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| Last hot air balloon lifting off at 7:30 AM |
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| Saguaro cacti growing wild along the highway |
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| Mountain views along two-lane road on way to Quartzsite |
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| Lonesome Saguaro cactus from our desert boondocking spot |
After dropping our U-Haul trailer at our boondocking spot, we headed to Blythe, California, about six miles west and started cleaning out our storage space, which had been reduced to a 5 x 10 previously. In addition to boxes, it also had our small Harbor Freight fold-up trailer. Some of this clean-out is a blur. We had a lot of stuff, which all went into the RV. The main thing I remember is sliding the fold-up trailer through the narrow doorway, positioning it behind the RV, unfolding it and getting it set up complete with four-foot tall front and side panels that bolted together. We then put the three wooden arched panels over the top and finally a tarp, secured with bunge cords and hitched it up to pull behind the RV.
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| Harbor Freight Trailer |
We paid for a week at $3 per night to boondock in an area so the trailer would be visible to I-10 traffic as well as easy for interested buyers to find our location. We posted on the web the very next day. It sold and was gone by the end of the first day. We stayed there for the remainder of the week and then returned to our desert boondocking spot.
Walks, Sunsets, Campfires…
The main routines during the day were walks with Angel, and staying alert for any snakes or coyotes that might be a danger to him. Each time we went for a walk, I was also on the lookout for rocks that could easily be carried back to camp for the purpose of making a campfire ring. Sometimes we found burnable wood and collected it. When we had enough to make it worthwhile, we had a campfire late in the day.
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| Angel loves to go for walks |
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| The moon over the mountain |
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| Sunset |
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| Sunset |
Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer
As I was saying, on this one day… we came back from town, I opened the door to get out of the RV, and was met with the smell of horrible stench. Before stepping foot on the ground, I surveyed the area and saw that the area in front of and around our door where we always entered and exited the RV had wet spots and stunk from the smell of sewage. I carefully stepped where the ground was dry and asked John to wait a minute.
It appeared that someone had taken their bucket containing urine waste and emptied it where we would walk in it. I immediately asked John not to move the RV until he carefully stepped outside. His assessment was the same as mine. There was only one boondocker anywhere within walking distance of our spot, and when I glanced over to their site, I saw we were being watched. We backed up to the trailer, hitched up, and drove off to locate another boondocking spot, saying nothing to them and leaving them to themselves.
The only other thing I will add is that morning when I took Angel for a walk, they were using a lot of profanity, and saying it loud enough I could hear it during my entire walk with Angel. I thought this person was our friend, but now it makes me think of the saying “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”.
Relocated to a new Boondocking Spot
There is a lot of open area in this desert. We saw a sign along the desert roadway where Escapees could camp in close proximity. Some rigs show up with trailers that have four-wheelers. The four-wheelers like to ride the trails in the desert. We found it convenient to stay to the east side of the roadway where there is less dust from their trail rides.
A number of people we had met last year were already camped in the general area. We were invited to join a group of people for several potlucks as well as Thanksgiving Dinner. A good time was had by all. We all took a dish and enjoyed visiting and sharing travel experiences. The hardest part was walking back to our own rig through the rocky terrain of the desert. We also enjoyed visiting with and meeting other boondockers during a Christmas Dinner get-together, where everyone took a dish. Because we sometimes run our generator, which might be a nuisance to others, and also have our Angel, we tend to keep a distance from other boondockers.
In order to avoid the expense of purchasing the small two-pound propane canisters for our Big Buddy Mr. Buddy Heater, we purchased a larger canister that we could take to have refilled as needed. John drilled a hole below the passenger seat next to the entry steps where we could run a propane line from a canister setting outside the RV into the RV to hook up to our Big Buddy Mr. Buddy Heater when the temperature was cool enough to use the heater.
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| Hole to run propane line from outside tank to Big Buddy Mr. Buddy Heater |
Following is a short video I took showing our view. I shot this standing in one spot as I turned 360 degrees to give you a view of our surrounding area.
Sunsets were on our agenda every evening.
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| Sunsets and One Sunrise |
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| Red Barrel Cactus |
Propane Leak
The temperature in the desert this year seemed cooler to us, and for various other reasons, we decided to head to warmer temperatures. Before leaving, we made a trip to Quartzsite to RV Lifestyles, where we purchased our RV, to get a propane leak repaired. One day when we were outside, we smelled propane and realized it was coming from the RV. This meant shutting down anything that used RV propane, including taking everything from the RV frig to the frig in the trailer until the leak was repaired. RV Lifestyles found a broken copper tubing line between the main black pipe along the frame rail, and the shorter copper tubing going to the water heater, the latter of which they replaced. The cost to repair the propane line was $220.28.
While in Quartzsite, we went up the street to Satellite Advantage where we found LED bulbs to replace the 12-volt bulbs in the RV and use less energy. Total cost at Satellite Advantage was $123.31.
We then spent one more night in the desert, said our goodbyes and headed out toward the east in early January. Our target destination would be Florida, with as many stops along the way as needed.
In my last post I spoke about a video I took. This is that video, shot from the time we left our boondocking spot in the Ehrenberg desert viewing the desert road and surrounding landscape as we drove to the highway where we got on Interstate 10 and headed west toward the California State Line. This was taken January 4, 2017, a few days before we headed east toward Quartzsite and points east.
In the next post, we are leaving the desert and heading east, hoping to stay ahead of any winter storms. If you would like to be notified when the next post publishes, put your email address in the appropriate box at the top right of this blog. Be sure to go to your email inbox and confirm your request, so you receive notification.
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