The weather here in Quartzsite has been ideal. Overnight, the temperature drops to the low 50s or high 40s. The daytime warms quickly and the thermometer hits the mid to upper 70s in the afternoon. A breeze out of the north picks up as the day warms, but I wouldn’t call it windy.
Yesterday, Donna continued working on formatting her Kindle book for publication. I spent the morning cleaning and treating the rubber slide-out seals. I used a three-step process. Each step employs a treated cloth wipe. The first two wipes are special cleaners and surface preparation. The third wipe contains Krytox, a fluorocarbon lubricant. This treatment keeps the seals pliable and allows the slides to move over the seals smoothly.
After lunch, Donna wanted to go into town and look around. We scootered over the I-10 overpass to Main Street. I stopped at an RV lot set up by Orange County RV (from California) which had six or seven high-end RVs for sale. We took off our shoes and entered a Liberty Coach built on a Prevost chassis. This million-dollar-plus coach was a treat. I took a couple of interior photos, but the pictures don’t do it justice. The wood work and trimmings are unbelievable. The walls were suede trimmed with tooled leather. The floor was Travertine tile.
Liberty Coach interior – tooled leather trim
Liberty Coach interior
We walked through a few more coaches, a Tiffin Zephyr, a Country Coach built on a Prevost chassis and a few others. A couple of the Prevost-based coaches were over the top – almost gaudy. Checking out the Tiffin Zephyr, Monaco Dynasty and Holiday Rambler Navigator, Donna remarked that she was happy with our Alpine Coach and felt that the quality was right up there with these coaches.
We rode through town, then crossed I-10 to the marketplace on the south side near the big tent. The marketplace was like a carnival midway at a fair. It was filled with vendors and food sellers (mostly fried foods). After sampling some jerky at a vendor table, we bought bought sea salt and black pepper jerky, cranberry-jalapeno jerky and black label ale jerky.
Quartzsite marketplace
We returned to our site by 3pm. The Dish Network installer was supposed to come out between 3:30 and 4pm. He called a little past 4pm and I gave him directions. To my surprise, he drove straight to our coach in the middle of a desert filled with thousands of coaches.
He went to work quickly. He had the dome programmed and the receiver connected in no time. Then we hit a snag. The dish in the satellite dome wouldn’t find and lock on to the correct satellites. I suggested firing up the generator to make sure we didn’t have low voltage coming from the inverter. He didn’t think that was an issue and continued to work through diagnostic steps.
After 30 minutes or so, he said he thought I had a bad motherboard on the dome. Then he said, “Why don’t you fire up the generator, just to cover all of the bases.” I started the generator. A few minutes later the dome was locked onto satellites 110, 119 and 129, just like it should. These electronic devices are sensitive to voltage! I’d had the inverter running most of the day – that’s why I suggested starting the generator in the first place.
Last night we watched a few episodes of Modern Family in high definition. I’m liking this!
Today, we’ve decided it’s time to move on. Experiencing the big Quartzsite show in the desert was a worthwhile experience, but I’ve had my fill. This many people in the desert creates some stress. Most people have their sand toys and I’m tired of dealing with all the dust they kick up. We’ll kick the tires and light the fires this morning and head back to Mesa.
Hi Mike. I’ve been wanting to ask you about Dish Network. They are a lot less money to get set up with than DirecTV. What has been your experience thus far being able to tune into the major networks? For instance, were you able to watch all of the 2014 Winter Olympics on NBC no problem? And can you pick if you get a West Coast or East Coast feed? I think only DirecTV has the NFL, but perhaps that is incorrect. Our new rig has no dome or anything to retrofit, so we’re really examining our options. Your insights would be welcome. Thanks! ~Brett
Dish has been working great for me, however, I didn’t sign up for the DNS service. Dish Network’s DNS provider is not renewing, but I think they’ll find a new provider. The DNS is what allows you have major netowrk feeds from either Los Angeles or New York – You pick. You can change from west to east or vice versa once you’re on the road if you wish. You have to file an application with the FCC and be approved for DNS.
I use our Wineguard antenna for over-the-air reception of network programming. It won’t work if I’m in a remote area, but it isn’t an issue for us. Maybe I’ll apply for DNS once Dish gets a new provider.