Jan 29, 2012 Sun
Stayed in the park today and did a load of laundry before taking off  to meet Mary at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument tomorrow. Vacuumed, cleaned the inside of the trailer, hooked up the truck to the trailer and unhooked everthing but the electric so I can take off as soon as I get up in the morning. Did more blog work. Marilyn was a huge help.

Jan 28, 2012 Sat
Stayed at the trailer today. I FINALLY received my first mail. The post office doesn’t have my box number on their forwarding labels. I only received two Christmas cards. Hard telling where the others went. I’m trying to set up a blog on blogspot.com. May need help from Marilyn.

Jan 27, 2012 Fri
Drove back to Wickenburg today. I visited a Nature Conservancy Preserve. Not much happening there. Spring would be a better time for birds. I did get a good shot of a roadrunner. Beep Beep!!!!

Roadrunner

Jan 26, 2012 Thur
Drove over to Parker to get the oil changed in the truck at the Chev dealer. Since I was just 30 miles from Quartzsite I drove back down to take another stroll around the booths with a million other people. What a zoo. Parking was frustrating. Finally got a spot close to the action. I bought 3 new pair of earings and a couple of rocks for Marie’s flowerbed.

Jan 25, 2012 Wed
Did three loads of laundry this morning. Then I drove to Wickenburg AZ and visited the western museum. It was a very nice museum. Not only did it include artifacts, but they have quite an art exhibit including several Remington and Russell sculptures and paintings by various artists.

Jan 23, 2012 Mon
I’m staying at an RPI park for a week. I need to catch up on my laundry and emails and get the oil changed in the truck. I have a weak phone signal and NO 3G. It is taking forever to download email and surf the web. UGH!!!

Jan17 – Jan 23, 2012
Well I managed to find the group camp at Quartzsite. No hookups for a few days. Glad I had the solar panels installed. We had the usual potlucks and played music around the campfire in the evening. It was good to make music again. Melody Evens loaned me her bongos. I was missing playing my congas. I sold them to Cindy when I left CA. They were just too big to carry with me on the road. Maybe I’ll pick up a pair of bongos. I really enjoyed the gathering in the desert. I met up with a few old friends and made some new friends.
It was really good energy.
The annual RV show and flea market in the town of Quartzsite was very crowded. The traffic was terrible. This little town was never meant to handle that many people all at once. The desert surrounding the town was a sea of RV’s. I feel bad for the native animals. Their habitat is pretty much taken over by a million people for a couple of months.

Mary took this photo of me and Melody making music by the campfire

Enjoying the campfire



Jan 16, 2012 Mon
Mary went on to Quartzsite AZ and I stayed at a KOA so I could do some laundry before heading out into the desert.

Jan 12 - Jan 16, 2012
I met Mary Brumfield at Calico Ghost Town. She told me we would find Chukars here and sure enough they were all around. I managed to get a couple of pretty good photos. The “Ghost Town” is a restored silver mining town that was once owned by Knott of Knott’s Berry Farm. He donated the town to San Bernadino County Parks. The adobe buildings constructed on the cliffs were interesting.

Chukar

Calico Ghost Town Main Street

Old Wagon

Old School House

Jan 11, 2012
Had a flat tire on the trailer this morning. So much for getting an early start. Put enough air in it to get to a tire store. They had me back on the road in about 30 minutes. Gotta love small town service.
Not many birds at the Kern River preserve today. Guess you need to be here during the spring migration.

Jan 10, 2012
Well the outing in Bakersfield is over. It was a great outing. What a fancy RV Park. I can't afford to live like this all the time.
I took a side trip up to the Tehachapi Loop. It’s a part of the railroad that was built by Chinese workers for the Southern Pacific railroad to get trains over the Tehachapi mountains. A train with 85 or more box cars will pass over itself going around the loop. I got to see a train do this. Pretty cool.
I'm taking off tomorrow for the Kern River Preserve near Lake Isabella for a couple of days.

SoCal and FreeWheelers joint rally

Sadie is helping Ardie

Jan 3, 2012 Tues: Drove to So Cal today. Weather is GREAT- warm and sunny – love it. Playing catch up with the email and facebook.

Jan 2, 2012 Mon: Just starting to feel human again. Still coughing and a little stuffy. Had a nice time with friends New Year’s eve. Two friends had to put their dog down and one other friend’s dog had an accident and is now healing from a concussion. Not a very good start to the new year for our furry friends. Heading South tomorrow. I sure hope the weather is warmer. I’m tired of being cold.

Dec 23, 2011 Fri: Still feeling crappy. I drove to San Jose to pick up an extra battery and memory cards for my new Nikon D7000. They haven’t come out with a car charger yet for this model battery. Maybe now I can actually use the camera. Well when I feel better. I also bought a ham slice for Christmas brunch. Maybe I’ll actually have an appetite by then. I’ll sure be glad when this illness has passed.

Dec 22, 2011 – Thur: Went on a wild goose chase today. Looking for a camera store that had gone out of business. Why didn’t my brand new cell phone know that? Bought some fresh fruit to help with the cold – vitamin C. Hooked up the water and sewer. That may have been a mistake as it’s supposed to get into the 20’s tonight. Just checked weather on the iphone. Hard freeze warning. Guess I’ll go unhook the water hose.

Dec 21, 2011 – Wed: Stayed in the trailer all day and gargled. Too weak to hook up the water and sewer.

Dec 20, 2011 - Tues: Drove into Rio Vista to eat at the little bakery. Had a half turkey and Swiss with potato salad. YUM. Really not feeling well.

Dec 19, 2011 – Mon: Drove up to Joel’s in the fog. The water pump had lost its prime. Don’t know why. Joel says sometimes it just happens. Had Joel also replace the fresh water hose input connection and install a Flip Jack I had purchased. When I purchased the Flip Jack I didn’t realize holes needed to be drilled in my inner jack tube. Seems to work pretty well. Wish I had invented it. Left Joel’s and drove to my home RPI park in the Sacramento Delta. When I got there and went to put my trailer jack down the in-line fuse was blown. I borrowed a fuse from the handy man at the park and put the jack down. Weird coincidence?
I feel a cold or flu coming on.

Dec 18, 2011 – Sun: Still foggy. Just hanging out watching TV. Feeling icky.

Dec 17, 2011 – Sat: Called Joel and he can check out the water pump on Monday. Moved to the KOA in West Sac till Monday – VERY foggy.

Dec 16, 2011 - Fri: Took the trailer to Joel’s today to have the solar panels and charge controller installed then drove South. I was going to stay in the Flying J parking lot when I discovered my water pump was not working. I pulled across the street and stayed in the Flag City RV park so I could have running water and plug in my electric heater. It’s very cold.

Dec 15, 2011 - Thur: Tied up some loose ends around Grass Valley. Bought a new cell phone. Got a new mailing address at the UPS store. Spent a third night at the cabin in my trailer.

Dec 14, 2011 - Wed: Returned to the house to do some last minute cleanup and pick up a few last things. Spent a second night at the cabin in my trailer.

Dec 13, 2011 – Tues: The movers came today. My whole life is now contained in a couple of small wooden crates in a storage facility in Grass Valley, CA.
I parked my little trailer (my new home) at Beth and Susan’s cabin in Nevada City and spent my first homeless night. Thank God for electricity. It was in the high 20’s outside, but I managed to stay warm.