Wednesday to Saturday, December 18 to 21, 2019 (La Posa South LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ)

We woke to another cold morning...glad to have the propane heater to keep things warm. After a better night's sleep, compared to the night before, I was the first one out of bed...turning the heater up and putting the coffee on.

We took advantage of the early morning to get on-line before everyone in the area got up and on the internet. Verizon has always been fine for us here in the past...well, there is a definite slowdown in January when the RV Show is on...but this year, it's not so good.

After our morning coffee, it was time to get moving...I did my usual 15 to 20 minutes of pedalling. This is the handiest little contraption...it folds up for storage, small and portable!

We both did our resistance exercises and then I went out for a walk while Steve showered. I'm gradually building up my endurance...today was 1.25 miles.

Most of the morning was spent inside keeping warm...I worked on the blog and then Steve took over for his editing/adding his 2 cents. It was finally all set to publish...yay, we're all caught up again! LOL!

It wasn't as windy today as it has been, so Steve decided to put up the clothes line. Once he had all of the ropes and poles ready, I went out to lend a hand...there, all ready for a warmer day to do laundry!

We received a text at about 2:15 from Jim and Barb, they had just arrived! They had to purchase their permit and then fill with water yet. Steve rode his quad over to the water station to meet them, and after they had filled up, escorted them to the site they had the first time they had been here...coming up 4 years ago now. That was the same year we had met Dino and Lisa too. We are in the same spot as we were in back then too.  By the way, Jim and Barb are part timers now that they have started building on their acreage so are selling their fifth-wheel...they have it listed in RV Trader. Check it out if you're in the market for a good used fifth-wheel...it's a beauty!

After big hugs and hellos, we left them to get set up and headed into Q to get propane...we're going through it pretty fast with cold nights!

It was going on 4:00 when we got home. Steve decided to go out and get a fire started in the communal fire pit. Some clouds had rolled in and there was a bit of breeze. It wasn't long before we had others joining us...Colan, Dino, Lisa, Jim, Barb, me, Marilyn, Jim and Cec...

Another one of Arizona's beautiful sunsets tonight...

Thursday (Dec. 19) was another cold start to the day...but we were back to full on blue sky! After breakfast, Steve and I got out for a walk. I'm picking up my pace now and feeling pretty good about it. My legs aren't too bad during the day, but I've been having one hellava time with them in the evening and nights...Restless Leg Syndrome! I've had it off and on for a number of years but since the knee replacement, it feels like it has been magnified 100 times! I can't find much about how to relieve it and what I have, I already do. So if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

When we got back from our walk, Steve went out right away to get his chore for today over with...it was "pump and dump" day.

At 1:00 we headed into Q with Jim and Barb, with Dino and Lisa following in their truck. Our plan is to check out the vendors on Kuehn Street and then go to Beer Belly's for a beer. Well...there aren't all that many vendors set up yet. So that didn't take long...we were sitting in the sunshine at Beer Belly's enjoying a brew by 2:00!

Back home, we chilled for awhile...Steve reclining in the anti-gravity chair in the sunshine, while I sat with my crocheting. Before we knew it, it was time to move our chairs over to the gathering place (campfire ring) for happy hour...no fire this time, just some good conversation in the late afternoon sunshine...

Since we have not had a generator, we have been using stringent power management once the sun goes down. So that means not powering up the big TV in the living room. Instead, we have been going to bed early to watch the small 12 volt TV and we power up our Shaw satellite receiver with a small inverter that plugs into a 12 volt socket. Well, it was shortly after 7:30 when we crawled into bed....unfortunately, once in a relaxing horizontal position, I fall asleep.

So no wonder I was awake numerous times through the night...and ready to get up shortly after 5:00 Friday (Dec. 20) morning!

Steve headed into town just after 9:00...time for a haircut! He also picked up some parcels at Quiet Times...he now has a new RC glider to play with. The servo on the receiver in his old glider has failed and costs $60 to replace it or a new glider cost $90. He will use the old one for parts.

As soon as he got home, he called Ace Hardware to get an update on the status of our generator repair. Julian, our service tech, was off for another day and Cesar had not seen the parts come in. Did you check the tracking number? Oh no, I didn't think of that...was his response.

Since it was unlikely our generator would be ready today, we decided to head out on a quad ride with Earl/Allison and Jim/Cec. We quickly got ready...and headed off on the trails just before 11:30. Our destination today was Skull Rock...a long ride to get there, but well worth the beauty of the canyon it is located in.

Earl/Allison, in the lead, stopped for a break...at the same time our phone rang. Good timing, Earl! Steve answered it and it was Cesar...the parts had come in for the generator. He would try to work on it this afternoon. Yay!

We stopped for a break just at the start of the canyon...it's 24 miles just to get to this point.

Beautiful views from here...

Ocotillo in full leaf...

Then we continued on into the canyon.  Steve has decided not to wear his Go Pro camera on rides previously filmed as it's just too much repetitive work. The scenery is the same...only the faces may have changed :) If you're interested in checking out the scenery on our previous ride from last February, click here.

Skull Rock...

If you hike up to the tall rock to the right of Skull Rock there is a hollow slot underneath it that gives you a view to the valley behind it...

This photo was from a previous ride last March when the valley was in full bloom. Steve took it from under the slot in that tall rock in the previous photo...

Looking back at the valley we came up...

We got home around 3:30. After getting cleaned up, Steve called Ace...Cesar hadn't had a chance to work on our generator. So no generator today...Julian will have to take care of it tomorrow. Personally, we think he was just leaving it for Julian...it was his job to start with!

After that disappointing news, Steve decided we needed a campfire for happy hour this afternoon. Although it had been a beautiful day, the breeze is chilly and by 4:30, as the sun gets lower, it cools down quickly.

We spent a couple of hours out chatting with the group...Jim, Barb, Dino, Lisa, Colan and Marilyn...and everyone called it a night and headed inside to have dinner.

Saturday (Dec. 21) morning we loaded up the laundry bags and headed into Main Street Laundry. The forecast is for a beautiful day with a high 70F/21C....nice! Time to take advantage of my new clothesline!

After Steve took care of some chores, he decided it was time to call Julian at Ace Hardware to find out the status of our generator. He had replaced all the gaskets ordered in as suggested by Honda but it still isn't running properly. He also found a frayed cable to the choke. Honda has now told him to do a compression test which he said he doesn't have the equipment to do which is strange if you repair motors. We think he has had enough and is just too frustrated to continue on. Steve told him that he would pick it up within the hour and take it elsewhere. Then he called Parker Sports Center in Parker to confirm that they service Honda generators...and they do.

Of course, I had the laundry to take care of, so he went off by himself. When he got to Ace Hardware Julian fired up the generator. It ran much better but still had a slight surge to it. At least we weren't charged anything even though Julian had some hours into this and replacement gaskets were ordered in and replaced.

When Steve dropped off the generator in Parker they said it may be a week before they can even look at it...great!!! We've already gone a week with no generator during the shortest days of the year and it may be another 1 - 2 weeks! Steve then tried phoning around to see if there were any rental places in Parker and even Lake Havasu, without success.

It was going on 3:30 by the time he got home. I was sitting outside with my crocheting. It had been an absolutely beautiful day, but of course, by late afternoon, the wind had come up, bringing the clouds. The wind was coming from the north, so at least we could sit outside against the trailer using it as a shield.

Dino, Lisa, Colan and Marilyn joined us for a couple of hours...until the sun had gone down and it was time for everyone to go have their dinner. It gets dark so early...but today is the shortest day of the year, it's only going to get better!