Ajo, the "Steps", Yuma

Currently we are off Ogilby Road, west of Yuma. We are parked by Chuck and Jan Moore and Ron and Bernita Poutney. Dee and Bruce Richmond came in yesterday. The eight of us are with the Boondockers, who are scattered around this area. When we got here on Thursday the weather was beautiful but we have had a lot of windy days. We have been having a great time with the other couples: happy hour celebrating our new rigs, group dinners, and playing Mexican Train, watching the Olympics, going for long hikes. What a great group!! We will probably be here for another week. And then return to Prescott.

At Ajo we parked on BLM land. There were a lot of rigs. We went to the fiddle contest on Thursday night and then again on Sunday. Some of the fiddle players were very good. We especially liked the young kids that played.

On Friday, I went for a 16 mile bike ride with Dee and Bruce to Ajo and we did three geocaches. The other days we hiked with the group, attended the happy hours and the campfires.

And one of the highlights of the week was celebrating Dean’s 63^rd birthday with cake and ice cream at the happy hour.

On Monday we went to Lake Havasu City for the Winter Blast. We stayed at “the Steps” . The “Steps” is a development that did not make it but it is a great place to park since the only thing the developers did was level a lot of the area. Besides the Boomers, the Rovin Rods were also there and we got to see our old friends, Richard and Peggy, from the Oregon crabbing trip this summer. We joined the Rods in the evening for their campfire and the Boomers for happy hour.

While we were at the steps, Matt and Betty Dodson from Oregon joined us. The four of us

went to the fireworks on Friday night. Saturday, Chuck and Jan Moore arrived with their new rig. Chuck and Jan and Dean and I went to Ed’s Birthday party on Saturday and then to the fireworks. The main event was spectacular.

We left the “Steps” on Tuesday and headed back to Quartzsite for two days. During this time we parked at milepost 99 with Chuck and Jan and Loren and Kathy Webster. Then we took off for the last leg of our journey – Yuma.

We arrived to some excitement - a rig had just burned. We hope that never happens to any of us!!!

Quartzsite

We left Prescott Jan 13, bound for Quartzsite and Boomerville. Dean drove the motorhome and I drove the Jeep. We still do not have towing equipment so I had to drive separately. This is our fourth year to Boomerville and the best ever (except for the weather). After traveling with Chuck and Jan this summer we know so many more boomers. And we had our good friends Dick and Beth Miller, Sandy Murray and Keith Forester, and Richard Roberts with us at Boomerville.

Of course, we did the big tent and lots of shopping for things we couldn't do without. And each day there was the hike, interesting sessions, and the happy hour. And many, many potlucks!!! A couple of days we stayed in the rig because of the rain and wind. We were even under a tornado watch one afternoon.

This is our shiny new rig parked at boomerville

Here is Dean, Chica, and Richard on our morning hike.

After Boomerville we spent 3 nights at Starlight Solar in Yuma having more solar installed. Now we are at Ajo with the boondockers and looking forward to the Fiddler's con

test. And, by the way, the weather is gorgeous.

It is New Year's Eve and we are in Kansas with snow all around. Dean and I are spending the holidays with his family.

For Christmas, we spend 5 days with his daughter, Stephanie, and her family in LaClede, Missouri. We were snowed in for 3 days. Our grandsons had a great time with all their new toys and we had fun watching them.

This is a picture of Stephanie, husband Lorin, and two sons Landon and Lane.

We are spending this week with Dean's brother, Tom, his wife Barbara, and Dean's mother on the pig farm outside of Emporia, KS. It is so cold that Chica and I have only walked about 15 minutes outside a couple of times. We have the big family gathering with other relatives on Saturday and then we head to Oklahoma for a short visit to see my step-mother, Doloris, and my brother Stan. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and we will have clear highways. We should be back in Prescott a week from today.

This is Tom's farmhouse with snow all around.

Since my last blog we have bought a motorhome - 1999 Blounder - previously owned by our friends, Greg and Sally. We have taken one short trip to Yuma to get solar installed and see our friends, Chuck and Jan. We are looking forward to our first major trip in January to the "Q" and other happenings in SW Arizona.

Happy New Year to everyone and here's hoping that 2010 will be the best year ever.

Leaving Laughlin on the right.

We have come to the end of another adventure. We are back in Prescott and love it. Don't get me wrong - I love the RV and seeing the country. But like Dorothy said - there is no place like home.

We arrived home on Tuesday and unloaded. On Wednesday, I cleaned the inside and Dean cleaned the outside. Thursday we stored the RV at the Elks Lodge. Now it is only 10 minutes away and we can visit it any time we want. Next trip - Quartzsite in 2010.

Below: Dean is washing the RV in front of our house in Prescott. Notice the ski helmet that he wears when getting on top of the rig.

Death Valley and Laughlin

October 12

We left bright and early this morning for Laughlin and arrived around 1. RVer’s can stay for free in the back parking lot of the Tropicanna Express Hotel/Casino. After walking around a few casinos and taking Chica for a walk we went in and had a wonderful Italian meal. Then Dean won almost $200 on the penny machine. What a lucky guy. Tomorrow we should be home in Prescott and our wonderful RV trip will be over. It has been great!!!!

The following I composed while we were in Death Valley since we did not have any internet connection:

October 10-11
We drove to Furnace Creek in Death Valley. What a difference in landscape than we have seen all summer. You can see for mile and miles. The colors on the mountains are beautiful. I know all you non-desert people may think we are nuts, but Dean and I are really enjoying this. And we are really warm. When we got to Furnace Creek it was 94.

We decided to camp at the Furnace Creek campground. We toured the visitor’s center, Harmony Borax Works, Artist Palette (colorful rocks in mountain) and Badwater Basin (lowest elevation in the US 282 ft below sea level). Last night we had a campfire and it was so pleasant to sit outside in shorts and no jackets. And we took the down comforter off the bed finally and slept great!

October 9

Went from Walker Lake to Death Valley and first stop was Scotty’s Castle. We both found Scotty’s Castle very interesting and enjoyable. After walking around the grounds, looking at the stables with a lot of old cars, we took a tour of the castle. Millionaires Albert and Bessie Johnson built the castle and their colorful sidekick, who got them interested in the area, was Death Valley Scotty. The Johnson’s spent 2 million in 1929-31 on this castle.

The girl at the right was our tour guide.

The interior of the castle was gorgeous with the finest furniture, woodwork, tile, and metalwork. I especially enjoyed the music room and the huge organ, which the tour guide played for us.

After the castle, we camped at Manzanita Springs campground. It is 1800 ft above sea level so it was cool at night but warm during the day.