Busy Times with Quartzite Firstimers

Nicolaus, CA

Thousand Trails Resort

Steve hasn't been released from his Doctor yet after his eye surgery, so we moved out of the Elks as we had an incident with speeding drivers in the parking lot that resulted in a police visit.  Then we are off to Arizona.  First we stopped at another Thousand Trails that we have not been to yet.  We wanted to have a short drive so Steve could see how it is driving the rig again and setting up/tearing down since it has been 3 weeks.  

Lake Minden at the campground is very pretty.  If we were able we'd have kayaked here.  It's a nice campground if you can be here in Spring and Fall.  It's cold now and can be foggy in the winter and very, very hot in the summer.  There were some nice walking trails we did which made Steve feel much better to be outside again.

We stayed 5 days as Steve had one last doctor appointment before we could head out.  He was finally released since the gas bubble in his eye that is holding the band in place had finally shrunk and broken up.  Until that time he had to stay under 500ft elevation.  We did a quick visit to see our grandson once more before heading to Arizona.

Monetery, CA

Elks Lodge

   

   

Our two youngest boys were enjoying some successful duck hunting.

As we drove to Lancaster we passed up some oil fields.

Lancaster, CA

Elks Lodge

We had to rearrange some stops but were still able to meet up with our friends,  Rick and Angie, at the Lancaster, CA Elks Lodge.  They have had their new trailer for a year now but just got the new truck.  They love it!

It was crazy windy and very cold as we headed out.  Driving through town we had a tumbleweeds blowing across the road. (video)  We also drove Rick and Angie down the Musical Road.  If you drive 45 miles an hour you can here Mozart play with the vibrations on the raod.

Quartzsite, AZ

La Posa LTVA BLM

The next day we arrived at Quartzsite at the LaPosa South LTVA.  We had other friends that were leaving Arizona and heading back to CA and wanted to stop for a few days at Quartzsite too.  None of them had been here before.  While it was somewhat less crowded due to Covid and the Canadians not traveling, it was still busy.

My panoramic picture looks a bit different as we were really parked in a square.  The guys built a nice big fire ring in the middle.  Bob & Kathi, Jim & Jenny, us and Rick & Angie's rigs.  Rick and Angie brought their new E-Bikes and when they took them for their first ride, Rick got a flat tire.  So many sharp, evil things out here!

I'll say this is the coldest, windiest and wettest time in Quartzsite yet!  Kind of a bummer for the first timers, but we still did some fun things and had several fires.

Me and Jenny.  Our kids went to school together back in Placerville.

We did the Big Tent, vendor tents, and went to Bill Bob's Adult Daycare (above, Angie & Rick)

Of course we had to make our annual trip and take them all to the Desert Bar.  It's miles out in the middle of the desert and runs totally on solar.  Very cool place.  The drive down the washboard dirt road is an experience in its own.

The best burgers and garlic fries.  We split a pulled pork burger.

Seems like they add on every year.  There's an entire new seating area and the downstairs grill is now upstairs in the new section by the dance floor.

Taking a picture up above.

Bob, Kathi, Angie, Rick, Steve, Me, Jenny & Jim.

Jim and Steve

When that whole Bernie Meme thing came out we had to have a little fun with it too.

Look who joined us out in Quartzsite!

We had to take them to Silly Al's for pizza too.  Social distancing with tables spaced out and masks unless you're at your table.

It was a great time and they all loved it even though the weather was less than perfect.  Jim & Jenny headed over to Lake Havasu and Bob & Kathi went back to Congress to be with family.  This was also everyone's first time boondocking too.  They all did great!

Kofa Mountains, AZ

King Rd

We drove down south on 95 towards Yuma to boondock some more on King Rd.  Hardly anyone out here and cell service is super fast compared to Quartzsite.  Steve actually takes the week off now. while were at Q.

Our nice view of the Kofa Mountains around us.

It was still cold but we had some great fires and blankets!

The flowers that our friend, Rose, gave us back in Placerville are still looking good.

While Steve was working I took Rick and Angie out to some of the local things to see.   We went to the Stone Cabin and other times they drove and spent the day in Yuma and they went to the nearby ghost town. 

Up above the Stone Cabin.

On the way to hiking up Palm Canyon we stopped at the Circle of Life.

We hiked the short trail back to the palms.  It's about  1/2 miles round trip.  Easy hike to the palms.  If you want more adventure, you can hike up the tight chute up to the palms themselves.  I you look across the canyon, up in the sunlight you can see the palms.

Here they are zoomed in.

Angie squeezing up the chute! (video)

   

You have to bushwhack to the bottom of the canyon and find the right spot to climb up.  It is a lot of rock climbing and some spots are as narrow as a couple of feet.  

Made it!  A quick snack and rest and we headed back down.

The narrowest part of the chute.

Our camp with the full moonrising.

That's our rigs.

We had a great time with Rick and Angie and I think they really had a good time at Quartzsite and here at King Rd.  They headed back home to CA and we spent one night in Yuma to clean the rig , tanks and do some laundry.

Yuma, AZ

Thousand Trails Resort

Thousand Trails only has 1 park in Arizona that we can use with our Zone Pass.  They decided to add another so we stopped in Yuma at the Cactus Gardens RV Park.  It was your typical private park.  Tight spots but clean and people were friendly.  We had full hookups on site D35.  The sites aren't very long or wide and we barely fit.  It's always nice to get a deep clean in after boondocking out in the desert. 

Patagonia, AZ

Patagonia State Park

This is a very clean and well kept state park in the far SE part of Arizona, very near the Mexican border.  There are many trees that they keep very well trimmed but are quite close to the pavement.  Luckily they gave us one of the bigger sites but we still barely fit.  Steve did a great job backing in between the trees that surrounded us.

We were in site  #90, 50amp/water.

We spent a few days here and hiked a bit and kayaked on the lake.  We got a calm day and the temperature was nice in the 70s.

We kayaked all day paddling around the lake and back into all of the creeks as far as we could get.  It was a great stay and I'm glad we finally got to visit here.