Solar Panel in Quartzsite

The 100 mile trip to Quartzsite didn’t take us very long from Bullhead City.  We had decided to try a new spot on BLM land at MM112 called Hi Jolly when we arrived on a Thursday afternoon.  Being only 3 miles north of the main town, it would be an easy trip for our appointment at the solar shop.

Quartzsite, Arizona is a little town in the Southwest desert.  We usually come prior to one of the biggest gatherings of people in the country which is usually in January each year.  Over one million visitors, some of them called "snowbirds" because they migrate here from the northern climates, converge on Quartzsite in the winter.  Quartzsite hosts thousands of vendors at its famous indoor and outdoor swap meets, where shoppers can find anything and everything they could possibly want to buy.  For us, we come to replace our solar panel.  

Our appointment for the panel at Solar Bill’s was on Monday so we had some time to rest.  For Kay it was perfect timing.  She was pretty much out of it with a 48 hour flu bug so being stationary so she could sleep and get her energy back was just what we all needed.  Jeff kept busy taking care of the patient.

Monday came and the appointment went well.  We are now solar-whole again with the addition of a Sonali 200 watt panel (+a nice 25 year warranty).  Jeff chatted with owners, Bill and Donna, about the possibility of adding additional batteries in the future.  Good information going forward.  The whole experience was great!

 

One of the owners with Jeff, and her "Buddy".

The new panel is on the right.

Our next destination ~ the desert in California!

Hugs ~

Thanksgiving in the Desert

A belated, HAPPY THANKSGIVING, to all!

We have so many things to be thankful and even though we’ve had some hiccups along the road with the coach, we are truly grateful for being able to live this lifestyle.

The holidays are special for us even though it might be just the two of us, so we plan ahead so that we can enjoy almost all of the good foods that we remember during this holiday.

This definitely works for us.

A make-shift apple pie with cheddar cheese slices.

We are now in California on BLM land, parked off Ogilby Road.  We are about 20 miles west of Yuma, so not too far from what you would call “civilization”.  The desert right now is pretty quiet right now with not too many rigs at this time.  This is early for us to be here as we normally come in the first part of January, so we are thinking that more rigs will gravitate to the desert after the holidays.  We’ll see how that works.

Our first site for now.  We'd like a few more trees in the yard!

No definite plans for what we’re going to see right now except that we’re getting settled in, enjoying the sun and looking forward to friends that we know will be in the desert within the next month. 

Hiking is a plenty . . . and so is the wind!  Stay warm!!!

Hugs ~

Down the Open Road ~ Destination Colorado

 

Our months spent in the Midwest did finally come to an end.  The last weeks spent in Minnesota with family were busy to say the least with daily visits to see Jeff’s Mom and time with the Minnesota grand kids when we could.

An early 97th Birthday celebration for Dorothy before we were to leave

After leaving Lake Independence in Maple Plain, Minnesota where we were camped at Baker Park Preserve for a good many weeks it was time to move the coach.  Our maximum number of days that you could stay here was met, although we were not quite ready to leave the Gopher State.



Colorful trees in the background.  Can you see the geese on the lake?

We did have some good fires this time around

After having to move a couple of times, we settled in amongst the trees

Grandpa's little helper getting ready to make a fire for S'mores!

Time spent at the playground at Baker Park

Julia & Grandpa busy in the kitchen

Abby took advantage of the empty shoe box.

Next stops were ~

Cabela’s in Rogers, MN– We were able to stay in the parking lot, stretching an overnight into two nights without any problems.

St. Louis Park, MN – Kay’s daughter, Jill, lives in this suburb west of Minneapolis with two of our grand kids, Julia and Joseph.  With new highway construction recently completed we are now able to park on her side street for at least 48 hours.  This was perfect as we had plenty of room to maneuver the coach with a nice size cul de sac nearby.



How nice is this?  Curbside parking at Kay's daughter's home

Maplewood, MN – It was in this northeast suburb of St. Paul that we had an appointment for the coach at Mike’s LP & RV Repair to check a few things for us.  We have had work in past years with our 2000 Dutchstar and Wayne has taken good care of us.  

Owatonna, MN - Kay is reminded of the TV series with Ty Pennington that did remodeling remakes for families in need.  When they were ready to have the family see the finished product, the crowd assembled would shout out, “Move that bus!”   Well, it is now our turn to move our bus headed toward what seems to be our annual overnighter in the Cabela’s parking lot here.  It is always a good visit since we get to go into the store and shop!

Sioux Falls, SD – We needed an overnight stay at Tower Campground (a great pull-thru was available for us) as part of our out-of-state driver’s license renewal.  Everything went very well with us getting out of their office in less than one hour.  After that we picked up our mail at Dakota Post (our mail forwarding carrier) and then returned to the campground to chat with our neighbors, Jean and Denny Peterson who are also originally from Minnesota.  Due to inclement weather moving into Wyoming, our travel plans for that next morning changed, taking us take the route through Nebraska/Iowa to keep us a little warmer with dry roads ahead.  Overall, it was a good plan.

Jean & Denny Peterson at Tower Campground

 

 


TheArchway at Fort Kearny, Nebraska

Pueblo, CO – It was good to finally be here after traveling almost 1,200 miles from Baker Park Campground in Minnesota.  Our original plans were to spend only 2-3 days but it stretched out a few more days as we had to take care of our toilet problem before heading any further.   So, if any of our Colorado friends read this, please know that we just didn’t have time (or peace of mind at the time) to visit with you this go-around.  We will return next spring and catch up.

We did however take some pictures that we want to share, as we always enjoy our stay at Haggard’s RV Campground west of Pueblo with the owners, Nancy and Matt Fetty.  The weather was unseasonably warm for this area and for that we are so grateful.  We had just a few mornings that were cool, but nothing that our catalytic heater couldn’t take the morning chill off.

Jeff getting some tips on gold panning techniques

A beautiful sunrise to start another day !!!



A view of Florence on one of our Jeep trips in the mountains



Some nice color on this mini rainbow



We were given a great site with a view!



Junkin Fire in the distance

Green Chili Slopper with some Stella's

We definitely are beginning to gravitate to this state as we realize that there is so much more to see.  We definitely like the green, mountains and water in the spring through fall months.   Could Colorado be a possibly base for us in the future?

Right now our sights are set for winter warmth so we will be leaving shortly heading into New Mexico on our way to northern Arizona – destination Bullhead City, near Laughlin, Nevada. 

Travel Blessings to those of you that are taking journeys on the open road.  We’ll be checking in with you on our next update.

Hugs!

If You Rest You Rust

It’s pretty easy to understand the meaning of this statement.  Some say that it’s a German proverb meaning basically that if you get lazy you get ill/weak in the bones and aren't able to move well.   Something along the order that when people get older they tend not to be so active and they lose most mobility – meaning we’re getting up in age.

That is not the case for us.  We had planned on taking the two grand kids from Minnesota while Kay’s daughter, Jill, was going on a pleasure trip to Scotland.  Having Julia (who will be 4 on Sept. 28) and Joe (a teenager turning 14 in October), coming to live in the coach with us was finally here.  It took some getting used to the smaller living space that they were accustomed to, but overall we made it work.  We had to.  The fun was just beginning for this 2-week sleepover.  Many smiles and plenty of hugs were had by all. 

A day trip to the Irvine Park Zoo in Chippewa Falls was a nice break.  

Playing catch with Grandpa, helping with the Jeep and riding the bike trail nearby will be special memories for Joe.

Have you ever walked through a Sunflower Maze?  This sunflower extravaganza called, Seeds of Hope, was created to the memory of a local woman in the area - by her family - that succumbed to cancer.  Quite a happy place.

Ariel view of the Sunflower Maze

 

Julia loved getting her face painted at Downsville Days which highlighted her delight at collecting small pieces of candy from the parade participants that passed our way.  After picking up a few pieces of candy at first, Julia didn’t need any help on knowing what to do next. . .candy!!!!!

Joe really enjoyed his time with the kitties while Julia spent time putting together her puzzles . . . over and over.  Toss in quite a few book to read and you can see how we definitely needed to keep our energy levels up.

We couldn't resist sending this next picture to Jill when we were at the storage unit.  Jill replied that we needed to keep feeding her Stella (a Belgium beer) so that Julia will be “relaxed” when she comes back home.  Ha-ha!!!

Here is Joe in the kitchen putting the ingredients together in making banana bread for us.  It was delicious!

Grandpa’s little shadow who loves dancing, playing with toys that challenge her imagination, cherry tomatoes and Ketchup, and having her nails painted was our bright smile each day!  As with any munchkin, she does get naughty at times.

Something that we don’t get too much of because of schedules, is the time that we spend with Jeff’s son, Eric, and the grand boys.  The “boyz” are Jacob (9 years) and Daniel (who will be 12 in November).  The day was perfect for a picnic and some pool time for them. 

It was also good to hook up with special friends while we are still parked in Wisconsin.   

Donna and Brent



All smiles with good friend, Judy

Our stay in the Badger State will be coming to an end as we have pretty much wrapped up what we wanted to get done while we've been here these three months.  Still can't believe that the summer is pretty much over with the cool evenings that have arrived.  We plan to leave for Minnesota on Monday (9/19)and will be there visiting with family before we depart the first week in October - for a stop in Sioux Falls to get driver’s licenses renewed.   From there we hit the open road.

We are truly blessed with family and friends!

Hugs to all ~