January 1-15, 2024

Happy New Year. We celebrated New Years Eve in Yuma, Arizona at the Q Casino.

The Casino offers dry camping for 10 dollars which was fine with us. We also enjoyed an amazing Crab and Prime Rib Buffet for 30 bucks which was super amazing. We gambled a little and then I went to sleep around 9 and Greg stayed up till the balloons dropped. 

Weird thing about celebrating there is that the casino is right on the California border so the next day we drive 5 minutes to the free public land to camp but we were a full hour later or maybe earlier. It was all so confusing with the Time Zone being right there.

We stayed the next two nights at the Sidewinder Public Land which we really love. It’s so peaceful and quiet. Every once in a while jeeps or ATV’s will go by heading to the sand dunes but other than that it’s extremely serene. 

We went on a hike one day to this place called The Mound where somebody built this beautiful area with rocks and statues. Literally in the middle of nowhere but pretty just the same. 

Gas in California was ridiculously high. We headed back to Arizona to fill up the van and to get out of the desert because the rain was coming. You don’t want to be in the desert during a rain storm. It gets so windy and then the possibility of flooding and the sand turns to gooey peanut butter when it rains there. So we headed to the movies in town and saw Wonka. I thought it was awesome.  From there we decided to stay at the Cracker Barrel again because it was already dark when we got out of the movies. The Cracker Barrel was packed out with RV,s, vans and car campers. It’s amazing to me that they even allow that but I guess everyone leaves during the day so what’s the harm.

We started getting a little antsy, like we usually do when we stay in a town for too many days so we started heading north. We did a short 50 minute drive to Lake Martinez. We had been here before and like it. This time, however they double their prices and it wasn’t even like a normal campground. It was just dispersed camping like we had been doing for free. Plus there was a charge for the showers and the bathrooms reminded me what prison bathrooms might look like. No doors on any of the stalls, just a small white shower curtain that didn’t stretch the entire way of the door opening. I’m talking about the toilet stalls. No Thank you. Not for me. We packed up early the next day and headed to Quartzsite. We didnt take one single photo from Lake Martinez and plan on never going back.

First stop was the Laundry Place that also has paid showers for $11. The showers are super super clean!!! Cleaner than my own shower at home. Plus a nice clean warm towel and washcloth and soap and shampoo. It’s a van travelers dream come true. So we both took showers and then did our laundry, had a little lunch then headed out to the Holly Jolly Public Land. Open land for as far as the eye can see. Super Dark and Peaceful. The night skies are awesome out here.

We filled up on Diesel here in Quartzsite. The price wasn’t too bad ($3.49,) however it’s biodiesel meaning it’s 5-20% biodiesel and our can is not supposed to go above 5% biodiesel. This is extremely annoying when we can not find fuel for the van. We filled it up anyhow because they say doing it once in a while is Ok. When we picked our spot I. The desert land and shut the van off, we noticed a high pitch sound coming from the engine. It lasted like 5 minutes so we googled it and found out that it is the EGR valve trying to clean the gunk out of the diesel. We watched a YouTube video on how to clean the valve and will do that if the situation gets worse. We aren’t sure if this is from the crappy diesel or just coincidence. Either way we will keep an eye on it. We plan on staying in this town for a couple of weeks so won’t be doing a whole bunch of driving. 

Next day we headed to The Plomosa Road Public Land. This area is way more spread out than Hi Jolly. It’s only a couple of miles further from the town. We settled in and went for a walk. The land just goes on and on. We also have a great cell signal here so will probably call this home.

Woke up to rain!!!! Ugghhh. This time of year, the sun is so low in the sky so we aren’t getting a ton of solar to keep our battery’s as charged as we would like them. And then rain and clouds makes matters even worse. And then on top of that, it’s in the thirties at night so we need to use the Heater which draws from the Battery Bank. So our plan for staying at Plomosa Rd is no longer a plan. We need to find a place to stay for one night and plug into some electric and boost our batteries up to full force. We checked out 4 different campgrounds and then settled in at the Tyson Wells RV park which is right on I10 and absolutely nothing like what you would picture in your mind of what and RV park looks like. But for 20 bucks we get electric and we are in walking distance to all the vendor tents that are starting to set up for next weeks RV show at the BIG TENT. We will only be here one night then we had back to public land. We picked a great night because the wind was out of control and the temperature dropped to 33°. We stayed nice and cozy in the warm van. We bundled up and went to a few of the vendors. 

Next day we headed to the library to download a few movies before heading back to the public land. It’s a really great library in Quartzsite and I have never seen such friendly and helpful librarians. The majority of people that came into the library don’t even live In Quartzsite yet they have the same privileges as anyone that lives here. I went on the computer for a while which was right next to the librarians desk and couldn’t believe how much they were doing. It was amazing.

Next day we headed to the library to download a few movies before heading back to the public land. It’s a really great library in Quartzsite and I have never seen such friendly and helpful librarians. The majority of people that came into the library don’t even live In Quartzsite yet they have the same privileges as anyone that lives here. I went on the computer for a while which was right next to the librarians desk and couldn’t believe how much they were doing. It was amazing. 

The next day we saw that the weather was going to be sunny and calm so what better weather than to have a shower day. We loaded up on water and Greg got the hot water heater up and running. We began filling a bucket with hot water and about half way into it, the water pump just died on us. So I quickly got my things together and headed into the shower tent. It was just enough water for me to enjoy my shower. Greg, unfortunately, never got the pump working again so he was out of luck.  That night we watched one of the movies that we downloaded. The next morning we woke up to 40 mph winds. The van was a rocking!! And the shower tent was still outside basically bent in half.  It was crazy!! We hurried out there and started bringing everything inside cause things were flying. Not the best way to start off your morning. 

Soon after, we headed to the town so that Greg could take a shower at the laundromat. While he was showering, I did a little shopping in the local grocery store across the street. The prices weren’t too crazy considering how small the town is. The town is starting to get more and more crowded. Different events are starting to happen. Today was the first day of the WRTR, which is the Woman’s Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. I dropped Greg off at the library and headed over to listen to a few of the talks and to drop a few things off at the “free table.” You’ll never believe what I found at the Free Table. I found a brand new 12 volt water pump better than the one that died on us yesterday. I grabbed it right away and a few other things that we needed. I accidentally threw out one of our steak knives and we only had two so I picked up another at the free table. Also a fun wooded spoon/spatula that I absolutely love!  

It was amazing to see the hundreds of woman at the WRTR. These woman are all like me. Traveling the country in vans and campers. It’s amazing how many people do what we do. These woman do it on their own which is very impressive. 

From there, I walked back to the library with my bag of loot. Greg was super excited about the water pump. We then went to the local hardware store and picked up whatever fittings and hoses he will need to connect the new pump. And we headed back to the desert where I cooked a nice dinner for us. Now we are just going to relax and watch a movie then off to bed. Oh we also found a place in town called The RV Pit Stop that has water for much cheaper than what they were selling it in town for. In town the water costs $2.50 for 5 gallons. At this place it was only a buck. 

So next day, Greg spends the morning connecting the new water pump to the battery and hoses and all that. He turns it on and NOTHING!!! Ugghhhhh!! We couldn’t believe it!!! So I go to YouTube University to see if we can figure out what the problem is. It’s a lot of mumbo jumbo about water pressure and stuff but I see that one guy suggests to band this small screw with a wrench so we do as instructed and the water pump comes to life!!!! I love YouTube.  

Next day we had to head to California to pick up my thyroid prescription. It was the closest pharmacy to where we are. There’s just something about California that irks me. Probably the fact that everything is twice the price of what it should be and the other being that they make you pass into an inspection station every single time you cross into California. It’s bizarre. Cause they just wave you through anyway and it’s just pointless and a waste of time and money. Anyhow we did a little food shopping after picking up the prescription and then headed back to Quartzsite. When we got back to the public land our spot that we had been staying in was taken so we drove a little further in and found a new spot and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. 

So tomorrow I have to publish the blog and I’ve been typing it all out on my phone in the notes area. Usually I type it all out and add photos as I go on the Jetpack app that WordPress wants me to use. It’s been crashing like crazy so I deleted it from my phone. So now I’m not really sure what I’m going to do. It will probably mean a trip to the library to maybe use my laptop or use the library computer to

Copy and paste all of this. I’m not the only one having issues with the Jetpack App. Bunch of terrible reviews for it. Hopefully WordPress does something about it soon. 

Today, I dropped Greg off at the RTR and headed to church.

After Church, we are heading to a YouTube meet and greet in another area of Quartzite for two nights, so the blog might be a day late in publishing. we did two nights at One Advanture Meetup. Really met some great people and had some nice Campfire talks.

I think we are going to spend another week or maybe even two here in Quartzsite. There is so much stuff going on every day of the week and the weather has been fantastic. Plus every night is an amazing sunset.

Thanks for reading the blog.