New Adventure #09

Sunday, Feb. 22.
The morning was overcast but warm. It sprinkled a little during the night.
Today was a down day. All we did was go to the grocery store and then sat around and read our books.

Monday, Feb. 23.
The day started off nice and warm with high thin clouds and continues to be the same.
We had to disconnect everything this morning and take “Plan B” to the “RV Pit Stop” to fill the propane tank. Unfortunately there is no propane delivery here like in Wellton.
We are starting to meet some of the people in the park and will likely take some trips into the desert with them.

Tuesday, Feb. 24
Today is laundry day. Patti did the laundry and I bought some drinking water. The tap water here is atrocious. So there are water vending machine’s. Here the water is $0.25 per gallon. In Wellton it was 5 gallons for $0.50. It is still cheaper than Wall-Mart at 0.75 per gallon.

Wednesday, Feb. 25
Hot day with clear skies and a warm breeze.
So far this week has been kind of boring.
Today we went to Blythe to get our taxes done. We had lunch at Carl’s Jr.
To make things more interesting we took the power line road home.

The jeep is making a strange clackling noise when I take off. It does it in 2 and 4 wheel drive and sounds like it is coming from the back.
I’ll have to wait until it cools off and crawl under it to see what I can find.
It might be a “U” joint but I’ll maybe know more after I take a look.
I crawled under the jeep this evening and checked the “U” joints and they are tight.
The only thing I found was that the exhaust system was a little loose at the back and the cat. was rattling against the belly pan. I ended up using some good ole bailing wire to tie it up so it wouldn’t rattle.

I drove it around the park and didn’t hear the sound any more. I hope that fixed it until I can get home to my welder. There is a broken bracket where the exhaust is fixed to rubber mount on the upper side of the belly pan. I tried to wire it together but it really needs welding. I think what I did at the other end will hold for the present.

I received the USB to DB9 cable adaptor today. I needed this cable so I can connect the GPS to the laptop to load maps and stuff.
I have ordered the Topo map software from Garmin, so it should be here in a few days.

Thursday, Feb. 26.
Nice morning with clear sky and a light breeze. It’s supposed to be cooler today.
Around 10:30 we took off for a ride north of town. We took Moon Mountain Rd. north
for a few miles and passed the desert golf course.
About another 2 miles we came to a road going east and a set of tracks going west. We turned west and spent a couple of hours following quad runner trails. Many of which came to dead ends in steep canyons or at mine tailings.
We had lunch at the end of one of these trails.
After lunch we made our way back to the main dirt road and went further north and then west on the freshly graded wide road.
We passed the “Sunset Marble Co” quarry and then the road became a jeep trail which gradually

turned north again. We took a side track to the east and came to an old mine. All that was left of the mining operation was some concrete foundations and a couple of mine shafts.

We left the mine and went back to where we had turned off then continued north for several more miles into a wide valley with soft sand and lots of green grass. Eventually we got into a wash heading west. I thought the wash would go to the Colorado River but after following it for a long distance the tracks we were following turned back.
It was getting late so we turned around and headed for home. We didn’t have our camping gear with us this time so we couldn’t spend the night and besides, Patti wanted to watch Survivor tonight.
We are going to Yuma tomorrow and I had unloaded the gear so we would have room for the groceries we were planning to purchase down there.

The high light of the day was seeing a large “Desert Tortes” along the road.

When we got home the RV was very hot in side from being closed up all day so we went to “The Best Mexican Restaurant” for dinner. It was recommended by one of the people at the RV Park.

It was good but I still liked “La Casa” better.
All in all it was a good day. My tummy is full and my eye lids are starting to droop.

Friday, Feb.27
Another beautiful morning.
Drove to Yuma today to get prescriptions filled and do some shopping. We stopped by to visit with Dianne and Wayne.
Saw some dark clouds in the north as we came home but they didn’t amount to anything.
It was an uneventful trip and we made it home by 6:30 pm.

Saturday, Feb. 28
Today the temperature is supposed to reach into the 80’s. but there is a cool breeze so I don’t think it will make it.
We are just hanging out at the park today but we plan to take a ride tomorrow.
I received a very disturbing phone call today .
Our friend William “Rees” Gwillim lost his battle with his personal demons yesterday and took his own life.
I would like you all to take a moment to remember Rees and although I don’t believe in prayer, if you do, say one for him.
For those of you that didn’t know him, Rees was a relentlessly creative individual a good man and loyal friend.
He will be missed.

Sunday, March , 01
This morning we took a trip into the desert with Becky and Dennis who live across the street from us in the RV Park.

They have a “RINO” ATV And they invited us to go and see some of the stuff that they had found of interest in the area. We Left the Park and went across the bridge turned right and drove down into Tyson Wash. We followed the wash south for a while and then turned west on a Jeep trail.

We followed the trail to a paved road that I had no Idea was there.

Following that south for a short distance we turned west on another jeep trail that went to an area where there are a lot of people working claims. There are several pits around and occasionally you see some one puling up a bucket of dirt and working it in there dry sloos boxes. One guy had the right idea though, he was using a small tractor with a back hoe and a loader bucket on it.
After checking that out, we drove to an old mining claim not far away to check it out.
The guy (now deceased) had started the mine had lived on the claim for 63 years and had accumulated a lot of stuff.

The House and out buildings were built of local stone. One of the things that caught my eye was columns that he had constructed of concrete using 55 gallon drums for forms. If he had left the forms in place they probably would be earth quake resistant. You can see one of the columns at the left of the picture.

After checking all that stuff out we headed for a spot that the locals call “Big Foot Rock”
Dennis wasn’t exactly sure which road to take so we did a little cross country until we found it. It turned out to be the road that goes west along the power lines and passed “The Copper Bottom Mine”. Right at the gate the gate to the mine there is a road to the left that crosses a wash. There is wide spot there to park so we stopped there and climbed into the wash and found the “Bigfoot” rock. On this rock is what appears to be a faint impression of a foot. I’m Not sure if it is a foot print or not but if you look close you could convince yourself that It might be.

Look closely; the heal is at the bottom of the picture and very faintly in the upper part you can make out the toes.

To me the heal looks too deep for an unshod foot. But I am no expert, so you will have to come to your own conclusions. I put my foot over the top of the “impression” and my foot is larger so It ain’t no “Bigfoot” foot.
We had lunch there and then headed back along the “Copper Bottom Mine” road toward “Paz Valley“. Just on the east side of “Paz Valley” you come to “Tyson Wash” we turned north up the wash and drove it all the way back to Quartzsite and our RV Park.
It was a very enjoyable day playing in the desert and we are looking forward to another outing with Becky and Dennis.