Quartzsite

(Once again I can't get the pictures and the captions in the right places. Sorry) Hey Blog Readers, yes, we are still alive. The lack of new blog posts this month was due to the fact that we spent the entire time at Boomerville, outside of Quartzsite, AZ. This is an area of the desert where lots of RV’s filled with members of the Boomer group of our Escapees RV Club gather every January. This year there were over 128 rigs there. In the town of Quartzsite, there is a big white tent set up where there are lots of vendors selling items which might or might not be of interest to RVers. This year the hot items were LED lights for RVs. These little lights are expensive, but they use very little electricity, and throw off a lot of light. We bought several LED light bars to replace our florescent ones, and our friend, Herb Steffenski installed them for us. That is another thing that happens a lot at Boomerville – friends help each other with RV repairs or improvements. Everyday there is a 4PM Happy Hour meeting by a big fire pit, where announcements are made about upcoming events, and new people introduce themselves. Then there is socializing. Our group of friends was located way down on the end of the gathering and we had our own little firepit. When it was warm enough, there was often a fire in the morning with friends having coffee and talking, and then another fire after the main meeting. The first part of the month there was a very bad cold spell, and water lines even froze in Quartzsite. We were running our propane heater almost non-stop and went through 5 gallons of propane in 5 days! Luckily, it warmed up after that spell, and we mostly had sunny days and comfortable temps. Towards the end of the gathering, there were 2 days of constant rain, which was unusual for the desert, and which pushed a lot of the Boomers out of camp, since the activities were nearly over. I didn’t take tons of pictures this year, but I did document a few of the things in which we participated. A surprise visit by Nancy and Jerry Hurley was delightful.

Our friend Nu Young came over and taught some of us how to make Vietnamese spring rolls. This is a picture of Nu, with Anke, Ann & Sam in the background.

This is a picture of the spring roll when it has been assembled but not rolled up yet.

Here I am with the first spring roll I made. We ate them with peanut sauce, and also a lime and fish sauce combo that Nu brought over.

When it was cold or rainy, we had Happy Hour gatherings in our rig. Here are Mike, Sam, Ann & Herb.

Looking the other way at the Happy Hour we see Mike, Anke, Elaine, Nu & Dana

One day Ron & Carol Leonard stopped by and we had a nice visit with them. This is Ron wearing a funny pair of glasses he had just bought in Quartzsite.

For Herb & Anke’s anniversary, we had a big potluck outside. This is Elaine, Dick & Carole Schneider, and Carol Leonard.

In this picture we see lots of the other people who attended the potluck.

Afterwards everyone gathered around the fire pit located in front of Mike & Marilyn’s RV.

Some of the other Boomer events were a chili cookoff, and an auction of donated items with the money going to the CARE center at Escapees headquarters in Livingston. This is a picture of part of the crowd at the auction. Over $3,000 was raised!

The party for Elaine’s birthday, and some other people’s upcoming birthdays, was held in our rig, and also Mike & Marilyn’s rig. Here are Dana Young, Paul & Judy Johnson, Elaine, Sam & Nu.

In the front were Jil Mohr, Ann & Mick Meilicke, Bill & Gisela Pollock, and Herb.

George & Diana Ruelens had hosted us for 4 days when we were in PA last summer. We were happy to see them again at this gathering!

Even though Boomerville is over, we stayed a few more days and had some time with Nancy & Tom Vineski, Mick & Ann, and Mike & Marilyn. Today we left and are driving back to Park Sierra. We need to make sure we got our visas back from the consulate for Myanmar, because we fly to Bangkok on Feb. 19 to begin the 2 Intrepid tours we have booked. We also need to organize our rig for storage on our lot, and get ourselves packed and ready. Perhaps these blog posts will get more interesting once we start traveling internationally again!!

Arizona Adventures

1/10/13 Hello from the Arizona desert near Quartzsite. Today is the first day of a 4 or 5 day run of windy and cold weather for this area, with night time temps in the high 20’s. Hard to believe that a lot of RVers come here for the winter because it is warmer than where they normally live! We have been here for 5 days and have been trying to catch up on travel planning and internet chores, while enjoying the company of Mike & Marilyn Harrison, who are parked near us. Today more Boomers started pulling in, and now there are about 6 rigs here. The Boomer rally is supposed to start on Jan. 14th, so we expect lots more. Last year there were over 115 rigs here. Since it is so cold this year, there is a good chance we won’t top that number. Prior to arriving here we were staying with Ron & Carol Leonard at their casita in the Foothills of Yuma. Bill & Sue Abbott were parked next to us. We arrived there mid-afternoon of Christmas Eve day, and had just enough time to throw together an appetizer for the Happy Hour at Jim & Diane FisherBaker’s, which is nearby. Had a delightful time with the gang with which we would share all the holidays: Jim & Diane, Ron & Carol, Sue & Bill, and Jack and Suzie (AKA the Little People). Christmas Day we all contributed to a great meal held at Ron & Carol’s casita. This is a picture of the guys:

from left to right : Jack, Bill, Ron & Jim. Here are some of the ladies: Diane & Sue, with Carol in the background.

We also had a Happy Hour on Ron & Carol's patio and a bunch of the Boomer's in the area all came:

A RV friend, Eileen Cooper, whom we met in 1995 in Alaska. has now settled in a home in the Foothills. She now has a new man in her life, Neil, so we were delighted to be able to go to their place for dinner. Here are the lovebirds out in her yard:

After dinner we enjoyed a game of Pegs and Jokers. The extra guy in the picture is Gary, Eileen's stepson.

There was an amazing full moon that night also:

The next day was Carol's birthday and she wanted to go to LZ Bar and Grill for brunch because of their fabulous Bloody Marys. You can see in the following picture that the drinks have a whole skewers of veggies, shrimp, and other goodies on them:

Elaine, Diane & Jim FisherBaker also enjoyed a Bloody Mary:

Jack and Suzy were also with us, but you can hardly see them in this picture:

Later in the day, Diane and Jim had us all over for dinner, and a cake for Carol:

Dan & Jenny Shepherd had several Happy Hour parties at their casita. Here are Dan & Jenny:

This enabled us to meet new Boomer friends as well as catch up with friends from former years. We reconnected with Dean Caldwell and his new love, Dana:

New Year's Eve we all were invited to Jack & Suzy Water's new house for a great taco salad dinner. Here they are in their newly renovated kitchen:

And here is the gang enjoying some social time in their living room:

The next day our cruise friend, Denice Osborne, came over for a visit, bringing some homemade cookies. Yum. Her husband, Rick, was sick so he couldn't join us.

Now that we have relocated to Quartzsite, we are having some nice sunrises and sunsets over the desert. The other day I was up early enough to catch this sunrise shot:

Yesterday we were happily surprised when Jerry and Nancy Hurley arrived and parked right in front of us. We had a catch-up visit with them and then decided to enjoy the sunshine and have Happy Hour outside at Mike & Marilyn's firepit. M&M had gone to Phoenix, but we were also joined by Ann & Mick Meilicke, who arrived mid-afternoon. This is Jerry and Nancy with Elaine:

Here is the happy group around the campfire:

We will be here until the end of the month, having more great RV times with the Boomers.