Kastle's Journey: January 2016 - Quartzsite, Parker, Lake Havasu

January 1st, 2016

New Years Day I cooked up a huge ham and Dianne and Steve contributed the rest, scalloped potatoes and cheesy cauliflower and pumpkin pie. Another great evening. Now I think we will have a few days of R & R before we visit some other places in the area..

Freya having a conversation with Steve.

The ham, a thing of beauty!

January 2nd

We spent a quiet day, making only a short trip to see the Quartzite aerial sign and the Intaglio. During WWII, the US ran an airplane training camp (the runway is basically where the gem show is now). To assist the pilots figuring out where the airport is, the brass put in a big Quartzite sign in rock pointing to the airport.

Shows the size of the sign

Bouse Fisherman Intaglio or Geopglyph

We're invited to go to Happy Hour at Dianne and Steve’s, but I had an upset stomach that came on suddenly in the afternoon so we passed. After cooking what seems to be a week of it was nice to just stay home.

We'd been trying to get a hold of Garrett since the morning of the 1st and finally got a hold of Kat … he was getting looked at at the hospital. He is experiencing atypical migraines again. Going for bloodwork as he might be anemic. So basically he is okay. Checked with Garrett later in the week and he is feeling much better. He thinks it is his neck causing headaches since he has not been riding his bike because of his knee. Still has problems from the whiplash incident more that 8 years ago.

January 3rd

Today was baking day. I started off with bread, then stock for my split pea soup with the bone, then pecan sandies, then finished the soup and last but not least the baking powder biscuits to have with the soup. Started at 9am and finished at 2:30 ... of course all the dishes done as well. Wewwww. Dianne invited us over for Happy Hour at Red and Pam’s so after a quick dish of appies we were ready to go at 4pm. We stayed only for an hour as it got cold and windy and Ray’s back was really sore … it ended up a pain medication day.

Picture of happy hour

January 4

Sue arranged for me to get my hair cut at 11am from a friend of hers here in Q … hopefully she does a good job. She did! We decided not to go to Parker in case the washes filled up and we could not get back home. The day was spent with the generator on with the ceramic heater drying the sink. Ray had recaulked it and it was not drying. Very quiet day. Everyone seemed to be hunkered down because of the rain.

Here are some incoming storm clouds. We thought the rain was a commin! But it did not actually rain until the middle of the night. We woke up to fog the next morning, something you rarely see in the desert. Steve and Dianne said it felt like we were back in Fort Langley!

picture

January 5th

Foggy start to the day this morning.

We decided to go for lunch before heading back to camp and decided to try the Grubstake Bar and Grill. They had wonderful fish and chips. While we were there Dianne sent a facebook message, asking if we would like to come for dinner. Yeah. My contribution will be stuffed mini peppers.

January 6-9

During this time we visited Tyson Wells Museum, vendors in Tyson Wells and generally stayed around camp. Two of the days were cold and rainy, so we kind of hunkered down. We took a trip to Parker as well. In the Safeway parking lot our car refused to start … Ray listened to the radio while I shopped, and we needed to be jump started by a nice lady parked in front of us. Unfortunately, that meant unloading the car to get at our jumper cables. Oh the trials and tribulations we have! We made the decision not to go for lunch but instead went into KFC for takeout to leave the car running! Also managed a campfire on one of the days which was sunny and not too windy.

Jim and Barb's pic taken ffrom his drone

Ray decided to go on a “Camel Tour” of Quartzsite. Apparently there is a stuffed one that only appears every so often so he missed that one!

Quartzsite, Arizona

In 1856, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (later President of the Confederacy) had a novel idea: transporting freight and people across the desert Southwest on camels. He eventually imported over 70 of the beasts. Along with the first batch came a Syrian caretaker, Hadji Ali. His American masters called him Hi Jolly.

A plaque on Hi Jolly's tomb says of the camel experiment: "A fair trial might have resulted in complete success." But the Civil War intervened, Jefferson Davis changed jobs, and without his support the project was abandoned. The camels were set free to fend for themselves in the desert near Quartzsite. Hi Jolly remained, living into his seventies. The locals were so fond of him that, after he died, they spent several weeks building Hi Jolly a special pyramid tomb, made of multicolored petrified wood and quartz. It was dedicated on Jan. 4, 1903. Thirty-three years later the Arizona Highway Department came along and cemented a bronze plaque to the tomb, telling Hi Jolly's story, and topped the pyramid with a metal camel silhouette. Here's all the camels Ray found:

Camel (see the legs while in a run) or zoom back out to see the face.

He took a couple other shots with the golden light in other locations.

Palo Verde Tree circa 966

Community park

January 7th

Not too much activity today. We just hunkered down with the coming storm.

January 8th

We even saw the Goodyear Blimp

It was quite windy out and the pilot had to make several adjustments periodically to fly level. Sometimes the back end went way up in the air and then it leveled off again. (Saw it again right overhead on Tuesday the 12th.)

I hung around camp most of the day and made cabbage rolls and a meatloaf to freeze for a quick meal some other time. It was another cold cloudy day. Since we attended another happy hour at Dianne and Steve’s, I'm glad dinner is ready when we got home instead of having to cook. Meanwhile Ray has been taking short trips into Tyson Wells to look for stuff for his walking stick. The solar controller display is still showing we are not getting fully charged??? But when the sun comes out it seems that we can and then it holds better in the evening. Hopefully it is sorted so we do not have to go back to Discount Solar again. As of the 18 … the controller is still having issues.

January 9th

Ray took a drive to the Erdman's Golden Eye Mine for some sunrise pics.

January 11th

Went into town again to look at dream catchers as a possible alternative for Ray’s walking stick. Checked out a few vendors and came back home for lunch. Sat outside for the afternoon, before coming in for dinner. Nice Day! Freya sure likes it when we are available to throw sticks. It is nice that the sun is back out. Had a surprise visit from Bill and Elke to let us know where they are set up at Plumosa so we can find them on Saturday.

January 12th

After coffee and yogurt Ray headed out to Blythe to take Freddie Ford in for it's oil change. They did not take him in at appointment time but an hour later. Fortunately, he took his chair and computer so remained comfortable waiting. While he's gone, it was shower day for me, 2 loads of dishes to wash and put away, get dinner organized and ready to just cook …. and someone left me the magic cookie machine as a great big hint! Also washing up outside of speckled sugar on the solar bin getting ready to leave on Saturday. So with that all completed by 1pm it was time to have a sit with a beer and lunch. Well maybe not so much!

Ray wanted to take me to see Desert Gem Gardens to view all of the interesting things. I changed my clothes and we were off. (Do not want all of the baking flour etc showing up on my clothes!)

January 13

Laundry Day …. Yuck. It's laundry wars at the Laundromat. Being younger and quicker I managed to quickly get 7 wash loads going … one here, one there and ran around like a chicken with my head cut off to make sure I could get it all in. I was also lucky to get 5 dryers fairly close together so after 2 hours I was done and came back home to put it all away. Another thing off the list ready for leaving on Saturday. Happy Hour was at Steve and Dianne’s. We left around 5 or so as it got quiet cold and Ray’s back was pretty bad.

January 14

Ray picked up Steve, Dianne and their friend Harry, and had Steve drive them all to Castle Dome Mine Museum. They had never been and Ray wanted to take a few more pictures. I stayed home and caught up on some housework, tidied the basement getting ready for travel on Saturday. I had prepared beef and broccoli in the slow cooker so Steve and Dianne came back for a fire and dinner. Lovely day. Any pics he took are displayed in the earlier blog on the Mine.

Friday, January 15

Our last day here at La Posa South. Boy has the 4 weeks gone by quickly. Tomorrow we will leave bright and early to dump and fill, fill the propane and fuel up. Then off to meet up with Bill and Elke at Plamosa Road. So packing up is on the menu today. Steve and Dianne popped by to say goodbye as well ad Jim and Barb to exchange info to keep in touch.

Some pics of the LTVA, now "the show" is on.

Sunset pictures of La Posa South

January 16-18

Left the campsite by 7:50 am with no lineups at the sani-station. After fueling up and propane Ray arrived with the coach by 9:30. It sure did not take very much time early in the morning with no line-ups or traffic. By 10:30 we were all set up to spend time with Bill and Elke for a few days.

Unfortunately our driver side back jack seems to have snapped it’s base. Bill was able to help Ray to get it functional for now. We will have to get it looked at probably before we leave the area. The rest of the day was spent relaxing outside enjoying the sunshine. (We tried to make an appointment at La Mesa in Yuma and in Phoenix but they cannot even look at it until the first week of February so we will limp along without that jack until we get back to Canada.)

This guy also flew very low close to us. Thanks for the picture Bill

Sunday we drove bright and early to the RV show, to be able to park close to the entrance for Ray. There sure wasn't anything we were particularly interested in. Not too much RV stuff. With the dollar so low we elected not to even spend the money on lunch either. Back at camp after lunch we sat outside for the rest of the afternoon joining Bill and Elke for happy hour. Another lovely day. Another trip to see some coaches with Bill and Elke and I think we will be done and on our way … except for the jack issue.

Almost every morning and every night there are fabulous sunrises and sunsets. Each picture Ray takes seems better than the last. Hard to pick a favorite.

January 20-22th - Lake Havasu

On the road by 9:45 after hooking up the car for the drive up to the Lake Havasu City area. Our destination mile 165 where we stayed 3 years ago when we first got the coach. The place was much more empty this year than last time.

Unfortunately, Ray did not want to take the car off when we first drove in and ended up going through a dip and ripping the rock guard on the back of the coach. Another lesson learned for us … no short cuts. He managed to drill some holes in it and zap strap it up so we can still tow the car. Without it rocks would hit the car’s windshield. So now we have 3 things to be fixed, the front furnace, the rear jack and the mudflap … so no more okay!

We found our spot, Ray disengaged the back jack and we carefully manually extended the other three. With the use of the 6 ton jack near the back on the driver’s side we were all set up within 1/2 and hour and sitting outside in the sunshine.

Thursday morning we headed into town to get our major grocery shopping done … Mother Hubbard's cupboards were bare! Ray spent most of the time in the car waiting for me.

Friday we went to the Bill Williams Wildlife Refuge south of where we were camping. We did a short walk from the Visitor Center down a path to the fishing platforms.

The above is the pump house across from the visitor center that services the Central Arizona Project.

Then I drove us down the 3.5 mile road auto tour which was pretty rough but Freddie Ford handled it well.

January 23-26th

After checking out a further BLM site mile 195, called North Lone Tree, we decided to move there today, Saturday. It's only 30 miles further up highway 95 on the other side of Havasu and much closer to the things we wanted to see in downtown Havasu. What a nice spot with great views.

Car goes in to have the passenger electric seat looked at, hopefully fixed easily. We took a tour of Havasu Island and Ray took a bunch of pictures of the lighthouses.

We have a gorgeous view from our coach at mile 195 of Crab Claw Butte.

Another great “free” campsite. It is however quite busy here, so come in early to find a spot. They have a landfill to get rid of garbage but you have to pay …. So we found an unattended dumpster in town and deposited! I did not find anywhere to fill our water jugs, but did not try too hard. The Flying J/Pilot station a short ways down the road on the I-40 features cheaper fuel and a sani-dump, probably water as well. ( It was pretty windy for 2 days, but we managed. Gusts up to 32 mph)

Over the next two days we explored Lake Havasu and chased down replicas of the US East and West Coast lighthouses, but made only 1/3 to 1/5 the actual size. They all are working lighthouses on Lake Havasu.

Sputnik, Thunder Bay MN

Wild Point, Racine NC

Navy Pier, Chicago Navy Pier

Currituck, Northern Outer Banks NC

New Brunswick

West Quoddy, Lubec ME

Fire Island, Long Island NY

Mt Desert Rock, Frenchboro, ME

Point Gratiot, Dunkirk, Lake Erie

Split Rocks, 2 Harbours MN Lake Superior, Notice the ultra light on floats. This is lite only on the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald.