As mentioned before, one of the daily happenings in Q is our daily 10:00 AM two mile walk. the number of people varies from day to day, but usually there it at least a half dozen.
Here is a pic of some of the walkers mentally preparing for the grueling walk. Usually after about a half mile of walking the group splits up into smaller groups, each going at their own pace.
Another favorite daily routine is the 4:00PM Happy Hour, and campfire. Here is a pic of one of our campfires. I thought it was an interesting pic.
Speaking of Happy Hour, one day the theme for Happy Hour was Hawaiian Luau, here is Ann with our friends Dave and Marilyn in costume.
Most Happy Hours are followed by gorgeous sunsets, such as this one.
At Quartzsite you are likely to see a wide variety of RVs, but this one was parked close to us. It is home made, and the guy wants a half million dollars for it, despite the fact it doesnt have a bathroom or a shower!
Here is a link for more information about it. Deco Liner and Jay Leno's Garage. An internet search for "Deco Liner" will provide a lot more information. One of the guys in our group has an I-Phone app, and did this to the Deco Liner. Poor Decoliner!
Here is a video by the same guy, Mike, showing a close call for Ann and Liza.
But as I used to tell my kids when they were growing up, "Enough Silliness!"
On Wednesday after morning coffee, Ann and I headed back to Algodonnes, Mexico to check on her glasses, and see if I could get mine like I needed them. The trip was uneventful and productive. After the lack of information on Ann's glasses(no one would return calls), and the misinformation( your glasses will be ready in two weeks), dealing in person was the thing to do. Her glasses fit, and the prescription was ok, and NOW they would sent out to have the anti-glare put on, and promised that they would be done on Friday, February 3. My glasses needed new lenses made, as I didnt understand that when you add bifocals to regular prescription glasses the correction is compounded, which is why they wouldnt focus that the proper distance. The optician was slightly annoyed at my ignorance, but went ahead and had new lenses made. I could have waited a few hours to get them, but since we had to come back to get Ann's glasses the following week, we decided to just wait and get mine then too.
Thursday evening we went out to dinner with our friends Dave and Marilyn to the Quartzsite Yacht Club for dinner and karaoake. Dave and Marilyn wanted to hear Ann sing. When you ask people at the club why they named it as they did, they will tell that when California falls into the ocean, western Arizona with be beach front property!
Here is photographic evidence we were there.
Since the line is so long to sing, Ann only got to sing one song in two hours, so there was no need to stay around to sing a second song.
Saturday was the RVFoum Pot Luck Dinner, and as per most pot lucks there is usually enough food for at least two meals per person.
The Spread.
The Line
Ann in her new prescription sun glasses waiting to get in line.
Chowing down
And Liza cleaning up.
Sunday was for routine chores, such as dumping our gray and black tanks, filling up the fresh water tank, and then refilling our 20 lb. propane cylinders that we use to run our Kozy World Propane Heater, and our Webber Q 200 gas grill.
On Sunday the crowd starting dwindling, and each night at Happy Hour there were a few less chairs every afternoon, and evening, but you can always take more pictures.
I like this silhouette of Gary in his baseball cap, and Joe in his Tom Mix hat.
Then there are the scenes of the sun still shining on the mountains in the east, after it has gone down for us.
The last few days we were in Q were pretty relaxed, but we didnt find time to take Bob Buchanan, and Lou Schneider out to dinner at Sweet Darlene's before we left town. Bob is pretty much in charge of keeping track is who coming to the rally, and who arrives, as well as maintaining a webpage with directions and picture. Lou is one of the most knowledgeable people I know when it comes to electricity and RVs.
On my last trip in to Quartzsite before heading down the road, I took a picture of the "welcome to Quartzsite" sign, and a picture of a few of the vendors in the area. If there is one vendor in Quartzsite, there are a thousand! Hopefully, they all do well!
On Friday we left Quartzsite and headed back to the Cocopah Casino for a few days, as our glasses were ready in Algodonnes. We have stayed the casino each of the last two years, and in the first part of January when we came from Tucson. The sign in was easy, and we were good to go for three nights for $5.00. We were lucky to get the last available RV space as there was a boxing match Saturday night outside featuring George Foreman III.
Our trip to Algodonnes was again uneventful, but we did have a short wait because Ann's prescription sunglasses needed some adjustment. This gave us an opportunity to get something to eat, and when we were finished, the glasses were done as well. Then it was time to head back to the good ol' USA. In the early afternoon the lines get long, and instead of waiting about an hour, we took the bicycle taxi back across. For $5.00 per person you ride in this bicycle powered carriage, and you get to go to the head of the car line. It only took us about ten minutes to get back across. The best $10.00 we have spent in quite some time!
Knowing that we wouldnt be able to stay at the casino very long, we started looking for other places. I had hear about a couple of places not too far from Yuma. One place is called Fortuna Pond , and the other was Mittry Lake, so we decided to take a road to see if either or both of these places would work for us. They were not too far from Yuma, so it didnt take to long. Fortuna Pond looked like a nice quite place to stay, but seemed a little crowded.
Mittry Lake was much larger, but the camping spots we basically limited to very small areas around part of the lake. They didnt seem to inviting to me.
I forgot to take the camera with us when we went to these spots, the first time, so went back later and got these pics, including a couple of fields of some unknown crop we saw along the way.
On the way back when I took these pics, I stopped at Wal*Mart for a couple of things; a percolator coffee pot, and a camp toaster you can use on the propane stovetop.
A couple of weeks ago we had purchased a new sauce pan, as the other one was scratched and old. Evidently, it is not quite the same size as the previous one, because, I swear I put the same amount of pop corn in this pan, as I used to put in the other, but this was the result the first time I used the new pan!
On Tuesday we thought we had better start looking for a place to go in Wednesday, but were not too concerned as there are lots of places to stay down here in or near Yuma.
In the afternoon on Tuesday we heard a lot of pounding noise. It sounded like someone was building a tin building with a hammer. After an hour so so of hearing this, I set out to investigate, and found that two of our neighbors to the north were IMCA teams from Iowa. Of course being a huge race fan, and remembering when the IMCA started back in 1979, it was really cool to see these guys. the first team I talked to was from Garden City, Kansas, but one of the crew members was from Iowa, as well as the driver. I was awesome to talk to someone in Yuma, Arizona who knew many of the old time racers from back in the midwest! Here is there car.
The real surprise was when I saw the second car! It's number was 3, and it was sponsored by Wetherell Manufacturing. Back in the my hey day of going to stock car races in Alta, Iowa there was a number 3, sponsored by Wetherell Manufacturing! In talking to the owner he is the son of the man who owned the number 3 car back in the 70s! Small world! Here is the number 3 car in the process of having the body panels repaired for this weekends racing here at the Cocopah Speedway.
One of the questions we have been asking ourselves since we have stayed here, is these people can afford to gamble enough to stay here much more than four days(first three days $5.00, then 200 points on players club card). Well, on Monday we talked to a couple from North Dakota who gave us some good information. On Sunday, Monday and Thursday, if you play enough to earn five points and you are over 55, they will give you an additional 250 points, so over the course of a week a couple where both are over 55, they could earn 750 points each, so it is easier to see how these couples can stay longer. Duly noted for future reference. Since I already missed Sunday, I went over on Monday, and got my 250 bonus points, and used 200 for another nights stay. The lady at the counter actually gave us two days! Thank you, very much! We had also been told that if the husband registers the first time, then when there time is up, the wife can go register for another three days. Sounded good, but when Ann went to register on Wednesday for another three days, the lady remembered her from the first time we checked in and would let her register in her name, so we had to find another place. The place we chose was KOFA KO-OP Retreat, a place we had stayed before going to Quartzsite. This time the place is full except for dry camping for $5.00 per day. With our solar set up and plenty of water, we can easily dry camp for a minimum of ten days. You can only stay a week at a time in dry camp, so come next Wednesday or sooner we will be moving.
One thing that has really worked out well on this trip is getting our mail sent to us, but this time I messed up and gave our local post office the wrong zip code of the town we wanted it sent to. So for the last couple of days we have been checking with the post office in Somerton, where we wanted it to go, the main post office in Yuma, where the zip code on it is, and the RV park we are in, just in case the post office in Yuma recognized the zip+four on the mail. Good news! Today it arrived at the main post office in Yuma, and Ann picked it up while in town shopping.
As a side note, one of the things we have noticed here in Arizona we dont recall seeing a lot of in other places is people just leaving their grocery carts in the middle of the store parking lots. I can see doing it in Iowa in the middle of winter, or if you have young children with you that need your attention, but for abled bodied adults on nice days, I see no reason not to put the carts in the cart corals! Just a pet peeve of ours.
I dont really like to end the blog on a rant, but that is how it is today.
Till next time!
Paul
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