Week ending Jan 22, 2015 Quartzite

We now know why people from Canada spend the winter in this area of Arizona. We have been in the Brenda area for 4 days and have only seen one cloud in the sky and it disappeared within an hour. Although it is cool overnight, the day time temperature is in the high 70's F. After our Friday Skype visit with John's parents we went for a walk to the local grocery store, just to check it out. Prices and selection is much like all small stores in out of the way places. On our way back to the RV park we stopped at a vegetable market that is only open Wed, Thurs and Fri. The prices were no different than prices at any farmers market and the produce fresh and nice. After picking up some fruit and veg's, we went back to the trailer. We went for a hike to the top of a little hill in the park, where we stopped for lunch at the picnic table. We watched a gecko sunning itself.  The rest of the day we spend lazing around enjoying the sunshine.



Saturday we explored the area, driving some of the back roads, to end up in Parker, AZ. We decided to take the opportunity to get some cash from the Bank of America, only the bank has been closed here. No money for us. We stopped at Walmart to pick up a charcoal BBQ, and a few groceries and then went across the highway to Safeway to get wine and some groceries we were unable to get at Walmart. Eventually we returned to the trailer to watch the semi-finals of the TSN Skins curling in Banff.

Sunday morning was cool and there was high cloud. We decided today was a good day to visit the RV show. We have spent a lot of time on the internet checking reviews of solar systems, pro's. cons. which system is best etc. John has a good idea of what system would suit our needs, and which systems are rated as best. The RV show was a real zoo, but with a bit of patience we were able to find out what we wanted to know. Finally we spoke to the people from Solardealz.com out of Bend Oregon. The rep we talked to told us the system we were looking at was more than we needed. How many salesmen downsell?  So we headed back to the trailer, did some research on the company etc. Back we went to the RV show with money in hand and picked up a 160w Zamp solar system. We looked at cost of the same system in Canada, with including the exchange rate, costs we will pay when we will cross the border, we still saved over 400.00. Next week we are going out to the BLM camping area, so will put the solar system to the test.

Monday morning we took advantage of this RV parks rules (or lack of) and washed the trailer. Its nice to be able to see out of the windows again. When we were almost finished the cleaning we got a phone call from Rupert Emerson, our friend Brian's cousin. He and his wife and daughter were at the RV show. We arranged to met them, so off we went. We had a nice visit over lunch with Rupert, Helen and Carrie.  Later in the afternoon we got back to the trailer to do a bit of packing up in preparation for our move out to the BLM land. 

Tuesday morning, we woke up to the sound of an ultralite flying over the area.  They are a rarer version of the ATVs that everyone here seems to have. 



Then we packed up to move to the Dome Mountain BLM area just west of Quartzsite, to do a trial run of our new solar system. This area offers free camping, but you must be self contained as there are NO services, not even trash. We got set up, satellite aligned and the solar system set up. It appears to be working, so all in all looks like a good investment. Using electricity to cook is out, so back to using the propane stove and the BBQ. The one advantage of this area is that there is no light pollution, so sunsets and  the stars at night are amazing.

Wednesday morning after breakfast we went for a walk on the BLM land.



We can walk for miles here, much like the state parks in Texas. This week in Quartzsite, as well as the RV show there is  a rock hounds event. There are many people here who are out looking for various rocks; in fact the guy in the unit fairly close to us spent the morning out rock hunting and has spent the afternoon with his generator running so he could grind and polish rocks.  We spent the afternoon is quieter persuits, laying round in the hammock and lounge chairs doing nothing.

By the way we are now semi-official snowbirds. "People who spend 200,00.00 on a motorhome and look for free camping". We don't quite meet the requirement because we did not spend anywhere near 200,00 on our trailer and truck.