A little sightseeing in the desert

I've moved The Palms around a few times within my site, and I think we're finally situated.  There are two campfires in this site, right next to each other.  I can't imagine why, but the smaller one wasn't intact and had lots of nails in and round the burning pit.  For those who are not boondocking:  what people do - in this area anyway - is go to companies that have left over pallets that are free for the taking, they load up their trucks, bring them back to camp, dismantle them and cut the large boards and waaaaa-la, free firewood.  The problem is that all the nails holding the pallets together end up in the fire pit.  Later, when another camper takes the large rocks forming the campfire ring to use elsewhere, the nails are left.

Two campfires - one for breakfast and one for dinner?

So,  I raked the yard, sifted through the sand/dirt/ashes in the fire pit and got as many nails out as I could, and re-made the fire pit because I know there are more nails in that dirt that I didn't get.  I sure don't want any being kicked around, or blown in the high winds, and end up driving over them.

This will do it for now.

The other day Hazel and Carol and I drove down Old Yuma Road, which goes through this Long Term Visitor Area.  We went out further in the desert where they showed me the original site of the town of Quartzsite.  Hazel said they came to mine the area, set up a town, and then were flooded out, so they moved to the current site where the town of Quartzsite is located.

Below are some of the photos I took in that area.  We parked next to this cave in the rocky hill.

We had Hazel's two Greyhounds, Val and Fleur, and Carol's Dumbledore with us, and they were off leash and ran a little.

 Dumbledore - Running like mad trying to catch the Greyhounds.  

His ears were FLYING!

 Dumbledore back in Basset Hound mode.

It's hard to see in this photo, but we are on top of the rocky hill with the cave on one side, and petroglyphs on another, overlooking a large, sheltered area with a floor of small gravel where the first town of Quartzsite was located.

 Val and Fleur on the rocky hilltop with five grindstone holes.

 This is the deepest, all five were different depths.

If you click on the photo, you can see all five.
One is very shallow, right above the deepest.

 Close-up of the deepest grinding hole.

 Petroglyphs on the side of the rocks.

 Because of the angle of the sun, it was hard to see some of the 

Petroglyphs which are fading after thousands of years.

 Fleur and Val

Val, the larger male, and Fleur, the female.

There's a lot of history around here, and the Dingbats have been coming here for many years, so they have done some exploring.  A commenter asked  me who the Dingbats are.  They are RVers who come to this same spot every year, some come in September and stay until May, others come for various periods of time during the seven-month season.  If you camp in this area, you're a Dingbat, so I guess I'm a Dingbat.  They have a social hour every afternoon and a campfire almost every evening, and various other activities from time to time. Everything is very comfortable, if you want to walk over for a social hour or campfire, you're welcomed by whoever is there.  If you'd rather not, that's okay, too.  No pressure, which is why I like the group.  I don't want to feel like I have to do the social things.   I don't have a car, but they all do, and have been very generous offering rides into town, to the library, up to Parker to the Walmart, etc. 

The origin of the name, "Dingbats," comes from one year in the winter when it was raining, they were all sitting around the campfire with their umbrellas, and someone drove by and said, "What are those dingbats doing out in the rain?"  From then on, they've been the Dingbats.  Most are solo RVers, but some couples are members, too. 

Electrical Issue Update

David and Roger came over a few times this week to continue troubleshooting my electrical system.  My microwave starting clicking again, the GFI in the bathroom was doing it's low humming/clicking, and so they basically took off covers, checked connections, and figured out what electricians and electrical engineers figure out. 

At the end of the day, David tightened some screws that had not been tightened enough when some of my units were installed - this didn't cause any problems, just sloppy work by techs that could have caused issues down the road.

They also said that my water heater was on "electric" rather than "gas," so that when my generator was turned on, both the water heater and microwave were drawing energy to start up, competing for the available power, and pretty much maxing out what was coming in.  That might have been causing the clicking, as the microwave was trying to turn on, but not getting quite enough power.

Each time I turned on the generator I was heating water I didn't need heated.  So Roger changed the switch outside to "gas," and now I'll push the interior button in my "Convenience Center" when I want the water heated.  That will light the pilot light and start heating the water, probably like the rest of you who are boondockers do.  I wondered why I always had hot water and other people had to turn something on.  :)  Changing that setting will reduce the amount of power used when I start the generator.

The other thing they found is that my solar digital regulator was set wrong.  It was set for AGI batteries and I have wet batteries.  It makes a difference in they way the solar regulator works, so now it's set correctly for my batteries.

They have been so helpful - they checked all the electrical systems, volts, amps, what was coming in and from which source, and where it went.  They checked all the connections, wires, loads – my brain was in overload, but I tried to take in everything I could.   They checked the batteries, generator, the two transfer switches, inverter, converter, solar digital regulator, inverter remote switch, A.C. plugs, anything that they could find that would help them  diagnose the problem. They took covers off everything, looked at every manual and receipt, and processed all the information; as David said, they were looking a the "big picture."

Can you imagine what that would have cost for labor in a shop?

So... after all that, the microwave was quiet when I turned the generator on the other night, but the GFI started humming.  I checked my plugged in A.C. Volt meter, and it was reading off the chart - over 134 volts.  This is the Volt Meter I got at the hardware store.

When plugged into the wall AC outlet, the reading should be in the green area.

This voltage spiking is intermittent, so it’s hard to diagnose because no one is here when it happens.  I turned off the generator right away, and sent an e-mail to David.  He said the only thing that would cause a spike like that is a bad voltage regulator in the generator, and Roger added that a loose connection could also cause spiking.  When they were here today, David got a reading of 139 volts on my A.C. plug - way too high.  Roger read the Onan Generator on-line manual and it said it shouldn't go over 126 volts. (He also re-set the altitude dial on the generator, which was set a 10,000 feet - we are under 1,000 feet here.)

So, with the tweaks they made, I’m hoping the final issue is the voltage regulator, which I had replaced here in town in December at Bob’s Generator.   David said to bring it back and have Bob look at it and fix it, or replace it.  It's under warranty, so it shouldn't cost me.  I have an appointment Monday morning, we'll see what happens.

From me and Katie - see you next time!  :)

Big wind storm!

WOW, was it windy yesterday!  I've been in windy areas before, but yesterday had the sand really blowing.  Now I understand why bloggers write about deep cleaning their rigs after they leave the desert.  Even with everything closed up, there was a fine grit on every surface, the floor, the window sills, the table and counters.

Yesterday

Today - this isn't the same shot, but you get the idea.

Yesterday

Today

It was very interesting and exciting, I've never been in a wind/sand storm like this before.  After a while it got kind of tiresome, because I knew the grit was getting all over the inside of The Palms, Katie and I couldn't take our walks, and Katie gets a little nervous when we have lots of wind.  Poor thing was in bed by 7 pm, totally worn out. 

The sand made a pretty sunset, though.  The sky around the sun was darker than usual, kind of shadowy, and very pretty.

Sandstorm sunset

Today is "sunny and windy" according to weather app, but nothing like yesterday.  So far, anyway.  These winds I can handle, but I think we'll stay inside most of the day until things are calm again.

For you Garmin people, there's an updated Garmin map. I bought the lifetime updates, and they let me know when a new one is available, so it's doing it's downloading right now.  Takes a long time, but I guess there's a lot of information in an update of  the US and Canada.  It's version 2012.30, in case any of you have the lifetime updates and don't have that one yet.  The lifetime update purchase was a really good deal. I can access it as long as I keep my current Garmin, and you can bet I will!

Quiet day in Quartzsite for Katie and me.  :)

And everything is good again (fingers crossed)

Good news!  It appears when Roger changed the converter fuses, that fixed the problem and now my electrical system is working.  The way it should.  I'm so glad he helped me out.  Yeaaaaa Roger!

And now my computer is also downloading lightning fast - I thought it must be the camp sites I've been in, but David just came by and said the faster downloads are probably due to so many people leaving the area, thus fewer people on the Internet.  He's a computer guy, so he's probably right.  It sure is nice to have some speed again.

I moved into a great new site this afternoon - not the Santa one, this is still in the same area close to the rest of the Dingbats.  Now I have to walk even further to the dumpsters!

Our little corner of the world.  I feel like I'm "home" again in this site.

I'll probably stay here until April.

When Katie and I took our afternoon walk, I noticed a GREAT site that was available.  I had forgotten a couple of Dingbats left early this morning, and their site was still vacant.  We walked over to make sure there wasn't anything there holding the site for someone else, and it was completely empty, so we went back, packed up our chairs and table and little rug, and drove over.

The first site I had in 2011 was on the highway side of the sites abutting this wash in the rear, and this site is at the other end of the wash.  It's a good size, too.  It's in a corner with other rigs fairly close by, but it feels very private.  I'm backed up to a wash with large trees and bushes, and I've already spread birdseed around the bushes that are visible from my windows.  Hopefully tomorrow morning we'll have some little visitors.

The chairs, table, American flag and solar lights are out, again. :)

This little sitting area is tucked away behind the rig, overlooking the wash.

The first dove to come kind of close was in the wash and I got a photo. (Thanks, commenters, quail - not dove. :)  )

It will be nice to sit and watch the birds again.

I'm in a spot where I can see the sunset out my dining table window with no rigs or wires in the way.  Before I always had to walk quite a way to get a clear shot, or I'd end up with lots of rigs in the photo.  That's fine sometimes, I guess, because I am at Quartzsite, but I'd rather get a clear landscape shot of the sunsets.  The sunset tonight should have been a good one, because it's been overcast with lots of clouds in the sky.  Clouds always make a better sunset, I think.  Unfortunately there was a really thick bank of clouds on the horizon, and it hid the sunset. Here's one as the sun is coming down.

It was a beautiful day again, hot, but the cloud cover cooled things down a bit.

It looks like I might have my condo sold, too.  My Realtor e-mailed me this morning - I had a buyer and the offer was accepted, but then the buyer withdrew the offer due to illness.  She was afraid she wouldn't be able to complete the deal.  Today it seems she changed her mind and is going through with her offer.  I sure hope this deal goes through so I'll be done with the condo.

Silly Katie with both her ears back. I've never seen her like this before.

Like a little girl with pigtails.

Tomorrow Hazel is going to town and invited me to come along with her.  We're going to Parker to the Walmart.  I have something to return, and another list of things I want to look at.  It's always fun to go shopping when I've been in camp for a number of days.

From Katie and me, that's it for today!  :)

There goes the TV!

Today was a gorgeous day in Quartzsite.  Warm, no wind, a beautiful evening.  I even sat outside and read for a while this afternoon, and walked over to the Dingbat campfire to visit this evening.  It was just perfect.  

Campfire at Dusk

My campsite is right in the middle of a pretty plain area, with no special bushes or trees to attract birds or critters, but - unlike my last, really nice site where I didn't get TV signals, this site had pretty good reception. I got the three main channels and a few others, too, so I decided I'd stay here.

 

The Palms - near the campfire.  See the wood on the right?

Unfortunately, last night I lost my TV (see below), so when Katie and I took our walk this afternoon, we walked all over the area, looking for a better, prettier site.  I'm going to move sometime this week, but I'll stay in this general area because I'm enjoying the companionship of the Dingbats and want to be fairly close to where they are all camped. 

This little area is where "Santa" was camped in December-remember that photo?  He has left and his camp site is vacant.  This area has little trees, is right off the road, and near the dumpsters - but not too near.  An easy walk.  Nice, level spots.  Lots of places for birds and critters to hide and eat the seed I'll put out.

 An easy walk over to the Dingbats social hour or campfire, or just to visit.

I think when I drive into town tomorrow to Discount Solar, I'll take this spot if it's still vacant when I return.

If you're tired of my generator/electrical issues, stop reading now - otherwise:

The ongoing saga...  I really wish repairmen would do their jobs 100%.  The 98%ers are killing me!  And I'm not accepting work done by anyone but the very experienced techs anymore.  Tech errors are costing me MONEY, time and aggravation.

So, the other day a man was riding his bike through the area when I was out walking Katie, and he stopped to talk.  Somehow we got onto the subject of my electrical problems, and he asked if he could check out my system.  That was David, and he didn't have any solutions for me.   I still planned to go to Blythe Monday morning to have things checked out.

Then yesterday morning David was back with Roger, who is camped near him.   Roger is an electrical engineer, and said he'd like to check out my system.  He went over everything carefully and found that the three fuses in my converter were bad.  One was blown, and the other two had black wires, instead of the original silver.  We went into town and bought some fuses and he installed them, and that seems to have taken care of the problem with the generator not charging the batteries - the converter wasn't doing it's job with the blown fuses. 

Things were working fine, until last night when I smelled an electrical fire odor.  I looked up and there was smoke coming out of both sides of my TV.  

I jumped up, unplugged it, got my fire extinguisher ready, unhooked all the wires attached to the RV (my Wii was set up to work through the TV), got a screw driver and unscrewed it from the mount and put it outside, away from The Palms.  That was scary.  :(

Soooo, this morning Roger drives over to see if everything is working okay, and I told him the generator/converter is charging the batteries, and that looks okay, but... and told him about the TV.  He went back to his rig and came back with more testing equipment and he tested all my outlets, and he found the AC outlets all work fine, but in checking the outlets that work with my inverter, he found they weren't grounded.  He doubled checked the inverter, and there was no ground wire.   He suggested taking The Palms into town to Discount Solar and see what they'd charge to put the ground on.  Probably an easy task, but getting the inverter out may take some labor time.  So, I'll check that out tomorrow.

I was relieved that all the outlets tested fine, and he checked out again how things were connected and wired and everything looked okay.  Roger looked at the TV and said the lack of a ground to that outlet wouldn't have affected the TV so that's not what caused the problem.

The only conclusion I can come to is that the TV was bad?  Some component in the TV shorted and started burning? Why would it do that?  Could the voltage surges I've been having burned out the TV?

Roger did a little research on-line last night, and brought over a page he printed out about my converter, which he said is a really good one.  It said the ONLY way the fuses would blow is if the battery or DC output leads were connected in reverse, even for a moment.  When my new golf cart batteries were installed, the tech DID install them wrong. The owner installed the new converter, and had a tech install the batteries.  When he checked the system and it wasn't working, he went outside to check the batteries, and saw they were connected the same way 12 volt batteries are connected - which is wrong, and he corrected it.  He told me the tech had never put 6V batteries in, and didn't know they weren't connected like 12V batteries. That short time they were connected wrong must have been what caused the fuse to blow, and I'm hoping that replacing the fuses solves this ongoing generator/battery charging problem.

Sorry if you guys are getting bored with all these electrical issues, I KNOW I AM.  But I want the documentation, even if my memory or interpretation of the facts might be a bit off.

After Roger left, I had a discussion with Hazel, my neighbor.  I guess my take-away is that sometimes it takes a while to get your rig, especially if it's a used RV,  exactly the way you want it, with everything working.  I could have bought a new one, well, I wouldn't have paid the price, but I could have. There still would have been issues, probably covered under warranty, but I still would have the bother.  By buying a used rig, I spent a lot less on it, and the trade off is that things aren't under warranty and I have to pay to have repairs done. 

So, I've blown a GFI in the bathroom, burned out a TV in the front of the rig, and replaced blown fuses in the converter.   I'm hoping those are separate issues that have been taken care of and not all part of an electrical problem that hasn't been found yet.  I guess only time will tell, but I've sure got my fingers crossed.

 My Pillow Pup

Last night's sunset was a beautiful orange.

That's it for today - from Katie and me!  :)

We're back in Quartsize

WELCOME to our newest Follower, JulieinOregon, who is a brand new blogger, and future RVer.  She's just started her blog, and hopes to be on the road in a year.  Good Luck, Julie, we're happy to have you following along with us on our adventures - welcome aboard! :) 

WELCOME also to Encourage One Another who has a blog that has spiritual, inspirational posts. There is no information about the poster, so I don't know if you're an RVer, but Katie and I welcome you along on our travels, we're happy to have you join us!  :)

There isn't much to take photos of so far here in Quartzsite, so I'm putting the leftovers from Hot Springs in this post.

On Wednesday morning, Katie and I packed up and moved.  This is the bridge going out of the Hot Spring LTVA - the bridge we couldn't cross.  When we drove out the way Carolyn showed me, it was a lot easier than the way we came in. 

First we drove to Yuma to visit the Walmart.  I was going to buy new chairs, etc., to replace the things I left at my site in Quartzsite in January.  I planned to drive on to Quartzsite to dump and add fresh water, and see who was left at my old camp site area.  After seeing the prices I'd have to pay for new campsite stuff, I decided I'd see if they saved my things.

 My neighbor across the street at Hot Springs had this digital sign.

He'd change the saying every few days.

After leaving the dump/water area, we drove up the road to our old area, and lots of the people who were there when I left are still here.  I was able to retrieve my chairs and table, American flag with it's holder, my solar lights, etc.  It really felt like coming home when I drove into Quartzsite.  It's the place I've spent the most time, so I guess that makes sense.

 This is how they disguise some of the cell towers in Southern California.

(That's not a Palm tree.)

It's been really windy here. Wednesday wasn't bad, but yesterday and today have been too windy to be outside.  The sand is blowing, and other than taking Katie out, we are staying inside.

I'm still having generator problems.  The generator is powering my electrical plugs, but not charging my batteries - again!  This seems to be an ongoing problem, so I just called a place in Blythe, Empire Southwest, that was recommended by a few people here.  I'll take The Palms in Monday morning, and see what they say.  They charge $130 an hour for labor, so I hope they are able to diagnose and fix the problem quickly.

My solar system is working fine and doing exactly what I wanted it to do, which is to power the plugs in the front area of The Palms.  I have my computer on all day, and can watch TV, too, if I'm in a place that gets good reception.  But I still want to be able to charge the house batteries with the generator.  If we have some cloudy days, we'll need that.

I'll let you know what happens with Empire Southwest.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

 This beautiful sunset at Hot Spring looked like a watercolor.

Nothing else going on.  Just taking it easy and enjoying every day.  I wanted to get one of those wind things on a pole that you can put outside and watch when it's windy. I never did get one, but one of my neighbors has one, and it's been blowing like crazy today.  Winds are gusting from 20 to 45 MPH today. The sand is flying when it gusts get good.

I was asked what the landscape at Hot Spring looked like.

This is The Palms in the middle taken from the road. 

Don't get blown away!

Wind ornament in Quartzsite's gusty weather.

 From me and Katie, have a great day, everyone!  :)