Quartzsite, Week #4 Another week of eating and Happy Hours - January 23 - 29

Monday morning woke up to wind and cold temps, definitely windy last night. Didn't bother us though and everything outside stayed put with the 30mph winds. We had the dish down so didn't have to worry about that either.

I decided to try out the oven, now that everything's fixed, so mixed up a batch of muffins. While messing with this, Ray headed to the Big Tent to put a deposit on the bed installation. My Google research indicates it's a good price and the company is legit.

It took over an hour for the oven to come up to 400F .... Finally I put the pan in and guess what, it didn't fit. Who knew the microwave convection can handle bigger cookware than the oven. So after all that wait, I turned the generator on and the convection oven heated up in 10 mintues. Twenty minutes later, voila muffins! I guess smaller muffin pans will be purchased. :)

I invited Steve and Dianne over for coffee and a muffin so they braved the wind to come for an hours visit.

With all chores completed by 1 pm, I asked Ray to take me out for lunch. With being sick for the first 2 weeks in Q, the only food consummed is at "Chez Debbie's". lol Off we went, first to Silly Al's, NOPE lined out the door. Next up we tried the Grubsteak Bar and Grill .... NOPE no frenchfries today only corn chips. Ok then off to the Yacht Club on Main Street. Well .....

They were packed! It took 10 to 15 minutes to be seated at a table outside on their enclosed porch at 2 pm. Once seated it took 20 minutes for any of the wait staff to notice us and take our order. To keep me happy the waiter, Charlie Vagabond, gave me a pitcher of beer instead of just a glass ... their glasses are really small, the size of a kids mug at the A & W :)

We continued to wait ... just after 3 pm Ray started asking questions. All the porch tables also didn't get any food and very little service. A waitress came and said she would bring us chips and salsa on the house. The ladies at the table beside us asked for popcorn, but then took our chips when it came so of course we got nothing. Ray looked inside the restaurant and several tables of people who came after us were already being fed. That was it!!!! Ray paid for our drinks and we left, especially when it's going to be another 30 minutes before our food came out. The kitchen staff obviously don't do the food tickets in order. A horrible experience. Came home and cooked hot dogs.

At 4 Dianne and Steve came over to sit outside against the motorhome out of the wind for happy hour. Everyone else in our group is either off exploring or hunkering down from the wind.

For dinner I whipped up a Japanese Curry with the leftover pork for Ray. Otherwise a pretty quiet day.

Tuesday, another gorgeous sunny day. More wind in the forecast though. I decided to do a grocery run to Parker, while Ray puttered here at camp. Once done with my shopping I headed to the Blue Water Casino for lunch. We booked an RV site there for 4 days, but have to cancel, as Colan isn't finished with our repairs and is gone for a week's cruise. Turns we weren't getting the greatest spot .... Site 60C, supposedly a pull-through. Our nose would be right up against our neighbours!

The RV park seems to be between dirt berms. Not the best view. I drove to the end and the sites are nicer and some even have a view of the river.

Entrance to RV park

Best sites #140 to #154

Then this sign came into view! $15 for dry camping right on the river. There are about 1/2 dozen spots along the river. This is where we would go. :)

Next up lunch at the Blue Water Grille. After not getting a beef dip yesterday at the Yacht Club, I ordered one here. The sandwich is delicious, but the fries are terrible.

When back to camp, we sat outside up against the MH where it's quite warm. Warm enough for shorts and t-shirts! Dianne came over for a short visit and Ray fed her a margarita too. :)

When she went back home, we headed over to Dave and Cheryl's to meet their company. Wow talk about much colder!

Cheryl, Pat, Debbie #4 and Nancy who lives here in the Yuma area.

Shortly after this next picture Ray went home for more clothes and brought me a coat for my legs. lol

Ray, Bill and Dave.

Back home at 5 to warm up. Burrr. I turned up the heat and wore a coat for 30 minutes.

Wednesday Ray headed into Q to pick up some longer bolts for the tilts on the solar panels, while I puttered inside with dishes etc. As it turns out, he's unable to do the work himself as brackets need to  be drilled out and attached to the panels. Too much bending over for him. 

I decided to cook dinner for lunch and made homemade Halibut and Fries with fresh tarter sauce. Our last piece of halibut we brought down with us. I'm not happy with the food eating out, pretty crappy and it's gotten so expensive I might as well make it myself. At the show, we ordered a plate of curly fries, a Gyro, and one large pop and it's $36!!!! Of course they don't post the prices.

Ray's a happy camper with the fish and chips. Being earlier in the afternoon it was warm enough to cook it outside instead of "polluting" the inside of the coach. He ate it for lunch and dinner. The rest of the afternoon, we were able to sit outside up tight to the coach out of the wind. 

Used the Barbecue to keep fish crisp while I did the final fry on the chips.

After lunch, the way Ray situated our MH, were able to sit outside for most of the afternoon in shorts. 

Thursday we were out the door bright and early at 7:50 am to get to the laundromat before it got too busy. Today it's a good choice and we were done in 90 minutes or so. Nice to get that out of the way. Sure's a blustery today with winds of 20 mph with gusts to 30 plus. Definitely a day to stay inside. Fortunately at this side of La Posa South the dust is not as bad as the other side. I think everyone is either going somewhere or hunkering down inside today.

Bread baking day and I'm also doing lamb shanks in the InstantPot. It's really cool outside in the wind and seems the right kind of day. :) Everything's prepped for the cook later on.

Bread and Hamburger Buns

Finally, later on in the afternoon the wind died down so we had Happy Hour over here for an hour or so before the sun went down at 5:30. The whole gang's here other than Brian and Debbie. Everyone's just happy to get outside without blowing away. Although this put me behind on dinner, I cooked the shanks anyways and we ate at 7:30 pm. Delicious, worth the wait.

Friday morning we got up a little later. Should be a nice sunny day without wind today. Lots of dishes to wash after last night's dinner.

For washing dishes and showers we haul a lot of water. :) We don't want to move the coach for a dump and fill except every 2 weeks instead of weekly if we use the water out of our taps.

Ray went up on the roof and took a few picture to  show how many units are around us here in the desert. White roofs as far as the eye can see practically.

Today, Dianne announced that since there is finally no wind, they are hosting games and after a fire for a hotdog roast. We went into town to purchase buns and weiners. With hotdogs being for dinner, I made us hamburgers for lunch.

After lunch it's time to relax in the sunshine. A gorgeous afternoon. Finally warm enough for Ray to take off his shirt.

Bit of a farmer's tan I'd say

At 3:30 we all assembled at Steve and Dianne's for core crash.

My turn ... picture by Debbie #2

After 3 games it's time to get the fire started. We've been here nearly a month and this is the first nice warm night without wind to even have a fire.

Debbie #4, Brian, Cheryl, Dave, Jerry missing, Debbie #3, Ray, Dianne, Steve, Greg, Debbie #2 and Jim

A great night. 

Saturday morning another brillant sunny day with no wind. After morning chores we headed out to the show to look at some smaller Class A's, should we ever decide to downsize. An hour later we came to the conclusion that NOPE we are happy with what we have :) After all that walking, we decided to see if we could get into Silly Al's Pizza for lunch and this timesuccess. This seems to be the only place in Quartzsite with consistent great food, good service and reasonable prices.

After lunch we went over to the La Mesa lot and checked out their RV's and again, after an hour of walking in and out of various units the only one I would take is a brand new Tiffin Allegro Bus at 42 feet and a price tag of $509,000 USD. I think we will keep what we have :) Not quite shrinking down!

Beautiful theatre seats to watch TV from.

Back at camp and a quick visit with Dianne and Steve. Later on, it's Happy Hour at their place and the group just sat and talked. You can certainly tell the days are getting longer now as the sun did not go down behind the mountain until 5:40 pm instead of 5:15.

Sunday morning and clear and cool. The wind already started at 7:15 am. Big breakfast day. Ray took a drive to the Canada and US map to take a picture of it this morning. Probably better with a drone. lol

Tonight, while Ray watches football, I made Chli Rellanos, stuffed poblano peppers, with a mexican tomato sauce. You batter them in egg whites and pan fry in some oil. Turned out pretty good, Ray's a happy camper.

And that is it ... another week gone by here in Quartzsite.