Mon. Nov. 29th, 2010 Quartzsite AZ

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer,

 since August 2006

      Happy Monday!!! The beginning of a brand new week. The standard coffee and computing, then I set off to explore a few more vendors, just looking for Items I could just not do without. One vendor I always go to sells quality drill and Dremel bits and he always has what I want. So we chat for a while and I move on to a few more around town. They seem to find hiding places, tents, shacks that I have driven by before but did not notice always a new venture. Even just watching some of the RV's and strange looking vehicles from all over North America is fun.

old custom Volkswagon

      Back home we putter around a bit, then get to sit outside in the warm sun and out of the cool wind. We like to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine and reading when we can. Another neighbour dropped by today from Saskatchewan that we had met a few years ago, (he has been coming here for 16winters) We chatted for quite a while and shared travel stories, then he told us what happened to his car. They had bought a brand new 2011 Honda civic to tow behind their coach. And a few weeks ago travelling thru a section of road with severe dips the front frame on the new car broke and the car ended up in the ditch with the front end of it still attached to the motorhome. Nobody hurt but their new car, it is presently being repaired. He called Honda to complain and was told that it states in the owners manual to only tow a Honda on a flat bed trailer." Do not Flat Tow!" Oh well an expensive lesson learned, read the directions.

      He also made sure to tell us of all the musical jam sessions and dances that happen almost every day and night at various places around Quartzsite. Some in campgrounds and some in the desert just south of us in a shelter, maybe we check some out.

      After things begin to cool down we go inside about 5:00 pm to read a bit more and prepare supper.

Suzie reading

       I putter about a bit and whip up some liver and onions, gravy, boiled potatoes and peas for supper, once again served on our best Chinet plates with heavy duty crystal utensils. We need to conserve water so we us less dishes.

Yummy supper

      Then we chat for a while as we watch the sun shining on the mountains looking east and setting behind the mountains in the west.

sun shining on the mountains

sun setting behind the mountains

      So peaceful and relaxing. Now to wrap up another Awesome the day.

Visitor Number

Gammons Gulch Benson AZ

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Sun. Nov. 28th Quartzsite AZ

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer, 

 since August 2006

      Morning comes in the desert and we awaken to another day of endless sunshine. Cool overnight, good for sleeping and the days warm up nicely. Coffee, news on tv, and computing and the beautiful desert view out our windows.

the view of our backyard

      Around 9:00am off to the store to fill our 5 gallon water jug with Reverse Osmosis Water only 25 cents a gallon with lotsa places that sell purified water here in the desert.

purified water

      Cruising around checking out the few blocks of the main street there is always something interesting like this cool custom made Tricycle.

cool tricycle

      Maybe stop at the odd vendor that Suzie does not care to go to tools etc... I even spotted the town Icon "Paul Winer" the owner of Readers Oasis Bookstore. Click here if you dare for his picture, riding his bicycle to the store wearing only his jacket and a shoes and socks. Now back home a quick bite to eat, grab Suzie and go exploring a few more vendors today. Lotsa stuff and lotsa good deals, but not much we need, kinda nice to wander about and chat with a few of the vendors.

       After our exploring for a while we can return to "home dirt" and sit in the sun relaxing with a good book for a while. Then as things begin to cool down around 4.30 pm we retire inside now and whip a tasty supper of garlic tilapia, a rice pilaf and tossed salad, we chat over supper then enjoy a good movie on TV.

garlic tilapia

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Gammons Gulch Benson AZ

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Sat. Nov.27th 2010 Quartzsite AZ

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer, 

since August 2006

      Perpetual sunshine, cloudless skies, hot days, cool nights thats the desert and we love it. Wide open spaces and dirt to explore. After morning coffees, checking email and Blogging I get the bikes down and prepare for exploring.

Sunset and neighbours campfire

Desert trails

      Riding about the area, a mile or two in either direction, dirt roads and dirt trails, self contained Rv's set up on their own piece of dirt, some with a shelter beside them , lots of solar panels, and wind generators. Some desert brush and creosote bushes almost look like trees, but they survive in the desert. Some small valleys known as "washes" are here and there, created by the heavy rains that may come once or twice a year.

more campsites

      Just cruising along on my bike with the fresh desert air and sunshine, on the hard packed dirt trails, I spotted an old abandoned mine across the wash in the distance.

abandoned mine

      Cruising around a bit more I returned home to relax with Suzie for a while in the shade, Our themometer in the sun was over 130f (55c) too hot but in the shade was 68f (20c), so a combination of the two worked out just percfect

our own shade

      While relaxing a bit I puttered about with a few things, like setting up our old (repaired) water pump so that I could get fresh water and easily transfer it into our holding tank. Then came supper time. Tonight is a hot turkey sandwich, gravy, cranberries, boiled potatoes and broccoli.

Hot Turkey

      Then dessert of some fresh baked, mini pecan tarts that I had made earlier in the day.

mini pecan tarts

      After this wonderful day, our closest neighbour had a campfire, with another desert sunset. Then we watched bit of tv as the air cooled down for the night

Visitor Number

Gammons Gulch Benson AZ

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Black Friday, Nov. 26th, Quartzsite AZ

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer, 

 since August 2006

No Black Friday shopping here, no chain stores, Walmarts or the likes just another day of already great bargains in Quartzsite

makes ya feel wanted yes!

      Well we are here and wanted in the town of Quartzsite. With a summer population of about 3,200 this small desert community turns into a metropolis of tents, motorhomes, and trailers, with as many as 2 million or more visitors every winter.

our desert entrance

home dirt  

      There is over 70 RV parks in town and thousands of Acres of BLM land (Bureau of Land Management) surrounding the town where you can camp free or $40.00 for two weeks (this gives you access to water, sewer and garbage disposal). Three small grocery stores, lotsa restaurants, many solar panel dealers and vendors selling everything from RV's, and rv accessories, clothes, dented canned goods, to rocks and gems.

J&B Tools

Grocery Tent

      After all this shopping and exploring, back to home dirt so we could relax in the sun, read a bit and enjoy the Arizona sunshine. After a while we decided to go to the Grubstake Bar and Grill for their friday all-you-can eat fish and chip special and of course the afternoon Happy Hour as well.

many Happy Hours

Grubstake

can't put an empty glass on the table

      At 3:00pm the place was pretty well full, we ordered a 1/2 price pitcher and got a full pitcher and two half full glasses. Asking why? our waitress says the boss told us to never put an empty glass on the table. I ordered the fish special that came with two monster pieces of cooked to order lightly battered fish, coleslaw, and a mountain of fries. I didn't have too many fries and took some of the batter off the fish so that I could have a third tasty piece. (no sharing and no doggie bags with this special), Suzie had a craving for the coconut shrimp that were equally huge tasty and freshly prepared.

this was my third and final piece of fish

Suzie's coconut shrimp

      Now with our tummies full, back once again to home dirt, read and a walkabout while the sun was shining, and then inside as cool night air descended upon us. Cozy warm inside we read and computed a bit more then a couple of our favourite tv shows.

Visitor Number

Gammons Gulch Benson AZ

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Thurs. Nov. 25th Quarzsite Arizona

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer, 

 since August 2006

HAPPY THANKS GIVING to our American Friends

      Well after a nice night in Casa Grande and a peaceful sunny Thanksgiving morning, watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on tv, we are on the road about 10:15 am heading west thru Phoenix to Quartzsite AZ. Not a lot of traffic today being the holiday so it was a nice drive. We got to a rest area at 12 noon, perfect timing to stop and make lunch.

Heading west thru Phoenix

light traffic

Phoenix Tunnel

Quartzsite

      Shortly after 1:00pm we spotted Quartzsite, just a small town with some vendors and lots a desert dry camping (no electric, water or sewer). The free areas are a mile or two from town, or we choose to get a permit ($20. a week, this includes access to water, sewage dump and garbage disposal) and are real close to some vendors etc... We could stay at one of the 70 rv parks in town too but this is more fun, less expensive, no reservations and so much room. When we got to the gate the office was closed for the holiday, so we just drove in and found a nice plot of desert dirt. We are self contained solar panel, generator, fresh water storage, sewage storage so why not take advantage of what we have, besides our campsite is huge, we have a couple of neighbours about 200 feet away. We set up satellite dish, then cleaned and tilted our solar panel, set out the patio mat and relaxed with a book in the desert quiet.

Mr. Heater

      Even our Mr. Heater is very efficient, it uses less propane and no electricity. And our very efficient L.E.D. reading lights.

our site

Suzie Relaxin

      Once it cooled off we came inside to finish cooking our second Thanksgiving dinner. We get to celebrate two Thanksgivings every year( Canada & USA), just because of where we are, and because we have so much to be thankful for. A moist roasted turkey breast, gravy, cranberries, sweet potatoes, carrots and broccoli and a mini pecan pie for desert.

Yummy turkey dinner

pecan pie

      Now we can relax watch some tv, in our desert home for the next couple of weeks.

Visitor Number

Gammons Gulch Benson AZ

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Wed. Nov. 24th Casa Grande Arizona

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer, 

 since August 2006

      The morning here is nice, sun shining on Picacho Peak. And we are relaxing with our morning coffees.

the entrance in the morning

      About 10:00am we said good bye to many friends here and hit the road, 10 miles west to fuel up at the Flying J in Eloy. Love the price of fuel $2.48 gal (.65 cents a litre). In front of us at the pumps was a Euro Liner Coach from Europe complete with the European license plate.

Euro Liner

      From here down the road another 10 miles to to have a tire checked out on our coach. An inside dual on the drivers side had lost about half of its air while parked at St. David for two weeks. I pumped it up, but it appears to be a slowly leaking. So we found Purcell Tire and Rubber Company a Michelin truck tire dealer on 15112 Jimmie Kerr in Casa Grande to have it checked out. After removing both wheels and testing it we found that the tire valve just needed to be tightened. So after about an hour or so we were back on the road, safe and sound and NO CHARGE. Good customer service.

      Another 5 mile drive thru Casa Grande we arrived at the Western Horizon Resort and checked in, set up and made lunch. While finishing lunch and knock on the door asking us to come to the office, (a problem with our reservation). Well that we did and found out that we needed a week out of this system to come in here, (perfectly within the rules but we missed it oopps). So we paid the regular daily rate to stay tonight ($40.00) and will hit the road in the morning to Quartzsite Arizona, our next destination anyway. With this straightened out I went shopping for a few supplies. Well what a zoo everywhere. Traffic people travellling and the stores packed with last minute shoppers. The day before Thanksgiving. They were sold out of Turkeys and Hams with huge empty coolers. But I got what I needed and back home to relax a bit then make supper. I picked up some pork back ribs and being a little late in the day to slow cook them, I did 20 minutes in the pressure cooker, and another 20 mintues in the oven with a tasty BBQ sauce then we had tastiest fall-off-the-bone ribs I have ever made, complete with sauerkraut, potatoes and broccoli w/cheese.

so tasty

      With this accomplished, we can now read a bit and relax with some tv.

Visitor Number

Gammons Gulch Benson AZ

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Tues. Nov. 24th Picacho Peak

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer, 

 since August 2006

Picacho Peak

      Today we are up early as usual, and ready to hit the road at 8:00am. The first stop is to fill our propane, then take our coach for an oil change at Express Lube in Benson. This is convenient and quick and we have brought our coach here twice a year for the last 4 years.

      A nice drive westbound on I-10 enjoying the beautifully decorated bridges and over passes, then a stop at the Camping World Store in Tucson to pick up a couple of folding patio chairs with a side table that were on sale. Then Back on the road with Picacho Peak on the horizon for about 30 minutes until we arrived at the resort and checked in about 11:00 am.

      We are stopping here for only one night to visit with a few people we have met over the years. If you remember we spent a month here over christmas in 2006, 7 and 8, then a week here last year. To our surprise Steve and Barb were here from Ontario, (parked beside Spud and Jan) and then all the other regulars that spend the winter here. We had a happy hour for a while in the afternoon, then an early supper (finish off our spaghetti casserole) and down to the clubhouse for darts, (Spud  shuttled us down there in his golf cart).

      Well darts night is twice a week Tues and Fri. So we jumped right in with about 20 other people to have a fun time, chatting and catching up with people we have not seen for almost a year. And a good night of darts it was Me and Flynn came in third place and Suzie and Dorothy came in second place  so its pretty good when we both came home with  money. Of course we were given a hard time about only staying for one night,  taking their money and leaving. After this we went back and sat on Spuds deck to chat for a bit then call it a night.

Visitor Number

Gammons Gulch Benson AZ

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Mon. Nov.22nd 2010, St. David AZ

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer, 

 since August 2006

Ducks in the pond

      Monday morning sunny and warming up again. Walkabout the resort past the ponds with the ducks and geese still pretty peaceful. Morning coffees and some internet research a quick trip to the store then putter about for a while. Put away a few items check the coach, oil, tires etc, and Suzie does the vacuuming today as we are on the road Tues. morning to Picacho Peak RV Resort for a night.

      Then we sat in the sun again to read for a while, our neighbours from BC (Peter and Marlene) came home we sat and chatted for a while outside, then time to go in for supper. Tonight is leftover rotisserie chicken that I chopped up and made a creamy/cheesy spaghetti casserole and a pepper squash, very tasty. We chatted a bit more then another beautiful moonrise in clear Arizona Skies. Then wind up the evening with the grand finale of Battle of the Blades.

chicken spaghetti casserole

now a full moon

Visitor Number

Gammons Gulch Benson AZ

Notice the controls for this New Map on the left side, you can zoom into different areas of the map and see where we are or have been.

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