Quartzsite, January Week 4, Repairs and "The Grunge"

Monday, January 20th

Here's hoping that my stove arrives today for the install appointment tomorrow.

Good morning Quartzsite.

Jim and Barb sent me the drone shots he took last week of our site. You sure can see the "Gecko". We have a great spot this year.

Had an email late last night from our neighbour. Our heat pump is screeching! We had a "snow lid" installed last summer to prevent it from icing up like last year. Not sure why it did not work. Their bedroom is on that side of the house. :( Apparently it snowed over 2 feet this week, according to my neighbour, Roy. So at 1:30 am I was emailing him back that I had turned off the alarm remotely and to go into the house and switch the system to AUX Heat so only the electric furnace will run until we can get the repair dudes to come and look at it. Jason is also on his way to the lake this morning to check the house.

Jason called me once he arrived at the house and said he turned the furnace to electric heat and everything else seems fine. The Heat Pump is one huge block of ice so Exchange Energy would not be able to service it anyways, Jason figures.

I was unable to get ahold of Exchange Energy anyways. Ray couldn't even call me in Parker! No phone calls going outside Quartzsite, I'm guessing due to so many people here.

Dianne and I left at 8am for Parker to do a major shop before it gets too busy. It's nuts around here with the RV Show and last week the big Escapers get together in Lake Havasu. The shelves in the Safeway and Walmart for booze were quite empty. lol  Everyone shops in Parker from Lake Havasu as well. Dianne treated me to lunch at Crossroads Cafe and we were back home by 1:30.

Received a call from the Locksmith that the door lock has been ordered and would arrive in 2 to 3 days. We now open the door with vise grips when outside the coach! The handle has completely snapped into two pieces and only the very small piece at the bottom unlatches the door.

While I was gone, Ray called Tough Top Awnings and the guy came right over and replaced our two rear slide awnings. All done in just over an hour. Wow. Great service, thanks Steve Colibaba for the contact.


17311 NE 182nd Ave, Brush Prairie, WA 98606
360.953.3299
christie@toughtopawnings.com

I seem to come down with "the grunge" coughing, and feeling crappy. Off to bed with me for a 90 minute snooze. I just woke up when Ray came in to tell me that Dometic wants us down at the show. My new range did arrive but is damaged!!!! So off we went. A lot less people at the show around 4pm ... Anyway, we decided it was too damaged for us so now they are ordering another one with a different shipper express. Apparently this one was ordered late and therefore was sent by UPS and they scrunched the stove top bending it at the corners. This stove should have been ordered 6 weeks ago! not 3 days ago. Anyways I do like it's design with the sealed burners even though the oven is not as big as I would like but at least it will run on propane.



The new plan is to reorder it form Texas, ship it with their reliable freight company that they had switched too as UPS was causing a lot of damage to their units and hence their bad reviews regarding shipping damage. It's no wonder. The stove comes on a pallet with a cardboard box surrounding it. No extra packaging. Apparently they are meant to be lifted using a forklift only which UPS does not do.

So, Dometic is getting me a new one shipped today to the RV Mobile Repair guy that is doing their installs at the show, who happens to live near Quartzsite. Now the install won't be until next week which means we will have to pay for 2 more weeks here as of Thursday.

Tuesday, January 21st,

Woke up at 6:15am to the sound of rain on the roof. Managed to sleep not too badly after taking Nyquil. Did have the chills for a while last night though and feel real groggy this morning. Ray's throat is a little "itchy" too, so hopefully he does not get it. Certainly glad I'm not having to pack up the coach to dump and go into the show for install today anyways, small blessings. It will be a quiet stay in bed day for me, I think.

I emailed Roy at home, yes all is quiet now with the heat pump. Yeah. Something to deal with when we get back home. With the house set at 15C/59F the furnace should not have to work too hard hopefully.

It was cloudy and cool all day. I spent the day in and out of bed but did manage to make my barbecued ribs on the grill for Ray for dinner. I was feeling considerably better by dinnertime. Ray on the other hand is feeling tough now too, coughing up a lung. What a pair. Another quiet evening and lights out by 8:30pm.

Wednesday, January 22nd,

Looks like it will be a sunny day. The new stove is in so we went into town to "inspect it" and it is good. So, I pressed them to reschedule an appointment for me first thing and managed to snag Saturday morning at 7:30am rather than wait until next week. Don't trust this process once Dometic goes back "home" and we are left with only the service tech. We also dropped off our tow hitch at RoadMaster for the free servicing they offer. Ray has been finding the rams quite sticky.

Since we were there, we strolled the big tent again to see what we missed, it was busy but not as bad as the first day. Ray and I were supposed to meet up with our friends Bill and Pam again, which we did briefly but they still had a lot of "show to see".  It was so busy that we just had lunch by ourselves at Beer Bellies and caught up with them later. It sure is a whole lot busier here since the show opened. I lucked out and got one of the last tables.

Pam and bunch stopped by on their way back to Yuma. Managed to get a picture this time. lol

L to R Pam, their friends, Bill and Rosemarie

Rosemarie and Bill, Freckleton 

Ray and Pam Freckleton

After they left, our neighbours, Warren and Gloria came over ... he kept hearing us coughing so brought over an old remedy ... Jack Daniels sipping whiskey and had Ray sipping it to clear his throat and of course Warren kept him company.  Told us it would cure him ... well it did for awhile but Ray had a horrible night with his cold and also due to possibly too much Jack Daniels??? Very thoughtful of him though. This is the first time apparently Warren has had a drink since he got here in October with Gloria ... wonder how he will feel tomorrow? He left us the bottle so he can come over and sip some more another time.

Warren and Gloria

Once we got inside for the night about 6pm Ray went straight to bed and I followed him an hour later. Both of us feeling pretty tough. We did not have a great night's sleep.

Thursday, January 23rd. We were both up and running at 5:45 am to get packed up and over to the sani-dump before the line-ups start. The longest line so far is 22 rigs! By the time we got there at 6:45 there were already 2 rigs ahead. Fortunately when that was done and the water filled the sky had lightened so Ray could get back to our site in the daylight. He positioned the coach a little better for the solar panels and by 8am we were all set back up. It was good to get this out of the way so on Saturday for our range install we don't have to dump first, it's already done. I expect the dump station will be really busy as some people leave the area. We will have to fuel up though before heading back home. A month's worth of generator time has taken the fuel down 2/3 of a tank. Now that the days are getting longer should be less time on the generator and more solar time.

Colan arrived at 9 am to check out the Blu Sky remote control and after completely unhooking it for a few minutes it came back on line as if nothing was wrong ... geez. Ray had tried disconnecting the batteries and cleaning terminals etc. but did not actually disconnect the controller. Now we know. After he left, I made us our first cup of coffee of the day and  I cooked us french toast for breakfast. Ray went back to bed after that for a couple of hours.

At noon we decided to try out the Mountain Quail Cafe that we have heard about so off we went. We had to go back to the show anyways to pick up our tow bar. The food was pretty good, at least better than other places we have tried in Q. Reasonable prices and clean. A very busy little diner. Ray's throat is so bad he had difficulty chewing and swallowing.

Part of the draw is they offer free-wifi and quite a few people come in with their computers.

Back home by 2 pm after picking up our tow hitch and Ray was back to bed .. that was how I was 2 days ago. We were supposed to go with Steve and Dianne to the Canadian's Potluck at the QIA tomorrow but we have declined ... don't need to give this to anyone else.

Our lock is in and the locksmith will be here tomorrow am to install ... yeah we can put the vise grips and ladder away finally. We have a couple of door latches to the compartments that are sticky that she will checkout for us too, she thinks a wafer is gone in the lock. Great service from Betty at C & B Lock and Key. Definitely knows her way around locks and rv locks.

The rest of the day just chillin.

Friday, January 24th

Woke up a bit later than usual. Ray and I both took cold medication and managed a good night's sleep without coughing up a lung every 5 minutes. lol Here's to a better day.

Time to pay for another two weeks. Hard to believe 4 weeks have gone by already. Certainly have not had time to be bored. It will be nice when the show is over though and the majority of "groups" hit the road and free up spaces again, especially the sani-dump lineups. lol

The new solar panel seems to be helping reducing our generator use. Did not turn it on this morning at all. :)

Betty showed up from C & B Lock and Key and replaced our bad door lock. Yeah .... no more vise grips or ladder entries.

Ta Da ... finally.

Betty was unable to fix the two locks on some bay doors so we will have to order new locks when we get back home. Here invoice for the work she did was very reasonable and we would recommend her in an instant.

 Freya thought she would check out her truck. lol

Where's Betty's lunch Dad?

The lake at home is quite high so far with all the rain, hopefully that log in front does not get stuck under anyone's docks.

Hopefully it will have pushed through somewhere else by tomorrow.

Ray and I went to bed early still feeling crappy with our colds. Tomorrow we have to be at the show with the coach for 7:30 am for my range/stove install. With feeling so awful we did not do much "stowing away" before we went to bed so will be busy first thing.

Saturday, January 25th

Ray and I hit the ground running by 5:30 am, getting everything stowed away, etc. Once it was light out, he was up on the roof putting down our "tipped" solar panel. Arrived for our appointment but it seemed they did not actually get started until 8:20 am. While the stove was getting installed we walked around the show for a bit with Freya and then went back to where the coach was. Jeff took us over to the "Dometic area" outside the tent to relax for the next couple of hours. He actually interviewed us on video, as "long-time rvers" as to what we want from service people etc. to gain their trust. Our main complaint is phone back within the time frame we were told, even if they don't have an answer yet and don't promise what you cannot deliver timewise. Nothing worse than getting to a service centre first thing in the morning as you were told and then find out that they are not working on your unit until after lunch. When the RV is your home this is totally unacceptable, especially if you have pets.

They are trying to hear from the customer instead of just the Camping Worlds etc who are not the end user of their products.

One of their marketing people, Kristen, said Freya could be their poster dog! Her slogan is "dogs love camping too". She took this picture and emailed it to me. lol

Anyways at 1pm we were all signed off and ready to come back to camp. I love the stove ... the cabinet work is really messy ... but to be fair they didn't have cabinet material on site and used our old doors as supports for the stove as they were the same colour as the cabinets. Fortunately Ray has a great woodworking shop back at home and will trim it out to look beautiful later this spring so it matches the furnace screen below the stove. We have 2 cabinet doors that came with the coach that were not used and are brand new. Ray will be able to use these to finish the trim.

Back home and all set up again ... second time in 3 days ... Whew. We both laid down for a nap as we were still feeling pretty tough from our colds.

We are now finally done with all of our repairs. It's been quite busy not to mention expensive the past couple of months. The next two weeks will be for relaxing.

Sunday, January 26th

Woke up at 6 am after sleeping well all night. I went to bed at 7pm, exhausted. Ray followed by 8:30 pm. We both were surprised that we made it all night. Finally both of us are feeling better with minimal coughing. Today will be a "do nothing" kind of day to relax in and out of the sunshine after a very lazy morning.

Dave and Cheryl of Our View from Here are arriving in the neighbourhood today. It will be nice catching up with them again. Maybe now Ray and I can get out and about with friends again.

I will stop the blog here after our week of "the Grunge and Repairs". lol

January in Quartzsite, week 3

Monday, January 13th

We both woke up feeling great after yesterday's festivities. That was until I spied my kitchen with dishes piled everywhere. lol Ray had to excavate to be able to make coffee. :) It really did not take too long to get them done after our showers this morning.

While I was cleaning up here, Ray ran into town to get some replacement led's and a few odds and ends. After he was back we decided to go into town for lunch . We stopped at the Yacht Club but they had a sign on the door .... "no liquor sales until further notice" .... well no beer then no lunch. So we decided to try out the Times 3 Family Diner. Another one struck off the list ... everything is frozen and they just drop it into the fryer although Ray had their fried chicken and it was pretty good.  We compromised as they also don't serve beer.

When we got back, Ray phoned Colan so he could come and install our door awning motor as it had arrived. Kind of a fiddly job getting the old motor out and the new one in. Very limited space. After two hours everything was back together and working. Yeah. We shared a beer and off Colan went in his brand new side by side. Unfortunately we heard some "beeping" and he kept stopping and going several times. I think something is wrong with his ride. Turned out it was because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt. lol  I did not get a picture of this repair as my phone was charging inside and he had the door blocked with the ladder. :)

We sat outside enjoying the day for another hour before coming inside and having leftovers for dinner. No cooking for me today. :)

Tuesday, Jan 14th

Another very clear morning which promises to be another warm and sunny day. We sure don't get tired of seeing "Old Sol" come up with the pinks and purples in the morning sky.

After morning chores, Ray and I decided to head into town and see the shops along Main Street by Gem World. We had not been in those shops for a few years.

After wandering around for an hour or so it was off to Beer Bellies to check out the music and try out the food as they have a new vendor cooking it for them this year. I have to say it was a great burger compared to what I remembered 3 years ago and the music was great, a lot of old Eagles tunes.

As we were leaving Beer Bellies we noticed this awesome off-road tent trailer. Something like this would be fabulous for Garrett and Kat and the places they go. They apparently run around $25,000 USD. https://www.trailerlife.com/rv-gear/rvs/instant-trailer/

Great ice cream from the hit and miss Ray says!

This stove is way better than the one I currently have!

I sent Garrett the pictures and he said he saw a program where they put this rig through severe off-road trials in Australia and it stood up with no problem.

When we got back Ray worked on sanding his sticks and I sat in the shade reading for the rest of the afternoon.

Colan was here around 3pm to check out putting tilt hardware on some of our existing solar panels and then we can move forward with the one new panel. Unfortunately the lift system does not appear to be able to be added to our existing solar panels without putting more holes in our roof which is not acceptable, so he will install one new panel with tilting hardware and hopefully that will be enough.

A lovely warm day today, we stayed in shorts until it was time to go in at 5 pm so I could start dinner. Freya had been letting me know for half an hour "feed me".... lol That was our day.

Wednesday, Jan 15th

Up at 6:45 am as I slept poorly again.... don't know why, so we had a leisurely start to the morning after getting up quite a bit later than usual.

Another glorious sunny day here and a snowstorm at home. Even the schools are closed today in Lake Cowichan for a second day this week. Glad to be here in the sun. (Thursday school is closed too!)

Where's my outside woodstove?

Colan was unable to come today to install the solar panel as he had an emergency hydraulic line to fix and was covered in hydraulic oil. He will come tomorrow at 8:30 am instead.

I went into town to get a roast chicken for Freya at the Quartzsite General Store but they were not ready until later this afternoon. I arranged for my name to be put on one and bought some spareribs that had just come out of their oven to put under the heat lamps. Now I don't have to cook supper. lol They were surprisingly delicious.

Ray and I stopped over to say "goodbye" to Jim and Barb as they will be on the road Friday back to South Dakota with money in the bank from selling their rig. We will all miss them but do understand the draw to getting back to the build. Jim said he flew his drone over our unit this morning and will send us the pictures shortly. It will kind of cool to see what we look like from the air. I will add the picture later when I get it. :)



The rest of the afternoon we spent outside, Ray working on his sticks and I did a little reading. With Ribs for supper, dinner was a breeze. We did get a pretty good sunset I managed to catch with my phone.

Thursday, Jan 16th

A bit cloudy this morning but it is supposed to clear off this afternoon and warm up to 70F.  Shower day today before Colan arrives and is looking down our skylight. lol

He arrived shortly before 9am and was busy up there installing the panel with the tilt system attached. We shall see how well this works added to the string as it is cloudy this morning. Around 11 he was done and the panel is certainly making a difference. I was only charging into the battery about plus 4 and once that one was added it went to plus 24 ... Our batteries should charge to full much faster now and they did.

Our friends, Pam and Bill Freckleton were coming up from Yuma to tour the vendors at Tyson Wells today so we met up for lunch with them at Beer Belly's. They also brought their friends Bill and Rosemarie. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of them before they left .... just our empty table. lol Pam was supposed to send me a picture of them shopping but alas ... no picture was sent. :)

These people are awesome playing and singing. Great guitar playing and love their music playing all the greatest. Same people we saw a couple of days ago.

Ray and I decided to buy their metal art sign to hang on our weaved fir screen panel on our sundeck at home so we can adopt our new motto "No Bad Days".

Puttered around for the rest of the day until Happy Hour down Dianne and Steve's way at the communal campfire. Another great day.

Friday, Jan 17th

A beautiful sunrise this morning so I asked Ray to get another picture.

This morning we decided to go out for breakfast at the laundromat and then over to the Pow Wow Rock and Gem Show at the QIA. Again, every kind of rock you could imagine in every colour of the rainbow. Mother Earth's treasures are amazing. The place is packed with people exhibiting and buying. There were some jewelry vendors and other things made from the rocks, but this four day event was mostly raw and unfinished pieces of rock. I cannot imagine hauling the weight of all this stuff, setting it up for only 4 days. lol We did notice that the price of things are higher here than at the Desert Gardens Rock and Gem display.

Not as many people yet but by the time we left there was double. lol They even have tractor's pulling hay wagons for people to get a lift back and forth from the parking lot some distance away.

Back home for lunch, Our door lock got stuck again and Ray had to climb through the driver's side window to open the door. It had been getting quite sticky again so we left that window unlocked and moved stuff away from the chair expecting this to happen. After a couple of hours Ray finally got it working properly again. We will have to get this mechanism replaced .... I just don't know if it will be done here or back at home. I went back into town to pick up our package at Quiet Times, our dining room light fixture finally arrived. Noticed this old truck with a bunch of guys sitting on lawn chairs in the back, certainly not legal at home. Look at the traffic on the other side of the overpass. It's nuts at this corner with people turning into Kuehn Street for Tyson Wells vendors. Coming back I went the long way around so I was making a left hand turn back on Highway 95 which was much faster.

For Happy Hour today we have been invited with about 22 others, to Les and Sue's Happy Hour across the way at Tyson Wash. What a spread she put on for everyone. She must have been cooking for 2 days. Thanks for the picture Sue.


It certainly cooled down though as soon as the sun dropped in the sky and the breeze was cold. Look how bundled up everyone was. Nice fire ... and even a propane one for others.

Below, Sue https://ramblingrvrat.blogspot.com with her back to the camera ... the hostess with the mostess! She's not cold as she was running around looking after everyone! She tells me "I'm Italian ... I like to feed everyone". That certainly is an understatement. :)

We left at 6 pm as it was cold and Ray had had enough standing with his back after his adventures with our door locking mechanism.

Another fabulous day with friends here in Quartzsite. Once Freya was walked and fed, Ray headed to bed to rest his back and I watched a little TV myself.

Saturday, January 18th THE OPENING OF THE BIG TENT RV SHOW

Ray and I headed out at 8am so we could get a good parking spot close to the entrance. We were able to chat with our contact at Dometic regarding our range install on Tuesday. Apparently the range is supposed to get here Monday??? If it does not arrive they will reschedule our Tuesday appointment. So we shall see. They say the "squeaky wheel gets the grease!" I have been squeaking for 5 weeks and they all know my name and now what I look like and what I want. :) so I think things will actually happen. Also spoke to the RoadMaster people regarding getting our tow hitch serviced while the coach is in for my stove install. Perfect another item of the "must do" list.

Noticed this cool Nash Metropolitan in the parking lot while we were waiting.

The show opened at 9am. Wow I have never seen that many people first thing in the 5 years we have been attending this show. Good for the vendors but sucks with the traffic. A lot of new RV'ers here as we could hear them videoing their visit and mentioning it was their first time. There are more vendors with RV stuff so I guess it definitely shows that this industry has picked up substantially since 2013 when we first came.

We walked the show for about 90 minutes before we had had enough. Only ended up purchasing some led lights at a better price than in town, and some drill bits for Ray. Heading back towards La Posa South, the traffic was backed up half ways between the La Posa North and La Posa South going into town. What a smoz.

Sunday, January 19th

Up early, showered and off to the laundromat by 7:30 am for breakfast while the clothes are washing. I had no trouble getting my loads in but the restaurant was quite busy. Ray ordered while I got the washers running. After breakfast Ray did some errands while I finished drying the clothes and folding. Back at camp by 10 am after stopping at K & B Tools to exchange some LED's. Not too bad. Traffic was still ok at that point.

Noticed last night that the numbers on our Blu Sky Solar monitor has quit showing us any information. The light on the unit is on "but nobody home"! Will have to get it checked out. This happened possibly with the installation of a new panel?

While reading Bayfield Bunch's blog today found out that the Palm Canyon trees in Borrego Springs went up in smoke this morning. These are the pictures that were posted on Kelly's FB page that Al put in his blog. Wow, how sad.







Invited to Happy Hour over at Dianne and Steve's. Met their friends Dale and Chloe, also Dino and Lisa were there as well as Cindy, Roger away working. A great couple of hours yacking. Overhead we noticed an Ultra Light that flew over top of Steve's trailer.

Another great day ... and a great week.

January in Quartzsite, week 2

Wednesday, January 8th

Another gorgeous day but quite windy. I picked up Dianne at 9:30 and we went into Q to find a good place to walk that's relatively flat and a solid surface. We parked at the library and headed out on one of the paved paths. Dianne managed to do .63 of a mile. Her knees are both sore, the one she recently had a knee replacement on at the beginning of October and I guess the other one for doing more work. She needs to build up her stamina but walking here in the desert is especially hard on joints. I sure notice it with my knees and feet. So I think we will be going into town every couple of days to walk.

After we were back Ray told me that he had contacted ICBC regarding our cracked windshield on the coach. They contacted their American counterparts and a glass guy showed up at 11 am to measure for the new windshield. We had a random windshield guy that was driving by have a look last week for a quote and had him fix the rock chips on our car windshield while he was here. Turned out the random dude's name is Rick and Nomad Glass was on "the approved list" and is the supplier they sent here anyways. New windshield should be installed in the next few days. Apparently they just drive their flatbed truck up to the front of the coach and work off of that.

After he left, Ray and I went into town to get some lunch. We decided on the BBQ Food truck by Rice Ranch. His bbq'd beef and pork sandwiches were really good. I also bought some more firewood from the guy across the street so we have our own stash.

My Uncle Ken and Aunt Norma are currently in Mexico for a week. My cousin Gord and his wife Susana, took them. I am very happy for them as they thought that they wouldn't be able to travel anymore due to their health and they have always travelled, a lot of it with my Dad over the years.

Back home Ray sat outside while I stayed inside ... too windy for me. I put on a batch of bread and watched some TV. A quiet evening for the both of us at home. I think everyone else was ready for a quiet day too as there was not a Happy Hour.

Thursday, January 9th

A cloudy start to the morning which seems unusual after so many sunny days. Hopefully Freya's meds come in to Walmart in Parker today. I ordered them on the weekend, they sent the order in on Monday and as of yesterday afternoon they still were not in. Waiting to get confirmation before Dianne and I go up for a day's shopping.

Ray and I headed into town to pick up a few things and then came home for lunch. Put up another sunshade on the First Up Shelter. It was on sale for $10, a great deal. Certainly allows us to sit outside out of the wind and sun when it is too hot. Called Walmart and yes, Freya's meds are finally in so Dianne and I are on for our shopping trip tomorrow.

We went over across the road to Dave and Kate to show them some free camping areas on our Utah Benchmark Map. While over there they showed us their mods to their vintage motorhome. What a great kitchen she has. I managed to trip going down their dog ramp skinning my knee and toes, put a hole in my pants ... what a klutz.

I received a call from Jeff Spencer, from Dometic who is coming to the Big Show, regarding a new range for me. 4 Points Mobile RV Repair is not coming to the show now so he gave me Jeff's number to talk directly to them. Jeff said he has other techs to use here and will be able to "take care of you" at the campsite instead of trying to get into the RV Show grounds with the MH. He will be sending me more details shortly .... we will see how this goes. The new dining light that 4 Points ordered for me has arrived and of course it is in Mesa, and we are here. Don't know how he will get it to us ..... gave him Quiet Times address so we shall see.

Ray received a call from the TransAmerica Insurance company which is ICBC's partner down here, that our new windshield for the MH will be installed tomorrow between 10 and noon. We had a big rock chip before coming down to the USA that Ray meant to have sealed .... but travelling it did not happen. Unfortunately sitting here at Quartzsite with the hot sun during the day and the cold at night it has decided to really crack so must be replaced. We had several other small chips in the windshield anyways over the years, so now it will be brand new. With our glass deductible is should only cost us $283 USD.

Colan texted and our replacement motor for our door awning is in. Don't know when he will install that yet, probably with the new solar panel.

Lots of repairs and maintenance items getting checked off the list. It is nice to be somewhere for a while to take care of all these "irritants". lol We settled in well to Camp Art Gecko. 

Steve and Dianne came over for Happy Hour and I made up some Keto taco appetizers, especially for Dianne. They turned out great. Another great visit.

Friday, Jan 10th.

Up at 6 am and started washing yesterday's dishes. As the windshield is being replaced today, Ray will take the coach over and dump and fill with fresh water so the coach does not have to move for awhile after the window is placed. Need to have it ready to go for 8:30 am before I pick up Dianne. Beautiful full moon setting this morning.

At 8:20 am we left the lot with Ray heading to the sani-dump and I went to get Dianne and their generator. They brought it back home yesterday and it started doing the same thing with surging after being at Yamaha for 3 weeks! Steve and Dianne loaded it up in the back of the car and off we went. First up was dropping off Dianne and Steve's generator at Yamaha. Dianne had her "rant" and they took it back. 

After getting our grocery shopping done it was time for our pedicure at Parker Nail Salon. We were both pleasantly surprised with the great massages of our legs and feet we received and loved our pedicures. A great hour spent for only $23 plus tip. 

Jeff Spencer from Dometic called my while I was shopping and will stop by the coach this afternoon to see what needs to be done in putting in a new range. He informed Ray they would do the install at their building inside the show grounds.  We now have an appointment for 7:30 am Tuesday, Jan 21st. They apparently have a nice lounge for Ray and I with Freya while the work is being done. Estimated to take about 3 hours. Ray and I will probably just take turns walking the show while one of sits with Freya.

Received notification from our alarm company at home that the power was out .... high winds and snow at Lake Cowichan. Here's a picture from our security camera. Yup it snowed!

I was pretty sure it was going to snow as two days earlier it was really frosty there.

Next up was lunch so we decided to try out the casino. Very reasonable prices at the Blue Water Grill. Dianne had the hugest Cobb Salad and I the fish and chips. Both were only $10.50 each.

There was a huge racing event setting up in the casino parking lot, so good thing we were not going to Parker tomorrow as it will be really busy.

After lunch we stopped at Bealls Outlet Store and the final liquor outlet trying to buy some Triple Sec for Ray's margaritas .... difficult to find out of the other three stores I tried. I was successful this time though. Our final stop was back at Yamaha to see if the generator was ready to go ... after 20 minutes or so it was loaded into the car and back to Q we went. Didn't get home until 3:30 pm.... a long shopping day. I bought fried chicken for Ray from Safeway so dinner was done. lol

While I was gone the windshield replacement started on schedule at 10:00 am. Here is the picture of the crack. It was doing a "loopty do", everyday cracking even more.

Here are Ray's install pictures. Pretty cool their back deck is rounded to fit the front of a motorhome and they just drive their flatbed right up and work off of that.

Done in 1 1/4 hours. Fabulous.

Juan at 4 Points Mobile RV Repair is going to send me the dining light via Quiet Times on Monday, so it should be here Tuesday or Wednesday and then we will pay him. Another item to be checked off. :)

Both Ray and I were beat, and tired of being in pain from his back and knee that was giving out on him and my foot from a plantar fasciitis outbreak which my fall did not help. We went to bed at 7:30 pm. Both of us woke up many times through the night but managed to go back to sleep. Imagine our surprise when we did not wake up completely until 6:50 am!!!! Wow. Hopefully this bodes for a better day.

Saturday, Jan 11th

When we finally got up it was a chilly 35F outside. Cranked up the heat and turned on the generator so we were warm in no time. Today will be a quiet day at camp to recover, especially for Ray. It was a long day for him yesterday, setting camp back up after the pump and dump as I was out for the day.

I went into town and picked up two more "on sale" wind curtains for the First Up Shelter, as the first one I bought is working so well. Seems to hold up in the wind so we will replace the nylon wind curtains with that instead.  Once I got back Ray worked on that while I reorganized the freezer and shrink wrapped the new meat I bought yesterday. Otherwise. a well needed relaxing day. The wind stayed up all day but with the new sun shades I was able to stay in my little room outside for the afternoon.

Sunday, Jan 12th

Another gorgeous morning but cool again at 34F. I spent the day prepping for dinner. We invited Steve, Dianne and Jim and Barb for a barbecued Pork Prime Rib. This was the warmest day yet with very little wind, so dinner was set up on our wind shelter.

Everyone arrived around 4 pm and we started out with a campfire. I made a double batch of "Martin's Sneaky Mai Tai's" earlier in the dayt.  I realized this morning that we only have 2 more months before being back in BC, so needed help drinking all of the alcohol we had accumulated .... 35 oz's went into this concoction. lol 

Dinner turned out great, according to the accolades. My pork roast looked fabulous coming off the barbecue. 

Steves picture:

Accompanying this was roast potatoes and gravy, asparagus baked with garlic, cream and cheese, (tried to get Jim to eat vegetables. lol) and I made a loaded mashed cauliflower, for a potato substitution for Dianne. 

Contributing to this feast was Dianne's awesome caesar salad and to finish, Barb's delicious creme brulee. 

After dinner the crew did all the clearing of dishes back into the MH and Ray put the leftover food away. Thanks for the help guys. I will face the dishes tomorrow morning.

We then all waddled back to the campfire for another hour while sampling some port and chocolate before saying goodnight. A wonderful evening, great fun.

And so ends our second week of January here in Quartzsite. Time is going by so fast. It's hard to believe we have been here 2 1/2 weeks already. More people are arriving daily.