Slow start this morning. I got some writing done, outlining a book. Eggacados for breakfast, which we haven’t had in some time. Ashley did yoga outside. We transferred water from our external backup to the internal house tank. I checked the oils in the motorcycle and off we went to Parker, AZ then over the river to Big River, CA. Didn’t remember where Mom and Gary stayed last year and didn’t see anything that jogged our memory. Back to Parker for gas and coffee (something warm to hold in frozen hands – if they’d offered a free cup of hot water I would have been all over that!).

We looked at maps and researched separate topics. Believe that we found the campground back across the river, but was cooling down when we were ready to head out so we aimed back home again.

Ashley looked at the John Muir trail in CA. 2015’s big adventure (within the scope of our overall quest, that is) was the bicycle ride across Iowa. 2016’s focus is going to be backpacking and she’s drawn to the JM trail. She really enjoyed reading a couple of his books about time in the wilderness and wants to see where he was writing about. And, based on past experiences and knowledge of ourselves, she’s right in saying that if we don’t get out and backpack through the parks we’re likely to end up not liking them – too many people and they’ll seem too touristy. Plus, how can we possibly pass up “what many backpackers call the finest mountain scenery in the United States” that visits “some of the crown jewels of the Parks system”?

Of course, to hike the trail, we have to drastically alter our plans. Which is not surprising in the least. A loop up the coast through Washington and over to Glacier then back down the California mountains before heading east to Colorado for more backpacking. The loop through California was actually our original plan, so that seems to work out well. there’s just so much to see!

With the possibility of solar vendors here at Quartzsite I have been, once again, researching solar setups. There’s so much (conflicting) information out there and electrical systems can be complicated anyway. I just can’t seem to get everything straight in my head, or I do but then months pass before I look back at my notes and have to relearn it.

It would certainly be convenient to just go to a shop and tell them to set it all up. I’ve read too many horror stories (though just as many great outcomes) that I’m leery of doing so. Plus, I want to know how everything is set up so that I can repair/replace/alter in the future. Not to mention the cost savings of not paying for someone else’s labor. So I’m definitely interested in researching in person but don’t know that I expect to buy anything while here – unless there are just some good deals on components.

Research done and tentative plans made we head back out across the desert, aiming for home. Once there, I cook supper while Ashley writes out our most recent batch of post cards

Last night’s WalMart was noisy, so we didn’t sleep so well. Brant called and woke me up (after I’d already turned off the alarm) but I ended up hanging up on him.

After breakfast and a quick shopping run we moved across the street to the Goodwill, looking for a crockpot to replace our broken one. No luck, so we backtracked a couple of miles for a last coffee before heading back out into the wilderness. So much coffee! T.S. Elliot said “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” I think we need to measure ours in coffee shops. Delightful little shop where we got some last chores done online.

On down the intersate we head, stopping at a rest area for lunch. Not too much further we reach Quartzsite and head through, finding a secluded(ish) parking areaout in the desert. Our closest neighbors are about 300 yards away. Looking out our dining room window we see scrub desert and mountains off in the distance. After registering we head into town on the motorcycle and see what there is to see.

Looking out our window

Not much, as it turns out. Quartzsite is a small town that swells to (one estimate says) a million people next weekend. It’s the Sturgis of RV’s. There are hundreds of vendor stalls, but most of them are closed up for the day. No restaurant catches our attention so we head back home for supper with plans to return and check out the market another day.

It’s interesting to see so many RV’s in one place, and the crowds haven’t even begun to arrive yet! It’s nice to see so many RV’s around – to be part of the welcomed majority instead of the questionable minority.

Called Brant back. Good timing on his call, as I had “call Brant” on my todo list for today anyway!

We woke with the first alarm and promptly finished the last couple of packing touches so that we could pull out of our lot. Still dark and not quite time for breakfast, we ran errands – bought the first gas for the RV since November, picked up a few groceries at the store, and then a last visit to Bead & Berry. After coffee and breakfast we headed south to Tucson.

The plan is to visit Saguaro Forest National Park – but it’s an overcast, rainy day today – so we’re heading into town to check out a bookstore (looking for a 2016 calendar) and generally hide out from the weather. We could both use new shoes so we look for those while in the mall (without any luck). Wraps for lunch in the parking lot… it feels like we’re back home again. 😀

Then over to a nearby Sprouts, a grocery store we’ve really come to enjoy. They have great prices on good looking produce. We’ll certainly miss them when we can’t find them around any more.

Finished shopping, we head out to the Tucson Mountain Park for a couple of nights. It’s a county park with a campground that has electric hookups. It’s not too far from the western half of Saguaro and will give us a good home base and a place to rest a bit – we’re both far more tired than we realized! It’s so quiet here! We are also surprised at how accustomed we’d become to the background noise of generators and traffic. The water pump and refrigerator fan seem so loud!

We picked up a roasted chicken, I make salsa, and Ashley mashes the last of our rutabagas from the CSA. Delicious supper!

After walking to two different coffee shops, both of which were closed, we ended up back home – researching weather. It turns out that our plans to visit New Mexico won’t quite work out due to freezing temperatures. There’s enough of a concern that our pipes might freeze and burst for us to skip New Mexico until a non-El Nino year. What a shame! But better safe than sorry in this case.

Mel and Jo (Valley View Trees owners) stopped by to pick up paperwork, office supplies, and generally wrap up the season. We enjoyed chatting with them. Jerry and the distribution crew came by and picked up all of the supplies and left-over fireworks as well.

We’ve been watching through the first two seasons of Heroes during our time in Arizona and we finished off the last episode before bed – before hitting the road. What perfect timing!

Packed up the lot after a slow morning. Boxed up fireworks, took down decorations, folded up tables, and packed everything into the storage container. A few customers trickled through during the process and we ended up making a few sales. Not quite enough to warrant staying open through the weekend, however.

What a relief to be packed up and done! We walked over to Brooklyn Boys pizza and restaurant for a celebratory supper. Pasta, what a treat!

Sales ramped up slowly for fireworks. Slow on Monday, half that on Tuesday, a nice steady trickle on Wednesday, absolute flood on Thursday, and a slow trickle on Friday. Seriously, Thursday the first customer was there moments after we opened the gate and after lunch there was a line circling the tent – and it remained that way until evening. Crazy busy day – that was the highest single sales day of all the lots. (And we ended up with the highest sales over all.)

It was certainly nice for Ashley to be able to walk to the grocery/coffee shop (we really enjoyed Bead & Berry across the street from us – delicious coffee and amazing food). Over-all, however, we liked Gilbert better. It’s a more upscale community (helpful for sales with Christmas trees, we suspect) and feels cleaner and safer. Not that we have any specific issues with Maricopa – it’s just not somewhere that we want to stay for months on end.

Ashley walked within a couple feet of this lil guy

One highlight on New Year’s Eve was the lady who sold us some home-made tamales. Wow, they were delicious! We got a dozen of them, so they stretched out across a few different meals – and when we received them they were still hot so we had a quick, delicious supper!

Twice now we’ve had ladies come by (and, since they didn’t speak English, had their daughters) sell us Tamales. Once while selling Christmas trees. They were darn good, but these were even better!