Giving Thanks and Thanksgiving - 2012

The journey to Quartzsite AZ

Forgive the delay in getting this posted, but I’m just having too much fun (yes there is such a thing).

I had a lovely time at Steve Ballee’s property in AZ before heading on to Quartzsite for the rest of the winter.  We met up again in an area south of Rye, AZ and spent a couple more day doing what I like the most… collecting rocks.  The below is pretty much what it looks like all around the area.  Turns out… it is the past home site of prehistoric Indians.  It’s flat and the rocks had been cleared away.

 

Found some nice flakes of jasper, agate, flint, etc., which I think could be used to make jewelry.  Also found some Indian artifacts.

Left: painted rim piece of pottery.  Right: Flake from arrowhead production, and a poorly made point (arrowhead), and a 2006 Penny.

I enjoyed seeing cactus again.  Steve says these red fruit are edible.

I walked the area extensively studying for signs of past human habitation and was wondering to myself… why some of the places of barren of rocks and others have rocks all about.  I concluded that they must have picked up all the rocks to make for a more livable house environment… but wondered where they put them all.  Then Steve caught up with me and when I turned to talk to him, I saw the rock pile.

I thought/said… “Well, there they are!”  I wondered where they put them.  Then studying the pile and wondering at the fact that an Indian had touched each of those rocks… I realized the pile might have had a secondary function in that society… perhaps some religious significance. 

The pile, had a serpentine shape to it… here you can see it curves off to the right.  It curved back and forth like that with about four curves.  And, by the way, those open flat areas of dirt were littered with hundreds of small broken bits of pottery.  Most did not have painted designs on them.

Leaving Steve, I head on toward Quartzsite with the goal of stopped at a couple of the rock collecting sites listed in the Arizona Gem Trails book.  The first was n.e. of Wickenburg and I was looking for Wickenburg Nodules/Geodes.  Well, this was kind of a bust in a couple ways 1) none of it can be used for jewelry, 2) I could not find a way to pull off the road where I was suppose to and 3) I got stuck in the sand when I did pull off.  It was almost sunset, so I just went to bed right there.

This is where I was suppose to pull off.  Right!!!!

They have plowed up big berms so people can’t drive in there, without 4x4 drive.  So, don’t go there.  The peak is where the nodules were suppose to be.  I walked almost to the top the next morning, found nothing to brag about.

After my hike up that mountain/hill? I return to tackle this problem… can I get myself out of this or do I have to call Emergency Road service again (just called them two days ago for a lock-out)?

Three attempts at digging the sand away from the wheels and ol’ SwankieWheels pulled itself and my overloaded (with rocks) trailer out and back on the pavement.  Hooray!!!  (i.e. thankful again)

I drove on thru the desert, enjoying seeing the giant cacti again… it was almost as if there were waving at me, or dancing with each other.  I love these things.  Onward in search of Apache Tears.

Got a very good night’s sleep and awoke to this fantastic sunrise.  Had collected some the night before, but spent more time find more tears… and checking other locations along the Aquila Road s.w. of Wickenburg (thankful).  Now, if only I had a tumbler (not thankful)!

This is what they can look like polished… http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr/rocks/igrx/obsidian8.htm .

Also, when I stepped out of the van, I found this… someone’s tail… they is actually a bone in it and it was still bloody???  Someone said it was probably a desert pack rat????  (not thankful)

Finally, I arrived in Quartzsite, after stopping to resupply, have tires and torque pressure checked on all lug nuts, etc.  Found Bob Wells and a motely assortment of other vandwellers… and enjoyed a nice evening of sitting around getting acquainted.  Dinner is planned for the next day.

Steve was our host/cook and prepared most of the meal while others provided veggies, fruits, nuts and deserts.

Who could imagine such a spread in the middle of the desert totally off grid???

It was a complete traditional Thanksgiving feast, complete with hot apple pie (heated in my solar oven) alamode. (thankful)  Oh it was so so good, that is until I overdid it and went back for seconds.  (not thankful)   Read more about it at http://cheaprvlivingblog.com/2012/11/thanksgiving-flames/.

		Motley Assortment VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Thanksgiving day ended with the traditional vandwellers evening stroll… and a good time was had by all.

Since then, I have been working on installing shelves in my cargo trailer (after photos to follow), I MUST get rid of the rocks and genealogy, I MUST, I MUST!  On a more pleasant note, I had a chance to go kayak the Bill Williams Wildlife Area north of Parker with friend Gary from the Rock and Mineral Club.

		12/02/12 Kayaking AZ VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It’s a great life.

See Charlene’s Kayaking Index of States.

Parker AZ to Henderson NV

(continued from “Yes, there can be “too much quiet?”)

A child’s painting, hanging in the Aquatic Center.

OK, to follow up on my last post about Noise vs. Silence… I came “out of the wild” and first stop had to be to get a large coke from McD’s.  I walked up to the counter and as the boy said “Can I help you?” and I went to reply, a small child came in the door and let out this banshee-type blood curdling scream that just about made me jump over the counter and into the arms of that poor boy who wanted to take my order.  I mean the sound just about burst my eardrum and I was so nervous afterwards that I couldn’t speak for a minute and forgot all about why I was there.  And I thought, no… SILENCE is better  especially if you are trying to go to sleep in the Parker Wal-Mart and the parking lot sweeper keeps going by.

Parker was good. At Parker if you go to the Bluewater Resort and Casino on the north side of town... and then down to the Marina (for guests only) you can pull over on the wide open dirt area on the left... I spent the day there. Could easily have launched the kayak from there. Also in the main parking lot were boondockers I saw around Quartzsite all winter. It's a good spot.

I left Parker yesterday afternoon planning to just drive to Lake Havasu City, find a Laundromat, and then find a place to park.  It got dark before I got out of the Laundromat … and I couldn’t read the street signs.  Tried Wal-Mart and realized I COULD NOT overnight there… went to the next road north (London Bridge Rd) and drove a ways and just pulled off the side of the road.

So, don't count on parking at Lake Havasu City, AZ Wal-Mart! Not allowed.  Gonna stay dressed in case I get rousted and explain to officer that I don't usually drive at night... as my eyes don't work right and I can't read street signs. Hope he lets me stay til I can see where I'm going. Where I hoped to go was Rotary Park to kayak for the first time in six months, in Lake Havasu City.

The signs around town are scary... posted fees about all the overnight parking fines (went back but couldn’t find that sign to photograph).  Might have been at another business.  My policy is: if I see no other campers/ boondockers or vandwellers... I don't stay and I don’t spend. If others are risking it... I might. This is one huge parking lot, spick and span, and mostly empty at night.

Hey, there is also an aquatic center here that I plan to visit after my kayaking, and have a nice swim and good shower before heading deeper into civilization. Below are my impressions of LHC... and I like the backwardness of Quartzsite better than this high and mighty town.

The Rotary Park… lots of senior citizens walking, talking, laughing, playing baseball, etc..

Lake Havasu City Report: 1) Rotary Park – don’t count on going there if you have a trailer or an RV. They are not allowed in the park and there is no place to park a larger vehicle. Only small single spaces. I drove in any way to check it out and try to get to the south end of the park. It was chained off. There was plenty of space (looking at Google maps) to park there and launch. Nice park for the hoards of retired senior white folk that were swarming around. They even had a senior softball league, and a skate park???? A skate park??? So, if your kayak is on top of your van… and you can carry it (I can’t carry mine and must use a cart)… this location might work for you and it is free.

2) Aquatic Center – Lap Swim hours are limited and I couldn’t find my goggles. It was not lap swim time. So I paid $5 to soak in the Jacuzzi and then had a nice long hot shower with swim suit on. Pool is great, Jacuzzi is great, locker room/showers are shabby. Only two privacy stalls with no curtains. They did have changing stalls with doors which I made full use of. Two ladies got me talking about my kayaking and were floored/shocked that I had kayaked 40 states in two years ALONE. Wonder what they would have thought if they knew the rest of the story? As I was leaving the pool area I heard the one lady who had moved to an exercise class telling the other ladies about my experiences. I was the talk of the day. Geez their lives must be very boring. But it was worth $5 to have a nice hot shower that didn’t use salty water like the ones in Quartzsite. Each time I had a Quartzsite shower I itched for days.

Is that really me???

This was me in 2002!????

On to check out the Lake Havasu Museum of History in town and then head toward Vegas.  O.K. photo proves I was there… museum is in the background (of top photo).  Only open from 1pm to 4pm.  It was 11am.  So down the road I went.  It will have to wait.  (Mike Riddle… I stopped by!)

Lake Havasu City, AZ (City or Prisons?) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It's like all these senior white folk are living in prisons here. Many many walls, gated and iron-fenced townhouses, apartments, rv parks, etc. No I don't enjoy that. I've seen and learned more about the local desert area in six months then those folk will learn the rest of their lives.  LHC wants to corral everyone into a little box (called RV Campgrounds, etc.).

Funny thing I saw near the Museum.

Tried the State Park – multiple boat ramps, lots of parking, but I was not in the mood to pay and it was getting late in the day to launch.  They allowed me to drive through and look as long as I didn’t get out of the van.  How very nice of them.

Up the road a little ways was this sign so I stopped to check out Mesquite Bay II Wildlife Area.  O.K. they got rocks.  I walked a ways and decided there would be no way to get the kayak to the water, I couldn’t even get me to the water.  But a nice spot and rock hounds should stop and explore.  Found agate and jasper and fossils there.

Boat Launches… wish I had found this information before I went to Lake Havasu City:  (taken from http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/arizona/havasu/fishing.html)

There are free boat launches on Topock Marsh at North Dike, Fivemile Landing (on County Route 1) and Catfish Paradise (on Oatman Highway/Route 66).

Local boat launches that allow access to the Colorado River include the Topock Gorge Marina, Arizona (exit 1, I-40), Park Moabi (located 11 miles south of Needles, CA on I-40), and Havasu State Park at Windsor Beach (on London Bridge Road in Lake Havasu City). There are many other private and public boat launches along the Colorado River.

No Wake zones exist in the harbor of Fivemile Landing on Topock Marsh and the entrance and harbor at Topock Marina.

Anyway, I found a method to keep from collecting a lot more rocks… wear clothes that don’t have pockets, take no water, so you have to return to the van when one hand gets full of rocks (camera in other hand).

This is all I came away with.  Proud of me???  I am.

On up the road, more things to amaze me…

What is this bird… he makes the strangest sounds.

To deDucks… I kept saying your little burro prayer… but didn’t see any at all (pouting now).

Isn’t this just awesome????   I want it as my hood ornament.

Someone is really living in that… at Searchlight NV.

This guy passed me… five jet skis on that trailer????

Not sure what this is but I’m thinking very large solar farm???

Even hit a bit of the Old Route 66.  What a hoot.

Oh, and a new experience on the road today, I met my first Dust Devil.  I thought “Hey, look at that cute little th . . . . !” about the time it hit me.  It felt like a sand storm smashing into the van and felt like it might flip the trailer.  I’ll take those “cute little devils” more seriously next time I see one and slow down. Today I got my first “Dust Devil Whammy!”

Safe in Henderson, NV tonight and will touch base with family here in case they want to visit.  Also need to resupply since I WOULD NOT shop at LHC Wal-Mart.

Thinking about adding something new to my blog… an expense record for the day.  Might help others, might help me more!!!  Just thinking.  Someone is doing that??? RVSue???