More on Quartzsite

Here it is Thursday already, and I can't remember all that has gone on this past week. Monday, I did go over to the "Big Tent" at the RV show for a few hours in the afternoon. My plan was to scout it out methodically and then determine what I would want to buy if anything. Sometimes there are items here that you can't find anywhere else. Three hours passed by like a flash and it was time to return to camp. I did buy one LED light bulb to see how it would work in my fixture and a new cover for my hitch (I think the snow plow got my other one). I also talked with several auxiliary break dealers. I have a portable breaking system that very cumbersome; requires that I practically do summersalts to install it to make it work; and takes up a lot of room.. Not really exciting stuff, but the bulb worked. The LED bulb uses about 1/2 amp or less vs. 1 amp that was in the fixture . I'm not sure if it's worth $30.00, but it's cheaper than putting in additional batteries. I seem to use much more power ever since I started watching satellite TV using my portable VuQube.

Tuesday I had planned to go back to the RV show and explore some more but a group was getting together to go 4 wheeling up Queens Canyon about 19 miles south of Quartzsite. Since I don't get the opportunity very often to go 4 wheeling with the group my decision to go was a no brainer. The day started out brilliantly clear but by the time we got up to the canyon the clouds came it and it was downright cold. Burr. All in all it was a very good day. The road wasn't technical but it it was a lot of fun.

Looking south near the trail to Queens Canyon

The Lizard on the way to Queens Canyon

The Alligator ( I think it looks more like a whale)

The white spot at the bottom is a hole

We are still in search of water. With all of the rain lately, the kayaks may not be such a bad idea!

Lunch time

The road continues up the canyon, but Walt said there wasn't too much more to see and there was a lot more brush to add "desert pin stripes" to our Jeeps.

Last year I missed the open house event. Gracious coach owners open up their rigs for viewing and show how they have fixed them up or what innovative things they have done to them. This year I was determined to fit the event into my schedule. There were 10 open houses ranging from a very small stealth type travel trailer(its a cargo trailer converted to living quarters) to a huge 5th wheel with five slides. (The inside felt bigger than the living room of my stick house. ) The other interesting coach was the Trek. The bed lifts up to the ceiling where it is stored during the day. At night you just pull it down. This leaves lots of floor space during the day. There was also a custom designed Born Free that I have nick named the silver bullet. The exterior is all silver with no decals or label to identify it as a Born Free. Its quite beautiful inside and reminds me a lot of the interior of a small sail boat.

Remember that I had wanted to go back over to the Big Tent and finishing looking around? I did manage to find time to do that as well as meander through Rice Ranch. Rice Ranch is a conglomeration of a bunch of vendors near the Big Tent. Often the vendors sell the same wears as the Big Ten, but the Rice Ranch vendors offer better prices and variety. This time I managed not to buy anything from them. However, I did contribute to the Big Tent area and purchased the new breaking system I was looking at and made an appointment to install it.

This morning I headed out of the campsite really early to go have the new break system installed on my Jeep.The installation only took a couple of hours and works great. Now all I have to do is hook up my Jeep and drive down the road. No more installing the huge portable breaking system and no more trying to figure out where to store it when not in use. Best of all it saves me time. Anyone want to buy a used Even Brake Proportional breaking system?

I headed over towards Tucson to visit my friends from Reno who have rented a condo for the month of January. It rained very heavily all last night and the weather forecast called for more rain and heavy winds today. The weather man wasn't kidding this time and he was right on with the wind forecast. It took me 6 1/2 half hours to get from Quartzsite to Eloy (approximately 200 miles). I didn't make it the last 60 miles to Tucson due to the 40-45 mph winds with almost zero visibility . In fact, the highway was closed for a time due to the high winds and zero visability due to dust. This is tropical storm weather, not desert weather! Anyway, thank goodness for Pilot and Flying J truck stops where you can park over night. It's not the best situation, but its better than being stranded on the road. My rig is rocking and rolling like a small boat as I type and there is a tornado watch for the area until 10:00. Ok folks if you don't hear from me again, I guess you can look for me in the Land of OZ!

I'll head out in the early morning and hope to make it to the Casino del Sol in the southern part of Tucson. I'm really looking forward to hiking in Sabino Canyon and surrounding areas and visiting Saguaro National Park again.