Life In The Desert

 Here we are in beautiful downtown Quartzsite!  Though they say the place is packed, it's still not like the old days.  The Chance family and I parked way out on Hwy 95 with the Ham Radio group.  That has now been abandoned, not by choice.  Apparently the powers that be do not allow camping there any more, so everyone has moved in to Roadrunner and LaPosa South.  THOSE areas are crowded.  As usual, the closer you get to town, the worse it gets.  Especially in light of the Big Tent opening tomorrow.

Remember the Kuehn Road vendor buildings on the south side of the road at Hwy 95, including the Rice Ranch RV Park?  That has all been replaced by an RV park that is maybe half full.  High prices I assume.

Though I love the Big Tent craziness, THIS is one great reason to come to the desert.  The sunsets are incredible.  This isn't even looking to where the sun sets ... this is the OTHER direction.  LOVE these pink skies!

That was followed by the actual sun setting in the West.  The pictures do not do it justice.

Life in the desert revolves around keeping this kid warm.  It's all good during the day because the sun does come up enough to keep the temperature up.  At night however ... it's a problem.  To be honest, I'm not even sure I'm going to be able to boondock with only the rig heater to keep him warm.  I'm on the edge of having enough battery power.  

What a setup, yes?  My favorite tripod with a ceramic heater ... the kind used to keep snakes warm.  Yes I tried the heating pads ... the perfect answer because they use little power ... but nowadays, they only work for an hour, then shut off.  I guess they don't want some of us old folks to cook.  

As usual, Mr. Cooper and I were out early for a morning walk.  This picture is for Patty Chance.  A huge sweet kitty kitty sunning himself in the window.  

And then it was time for some Poker Pool.  It's bad when there are seven balls left on the table ... one the cue ball, one the "safe" ball and FIVE that are your cards.  Obviously it wasn't in the cards for me that time.  There are usually seven or eight who play ... all women of course.  Why you ask?  Because the men are just too competitive.  

We laugh at ourselves for missing and cheer each other on.  No one cares who wins or who doesn't.  If you've never played pool in your life, you can win this game by everyone else knocking in your card numbers.

With all the cold weather here, I signed up for two more days plugged in, hoping the weather cooperates.  That meant I had to move sites.  NOT my luck, Bill the master of parking was gone.  No problemo ... I can do it.  Truly, I do need the practice.

And so I moved down the row to an even wider spot that was a bit easier to back into.  It took a couple of times ... okay FOUR times, but I got her in.  

Next thing I know, we are off to Happy Hour.  That happens a lot in the desert.  Deb and Tom were happy to have another English speaking American in their midst.  I laughed at that one!  Otherwise, the entire group is from Canada.  Don't cha just luv those accents?  I could listen to them talk all day long!  So this is Kim and Ken, Keith, Patsy, Bill, Deb and Tom.  Did I get that right?

You always learn new things in the desert too ... those Canadians are inventive.  This is Keith's rig that he built himself, but the picture is all about the table.  It's a collapsible ladder.  How smart is that?  It certainly makes the perfect table, as well as a stool to stand on and a ladder when needed.  We looked it up ... a Harbor Freight special at $49.00.  I'm getting one!

We got back to the rig just in time to head out for night flying.  What is that you ask?  Bill the Master of Parking also flies airplanes at night, all of which are lit up by lights.  How cool is that?  I can barely operate my TV remote control, and he flies an airplane with a little black box.  I'll post pictures tomorrow.

In the meantime, life in the desert is a friendly kick in the pants!!