Back to Quartzsite

We drove back up to La Mesa RV and met Bob Tiffen, the owner of Tiffen Motorhomes. He is very gracious and completely stands behind his product.
On the way back we stopped at the Stone Cabin. It was apparently built in 1766 by 2 Frenchmen who mined gold and silver from the mountains behind. You can see the fireplace in the right corner and I have no idea what they did for a roof.

Bocci, wash and swap meet

While I did the wash today, Ron played bocci. They have a nice grass court in front of one of the lakes. I hung my sheets on the line and we had quite a gusty wind at times. We checked out the swap meet which is gigantic but nice, all under a roof. Prices are cheaper here than other places.
This RV Park is very nice, with many activities. There are 10 different old fashioned wagons of various uses, scattered around the grounds for a little bit of history.

Down to Yuma

We drove down to Yuma today and you feel like Arizona is just a big rock pile, stones and boulders everywhere. Yuma is beside the Colorado River in the southwest corner of AZ, the best place to cross this river since pre-historic times. The first railway bridge was in 1877. The 'Ocean to Ocean' highway bridge was built in 1915.
This town is recognized by the Guinness book of World Records as the sunniest place on earth with 339 bright days per year and less than 3 inches of rainfall annually. Normal Jan temperatures are 70 degrees. It's called the lettuce capital of the world and they get 4 crops off each field a year. It's fun being up high in the Motorhome and seeing the fields and irrigation systems.

Out for a Drive

When we left the Desert Bar, we continued up 95 North to Lake Havasu City, home of the London Bridge. We had a very good meal at the Chinese Buffet right beside it. Leaving, we drove back down to Parker where we crossed over the Parker Dam which is extremely narrow on purpose, with guards and barriers on both sides. They say the Colorado River is one of the most dammed rivers in the world and is very important for all the irrigation that makes these neighboring states such large food producers.
We stopped at Emerald Cove, one of our campgrounds which we haven’t stayed at yet. It had about 700 spaces, right on the river and looked very well kept. We passed the town of Earp which is on the map but only consists of a small post office. We crossed over the river again and went back down the Parker to Ehrenberg road to our campground. It was a very interesting day.

The Desert Bar

Carol and Roger are here also and we've been playing cards and lunching at La Mesa RV where we bought last year.Today they took us to the most amazing place today. It’s the Nellie E. Saloon but known to all, as the desert bar. You go up the Ehrenberg to Parker road and take a gravel/rock road, with a sign saying Primitive Road, for about 5 miles winding into the hills where this establishment is carved out of the terrain on 7 different levels. You go in through 2 little mountains with a 1927 Olds car ahead and the church spire in the background. There is no power, just solar and generator. The dune buggy and ATM crowd also pull in. It’s open from high noon to sundown Sat and Sun and there must have been 400 people there having hamburgers, hot dogs or chili, listening to the band. Here's where we sat, next to the dance floor and the band with the mountains and blue sky behind them. It was very entertaining. The church has a 6 x 6 entry, where we're standing and the sides are only 4 inches thick, a facade.

Rocks and Gems

This town is just amazing during this yearly 5 day Gem and mineral show. There are 525 spaces inside and ou,t selling rock related minerals. There is also everything from beads, clothes, serious vendors to RV sales. Here you see smaller lumps of rock, giant ones and the finished products.

We’ve had lunch at La Mesa RV where we bought the Motorhome this March. It’s a free lunch and retired people line up to have it.

Quartzsite, Arizona

We came down to Ehrenberg Tuesday, staying at the Colorado River Oasis RV. We go up to Quartzsite (12 minutes) and have been looking around the Main Event, Tyson Wells and all the mammoth sales areas in the town. It's the 43rd Annual Pow Wow and Gem Show known to be the largest rock and gem event in the world. There are more than 400 booths which fill the nine acre showground. It's a small town year round but it is said the 4 million snowbirds flock here at this time. There are lot of characters here. The camel beside Ron is made of old wheel rims. The saguaro cactus behind him is very old, as you can see by it's huge size. It got so big that the tops were cut off. Ron's sitting behind 2 locals on the main drag.

A Day in History

Today we watched Barack Obama sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America, the first Black person in this position. The Inauguration was positive and cheered by many around the world. His speech was realistic and positive, with plans to remake America by using hard work and good old fashioned values. He challenged everyone to take responsibility for themselves and their country. It was interesting to think that less than 60 years ago, a black person couldn't be served in a restaurant in some parts of the States and today this family moved in the White House, which was built by slaves.

The Historic Route 66

In 1927, the Federal Government formed the National Highway System and people from 8 states formed a Route 66 Highway Association to expedite the building of their highway. The theme name, Main Street of America, was adopted and by 1937, Route 66 was paved from Chicago to Santa Monica in California. It is also called "The Mother Road" and 'Will Rogers Highway' and this western section of the Historic Route 66, from Ash Fork to Topock, is the longest continuous piece left and attracts people from all over the world. There are still many attractions from the 'heydays', Wigwam village, Jackrabbit Trading Post, historic downtowns, old west gunslingers amid the desert terrain.

While we were in Kingman, I visited the Route 66 museum. It’s a salute to this American Icon, with early settlers in a wagon, a 50’s Studebaker and lots of memorabilia telling the storey of travel started on Indigenous trade routes along the 35^th parallel to the American excursions of the 1950’s.

Kingman, Arizona

We went to Kingman AZ today, only 40 minutes east and played tourist. Lt. Beale first trudged across the present site with his experimental U.S. Camel Corp, surveying a wagon road along the 35th parallel, which was originally native Indian trade routes. The town was established in the 1880's by Lewis Kingman who was locating the route for the Santa Fe Railway. The first train pulled into town in 1883. I visited the Route 66 Museum and the Mohave Museum of History and Art, which chronicles the story of the settlement of Mohave County. It showed the prehistoric culture of Indigenous tribes to early mining and ranching, through to the push westward by rail, right up to the automobile age. There were about 40 mines in the area. Both museums were very good.
The wagon depicts the early pioneers who crossed the country for a new start. The Indian blankets designs show ones from the different areas. Andy Devine grew up here, the actor that was in the Wild Bill Hickok TV series and even has a street named after him.

Colorado River

We've had two fun days with Glen and Leah who left this morning on their way to Hemet.
We gambled, enjoyed good food and went to ther movie Bride Wars, which wasn't much.
When we were out today, I took this picture of the river at a park and later when we were sitting outside the motorhome, a road runner came strolling by. I never even knew it was a real bird until I came to California in 1976. I thought it was just a cartoon that my kids watched. They sure are getting fewer though.

On The Road Again - to Laughlin

We're off to Laughlin for a week and got a pleasant surprise when we went up #177 past Desert Center, new pavement although the road is still like a roller coaster, up and down as far as the eye can see. This town was started by Don Laughlin when he bought an old boarded up motel and 6 acres on the beautiful Colorado River and opened the Riverside Resort in 1966. Today his Casino employs over 2000 people with an annual payroll of over $50,000,000 and the town is a strip of Casinos all along the river where you can ride little 'riverboats' that take you from one end to the other. We view the casinos from our campground.

Happy Canada Day

We had a very fun filled Canada Day, celebrating our 142nd birthday. goodness, we're youngsters!
Our park had a pancake breakfast where \i helped serve and it was delicious. there was also a lunch and lots of bocci and games. there was a BBQ also but we were off to Cj and
Joan's for the Celebration and White Rock put on fireworks. We all had a great time together and it's the last time I'll see the crowd.

Oasis Date Gardens in Thermal

I drove down to Thermal today, about 6 miles SE. Here on 245 acres, is a huge date farm. I enjoyed a date shake made with real chopped dates, not the crystals like Shields but found I prefer Shields. This was so thick you had to eat it with a spoon. They have a nice store, history area, restaurant and gift shop with a picnic area under the palms. You can see some of the ancient machinery and very large sorting and packing area to ship dates worldwide. One thing very interesting was a picture of the invention of the original farmer, a ladder on a round steel track so he could scoot around the whole palm tree to pick the dates.
We've loved our week in Indio, sunsets nearly every night. At this time of year we face south and enjoy the sun every day.

FMCA Rally

We have been very busy here. We went to a presentation on the Copper Canyon tour in Mexico with Fantasy Caravans. It is 4 times larger than the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It sounds very interesting with trips to a Mennonite community, local Indians living in caves, colonial villages and more. We played cards at night with Carol and Roger.
Barry and Joan came down today and we went to the Family Motor Coach Association Rally at the fairgrounds. There were many interesting exhibits and we purchased an SMI braking system we need for the car. They will install it tomorrow at our site. We ate lunch sitting on bales of hay with fake thatched umbrellas for shade, which we needed for the 75 degree heat. The theme was about Egypt so the participants for decorating their vehicles in that way.

Snake Sticks and Goodbye to Friends

Patio sales are every Wednesday morning here. I rode around on my bike and got a new stainless steel coffee travel mug for 50 cents. It's from Fantasy Casino and is bright metallic purple. Time to get away from my old rubber one.
One lady was selling these snake sticks for hiking. You thump them on the ground as you go along because snakes can't hear but they'll feel the vibrations and hopefully stay away from you.
We drove back up to Desert Hot Springs and met the old gang at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars - like a Legion) for Tacos and Beer. This is the last time we'll see 2 of the couples until the fall as we go in different directions. We're standing in front of an old war tank.

On the Road Again - to Indio

We left the gang behind and today we're off to Indio, an affiliate AOR park, 15 miles down the I 10. I followed Ron in the car, hardly worth hooking up for, and you can see the valley we're in here with low mountains surrounding the Coachella Valley. We fueled at the Flying J, a commercial truck stop with very easy in and out, where Diesel is now $ 2.17 per gallon. That certainly helps the budget. We checked into Indian Waters and picked a spot facing due south because it's still getting down to 4o degrees F, quite cool.

Happy New Year everyone

We watched the 120th annual Tournament of Roses Parade this morning as we always do. It is about 2 hours long and is a fascinating spectacle. Every single item on the floats must be natural and the colours are from flowers, lots of rose petals, grasses, coconut, wheat, etc. You can see the detail by double clicking on the picture and see how large it is when you compare it to the crowds behind. It takes 3,000 - 13,000 hours to build the floats and people are already planning what they'll do for next year. There were floats from Alaska to China. The drivers are driving blind and have a 'spotter' peeking out to say go 2 inches left or turn at the corners.
Next, we celebrated the New Year with a champagne Brunch. What a joy to be in the sunshine with good friends.