Moved again today, but not far...birthday lunch, and generator maintenance

Kim came back to Quartzsite to get some things done on her Roadtrek, and since she is camped on Plomosa Road, I moved up there for a few days to visit.  This is such a quiet, peaceful camping area now that all the groups are gone. 

All the recent rains have really greened up the desert - there's even a field of grass growing right outside The Palms. 

Below is the view out the window over the couch - field of green, desert, and mountains.

I saw my first flowers today, too - this tiny purple flower was by itself, but there are hundreds of them not quite blooming yet that will be really pretty once they're all in bloom.

I met Gaelyn at the 2017 Bloggerfest a few weeks ago, and today I got to know her better.  She's camped here at Plomosa Road, too - we all took a walk in the afternoon, then sat outside and chatted.  Gaelyn is a summer seasonal Park Ranger and gave us lots of information about the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, a future destination for Kim.  She also has LOT of knowledge about rocks, which made our walk on this rocky part of the desert really interesting.  So much fun to meet up with old friends, and meet new friends!  Thanks for a great afternoon, ladies!  😎

Kim and I went to town on Friday while she was having LED lights installed in her rig, and we walked over to Taco Mio for her Birthday Lunch.  Geez, I love their enchiladas - we had a great time.

My generator has been running great, but it was time for the annual maintenance, so I brought The Palms into Bob's Generator to check it out, change the oil and fix an oil leak.  He's such a pro, he always seems to find problems easily.  I guess the valve cover wasn't completely sealed, or one of the screws wasn't tight enough, and oil was leaking from the lower right corner.  So he took it off, checked it out, cleaned it up, and re-sealed it.  So far, so good, it's not leaking any more.  It's so nice to have local vendors I can take The Palms to when she needs maintenance or repairs.  Especially when they are good and priced fairly.  :)

Phil, Bob's assistant, changed the oil for me. I should probably be doing that myself, but it's SO much easier to take it to Bob.

So now the generator is all set for another year.  I've been going to Bob for six years now - and still highly recommend him.  His shop is the big open yellow building on Main Street, near Highway 95.

Bob's Generator
Bob Dummer
(623) 224-7655

That's about it for now - this should be a quiet week just doing chores and laundry, etc., and visiting with friends.  On Thursday I'm heading out of town for four days, then back to Quartzsite.

From me and Katie, thanks for stopping by!  😊🌮🎂

The future is here! Right here in Quartzsite!

Teslas in Quartzsite.

When David and I were in town searching for antenna stuff the other day, he said there was a charging station here in Quartzsite and he wanted to see it.

Model S

He got the location on his phone and we drove over to Carl's Jr., at the far west end of Main Street.  The charging stations are behind Carl's Jr., and we were lucky to see three different cars charging.

New Model S

The car below is the newest model.  David was pretty stoked to see them, and especially this one.  His dream car, I think?

Model X

Here are all three Teslas taken through the windshield of his Jeep.

Model S, New Model S, and Model X

Very sleek looking cars, for sure.  Beautiful.  Of course, they come with a hefty price tag:

Base price for the 2017 Tesla Model S sedan ranges from $68,000 to $134,500, depending on the package; the 2017 Model X crossover ranges from $88,800 to $138,800. Additional cost for available upgrades.

We also saw a blue Tesla parked by the Post Office in town.  You never know what you're going to see when you're out and about in this little town. 

From me and Katie, have a great Thursday, everyone!    😎🚗🚘🚙😎

Jack's Alive! :)

Good News!  New Jack is Alive!

This morning I called Satellite Advantage to see if they had any King jack antennas in stock and they DID. They had two!  I asked her to hold one for me, I'd be right down.   I think those were the only two left in town.

David and I texted back and forth - and I bribed him with breakfast in town if he'd come right now and get me.  He put the bacon he was cooking in the fridge, jumped in his Jeep and was at my door in minutes.  (Always bribe a man with food, it works!  🤓)

First we drove to Satellite Advantage where I snagged one of their two boxes with the jack inside, the woman opened it and showed us that all the parts were there, I paid and we were on our way.  Whew!  Score!

Next we went to Bad Boy's Cafe again for a delicious breakfast.  Great as usual.  Then a little shopping, and back home to The Palms with the new jack antenna.

Ta Daaaa:

Jack is alive once again!  And I get 24 clear channels.*

 *  This photo is not Photo-shopped.  LOL

The TV is an Axess 12V/110V, 13.3" TV.  I got it on-line at Amazon.com for only $116.67.  It has a stand so I can put it up in my bunk or down by the dinette.  I have 12V plugs in both places, so I can easily move it around.  It will also fit better than the old TV on the swing-arm attachment if I want to screw it into that, up higher by my upper cupboard, but that's too high for comfortable viewing from the couch or dinette, so I'll use the stand it's on instead.  Right now I have it plugged into the 110 outlet, but will use the 12V outlets if I want to move it to the overhead bunk, or if I want it powered directly from the batteries.

Here's David - relaxing on the couch, taking a well earned rest after climbing once again on The Palms' roof in the hot sun.

Thank you, thank you, David!

And finally, this was the sunset last night - another pretty one.

From me and Katie, with a new TV, have a great Monday, everyone!  💗😁📺😁💗

Jack died. : (

Well, shoot!  My King jack antenna died.  

I haven't been getting any TV channels for a while, and I thought it was my location, but when I was in Yuma, I still got no channels.  It had to be the TV, right?  So I bought a new TV and indoor antenna - but they didn't work, either!  (I think the indoor antenna just isn't strong enough here - it's hard to get TV channels in Quartzsite unless you're in the right areas.  And even then, a booster helps.)

I tried the new TV with the new antenna, nothing.  Old TV with new antenna, nothing.  New TV with the old antenna, nothing.  Old TV with the old antenna, nothing.  It was kind of amazing that with two TVs and two antennas, I couldn't get a single channel.  I always get TV in my current campsite.

Then my friend David came over to check it out.  Well, he really came over to visit, but when I mentioned that my TV wasn't working, I knew his brain cells wouldn't rest until he figured it out.  And he DID!  He's a retired engineer and those guys are good at everything! 

With David's help, I found out it's the old jack antenna that isn't working.

Actually, David didn't help, he did the whole diagnosis and repair while I watched.   😉

He tested the wires and there were only 5V coming up through the wire to the antenna, which should have been getting 12V.  The wire and coaxial connectors were fried, so we went to town and checked a bunch of different places, and bought some connectors.

Then we stopped at Satellite Advantage and I bought a new wire with the connections.  The man there was very helpful and offered to crimp one of the antenna wires for me.  Since we didn't have that crimping tool, I gladly accepted his offer.  We drove back to my site, got The Palms and took her in.  It only took him a few minutes to get the connector crimped and we were good to go.

When we got back to my site, David took off the bad wire and put on the new.  Now we had 13.5V coming up.  But the TV still didn't work, and the red light on the bottom of the jack wasn't lit, so apparently the low voltage going up into the antenna fried it.  Now I need a new one.

The man at Satellite Advantage was so nice and helpful, I wanted to list the company info here, in case you need satellite or antenna help.  They specialize in mobile satellite solutions, HDTV and Internet. 

Satellite Advantage
Paul Angerami, Owner
40 E. Main Street
Quartzsite, AZ
Phone:      (928) 927-4422
e-mail:     sales@satelliteadvantage.net
Website:   www.satelliteadvantage.net

We went into town again today to get a new jack, but since it was Sunday, some of the places we needed were closed and the rest - that carry the King jack Antenna - were out of them.  I have one place to call tomorrow and if they are out, too, then I'll order it through Amazon.

David and I have the same weird sense of humor, so it's been quite entertaining the last three days while he's been figuring out what's wrong and fixing things, and we've been chatting and going to town and back a few times looking for different parts and checking out some of the vendors that are still open.

I think I'm worn out from laughing.  😅

Quartzsite had a gorgeous sunset tonight.  Doesn't this look like a painting?  A whole RV window sized painting, right over my couch!

From me and Katie, with no TV!  😟 📺💔  Yet.

Mittry Lake

A week or so ago I traveled down to Paradise Casino in Yuma to meet up with Jeanne, Kim, Nancy and Tom, who drove over from San Diego.  We parked for free in the casino parking lot - it was over Superbowl weekend - and it was very crowded!  Some of us had dental appointments in Los Algodones, Mexico, and Kim and I wanted to check out new glasses at a couple of the Mexican optical shops.

I had an appointment at the main post office in Yuma to apply for a passport - since I've never had one before, I needed an in-person appointment.  A couple of days before, Jeanne and I went to town and I had my passport photos taken at Wal-Mart, I had completed the application on-line and printed it out, and had sent to the California Secretary of State for a certified copy of my birth certificate, which I received.  With all that in hand, Tom and I went to the post office and I turned it all in, answered their questions, paid the fees and now I'm just waiting for my first ever passport to arrive.  All in all, the whole process was easier than I expected.

We visited a lot, took some walks, had dinner together a couple of times, and then we moved on in different directions.

Tom and I drove our motor homes to Mittry Lake.  He's a new RVer, and since he was visiting in the dusty, crowded, dirt parking lot at Paradise Casino with no complaints, I thought it only fair to show him a nicer place to camp for a few days.  Mittry was beautiful, as usual, but VERY crowded.  We were lucky to get a spot right on the lake that was big enough for both our rigs.

Tom had his own spit of land going out into the lake right outside his door, where we put some chairs. The weather was perfect and he even did a little fishing.  There were a few mosquitoes, but not bad, and they didn't arrive until around dark when we were back in our rigs.  As long as we kept the doors and windows screened, there wasn't a problem.  Only three mosquitoes got into my rig, and I squished them all before bedtime. 

These are some photos I took while we were there.  I always see a Great Egret on the other bank and he was here again - one of my favorite water birds:

 Here he is with a couple of American Coots swimming by:

Another American Coot:

Below is a Double-crested Cormorant - a first sighting for me that I've added to my Life List:

And this little guy is another new Life List bird - he's a Pied-billed Grebe.  While breeding, their bill is whitish with a black band (“pied’), but otherwise is yellow-brown.  Very cute little guy:

This was my view out my rear kitchen window:

And below is the view out the dinette window.  There had been a fire and some of the trees were just charred sticks - but there were lots of birds on the ground and in the burned out trees while I was there. The lake came up into this marshy spot with areas  full of water, and in the evening and morning I could hear the ducks talking to each other.  Very cool way to wake up, listening to nearby duck chatter. 😴😮🙂

Beautiful sunset one night:

This was a weird sunset shot when we were at Paradise Casino - I was walking Katie and looked toward the sunset and saw a tunnel of pink coming up through the blue sky.

When the week was nearly up, Tom left to visit his sister in Sun Lakes, and I drove back up to Quartzsite, and was lucky to get my favorite spot again.

From me and Katie, have a great Social Security Wednesday, everyone!  I got mine this morning, and that always makes me a happy camper!   ❤💲🙂💲❤

Quartzsite photos - Big Tent, Bloggerfest, and friends

Below is a Birthday Breakfast photo - we were celebrating Jeanne's birthday at Bad Boy's Cafe.  Best Breakfasts Ever!  :)

Me (Barbara), Nancy, Jeanne, Kim

I had a nice visit with Kim, Sandie and Jim, Dale, and Donna:

Kim, Sandie, Jim, Dale, Donna and Hannah, Donna's Dog

And some pics I took while walking inside and around The Big Tent in Quartzsite:

The woman below was selling Holy Honey - the honey that got me hooked last year.  This time I bought three times as much:  lemon infused, cinnamon infused, and peppermint infused.  So good in coffee and tea, and I'm sure lots of other things.  It tastes like the inside of a See's Candy - a small amount on a spoon is like eating a rich candy filling.

Sunset views of some of the hills I could see through my windows:

Bloggerfest 2017.  I got the feeling many bloggers didn't know about the event this year.  There weren't many of us long-time bloggers present, and the group was far smaller.  I enjoyed hearing about each attendees reason for blogging, how long they had their blogs, etc.  We went around the circle and everyone told their blogging story.  Some interesting stories, and all interesting people. 

My two favorite dog-faced people at BloggerFest 2017.  Both beautiful dogs, and the little girl on the left had the cutest face.  When she sat down, she'd put her butt on her owners shoe, like a bench.  They were darling and very well behaved.  Had to give them a shout-out!

My two partners-in-crime with whom I attended the BloggerFest:  Kim and Diana.  We all had a good time!

Katie just ❤❤  LOVES  ❤❤ Kim!  Notice how she's half sitting on Kim's lap?

Another beautiful Quartzsite sunset - the colors were gorgeous!

Katie and I left Quartzsite last week and drove to Yuma to meet up with Kim, Jeanne, Nancy, and Tom.  I scheduled an appointment to turn in the paperwork for my first Passport - no, I've never had a passport before so I had to appear in person.  I got that done, so now I'll have to wait three to six weeks for it to arrive in the mail.  I may never use it, but...  If the opportunity arises, I'll be ready to fly to Paris - or anywhere else!

The five of us hung out at one of the casinos, crossed the border into Mexico for dental appointments, lunch and general walking around.  We did a lot of visiting, took a lot of walks, had a couple of dinners together, and one by one, left for different locations.  Katie and I will be driving back to Quartzsite in a few days.  

From me and Katie, have a great day, everyone!  😉😎😀