Category Archives: Boondocking

No Accessories

I started the day yesterday with a hearty breakfast. Donna made an omelette for me in her Pampered Chef microwave egg cooker. The omelette consisted of two eggs, grilled asparagus, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, fresh basil and parmesan cheese. She served it with fresh tomato wedges. Add a cup of coffee and my day was off to a great start.

Breakfast is served

Donna worked for awhile after breakfast while I wrote my post. Then we went down to the marina. We rented a two-seat kayak and paddled through the coves near our boondocking spot. We had fun on the water, but when you rent by the hour you have to be mindful of the time. This is distracting to me. I see a Sea Eagle kayak in our future.

Donna in front of the kayak on Lake Pleasant

We had lunch at the picnic table and our chipmunk friend joined us again. I know I shouldn’t feed wild animals, but he was so cute, I couldn’t help it. I gave him some of the whole wheat tortilla wrap I had for lunch.

The afternoon heated up. The temperature was in the low 90s. We went down to the pool. Donna took a dip in the pool, then we used the shower facilities. When we returned, I wanted to turn on the air conditioners. Before I did that, I checked the oil level on our Onan 7.5-kilowatt diesel generator. Our generator is mounted on rails at the front of the coach. To access the generator, the hydraulically actuated rails slide the front panel and generator out.

Generator access (file photo)

To operate the generator slide, the ignition switch must be in the accessory position to power the HWH hydraulic pump. After I checked the oil, I pushed the button to pull the generator slide back in. Nothing happened. The control panel for the HWH hydraulic pump wasn’t powered up. I went back outside and looked to see if any wire connectors pulled loose when the generator was moved out. I didn’t see anything out of place.

I came back inside and tried the blower fan. It didn’t have power either. This meant the problem was in the accessory circuit from the ignition switch, not the HWH control panel. I tried switching the key from off to the accessory position a few times. Nothing changed. I thought about it for a minute and realized I should hear a relay click when I go to the accessory position.

I pulled the kick panel off in front of the co-pilot seat. Western RV did us a big favor when they built Alpine Coaches. They labeled the wiring, relays, fuses and solenoids. With the panel off, I could see the large silver solenoid marked “Accessory Solenoid.” Sometimes solenoids can stick and don’t create the electrical contact they should. I gave the solenoid a tap with a screwdriver handle and turned the key again. Bingo! The panel lit up and I pulled the generator slide in.

Accessory solenoid at the bottom center

The park is filling up with campers here for the Easter weekend. Even our dry camping spot on the bluff has new arrivals. By evening, we had five new trailers pull in. I think today is a good day for us to move on.

Last night we claimed the picnic table and grilled teriyaki pork kabobs for dinner.

Kabobs on the grill

Teriyaki pork kabob with brown rice

One of our neighbors came over and chatted with us for awhile at the picnic table. I almost missed getting a shot of the sunset over the lake. We won’t see this view again until next year.

Sunset over the lake

We’re heading out this morning. I think we’ll stop and pick up a few groceries in Wickenburg, then continue on towards Congress and the Escapees RV Park.

Scorpion Bay

Yesterday, Donna started her day with what turned out to be about a 6-mile hike. She followed the dirt road down from the bluff to the water. The road wrapped around to the boat launch behind the point of the bluff where we are dry camped. She saw a dirt road leading up from the water on the other side of the boat launch ramp and decided to bushwack her way across a rocky slope to get to it.

This trail ended after about a quarter of a mile at the water’s edge of a cove. She saw a small building at the end of a peninsula and figured she would set her sights on getting there to check it out, which meant more scrambling along the shore. She remembered seeing what she thought was a dirt road along the peninsula and looking up from the water’s edge, thought she saw what could be that road. More bushwacking took her up to what was not a dirt road, but a wide trail that she followed. It was a marked trail, well-used by hikers and horseback riders, which she later learned is called the Honeymoon Cove Trail. This trail meandered along the peninsula with sweeping vistas of the lake and the occasional informational placard. It looped around the peninsula and on the return trip, she noticed several large buildings up in the hills. She followed the trail toward the buildings and found its origin. It was the Maricopa County Outdoor Desert Center. A man and a woman were sitting on bench outside the building. When Donna approached, the woman asked, “Can I help you?”

She told Donna the center was open for use by reservation only. This is due to the fact that it’s mostly used for school field trips. Children are bussed from schools in the greater Phoenix area to learn about the desert they live in. The woman added that many children don’t even realize they live in a desert! Adults have to make a reservation to enter the center. This is for the protection of the children. It’s sad, but true. Donna was basically trespassing.

She had been out for about an hour and a half at that point. She called to tell me she had wandered farther than she expected and it would take another 30 minutes to return. She had tired legs and quite a story when she got back. She took a lot of photographs with her cell phone, but unfortunately, can’t get them to download because she doesn’t have a good cell signal.

We ate lunch outside at the covered picnic table. Our chipmunk friend didn’t join us this time. After lunch, I was feeling a little restless and suggested a scooter ride to look around the area outside of Pleasant Harbor.

As we were leaving, Donna suggested that we follow the road she hiked down to the edge of the water. As soon as I started down the road, I knew it wasn’t the best idea. This is a scooter made for pavement – not a motocross bike. We went down a steep, rocky hill to the lake. I stopped and took a picture, looking west to Scorpion Bay on the other side of the lake. If you look closely, you can see the marina just to the left of center in the photograph. As always, clicking on the picture will enlarge it.

Looking across the lake to Scorpion Bay

Getting back onto the road from the edge of the lake was challenging. We had to climb a steep hill which was a mixture of hard packed rocky surfaces and soft sand. The back wheel was spinning as we fishtailed our way up. We made it without incident, but I have to admit there were a few dicey moments on the way up.

We went out the gate, onto the road. I wanted to find a way to cross the dam and see the Lake Pleasant Regional Park on the other side. The dam isn’t accessible though. The road is closed and it’s fenced off. We took the long way around, riding down to the Carefree Highway, then headed west for a few miles before turning on to the road to the park.

There are wild burros in the area, but the only signs we saw of them were on the side of the road.

Watch for wild burros - this and a few droppings were the only sign we saw

Watch for wild burros – this and a few droppings were the only signs we saw

The road to the park winds along for five miles or so before you find the actual park entrance. Day use of the park costs six dollars for entry. We sweet talked our way in, telling the gate attendant we just wanted to take a ride through and see if it was suitable for a big rig motorhome. She gave us a 30-minute guest pass.

We pulled over to take in the view and shoot a photo or two on the way in to the Scorpion Bay Marina.

Looking south towards the dam from a high vista point

The park has a 10-lane boat ramp on the south side and a smaller four-lane ramp to the north. The marina sits below a bluff with a parking area. You have to climb down a stairway to access the marina. There’s a restaurant called Dillon’s there that we heard was good. There’s also a convenience store.

Scorpion Bay Marina

We didn’t walk down to the marina. We only had 30 minutes and wanted to check out the campgrounds. We looked around and took a few pictures.

Looking north from Scorpion Bay

Looking east from Scorpion Bay – you can see Pleasant Harbor Marina just left of center

We rode through the Desert Tortoise camp sites. I didn’t see any sites that were appealing for our 40-foot rig and trailer. The area is nice, but the sites are too small for us. Many of the sites weren’t level. We didn’t go out to the Roadrunner Campground. If there were big enough sites, this would be a great place to visit and hike around the area. We were told that most weekends are booked six months in advance though.

When we returned, I dropped Donna off at the pool. She had her bathing suit on under her shirt and shorts. I came back to our motorhome and picked up our toiletry bags, towels and clean clothes. We showered down at the resort. While I was enjoying a hot shower, a thought occurred to me. I was wondering why our house battery bank goes down so quickly when we use the inverter. I have to run the generator twice a day to recharge the battery bank.

The hot shower had me thinking, what if the hot water heater is running off of the inverter? It didn’t make sense to me to have it wired that way, but what if? When we came home, I checked the hot water. Sure enough, it was heated by 120V AC power off of the inverter. Heating elements can draw a lot of current. I tripped the breaker for the hot water heater so it wouldn’t be drawing from the inverter. It didn’t make sense to me to wire it this way. I checked the wiring schematic to see if something was wrong, but the schematic shows it is wired correctly with a feed from the inverter.

From now on, when we dry camp, I’ll trip the circuit breaker for the water heater. If we need hot water, we can turn on the propane switch and have hot water in about ten minutes.

Donna fixed blackened tilapia Baja fish tacos for dinner. She said it’s a simple recipe. I said it was delicious!

Blackened tilapia fish tacos

Today, we’ll rent a kayak and continue to explore.

Another Pleasant Day

Donna was busy yesterday. She spent most of the day working on a PowerPoint presentation for the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) conference in Scottsdale at the end of May. Donna will be speaking there. She took a break around 11:30am and went for a walk. She walked about a mile to the RV Resort and swam laps in the pool, then used the shower facility there. When she finished her shower, she called me on the cell phone and I rode the scooter down to pick her up.

Donna made chicken-guacamole wraps for lunch. We had lunch at the covered picnic table near our site. A chipmunk came out to see what’s for lunch. He was unafraid and inquisitive. He sprawled out on the concrete near our table, just waiting for us to offer him something. I eventually caved and threw him an apple slice. He picked it up quickly and ran off into the brush to munch it down.

Lunch time visitor waiting patiently

After lunch, I rode down to the resort and used the shower. The bathrooms and showers are very clean and the water is hot with good pressure. After shaving, I enjoyed a long, hot shower. This is one of the things that’s cool about this place. We’re boondocking on top of a bluff with a great view and no neighbors to speak of – there’s a travel trailer on the bluff, but we’ve only seen the owner once on Monday night. We think he must be working in the area. We have a great view of the lake and marina. It’s quiet, but we’re only a few minutes away from amenities like the pool, showers and convenience store. And we only pay $11/day!

The afternoon was quite warm. The temperature was in the upper 80s and there was very little breeze. I fired up the generator around 3PM and turned on the air conditioners. At 5:30PM we rode down to the resort clubhouse for a potluck dinner. We don’t usually engage in that sort of thing, but we thought we’d check it out. Donna made a salad with leftover jerk chicken and mango salsa. When we arrived, people were already seated and eating. There were only five other couples. They were all older people who live here full time. We heard some scuttlebutt and history of the place. I had things a little mixed up in yesterday’s post. The Lake Pleasant Regional Park campground is on the other side of the lake. Pleasant Harbor is owned by the Maricopa Water District. We enjoyed the meal and conversation and left before sundown.

We walked down to the marina. Donna had been there before, but I hadn’t made the walk out on the boardwalk. We went to the restaurant and looked the menu over, then walked back.

View of our bluff from the marina

Back home, we made cocktails – I had a martini and Donna had a greyhound made with fresh squeezed grapefruit. She’s wishing now that she had taken more grapefruit from the Apache Wells RV Resort. The temperature had cooled and it was pleasant out, so we carried our drinks to the picnic table.

Happy hour at the picnic table

We sat and talked and watched the sunset. There were clouds in the eastern sky that made it colorful.

Clouds in the east at sunset

We watched two episodes of House of Cards before calling it a day.

Today, I want to try to meet up with Curtis from RVilliage.com. Curtis is the man behind this new site. This new website allows members to locate other like-minded members and arrange meets. When I checked Pleasant Harbor, I saw Curtis was here. I found a picture of his Prevost coach and saw it parked in the temporary area. We exchanged messages via RVilliage and he gave me his cell phone number. I’ll call him this morning and see when he might have some free time.

The weather guessers are calling for another warm day, but we should have a breeze to mitigate it. Another pleasant day at the lake.

On the Carefree Highway

We’ve repositioned our home to a spot in the Arizona desert overlooking Lake Pleasant. Here’s how we got here.

On Sunday, Donna and I went to Lucky Lou’s in Mesa for lunch. It was their 10th anniversary celebration. They had live music, free brats and two dollar beers. We hung out for an hour or so, saying goodbye to our friends. After we returned home, I straightened out a few things in the trailer. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching NHRA drag racing on TV.

We were up early on Monday, but we weren’t in a hurry to leave. We enjoyed breakfast, then Donna went for swim at the pool. I rode the scooter to the post office to mail our tax return. While I was out, I also filled the scooter with gas and replenished my beer supply.

When I returned, I loaded the scooter in the trailer. While I was dumping and flushing our holding tanks, Donna was packing our things inside the coach. I wondered if we would have any trouble starting the big diesel Cummins ISL engine, since I had replaced the fuel filter. I’ve heard of a few people having issues getting the new filter to prime. I followed the instruction manual – I turned the ignition key to the “on” position and waited 30 seconds. I did this twice, then I started the engine. No issue at all, the lift pump primed the system while the key was in the “on” position.

After going over our checklist, we hitched up the trailer and rolled out of the park around 11:15am. The checklist was a good idea. I had no worries about something being left undone. Our route took us west on the Loop 202. Then we went north at the Loop 101 through Scottsdale. The 101 then loops west where we hit the I-17 north to the Carefree Highway.

I-17 exit to the Carefree Highway

We went west on the Carefree Highway to the Lake Pleasant Regional Park (LPRP). LPRP has a marina and several boat ramps at Pleasant Harbor on the southeast part of the lake. They also run an RV Resort with full hook-ups, temporary RV parking with electric hook-ups and dry camping (no marked sites or hook-ups). The dry camping is limited to 14 days in a 30-day period.

View of Lake Pleasant from our site

We opted to dry camp and check the area out. The fee for dry camping is six dollars per night. For an additional five bucks ($11.00 total) you can dry camp with access to the resort pool, showers and laundry. I think it’s a pretty good deal.

While we were setting up, a coyote sauntered by about 50 yards in front of our coach.

The view from Donna’s new office space

Marina below our site

After we got set up, we took the scooter out and reconnoitered the area. It’s a fairly large park, covering more than 11 square miles. We sitting at an elevation of about 1,700 feet above sea level. The prevailing wind comes from the west, across the lake. This makes it feel a lot cooler here than it was in Mesa. It’s 74 degrees at 9am this morning. The forecast calls for temperatures to reach the upper 80s to low 90s for the rest of the week.

Our boondocking site

After we checked the area out, we put on our swim suits and went to the pool.

Donna enjoying a book at the pool

The RV Resort looks to be nearly full with rigs in most of the sites. We didn’t see many people though. There was only one other couple at the pool.

There’s a covered concrete picnic table near our site with a beautiful view of the lake. I took our Weber Q grill there and set it on the table. We grilled sliced zucchini and bacon wrapped filet mignon. Donna made twice-baked potatoes with parmesan cheese. Well, that was the plan, but the broiler was taking too long to preheat, so we skipped browning the tops which is why the potato looks washed out in the photo. It was still good though!

Bacon wrapped filet, grilled zucchini and twice-baked potato

We enjoyed the view and sunset before we packed the grill and dinner plates back in the coach.

Sunset on the lake

Last night there was an eclipse of the moon. Although we didn’t have any clouds, I couldn’t stay awake past 10:30. At that time the moon was still full, so I missed it.

Moonrise over our coach

I almost forgot to mention; we have a good internet connection through free wifi at the marina! We’ve decided to stay here for a few days. I’ll ride down to the office and pay for three more nights. It’s not a bad place to be!

Carefree highway, let me slip away, slip away on you

Farewell to Mesa

Today is our last full day in Mesa, Arizona. Yesterday, I spent the morning preparing for travel. I cleaned and treated the tires on the right side of the coach with 303 Aerospace. I polished the alloy wheels with Nevr-Dull. I drained the 20 gallons or so of fresh water that’s been in our tank for a while and refilled it with 100 gallons of fresh water. I checked the tire pressure on the coach and trailer.

I checked the lug nuts on the trailer. With my torque wrench set at 100 ft/lbs, a few of the nuts moved slightly. I don’t know what it is about trailer lug nuts that causes them to loosen, but I know checking them for proper torque periodically is necessary.

I cleaned the windows and installed new rubber inserts in the wiper blades. The inserts I bought didn’t match the old ones. I had to reset (that means bend) the metal blade to fit the new inserts. Next time I’ll need to replace the complete blade assembly.

Donna rode the scooter to WalMart and Staples. She was out for a couple of hours shopping and came home with the scooter fully loaded. She stocked up the refrigerator and also bought some office supplies. One of the things she bought at Staples was a Targus Lap Chill Mat for my laptop. My laptop has been running hot. It sits on our dining table. Lately, we’ve used coasters to prop it up and allow air to circulate underneath. The lap chill mat lifts it at an ergonomic angle and has a fan that plugs into the laptop USB port. Hopefully this will work better.

I made my last stop for the year at the Red, White and Brew and said my goodbyes to the crew there. It’s a great pub. I always meet interesting, friendly people there. The Offshore Tavern and Grill in San Diego is the only other place that compares in my opinion.

We’ve really enjoyed our time here. The boondocking at Phon D Sutton was a great find. We’ll go there again. We also want to return to Usery Regional Park again next year. The climate and scenery are hard to beat in the first quarter of the year. But now, it’s time to move on.

Palm trees in the neighborhood

Last night Donna and I sat outside and enjoyed the evening. We grilled an old favorite – jerk chicken with mango salsa. Later we sat with our neighbor across from us and had a nightcap. She is leaving tomorrow as well.

Grilled jerk chicken with mango salsa

Donna went out this morning for a farewell bike ride with her friend, Dara. When she returns, I’ll pack the trailer. I want to have everything in place so I’ll only need to load the scooter later. We’ll make a stop at Lucky Lou’s for lunch. It’s their 10th anniversary celebration and a few of our friends reserved tables. We’ll say our goodbyes until next year, then finish packing.

Tomorrow, Donna will do her usual job of organizing the interior of the coach while I dump the holding tanks and disconnect our sewer and power. I created a checklist to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything. We’ve been stationary for so long, we might forget part of our routine.

Checklist

I’m looking forward to kicking the tires and lighting the fires. Our route tomorrow will take us west on the Carefree Highway (AZ 74). We’ll make a stop at Lake Pleasant and have a look around. We may boondock overnight there, depending on what we find. Our next stop will be near Wickenburg, Arizona at the Escapees RV Park. I’m not sure if we’ll have good Internet access in the next few days. I’ll post again when I can.

One More Day

February 1st! Wow, where does the time go? We’ve been here at the Phon D Sutton Recreation Area for 10 days already. It’s hard to believe. I’ve been busy most days with various projects. I’ve only taken time out to hike around the area on a couple of occasions. Donna has been busy working on her book and either running, biking or hiking.

One more day here and then we’ll move a few miles away to Usery Mountain Regional Park. I rode the scooter there on Thursday to look it over. It’s always nice to see what I’m getting into before I pull in with a 40′ motorhome and trailer. Many state, county and regional parks were laid out decades ago. Large motorhomes weren’t common back then. The layout of these parks can be tight by today’s standards.

Usery Mountain Regional Park has a good, paved road system. But there are issues. Positioning our rig at their dump station will be tricky. If I go through the dump station when we enter the park, I’ll have to pull through a narrow, curved area of pavement. There are trees on the right and curbs on the left. I might wait until we leave to dump the tanks as that will allow me to enter the station from the opposite direction, which looks to be easier. Our site, which is described as a pullthrough is really just a clearing on the side of the road.

Most RVs have the water and power connections on the driver’s side. If I pull into this site with the water and power facing the hookups, our door and awning will be on the street side. I think I’ll loop through the park and pull into the site from the opposite direction. This means I’ll have to run our fresh water hose and 50amp electrical cord under the coach to hook up. But, we’ll have our door and awning facing the picnic table with a view of Pass Mountain.

After I previewed Usery Mountain Regional Park, I went for a hike down the river. I saw waterfowl and found a nice fishing hole. I could see the trout in the water. Many were coming to the surface to feed on insects. Rails were tip-toeing along the shallow water, dipping their beaks in the mud to feed. I took a few photos with my Samsung Galaxy S4. One of these days, I should get serious and take a real camera with me.

Salt River – Four Peaks in the background

I found the confluence of the Salt River and the Verde River. The Verde flows much faster than the Salt at this point. Once they join forces, the Lower Salt River widens and flows quickly.

Verde River empties into the Salt River

A cold front came into the area yesterday. It was cloudy with the high temperature for the day in the mid 60s. The forecast calls for the cool weather to continue into next week, but we should remain dry.

Today, I’m expecting a visitor. Peter Swingle, the son of John and Bonnie Swingle, is planning to stop by around 1pm. I haven’t seen Peter since 1975 or 1976. It will be fun to chat over a cold beer with him. Then, I’ll start organizing the trailer in preparation for our move. I would like to be set up tomorrow by noon so I can relax and enjoy the Superbowl.

Red Mountain at sunrise this morning

Red Sky at Night

Yesterday, Donna biked the loop over Usery Pass, across McDowell and back to the Lower Salt River on Power Road with Emily and Mark Fagan. Emily and Mark are former bicycle racers and just as she expected, they pulled away from her on the 3-mile climb up Usery Pass. After four years of cycling on the flats in Michigan, she’s hoping to improve her climbing abilities.

While they were out bicycling, I loaded up our bed sheets and towels and scootered to the Fluff N Clean Laundromat. While I was out, I filled the gas tank on the scooter. I mentioned getting 67 miles per gallon the last time I filled our Kymco Downtown 300i gas tank. This time I got 74 miles per gallon! I don’t know if it’s a matter of the scooter breaking in or the fact that around here, I ride about 50 miles per hour and don’t sit at many stop lights, but I’m liking the mileage. In San Diego we averaged 60 miles per gallon.

Last evening, Emily and Mark joined us outside our rig to talk and view the sunset. Lana Jansen and her boyfriend, Joel, joined us. Lana was our neighbor when we lived in Mesa. She delivered our mail which had been forwarded to her house. She also allowed us to have some packages sent to her place. We’re waiting to receive the induction cookware we ordered in Quartzsite (the order is delayed), a water filter I ordered for the water purifier in our kitchen and a runner rug that Donna ordered for our living area.

We all sat together outside and enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and adult beverages. It was a good time. I took a photo of the group with my Samsung S4, but unfortunately it came out too grainy to post. I also shot a picture of the sunset.

Another sunset over Red Mountain

Mark brought a gag that he picked up at a bike show. It kept my bald pate warm! Looks great too!

Who knew hair really keeps the head warm?

Today, I need to figure out what is drawing our chassis batteries down. Our motorhome is equipped with two 12-volt batteries to supply the starter motor and engine functions with electricity. With the vehicle parked, there should only be a small parasitic load on these batteries. However, I’m finding that these batteries draw down below 12.3 volts daily. This isn’t right. There’s a separate bank of four 6-volt golf cart batteries that power the interior functions of the coach. This bank is wired to supply twelve volts to some of the lights, the water pump and a few other things that operate on 12-volt DC power. It also supplies the inverter which inverts the 12-volt DC into 120 volt AC current. This supplies various outlets, the microwave oven and our TV.

I also want to hike down the Lower Salt River today. Below is a photo Mark Fagan took of last evening’s sunset.

Sunset last evening by Mark Fagan. His exposure shows our little gathering outside our coach.

Sharing the View

When you don’t have much to say, there’s always the weather to talk about. The overnight low temperatures have led to chilly mornings the past few days. Yesterday, the coach cooled down below 50 degrees overnight. This morning I recorded 49 degrees. It’s not bad in bed, under a down quilt. We sleep better when it’s cold and we’re covered up.

Yesterday, Donna was up before me (which is unusual). She fired up the furnace. I got out of bed a short time later and started the generator. With the generator running, I shut off the propane furnace and ran the heat pumps. If I’m burning fuel in the generator to charge the batteries, I might as well stop burning propane and use electricity to run the heat pumps. Donna told me about wild animal sounds in the night. I didn’t hear a thing, but apparently there were javelinas or something in the area. Our neighbor heard them too.

The mornings warm quickly once the sun rises over the ridge. With the window shades open, solar heat takes over and I can shut off the heat pumps. We’ve had afternoon temperatures of 80 degrees. By late morning I have the door open and the roof vents open. I deploy the awning to shade the door and windows.

Yesterday, our neighbor from Kansas, Kevin, drove Donna up to Usery Regional Park. He was going that way and offered Donna a ride, saving her the scooter trip in the morning chill. Donna met our friend, Mona from San Diego, there. They hiked up Pass Mountain to Wind Cave. It’s about a 90-minute hike with beautiful views of the valley. You can see all the way to downtown Phoenix from there. After their hike, Mona drove Donna back home.

Mona at Wind Cave

Kevin returned to the park before Donna. He came over and asked me where the nearest place to dump waste water and take on fresh water was. I told him of a couple of options. A little while later, he and Barbara pulled their fifth-wheel trailer out of here. I expected them to return after a couple of hours, but we haven’t seen them since then. I don’t think they reached the 14- day limit here, so we may yet see them again.

View from Wind Cave trail – you can see Phoenix spelled out on the mountainside

Meanwhile, new neighbors pulled in. Emily and Mark Fagan set up their fifth-wheel near us. They have a choice spot with a view of Four Peaks right out their door (we see Four Peaks out our windshield). They joined us for dinner last night. Donna made a meatloaf that she served with smashed red potatoes and green peas with mushrooms.

We had an enjoyable meal and much conversation. Mark and Emily are excited about all of the hiking trails and opportunities for photography in the area. They’re both avid photographers. You can see some of their work on this site. Mark shot a beautiful photo of our rig with Red Mountain in the background.

Our Alpine Coach at Phon D Sutton – courtesy of Mark Fagan

Donna and I watched Shark Tank and another show with Marcus Lemonis (CEO of Camping World and Good Sam Club) helping a business grow (Green Tea Ice Cream). The name of that show escapes me. We went to bed at 11pm.

Today, I think I’ll go back to the Fluff N Clean Laundromat to wash bedding and towels. Donna is planning to take a bike ride with Emily and Mark. I haven’t ridden much since we left San Diego and don’t feel up to the challenge of Usery Pass right now.

PS – I just learned that Mark has more photos at this site.

Burning Fuel

Yesterday was a quiet day at our end of the campground. Phon D Sutton Recreation Area has three paved parking lots. We’re at the end of the last lot – the pavement ends a few hundred feet from our windshield. The second lot has been taken over by an RV singles group (people that are on the road alone or joined the group as singles). That lot is just about full. They have a group leader coordinating activities. We don’t see or hear them from our place though.

Donna went out for a run yesterday as she continues to train for the duathlon in March. I cleaned the windows on the coach. Later I rode to the grocery store. I’ll have to make another run to the store today as I didn’t have enough room for everything yesterday. It seems like I put 20 or 30 miles on the scooter every time I go somewhere. Nothing is close to our location. It’s a good thing the scooter got 67 miles per gallon at the last fill-up.

The other thing that’s burning fuel here is our generator. I’ve been running it for a couple of hours every morning and evening – about four hours total per day. In the morning, I run the heat pumps while the generator tops up the battery bank. During the day, the inverter provides power for laptops, microwave, Vitamix, etc. By evening I need to top up the batteries again.

One of our neighbors here gave us oranges the other day. She has a sister in the area who has orange trees on her property. She has more oranges than she knows what to do with. On Sunday, Dara and Rob gave us tangelos and oranges from their trees. So we have an abundance of fresh citrus fruit and it’s good!

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a hike up a horse trail that Donna told me about. Parts of the trail were very steep and the footing was treacherous in places. Reaching the top of the ridge was worth it though. Here in the desert, you have to watch your step. Things will poke, scratch or bite. I didn’t see anything too dangerous other than the usual prickly flora. I took a few photos of the view and interesting cacti. The photo of the trail doesn’t do it justice – it’s much steeper than it looks.

Horse trial up the ridge - it's much steeper than it looks

Horse trial up the ridge – much steeper than it looks

A thorny barrel cactus

Looking east toward Pass Mountain

Giant saguaro

A uniquely shaped saguaro

Last night, Donna cooked shrimp in a cast iron skillet on our new induction cooktop. She pan-fried corned tortillas and made chipotle-tequila shrimp tostadas with lime cream. It was a tasty treat!

Chipotle-tequila shrimp tostadas

Donna was up early today. She went to Usery Park to meet up with friends. They are hiking the trail up to the Wind Cave on Pass Mountain. I’ll finish the grocery shopping. Later, our friends Mark and Emily Fagan will join us with their fifth-wheel trailer. We’ll have new neighbors! You can read their interesting story and view beautiful photography at their site.

Low Voltage

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.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Boondocking

No Accessories

Scorpion Bay

Another Pleasant Day

On the Carefree Highway

Farewell to Mesa

One More Day

Red Sky at Night

Sharing the View

Burning Fuel

Low Voltage

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: