Quartzite

Not much changes out here in the desert nor in town during RV week.  John says this every year but he swears the Big Tent is even bigger.  It does seem like there are more people, RVs and cars this year with traffic jams most of the day.  We are camped about 1.5 miles from the big tent, an easy 5 minute bike ride with no traffic issues or parking problems.

We have walked the big tent almost every day, and perused the junk aisles, biked into town to the east but have not made it to the west side yet.  Friends from the Canada caravan came over for dinner and friends from the Baja caravan met us for lunch and friends we made through earlier travels took us to lunch.  All these visits were 3-4 hours of catching up and reminiscing.

Today has been a hard day for John as the inverter/charger quit working this morning.  As it turns out we overloaded it and it said that was enough.  A short call to Newmar and he was able to reset it and start it up again.  I guess I can’t bake, fry and perk all at the same time!  This afternoon’s bike ride out into the desert was short but difficult. It may look flat but its up hill and rocky which made for a rough ride.  But a campfire and beautiful sunset makes the tough day right again.

More Buckskin

Last Sunday was the first of the NFL playoff games and the KC Chiefs were playing.  We are not huge football fans but since our local team is playing we are trying to keep up with the games.  But first we made a trip out to the Desert Bar only this time we took the gravel road instead of the four-wheel trail through the mountains.  I don’t know if it was the cooler weather, the football game or just no interest but the place was not as crowded as it has been on past visits.  They still have cold beer, hot sandwiches, and a great band.

We got back to the campground in time to catch the last quarter of the game.  Chiefs won!!

Again this week we biked and hiked.  One hike was 5.5 miles!  We also played 9 holes at Emerald Canyon Golf Course.  It’s a bit of a challenge with narrow fairways, elevated tee boxes and sandy roughs but it was still fun. We ate out a couple of times - nothing fancy but it was tasty and I didn’t have to cook.

Today we drove a whopping 58 miles down to Quartzite where we parked in the same area as when we were last here.  John was able to get the Chiefs vs Titans game on TV.  So exciting that we are going to the Super Bowl!!

Buckskin Mountain State Park

It’s not been as warm as I would like but John has insisted on wearing shorts everyday!  Me, I’ve been wearing long pants and long sleeves and a sweater!  Oh well, its still better than the cold back home.

We have taken at least one bike ride this week and several hikes on the trails in the park.  The most exciting thing we’ve done is to drive up to Lake Havasu City to take in their annual Hot Air Balloon Festival.  There are supposed to be over 70 balloons but due to high winds on both Friday and Saturday, we saw zero balloons.  We thought for sure they would fly on Saturday afternoon as there was no wind in Buckskin but there was in Havasu.  

We also drove over the Parker Dam and explored the California side of the Colorado River down to Parker. Lots of RV parks and retirement communities.

Westward Bound

We left Sedalia on January 2 and headed west through Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and our final destination of Arizona.

After two full days of driving we stopped early near Winslow AZ and stayed at the Homolovi State Park where the Anastasia had once settled on the Little Colorado River.  We saw some ruins, walked a short trail and enjoyed the clear starry skies.

While singing “Taking it Easy” by the Eagles, we drove into Winslow AZ  and did the typical tourist thing of taking our picture while “Standing on the Corner in Winslow AZ.”

There was lots of  snow covered hills along the interstate so the state has posted signs over the interstate highway asking people to not park on the highway to play in the snow. Unbelievable.

We arrived at the Buckskin Mountain State Park early on Jan 5 and will be here for two weeks.  Sure hope the weather stays sunny and warm for us.