Camping World, Bakersfield, CA

We have begun our migration north. We have realy enjoyed our time in Arizona, except for the 'foot' thing. The weather couldn't have been better for our first 'snow-bird' experience. The rest of the country has been hammered this winter.

We left Fort Mohave Thursdy morning after a nice good bye get together at Gene & Cyndi's house yesterday. We were on the road by 9AM for our 296 mile drive. I don't like to drive this far normally. There was nothing along the route except for desert and Barstow. We did stop for fuel in Techachapi. I paid $3.91 a gallon for diesel at a Love's station. Not to bad for California.

We are going to stop at Camping World (free parking & 50 Amp) for 2 nights while we visit Costco and Walmart and of course Camping World. I also wanted to stop off at Three Way Chevrolet, where we bought our truck and double check on any PM that might be due on the truck. I found out that all is good and no service is required for another 3000 miles or so.

Meanwhile, we are here.

Our trip north is going to be slow. We have time to kill while the weather warms up. I don't think we will be entering Oregon till around March 23rd or so. We plan on checking out the Redwoods, San Francisco, wine country, and the ocean. Also another visit to Donna's two brothers in Oroville, CA.

Lovin' every minute of it!

The Great Oatman Bed Races.

We had to go to Oatman again for the 24th annual Great Bed Races.  This event draws lots of people. Participants and spectators (burros too).

We had to park quite a ways away and walk into town. I saw the public restrooms, and remember Dave & Diane mentioned some desert tortoises live there. Got to see them.

Two of them live here.

A couple of old ones!

Pretty cool!



In town, there were lots of strange folks in costumes and PJs.

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The burros were out and about.

Here is one of the beds .

Quite a town.

Race time.

Crazy fun!

And a shot of a cactus on the way home.



Goodbye Q, Avi, RAT, and Foot

On Wednesday, the 22nd, it was time to dump our black tank. Twelve days since our last dump. We decided it was time to head out. We were going to dump at the RV Pit Stop in town, but the line was pretty long so we just headed on North. We sure had a great time in Quartzsite. We are going to try to make this a yearly event for us.

We made a quick stop at Walmart in Parker. The trip North on Hwy 95 was uneventful and after 131 miles, we pulled into the Avi Casino dry rv parking lot in Nevada. We will boondock here for 1 night, and take advantage of the 2 fer 1 breakfast buffet in the morning.

Thursday we moved the 5 miles into the Riverside Adventure Trails (RAT) RV Park in Fort Mohave. This is where we have spent most of our time since Donna's foot accident.

Friday was Donna's last doctor appointment here. The x-rays looked good.

And the doctor answered all her questions she had. We found out that it will take time for the numbness and pain to subside. May have to do some physical therapy to increase the range of motion she has lost.

We are ready to continue our traveling next Thursday the 30th.

PS  -  Rant! Rant! I received a letter from Sanford Health Plans, my new health insurance I chose from the Healthcare.gov website. If I don't send them proof of South Dakota residency showing 9 months of the year in the state, they will cancel me on January 31st. They want utility bills, or something like that. And how easy is it to go on the Healthcare.gov website and cancel this insurance and choose another? Impossible!

!!!! Sanford Insurance is RVers Unfriendly !!!!!

Rant complete.

Last Day In Quartzsite

A couple from our group showed us a craft project they made. It is a 5th wheel and truck made from plastic canvas.

Pretty cool! Donna is going to try to make one now. A great gift idea for our grandkids.

We finally made it to the main event. We got up and around and found a parking spot by 9 AM. There are many vendors here. You can probably find anything you need here. We found a cool spot to take a break.

Beer Belly's Adult Day Care.

Is this cool or what?

We entered the big tent. Three aisles and tons of cool stuff. We bought some LED lights, a small 'cat' sized harness, some Happy Camper chemicals, and some Kettle Korn.

We passed much more. I want a flag pole sometime, more LED lights, and maybe some micro fiber cleaning rags. No hurry. I think we will be back next year.

Love the big trucks.

We headed south on 95 and drove through La Posa South LTVA. We have been here 2 other times looking for Steve & Diane's rig. We decided we can't get this close without visiting with them. We met them at the RV Dreams rally in Oregon in 2012.

Found them!

He has a nice big truck too.

We had a nice visit. It is fun to hear all about the places us RVers travel. Lots of tales.

After 11 days here, many of our group have left. And since our black tank is pretty full, I think we will be heading north tomorrow.

This is the farthest south we will be this year. We will start a slow, meandering pace north now.

Family Visit in Blythe

Sunday, the 19th, we traveled west on I-10 the 20 miles to Blythe, CA. We went to visit Donna's son Scott and his wife Melissa, along with their 2 children, Brock (10) and Mia (6). We had not seen them in 8 years. We had a wonderful visit. It was so good to see them again.

This visit was one of the main reasons we chose this route south for the winter. The kids were great. We talked and talked. We are thinking of swinging through here every year,

We were visiting while the Broncos were beating the Patriots. Then we had to head home to watch the Seahawks win. I had the DVR set for that one.

I had the inverter on all day, and with the overcast skys and maybe the coffee making, my battery State Of Charge (SOC) was down to 60 percent in the morning. So Monday morning I got the generator out (Honda 2000) and fired it up for about an hour. I usually just run it monthly a few minutes to keep it healthy and really never had to use it. I shut it off and with the sun charging us at 27 amps, we were back to a 100 Percent SOC by 4 PM.

We were going to visit the big tent today, but the place was a mad house and we saw no parking within walking distance so we will try again tomorrow. We did drive over to the Scaddan Wash area to visit Boomersville. The SKP group 'Boomers' holds an annual rally here every year. Maybe next year we will plan half our time here with the Christian Fellowship BOF group, and maybe a week with the Boomer group too.

Donna is trying to kick a cold she picked up (probably from me). Good thing we went to Mexico for some drugs the other day. She is using the anti-biotics we bought there already.

Quartzsite - the first week

This is quite a place.

We arrived on the 11th and today is the 18th. The place has just exploded with RVs! There are club gatherings everywhere. Many, many venders are set up here. And we haven't been to the main event (the big tent) yet!

I did adjust my solar panels to capture more of the sun.

I'm not quite parked East to West, but this has really made a difference. During mid day, I was charging 13.3 amps and now I get 23.7 amps at 356 watts. When we watch tv and charge all our electronics, we only use 7 amps. Day 8 and we haven't had to use the generator yet.

Here are some neighbors from on top of the rig.

Sun ready.

We are attending an Escapee rally. We are with the Christian Fellowship BOF.

There are 20 rigs here. We have had activities everyday. From devotionals first thing in the morning, to potlucks and music.

Here is a shot toward the group.

Here is our neighbors, the SKP Solos.

We have met so many great folks while we were here. They have made us feel right at home.

The Balyeat family put on a concert for us Friday. They are a gospel group, and pretty good too. Then a potluck afterward.

We all headed over to Scaddan Wash for the SKP Happy Hour get together. Lots of SKPers there and food, and music.

Here is the official photo taken by the SKP photo dude....and I'm in it!

Hands behind my head, in the back, blue shirt. Yea me!

We put on a breakfast for the Solos. We fed them biscuits and gravy. We served 78 of them.

And Friday we took a trip to Yuma. And made it into Los Algodones Mexico. Here is the parking lot on the US side. We walked across.

The border crossing. Walked right in, was checked out pretty good coming back.

Mexico at it's finest! We did pick up some cheap meds.

Tomorrow we visit Donna's son Scott in Blythe, CA. Maybe Monday we get to the big tent when the millions of people thin out a bit.

Having a ball.....in the desert.