January 19 to January 24, 2003

Sunday January 19:

Battery 75%.  I go out to check the bulletin board, come back with frigid fingers.  It is COOL outside, even though we pull the curtains back to let every ray of the sun into the RV to warm us on these desert mornings.  Today is the day to finish the webpage for upload, so gotta spend the time. We walked in the desert, and observed how undressed our Seabreeze looked parked amongst the ham RVs all decked out in their finest antennas.  :-)  

There are activities, a ham presents his travel rig, a Yaesu FT 817 that covers all bands from 160 through 70cm;  he flies with it, and uses it in hotels with the antennas he carries.  He was unsuccessful contacting anyone, but that is always the way with demonstrations.   At the end of the presentation I finished the webpage, but the cellphone would not connect to the Internet.  :-((  Perhaps it is interference from all the ham rigs here, I'm not sure, but the cellphone signal is good, it just will not connect to the server.  After repeated tries I gave up and went to bed.  Grrrr.  At 11:20 PM I awoke an decided to try again;  it WORKED!  Only problem was I did not have time to complete all the mirror sites;  something for NEXT weekend!  Back to bed for REAL this time...  :-)

Monday January 20:

Today there are no activities of interest in the ham world; a group is going for a ride in the desert in their 4 wheel drive vehicles, and that does not seem very interesting.  We decide to bike to Quartzsite center and see what all the fuss is about.  The road has narrow shoulders, and with the many wide RV's and heavy traffic it is not a pleasant ride.  We do have the advantage in that we bike past three miles of backed up traffic.  The crossroads at the town center is busy, with a traffic light and walking signals that are necessary.  Flea markets abound on all sides of the intersection, but the food markets are far from "super"....  :-)  We ride north of town until the congestion ends, passing several establishments offering RV dumps and water for a fee.   We've been warned by the hams that the traffic law enforcement is VERY strict, with white line crossing violations being especially enforced.  Claire observes one unfortunate being pulled over.  He was just trying to get out of the way so traffic could move while he waited to turn left.  One food market has the sign "No firearms permitted inside".  We check our backpacks with the store clerk as required, and buy a few groceries, but find many more we want unavailable.  We cruise through a nearby "nostalgia" flea market; I suppress the thought that I've seen better at my town dump....  The big flea was better.  

They even had an ICE CREAM stand!!  :-)  I caught the false front to the stand as it blew over in the wind associated with a rain shower;  I helped put a bungee cord on to reattach it too, and earned a free extra scoop on my cone.  :-))  We asked for a restroom and were directed to a corner where one enterprising stand owner had added a public bathroom.  Lines there were, but it beat the 6 mile ride home without relief; adequately leaved bushes are not plentiful here.  :-)  The flea market area here is fully temporary; trailers, fabric temporary shelters with pipe frames, lots of rocks and jewelry, a big RV show.  It seems that the whole town will disappear in Spring.  The heat makes this desert pretty uninhabitable in Summer.  We ride back, finding we have travelled over 16 miles.  I am tired, but attend the 4PM ham event meeting.  Afterwards, sleep comes embarrassingly early....  :-)

Tuesday January 21:

Today is a full one on the ham schedule; an interesting antenna roundtable in the morning and the hobo stew event in the afternoon.  Lots of good ideas emerge from the antenna round table; one chap reveals how he designed his mobile vertical to be extraordinarily efficient using a piece of readily available antenna design software.  :-)  The problem of Radio Frequency Interference with other systems on the RV is NOT trivial, and this ham had interference with his electronic diesel engine control from his transmitter before installing this antenna grounded RIGHT at the vehicle frame.  After the antenna session, I am feeling the effects of the 16 mile bike ride in my back, so Claire walked alone while I peeled and cut onions for the hobo stew.  Purry insisted that he receive his "cut" of what I was preparing, but immediately turned his nose up when offered a small piece.  I cannot help but wonder at the cat nose that can detect a mouse 100 yards away, but seeks out unwanted onion that is making my eyes water in the RV....  :-)  The crowd gathered early for hobo stew;  there is NOTHING like GOOD BAIT to gather a group.  :-)  We all watched eagerly as the two 10 gallon pots were filled with the contributions of the attendees; ONE can of vegetables per person.  

Bob the chef stirs the pots as the vegetables are added.  Meat (Bob insists that all of the road kill is fresh, beef and javelina only!!  :-)) potatoes and onions are already cooked, only the cans remain to be added.  When the line is formed it winds all the way around the fire pit.  Folks are patient, and the cook waits until everyone is fed.  (WHATTA guy!)  

It turns out there is plenty for me to have three bowls, and at that I could not get the last bowl to go down, although I really WANTED more; it was DELICIOUS!!!  Bob offered to share the recipe, and I'll make sure I get it before we leave.   Not many dishes tonight either.  :-)  Cat walks, then we can turn in.

Wednesday January 22:

Donut day today;  we all kicked in $1 apiece and a kindly volunteer drove through the traffic to town to pick them up.  Someone started a fire, quite welcome in the 7:45 AM desert cool.

On the way back "home" to get my chair and deliver a donut to Claire, I got a real birds eye view of an ultralite aircraft flying low over the campsites.  

It has a wing design almost resembling a parachute, with the engine and "body" suspended below it.  I cannot help but have some concerns for our RV roof...  :-)  The aircraft remains airborne and slowly cruises away on the still morning air. At 9AM there is a lively presentation on Winlink, the amateur radio Internet email link. It sounds neet, but a high quality TNC for pactor 3 is around $600, there are a lot of RFI issues, and there is the issue with traffic content; no business traffic is allowed, and the system operator can boot you off the system for violations that he alone decides.... Having dealt with such restrictions while on the boat, I am inclined to make my large investments in equipment in the areas where I can use them for whatever I decide I want to use them for....  A ham shows me a brochure she picked up in Quartzsite on a manually pointed satellite terminal that is purported to offer two way high speed satellite Internet for $600 terminal cost, and $60 a month service cost.  These have their issues too; is the company going to remain in business long term? Is the service fee going to increase?   I engaged the vertical antenna expert in conversation, and soon he was showing me his installation, and home made screwdriver antenna.  I like his ideas and may try a combination of his home made screwdriver adjustable loading coil, and his long lower element design for use on many bands without having to change anything outside the RV.  We shall see.....   

Thursday January 23:

Today is the day we must do finances, despite the cost of prime time cell minutes.  I am up early catching up on the log.  Boiled coffee is in order, as we neglected to brew some last night when it was reasonable to run the generator.  It comes out well again, and the grounds are amazingly easy to separate; they just stay in the bottom of the pot until almost all the coffee is poured out.  At 7AM I log on line, 4 minutes later I find the finance site is now unavailable, I'm directed to log back on in 20 minutes....oh well.  :-(  I'll have to bike to town again after the ham measurements seminar this morning;  I must mail a check.  We had planned to return to Yuma before going to Phoenix later next week primarily to avoid driving through Quartzsite.....well, I'll not take any ID this time, in case the local town law enforcement folks take a dislike to my "riding on the right" with my bike....  :-(((  Claire decided  a walk in the desert was more to her liking than a bike ride along Arizona Rt 95, so I grabbed the letter (at the last second on the way out the door) and was off.  The trip went without incident, although I noticed I forgot my water bottle. :-((    This "forgetting" is getting to be a BAAAAD habit.....   I found the post office easily, bought fresh salsa at the Quartzsite General Store which is far superior to the other store we had bought in, took credit cards, let me carry my backpack in the store, and was only 200 yards further down the street.  It set back from the road far enough that it was not visible from down the road.  The ice cream lady had recommended it, so I just had to go back there to say thanks, and of course sample another packed waffle cone of chocolate/malt nuggets.  :-)  I passed up the opportunity to buy "home made" ice cream, but could not pass up the opportunity to observe this WORKING make and break stationary engine turning the ice cream freezer.  

It reminded me of the cord wood saw a neighbor had with such an engine when we were kids; the young of the neighborhood were all fascinated by the "bang bang" thing with the noisy irregular exhaust.  This engine was much better muffled, but still quite noticeable as it "chuffed" along irregularly, firing only when the governor sensed the speed was too low.  The line for home made ice cream was LONG, so it was easy to choose the stand we had used before selling good commercial ice cream.  While I wandered eating it, I passed a used tool vendor advertising half price, and saw a Weiss tin snips in good condition for $2.50.  I could not pass that up, as I had looked for mine on the RV and evidently left them home.  Now there are two....whether they are identical, or a left and right pair remains to be seen.....  :-)  I returned about 3PM to find Claire had secured a ride to the Friday fish fry, and we would NOT have to drive the motorhome.  :-)  At the 4PM ham meeting it was announced that there was enough money left over to buy donuts AGAIN on Friday...  :-)  Dinner was delicious spaghetti with Claire's marinara sauce; we haven't lost weight yet THIS trip...  :-)  There was an evening sing around the blazing campfire; a banjo and guitar were playing.  It was fun, but I stayed only a short while.  I could not remember any words to the songs.  :-(   A few satellites passed over, easily visible in the dark sky.  Clouds obscured the north star, but I'm sure it is still there.  :-)  It is time for bed, before the smoke permeates my clothing enough to spread into the motorhome...

Friday January 24:

The battery is 77% this morning, undoubtedly due to the half hour generator run late  last evening to try and improve the house battery and cellphone charge.  My back is a little sore again today; must be the bike ride, as I was over it yesterday.  :-((  Well, it makes it easy to get up early and add to the log… :-)  The cellphone had switched to analog a lot yesterday and last night, and drained the battery during the night.  I charge it and turn it back on;  it is still switching between digital and analog, although the signal strength is 3 to 4 bars.  I do not understand this as it did not happen the first 4 days here. Maybe we must return to Yuma tomorrow after the swap meet to upload the web page....it is time for a dump and water refill anyway.  Eight days is longer than we have EVER stayed in one place, and certainly longer than we have ever gone without water/dump.  By 7:30 it is time to look for the donuts;  we are SURELY not disappointed!  

The fire blazes bright in the desert morning and the donuts are stacked invitingly.  Later we ride with our new Alaskan friends Mel and Karen to the fish fry in Brenda AZ.  They return to work there in the Summer, storing their trailer and heavy pickup truck in the lower US.  We invite them in after the fish fry for drinks and socializing;  soon it is way past our bedtime, but we do not notice.  :-)   Tomorrow is the swap meet, plus free cell minutes, so we will surely be up early......  the HECK with sleep!!!  :-)

Plans: Next Friday and Saturday we plan to be in Phoenix, so Claire can attend a Taekwon-do seminar.  Until Thursday we will stay in the Yuma area and walk across to Mexico at least one day.  After Phoenix, we will move to see Joshua Tree National park and other interesting places in the desert before moving towards the often rainy (at this time of year) Pacific coast.