Better Late than Never!

02-Feb-11
Let me guess… lol tired of me apologizing for late updates and lack of photos? Lol Well, then I won’t do that now! The slow posts have mostly been due to the lack of anything exciting going on.
We spent almost a month in Huachuca City, AZ waiting on repair work. While we were there we got new brakes and drums and a fridge recall done. We did a bunch of geocaching and a lot of relaxing. Much as we wanted to see a lot of the area, we had to spend most of our time close to the phone and the dealer in case parts came in. Somewhat disappointing, considering there is a lot to see in that area. I guess the upside is we have a few more winters to visit!
We did get over to Tombstone and poked around some. Interesting little tourist trap! The Birdcage was the highlight for me though. It is the only original building left in town and still boasts some original billboards and other unique items. It still has the original bar and organ even. A nice touch in a place that really doesn’t offer much more than over priced re-enactments and fake store fronts.
We did have a nice visit there with Dick and Jackie, and enjoyed lunch with them. Poked around town and watched Dick take some great pics! You need to check out their blog (hehe) and there you can see some of the great places we have been and many that we hope to get to!! http://talesfromthedriversseat.blogspot.com/
We left Huachuca and headed west towards Yuma. Over nighted at the John Wayne RV park. Kinda had to because of its name J
Got to the BLM land outside Yuma, just over the CA border and parked for awhile and enjoyed the nice weather. We didn’t get to see as many people as we intended while we were there. Terry and Gail stopped out for a nice afternoon visit. It was great to see some hometown faces for a change! We poked around Yuma a bit and did a day trip to Los Algodones with Robbie and Alice. We broke down and finally bout one of the beautiful stained glass windows for the 5er. I didn’t think we would find something that we both would like but lo and behold we did!!
So after our near 2 week stint in Yuma it was time to head out again. Back to Quartzsite for the Circling of the Montanas. We got there a bit before rally time and enjoyed some smaller happy hour visits. It was fun to not be the newbs this year! Normally there’s a group that arrives early and gets the location set up and so on, this year was no different. However, a couple of folks from our group decided to check with the BLM office as to how some people were allowed to over stay the 14 day limit. This had been overlooked by the officer for the area as a courtesy to some of the rally groups, “don’t ask, don’t tell” was pretty much how it went. But I guess when you point out that this might not be right, well then it gets back to the book time for everyone. As no one was immediately aware of all the commotion, a lot of us that had arrived early to help out the wagon master also had to leave before the rally was over. We did manage a mini circle in town and drove out for a couple of happy hours. But it just wasn’t the same…
After all the rally stuff was over and we got bored with Q, it was decided to check out some new territory-ish. We headed out to Lake Alamo for a week near some water. Again we did a lot of relaxing and some exploring. Found a few good spots for some great boondocking next time we are in the area. Jack enjoyed his daily swims and defended us from the evil burros. We found some fun trails and poked around for the week then decided it was time again to head out.
Which found us outside Parker, AZ. A couple miles past Earp, CA, BLM land again! Met some nice people from Alaska and extremely unusual couple that live in a tent. I think Gary appreciated them more than I did. They thought he was a genius!! I know it would be easy to say, “well, the economy has hit us all pretty hard” but then theres just lazy people who are happy to have an excuse to be slackers to the extreme. So, after 10 days there it was time to find some new neighbours!
We headed down the road a bit and spent a couple nights at Lake Tamarisk Desert resort. Got cleaned up and took a day to scout out our next boondocking spot. We are now parked just outside the Joshua Tree National Park. Did some peeking around for the usual stuff. Once I know there’s drinking water available close I can settle down better. The park has a station about 5 mins from us so all is good! Fresh water, garbage bins and dump station for when we are ready to leave. There is a lot to see around here, besides the park itself. I’m hoping we take a trip to Slab City and see what its like. Saltan Sea is just south of us as well. We have a few weeks to explore. Our next scheduled event isn’t until March 30 for another rally in Jackson, CA. then off to the factory to get our rig fixed!
So hopefully I get this uploaded for you to peruse soon Dear Reader! And until next time, love you, miss you as always!