Yakima it is.

In uploading the picture of our rig today, I
noticed this photo of BlackJack from a couple
weeks ago...basking in the sun.



We arrived two days ago in Yakima. The trip was good....uneventful. We planned our drive through Cabbage Patch so that we would avoid the snow in the forecast.

Yakima is a much larger city than either of us anticipated. We don't usually spend any length of time in cities, so our time here will be interesting. We will be looking for the off-road trails and country roads, which I'm sure there are plenty of in this area.

Apparently, Yakima is known for their wineries, which we also didn't know....and is right up our alley! Agriculture is a major industry here...apples, raspberries, strawberries.

A drive around the city and a visit to the place Henry will be working was on our agenda yesterday.

Side note: A Class A MH is sounding better and better every day.

Las Vegas, Baby!!

Our camping spot south of Havasu

If you click on the picture, you can see our rig

far left, bottom

I just noticed that I had not put up a picture of the drycamping spot we found south of Havasu, so here it is. Click on it to see how awesome it really is!

Today we drove about 75 miles, (tough day, right?) to Las Vegas. Our original plan was to stay in Laughlin for a few days, but when we got to Laughlin this morning, we couldn't come with any real reason to stay, so we toodled on down the road, and arrived in Vegas around noon.

Now, Vegas has very few choices for RV parks, but I found the one we are at on the internet. And for $17.00/night with full hookups, why not? The place is downtown and called Main Street Station. Sites are plenty long enough to accomodate us, but not a lot of room for a big rig like ours when leaving.....and the fire department is right next door...but still, $17.00 a night!

We will experience Fremont Street tonight, and stay out of the casino. (We left our small pittance at the last casino we were at)

Avi Resort & Casino

Whew! Big day we had yesterday! I think we drove all of 40 miles. Final destination, the Avi Resort and Casino.

They have a fantastic drycamping area for RVer's. Level, large, and FREE. RVer's are welcome to stay as long as they'd like, you just have to register with the folks inside.

The Casino is very large and offers most everything anyone could possibly want. They have a beach....Yes! with palapas and sand! Swimming pool, of course, their own movie theatre with several theatres, playing new movies. Free video poker tournaments, free bingo sessions every day, .99 cent complete ham and eggs breakfast, an italian restaurant, mexican restaurant, a Subway, chinese food, and the typical restaurants with the buffet....

We managed to give them some money last night....we signed up for the video poker tournament, and today, we even played some Bingo.

Weather is great....and as always, in our fulltiming world, life is good!!

Nellie E. Saloon (Desert Bar), click here for website

This fire truck was used by
the owner's father during
development of the Blue
Water Lagoon




Desert Bar aka Nellie E. Saloon
Check out all the solar panels!
(click on photos to enlarge)



Remains of an old mining camp

The Nellie E. Saloon (Desert Bar) is situated in the Buckskin Mountains, on land that was an old mining camp. The camp was located on the portion of land that is now the parking lot. When the owner acquired the land in 1975, there was nothing left of the mining camp. With the land and a liquor license from an old business on leased river land, Ken (the owner) decided to give the bar in the desert idea a try. In 1983, he opened for business. The Nellie E. was not totally completed until 1988. The inside of the saloon has windows that are old glass refrigerator doors, the bar stools are made of steel and sway from side to side. The top of the bar is brass, and the ceiling is made of stamped tin purchased from a factory in Missouri. The saloon is powered by solar, stored in batteries and run through inverters. (The above information is from a flyer we got from the bar).

This place is pretty darn cool!! We arrived at the Desert Bar by way of the Buckskin Mountains jeep trail, 5 1/2 miles long. Most people take the easy, graveled road, obviously, from Hwy. 95.
They serve drinks, hamburgers (only $3.00!), and nachos. They sell T-shirts, AND they
even have a live band. The bar is open only on the weekends from Labor Day through Memorial Day. They are open one night only on New Years Eve, IF it falls on the weekend. Wouldn't that be a blast!!

Buckskin Mountain jeep trail

Check out the 'road' in front
of us. Eek.

One of several old trucks
at Desert Bar


We decided on another jeep trail, Buckskin Mountain. The trail is rated 'moderate', and I guess we would agree. Some areas had some definite rocky stretches, in other words, all rock, and some rather large in size. But no problem.

The cool thing about this trail is that it ends at a place called the Desert Bar. Or as orginally referred to as Nellie's Saloon. A bar in the middle of nowhere. I will post pictures tomorrow of that along with the history. I think I may have used more bandwith this evening than I should have.

We are parked at a Casino parking lot...4 days free, and another 4 if you want. Woohoo!!!

Jeeping!

Needle point. There is actually
a hole in the rock, the 'eye of the
needle', which you can crawl
through.

Our little blue jeep below

Tricky!

It doesn't get much better! Fun times.

More of Cattail Cove

Bill Williams River, viewed
from the top of a hill we hiked up

He's smilin' now!

Mark's CJ7
(click on photos to enlarge)

Cattail Cove Jeep Trail-

These are the 4 other jeeps we did the return
trail with. We are the blue jeep, of course
(Please click on photos to see up close)

This is Mark's CJ7 ~ making a tough climb
over some pretty good rocks.

First of all, when we arrived in Lake Havasu two days ago, we did not anticipate tons of people everywhere. But there were, because the annual pyrotechnics show was going on this weekend. But, we were so lucky to have spotted a gorgeous drycamping spot (pictures to follow) on our way in to Lake Havasu, about 15 miles south. So, we hit Basha's for groceries, and hightailed back to BLM land. Absolutely beautiful view, level ground, lots of room. We are happy.

Next morning, after consulting our 4 wheel drive book, we decided we would check out one of the jeep trails. As we are loading up the jeep, a CJ7 drives up and asks if we're heading 'up'. "Sure", we say. He then asks if we 'want some company.' "You bet!"

What an awesome day! We've got LOTS of pictures that I will post, but our internet connection is slower than usual in this spot, so I will wait till tomorrow or the next day.

We did Cattail Cove trail with the Cj7 - Mark, Carrie and their daughter, Lexi. Nothing too technical, but the scenery was beautiful and it felt great to be out on a trail again!

As we came to the end of the trail, there was another group of three jeeps ready to head back. The guys talked, compared jeeps, looked under, over and in....next thing I know we are all five heading out, but not the same way we came in. These guys were experienced jeepers and knew an alternate route which did involve some ROCKS and good articulation. Henry knows what he's doing, knows how to maneuver the rocks, and climbed right along with them.

We had a great time, met some super nice people, and by the end of the day I felt like I 'played hard all day', and was now tired.

Side note: BlackJack was wiped out.

Obama, Our Next President? God Help Us!

I guess all this political talk on TV and the internet is beginning to worry me. I came across the following information about Barack Obama....now I'm just downright scared, as we all should be. If we had any 'balls' at all, we, as Americans, would be damn sure that we do not elect this non patriotic, muslim, racist (reverse racism, obviously) scumbag.

Please click on the following link and prepare to be angry.

http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/10720?tstart=0


Now, I know the man refuses to wear the U.S. Flag pin on his lapel. To be honest, I was immediately offended when I read that. He wants to be OUR president in the United States of America and represent Americans, but he won't display OUR flag?!

Now, I just saw the clip of Obama, Clinton, and two other folks standing on a platform in Iowa, with a huge American flag proudly on display as their backdrop. Obviously, the Pledge of Allegiance was being said, because three of the four on stage had their hand over their heart. What was Obama doing? Standing 'at ease', kind of dumpy looking with arms dangling. Now, I am just down right pissed off! What a worthless piece of human flesh.

That dirtbag doesn't have the decency, heart, or soul to respect our men and women who have proudly served and are serving our country...not to mention the thousands who have given their life for our FREEDOM. What a slap in the face!

We have Oprah and the Kennedys who have thrown their money and support behind this guy. I'm not surprised at that when you consider what they stand for...But, what is very despairing are the numbers of Americans who will actually vote for him! There is a strong likelihood that he will be our NEXT President!

Like I said, God help us. And I am talking about God, my Saviour, The Almighty, The Prince Of Peace.
I am NOT referring to 'allah, buddha, or a 'greater being.' The only comfort in any of today's world troubles in my mind, is that I know God is in control. There would be no hope, if not for that.

Blythe, California

After our expensive grocery trip in Quartzsite, today we decided on a drive and headed to Blythe, California. Stopped in at Albertson's and picked up the remaining items I needed for our last week here in Quartzsite.

Not a whole lot in Blythe, but it is clean (the main drag anyway) and has the typical McDonald's, movie theater, bowling alley and mexican restaurant.....plus a whole lot of 'kinda scabby lookin'' individuals. And, expensive gasoline prices...$3.39 for regular...ouch!

A side note about BlackJack: He actually ate last night!

Buying groceries in Quartzsite...What!

(click on image to enlarge)
So, because we are dry camping here in Quartzsite, I can't use my own washer and dryer for obvious reasons, so this morning we headed off to town to the laundromat. Not one of my favorite things to do, but necessary. $10.00 it cost to do our 3 loads of laundry.
Then, we planned to do some grocery shopping, but knowing the 3 stores in Quartzsite are small and not that desirable, we planned to drive 17 miles to Blythe, CA, or 38 miles to Parker to a decent sized store.
BUT, after having talked to another woman out here camping, she tells me that the General Store right here in Quartzsite has really good meat, and 'no', she says, 'their prices are not bad.' 'Okay', we decide, we'll not drive to Blythe or Parker and go to the General Store in town. We'll be saving time and money.

This is one of those times where we should have just done what we originally planned. We didn't pick up all the items I had on my list, and just stuck to a few necessities like bread, eggs.....wine, and desert for Mr. Sweet Tooth himself. Anyway...
The photo above is what we purchased, the price we paid was $71.29! At $9.00 in gasoline to have driven to a decent store, it would have been cheaper. Between the laundromat and eggs and bread, oh yes, and the gasoline for our generator, today was a $100.00 day.

BlackJack update

Jack's favorite spot for the morning sun


You can check out the link in the sidebar about PSS, aka liver shunt. This is what BlackJack was diagnosed with last May. The vet put him on Hill l/d canned food, and 3 medications. At that time, Jack would eat the food with no problem and we were able to give him his medicine.
But, it didn't take long before he figured out the medicine and stopped eating the food altogether.
They say 'he'll eat when he's hungry', right? Wrong.

We are now 9 months later and have been coaxing him to eat for several months, anything at all. For awhile, a scrambled egg would work...then he refused. French fries.....then he refused. Chicken in small quantities mixed with rice (restricted protein)....then he refused. Toast....not anymore. Eggo waffle....nope. We've done oatmeal, yogurt, cheese, green beans, red pepper....we have made omelets which almost looked appetizing to us....not happening.

He has pretty much stopped eating at this point. We are going in to Day 3, no food. It's sad. It's frustrating. I'm not sure what to do at this point for him.

Another's perspective on why we fulltime

The following is another fulltimer's point of view about why we do what we do. I was personally touched by what she writes, and can relate to and agree with every word. I emailed this woman (Mona) and asked her permission to post on my blog. Her reply was 'by all means!'...So, here it is.....

"I was thinking about this yesterday as Bill & I walked with Stone & Patches (our Aussies). Weather was 75 or so, beautiful sunny day, small breeze.

Turtles lazy on logs, water fowl everywhere, fish jumping in lake, kayaks in river, bikers out and about, campers relaxing in lounge chairs, shorts & tees, migrating buzzards circling high overhead, lazy gators shallow in lake/sun, Bill & I holding hands...praising our Creator and thankful for this country and freedom. Meeting travelers in $$$$$ rigs and others in $ rigs, all with smiles and friendliness.

Living in the moment! Hard to do that in the corporate world I came from.

Taking time to think. Ponder. Pray. Listen. Breathe.

Not worrying about Kohl's, Penny's, etc. 7am sales, etc.

Watching the sunset and being thankful you lived this day where you did and how you did.

Choosing to be alone...or in a group.

A simpler life. Cherishing a hot bowl of soup on a cool night.

Removing ourselves from the rush and hurry of past life. Seeking peace and solitude.

Embracing LIFE. Taking back the living of it so easily stolen by other influences. Not sweating the small stuff.

Living...not being an observer of life.

Can you do these things living in a house? I guess. We never did.

This is the pioneering spirit taht is within many of us. I choose to think it is of great value.

As we go deeper into life as Fulltimers...it becomes who we are and less what we do.

Mona

The worth of a day"