Wednesday, February 08, 2023

Yuma, Quartzsite, Yuma again, and beyond!

I thought I’d put the calendar on ‘pause’, but it now appears that it kept on counting the days since the last blog post!  I guess it’s about time to get caught up a little bit. Winking smile

We’d already been boondocking outside Yuma in three different locations before heading up to Quartzsite for the second visit of the season. As detailed in the previous post, the big tent Rv show was on, and we took in the crowds and the traffic.  After the excitement of the big tent, there was plenty of time to check out all the other vendors.

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It could be our last chance to pick up a rusty wrench!

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A hoarder’s paradise!IMG_0651

I was parked out in the desert in an undisclosed location south of town.MST&T Camp DJI_0123 (2)

Hailey spent time researching the most comfortable way to sit on a lawn chair.

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And practicing her three-legged tree climbing skills!

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She does pretty well, with only a few close calls.  It’s not quite as extreme as it was in her first tree climb video, also filmed near Quartzsite a few years ago.  Check that one out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71wImQxKA_I

Then one day, within an hour, friends arrived from both Saskatchewan and Alberta!

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It was Ernie and Deb from Saskatchewan, and Donna & Don from Alberta, who had all braved the snowy conditions, blizzards and road closures on their escape from the north country!IMG_0639

After a few days, we all headed off, back to the Yuma area again; the 4th time for me this season!

One day we all did a road trip to the Costco in El Centro, Ca, and on the way back, I convinced them to stop for a happy hour along Ogilby Road, where I knew that Doug & Yuma, Tom & Deb,  and Deb & Riley were hanging out, after migrating back from the Borrego area.  That made for three Deb’s in one camp!

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Another day, I accompanied Ernie to Algodones, where he was visiting the dentist.  I was quite amazed to find the free wifi at the dental office was downloading at around 200Mb/s!  But I spent most of the time out walking around the non-tourist areas of town.

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Getting up close and personal with the border fence …

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And, discovering new ways of parking when space is in short supply!

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I took Ernie & Deb on a hike up Pilot Knob, for good views all around, as well as down into Algodones, Mx. Two border patrol helicopters spent a lot of time searching some ravines below us, along the border.

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Ernie found this hummingbird nest right behind their rig on Sidewinder Road.  Took a peek inside, but no eggs yet, though the female was spending some time sitting in the nest.  I wondered if some of the lining of the nest was Hailey’s fur we left behind when we were camped there in January!

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Playing with my new endoscope!  Here’s a shot of the ethernet connector on my laptop!

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The USB plug.

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And, the ground connection on a standard 110V plugin!IMG_0703IMG_0697IMG_0704

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Some brightly painted rocks at the base of the General Patton monument at the start of Sidewinder road.

IMG_0708IMG_0707A huge, 3” long grasshopper hiding in a creosote bush.

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And, to bring the blog right up to date (!), here’s where we are presently camped in Ironwood Forest National Monument, just west of Tucson.Ironwood Forest camp DJI_0133

1 comment:

  1. It was wonderful for you and the others to stop by. We enjoyed the visit a great deal. Your current parking place looks quite nice! Safe travels.

    Deb

    ReplyDelete