A new campsite

As I wrote in my last post, last Friday was a very rainy, stormy day here at Quartzsite.  I decided to drive into town to do laundry and a little shopping.  We left our very nice, cozy site and drove away.

When we returned, there were large puddles in the site, and it didn't look quite as inviting as it did when we left.  Rather than backing up into our previous spot in front of the "living room" with our chairs and table  - right into the largest puddle, I decided we should be on the other side of the fire pit, where there were no puddles. 

There were a bunch of rocks right where I wanted to park, so I got out in the drizzling rain and moved them over, tossed a bunch in a pile, and then backed in.  I seldom just "back in."  I check my compass to make sure I'm pointing West, then back in, check the leveling app on my phone, go outside and look around, climb back behind the steering wheel, adjust, etc.  Sometimes it's quick.  Sometimes it's not.  I'd rather go through this a bunch of times and be level than have to use leveling blocks.  I have two sacks of levelers, but they don't come out unless I have no choice.

When we woke up Saturday morning I looked outside and noticed my neighbors left early that morning.  This motor home came in two nights before and parked in the next site (we were the ONLY two sites occupied on this entire "street" along the washes on either side.  Interesting how that always works out, isn't it?  :)   When they pulled up, I'm saying to myself, "Are you kidding me???"  At first I thought they were visiting me!

So Katie and I went out for a little walk and checked out that now-empty site and I decided to move over there.  It was a really easy drive in and back up kind of location.  Very level. 

When we were pointed in the right direction, I walked back and forth in the rain retrieving our chairs, table, solar lights, hummer feeders, and welcome mat.  I was soaking wet.  I changed into dry clothes, hung the wet top and jeans in the bathroom to drip dry and got The Palms back in order.  And that was that.

Here are photos of the new site:

A little pathway to the wash behind us.  A previous camper put the initials KD here, and I made a slight adjustment...

This is our new living room with a nice big tree canopy:

Here's Katie, enjoying her walk around the BD garden path area:

This is our fourth site since we drove into Quartzsite the beginning of October.  I like staying in the same place for a while, but moving around within that place into different sites, and I always enjoy my new site more than the last. Every site we've been in - since the start of our full-time adventure - had something special.  Space, coziness, trees, wide-open spaces, nice neighbors, no neighbors etc.  (I'm soooo good at finding the good side - you can imagine how well I did when I was a Real Estate Agent with that one-bedroom condo I was selling in San Diego that had the main inside hallway on one side and a tall brick building on the other side.  All the windows had a view of brick.  Very close.  Nothing else to see.  Oh yeah! That one was a challenge! )

Katie and I are enjoying this new site - but I doubt this will be our last campsite here in Quartzsite. There are lots of choices here - just how I like it.  :)

Two photos of Katie from the last week...

Watching for lizards - sorry about making your butt look fat, Katie.  (It's really not.  LOL) 

Katie playing with her baby, both ears up!

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

Quartzsite weather

If I have a good sunset shot I usually end the post with it, but this was just too good to wait till the end.  This was our sunset last Tuesday.  It was just gorgeous. 

These three photos are all taken in the same spot, further away, closer and close-up.  I don't remember ever seeing this kind of cloud formation/sunset before, only in Arizona.  The roughed up clouds below almost look like red desert sand or rocks or cliff sides, not clouds in the sky.

The photo below show that part clearer.  It was an interesting sunset, lots of different things going on, different colors, shapes, and textures.

It was a beautiful evening.  We've had such nice weather since Katie and I got here, a few really hot days and a few cloudy windy days, but for the most part, perfect weather.

On Friday the weather turned - it's been stormy and cloudy and rainy for a couple of days.  I don't get to see too many rainy days here, and it was really nice.  Super cozy inside The Palms with the Wave 3 Catalytic Heater keeping us warm and toasty.  :)

Clouds covering the mountain tops.

WELCOME to our newest Followers:

Becky & Drew, who are not showing a blog or any info about themselves.  If you do have a blog, or start one, let me know.  Thanks for following along with Me  and Katie, we appreciate it.   Welcome aboard!

I have a couple of mini-mods to show you next time.  I was going to include them here, but the post was far too long.  I'm trying to be a little less wordy and picturey.  I know my posts are toooo long, I'm working on it, but once I get started... 

From me and Katie, have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!  :)

Wordless Wednesday - Giraffe Manor

Giraffe Manor, Nairobi, Kenya  
| The only hotel in the world where you can eat breakfast with giraffe.| 

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

New solar engine lights

Denise was nice enough to let me know she was ordering some new solar lights on Amazon.com.  Her plan was to put them on the ground under her engine area to keep away critters.  She asked if I wanted to get some, too, and she'd add them to her order.

After the RAT chewed through my very cool set-up, I decided to go with the solar approach.

The lights arrived the other day and after getting them all power up in the sun, I've set them up around the top of my engine and they've been there for two nights.  And they are working very well!

The lights look kind of messy, I could arrange them better, but they are working and I'm not tying them down, so I'll just remove them when I drive and plop them down again on top when I'm stationary.  Excuse my dust - I like a dusty engine.  Then I can see footprints and take more action. :( 

These lights have two options:  steady or blinking.  I have mine set to blinking; I figure that might confuse critters and scare them away.

I put a medium sized rock right near the hooking mechanism for the hood, so it won't close and latch.  I have the solar panel parts of the lights coming out to get the full sunlight every day to keep them powered up.  

I still have the 2 foot section of the old lights in the engine on the right side (click here for that mod), and that's a really powerful, very bright section of lights, so I don't have any of the new lights in that area.  The new ones aren't nearly as bright, but I think they will be fine.

If you are interested in ordering, here is what they look like when you get them.  Click here for the Amazon.com website.   I'm putting the link on the right sidebar, too, in case you want to see them in the future.

I didn't use the stake that comes with the lights, I'm just hanging the panel out of the engine, but you can stake the panel into the ground.  That's what Denise is doing.

I'm not sure mine are this bright, but they are bright enough for what I need. Denise, thanks for the great idea and including my lights in your order!

Katie waking up yesterday morning - I love her first "face" when she wakes up.  :)

And here's Katie looking outside.  I wonder what she's looking at.

Oh, yeah, I should have known.  Here's that lizard again with the turquoise coloring.  Hazel did some research trying to find out what kind of lizard he is, but no luck so far.  Hazel, here's another clear photo of him.  Click on the picture and then click again for a good really close shot.  Let me know if you find out what he is and I'll include it here. :)

Here's our beautiful full moon on Saturday night:

 

This is the best moon shot I've gotten with this new Canon PowerShot SX500 IS.  It looks like we can even see some sunspots in this photo.  It was a beautiful evening.

We've been having the most beautiful weather.  A few days have been cool, overcast or windy, but still, a little variety is definitely my idea of perfect weather.  The rest have been calm, warm, gorgeous.  Hopefully it will continue.

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

Wordless Wednesday - Contagious

Let this play twice and it will go faster.

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