Love these Sunsets!

I put lift struts on the overhead doors in the cab area this morning.  Every time we had to get something out of them you had to hold the door up with one hand while trying to get stuff out.  Also the Dish receiver was in the right side so when we were watching TV we had to prop the door open with one of Vera's knitting needles so the remote would work.  Then I replaced the awning strap that had come off during the Mojave incident.  After a run to town for parts I worked on the solar wiring and I finally found the wire I have been missing ever since we left Quartzsite.  It was in the Smart Car the whole time and I had searched the motor home a bunch of times.  We sat around the fire pit and visited with Barry and Mona as we have done most evenings.  There was another colorful sunset today.

A 5 Day Trip?

1-30-2020 Thursday

Barry and Mona suggested the Creative Cafe as a place to have lunch.  After Google Maps tried to send us on a five day trip to the East Coast we made sure it knew we wanted the Creative Cafe in Arizona.  I was across I10 headed East before I figured out what was wrong and noticed the driving time of five days!  We had a nice lunch there before going to the Casa Grande museum.

We had spotted the museum last year but it was closed.  They had lots of interesting displays that we enjoyed.

Vera is in front of a display about Arizona.

This is a diorama showing Casa Grande in the 1880 to 1914 time period.

Mining was a big part of early Casa Grande.

There were lots of old life style displays.

There was a complete old school house with a lot of history of the Casa Grande school system.  The Moral Code of Youth was on display in it.

This twenty foot bar was made in the late 1890's, the back bar is also twenty feet long and 12 feet high.

The museum is built on the back side of the Stone Church.

Washing clothes

I spent the better part of today washing clothes.  I also got to watch the air conditioner people put in a new return air vent. When Barry had a new air conditioner put in they discovered the return air vent was too small so they installed the bigger one today.  I also got to watch the last of their new marble counter tops get installed.  It was a nice day until a little rain shower came through.  It didn't last long and a half hour later you couldn't tell it had rained.

This is the view out our kitchen window as the sunsets.  Every direction we look it is a nice view.

Watching Barry

I helped Barry a little with his new infrared faucet today.  Mainly I watched while waiting for the safety relief valve for the water heater.  I discovered it was leaking after I got the thermostat repaired.  I have gotten many Amazon orders the next day while we have been here as they come out of Chandler just 30 miles away.

Repair day

This is the patio Barry and Mona fixed up for visitors.  I did some straightening on the steps this morning and got them so they would go all the way up.  They are OK now until we get home.  I gave Barry a little help on the plumbing of the new dishwasher he is installing.  Vera made a great tasting soup that we shared with Barry at lunch time.   I had ordered some parts for the water heater which has a bad thermostat, today I checked the tracking and a map came up showing where the truck was and it showed seven stops until it got here.  I checked again later and as I was looking at it the status changed to Delivered so I walked out to Barry's front porch and there it was.  I unpacked them and started putting the new thermostats in.  It turned out to be pretty easy job so now we have lots of hot water.

There was a beautiful sunset today, this is Vera's favorite picture and below is mine.

Owls

It was a nice view out our dinette window as we ate breakfast this morning.

Boy were there a lot of birds around the feeders this morning, Vera thought there were about 2 dozen.  After visiting with Barry for a while this morning we went to town for supplies and to get the Smart car washed.  It had gotten pretty dirty being towed and running around in the desert.

As I was closing the gate after getting the car out I took this picture of the owl habitat that had been installed on Barry and Mona's lot.  The organization that installed them will move displaced owls in if some don't move in.  When they do that Barry and Mona get to feed them mice for a while.  The car wash didn't do a great job maybe because it was so dirty but it looks a lot better.  We picked up some of the things we needed and then had lunch at Arby's, they make a pretty good salad called the Farm House.  On the way back to Barry's we stopped at Fry's for some groceries.

Mona has lots of different cactus in their yard.  We puttered around the motor home this afternoon and visited with Barry a couple of times before coming in here to catch up on my blog entries.

Heading to Casa Grande

We went down right after the RV Pit Stop opened at 8 to dump our holding tank and fill up with water.  Going early was a good idea as we were able to drive right in and hookup.  We stopped by the flying field afterwards so I could take one flyer a prop he needed that I had.  Then we went back to Road Runner and finished loading up for the trip to Barry's.

This is Mona's latest yard art from the flea market.

Barry is adjusting the set of solar panels that Graham gave him.  I think Bentley is giving me the eye.  We were not in a big rush so we hit every rest stop we came to.  Barry had told us to take the 202 bypass around Phoenix and it was great.  I couldn't make the turn into Barry's backyard with the Smart car hooked up and when I tried to back up I got the tow bars in a heck of a bind and it took us a while to get them loose.

After getting the motor home set up we sat around the fire pit for a little while before calling it a day.

This is the view out the windshield just after sunset.  We spent the rest of the evening getting caught up with emails and Facebook.

The General Store

We were up early again and went flying again today.  I had a great time  during my five flights and made a few more friends.  We stopped on the way home and checked out the bakery but they didn't have a very big selection.

We stopped at the General Store Vera had noticed and they had a good selection of food and pastries.  We ended up with some delicious apple fritters and nice looking vegetables.  It will probably be our favorite place to shop from now on.

More flying and exploring

We were up fairly early and headed to the flying field with everything needed charged up and ready to go.  

I got in five flights again today and met a couple of nice people. 

We left a little earlier than yesterday and missed seeing Barry and Mona when they stopped by the field.  

We went up the road a little ways and took a better picture of the Quartzsite sign that features camels.  We explored the East side of Quartzsite some more and found the bakery Barry had told us about but didn't stop, maybe next time.  On the way home traffic was backed up almost to the North traffic light from the RV show. 

Before going to the motor home I took Vera on a little tour of the Ham Fest, this is the sign at the entrance to Road Runner.  I sat around in the sunshine this afternoon visiting with Barry, Graham, Mona, Brent, Lynn and Mark. 

Late this afternoon Brent left in his off road Earth Cruiser.  He has forded three foot deep water with it and showed me that the water was right at the color line.

 We were sitting around the fire pit when Andy and Jane got there in their first motor home.

Barry took the Can-Am out to meet them and guided them in.

He directed them into the spot Brent had been parked in.  After another short session by the fire pit it started cooling off and everyone headed in for the night.  I watched Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, some TV with Vera and made my normal blog entry this evening.

Hi Jolly

I had all my batteries charged this morning so we headed to the flying field early.

There are RVs parked everywhere along US95.

This is what a lot of them come here for, the annual RV show. 

This is the ROADRUNNER Market where we did most of our shopping.  We were almost to the flying field when I remembered I had left the batteries for the plane at the motor home.  We made a quick trip back to pick them up and went back to the field.  There was a good turnout with just about all of the 20 tables they have in use.  

I was surprised to see an electric powered Vortex like mine there.  I put in a couple of flights before Barry showed up in the Can-Am, talked with Vera and watched me fly before heading back to find Mona who he had dropped off at the Flea Market.  I had a good time visiting with the guys and even remembered some names from last time.  

I used up all five batteries I had, I was the only one there by then as everyone had left about noon.  They start pretty early and all leave once the wind comes up.  We did a little shopping at the Family Dollar store and then had Blizzards and Subway sandwiches for lunch.

We saw a sign for the Hi Jolly monument and decided to find it.  I took a wrong turn so we went exploring and ended up at the Dome Road, we have been seeing signs for Dome Mountain so we took it.  When it turned to gravel we took some pictures and headed back to Quartzsite.  In the distance beyond the end of the road you can see all the RV's along US95.  The Road Runner BLM 14 day camping area is somewhere out there.

We could see these hills in the distance, we wondered if one of them was Dome Mountain.

This is the Dome Mountain BLM 14 day camping area that is a little West of Quartzsite.

I managed to find the monument this time, it turned out to be part of the cemetery. 

I took some pictures and we looked around before heading back to Roadrunner.

I started charging batteries and then took a ride with Barry in the Can-Am and explored the area.

We found a million dollar motor home parked out in the desert along with every other type of RV you can imagine.  

Brent and Mona are checking out Mona's Flea Market purchases.

Mona and Lynne had quite an adventure getting these 4 foot square panels back to the camp site.  They had to reach out the windows of Lynne's SUV and hold them on the top as they drove back.  Each of the panels has a different design.

This is our circle of motor homes, Graham is sitting by his Ventana LE on the right.  Then our Intruder, you can see the front of Brent's Earth Cruiser in front of ours.  Next is Barry and Mona's Cayman XL and you can just see the rear of Mark and Lynne's Phaeton.

I spent the evening out by Barry's fire pit visiting with everyone.