More photos of our new site - we love it.

We're happily settled in and nesting.  The last few days I've been arranging and re-arranging our yard and it's really nice to look out the window, near and far.

Yesterday Katie and I went into town to do the laundry and grocery shopping.  Both good jobs to have behind us for a couple of weeks, but it was nice to go into Quartzsite again and see that everything is still the same as last year.

On the way back we stopped and visited Hazel and the Greyhounds.  It was good to see Fleur and Power doing very well together. Fleur is a friendly dog and loves attention, but she's very cool about it.  She will put her head against my leg, and that's her way of asking for attention from me.  I always feel complimented when a dog like Fleur seeks my attention.

Power is more active in his attention seeking.  He's just 18 months old and super friendly.  As soon as we walked up to the fenced in area in front of Hazel's motor home, Power was right there. When I sat down, he was right there asking to be petted.  Then he went over to the rug where Fleur was laying and joined her.  He has a squeaky toy that he plays with which I think is cute.  He might be a really big dog, but he still acts like a puppy.  Fleur is a lady, and Power is a little boy. I think he's going to be a really good addition to their family.

Yesterday I saw the first quail in our site, but when Katie barked, it left.  I also saw the first hummingbird at the feeder I hung yesterday.  It was in and out so quickly - I've seen it three times now - but I can't get the camera focused fast enough.  I'm sure I'll get a good shot one of these days.  I had fun watching the antics of the quail, rabbits and squirrels in my campsite last year. I hope I have some interesting critters here, too.

I've been talking lots of photos of the area and The Palms, and here are some of them.

View out my kitchen window - all the way to the mountains.

I put out the hummingbird feeder and a few seed feeders yesterday for the quail, rabbits and squirrels.

Whoever was here last year did a beautiful job putting rocks around the site, the trees and bushes, made pathways and sitting areas, etc.  It was move-in ready and looks really nice. 

Thank you, whoever you are.

Photo taken during our walk of the whole campsite area.

Our view out the front window.  The sun sets to the left of this photo.

I just love it here before all the rest of the RVers arrive.  It's so beautiful and quiet.  Only occasional traffic going by. I'm sure by the time all the snowbirds get here, I'll be ready for more company in the area, but I'm sure enjoying this time before everyone arrives.

Katie and I have been walking more and more.  I can't believe how easy it is to walk - in the higher elevations of New Mexico and Colorado it took me a long time to acclimate.  It was hard to walk much, and I woke up at night out of breath.  Here - well, we can walk forever and I sleep all night long.  It's nice not to have to think about breathing.  I know that sounds weird, but that is how it was when we were in the higher elevations.  Next spring I'm going to move north more slowly.

This year I flew across Arizona from California to New Mexico in a 24 hour period.  I left Palm Springs after finally getting the results of a medical test and picking up an Rx at 3 in the afternoon, drove 192 miles in 3.5 hours in the blazing heat, spent the night in a gas station parking lot in Lake Havasu, AZ, and drove the final 391 miles in 5.5 hours, ending up near Bluewater Lake State Park  in Gallup, NM, arriving in the early afternoon.  The first leg I averaged 59 mph and the second leg was 71 mph. Crazy.

That was a long, hot drive in a short time, but I was so anxious to get there, and the long, straight, well paved highway was easy to drive.  Almost no traffic.  I decided to overnight in the Gallup Walmart so I would be fresh in the morning going into Bluewater Lake State Park.  When I got there, I felt like I did arriving in Quartzsite this week.   Sooooo happy to be there.

Palm Springs has an elevation of 440' and Gallup, NM is 6468', so we gained over 6,000 feet in 24 hours.  I didn't realize that you're supposed to ascend slowly.  Altitude sickness usually starts at around 6500 feet, so I was a bit lower than that. It took  me months to acclimate to the 6000+ altitude, and I'm sure it affected Katie, too. I didn't have any of the usual symptions, just couldn't seem to get enough oxygen sometimes. As long as I took it easy, I was fine, but until I was at Bluewater for  a while, I couldn't walk much. When we went to Storrie Lake and came back to Bluewater Lake, I experienced some shortness of breath again, until we left to head south.

Next spring we're going to head over to lower New Mexico and stay at the State Parks in the southern part of the state, and move slowly north.  I think that's a better plan and I'll be able to enjoy more walking and hiking at the parks.  And maybe not gain 6 pounds.

I weighed myself yesterday morning, and found I've gained 6 pounds over the summer.  I'm hoping the additional walking we can do here will help to take that extra weight off.  Walking, and maybe not eating as many jelly beans!

I also discovered yesterday that I get great TV reception at this location.  And I can easily stream the programs I miss and Hulu movies.  It's been a long time since I could do all that.  I'm as happy as a clam.

From Me and Katie, Have a great weekend, everyone!  :)

Moose sighting on the way to Quartzsite!

Isn't he a beauty?

I wish this photo was really taken in the wild!

The prettiest moose I've ever seen - at Cabela's!  I couldn't believe I was able to take photos of such beautiful animals, right there in front of me as if we were in the forest.  They had lots of different animals, some high up on the mountains, others in the water, ducks flying overhead, little squirrels and beavers, many, many animals that looked alive in their habitats.  I've never been in a Cabela's before, but I had heard about the store. They sure do have a good inventory of outdoor things.  The only thing I bought was one of those neck scarves that you soak in water and put around your neck to stay cool in hot weather. I plan to buy another smaller one here at Quartzsite for Katie.

As I posted last time, I stopped at D & R Family RV in Glendale, AZ on my way to Quartzsite to take care of a short list of items I needed done.  Here is my new LP valve:

So now I can shut the propane off to the Wave 3 connector unless I'm using it.

NEWS FLASH!  The year-long issue of my electrical problems has been solved!  Turns out, I've been running my refrigerator/freezer off my inverter when I'm not on shore power.  That's 30 amps.

Since I was spending the night in Ron's shop lot last night, I mentioned to my neighbors that I was going to have my generator running (some of the people are plugged in, but I'm not) for the Presidential Debates. I wanted to warn them because we are all so close together.  They were sweet and said not to worry about it at all. Ron overheard this and said, why are you running your generator?  I told him my solar/batteries numbers would be too low and he said, no, leave the generator off.  If you can't run your TV until 10:00 PM after your batteries being completely full today, there's something wrong with the batteries and we'll return them while they are still under warranty.

He said he'd check them in the morning and then we'll see.  I didn't realize I could run the TV that late on only my solar inverter.  Nice!  I'm even more happy that I stopped here on my way to Quartzsite!  :)

So, the next morning I told Ron that within three+ hours my batteries were at zero.  He checked my batteries and they were good, and after more checking and discussing, he figured out that when I'm not hooked up to shore power, I've been running my 30 amp refrigerator/freezer off the inverter.

All this time, for the last year, I thought the fridge was off if the red light above it was off.  When Ron left for the evening, he noticed the red light on over the fridge, and pushed the button to put the fridge on propane for me, and not realizing what I was doing, I pushed the button again so the light was on, taking it off propane.  The fridge was using the inverter all night.  When it brought the batteries down close to zero, the inverter alarm went off, and I turned the inverter button off.  But the fridge is on the inverter line, and was still drawing power from it as long as it was not on propane.

Ron explained to me that when the red light is on that means I'm running it off electricity, the generator, or the inverter.  If there is no shore power and my generator is off, the inverter has been keeping the fridge going.  "Propane power = red light off outside, light on inside the fridge." Now I know why my batteries have been going down faster than they should.  I wondered why people working on my rig always turned OFF the fridge!  Turns out, they were putting it on propane.  Then I pushed the button and put it on inverter power.  For a year.  Wow.

It's amazing all the things I'm still learning - important things!  I guess when I have room in my brain for more stuff, it just spills in.  My brain chews up the knowledge, spreads it around until I've got it, then opens a new door for more stuff.  You guys who have been RVing for many years - you must know so many things that you take for granted that those of us who are newer on the road still have no clue about. 

WE'RE IN QUARTZSITE!

I was really surprised at how excited I was to be back. I was thinking, as I was driving along the 10, about where I was going, the kind of site I was going to look for, etc. And also thinking about how, last year when I made this same trip for the first time, I was totally clueless. I had no idea how this Quartzsite thing worked, what it would look like, where I'd find a site, etc., as I was driving along with my brand new solar panels and Wave 3 catalytic heater.  I was pretty nervous about the whole thing last year, but determined to "do it."  This year as I was driving toward Quartzsite I was just happy and excited to get here.

We have a great campsite in the La Posa South LTVA. It has some large creosote trees and a large saguaro right outside the door, and also a tall one behind us:

 I took this last night when the moon was rising.   Can you see the Saguaro Cactus in the middle of the Palo Verde trees? 

 This morning I moved The Palms for better solar orientation.

I can also look out my window and see my campsite turned this way.

These are the sunset shots I took last night.  As I zoomed in and moved my camera slightly to the right, I got entirely different views of the sunset.  It was a gorgeous Welcome to Quartzsite! sunset for our first night here.

WELCOME to our two newest Followers:

Maryjane Warren lives in Chino Valley, AZ, and her photo shows her with a beautiful Greyhound. I'm sure Maryjane came over to Me and My Dog from Hazel's blog.  Maryjane, you don't show any information about a blog or RVing interest, but as a fellow dog lover, WELCOME!  Katie and I are happy you are following along with us.

Dawn King also appears to be a dog person, too. Her photo is of a beautiful dog, and I'm guessing Dawn is following us through her visits at Class A Greyhounds...RVing with the big dogs! also. Dawn, welcome to Me and My Dog, we're happy to have you  aboard!

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

Bear sighting on the way to Quartzsite

Well, yes, I did see a bear last night - this is a grizzly - the first one I've seen since I've been full-timing.  Thankfully he is in a display at Cabela's in Glendale, AZ.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.  I doubt I'll ever see a real bear in the wild, so this will have to do for me.  He is beautiful, isn't he?

Grizzly Bear at Cabela's in Glendale, AZ

I left Bluewater Lake State Park on Friday morning and headed to Sunset Crater National Monument.  I was planning to boondock at the disbursed camping area in the national forest across the freeway, but it wasn't all that great.  I got there early and waited for Hazel and Cari to follow in the afternoon.  When they got there with their Class A rigs towing their cars, it was decided this wasn't a good place to camp for the night. There weren't any good sites for them, only some uneven pull-outs along the road that I could fit in, but didn't like much.

I did go in further on the right side of the "T" at the end of the road toward the Meadow, but saw nothing I wanted. I ended up having to make a U turn in the middle of the "Road not for autos" road leading to the Meadow - I don't know what Class A's do on that road, but I was happy to get turned around and out of there. And it would have been nice if that "Road not for autos" sign was at the beginning of the road, not down the road right before it deteriorated badly.

I did find something interesting right behind where I parked and waited for Hazel and Cari, though.  As I walked around the rig looking for rocks in the way, I saw this right near the rig:

I don't know what animal these bones came from, but it  must have been pretty big.  Being the neat-nick that I am, I re-arranged them on a large rock to see them better.  It looked like two jaw bones, two rib bones and four vertebrae and two additional disks. Maybe from a large buck? Do they have moose up there?

We all decided to head on down the road to one of the Walmarts in Flagstaff - I called them and was told no parking is allowed by the city, but Walmart doesn't mid over-nighters, so we were welcome to come down and take our chances.  When we got there, other rigs were already parked there and we joined them.  No knocks on the door in the middle of the night, so we all had a good night's sleep.

The next morning, Saturday, Hazel and Cari drove over to the Sunset Crater National Monument, while I drove down the road to Camp Verde.  We decided we'd stay at Cliff Castle Casino overnight, and since I had already checked out the Visitor's Center for Sunset Crater and wasn't interested in more sightseeing, I wanted to get on the road.

Camp Verde was having their Jackpot Ranch Verde Valley Annual Fall Festival and I wanted to walk around and see what they had there.  I wanted to get there early so I could leave Katie in The Palms and be back before it got too hot for her.  There was a shuttle from the parking lot of the Casino, so that was the plan.  Unfortunately they were having a shuttle problem, so one of the volunteers offered me a ride to the festival, where he was going to see what was going on with the shuttle people.  This is his truck, it was in beautiful condition:

This is the back window, showing his jewelry business info in Camp Verde.  He and his wife used to travel in an RV, selling their jewelry at shows, but now are settled in Camp Verde in a storefront. 

Hazel has been talking to a Greyhound Rescue group and was pretty much decided that she was going to adopt one of the male dogs, which is why we were in Camp Verde.  I checked him out when I was at the festival where the group had an area set up for adoptions - he's a beautiful dog, very quiet and calm.  He has some physical damage from racing and being in a cage, but even I could see his beautiful lines.  When he is healed, he will be a wonderful pet for Hazel.  I don't want to say more, but you can check out Hazel's blog and find out what happened that afternoon and on Sunday when we all went to the vet in Flagstaff for a final check.  If the vet released him, the dog would be available for adoption and a new owner could take him home.  I haven't seen a post yet from Hazel about the new dog, but you can check here today or tomorrow to find out more.

While I was at the Festival I had my flu shot from the Walgreen's booth, and also bought a big bar-b-qued hamburger and a baseball cap with a Roadrunner embroidered on it.  I enjoyed walking around the beautiful grounds of the ranch, and then I took the shuttle back to The Palms feeling like I had accomplished something.

After the vet appointment on Sunday afternoon, we all drove back to Cliff Castle Casino.  Hazel and Cari are traveling to Quartzsite, AZ today, but I had a 10:00 appointment at D & R's Family RV in Glendale, AZ to have some things fixed on The Palms, so Katie and I hopped in the rig and got on the road, heading to Glendale.  We arrived at 6 PM Sunday evening and got settled in the parking lot of Cabela's, which is just down the road from the shop.

And here we are - I called and was told parking is okay in one section of the parking lot, despite the No Parking signs.  We were the only rig here overnight, and it was very quiet.

If there is a spot of sunshine, Katie will find it:

Katie loves a spot of sunshine.

I'm finishing this up at Ron's D &R's Family RV in Glendale, where Ron is doing some updates for me. My furnace has been giving me some trouble. It would turn on, blow cold air for around 10 seconds and then turn off.  Ron checked it out, and the problem is a bad limit switch.  He's ordering one that will be here tomorrow morning, and that should take care of the furnace issue.  He also put in a new turn off valve with some copper tubing on the line to the catalytic propane heater. He installed it in the back of the fridge area, so it will be easy for me to reach when I want to turn the propane to the heater on or off.  I will be able to do that without turning the propane to the fridge on and off.  He also grounded the solar installation's inverter while I was here, so I should be good to go as soon as he installs the furnace limit switch tomorrow.

I'm staying overnight in his shop yard, where he has some other folks staying, also.  I wanted to be in an area where I can see the last presidential debate tonight, and the antenna TV reception here is really good here, so I'll be able to watch TV tonight.

Then, on to Quartzsite tomorrow!

Have a great Monday evening, everyone!  :)

Our Honey BooBoo names, and meeting another blogger

WELCOME to our newest Follower, Hazel!  Hazel is my friend - we camped near each other last year at Quartzsite.  You all remember Hazel - she is the full-timer with the Greyhounds and she has a cat, too.  She usually has two Greyhounds and two cats, but this year she lost one of each and her traveling family is seeming small to her.  She is also a Dingbat.

Hazel has been full-timing since 2005 and has been a wealth of information for me.  She just started a new blog, Class A Greyhounds...RVing with the Big Dogs; check it out, its looking really good!  Hazel is trying to decide if she should rescue another Greyhound to keep Fleur company, so we are looking at some rescue dogs Saturday, and hopefully she'll find one to take home and love.  I'm glad she has a blog now, so I can follow along with her when she is traveling down the road.

Hazel and Fleur and the horses

Welcome aboard, Hazel, Katie and I are happy to have you as an Official Follower! :)

Do you watch the Honey BooBoo TV show about the little girl and her family?  I don't watch Honey Booboo's show but I've sure been hearing a lot about this little girl.  Anyway, she has a name generator you can log into to see what your Honey BooBoo name is.  I assume that's how she got that silly name.

My Honey BooBoo name is Bloom Dainty or Bliss Darlin' and Katie's is Kewpie Dainty.  Or Kiddie Ding Dong.  Those are pretty good.

If you want to see what your Honey BooBoo nickname is, just do a search for Honey Booboo name generator. Fill in the first and last name windows and your nickname will come up.  In case you don't like the nickname it comes up with, try again.  Each time it comes up with another one.  Silly, but fun.

The other day I had a knock on the door, and it was Jeanne and Riley, coming for a visit. I knew Jeanne was heading toward Bluewater Lake State Park because she had e-mailed me, and I was so happy to meet her.  She's a very interesting woman who is taking a break from work - resetting her life, as she put it. 

She has a  Lazy Daze motor home and when I visited her a couple of days later, she invited me in and we had another good visit.  She showed me some of the things she has made on the road.  She's very crafty, binding small leather notebooks, knitting, making hand lotion and detergent - lots of different clever things.  Her dog Riley is so well behaved and he and Katie got along well. 

Riley, Jeanne and their Lazy Daze

It was so nice meeting you and getting to know you, Jeanne.  I hope we meet up again down the road! 

Tuesday evening the herd of five horses visited our campground again, so we got to see them for the last time before we leave. Two of the mares are pregnant and ready to deliver, and since they haven't been around for a couple of days, we were thinking the foals might be here already.  The Ranger said he thought they might be born this week, but he said today there are no new foals yet.

 

 Colt grazing behind The Palms

Guess who came for dinner?

 

A young family was camped in the site next to me in a rental motor home. The baby was looking out the back window at the horses. He was so cute.
 

The Dad and little girl were eating outside at their picnic table, and were pretty excited to see the horses.  Look at their faces.  The little colt strolled all over their campsite.  That's Jeanne's Lazy Daze in the background.  When the horses left this site, they wandered over to her site.  As usual I was enjoying the horses' visit. I'll sure miss them.

Katie and I saw a rabbit on our walk the other day. I know they are all over the park, but we don't see them often.  This one was pretty cute.

"If I hold real still, they can't see me."

 

"I'm even more invisible when I lay down with my ears low."

 

I yelled at Katie last night, and this is the face I get when she is in trouble.  She puts her chin up and squints her eyes.  So funny.  Of course, I felt bad.

The "in trouble" face.

Aren't these sunset clouds beautiful?

Kathie and I are leaving Bluewater Lake State Park tomorrow morning.  We're heading east to Arizona, tagging along with Hazel and Cari.  Hazel wants to go to a festival at Camp Verde where they also have some Rescue Greyhounds that she wants to meet.  Then we are going to the shop in Glendale where I had my solar installed to have some work done and have my solar system and furnace checked out for the winter.  My appointment is on Monday at 10:00, then it's on to Quartzsite!

Tire pressure has been checked, windows are washed, gas tank is full and the tanks are dealt with; our next post will be from Arizona.

From Me and Katie, have a great evening, everyone!  :)

The Final 200,000 Page View Favorites

If you are really tired of my retrospective - this is the final-final post showing my favorite photos from the 0 to 200,000 page view time frame.  These include my faves that are not animals, birds, sunsets or moons.

 This is a photo of Bluewater Creek taken from above in the Pinon Campsite area in Bluewater Lake State Park, NM.  The colors were this vibrant and beautiful.  6/6/12

 This is my all-time favorite campsite, so far. It was my site at Las Posas LTVA at Quartzsite, AZ and I had rocks around the border, my solar lights, American flag, etc. It was very homey. 12/25/11

The trail at Armitage County Park in Eugene, OR. Katie and I walked this trail many times. 8/9/11

 This is my best lightening shot taken during a lightening/thunderstorm at Bluewater Lake State Park. 8/19/12

Mt. Rainier in the distance from a rest stop

I loved this mossy table and benches at Armitage County Park, Eugene, OR 8/10/11

 Foggy evening at Zion National Park. 10/28/11

 

Saguaro Cactus Forest at Pleasure Lake, they were all shapes and sizes and number of arms. 11/15/11

 Red Rocks at Sedona with the fog coming in. 11/13/11

Loved this campground at Rock Creek Park with the beautiful creek running through it. 10/5/11

Emphasizing the color green at Sand Hollow State Park.  10/18/11

Road through the tunnel at Dixie National Forest.  10/17/11

The Palms at Quartzsite under a big, beautiful rainbow.

Driving North to South through Arizona we encountered Rain, Fog and Snow.  We finally ended up in Quartzsite - SUN!  11/13/11

Rising full moon over red rock with the circle window at Valley of Fire state Park, NV - 11/8/11

This is a photo of my campsite during a ferocious sandstorm/windstorm at Las Posas LTVA at Quartzsite, AZ. This is the worst sandstorm/windstorm I've experienced so far.  3/6/12

HooDoos, UT 10/17/11

Gorgeous cactus bloom at Bluewater State Park - with Bluewater Lake in the background. 6/17/12

I hope you enjoyed seeing my favorite photos.  It's been quite a trip going through them all to pick favorites.

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