Marty's Travels

It rained yesterday, the remnants of the storm that hit LA over the weekend. Last night it got down to 37. I didn't have my cat heater on, so had to run my furnace for a few minutes to get the place warmed up. I've got plenty of sun today, but it will be cool for the next several days.

The barrel cactus are blooming, though, a good sign for Spring.

I determined that the Olympics TV coverage in this part of the country is piss-poor: basically only what NBC wants to show. You see, I'm accustomed to having CTV (Canadian TV) available on cable, and they cover every Olympics 24 hours a day for the duration. NBC edits it's coverage so much it's incomprehensible to me. It will confine itself to medal events only, winners only, the sexiest athletes only, USA performances only unless they are desperate, and will make a joke of the events it doesn't understand. On the other hand, CTV only has about 5 commercials they show over and over again 24 hours a day for over 2 weeks until I want to scream.

I've got a few days to figure something out...

I know when I start out when a day is going to go south. I headed for my favorite dumpster to dump my garbage and it was locked. Garbage disposal is a challenge in this lifestyle. I resolved that and headed towards the post office to get my mail which hopefully held my new credit card, my old one being ripped off.

I forwarded my mail to the wrong post office, it should have gone to another place. While I was looking at a map to the right place a lady yelled at me and said "That old man is in the same situation you are, maybe you can give him a ride".

She explained the stupid map the post office gave to me. Meanwhile I got the guy headed toward my truck because we were going to same place. He wanted his SSI check.

My friend was old and disabled. He explained he was paralyzed on one side due to stroke, and he had been traveling the country hopping rails. A hobo, but now retired due to his medical condition. Can't hop trains when you need a cain. (First rule: Hang on!)

He didn't have any photo ID so he was denied his check. I sent my package to the wrong place so I was empty handed as well. He didn't haven't have his government money, I didn't have my 12,000 dollar credit card.

We went downtown, and I left him off. Near the Unverisity of Arisona because he dumpsters are good there. He had a light knapsak, a very thin sleeping bag, and the clothes he wore. I left him on fourth avenue and he headed off.

W e never exchanged names.

Good luck buddy, see you down the road.

I'm back at Snyder Hill for a while. I understand the BLM is monitoring this place closer than they have in past, so the 14-day limit applies. The place is real clean, and the rigs here are of the higher-end style, a big improvement over what I've seen here before.

I have no immediate plans except to find a place to watch the Olympics. I bought a TV to watch the summer Olympics, and haven't used it since. So I'll have to find a place to park that has decent TV coverage, and I'll need to have electricity. For as little money as possible. I've got almost two weeks to make up my mind about this.

I'm listening to a white-crowned sparrow singing in the bushes nearby, my favorite bird song, and it's one of the first birds to begin it's migration north. Yesterday I noted that the local finches were showing color, another sure sign that spring has arrived.

But springs everywhere always get off to a jumpy start, and clouds and rain are forecast for later this week. I'm moving down to Tucson tomorrow, and they won't get much weather to worry about this week.

I met up with my friend Les Buffham at the fargrounds. This is a nifty little event. Les was interested in meeting up with a couple of band members, which was so good I bought a CD. This event seems to draw some high-ranking names. There's also a car show which seems to specialize in excellent-quality custom cars, and the Budweiser clydesdales made an appearance.

Hauling the clydesdales around is quite a production. First, there are ten very big horses and the large wagon they pull. Then, the tack the horses wear seems to require an entire semi trailer. There's the portable stalls, and then the people it takes to run the whole operation. It was fun to get up close to the horses, which must be very happy doing this gig.

This is a good event, small but high quality. And not too crowded.

I'm at the SKP park here in the dry-camping area for a few days. Surprisingly, the ground was wet and the ditches are running water. Given this is one of the dustiest places in Arizona, that is a welcome sight.

Doing a stint at Quartzsite in January is always memorable, which is probably why I seem to do it only every two years. I certainly enjoyed meeting new friends and seeing old ones, the storms I could've done without.

It's getting much easier to say goodbye to folks I know, as I think I'm getting more confidence that our paths will likely pass again.

On to Casa Grande tomorrow to get mail, do laundry, and go to the outlet stores to find a pair of sandals. Maybe even go up to Phoenix to my favorite truck toy store.

My batteries finally reached full charge (or, near-full which is the best I can hope for now) around noon on Monday. It's been real nice to have warm sunny days.

Clouds are coming in now, and perhaps some moisture tomorrow. But on Thursday it should clear again so I'll call that my travel day. I'll be heading east to Casa Grande, then Tucson, then start working my way back west. Not very fast; I figure I'll give it another 6-8 weeks before thinking about heading north. I have plenty of time to change my mind on that, though.

It was so nice to see the stars this morning when I woke up. I'd have a day to get my batteries charged up a little.

Some boring stuff: I have about 375 amp hours of electricity on board. I figure I was down to about 150 amp hours this morning. So I need to put 225 back in the batteries before they are charged. In January the best my solar panels seem to do is about 75 a day. It's going to take a few days before I get a good charge up, but I've enough to do my regular things in the meantime.

That was a nasty storm, nothing I want to see again.

Well, my babbling brook turned into a fast stream emptying into a full-fledged river. No one here will argue with me if I said we got 60 mph winds and a good 5 inches of rain over about 10 hours. I've seen thunderstorms this bad, but they were much shorter-lived.

At times the rain stopped and it only took a few minutes for the wind to dry things out. But then, a few minutes later the rains would come again.

I knew I was going to run low on battery power so I spent the entire storm in conserve mode, everything turned off but my radio. There simply wasn't any sun to charge my batteries. Now that it's passed, I figure it will take me a day or so of good sun before I get charged up again. Those last two batteries I added for convenience are part of the problem now as it's much harder to charge 6 batteries than 4, especially when it's overcast.

No damage to speak of, and the forecast is for much better weather for a couple of days. Then it starts again...

It's very enjoyable waking up to the sound of a babbling brook next to my house high in the forest in the Rockies or the Sierras. It's not so enjoyable in the desert because that's the precursor to higher, faster water which can do interesting things. It rained all night here.

I'm not concerned except I don't know what the condition of the road out of here is in right now. I see some folk getting packed up to leave, and even if they get out there will be some road damage to contend with later.

I'm still hanging in there, but I'm conserving battery power because of the very cloudy skies. Today's storm will involve heavy winds in addition to rain.

The third in a series of five, this storm was more about wind than rain. It was pretty rough last night, but there was no damage. The rain wasn't all that bad, but it was enough to saturate the ground and leave a few puddles around. So the next round of rains, storms 4 and 5 starting this evening, will probably have to run off.

I went down to town for the big tent show early this morning and picked up a few things on a very quick pass through. One has to get there early as the traffic backups go for miles after about 10AM. I've no idea how they are going to handle standing water...

The first storm to pass through us was pretty mild, just some light rain. Yesterday afternoon and during the night it picked up the tempo a bit. No standing water (or flowing water) yet, and we woke up to crystal clear skies. Now, this afternoon, the next one is on it's way. The worst is expected to be Thursday and Friday.

I was hanging out on my computer yesterday afternoon when I noticed it was rather dark. It had clouded up and I stupidly let my batteries draw down further than I should have. I'll not do that again today.

On another note, someone attempted to use my credit card number, it got flagged and they called me to verify. I didn't know the people's name, and the charge was for $3.65. I hope they get busted, but in the meantime I have to wait for a new number to be mailed. No biggie, I don't use it that often, but it could be inconvenient.

As mentioned before, the forecast for this week is rather dire, though it's most worrisome in Los Angeles and Phoenix. Rainfall predictions for those places are just plain unbelievable, but the weather folk have been sticking with them. The first system is just now hitting LA, so we'll know more in a bit how close they've guessed.

The systems have shown up on Doppler now, so it will be easy to watch the storms track over me. I'm still planning on sitting the storms out, even though there's an excellent chance I'll be trapped for a few days. After carefully looking around, there really isn't anyplace nearby (or further) to escape this storm system with rainfall records being sure to fall everywhere I might go.

There's lots of folk here, so I'll have plenty of company. And while there might be a shallow river flowing under my house for a while, I can't be flooded. Nor washed downstream into town....

The weather has been quite nice lately, not even very cold at night. The forecast warned about wind and dust yesterday, but we escaped with just a stiff breeze; it couldv'e been worse, but everyone prepared for the worst just in case.

There are a lot of rigs here, and I've seen a lot of friends. The big tent show starts tomorrow, and all the vendors selling all the usual Quartzsite stuff are up and running.

The extended forecast for the southwest is rather grim for next week: big rains for a few days. I'll be fine waiting it out, though I might be trapped here for a day or two. No sweat, there are lots of people around.

I've moved to where the Boomers are gathering, about 100 rigs are expected for the next two weeks. I got myself situated for a good view of the sunsets (if any should be showy) and maximum power from my solar panels. January is always a challenge when running off solar.

The weather is great, sunny and mild and no winds.

I'll be moving from my current location tomorrow to another further south in the desert to join up with the Escapee Boomers. I'm expecting many friends to be there. I'll be leaving my neighbors Bob and Marilyn, but they are expecting visitors in a couple of days, then they will move into a park in the town. Well, not a park, a big gravel parking lot. But the location is good for visiting the events.

Groups have been expanding rapidly lately out here on Plomosa Road, but it still looks like the in-town parks have a lot vacancies. And there is plentry of room in the desert all over.

I was expecting to get inventoried so that I would be subject to the 14-day rule, but I don't think it ever happened. Of course, I "forgot" to register, and it's too late now. I might remember when I get to the new location.

The sunset last night was outstanding. A bright pink light caught my attention, then I just sat and watched as the pinks morphed into shades I have never seen before.

No doubt I can get some arguments, but sunsets in the SW and Texas have to be the best in the country. Good shows don't happen very often, but some of them can leave you wordless, even thoughtless. They go quickly, and you'll never see the same one again.

Best wishes from Quartzsite, AZ.

One year ago I was in Deming, NM heading for Texas where I spent three months in probably the best birding spot in the country. I even had the opportunity to meet up with a bunch of friends in Texas. Once I'm in Texas it's pretty easy to get to Cincinnati to visit family there, and then it's easy to head for Nebraska and Wyoming; both are favorites of mine. The Sandhills and Grand Teton were memorable experiences this last year.

Summer in Washington is always pleasant so I spent 2 months there. I fought a mechanical problem and a stupid cell-phone carrier for way too many months as I went south. The Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque and a few weeks of travel in New Mexico were certainly a highlight. Eventually I got my rig fixed and my cell-phone carrier replaced.

What I'd like to do in 2010 is go to Ireland. My rig won't fit on Irish roads, and the ferry fare is bit steep, so I'll be leaving my house behind someplace for a couple of weeks. In 2000 I gave myself ten years to see the entire island, and two weeks at a time I've visited most of it, but not quite all. Backroading Ireland is like backroading a western state here in the US, but there are many more things to see, so it takes a while.

And I have a couple of things in mind to see next year in the US. A couple hundred. And that's not counting what I don't know about yet.

I've grown bored with the view around here, so I'm going to move up to Quartzsite tomorrow. A run of cool, cloudy, and breezy weather seems to have passed, but it will still be cool (65/44) at Q.

My plan is to bounce around there for a while, moving from place to place in the area. This is partly to avoid the 14-day rule on staying put on BLM land, and partly to visit friends that might show up. Plus, I like moving the mountains around now and then.

Best to all for the holidays!!!

I'm just over the state line in CA on Ogilby Road with a bunch of the Boondockers, an informal group of Excapees. It's far too windy to get outside this afternoon and meet people, maybe tomorrow.

The nearby sand dunes have been erupting all afternoon, doing what they do in wind and rearranging each grain of sand. The eruptions are localized sand-storms that go high in the air and look like a bomb was dropped on them. I'm far enough away so it won't bother me much.

My next move will be to Quartzsite, but there's no sense moving when winds and cool temperatures are in the forecast for the next several days.

Weather permitting tomorrow I'll pull out of the Escapee park and head just a few miles west to park in the desert for a while. There's a good dust storm right now, but it should pass by morning.

I am so happy to see the congress critters call it quits and shut up for a while. Having to listen to those so-called adults make fools of themselves makes my teeth ache.

Now this was a good tamale festival. It was much smaller than Indio, but focused on tamales, not a bunch of other vendors. I think there were as many cooks at Somerton as Indio. The price at Indio was $3; at Somerton they were $1.50, and a portion of that went to charity. My favorite was by far the last one I had, and then I was too full to try out more of hers. That one was a marinated beef with onion, carrot, and potato, like a pasty or a peroshki with a Mexican flair. Good stuff.

Tangelos and Mineolas are being picked now, but the bulk of the acreage is devoted to lemons. It's unfathomable to me what we do with all those lemons.

Handling lemons is very much like apples in the Yakima Valley. Climb a ladder, pick and drop into a bag, transfer to a bin, haul the bins to the sorting lines. The trees are tough enough to support an extension ladder laid into them. But lemons don't all come ripe at the same time; picking the ripe ones involves an eye for their readiness, or the tree won't give them up, so it's slower. You can't strip a lemon tree like you can an apple tree.

Tomorrow I meet up with friends Dave and Kathy on the other side of town. We've hung out in Chimicum in Washington, looked at alligators in Texas, and traded wines in Arkansas. Good folk.

I had heard about a good family-run Mexican eating place near the Escapee Park here, but couldn't find it. Luckily a group goes out every Friday night from the park so I rode along with them. Really, it's impossible to find until you've been shown, basically in the middle of some lemon groves. No signs, no name, open three nights a week.

It's great, with insanely low prices. It is in a big tent, and the entire family pitches in to make everything as you order it. And it's all very Mexican authentic. The folk running it are super nice.

For my friends staying at this park, go with a guide (every Friday at 4PM sharp) the first time as directions just won't work. I'll need a refresher course the next time I visit here, no doubt.

I went to work on removing my trailer tire with a nail in it to take it in for repair, and decided it was time to replace 2 of my truck tires. I could complain about the money for the new tires, but I got 72,000 miles out of these, which were original equipment. They were on the front, I had replaced the rears quite a while ago.

Usually projects like these turn into a hassle, but today everything was on my side. First, I had all the right equipment and tools to remove and replace a tire on my trailer. I've been collecting stuff that looked right, but never had a chance to try it all out. It was a breeze. Then, I got a look at my brake pads while my truck was on the lift and lo and behold I've got plenty of brake pad left. The fronts look like they weren't even used, the rears are closer to replacement, but nothing to worry about now.

I was shocked. When I think about the hills I've I've gone down pulling my house, and the number of times I've had to stop quickly, it doesn't seem possible. My transmission, Allison, is certainly to be credited. It also indicates I've got the trailer brakes balanced with the truck quite well. And, the technician in the shop said that I apparently go easy on the brakes routinely.

They're picking lemons outside my back window today. Ever had a lemon off the tree? They're sweet, not sour. You can eat them like an orange. Fabulous. Apparently the sugars turn to carbs very quickly, which leaves the sourness in what you get from the grocery. And, lemon trees are a challenge to harvest, as the stems have thorn-like things on them. It's no like picking apples at all.

The nearby Latino town, Sumerton, is having a tamale festival this Saturday. I'll be there. The Indio festival was good, but I recalled how it was when it was a small-town thing before it got to be real popular. Sumerton is tiny and I'm sure there won't be the crowds like Indio. A good tamale is a lot of work and time-consuming, and involves a huge amount of technique and methods.

New tires, good brakes, fresh lemons, tamales, 75 degrees. Fine with me.

I discovered when I parked at the Escapees park in Yuma that I had a low trailer tire because of a nail in it. It seems that whenever I come to Yuma I have something to fix.

I'm here because I wanted to "equalize" my batteries before I head to Quartzsite. Once I do that I can check them to see if any are growing weak. Q is as good a place as anywhere to get replacements if I need them.

My friends Dee and Bruce are here in the park, and Dave and Kathy are in Yuma, so I have plenty of things to do for at least a week.

The weather just skimmed this place this weekend, just a few drops of rain and one cloudy day. A lot of folk have pulled out, heading for Quartzsite I'd guess. I'm not feeling any great need to move right now, the birding is good, and the forecast is favorable.

Staying put until I think of something else....

A big storm is due in tonight from the Pacific and should last for the next few days. The rains will likely be enough to cause slides on the San Gabriels in Los Angeles.

Where I'm at I expect some rain and wind, but we're protected by the mountains. I'm prepared to sit here for a few days in puddles with plenty of propane, books, and projects to wait it out. The roads out of the area will no doubt be flooded and filled with mud, but they get cleared quickly. I've done this before at Slab City: it's not fun, but it's not a threat.

The weather was fine today for a move around the Sea to Slab City. I wanted a change of view, and with the weather forecast being kinda iffy for the next several days I thought this would be as good as any for something different if I get socked in.

I've never seen so many rigs here before. Maybe it's the time of year. Still plenty of room, but it's pretty busy. It will take a few days to get used to the bombs going off over the hills, but earthquake activity is quiet right now.

Today I tilted one of my solar panels in deference to the low sun and short daylight hours. I found that if I do that for about the next six or eight weeks I get about 10-15% more power every day this time of year. Twelve more days and the sun will start working in my favor again.

I'm here until at least next week.