Errands, chores and friends arrive.....

 

Our Location: 

North of MM 4, Ogilby Road, Winterhaven, California

 

This morning Riley and I had errands and chores to accomplish. We loaded ourselves, the laundry, propane tank, gas can, etc into the Dogsled and headed off around 8:30 am MST. Our first stop was diesel and gas (for the generator) at the Arco Station at Exit 2. Diesel was down to $4.49 per gallon. We managed to fill both the truck and gas can and get rid of some garbage all at one place. A good start to the long list. 

 

Our second stop was for propane at U-Haul. Here I was informed it will be the last fill of this tank as it expires at the end of the month. Looks like we may be using smaller tanks until we get back to Ontario to exchange this one again, since it left Ontario as an exchange. What a pain in the ...  On the plus side, it was cheaper to fill this tank than last time. Less than $30.00 USD for a 30lb tank from flat. 

 

Our third stop was the laundromat. We managed to snag 4 big washers and within two hours had our laundry all completed and back in the truck. We also managed to find a post box for some mail back home. Two  more things off the list. 

 

The last stop was at Walmart on S. Pacific Ave for groceries and drinking water. We managed to find everything we needed, fill up the remaining 4 drinking jugs and put a jug of Def Fluid in the Big Dog. Wow, we were finished and heading home around 12:30 MST. 

 

We pulled in as Doug was pulling out, he came back for a quick chat and then scooted off to town. Riley and I managed to get everything put away and sitting down to lunch within the hour. We were happy to have this long list behind us. 

 

Around 3 pm MST the Stinger B and family pulled in. We went out to greet them and then came back inside while they did their parking and setting up. We had a quick happy hour and soon the cold and rain had us all heading inside. All is well in the neighbourhood. 

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

 

Until next time.....

 

Take care, stay safe, 

 

Deb

 

A very warm day here……

 Our location: Laguna Vista RV, Marshall, Texas

No photos today, sorry. I took only one all day.

A quiet night last night, it cooled nicely and this morning we didn’t need any kind of sweater, it was pleasantly comfortable.  It was a do nothing day except a couple of minor things that took up a few hours this morning.  Two loads of laundry, washed, dried, folded and put away, the Igloo vacuumed, the underside of the cooktop cleaned and a few screws tightened, some veggies chopped for our “grab a ready veggie” dishes. A trip to town with three stops, groceries, fuel and some wire mesh. Walmart, Murphy’s  and Lowes. We were back shortly after 1 pm. For reference we filled up for $4.66 at the Murphys.

The wind picked up this afternoon and we are under a short wind advisory here in Marshall until around 7 pm tonight. Tomorrow looks good and we are happy about that as it’s a travel day. 

Highs today reached 84F/ approx 27c with a fair bit of humidity in the air. One more day of this kind of heat before things cool off about 10 degrees. 

On that note I am going to sign off and enjoy the rest of the evening, thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Until next time,

Take care, be safe,

Deb

Errands, lunch out, friends.....

Our Location: Near American Girl Mine Road, BLM, CA

 

 

I was lazy last night so I'll post this piece a day late. I'll try to post my regular post tonight but no promises.

 

 Sunrise January 7th.

 

 It gets brighter and brighter...

 

Riley and I had some errands to run in Yuma today in preparation for our departure on Thursday. You know the routine a few groceries, top up the Big Dog's drinking bowl, and of course we still had that pesky empty propane tank. Before we left Doug invited us along with him and Yuma to visit Plank Road, we accepted but noted we had errands and weren't sure of our return time. Deb & Tom declined, having been there before. 

 

 

 Sunset January 7th.

Darkness will hasten along quickly.

 

 

It was around 11 when Riley & I left for town. We checked out the Neighbourhood Marketplace on 8th Ave, which is a groceries only Walmart store. We proceeded to Fry's for fuel, a good price for the thirsty Dogsled, $2.89 per gallon. From there we needed to drop into the regular Walmart for some Blue Def, I put the last jug I had in the truck a couple of days ago. I like to have a couple on hand since I usually see the message when we're really not quickly able to get some. Even though we have lots of time to do so, I am more comfortable carrying a couple of jugs with us.

 

 Sunset, January 7th, pink skies over the Stinger Bee and the Cargo Muchacho Mountains.

Sunset over Doug's rig, some pretty fancy pink up there.

 

 

Our next stop was Ferrell Gas (I think it's on 16th Street but I could be mistaken) with our propane tank. We've been here twice before, once the fella that fills the tanks was sick and the second time on a Saturday but they aren't open on the weekends. Mon- Fri 7 - 3. We were well within those guidelines, Tuesday around 1 pm. After a bit of a wait, the lady in the office was setting up a delivery on the phone, a nice young man named Isiah came out to help me. He filled the tank, no questions, no debate.  Propane was $2.66 per gallon.

 Some amazing pink off to the north of us.

Yuma wasn't watching the sunset colours but a pair of dogs strolling by on the road.  

 

 

From there we scooted up the road to the Olive Garden Restaurant and had lunch. Thanks to SIL Barb back home for her generous gift and the "I want to see you doing something with this" comment. I think Barb believes we don't get out enough but the truth is we like being at home or walking/hiking. Twice now she has paid for a meal out here in Yuma. 

 

 

 This morning's sunrise outside our door.

 The sky is getting a brighter yellow over there toward Pilot Knob.

 

A text to Doug to tell him we would be late getting back and to go ahead without us since it would be after 3 before we arrived home. Sorry Doug. 

 

 This morning was almost a repeat of last night.

 Sunrise over the Igloo and the Dogsled here in California.

 

 

Back home we put away the groceries, the filled propane tank and I started putting away some of the outdoor stuff. A couple of things left for today and the chairs we will put inside on Thursday morning.Other than those few things the outside is packed up. It takes only a few minutes to pack up the inside on the morning of departure. 

 Both the Stinger Bee and Doug's rig are in this photo with that beautiful pink sky this morning.

We too are under some amazing skies. 

 

 

While I was sitting outside enjoying the sun and reading my Kobo Deb came by with her cup, Riley came outside, Tom wandered over with a chair and a drink and shortly after that Doug and Yuma also came along with a chair and a drink. Happy hour was under way. We sat around  chatting, laughing, and swapping information until after the sun had set. A wonderful time together. 

 

 

 You can see just a faint hint of yellow over there as the sun is pushing it's way along toward the horizon to begin our day.

Can you see it better now? 

 

 

A birthday wish to my cousin Sheila as she continues to age gracefully. Sheila is the mother of 3 and the grandmother of 5, I think is the last count. Happy Birthday Cuz.  

 

 

 Just peeking over the edge. Somewhere in the world the darkness is coming. 

 

So there you have it, one of our last days in the Yuma area this winter. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  Please feel free to comment any time, I try to answer each one. 

You can see it easily now. Our day begins and someone else's ends. 

 

 

Until next time.... take care, be safe, 

Deb

 

 

 

 

  

Windy still, errand day....

 

 

Our Location: Near American Girl Mine Road, BLM, CA

 

 

A very windy and coolish night. I had a hard time sleeping with the wind. It seems to have died off today but now as I type this, it is picking back up once again. Not big scary winds, just annoyingly awning flapping winds. Our neighbour has added tie down straps to her tent. A motor home adjusted it's parking so the cargo trailer behind helped to block some of the wind on their slide. If you've ever been out here, you know the kind of wind I'm talking about. 

 

 A course sand bottom wash, the banks are not overly steep but the left bank is less high, in fact more gradual than the right. Most washes have growth in them, Palo Verde trees, some living, some not, lots of sage brush and Ocotillo are usually nearby on the upper edges of the wash or the upper sides, seldom do you see any in the bottom of this kind of a wash. It seems too deep for Ocotillo here.

  This is a very narrow wash, the bottom consists of larger rougher round stones that have been beaten on their journey from higher places. This beating of the stones has also caused smaller stones, course sand and finer sand the further along the wash you walk. As it's narrow I think you can see the sides are not deep but are more than a slight dip as well.

 

Sunny today, still very cool though if you are in the wind. Not as cool as yesterday though, still much better than the cold, frigid, snowy days of Ontario. We aren't complaining.

 

 

The wash runs across the photo. It is not deep, only a dip in the road as you can see. It is a medium course sand bottom.

 This is a three level wash. You can see on the left, sand, in the middle is a course rock with course sand, and on the higher right side, small stones, course sand type bottom. The main part of the wash would be the left with the sand bottom.

 

After breakfast we loaded up the Dogsled and headed off to do a number of errands. To the rest area to get rid of some garbage, a stop at the Chevron for some water, and then it was off to Yuma. A quick stop to pick up a car before a stop at Home Depot, Fry's Fuel, Lowe's, and then Walmart. It was an unhurried day, we walked a lot looking at various things, comparing a few prices and just enjoying the outing. 

 

 

 Note the sand bottom on the right of this photo. That would be the bottom of the wash. This photo gives you an indication of the height and slope of some of the sides.

This wash has basically petered out into a roadway. Rough gravel, rough stones and course sand have all been washed out on to this flatter end. 

 

We were home around 2 PM, unloaded the Dogsled, put away all the groceries and then decided to have a 'fend for yourself lunch'. Riley having picked up a roasted chicken from Walmart, added a few things to her plate and called it lunch. I opted for a grilled cheese sandwich, a little salsa and chips, followed by a single serve Pecan Pie. Try as I might, I just do not care for the taste of the Walmart's chicken. They always smell so good though.

 

 This Palo Verde tree is on the edge of a wash bottom. The gradual slope on the sides are lined with sage brush.

 Washes join at various places on the desert floor.

 

A bit of a tidy after lunch dishes and time to read our books or in my case, to do my post. We've been slowly topping up our supplies with each shop and of course we shop often because we eat a great many fresh veggies every day. We find that 10-12 days is usually the limit for our fresh veggie supply before we need to restock.  As we usually use the veggies in a medely of sorts, we run out of most veggies about the same time.

 

 

You can see the difference in colour and texture of the wash bottom and the wash sides. 
 

 A rough sand bottom wash.

 

Today's photos were taken a few days ago with my phone while out on a walk. Washes, arroyo,gullies, ditches, whatever one would like to call them are the focus today. If you have never been to the desert you would be surprised to find it is not flat, nor is it all sand dunes. There are many water ways in the desert floor. Some are deep, over 6' to the bottom, some are mere inches, more of a dip than anything else. They range from rough bottoms to smooth sandy bottoms. Course sand, fine sand, big rocks, small rocks, flat rocks, round rocks, gravel, and so on. So I thought I'd give you a little sample of what I see when I walk here in our little corner of the desert. 

 

 Pretty rugged bottom, difficult walking in this stuff. Can you see the Ocotillo in the wash farther along, they seem to like shallow washes and are often found along the side slopes.

 

 A close up look at the bottom of the above photo. 

So that was our day. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.

 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

 

Deb

 

 

Busy day today.....

Our Location: Near Tonopah, Arizona

(The last of my hiking photos)

 

 

A nice warm night in the history of our time here, we stayed above 50F/10C all night, yeah us. The sky didn’t look too promising this morning and so we decided to do a rainy day thing and do some errands. Little did we know that the day would turn out very warm, full of sunshine and spectacular.
 

The snow on that mountain peak is now gone.

 

After a ham quesadilla (of course with many other things as well, blended cheeses, salsa, celery, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and eggs too) for breakfast we loaded up the water jugs, garbage and ourselves heading toward Buckeye. I had an errand that wasn’t on the list but it was the first thing we did, I had the Big Dog’s tires rotated, I’ve been meaning to do it for a while now and today I just made up my mind. From there we headed off to Walgreens for water from their nice outside dispenser, and then to Fry’s for fuel ($2.65 per gallon), and some groceries. After that it was a Walmart stop for haircuts, and numerous other things, including groceries. We managed to find most things on the list and enjoyed the exercise. 

Not sure if it's a Saguaro family or a single, I didn't go check it out.

 

Heading home we veered off of I-10 before we reached our Tonopah exit and instead jumped off at Wintersburg exit. They have a Dollar General and I wanted to pick some cleaner that our friend Lorne (A Place Called Away) mentioned. We found it in the big bottles but not in the spray bottle. No problem we’ll just use one of our empty ones. After that it was home and time to unload the Dogsled. 

The shadows make the views so interesting.

 

When we got home the Igloo was swarming with flies, inside and out even before we got the groceries and water inside. We managed to get the groceries away and then I started with the swatter and the Raid can. I don’t normally use any bug spray but this was ridiculous, as it was last night just after dark, they seemed to find a way inside. So I closed the bedroom doors, vents, and windows, sprayed everywhere, and most especially around the slides. We didn’t spray in the living room/kitchen area as I don’t like doing so around food. Eventually I think we got most of them and then settled down to eat, do you know it was 4:30 pm? Where did the day go?

It's gravel or sand on those rocks.

 

After about an hour I opened the doors and vents to air the spaces out and sure enough it seemed to have done the trick. This evening I took the swatter outside and started around the door and took the spray to the underside of the slides again. Hopefully that helps us tonight. It’s crazy the number of flies here.

Look at all that yellow, it's all flowers.

 

So there you have it, our busy day and it was very busy. We hope you enjoyed your day where ever you were and doing whatever you were doing. Thanks for stopping by. 

Nothing quite like this view.

 

Until next time… take care, be safe,

Deb

Last day here.......REFERENCE POST

Our Location: 

BLM near Carlsbad, NM

I was awake around 6 am MDT but didn't get up. I was lazy and since there was no brightening in the skies I figured a cloudy day was in the offing. I grabbed my laptop and read blogs for a while. I can tell you that I finally closed the lid and turned on the water for a hot drink just shortly after 8 am. 

I don't think the clock works well....

I see a circus coming to town Matey......

We had plans this morning to find a place to rid us of our trash and to fill the Big Dog's water bowl. I can say we accomplished that feat within a few miles of our current location. Fuel was $3.19 per gallon and while I probably could have found it cheaper down the road tomorrow I am happy to have a full tank starting the day. 

On the way back home we checked out the other 'free' campsite area in this location. It's on Whites City Road and I can say that we wouldn't be staying there. However I will use this as a reference post again for future use or just information for others. 

Whites City Road is a hard packed dirt road (it may have been black top on gravel once) that is rough and somewhat washboard like, although not as ugly as it sounds. I would think after a rain it would be more muddy than anything else. There is a bit of dust but not much. We made note of two or possibly 4 spots that were okay sites for staying. The first two were best but close to the main road. The second two were further back but are currently being used by the construction company working/worked on the road. It appears they've buried something (possibly pipe lines but no signs indicating such) along the road. These two sites have been beaten up by the use of big trucks and we didn't see any fire pits there but all indications are they were once sites.  The other issue with this road is the quarry a bit further back. It's a working pit I would imagine the noise level would not be nice going all day. Numerous trucks of varying sizes are also visible. We went further back past the quarry but didn't see anything of interest although I'm certain there were other places further back. It would be too far off the main road on this less than wonderful road. So there you have it, not our cup of tea but definitely a couple of good over night spots if you could find some how to get level. 

 

Riley loves the Aliens...

She doesn't care what colour.....

We are parked at MM 10 on the east bound side of the roadway but there is no way to get to the road going west unless you go to MM 9 and make a U turn before coming back on the East bound road. Actually that's not quite true, there is no LEGAL turn road but many have simply crossed over the dirt median to get to/from the West bound lanes. It's a pretty big bump though and so you would need to be very careful. We did check out a well paved road just after using that LEGAL turn around over the median. I have no idea what it's called but it's between MM 9 and 10 east bound. There looks like a couple of spots that would be good for overnight but no signs of fire pits. If you think one of the side roads offers a spot, forget it, they lead to oil wells with no spots available. 

 

I believe this is a bat....

I think that one may be a chuck wagon...

So there you have it, our little tour of the day. We went less than 6 miles to get some fuel at a place that is between the roadway and the Cavern Parking lot. Multiple little things to see, an RV park there also, no idea the name though. 

Back home we noticed only ONE other rig, when we came back. There had been two when we left. The lone rig sits close to the road and is also a 5'er. Otherwise no one else is here, not a tent to be seen anywhere either. 

I'm guessing these are rental units. 

Tomorrow we'll be pulling out and making our way to a free overnight in Crosbyton, TX. We found this park courtesy of Ken and Shirley (Seeing America with Ken and Shirley) , so thanks for the heads up folks!! We'll actually be staying for two nights before getting back on the road as the wind is forecast to be pretty high and gusts will also be making life miserable for any drivers in the area from Sunday afternoon into Monday. Tuesday looks to be a great travel day.  Why do we not stay where we are located you may ask and I will say that we are heading toward Tennessee and that will be 250 miles closer for us. We hope that the two night stay will be a bit less rock 'n roll like as we will maybe have some protection from the town buildings, other RV's etc. Here we are out in the open with no where to hide. Also we're that much closer to getting out of the wind tunnel areas and flat lands. We will be on the road fairly early as the winds here are supposed to be minimal then, and be off the road by 3 pm hopefully before they pick back up.

So there you have it, thanks for stopping by. I hope you've managed to have a wonderful day. 

 

The Whites City Road location for free camping. See the quarry? That pile of gravel I believe is in one of the camping spots. The other picture is the road way, looks good but is a bit rough.

Until next time.... take care, be safe, 

Deb