October 24-25, 2014 Travel to Yuma and Friends

October 24th

We packed up early and headed on down the road:

Through Quartzsite:

In January, this intersection will be packed!

We are here too early – La Mesa RV isn’t even here:

Empty Tyson Wells – In January, this will be filled with over 100 vendors:

Aren’t they cute – :

The “Big Tent” space:

Continuing our journey south to Yuma:

What continues to amaze me year after year is that we drive south of Quartzsite and it is desert for over 50 miles.  Then we round corner and it is green…

Orange Trees:

And Cotton Bales:

The Little Church:

In Yuma, they plant and harvest three times because of the ideal growing conditions.  This field is ready to go:

And this one is in the process:

We arrived at the Escape Park, KOFA, right before lunch and settled into a site on the outer wall.  We have been on their list to get a lot for a few years and we are now number 9 on that list.   Before this, we only spent one night here in boondocking a few years ago so we figured we better spend some time here to see if we like it.

The other reason we are here is to do some upgrading in our motorhome.  So after lunch, we went to Furniture Warehouse and ordered theater seating (two recliners with a compartment/cup holders in between).  On Monday, it will be delivered and they will take our old couch.  We are also hoping to reupholster our captain’s chairs and either get new dinette cushions or reupholster our original ones.  I have purchased new curtains but they need to be hemmed yet.  With the left over material, I hope to make a dash cover.  For now, we are leaving the flooring alone because I am not sure how I want it to look.

We also hope to see friends who are making their way south.  It should be fun.  .     We think we are staying here for a month and then head to our lot in Casa Grande but you never know – plans can change tomorrow – LOL!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled:  132 Miles

Routes Traveled:

California: Parker Dam Road; SR-62

Arizona: SR-95; Avenue 3E; E County 17th Street

Gas – $2.78/gallon at Sam’s Club in Yuma – WOW!!!

October 25th, 2014

I spent today with my friend, Kay.   We met Kay and Norval a few years ago in Quartzsite and have stayed in touch since then.  Norval had a bad stroke three years ago and has not been able to travel.  Kay came down for a week with her friend, Brenda, and we are so glad we were able to connect.  Last year, Andy and I went to see them in Alberta, Canada, so it was great to spend the day with her, getting caught up, laughing, crying and hugging.  What a wonderful day – Thank you Kay.

What a wonderful day –

I will not be blogging daily unless we play tourist but I will be blogging weekly.  So until then, enjoy today.

October 22 - 23, 2014 Our time at Emerald Cove

Wednesday, October 22nd

This morning was a slow morning for us.  Eventually we took a walk around the park.  The Colorado River:

Our site:

When we are in the Yuma Lakes park, we usually have “Roberts” wash our rig.  Well we found out that “Roberts” is now operating here.  So this afternoon, we had our rig pressure washed and the roof treated.  It looks beautiful.

Thursday, October 23rd

Today was road trip day so we packed a lunch and away we went.  Our plans were to go to Bouse, then Quartzsite, then back home.  We wanted to check out some BLM land south of Bouse.  Every January, we come to Quartzsite and camp out with the Boomers.  It is very dusty out there and the last two years, I got sick from all that dust.  So if and when we go this year, we will probably stay in a different area – and that was our mission today – to identify other areas.

Our first stop was the Bouse Community Park to check on their camping, dump station, and water availability.  It is a nice park:

As we were sitting there, our Tracker sputtered and quit!  Yikees, now what.  Andy checked a few things and couldn’t find anything wrong.  So we called Good Sam Road Service and they were going to send some one to tow us to Quartzsite.  As we were waiting, Andy started the car again and it ran!  Now what?   We decided to head back to Parker.  I called Good Sam to cancel, then the tow service who also gave us the name of a mechanic in Parker.   Then we decided to do some troubleshooting with the help of the internet.  All symptoms pointed to a bad cam position sensor.

First stop was the AutoZone.  They stock this part because it tends to fail in the Tracker.  (I guess we were blessed because our Tracker is a 2001 and it just started to fail!).  Anyway, back home, Andy changed the part, we had lunch, and then off we went again. 

Wavy roads south of Bouse:

We are back in the desert – isn’t it beautiful:

Greenery – WOW!:

We checked out a few sites.  My preference is out on Plomosa Road between MM2 and MM3.  We’ll see!

Quartzsite is still very empty.  We made a stop at the Gambler – he just opened and was cleaning out the store.  It is amazing to be here this early in the season.

Back home after supper we had visitors:

The cats were fascinated:

Especially Bella:

After a while, they headed on down the road:

What a nice treat!

Tomorrow we are headed south to Yuma, where we expect to be for a month. 

Stay tuned and enjoy today.

October 21, 2014 Travel to Emerald Cove in Earp, California

We were up early today and on the move south again.

Down the “hump”:

Into Las Vegas:

Didn’t see any wild burros this time – :

After Las Vegas and Henderson, we headed south on 95, past the solar farm:

And into California:

Past train crossings:

And roads that just end!:

Oh my, the road was like this for many, many miles:

The desert is so green:

Strange rock formations:

Ocotillo and Cholas – :

Into the Colorado River Valley:

Where we headed north on Parker Dam Road:

And arrived at Emerald Cove – much to our little calico, Bella’s, happiness….   We traveled on that wavy road for a long time and when we were about 20 miles from Emerald Cove, she got very car sick.  Oh my!  So we pulled over and calmed her down, then headed those last 20 miles.  That has never happened before so I am hoping it was just the wavy ride and not a common occurrence.

So once we set up, you know what I was doing – cleaning up her “very sick”.  Oh well.

Emerald Cove is in Earp, California; right across the river from Parker, Arizona.  This is one of our membership parks where we can stay for free for up to 30 days at a time.  Sad to say, we will not be staying that long here this time – some day.  We really like this park.  Along with the great scenery by the river, they have a little bar and grill and a few pools and hot tubs.  So late afternoon, we went to happy hour and then had supper there. It is very HOT here so it was nice not to have to cook.

We will be here for a few days and then head south to Yuma so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 231 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Nevada: Oakridge Avenue; Manse Road; US-160; I-215; I-515; US-95

California: US-95; I-40; US-95; SR-62; Parker Dam Road