Wrapping Up January-The Start of February's Adventures

January 15 – February 6, 2020


The second half of January started off with a visit from our friend Deb, we had last seen her in the Outer Banks back in April before her husband Les had died. Her son Jim also lives in Phoenix so she gave herself the goal of driving coast to coast. She wanted to scatter some of Les’ ashes in the Pacific Ocean. We decided to turn the final westward leg of her drive a girl’s road trip. Over a few days, we drove to Newport, walked Balboa Pier and scattered ashes, drove the coast as far north as we dared, spent lots of time talking, and renewing our friendship.

Balboa Pier where Deb released some of Les' ashes

While she was in Phoenix, she and her son Jim joined us for dinner a few times.

We also caught up with our friends Pat & Frank from Lake Shelbyville, whose job we are now doing. They have a winter home in Mesa so we met for lunch in Scottsdale, great to see them, we look forward to seeing them again when they are visiting at Lake Shelbyville this summer.

Finally, after several near misses, we finally met up with John and Sharon of On The Road of Retirement. Over the years we’ve been close but it’s never worked out. This year they are in Mesa for a few months so before we left Phoenix we met up with them at a brewery in Scottsdale. A couple of hours of getting to know them and we look forward to seeing them again. We hope to get a fish fry happy hour with them when we’re in Cave Creek.

A few visits with David and Laura just forgot to get any pictures, lots of daily walks, stocking up for our upcoming adventures and before we knew it February had arrived.

In February we headed to Quartzsite on Plomosa Road where we would be boondocking for 4 nights with our friends Curt and Glenda of Camp Lowry:That's ow We Roll. This was the starting point of our travels together for the next month. Upon arriving at Quartzsite we found a site not too far off the road, internet signal was strong and no problem getting a Dish signal.

We spent the next few days enjoying ourselves catching up with each other, enjoying geocaching, campfires and playing cards. We took a ride into Quartzsite to check out the bargains to be found at the ongoing swap meet. Walked away with a new outdoor mat, thanks to a good Verizon signal I could comparison shop with Amazon while strolling the aisles.

One outing took us on a ride to Lake Havasu City and Hanger 42 brewery, where Curt and Dave enjoyed sampling some new beers. A few came home to be enjoyed later. You can always check out his ratings on the Untapped app.

Nearby our camping area is a place known as the Bouse Fisherman Intaglio. Intaglio by definition is an engraving made into a material, many of these have been found all over the planet and most are best seen from above.  These things always make me stop and think,  if they were made to be viewed from above and were made thousands of years ago how could they have seen them from any type of heights.

Of course, there was a geocache to be found

Our boondocking experience went well, actually it was the best boondocking experience yet. We now have a large enough battery bank, along with our one solar panel and the generators we never had an issue with power. We usually ran the generator from 8am-10am and then from 7pm-10pm, the solar panel would keep the batteries topped off during the rest of the time. We’ll be boondocking a few more times this spring, nice to have the system working so well.


On the 5^th we took off for a 2-night stay in Las Vegas, with the time change we arrived right at check-in time to Oasis RV Park.  Curt and Glenda arrived soon after us and were placed at the complete other ends of the row. After setting up we all walked down to the office to see if there were any shows we might be interested in.

We chose Celestia “A Journey of Acrobatics, Fantasy, and Artistry”, being held at the Stratosphere. Before too long we were on our way, a great dinner at BLVD & Main at the Stratosphere, a stop at the poker machines where Curt and Glenda came out winners, then off to the show where a very talented cast put on a wonderful show that captivated us all.

The next day we headed to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Curt and Glenda had visited here on a previous trip to the area so we set out on our own. Our volunteer America the Beautiful pass got us in at no charge, we enjoyed the scenic ride and took a short hike.

One last walk around this large park, our Deluxe pull-through site was very small, we were near the front of the park and we had lots of road noise. Here it’s all about location, they are close to the Vegas Strip. For many, this is their kind of place but it’s not our kind of place, it served its purpose in being a good halfway stop on our way to Death Valley.


Until next time…

Staying Ahead Of The Cold and Snow

October 21-29, 2019

We were up and out early, after getting ice off the slides before we brought them in. We made it over Raton Pass before the weather changed and 177 miles later we arrived in Capulin NM well before the cold front got there. Capulin RV Park & Camp is the only game in town and served the purpose of an overnight stop just fine.

We had arrived early enough to go check out Capulin Volcano National Monument, this would be our 3^rd try to visit this park. Why I didn’t check their website I don’t know, if I had we would have gone a little further south. A month ago they had some torrential rains that washed out the road to the top of the volcano. With plenty of time on our hands, we decided to do a hike in the park. The Bocca Trial provided us with some nice views of the surrounding landscape.

Old homestead ruins

The next morning we got up and headed even further south to Oasis RV Resort in Amarillo TX, a windy 197 mile ride trying to keep ahead of the cold weather.

Where else to go for dinner when in Amarillo

The next morning we got up and high tailed it out of Amarillo, there was snow in the forecast for there. By looking at the reservation system for TX state parks I determined there were no reservations, the day before our arrival. By noon we were on our site, 24, at Caprock Canyon State Park. Our 106 mile ride went smoothly then the rains came, the cold came and the snow came.

The next day we had to move to site 17, by the time we moved the snow was gone, the temps were coming up and the sun was out.

Caprock Canyon State Park is a place we’d like to check out when the weather is a little nicer. The Texas State Bison Herd calls Caprock Canyon home, we saw the herd as we drove into the campground upon arrival. There are prairie dog colonies here near the trail head we hiked from.

We enjoyed a few nights at Caprock, got some hiking in, found a geocache and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Our satellite Dish TV worked fine, Verizon signal wasn’t that great but one of us could get onto our hot spot at time.

Geocache-check

Our next overnight stop was at Fredericksburg RV Park, 370 miles of TX highways and 7 hours later we were parked for the night.

By the time Dave was ready for his second cup of coffee the next morning, we were on our way to the Gulf Coast. 250 miles later and we were pulling into our lot at Gulf Waters Beachfront RV Resort in Port Aransas TX. We’ll be here for 17 nights before we head out and explore some of the Texas State Parks and COE campgrounds before heading west to AZ. Time for Dave to get some fishing done and to keep our fingers crossed the shrimp boat goes out while we’re here, and no snow in the forecast. 

Until next time…