The Desert Experience ... not solitude!

Jim's been having a lot of fun with taking video with his new Quadcopter.

Here's a video of the Escapees happy hour where hundreds of people are camped all around, many of them boondocking in the desert and here is where we got together for happy hour.


And, here is one he did when we visited our friends Don Bradner and Joy Langle who are part of the Bluebird bus group. They've been meeting here in the desert every year for over a dozen years. Can you say, "Pull the wagons into a circle?"



Not us. We're parked where we have full hookups.

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Hiking and Flying

We're so happy that we knew about the hiking club while staying for the month of December at Palm Creek in Casa Grande.  We joined the club on a hike every Friday in December. I think that was our inspiration for finding a place to hike while we're staying at Leaf Verde near Phoenix. There are several Regional Parks in the mountains nearby and we picked Estrella Regional Park for a hike yesterday. It started out a little chilly but warmed up as we walked.

I recorded the hike with My Tracks on my Android phone. You can get the Google Earth viewable file at http://goo.gl/NDWsoV

About 2/3 thru the hike, my phone rang with the Skype alert sound. How cool is this to be able to share the sights and sounds of Arizona with my Mom, and friend Dee, in Florida?!

I take a Skype call on my phone from Dee and Mom in Florida

Screenshot of the Skype call

That was a beautiful day enjoying the Arizona wilderness area. Then we did a little shopping at Trader Joe's and enjoyed a steak dinner at Outback. NICE day.

The next day we spent on our computers - a day at the office. But, before dark, Jim had to go try out his Quadcopter in the desert. He had made a few minor repairs after his crash last week and needed to see if all was well. There is a nice open area of desert right across the street from this RV park.

Lookin' Good!

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New Years 2015 starts out Hot and Cold

We were supposed to leave Palm Creek in Casa Grande on Dec 31, but the day dawned windy, rainy, and freezing cold so we made arrangements to stay another night. That suited me fine since I had to get our newsletter done. Our monthly Geeks on Tour newsletter has turned out to be a month in review piece, so my deadline is the last day of the month. Here is the December 2014 newsletter.

By New Year's Day, the weather had cleared - there was no wind, and we were ready to go. One month in one parking place is a long time for us! It felt great to be on the road again. Arizona scenery is so interesting with the Saguaro cactus, the flat land and the abrupt mountains.

We didn't plan to go very far, we were headed to Quartzsite, but we didn't need to be there for another 10 days. Our favorite hot springs, El Dorado hot springs was just about half way - sounds great!

We pulled in and parked at a designated RV site with 50 amp electric, and made arrangements for a soak in one of their private tubs that night and again the next morning. The deal is $55 for the site and 2 hours of soaking. In the past, we've happily paid $30 for one hour soak, so I figure we're paying for the soak and the RV site is thrown in. A great deal and lots of ambience. Check out the wildlife:

When we woke up the next morning, there was ice on the ground! What?! Weather reports said there was snow in Havasu City ... the first time ever recorded! And we're about to go outside and take our clothes off??!! Man! What we'll do for a good soak in hot springs!

That's frost on the bicycle seat!

Ahhhhhh ... hot water.

We've been here before, even as recent as 3 months ago, and I thought I recalled there being good Verizon signal here. Boy was I wrong. Only 2 bars of 3G. We could barely check email, let alone get any real work done. So, we had to leave. We're only 35 miles west of Phoenix, so we figured we'd drive that way until we hit the outskirts of civilization. There's bound to be good Verizon signal a bit closer to the city.

OK, so how's this?!

The prettiest sight for Geeks' eyes - a nearby cell tower. We get 5 bars of 4G XLTE here!

While we were checking in, we exclaimed over the great Verizon signal provided by the tower right IN the park! Five Bars! and someone told a story of a customer who overheard a conversation about there being Five Bars at this RV park and wondered if that meant that all the local drunks congregated here. They'd never heard of an RV park having even one Bar, let alone 5!

For those of you who look at speed numbers, feast your eyes on this test:

We'll definitely stay here thru Sunday because we do our weekly show live over the Internet on Sundays. We might even stay thru next Sunday to be sure we can get two good shows done! We start our seminars in Quartzsite next Monday.

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Quartzsite stopover

Quartzsite is the perfect halfway point between Pomona and Casa Grande. This will be the last time we get to see Lynne and John for while also since we'll be heading to Florida soon, and they're on their way to the northwest. Our favorite walk in the desert is here. We go up a hill to the flag. The spring flowers are starting to come out. Party time. As Lynne always say, "SEE YA" more photos on the web album ... just click on any photo here and you're at the web album and can scroll around.

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Quartzsite en route to Pomona

It's 400 miles from Casa Grande to Pomona. That's too far for us for one day! And, guess what is exactly halfway? Quartzsite! So, we got to spend a day with our Quartzsite family. We always feel at home here. The last time our rigs were together was a year ago in Tampa, Florida. We were both in Florida for the winter last year. Now, they're headed to the Seattle area and we're headed back to Florida. Lynne calls this being 'bi-coastal!' It's always a treat to get together. And, it was such a bright sunny day, I had to soak up a little of it. Trying to get rid of this cold. Yes, *another* cold! I don't think we've ever been this sick over a season. Then, I stayed home while the rest went to a weiner-roast at the local airstrip. There are lots of people who fly ultra lights. Check out Lynne's blog to see when she took a flight herself .

Jim caught a pretty nice shot of Saguaro Sunset. Ok, it's time to 'stow and go.' We're headed to Pomona for the FMCA International Convention. We're scheduled to do 7 of our seminars there! Thanks for sharing your home with us Dick and Frankie!

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Geeks in the Desert

Don Bradner, creator of DatastormUsers.com, is our favorite 'uber-geek'. We're always excited to see him. He showed up at the Gypsy Journal rally last week. His rig is easy to spot. Parked next to friend John Watson, their rigs looked like a satellite farm! Don and his wife, Joy are also avid Geocachers. On Saturday, we joined them for a little exploration right here in Casa Grande. Our friend, Dick from here at Palm Creek joined us with his dog, Sky. It was a gorgeous day. We started out on a 4-wheel road, then hiking on the road, then scrambling over the rocks and thru the desert. Holly - the geo-dog! Dick surveying his domain! Don on the trail of a fresh geocache. Joy and Holly. Odie sniffs out the cache! As always, more photos are on our web album.

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A Real Hike

We did it! We took an entire day off and went on a hike with the Palm Creek hiking club. First we drove down to Tucson, then over to a park called Sabino Canyon. By the way ... Odie is feeling much better. He's eating and drinking normally and he's back to his perky self. But, he's not allowed on this hike, so we left him home. The mountains here get up to 10,000 feet! And, they've had a lot of snow so there is water in the streams. That was good news and bad news. Water means full waterfalls, which was the intended destination of the hike, but uncrossable streams to get there! So, we took an alternate hike that went up a little ways. Spectacular views! And, the Saguaro are just *so* unique, I just can't resist taking their picture! and another More photos will be posted on Palm Creek's Picasa Web Album. It felt so good to be outside and getting some exercise. Then, we ended the day with a soak in the hot tub. ahhhh - it's a tough job, but somebody has todo it!

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Finally! A Hike.

Well, actually more of a walk. We just can't take a whole day to go with the hiking club, so we found a little hike right here in Casa Grande. It's called Casa Grande mountain and we were able to get some exercise and see some views with just a 2 hour break in our day. And, Odie could come with us too!

No matter how pretty Cholla looks - awful to touch. It may only be 2 miles, but it's one mile UP and one mile DOWN, so it's good exercise. And we had some great views at the top. Well, we didn't go quite to the top ... maybe next time. In this photo I zoomed in on Palm Creek. All those white specs are RVs.

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Happy New Year

That's our 'official' holiday photo. Then, here's our New Year's Eve photo ... You see, the park held a fancy New Year's Eve party and it had a Moroccan theme. I love how Jim is game for dressing up! It's fun. But, he wasn't the only one ... Then there was the entertainment! She was really good. We took lots more photos, and video too. We've set up a blog just for Palm Creek go check it out at www.palmcreek.blogspot.com You can see the video there.

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Frost on the Honda

Just in case you didn't believe me when I said I was cold! Before I complain too much, I do have to point out that brilliant sun that's just coming up. The frost melted in about 15 minutes and it's been warm and beautiful in the afternoons. We even played pickleball yesterday - it was perfect weather for that - sunny,calm, just a little cool.

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