Beautiful blue skies with a few fluffy clouds added just for fun. Well yesterday was the last day of the RV show and it doesn't take long for people to leave town. After morning coffees and computing I took a bike ride thru the area of the Big Tent and most all of the vendors are completely gone, the tent and parking lots empty. A huge change from the bumper to bumper traffic and crowds of people for the last week. Not much traffic on the roads, Rice Ranch camping across the road is emptying out, even a lot of our neighbours have gone. We have a huge campsite again!
Rice Ranch
the tent
Add caption
not much traffic on 95 today
After lunch we took a drive to visit Norm and Connie, a couple from Eastern Ontario we met our first winter here in the desert. They live in town for the winter on a lot with their trailer, full hookups and lotsa space. They now leave their trailer here all year, fly down in the fall hile he pursues his of hobby of buying a few interesting California vehicles to putter around with and drive back home.
After a few hours of chatting and a very nice visit, getting up to date we headed back home to read for a bit before supper.
1972 Ranchero
1994 Corvette
We just set up our chairs when an rver came made a beeline across the dirt to see us. He introduces himself as John from Salmon Arm BC, a blogger himself, he has been following the Bayfield Bunch for quite a while and saw our picture on their sunday posting after our visit there and recognized us. So just had to stop by and chat for a bit, small world.
home dirt
the tent in the distance looking norh
looking south, lotsa room
nice bus conversion
I climbed on the roof to take a couple pictures of the space we have here and then fired up our Weber and fry daddy for a feast of hot wings, homemade fries, with veggies and dip, another craving satisfied.
Now to chat and read for a bit, a couple minutes of tv and call it another fun day!
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Sunny, sunday and another great Arizona winter day. Coffees computing, and a walkabout the big tent for a couple cheapy items, last day for the show. Then back home adjusted the springs in our couch and putter around for a bit. Then we had checked our fresh water level and yes we can have a shower.
Now all squeaky clean and smelling much better, (don't want waste a good shower) we are off to visit Al and Kelly of the Bayfield Bunch. I stumbled on their Blog a while back and noticed they were from Bayfield in Southern Ontario, close to where we spend a lot of our summers. And that he grew up in the areas where we have lived for many years, like New Hamburg, Tavistock, Punkey Doodle Corners and Plattsville, small world. Saw they were just outside of Quartzsite here, sent them an email then he sent us directions to their spot of home dirt in the desert.
The directions were great except I didn't look at a map first (duh !)
Plomosa rd
We headed north on 95 and realized it's not Plomosa Road. So we drove and drove not sure what to do. Spotted a Sherif and were given directions now were are not lost, just later than we said we would be. Directions were right on past a certain mile marker, look for some square rocks at the left side of the road, follow the trail turn along the wash and look for their flags. Hey we found you sorry we are late.
their Jeep
Al, Kelly and Pheebs, Cora was resting.
here's Cora we woke her up
We had a very nice visit, its so nice to actually meet someone that you feel like you have already met. A very nice friendly couple. We both have a real love for southern Arizona and for very different but the same reasons. Hard to explain but it is possible. We love the wide open spaces, lack of huge crowds, the dry climate, clear blue skies, free camping, interesting history and scenery just to name a few reasons. Before we knew it time had flown by and we had to hit the road (don't wanna wear out our welcome) and for the scenic drive home.
A fun excursion for sure, now home to fire up the Weber, read for a few minutes then throw on a couple potatoes to bake, broccoli and zucchini, a small steak for me and a chicken breast for Suzie.
The end to another fun desert day, thanks for stopping by.
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Wonderful Arizona blue skies, no clouds just sunshine and dust. Quite a few rigs have left the area where we are today, getting some of our open spaces back again. We only had to deal with a few days of crowds here. There is a lot less traffic on the roads, second last day of the RV show.
So Suzie and I headed out to check a few vendors to see what kind of deals may be had away from the big tent.
how about an Experimental airplane? not quite done yet
A few stops along the way we ended back at the vendor by Love's Truck stop with lotsa RV stuff, I like lookin here.
what do you need? its probably here
lotsa plumbing stuff
Ok now we found something we need. New hardware for our cabinets in the coach. We like the style, nice clean lines a simple upgrade to our house that really cleans things up. Now I had checked to see how many in our coach and we have 38 of these handles. They can be pretty costly to buy but he has a good deal here only $1.00 each. sounds not too bad. But we can buy the whole box of 50 handles for $20.00. So 38 handles for $38.00 or do we want 50 handles for $20.00, hmm tough decision, so we have a few spares.
The old handles have the brass worn off them and are tired looking.
So back home I set to the chore of removing the old handles and cleaning up the all the doors with Old English oil and polish. Giving our house a refreshing facelift.
it does clean up the look.
I didn't get them all done today, a couple hours of hard labor is enough for one day, I have to remember I am retired. Maybe I'll do a few tomorrow and maybe the next day, maybe not. We do have other important things to do. Like relax in the sun with our books for a while, enjoy a cold beverage, chat for a bit, fire up the Weber to grill some tasty smoked pork chops, potatoes, broccoli with onions and a buttermilk biscuit (gotta eat).
our Weber hard at work
Then after supper our neighbors are having a campfire and we just had to join them. Can't let a nice wood fire burn within range of our house without enjoying the heat and conversation that goes along with it.
nice fire
As soon as we sat in our chairs Lucy, (Jay's dog) jumped right up to on Suzie's knee so now she has another dog fix and they are both happy.
Lucy and Suzie
Soon the cold desert air descends on us as the fire dies down and everybody heads back home to get all snugly and warm.
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Morning coffees, computing and the sun comes up with some interesting looking sky today. As day breaks I head out to post our Blog and check out the town before there is any traffic, so nice and quiet then.
Back home I grabbed the grocery list and took off away from this area to check out a few more vendors. Found one at the west end of town near Love's selling RV parts "Cheap". I wandered about the tables set outside here looking for "stuff". Really nice light fixtures only six bucks, not for us thou, too bad. New kitchen taps for the rv only three bucks, don't need any thou. I did find two new dash vent's for our coach to replace the slightly broken ones and a new door holder (I have a spare now) all for the grand total of two bucks, love it.
nice light
deals today
new working vents
Time to make a bite for lunch and putter around a bit to install the vents. Then a walkabout the dirt, over to the tent for a quick look around and chat with a few people along the way. I had gone to the tent for a couple things but forgot what they were so came back checked my list and back again to pick up a couple of bargains, this time I rode my bike. Should have had one of these cool Mountain Trikes.
Mountain trike
Well just puttering around and chatting with a few neighbors and before I knew it Mike and Craig from Reliable Auto Glass of Redlands California were back. To reinstall our like new windows now Fog free. Hey this is way too cool, I can see the side mirrors clearly when driving our coach, a good thing yes? This is a pretty common problem with dual pane windows and considering our coach is thirteen years old we are not surprised.
nice clear windows
These guys are now done, maybe another window or two next year, this is their third year in Quartzsite and are here only for the month of January along with thousands of rver's. Now time for supper, but its a cool 65f out so I be cooking inside tonight. Tonight's selection is a baked salmon fillet, my version of spanish rice, Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits and broccoli with a cheese sauce that ended up too runny, but hey, it all tasted good.
very tasty
So now all our windows are back in and clear, its much quieter and warmer at night, we have a neighbor that runs their genny many hours in the evenings (no solar panels). Dual pane windows really block out the noise.
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Thanks for joining us in our journey of North America
in our Holiday Rambler,
since August 2006
Where are we Today ?
Quartzsite Arizona
Blue skies, sunshine and its gonna be another hot day, lovin it. Intense sun and very little wind just wonderful. After the coffees, computing and walkabout we decided to wander a bit more. First stop is Tyson Wells vendors check out this amazing "World Famous Redwood Log House" an impressive project to carve out the inside of this huge log. Our main reason here was stock up with with few more books, only a dollar each, excellent price.
the Log house
From here along Main st. to the Main Event at the other end of town. Just checking out the tool barns, discount tents and stores is entertaining and we are enjoying the wonderful fresh air sunshine and Arizona dust as well.
the Main Event
tool barn
We came came across a couple of interesting vehicles in the parking lots. The first one is an old Jeep with a brand new stainless steel body, very impressive!
nice jeep
Then this 1967 Ford Econoline pickup truck, just driven here all the way for North Dakota
1967 Econoline van
Of course shortly after noon we walked by a food vendors handing out samples of his Teriaki Chicken and it tasted soo good and we were so hungry by now we had to have a plate to share for lunch. This was a bargain, a very filling and tasty plate full of food that we shared for only seven dollars. While dining on the sidewalk we enjoyed, a luncheon concert listening to the country songs of Jamie Baker.
food
tatsy snack
A few more vendors and all was checked out, lots of good deals to be had.
Then we have had enough exploring for one day so back to home dirt, grab some shade and relax with our books for a while, a bike ride about the desert checking out the license plates to see where everybody is from. Until shortly after 3 o'clock the Window guys came back to reinstall the dual pane window, this one had to have new glass cut and tempered it was so badly etched.
shining the window
re install
Now they just have to remove the two front windows and repair these. They are fogging up to the point that it was difficult to see my mirrors sometimes. They should be repaired tonight and reinstalled tomorrow.
removing front windows
foggy windows
cover with plastic
After all this was done its now about time to fire up our Weber Q 100 to perfectly cook a cornish hen and a some chinese noodles and veggies for a nice tasty supper and wrap up our day.
ready to cook on our Weber
done deal
we love our chicken
Do you wonder why all the pictures of food? In case you didn't know I owned and operated a small restaurant for ten years and still love cooking and enjoying food and like to share it with you.
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