WEEK OF–03-18-2012: PHASES

In the past we always seemed to be in a hurry whenever we moved from place to place.  It was either because we had to get to a job, or because we felt we needed to beat traffic, or we would just seem to find an excuse to rush, rush, and rush.


Last year, when we decided to slow down and travel at a more leisure way, and we did; but still ended up being in a rush it seemed.


Well this time we our determined to finally slow down, in order for us to get that through our heads, we our moving in phases.  This helps our anxiety of wanting to move and yet slows us down at the same time.
So far I think it’s working and here’s what we have done thus far:


SUNDAY     PHASE ONE:  Was to move from our site on the Long Term Area on the BLM land to closer to the entrance.  Reason for this move was we would have a lot less travel in dirt/gravel after we wash and wax the car and the motorhome.  The first mile and half into LaPosa South is black top and seems to have a lot less dirt flying around.  So this would become our first move.


MONDAY     Brian spent the day washing and then waxing the motorhome.   Normally I would have helped, but because of the drier air, it was a total breeze for him to have it all done that day.  I stayed busy trying to finish up slip covers for the booth cushions.  Two done, one more to get done.  Since I don’t have a sewing machine-I am doing it all by hand and it takes me a bit longer.


In the mean time we are amazed at all of those that come in to dump and fill and the traffic  that seems to go by, both day and night.  Being closer to the front also means we hear the highway traffic from HWY 95.  We do seem more and more leaving the area and heading back towards their home state.  I think they are trying to beat the heat that is predicted for later this week.


TUESDAY:    A quick run to Wal-Mart in Parker to get groceries.  Brian will run the car through the car wash and then wax it when we get back. 


On the way back we stopped by a free area of the BLM called Plamosa Rd and found how empty it is and how much quieter as well.  We decided to make a move the next morning to this area for a few more nights of peace and quiet.


Only thing-morning never came.  Again we were amazed by the traffic that keeps going in and out.  So we decided to head out after groceries were put away.  Brian waxes just the top part of the car to that we can load the canoe and leave it there.  Once settled again, then he can finish the wax job.


WEDNESDAY:     Ah, so quiet and peaceful and a good nights rest for all three of us and no ATV’s running around for Leah to bark at.  No traffic sound, no generators running,  no jay-breaks to be heard.  We went about two miles in and our nearest neighbor is about a mile away.  We have this whole area all to ourselves. 


Brian finishes the waxing on the car before the heat begins.  Now he is sore and is resting after working his tail off; and he did a great job.  A job that is done now for 6 months or so. 


a sunset from our site on Plamosa South, BLM land


THURSDAY:    Well, so much for our own peace of heaven.  We didn’t have one, nor two but three RV pull in near us!  With ALL this land and 3/4 empty-they decided to pile near us!  No one ran generators, but geez, really, why close to us?  Brian says because older folks feel safer near another motorhome, specially one that looks good.  I told him he shouldn’t have worked so hard to make ours shine, then maybe they would of gone somewhere else!  To boot, the nearest one to us ended up having a friend show up, parking yet closer to us!  Time to find a new spot-again….


It’s not that we are trying to be anti-social or anything, but we know that soon we will be parking in state parks with sites and neighbors and just want to enjoy a little more time to ourselves before our true adventure begins.


FRIDAY:    Yesterday afternoon, we found an area surrounded by brushes on one side and a hill with a wash on the other side.  Wonderful view and no one can really park on top of us.  So we took the opportunity and moved away from all our neighbors.


TV reception isn’t the best, but we were able to catch most of our one show last night.  We don’t watch any TV on the weekends, so TV is not going to be a factor.


Tonight we will sit outdoors in our little hidden area and see if we can glimpse any kind of critters out in the deserts.  We will stay here for the weekend and enjoy the peace and quiet before Phase two and three start and then our adventure into Northern New Mexico.


If all goes to plan, next week at this time-our fun begins and we are excited!

The Kidz Travlin: WEEK OF 03-22-2012: LEAH

The Kidz Travlin: WEEK OF 03-22-2012: LEAH

WEEK OF 03-22-2012: LEAH

Hi everyone!  This week is going to be a little different, because instead of my mommy, Sharon, writing, I finally get a crack at the computer and writing once again!

Most of my followers already know who I am.  My name is Leah Kay and I’m a 8-1/2lbs Miniature Pincher that travel full-time with my owners:  Brian & Sharon Scofield.

I use to write on hubpages  (http://leahkaythepup.hubpages.com)  many moons ago, but now my mommy has taken over and she does all the writing now.  Well today I convinced her to let me try it once again.

I guess by now many of you know that we will soon be starting an adventure, to me I don’t know what they are talking about-since every day is an adventure.

Anyways, all I know is of late that things are slowly changing around our camp.  The canoe is on the car, more stuff is getting packed away (so long as they don’t touch my toys-I’m okay with it).  But what’s getting me all excited is the change in their voice as they talk about this new adventure we will be doing.

Every morning when they get up, I keep a close eye on them and what they are doing.  I know once the slide comes in, then it’s time to get my lazy bones out of bed and that something is about to happen; but that hasn’t happen just yet.  I was told this morning that I will only be going on two more walks around my loop and then we will move closer to the front entrance where there is lots more people for me to bark at (which means I probably will get yelled at more).  Who knows, maybe there will be more boy doggies for me to flirt with!  I will miss my boyfriend, B.D., but hopefully we will be able to connect again next winter.

I don’t understand why they want to move closer to the entrance, daddy says it’s got to do with a lot less dust and dirt and that he wants to hand wash and wax the motorhome.  (I guess he hasn’t heard about car washes yet.). 

Gee, I wonder if there are as many lizards up front as there are back here?  You do know I just love to stalk and hunt lizards, right?  In fact one ran just past me this morning, but he was way to fast for me and I couldn’t catch him and mommy wouldn’t let me loose to go get him when he ran under our motorhome.  The way he ran, you would of thought I was going to eat him (mmm….I wonder if they are tasty….).

Getting back to this “Adventure” they keep talking about, makes me wonder what we will be doing.  They talk about me going with them on canoe rides (just hope the water is warmer than the one in CO-the one mommy pushed me in and claims I jumped in).  They say I will be going on more hikes with them (What, they think I can scare off a bear or a mountain lion; little ole’ me with a big bark?).  I don’t know about this, I guess only time will tell.  ( I wonder if there are lizards where we will be going????)

As the temps start to warm up around here, windows and doors are staying open longer and longer each day.  Last night we went to bed with the window open.  Yes, I was a good girl and stayed in bed, but kept my nose close to the window; constantly sniffing the air and see if anything moves around at night.  If I didn’t  stay on the bed, then they would have punished me and sent me in my kennel.    Now don’t get me wrong, I love my kennel; but only if they go and leave me or on my own terms, but never at bedtime-my place is in bed with them (who else will guard them-right?).

Well mommy says my time is up and besides it warm outside and it’s time I go stalk some more lizards.  Maybe she will let me do this again another time! 

Wish me luck on this new adventure!!!

WEEK OF 3-15-2012: WEATHER

Only 15 more days left before our adventure begins!  Am I counting down now?  Oh yeah, who wouldn’t with the new adventure that we will begin.

We have started to monitor the weather near Blue Water State Park and Navajo State Park.  Blue Water is located between Gallup and Albuquerque off of I-40.  Navajo State Park is west of Farmington.  Both are in elevations between 4000 and 5000.  Only difference is the weather. 

Blue Water tends to be much cooler at night while Navajo is warmer, but both are comparable for daytime highs. But it appears that when a front moves through Blue Water tends to get the blunt of the front that makes the temps drop down and more chances of snow showers. We know that either way we may have to use a little heat during the early morning hours to warm up, but our daytime highs should be perfect; with hopes of being in the lower 70’s by then.  Borrowing they get no more snowstorms or bad inclement weather in those areas, we should be on our way.

We are thinking of gearing more towards Navajo State Park and starting our tour there.  While in the area we will go see the Aztec Ruins, do a lot of hiking, adventuring and finally putting our canoe in the water a few times.

On our travel to there, we plan on stopping at 4-corners.  We will park the motorhome nearby and unhitch the car.  I guess they now charge for you to stand on the corner, but for us, well it will be worth it.

But before our adventure can begin, we first need to start off with a quick visit to the Ford Dealership in Parker AZ where once again they will see why we keep going through engine battery.  Hopefully that will only take a day or two. 

We plan on staying over two nights in Kingman AZ.  We need to look for more hiking shoes (and for me, that’s a challenge in itself!), plus a few other supplies.  Years and years ago I was to Oatman AZ where the donkeys roam and I want to take Brian there.  It’s an old western ghost town.

Our last week out here on the desert floor in Quartzsite we will move closer to the front area where we should get a lot less dust and closer to the pave area.  Here we will hand wash and wax the motorhome before we leave.

The weather here of late has been almost picture perfect with temps reaching well into the 80’s.  We do seem to get the usual spring winds that blows dust and dirt everywhere.   They are calling for some possible rain by this coming weekend, and we hope to finally see a little wetness in the area.

Brian has been doing his bi-yearly check-up on both the motorhome and the car.  Making sure that all the tires are up on air pressure, oil pressure is good in both, as well as all other fluids are where they should be.

We did notice that once again we lost the ac on our car, after spending lots of money last summer on it, it was a big disappointment to discover that it’s not working-again.  Brian will purchase the ac refrigerant and see if that will help for now.

For the next 15 days, we will continue to enjoy the weather here in AZ, continue our morning and evening walks, look for Quartz Crystals and Geodes (which I have found some really neat and interesting ones), and keep our tan up.

WEEK 3-08-2012 = WINDS

As spring time approaches, so do the winds.  This past week I think our motorhome was a rockin more times I want to account for.  We just had two days straight of constant winds.

Just north of us appeared to have had hurricane strength winds that knocked out power to varies areas around Lake Havasu City, Bullhead and Laughlin area.  So even though we were rockin around here, I’m glad we were not any farther north.  However, we could not hardly make out the mountains that surround us, including the ones that are just a mile from us!

With these winds, you seem not to be able to get outdoors much, that unless if course you don’t mind the taste of sand and dirt in your mouth and in your eyes.  So we mainly stayed indoors, playing cards, computing, and listening the fierceness of the winds and holding our breath as we rock that nothing gets damaged.

We came out unscathed-just a lot of dirt that plastered both the motorhome and the car, not to mention all that manage to blow inside.  This morning I looked up at the ceiling and our cloth ceiling was filthy from all that blew in through the AC.  So Brian spent the morning cleaning that mess up.

So the highlight this week for us has been the winds.  The temps are starting to warm up some which means that we will be moving on hopefully in a couple of weeks.

In between all the winds, I have been learning how rock hound Crystal Rocks and have come across some pretty unique ones, including a pure with fractures.

                

Also this past week, the battery on the computer went bad on me.  I normally only got about an hour or so on the battery, and then one day I went to use it and it wouldn’t come up.  Discovered the battery depleted completely down on me and wasn’t holding a charge any longer.  So even though I didn’t use the computer, we had to charge it just to keep it from completely going down on me.  Thank goodness for solar and the sun being out every day (even with the winds).

I Contacted Toshiba on Saturday and by Monday afternoon I had a new one and the old one was sent back.  Now many of you wonder how do you get UPS to come to you when you are out in the middle of the desert on BLM.  Well, in Quartzsite there is a business (Quiet Times) that will accept UPS and Fed ED delivery for you.  She charges for pick-ups and drop offs.  Mostly just a dollar-unless the item is much bigger, than she charges a little more.  It’s well worth it for the convenience and many of us out here are grateful for her services.  She will also do faxes and copies. 

Well, as the days get longer, and our stay out here on BLM gets shorter,  we get more anxious to start our adventure-only 3 weeks away….all depending on the weather-will determine where we start;  but until then, we pluck along each day….

WEEK OF: 03-01-2012: PERCULATOR

Being this is Leap Year, and having one extra day really meant nothing to us, other than it’s another election year and I just hate all the political garbage in between TV shows.  One politician knocking down another politician really doesn’t do me any justice and therefore, we choose to watch very little TV. 
So with that said and no more talk about politics, I will let you know how are week went.  This past week the glass to the percolator glass finally broke in half.  It  had a minor little knick out of it, but that isn’t where it finally cracked.   Brian was cleaning it out and getting ready for another morning, when it broke in half.  So the question became what do we do?  Our only problem is that we special order this percolator from Coleman and we would have to special order another glass for it.

Upon going to Coleman’s web page, I soon discover that they are slowly discontinuing parts to this particular model.  However they did still make the glass replacement and it wasn’t really expensive.  But we would have to have it shipped to a business here in Quartzsite and this year she sky rocket her prices for deliveries-providing it would come UPS or FedEx.  If shipped by mail, well then it would have to be shipped all the way back to our NM address and then again shipped general delivery to us here.  To many obstacles…
We could fire up the generator every morning and get out our electric coffee maker until we get back into Quartzsite and/or Parker to find a glass for it. Starting that noisy generator every morning, wasn’t my cup of tea, specially when the generator is directly under the bed and I like to stay nice and warm until the coffee is just about done.
Or Brian could devise a temporary fix until then.  And that is exactly what he did.  He made a temporary fix until we got back into town to find a glass for it.  Here is what it looked like:

He simply took foil and put it over the hole until we could get it fixed. 
Brian checked several junk dealers, the hardware store and no one had this large of a glass for our size of percolator.  So back to square one-to order or not to order.  If we ordered, how soon would the 3rd one break and how many to order?  Along with the regular shipping and handling, we have to pay this lady extra as well. 
Looking at the percolators at Wal-Mart, they didn’t have glass just the top, so Brian thought why do we need a glass, why couldn’t he fix it so that we wouldn’t ever have to worry about it again?  He contemplated on how to go about fixing it and came up with the idea of a water plug or two washers with a bolt & nut to hold it.
We went to Ace Hardware in Parker, taking the lid with us, Brian explained to a worker what he was trying to do.  Took us down the aisle of nuts and bolts.  While Brian was trying to figure out what size would work, this same worker came back with a this stainless steal cap with prongs.  Upon placing in it in the “hole” it was a perfect fit and cheap ($1.40)!  Here is what it looks like now:

Now the question is: will it work?  Yep, best coffee ever!  We even think it perks faster than when we had the glass and I notice less grounds in my cup of joe.  We just simply listen to when it starts to perk and slow down the flame until we know it’s right for us.
Now that’s fix and we once again can enjoy our coffee, the rest of the week went fairly well for us.  It’s starting to warm up more around here.  However the springtime winds seem to be upon us.  The other day we had wind, and an unexpected trace of rain through the night.  Sure wish we could get more rain to help settle all this dust.  The trace we seem to get only makes our car and motorhome show dust mud spots.  I don’t think I have ever seen our home look so dirty as it does now.
Our little dog Leah loves to be outdoors-when it’s not blowing and she occasionally gets a visitor from the neighbor.  It’s a male beagle dog named B.D. and he likes to come over and steal a quick kiss from her and then wonders back home.  The one evening while out walking, we could hear her barking in her kennel upon coming back.  I noticed a four legged critter on our patio; not knowing if it was a coyote or what, Brian goes running home just to discover that B.D. had come a calling!

B.D. is a rescue dog and has learned the art of survival out here in the desert. 
Well soon the countdown to leaving and a new adventure will soon begin.  until next week….