TRAVEL WITH THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

RELAXING DAY IN THE DESERT WEST OF YUMA

We are on California time now so we’ll have a slight adjustment period for a day or two as we move ahead one hour.

MORNING WALK & NICE TO SEE TREES BIGGER THAN US AGAIN

As soon as the sun had cleared the tops of the Cargo Muchacho mountains this morning our rig was filled with warming rays of sunlight. The abundance of yellow flowering creosote bushes cast long shadows across the desert floor. Sun filtered through the larger green barked Palo Verde trees. Skies to the east slowly turned from burnt orange to pale blue with not a cloud in the sky. Off to our west we could see the high sandy ridge line of the eastern most reaches of the Great Imperial Sand Dunes. Think, ‘Lawrence of Arabia when you think of the Imperial Sand Dunes. We will be traveling right through them on our way to Borrego Springs shortly.

THE DESERT HOLDS MANY MEMORIES, MYSTERIES & SECRETS

Listening to the Yuma news last night they talked about the yearly death toll in the sand dunes. I was not surprised at the high number. Lack of water for people? No!! Exposure to the elements? No!! I will give you a hint. Most deaths & injuries are young males………… Mix immaturity, alcohol & speed together & you have come up with the answer. These sand dunes are a playground to thousands upon thousands of people & especially the younger folks. The majority of them are week-end warriors pouring out of large cities to rip around in the sand dunes with their mechanical metal monsters. No traffic lights, yellow lined divided highways, roads or caution signs out there. No rules or regulations, just countless numbers of dirt bikes, dune buggies, ATV’s & whatever a motor, transmission, grease, oil & tires will produce. Racing every which way at blinding & careless speeds these vehicles tear across the dunes. The collisions at the tops of sand dunes are inevitable & bone busting. But, it is the way it is here in California & like I’ve said before….it is the way of the wild & wooly west.

No rigs or people near us at all but we can see a few RV’s about half a mile or more away & that is acceptable. Heard a familiar sound in the sky on our walk & saw a low flying hang glider far off to the north. His glider’s sail colors brought back instant memories of a year ago around now when myself & some other RV’ers had to race to the aid of a downed flyer who was in trouble with the big wind gusts picking up his machine & rolling it over. You can see my blog about that incident at the Clark Dry Lake Bed near Borrego Springs Ca. on Feb. 19th 2010. TODAY I HAD TO RUN VERY FAST

Our border collie Checkers needs a special kind of dog food that can only be bought at a Veterinarians. We had an idea where the Vet was in Yuma yesterday but with our total 53’ length & heavy traffic I wasn’t into driving around trying to find it. We decided to stay here at Ogilbe Road for a second night so unhooked the Jeep this morning. Kelly headed the short 7 or 8 miles back into Yuma for the dog food & I’m sure some shopping:))

Can’t tell you how nice it is being back in full boon docking mode again out here in the quiet Yuma desert. And especially after a couple days traveling & banging around in the city of Yuma. Traffic, noise & people everywhere. I like Yuma but a city is a city is a city!! From I-8 you can see RV Park after RV Park as this is one of the most popular RV destinations in the Southwest. Kelly & I both thank our lucky stars we have have chosen the RV boon docking lifestyle we have. Might not be most people’s cup of tea but it sure is ours:))

We received that Microsoft Streets & Tips email that so many others received as well last week. I haven’t heard of any repercussions (trial offers) from it so we decided to send for our 5 copies today. They will be delivered to the hardware store in Borrego Springs. For any of you folks in the Borrego Springs area that is where you can get your stuff shipped to. Just drop in & let them know you are expecting something. Great little hardware store as well.

Took my new Nikon D90 for a little desert walk this afternoon & quickly realized I had some more tweaking to do. I have a preference for rich full saturated & punchy colors & shy away from that slightly overexposed brighter look. I’m on the other side of the beam & prefer to underexpose my photos a bit & then work with them in Picasa 3.8 from there.

With our recent slide problems the question has been asked, would it be better not to have slides in an RV? My opinion on that is is a simple, ‘No!!’ Slide problems have diminished greatly from the early days & if you figure how many RV slides are used problem free every single day compared to the occasional slide problem there is no comparison. It’s the old ‘plane crash’ syndrome. Thousands upon thousands of flights every day you never hear about but as soon as a plane crashes, flying is touted as unsafe. Personally, under our present configuration of 2 adults & 3 dogs I would never buy an RV without slides. The daily advantage of extra space far outweighs an occasional, if ever slide problem.

Kelly was back to the rig about 2 with the dog food & said she never had any problems getting around Yuma. Yuma reminds me of Sierra Vista a bit with it’s wide streets & low profile skyline. We have always loved southwest architecture with it’s shapes, designs & bold colors.

Looks like we’ve got us a bit of weather heading into the area so we’re trying to decide whether to hunker down here west of Yuma or head for Borrego Springs. Winds picking up here right now……..

SO GREAT TO SEE THE COLOR GREEN AGAIN

GROANER’S CORNER:(( The eastern lady who was all ready to take a horseback ride said to the cowboy, “Can you get me a nice gentle pony?” “Shore,” said the cowboy. “What kind of a saddle do you want, English or western?” “What’s the difference?” asked the lady. “The western saddle has a horn on it,” said the cowboy. “If the traffic is so thick here in the mountains that I need a horn on my saddle, I don’t believe I want to ride.” And did you hear about the bow legged Cowboy who was fired for not being able to keep his calves together.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Street & Trips,Sierra Vista,Yuma,Nikon D90,Borrego Springs California,Palo Verde trees,Cargo Muchacho Mountains,Boon Docking,Bayfield Bunch

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

OUR SLIDE DIDN’T WORK, & THEN IT DID…..AND NOW??

KELLY HEADS INTO DILLIARDS

Thought we had a reasonably quiet spot Monday night north of Yuma….until it got dark & the first airplane took off!!!!!! Looking at a map earlier I knew we were next to a military installation of sorts but never realized it was probably a night flight base for training pilots on small propeller driven aircraft or something. Well anyway, that was my very, very tired theory this morning. Oh, & as so many RV’ers know, there is always a distant train whistle somewhere in the night as well & our location Monday night was no exception.

YOU WILL SEE THIS ARMY TANK BY THE ROAD WHERE THE BLM LAND IS THAT WE STAYED AT MONDAY NIGHT

The Verizon signal was a bit slow at our VFW north Yuma overnighter spot so we were up & on the road early back into Yuma Tuesday morning. Kelly had some Skype calls to make & needed a stronger signal. Hung out in a Walmart Parking Lot until we were ready to travel the remaining miles to CJ’s Repairs. Picked up some fuel as well. And where are the gas prices highest in Arizona right now? Why, Yuma of course!! And who needed gas this morning before crossing into California today? Why, the Bayfield Bunch of course!! Anyway we filled up for $3.29 a gallon.

JUST HAD TO STOP & TAKE A PICTURE OF SOME GREEN GREEN GRASS JUST LIKE HOME:))

It was the usual bumbles & fumbles trying to find CJ’s Repairs buried somewhere in the heart of Yuma but with a little dead reckoning, some hastily scribbled notes from Map Quest & our GPS dumping us into a Yuma suburb we did finally muddle our way through the morning traffic to our destination.

‘GARMIN GERTI’ OUR GPS TANGLED US UP IN A YUMA SUBURB THIS MORNING

We arrived at 10:30 for our 11 a.m appointment & had a young fellow in the coach checking things out by 11:45. Oh, I should mention that the slide has been working perfectly since leaving Gila Bend Monday morning. Goes out OK & comes in OK & of course worked splendidly for the mechanic guy. He checked the wires under the dash, pulled the fuse panel & checked the slide motor wire contacts for a good ground. Everything worked El Perfecto. He did show us where the motor is located & a small switch to turn off in case we have to hand crank the slide in. He then showed us where the nut thingy is to get a socket wrench on to retract the slide.

AND THIS IS CJ'S RV REPAIR SPECIALISTS, YUMA

Fat chance of AL reaching into that barely accessible space beside the generator with a socket wrench that he doesn’t even have. Mike the mechanic wished us luck & said ‘no charge.’ Figured that was mighty darn nice of CJ’s Repair to do that considering shop labor was posted at $90 an hour & the fellow spent nearly have an hour checking things out & explaining slide procedures to us. We felt greatly relieved to think our slide problem may have corrected itself…..but, our relief wasn’t to last!!

We mashed our way through some more Yuma traffic to a really nice shopping mall we had been to several times before. Yuma Palms is right beside I-8 in the city’s west end. We’ve been there half a dozen times before & it is probably one of the nicest landscaped malls I’ve seen with it’s tall Palm trees, green as green grass, cactus, agave & lots of flowering shrubs & trees. Kelly had a couple stores to look in & we grabbed a bite to eat in a place called Famous Dave’s BBQ.

Food was fine but not a lot of it & we both agreed the TEXAS ROADHOUSE was better in Sierra Vista. Had myself a short nap while Kelly rambled around in another store & then it was pedal to the metal about 1 o’clock California time as we headed west on I-8 across the State Line from Arizona to California.

THINK I’LL PASS ON THAT DEVIL’S SPIT…….

Didn’t take us long to get ourselves out of the big city & back out to the desert where this scruffy bunch belongs & loves to call home. Turned off I-8 onto Ogilbe Road just a few miles past Pilot Knob. About 4 miles later we pulled off Ogilbe road onto the hard packed desert floor, found us a quiet spot & shut er all down. Having been up since 2:45 a.m. again I barely had enough energy to pull myself out of the driver’s seat but what a relief it was to step out of the coach to the silence & greenery of the California desert. Big sunny skies with a slight warm breeze blowing. Now, what could be better than that. Well, I’m about to tell you what could have been better than that!!

FARM WORKERS HARVESTING CABBAGES WEST OF YUMA…WE ARE HEADED FOR THAT MOUNTAIN RANGE ON THE LEFT

A SLIDE THAT WORKS….THAT’S WHAT!!!! Despite being level & having all the bases covered our slide would not work again. I was even too tired to get mad about it. Kelly tapped on the slide motor like Mike said, but nothing. I began to resign myself to the possibility of the slide never working again. So much so that I moved a chair & footstool outside to make for more room. But then, we nearly created a second serious problem for ourselves.

I had gone outside to prop up a bin door below the slide in hopes of maybe figuring out how to turn the nut that would manually put the slide out. Needed a second stick to prop up another bin door beside the first so walked around to the other side of the rig to get a propping stick out of a bin. Heard Kelly holler something from inside the rig so stopped & walked back around the Jeep. There was our slide out about a foot & wedged against the open bin door. Awwwww nuts!!!! Unbeknownst to me, Kelly had started unscrewing the slide switch panel inside the coach, tried the switch again & the slide went out about a foot & jammed against the bin door I had propped open. Now what!!!!

OUR BOON DOCKING SPOT JUST OFF OGILBE ROAD WEST OF YUMA

Luckily for us Kelly stopped the slide when she heard the funny scraping noise & by retracting the slide again it freed up the bin door. No damage:)) We sure dodged a bullet on that one. Closed the bin door & Kelly hit the switch again with the slide coming all the way out this time & that is where it will remain until we decide to leave here. Now we’re wondering about a loose or corroded wire in the slide switch panel. Maybe a good blowing out with some compressed air might help a contact point or something. If the slide won’t retract this time we may just have to resign ourselves to the fact we may have to stay here in this desert just a few miles east of the Imperial Sand Dunes………….forever!!

TERRI had a question about how I took the photo of Kelly at the computer desk if I was driving the Motor Home Monday. With the advent of ‘Auto Focus’ in cameras years ago photography has become much easier for people. With my camera set on ‘Automatic’ using a wide angle 18mm lens setting I was simply able to reach my right arm around & shoot behind me in the general direction of where Kelly was sitting at the computer. No need to try looking through the viewfinder. Same idea as shooting through the windshield while driving. Point, shoot, & crop later. The wide angle lens takes in a wide view & all I had to do in my Picasa 3.8 photo program was ‘Straighten’ out my horizon & do a bit of ‘Cropping.’ Remember, the photo your camera returns to you is not the photo you have to accept. You have control over that photo with your photo editing program. Take the time & get to know your program!!

NOTICE WE HAVEN’T GOT THE SLIDE OUT YET!!!!

GROANER’S CORNER:((

I want to go back to a time when decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming "do over!"
"Race issues" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly."
Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
Being old referred to anyone over 20.
The net on a tennis court was the perfect height to play volleyball and rules didn't matter.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties".
It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.
It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event.
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot.
Nobody was prettier than Mom.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park.
A foot of snow was a dream come true.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare." Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute ads for action figures.
No shopping trip was complete unless a new toy was brought home.
"Oly-oly-oxen-all-in-free" made perfect sense.
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles. The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
War was a card game.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have had a great life.

Technorati Tags: Ogilbe Road,Yuma,Yuma Palms,Dilliards,Texas Roadhouse,VFW,Walmart,CJ's Repair Specialists,BLM land

Monday, February 21, 2011

WE ARRIVED ON THE 11:10 TO YUMA

Woke up in full travel mode this morning so skitter scatter let’s get at er:)) Had me a rare good night’s sleep for a change & that’s always a big plus to the beginning of any day. Yahooey Louie:))

FREIGHT TRAINS ARE ENDLESS IN THESE PARTS

Our slide retracted perfectly of course almost lulling us into a false sense of security & making us think we might not have to stop in Yuma to have the problem looked at. How easy to pretend everything would be fine now...until the next time it wouldn’t work again & possibly out in the middle of nowhere. We have had many thoughtful suggestions both from blog commenters & RV Net Forum folks. We think Palms RV comes close with the problem maybe having something to do with the wiring & switch in the emergency brake area. No point in me trying to wedge myself under the steering wheel between the seat & brake pedal. I did not need the embarrassment of having the local Gila Bend fire department coming out & extricating me kicking & screaming from the rig.

Rolled out of the Elk’s Lodge at 8:40 with a quick stop at McDonalds for our usual Brussel Sprouts, Asparagus, Spinach & Lettuce breakfast. Nice sunny morning drive down to Yuma in very light traffic. So nice to see green stuff growing again!! I was reminded once again how great it is to have a Motor Home as Kelly brought up an ice tea for me. Big huge view of the southwest right out the large Bayview like window, washroom & kitchen facilities on board plus room to get up & walk around. Roomy for Kelly to work away on-line at the computer desk as well. Love the height we have over traffic around us & Motor Homes are a comfy breeze to drive. And the doggy guys love all the spacious room too:))

KELLY AT WORK WHILE WE ARE ROLLING DOWN THE ROAD

ASCENDING THE EAST SIDE OF THE MOHAWK MOUNTAINS

DESCENDING THE WEST SIDE OF THE MOHAWK MOUNTAINS INTO YUMA STRAIGHT AHEAD ON THE VALLEY FLOOR

We rolled down the west side of the Mohawk Mountains into the east side of Yuma at 11:10 a.m. heading for the mall at South Frontage Rd & Fortuna Ave. Been here before & Kelly wanted to get some groceries at Frys. A fair few RV’s in the parking lot because AL’s RV Center is located here as well.

Both store & service areas were crowded as we slipped in to talk about the slide. Earliest they could look at it was Thursday & even that time slot was questionable. Saw a sign saying shop labor…$102.00 an hour. Yeouch!!

In the meantime Kelly had called another place recommended by RV’ers on the RV NET FORUM called CJ’s Repairs & we have an appointment for 11 a.m. Tuesday morning. I am far more comfortable having someone repair this problem than me trying to put a piece of duct tape & clothespin on something. A troublesome RV slide is nothing to be lightly messed with because if it stays stuck in the open position somewhere when we are out in the middle of nowhere then it is out in the middle of nowhere where we will remain stuck……….10-4!!

The area north of Yuma along highway 95 is another area we are familiar with & knew there was a boon docking place along the way. Lot of other RV’ers at the V?? BLM spot but it was OK for the night & not too far from our morning appointment. This place appears to have been a large gravel pit on the west side of highway 95 at one time. There is an army tank sitting right outside the V?? building & all the RV parking is just in behind. Probably about a hundred rigs scattered about in this small area….Yikes!!

WE WERE LUCKY TO GET THIS SPOT WITH A BIT OF SPACE…MOST OF THE RV’S WERE ALL HUDDLED TOGETHER AT PICTURE’S TOP RIGHT

Found us a semi acceptable spot with one rig from BC about 30 feet in front of us with no one on either side or behind. Sometimes ya just gotta bite the bullet & accept things for the way they are. Hope the guy in the rig ahead of us isn’t like me & is now inside grumbling away about having a rig too close to him. We may end up in a 40 foot face off throwing our big blustery cowboy hats at each other……D’ya think!!

Red, over there in that California place made a good point in his comment on my blog a few days ago referring to me saying something about maybe not going up to Death Valley because of the California gas prices. He pointed out that only days before we were seriously working on buying a small 40 acre ranch in Arizona so why was I complaining about the price of gas in California. Well, that’s a great piece of logic on Red’s part & he is absolutely right. I sometimes just get myself waaaay out of perspective. Key word there was….’sometimes:))’ We did actually meet Red & his lovely wife Jeanie last winter in Arizona.

Our afternoon was leisurely spent in the rig bonking around on the computers & just keeping a low profile in our temporary RV neighborhood. I have a partial view down rig row & it looks like everyone else is inside having a leisurely day as well. Guess that is what a lot of us older folks seem to do rather well at times.