Good bye Quartzsite and MOC...

Sorry about the delay in postings but we hate to run the generator just to keep up with the Blog.

After almost 3 weeks we finally decided it was time to find some place to camp with power and water so we could do some laundry and take a "LONG" shower. So today we departed Quartzsite Arizona and headed for Snowbird RV resort in Fort Mohave Arizona. We pulled into the park and walked to the office to check in and this is what happened and we posted on the Internet (http://www.rvparkreviews.com/) to warn other campers. (Jackie wrote it.)

We have been camping for years, full-time RVing for the past nine months, and we have NEVER experienced the unprovoked rudeness that we received today. When we arrived at Snowbird RV Resort in Bullhead City, AZ we parked our pickup and 5th wheel and went in to the office to register. The man at the counter was on the telephone and handed me a form to fill out. I was half-way through the form when his wife came out and said she would take over as men can only do one thing at a time. She asked how long we would be staying and we said one week. She took the form from me and stated the amount. I said that we are members of ACN and her response was “Why didn’t you say that at the beginning? Did you not read the rules in your book?!!” We responded that we were sorry, but she continued to rant and yell at us, saying she can set any rules she wants, she owns the place, and we could just be on our way to some other place, ripping up the form I had filled out and throwing it in the garbage. Let me say that we did not say anything rude to her – we were just shocked that such rudeness could be unprovoked. You can bet we will not go back there, and we will post this information so others do not either. (I have to say that just reading this again makes me mad -- I was shaking for an hour after we left there! Jackie)

We continued up the road and are now at Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino in Laughlin Nevada and plan to stay a week here and then head for Lake Havasu, but more on that when we get there.

The Montana Owners Club rally (MOC) was just fantastic. What a wonderful group of people to share conversations, meals and a huge campfire every night (especially for Jackie and CC. We had to check the truck to make sure we had CC when we left -- she was the hit "dog" of the rally.). We even had an outside Super Bowl party yesterday afternoon. Complete with lots of food and great company. We renewed old friendships and made lots of new ones with a total of about 35 to 40 rigs that came and went. There were still several rigs there when we pulled out today.

Before we departed Quartzsite we spent another day at the gem and mineral show and looked at acres and acres of rocks, both rough and polished and turned into some beautiful jewelry.

This is just one of the tables with polished and cut rocks at the show.

This is just a typical rock that had been cut and polished. I set it up as a desktop background and after doing it I got a cloth and tried to get the dust off the computer screen only to find that the dust was on the stone and not on my computer.

In the morning Jackie would get up and head out for her early morning walk (which toward the end of our time there she convinced Alice to join her) and Dick would grab the GPS (hand-held, that we got from a fellow MOCer at the beginning of the rally), get on his bike and head out into the desert to just see what was out there. He would stop and pick up rocks and bring them back. He purchased a tumbler so he can polish them and hopefully make some jewelry. This is a self portrait that he took one morning while out on his bike.

We won't talk about the times he was dumped from his bike while trying to ride it in and out of some of the washes and over the big rocks. He only ended up with a few scratches but really enjoyed the solitude miles from civilization in the desert quietness. It was great to have the hand held GPS so he could find his way home.

Dick never knew what he would find on his rides; one time he ran across part of an animal skull and was wondering how old it could be until he found two wood screws embedded in it. Another time he ran across a grave piled with stones and a head stone labeled "ZIPPER" and a short distance away was the remains of what looked like an old camp complete with a rock garden and paths made up of rocks. Could be an old hippie camp from times gone by.

One day 5 couples went to Algodones Mexico to look for items for our rigs. More on what we purchased later when Dick gets some pictures finished. It was Dick's first trip across the boarder and Jackie had been to Tijuana one time before.

We parked on the US side of the boarder and walked across into Mexico without going through any type of boarder patrol. We spent lots of time looking at stained glass at several places and this is our friend Robbie pointing out one of the several that he liked.

It was fun walking the streets and taking pictures of the various items for sale. Every vendor tried to stop you and sell you something. The price was "almost free", just ask any one of them.

You could find just about any kind of hand made jewelry you could think of.

Metal work, pottery of any color was available.

This is the side of one of the shops; we thought it was quite an original way to decorate the side of the building.

The only problem was that to get through the US customs, we left at the peak time of the day and ended up in a line that took us just over 2 hours to get back to the US. If you look close you can see Jackie holding some of the items we purchased and this was taken after standing in the line for over a half hour (like that back shot?). The Mexicans would walk up and down the line trying to sell whatever they could and it worked as we watched several people purchase items. The smart ones waited until they were at the boarder crossing so they didn't have to cary the items for very long. It was very sad to see all the women begging or trying to sell a piece of gum for what ever they could get.

We finally made it across the boarder and had about an 80 mile trip back home. We just say it was a fun and educational day. Our thanks go out to Robbie and Alice who acted as tour guides.

Last Saturday we took a ride to Bouse Arizona and found this back yard of a house all in bloom with beautiful weeds. It was sure nice to see some color after all this time in the brown and dusty desert (which really is beautiful when you get to know it).

To be continued...

Out in the desert at Quartzsite Arizona

Sorry it's been so long since our last post. We are dry camping out in the desert, so have to have our very-noisy generator on to use the computer. Here is an aerial photo of our circle of Montanas. At the high point we had twenty-nine rigs (mostly Montanas, but some SOBs -Some other Brand).
Here is a closer shot. Our rig is at the top, just to the right of the "driveway". In the center is the fire-pit where we gather each evening.

And here is a shot of some of the rigs from the ground, with several people talking and admiring CC, who is being terribly spoiled, by the way. (She chooses a different lap each night at the campfire!)

Nearly two full days were spent on this rig. All the the graphics were removed and replaced with new. What a job! Nearly everyone here was involved in some way, and everyone (especially the owners) are very proud of the completed job.

One day we had a potluck. There are some very good cooks in this group. One of the women is putting together a cookbook so we can all share in the bounty.

We think one of the things Montana owners do best is eat! What a great bunch of people.

Quartzsite, AZ is known as having the biggest swap meet in the world. And how does one choose from so many? But choose we did--t-shirts, earrings, beads, etc. What fun! There is acre upon acre of items for sale. If you can't find it here it's not made. They estimate over 75,000 RV's visiting this area in 2 weeks of swap meets, gem and mineral show and the sports, vacation and RV show. Did we mention that there is a car show starting in about a week.

We looked at little rocks and...

big rocks and all sizes in between

This was one of the thousands of cut rocks for sale all over town.

And at night we enjoyed beautiful sunsets, good company, fun fires, and stars.

At night we get to sit by the campfire and watch all the stars. This is a 1 hour exposure with the north star in the center; you can see just how far the stars rotate in that short a time. Again this is for Debbie.

We don't know how long we're going to be here; we're having too much fun to leave! We have a day trip to Mexico planned for later this week, so will include that in our next blog. Just know that we are enjoying RVing full-time more all the time!

To be continued...

Our last days in Borrego Springs and some pictures for Debbie..

We rode our bicycles to a lecture on ravens the other day and on the way back we saw people climbing this hill. It's a lot higher than it looks in this picture.

Dick said he would like to try and do it on foot rather that take the truck up there (LOL). The next day we headed off and found the trail starting up the hill. It was quite a climb with lots of switch-backs and loose rocks but what a sight when we got to the top. The park says (in its literature) that it is a .5 mile hike -- that must be as the crow flies. Nice hike, and Dick was pleased that Jackie could do it (she is not known for her balance, etc., you see).

This is looking down (lower left) at the campground and our rig is in there and across the desert valley to the mountains is our last Blog.

A little bit of a close-up showing just part of the campground. Looking at it from up here it doesn't look like much, but it really is a nice park. We hiked back down and then went to town for groceries and out to a nice dinner at the Red Ocotillo restaurant here in Borrego Springs. (We have US and WA flags flying -- can you find us?)

These following pictures are for Dick's daughter Debbie; she challenged him to show the depth of the stars in a photograph. He is still trying, but needs to find an area where the north star is out and maybe get a little better shot.

Had to try and see what could be done with the moon and a long lens. This is the best that Dick could do with the equipment he has; it was fun trying.

Again with a longer lens but after the full moon was out. He is sitting out on the picnic table with his camera on a tripod. Too bright to try and see what is in the sky with that darn full moon.

The next two were taken tonight before the moon came up. Wanted to get some more but got back to the rig to change batteries and was a little concerned about all the noise out in the desert.

And finally here is the last shot Dick took. It was a 15-minute exposure at F3.8. The stars are not out-of-focus: it's just that there are so many and all at a different brightness. Two minutes after he got back home you could hear a pack of coyotes were he had set up to take these, that was the "noise out in the desert".

We are off in the morning (Wednesday January 14) for about 2 weeks on BLM land (free) near Quartzsite Arizona with 30 to 40 other Montana owners. Should be fun and maybe Dick can get out and try some more time-exposure night shots out in the desert.

To be continued...

Back to the bad lands...

I guess we never learn from our mistakes because yesterday we decided to try again with a "4WD only tour". We headed out and met up with 2 other rigs for a trip out into the desert. The ranger never showed so we decided to venture out on our own and see what we could find. This is an area that has no roads and is in the desert rather than the mountains. Should be no problem compared to the day before. We will tell you in advance that we made it the whole day without any mishaps except at the end of the day heading back to the main road we just about crashed into a very large critter. More about that later; have we peaked your interest?

This is about 20 miles into the desert with nothing growing for miles.

A typical track running up a dry wash. Every corner brings a different geology look. Unbelievable so barren and dry. It was only 61 degrees and it felt like 80, that is until you get in the shade and then it's cool. Would not want to be out here without lots of water.

Someone had some fun creating their style of art. Go back to the last photo and see where this was taken.

We found two areas out in the desert where there are palm groves. One of these was a stopping place for travelers in the 19th century and was one of the few spots where they could get water. You can see here again that the only thing growing is the palms. There was not any surface water, but it must be here or these would die out real fast.

Another view of a palm grove with the dry was road going by it. There is a box tied to two palms that was full of messages from people who have visited this spot. It was used in the 1800's just for this purpose.

We took another road was that we were told was a neat place to go. We went 4 miles up another dry wash and were not excited by what we saw. We got to the end of the trail, parked and walked up the short trail to look over the edge and see this. Our mouths fell open and we backed away from the edge real quick.

We got our picture taken just to give you some idea of how deep, barren and beautiful this really is. Notice that there are not any guard rails at the edge of the dropoff.

This will give you an idea of how deep this is. Yes that's Dick standing on the edge in the distance. If you enlarge this picture and at the top of the road in the distance just left of center is where we are camped. It's just at the base of the mountains in the distance.

This is the critter that was walking across the wash as we headed back to the highway. Glad Dick was able to stop before he did damage to the front end of the truck. Must have been about 5 feet across. So there are large critters out in the desert.

Did I say 5 feet? I think I should have said 5 inches. Either way he/she is big. Go ahead, click on this one and fill up your screen with this harry critter (tarantula?).

To be continued...

A good day and a not so good day...

We are still camping at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Southwest California and really enjoying our stay. It is a beautiful park with great sites that have lots of room to relax. We are surrounded by mountains on 3 sides and about 2 miles from the very small town of Borrego Springs. Here is a shot of our campsite. Please note the blue sky.
We have shown the ocotillo cactus on this blog but this is the first time we found some with flower blooms on them. The bright red flowers are very unique and...

a closer look shows how beautiful they really are. Just had to share this as it's something you would never see back home.

One of the most popular hikes here in the park is the 3 mile roundtrip up and down the valley to Palm canyon. The start of the trip was pretty easy and a well defined trail. Well, that didn't last for long for as soon as we got around the hill on the right it turned into a narrow canyon with lots of large boulders.

I dare you to pick the trail out so you just make your own. This is at about the 1 mile mark and you can just see the top of the Palms in the middle of the picture. Still had to figure out how to get up to it with out crossing the stream several times.

Some places it got a little tight to get through but we made it.

What an interesting site as the only thing growing in this canyon is the palms as a spring starts just above the grove and then disappears back into the ground about a half mile below the grove.

Jackie had to get a shot of Dick on top of another large rock before we started back down.

A last look over our shoulders and it was time to head back to the ranch. This was the good day but...

The next day was another white knuckle drive day. The park offers a "tailgate tour" to various parts of the park with a Ranger, so we thought it would be fun to take the one to "upper coyote canyon". It did say that 4 wheel drive vehicle was required. Keep that thought in mind.

We met up with 4 other rigs and the park ranger about 35 miles from our campsite. We then traveled another 45 minutes to the top of the canyon. We shifted into 4 wheel drive and started into the canyon. The road, if you want to call it that, turned out to be straight down switch back with boulders sticking up at every turn. It was so narrow that with our large turning radius we had problems getting around some (read that "most") corners.

We finally got to the bottom only to be met by a mile of road with heavy bushes growing on both sides of the road and we both cringed as they raked down the side of our truck. We continued on for another few miles but when both running boards rubbed on rocks at the same time we decided the road was too narrow for us so we said goodbye and tried to see if we could get back up the side of the mountain. One good thing if we got stuck, when the other rigs turned around and headed out they had to get us out before they could proceed up the hill.

We stopped in a large wash after the other rigs went on down the road and had lunch. We were the only people in the valley and wow was it quiet. We snooped around the desert and just relaxed. We saw lots of animal tracks, but no animals (or even birds).

It was touch and go getting out as twice Jackie had to get out and direct Dick from side to side as he climbed out of a wash. With the truck pointing straight up in the air it's kind of hard to see where you are going!

I guess you can tell because we are posting this Blog that we finally made it. We did have to go up the mountainside in 4WD low range. And we agreed that in all the years of backroads, this had to be the absolute worst.

This picture was taken at the top where the road was a piece of cake. We stopped at this location because the day before the Ranger was snooping around some rocks here and found indications of it being a old Indian camp.

You are looking straight down into the valley that we had to go into. No the big wide road was not a road but a dry wash. The road we had to travel was that little narrow line in the middle of the picture that looks like a trail. I don't think I would even use this as a hiking trail!

This is the pile of rocks that the Indians camped in a very long time ago. We found large rocks where they ground roots and other food stuff.

Next time, remind us when it says "4 wheel drive required" to stay home (they really mean jeeps)!

To be continued...