Working and Eating

The guys have been working on Howies’ 5th wheel. Some bolts broke off on the upper inside.

Everybody just pitches in and gets to work. Howie are you sure they know what there're doing?

Charles, Steve, Mike and Howie.

Somebody had to supervise the crew.

Sandy and Steve's dogs, Rhythm and Yoda. Cute little Papillions. They had to get into the mix too. The guys had to love the audience,

After all the work it was time for dinner, we all went the the Grubstake Bar and Grill.

The food was okay, the waitress was something else. We order a large platter of appetizers, but you can’t have plates to serve them on. You just have to reach and grab. She was not the most friendly waitress I ever had, by far. No personality at all, a bit of a snip. But we managed to work around her and had a great time.

Mike ordered a heart attack on a plate, a 1 pound burger with 1 pound of cheese on it.

He’s not sure how your suppose eat this thing. He eventually figured it out and ate about half. No cooking for me today we have plenty of leftovers.

Very cold and windy today. I think it got to a high of 58, pretty sure there was a wind chill factor.

Cold And Windy

I guess this is what we get for laughing at our family and friends back in Minnesota with all the cold weather.  It’s only been in the low 60s the last few days and very windy.  It should start to warm up Thursday, back to the 70s.

Sunday night we had a pot luck dinner and invited some people that started full timing in 2008.  So much good food.  Nancy made a popcorn salad, I had never heard of it, or had anyone else.  Everyone was intrigued by it and it tasted fantastic.  I got the recipe, can’t wait to serve it. All the food was great yummmm.

Charles always the comedian.  Mike and Norah setting up the tables. 

You think Howie is ready to eat, spoon and fork in hand. 

As you can see we all have on jackets and sweatshirts, a bit nippy. 

To The Desert Bar

The last 5 miles is the most fun, dirt road sometimes a very narrow dirt road. 

The Desert Bar is in the Buckskin Mountains just outside of Parker AZ.  It was once an old mining camp.  In 1983 the “bar in the desert” opened for business.  Water was hauled to the area in a 50 gallon tank loaded on the back of a truck.  In 1997 they drilled a well on the north side of the saloon that operates on solar power, with the pump set at 360 feet.

 

In the picture above you can see the main bar area with the solar panels on the roof.  The bar is only open on weekends from noon to sundown.  They have live music from 1pm to 5pm. 

As you can see this is a very popular place. We stayed for about an hour.  Had a drink and a hamburger. Very limited menu and no cheese for the burgers.  There was a sign posted behind the bar no cheese EVER.  Charles wanted to push the issue, but in the end he left it alone. 

Here we are enjoying our meal Steve, me, Sandy, Nancy and Charles. 

 

 

 

From the parking lot you had to cross the bridge to get to the bar.  The bridge was built in 1981.

There are patios and decks everywhere you look, all at different heights and different areas.  You walk around a corner and another patio appears.

The inside of the saloon is very unique.  It has windows that are old glass refrigerator doors, the bar stools are made of steel and they sway from side to side.  The top of the bar is brass and the ceiling is made of stamped tin.  It was well worth the hour and half drive to see it. 

I had to get some pictures of the woman's bathroom.  It reminded me of a prison bathroom.  Not that I have ever been in one, but just what I would think it was like.  The stalls are all steel, the doors are very heavy, for a minute I thought I was locked in, I wasn’t putting all my muscle into opening the door. The sinks are steel and wood, another very unique feature. 

A fun day was had by all. 

Quartzsite Yacht Club For Lunch

The population in Quartzsite I think is around 3500, until the RV’ers show up in the winter. Then it goes into the hundreds of thousands. 

The Quartzsite Yacht Club is a bar and grill located on the main drag here in Quartz. It is well-known among RV’ers and motorcycle groups for it’s desert-maritime atmosphere and opportunity to actually join the Yacht Club.  As the saying goes ,”Welcome Aboard….Long Time No Sea”!

Here’s the main attraction.  You can join the Quartzsite Yacht Club for $25.00and become one of the over 6800 members. 

We had our lunch on the patio.  Hamburgers and fries.  They were okay nothing special, but the atmosphere is wonderful..

  The Yacht Club has been around a long time, burned down once, and is now a main attraction in town.  In the 70’s Al Madden bought the bar, formerly known as The Jigsaw.  He had a sense of humor and decided to call the bar The Quartzsite Yacht Club.  It’s the only yacht club in the world located in the middle of a desert with no body of water in sight.

If you like the horses they have Off-Track-Betting. Live music on the weekends and Karaoke contests.    Inside the bar and restaurant.

Another fun day on the desert.  Tomorrow we go to the Desert Bar, about 60 miles from here in the middle of the desert.  The bar is run on solar power.  Open only on weekends during daylight hours.  More about that next time.  No we really don’t spend all our time in bars. 

 

A Partly Sunny Day

I really don’t mind the cloudy days, I get lots of reading done.

I just finished The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.  He was asked to give a last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University were he was a professor. This was right after he was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer.  The name of his lecture was “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dream”  This was Sept 18, 2007.  He passed away July 25th 2008.

The Last Lecture is one of my now favorite books.  I would recommend it for everyone.  

For fun I have been reading a series by Nevada Barr.  The main character is Anna Pigeon a Ranger with the National Park Service.  The first book Track The Cat, was okay, but nothing special.  The second one, Superior Death, was much better, really enjoyed it.  Lots of funny thinks happening on Isle Royal in Lake Superior.  There are 4 more books in the series, looking forward to reading them. 

I just started the 4th and final book in the Twilight series, by Stephanie Meyer.  You have to like vampires and werewolves to read her books.  In Stephanie's books the Vamps and wolves are good.  Well most of them are good, you do have the evil ones, but good always over powers evil.  

Quartzsite AZ

Monday we moved from Imperial Dam to Quartzsite AZ. a 60 mile drive on highway 95.  Not really a highway a 2 lane road with no shoulders and lots of dips and pot holes.

Our last night at Imperial was spent with friends

Charles, Nancy, Steve and Sandy.  Oops what happened to Nancy , missing.

She went to get the pie she baked.  A lemon meringue, made from scratch using real lemons.  Now this impressed Mike considerably. 

Our last sunset at Imperial Dam.

 

When we arrived at Quartzsite we parked by friends we had met last year at the 2007 gathering, Howie and Nora. It was great seeing them again.  Nora teaches anthropology  classes on line for a University.  She is pretty busy during the day, but she makes time in the evenings to get together with everyone. As you can see from the picture Charles and Nancy are here also.

Mike was making supper this evening, fajitas, Yum he did a great job and we all enjoyed the meal.

Our first evening in Quratz we had a beautiful sunset.

Tuesday morning we got up early to watch the new president being sworn in.  I had to see everything.  Would it not have been great to be their and see it in person.  History was made today and I was happy to be able to at least watch it on TV.

 

 

Lazy Days

Went for another walk and found a few more interesting things.  Skunk Hollow is one of the washes you can stay at, in the Imperial Dam area.

 

Skunk Hollow has a liberry, that is not my spelling it’s spelled that way on the Air Stream trailer that houses the library.  They have a very nice selection of books. 

 

 

 

 

People do the wash and hang it out.  Pretty sure they do it by hand. A little more work then I would be willing to do.  I like the good old fashion way, we go to the laundry mat once a week. 

  

Another area is called Hurricane Ridge, which is just down the road from Skunk Hollow.  Here we found a 3 wheeler, not really a motorcycle and not a car, but a little bit of each.

 

It has a steering wheel and front tire just like a car but the passenger sits behind the driver,  and no top it is open like a motorcycle.  They call it a Stallion and is made by Thoroughbred Motorsports out of Texas.  Now comes the best part you can own one for a mere $30,000. 

South Mesa is our home here at Imperial dam.

As you can see from this picture the water in the reservoir has gone done considerably.

Click on any picture to enlarge.

Just Another Day At The Dam

The weather has not changed, still in the high 70s and sunny.  Who could ask for anything more.

Steve and Charles are making sure our chicken gets done.  Nancy and Sandy are in the background keeping an eye on them.

 Medjool Date Trees.

A couple of days ago we went to the Imperial Date Gardens, and I purchased some  fresh dates, and Mike had a date shake.  You know he loves his ice cream.

Here in the Imperial Valley they grow Medjool dates.  They claim they are the worlds best dates, not sure if that's true but they are really good.

Thursday Steve, Sandy, Mike and I went to Algodones Mexico. Sandy made an appointment with a dentist for next month, and I got a pair of prescription sunglasses. 

We stopped in a small restaurant for a drink and chips.  We sat in the court yard and enjoyed our drinks.  

 

When we finished and were ready to leave Mexico about 1PM we had no idea what was waiting for us.

The line to get through customs was 2 hours long.  Never have we had to stand  in line that long.  We got back to the Dam and started happy hour.

We had company for happy hour, friends of Steve and Sandy’s came to visit with their dog Clancy, a Australian Terrier.  Clancy was just 4 months old and pretty wild and cute as could be.  He was  to much for Stormy to handle she spent the evening in the MH

 

Have a great day, and to our family and friends back in MN stay warm.  We are thinking of you. 

 

What People Consider a Home

On our walks in the desert we come across many different dwellings that people live in out here.  Some are $300,000 HM and others are, well worthless.  Of course unless it’s your home for the winter.

 

What’s the tepee for?

The Big Blue Bus, I think they have 10 people staying in this one.

The little trailer, how much fun would that be to spend the 6 months living in this..

This couple made a whole neighborhood for themselves.  Patio and guest house on the left. 

Now he’s making power.  All those things sticking out the top of the MH are solar panels.

My favorite, not sure what you would call it, but it is for sale, if anyone is interested just let me know and I will contact the owners.

 Had to throw in a picture of me coming out of our post office.  As you can tell by the way I'm dressed, the temp. is very warm.  81 today.