Leaving Quartzsite

We actually had a couple days to explore, visit, and catch up on some office work before leaving Q.
We moved from the RV park where we gave our Geek Week, to a private lot where Butch and Fonda Williams were parked. They told us there was one space available, if we could squeeze in. You can't really see it in this picture ... the tight spot was on the other side, we had to get another RV to move back a couple feet before we could fit.

With only one day to go of our Quartzsite stay, we just had to go and climb "our" hill. The one that we hiked to most every day when we stayed there back in 2004-5.   I grabbed this picture from Jim's facebook page, cuz it's cool to see the comments too.

And, here's a screenshot from my phone. You can see that I'm using Skype and seeing Mom and Dee in Florida, how they're seeing me is in the corner. What a great way to communicate. 

Notice the comment from Bill Osborne about Flying today?  That prompted our next visit. Bill and Kris were parked out in the desert, with the Boomerville folks from Escapees. He also has a quadcopter and he and Jim have been wanting to get together.

Boys and their Toys!

Of course, we really came to visit with Winston - Bill and Kris's dog! I just love this little animated .gif that Google+ photos made with the Auto-Awesome feature.



We also got to visit with another friend in the desert. Don Bradner, and his Bluebird group have been meeting here for 12 or 13 years! See Jim's video in the previous post.

So, that's it for Quartzsite. We did one more What Does This Button Do? show, and then we hit the road.

I'm writing these blog posts well after the fact ... been TOO busy to keep up! So, I know I left out a bunch of stuff. There's more pictures on our monthly web album on Google+ Photos: http://goo.gl/qAii8S

---

Further your computer education**Subscribe to the Free Geeks on Tour Newsletters**

Watch our Weekly Online Show on Learning Smartphones and Tablets!

What Does This Button Do?

Lake Havasu Balloons

After our Sunday What Does This Button Do? Show, we like to do something fun and special. Thanks to an email from a Geeks on Tour member, Fred Sowerby, we knew about this Balloon Festival just up the road in Lake Havasu city. It was a beautiful day, so we turned off our computers and got in the car. I'm so glad we did!

We saw LOTS of VW buses headed towards Quartzsite - they must be having some kind of rally. Felt like we were being transported back to the 60s!




Here is the first view, from the highway of the Balloon Festival grounds at Lake Havasu City

This is a cool picture that Google+ Photos "Auto-Awesome" feature put together for me. I took 4 or 5 original photos and it created this animated GIF.

Jim even got some cool aerial video using his Quad Copter. He put together a great little video of the whole day and put it on youtube ... http://youtu.be/wqw6bwx-Qg4


0

---

Further your computer education**Subscribe to the Free Geeks on Tour Newsletters**

Watch our Weekly Online Show on Learning Smartphones and Tablets!

What Does This Button Do?

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.

---

Further your computer education**Subscribe to the Free Geeks on Tour Newsletters**

Watch our Weekly Online Show on Learning Smartphones and Tablets!

What Does This Button Do?

Geek Week in Quartzsite, Arizona

Quartzsite is in the middle of nowhere in the Arizona desert. With a year round population of around 3,500, it swells to over 250,000 in the winter months when all the RVs show up.

We made arrangements a ways back to do a week of classes at The Scenic Road RV park in Quartzsite. We really enjoyed doing that. The park management did a great job of promoting the seminars and keeping track of who was coming. We had good groups every day, and most of them came to all the classes.

We especially like teaching the hands-on 'Learn by Doing.' classes. Here we are making people use the different features of their smartphone and tablet cameras.

To see more details of the classes we taught, here's the page for Geek Week on our website.

---

Further your computer education**Subscribe to the Free Geeks on Tour Newsletters**

Watch our Weekly Online Show on Learning Smartphones and Tablets!

What Does This Button Do?

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!

---

Further your computer education**Subscribe to the Free Geeks on Tour Newsletters**

Watch our Weekly Online Show on Learning Smartphones and Tablets!

What Does This Button Do?