All Those Vendors......

Even the local businesses close down here during the summer and don't open back up until Oct. or so. In the last few weeks the grocery stores, local restaurants, laundromats, coffee houses, leather places, ice cream shoppe, rv parts/service, rock shops, bead stores, craft stores, etc. have opened their doors to the snobirds down here.

There are huge open areas set up here where people pull in their campers and setup their wares to sell for a price! Then there are the local craft fairs too and you can only participate if your stuff is hand made, which I really liked!!

We have seen paragliders, remote controlled planes and one morning I could have sworn I saw someone hanging from a hot air balloon lolol. Some of the motorized vehicles you see here are just far out, remember most of these snobirds are the older generation! I see people on scooters walking their dogs lol....except the dog is running hahaha!

There are hundreds of vendors already and more will be coming in. I was told a while back this is the wholesale capital of the world! So far I have seen....rocks, fossils, beads of all kinds for beading and jewelry making, crystals from Arkansa and any other place you can think of, sage bundles, hippie wares, dvd's, old fashioned kitchenware, clothing, jewelry, hot coffee, atv/scooter dealers, foods galore, rv supplies, tools, barber shop, massage therapy, windshield repair, satellite vendors, wholesale groceries, cabachons, pendulums, produce stands, breads, sweets, reiki, more rock shops than I could ever imagine, prospecting wares, kewl kitchen utensils, solar places and more! There are rv dealers out the whazoo! 

Alot of the rv parks have their own musical jamm sessions and there are places where bands come in and play for Sat. night dances! 

Of course they are gold & silver buyers. There is a permanent book store here where the owner supposedly plays a piano in there naked! What I do know is I haven't gone in there and I don't think I shall....lol. There is also a nude camping area out there somewhere...I have not bothered to search for that either, hmmmmm!

Soooo there u have it so far.....anything and everything one can imagine including many transients!!! When this shindig really gets going there will be so many events that it makes one's head spin. Many we won't attend but I am so glad I was able to see something like this...and we just might stay?!?!

The Hi Jolly Story and the Quartzsite Camels....

This adventure begins in 1855 with Jefferson Davis who was then the Secy. of War and he had an idea to import camels to build and travel on a wagon road through the southwest.

A buyer was dispatched and sent to the Middle East where he purchased 33 of them and proceeded to load them on a ship that had been modified for them and set sail to Indianola, Texas. Authorities were also sent there to find men who spoke camel....*snicker*!

Hadji Ali and Yiorgos Caralambo (AKA Greek George) were hired to teach the soldiers how to deal with these camels. Since the soldiers couldn't pronounce Hadji's name, he became known as Hi Jolly!

The camels were a great success! They could carry two to three times as much as the Army mules. They could go without water for much longer than could their horses or mules and most of the desert forage was fine for them to eat.

But alas, along came the Civil War and Jefferson Davis became president of the Confederacy as we all know. So without his support, the project was abandoned. Some of the camels were sold and others escaped into the wild. Hi Jolly bought two of them and operated a freight route between the Colorado River and the mining towns of eastern Arizona for the next two years.

In 1880 he became a U.S. citizen and started calling himself Philip Tedro and married Gertrude Serna of Tucson, AZ. When he retired, he moved to Quartzsite and prospected around the region using a mule. He died in 1902.

The camels thrived for a while, but eventually died out. However, as late as the 1930's and 1940's there were unsubstantiated reports of camels spotted in the wild. One story was that of the Red Camel, which roamed the desert with a headless human skeleton on its back!

This one picture of the pyramid with a camel on top is located in the Hi Jolly Cemetery and the cemetery is the most visited locations in Quartzsite!!

The other picture you can spot at the town boundary lines, on all 4 sides! I think the statues, etc. are a nice way to honor Hi Jolly and his camels.

Isn't that a neat story?!

More Campers Than I Ever Have Seen!!

Yes, I know, been a long absence but I finally thought of a couple things to write about! I will tell you the really neat story about the camels & Quartzsite, but first the camper review!! 

Since we got here already the population has just about doubled and we have only been here since Oct. 3rd. We have learned since that the normal population of this town is less than 2,000 and around Jan/Feb, it grows to hundreds of thousands!! There is gonna be concerts, parades, hot air balloon festival, Rock Fiesta (still not sure what that is), ATV races and goodness knows what all! More and more vendors selling their wares open up every day...not counting all the RV dealers here...geez loueez and it hasn't even really kicked off yet!

We are at LaPosa south on BLM land which has over 600 acres, about 2 miles south of town and every day more and more campers pull in. There are small, older campers. There are old and new fancy 5th wheels. There are tent campers. There are ones with pop-ups. There are the old and new van types. There are the class C's. There are semi-trucks pulling their campers. There are fancy shmancy class A's and older class A's. There are ones the size of friggin buses. Alot have solar panels on their roofs. Many build on rooms with metal frames and tarps to extend their already huge camping area. Some build free standing buildings with the metal frames and tarps. Camping trailers of all shapes and sizes, it is fun just to see what might come in here next. There are many ATV's, motorcycles, bicycles. Apparently with paying $180 for 7 months, you can have as much room as your heart's content, only rule is you have to be at least 15 ft. from your neighbor and quiet time from 10-7 nightly. Many are parked in a community circle type, people meet every year down here. Alot of led lights, blowup Santa on a motorcycle and holiday lights too!! 

The cold snap is hopefully over with. The 20's in the morning when u get up with no friggin heat all night is a very fast wake-up call. So now with the lows only in the 40's should be a walk in the park lolol! When it warms back up, hubby will be back out there huntin for that elusive yellow rock!!

Next up....the story of Hi Jolly and the camels of Quartzsite....a story that is just too kewl!!

What Is It???

Sooooo we have been here in Quartzsite for about a month now and the town is starting to really get busy, gearing up for all the events between now and March.

We continue to sit outside as dusk approaches to watch the night skies. The other night on the full moon, I saw a rainbow colored cloud...at night no less!! Very kewl indeed!

But what has been peaking our interest nightly is this....this light. But we don't think it is a light. It appears in the same place almost every night, just after the stars appear and in the northern sky. It is just above the horizon and it flashes different changes....white, red, green, blue & purple. It moves, but not much at all....a bit to the right, up or down but not a whole lot at once. It basically stays in the same general vicinity all the time, for hours. 

We know it isn't a plane, a planet, a star, a jet, a meteor, a comet, a shooting star, the space station, a doggy or a kitty lolol.... So then WHAT could it be?!?! That leaves a UFO which doesn't mean extra terrestrial, all it means is we don't have a dang clue as to what this thing is! 

Ideas...anyone?!?!

Quartzsite.....a rock lover's dream!!

There is something to be said for this town and I can't quite put my finger on it, but tis truely peaceful and magickal out here on this desert barren land where we are parked for the next 6 months!!

Yep, we are boondocking and have to haul in our water and haul out our dirty water, etc. and have to conserve on every level u can imagine. It makes one think about how wasteful society has become and it makes you use your head about how to do things a bit differently to make it easier on yourself when the time comes to haul or empty water, etc! 

It is way hotter than normal here for the next few days...100's or so, but after that it cools back down to the 80's. Sounds a bit weird when one says it like that, huh? When it gets that cool, we don't usually have to run the generator for the a/c. When it's in the 80's when you go to bed, it is a bit on the warm side! We don't need no sweat lodge or sauna, we are living in one lolol!!! But it helps to make you tougher, not to mention sweating out toxins, etc!! 

This town is one big square and only 3 main streets! From what I have been able to see, only one small residential area! It appears there are over 70 RV parks just within the city limits....can u imagine?!?! Rock & stone stores with anything and everything you could possibly want to make jewelry with or any kind of stone, raw or polished! Beading supplies as well. The flea markets are starting to open up and soon this town will be one huge flea market! The country's biggest gem show will be here in Jan. Along with a huge gold show. NA Pow Wow's. Event after event for approximately 2 months! Unbelievable huh?!?! I wanted to experience this just once, but as events unfold, it appears we are staying here for quite a while...ha! 

There is black lava rocks, fossils, etc everywhere and it leads me to believe this whole area was once a huge caldera. The whole town/area is surrounded by various mtn ranges! 

They have the neatest town park where they had free movies the other night, kinda live a drive-in without the cars....lol. The park has a historic area, metal detecting area, remote control plane or car areas and of course the normal slides, swings, pavillion, etc. But what caught my eye was an area called Celia's Rainbow Gardens. It is a huge area where people, I think, can purchase little plots of land and have memorials of their loved ones put there. They are decorated with love and rememberance...some with pictures, some with personal belongings, some with handmade built things  their loved ones cherished. It is quite remarkable and very very kewl! There is a peacefulness to that little area one can not imagine!! 

I love it here!!

Quartzsite.....

Well we left Stanton on Sat. and came down to Quartzsite for the winter! A very long and tiring day, especially since we had to make 2 trips at 90 miles each way!! The new truck did a fantastic job...yeah for Optimus Prime lolol!! So we are back to boondocking again which means limited resources and no tv channels out here and I was just getting hooked back on it again....so withdrawals again, but the stupidass commercials and certain tv shows sure won't be missed!!

Where we are camped is out in the La Pas long term camp on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) just outside the hustle & bustle of the small town of Quartzsite. Now normally this town only has about 3,500 permanent residents, but during the months of all the shows & activities, it explodes to over 300,000!!!!! I am just excited that I don't have to drive over 25 miles to the store every week or go down that gawd awful county road to go get gas or the mail. It truely is the small, simple things in life, huh?!?!

The stillness, the quiet is even more than at Stanton! It is soooo dark out here with no lighting from the city...yet one could see the city lights way out on the horizon! Very kewl indeed!!! This whole area is like in a "bowl" with the mountain ranges surrounding it! Tons and tons of black rock everywhere. The water is even better, as I believe it comes from a well. The water at Stanton seemed to have gotten worse over time and I would have a film in my pans...not good!

We sit out at night and enjoy the night skies as there are no buggies, gnats, mosquitoes or nuttin!!! We are sitting right beneath the milky way and have seen UFO's already! May not be actual extra terrestrials, but they ain't stars or planes neither.....hehehe "wink wink"!!

Had to drive a whole 3 miles or so to the laundromat this morning, wow prices certainly have gone up...so when I got back, I asked the guys if they would string me up a clothesline! I got so used to hanging up my clothes to dry, I don't wanna use dryers....go figure! 

Thing is, me & Charlies have got tons of walking places now! One can make your campsite your own and move stuff around to suit you...we like that!! We are already talking about staying down here! They cater to the rv'ers and there are more than 60 rv parks just within the city limits!!! From Oct-April they have a huge assortment of activities, shows, etc. We thought Stanton was kewl....well Quartzsite has it beat all to hell, something truely magickal about this area!!

Been A While I Suppose, eh?

Yup, guess it has been like a month since I last wrote y'all. First I thought that not alot has gone on, then I sit here & realized even tho our lives aren't filled up with the corporate world crap, we still have stuff happenin here in the high desert! 

Last you heard, we were boondocking and it was ohhh soooo very hot, in the high 90's and low 100's and we didn't have a/c all the time, we couldn't afford to run the generator more than 6-7 hrs a day and that took a whole tank of gas, almost 4 gallons!! Do the math!!! 

We invested in a solar unit for our battery to help it keep going, since it is brand new and the heat helped to suck all it's juices dry and no constant electric. It helped tremendously, but then a huge gust of wind toppled it over and it shattered....grrrrr!! 

Next day I went to use the truck and when I started driving it, something was very wrong! Got it back to the campsite and hubby popped the hood and the serpentine belt had snapped off....with the help of a huge friggin rat!! Apparently he was up in the engine and when I started the truck, it killed him and threw the belt. Luckily hubby fixed it with little trouble...yay hubbs!! So we went into to town to get another solar panel and lo & behold, they didn't have anymore....but he told us he had ordered 6! hmmmmm So we went to TSC and got one for about the same price and it is even better!!

I have this thing where I believe things happen in three's, know what I mean? Well as our luck was running here lately, the next morning on my way back down to the camper apparently Charlie barked at a diamond back rattler!! We wondered what Charlie dog would do if a snake happened upon us, now we know....good boy!! So hubby couldn't get to the snake easily, he was just past our front hitch under our camper!! I went and got help from the assistant caretakers, here they come! Too late, hubby killed it with a shovel, beheaded that s.o.b.!! He was a bit leary of using his gun, didn't want the bullet to ricochet off any rocks, cuz there are plenty of those around the area! He buried the head and then held up the body to friggin study it....omg! I told him, throw that damn thing over into the gulley!!

As it got closer to the end of the month, the heat was pretty wicked and in the end, it costs us just as much in gas for the generator and boondocking as it would if we were in the full hook up areas...sooo at the start of July, we moved and are in the full hook-up areas now! We will get enough boondocking experience when we go down to quartzsite for the winter. So a/c and water whenever we want it! It took us a few days to recoup from the heat as our cores in our bodies had gotten soooo hot, it was hard to cool down even at night....ohhh I prayed for breezes after the sun went down!!

Desert Rats.....

Well, the "dawg dayz" of summer have already arrived here in the high desert. Hubby nicknamed us desert rats a while back seeing as that is how we are gonna be living for a while. Yesterday it was brought up that this is not an easy life....and it is NOT!!!!!! We aren't sure what the hell we were thinking lolol. 

The weather here changes quite abruptly! Granted you can count on the heat and the sun being hot!! The other day a sudden rain shower happened upon us and it felt good, mainly cuz the clouds covered up the sun. You can usually count on the winds, breezes coming thru here. At night after we have to kick off the generator which supplies our a/c, the breezes coming thru are awesome and they feel sooo good. During the day the winds can whip thru here and tear up an awning that you have out for shade....it seems every time we put ours out, the winds pick up and if we aren't very vigilant we could have a tore up awning!!  There was a big gust of wind yesterday and it knocked over our solar panel we had connected to the battery.....that was $100 shot to hell! So today we have to get another one, cuz we have to keep the battery charged when the generator isn't on. 

In preparing meals, I decided to walk up to the camp's kitchen and bake in their ovens from now on, heat up there vacant kitchen instead of my whole house! I get the dish in our ever faithful truck and something isn't right when I pull out....drove a little ways up to their kitchen, let it run, cuz I thought maybe the neat....ummm no.....got it back to the campsite and a friggin desert rat had crawled up in the engine, apparently got stuck and when I started the engine, it killed him....hubby pulled him out and he was friggin huge....tip to tail, maybe 12"!! 

Every 4 days or so we have to drain our gray & black water tanks and get fresh water. Now those of you who don't know, gray water is like from dishes, hand washing, etc. and blk. water is the poo & pee. When we first decided to do this, we thought it would be better to walk up and use their bathrooms in the morning, so we wouldn't have a whole lot of ick to drain lol. Then hubby goes and gets fresh water for us to drink and use, then we put it in our camper. After about an hour's worth of work we are set for about 4 more days. 

We go thru about a tank of gas daily now in the generator cuz of the heat and still have to shut the a/c down right after sunset and for about an hour or so, it is pretty damn warm in here and since we retire early...we get up about 5:15 am....it doesn't cool off until later! 

Then there are the biting, flying little friggin gnats...lil bastards...get right by your ear and buzz! And there are the snakes....have seen 2 now! The bees, wasps, hornets....but NO mosquitoes!! The jack rabbits, regular rabbits, butterflies, road runners, skenks, lizards, coyotes...are all fun to watch!! 

Yes, we have chosen it seems a tougher life than what we had back in Oklahoma....do we wanna go back to live?? No way jose....Arizona seems to be where our hearts are....heat and all!!

Trials and Tests

I know it has been a while since I posted, I do apologize for that just in case anybody is keeping up. This last week...well maybe 10 days or so....have put our relationship and this whole notion to the test.

This camp is 95% male and when we had the cookout over Memorial Day, these men were like a bunch of ol' hens cacklin' lolol. All about one guy too and I thought that was kinda sad, especially when it went on & on!! I told hubby I would be interested in hearing the other guy's side of the story, cuz there is always 3 sides to every story ya know!! Well as things happened, we did get a chance to hear his side and lo & behold, it wuz very different!! As we get to know some of these other "prospectors", we realize we don't wanna get to know them at all....not much different than what we left behind us. But our eyes were clearly open, no rose colored glases here!! There are the prospectors and there are the metal detector guys and from what I have heard, the metal detector guys find more than the prospectors, but it is kinda like the Hatfields and McCoys....some make it more difficult for the others and alot of discontent! Sad really!! Their way is best and they are satisfied with a pittance they get for all their hard work! Whereas the metal detector guys find more and big nuggets with alot less work, so maybe it is jealousy, I dunno! What I do know is it is very ridiculous and sad, cuz aren't we all here for the same purpose...for that elusive gold!!

Yes, we were disillusioned by all of this, no we weren't told just how hard a work it is! We surely thought we would have found a significant amount by now, cuz gee whizz it has been almost 2 whole months!! Maybe we should just pack it all in and go back to okieland with the floods and mosquitoes! But isn't this where we belong? Do we have to fight & argue about the same shit every single friggin day? Isn't this what we have dreamed of....a kind of freedom we can't find other places? Are we ever gonna find enough to help with the finances or maybe pay something off? Yep, that is how it has been the last couple weeks? Well we are working thru it all and decided hell NO we ain't going back to okieland to live! We will proceed and forge ahead with our plans and our dreams!! We will make it thru this rough patch cuz that is what we do and how our love survives! We know we belong here! We may be a 2 state citizen for a while, but eventually AZ will be our permanent home!

There are downsides to most any place one chooses to live, but I believe u have to at least like where u live. I do love it here, even tho there are flying gnat thingies that get around your face, etc. and there are snakes amd scorpions! But every morning as I watch the sun come up over the mountains and cast different shadows on the other mtns., I watch the bunnies, the road runners, the skenks and the other wildlife and it kinda put things back into perspective a bit. 

So there it is in a nutshell so to speak, things are looking up and we shall overcome and find that peace that we felt when we first arrived!!

A Month Later!

So we have been here in Stanton for a month now....sure seems longer. It is like we have been here forever, our life in OK been forgotten. Tho we do hear the flooding, etc is awful there and I am sooo glad I am NOT there what with all the skeeters and shit! AZ seems to be missing those little critters, thank goodness. 

Boondocking isn't that bad, one just has to be extra careful of the resources one uses like I said before. We run the generator about 4 hrs./day to charge up our electronics and battery on the camper and quiet time is from like 10-7 at night, so nothing is going at night and it is soooooo quiet!!! At only $1/day, we can handle it hehehe. 

As for finding and getting ALL that gold everyone talks about? Well alot of that seems to be missing as acres and acres have been dug and panned for years. Between the non-true reality shows and the other supposed gold shows on the boob tube and all the organizations....this person feels the whole "hobby" is misleading in one way or another! So many buy into the hype and think they are gonna strike it rich and can make a living doing this...lemme tell ya....unless you are able to move tons of dirt daily and have a shitload of machines to help....you won't be making a living at it! One may hit a good strike or a vein...but there is soooo much land to cover and one has to know how to read the land and how does one do that?? It takes years...not months or days. Some we have met have been doing this for 15-20+ years and they don't have a pot to piss in and they don't care, cuz it has become such a way of life for them, that going back into the corporate world is not an option. One has to admire those kind of folk really...I do and I have a great amount of respect for them to get up day after day, go out dig, run the machines blah blah blah....it is hardass work and all for a possible flake of gold, if one is lucky enough to find a flake, most is like a grain of sand that we have seen and finer....what they call powder gold! So there is a small lesson for y'all! 

As for our lesson....we have learned it isn't fast and the 2 buckets a day we do probably won't be enough to make us rich! But what we have learned is patience, perseverance, persistence and we have a peace in our hearts and souls that we thought we'd never find and THAT my dear friends is priceless to us!!!!

The Actual Diggin & Pannin.....

Where oh where did the warmth go? The last 2 or 3 days it has been down right cold with rain & wind. These ol' bones don't do so well in this chilly air and people say this isn't typical May weather for here. I sure as hell hope not or it ain't much better than Oklahoma, cept for all the rain they have gotten! Hubby fixed the campsite's dish tv so we could watch a bit last night down in the old Opera House and the weather said Phoenix was under a flood advisary with 1/4" of rain!! I about rolled out of my chair with laughter! To me, that was funny, cuz we had just talked to his dad and he told us the south central area of Oklahoma where we were had gotten over 12" of rain the last couple weeks and they are expecting more this next week...omg I can just imagine all the friggin mosquitoes!! Out here in the dry areas no mosquitoes...woohoo!! Anyway, I got off topic again lol. First I wanna say this ol' town is haunted....watching my Grimm last tnight, I could have swore I saw someTHING or someONE walking on the little porch area across the way...hmmmm....I don't usually see those type of things...hubby does, but not me! 

We think hubby has found a good place to really start diggin and maybe finally we get to see some gold in our pans. There is so much land to dig, one has trouble trying to figure out just where to start. They gave us pointers and a mini geology class during the outing, so that helped a bit..but where oh where? For the most part, until we got Hound (atv) we were having difficulty getting to places TOO dig...we sure didn't wanna hurt our truck!, Sooo hubby went on a recon with Hound and we thinks we got a good spot to start, at least we are seeing something in our pans. Now I am here to tell you, this shit ain't easy! Digging, lifting, using water without wasting, spooning the dirt into the recirculator, etc. Long, monotonous, slow process to even be able to get said gold! Hard fucking work, which is good for us, but damn the back and the weather!!! 

Sooo today, Monday morn we packed up and came down to the dry camping area. For those that don't know, dry camping or boondocking is camping without water, sewer or electric. We make our own electric with a generator and fill up our fresh water tank with 40 gal. of water to use and then once the gray & black water tanks are full and we run out of fresh water, we haul them off and get more fresh water! We planned for it so we could be self sufficient....just means more conserving and being very conscientious on the resources we are using! 

OHHHHHH and one more thing.....I drove the atv (Hound) yestersay.....hot damn that wuz fun!! It isn't street legal, so now worries there....but I can ride it all around this campsite...woohoo!! That is all for now....blessings & peace to u all!!! 

Another day......

Boy, I thought OK weather was strange.....colder than shit with all these winds up here! Now it will warm up again. We have been running the electric fireplace in the camper at night, it is that chilly, but what to do when we move down to the dry camp area??! We have decided to stay up here and pay for one more week.....we both was thinking the same thing and that is what our gut is telling us, so it shall be...lol. Plus the sunrises up here are magnificent!! Apparently their monsoon season they call it is in July & Aug., so we have to pick a spot down there where it won't flood since there is only rock, dirt & gravel....nothing to hold the water! 

One of our camper neighbor friends we met gifted us with some sweet corn she got at wallyworld over in Prescott for like .15/ear!!! Wasn't gonna eat it, but hubby said why not......there is no way that is gmo corn!! OMG sweet, juicy and the flavor was out of this world....better than the corn I ate as a child from my grandpa's seed company he worked for!!! Having the rest of it today!! As I visit the food stores here, especially in the produce section, I am amazed at how much of it comes from AZ!!!!!!!!!!! Some comes from CA too and some from Mexico....but apparently AZ is quickly becoming a bigger agricultural area since the water issues in CA. The produce here has OK's beat all to hell, I think OK got the bottom of the barrel stuff, tbh! Since I can store some food in the camp's refrigerators down there, I can get bunches...friggin YUMMMMM!!! 

When I moved to OK many years ago, it amazed me the vehicles I saw on the roads down there, not only did they seem unsafe, some got that wth look! Seems that way here, only I have seen some old trucks here that look pretty damn good and of course atv's everywhere, some even legal on the road. But the most awesome thing I have seen yet was this three wheeled yellow powered tricycle with a canopy on top, 2 individual seats up front and a bench seat in the back...awesome lil thing....I loved it!!! I had to ask the elderly gentleman if it was legal to drive on the street and he said yes it was!! I told him I loved it, thought it was the neatest thing I had ever seen and he said he really liked my shirt which I should take off and let him wear.......ahahahaha!!! Couple days later hubby & I were talking about that and he said it would have been a shame if he would have had to whip that leacherous ol man's ass.....which I thought was halirous!!! 

We have have been out 2 or 3 times now to get some dirt from Mother Earth to bring back to "classify" down to pan to see if there is any gold, so far nada! Well nothing too big anyway, but that is ok too. We haven't been at it very long and it takes time to get a system down and to figure out how to get the gold from the black sand. Our major problem is we are too busy looking at god's scenery and taking in the breathtaking views we get to see when we go up the mtns. even more. The cacti, the stone people, the flowers, etc! Now I am here to tell you, there is NO shortage of bees up here and they are the African Bees, the mean sonsabitches!! The beautiful quartz is everywhere on the ground, just waiting to pick them up....we can't take them all home with us, too much weight in the camper ahahahaha!! Not sure yet about a rock tumbler, we sure love them in their raw stage!!! All for now, blessings and ya'll are in my prayers....always!!

The Aftermath......

 All activities and the distribution of all the gold collected was done by Sunday afternoon after a very long auction, raffle drawings, then finally the gold!! We had the potluck Sat. night, was kinda sad more people didn't bring something and the volunteers had to serve everyone to make sure everyone got some, reminded me of vultures!! Not even sure the volunteers, etc. got any. After the potluck, there was drawings for prizes around the campfire and the full moon showed her majestic glow peeking at us over the mtns....very kewl!!! We didnt get as much gold as we had hoped, but the knowledge and commradery was priceless! Made some friends and had some laughs and just a down right enjoyable time and hubby actually said he was enjoying himself....been a very long time since I heard those words come out of his mouth, this is good!! 

So after Sunday's doins, we headed north to Prescott to find a walmart...I know, I know....but still. So we had to go over the mtns. here and if anybody knows me at all, they know I don't do heights well and I did not!!! The last elevation sign I saw read 6100 feet...wth??! But thru the national forest with the tall pines was sooo beautiful, by then I had calmed down a bit and unclenched my hands and stopped using the brake on my side lololol! Well Prescott is a beautiful town, reminded me of San Francisco cuz of all the hills. I have noticed it seems the AZ communities take pride in their cities & towns....clean, decorated, works of art everywhere and great roads......just a pleasure to see! Found the walmart and headed back...now going downhill isn't as bad, cuz the mtns. are on my side, but the grades going downhill were pretty steep, lemme tell ya! We have to go back because of something we have to take care of, so it is either back up the mtns. or down to Phoenix area....hmmmmm! The mtn. route wins and I will just keep my eyes closed during the bad parts....hahahahha!! Best for all around that way...lol.

So it rained Sunday night & last night (May 4), so both mornings there was fog, clouds hanging low over the mtns...very kewl! I took a pic of if, I will see if I can include it with this blog! We went to the nearest town,  Congress and got a temporary (?) change of address, seems we ARE staying out here for a while at least! Sunday we pack up and move to the "free" spaces or dry camping or boondocking, so we will be totally self contained....that will be very interesting for sure, but we can do this, we love it here! It is either here or back in Springer.....hmmmmm???

So until my next installment everyone......blessings and peace!! 🌟💟🌞🔮

Isn't this just magnificent?!?! Who would want to leave??

Stanton Mining Area.....

The 'owners' have done a great job of combining the old west with some modern conveniences! Too bad everything has to be locked up because of the lack of respect some have for others. The campsites are big and clean with little to no shade. We are up the hill where we see the sunrise over the mtns in the morning and see it set past the mtns as well....just beautiful. Every morning as I watch the sun come up, about 1 1/2 hrs after daylight begins, I see different shadows & sunlight as it rises over the mtns....simply magnificent!!!

The mining camp down below has the old Stanton Hotel they have converted into a kitchen, library, pool hall where they play poker and there is even a pay phone! Across the way is the old Opera House which is now a gathering place for the prospectors & campers for the potlucks and such. The office where you check in at used to be a stage stop and there is a life sized stuffed ol' prospector sitting in one of the chairs that Charlie dog just couldn't quite figure out lolol! They have washers for our use but no dryers, we have to use clotheslines and clothes pins...ha!! Of course there is a dump station, dumpster, propane tank etc for the campers and the water ain't half bad! Up here where we are camped, there are 3 old bunkhouse type bldgs. One has exercise eqpt. in it with one of the washing machine sheds out back, the other two are still vacant but the old west looks still survives!

So we were sitting there panning some stuff he brought back and lo & behold I look out around us and there is a Mr. Noshoulders as hubby calls them, just a slithering by on his merry way....omg! omg! omg! I say and hubby sez don't move....I say don't worry as I am frozen with fear!! Mow hubby sez the is snake was only abt 3 ft. long, but I swear it was at least 10 ft!! lolol That is MY story and I am sticking to it!! He kept telling me how proud he was of me the way I handled myself as I am deathly afraid of the things and more importantly I didn't have to change my pants! lololol

We drove into this small town down the road Congress, AZ and went into this little town grocery store to get a drink, so we are looking around and in a glass case up by the checkout is all this pot paraphanalia...from water bongs, to one hitters and a pretty good size hooka!!!!! We get outside and I am rollin it was soo funny to see that in a small town store like that...omg AZ!!! lovin it.....

Community dig finally started....

Well let's see the dig itself started on Wed. They have good home cooked meals for $5 each! They have games scheduled, a potluck, classes for learning, a game like the amazing race with clue boxes, 50/50 drawings, bingo, treasure hunts and more going on while the 2 main areas of the digging is taking place. On Saturday night is the potluck, gold panning contests, duck races, bonfire, giveaways and a talent show lolol. I am telling you it is a busy little "town" here this week!! On Sunday when everyone gets their share of the gold split and after the auctions & raffles, people will leave and it will go back to the quiet little area it was when we got here! 

The weather is magnificent! Warm to hot hot days, but sooo cool at night and NO humidity woohoooo!!   I did a load of wash this morning and hung it out on a makeshift clothesline to dry our clothes...check that out!! Charlie is loving our walks, but there are goatheads that get in his paws and by late morning he is ready to nap the hot afternoons away. We are ready for bed before 9:00, as we are exhausted from all the activity which we are not used too and besides no tv reception up here, which from what I see there isn't much worth watching! But we are up at 5:30 am when it starts to get daylight so we can watch the sunrise over the mtns, nothing more magnificent or stirs my soul as much!!

So we will stay up here until the 10th, then move down to the dry camp area where we have to be self-contained, which means no running water or electric, but we got that covered!! In Sept., we will go down to the Yuma area right outside Quartzsite and stay until April, then come back up here...sounds like a perfect plan to us!! We can continue to digg & pan for gold and be desert rats at the same time! The thought of going back to our existence we had in Oklahoma is not the least bit pleasing to us!! Hubby said he was having fun and enjoying himself and I am too and to us.....that is all that matters!! Blessings to all...

Last Leg of the Journey...for now anyway!!

Well we were on the road by 7:45 am and once hubby started that truck, ol' Charlie dog was keepin a good eye on what he was doing cuz heaven forbid we go without him! He has been wonderful thru this whole trip, he loves to ride!! Our next obstacle is Tucson and over some more mtns.

Another one of those billboards that made me split a gut laughing was....Synthetic grass in Tucson...LOL! It wasn't the synthetic grass part, it was the fact there was a store for it hahahaa!!

So we ran into some short showers outside of Tucson, but not bad enough where we had to stop -- we keep on truckin our way to Phoenix which is our next big hurdle. With over a million people living there, I can't imagine the traffic, but first a pit stop at Pichacho Peak for gas -- such beautiful mtns!! Browsed thru the gift shop, now that was fun...wooohoo....a tie dyed shirt for me and a sarape for hubby! They decorate their bridges & overpasses with art, it is truely beautiful!! 

Ahhhh the hustle & bustle of Phoenix, during lunchtime no less with some brief showers. Made for tricky driving, but hubby got us thru. To the north of Phoenix lay a whole agriculture area, not sure what was planted in those green fields, but one would never think of Phoenix as being an agricultural area and the palm trees, you would think we had gone all the way into LA!

So now onto Wickenberg, Congress and then finally Stanton. That last part was tricky, especially the rain showers and a brief downpour as Charlie got a bath and blow dry in the back lol. We had to go on some back roads & 2 lane hwys. from there and then finally a 5 mile dirt road to get to the final destination! Pulled in about 1:00 and got everything set up, walked Charlie, then we went exploring, din din, dishes and I am beat. I stayed here to putz while hubby went to town to see what kind of trouble he could get in!

 I applaud hubby for getting us here with his expertise driving!! Thank you honey! We were so blessed during this whole trip....no issues with the truck or camper, gas didn't cost as much as we thought and it seems since we hit AZ time is going slower and our gas mileage got better, so go figure....blessings to all!

Observations....

So I have been thinking alot about what to write on this blog and most of it came to me in the dark early hours just before sunrise. It gets light early here and the days seem longer, the sun seems hotter, but the cool breezes and lack of humidity make it for peefect weather, I think!! But this 2 hr. time difference is really screwing with my brain here LOLOL. 

Over the past 3 days, we traveled approx. 1,000 miles....now to me that is alot, but to my hubby, an ex-trucker, that ain't nuttin!! So I have to keep reminding him this is not business, this is pleasure :) I watched the terrain change from the permabasin area in TX to El Paso to New Mexico, then finally Arizona.

As we were going thru Odessa & Midland TX, I got a history lesson from hubby as he used to haul in that area. As far as they eye could see nothing but oil wells, storage tanks, refineries and the rape of Mother Earth...all in the name of progress. I was told this permabasin was one of the richest oil deposits ever found in the U.S.A. and it was going on even before Saudi ever thought about the oil biz! His dad helped to build that interstate 20 down there we were on when he was a youngen and that is how he learned to drive a truck! Of course as we were driving thru, hubby was amazed at how much it had grown in the last couple decades. Now southwest TX was mosty beautiful because of the Guadalupe mountain range which went on forever and ever!! We needed gas bad so we took this one exit, not knowing how far up a hill we would have to go to get there....whew! But the view...omg mtns as far as the eye could see!!! Then we got to Socorro, which is like right next door to El Paso and camped for the night! So much traffic at night and so many night lights! Now remember, I am used to a quiet small town! So the drive thru El Paso was a nightmare to say the least....hubby did a fantastic job!! There is not enough money in the world for me to drive thru that madhouse of a city and these people do it on a daily basis...not this chickeepoo!! So many house slammed together into the bottom of the mtns, was just unbelievable & like I said the rio grande to the left, then Mexico which to me looked just like some more of El Paso...ha!! 

As we go into New Mexico, there seems to be a sudden change in the air and in the way we feel and of course there was that beautiful travel stop!! I could see why they call it the land of enchantment. I immediately fell in love with the architecture, the colors and of course the mtns! Had I been there in a past life? Alot of flat land as well and small settlements as I called them just out in the middle of the desert. I also got my first ever border patrol inspection, now that was a treat in itself! There didn't seem to be as much destruction to Mother Earth here! Lots and lots of longass trains tho!! I, for one, did not think you could grow much of anything in the desert cept cacti, mesquite trees, sagebrush, etc...but lo & behold we came upon groves and groves of vinyards, pecan trees, walnut & almond trees!!!!! Who woulda thunk it?! 

Our trip thru NM was quick as we drove on into Arizona! Again, the air changed and we both just did one of those longass sighs...aaaahhhhhhhh!! Onto Willcox where we had decided to stay a couple days! There is no grass here and Charlie dog is having issues with that lolol! This rv pk is really nice and all covered with the rock people and the cypress trees omg they are just beautiful!! Again with the adobe style architecture. Took a little drive around to sight see the town and well that didn't last long lol! Our down time seems to be draggin what with not much to do, we don't wanna drive too far to explore, so just hangin out here at the rv pk. I did some laundry and the housewifey stuff and we are just enjoying the awesome temps and the peace & quiet, well except for the traffic! 

Finally In Arizona.....

Got up early and hitailed it outta El Paso as quickly as possible before 6:30 am!! I have never seen the likes of all the people!! OMG!! People's homes built into the mtns, to the left Mexico and even had a border patrol stop....lol.

OMG I have to tell you about the billboard I saw in Deming, NM smack dab in the desert...it read " Who Is Jesus?" then under it sez call 855-for-jesus!! Isn't that a hoot?! LOLOL

When we got into New Mexico, we stopped at the welcome center and I posted those pics already, it was beautiful!! I thought the mtns of southern TX were magickal until we hit New Mexico....there is something enchanting about it for sure. Not as desolate as I thought tho. Then on into Arizona and the mtns...everywhere!! As we traveled the tension & stress just left our bodies and just enjoying the scenery. 

Since weather is a factor the next couple days, we decided to stop at Willcox at an RV Pk. called 'The Magic Circle' ain't that a kick in the pants?!?! Gonna relax for a couple days, play, breathe and enjoy then head on up to Stanton as we figured we can make it up there on Fri.!!! That gives hubby time to really check it out and dig him up some gold....hehehehe!! 

Later all.....thanks for following us on our trip...we are having such a blast!! 

Trying hard to get out of Texas lolol

We sure slept good last night...whew!! But was still up at 6AM, had our java java and was on the road by 8:30. Trying to decide which way is best to get thru that bitch of a city El Paso! Poor Charlie dog didn't even wanna go out first thing this morning, he is still sleeping on his blankie. He doesn't do well with a change in routine, but I sure do!!

Driving thru SW. TX was a very magickal experience for me....the mtns are wonderous & as we passed by one, it seemed she spoke to me, she was beautiful!! Unfortunately I couldn't get a pic of that special mtn., but I did get pics of others that I posted. We came to this really nice rest stop....very clean & big, just east of Pecos. Started seeing border patrol everywhere and I saw a sign on the highway that made me roll with laughter....Prison Area. Do NOT pick up hitchikers. I thought that was sooo funny and only one sign too!

Hot sun, long drive and then the task of finding an rv pk for the night. Outside El Paso, we finally found a place after wrong directions and getting lost...but all set up now and I put charlie in the camper where it was cooling down and he fell fast asleep lol. Now this RV Pk. is uptown!! Kinda higher priced than we wanted to pay, but we had no choice. Needed a place to stop so we can hit El Paso first thing in the morning so we can miss the traffic!! That is the plan for now anyway!!

For now, din din and a walk up to the pool area to get hooked up to wifi so I can say howdy to my fb buds and publish my blog. That's all for now....blessings!

1st beautiful day.....

Well we left at about 10:15 am...was hoping to leave earlier, but it didn't happen that way and that is okeedokee with me, have to double & triple check when one is traveling this far with their home!

Beautiful weather for traveling -- warm, sunny, but cool breezes!! Whichita Falls, TX was our first pit stop after an hour on the road. Stopped under a shaded gas pump to get gas and grab a quick bite to eat, get Charlie some water and walk him in Throckmorton, TX. Then on to Abilene, Sweetwater and Big Springs!

So after a few pit stops for Charlie dog, he finally gave up, laid down & rested a bit. He was sooo excited tho, so afraid he would miss something lol. Longest RIDE ever for him and we are only 1/4 of the way there. Tomorrow, we will latch him up a bit tighter-- made us very nervous the way we kept going to the back of the bed of the pick-up, especially since we don't have a tailgate per say, we have one of those cargo net thingis, so it wouldn't take much for there to be a terrible accident!! 

So after too many hours of driving, we finally decided to stop at this RV park in Big Springs...."Whip It In" RV Pk. lolol I know funny name eh?!?! Awesome people, lots of amenities....cable lol wow.....108 channels and not one thing worth watching hahaha....we have what 6 at the house?! But I am unable to get online dangit!! Oh well. So I fixed us a small din din, relaxed a bit, then took Charlie dog for a walk...poor guy is exhausted....we wore him out, he didn't get his usual 18 hrs. of sleep today lolol.

So up early in da morn, coffee then pack it all up again & hit the road...woohoo!! Starting out to be quite an adventure! Saw lots of wind farms, mesquite trees, mesas and alot of damn traffic haha!! Later gaters....blessings to all💥❤️🌅🌟

7 days & counting!!!

Well here it is, only a week away from us taking off...woohoo!!! Although I do hope & pray the rains won't overtake us here as it's supposed to rain off & on all week. Long as we can get out on Monday, that's all that matters. Most of the outside work, etc. is done as well. Only moving stuff from our house & the other bldg. that we live in half the time & store stuff in is all we have to do now. Hubby might have to work o.t. this week which really sux, but that would mean him going in on Thurs., but he's off on Sunday & for the next month! Cleaned out cabinets, etc. this past weekend & slowly getting the food thing lined up. You don't wanna take too much for the road, yet enough so one doesn't get too hungry on their way out since we aren't big on eating out!! Most of the moving stuff over we won't be able to do until Sunday or right before we leave anyway, you all know how that is when you pack for a trip??!! We are headed to south TX going thru El Paso into Deming, NM, then on over to AZ! Probably won't be able to sleep a wink on Sunday night hehehe!!!!! So we shall see how all this wet weather plays out....cuz my next installment will be with us on da road!!!! Blessings & peace....♥♥♥

Tick Tock....

Time is getting closer & closer...2 more weeks!!! I can hardly believe it! Soooo this week, we have to hook up the camper & take it into town to get new tires on it. Hubby decided it was best since one of them looked bad & he could see the cords! Best to do all 4 at once too! This way as with everything else we have done, WE will know when it's been done as I have started a maintenance list for us, which is best since I am getting old LOL and can't remember all of it!

We are giving ourselves a week to get out there...7 days...at only 200 miles/day, we still have plenty of time to gander & look!! I won't be able to do my blog while on the road, cuz I just might miss something...hehehe!!! Next week is gonna be really busy, tending to last minute stuff, cuz hubby is working on Fri & Sat, he only has the Sunday before we leave off. Sooo excited, can't wait to hit da road...later y'all!!!!

3 more weeks!!

Yep, only 3 more weeks until we hit the road! Hard to believe this is actually happening here as we have talked, planned, dreamed it for sooooo long! We were gonna do this 8 yrs. ago which is why we bought the 5th wheel, but then gas prices shot thru the roof and his dad needed us....so we been sitting here. It is ezy to get complacent ya know?! Very apprehensive but sooo excited at the same time....am going wayyyy outside my comfort zone here and I am positive it is just what I need!! Ol' Charlie dog is another story....he loves his rides in the truck and he lets you know when he has to go too lol. We took off the tailgate on the truck and put on one of those tailgate cargo nets and it is so much easier for him to jump up in there and finally after almost 5 yrs., he is learning to mind us ahahaha!! Have made lists of stuff to move out to the camper, but can't do most of it until the day before or the morning before we leave! Hell I am having trouble deciding weather to take the crock pot or not lolol! Last week we had to wasp proof the new camper, so it is little things like that that most people don't think of the need to do, kwim? It is very different living in something like this and we have to be on top of the weather, winds, insects, maintenance and stuff like that, but it doesn't take long to clean it and I like that!! Anywho just thought I would give ya'll an update...thx so much for listening! Blessings......

Thoughts, tidbits & more....

Howdy...so let's see, 4 weeks from today, we will be on da road!!! OMG!! OMG!!! OMG!!! The excitement is building to where I am not sure I can contain myself LOL. I was informed by some very good friends AND hubby that the way I was looking at it could jinx it all...about being just a bit skeered that it wasn't going to happen, so I haven't allowed myself to be happy, etc. about it until we were actually on the road...well wrongo!!! Hubby said this morning the only thing that will stop us is if he gets hurt at work & of course that ain't gonna happen, so say all positive affirmations & prayers he stays safe all, okee??!!! thx soo much! So my list of stuff to take is getting bigger, but the stuff moving into the camper as not LOL. Most stuff I can't move in until the day before OR the morning of. Will be moving in as much stuff as possible tho. I do have to clean it up before, don't wanna move into a dirty dusty 'new' home now do we??!!!

I have got to say this & it is gonna piss some people off, but I have to get it off my chest....I understand now why so many people sell YL essential oils, cuz you don't have to know anything about essential oils...grrrrrr....you just order what the customer wants & go by what YL sez about their products...ahhhhh more blind sheeples!!!! When one gets certified in aromatherapy, they learn & know which e.o.'s are good for what & they well, just know!!! Irritates the hell outta me!!! And another thing long as I am bitchin LOL.....you say you care, but yet you can't be happy for me/us because we will finally have the freedom we have been searching for so long. You are so wrapped up in your own life, the hell with anybody else & long as I do what you want me to do all is great...but what about my life, me???!!!!! I am in the crone years of my life & it's about damn time I did for ME and if you can't handle it or don't like it, you don't have to participate in my life!!! Whew...not exactly what I wanted to say, but it will do LOL.

Onward & upwards.....hubby found out the other day there were gonna be over 100 people at this community dig. Some of you may not know what that is, so here's the jist of it...all these people get together at certain places, certain times of the year & they ALL work to find as much gold as they all can, then it is divided up between ALL the workers when all is said & done! Sounds kewl huh??? Potlucks, campfire stories, etc. is all included in this and it is for 5 days. So we are sure to find some during this time, plus they bring in all kinds of big eqpt. that they don't normally allow. This is all at a old west ghost town they have set up & running. Doesn't all that sounds like sooo much fun??!!!!

Ok, I think I am done for now. Pretty soon I will have to do all this on my I-pad, now that is gonna be interesting for sure!! Peace & blessings to all....

Not as ezy as u might think.....

So YES, chompin at the bit to get out on the road here!!!! But deciding what to take & what not to take is not always that easy. We might not even come back, we don't know yet as nothing is written in stone & because we don't have too if we don't wanna!!! So going thru things lately & having to downsize yet more than I already have living in a 5th wheel just gets very confusing sometimes. Over time one accumulates things, there is no way around that & I have grown quite attached to a couple of my 'things'....granted they are ONLY things and in the grand scheme of things they don't really matter, maybe I should just give them all away like the Native Americans do...again, just not sure! Back to packing the camper, granted it IS bigger than the one we live in now, but we have to be very careful about how much weight we pack as that is a big factor! Our older f150 will only pull so much without stressing out the engine & one thing we don't wanna do is have to buy another truck, cuz we just can't afford that!! So most everything I pack has to have multiple uses. Can't pack ALL my music & ALL our movies, cuz then, well you know... Our movie collection is one of our habits we just can't stop LOL. So with more room in the new camper it makes me think, oh sure I have room for that...but oh wait, what about the weight of said stuff??!!! So yes it really isn't as easy as one might think. What if we are out there & dangit if we didn't need this or that that I should have packed & my gut told me to, but alas the weight issue I did not!!! Did you follow that??? The nicer the weather gets, the more I am ready to hit that road...but not yet, cuz budgets are aleady fixed according to hubby's job....grrr!!! He was blessed in the fact they actually gave him all the "vacation" time he asked for...surprise surprise! A lot of stuff I can't even pack or take over there until like the day before or the morning before we leave....so so much for pre-paring huh??!!! As I stated before...it's not as ezy as you might think!!! Later all....blessings!!

Not yet....

 

Western deserts, here we come!!

 

So here is the 1st post for my new blog...Herbmama's Travels. Boy blogspot ain't as easy as it used to be to get anything done...whew!! So we shall see. Anywho...less than 6 wks. to go until we head out for parts unknown. Well you done met hubby, the ol' bearded fart....wouldn't know what to do with my life without him & besides, he's driving the truck/trailer...LOL!!!

 

Of course we can't go without Charlie dog, as it would break his heart, besides he is a real character, lemme tell ya! He is our rescue dog we adopted after our beloved Toby had to be put down. That day still tears at my heart. One had to be very patient where Charlie is concerned, but he has finally learned that we love him & he is safe, warm & always has food with us!!! He is getting to be an ol' man too...I know many have seen pics of him, but here is yet another one....he has the most gorgeous eyes, eh??!!!!

 

Now this new camper of ours has to be one of the fanciest things I have seen in a long time. We are so used to our 'fallin' apart 5th wheel, that walking into this for the first time just made my heart go pitty pat!!! Seems weird not to have to go up steps to go to bed, but it sure is alot easier on my ol' hips. It is about 7' longer than our old one and so much more room in it, I am having trouble figuring out where to put stuff LOL!! It isn't brand new, but the previous owner barely used it & it is new to us after all & it is a 2012! Here's a pic of it while still on the lot before we picked it up. I will show more inside pics later on.

 

 

 

So on Monday, April 20 we will be heading out to Stanton, AZ!!! We are giving ourselves a week to get there as you have to be there a day early for this community dig we are participating in. However many people do the work is how all the gold, etc. is split up and so far there are 85 people signed up. So all the gold will be split up 85 ways, but with that many people doing all that work, there should be a nice amount to split!!!! There are potlucks, campfires with stories, music around the campfire, etc. it all sounds like soooo much fun!!! I can hardly contain myself and wait until the day we leave.

 

The wanderlust bug has bitten us....