Tuesday, January 24 to Tuesday, January 31, 2023 (La Posa South LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ)

January has been a fairly cool, windy month for us here on the desert...a lot of folks are saying it is the coldest winter they've had...we're just holding out hope that February will be much warmer!

Tuesday (Jan. 24) morning Steve was out at the crack of dawn taking the poop mobile over to dump. With the Show on right now, it is extremely busy with long lines ups at the sani-dump.

Greg and Debbie decided to go into Parker and invited Steve and I to join them. Greg is on a mission...to buy a "Little Buddy" propane heater. Luckily Walmart had exactly what he was after. Debbie and I took the opportunity to pick up a couple of things and we were out of there in no time. The quickest Walmart visit in a very long time!

After running another errand, we headed to The Pirate's Den (just north of Parker) for lunch. We really enjoy sitting out on the waterfront deck but it was just too windy...next best thing was a window table overlooking the Colorado River...

We had fabulous lunch...everyone had various burgers, except me (I had a cobb salad). We all enjoyed our lunch! Then we wandered around outside taking pictures before getting back in the truck and heading home. This is the entranceway to the restaurant...

Thirsty Pirate Beach Bar next door...

Steve found a well endowed female to cuddle up to...LOL!

Greg had other intentions...LOL!

Wednesday (Jan. 25) and our oldest grandson's 10th birthday! We remember exactly where and what we were doing 10 years ago today as we waited for news of our first grandchild. To reminisce that day with us check out our blog post here . 

Conner has become a very kind, sweet, funny and creative young man and amazes us with his intelligence, memory and ideas! We managed a wonderful video call in the evening with him and his family...even with the poor internet due to the hoards of people here!

Happy Birthday Conner! We love you and miss you! 💗

Over to Steve on todays ride...

As it was a little chilly this morning we delayed our ride until 12:30. Todays ride is to complete what we missed on our last ride when Colan got a flat tire. Our first stop was the cabin just past the Mitchell Mine. I tried to get a photo of everyone through the window but it was too shadowed. Just Dianne and Buddy are visible...

Greg, Jim, and Debbie checking out the three mock graves. Next stop is up that road in the background to the top of the hill...

View of the Mitchel Mine area below from the hill top...

The mine owners house is in the middle of the photo with Quartzsite and thousands of RV's in the distance...

Our next stop was the Belle of Arizona Mine which requires a steep hike up the hill. There's a large quartz vein at the mine entrance. Greg got his photo...

The mine dead ends at a shallow hole...

Greg getting his valley photo from the mine entrance...

And my valley photo. Our next stop will be the Gold Nugget Mine just below Guadalupe Mountain in the distant left. We will ride to the top of Guadalupe too...

Dianne and Debbie waiting below for our return...

Well this was a first. This guy had set up camp at the Gold Nugget Mine! We have to ride to the other side of Guadalupe Mountain to get up to those towers...

His truck was covered in anti establishment and political signs...

View from the top of Guadalupe Mountain looking west. Gold Nugget Mine is below center left...

Here's a close up...

Here's a short 30 second video...

Looking east along the I-10 highway towards the community of Brenda...

Another great afternoon out on the 4-wheelers! 

Thursday (Jan. 26) was another very windy day. Steve went out to run some errands in town but I stayed home and hunkered down inside all day. It wasn't until about 4:00 when I ventured outside! We joined the gang over at Ray and Deb's for happy hour. Their rig is positioned so that it blocked most of the wind...

Friday (Jan. 27) was the first calm day in quite awhile...it was still chilly though. Steve filled his morning with a bunch of chores. Then as a comparison to his previous drone video of our area, he wanted to do another one to show how much busier it is here during the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and RV Show.

Before the Show in early January (2.23 minutes)...

And during the show (2:04) minutes...

After a quick lunch, we rode our quads into town to check out the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and RV Show at the big tent. When we were still newbies we made the mistake of visiting the show on opening day, and it was a sea of heads making it almost impossible to get near a vendor. 

The signage said "ATV Parking Only" but a couple of idiots decided to park their cars there. Luckily we got the last two parking spots!

One of four entrances into the tent...

There are three very long aisles of vendors...

The tent is surrounded by outdoor vendors as well so we did the loop...

At the main entranceway this is probably the most popular food vendor here year after year. There was a long lineup and the tables were full. Look at those semi truck exhaust stacks on the other BBQ!

There wasn't anything at the show we couldn't do without, so after we were done we headed over to Beer Belly's Adult Day Care...and as expected it was packed! So we ventured across the street to check on a vendor that has the replacement sun shade we want. Ours is about 10 years old and is starting to look it. They still had lots of stock and we had no way of lashing it down on the quad so will return at a later date. On our return we decided to walk through Beer Belly's again and it was still packed. Just as we turned to leave four people got up and left so we managed to belly up to the bar...sweet!

Back home it was time to get ready for Core Crash! Our group of 13 gathered in the beautiful sunshine...

Starting from the far end...Cheryl, Debbie (#2), Greg, Deb (#1), Ray, Jim, Steve, Jerry and Debbie #3...

In the "time out section" LOL...are brothers Brian, Dave and Debbie (#4)...

As the sun got lower in the sky, it was time to lite the campfire and move our chairs around it...

Then it was time to roast some weenies...

And share some stories...

Such a perfect day!

Saturday (Jan. 28) was a pretty lazy day...other than walking out into the desert for about a mile and back, Steve and I really didn't do much. I sat in the sunshine knitting while Steve worked on video editing.

Jerry shared a fabulous picture he received from a friend and fellow astronomer. Kevin Legore took this photo last week...he was at home in the Phoenix area but used his remote observatory at a dark site. He used a 6" aperture refractor telescope to take the photo.

The comet's name is "Comet ZTF C/2022 E3".

The comet's closest point to earth will be about a 100 times the distance from earth to the moon. It was discovered in March of last year. The last time the comet visited the solar system was about 50,000 years ago when the Neanderthals' were walking the earth. The photo was taken in black & white and shows an amazing amount of detail.

Thanks for sharing, Jerry! We also look forward to more stargazing through the amazing telescopes you have.

Sunday (Jan. 29) Debbie and Greg invited to join them for lunch at Silly Al's. Of course, we said yes and we all chowed down on the best pizza Quartzsite is known for. It wasn't until after they paid the bill that we learned it was their 31st Wedding Anniversary! Hey, it should be us buying you lunch! Happy Anniversary you two...we'll pick up the bill at our next lunch out! No picture taken...sheesh!

Debbie had heard of a place that sells cool yard art, so after lunch we went to check it out. Great find, Debbie! The place was really cool! Amazing the imagination and creativity some folks have.

WOW!

Greg and Debbie purchased a couple of pieces for their yard. 

Back home, we spent most of the afternoon inside...hiding from the wind. It's getting very annoying! While we were sitting inside, the fridge started beeping...out of propane, so we had to make a trip into town. Steve here...On our return to La Posa South we saw this dust devil blow through. The yellow line shows our rig. This is one of the reasons you never leave your awning out when you're not home, but if you do its advised that you put your contact info on your awning so that the finder can locate you...LOL!

Monday (Jan. 30) was another cool, breezy day. I spent most of the day knitting...managing to sit out of the wind, against the trailer. Steve continued working on his video editing.

Just before 4:00, we walked over to Deb and Ray's for happy hour and dinner. Greg and Debbie also joined us. It was just too windy and cool to sit outside so we all enjoyed the warmth inside their coach...

The Chef at work...

Greg and Ray...

We started with Caesar Salad that I contributed...and then once the Yorkshires were ready, Ray carved the Prime Rib Roast. Debbie made zucchini sticks and cooked carrots...and with the garlic mashed potatoes and gravy Deb made, oh my we had quite the feast! Absolutely delicious! Greg didn't get the memo that it was Hawaiian shirt night...LOL! 

Greg was more interested in chowing down!

YUM!!

After dinner we relax back in our chairs and then Ray served up homemade pie (that Deb had also made) and ice cream. Just before 8:00 we called it a night and waddled home. Thanks so much for a lovely evening and meal, Ray and Deb!

Tuesday (Jan. 31) morning Deb picked me up at 9:00 and we headed off to Parker for pedicures and shopping.

After the pedicures and the usual fun time grocery shopping, we went to the Pirate's Den for lunch. It was Deb's first time...and again, it was too windy to sit out on the beautiful deck they have. 

While we were gone, Steve got out his big camera to take pictures of this American Kestrel Falcon that landed behind our trailer. It had just caught a small lizard. You can see the lizards tail below the branch...

It's head has turned almost 180 degrees. They sure are colourful...

Then it flew over to the neighbours...

Deb and I returned home to a cloudy windy day at Q...at least we had had some sunshine in Parker. Consequently, the rest of the afternoon was spent inside. Steve did go over to Ray and Deb's to help Colan with the dryer repair he was working on. I guess they had a lot of fun with that (LOL) but managed to get it all fixed up.

And that's it for another week!