"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood... And sorry I could not travel both. I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference." --Robert Frost

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Meeting Up with Friends, Getting the Rig Weighed and a Surprise Repair NV/AZ

Boulder City, NV
Elks Lodge
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Congress, AZ
Boondocking


A short drive and we arrived at the Elks Lodge in Boulder City, NV.  This has to be one of our favorites.  It's in town nowhere near train tracks or freeways.  Right behind the building but set back and very campground-like.  Beautiful landscape and nice pavement with W/E.  We were just here to overnight on our way in to Arizona.  

Our main reason to stop here was to finally meet Pam and John of Oh, The Places They Go!.  They have been RVing for years and are the hikers I'd like to be.  They are always hiking someplace great!  We met at a nearby Mexican restaurant after they showed us around the cute town of Boulder City.

We enjoyed the views of the river and colorful mountains on our way to Arizona.

While having lunch in Kingman, we decided to get the rig washed since it was right next door.  Poor thing was so filthy after all the boondocking we had done.  We usually wash and wax it ourselves but one or twice a year it's nice to have Blue Beacon do all the work!
With a crew washing both sides it gets done so quick!  We just have to dry it off and we're on our way.

It was a 4 hour drive to our friends new place in Prescott Valley.  We met Skip and Tammy in Colorado and have stayed in touch since.  They're both retired fire fighters from the area and decided to move back to be closer to family.
They took us out across the valley from them in their ATV and they showed us some old abandoned homesteads and ovens.
Not sure the history on these ovens.  I'll have to look more into it.
The Prickly Pear Cactus were ripe so we collected a few to be used for later.


They also took us to an old spring that is still running.

We wandered around several old home sites.  We found many old objects left behind and admired them but left them where they were.

An old brick.
Not much left of this old place.
View looking back towards Prescott Valley.
Me, Steve, Tammy and Skip.

We hiked around some and also found a geocache while we were out here.
We got back in time for Skip's famous BBQ while Hurley played with their new puppy, Sadie.  She was 6 months old but slightly bigger than Hurley.  He's good with puppies but not too sure what to make of one bigger than him.  She was very energetic and Hurley is less enthusiastic in his old age.
"Please let me in!  I don't want to play anymore!"
While Skip was BBQing I carefully cleaned, skinned, smashed and juiced the Prickly Pears we collected.  And voila! We had some tasty margaritas!

Cheers to a beautiful sunset!
We thanked our friends for the FHUs at their place and the wonderful time together the past couple of days then moved on to Congress where we'd be getting our rig weighed.

We had an appointment to get the truck and trailer officially weighed at the Escapees Park in Congress.  We're not members but they will weigh you for $40.  We boondocked a mile away on some BLM land near the area of Ghost Town an Cemetery Roads.  It's a nice area and not as spooky as it sounds.  Even though the Old Congress Cemetery is right there.  Cool cemetery.  The location of our spot was 34.1920 -112.8490 near the back.

It was getting dark pretty quickly so I didn't get too many pictures.
We had a nice large area but it was a bit uneven so we had to unhitch.  We also drove in very slow as we didn't want to get all dusted up after our nice wash job.
The next morning we got up early and headed to our appointment.  This is the third time we have been officially weighed since we went on the road.  We have been about 300lbs over the first two times and this time it was nice to see that we got down to only 100lbs over.  We might be able to whittle that down a bit more, but not too sure.  Everything else was reported great as well so we were off to Surprise where we spend most of October at Steve's stepmom's.

As soon as we set up we noticed something looked off.  A quick look and Steve saw that a bolt had worked loose on one of the hangers.  It had bent it pretty good. 

We had an RV Tech come out and weld a new hanger and put in a new wet bolt.  I like repairs when they are simple and rather cheap. About $350.

All is well again!

Next up some new sights in the Phoenix area.


17 comments:

  1. We’ve communicated with John and Pam many times over the years and hope to finally meet them one day too. I may have to try Blue Beacon one day. I hate suspension problems. Glad you got all fixed up and had no damage...could have been bad if that leaf spring got into your tires.
    Safe travels!

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    1. It was great to finally meet them! Wish we could’ve hiked together. Luckily it looks like the bolt had just come out as I’m always looking under there when we arrive, leave and any stopping along the way!

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  2. So nice you got to meet up with people. Sorry about the repair but glad it was a quickie

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    1. We met them through RVillage. Great people! Those dang fixes happen. Gotta roll with it. Thankfully it was pretty cheap and happened at a convenient time!

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  3. Those prickly pear beverages look awesome! Glad you got the rig fixed up quickly. As always, great pics!

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    1. The drinks turned out pretty good! Those hangers should really be made better.

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  4. Glad you caught that problem and had it fixed quickly.

    Those beverages did look tasty and the pictures were great! Looked like it was a fun area to explore.

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    1. Darn shackles and hangers can be a problem. Always give them a check each time you hit the road if you don’t.

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  5. Look at you peeling up the cactus for a drink!

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  6. Your frame paint looks like it is in excellent shape, Debbie! Our powder coated frame has not rusted either. Did Montana powder coat the year yours was built? I’ve seen some rusty Montanas.

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    1. Steve doesn’t think it was powder coated. We have not been in too many beach areas. Maybe that helps?

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  7. Steve doesn’t think it was powder coated. We have not been in too many beach areas. Maybe that helps?

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  8. Looks like good times with friends - so glad you finally met up with pals John and Pam!! We sure like their little town of BC. Those margaritas are so pretty. I should check to see if we still have prickly pears to harvest when we get back to Tombstone!

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    1. Just be careful with the microscopic thorns/stickers. Need to run it through a fine mesh strainer. Yummy though!

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  9. Bummer about the hanger but at least you caught it before something worse happened. John and Pam are great people, glad you met up with them. Skip and Tammy look like they have a great place as well!

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    1. It was a great few days! Still need to take a hike with them!

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