Saturday, December 30, 2017

A bit of touring today....



Our Location: Quartzsite, Arizona

When I woke up at 5 am the air was a bit nippy but not cold. Downstairs before 7 am the temp was reading 40F/4C so not a bad start to the day. The night temps seem to be getting a bit warmer every few days and hopefully the trend continues.


It started off like this early in the morning ....

The sunrise didn’t really have much colour this  morning, just a lightening from dark to light with no reds or oranges in the mix until the sun was about to peek it’s head over the edge of the mountain, and then some red/orange colours showed up in the sky. Very pretty.


Then went to this.....

Riley staggered out shortly after 7:30 am and looked as if she’d had a hard night. No not really but her hair was sticking out in every direction making it look as if she’d had a really bad scare. We discussed our plans for the day which weren’t many and decided on lunch, a small change from the previously written menu we follow but since we already had the meat thawed it seemed like a better choice.


My lunch salad....lots of things in there..

Since I had decided to prep lunch early I was pulling the stuff out of the fridge and determined that one of my chores for later today was to defrost the fridge and freezer, so I just kept pulling everything out and heated water to stick in there to help it thaw faster. While the water was working it’s magic I made our salads, readied the spaghetti squash, cleaned the door trays, and crispers. As I waited for the second pot of water to steam it’s magic into the last large pieces of ice on the fins of the fridge I managed to make our homemade turkey burgers and have them ready for lunch as well. 


Lunch on the Weber, Spaghetti squash in the foil...

                     I cleaned up both the fridge and freezer, wiping  everything clean and dry before putting every thing back and wouldn’t you know it, we had a great deal more room than we thought we had in the freezer and I figured out how to move the racks in the fridge as well to a better position. It was a learning experience with the racks but now I know how to do it. So we now have more space in the fridge in which to stand things up instead of having to lay them on their sides. Yeah me!!!!

My lunch, potato slice, squash, and a cheese turkey burger.....

Lunch prepared, fridge and freezer defrosted, cleaned, dried, restocked and it was only a little after 10 am. How good was that? I then proceeded to clean up and get ready for the day ahead. We headed out for a walk around 10:45 am, hoping to find a better location. We found one that we had checked out before but found it was already full with two units. There is one we like but it’s in a small wash type looking area  and I’m afraid to park there just in case, so we’ve been avoiding it. We didn’t find anything on our walk but we have noticed a few things  that I thought would not be permitted in the area. A number of people have parked their rigs crossways at the beginning of along stoney areas that would hold many more units but have effectively cut off anyone else from going in there unless they find another path or road. The other thing I’ve noticed is certain spots look like they’ve been lived in for a long time, not just a few months. Some of the junk and/or other trailers sometimes two or three cargo trailers piled up around these units were not just collected from October til now. Not many of course but enough for me to notice. These extra trailers are usually parked in such a way as to form almost like a small compound in their midst. Or again they block off the path to more campsites further down the way. I’m quite surprised at that.


That green thing turns different colours...(he's far, far away, sorry for the blurry pic)

Anyway, back home we climbed into the Dogsled and headed out for a look around Tyson Wash LTVA area. We seen a number of promising looking spots but Riley was worried because they didn’t have a fire ring, so we by passed them. We did however find one that was very appealing.

 
Tough looking cactus, wonder how it manages to survive....

We then headed into Quartzsite proper and tooled around a bit checking out the laundromat and finding Discount Solar to be closed up today. We didn’t find any where to wash the Dogsled and believe me the big fella is dirty with a all this fine dust. You can see our fingerprints where we’ve touched the door to push it shut. However I do have a possible solution for that in the near future as I’ll explain a bit later.


Love this grouping, note the bottoms all look pretty rugged, and one is a twin with one being shorter than the other....guess they aren't identical....


We checked out Hi Jolly BLM as well and decided it wasn’t for us, we didn’t find it appealing in the least. We didn’t check out Plomosa Road today but will at some point. We headed back to the Igloo and took a drive along another couple of roads to just check things out. Didn’t see anything that appealed to us there either. 

 
Yes, that is the moon you see there in among the cacti.


Back home it was 2 pm by the time we opened the door and stepped inside. I started up the Weber and let it heat up while I was inside doing a few little last minute things for lunch. Lunch today was of course started with a salad, then spaghetti squash with a bit of butter, Thyme, Oregano, Parsley and Parm Cheese,  a potato sliced and placed on the grill after brushing the slices with oil. Finally turkey burgers with toasted english muffins, mine was a cheese burger. Two for Riley, one for me. That was lunch. It was very good if I do say so. I’ve found the right spices for us and we enjoyed the turkey burgers more now. With beef I used dry onion soup mix to give it the right flavour but since we’re using turkey I used a few other things instead. Thyme, Parsley, Oregano, a hint of Italian, a wee bit of fresh garlic, crushed, one egg, and some bread crumbs. It has just the right flavour for us.


Notice the big split above those small arms....

After lunch, time to wash up all the dishes and tidy the place up. We grabbed our sticks and headed out for a short walk. We wandered around not far from our current location and found a spot we’ll enjoy much more and plan on moving there tomorrow morning.

 
The straightest line to the roadway for walking....can you tell?

On our way back home with the Dogsled I stopped at the office to ask if having a mobile wash company come into the park was allowed. The answer was yes but only two were on their approved list. I want to have the Igloo and the Dogsled washed and waxed, and the oxidization removed from the front of the Igloo. I would also like to have the carpets steam cleaned but I’m not sure it’s worth it with all this dust. So my question is has anyone reading my post used either of the two allowed here in the BLM. J & R’s Mobile Wash, and Mel’s Mobile Wash? This question just occurred to me, are these the ONLY mobile wash companies allowed  on ALL BLM land or just the pay ones? I never thought to ask that question.


The type of rock that litters the desert floor...

So if you have used them, or heard anything about either of them, I would appreciate hearing from you.


That big yellow ball is starting to slide down....

After our walk Riley decided to clean up and  somehow dropped her phone into a sink full of water. It’s sitting in a ziplock bag of rice right now, hopefully that does the trick. Life is always interesting in so many ways. Hahahaha


A bit further....

So there you have it, our day here in sunny warm Quartzsite, Arizona. Nothing too exciting but it works for us and we enjoyed it a great deal. I enjoyed pushing the Dogsled into 4 X 4   and having it work a bit getting up some of the steep spots in a few washes that we went through. I don’t think Riley enjoyed it but that’s okay, I enjoyed it enough for both of us. Hahaha.


That is some kind of pollution you can see there.....maybe dust..

We hope where ever you are that you’ve enjoyed your day as well. Thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave a comment.

Love the pink over the mountains...
Until next time….take care, be safe,

Love the colours here in the desert....


Deb

6 comments:

  1. I love your saguaro pictures. I don't understand how some of them are still standing.
    Your lunch looks delicious. Thanks for the help with what spices you use. I'm always stumped at what will taste good. :)
    I enjoy the pink skies too. I hope you can find a spot you like.

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    1. I love getting pics of cacti, my sister enjoys seeing them and so I try to snap unique ones. Lunch is usually pretty good, not fancy or anything but we enjoy it. You're welcome, spices always add a different flavour and we often use the same veggies with different spices and it makes them taste different.

      I love the pink skies although I'm always amazed at the shade of pink and the entire sky seems to be drenched in at times. We've found a wonderful spot and we're enjoying the peace here, little dust so far, and few passing vehicles/quads etc to raise dust.

      Take care, be safe,
      Deb

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  2. You will find lots of "interesting" setup there and a lot stay from October until April when these areas close down. Still so many places to explore and camp in 11 years we have never seen them all.
    Never used a mobile wash, If I need to wash our rig or car I get a few jugs of water from the water fill up and Hand wash them , takes a while but we have the time and does a good job. Lots of places here in Yuma parks that will wash and wax your rig.
    The vendors that come in there to do work have to buy expensive permits so not many choices..
    Hope you enjoy your time there and find the perfect spot, You can make your own fire ring just gather up a few rocks.

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    1. I find them interesting to say the least. I'm always fascinated by what people accumulate in such a short time. If the outside is so 'full' I can't begin to imagine what the inside looks like. We're in no hurry to explore and we will do so at a leisurely pace. As you know we don't like to over tax ourselves doing things. We like the laid back approach.

      The Igloo needs some attention on the nose cap and I don't have the proper equipment to do it and I would prefer to have someone else do it down here. I can do the truck by hand as I can reach everything with my ladder.

      We've found an excellent spot, quiet and peaceful, just the way we like it. Yes I know about the fire ring and intend to do that in this spot but then again I'm not really sure we'll be having a fire while we are here anyway.

      Take care, be safe,
      Deb

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  3. Dome Rock Road and Plomosa Road have the best BLM areas and if you don't find a fire ring make one with rocks you find scattered around. That rock you are displaying is from a volcanic eruption eons ago.
    We clean the trailer before we leave and when we get home.
    From the looks of your walk you went past our trailer.
    Stop in for a New years Eve Fire and to say hello.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, I know about both of those areas and at some point will eventually check them out. As I mentioned to George above I'm not sure we're going to have any fires here so I'm not too concerned about a ring. Oh I don't know about passing your rig, you said you were up in the north, which I assume is close to the dump station/dumpsters, etc and we haven't walked in that area at all. We've been just kind of following our feet away from the hustle and bustle. We like the quiet.

      Thanks for the offer but we'll pass. I don't like driving after dark and I'd like to drive to the Igloo a few times in the daylight before I would even attempt to find it after dark. But again thanks for the offer, it's very generous.

      Take care, be safe,
      Deb

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