mike and Lamie Ellsworth from North Pole, After a morning of just enjoying the opportunity to relax, in the afternoon we drove into town and braved the crowds at the Big Tent. As I said yesterday, it seems like there are not quite as many people in Quartzsite as in past years, and we were able to drive right up to the tent and park. The two previous years we had to park quite a distance away and walk in. Our old Olympian Wave 6 catalytic heater, which we bought used and which has served us well for seven years, has been on its last legs, so we bought a bigger factory refurbished Wave 8 model. New ones were listed on Camping World’s website for just under $400, and this one, with a 90 day warranty, cost us just $180. We felt like it was quite a bargain. In the tent we stopped by to visit Jack and Doreen Ingle, who were busy at their booth representing AON insurance. Jack and Doreen are special people, and will be at our Gypsy Gathering rally next month in Casa Grande. If you have not had the chance to see Jack and Doreen dance, be sure to watch them some evening at the rally. They give new meaning to the words poetry in motion. We also ran into
our friends Bob and Lynn Throckmorton, from When we left the tent, we drove over to Boomerville, the patch of BLM land on the far east end of town, where the Escapee Boomers all hang out. Our friends Barry and Jan Kessler are hosting the Boomers gathering this year, and we dropped off a bundle of sample copies for them to distribute to the attendees. By the time we left Barry and Jan’s fifth wheel, it was dark, so Miss Terry drove us back to our campsite. We started the generator to give our batteries a boost, then walked over to Terry and Connie’s MCI bus conversion to visit for a while. It was a nice day, filled with friends and good times. Later on, coyotes serenaded us as we drifted off to sleep. Life is beautiful for a couple of rootless gypsies in the desert. Thought For The Day – Don't
let your worries get the best of you; remember, Moses started out as a
basket case. Saturday, January 19, 2008 It had been so
cold in It had been so cold and windy the night before that I had unhooked our water hose from the house and the bus, but was too lazy to drain it and roll it up, figuring I’d do it today while the bus was airing up. Wrong! The water still inside had frozen and there was no way that thing was going to bend very much at all. I ended up carrying it inside and tossing it into the bathtub, figuring it would eventually thaw out. It was hard leaving my friend Mike Howard, who was our host in Kingman. We’re getting to that age where we never know which goodbye might be the last one. But we knew we had to get on down the road, so we hooked the van up to the tow bar, and after another round of hugs all around, we pulled out. There was a
steady breeze, but the bus handled wonderfully as we cruised west on
Interstate 40 for about 45 miles, then turned south on State Route 95
for 120 miles, passing through Lake Havasu City, home to the London
Bridge, and then Parker before we arrived in Quartzsite. Along the way
we enjoyed some spectacular scenery as the highway followed the Apparently there was a vintage Volkswagen bus show or rally somewhere in the area, because we started seeing the old rigs coming down the highway in Lake Havasu City, and we must have counted over 20 between there and Quartzsite. Besides the bus style VWs, we also saw six or seven utility bodied units. Those were really neat old vehicles and we enjoyed seeing them. Quartzsite does not seem quite as busy as it has in past years, but there are still a lot of RVs dry camping on BLM land all over the desert near town. In the past we have stayed in the free fourteen day areas, but this year we wanted to try something different, so we paid the $40 fee for a fourteen day pass in the Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA) and went a couple of miles south of town to the La Posa LTVA area. Unlike the free areas, this area has a dump station, fresh water available to fill holding tanks, and trash dumpsters. It would cost us almost that much to go into town and pay to dump and take on fresh water a couple of times. Our pals Terry and Connie Simpson, in their beautiful MCI bus conversion, and Gene and Cherie Holcomb in their Country Coach, were parked together and we found a level patch of dirt near them. Our tired old bus sure looks like a red headed stepchild next to those two beautiful coaches!
By the time we were parked and unpacked, our friends came over to greet us and we spent a couple of hours visiting and sharing stories of our adventures on the road. Then somebody decided it was time for dinner, so we all piled into Gene and Cheri’s car and drove into town for pizza at Silly Al’s. It being Friday night, the place was packed so we had to wait a little while for a table, and while we were waiting our dear friend Jan Kessler spotted us from her booth and came over to say hello. We have not seen Jan and her husband Barry since our Gypsy Gathering rally last February, so it was nice to see them again. Dinner was delicious, the conversation with our friends was fun, and we had a wonderful time. Back at La Posa South, we all said our goodnights and retired to our separate coaches. It’s nice to be with our RV family again. Thought For The Day – Friday, January 18, 2008 Would whoever has the key to the thermostat unlock it and turn the darned thing up? It was down to 20 degrees in Kingman again last night. I’m freezing! How many calories does a person burn up shivering? I think I can just forget my diet and stand outside for an hour or two and accomplish the same thing. If we can get this old bus started, we plan to leave Kingman today and go down to Quartzsite to hang out in the desert for a few days. It won’t be much warmer, but it will be fun to hook up with all of our friends who are already there. It’s only about 140 miles, so it will be an easy travel day. My idea of roughing it is black and white television. We enjoy boondocking, and when we built our bus conversion, we did so with that in mind. Terry and I can comfortably dry camp for a week to ten days without having to dump our holding tank, and if we’re just a little conservative we can go two weeks without much problem. We have three 100 watt AM Solar panels on the roof of the bus, and on a good sunny day with the sun straight overhead we have seen readings of up to 21 amps going into our battery bank from the solar panels. We just picked up two more 120 watt solar panels and another charge controller, which we hope to get installed while we are in Quartzsite, and that will really boost our capacity. We also have a Magnum Energy 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter and an Onan 5500 watt generator if needed. We can power our Maytag house style refrigerator, run our computers, laser printer, make coffee, and watch TV even when we are parked miles away from the nearest electrical hookup. Except for being a little more careful with water (taking shorter showers, for example) we live pretty much the same way when we are dry camping as we do in an RV park. We know some diehard dry campers who shun generators like a pious churchwoman does vodka gimlets. If they can’t do something on solar power alone, they feel that they don’t need it. I have seen some who have portable solar panels that they move several times a day to get the most advantage as the sun follows its path across the sky, go to sleep soon after the sun goes down to avoid using their RVs lights, and awake before the rooster crows. That’s fine for them, to each his own, but that does not work for us. We’re night owls. I work late and sleep in late. That’s just the way our internal clocks work. So we adapt our boondocking to meet our lifestyle, not the other way around. In the RV world, just as anyplace else, one size does not fit all. I’m not sure just where we’ll park in the Quartzsite area, but I hope we see some of you while we’re there. Thought For The Day – Two secrets for a happy marriage: When you're wrong, admit it. When you're right, shut upThursday, January 17, 2008 The weather here in Kingman has turned flat miserable! The mercury in the thermometer has plummeted, and the wind has been blowing at about 45 miles per hour. At 7 p.m. yesterday the wind chill was 19 degrees. I talked to Terry Simpson down in Quartzsite yesterday afternoon, and it wasn’t much better there. Occasionally at the Life on Wheels conferences, some of the instructors are asked to take a moment or two to speak to the assembled students and give them whatever words of wisdom we think we have may have acquired in our time on the road. My advice to new RVers, especially fulltimers, is to slow down! Too many newbies
rush from place to place, trying to cram a year of RVing into a week or
two. They are still in vacation mode. They rush from Ohio, or Perhaps the worst
example we have ever seen of this was the jaded couple we met a few
years back who told us that they were getting off the road because they
had been fulltiming for a year and had seen it all. They had been from
border to border and coast to coast, and they said there was nothing
else to see in Folks, slow down and enjoy your life on the road! It’s a journey, not a race. I know, I’m one of the worst offenders, and I need to practice what I preach. All too often Terry and I drive 200, 300, even 400 miles in a single day when we’re rushing from one teaching or speaking engagement to another. But trust me, do as I say, not as I do. I can’t recall much about those mad dashes across the country, but I sure can remember every minute of the days when we’ve driven 50 or 100 miles, stopping along the way to read historical markers and explore interesting small towns we were passing through. Those days are the days we came out here for. Our shortest day on the road was seven miles, but it was one of our most memorable. Slow down and make some memories of your own. I want to thank everybody who e-mailed us with congratulations on our tenth wedding anniversary yesterday. We appreciate all of your good thoughts. You all make us feel very special. Thought For The Day –
If you want the rainbow,
you have to have the rain. Wednesday, January 16, 2008 Today is a very special day for us. Ten years ago today I slipped a ring on Miss Terry’s finger, and my world became a wonderful place to be. Terry and I had been casual friends and business acquaintances for years. Both of us had been married before, and neither of us were the least bit interested in making that mistake again! But at that precise moment when all the stars aligned just right, we suddenly saw each other in another light. As they say, the rest is history. Sometimes I tell Terry that I feel cheated, because it took us 45 years to find each other. But she always reminds me that who we are today is the result of the experiences we had, both good and bad, leading up to our union. I like to tell people that Terry was single for fourteen years before I came along. Can you imagine the trolls she must have passed up on before she finally settled for me? But her response is that we’re together because I make her laugh and I let her cry. It took me several years to figure that one out, but I finally did. Every night after I take my shower and I get out and start to dry off, that girl just starts laughing! And every morning when she wakes up and discovers I’m still there, she cries like a baby! Seriously, we have a wonderful marriage and it gets better each day. After ten years, we still hold hands constantly, we love snuggling when we go to bed at night, we enjoy each others’ company, we laugh every day, and we are truly best friends. I may not have much money, but I am a very rich man. I wouldn’t take a million dollars for one minute of the time we have had together, and every night when I lay down beside her, I can’t wait for tomorrow to come so we can share another day. Thought For The Day – Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourselfTuesday, January 15, 2008 We had a couple of decent days, but it’s turning cold again here in Kingman. The next few nights are going to be down in the mid-20s, which I find totally objectionable. Would someone please slap Al Gore upside the head and tell him that his whole “global warming” thing has jumped the track? My buddy Smoky
Ridgely, who is always poised and ready to rub it in, called last night
to tell me how warm it was at his place in We have had a couple of changes to our rally schedule. Mike Steffen, who was going to do three different seminars: Solar Power and Batteries, Tow Truck Selection, and Electronic Communications For RVers, has had to cancel. My pal Dave Baleria has stepped up to the plate to present his excellent RVing the Heartland of America seminar, which covers the Great Plains, a wonderful landscape filled with history and adventure. Most RVers never spend the time to explore this region, but after Dave's seminar you will want to include it in your travel plans. Chris and Charles Yust, licensed RV insurance agents and RV warranty experts, will fill another of the vacant time slots with their class on the Pros and Cons of Extended Warranties and Service Contracts. A couple of weeks ago someone contacted me asking if I needed someone to do a seminar on solar power. At that time Mike was planning on doing a solar class. I’m afraid I’ve lost the e-mail from the other person offering to teach, but if you’re reading this, please e-mail me. Last year, the day before the early birds were scheduled to arrive, we had 99 RVs registered for the rally. We ended up with 185 total. As of now we have 200 RVs registered, so I think we’re going to have a big crowd. We have contacted the fairgrounds and asked them to set up more RV hookups for us, so don’t worry, we’ll be able to accommodate everyone that shows up. Several people have asked us what hookups will be available. All RVs will have 15 amp electric and water, and a dump station is located at the fairgrounds. There are a limited number of 30 amp electric sites located along the fence, but they do not all have water. After all handicapped attendees are parked, if any 30 amp hookups remain they are available for $5/day extra, which is what the fairgrounds charges us. If you want 30 amp electric and are willing to wait, tell the parking crew and they will stage you in the waiting area. Terry and I believe in giving something back to the world, and we are asking all rally attendees to consider donating a few non-perishable food items for the local food bank, to help those less fortunate. We will have a table set up in the main building for donations. I want to thank everybody who has helped spread the word about the rally, offered to volunteer, and given us suggestions to help make this rally an even bigger success than last year’s. Thought For The Day –
Ambition is a poor excuse
for not having enough sense to be lazy. Monday, January 14, 2008 Every RVer has a different traveling style. Some plan their trips out months in advance, make reservations carefully, and know where they will be every night of the month. Others, like Terry and I, seldom know when we set out in the morning where we’ll be that night. We have a general destination in mind, and I always check the various resources we use to give myself at least two options spaced out over a distance of 100 miles or so from where I plan to be at the end of the day. Then if we run into road construction, bad weather, or something else that delays us, we don’t find ourselves driving hours in the darkness to reach a campground where we have reservations. As fulltime RVers, we have spent many nights in campgrounds from coast to coast. These have ranged from small Mom and Pop operations with nothing more to offer than an electric hookup with water and a dump station, to upscale resorts with indoor swimming pools, tennis courts, and planned activities. We have found that we are much more comfortable in the smaller RV parks. We have also found many alternatives to RV parks, and have spent countless nights in places many RVers would never think of as an option. Sometimes, because there is no RV park available in an area where we are traveling, or because the local RV parks are overpriced. A lot of these places are free, or their rates are far below the local RV parks. Fairgrounds are
one option. Most fairgrounds have a few RV hookups available for
visitors participating in events there, and many have dedicated RV
parking areas. We have stayed at fairgrounds in Sometimes we have
lucked out and stayed at a fairground while other events were going on.
At the fairground in Many small towns allow overnight RV parking in their city parks. Some are free and some charge a nominal fee. Amenities range from just a place to park, to full hookup sites with 50 amp electric. I could not begin to count all of the nights we have spent in small town parks. A nice benefit of these small towns is the wonderful people we have met when we took advantage of their community’s hospitality. Casinos also
offer overnight parking opportunities, and we have spent comfortable
nights in casino parking lots in Missouri, RVing members of the Elks, Moose, Eagles, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and American Legion will find many lodges and posts offering RV parking. Amenities here can range from just a safe place to park overnight to full hookup RV parks. So where do we find these overnight parking opportunities? We refer to the guides we publish on free campgrounds, casinos, VFW posts, and fairgrounds, which are available at our Gypsy Journal Bookstore. We also subscribe to internet groups on Elks and Moose parking, and use the excellent Elks parking guides available to RVing Elks. Don Wright also publishes excellent guides to free campgrounds in both the eastern and western United States, available from Cottage Publications at http://store.cottagepub.com/ and Escapees Bob and Viva Lee Ed publish the excellent Days End guide, available from bobed@escapees.com. The internet is also a wealth of information for RVers looking for alternatives to traditional campgrounds. Just log onto www.google.com and do a search for Free Campgrounds or Fairgrounds RV parking. Thought For The Day – If you're too open-minded, your brains will fall out. Sunday, January 13, 2008 I have become a GPS addict. Do they have a 12 Step program for that? Like most addictions, it began simply enough when my friend Terry Simpson introduced me to the hobby of geocaching a few years ago and let me play with his Garmin handheld GPS unit. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system consisting of a network of 24 Department of Defense satellites orbiting the earth. GPS was originally created for the military, but in the 1980s, the government made the system available for civilian use. GPS works 24 hours a day, regardless of the weather, anywhere in the world. With a GPS system, the user can pinpoint his or her location anywhere on earth within a range of about 30 feet.
The next step up the technological ladder is a GPS unit and software that can be used with a laptop computer. Many RVers like this system because of the larger screen and because many of the mapping programs allow them to enter their own Points of Interest. The Discovery Owners Association RV website includes a series of map overlays that can be downloaded to your computer with locations of everything from WalMart stores, Camping World locations, Passport America RV parks, and Flying J truck stops, among other information. These files can be accessed by logging onto http://www.discoveryowners.com/cginfo.htm. These files are very useful, though I have found that the icons are not always at the correct locations. Sometimes an icon may be placed as much as a mile from the actual address, and I have found several locations that are on the other side of an interstate from where the map overlay shows the icon. This could be very frustrating when driving a big rig in unfamiliar territory. Still, the overlays are a useful tool to help you find places you need in your travels. The third type of
GPS units useful to RVers, are small stand alone receivers designed for
use in vehicles. These offer a I have all three styles of GPS units, and have used all of them in our travels. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. I’m currently using a Garmin Street Pilot c330, and I think I prefer it over my handheld Garmin Map60CS or the Delorme unit that plugs into my laptop computer. I will continue to use the handheld unit for geocaching, but the laptop is just too big for my needs. I have a Jotto Desk mounted in the bus, which makes it easier to use the laptop while on the road, but I will probably pull it out and sell it at our Gypsy Gathering Rally next month. Hey, I can use the money I get for the desk to help buy a new GPS! Thought For The Day –
Don't let aging get you
down. It's too hard to get back up. Saturday, January 12, 2008 We’re getting closer to our Gypsy Gathering Rally and the reservations are pouring in! We’re looking forward to seeing so many returning folks, as well as the opportunity to meet a lot of new people we have only known as a name on a mailing list until now. We still have lots of room left, and we’d love to have you join us. Terry and I are busy with planning details and we’re excited, because this is going to be a lot of fun. I had an e-mail from a new solo RVing gentleman who is interested in coming to the rally and was wondering if he’d be a “third wheel.” I assured him that we have several solo men and women coming to the rally, and he will be made welcome by both the solos and the couples. We’re all one big family. Diversity is one of the great things about the RV lifestyle. We’ll have everything from retired people who are veteran RVers, to several who are brand new to life on the road, at least two or three who don’t have an RV yet, single people, couples, young and old alike. Whether you arrive alone or with somebody, you would have to work hard not to meet new friends and have fun. Sometimes I am amazed at the e-mails I get. I replied to a post on an internet RVing forum about what vehicles can be towed behind a motorhome as a dinghy. The original poster said he had read the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) review of dinghies, but wondered what other vehicles could be safely towed. I replied that
even though the Toyota Tacoma was not listed, we had towed our 4x4 Tacoma
with 5 speed manual transmission for over seven years. Where do these people come from? The FMCA is simply an RVing organization, with no power to mandate what is legal for anyone to do or not do. This is yet another example of an “internet expert” who knows nothing at all, but is busy spreading misinformation in cyberspace. There seems to be more of them all the time. The sad thing is that there actually are naive people who will accept at face value whatever blarney someone posts online. After all, it has to be true, it’s on the interment, right? Every week I get several e-mails telling me that if I sign an online petition to Congress, I can help end the war, stop illegal immigration, and change the world in all sorts of neat ways. Guess what, folks? Congress does not accept interment petitions. Like most of you, I also get e-mails with dire warnings of violent assaults that can happen if I don’t follow some precaution. Last week one message said that if I am ever abducted and forced to withdraw money from my bank account with my ATM card, all I had to do was enter my PIN number in reverse. The e-mail assured me that the bank’s security system will immediately inform the police of my predicament. More internet nonsense. A quick check on www.snopes.com debunks the story, as it does most of the myths floating around in e-mails clogging up the internet. Some people really need to get a life, or at least stop accepting everything that pops up on the computer screen as gospel. Thought For The Day –
A conscience is what hurts
when all your other parts feel so good. Friday, January 11, 2008 Yesterday was a long and busy day for us. We left the bus
in Keep an eye out
for mountain sheep here. A few years ago Mike Howard and I spotted a
herd on the There is a lot of confusion about driving RVs over Hoover Dam since 9/11. First you could not, and then you could, and then they changed their minds again. Signs on Interstate 40 and U.S. 93 in Kingman warn that RVs, trucks, and buses are restricted over the dam, but as we approached, we saw several RVs coming from the other direction. We wondered if they had driven all the way to the checkpoint and been turned back. At the checkpoint, about 5 miles from the dam, the officer looked in the back window of the van and told us to have a nice trip, but before we pulled away I asked him if RVs are allowed these days. He says it changes from time to time, but as of now, yes they are, as long as the drivers will allow them to be inspected.
We stopped at
Bee’s Mail Service in
When we left the
museum, we stopped at the Camping World in Instead of going back over Hoover Dam, we took U.S. Highway 95 south through Searchlight, where they have another major road construction project underway, then cut over to Laughlin, on the Colorado River. A couple of years ago, Clark County tried to ban RVers from staying at the casino parking lots in Laughlin, but thanks to the Escapees RV club and the local casino owners, an agreement was reached to allow the practice to continue. We saw dozens of RVs parked at several of the casinos in town. For as long as I can remember, RVers could also park in a paved parking lot owned by the River Palms casino that is on a hill above town and offers a nice view of the casino lights and the river. I always wanted to spend a couple of nights there. We saw several RVs parked up there, so drove up to check it out. These days they are charging $7 a day to dry camp with a view, or $5 a day if you park further back in the lot, without the view. Okay, so the view is nice, but for $7 a day, I’ll just park for free in one of the parking lots at street level and look up at the lights, instead of paying to look down at them. We got back to Kingman about 10 p.m., only to discover that our power was out. We reset the breaker on the side of Mike’s house, but it immediately tripped. We moved the extension cord to a different outside outlet on another circuit, then discovered that we had no power coming out of the dog bone adapter that steps us down from 50 amp to 30 amp. It was too dark to do anything, so we decided to wait until daylight to try and figure out what the problem is. I suspect the dog bone adapter may be the problem, since we have power going into it, but none coming out. By the time we got back inside, downloaded the photos from the trip, and got the blog finished, we were more than ready for bed. Thought For The Day –
There are two sides to every
divorce: Yours and that jerk’s. Thursday, January 10, 2008 RV shopping can be an intimidating experience. There are so many makes and models of travel trailers, fifth wheels, and motorhomes out there that you will find your head spinning after a day of RV shopping. What is the best type of RV for your needs, and which manufacturers’ products should you be looking at? I teach a class called How To Be A Smart RV Shopper at Life on Wheels www.rvlifeonwheels.com, and one question I get asked over and over again is who makes the best RV out there. Nobody makes the perfect RV. There is no one size fits all RV out there. What works for Terry and I might not fit your needs at all. Everybody is different, and no two RVers have the same lifestyle. Our good friends
Dave and Sandy Baleria have been fulltiming for years now in a 28 foot
Excel fifth wheel that fits their needs perfectly. It would not work
well for myself and Miss Terry. Likewise,
Dave and I have stepped on a lot of toes in the RV industry because I boldly state that the great majority of RVs being built today are junk. There are some good units being made, but for every quality RV rolling off the assembly line, there are a dozen or more that, in my opinion, are not worth the fuel it would take to haul them to the junk yard. I’ve been told more than once that if I toned it down, I’d have a lot more advertising in the Gypsy Journal. What some of these folks do not understand is that one reason we don’t have as much advertising as most other RV magazines is because we will not accept advertising from a company who makes a product we would not own and use ourselves. The list of RVs I find to be substandard would take up too much room here, so I won’t go into that here. I will say that you could never give me a Fleetwood product of any configuration, from their entry level popup camping trailer to their fanciest diesel pusher. Some folks we know love their Fleetwoods, but the one we had was a total lemon, and we found the company less than helpful in resolving our problems. If you are considering the purchase of one of their RVs, I urge you to do a Google search on Fleetwood RV problems, or ask about problems with their units on any internet RV forum. What RVs do I find acceptable? That is a much shorter list, and I’ll share with you some of my top choices. If I were
shopping for a travel trailer or fifth wheel, I’d be very confident
spending my money on a Heartland product www.heartlandrvs.com.
Not because they are an advertiser with us (in fact, Heartland is the only
RV manufacturer we have accepted ads from in almost 9 years of
publishing the Gypsy Journal), but because I am impressed with their quality,
construction methods, and service after the sale. I also like the Excel
and For motorhomes,
my first choice, if I could afford one, would be anything made by Any RV made is going to have problems. They are subjected to the equivalent of an earthquake every time we take them down the highway. But when an RV has a legitimate problem, I expect the manufacturer to stand behind them. Is that too much to ask? A good starting point when you begin RV shopping is the RV Consumer Group www.RV.org. They market a series of excellent CDs that evaluate every RV made in terms of reliability, safety, value, and several other criteria. The CDs costs $78, which is a small investment when you consider the money you spend on an RV. If we had known about this organization before we bought our Pace Arrow Vision, we’d have saved ourselves a ton of money and a world of headaches. I’ve talked to some RVers who don’t agree with the RV Consumer Group’s evaluation methods, but until somebody builds a better mousetrap, I think they’re the best friend an RV shopper has. Thought For The Day – Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside. Wednesday, January 9, 2008 It was cold at North Ranch, and it’s even colder in Kingman! We left the
Escapees park near Congress, It was a perfect day for traveling, with high scattered clouds, and cool enough to keep the bus engine temperature down in the comfortable range. There were a few short but steep climbs where our speed dropped down, as low as 20 miles per hour for one section, but most of the trip we were able to make good time. As we drove past the small community of Wickieup, where diesel was $3.65 a gallon, I was happy we had filled our tank last month at the Flying J in Eloy. The distances between towns are far here in the west, and only foolish drivers set out without adequate fuel on board. Once we hit Interstate 40, it was another 22 miles to my friend Mike Howard’s house in Kingman, and we arrived there a little after 1 p.m. Every time I come to Kingman I am amazed at the growth. When Mike moved here back in 1985 it was a relatively small town, but these days it stretches out for miles across the valley floor, and housing developments climb up into the foothills.
We took Mike out to dinner, than came back to the house to visit and catch up on old times. My friendship with Mike goes back over 30 years and we’ve had a lot of good times together, and shared some bad times like divorces and the deaths of our parents. He has been a constant in my life for a long time, and if I had a brother, it would be Mike. Good friendships, like fine wine, only get better with age. Thought For The Day –
Friends are those rare
people who ask how we are, and then wait to hear the answer. Tuesday, January 8, 2008 It had rained sporadically most of Sunday, and about midnight the sky opened up and it began to pour. We have a leak around one of the windows in our bedroom that we can’t seem to track down, and it does not happen all of the time. It decided to during this storm, so we were up several times stuffing thick towels in place to absorb the water. When we woke up yesterday morning, the clouds were covering the mountains around the RV park and it felt like it could snow at any minute. The ground was saturated and puddles were everywhere. To add to the overall ugly weather, a stiff wind was blowing. In short, it was a very nasty day. By mid-afternoon the sky had cleared up quite a bit, but it was still breezy and darned cold! Normally I don’t mind days like that. We just stay inside, watch some television or listen to music, and I get a lot of research and writing done. But once again, I could not get a reliable connection on the air card. I was showing four bars of EVDO, then the signal would disappear, only to come back in a few minutes. Our telephones were doing the same thing. If the weather would have been just a little better, we would have left. I talked to another RVer who has basically the same equipment we do and has been here a month. He said it has been a constant struggle to get online or reliable cell phone service since he arrived. One regular reader asked if I was beginning to regret not keeping our Hughes internet dish. No, because we wouldn’t have been any better off. In this weather, getting up on the roof to deploy our manual dish is not an option. If we were in a financial position to afford an automatic dish, that would be nice. It would be nice to be six feet tall and a hundred pounds lighter too. We work with what we have.
|
wasn’t too bad, the wind made it seem
much colder. All day the sky alternated from cloudy to bright sunshine.
At noon, with the sun shining, our solar panels were putting more than
24 amps into our batteries. That’s pretty impressive to me! We
actually saw the meters reading over 26 amps at one point, but then the
clouds came back and blocked out the sun. That is why I say that solar
is great, but for our needs, it is only a supplement to our generator.
With
that chore out of the way, Terry Simpson came over and finished
installing our two new solar panels and charge controller. Even though
it was late in the afternoon of a cloudy day, we were impressed at the
extra amps going into our battery bank. While Terry Simpson was doing
that, Miss Terry repaired a piece of windshield molding that had
separated from a prior bad installation. I contributed in the usual way,
by getting underfoot of the working folks.
Yesterday
Terry bolted the two panels together and mounted them on the
roof of the
bus, and in the next day or two he’ll get them wired up and working.
The
outside vendor areas away from the tent are much easier to shop. We
found a couple of goodies, including hats for both of us, and a Cameron
stovetop smoker Miss Terry has been wanting. We were really surprised
when we saw that Red and Beth from Too Crazy Ladies had a portable sign
out at their booth telling people about our 
Both
couples are part of the Escapees Class of 2007 of new fulltimers, and
they invited us to come over to their group campfire in the evening to
visit. As it turns out, they are all gathered just across from us a
short distance, here at La Posa South LTVA. I’ve been following the
group’s adventures on the Escapee forum, and we were flattered that
they would include us in their gathering. They are a friendly bunch, and
one of the members even shared their “class photo” with me, and told
me I could use it in the blog.
It
was noticeably warmer in Quartzsite than in Kingman, and we opened the
windows and aired out the bus after being closed up in the cold, first
at North Ranch and then in Kingman. I took a couple of photos of the
view from our bus, with the RVs camped nearby. We have our own little
enclave of three coaches, and in every direction there are RVs, either
parked in small groups or singly. I fired up my computer and was
thrilled to discover that we have four full bars of EVDO signal on our
Verizon air card and super fast internet connection speeds.
There
are basically three different types of GPS receivers used by RVers. The
simplest are small handheld units. Basic handheld GPS receivers will
point you in the right direction when you enter a set of coordinates and
you just follow the arrow to your destination. More advanced handheld
GPS units have sophisticated mapping software that allows the user to
enter an address and then follow a predetermined route to his
destination. Many GPS software programs include points of interest (POIs),
dining, fuel stops, and other services along the route. Handheld GPS
units are great because you can use them on the highway and once you
reach your destination they can be used for hiking, geocaching, or other
leisure activities.
compromise – a bigger screen than the handheld units, but taking up
less space than a laptop computer. Both the laptop GPS software programs
and the vehicle units include voice directions to help drivers navigate
without the need to take their eyes off the road.
We
stopped at one of the many viewpoints above the dam to photograph
the construction project for the new bridge that will span the canyon
and carry traffic away from the dam. The project has had several
setbacks and is behind schedule, but that’s just fine with me. There
is no way I’m driving my RV or van over that thing when it’s done! I
enjoy being a coward, thank you very much! As for RVs over the dam, as
these photos show, they are coming through just fine right now. If the
national or local threat level goes up, that could change though.
We
then stopped at the 
It
was good to see my old friend again, and there were hugs all around. We
got the bus parked in Mike’s driveway and I hooked up water and
electric, pausing a couple of times to visit with Skeeter, the
neighbor’s huge old mutt, whom I had befriended on an earlier trip to
Kingman. This photo of my canine pal, taken on a previous visit, shows
just how big and lovable this guy is. Skeeter is a couple of years older
now, but just as sweet as I remembered.
The
Escapees RV park, like many other parks we have seen this winter, is far
from full. I pulled on a jacket and took a couple of photos of the park