January 25 to January 31, 2003

Saturday January 25:

This is flea market day.  I heard a little activity outside at dawn as I worked the web page, but did not realize the event was already under way.  The early birds were out looking for bargains.  I caught this bus motorhome which had come in after dark for the flea market; it is aptly named, calico kitty was grooming in the morning rays coming in the windshield.  

The flea market brought EVERYBODY out, including the elusive "black bear" dog I had been catching glimpses of all week, but finally caught close enough to photograph (BEFORE he licked me to death...).

I did find some things to buy here.  There were more tips for my old Hustler mobile antenna that has been stored since we started sailing in 1970; it might be useful on the RV.  I found an EXACT replacement for the SWR bridge that has one diode out of it, and talked the seller into half price ($5) near the end of the day.  It works perfectly and does not have ANY of the rust my old one picked up during six years on the sailboat.  At the end I offered a man $20 for a new Motorola cellphone battery for my phone;  he had bought it just weeks before deciding to replace his Startac phone.  He accepted $25  and I had an item I needed an just failed to buy before leaving home this Fall.  We found the phone REALLY did work from Quartzsite;   only the number we had called was bad, and the resulting error message said all circuits were busy, instead of invalid number....  GRRRR!.  We decided to stay the rest of the day here and participate in the hams "last hurrah" cookout.  We ate leftovers beforehand, not being very confident we could heat them well over a fire.  It turned out that lots wrapped their dinner in foil and dropped it in the coals...but I'm SURE we were better off (from a "mess" viewpoint anyway) eating our burritos in the RV...  :-)   We enjoyed one last chance to share the week's comradery with new found friends too.  The evening sunset seemed to be calling us to return soon, as the campfire coals burned low....

Sunday January 26:

We left Quartzsite rather early, heading for a much needed dump and water at Squaw Lake, then on to Yuma.  We stopped at the Convention Center on Ave A below 32nd st, and found a public dump station for $7.  Claire went into the Native American Crafts Show there, finding it was a one dealer event with nice stuff but at high prices.  We spent the whole afternoon and evening here in the mostly empty parking lot, making long phone calls on Yuma's strong cell, and finished dinner dishes and walked the cats before moving to K-Mart for the evening.  There were two other RVs parked, so we moved in near them.  I finished the day's internet business, then was off to bed.  I was surprised at how much warmer Yuma is than Quartzsite. Our afternoon was in the 80's.  Of course Yuma is 100 ft elevation compared with Quartzsite's 1000.  My last act before retiring was to look at Yuma's weather forecast; low in the 40's?  I closed the overhead vents!  :-)

Monday January 27:

It was a late start today;  Shopping and laundry all day, then another night in town before going on to Mexico, and then maybe a couple more days in the desert.  Our battery is in good condition, so I plan the Phoenix trip.  I'm very pleased that the FMCA overlay in Street Atlas is now showing dump stations and Walmarts prominence...I do not dare to change the settings for fear this good stuff disappears forever...  :-)  Street Atlas is not an easy program to control!!!  All the chores got done, but found we'd missed the Yuma lettuce festival.  That's OK;  we saw all these cabbage heads maturing in the hot sun!  :-)

 The laundromat was VERY busy at 11AM, with no room to park the RV;   we continued to Sam's and Walmarts, returning about 2PM.  Laundry was a BIIIG job for Claire, taking over 3 hours.  We had all the clothes from the trip plus the two weeks since we arrived.  It is quite warm during the day in Yuma, requiring that the fan be run while parked for kitties' comfort.  After laundry, since it was rush hour, we just got on I-8 for the 9 mile run to Fry's.  There were plenty of RVs parked under the no overnight parking signs; we just joined them.  After the desert quiet, we noticed the noise here.  Lots of trucks use it for rest breaks too.  Dinner was left overs, and then to bed!

Tuesday January 28:

Today started late too, after storing all of yesterday's laundry.  I hesitate to put TOO many things away after my experience with the still unfound return home trip cash....  I'm sure it is VERY safe still.  :-)  Claire soon has it out of sight, and can usually recall where it is too.  We decide to go to Algodones Mexico via Sam's, so Claire can buy the Pilates book she saw there.  The most direct route took us past the Bureau of Land Management office, so we stop and seek more info on free camping areas in the desert near Algodones. This time the lady that had been snotty the last time was extremely helpful and friendly, and even suggested that the Mexican drug stores would write prescriptions for medicines at your request, and that these were accepted to bring them back through customs.  We drove on to the Indian operated parking lot at the border and paid the $8 fee for the motorhome. The stores crowded the border, and a soon as we stepped across we were hustled into a pharmacy by a street hawker speaking excellent English.  We found they had none of Purry's thyroid drug, and while standing there heard another couple advised that they would need to see a Doctor around the corner, and for $20 he would write a prescription for their drugs. I had little hope he would write for a cat.... Those people said they needed Lipitor.... We proceeded along the street looking at the typical "border town" stuff, much of it might be made in China.

We did not buy.  An aggressive saleslady placed a cheap "silver" bracelet on Claire's arm, offered us a "great deal" for $20. When Claire said no, price went to $15.  As we walked away, she hollered $10....  :-)  We went through several drug stores that had Purry's pills. One offered to write the prescription at no extra charge. Another said we needed no prescription... The price for the BRANDED drug was about 1/3 the price we paid for the generic in the US. They did not seem to have generics here, nor to recognize the generic name. We finally bought at a store that would write the prescription for each of us...no name asked...and assured us we would have no trouble at the border.  They even gave us a receipt and agreed to refund our money if we did.  I liked this store as it had signs warning US citizens not to hide their medicines at the border;  at least they were encouraging us to play it "straight" there. :-)  We looked a bit more, then observed the LONG line waiting to go back to the US.  We decided to get in line, and waited about 45 minutes to cross.  The line area is prettily decorated with flowering trees.

We have learned to not notice the thorns protecting their limbs, we just avoid touching....  :-)  With our US passports it went easily, and the officer just looked into my bag of medicine cursorily; Claire's was not even opened.  We returned to the RV, and after an orange snack (to consume that which might be confiscated by California's "Fruit Police" at the agricultural inspection station), we headed toward Pilot's Knob desert area. The fruit police waved us through after finding we had been in Yuma for two weeks.  Claire drove off the Interstate, and soon found a dirt road leading to a 14 day camping area. She did a marvelous job of  keeping our speed up while crossing several areas of loose sand in the road; if we had slowed, we would have bogged down, surely needing a tow.  Our road service will not cover us for "off road" use either.....  We found an area filled with RVs, and  parked at N32deg  44.525'  W114deg  46.882' .  After parking between other RVs, I noticed signs closer to the road, hidden by the RVs already parked, saying no camping beyond this sign.  After discussion with other campers also beyond the signs, they said they had always been able to use the area in former years, a long as they stayed on the stone reinforced hardpan. We had NO intention of risking getting stuck in the loose sand!!  We decided  to stay until asked to move.  Dinner is chickpeas with chicken and prunes, seasoned with fresh dill.  It is EXCELLENT!  My night for dishes, Claire walks the kitties.  Bed comes easily again, but we notice it is warm, so leave the overhead vents open.  The distant traffic noises from I-8 are barely noticeable, but the occasional lonesome wail of the train whistle definitely is!   It is again a DARK desert night, good for sleeping.

Wednesday January 29:

One vent stayed open almost all night;  it is COOL at 6:20 AM when I awake.  Oh, well, that is why God made clothes…several layers of them!  There is not much coffee, but I elect to wait until a reasonable hour to run the generator (after Claire awakes), rather than boil it.  We can use the electric power for the batteries.  Today we will spend here, perhaps returning to Mexico tomorrow for liquor, which we had not bought yesterday.  The prices are not much better than US prices on many items;  on others they are much cheaper.  We were not prepared to select our monthly quart allowance yesterday.  This is a RELAXING day. Claire looked over the new Taekwon-do rules, while I took a mid day nap, then cleaned the generator cooling air exhaust screen, which had accumulated a mixture of oil and dust that had about halved the open area for air circulation.  With the temperatures forecast in the 80's through the weekend, this is a task well done.  We had followed our neighbor's lead and lowered our awning when the sun got hot; it kept the sun from shining in the door and windows and allowed the windows to be opened for ventilation.

 We always put our awning angled from horizontal; it might look strange, but it stops the annoying flap-flap-flapping in even  the LIGHTEST breeze when it is horizontal.   I pulled out some drawers and looked at the water pump attache to the side wall underneath; it was easier to photograph it to get the model number than to get my head in a position to read it, tucked back under as it is.  Camping World sells the same model, as well as a repair head for it, so we will fix it at their store near Phoenix on the weekend.  Dinner is lamb patties, sweet potatoes and broccoli; delicious and we ate the whole thing....  :-)  I was ready for bed after walking the cats; both seemed reluctant to stray far from the RV, and eager to return.  

There are a number of dogs in this campground; perhaps there are other things we cannot sense too....  Claire practiced some Taekwon-do patterns in the dark of the desert, but could not go full speed or fear of sliding on the small round stones that lie on the desert floor here.  I guess this day was too relaxing, as we both found we did not sleep soundly at first.

Thursday January 30:

Battery is only 62% charged at 5:45 this AM; we watched a lot of TV yesterday.  We will drive several hours today, that will get them back up.  We plan another trip to Mexico for liquor, then will fill propane in Yuma before going to Phoenix where prices appear to be higher.  Gasoline appears to be lower there for some reason....more distant from California perhaps?  We left the desert early, and this time I drove in the sand. It was not a comfortable feeling knowing you could not allow the vehicle to stop even though the drag increased greatly.  The dual rear wheels did not appear to sink much, and the coach accelerated when asked, but we could hear the engine pulling hard.  Algodones was no different, but we were earlier and the crowd was much lighter.  We found our favorite pharmacy and bought more of Purry's pills.  This time the clerk met our "lowest price"......and again provided the "prescription" without our names on it.....  ???  It really makes me wonder what brings folks here for things like "chelation" treatments where drugs are injected into them. These treatments  are not approved in the USA.  It appears the medical profession here has very few controls placed upon them, and can do pretty much as they want.  Those that choose the fast buck way are allowed to do so here for years, unchecked by anyone.....  We shopped a bit more than before, finding a few interesting items to bring home.

 We found two quarts of liquor worth carrying back; one benefit we almost forgot is escaping Arizona's high state sales tax.  We returned from Mexico before noon, the only requirement to cross was to show a document and speak our nation of citizenship into a microphone.  They had no interest in our purchases.  We ate lunch in the parking lot, then proceeded to the Yuma visitors center where we finally secured a parking place.  Inside we did not find the pamphlet we wanted;  supplies of it were exhausted months ago.  After maneuvering in the tight quarters of their parking lot, I vowed to NEVER come to this visitors center again.  It is either closed or crowded, is in a congested out of the way area, and has very little to recommend it.  We drove to Sam's to replenish our cash spent in Mexico, and I recalled seeing an ad in a local "cheap sheet" for propane next door to Sam's.  We could not see it, so I looked for the ad, and came across a coupon for propane at $0.98 /gallon up town.  This price was 60 cents per gallon cheaper than Flying J in Phoenix;  I never cease to marvel at the variability of propane pricing.  The store selling it was a combination liquor/propane store doing a brisk propane business.   I was shocked to see we paid 8.7% tax on the propane;  sales tax here is quite significant.  Ahh, well, it is lower when we find lower prices.  :-)  We hit the interstate toward Phoenix around 2PM.  The trip was without incident, although I always marvel at the totally abandoned  buildings along the highways out west;  someone's dreams crashed and burned in each of them.....  :-(  

We arrived at Flying J before 5PM.  There was only one RV parking spot left, so we fueled hastily and occupied it.  Flying J seems noisy after the desert, but it is brightly lighted and safe.  We can shower in the morning then dump and fill water before proceeding to Claire's appointment in the evening.  Flying J is a good place to stay in urban areas.  After watching the evening news, we dined on left over chickpeas, I did dishes then hit the sack.  Claire watched more TV before turning in.

Friday January 31:

Battery is 70% today, even with last night's TV.  The driving charges it a lot.  I work the log early, then load the Phoenix area into the GPS; we will need that here.  We shower, then dump and fill water;  we are ready to leave by 11AM, and head to find the restaurant Claire will meet in this evening, and a place to stay tonight.  Walmart heads the list for that, as there is a Super Walmart within 5 miles of the restaurant.  The restaurant is in a shopping center with adequate parking for us, a Chinese dinner buffet this afternoon, and Walmart has no overnight parking prohibitions. Things are looking up!  :-)  By noon Claire is studying for her exam, I shop for a few things at Walmart and return to work on the web page.  It is HOT in the RV even with the fan.  We are glad to run full A/C when we leave for the restaurant at 4:20 PM.  Somehow I (or Street Atlas) was a block off on the China Doll's location, but we could still enter the lot and park easily.  The buffet  turned out inexpensive and DELICIOUS; we stuffed ourselves once again, then Claire went to her meeting and I returned to the RV; it was noisy on this street, but got a little cooler as it got dark.  :-)  I noticed the nearby supermarket had an armed off duty policeman as security guard. This is NOT a place to stay over night.  I amused myself with the web page, then slept until Claire returned near 10PM, then she drove back to Walmart's for the night.

PLANS: We must visit Camping World in Mesa AZ near Phoenix; our water pump needs help or replacement, and we need a few more RV things too.  From there, starting Tuesday we will work our way back to California where we want to visit Joshua Tree National Park, the Salton Sea, Sand Dunes, then as much of Pacific Coast crowds as we can take.  Perhaps we will also drop on over to Palm Springs, or even Laughlin NV, and possibly even Las Vegas, to watch the money being lost;  although it won't be ours, I do fear for our waistlines there .   I hear there are numerous BUFFETS.  :-)  We haven't thought this through thoroughly yet, so the travelling order is not clear an destinations may vary.  We do not fancy lots of cold rain though, and our wheels and instant planning will be used to avoid that as much as possible.  We do hear the coast is in rainy season now, and that is why folks with a choice are in the desert.  :-)

That's all for this week folks!  ENJOY!!!