Blog Issues and a Jeep Ride

Blog Issues.

I have been having problems with the blog software. The problem is with Live Writer connecting to Blogger.
I was pretty frustrated with the whole thing so I decided to take a break and see if the two systems might start talking again.
It has been a week or so and still can't publish. I am using blogger now so maybe it will work.

A Jeep Ride.

On Wednesday we took a ride with the Wednesday jeep group. We met at the Fire Station and headed north to Parker where we topped off the jeeps.

From there we drove further north on AZ95. We crossed the Bill Williams River and a couple miles farther we came to a large turnout where many people dry camp. Here we stopped to air down.

We are just north of the Parker Dam. To the west we can see the pipes that take water from Lake Havasu and send it to Southern California.

At the north end of the parking area we dropped into a wash.

As we drove up the narrow wash, Patti saw these Pincushion Cactus.

At the end of the wash there are some rocks that we have to get through.

They aren't to hard, you just have to take the right line and go slow.

The Needle

Once we were through the rocks we headed for the Needle.

Here we are arriving at the base of the needle.

Most everyone else climbed to the base of the needle to look through the eye. A hole at the base of the needle. I have seen it many times so I didn't climb the hill.

Cattail Cove.

From the Needle we headed for Cattail Cove.

Lunch.

On the way to Cattail Cove, we stopped at a spot in a wash out of the cold wind to have lunch.

The trail to Cattail Cove goes through a long wash...

with steep sides...

and some rocky areas.

 



There are also a couple challenging Obstacles.

 

 

Once we got through the rocks we came to the end of the trail. We had to walk from here to see the Bill Williams River.

 

 

  We climbed a small hill.

 

 

 From here we could see the Bill Williams River where the bridge crosses it on AZ95.

 

 

Obstacles.

We turned around and headed back up the wash. Now we had to go up the obstacles we came down on the way in.

 

This actually looks worse than it is. Its just a matter of taking the correct line and going very slow.

 

 

We got through that one pretty easily and now we are at the next challenge.

 

 

 Black Jeep Dennis took the wrong line here and got the Rear Differential hung up on that big rock under him.

 

 

He had to be rescued.

 

 

We all made it through the next obstacle with little trouble.

 

 

 The rest of the way up the wash was no problem just a couple minor bumps.

 

 

 Out of the Wash.

After a while we climbed out of the wash...

 

 

 and headed across the desert.

 

 



We eventually came to a view spot where we could see the Parker Dam...

 

 



and Lake Havasu.

 

 

Back on Pavement.

We got back on highway 95 heading south. 

 

 

Presidents Choice Trail. 

We took the turnoff that goes to the Desert Bar. A little ways down the road we turned onto the President's Choice trail. This trail is pretty extreme so we don't do the whole trail, just a couple of spots.

 

We checked out the outlet of the trail. White jeep Dennis got off line and hung up on the big rock he was going over.

 

 

His jeep was a little harder to un-stick. We had to resort to jacking it up and putting rocks under the rear tire.

 

 

Once the rocks were set it was easy to pull him back off the boulder.

 

 

Of course once we had the jeep un-stuck Dennis tried the obstacle again and made it with no problem.

 

 

Spaghetti Dinner.

After playing for a while on the rocks we climbed out of the Presidents Choice trail.

 

 

 

We headed for the Blue Water Casino for a all you can eat Spaghetti Feed. The Spaghetti s good but the service was terrible.

Computer Issues.

I am not sure what is going on with the blogger software I use but it has taken me three days to do this blog because the program kept locking up. I would leave it for a day, then it would work again for a while. 

It may have something to do with all the thousands of people that are here for the RV and Gem and Mineral shows. I think they were overwhelming the internet connections. 

 

 

Okay that was our ride to the Needle. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful day

 

A Rainy Day, Joanne and Dave Head for Home.

Rain.

The rain started Monday evening and continued raining over night.
When I got up I noticed a leak in the kitchen. The water is coming out of an air conditioning vent.

Wash Day, and a Ride in the Desert.

Sunday.

It was more or less a typical Sunday. Dave and I went to the dump to get rid of our garbage. 
When we got back we dumped the waste tanks on the Motorhome and the 5th Wheel.

Patti and Joanne went to the laundromat.
Since my back is messed up from blocking up the container, I didn’t do any house work.

Pork and Pepper Stew.

For supper I fixed a pork and sweet pepper stew. It turned out pretty good.

The stew is made from pork tenderloin cut into bite sized pieces, sweet peppers, onion, garlic, new potatoes, A little celery, seasoned salt, herbs and spices that you like and any vegetables you want to put in. Make a stew as you would any other. It’s good.

Monday.

Joanne’s Back.

The day before Joanne and Dave came down here, Joanne ‘s back went out on her. The whole time she has been down here she has been in sever pain. We have been waiting to see if she got any better so we could take her on a jeep ride. Unfortunately the pain has persisted and she is anxious to get home to see a doctor.

Ramsey Mine Road.

Therefore we only have one day left for Dave and I to take a desert ride.

Monday morning Dave and I headed east on I-10 to the hwy.60 turnoff. We followed 60 to the Ramsey Mine Road where we headed south on Ramsey Mine Road.

We stopped at Ramsey Mine.

Lookout Rock.

We left Ramsey Mine and drove over the hills and through a valley. On a ridge to the east we saw a large rock and a trail going to it so we drove up the trail and checked out the view.

From here we drove around for a while and stopped for lunch in this high valley.

Unfortunately, since Patti wasn’t with us I didn’t get any other pictures.

We got home around 3:30.

Shopping.

While Dave and I were wandering around in the desert, Patti, Cheryl, and Joanne went shopping at the the venders again. They did pretty good and didn’t buy much of anything.

Supper.

We tried to go to Silly Al’s for supper but we couldn’t find a parking space so we went to The Grubstake again. It was good as usual.

Okay that’s about it for the last couple of days.

Brunch and Shopping in Parker, AZ.

Brunch.

We decided to go out for breakfast but by the time we were all ready to go it was about 11:30 so we went to Brunch instead.

Shopping in Parker.

Our first stop was Walmart, to return the electric heater we bought last week. The heater is too small and doesn’t put out enough heat. We started the heater with the room at 65° and after an hour the temp was down to 61°. That just won’t cut it so we took the heater back to Walmart.

While we were there we did some other shopping. As usual we weren’t able to get everything we wanted at Walmart so we went across the street to Safeway to finish our shopping.

While we were at Safeway we bought a couple of roast chickens for our supper.

Back Home

We got home around 4:30 and about 5:30 we ate the chickens. After that we played cards until around 9:15.
Joanne and Dave went back to the motorhome and we watched the news until around 10:15, when I went to bed.

That was our Saturday.

Blocking up the Container and a Visit with Joann and Dave’s Friends.

Blocking up the Container.

This morning I decided to put the container on a couple of 4X4’s.
To do this we had to use two farm jacks; one on each side so we could lift the end off the ground far enough to slide a 4x4 underneath.

Dennis and Becky came by for a visit and Dennis said he had another farm jack and would go get it. When Dennis came back
we put a jack on each side and tried to lift the end of the container.

We got it up a few inches and the container moved to the right about six inches and fell off the jacks. When it did that the rail on  Dennis’s jack bent.

I am holding the rail in the photo below.

We were able to straighten the rail out by putting one end on a block and driving up the rail.

We decided to try using my jack in the middle of the containers back end and lifted it enough to get the 4x4 under the container.

Next, we went to the front of the container. We decided to use both jacks on this end so we put one on each side of the container.

We started jacking up the container and about an inch up Dennis’s jack ‘s handle bent. Dennis borrowed the jack from Carl. I guess I’ll have to buy him a new one.

We ended up using my jack in the center and were successful in getting the 4x4 under the front of the container.

That was a lot harder than I thought it would be so now my back is messed up again.

Visitors.

Around 2:00 friends of Joanne and Dave’s stopped by for a visit. We sat around on our patio and visited for about an hour.

Supper at Dos Amigos.

After our company left we drove to Vicksburg where we had a Mexican supper. Everyone liked their food.

Cards.

After we got home we played one game of Jokers Rummy. Joanne won this one.

Okay that was another productive day.

The Cargo Container Arrives.

Waiting.

The Cargo container is supposed to be delivered today so all we can do is wait for it.

Leaking Hose.

Around10:30 I noticed that one of the water hoses to the Motorhome was leaking. One of the fittings has a hole in it so I will have to replace the hose.
Dave and I drove over to Herb’s Hardware where I bought a new fresh water hose.

Missed Call.

As soon as we left, Patti got a call from the guy that is delivering the container. He was in Riverside at the time.
When I got home I called him back and made arrangements with him to call back when he was in Quartzsite. Then I could talk him in to our spot.

Waiting Around.

So we had to wait. We visited and even played a game of cards.

Around 4:00 the truck driver called and said he was in Q at the Arco station. I told him how to get to our place and that we would meet him on the corner of E Quail Trail Ave and N Pilgrim place.
Once he got there I had him to drive onto the neighbors lot and stop the truck and see where the container would go and so he could decide how he wanted to get there.

Once he figured out how he wanted to proceed he decided to drive across the neighbors lot and loop through our lot so he could drop off the container and pull out through the neighbors.

He had to try several times to get the container straight in the spot .

Once he got the container as straight as he could, he dropped the back end.

He raised the tilt bed on the truck and the container slid off pretty close to my lines.

The container ended up at a slight angle but that will make it easier to drive the jeep in to it.

Patti Writes the Check and the Truck Goes Away.

Here is Patti writing the check.

Here is the empty truck leaving.

Inspecting the Container.

The inside is white and that is a good thing. I will need to put some ventilators in the roof.

We inspected the outside and didn’t find any holes just some surface rust.

We will take care of that once Dennis brings his airless sprayer down in a couple of weeks. It all looks good.

Barbeque for Supper.

Around 5, we went to the Burger King here in “Q”

After supper we played two games of rummy.

A good productive day.