Week ending Mar 21, 2019 Quartzite to Laughlin

On Friday, we picked up a few items in Quartzite before heading out about 6 rough miles from the highway, with 15 mph being about the best we could do into KOFA refuge to Crystal Hill.    It is a little hill with a lot of quartz on it.  It is the only area in the refuge where rock collecting is allowed.  There were several vehicles in the campground loop, without a camping unit, so we figure they were 'rockhounds'.  However, only 10 pieces up to 10 pounds total can be collected by a person in a year.  Digging and metal detectors are not allowed.  This was the closest parking to Livingston Mine, about 3 miles away.  We followed the 'roads', roughly around Crystal Hill to the mine, taking a couple of shortcuts over small shoulders.  The mine had a horizontal shaft into the side of the hill that looked at least 50 feet as far as the light went.  Given that snakes might be getting more active at this time of year, we didn't explore inside.

Entrance to Livingston Mine

Closeup

On a level higher than the shaft we found a couple of rock towers along a wall. 

 

Only one piece of equipment was left with KEEP OUT painted on it along with the name Joe Livingston.   We couldn't find any info for Joe Livingston.

Along the way back we found these really tiny flowers.

Tiny flowers

Saturday morning, we drove west from Quartzite to Blythe, CA, then north to the Midland LTVA.  We are thinking of getting the winter season pass for the LTVA which entitles us to go to about 7 different LTVAs on both sides of the Colorado River valley.   It looks like an okay area to camp, but we need to see if there is any hiking opportunities there.  From there we drove up to Parker through the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation.  They have quite a bit of acreage for growing hay crops.   We went to Walmart and Safeway to find both flavors of our iced coffee and pick up a few other things before returning to Quartzite and watching the end of the Canada Korean women's curling match.

Sunday we watched curling and Nascar, and John applied some Carnu-B protectant to the decals on the south side.  Interesting process, as it seems to dissolve some of the paint from the decals, which can then be put in to darken the weathering cracks in the decal.  Noticed that because even after cleaning the area, the sponge being used to apply the creme changed to the color of the decal.

Monday, we dumped the tanks, and took recycling to the county landfill.

Tuesday, we drove along the route we walked the first day we were here, then walked 3 miles further to the opposite end of the hill.

Flowers

Wednesday, we packed up and headed north.  Our first stop was for groceries in Parker, then for lunch at Red Robin in Lake Havasu City.  That break got us into Riverside RV in Laughlin about 1:30, about half an hour after they allow check-in.  We squeezed into our site, parked about 3 feet in front of the front window of the motorhome behind us, leaving just enough room for the truck in front of the trailer.  That was good, because the people next to us had to park their car between their motorhome and our truck.   This is one of those parks where the utilities are between two units, a trailer facing the street, and a motorhome facing into the site (which is why the motorhome behind us is right behind our back window.   But the price is right (us$120 for a week), and includes a buffet for two at the casino. Longer term sites are bigger here, but since we don't book much ahead, we don't get the bigger sites.

On Thursday, we went over to the Colorado River and walked the 2 miles down the riverside walkway, and back.