Wednesday to Saturday, February 1 to 4, 2017 (La Posa South LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ)

Wednesday was a wonderful day of just relaxing,something we don't do often! After our usual start, Steve sat outside reading while I did my hair and cleaned up inside. When I was all done inside, I joined Steve outside...and that is basically where we spent the day...I had my knitting and Steve had his magazines. It was a lovely day...73F (23C) with very little wind.

At 4:00 we packed refreshments in the cargo box. secured our chairs and rode our quads down to join Les and Sue for happy hour. On the way we spotted Dave and Diane who had recently moved over to La Posa South from a gathering at Plomosa Road (a free BLM 14 day area). So we pulled over for a brief chat with them. Unfortunately both have bad colds...so we didn't get too close! Once you are feeling better, we'll have to get together!

We arrived at Les and Sue's just as everyone was gathering. We all put our chairs in a circle around the campfire pit..and the food was set up on a table. The happy hours at Les and Sue's are more like a full meal, rather than just a few "finger foods"! Harry and Jim are surveying the food and filling their plates...

Left to right around the circle, starting at the bottom left with Popo (the Rat...and Les and Sue's mascot)...Barb, Jim, Harry me, Bert, Sue, (Mike and Brian, I think...), Dale, Ruth and Les...

 As the sun got lower in the sky, Les lit the campfire, Po Po is sitting next to Barb...

...and we had another spectacular Arizona sunset...

Just before 7:30, we packed our things away and after hugs and handshakes, we headed home...a wonderful gathering spent catching up with old friends...and new. We also said goodbye to Jim and Barb...they plan on leaving early tomorrow morning. It's been a wonderful month spending time with you...going to miss you both!

Thursday morning Steve and I got out for a morning walk...and stopped for a chat with Harry. There is a big empty spot next to his rig where Jim and Barb had been...sniff, sniff.

After our walk, we went into town to use the free WiFi at the library. Steve wanted to watch a video on replacing the slide toppers...so he could measure and order the fabric...and I wanted to download a program onto my laptop. Both things we don't like to do while using our own limited data...we go through 12 GB a month fast enough!

When we finished there, we stopped at Roadrunner Market for a couple of things, then parked the truck at the end of Kuehn Road to wander around what vendors were left. The "big tent" is down now and many of the vendors that are only here during the show, have packed up and moved on as well. I picked up a  new cutting board and Steve got his supply of disposable gloves.

Of course, it just happened to be after 1:00 by the time we were finished and our tummies were growling, so we just had to stop at Beer Belly's Adult Day Care for a burger and beer... :-)

Back home, I got started on a new knitting project..."Toast Tee Toes" slippers in camo yarn for Steve. Thanks for sending me the pattern Charlene! While I was doing that, Steve gassed up the quads in preparation for another ride tomorrow. Friends, Bill and Janet from our ATV club on Vancouver Island (Cowichan Valley ATV Club) are here for a short visit, so we thought we'd show them some of the local trails. They also joined us for a cocktail...Steve, Bill and Janet...

Friday morning...and a gorgeous start to the day! The weather is fabulous here...finally! Temps up into the mid 70's F (20's C) this week...now that's why we love spending our winters downs here!

Everyone gathered at our place at 9:30 for the ride. There would be 5 machines hitting the trails today...Earl, Art, Steve and I on our quads and Bill and Janet in their RzR side-by-side. With Earl in the lead and Steve as tail-gunner, he was able to take a ton of pictures (just a warning LOL).
We headed northwest to La Posa North, crossed the highway, through La Posa West...to Tyson Wash and had a very lumpy, bumpy ride through the wash to the north side of I-10. Today, we are headed through Diablo Pass again, but then further north, around the mountains and through some new territory for us...awesome! We even managed to bag a few geocaches along the way!

Diablo Pass is a busy spot today...there were about a half dozen side-by-sides when we got up there. We chatted to one of the fellows before they headed off...we followed a little while later, giving them some time to get well ahead of us.
There is a lovely memorial up there...obvious a popular ride in the area...

And we're off!

That's me riding up the hill in the distance...

 Love this ride! Beautiful views...

Look at all that greenery!

The geography ahead is very interesting...

Into the canyon. Note the trail heading up the hill on the right. To my dismay we'll be riding up that later...Yikes!

End of the trail...

 Lunch time! Steve, Art, Earl, Bill and Janet...

Oh...and guess who's quad got a flat tire? The back left tire on my quad has had a very slow leak...just enough that Steve usually has to add air before each ride. Today, though, it was flat when we stopped for lunch...

With help from everyone, we finally found the hole...so Steve could put a plug in it. That tire now has two plugs in it...

To get out of the canyon, we either had to retrace our route...or go up that steep trail. Apparently it wasn't as bad as it looked (at least beyond the initial very sandy steep spot) but I still didn't feel comfortable taking my quad up. So Steve rode his up, got a ride back down with Bill...

That's Art and me waiting below...

And then Bill gave me a ride up while Steve rode my quad up. Thanks for lift, Bill!!

Yee Haw!!!

You can barely see Earl and Janet watching from above...

That's a long way down!

 Art's turn to come up (he has already been up and back down once)...

This time, though, his quad had popped out of 4-wheel drive and he didn't make it past the steep sandy spot...so he had to back down. Backing down on the steepest part in the above photo...

No problem on his second try, though...

 Great views. We came through the valley on the other side of those ridges...

 

A stop at Apache Mine...

That's a deep hole!

Steve and Bill went a long ways into the mine never reaching the end. There was evidence the ceiling, that was reinforced in spots,was caving in a little which made it to dangerous to continue on...

Janet was on her way in as we were heading out...

Janet and Bill....

That's an old relic!

Riding a large wash...

 Steve's turn to head down...

 

Almost 7 hours and 60 miles later, we were home...wow! What a fantastic day! Thanks for leading, Earl! Needless to say, we were exhausted...but Steve still wanted to take the wheel off my quad so we could take it into Blythe tomorrow. While he was doing that, I cleaned up and put everything away...and we sat outside for a well deserved frosty one!

Saturday after our resistance exercises and showers we headed off to Blythe shortly after 10:00. It was another spectacular day! Looking towards California from Arizona...

Steve dropped me off at Smart and Final to pick up some groceries. I wasn't all that impressed with the store...it had some good prices on some things but didn't have a lot of the things I was after. Their price on Steve's Bud Lite was excellent though...$16.99 for a 30 pack if you bought 2. Even $19.99 for one 30 pack is good! They were all out of the wine I like though...good thing I really didn't need any yet!

Just shy of an hour later, he was back...just as I was going through the check-out. And we headed back to Quartzsite. I just love the mountains you have to drive through...one of the prettiest drives...

Before going home, we stopped in Q and Steve got his hair cut. We had done all that and it was just shortly after 1:00 when we got home. While Steve put the wheel back on my quad, I made lunch...and then he spent the rest of the afternoon "pumping and dumping"...a good 2 hour job. I vacuumed and did a little cleaning inside...then settled in my chair outside with my knitting.

Steve was finished at about 4:00 and he joined me enjoying the late afternoon sunshine...the end to another beautiful day in the desert....