CHOPPER LANDING, SATELLITE DISH SMASHED & AN I-POPPING IPAD

I don’t know who it was who peeked out of their rig first this morning.  I cautiously parted a curtain to have a sneak peak out the window & saw Ivan stealthily peering out from under his window shade.  From around the corner of Wandering Willy’s rig I saw a long pole sticking out with a mirror on the end of it and big eyeball in the mirror.  I suspect we may all meet outside at some point for a quick chat & then we will all scurry back inside our rigs again.  I suspect it won’t be long until out comes the mirror pole, slowly up goes the window shade & there I am again carefully peeking through the curtain.  Oh we lone Dockers are quite a bunch.  And, I love it:))

 

I was out the door earlier this morning simply because we are in a new area & there’s nothing like a new area to peek my enthusiasm.  I always have an urge to scramble up the nearest hill or over the nearest ridge.  I love seeing things I have not seen before.

EARLY MORNING SHADOWS STRETCH ACROSS THE DESERT FLOOR

 

SURVEYORS MINING CLAIM STAKES STICK OUT OF THE GROUND 

Kelly, Pheebs & I headed off over a ridge to our west and clambered high up what might be called a small rocky mountain formation.  This type of terrain is excellent for climbing because nothing is too steep for aging legs.  Just need a good pair of hiking boots.  Being on the very western edge of the Sonoran desert we have fewer Saguaros & Palo Verde trees but there is enough vegetation to make the landscape interesting & give it a green feel.  This is definitely a great area.

 

There are many shapes & faces in these rocks & with a little imagination one can see many things such as the old Indian’s profile below.

From the higher elevation in the rocks we were able to get a feel for how very large this boon docking area is.  Goes for about as far as the eye can see with plenty of privacy for everyone.  I’m guessing thousands of acres.  The small town of Bouse can be seen way off in the far distance.  Yes, this area will definitely go on our favorites list:))

THOUSANDS OF BLM ACRES

 

Wind dropped just enough for Ivan to fuel up his chopper with fresh battery power just after lunch.  This is quite a piece of high end technology which I have no hope of explaining.  Remember, I’m still back at rotary phones.

IVAN & HIS HEAD TECHNICIAN HAILEY CHECK OVER THE FLIGHT EQUIPMENT BEFORE TAKE-OFF

  

IVAN CHECKS HIS LAST MINUTE COMPUTER FLIGHT CONTROLS

 

NO, THAT IS NOT A BLACK WIDOW SPIDER ON THE GROUND, IT’S IVAN’S ‘CHOPPER’ COMPLETE WITH OLYMPUS CAMERA MOUNTED 

I knew from Ivan’s aerial photos that it must have a quality camera on board & sure enough it’s packing a detachable Olympus.  Winds picked up just after Ivan got airborne forcing him to land after about 5 minutes.  I was surprised at how quiet the chopper is.

 

HAILEY MANS THE CONTROL TOWER, A CROWD GATHERS, & THE CHOPPER HAS ‘LIFT OFF’

  

OH OH……STRONG WIND GUSTS!!

HEAVY CONCENTRATION ON THE EXPERIENCED PILOT’S FACE AS HE DEFTLY SETS THE BIRD ON THE GROUND

Although Ivan had a successful landing…..our Shaw tripod dish did not.  Although set up properly, a sudden gust of wind swirled in around the back of our rig & knocked our dish flat on it’s face snapping off the LMB arm at the dish.  Ivan just had his dish slam dunked a couple days ago as well with a similar, but not as bad a break as ours.

<<< THE BOYS CHECK OUT THE BROKEN DISH

Bad news was the dish getting smashed but the good news is we have a couple innovative Mr. Fix-it type guys here & within minutes Wandering Willy & Ivan were devising a method of repair.  Dish was carried over to the tailgate of Ivan’s truck & the surgery begun.  WW carefully applied liberal amounts of ‘Goop’ to the damaged fiberglass while Ivan performed the surgical end of the procedure by carefully fitting the broken off piece of fiberglass back into place.  I kinda stood there looking my usual dumb self trying to look important by holding the dish steady during surgery.  And then came the ingenious clamping part.

THE PATIENT ENDS UP ON THE TABLE AS THE SURGEONS GO OVER THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE ‘GOOP’ GLUE TUBE

Just as his own tripod repair a couple days ago, Ivan put a series of wood blocks into place, put the satellite dish on them & then located it next to the jack on his fifth wheel.  Now, here comes the smart part.  He very carefully lowered his fifth wheel onto the broken & glued satellite part securely holding it in place for the next 24 hours.  Hopefully my pics will explain this procedure.  We will probably slip into Parker tomorrow & pick up a fiber glassing kit which will be applied over the fix adding extra strength.  As long as the electronics aren’t damaged inside the LMB we might have a chance of it working again.  Meanwhile it’s back to our antennae for TV again.  No complaints there because we can get a fair number of channels.

 

YEP, THAT FIFTH WHEEL MAKES FOR A GOOD CLAMP ALRIGHT

Both Kelly & I are really in the dark & far behind in all this Apple Ipad, Apple this & Apple that technology.  IPhone 4, 3G, 4G, & and then there’s all this ‘Apps’ stuff.  Remember rotary phone!!  I never even knew what an IPad was or did let alone see one until today.

  

Luckily, we are again in the company of a couple IHead guys.  Ivan & Wandering Willy are really into all this stuff & know all about it.  Wandering Willy brought his Ipad & IPhone 4 over to our rig this afternoon & smartened us up real good with a demonstration.  Well, I didn’t smarten up as well as Kelly did but it sure gave us an idea into what some of this newer technology can do.  By the time WW left, we were on information overload.  Now, how do we get all these ‘Angry Birds’ out of our coach anyway!!

 

WW BRINGS US UP TO SPEED ON ALL THE I-EVERYTHING STUFF     

We sure don’t like having to use our generator more often these days to keep our weaker coach batteries charged.  Don’t like the idea of that noise shattering the silence of the desert & bothering other folks nearby.  Looking forward to getting back on total solar power shortly.

 

HAILEY:))

And a happy ending to something which could have easily gone the other way.  Some may remember a few posts ago I mentioned about the missing Texas couple.  They have been found alive and well….HAPPY ENDING.

<<< THESE TWO ARE KEEPING A CLOSE WATCH ON EACH OTHER

How nice it is to have faster internet again but it does have a habit of fading in & out.  The Verizon coverage at Darby Well was slow & sketchy where we were & it was frustrating waiting for things to open all the time.  Here, northeast of Quartzsite we have a much better signal & Kelly’s phone works much better as well.

 

GROANER’S CORNER:(( 

Knock Knock!

Who’s there?

Madam!

Madam who?

Madam foot is caught in the door!

And, did you know….Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

Sometimes the closest I think I will ever get to a brainstorm………. is a slight drizzle:((
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SOMEWHERE IN THE DESERT NEAR QUARTZSITE ARIZONA:))

A PARTING PHOTO OF DARBY WELL’S BLACK MOUNTAIN MONDAY NIGHT

Short heavy wind gusts in the night led to a cool clear windy morning.  We were into our jackets for a short walk.

  

WE QUIETLY SLIPPED THROUGH SLEEPY DOWNTOWN AJO THIS MORNING 

Travel days always start earlier for us.  We just like to get on the road & get rolling.  Figure once a decision is made to leave somewhere there is no point in hanging around.  The sooner we’re mobile, the sooner we can get to where it is we are going to, set up, & relax.

KELLY GETS THE KIDS A SNACK FOR THE ROAD >>>

RV SUE must have been out walking Spike & Bridget so we didn’t get a chance to say good-bye.  Had the big wheels rolling at 8 a.m. & jostled our way down the bumpy desert lane.  I’m sure we’ll be running into Sue & the Crew again & we’ll likely be back to Darby Wells in a month or so.

WE ARE ON OUR WAY   

There sits on I-8 between Casa Grande & Yuma the little desert oasis of Gila Bend.  This is always an important stop for us because of the Shell station in the north end of town on highway 85.  Free dump & water as well as gas & propane.  A McDonald stop can be had in Gila Bend as well & we did all of the above.  Of course my favorite part was McDonalds:))  What, you thought I would say my favorite part was dumping the black tank:((

 

Nice straight 4 lane highway from Gila Bend all the way up to I-10 on the west side of Buckeye.  Swung the rig’s nose into the gusty west wind & plowed our way through to Quartzsite.  1:20 p.m. saw us in the Q hanging a right turn at the town’s main intersection & heading north back out into the desert .  This was our 5th time in Quartzsite and it was nice motoring through remembering all our good times here years ago.  Yes, I said good times.  Despite all my blah blah blustering about the crowds & stuff, if anyone were to read my Quartzsite posts from years ago they would see we had a lot of good times in this town & this area.  As long time readers know, I do have a habit of complaining about something until I actually do it & then I am just fine with it.  Well, most of the time.  Q ain’t so bad:))

QUARTZSITE’S MAIN INTERSECTION LOOKING WEST

 

We are once again boon docked in another beautiful area of the Arizona desert.  It is an area we haven’t boon docked before but had driven through a couple years ago when we stopped to meet JANNA & MIKE along with JIM & ELLIE for the first time. 

HEADING OUT INTO THE DESERT BOON DOCKING LANDS

We could see then that it was a great area so when Wandering Willy emailed us an invitation to come on over we decided to make it our next stop on the way west.  ‘Chopper Blades’ Ivan is here as well so it was great to pull in & see those guys again.  Last saw Ivan at the Lazy W Ranch near Elfrida last year & Wandering Willy 2 years ago in Borrego Springs. 

JUST A COUPLE MILES TO GO

This is actually a very rare occurrence considering Ivan, Wandering Willy, & ourselves are very particular about our privacy.  We are all loners but how nice it is for us getting together.  We did all sign a pre-nup agreement promising not to bug each other though:))

 

YEP, THIS IS MY KINDA COUNTRY ALRIGHT:))

With directions from both WW & Ivan we had no problem finding our way through the desert to their location.  Even brought the rig up a dry wash through some big old Mesquite trees.  Unhooked the Jeep & wiggled the rig between some Creosote bushes, up a creek bank & into a nice level spot just a short distance from WW’s travel trailer & Ivan’s fifth wheel.

 

AND YET ANOTHER GREAT BOON DOCKING AREA…. WITH FRIENDS:))

Pheebs & the Motor met Ivan’s cat Hailey for the first time.  Hailey was sitting on Ivan’s truck watching all the going’s on when Motor noticed the open door to Ivan’s fifth wheel.  Seconds later Motor was up the steps & into his rig looking for snacks.  In even less seconds that it took Motor to get into Ivan’s rig, Hailey was off that truck & right on Motor’s case bent on throwing Motor out of her house.  We very nearly had a big dust up on our hands & by the time Ivan got to the rig, little Motor was at the door scrambling to get out with a very mad pussy cat right behind her.  All happened too fast for me to get any pics.  But, there is always tomorrow & we will be here for a few more days probably:))

 

  

LOOKING FORWARD TO EXPLORING THESE JEEP ROADS

 

Was able to use our hydraulic levelers on the driver’s side of the coach to square everything up.  How nice to have at least 3 out of 4 levelers working.  Set our satellite dish up & hit the bird within seconds.  This new tripod is such a breeze to set up.  Within half an hour Pheebs & I had clambered up the nearest hill for some pictures.  Lots of great Jeep roads in the area so we may stay a little longer than planned.  As long as we all don’t bug each other too much that is.  In fact, Kelly just looked out the window to see if the guys were still here:))

WE HAVE SORTA…..CIRCLED THE WAGONS:))     

GROANER’S CORNER:((  And remember, when feeling sad & blue, don’t despair….You are not totally useless, you can always be used as a bad example:))

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-Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
BAYFIELD BUNCH PHOTO ALBUMS https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of
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OUR LAST DAY AT DARBY WELLS:((

 

AN EARLY MORNING MIST SETTLES IN AMONG THE SAGUAROS & PALO VERDE TREES (no, these are not black & white photos, just the morning fog)

Light cloud cover with a slight breeze made things a bit cooler today but no matter, we were out & about enjoying our desert walks anyway.

RV SUE & THE CREW HEAD OUT ON THEIR MORNING WALK

 

AND A MEETING OF THE MINDS WHEN SHE RETURNS

In need of a few groceries before rolling out of the area Tuesday we headed off into town with a stop down the road first to meet some Casita friends of RV SUE.  We had heard from the HAPPY TRAILS folks as well as Sue about how helpful this couple has been to them.  Bill & Ann were just in the process of heading into town for groceries themselves.  They had traveled with Sue & Crew from Quartzsite a few days ago.  It was their first time in the Darby Wells area & they just love it here.  Bill comes from a mining background & Ann has a unique little business making stained glass windows for RV doors.  You can find her handiwork here…..LITTLE HOUSE STAINED GLASS.

I always like going to Olsen’s IGA in Ajo because it means a breakfast Burrito for me:))  No sign of the guy in the green T-Shirt & red suspenders who seemed to know the Pheebs last week.

 

SPOTTED THIS UNIQUE LOOKING MERCEDES BENZ RV IN OLSEN’S PARKING LOT

AJO’S COFFEE & SWEETS SHOP WHERE WE HAD COFFEE WITH ED & BOONIE LAST WEEK

Well, uncharacteristically we have been quite the social Butterflies on this trip.  Would have to say we have met & talked to more people this winter than all our other years combined.  I think it is the fact we have been fortunate enough to meet more like minded people this time out.  More folks like ourselves with a different set of priorities who prefer an alternate RV lifestyle.  It has been a real treat for us lately to meet fellow boon dockers.  And, we will be hooking up with a couple more wandering dockers tomorrow by the sounds of it.  If we can find them that is:))

COULD THAT CENTER SAGUARO BE GIVING SOMEBODY THE FINGER!!  COULD BE THE LETTER V ON THE RIGHT JENNY……

JERRY & SUZY are in for a difficult day Tuesday as Suzy heads in for bariatric surgery.  It actually starts a day earlier for Suzy as strict food intakes have to be adhered to.  Reading Jerry’s account makes the surgery seem like the easier part compared to Suzy’s long and very restrictive recuperation period.  Suzy’s eating habits will be changed forever.

STILL SURPRISED THERE ARE NOT MORE PEOPLE HERE THIS YEAR

Might want to check out John & Judy’s blog to see how they accidentally ended up about 5 feet away from former President Bill Clinton yesterday…. RV LIFE ON WHEELS.

HERE IS THE LETTER X FOR YOU JENNY J:))

Anyone wondering where Wandering Willy is these days I can tell you aerial surveillance has found him alive & well contentedly boondocking in the Arizona area.  Aerial surveillance comes from IVAN'S helicopter cam.  Click the link & scroll down to see his helicopter & great aerial photos.  Ivan controls his chopper from the ground.  In the photo below I’m guessing the fellow in black is the Ivan man himself at the controls of his neat-o new Whirlybird.  And I’m betting that’s Wandering Willy his very self in those hot Peach shorts waving excitedly at the camera:)) 

THAT’S GOTTA BE ONE GOOD CAMERA IVAN’S GOT ON THAT CHOPPER

NEIGHBOR RICK SPENDS LONG HOURS HERE IN HIS FAVORITE SPOT EACH DAY

   

A FINAL FEW PHOTOS FROM AROUND OUR CAMPSITE…SOLAR PANELS DOWN, AWNING IN, GROUND MAT PUT AWAY, ETC.  WE’RE READY TO ROLL OUT IN THE MORNING……

CAN YOU SEE THE UPLIFTED FACE PROFILE LOOKING LEFT?

SEE YA DOWN THE ROAD DARBY……………………….

GROANER’S CORNER:(( 

- Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they’re still looking for ideas.
- A retired husband is often a wife’s full-time job.

- “If money grew on trees – girls wouldn’t mind dating monkeys”.

- Behind even the manliest of men is a little boy, who’s thinking, what do I do next.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
BAYFIELD BUNCH PHOTO ALBUMS https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of
right  now...AL.

stargeezerguy@gmail.com