Onward and upward - heading to Camp Verde. And a tiny RV fix you should try. :)

When our 14 days was up at Lake Havasu, Craggy Wash Campground, Katie and I packed up and headed north to Camp Verde.  We stopped along the way to visit a friend, S.B., who lives in Congress, AZ.  Hi, S.B.!  That's a cool little town, it's where Al and Kelly had their winter home - which they recently sold - and I loved the area.  S.B. and I had a nice visit, Katie had a nice roll in some fertilizer in his front yard (P.U.!), then Katie and I continued on our journey north, both happy travelers.  But one of us smelled better than the other.  😏 

It was such a beautiful drive, we drove through fields of Joshua trees, Saguaro cactus, beautiful flowers along the road, and snow capped mountains in the distance.  A nice, relaxing drive.  This photo shows some of the terrain and the road ahead:

And the road directly ahead:

Joshua trees - photos were taken out the window while driving, so these aren't super clear:

A many-armed Saguaro:

Lots of flowers in the center of the road, it looked landscaped, but I'm sure it wasn't.

I had gotten new glasses at the local Wal-Mart in Lake Havasu City, and was wearing them during the drive up to Camp Verde.  My eyes were KILLING me.  I had something in them, or the prescription was so OFF that I could hardly stand it.  I waited a week for whatever it was in my eyes to go away, but it didn't and finally I went to the Cottonwood Wal-Mart.  I was going to have them check my prescription to make sure it was correct, and also check  the written prescription to my new glasses.  First I went to the Pharmacist to see if there were some drops I could use, and she suggested an eye wash.  I decided to try that first, before putting any more money into getting a new prescription or glasses.

When I got home, I immediately "washed" my eyes.  I've never done that before, and it wasn't anything like I thought it would be.  Instead of being creepy and awful, it felt so cool and good on my eyes.  Immediately they were better.  Weird, huh?  I was thinking, wow, I had something in my eyes, especially the left one, for a WEEK!

Here's me and Katie, talking to Diana out the window - those are my new glasses.  O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?  That's what I always feel like when I chat out the window. lol

Later I went back to purchase some eye drops and couldn't even get my cart into the "Eye Product" area at the end of the aisle.  After chatting with some of the locals waiting to get to the products, I learned that the pollen was SO BAD right then, that everyone was having problems.  I guess I just had pollen in my eyes?  That's never happened to me before, is that what an allergy feels like?  I'm sure glad the problem is gone now. Between the wash and the drops, all is well, and I think the pollen is finally gone.

When Katie and I arrived at our camp area in Camp Verde, my friend John warned me that there were tiny purple ground cover flowers that stained shoes and dog feet.  You can kind of see them here - they were ALL OVER the place!

After walking Katie the first time, the bottom of my shoes were purple!  Luckily it didn't stain anything and washed off with water.  Probably some of the suspicious pollen in the area!

We had some rain and cloudy weather while camped in Camp Verde - I liked this view out my window of the bushes and fields, then low clouds, mountains, sunset, higher clouds and blue sky.  It kind of had everything!  It was dark on the ground, and light in the sky above the clouds.

One day after the rain, an earth to earth rainbow came out - it was beautiful.  And I snapped The Palms right in the middle of it:

Rainbow closeup - it was SO pretty in person:

It was pretty cold, and more snow fell on the San Francisco Mountains in the distance, beyond the Camp Verde hills.

It's been a while since I've had birds in my campsite, and it was nice to see Says Phoebes flitting from branch to branch:

Remember Flat Stanley, the frog at Storrie Lake State Park in New Mexico that was run over on the road?  Well, we had our own Flat Lizzy here in Camp Verde.  Katie LOVES it when she sees a lizard, she goes bonkers and tries to get it.  So far, it's lizards about 500, Katie 0.   This is the first one she found that didn't run too fast up a tree or under a bush.  It was right next to the yellow painted line in the middle of the road.  Pretty little guy.  And according to Katie, it smelled really good!  I practically had to drag her away. 

And here's the Princess, little Katie, taking a nap on her quilt in the middle of the day.

And finally, I have a small RV fix that Kim, of The Travels of Kimbo Polo fame, told me about.  AND she also gave me the materials!  First you need one of the tiny zip ties.  This is a little baggie of zip ties she gave me to use:

I don't know about you, but I've read about people going down the freeway and realizing later that the cover for their hot water heater came off while they were traveling.  Then they had to order a new one.  The circular plastic turning lock thingie, I guess, isn't necessarily that hardy.  So...   All you do is locate the plastic round lock thingie:

and put a zip tie on it.  Easy peasy.  That's it!  It's horizontal when locked, and with the zip tie, it will stay that way.  No turning to a vertical position and slipping through the opening, and then the cover flying off on the highway.

After reading about other people having that issue, I've always wondered when mine would fly off.  Now I know - NEVER!   By the way, that's a vent guard over the cover, a "Flying Insect Water Heater Screen."  You can get them through Amazon.com.  That's where I got mine a few years ago.  It stops Mud Daubers and other insects from getting in and building nests, which can cause problems.

So, that's my tip - from Kim to me and from me to you.  : )

UPDATE:  I was sitting here looking at the photo above, and something didn't seem right.  I just went out and tried to get the cover off, and it CAME OFF!  I might not have done it right. I texted Kim and I'm waiting for her to look at my photo to see what I did wrong. I'll update here after I hear from her.  Maybe not so easy peasy for some of us!

FROM KIM:  You still need to put the white tab all the way down. Also, make the zip tie loop big enough so it can't pull through.   FROM ME:  Duh!  (red face)  That should work.

And from me and Katie, have a great day, everyone!   😊⛰🌧🌈🐸🐦😊

Lake Havasu - Part 3 - London Bridge & gettting The Palms weighed

For our final day on Sunday, my friend brought a couple of kayaks with him so we could put them in the canal.  I was really looking forward to that - I've never gone kayaking before - but the weather turned bad, really windy and cold, so that was off the table.

We went out for a nice breakfast in town then went down to the canal so I could get a couple photos of the water birds, and take some pictures of the London Bridge.

There's a nice little park where you can walk around, sit on the grass, tables, etc.  I liked this flag display:

Also this lighthouse - I'm assuming it's for show only...

These were taken driving across London Bridge - proof that I've been there, done that!

Then we drove off the bridge and parked in a lot so we could walk down and get some good shots of the bridge itself.  It was really pretty from this angle.

When we got back to camp, he packed up and headed back home, and I packed up and moved closer in to have fellow RVers nearby.

And as I said in the first Lake Havasu post, I liked the area so much, Katie and I stayed for the 14 days we were allowed.

While we were checking out Lake Havasu City, we went to the Sunday Swap Meet in town, and one of the vendors was the company that weighed The Palms shortly after I was on the road.  I've been wanting to have her re-weighed - for a full-timer it's recommended to weigh them every five years to make sure we're not carrying too many pounds for the motor home's specs.  I was happy to see the owner of Weigh To Go, LLC there, and it turns out he and his wife live in Lake Havasu City, so that was perfect!  I got their card and called later in the week to schedule an appointment.

We met in town and The Palms was weighed - all four wheels were weighed at the same time - and the results were pretty much what we were five years ago.  Slightly heavier, but still well underweight which was a relief.  So we're good to go for another five years.  These are the printouts I received that show what the specs are, and what the actual weight is:

And a final gorgeous sunset from Lake Havasu, AZ:

I'll bet Katie and I will be camping in that same BLM campground again in the coming years.

From me and Katie, have a great Sunday, everyone! 😊

Lake Havasu - Part 2 - Bluegrass on the Beach

First thing Saturday morning, we had coffee and burritos cooked outside on a Coleman camp stove - fried egg, bacon, cheese and sweet pepper all rolled into a warm burrito.  OMG, they were SO GOOD!

Then we secured our rigs and drove into town for some sightseeing.  He knew the area well and we checked out different areas of Lake Havasu City, then we went over to listen to the music.

This was the 15th Annual Bluegrass on the Beach Musical Festival.  It lasted three days, but we only bought tickets for Saturday.  We walked around checking out the vendor booths, bought drinks and food, walked down to the lake which was right there next to the grassy area, and then settled down on the grass in our chairs to enjoy the music.

I got photos of some of the groups.

Wayne Taylor and Appaloosa:

The Larry Stephenson Band
 - 2015 SPBGMA "Album of the Year"

Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass
 - Danny Paisley 2016 IBMA "Male Vocalist" of the Year" 

We stayed a while, then drove back to camp to check on Katie and relax.  Then we headed back in time for the last group - the U.S. Navy Bluegrass Band "Country Current."  Military bands are ALWAYS the best!  And these guys didn't disappoint.

U.S. Navy Bluegrass Band "Country Current"

From the information on the brochure, "Country Current performs regularly for the president, vice-president, the secretary of the Navy, the chief of naval operations, the chairman and vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the master chief petty officer of the Navy and numerous other dignitaries.  They also perform for communities both locally and nationally, veterans, elementary schools and in support of our active-duty Sailors."

They were fabulous!  What a treat!

While the Navy band was performing, a flock of blackbirds flew up into the tree right next to the stage and perched for a while, enjoying the ambiance.

As were all the people sitting on the grass:

Unfortunately, before the Navy band came to the stage, the weather started getting cold and windy.  Most people weren't dressed with jackets, but very few people left until they were done.  We stayed till the end, too.  They were just too good to walk out on.  We really enjoyed all the performances, and the Navy band was a great ending to the afternoon!

I'll show you some photos of the London Bridge next time.

From me and Katie, have a great Wednesday!  😎🎻🎼

Lake Havasu - Part 1 - Our Camp

Okay, we're back, finally!  I have lots to post about and tons of photos.  When Katie and I left Quartzsite, we headed to Lake Havasu to meet up with a friend and camp for the weekend while the Annual Bluegrass Festival was going on. They call it Bluegrass on the Beach.  😎

We ended up getting there on a Thursday and staying for two weeks.  I've never been to Lake Havasu before and really liked the area.  It's right on a beautiful lake, and I got to see the London Bridge and listen to great music.  There's good shopping in Lake Havasu City, and I was able to have The Palms re-weighed again by the same company who weighed her five years ago.  (We're still underweight by quite a bit, and well distributed.  So that was nice to know!)

I have a lot of photos from Lake Havasu, so I'll split them up in two or three posts and go light on the text.

This was our first campsite.  I snagged one with enough room for two rigs, and when my friend left on Sunday, I moved closer to where most of the RVs were set up.  This was perfect, though, flowers all around, craggy hills in every direction, and even a good tree!  We also had two good stone fire pits already set up for our campfires.  Level and lots of room.  Perfect!

It was cold in the mornings, so Katie had her pink bomber jacket on:

Wild flowers in the kitchen:

You can see why they called this Craggy Wash - but a better name would have been Craggy Hills.

When the sun was setting that first day, everything lit up around us.  It was beautiful.

Then the sun was setting and we had a beautiful sunset:

Full moon rising over our campsite:

It was so beautiful and peaceful at our site.

That's about it for our camp - I'll post more in a day or so with photos of the Bluegrass festival musicians that we saw and The London Bridge pictures.

From me and Katie, have a great Monday, everyone!😎💓😎

Leaving Quartzsite, a review, and meet-up with an old friend

In a month, April 1, it will be six years since I bought The Palms, so the insurance and license renewals are due.   I went on-line to pay for both, and even though I thought I had a pass this year on the smog certificate, I was wrong.  I need to smog The Palms.  I'm a California resident, and along with the annual vehicle registration that's required, every other year we have to send in a clean smog certificate.  The vehicle must be smogged at a certified facility in California.  And I have to be in California to do that.  Bummer, when I'm in Arizona!

Luckily, I found a great little place in Blythe that's only a half hour or so from Quartzsite, so yesterday I headed over there in the morning.  They had great reviews on-line.

When I got there I met the owners, Sergio and Esperanza, a husband and wife team. Sergio directed me into the office to talk to Esperanza who explained everything to me, the cost, what happens if the truck didn't pass the emissions test, etc.  Then I got Katie out of The Palms and we went into the office to wait.

It took 20 minutes or so, and during that time I chatted with Esperanza who was very friendly.  Then it was done - for another two years.  The Palms passed.  Whew.  I always think it will go well, but you never know.

By the way, it cost me $120 - across the street is a Ford dealership, where the price is $200. Same testing equipment, they both send the info the California DMV electronically, they do exactly the same thing.  EZ Lube is an older garage and not as fancy as a dealership, but the people were friendly, knew what they were doing, the service was great, and the job was done.  (Cars are cheaper; a different machine is used for RVs and I think everyone charges more for our rigs.)

I would highly recommend them if you're from California and need to have your vehicle smogged while in Quartzsite.  I doubt there's a closer shop to get it completed.

EZ Lube

345 E Hobsonway

Blythe, CA  92225

Shop:  (760) 921-2918

Cell:    (760-799-8967

 

Esparanza said they might be moving their shop this year, so if you want to make an appointment and the shop phone isn't working, use the cell number.  The new shop will also be in Blythe, CA, but double check the address.

A couple of weeks ago I met up with an old friend, Carolyn, with whom I used to work - and haven't seen for 34 years!  She and her husband, Fred, were on their way home from a convention and traveling through Quartzsite, so she messaged me and asked if I'd like to meet for a late lunch.

It's amazing how the years fall away and it feels just like it used to in the "old days."  

We had a great lunch at Taco Mio in town and talked for three hours.  The only reason we parted is because they still had a ways to go before they got home, and the sun was starting to go down.

I sure had a wonderful time.  The lunch was great, and the conversation even better.  We could have talked for hours and hours more.  It was so nice to see Carolyn again after all this time and to meet Fred.  And thanks for treating me to lunch, guys!  😀

Below is another photo of the view out my window.  Every time I look outside, I can't believe the green terrain.  Normally all that green would be brown desert, or brown/black rocks covering the desert floor.  This has been the wettest season I've seen in the six years I've been coming to Quartzsite for the winter.  Kind of cold and windy, too, this year.  Every year is different. 

Every year is great!

And a final sunset - I don't have any more photos, and I'm leaving the area tomorrow.  Perfect timing!

The next post will be written in a new location, somewhere I've never been, so I'm really looking forward the next couple of weeks.  New location, new people, new experiences.  Should be fun!

From me and Katie, have a great Wednesday, everyone!  ❤😎❤