Wandering Spirit

So say the overhead lighted signs along I-10 between Q and Buckeye.  Made me smile. ☺️. I love Star Wars…well, especially Han Solo…(bigger 😀)…but I won’t be seeing “The Force Awakens” for quite some time, I’m afraid.  I don’t care if I know what happens before I see it though.  Knowing won’t ruin it for me.

Anyway, Thursday morning is cold and we get a slow start  to packing up and hooking up.  I’m hesitant to come out of my nice cozy nest this morning.  Then, there are some good-byes to say.

We finally roll out of The Scenic Road RV Park at 10:50.  As soon as we hit I-10 I’m exhilarated!  So SO good to be on the road again.  In fact it’s so good that I wonder about how I can ever settle down again some day, and stay in one spot.  I guess when the time comes, I’ll know it, and it will feel ‘right’, but for now, I’m loving this lifestyle.  I love pulling out and heading north, south, east, or west, even if I’m not really sure of my destination…like today.

About 100 miles down the road we stop at the Walmart in Buckeye.  Joy, Shiloh, and I take a little walk around the parking lot.  The sun is shining, sky is cloudless, and it’s about 58 degrees.

Next I go into the busy, Christmasy, Walmart and spend $150!  What?!  Gee, that was easy!

After a snack we continue on Hwy 85, and in around 10 miles stop at Buckeye Recreation Area.  I’ve been considering staying here but I’ve never checked it out.  It’s nice enough, it’s free and has picnic tables and shelters, but it’s small and any site I would consider is already taken.  So…we keep on truckin’ another 60 or so miles, past Gila Bend and back to Painted Rock Petroglyphs Campground.  That’s the place the flies drove me away from before we went to Q.  The pestering flies seem to be off where ever flies go when it’s gotten cold at night, and there are more people camping here now, maybe 20 or so, in the 66 campsites.  We pick a decent site, get level, unhook and lay out the blue mat. Home! (Home is where you park it.)  We have a picnic table and a fire pit with a grill on it, as do all the sites here.  There is a camp host couple, and the facility has two pit potties and a covered picnic area for people who are visiting the petroglyphs.  I may stay until after Christmas, but for now I pay for 5 nights which is $20 with my senior pass.

I put up the mesh screen that I bought in Q to give us a little extra shade.  I really like it!

Time to relax after a busy day finding a new home!

We will be back in January, but for now I need a change.

Kerry is feeling much better.  She returned from Phoenix on Tuesday, minus kidney stones.  She brought me a big bag of groceries, festively wrapped, from Whole Foods in Phoenix, and would not let me pay her for them.  She plans to stay here one more night and then move closer to Phoenix for the time being since she needs to see the Dr for some follow up.  I’m going to miss her and Annabelle, and I hope we camp together again sometime!

Glenda Laine (I spelled her last name wrong in the last post!) and I had lunch together on Wednesday, and talked for two hours nonstop.  Looking forward to meeting up with her again when we return to Q. She writes the blog called “Casita Escapes.”

My new tire is securely in place.  Price was $230, which included balancing, labor, and tax.  Even the spare that was on for a day, wouldn’t hold air!  Twice I used my little air pump to top it off in a 24 hour period. The problem turned out to be the valve stem, and they also fixed that at the tire shop.  If you are planning to go on the road make sure you bring along an air pump that plugs into 12 volt.  I’ve used mine many times!

It has been cold, and in fact the temperature in Q as I write this is 33 degrees.  It’s so nice two have two big warm dogs to cuddle up to at times like this!

I’ll be packing up and hooking up this morning while it is in the 40 degree range.  I’m not real excited about that, but hey, this is my life, I love it, and it’s just another small challenge in a large basket of many.  I’m enjoying taking one day at a time, and working with it.

I’m not entirely sure where we are going yet!  It won’t be too far away, and I’ll let you know when we get there!

Kerry drives back to the hospital in Phoenix this morning.  Her procedure is scheduled for late in the day, and as I write this I’ve just heard from her that it is over and she is ‘sore but upright.’

In the days since we arrived at The Scenic Road RV Park  we have met various neighbors.  There is one very sweet couple whom I will call Sara and Dan (not their real names).  They are ‘dog people’ with two Miniature Schnauzers.  They take an interest in Kate’s situation and want to help.  Sara starts walking Annabelle for Kate.  I’ve been hesitant to walk all three dogs because I took one of my famous tumbles last week while I had the three in tow.  I’m still recovering from that.  🙂

Next thing I know Sara and Dan have volunteered to take Annabelle to their trailer home while Kerry is in the hospital, and Sara has even offered to sleep at Kerry’s house with Annabelle tonight.  I’ll be feeding Annabelle and keeping her here with us for short periods to give Sara and Dan a break.  Talk about kind, caring folks!

(Joy and Shiloh at the dog park.  Todays pictures have nothing to do with the text!)

Another very nice person I met today was Glenda Lane, writer of the blog “Casita Escapes”. ( http://www.CasitaEscapes.blogspot.com )  She sees WS from the road as she drives by and stops in to introduce herself.  We talk for half an hour and already know that we will be getting together again soon. Glenda’s husband recently passed away and so she is now solo and looking to meet other solo RVing women.  I read her blog and I knew she was in town but was quite happily surprised to meet her today.

(My Christmas tree.  Paid $1 at a yard sale the other day 🙂 )

Now about the tire!

I pile Joy and Shiloh into the back of JR and make a run to the post office  to mail a letter and do a couple other errands.  About the time I return and pull back into the RV park, my truck signals me that I have a seriously low tire.  Not again!

(Oh Annabelle…those eyes!)

I make another call to American Custom Tire and Wheel.  It’s 3 weeks to the day that I was there getting a new wheel on WS.  They tell me to come on in, and as it turns out I have a very weird series of tiny punctures and a ‘rock break’, caused by going over a very sharp rock.  This is all in the right rear tire.  They put the spare tire on for me and of course suggest that I get a set of tires.  I tell them I need to think about this and I’ll call back soon.

Back at home I ask Dan to come look at the tires and see if he thinks I need 4 new ones, because I’m not so sure that I do.  After Dan looks, we talk, and I make a couple phone calls,  I decide to just buy one tire for now…barring more weird occurrences, I could drive another 8-10,000 miles with these tires.  (I guess this is a gamble but I can always change my mind and buy 3 more!)

I call the tire place back and order one tire.  It will be delivered tomorrow and they will put it on sometime tomorrow afternoon.

(Christmas lights inside Wandering Spirit)

Busy day.  I’m ready for bed.  Night all!

On Tuesday, December 8, we leave Hi Jolly BLM and head into town to The Scenic Road RV Park, where I made previous reservations.  (The road is honestly not the least bit scenic here, to my way of thinking, but it’s a nice RV park.)  Kerry does the same, and once again we are near-by neighbors.

My first day here I do six loads of laundry!  It’s the dust.  Dust seems to billow out of everything I own at a mere touch, after two weeks in the desert.  The washers here are $1.50 and the dryers are .75, so it’s a pretty good deal.  In Parker recently I stopped at the bank and got $100 worth of quarters.  Quarters are a valuable commodity to full time RVer’s, between the laundry, car washes, and even water machines.  Most places give change…except when you really need it, when they seem to be out of quarters, and machines are out of order.

On Wednesday I decide to take a ride into Parker, mostly just because.  I text Kerry to see if she needs anything.  The reply comes back, “WAIT!”  I step outside and see her and Annabelle hurrying from the laundry area.  “Annabelle just ate some rat poison!!”  In seconds Kerry Googles it, and reads that she needs to give Annabelle 1 teaspoon of Hydrogen Peroxide per 10 pounds of body weight.  She quickly mixes 7 teaspoons with some broth, and Annabelle readily drinks part of it, but not all.  I hurry home to find a syringe so we can feed her the rest.  By the time I come back Annabelle has already deposited her breakfast and the tell-tale blue poison on the ground.  Good girl!  Once in the trailer, just for good measure, she deposits more on the floor.

I go to Parker and Kerry goes to the vet.  They tell her she did exactly the right thing.  They also administer activated charcoal to absorb any left over poison, and give a vitamin K injection.  Vitamin K is a blood clotting agent.  Apparently  one of the major things rat poison does is cause internal bleeding.  Annabelle suffers no ill effects from the poison because of Kerry’s quick and correct actions.

And this, hot off the press….Kerry  just found out that her next procedure is scheduled in Phoenix for this coming Monday, on an outpatient/one night stay basis.   We discuss our options and then head for the office to see if we can extend our stays for a couple of days.  We get the ok on that…Yay!  Thank you to The Scenic Road RV Park.  We can leave our little homes right where they are, and I’ll dog sit from here while Kerry goes to Phoenix.  It’s all working out. 🙂

Kerry makes the 2 hour drive home from Phoenix on Sunday afternoon.  She was actually discharged from the hospital late Friday, but felt in no condition to drive the distance at that time so she stayed at a hotel near the hospital Friday night.  That turned out to be a very wise decision because she developed an allergy to the antibiotic, and needed to see the doctor in the morning.  Her antibiotic prescription was changed but the doctor advised her to stay near the hospital for the next 24 hours in case an allergy developed to the new medication.

What they were able to do for her while she was in the hospital was a temporary fix, however.  The kidney stone removal can’t be done until the infection she has which is related to it, is completely gone.  She will need to return to Phoenix at a yet unknown date within the next week or two for that procedure.

Annabelle is so happy to see her mom!  But so are my dogs.  If you have experienced one of Joy’s greetings, you will know exactly what I’m talking about! 🙂

Kerry stopped for some Thai food while in the big city, and she shared it with me for our dinner.  What a treat that was!  Over dinner we discussed ideas about how we can work out the dog-sitting for the upcoming procedure.  Since we don’t yet know when it’s happening or if she will be and in or out patient, it’s difficult to plan, but at least we come up with ideas.

In the mean time we are both feeling the need for some of the finer things in life, like electricity, unlimited hot showers, and laundry facilities.  I have previous reservations for a weeks stay at the RV Park in Q that I spent some time in before boondocking, starting on Tuesday.  Kerry will probably end up in town as well, ASAP, so the story will continue….

Here are pictures of how the sun said good night on the last two evenings.

Do you remember that I mentioned in the last post that I met a lady and her dog, at the dog park twice?  That was Kerry and Annabelle  (not their real names).  The third time we met there ‘by accident’ we decided to exchange phone numbers, because we really hit it off well and here we are in similar situations, and you never know….you just never know when you might need someone…

That was Monday afternoon.  Wednesday night, December 2, about 10pm my phone rings, and it’s Kerry.  She is in the hospital in Parker, having been taken by ambulance with kidney stones.  There is no hospital in Q, and Parker is about 35 miles away.  Her dog is in a crate in her truck at the Q fire station.  Besides the acute kidney stone pain, she’s having huge distress worrying about Annabelle, plus, she’s embarrassed to have to call me because we hardly know each other.

Hey!  No…this is what it’s all about, and wow, our meeting and hitting it off well and exchanging phone numbers was certainly no accident, was it?

In the ER she gets antibiotics for infection, and they get her pain under control, but they have no urologist at this tiny hospital!  She will need to go to Phoenix to get the right doctor to take care of the problem.

After a few phone conversations we work a plan.  Joy, Shiloh and I drive to Parker, pick her up tonight, we go to the fire station in Q and retrieve Annabelle and Kerry’s truck, then I follow her home to Hi Jolly, one of the big BLM areas near Q.

Early in the AM I come by to learn how to take care of Annabelle, then I go back home to Tyson Wash, break camp, hook up, dump at La Posa North, and then go set up camp next door to Kerry’s 5th wheel at Hi Jolly.  While I’m breaking camp, Kerry leaves for Phoenix.  ( Had she been in major pain, I would have driven her to Phoenix. but she feels ok to drive.)

Now Annabelle gets to be near and in her own home, and she, Joy and Shiloh are good company for each other, a good distraction since I’m sure Annabelle is missing her mommy.

So it’s all going to be ok.  But look, these things do happen!  This is one of the things to consider when you full time or camp for extended periods in places where you know no one.  It’s good that as a rule, other RVer’s are usually friendly and kind.  For me, my concern is the dogs, just like it was for Kerry.  I’m seriously thankful that I am able to do this for them!

Meet Annabelle!  Chocolate Lab

Oh.  You might wonder, since I broke camp and set up camp, about the…CLAM.  Taking it down was easy, and really only took a minute!  Putting it up again took me about 10-15 minutes, so I took a half hour off my original time. 🙂  I’m getting the hang of it!  Yay!

Have you heard of The Clam? It’s a screen room that sets up in 45 seconds. Really easy. And you can buy panels to go over the screens to keep out the wind or sun or rain. I’ve been thinking of purchasing one for awhile now. I read the reviews on Amazon, which are mostly 4’s and 5’s. Mary has the big one which is 140 x 140 inches, and Mary is shorter than I am and has no trouble setting hers up. So, I order the small one which is 72 x 72 inches, and I order the wind panels too. I am very excited when I receive it in Q on Friday.

When we get home I pull the 5 foot long box out of the back of the truck. It’s long but only 21 pounds, which is one of the reasons I wanted the small one. It comes in a really nice zippered tote bag. I go to http://www.clamcorp.com and watch the video a few times. Simple….

So I’m wondering if the same missing gene that is responsible for my difficulty backing up a trailer is also responsible for the fact that it took me 45 MINUTES, not seconds, to set up the Damn Clam!

I have a HELL of a time! I whap one of the ‘hubs’ into my left hand and it instantly swells up around my middle knuckle. I sit down and have a cry. If Joy could roll her eyes, she would be doing so. Shiloh is trying his best to keep his laughter under control, but the tail keeps wagging slowly, as I do everything but practically roll away with the Damn Clam when the wind gusts.

Finally though, I win!!  See?!

After all that, both dogs are willing to come inside, thankfully.  Here is Shiloh.

Today it’s cool, so I end up putting all three wind panels on.  I’m glad I bought them.

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In other news…

I discover there is a dog park in Q.  Oh happy day!  Twice now I’ve met the same lady there with her chocolate lab.  She’s traveling on her own too, so it’s not just the dogs who get to socialize.  I’ll take pictures next time.

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With Thanksgiving left overs gone, thanks to lots of help from Joy and Shiloh, today I decide to make lentil soup.  I cook it in the pressure cooker on the Coleman Stove.  Yum.

This should last a few days.

Having used my Coleman Oven successfully (it sits over a burner on the Coleman Stove, like this:

I now want to start using it more. I have baking powder biscuits and corn bread in mind.  Very likely one of those will happen tomorrow, to go with the soup.

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So in keeping with the season, am I thankful for The Clam?  (AKA The Damn Clam)  Yes!  Absolutely.  I really like it and how it extends home outside, even if it’s windy or cool or buggy.  But oh how I hope the difficulties that I had setting it up were because of it being the first time I attempted it, and not because of the missing gene!

We pack up, hook up, say good-bye to really nice neighbors on both sides, and roll on down the road to American Custom Tire And Wheel on Main Street.  They direct us into ‘Bay 4’ and in less than 5 minutes of our arrival the tire has been removed!  After it has been examined throughly, I get the news.  It’s not the tire, it’s in great shape.  It’s not the valve either, which I had some concerns about.  It’s a crack in the wheel itself!  They take me to the water tank and show me the location where the bubbles are rising.  Sure enough…

They have that wheel in stock, quote me the price for it, which is $55, plus balancing, new valve, labor and tax.  Less than an hour later I’m paying my bill, but they didn’t need to balance it after all, so for a grand total of $75 I have a shiny new wheel, AND peace of mind.

Here’s the wheel.  I don’t know how to take a picture of my peace of mind!

We head south on Hwy 95 out of Q, but not very far out at all.  When we come to La Posa West, where I mentioned I might stay, I realize that isn’t the place I was thinking of when I mentioned camping along the wash in my last blog.  We continue on a few more miles and arrive at Tyson Wash. Yes, this is the place.

These four LTVA’s each have their own little office building near the main road, to register and pay.  I hand over my $40 and they give me stickers that say I can stay until 12/8.  They add verbally, “give or take a few days.” They tell me there are dumps and water, trash containers and toilets, across the street in La Posa North.  I’ve heard that the north site is the busiest of all because of the proximity of those conveniences.

When I find my spot I remember to check the compass so we have our back to the afternoon sun and WS’s door to the sunrise.  It’s supposed to cool off in a few days, so I may want to change my position.  If I do, there is plenty of room here to maneuver, even for one of…a-hem…my skill level!

Our campsite at just about sunset.

I also remember to check my cell signal, and find it is good.  Yay, we are settled into our Thanksgiving campsite!

The moon is almost full, for the 16th time since I set my wandering spirit free.

Where ever you are, I wish you a wonderful time of giving thanks.

The flies drove us from Painted Rock Petroglyph Campground!  I really like it there and would like to go back, perhaps when it’s cooler and the flies aren’t so busy buzzing!

I consider a few destinations and end up choosing strictly by the weather…not too hot, not too cold, and no rain in the 10 day forecast.  Of course it could all change, but I do the best I can.

Q.  Quartzsite.  That’s where it all goes down for RVer’s in January and February.  Nothing much going down here now, except my tire.  More about that in a minute.

It’s relatively quiet in Q now.  When I was an L&D nurse we never used the “Q” word while working.  If someone came along and said, ‘gee, it’s quiet tonight’, it was a sure sign it was all going to hell in a hand basket any second.  I assume that is still the case.  It’s fun to say ‘quiet’ now.  ‘Quiet.  QUIET!’ Ha!  All is Quiet in Quartzsite.

About the tire.  It’s the curb side tire on WS that seems to have a slow leak, though not as slow as it used to be.  There was nothing wrong with my old tires…except that they were old.  Five years is as old as a trailer tire should ever get.  Or so they say.  So in July I got new tires…trying to be safe and all…and ever since, something hasn’t been right.  I’m so glad I have my little “Slime” tire inflater, I have used it a number of times.  Tomorrow morning WS is taking a little trip down the road to American Custom Tire And Wheel, here in Q, to see if they can figure out what’s wrong.  Providing that gets repaired, we are going to boondock again.We’ve been in A Scenic Road RV Park for 4 nights, at $25 a night with Good Sam discount.  During that time I’ve done laundry, washed the dogs at their dog wash, worked on my upcoming Thanksgiving dinner while I have electricity, went to Parker and got groceries (35 mile drive), and in the morning I’ll take on some water and dump before I leave.  The other thing I’ve done is explore the area….meaning all the BLM camping areas around Q.  There are 9…10 if you count Kofa.

North of town:

Hi Jolly

Plomosa

These two areas are regular BLM land where you can camp for 2 weeks, no charge.

South of town:

La Posa North

La Posa South

La Posa West

Tyson Wash

Road Runner

The first four are BLM Long Term Visitor Area’s…LTVA.  These you pay to stay at, either $40 for two weeks or $180 for the whole season.  Road Runner is free with a 2 week limit.

Farther north is the Kofa Wildlife Refuge with free camping.  It’s maybe 12 miles out of town and then down a very bumpy dirt road for another 6 miles.  There you come to the Crystal Hill Dispersed Camping area.  It’s beautiful there, if you don’t mind the road, and then LOTS of Cholla cactus.

They are very pretty in the sunlight, but those little balls come off and the stickers are just terrible.  They attach themselves to anything and everything, and it’s mostly dogs feet that I worry about.  In this picture you can also see the rocky ground, which I’ll talk more about in a bit.

As you can see, the Cholla are all over the place.  Like this blog tonight.  Now back to east and west of town…

East is Scaddan Wash, where we’ve stayed before.  Last January we stayed there with Shirley and Doug for about a week while it was a crazy, busy place, and then I came back alone in March for a few days and there were about 4 RV’s where there had been about 1000. or 500.  I don’t know. Lots.

West of town is Dome Rock Campground.  Both these are BLM, 2 week limit, free camping.

Kofa was interesting, except for the Cholla and the 6 miles of major bumpy road to get there.  I only saw one person camped there, though I saw a line of ORV’s kicking up a huge plume of dust, and that was discouraging.

So where am I going tomorrow?  Not sure.  🙂  I am leaning towards La Posa West, where there was a nice area along the wash that I liked.

One thing I checked at all the areas, and that was my AT&T cell signal.  I had very decent signals at all the places except Kofa, where there were 1 or two bars. With my Joel Pole, that would be increased.

Change of subject.  This post feels very discombobulated.

Arizona ground is covered with rocks.  You can see what it’s like in the pictures above.  Some areas are worse than others, and of course there are many sharp and picky stickers as well.  I worry about Joy and Shiloh’s feet.  So I bought these boots:

Nina of “Wheelingit” bought them for her dog and recommended them.  I only bought one set because I didn’t know if either of these fur kids would wear them.  As it turns out, the size Large that I bought only fits Joy.  Shiloh will need an XL.

I managed to get them on Joy, and she looked at me like I had finally lost it.  And poor thing, each step she takes, she lifts her feet way up high, and still she trips sometimes.  It’s going to take lots of getting used to for this 12 year old girl who never wore boots before in her life.

Ahhh….time to sit quietly and contemplate the beauty of the Arizona desert.  Harsh, but green and growing.  Dry and hard, yet so full of life.  Picky and scratchy, with such soothing colors.  Flat, with mountains all around.

I couldn’t deal with it in the summertime.  I’m such a whimp when it comes to heat, but the flora and fauna here have adapted so perfectly to this environment, I just marvel.  I marvel at everything except the flies.  I swat at them.  Why are their flies, anyway?

We continue on here at Painted Rock Campground, which remains peaceful and sparsley populated.  Nights have been in the low 40’s, with days up to 80, which feels like at least 90 to me.

I take advantage of the cool morning to cook outside on the Coleman stove.  I love soup…home made only, just say no to canned…and I make a pot of mushroom-barley soup in the morning.  I’ve been on a veggie soup kick, and it’s time for a change.  I also love my lentil soup and split pea, and make them frequently.  Next week I’ll be in the mood for Thanksgiving fare.  Vegan Thanksgiving fare that is.  No turkeys will be harmed in the making of my Thanksgiving celebration.

Turkeys are very sweet animals and love to cuddle and be petted. This is from a few years back at Farm Sanctuary in Orland, CA when I was volunteering at ” Celebration FOR The Turkeys”.

Speaking of giving thanks, I’ll just say here that I am so very thankful for being able to live this dream.  I never cease to be amazed that this is actually happening, that I was able to retire and travel to my hearts content, that my health is good and stable, that I have my two loving traveling companions, Joy and Shiloh, and that we still have freedom in this country to live this lifestyle.

I fear for our world, but as I stare into the balance and peacefulness of nature, I know this is how it was meant to be.  Humanity destroys so much with the desire for power and wealth.  There is so much hatred and destruction….oh that we would learn from nature….that we would learn to ‘walk in beauty’ like the Diné strive to do….live our values of peace and compassion and kindness and love.  What a world it could be.

What a world it could be.