MIXING IT UP WITH THE VENDORS IN QUARTZITE

THIS VENDOR (orange shirt) HAD ALL HIS GRANDKIDS PICTURES IN THE ADS ON THE BOOTH

We sure are liking these warmer night time temperatures over here closer to the California State line.  Sure cuts down on the propane heating bill.  With the recent rains there is a fair amount of desert greenery around especially along the edges & down in the washes. (creek beds)  Nice to see some new scenery on our morning walk this morning too.

   

WALKING ALONG A DRY WASH AS THE DESERT BEGINS TO GREEN

Had a better night's sleep & didn't feel quite so cranky this morning so figured I might be able to put up with myself OK if I went with Kelly into Quartzite this morning.   Main objective was a new wind sock pole & told Kelly on the way in we had 12.7 minutes to get in, get the pole, & get out.  She didn't think that was funny so took me to McDonalds to humor me.  It worked:))  Some groceries after that & then into the shopping melee we went.  Crowds weren't nearly as bad as other years though & it wasn't like 'bumper cars' jostling around banging into people all the time.  We missed all that manic mayhem by about a week!!  Only had one little bluster when I couldn't immediately find a convenient parking spot like I thought I should.

                               

                                  OUR LITTLE HOME IN THE DESERT

Meandered around a bit until we reached the flags & poles vendor that we have been to for the past 3 years in a row.  The nice old fellow, Sam, & his staff were still there & he thought he might have remembered us.  Well, he might have remembered Kelly:))  I've never really been too memorable you know.  Picked ourselves out a new pole & told Sam we'd be back next year for another one after I step on & break my third pole in a row probably.  Said he'd put us in the book as reliable 'repeat customers!!'

IT’S SAM, OUR YEARLY WIND SOCK POLE MAN:))

About 40 minutes of browsing was about enough for me so Kelly left me sitting on a chair near the road like a good little boy.  Well, after about 10 minutes that plastic chair got kinda hard so I headed back to the car & tried to squeeze myself in the door after some inconsiderate & obviously skinny jerk parked so close to my door it was nearly impossible.  But, I sucked it up & did it.

             

SOME COLORFUL SIGHTS ALONG VENDORS ROW (click on pics to enlarge)

Kelly was back in half an hour & we drove over to the other side of vendors row on Tyson Wells & had a look at few more things.  Popped into a nice little eatery called Bad Boy & I would recommend this one.  This is where a lot of the vendors & working people come.  It's nice & clean with good food.  It's across the road from 'The Gambler' & just east a bit.

                                            

WAITING FOR SOME ‘EATS’ AT BAD BOY………….

We were back to the rig by 2 & found a note in our door from a fellow we had met a year ago when we were here.  He's been following our blog & when I said last night we were in the same spot as last year Peter & his wife Patty knew exactly where we were.  We'll give them a buzz later.

At precisely 2:37 this afternoon our onboard visual EB (eyeball) radar detected 2 bogeys fast approaching our RV space from 11 o'clock high.  I was up on the roof working on a vent cover & heard them coming.  Kelly was down below on the computer & immediately sounded the alarm.  Looked to be a big fifth wheel followed closely by a small Class C.  Within seconds she scrambled our first line of defense.   3 F-16 furry dog fighters roared out of the motorhome in full afterburner mode & turned to attack the approaching bogeys head on.  Squadron leader Max led the charge with his 2 wingmen (wingdogs) Checkers & Max on either side.  They all opened fire simultaneously at long range instantly scoring direct barking hits on both bogeys because I saw a drivers side window going up.  Both vehicles immediately banked to the right breaking off their approach as our F16 furry fighting dogs delivered a full broadside of barks to the vehicles as they skimmed by on our port side & kept on going.  Thought I saw the Class C trailing some smoke.  Our first line of defense had saved us again.   We welcomed the tired crews as they came trotting back to the motorhome & congratulated them all on another job well done.  They were soon back in their favorite spots & sound asleep.  Bravo guys, you saved our peace & serenity once again:))

Later in the afternoon a couple of ultra lites flew over & that reminded me of a post I wrote while we were boondocked here back on January 4th of 2008.  I called that post, AN AVIATOR WAVES FROM THE SKY.  It was also the time we took out & sold all our Motorhome furniture too.  But, that's another story.

                           

CAN YOU SEE THE GREMLINS FACE IN THIS PIECE OF KNARLED DESERT WOOD & AN AVIATOR FLYS OVER IN THE MORNING SKY

And a big welcome to Ken & Nanette, our latest followers.  Welcome aboard folks & thanks for traveling along with, The Bayfield Bunch:))

No idea how long we'll stay here but Kelly's headed back into the Q tomorrow morning for some more of that there browsing stuff.  Not me, I'm staying put right here in the quiet desert & plan to get caught up on a stack of emails that have piled up.  I always feel bad when I don't get right back to people with answers to questions or comments on things.  I have even slipped a bit on my blog reading & am still only half way through my National Geographic Astronomy book that I started a very long time ago.  By the time I get to the end I'll not have remembered the beginning!!

SUNSET OVER THE DOME ROCK MOUNTAINS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A blonde said, 'I was worried that my Mechanic might try to rip me off.   I was relieved when he told me all I needed was turn signal fluid.'

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

QUARTZITE ARIZONA……..WE’RE BACK!!

Awake & up at 4 a.m.  again so it has turned out to be another long & kinda grumpy day.  Despite the traffic noise from nearby I-8 during the night I had slept fine until Max let me know he wanted out.  Unlike the ranch, there is no secure coyote proof fencing here so when it's dark outside & one of the guys have to go out, I go out with them.  It was an RV Park just a few miles east of where we were that I saw 2 coyotes cruise past the rig early one morning a couple of years ago.  Had litte Motormouse been outside  by herself they would have got her.  One has to be soooooo careful out here about that sort of thing.

PHOTO BY KELLY

First order of day before heading out was to fix an annoying problem that had totally bugged us Sunday all the way from the ranch to the campground west of Casa Grande.  Awhile back Kelly had picked up a couple deer whistle alert things that people put on the bumpers of their cars to supposedly alert deer with it's high frequency.  Last week I decided to put these 2 things on the motorhome but of course we don't have a bumper or flat level spot on the front of the rig.  Had me a look around & decided to put them near the side view mirror arms where they joined the coach.  Minutes after leaving the ranch Sunday morning I heard a whistling sound & immediately thought it was coming from the engine compartment.  Didn't take me long to imagine all kinds of worse case scenarios so when I reached a stop sign I put the transmission in neutral & revved the engine expecting the whistle to increase with the engine revs.  But, there wasn't even a whistling sound until after I had started down the road again.  Most annoying.  And then it dawned on me.....it was the deer alert whistles sitting near the mirror arms close to the open windows.  I knew that the sticky stuff they were attached with was a 'forever' thing so figured when we reached our destination later in the day I would have to dynamite them off.  Well, here's what I didn't know!!  Kelly found that the whistles simply pivoted in their base & they could be effortlessly turned around out of the wind.  Time taken for Kelly to reposition the two alert whistles.....30 seconds.  Time taken for those whistles to totally drive us nuts all the way from the ranch to the campground..... 5 & a half hours!!!!

High cloud cover with a haze in the air made for a lackluster morning drive west to Gila Bend.  The normally beautiful mountains were distant frumpy looking hulks lacking their usual picturesque detail.  At times the haze took on a brown hue suggesting big city pollution but there are no big cities around here.  Phoenix was too far behind us to affect the weather way out here.  No wind to carry any pollution either so don't know where it came from.  Their is a nuclear power plant near Tonopah but the only thing I saw coming out of it's stacks was what appeared to be clouds of white steam.

                            

KELLY’S BUSY WORKING AT HER DEERPARK LODGE JOB FAR FROM HOME

Stopped at a Shell station on the north side of Gila Bend for propane, water, & a 6" tuna sub from Subway.  There are 2 Shell stations in Gila Bend & both of them are well known to RV'ers for their water, dump stations, gas, diesel, propane, & eats, etc.  Yep, there's a McDonalds in town too.  Both Shell stations have big paved parking lots for large rigs now & there are RV Parks close at hand.  Gila Bend is like an oasis for travelers on their long journeys to & from the west coast & points east like Phoenix, Tucson, Memphis, & New York city, etc.  A very popular & convenient stop for RV folks.

Decided on the Buckeye route so headed north from Gila Bend on highway 85 up to I-10 & made a left for Quartzite.  The cloud cover thickened & almost threatened rain a few times making it kind of a gloomy day.  However, we were heartened by the traffic heading east over on the other side of the median because it seemed like about 4 of every 10 vehicles going by were RV's.  That brightened our day immensely because we knew they were all pouring out of Quartzite.  And the more rigs leaving the Q meant more room for us when we got there.  D'ya think word got around that the Bayfield Bunch was headed for town!!  Having been in Quartzite the past 3 years in a row we knew only too well what awaited us there but this year we were going in after the big 'dust up in the desert' & were hoping for much quieter times.  When we came over the ridge east of the Q & looked ahead out over the valley we knew we were right.  Instead of a massive sea of white dots we could immediately see there was more Mother Earth visible than white dots. 

CASTLE DOME MOUNTAINS

Took the first exit into Q & rolled downtown to quiet streets with little traffic & no congestion.  What a pleasant treat that was for us.  Left at the main intersection & headed south on 95 for about 5 miles to a familiar road, turned right & turned right again into the hard packed shale like stone desert.  How nice to see only a couple dozen rigs scattered about over a large area compared to the hundreds & hundreds & hundreds that are usually jammed in here.  Headed for the farthest corner of the area about a mile in & coincidentally found the exact same spot we were in last year while here.  Nearest rig is about a quarter mile away so I think maybe we'll be able to handle that.  Anything closer than that is absolutely not acceptable!!!!

 

OUR SITE FOR A FEW DAYS SOUTH OF QUARTZITE

On the afternoon of February 4th, 2009 while boondocked near Sierra Vista Arizona I climbed up on the rig's roof & put the solar panels down before our departure the following morning to our new ranch sitting job near McNeal Arizona.  Little did I know that it would be nearly one year to the day before I would be back up on that roof putting those solar panels up again.  And today was that day.  After setting up the Star Choice dish & setting out some tables & chairs I scooted up the ladder (ok, so I hauled myself up the ladder) took a few pics, & then set about putting the two panels up, which reminds me I have an email to send to someone who had inquired about our solar installation.

                                 

PANELS DOWN FEB 4/09                                      PANELS UP FEB 1/10

Been awhile since we've had our full blown boondocking heads on so we are slowly transitioning once again from shore based electricity & water to what is called, 'dry camping.'  Water conservation now becomes more important as does the use of lights etc.  Although with our solar set-up we see little difference from plugged in electricity to solar produced electric.  We do everything pretty much the same except we run the generator for a few minutes in the morning while the coffee perks.  Helps give the 4 solar batteries a little boost after the sunless night.

                                   

NEAREST NEIGHBORS                                        PANELS UP                                

Had a bit  of a'dust up' with our Star Choice reception today which took the better part of 2 hours to resolve including a phone call to Star Choice.  Not their fault but we do suspect either a faulty cable or television.  Of course I was ready to junk the whole system & throw it out the door but Kelly stuck with it & all of a sudden for some unknown reason the signal appeared & we were tuned in.  Very, very, close call though because there could have been injuries if that signal had not come in when it did.  Kelly very narrowly missed her Oprah show & I later realized that was the inspiration for her dogged determination in sticking with the problem.

THE CASTLE DOMES

GROANER'S CORNER:((  It used to be only death and taxes .  Now, of course, there's shipping and handling, too.

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

CAMPED AMID THE SAGUARO CACTUS

 

LOTS OF WAGGING TAILS THIS MORNING AS WE SAY GOODBYE  (photo taken by Jeanie)

The sandman worked overtime last night weaving his nocturnal magic on two fronts.  First he put me gently to sleep & then he removed my lingering last day sadness.  I woke up this morning looking forward to the day instead of looking back on my previous melancholy 24 hours.

   

SUNDAY’S MORNING MOON

I was up at 4 & Kelly was up at 5:30.  Big game of toys with all the dogs & then it was out the door into the frigid 34F morning to feed the critters.  No more thoughts of 'lasts' this morning, it was just get on with the job & get things done.  Took the satellite dish down & put in the slides just as Jeanie & Ray rolled through the front gate in their jeep.  They had left their rig up in the Wilcox area & were planning on taking Gleason & Pearce back up that way to do some hiking in the Dragoon mountains.  Nice to see them & we all had us big chin wag.  Ingrid & Tom rolled in to drop off Corky so it was like a last minute circus before we left.  Jeanie & Ray asked us to come back next winter & we told them to pencil us in:))  And, they brought me 2 jars of 'natural peanut butter.'  My favorite kind......Yaaaaaa:))  Thanks guys.

  

A FEW OF THIS MORNING’S MEMORIES

In a flurry of wagging tails, laughter, hand shakes, hugs, & see ya later's, we had the big wheels rolling out the gate by 9:25 a.m.  A last look back, a wave, & we were gone on down the road.  It was the beginning of a new journey. 

JEANIE & RAY………..SEE YA LATER GUYS & THANKS FOR THE PEANUT BUTTER:))

Beautiful blue morning in the Sulphur Springs Valley as we headed north through Elfrida, Sunsites, & Sunizona on our way to I-10.  Mountain ranges on all horizons as we swung the rigs nose west on I-10 heading for Tucson.  Fired up Garmin Gertie, our on board GPS system, & programmed her to take us through Tucson north to Casa Grande.  Motoring through Tucson the past 2 years has been a nightmare for us because of  major construction going on & we were twice funneled off the interstate into the backwater of secondary roads.  But, not today.  The I-10 construction has been completed & we sailed right through Tucson with no problem at all in the light Sunday traffic.  A bit of construction in the north end but nothing to worry about. 

 

BORDER PATROL CHECKPOINT AHEAD, COCHISE COUNTY ELECTRICAL POWER SUPPLY & DOWNTOWN TUCSON

Spotted a 'Cracker Barrel' sign & immediately went into 'lunch mode' wheeling off I-10 & tracking down the Barrel.  It was a snap decision & we failed to consider the time of day & what day it actually was.  Sunday at noon means herds of people flocking out of all the local churches & heading, where else.......Cracker Barrel!!  Waited half an hour before even getting in the door & seated.  I was very impressed with myself as I sat quietly on a bench outside without uttering a single bluster.  Food was great but slow because of the crowd.  Finally rolled back up onto I-10 at 1:20 p.m.  That little lunch break had taken about an hour & a half.  Yep, I was real proud of myself alright, not one bluster.

PATIENTLY WAITING IN THE CRACKER BARREL LINE UP

Shortly before reaching Tucson earlier in the morning we were still discussing where we were going & with the turn off for Why, Arizona less than a mile ahead we finally decided to go straight north through Tucson & head for a boondocking campground we had stopped at a year ago while heading east.  It was west of Casa Grande on I-8.  We knew if we went this way we could let the dogs out to run around without all the stress of having them on leashes in an RV Park.  HICKIWAN TRAILS in Why Arizona will always be one of our favorite little places & we were thinking of going there but by the sounds of it they are pretty full so we decided to maybe roll through there on our return in late March sometime if we go that way.

JIM KORTSEN PINAL PARK……& WE’RE CLOSE TO THE INTERSTATE!!

Currently we are in the Jim Kortsen West Pinal Park alongside I-8 about 20 minutes west of Casa Grande.  Strictly boondocking here & a bit of traffic noise from I-8 but we have mountains on 3 sides & lots of stately Saguaro Cactus.  Great Verizon signal & lots of TV channels with just the antennae up.  Sites are large & we have no visible neighbors.  Now, how nice is that......and it's all free.  I will never understand why most people insist on jamming themselves into overpriced crowded RV Parks!!

     

JIM KORTSEN  PINAL PARK…..WEST OF CASA GRANDE ON I-8

Gassed up ($150-2.84 a gal) at a nearby gas bar on I-8 & that is the first gas fill up since Deming New Mexico in late October of last year.  In the morning we'll head west to Gila Bend where we'll pick up some propane & water before heading either north to Buckeye on our way west to Quartzite or southwest to Yuma & then up to Quartzite.  We'll probably head into the desert about 6 miles south of Quartzite because we are familiar with that area & there is a much better chance of fewer people.  I would rather have skipped Quartzite but Kelly convinced me we needed a new flag pole & afterall, that is the best place to get one.  Whether I'll go into town remains to be seen.  I think me & the furry guys might just hang out in the quiet desert while Kelly goes into town to do battle with the people hordes.   She's got a lot more patience for that sort of madness than I do.  Besides, 'shopping' is an 8 letter word that nearly gags me every time I think of it!!

So, that's if for tonight in the shadow of Antelope Peak here alongside I-8 in the greening Sonoran desert.  Tomorrow we head west for the big Q.........& a quiet time in the desert for Al:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  What is the highest 'noise' frequency a human can make......Mariah Carey!!

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