Shopping in Blythe and Cards.

 

Blythe.

We headed for Blythe, CA around 10:30 in the morning. This time the highway was clear all the way. It was extremely windy on the way so I had to hang on tight to the steering wheel as the gusts was trying to make me change lanes.
We made it just fine.
Our first stop was the Albertson’s Supper Market. Here we got most of what we wanted.
From there we went to Rite Aid Pharmacy across the street to the west.
After that we went across the street to the north to Smart and Final to get a couple of things.
We left there and drove west on the main street (Hobson Way) where we stopped at the Dollar Tree where we got five items for $5.36. I love that!

Lunch.

From there we continued west where we stopped at The A&R Bakery and Deli for lunch.
This is a Mexican Bakery and they have a lot of yummy stuff.
They make some great sandwiches on their fresh made bread.

After lunch we headed for home. The wind didn’t blow us off he highway so we made it home with no problem.

Cards.

Around 6:00 we went to Becky and Dennis’s to play cards.
We have been trying to get them to play our favorite rummy game (Rummy for Dummies).
There was Becky, Dennis, Bill, Eve, Patti and I.    
I think they had a good time. I guess we will know if the want to play again.  Becky won both games.

Ok that was our Tuesday.
Today we are going on a jeep ride.

A Visit With Shirley and Bill.

 

Last Summer.

Last Summer when we were on our way to Canada, we stopped at Coeur D'Alene, Idaho to meet up with Roy, Suzanne, Shirley and Bill.

The plan was to, after a couple of days, follow Suzanne and Roy into Canada and spend a couple of weeks with them.
Alcohol in Canada is very expensive so we thought we would bring a bunch to share with Roy and Suzanne.
As it turned out, we had more booze than we could legally take into Canada so we left the excess with Shirley and Bill with the understanding that they would bring it to Arizona this season and we would get it from them then.

Booze Delivery.

Yesterday around 9:30, Shirley and Bill came by with the booze. We visited with them for a while and around 10:00 Bill suggested that we go out for breakfast.

We got into S&B’s car and went to The Bad Boys Café where we had a large breakfast.

We visited for a while longer when we got home.
They had other people to visit so around 11:30 they left.

The rest of the day we just hung out.
The weather was cold and windy so we stayed in doors.

An Aborted Trip to Blythe and Some Repairs

 

A Ride to Blythe, CA.

We didn’t have anything planned for Sunday.
We hung around the place until around noon then decided to take a ride to Blythe, CA, about 20 miles west of “Q”.
There were a few items that Patti couldn’t get in Parker when she went with Jo Ann and Dave so we thought we would go to Blythe to see if we could get them there and maybe have lunch at the deli.

As we were leaving Quartzsite we noticed that all the gas stations were full to overflowing. 
After a bit we realized that this was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and everyone was heading home after the long weekend.

We were going west on I-10 and when we approached the last Arizona exit at Ehrenburg we could see that the freeway was backing up from the California Inspection station about a mile away.
We quickly decided to take the exit while we had a chance  and thought we would just stop at the Wendy’s for lunch right there at the Flying J.
The place was a mess with big trucks and cars going in all directions; we narrowly missed getting run over by an 18 wheeler as we entered the parking lot.
One look at the mess in the parking lot and we decided to just head back to “Q” and try going to Blythe another day.
By the time we got back on the freeway heading back to “Q”; the west bound traffic was already backed up past the exit we had just taken.

Lunch at the Bad Boys.

On the way back to “Q” we decided to go to The Bad Boys Café for lunch and that is what we did.
As always we had a nice lunch there. Unfortunately our favorite sandwich “Ray’s special Chicken sandwich” (Chicken with cheese, bacon and mushrooms and chipotle mayo.) was not on the special’s board. Patti asked about it and the lady at the counter was surprised that it wasn’t there but said that we could order it so Patti ordered the Ray’s special. I had already decided that I wanted to try their Grilled Chicken with Pepper-jack and Ortega peppers.
When the waitress delivered our sandwiches she told us that that was the last Ray’s special because they had discontinued it.
Knowing that I wish I had ordered one for myself. The sandwich I had was very good though so I have no complaint’s.

A Water Leak.

As we were leaving the RV to go on this little adventure Patti noticed that there was water dripping from the spigot we were connected to. I turned off the spigot so it wouldn’t leak while we were gone.
When we got home I inspected the connection and found that the leak was where the hose-bib was connected. Where the hose was connected to the filter there is a brass 3/4” MPT to 3/4” hose adapter that is screwed into a 3/4” coupler.
I had used some Teflon tape on the threads when I put it together but it was still leaking. I took the connection apart and after removing the tape, I spread some Rector-seal on then threads and screwed the connection back together. As I was tightening it up I tightened it to much and split the coupler.

Oh Shit!!!

The hardware store is closed on Sunday. “Where am I going to get parts”?

Looking for Parts.

I got in the jeep and went to K. B. Tools (one of the vendors that show up every winter here in Quartzsite and has a lot of different stuff for RV’s.)
They didn’t have general plumbing stuff.

What Now?

There is a store in “Q” called the Big Market (locally known as the dirty store. If you ever go in there you will now why)
They carry some RV stuff and some hardware items. I was fortunate that they had what I needed to fix the problem.
I bought a 3/4” FPT to 3/4” hose adapter.
When I got home I put some rector-seal on the pipe threads and screwed the adapter on to the pipe and hooked the hose to it and it worked perfect. No drips.

 
Hanging out.

The rest of the day we spent reading and just hanging out.

Shopping and Puttering.

 

Shopping.

This morning around 10:00 Patti went with Jo Ann and Dave to Parker to do some shopping.
They also stopped at the Casino. Patti broke even after about an hour of play.

Puttering.

Finish the Radio Install.

While they were gone, I finished installing the new radio in the RV.

This radio does a lot of stuff that I don’t need. It has a phone setting? And blue tooth? And some stuff I have never heard of.
I don’t need any of that stuff but it does have an aux input which is all I need to listen to my XM.
That works fine.

New LED lights.

I wanted to replace a couple of the interior light covers so I went to the local RV store to see if I could find them.
As it turns out my fixtures are so old that there aren’t any replacement covers available. I tried a couple of places with no luck.
Eventually I decided to buy two new fixture’s. As long as I was at it I decided to get the ones with LED lights. I was a bit shocked by the price $29 each. It ended up costing $63.89 for two fixtures. Ouch!

I took the fixtures home and installed them.

They have 9 LED’s in them and are very bright.

The two of them are all the light we need for most things.
That should save a little on our electric bill.

Fixing the Shed Door.

The door on the shed doesn’t close correctly as there is no door stop on the jam. I found a piece of scrap lying on the ground. It is a 1X2 about 18” long I screwed it to the jam and now the door closes the way it should.

Loose Shower Fixture.

I have noticed that when I turn off the water in the shower that the fixture moves a bit.
I had to take a lot of stuff out of the pantry and remove a panel in there to get to the back of the fixture. Once I got that off it was a simple task to tighten the fixture. Now it won’t move and won’t leak either although I didn’t notice any leaking.

Prime Rib at the Mountain Quail.

Patti got home around 3:45 and we put away the groceries.
At around 4:30 we drove to the Mountain Quail for the Prime Rib dinner special.
When we first started to go there for the special about 9 years ago it was $14.99. Now it is up to $16.99. A $2 increase in nine years. I guess that’s still not bad.
The dinner was excellent and were stuffed.

Another good day in paradise.

A day at the Movies.

 

No Theaters in Quartzsite.

When you want to see a movie and you live in Quartzsite there aren’t many options.
The closest theater is in Parker which is 35 miles away. The theater in Parker sucks though. The theaters are small and the isles run down the middle with the seats are along the sides so you have to look to the side to watch the movie.

The other closest theater is in Lake Havasu City, 75 miles away. It is a very nice multiplex with all the seats in the middle of the room and the isles down the sides. You can always get a good seat.

The other option is in Yuma, 90 miles away. We have not been to the Yuma theater.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

We wanted to see the movie, “Fantastic Beasts…”.
It was playing at the theater in Lake Havasu City.
We wanted to go to the early matinee so we left home at 9:30 so we could make it to the theater by 11:05 when the movie starts.
We just made it at 11:00.

If you are a fan of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding world you will enjoy this magical adventure.
We loved it

A Good Mexican Lunch.

The movie let out about 1:30 and Patti and I were hungry so we went to the Fiesta Mexicana on McCullough Blvd. The lunch was good and filling.

Going Home.

We left the restaurant around 3:00 and made it home by 4:30.
Going to the movies here is an expedition so we don’t do it to often.

Thanksgiving Day

 

A relaxing turkey day.

In the morning Patti went to the laundromat to wash clothes.
While she was doing that I did house work.

Radio Installation.

I also started installing a new radio in the RV.

I had to clean out a lot of ‘extra’ wires. As it turned out I didn’t have any wire connectors and the hardware store was closed so I couldn’t finish the job.

Thanksgiving Feast.

We joined Jo Ann, Dave, Doris and Jim at the Times Three Family Restaurant for their Thanksgiving feast.

Patti took this picture of us at the table. She kept saying, “lean in, lean in.”
So I did. 

The dinner and the company was very good.
The rest of the day we just goofed off.

A good day.

Some Visiting and a Ride to Dripping Springs.

 

We didn’t do a lot on Tuesday.

Around 1:00am. Patti and I went to Jo Ann and Dave’s to pick up Patti’s camera as she had left it at the happy hour get together the previous evening.
We sat around and visited with them for a little while.
While we were their I mentioned that I was ready for a jeep ride on Wednesday and would they like to come along. They replied that they would love to. We decided that we would meet at the 76 Station at 9:30.

We left Jo Ann and Dave’s and went home so I could finish the blog.

In the afternoon we took a ride over to Becky and Dennis’s and visited with them for a while. They couldn’t go on the ride as they were going to LA for Thanksgiving with relatives.

Patti got on the phone and contacted some of our other jeeping friends to see if they wanted to go.

Ride to Dripping Springs.

We met at the 76 Station. There were three jeeps; Jo Ann, Dave, Joy and Robert and Patti and I.

We headed south on 95 and turned left at the long term visitors area; a BLM Campground just south of town.
We drove through there for a short distance and stopped to air down the tires. I still had 40 lbs. of air in my tires and the ride was pretty rough.

After airing down we continued into the desert.

I haven’t driven to Dripping Springs in a couple of seasons so we drove into a couple of canyons before I found the right trail.

Eventually we got on the Dripping Springs trail.

I remember the first time we drove this trail about 10 years ago we thought this spot was very challenging.

Now it is more like a speed bump.

A short distance from the speed bump we turned right and drove up the hill to the Dripping Springs parking area where we had lunch.

The Spring.

After eating my lunch I took a walk up to the spring in the canyon behind us.
The spring is at the bottom of this shear cliff.

There is always a little water dripping from the rocks at this time of year.

Petroglyphs.

There is a trail that goes along the canyon and goes by some Petroglyphs.

Here is one of the larger ones.

Leaving the spring.

When leaving the spring you go through this very narrow gorge.

After exiting the gorge you climb a steep hill.

You go down the other side of the hill and enter a wash. The wash eventually comes to a road and a short distance later you come to pavement.

Dinner at Al’s.

J&D met us for dinner at Silly Al’s Pizza. The best Pizza west of the Pecos.

A fun day!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Setting up Stuff and Happy Hour

 

Sewer Repair.

If you recall, when we pulled in and started setting up, we noticed that the sewer connection looked like someone had run over it.

Around 8:00 we went to “Times Three Family Restaurant” to have breakfast with Jo Ann, Dave, Jim and Doris. After breakfast I dug up the end of the sewer pipe, managed to get the old fittings off and replaced the broken stuff with some new PVC parts.

Filter Leaks.

When I connected to the water on Sunday I noticed that the filter was leaking. I decided to wait until Monday to fix it as I needed to buy parts. It took a couple trips to Herbs Hardware store. But eventually I figured out what I needed and got that fixed.

TV Dish Stand.

You may also recall, that when we were home I made up a platform to put the TV dish on.
Here it is; set up.

Happy Hour.

Every afternoon a group of our friends, have happy hour at one of their places. This time it was at Wayne and Carol’s new place.

Around 4:00 we went to their place to join in the festivities.
Lots of laughs.

Jo Ann had a great time with a flask of caramel flavored Vodka.

Okay that was Monday.

Home in Quartzsite.

 

The last leg.

We left Bullhead City around 8:45. The weather was cloudy and threatening to rain.
As we drove south on CA-95 and could see rain falling from the clouds in the south.

A couple of stops on the way.

We stopped at the Walmart in Parker, AZ to pick up a couple of things.
From there it is only a 45 minute drive to Quartzsite.

We stopped at the RV Pit Stop in Quartzsite to fill the onboard propane tank and the 5 gal. bottle that I use when we are parked for a long time.
From there we drove to our spot and got set up.
When I went to hook up the sewer pipe I found that someone had driven over the sewer connection and it was smashed. It’s Sunday so I can’t get any parts to fix it until tomorrow.

Here comes the rain.

The rain waited until we were set up before it started. It only rained for a couple hours and ended shortly after the appearance of this full rainbow. It was actually a double rainbow but Patti couldn’t get both of them in this picture.

Later we were treated to a nice sunset.

Around 3:00 in the morning it rained for about a half hour. At this writing it is partly cloudy but the sun is shining brightly through the gaps in the clouds.

The RV Ran Great.

Okay, we made it safe and sound. The RV ran perfectly all the way from Bakersfield. I still don’t know what was wrong with it in Bakersfield. I have a theory but I will have to wait until we have some freezing nights to test it. If I’m right I’ll let you know.

Made it to Bullhead City.

 

We left Bakersfield about 9:00 heading east on HWY 58.
It was a smooth trip over the Tehachapi's. We experienced a little traffic in Barstow but it wasn’t bad.
Around 3:00 (California time) we arrived in Bullhead City, AZ ; about a six hour trip from Bakersfield with a stop for lunch and a short nap.

We stopped to fill the fuel tank and then drove to the parking lot across the Colorado River from Laughlin Nevada.

We will spend the night here.

A couple hours later we walked down to the dock for the water shuttle. It is a free ride to the Riverside Casino.

Patti took a nice picture of the casino’s across the water

Here comes the boat!

Off we go!

When we got to the other side we took the water taxi down stream to the Aquarius Casino where we had dinner in one of the restaurants there.
I didn’t get a picture of the water taxi.

After supper, Patti didn’t feel like gambling so we walked back along the river walk to the shuttle dock and road the boat back to the Arizona side. Where we are as I write this.

Okay, everything seems to be good with the RV it ran great all the
way here from Bakersfield.

We should be in Quartzsite by midday tomorrow.

All Fixed, I Hope

 

Early this morning we drove to the Ford dealership to see if they would work on our rig.
The service guy said that they don’t work on the older ones as their technicians are all to young and if the vehicle doesn’t have a plug for their computer to access they don’t know what to do.

I'd say that is a pretty sad state pf affairs. I guess that the young guys have never been taught analytical trouble shooting.

Fortunately the service guy told us about Mark’s Automotive and that he is good at fixing RV problems.

We went to Mark’s and I talked to the lady at the desk. She told me to get the RV towed in and they would take a look at it.

Back at the RV.
We called Good Sam again and requested a tow. The dispatcher said it would be about an hour before the truck would get there.

We waited and sure enough, an hour later the truck arrived.
The driver had a heck of a time connecting to the RV but after struggling for about 45 minutes he had it ready to go.

Once the tow truck was hooked up we headed over to the shop to await the arrival of the tow truck.
It arrived in about 20 minutes.

That truck makes the RV look small by comparison.

It was about noon and the mechanic was going to lunch so Patti and I did the same thing.

Back at the shop we waited for about another hour before the lady came in to the waiting room and said that it was fixed.

I think that the mobile mechanic had actually fixed the original problem but in so doing he pulled and reset a bunch of fuses. When he did that it unlatched a couple of relays that isolate the battery from the chassis and the coach. All that needed to be done was to reset those relays with the momentary switches in the coach.

Result

The RV seems to be working just fine now. I don’t know what the actual problem was and I hope it doesn’t raise its ugly head again.

As it was late afternoon before we got the RV out of the shop we decided to spend the night at the River Run RV Park. We will head out early tomorrow and will spend the night at Bullhead City.
I hope!

That’s all for today.

Broken in Bakersfield

 

We got up early this morning to get an early start on the drive to Bullhead City. I got in the drivers seat and turned the key and the engine turned over but didn’t start. Every once in a while it would try to start but  immediately it would die.
After looking around at stuff that I didn’t recognize I decided that I had no Idea what to do.

Eventually we called Good Sam to see if we could get towed to someplace to get it fixed.
The rep at Good Sam called a mobile truck repair outfit. The guy came out in about an hour and started checking stuff out.  He messed with the RV all day and at the end we had no power to the ignition. Around 6:00 the guy gave up and said that we would have to see if the Ford dealer might be able to do some thing with it.

Tomorrow we will go to the Ford dealer and see if they will work on it.

If they will work on it we will have to have it towed to them and hopefully they will let us stay in the rig if it takes more than a day.

I don’t know what we will do if they can’t fix it.
There is another guy in town that is supposedly an auto electrical expert but he is booked for two weeks out and doesn’t have any room to park the RV.

I can’t imagine spending two weeks in Bakersfield waiting to get the rig fixed.
If we can even find an RV park that will let us have our rig towed in to wait for repairs. Most places are a little funny about stuff like that.

This has not been a good day.

Santa Rosa to Bakersfield.

 

It was a pretty easy but long ride from Santa Rosa to Bakersfield.

When we came out of the house this morning we were met with a dazzling, bright, clear, crisp, fall, morning. We were expecting fog so were delighted to see the sun.

We got on the road around 7:50, and arrived in Bakersfield at 3:50.
It was a fairly easy run with light traffic, even going through Tracy and Stockton which is usually a mess.

We are now sitting in the Walmart parking lot in Bakersfield.

In a little while we will walk a couple hundred feet to the Road House Grill for supper.

We will try to get an early start tomorrow morning as it will be another long day, probably another 7 or 8 hours to Bullhead City, AZ.

Delayed Departure.

 

The last couple of days we have been busily putting stuff in the RV in preparation to leaving for Arizona.

Our original plan was to leave today, after my doctor’s appointment. As I was waiting to see the doctor and watching   the hands of the clock go around; I thought, “I’m not going to get out of here until at least noon, it looks like it’s about to start raining, maybe we should just wait until tomorrow morning and get an early start.”

By the time I got home from the doctor’s it was noon and raining lightly.
When I walked in the house Patti said; “Why don’t we wait until tomorrow morning to leave. That way we don’t have to fight the commute traffic around Fresno and Tracy and we won’t have to drive at night.”

“Sounds good to me”, I replied. “I was thinking the same thing.
After all we don’t have to be any place at any particular time, we’re retired.”

As a result we will be leaving tomorrow morning.

Finish the Van Roof, A Memorial and a Family Supper.

 

The Van

In the morning, once it warmed up, I went out to check for pin holes in the fiber glass. There were still a couple pin holes so I sanded the area and painted on some more epoxy.
Later, once the epoxy set and I did a good inspection for pin holes and this time I didn’t find any so I sprayed the spots with paint. I checked it after the paint dried and didn’t see holes.
I hope that takes care of the roof leaks.

A Memorial.

Our friend and neighbor Worth passed away in September at the age of 98.
We went to a memorial for him in the afternoon.
Worth was an amazing guy and had a great life.

A Family Supper.

From the memorial, we went to Willie Bird’s for an early Thanksgiving Dinner with our four daughters, their significant others and Harvey.

Willie Bird’s is a restaurant that serves Thanksgiving Dinner all year.

The supper was fun and it was good to get the kids together all in one place at the same time.

Getting Ready to go South.

The next couple of days we will be concentrating on  getting ready to head south.

Picked UP the RV, More Work on the Van Roof.

 

The RV.

We picked the RV up from the shop around 10:00. The new generator works a lot better than the old one ever did.

Van Roof.

The roof of the van was wet from dew until around 2:00. 
Once it was dry I Painted the fiber glassed area with Rustolium red oxide primer.
Around 4:00 I checked the paint and found several pin holes.
I had to sand the paint off the places where the pin holes were and add some more epoxy to those spots.
If it gets dry enough today I’ll paint those areas.
I still have to calk the windshield, then I will be done with the van until next spring.

The Rest of the time.

We have been spending the rest of the time getting the RV ready to head south for the winter.
We are leaving on Tuesday.

More Work on the Van and a Visit to a Barn

 

Van Roof.

By yesterday afternoon I had the whole side of the Van roof glassed.
I didn’t take a  picture of it yesterday but went out this morning and got this shot.

You can see the excess cloth sticking out above the gutter.
I will have to wait until all that overnight dew dries up before I can do any more work on it. All I have to do is some sanding and apply the last coat of epoxy and then paint.

A Visit to a Barn

Around 4:00 we drove up to Joanne and Dave’s place where we met with a friend of theirs.
Her father had passed away a couple years ago and she has been telling us about his barn and the stuff he collected.

We finally got the chance to visit the barn yesterday afternoon.

The Barn.

The machine shop.

The door on the right is the machine shop.

It looks like there are a few projects underway.

The Museum.

The center section of the barn is where his collection of hit and miss engines is stored along with a lot of other cool stuff.

Hit and miss engines.
Hit and miss engines are the first gasoline powered engines developed.

This is the largest collection of hit and miss engines I have ever seen.
They range from this huge green one

 
to this row of little boppers.

There is also a collection of jacks of all kinds

and Wood Planes.

The device on the table is a “hog oiler”.

A Drill Wall.

Other Antiques.

The Wood Shop.

In the left side of the barn is a beautifully appointed wood shop.

What a great tour.
I have dreamed of having such a work space as a barn like this.

More Rust In the Van Roof.

Damp Day.

Sunday morning it was drizzling lightly when I got up. The rest of the day was overcast and damp so I didn’t do any work on the van.

Found More Rust.

Monday morning was overcast but it didn’t rain at all.
There was condensation on the roof until around 10:00 and it got quite warm out.
While I was checking the roof out I found more rust all along the top on the passengers side.
Another of my 30 year old repairs failing.

This is what it looked like after I cleaned it up with the wire wheel.
Unfortunately the roof rack is in the way of any more work so I will have to wait for help to remove the rack. Fortunately Harvey is coming over to have me look at a problem he is having with his car.

 

Fixing Harvey’s car.

Harvey came by around 11:30. His car has been having an idle problem.
I had looked on the internet to see if I could learn anything about the problem.
There I found a video that showed that the problem was with the Idle control sensor. The fix is to spray some carburetor cleaner into a port on the throttle body that goes to the sensor. It was an easy fix all we had to do was pull the air input tube and squirt some cleaner into the a small port in the throat of the throttle body just in front of the air intake valve.

We put it back together and it worked just fine. We will have to wait until Harvey tries to start the car when it is cold.

Removing the Roof Rack From the Van.

Once we were finished with Harvey’s car we attacked the roof rack. The rack was a bit heavy so it was a struggle to get it off with just two of us but eventually we got it off.
I don’t remember the rack being that heavy when I built it and put it on the van but I was a lot younger then.
Harvey went home shortly after that and I got back to grinding rust out of the van roof.
Once we got the rack off I found more rust.

Here is what it looked like after the rack was removed, the rust ground out and before I sprayed it with rust restorer.

 

That’s as far as I got on the roof project yesterday. Today I will continue. We have a couple of days before we get more rain so I got to get this done.