Quartzite, Arizona

We left Joshua Tree NP, spent one night in Blythe, CA (should be named Blight - apologies to the people who live there but....) and then came to the Alfa rally in Quartzite. This is the big "boon docking" area where 700,000 to 1 million RV'ers flock every January for the big rock, gem and mineral show and the huge RV show. There are hundreds of all types of RV's for sale - new and used - plus after market RV accessories and vendors selling everything you didn't know you needed and plenty of stuff you certainly don't need! The desert is full of RV's for as far as you can see!

The Alfa Roadrunners have been meeting here for a week of camaraderie and shopping for several years. They have an area they come back to each year with a big "Alfa" circle made with rocks and a large campfire pit.  They just "circle the wagons" and park anywhere. There are no hook ups so we need to watch water usage - good excuse to use paper plates and not have to wash dishes but hard to rinse all the dust off with minimal shower time! The weather has been glorious - cool in the mornings and nights but in the 70's during the day - almost 80 yesterday.

This experience has been on our "bucket list" for quite awhile and we are certainly glad we came but it definitely is not an experience we will repeat! A week in the dust and dirt is way too long for me and we saw enough junk the first couple of days for Roger to give up anymore shopping! I have been bored enough to clean but there is no sense in that until we drive out of the desert! One good thing - we got the window next to the driver's seat taken out and cleaned - it was "fogged" - easy to get it good and dry out here!

Roger is laughing at all the "potions" I am using - the air is so dry that I can't use enough face cream, skin lotion, Vaseline, Visine, chapstick, or sun screen to keep me from feeling "reptilian!"

We are leaving Sunday for Casa Grande where we will stay until mid-April. We are looking forward to settling in for awhile. Having fun but missing all of our Florida friends!

Joshua Tree National Park

We left Fontana, CA (near LA) on Tuesday evening - motorhome  fixed and hair coiffed! We heard later they had a 4.5 earthquake on Wednesday morning!

We tried to get into a campsite at the Cottonwood Springs Campground in Joshua Tree but just could not fit - long enough but not wide enough to  extend the slide - so we ended up "boondocking" just outside the gate! Along with many others! The moon was so bright last night that the desert glowed almost iridescent.

We spent the day exploring the park and hiking to some scenic spots. Many people say the desert has its own beauty but, since I prefer green grass, trees, lakes and mountains, I would use the word "barren" to describe it!! Of course, it is winter and they are experiencing the worst draught in years so I can't expect much.The road is winding and curvy through the park - can't understand it - it is all flat desert - not like they have to go around things! Guess it is to keep people from speeding like I wanted to do! We did see wildlife - a roadrunner and two coyotes. We drove up to Keys View and saw a spectacular landscape of Coachella Valley, the San Andreas Fault and the Salton Sea. The only problem was the wind - so strong we could barely stand still and/or walk - I was afraid it would blow me over the cliff! It has been really windy the last 5 days - howling at night and even though it is sunny and in the 70's it is disagreeable to be outside during the day.

Alfateers

We are in Los Angeles at Alfateers having some work done on our "house." They are putting new seals on all 3 slides and fixing a water leak in one of the bins. They have a small parking lot with electric plugs for about 6 RVs - packed in like a loaf of bread. They pull them in the shop at 7am and have them back set up in the parking lot at 3:30pm. An early morning rise and shine but at least we can get back in before evening traffic. They just called and said they noticed one of the back slides is out of balance so they are going to fix that too ($$$!.) They are going to give us a bid on new counter tops and we may have that done while we are on vacation in June.
It is not easy finding something to do all day while the motorhome is in the shop - we did laundry yesterday - looked at kitchen options at Home Depot and Lowes - went to lunch and then spent the afternoon at Starbucks! Today we decided to go to the public library and spend time on our computers. The first "library" ended up to be at a technical college; the second is now a community center; the third was headquarters for the teamster's union; the fourth didn't open until 11am! Back to Starbucks! Trying to find a place to get my hair colored and cut - not easy around this area!
Hope they finish with the motorhome today - we want to go to Joshua Tree National Park - out of the city!!

Palm Springs

We had a fun week with our "Alfa" friends at a "pre-rally" and then the real FMCA rally near Palm Springs. It was nice to meet new friends and see ones we met in Tucson before we all go to Quartzsite together next week. We won the weather lottery for the nation - while everyone else was enduring winter we were enjoying sunshine.
The rally was a smaller regional one so there were less vendors but we still managed to spend money - we are the proud owners of a new tow bar and a new Rand McNally GPS! This GPS is designed for RV use - you enter the parameters of your RV and then it takes those into account as it plans your route. Hopefully, it will keep us out of trouble as we travel up the west coast!

Roger went to see Marilyn while I chatted with Lucy!

Happy Birthday, Heather!

January 11, 2014 - Heather is 40 years old! Her birthdays age me more than my own! She and Kyle went to a great resort in Austin and Megan planned a bus, wine tour for several couples in the Texas hill country for Saturday. Heather said the weather was perfect and they had a great time. Samantha and Emily were excited because "Bepaw" flew over from Biloxi to stay with them!

Anticipation!

When Mom passed away, Judy, Mel and I told the kids we would leave money in one of her accounts to fund the next "Eddy" vacation when Heather and Kyle moved back from KL. We knew Mom and Dad would love the idea of us all spending time together and we try to plan a family vacation every other year. The kids came back to us and said since we were paying (sort of!) they would do all the planning and organizing and all we had to do was show up! What a great deal!

It has been fun because they have kept all the details very secret. When we asked about when and where we were told there would be "clues" in the future. We even tried to get Samantha and Emily to spy for us and let us know what they heard when Mommy was talking about it. The last time we asked Samantha said "We're on the other team now!" So much for loyalty to grandparents!

They finally told us it would be the first week in June and at Christmas they emailed us a clue as to "where." It was a picture of a silver Toyota sedan. That was all!!! Mel figured it out - the car was a Corolla and we are going to Corolla, NC on the outer banks. The link to the website showed us this:

 



Three levels, oceanfront with private, lighted walkway to the beach - 9 bedrooms each with their own bath - a heated pool, baby pool and hot tub with an adjacent outdoor kitchen and Tiki bar - a pool table, foosball and full basketball court - a dining room that seats 14 and a kitchen with 2 of every appliance - 2 laundry rooms and a home theatre with 400 pre-loaded DVDs!

OMG! We'll be like the Beverly Hillbillies!!! They done good!!

Palm Springs

We are in Emerald Desert RV Resort in Palm Springs for the Alfa See Ya pre-rally before going to the FMCA rally in Indio next week. This is a beautiful campground - they even have grass! Just saw our friends Mike and Lorraine and imagine we will see more people we know at the dinner tonight.

Roger had some vertigo this morning which makes him nauseated so I drove us here from Yuma today. I'm so proud of myself - more comfortable with city driving and in and out of gas stations!

The scenery consisted of two things: desert with RV's boondocking and ATV's up and down the sand dunes or cultivated, irrigated lettuce fields as far as your eyes can see! This area - the Imperial Valley - is the lettuce capital of the world and produces 95% of all cabbages and green leafy plants! Learn something new everyday!

We passed the Salton Sea on the way. It was created in 1905 by the flooding of the Colorado River. Because of the evaporation that occurs out here in the desert it is saltier than the Pacific Ocean. It is much bigger than we expected. Judy said when she was here it smelled like rotten eggs but we didn't get a whiff!