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Quartzsite, AZ

2/8/2022

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Arrived in Quartzsite, AZ on January 10, 2022.  It's only been 4 weeks and it seems like a year of adventures have passed.
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After spending two days at CJ's RV repair in Yuma to finish the rest of our solar installation and a week at Pilot Knob regrouping from our 2,200 mile travel, we had to stop at Satellite Advantage in Quartzsite to finish the installation of our satellite we had mounted in Shipshewana.  We travel across country to have this company work on our satellite needs because they know what they are doing.  It is never a good thing when the installer comes down the ladder shanking his head and calls the owner out to have a look. 🤭
The short, of the long story, took two days to redo and repair, what we thought was the carefully done start, to our installation. 😩. Patience is a virtue.  That is a good thing to strive for.  We will live through it again I guess. This is the second time this year I thought it would be a good thing to find someone passing out cash💰.  
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Finally there was peace!  ...or was it?  No not just yet.  I will refrain from pictures and just say that one can not ever let down your guard now days and must be aware of your surroundings.  We park in some what populated areas. The pictures above do not show the other campers that were near us.  We found our camping spot, unhooked the truck, got out our lawn chairs and opened the slides.  Happy to be settling in one place for a while.  Our peace was broken by a lunatic driving extremely recklessly right next to us.  He hopped out of his SUV and was screaming, cussing, and waving his arms.  He was doing lots of other stuff too but, I'll spare you the full details. I commented that we needed to address this right away and headed toward him.  Bob headed the other direction away from him to avoid the desire to do bodily harm to the man. 😳. When he asked me if I wanted to die today because he was going to shoot me it was time to turn around myself; without talking to him.  So after calling 911 he was arrested for a misdemeanor.  He was shipped off to other states for outstanding warrants. Thank you to the officers and rangers involved... oh good grief!

Many beautiful sunrises, sunsets and good fires with friends. It has been very warm mostly and light winds.  64 degrees here with full sun can be super hot.  
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Jerry and Sandy, came for a week with Sandy's sister Laurie and Bob.  They rented a side by side so we could explore a little.  Took a field trip with the rock and gem club and found countless interesting things.  
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Sandy behind the bush😬.
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These pictures were taken by the light of the full moon 8:30pm
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Good bye to Sandy and Jerry, Laurie and Bob.  It was fun.  Hope to see you next year.
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2022 Adventures West

1/8/2022

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And so the adventure starts once again.  Excited to leave this year to beat the snow that has held back so far.  We cruised along our route through I 80 past Chicago, I 55 to St Louis, I 44 to Oklahoma City, I 40 towards Amarillo, I 27 to Canyon, I 60 at Canyon to Roswell and Las Cruces.  Picking up I 10 to Phoenix on to I 8 to Yuma, AZ.  So to all of you who wanted to know the route ....there it is, the best route ever we have found with out nasty bumpy roads.  Roads were dry and we were warm.  We were blessed to have followed the warm air strip all the way down and west.
We never get sick of looking at these grand wind machines.  Not sure I agree with them, but find them interesting, none the less.  
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We stay along the way in Walmart or Cracker Barrel lots.  Thinking I like that better than some RV parks. 😳  


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The trip was not without incident. Around Weatherford, Oklahoma, Bob saw something black fly out back of the rig on the driver's side, so he thought he had better check it out.  The bulge on the tire, was on the drivers side and this China bomb, was on the passenger side! I had been reading on the Voltage Owners Only Face Book page that the tires on these rigs are "China Bombs" .  Thinking that our rig was a 2020 made in December of 2019, that we were good because the rig was used very little. We had just bought 6 new ( yes 6 not a typo) for the 2016 Voltage triple axle in July so something inside me really wasn't in the mood to buy more tires just yet. It sounded like a reasonable gamble.  NOT!    
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CJ's Southwest Tire just happened to be on the highway .8 miles, as the crow flies from where we were stranded. We highly recommend giving them your business if in the area.  They apologized because they were unable to send a truck for 30 minutes and were there in 10. 😊

One tire blew, 3 had bulges and the spare had two holes in it where the company mounted the tire.  SO 5 TIRES PLEASE, ALL AROUND!

Oh good grief!
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We were truly blessed with a beautiful day at 68 degrees.  A tire shop right around the corner. And 5 new tires.... a bank passing out money would have been the only more perfect addition to the situation...maybe next time.🤭


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City of Herford had a free over night stay which was convenient.  
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...love the different art work on the bridges and overpasses.  This little town had old chairs decorated for their Christmas decorations...kinda a different look.  
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...this is us
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...this is them (or others)


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Stopped in Roswell New Mexico for the Art Museum and the UFO Museum. I included just a few of the writings that they had in the UFO Museum.  
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There were countless writings and witnesses to this event and a few other events of a similar nature.
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This was the only surviver of the 5 that were found, which later died from the injuries.
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We arrived in Yuma just in time to celebrate New Years Eve with our friend Gay and Randy's family outing, in the desert on the Picacho Indian Reservation; which is slightly in California and North of Yuma.  
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Seriously, can we just have adventures with out this type?????
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When Randy said come ahead, he meant for Bob to take the right side of the area not the left 🤪. 
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...enough of that!
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Twelve year old Amore is creatiing her own camper...precious.
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Dinner as always is served...Gay and Randy you do a wonderful job!  Now if the high wind and temps would warm up it would be better.  
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Very interesting crevices to explore today. Gracie hit the desert running. she loves this area and it's freedom that it has to offer.  It was a good two days.
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On the way to Pilot Knob RV in California and service in Yuma this coming week.  
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US Military Always Present in Yuma

4/2/2020

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Proving Grounds open to the public once per year to show off their operations.  The police officer Domby, pictured  below,  said I could call him if we had a difficult time crossing the border 😬 ...He's so cute we might have to do that!

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US Navy cadet program age 14 years


Random Vacation Pictures

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At this Resturant desert can be served outside if you wish.
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...just a random opinion in the middle of these pretty door pictures.  I think who ever created the toilet seats in our new RV never had to clean one...just saying...
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Love the new Bathroom minus the toilet seat.
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Had to cut off the stereo system to get the side by side in the garage.  Do I have any volunteers to help reattach and install the unit? Guessing the back camera that doesn't work anymore, is some how related to this unit.  
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Randy is telling Bob the screen doors do not shut...imagine that...another problem..tell me it isn't true.
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April 02nd, 2020

4/2/2020

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March had a few less horror stories other that that horrid virus thing.  Here are a few fun things we did in the southern Arizona area.
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Beautiful day here with a good friends, band and lots of food.  Finished the day with a sunset ride up in the foot hills.
Gracie sentenced to the side by side so we can keep track of her.
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New Adventure Part Two

3/10/2020

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Getting the new RV was not without incident.  February was very stressful.  The trade between RV's went well but there were a few bumps in the road.  You can take that comment literally.  Just as if trading an RV without seeing it, the days in-between , and the distance wasn't trying enough Bob took a speed bump too fast.  In fact he didn't see it.  Directing Bob while driving is helpful most of the time.  It is said that, "it takes two people to maneuver an RV",  is gospel.  Advise isn't always received well so I pick choose the incident to advise upon.  In this case it wasn't a good idea not, to warn of the speed bump.
Basically the days during the traveling to the trade were a little less than fun.  The following are a couple of pictures of the events that took place and we will just leave it at that and spare you the gory details.  Yes the MacBook Pro is toast.  Thus no blog until now April 2.  Fortunately the Host camper was made to twist so by the time we reached Lakeside California the frame twisted back to its proper position. Yeah!
So lastly, as I was talking to the insurance company I told them to add a cracked truck windshield to the claim because while I was on hold a rock hit the window.  Yes a rock hit our window and cracked it, seriously speaking, yes it did, right then and there.  All that ends well, is well.  Or is it?  That was not the end, but for now we will leave it at that.  Ahhhhh!
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We successfully picked up the new 5th wheel and drove it back to Yuma where we waited a week for our RV repair appointment on Monday.  We spent 6 days in their parking lot as they fixed a list as long as our arm of items that needed immediate attention.  This RV still had new coach stickers on everything but it sat outside under a live oak tree for it's whole life at the previous owners home unloved.  Attention was needed due to neglect.   With the added 1,140 watts of wonderful solar power added we were good to go.  
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 Any RVer's out there know how to get deep, rotten, live oak leaves and pollen stains off an awning, let us know in the comments section below. The awning was rolled up inside out. These two pictures show the stain after it was professionally power washed with strong cleaner and my scrubbing with a magic eraser and Simple Green.  There are two  massive awnings on this thing.  The back, third awning is waiting until I am brave enough to open it.
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Did I forget to mention the truck?  😩  First estimate was $19,990.  Second estimate happening in Holland at a later date.  We'll just leave this conversation at, February was stressful.  🤓. Time to open a White Claw on the new porch.
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...and hold our Gracie...
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Our New Adventure Starts...

2/19/2020

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What do you do during the Corona virus distancing?  You stay home and work on a puzzl;e...kinda a trick to do in a truck camper!
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This season Bob's back was killing him so we decided that maybe we needed to sell the beloved truck camper and get something with a place he could lay and stretch his back.  A toy hauler crossed our mind so we started looking.   After being very disappointed with the dealerships offer, we knew we needed  to sell our rig first and that should be done in the West... then it rained for 3 days straight.  It was a rare sight in Yuma, AZ.  
So for three days I searched the internet placing truck camper for sale adds in 5 places.   With this search I kept running across an add for a 2016 44' Dutchman Toy Hauler for sale in California.  It was beautiful, same year and same price as our camper. It was used only twice.  I showed it to Bob several times saying that too bad it was so big . Had it not been to large it would be perfect.  The couple had it for sale since September and said it was too big.  On the third day of rain I was looking at the toy hauler again and asked Bob if he thought it would be a good idea to text these people and see if they would like to trade it for something easier to sell and smaller to store?  This way we could have a toy hauler to sell out East and wouldn't have to wait in West for truck camper to sell.  And so it happened...we were now the proud owners of a toy hauler.
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Our beloved truck camper's new home.  Do you know the song lyrics," it never rains in Southern California"?  I'm here to tell you that it does rain, in Southern California. It rained off and on for three days.  That made the move very special mixed with a little sandy mud.  
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A special thank you to very wonderful previous owners , Mitchel and Pilar.  Thank you so much for your hospitality and home cooked meals.  You welcomed us into your home without hesitation and warmth. Love from us to you.
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    About  Us

    After my husbands widow maker heart attack in 2004, the doctor said just relax and enjoy life for a while. So it happened: the 43' NewMar Mountain Aire coach was purchased and the house sold....eventually. Relaxing? Not always! We are truly blessed to spend this time together... and with friends. 

    Up Date:

    September 2015 now traveling with Ford F350diesel dually and Host Mammoth Truck Camper.
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    2020 March
    ​new rig update: 2016 Dutchman Voltage Toy Hauler

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    2021 August
    New rig update:
    2020 Dutchman
    ​Voltage Toy Hauler

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