Yuma via Quartzite.

Monday Dec. 3, 2012

We left the Riverside RV park in Laughlin,

Nevada on Friday morning enroute to Quartzite and a short bout of dry camping.  An easy drive up the Needles Highway, onto I40 and then once again south on 95 to Vidal Junction, over the bridge to Parker and south to the BLM land next to the Bouse/Quartzite Highway.  We like to go that way because we miss all the traffic lights through Bullhead City and Lake Havasu. We don’t mind a day or two of boon docking here and there but have lost our interest in any long term stays! 

We had a nice quiet Friday evening and then made a run into Quartzite on Saturday afternoon to see what kind of crap they had to offer!  Not too much going on and most places weren’t open yet.  Quartzite is a big deal in January and February when the gem shows are running but right now…not so much.  I picked up the local Quartzite newspaper and it’s quite the little “Peyton Place” ….7 police officers file complaints about the police chief and ….are fired….the police chief is having a affair with another officer…. everyone running the town is is being fired….etc. etc.  and someone writing in the paper says the people running the town are just one step above the carnie workers.   They also had a little issue when the woman who was supposed to proof read the publication which advertises the Gem shows in January/February ….she said she did but turns out she didn’t and all the wrong dates where in it.  Yikes!

So…onto Yuma on Sunday morning and back to the Arizona Sands RV park.  Picked a good spot….hooked up and now we are just like the rest of the geezers here….shopping….happy houring….and watching TV….what a life!

Today we did a little shopping for new outside RV folding chairs and found a couple of decent ones at Wal-Mart.  The sun and sea air in Mexico really do a number on them and they don’t last very long no matter what kind of ones you buy.  Good enough!

Been here three weeks…time to move on!

Thursday Nov. 29, 2012

Yesterday we took a ride up to Searchlight, Nevada and then down 95 to Needles for lunch at the Wagon wheel Restaurant…my burger was good but Eric’s giant Taco….not so much!  You win some….you loose some. 

Searchlight…basically just a few casinos, fuel, restaurants (always a Macdonald’s) 

 

Plaque on the wall above our table.

After lunch we continued east on the I40 to Topock and then onto the #10 or 95 or route 66 whichever they choose to call it to join up with Boundary Cone Road that heads up to Oatman. 

Route 66….I wonder whatever happened to Buzz and Todd!

The road from Topock to the junction with Boundary Cone Road is dead quiet and you can go slow and sightsee which is nice.

 

That little tiny peak on the middle left is the Boundary Cone.

Full size Boundary Cone. 

From there back up the 95 highway towards  Bullhead city, over the parkway and home.  A nice quiet ride. 

Today we are packing up to move to Yuma for the next two weeks.  Laundry done, vacuuming done, Big Red loaded, etc. etc.  We’ll move down to the free camping at Bouse, Az.  just north of Quartzite for a couple of nights so we can check out all the RV crap that Quartzite has to offer.  You can find just about anything there but you do have to wade through lots of junk.  Always something to buy or replace on an RV.

 

From Bouse  we’ll head to Yuma where we’ll check into the Arizona Sands RV park for two weeks and get a bunch of shopping done before I head back to Canada on the 8th of December for my medical check up with the rheumatologist.    We’ll book only one week at the Arizona Sands to start so we can check out a couple of other parks while we are there.  Most of the parks in Yuma are right next to the freeway, railroad, busy highway, airport and or military base so it is always noisy.  Eric thinks he might like be in Winterhaven, California on the north side of the freeway so we’ll check that out

Hopefully by the 16th of December we can start heading to the border and Mexico. 

A bit of this and that!

Monday Nov. 26, 2012

I didn’t get any pictures in my earlier blogs this trip so here are a few.

Quesnel, B.C. to Clinton, B.C. …..not the way to start the winter’s journey.

 

Somewhere south of 100 mile.

Yuck!

  

From Cache Creek, B.C. to Kelowna it got better.

Parked in the gravel in the Riverside Park in Laughlin Nevada.

 

View out the rig window in the evening….nice!

It’s dark!

I guess my mind was on other things as we travelled this year because I didn’t take many pictures.

A visit with Andy and Carol at River’s Edge RV park in Parker, Az.

Sunday Nov. 25, 2012

Yesterday morning the park started to quiet down after Thanksgiving.  The bunch next to us … in  31 ft motor home (5 adults, 2 kids, 2 full grown boxers and possibly a cat) all left.  The dogs were locked in the motor home for 2 days except for a few pee breaks and by Friday night they’d had it.  Bark, bark bark and you can’t blame the dogs.  The adults smoked and slammed the RV door for two days …..what a crew!  Oh they did leave to drag all their guns with them for some sort of shooting thing (U.S. marines) and other than that who knows what else.  Odd stuff to us!

So we left the park about 10:30 am and road back through Lake Havasu and into Parker for lunch.  Had a real nice Mexican lunch (large beef burrito-chile relleno- rice-beans and lettuce) with all the fixins for $5.95 and neither of us could finish it! 

Ruperto’s  Mexican restaurant on the right side of the highway going into Parker just before the crossroads.   Good food.

After lunch we road north back up the highway and crossed over the Parker dam to the River’s Edge RV park (California side) where Andy and Carol spend their winter.  Eric and Andy have a beer or two every Thursday night when we are at home in Terrace so they have gotten to know each other over the years.  The Thursday night crowd has shrunk with Don moving to Alberta and leaving Fraser, Mel, Bob, Andy and Eric to carry on.  Not like the old days in the Skeena Hotel when the place was packed and everyone crawled home late at night and then had to go to work the next morning.  We were all young then….and a whole lot dumber….at least that’s what we’d like to think!

Carol used to work with our youngest daughter Erika back in the 80’s at Shopper’s Drug Mart when Erika had a part time job there after school.  A long time ago!

That’s Andy and Carol’s view across the river.

Andy took Eric around the park in the golf cart.

Carol and Andy in front of their 5th wheel.

They’ve been coming south now for 16 years and still enjoy it!

Nice visit….have a good winter.

We left the park by 3:30 and had to rush as it is 90ish miles back to Laughlin and we didn’t want to get back after dark.  We continued south down the California side and west back Vidal Junction, north up 95 to the I40, west to Needles and back to Laughlin.  A quick stop to pick up beer in the town of Laughlin and home safe and sound by 5:30 pm. 

A good day!

Happy Birthday Holly!

Sunday Nov. 25, 2012

15 years ago today I had the privilege of watching our oldest grand daughter Holly Lynn Watson be born.  What a thrill.  She is  a beautiful, talented, intelligent and very sweet girl (do I sound like a doting Gma?)  Of course!  I should also mention she is learning Spanish at school this year so maybe next summer she can tutor me. We love you to pieces Holly……Happy, Happy Birthday!

This is our youngest daughter Erika on the left, Abby (12) Holly (15) and of course the shortest one….me! 

Took a ride to Kingman, Az. today

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Have I mentioned that the weather has been beautiful since we arrived here in Laughlin, Nevada.   Sunny and warm with hardly any wind which is unusual for here.  Bueno!  This means that we have been able to do some nice riding and it has been very pleasant.  Yesterday we took a ride into Bullhead City and up over the parkway to look at a few RV parks and subdivisions.  The prices here are cheap and you could buy a nice new two bedroom home in a gated community for around $100 thousand…not that we would….but…..it’s fun to look. 

We ended up out at the mall for a look around Target as we’d found good folding chairs in another Target store in Yuma.  This is a new store and I must say it reminded me of the Stepford Wives movie where everything is the same color and exactly the same everything else….very pink….kind of creepy.  No chairs but we did find a cell phone case. 

On to the Smith’s grocery store for a bit of food and that didn’t thrill me when I ran into a couple of people with their dogs in their cart in the store.  What is with that!  I blame the store for not doing something about that.  Would you want to have your groceries in a cart that two dogs were in….I don’t think so.  No they were not service dogs….they were mutts! 

Today we road up to Kingman and took the round about way through the historic town of Oatman.  Like last year we didn’t stop as it really isn’t anything that interests us.  We really aren’t very touristy people.  However we do enjoy the Mexican towns, churches and people so maybe we just like different touristy things. 

We had lunch at the In & Out Burger in Kingman and it’s good bang for your buck.  Two cheese burgers, two fries and two drinks for $11. and it’s fresh and good.  It was super busy but the service was fast.

We spent a little time at the Mother Road Harley dealer in Kingman but I didn’t get anything but an ear warmer!  I have a bit of Harley gear and don’t really want to pay an over inflated price for something with Harley plastered all over it!  I am not a walking billboard either.  Eric picked up a new right front brake rotor to replace the one that was damaged when he had the front tire changed in Mazatlan.  Tire change $3 ….new rotor $114.00…..not a cheap tire change ….$117! 

I should also mention that Eric did get his brake pads and battery from Jake Wilson and it did come quickly.  Not quite as good an order though since the packing box said this side up but the battery was in that box UPSIDE DOWN!  Luckily it is a sealed battery so it didn’t leak.  Also there were no battery cable bolt included with it.  Perhaps someone else has them.

Meanwhile back in the park it is Thanksgiving weekend and it has busied up.  Lots of rigs and lots of Shmoopies (dogs to you) barking and barking and barking.  Oh well they’ll all be gone by Sunday and the park will quiet down again.  The biggest American holiday of the year. 

Happy Thanksgiving America. 

The Yagi antenna is worth every penny!

Monday Nov. 19, 2012

Last year we bought a Yagi antenna to help us find free Wifi as we travelled and that has worked in many situations.   However, now it has really showed it’s worth in bringing in a weak signal that we are already paying for.  Here in the Riverside RV park in Laughlin, Nevada the cost for a week of internet is $19.99 but it barely works at best.  It doesn’t work everywhere in the park and they don’t have enough antennas so it has always been a huge frustration.  The first week we were here I just used the laptop wireless connection and it worked good sometimes and sometimes not at all!  Every time Eric touched it….it ground to a halt….bad vibes or what!   So….enter the Yagi.

Week two we turned off the wireless connection on the laptop and paid for a week connected with the Yagi which is pointed at the antenna up on the hill behind us.  Guess what….it is BLAZING FAST…..super.  Worth every penny that we paid for it because even though the connection showed excellent strength without the Yagi it was less than mediocre at best.   10 points for the Yagi!

Today I even managed to download Skype and get that up and running.  We do have an AT&T phone that our daughter(Krista) and son-in-law Jeff gave us on their plan and it is great for calls in the US but calling Canada is expensive for a good chat.  The really good thing is that they can turn the service on for Mexico as well and we can use it for emergencies if we need too.  Now I will be able to use Skype to call home when (and if) we get to Mexico. 

Ain’t technology great!