Sunday, March 4 to Sunday, March 11, 2018 (RV-Dreams Boondocking Rally, Plomosa Road, Quartzsite, AZ)

Wow...another busy week has slipped by! As you will see, we are back in Quartzsite for a week of getting re-acquainted with old friends and meeting many new ones. The founders of RV-Dreams.com are finally back out west and have scheduled some rallies. We followed Howard and Linda Payne's website and blog for 4 years before we retired. Although Steve and I talked about and planned this lifestyle change for years, the information on their website and blog made me realize that people actually do this and that we weren't totally crazy! Their educational and boondocking rallies are very informative for anyone considering the lifestyle and a lot of fun. Learn from others mistakes and it may save you a lot of money and hardship too!

We were so happy to finally get a chance to meet Howard and Linda at the Florida RV Super Show in Tampa, Florida on January 13, 2011...we felt like we were meeting celebrities and were a little star struck! In 2012 they came "out west" and scheduled the Fall Education Rally in Oregon. We quickly registered for the September rally (click here to take you to that blog post). That rally was the birth of many wonderful, lifelong friendships. Each year since, we have re-connected with these friends and have met many more. Such a wonderful community of like-minded RV'ers!

The Boondocking Rally is the first of three rally's that Howard and Linda have planned for this year. The next one is a Reunion Rally being held in Pahrup, NV at the end of March. Unfortunately, it is too late in the season for us since we have to be back in BC by March 30. They are also having a Spring Education Rally in Pahrup in April. It seems about half of the rally attendees are experienced
boondockers like us, so it's kind of turned into a bit of a reunion meet and greet rally for us.
Now...on with the week...

Sunday morning as we were packing up, Larry and Judi stopped by to say goodbye. It was great seeing you both! Enjoy the rest of your time in Yuma and safe travels home next month. Once we were hooked up and ready to pull out, we gave Red and Pam big hugs...it has been wonderful spending time with you both again! And Steve is happy to now be the proud owner of 2 RC planes...finally! See you next year!

It was a beautiful travel day as we headed north on hwy 95. We even saw a group of burros standing by the side of the highway...thanks for the heads up, Vicki! (They were also going to the rally and were about about 10 minutes ahead of us)...

Love the mountains in this area!

We filled our fresh water tank at the RV Pit Stop in Quartzsite and then continued to Plomosa Road, about 5 miles further north. As you turn off hwy 95 onto Plomosa Road, there is a 14-day limit BLM camping area. We stopped for a permit and then continued to the co-ordinates for the rally location. There were signs to direct rally-goers in...

We were greeted by Howard...and after big hugs, were left to pick our spot and get set up. Linda popped down a little later to welcome us. That evening we noticed a group gathering behind one of the RV's, so took our chairs and beverages and joined them...and met some new RV-Dreamers. Left to right, around the circle...Colan, Marilyn, Nathalie, Brock, (Steve's chair) me, Harry, Vicki, Jim, Gerry, Howard, Linda and Allen...

About 10 rigs arrived early for the rally that starts tomorrow...about 43 in total are expected.

Monday we met my brother and sister-in-law, Dennis and Suzanne, at Silly Al's for lunch. They were on their way back to Indio after spending a few days visiting friends in Phoenix. They, too, will be heading back to BC soon. Great seeing you both...we'll catch up again next month in Victoria.

After lunch, we stopped at Quiet Times to pick up a couple of parcels that had been delivered, before heading home. By the time we got home, the majority of rigs had arrived for the rally.

Now that's a big circle!

Our rig in the distance with the flag...

Howard and Linda provided burgers and hot dogs and the cooks got to work at the grills...

Howard and Kelly cooking...

Our host Linda Payne, Pat behind her, Kelly and Mark (in the smoke) cooking...

Dinner is ready!

First thing Tuesday morning, we got to work on a blog update, so by the time that was done, and we had had breakfast, it was 10:00...time for the seminar on holding tank maintenance. Although not a formal education rally, Howard and Linda do put on a few seminars. Steve went out to the gathering while I stayed in, doing dishes and cleaning up. You never know you may learn something new, especially when questions are asked about previous problems. I also baked some mini-muffins and prepared dinner using the slow cooker setting on my Instant Pot.

Linda and Howard Payne...

Linda's turn at the mike...

I managed to join the group just after 11:00 to catch the end of the seminar and to hear Linda's announcements about the coming week. I met and chatted with more folks...as did Steve...and then we went back to the trailer to put up the sunscreen for a little sun protection as our door is facing south (as usual).

We were both just about to go outside and relax in the shade when Allen came over...we had mentioned that we would love to see inside their new motorhome, so he had come down to invite us for a tour. He and Donna had recently purchased a park model home in Yuma where they plan to make their "home base" in the winter...so they also decided to trade their bigger motorhome in for something a little smaller. Its just over 30 feet long...and very nice! Congrats guys!

We sat outside in the shade for the rest of the afternoon...I was knitting and Steve reading. Rick and Kathy, fellow Canadians from Ontario, came over and joined us for a nice chat. Neither he or I remembered to bring out our cameras...sheesh!

After our visit with Rick and Kathy, we popped over for a quick visit with Kelly and Darrell and their friends, Terry and Betty (also from BC) and then it was time for dinner...love having dinner pretty much ready from the slow cooker! Afterwards, everyone gathered back around the campfire...they have 3 of them going to accommodate so many folks.

Wednesday morning at 10:00 both Steve ad I went out to attend the second seminar, power management and battery maintenance. Their seminars are always well received, informative and easy to understand.

Around noon Steve took advantage the calm winds and went out to fly his RC planes. I tagged along with the camera. He is "powering" up his Apprentice...

He found a good spot to fly not far away. Walking the "preferred" east west runway, however the wind has switched to the north south runway ahead...

Ailerons check, elevators check, rudder check...

Power up then tip the wing to make sure the gyros move the ailerons...

And he's off!

As you can see the north south runway is less desirable with the tall bushes and saguaro...

Good landing!

I took a few pictures of the area we are camped at...Mark and Leslie are parked on the right hand side of us but have taken their rig into town to have 1600 watts of solar panels and eight 100 amp hour lithium batteries installed. Steve told him he was going to sneak over with our extension cord and plug in...LOL!

Our neighbours, also from BC, across the road...Betty and Terry (on the left) and Darrell and Kelly with Molly....

Wednesday evening was our first potluck dinner. Wow! So much delicious food...

Followed by a campfire...Rick, Kathy, Vicki and Harry...

Three campfire are going to accommodate everyone, just move around and mingle...

Thursday morning breakfast for everyone was cooked outside. Howard and Linda provided eggs, sausages and pancakes while others brought over their favourites. Our neighbours Leslie and Mark...with his apron on...one of the many cooks. Pat, Linda and Bridget also. As it turns out Mark was our tour guide at Karchner Caverns last December...small world!

Steve tells me it was very good. I opted to stay in and eat lighter as we are going out for lunch with friends...

Steve and I headed off just after 10:30...we are driving up to Parker to meet more RV-Dreamers, Bob and Karen, who couldn't make it to the boondocking rally. We met them in 2012 at our first rally in Oregon. But first off all, we drove into Q and picked up some final parcels that had arrived at Quiet Times...that should be it for this season!

A little ways past Parker, we turned left onto Golf Course Drive...

...and then Riverside Drive to Pirates Den...

We pulled in at 11:45...Bob and Karen were just ahead of us. They are part timers now after building a lovely home on an acre of forested land in Oregon. We started to sit in the bar but it wasn't open yet, so moved to the deck of the restaurant. We enjoyed a delicious lunch with great friends...great seeing you again after 2 years! (they got snowed in up in Oregon last year!)

Arrrrr matey!

After a quick stop at Walmart in Parker, we arrived back at the rally location at about 3:30. We thought we had said our goodbyes to Red and Pam, not expecting to see them until next year, but they changed their minds and decided to come camp at Plomosa Road (bonus!)...they were already here and all set up just outside the "circle" when we got back. We pulled in to greet them, have a bit of a visit...with Vicki, Harry, Bridget and Pat too, before continuing home and unloading our parcels from the truck.

It was a pretty warm day out in the sunshine, so a bunch of us gathered in shade between Pat and Bridget's rig and Bill and Kelly's. Howard and Linda also joined us. Left to right...you can barely see Nick, Howard, Pat, (empty chair is Pam's...thanks for taking the picture, Pam!), Red, Steve, me, Jodi, Bill, Vicki, Harry, Kelly, Bill...and Linda's back...

Picture from the other side....

We enjoyed an absolutely gorgeous Arizona sunset...

Friday was the hottest day yet...and the day a trip to Goldeye Mine 2 (or as we call it, the Erdman Mine) was planned. We had quite a convoy heading out! We hitched a ride with Harry and Vicki...thanks guys! The current owner of the mine, Steve Hunt, was waiting to give the tour as we all arrived. Look at all the vehicles coming in the distance. We met Steve last year when we were showing the area to friends visiting from Alberta. He started to explain some of the local history and we found it quite fascinating...he also said that he gives tours. So we thought this could be something that might interest Howard and Linda should they ever have a rally here again. Once we heard about the boondocking rally Steve forwarded contact info to Howard and Linda and got our tour date set.

Mine owner Steve Hunt in the PLP tan coloured shirt...

This is the Kellogg Mine next to Steve's claim. They made their fortune in the stock market and cereal...not mining. There's just over 6 miles of mine tunnels here and apparently enough well preserved stored lumber in them to build two homes!

Showing a picture of the old miner Lehre Erdman that used to mine his claim...

This is the area along the rock that Steve has found around 4600 gold nuggets, some as pure as 22 karats!

Gold nuggets...

This book may interest some and I believe is sold at the museum in town which is worth a visit too as its one of the two oldest adobe buildings in Arizona. The other is the Yuma Territorial Prison.

Note the barely visible  flag pole on top of the mountain. There's also a lot of metal poles that had light bulbs mounted on them. Apparently back in the 30's and 40's there were a lot of UFO sightings and Lehre Erdman hoped a passing UFO would power his light bulbs...

Note the round lid to the right on the floor...that covers an escape tunnel that comes up behind the cabin in case any undesirables show up...

Note the upside down horse shoe. If you were a man trying to gain entry your luck will run out, and if you were a lady he would answer the door naked!

The parade of flowered toilets...

Apparently they had quite the fire out here. After Lehre Erdman had to come up from the mine because the equipment stopped working, he found his employee drunk and asleep on the job, so he fired him. A couple of days later the fired employee came back and cut a hose on a diesel fuel tank on the hill above the cabin and then lit the escaping fuel on fire. It burned the cabin and got into the mine tunnels where already fused dynamite was being stored everywhere in the 6 miles of tunnels. Soon there were explosions everywhere and the fire department refused to touch it, so it burned for two weeks. Also burned were many cars being stored in the area. Lehre Erdman was willed the still standing Camel Stop Gas Station in town on Main Street from a dying lady friend. If a repaired car wasn't claimed in a certain amount of time he would store it at the mine with the repair bill on the seat. Of the 78 cars stored there, only 38 survived and are being stored in Salome with the original repair bill on the seat. The fired employee was never captured.

The tour lasted almost 2 hours...a little long to be standing in the hot sun...but very interesting nonetheless. We even found out more history about it...quite the stories!

As we headed out, a cold beer was mentioned...and the decision to go to Beer Belly's for lunch was made. Pretty sure this will be our very last visit there but I guess you never know...LOL. The menu selection had been reduced due to the end of the season but there was still live music...and folks dancing...

Back home, Pam and I went over to Kelly and Darrell's where Kelly gave us a lesson on Tunisian Crocheting. It has a much tighter weave than traditional crochet...and makes great dish clothes. Thanks for the lesson, Kelly! Steve and Red also joined us...the guys chatted while the gals crocheted.

Just after 4:00, I figured I had better get home and prepare my dish for the second potluck being held tonight. Any RV-Dreamers in the area that were not attending the rally were invited to the potluck. Bob and Karen as well as Ruth and Dale joined in...too bad Les and Sue had other plans tonight!

Dinner time!

Pat has this ingenious propane fired wand for lighting the fire pits...cool!

Linda and Howard in deep conversation...

Six couples from our 2012 Education Rally in Harrisburg, Oregon were here tonight. Left to right...Nathalie, Brock, Allen, Donna, Howard, Linda, Bob, Karen, Dale, Ruth, Vicki, me, Harry and Steve...Thanks for the photo Vicki!

After a very hot day Friday....and warm night...Saturday was the exact opposite. We got up to the start of a cloudy day...with rain in the forecast. There were some pretty clouds, though, as the sun came up...

Vicki wanted to learn how to crochet, so she came over mid-morning. Leslie, from next door, also wanted to get re-acquainted with crocheting, so she joined us...along with Pam, the master crocheter! Turns out that Vicki is left-handed...so, being right-handed, I had a tough time trying to figure out how to show her the correct way to hold the hook and yarn...let lone crochet! So I asked Pam to give it a try...she was much better at getting Vicki started than I was! Thanks for taking over, Pam! It was a fun little get together sitting inside our trailer for a couple of hours with our yarn and hooks!

Sure enough, it started to rain around noon and had cooled right down! So Steve and I sat inside...he was on his iPad and I was crocheting.

The activity for today was a trip out to the Desert Bar, with everyone leaving at 2:00. We were going to grab a ride with Harry and Vicki but, with it raining out, I sent a message to them to see if they still wanted to go. With 60% chance of rain in Parker, we decided to cancel. We've been there many times...including once this year already...so it wasn't a big deal to us to cancel. I feel bad for the folks that have never been and still went in the rain...it is quite the experience and SO much nicer in the sunshine!

So basically we had an inside day today. By late afternoon, Steve decided that since the rain had stopped and the wind had died down, it was time to take his RC planes out again. I sat crocheting...and Pam joined me for a glass of wine, so we sat together crocheting and chatting. Going to miss her and our little "stitching" get-togethers!

Sunday Steve was up and out early to take advantage of calm early morning wind...he managed to get a number of flights in with both of his RC planes.

It was nice to see a return of the sun after yesterday's blip. Mid morning Steve went with Red and Stan to Blythe to the hardware store for some brackets he needed to store his planes in the truck box. While he was gone, I worked on this blog update and then walked down to hear the end of today's seminar (boondocking resources) and any announcements Linda may have. After chatting with a few folks, I headed back, had a bite to eat and then took my crocheting outside to sit in the shade. Pam joined me and we sat chatting and crocheting.

After a stop in Q at the Yacht Club for lunch, the guys returned...and got to work on Steve's project. Unfortunately Steve couldn't find brackets that met his specs so the ones he got had to be cut shorter and reassembled so that he could still drive the quads out. He had a little help from Red, Stan and Pat...thanks guys!

Steve has resisted for years drilling anything into the beautiful wood panels

Leslie joined Pam and I...

Just before 4:00, we all took our chairs and favourite beverage to the shade between Bill/Kelly's and Steven/Linda's rigs where tables were set up...for a Instant Pot demonstration (including a tasting of a number of dishes cooked by Linda (D), Vicki and Linda). Leesa also gave a demonstration of her air-fryer.

 The crowd spilled out from between the rigs...

 Bill, Pat, Harry, Red and Steve sitting behind the cooks...

It was a last minute, impromptu demonstration that evolved from Vicki asking Linda, a big Instant Pot lover, if she could give her a few pointers about using it. That was this morning after the seminar and shortly after, a plan was formulated for a 4:00 happy hour demonstration. It was a really good idea and turned out well...with only a couple of mishaps. While Linda was making her recipe...Chicken Marsala...she opened the wrong end of a pepper shaker and accidentally dumped the whole bottle in the pot. She managed to get most of it out...and her dish was very tasty! The second mishap was when Linda was making potato salad. She cooked the potatoes and eggs in a basket accessory and when it was done, she pulled the basket out of the pot, and gave it to Kelly...and the handle popped out of the basket dumping the potatoes and eggs to the ground. Kelly felt bad but it wasn't her fault...it was an accessory malfunction! So no potato salad...oh well. Linda (D) made Pork Chops with Gravy and Vicki, Shrimp Scampi...all very delicious! Linda even made a cake as a final tasting...awesome!

By the time the demonstration was over, it was campfire time...we went home, changed into warmer clothes and headed back out to enjoy the evening. It is the last official night of the rally...although a number of rigs pulled out today. It has been a great week...and wonderful having Howard and Linda back "out west"! The RV Dreams family continues to grow and so does our contact list!