Yuma Arizona Winter of 2012

We are a campground about 8 miles from town.  Southern Mesa is small, quite and typical of the places that snowbirds like to stay in.

Our rig is backed up by a lemon tree and about 100 acres of farmland.  No sooner had we arrived but it came to my attention that Yuma Lodge #17 was having a special communication to initiate 2 men.  Off I go….

Brother Kevin Hawkins {left} sat in the east and initiated his son Brother Aaron Ray Hawkins.  Tending devotions was Grandfather & W.B. Don Hawkins.  The work done was very similar to Washington Lodge #70s, the execution was flawless from my perception.  Of some interest, 2 candidates were done individually in full form on the 1st half.

Above:  View to the East, note the South Western Art Deco theme of the room, it was vary attractive.  Brother Mike White is shown as he sat as Senior Warden, casual by our standards but 100% correct down here.

My apologies to the Brother shown in the South, he is ‘D’ to his friends and I did not write down his full name.

Tomorrow, Anne-Marie goes to prison…

Quartzite 2012 Can you find us?

Every morning here one of the fellows takes up his ultra lite.  In the dead silence of the desert, it is startling at 8:00 am.  The 50 or so campers you see pictured are our group as of 2/18/2012.  In the past 3 weeks, the count through here has been 112 family units.

As I‘ve noted before, there are approx. 100,000 campers with in 5 miles of Quartzite each spring.  This week is the annual RV show.

Where are we?  Look at center of picture, move up and to the right a small amount.  There are 3 motorhomes parked side by side, move to the next rig on the right, parked on about 45° angle.  That’s us.

Quartzite RV show

We just found 1 reson for 100000 campers here.  Humugous RV show.

You’ve got to try ‘The Desert Bar’

Founded in 1998, this is an establishment for all the desert lurkers out here.  All the Quartzite regulars make the trip at least once, so the can say BTDT.

After a 52 mile drive you go into the driveway.  Did I mention that the ‘driveway’ is about 10 miles of mine trail.  No cell phone or 3g here!

Plenty of parking near the church.

The Bar is 100% Solar Powered!  They charge a huge battery bank from Monday to Friday, open on Saturday & Sunday.

Food is limited to very good Hot Dogs, salads, chili and hamburgers {No Cheese EVER} 

Keeps the Beer cold and the band playing.

 

Some of our ‘Boomer’ friends get a little unruly when at a party.  Did I mention that life is a party…..

We got home at about 6:00 after doing some shopping.  at about 10:00 a weather front came thru treating us to 60-70 mph winds….

Alas, there is no snow

Real Estate Frustration

Time to rant a little.  Our Windsor home has been on the {depressed) market for 6 months.  No action despite 15% price reduction.  It appears that we have a viable offer from a qualified buyer.

We’ve spent too much time in the last 2 days doing document retrieval, signing, notarizing, faxing and mailing.  I will be so happy when it comes to an end.

Our social yesturday was a wonderful event, a very good ‘DoWop/Gospel’ singer went on for about 1 1/2 hours.

Adult Daycare in Arizona

The Desert Bar - Parker, AZ
This bar is 10 miles from nearest paved road!  It is 100% solar powered, a very good band and decent bar burgers ( no cheese, ever!).

South Of Tucson for 3 Days

 

Stopped in Sahuarita, Az  www.ci.sahuarita.az.us/ to visit our friends Barbra & George Karody.  They were kind enough to receive and store our new Bollie 3,600 watt generator.  Anne-Marie is well please to have the use of her hair adjusting appliances in the morning.

When strolling in the desert, certain precautions should be taken.  Ever notice the The Lone Ranger did not wear Nikes?

We visited the local Copper mine.  One of the few manmade objects that can be seen from space, 2 1/2 miles long and 1 1/2 mile long about 1900’ deep.

 

 

Our food stop was chosen from a Droid Ap. I have that locates favorites from ‘Diners Drive-ins and Dives’.  The fish Tacos were awesome {and Cheap!}

Desert Living in Quartzite, 1st visit 2012

1st Item on the agenda, It’s Big!  I would be guessing there are 100,000 units within a five mile radius.   Not unlike going to Cape Cod on Labor Day.  I have GPS coordinates to follow, almost useless as the roads {mostly dirt} are not marked.  A cell phone call to a fellow Boomer turns me 180° and sends us 4 miles up dirt road, lets remember our 12,000# home is back there.

A word about ‘Boomers’:  We are members of The Escapee’s Camping Club.  IN that Club there are many ‘BOFs’ {Birds of a Feather}.  6 Different BOF sub groups are staying scattered in this area, are members of and are grouped with The Boomers.

So, it’s 6:00 {post cocktail} and we arrive in Boomerville.  There are about 30 rigs here, several will come and go each day.

                  Social Hour                                              Our rig as parked

More pictures tomorrow…..

The place to be on January 8th, Memphis Tennessee to celebrate The King's Birthday.

We Stayed at the State fairgound for 2 days after driving for 3,  The rest was most needed.  This was also the 1st night we 'camped' rather than stay in motel.

Welcome center on the riverbank

Anne-Marie with 'The King'

I prefer the mellow sound of B.B. King

Corner of Beale St, this is about 11:00 am, crowd will be hear in a couple of hours.

We had lunch at BB Kings.  Veryy good food with an pleasant Blues Band.

‘City of Colorado’ State Park in Texas

What a pleasant surprise, we phoned ahead for reservations.  When we got there we had the whole park to ourselves!  There were about 100 level beautiful sites with Water & Electric.  The lady at the gate was very pleasant, took our $20 and gave us the code to open and close the gate.

As conditions allow, when we are just overnighting, I usually stay hooked up to Big Blue.  The rig bounces on it’s rubber suspension but not too often

We were overlooking a lake with what appeared to be a power station 3 miles distant, a train in the distance about every 3 hours.  Very relaxing after a 350 mile tow.

When we left Connecticut 2 days ago it was a cool 9°.
At 2pm today we crossed into Tennesse in the area of Bristol, later while we were driving it peaked at 51°.  Hope to eat ribs in Memphis tomorrow.

Our 1st Coach

This is our 1969 Lifetime, 21' motorhome. We bought it in 1983 and titled it 'The Rough Draft'. It had a Chrysler 318 V8 and did 6mpg at 57mph, that's all she had!

This photo taken in the infield of Daytona during a TransAm race.

The question most asked is, "How are you going"?

In attempt to answer that you may want to peak at this.

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OK, that's us on the back, I paddle, Annie holds on!

Colorado 2010

Departing Connecticut 1/3/2012

Janurary 3rd and it's in the teens here in Connecticut. We are all loaded, hooked up and ready to go tomorrow. We'll be traveling south thru Pennsylvania and SWest into Memphis TN.