Feb 25 - March 3, 2019 Quartzsite Boondocking Part 4

Feb 25
It looks like the cool weather is behind us for now and the forecast looks great for the next week or so. We don't put much stock in a forecast past 5 days but this one looks nice. The wind stopped blowing today finally so it feels even warmer than the 20C/ 72 F that it is. 
Not much on our plate today but there is a potluck planned for this afternoon and Leslie is making a Caesar salad and some cheese biscuits to contribute. We have heard that there are going to be a couple different chilli's on the table so biscuits and salad should fit nicely. Should be delicious and fun. We are working on some regular jobs and I'm testing a couple spots on the drivers side of the trailer to start using McGuires Oxidation Remover polish. I have planned to do this all winter but just now bringing it out! We're having too much fun to take on a rig polish lol.
Leslie pre-cut all the lettuce and got the biscuit mix ready to roll and took Margaret on a nice long walk. We both had a little rest in the afternoon. We can do that now that we're retired.
We walked over to Steve & Dianne's for happy hour and then back to our place before 5:00 to bake the biscuits and go to the potluck by the firepit at Harry's place. We joined everyone at the potluck and, holy smokes, what a great meal we're going to have! There is 4 different chilli recipes, salads, biscuits, soda bread, crackers & cheese and desserts too. 

Great turnout for the potluck.

What a feast everyone put together.

Enjoying the fire and chatting with great people.

We really enjoyed ourselves and we stayed at the fire until about 9:30 and then went back in the rig to watch a little TV before bed. Margaret was happy to see us by then as well! She is almost totally deaf now and getting quite blind too so she gets very anxious outside when it's dark. Best to leave her home even though she misses us.

Feb 26

It's a beautiful day so I'm going to start polishing the rig. Leslie is cleaning inside and making a big pot of soup with some leftover chicken. The smell of the soup outside the kitchen window is killin' me haha. We worked on our projects until happy hour time and then walked over to Steve & Dianne's for a beverage. Dianne has been "teaching an old dog a new trick" and getting Margaret to "sit" for her treats. It's kind of funny that if we leave her offleash she runs over to Dianne's door and stands there looking cute until she gets a treat. At least now she is doing something for her treats.

Good girl ! Good work Dianne :)

We went home after happy hour and had some homemade soup and salad for supper. Awesome job Leslie! 

Feb 27

We're up fairly early today so Leslie can get breakfast and coffee before she heads into Q for line dancing with Allison.

Line dancing class at QIA.

Leslie is really enjoying the classes and she says it's a good workout both mentally and physically. Good for her because it's definitely not something I would do very well. I'm continuing with my rig polishing project. It's a beauty hot day around 26C/ 80F but I'm working on the shady side so it's perfect. 

When Leslie got back she got to work preparing some appies for happy hour this afternoon. We are having the desert beer tasting today. This event is where everyone has mentioned Jim & Barb from Jim and Barb's RV adventure blog, (link to their great blog) because they started the tradition. Unfortunately they are not here this year. As "newbies" Les and I are trying to gain points so we stopped at Total Wine and Beer in Phoenix and grabbed a bunch of different kinds of beer on the way to Q. Harry was in Phoenix to drop Vicki at the airport so he also grabbed some beers for the tasting. We have plenty to try, this could be dangerous.

Leslie put together some guacamole, salsa and chips and made some broccoli tots that I will bake on the grill at the tasting. (Google the recipe for broccoli tots) We really like them though they're not for everybody. Red really liked them... haha, okay not really. Everyone else seemed to like them and they all got eaten. 

Harry's back, me, Pam, Red, Allison, Earl, Steve, Dianne 

enjoying snacks and beers.

Front row are good ones, back row not so much. I got to finish

all the IPA's. Also dangerous.

We had started the tasting in the shade because it was so hot in the sun but as the sun went lower in the sky we moved the whole event to the fire pit by Harry's rig. We got a fire going and dressed a little warmer and kept going with the tasting. What a great time we are all having. Well at least I am. I finished all the IPA's! To give us a different flavour, Red brought out his signature shot. A bottle of 43 liqueur and heavy cream in a shot glass which are called "mini beers" after Red & Pam Beers, their last name. We are all pretty much maxed out on tasting beer.

Still tasting by the fire as the sun goes down.

Red Beers making his signature "mini beers" Ice cubes

stuck to the bottle!!

It was a lot of fun to do the tasting. You were sadly missed Jim & Barb and we did cheers you, maybe more than once. Did I mention the IPA's? 

Feb 28

Slow morning I'm afraid. Not so much for Leslie because after breakfast she cleaned the entire rig inside. I was not as energetic but did lend a hand with vacuuming. We are packing up the rig to go dump and refill with fresh water today. Not the most fun but a necessary task. We got that done in a couple hours and then just took it easy until happy hour. Happy hour was pretty short for us and we went back to the rig for supper and relax for the night. Lots of water today!

Mar 1

It's officially 1 year we have been retired !! Woohoo !!

We feel much better today so after the morning routine I want to go for a bike ride and Leslie is taking Margaret for a long walk for some exercise. Sadly today we are saying "see ya later " to Harry as he is moving to north Phoenix for a month. It was so great to get to know Harry better. He's a great guy, always a smile and just a nice guy to chat with. Miss ya buddy. Too bad we never got much time with Vicki.

My left calf is feeling better but not good enough for running yet so the bike is a good option to keep my lungs moving. I did about 10k/ 6 mi ride which felt great after not being out for so long. Leslie got a good long walk in and she's going to pickleball today too. Nice! We drove into town after lunch and got propane and drinking water then over to the QIA for pickleball.

Leslie in action returning a serve. Her partner Hanna.

Leslie played for a couple hours switching in and out with the other players. There were 7 people there that day so she got to rest between games. There is one fella there that is a REALLY good player and he knows it. It's too bad that he has to be so arrogant about it with other players. It really takes the fun out of showing up like that. He offered Leslie and Hanna a 6 point lead at the start of the game and then when his side got up in points he said "bet you wish you would have taken that 6, huh?" To me that's just a bad move, shows a total lack of respect to other players. We left after that game. I wanted my leg to be better because Leslie and I together would have given him a better game. Okay that's my rant over.

We drove back to our rig and got cleaned up for happy hour at Steve & Dianne's. 

Margaret and Abbie hanging out close to Dianne. The treat lady!

We went home for supper after a little while and cooked salmon on the barbecue with brussel sprouts and broccoli steamed in a frying pan with olive oil and spices, so good!

Mar 2

We have to do laundry today, so not looking forward to this job. I hate crowds and busy places and the laundry in Q is usually always busy. We loaded up and headed in fairly early with a plan to have breakfast at the adjoining restaurant while the clothes were washing.

Heading in with 2 bags full.

We didn't have to wait long for the washers and Leslie put everything in and we walked over to the restaurant only to find out that they were short staffed and shutting down to prep for lunch. Rats. We chose to run to the grocery across the street and settled on blueberry muffins and fruit. Not the plan but it worked. Next up was waiting for the dryers....OMG! Thankfully Leslie felt sorry for me and gave me a bunch of stuff on hangers to take to the truck. Yes, I'll be happy to do that thank you. I stayed outside and Leslie managed to get enough dryers for our stuff. What a gong show. We were both tired and grumpy, but happy to be done, by the time we left.

Steve and Dianne had gone on a quad ride with a group this morning and when we got back after lunch we were surprised to see them pull in not long after us. One of their Vancouver Island ATV friends had a breakdown on his side by side so they left it close to a road and came back for his truck. Unfortunate, but hey mechanical stuff does that right? We had a shortened happy hour and then jumped in Earl's truck to go to Silly Al's for pizza.  Steve & Dianne rode with Larry, their friend from Yuma.

Me, Leslie, Dianne, Steve, Allison, Earl and Larry.

The fella that offered to take the picture had just come out of the washroom and someone said something to Leslie about how they hoped he washed his hands before grabbing her phone. Pretty certain that's why we are all laughing so much. Allison doesn't drink much so she is our driver for tonight to get home. Thanks Allison! Our waitress made a mistake and gave Leslie and I a big pitcher of beer instead of a small one and only charged for the small pitcher, bonus! It was a tough job but we made it through alright ;) 

We went home and watched a little TV and called it a day. That was a fun evening and Silly Al's makes a great pizza. Good times.

Mar 3

We got invited for a quad ride today so we are up a little earlier to get a good breakfast in. Red is going and has an extra seat in his Yamaha Warrior side by side for me and Dianne chose not to go so Leslie is going to join in on her quad.

Leslie ready to ride. Thanks Dianne for letting her use your quad.

We don't even need our own ATV's. We just have great friends lol. We left at 10 am with Earl and Allison in the lead taking us to a place called Skull Rock down in the Kofa Mountains to the south of us. The first part of the ride is very flat except for a few dips and washes to cross. Perfect for Leslie to remember her riding skills. We took a couple little breaks for water on the flat part and soon stopped at the base of the Kofa Mountains, absolutely spectacular scenery in the desert. So green and the flowers are just starting to bloom. Fantastic!

Looks like cliff dwellings from a distance.

There were thousands of these yellow flowers.

The trail through the hills.

Our stop at the base of the mountains.

Leslie and I switched places at the base of the mountain, I took the quad and Leslie rode with Red in the Warrior. Her back has been bugging her and the Warrior has a nice smooth ride with awesome seats. She can take more pictures too.

Smile Red !

We followed Earl to Skull Rock where we stopped for some lunch. Cool rocks and a little arch that Steve climbed up to.

That's Steve at the base of the massive rock. Notice the gap at the bottom.

Also....can you see the gorilla's profile?

After our lunch we followed Earl again up to the end of the trail up the valley. It was about another 15 minutes or so and then we just turned around and came back to Skull Rock. There was another family there that we had talked to earlier and they had leftover hot dogs cooked on a coal barbecue. They smelled really good but I had enough lunch already. Leslie and Earl and Mike all grabbed one though. I had a bite of Leslie's just to help her out. ;) There is no limit to what I'll do to help her lol. We got one of the girls there to grab a group photo for us at Skull Rock. Thanks Steve for sharing with us.

L-R: Earl, Allison, Steve, Red, Mike, Dawne, Leslie and me.

Easy to see the skull right?

After the photo op we headed back to La Posa South and our rigs. I stayed on the quad but Red asked Leslie if she would like to try the Warrior out so she drove that home. She really liked it but it might be too big for what we can haul on a truck in the future. It was great of Red to let her try it for sure. Thanks Red !

Red & Leslie gettin all gangsta ;) Mike & Dawne in the back.

Once we were back home we got cleaned up and you might be able guess what's next? Happy hour!! Leslie and I joined Steve and Dianne at their house for supper and then we moved to the comfy chairs to watch Survivor that they recorded so we could skip commercials. Thanks guys, we're going to miss Survivor nights at their house with no commercials. We were all pretty tired after the show so we walked home and called it a day. 

This coming week will be our last week here in Quartzsite. It's amazing how fast the time has gone while we were here. We have done a ton of cool things. Many thanks to Steve & Dianne for showing us so much stuff in one month that they discovered over years of coming here. We're so lucky to have met these two awesome folks and to be a part of the bigger RV crowd they know and hang out with. Pretty amazing first year of retirement and we really love it so far. We are very fortunate for what we have and what we are able to enjoy thanks to having amazing friends and family. Life is good right now! Cheers everybody.