NAVAJO DAM STATE PARK, NM

Navajo Dam State Park is straight west from Farmington, NM.  Just outside of the town of Aztec on Hwy 550 you will turn right onto Hwy 173.  Hwy 173 gets used a lot by the oil & electric company with their large trucks and the road is good but will jar things around in your rig a little.  When you come to the town of Navajo Dam, turn left onto Hwy 511.  Once you cross over the dam, and go around the curb about another 1/2 mile or so, you will veer to your right into the park.


Once upon a time this lake was quite huge, but due to recent years of drought, the lake is below normal pool level, but still big enough for bass boats, houseboats and jet boats to have a little room to play.  But on a busy weekend-one will have to be more cautious than maybe during the week.


The campground itself is very rustic looking and for some large rigs a bit intimidating.  We ended at Pine-main.  There is a combination of both elect/water, full hook-up and primitive sites in this loop.  Pine has 5 separate loops from A-E.


In “A” loop is where you will find the full hook-up sites-but only just a few. the rest are electric with the exception of one site that is primitive. All the other loops in Pine have either elect/water or are primitive. 
Just past the dump station, if you turn right you are in “E” loop. Turn right at the bathroom again, go around the loop and on the right side you will come across a gravel type road.  Going in is three sites, one has access from the paved road while the other two are from the gravel road.  The road is narrow and very uneven.  the lower site is just about impossible for any size rig to get in.


Not rig friendly, but perfect for a tent or two.


however the very last site, rigs can get in-but don’t expect to be on even ground.  This is where we parked and had a great view of the lake.


  We had a great view from all four direction and loved this spot!  This was a primitive site.


Although there has been large rigs in Pine-main, it’s really not designed for large rigs.   The road is narrow with breakage on the edge of the roadway, making it impossible not to hit branches or to drop off. We even seen one 5th wheel scrapping the tree and doing damage to his antenna not to mention the scratches he put in his rig.  Here is a view of some rigs in spots and notice how they just about stick out in the roadway:


   
These rigs are nearly in the roadway! 

I’m not saying large rigs shouldn’t camp here, for once here, the view and rustic of the area is just gorgeous!  But word of caution:  If you are a triple axle or unsure with your large rig, I might suggest going to Cottonwood for camping.


I also might suggest if you are a large rig coming in; once entering the campground, the dump station is on the right and down the hill.  If you stay on the main road, to your left is “A” Loop, go just past the host and playground (on left) you come to a three intersection: one is “B” loop with a one way sign-stay out of there if your big!  not much room to move around.  But instead veer a little to your left (you will find a green fencing on your right where there is a gas well-follow it).  You are now in “C” loop and there are one or two sites that a big rig might fit in.  But keep going around the bend and you soon go into “D” loop. There are sites on your left with great view of the lake and marina.  These sites are a little more accommodating for the bigger rigs.  But word of caution: only one site is not reservable….


Once again you will come across yet another gravel roadway, and although we checked it out-there was no way we could even possibly think of getting our small motorhome down there!  We did see a truck and small camper down there, but we also saw evidence of his spun out when he came back out and I’m sure he had to put the truck into 4-wheel drive.  But nice sites for tents!


This is not RV Friendly!  They use too large of rocks for their roadway.


Pine is not the only campground in this area.  You also have: Pinon, Cedar, and Juniper campground.  These three were closed and only open just before Memorial Day and close shortly after Labor Day holiday.  They are all primitive with vault toilet; with the exception of Cedar having flush toilet and shower building.


When you first turn left to head towards these three campground, you start out on black top, but once you cross over the cattle guard it becomes gravel.  It’s mostly hard pack, but getting closer to Juniper campground, you climb up hill and it seems the gravel is a little more loose in this area.


Gravel roadway to Juniper-Here it starts to get a little loose compare to the rest of the hard gravel.

Pinon Campground allows no RV’s  and believe me, after walking it, if you don’t have a 4-wheel drive or high clearance vehicle-we would not suggest even considering this area!  the road is very un-even, rough with large rocks and many ruts.  Sites are okay with some nice private sites and views of the lake.  I wonder if anyone has gotten into trouble with their vehicle in this area and had to be hauled out?


This is the roadway to Pinon


   Cedar and Juniper is a little bit more RV friendly with some sites that have great view and/or privacy for those that wish it.  However, once again, the road is narrow with bush hanging out in the roadway, deep ruts with large rocks.  If I owned a big diesel pusher-I would NOT want to bring my rig in here at all.  I would not want to come into these areas if there were any intention of rain-you just might find yourself-stuck....


                


Navajo Dam also has two other campgrounds besides here.  Cottonwood is below the dam and just off of 173 just before you get to the town of Navajo Dam.  It’s a gravel road, but a good road getting into the campground.  the sites appeared to be more level and wider and as I stated earlier, more RV friendly.  They do not have showers but have flush toilet and a dump station.


You are on the San Juan River with great fishing and wildlife viewing.  We were here during the day and saw a young buck coming out of the water and constantly heard wild turkeys.




The only downfall that we could really see to camping here was the knats and mosquitos!  We hate both, so opted of not coming here to camp.


there is also one other park called Sims Mesa-we did not adventure to that side and cannot say what that is like.


As for the cleanliness of the Parks wasn’t all that bad.  Not a lot of trash, but fire rings we notice could use a cleaning and could see evidence of past campers that have thrown it down the hill-us included.  Our fire ring was full, so making sure no hot spot-Brian scooped up most of it and flung it down the hillside. 


There is a campground host and he seems to be very friendly and was helpful to us.  Not really sure of his job description, but we did notice that he might clean one site, but totally skip another site.   One site has had trash in the fire ring now for the whole time we have been here and no one has bother to clean it up.
The park rules states no glass bottles outside of your vehicle while inside the park, but again evidence showed that people don’t pay attention to rules. 


I can’t speak for during peak season, but off season there is no rangers around other than in the visitor center.  If coming in you pay your fees through an honor box system that is located at the entrance of the park, and again at Pine, Pinon, Cedar & Juniper.   Both Cottonwood and Sims Mesa the honor box is at their entrance as well.  The only time we saw evidence of a park ranger was on the weekends.  We were told by the host that two do live on the premises.


Bathrooms were clean-but not spectacular.  I think they fear cleaning the showers the most,  the whole time we stayed here they might have gotten a hose down down once or twice-but that’s it.  Brian and I said that when we use to contracted for the C.O.E. and would get a “white glove” inspection-this would not pass the inspection!  But good enough to use-until the weekend groups came in.  We have been in cleaner and dirtier-so I guess we take this as being in the middle for cleanliness.


When we took a drive down to Cottonwood we both were completely appalled to what we saw.  Our American Flag completely tattered, faded and worn out!  Upon emailing pictures and a letter to the main office in Santa Fe-the Flag was replaced immediately.  It should have never been allowed to be let go for that long and there fore made us a little disappointed in New Mexico State Park and hope we never come across this again….


     

Would we ever come back here?  Oh yeah!  Even though the park is a little out of date, and we understand cut-backs.  The peace and tranquil here in the high-desert mountain was awesome!  I’m sure however during peak season this place is booming.  That is why we choose to come in early spring before the crazy starts.


    
    

03-30-2013-FREE BLM IN AZ

We have spent two winters now on BLM Land near Quartzsite, AZ.  There are four LTVA (Long Term Visitor Area) where you pay $180.00 to stay.  The season pass is good from 15th of Sept thru 15th of April (7 months).  This fee gets you free dump and water fill and dumpsters to throw your trash and you don’t have to move your rig anytime during those months.  Whether you stay the full 7 months or just 3 months, the fee stays the same.  You can purchase a two week pass for only $40.00, and some folks opt this way if staying less than the 3 months.


While staying on LTVA you have more rules to follow by, for example-generators can’t be run during the hours of 10pm -6am, you can’t just park anywhere, and at least 15 feet from your nearest neighbor-if you choose to be that close.


If one does not want to pay that $180.00 there are several BLM Land that are free in the surrounding  areas of Quartzsite, Parker and Yuma. 


Although we paid the $180.00 for the season pass and our time was not up yet, we wanted to check out some of the free area.  Now the rules are different; in the aspect that there are no rules, other than no gathering of firewood (which applies to all of the BLM Land in AZ).




In other words, folks can park as close as they want to you, can run generators all night long if they wish to, run ATV’s around you all day and night, party, play music or what ever they might choose to do.  Only thing a park ranger will tell you is if you don’t like your neighbor-move.


One thing that amazed us and was a bit surprise, is the fact that the grounds were not cluttered of trash and debris.  We did come across many old and new fire rings, and although gathering of firewood is prohibited, we saw few down and dead wood laying around; It has been scavenged.




Even though it’s Free to camp, you can only stay for 14 days in 30 day period and then you must move at least 25 miles.  You get no water, sewer dump or trash.  As I stated we didn’t see any trash just lying around, but many obvious siting's of both grey and black water that was dumped.




BLM requires you to registered with the host.  Only one problem that I see with their sign; It does not tell you where the host is located.  For example, we stayed at Plamosa Rd, we came off of HWY 95.  Just to the right of the entrance there is a bulletin board and a sign with a camper and a flag pole and a sign that does say host.  Now, the problem lies if you are coming off of HWY 72 onto Plamosa RD, and once entering the 14 day camping area, again it tells you to register with the host, but from this direction how would you located the host? 




since we were there during the very late month of March, campers were far and few between.  Our nearest neighbor at one point was at least a mile away.  but I’m sure during the peak of the winter months this place was booming with campers all over. 


They do have markers in varies areas as to where they do not want you to camp.  We did come across a few markers that need to be replace because at a glance from a vehicle, you cannot read what it says.  They are for day-use purpose only, no overnight camping.




the BLM has also spent lots of money putting up berms so that you just can’t drive off the roadway and make your own roads.  They have markers where they want you to enter the areas at.




All I can say is that while here we did find it to be peaceful and a different view.  
   
                                       

The land and rocks were different that from the LTVA area (a bit harder for walking).  We also noticed that it appears even though some of us pay the $180.00 in the LTVA area, the money is being spent in the Free area and the paid areas are being just a bit neglected as far as road surface and other maintenance is concerned.


With that said, I would not want to be here in the free area during peak time as I’m sure it’s a mad house around here with rigs coming and going and ATV’s running up and down and around you.

WEEK OF 18-22: TOOTLING

This past week we have just been tootling around Quartzsite and we even took a few ATV trails to see how far we could go in our car without putting it into 4-wheel drive.
We started on BLM road 419 and got between the two  mountains, then the dirt road split in so many directions and not knowing which direction to go, we decided it would be best to turn around.  We have been told that there was an old mining camp back there and that you could get to it by the way of 419.  We didn’t bring our trustee GPS system, so we didn’t want to get lost either.
On the way back we found this saying done in quartz stone:

while out tootling, we decided to check out the LTVA at Lapoosa North and decided that one was way too busy for us to ever consider staying.  Some areas even looked like they were almost on top of one another.
Then we checked out Scaddin Wash which is only a 14 day limit, although it was really spread out, and many areas to “hide”, you  can only stay the 14 days before they kick you out and according to BLM rules, you have to move at least 25 miles for 7 days before coming back and you cannot use their dump station or fill with water-not an option at this time for us. 
Anyways, getting back on track again, we are still on the hunt for that old mining camp.  And again we have not found it and taken the wrong road.  Brian was told that we could jump on the Interstate and take the next exit to get to it-the easy way.
We finally did and yes, we finally found the old mining camp.  However, for all those that seem to talk about it, it was disappointing to me.  Yes, it’s built mainly out of stone, but I never expected to find modern appliances.  Here are some pics of the mining camp:

well we finally had enough of tootling around and it was time to think about heading back home again.  Being this is our second year here at Quartzsite, AZ we always laughed at the watering tower in town where you can contact Quartzsite and pay for water, here are some pics:
notice that the “boy” has a longer “nose” than the “girl”?  Only time we ever saw anyone getting water from here was during the RV Show and then they would water down the grounds to help keep the dust down.
Also something new in Quartzsite this year was at every entrance to the town was new Quartzsite signs.  I guess all the money we winter visitors dish out here They finally put the money to some use.  Question is: Was it worth it or a big waste of money?  I guess that is why this town is in constant uproar over their own local government.  Here is a pic: 

Now that the car is all dirty and dusty, both inside and out, it’s time to stop tootling around and head back home.

MY HUMBLE OPINION-AMAZON.COM

Now that I have officially completed my first season with Amazon.com in Coffeyville KS. Here is my humble opinion about the whole thing:
Upon my phone interview with Paul from Amazon, he was very pleasant on the phone and very honest in the interview. He came right out and stated that the job could be physically demanding. He asked if I was able to lift at least 50lbs, if I was able to walk at least 10+ miles in a 10 hour shift, if you would be offended by some of the things that might come through the fulfillment center. If you can answer those questions honestly-then you won’t have any problem working for amazon.com.

• Never did I have to really lift 50lbs, and they are very adamant that you “test” the load before even trying to lift. If you feel you cannot lift, then don’t hesitate to ask for help and get a “buddy lift” (another person to help you with the heavy item).
• The only time you may walk 10+ miles if you are a “picker”, then you could easily walk more than that; especially during peak season. Another one that could get you that many miles is also a stower (a person who puts the items in designated area). I was a receiver so I basically stood more than I walked. They do require that if you stand more than 15 minutes in the same spot that you get a rubber mat.
• Good solid shoes is a must and some are not even allowed, so before you go out and buy those shoes, find out first what are allowed and what are not. There are two different tennis shoes that are not allowed, the one is an exception as long as the wires on the heel are covered. Stay away from steel toe shoes!
• You will have to go through security every single time you leave the plant area. So be prepared to have your break time cut down by a minute or two.
• I never knew they could put so many shifts as Amazon has done; I believe that there was a total of 13 shifts. All day shifts started at 6:00am (inbound) or 6:30am (outbound) and you worked until either 4:30pm (inbound) or 5:00pm (outbound). Night shift started at either 5:00pm or 5:30pm depending if you were inbound or outbound. Regardless what you worked, we all did at least 10 hour shift. You might start beginning of your week on Sunday and end on Wednesday or maybe start on Monday and end on Thursday and so forth and so forth. There was one called the Donut shift and no they didn’t get donuts for going in but their shift might start on Monday, work Tuesday, have Wednesday off and then work Thursday and Friday and have the weekend off. There were couples that worked only 2 days and had the rest off. So many scenarios that you wouldn’t imagine that a job placement could do-but Amazon did!
• During peak season (right after Thanksgiving and going all the way to Dec 23rd) your hours could increase to 50, 55 or 60 hours. Workampers are only required to work 50, but they do have the option to go up to 60 hours if they choose too.
• All work force campers completed on or before the 23rd of Dec. Depending on when your shift work week ended. Amazon will pay for one extra day of camping the day before you start and one day after you completed your end of term. you do NOT get your bonus if you leave your assignment before your officially end date. I was shocked to see a couple of campers leave and they only had one more week left to go.

• We did get a few flack from the regular workers, but I learned for the most part to do my job, try my best to get along and not let them get to me. I would great them with a smile, tell them good morning or to have a good night and before I knew it, I did become friends with them. Once in a while I would ask for their input (even though I knew the answer)-this made them feel that you needed them and they then in return would actually respect you back.
• You had several vested folks running around, red vest, green vest, yellow vest and an occasional brown vest.
  • Red vest: were your Ambassador and did mainly training. They guided you and answer you any questions and were there the first week of your job.
  • Green Vest: were your PA’s (Process Assistant): If there was a job shift they would tell you were to go. Amazon also works on a percentage and they would come around about 2-4 times daily to let you know where your percentage was. Or if you had a screw up, they would come and tell you what you did wrong.
  • Yellow Vest were your managers of your dept.. You may easily see two or three of them running around your area. One is generally higher up than the other, but the same, if you have a question or problem, you go to them.
  • Brown Vest were the work campers force supporters. If we had any questions to relay to Paul or Dana we would go through them or they might do a safety check with us to make sure we are following Amazon’s guidelines in safety.
• Amazon is very strong on Safety and are very strict in areas of Pit Drivers and running or working around the conveyers, there is absolutely no room for errors and they won’t hesitate in firing you if you violate the serious safety rules! You do go through safety school on your first day during orientation. So pay attention-it’s really not rocket science but more common sense than anything.
• Your first day is called Meet and Greet which basically was orientation. You watch several videos (they are boring), you took a quick quiz to see if you could read and comprehend what they wanted (very easy and simple and almost funny). Here is where they will take your pic and you will get a badge before the end of the day and you will know what shift and areas you will be working. It’s an all day affair.

I mainly stayed in Inbound trained in receiving and prepping. Prepping was sort of fun, but hated to hang coats on hangers! When Peek time came around many folks that were stowers and some receivers got moved over to outbound with many extra overtime. Here is where I really got frustrated because all the managers knew that I wanted as much OT as I could get, and I didn’t get moved. I got stuck in inbound and the tension between all the workers for some reason got more tense.
I won’t denied there were a few occasions where I just wanted to walk out, but I didn’t. I didn’t come this far to loose the bonus that I would receive at the end of completion. The lesson I learned is that I should have gone to HR right away with my issues instead of keeping them to myself. When I finally was denied extra OT that is when I did go to HR and both Paul and Dana did their best to get me my hours.
I did get some training in Outbound and enjoyed the different pace of work. However several of those that got transfer during peak season, they ended up quitting. I think if the managers would pay a little more attention to the workampers, they would get better cooperation and a lot less walking out on the job.
Here is a low down and description of each job that a workampers may do:
Inbound consist of shipment coming into the fulfillment center, being received and/or prepped, then onto the stowers who put the item away.
Receiver: Semi’s come in and workers unload the thousands of boxes/cases of products. Most get put on a conveyer and receivers check the items into the fulfillment center. The item is scanned and checked in through a computer system. They have to make sure there is no damage to the product upon checking in. It’s place on carts to be stowed away.
Prepping: consist of varies things. If an item if fragile and could possible be broken between transship, then it’s wrapped in bubble wrap to protect the item. If it’s anything apparel or cloth it has to be placed in bags or if it’s a child’s toy that is cloth it has to be bagged. Any liquid items that could possibly open up has to be bagged. Coats have to be placed on hangers. This is just a few things that maybe prepped.
Stower: the stowers now take the cart and find temporary placement for the product. They carry a hand held scanner so that once the product is placed, they have to scan both the product and the bin that the item is going into, so that the picker knows exactly where to go to get this item when needed. Some products have designated areas that they have to be in.
Outbound is now where the pickers goes finds an item that has been ordered and goes to shipping to be shipped out.
Picker: When item is received online through amazon, a picker goes and locates that item and places it in a bin. They too carry a hand held scanner and this is where they get their information to locate that item.
Crisplant: is the packing dept. Orders come off the conveyer and run through a chute. Again checked to make sure it’s the right product being shipped and there is no virtual damage.
Shipping: there are so many ways an item can be shipped. It all depends on how the customer has requested it to be shipped to them. Once the product is placed in the right size box, it also gets scanned and is sent down a conveyer where the address of the shipment is placed and ready to be shipped out.
Now here are some “funny” words that I call them that we had to learn quickly the meaning of:
Water Spider: is a person who takes the carts from the receivers and sends them to the stowers. Or they could also be the person that stocks the boxes for the shippers.
Gaylord: are huge boxes that shipping items are placed in once ready to be shipped to be taken out and loaded.
Asin: stands for Amazon Standard Identification Number. It’s a bar code that identified each item that is scanned into the warehouse.
There are many more that you will learn, but these are the ones that I laughed at the most!
There is really a lot that goes in to ship an item out and is amazing how it all works. It was a fun experience and look forward to more years as a seasonal work force campers for Amazon.com
One thing is for sure: this is NOT a sit down on your butt kind of job! It is physically and even mentally demanding-but I would and plan on doing it again. It does get frustrating, but you learn to cry a little, laugh a lot and make lots of new friends!
Note: All that I have described here, is how Amazon.com operates it’s fulfillment center in Coffeyville KS. So it may vary at other fulfillment centers. I hope this gives you just a general idea on how it all works.
Amazon’s Motto: Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History!

CRAZY OR WHAT??

Since traveling on the road for over 11 years now, we never have made a move this late in the season.  We always have been somewhere and settled way before even Thanksgiving.  But this year being a little different since working at amazon.com, we didn’t hit the road until literally days before Christmas!
Leaving Coffeyville, we had decided to make one of the AZ Casino’s our place to stop to enjoy Christmas at one of their delicious buffets and who knows-pluck a few dollars into the slot machine.
Upon getting ready, we knew that a bad snow storm was hitting in the direction we wanted to go, so we got held up in Sayre OK until the storm passed and the Instate cleared. 
The more we thought about it, the more exciting it sounded to be parked in snow!  We would bundle up and yes, even Leah and go play out in the snow on Christmas Day!  What a better way to enjoy the day and then go pig out on the Christmas Buffet!
Well, here’s where it starts to get interesting….
Upon leaving Amarillo TX and heading towards NM border we knew that we would start to see the snow accumulation.  Heading towards Tucumcari we only saw a dusting along the roadway and thought to ourselves that this was nothing.  We were thinking that a dusting to these folks was a blizzard…but as we got closer to a town called Edgewood NM, the snow started to get deeper.  There were areas along the I-40 corridor that hadn’t even been cleaned off along the shoulders yet.  All the rest areas Westbound were still closed and not plowed out yet.  They were just opening Eastbound rest areas as we plucked along.
   

Needing a break and wanting to stretch my legs, Brian found a Wal-Mart right off of I-40 in the town of Edgewood.  The exit was slushy but cleared enough to master the motorhome and tow, until we got into Wal-Mart’s parking lot.  They apparently don’t know the word “snow-plow”!  It wasn’t plowed at all, and being Christmas Eve, it was chaotic!  There was no place safe to park the motorhome without the fear of getting stuck since there appeared to be 10-12 inches of the white stuff. I  manage to go in one entrance and out the next exit to learn that I could not make the left turn I needed to head in right direction.  So ended up going down  the road, in the wrong direction of our destination and not knowing what was ahead.
I found a shopping center where I barely could get the motorhome in one drive and back out the other just to turn around!  upon the entrance I scrapped the back-end.  Brian goes to investigate and finally those skid wheels we purchased did their job well!Now turned around back in the right direction, We decided I didn’t need that rest after all so onward we go to the Casino!
We were tossed between Dancing Eagle and Sky City Casino.  Both had RV Parking, however Sky City sounded to have a wonderful Christmas Buffet-so Sky City here we come…
Monitoring the weather closely in that particular area, we knew that both Casinos got hit hard with the snow storm.  So Brian called to find out if even the RV Parks would be open and even plowed out.  Sky City told us that it was being done as they spoke-or so we were told.
Upon our arrival to Sky City Casino in late afternoon on Christmas Eve, we were again greeted with lots of slush and snow!  It made it difficult to even get fuel, but manage.  We paid for our site and was told that the campground was plowed out and ready.  The RV Park is across the road from the Casino/Hotel/Travel Center.  As we crossed over the road, to our dismay, we couldn’t even try to get into the RV roadway let alone find our spot that was buried yet under all the snow! 



We left the motorhome sitting in the roadway, unhooked the car and went back over to the travel center where we paid and complained.  They got the guy over to plow it out while we sat waiting…thinking boy, we gotta be crazy or what?   It took well over an hour and half just to get us a path in and into our site. 
Now we are stuck here until they finish up on Christmas Day so that we  can pull back out bright and early Monday morning to much warmer weather-AZ!




Upon getting up this morning-it was only down to –7below outside!  I think this is the coldest weather thus far since traveling.  So did we stay warm inside? You betcha!!!  With the help of the electric heater and the motorhome furnace running until we got up, then Brian turned on our Cozy World brick heater.  We never hooked to the water direct and what we have in the tank didn’t freeze either. 


We opened up the window blinds and discovered all the windows had ice on them!




Since the sun has come out all the windows are cleared up.  We are just waiting for the afternoon sun to hit the slide side so that we can bring it in and not wait till tomorrow.  As the day moves forward we are to warm up to a mighty 36 degrees.
Another Christmas Day to remember and to put in our memory book