Adventure #11
Monday, March, 09
Another nice day.
They were forecasting rain for today but it must have gone farther east.
We just sat around and read books for most of the day. This afternoon we went to the produce market to purchase some fruit and a few vegetables and to the "General Store" for some other provisions.
We are trying to decide whether or not to leave here for New Mexico on Friday. The weather in New Mexico is still pretty cold and we have met some nice people, so we may put that off for another week.
That isn't Debby's arm.
We stopped for lunch about a mile south of junction 53 in a wide spot surrounded with flowering "Brittle Bush and and other wild flowers.
The desert is "blooming beautiful" right now and will only get better in the next few weeks.
We got to the Museum around 3:15 and spent an Hour and a half there.
On the way home we had to move along at a pretty fast pace and arrived at the trucks just before dark. We all went to Silly Al's for supper. It was a great day and every one was quite impressed with The Kofa and the Museum.
We just sat around and read books for most of the day. This afternoon we went to the produce market to purchase some fruit and a few vegetables and to the "General Store" for some other provisions.
We are trying to decide whether or not to leave here for New Mexico on Friday. The weather in New Mexico is still pretty cold and we have met some nice people, so we may put that off for another week.
Tuesday, March, 10
It was cold again last night. With a clear bright morning. The sun is warm if you are out of the breeze but the breeze is cool.
Today we took a ride to "Alamo Lake".
To get there from Quartzsite, you take I 10 east for about 10 miles to the Wickenburg turnoff (Highway 60) and go northeast another 40 miles to Wenden, where you catch the Alamo Lake road and follow it north for about another 40 more miles to Alamo Lake State Park.
Here is a link to the Alamo lake web sight.
http://www.azoutback.com/alamo.htm
The lake is one of the largest bodies of water in this area There is a boat ramp and four official camp grounds. The first one you come to has hookups for RV's and cost from $20 t0 $25 dollars per night depending on what type of hookups you want. Before you get to the Park there is a wide graded dirt road going northeast to an RV park called "Wayside" they supposedly have a "Bar and Grill" and Fuel. Today they were closed.
There is another road that intersects the Wayside road at the RV park that comes from Wickenburg, in the southeast and goes to a part of the lake where there are many free camping spots and a few places where you can launch a boat. We followed this road to the lake and then turned back and took a side road that went to a spot on a hill that overlooks the lake.
There we had lunch.
When we left this morning we packed the camping gear just in case we decided to spend the night but after lunch Patti wasn't really into camping there.
I didn't argue with her because we had used a lot of gas getting there and I didn't think we could do much exploring and have enough gas to get home. If the Wayside gas station had been open I might have wanted to do some Jeeping and spend the night.
As it was we got home around 5:00.
For the Old West history buffs among you.
There are three rivers associated with Alamo Lake who's names you might recognise.
Entering from the north east end is, "The Big Sandy" from the southeast is, "The Santa Maria" and exiting on the west end is "The Bill Williams River"
It was a nice ride although not very clanging, mostly on pavement.
Total trip miles= 166 miles
Trip time= 7 hrs.
It was cold again last night. With a clear bright morning. The sun is warm if you are out of the breeze but the breeze is cool.
Today we took a ride to "Alamo Lake".
To get there from Quartzsite, you take I 10 east for about 10 miles to the Wickenburg turnoff (Highway 60) and go northeast another 40 miles to Wenden, where you catch the Alamo Lake road and follow it north for about another 40 more miles to Alamo Lake State Park.
Here is a link to the Alamo lake web sight.
http://www.azoutback.com/alamo.htm
The lake is one of the largest bodies of water in this area There is a boat ramp and four official camp grounds. The first one you come to has hookups for RV's and cost from $20 t0 $25 dollars per night depending on what type of hookups you want. Before you get to the Park there is a wide graded dirt road going northeast to an RV park called "Wayside" they supposedly have a "Bar and Grill" and Fuel. Today they were closed.
There is another road that intersects the Wayside road at the RV park that comes from Wickenburg, in the southeast and goes to a part of the lake where there are many free camping spots and a few places where you can launch a boat. We followed this road to the lake and then turned back and took a side road that went to a spot on a hill that overlooks the lake.
There we had lunch.
When we left this morning we packed the camping gear just in case we decided to spend the night but after lunch Patti wasn't really into camping there.
I didn't argue with her because we had used a lot of gas getting there and I didn't think we could do much exploring and have enough gas to get home. If the Wayside gas station had been open I might have wanted to do some Jeeping and spend the night.
As it was we got home around 5:00.
For the Old West history buffs among you.
There are three rivers associated with Alamo Lake who's names you might recognise.
Entering from the north east end is, "The Big Sandy" from the southeast is, "The Santa Maria" and exiting on the west end is "The Bill Williams River"
It was a nice ride although not very clanging, mostly on pavement.
Total trip miles= 166 miles
Trip time= 7 hrs.
Wednesday, March, 11.
Another warm day. They have been forecasting rain for a week now but I don’t think it will happen around here. We would like to see it Rain though, because it would settle the dust a bit.
Today was laundry day again so we stayed home. “Boring”.
Thursday, March, 12.
Beautiful morning with some nice puffy clouds through out the day.
Today we took a group of people to "The Kofa Refuge"
They were;
Becky & Dennis
Debby & Mike
Pam & Joe
Suzanne & Roy
We took them to the "Castle Rock Ghost Town/Museum" via McPherson Pass road.
They all have side by side ATV's so they had to load them up into trailers and haul them down US 95 to mile 76 where the buggies were unloaded.
We headed east on King Valley Rd. to intersection 60 where we turned south.
We stopped for a break along the way, and Debby found a "Horned Toad"
Another warm day. They have been forecasting rain for a week now but I don’t think it will happen around here. We would like to see it Rain though, because it would settle the dust a bit.
Today was laundry day again so we stayed home. “Boring”.
Thursday, March, 12.
Beautiful morning with some nice puffy clouds through out the day.
Today we took a group of people to "The Kofa Refuge"
They were;
Becky & Dennis
Debby & Mike
Pam & Joe
Suzanne & Roy
We took them to the "Castle Rock Ghost Town/Museum" via McPherson Pass road.
They all have side by side ATV's so they had to load them up into trailers and haul them down US 95 to mile 76 where the buggies were unloaded.
We headed east on King Valley Rd. to intersection 60 where we turned south.We stopped for a break along the way, and Debby found a "Horned Toad"
That isn't Debby's arm.
We stopped for lunch about a mile south of junction 53 in a wide spot surrounded with flowering "Brittle Bush and and other wild flowers.
The desert is "blooming beautiful" right now and will only get better in the next few weeks.
We got to the Museum around 3:15 and spent an Hour and a half there.
On the way home we had to move along at a pretty fast pace and arrived at the trucks just before dark. We all went to Silly Al's for supper. It was a great day and every one was quite impressed with The Kofa and the Museum.
I was surprised to learn that none of these folks had ever been to the Kofa before, but after consideration it makes sense, since they can just drive their buggies from the park and by going down Tyson Wash or out Moon Mountain Rd. where they can explore all the desert to the west of US 95 clear to the Colorado River. Although that part of the desert isn't as pretty as the Kofa, it does have a lot of quad runner trails and several mines to explore. To play in the Kofa you have to truck the buggies down the highway for a long distance.
Total miles = 104 miles Trip time = 8 hrs.
Friday, March, 13
Another beautiful morning in Quartzsite AZ. We made the decision to spend another week here. Patti went to the office to pay the electric bill and another weeks rent. We plan to take several trips back to the Kofa during the next week with our new friends, to show them the beauty of the area. We are going to Blythe to do some shopping today.
Saturday, March, 14
Another gorgeous day in Quartzsite.
A couple of months ago, when we got the new tires, the guy at the tire shop pointed out that the left rear shock absorber on the Jeep was leaking. A few weeks later, I noticed that the right one also was leaking and the ride was getting kind of bouncy.
Today, I decided to replace the rear shocks. I went to the auto parts store in Quartzsite but they didn’t stock any shocks so I got on the Internet to see where the closest auto parts store was to us. I found a “Checkers” store in Blythe and called them. They said they had two in stock for my jeep so we headed down I 10 the 20 miles to Blythe and found the “Checkers” store. Well as it turned out they only had one shock in stock. Fortunately there are two other auto parts stores in Blythe so we stopped at the “Car Quest” store. They didn’t have any shocks for our jeep in stock so then we went to “Auto Zone” and they had the shocks in stock.
We were back home by noon.
I checked with Mike, who is one of the maintenance men in the park, to see if it was ok for me to do the work in our spot and he said it would be fine. He even offered the use of a jack and tools (which thought was very nice of him). I thanked him, but told him I had all the tools I would need and a jack but I just wanted to make sure that it was ok to work on my rig.
After lunch I installed the new shocks. It only took about an hour. Now I think that the jeep is about an inch higher in the back and the bounce is gone.
We are planning to take it out to the desert tomorrow to check it out.
Patti is down talking to Suzanne and Roy to see if any one else would like to go along.
We are going to Horse tanks which is a short trip but into a very pretty area with a lot of water. We are hopping there will be lots of cacti blooming.
We went to the Mountain Quail Café again this evening for the “Prim Rib Special”. This time we got there before they ran out of “Prime Rib”.
On the way home we were talking and decided that we really liked Quartzsite. There is plenty to do here if you like playing in the desert. There are a lot of good places to eat and we have met some very nice people here. Baring any unforeseen circumstances we plan to come back again next year and spend all of February and March here.
Sunday, March, 15.
It has been over a month since it rained so we took a trip down to see what the horse tanks looked like and to look for more wild flowers and cactus blossoms.
We left "Plan B" around 9:30 and headed down US 95 to "Stone Cabin" where we got on king Valley Rd. and headed east for about 2 miles to intersection 42, where we turned south. It is only a couple of miles to the tanks so we drove real slow and kept a eye out for flowers. there were lots of Beaver Tails blooming but we already have a bunch of pictures of them so we just looked and marveled at them. There were other flowers to photograph like these white ones that we don't know the names of and some Ocotillo who's leaves are turning red.
When we got to the tanks we found that there was still some water in the ponds and a lot of frogs and butterflies. Patti got some good frog and butterfly pictures.
She also got some nice flower shots.
Total miles = 104 miles Trip time = 8 hrs.
Friday, March, 13
Another beautiful morning in Quartzsite AZ. We made the decision to spend another week here. Patti went to the office to pay the electric bill and another weeks rent. We plan to take several trips back to the Kofa during the next week with our new friends, to show them the beauty of the area. We are going to Blythe to do some shopping today.
Saturday, March, 14
Another gorgeous day in Quartzsite.
A couple of months ago, when we got the new tires, the guy at the tire shop pointed out that the left rear shock absorber on the Jeep was leaking. A few weeks later, I noticed that the right one also was leaking and the ride was getting kind of bouncy.
Today, I decided to replace the rear shocks. I went to the auto parts store in Quartzsite but they didn’t stock any shocks so I got on the Internet to see where the closest auto parts store was to us. I found a “Checkers” store in Blythe and called them. They said they had two in stock for my jeep so we headed down I 10 the 20 miles to Blythe and found the “Checkers” store. Well as it turned out they only had one shock in stock. Fortunately there are two other auto parts stores in Blythe so we stopped at the “Car Quest” store. They didn’t have any shocks for our jeep in stock so then we went to “Auto Zone” and they had the shocks in stock.
We were back home by noon.
I checked with Mike, who is one of the maintenance men in the park, to see if it was ok for me to do the work in our spot and he said it would be fine. He even offered the use of a jack and tools (which thought was very nice of him). I thanked him, but told him I had all the tools I would need and a jack but I just wanted to make sure that it was ok to work on my rig.
After lunch I installed the new shocks. It only took about an hour. Now I think that the jeep is about an inch higher in the back and the bounce is gone.
We are planning to take it out to the desert tomorrow to check it out.
Patti is down talking to Suzanne and Roy to see if any one else would like to go along.
We are going to Horse tanks which is a short trip but into a very pretty area with a lot of water. We are hopping there will be lots of cacti blooming.
We went to the Mountain Quail Café again this evening for the “Prim Rib Special”. This time we got there before they ran out of “Prime Rib”.
On the way home we were talking and decided that we really liked Quartzsite. There is plenty to do here if you like playing in the desert. There are a lot of good places to eat and we have met some very nice people here. Baring any unforeseen circumstances we plan to come back again next year and spend all of February and March here.
Sunday, March, 15.
It has been over a month since it rained so we took a trip down to see what the horse tanks looked like and to look for more wild flowers and cactus blossoms.
We left "Plan B" around 9:30 and headed down US 95 to "Stone Cabin" where we got on king Valley Rd. and headed east for about 2 miles to intersection 42, where we turned south. It is only a couple of miles to the tanks so we drove real slow and kept a eye out for flowers. there were lots of Beaver Tails blooming but we already have a bunch of pictures of them so we just looked and marveled at them. There were other flowers to photograph like these white ones that we don't know the names of and some Ocotillo who's leaves are turning red.
When we got to the tanks we found that there was still some water in the ponds and a lot of frogs and butterflies. Patti got some good frog and butterfly pictures.
She also got some nice flower shots.
I have decided that from now on I will be posting to the Blog every evening, if I have Internet access and am not too tired from driving around all day, or unless we are camping in the bush some where.
In that case I will post on the day we get back to "Plan B". That way you can follow us at your leisure or follow us daily as you wish.
In that case I will post on the day we get back to "Plan B". That way you can follow us at your leisure or follow us daily as you wish.
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