We are still in Quartzsite, but we will be leaving soon. The last Greater Quartzsite Ukulele Orchestra concert will be on Saturday, 7 March. We will either leave on the next day or we will wait a couple of days. I will decide when we find out if there will be a party for the ukulele group.
It got really hot in Quartzsite last week, so we chickened out of boondocking in the desert and went to a campground. This time of year places are really clearing out, but there were also a number of folks like us who came in from the heat. While we absolutely can run our AC when needed using the generator, I really dislike doing it for hours on end. But I kind of stop feeling comfortable when the temps get much over 85, so in to town we went! We stayed at Rice Ranch again, the place we will be staying seasonally next year. The temps were only high for 4-5 days, but we stayed a week on a discounted rate (7 days for the price of 6). We got all the laundry done, enjoyed having power available, ran the AC as needed, and we were able to heat the rig with the built in electric fireplace heater. Even when the desert gets to 90 degrees in the summer, it can be in the 50s at night so a bit of extra heat is needed for this temperature sensitive gal. I think I could get used to just how easy it is to stay in a real campground!
We took a side by side ride of course, even with the heat. We went out on just a semi-local around the Dome Rock area. There is still an awful lot of gold mining going on around Quartzsite, and here are some pictures of some of it.
I think this is an old head frameOverburden from some of the older minesThis is actually six active claims. You can rent If you wantA larger scale mining operation
We also took our yearly trip to Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. We usually go in late January or very early February, so it was interesting to see the differences 5-6 weeks can make. There were a lot fewer birds for sure! In a good year we can see hundreds of duck and geese of many species plus another few hundred sandhill cranes. These time of the year, not nearly as many.
Pond has 1/2 or less the number of birdsGreat White Egret in foreground with some sandhill cranes behindPonds in the main section of the refuge
We took a trip to the more remote Island section of the refuge that is located between the current Colorado River and the historic Colorado. I love the mountains contrasted with the flooded ponds.
Island section of refuge shows how important water is in the desert
And of course I will end with sunsets, these from Rice Ranch.
I am sorry my links didn’t work in the last post. Here they are for another try. Click on the highlighted link, then click again on the small text link. First, the Greater Quartzsite Ukulele Orchestra: “Under the Boardwalk” 29 January 2026 https://youtu.be/KjdSw8vy4N4
Now on to new stuff. We were so busy with everyone visiting that we took it easy for a few days. I tried a new ukulele jam group on Sunday, 1 February, but it wasn’t quite my thing. Very churchy with praise music I didn’t know. It was nice to be able to do more than just listen though I probably won’t repeat it. One Tuesday, 3 February, we took a ride with the SunRiders that was just a half day ride. We wandered around to the Quartzsite letters, a big guzzler we hadn’t seen before, and we noted a number of military-related locations from WWII. It was nice to have a relaxing ride instead of full-speed ahead!
We then headed to an Anasazi Chapter of the FRVA rally in Benson, AZ on Wednesday, 4 February going to Gila Bend the first night. The rally began on Thursday. It was really busy, but enjoyable. One of the highlights was a visit to the Mescal Movie Site. They made a lot of old Westerns there, and it is a smaller version of Old Tucson movie set. Not in great shape, but it is now being run by a non-profit with volunteer docents who give you a great tour. They are trying to keep it from further decay plus improving it where they can.
Along one side of “Main Street”Interiors were a bit roughThe “hotel” was in the best shape because it was brick on a real foundation
We headed back to Quartzsite on Sunday morning early. I wanted to get back to Quartzsite to join another ukulele virtual group. This one is run by a guy in Melbourne, Australia! It is a 3:00pm MST on Sunday in the US but 9:00am on Monday in Australia. Nice group, and I am definitely going to continue with them.
On Tuesday, 10 February we drove to Phoenix to visit Costco for a hearing aid test for Kevin. Turns out that even though he has significant high frequency hearing loss, it isn’t bad enough for a hearing aid to really help. Good to hear that from a professional who was paid to sell hearing aids! We also went to the Guitar Center to look for a ukulele for Kevin. I have been having so much fun, he decided he needed to get one too. They had a very limited selection, and we didn’t end up buying one there. But he was able to try the difference between a tenor and a concert, and he decided the larger tenor worked best for him. We eventually found a barely used one in Quartzsite at a good price, so he has joined my new obsession. He is still working on getting his fingers limbered up though.
On Thursday, 12 February, we took a tough ride with the SunRiders. It was labeled “moderate, 3/5” and it probably was for wider rigs than ours. For our little 50” it was difficult. Then again, this is why you can safely ride harder trails when you are with a group; if something happens, you have a set of experienced folks who can get you out of trouble. One spot we visited is called the “Movie Set.” This isn’t a real movie set, but is a tourist spot built by the nearby town of Bouse.
On Sunday, 15 Feb, we went to Lake Havasu for a SewCation with their quilt guild (I’m a member). Had a fun time as usual. I finally finished my 2025 Kona Block of the Month with the last two blocks, sashing, cornerstones and borders. Originally I was going to add another piano key boarder, but this thing is big enough already!
Finished Kona BOM 2025
I had so many of the Kona charm squares left! I cut a bunch of triangle blocks for another donation a quilt, and I started sewing the piano keys I cut into strips for the binding of the BOM. This is going to be a massive lap quilt for Kevin. He always says he is cold, and the other quilts are too small. He will be able to wrap up in this one pretty well!
We are now back in Quartzsite in a wind strong enough to keep us settled inside the MH. Minnie seems to be quite happy to cuddle on my lap. One last video of the laziest playing by a pair of cats. Silly kids. It’s a long one, so if cat videos aren’t your thing, feel free to skip it.
We are mostly just hanging around Quartzsite. I was rally master for a small rally of the RVForum.net folks, and the last ones just left today. It was a small group, and I don’t think we will continue next year. Kevin and I have decided we will look for a seasonal RV site in town, leaving the motorhome and RZR in Arizona for October through December without us (no winterizing!), the coming back down after the Christmas holidays. It will be a lot faster drive in the truck than the motorhome even though I will have to stay in a hotel a couple of nights each way (boo).
Campfire at the rally
I did get a picture of both of my quilt tops that went to the long arm quilter for basting when we did show and tell at the Quartzsite Quilt Guild meeting. Pretty proud of them actually. The jewel tone one will be for our bed at home, and the green/brown one will be for the bed in the motorhome. Note the green/brown one doesn’t have the same number of borders all around; the bed is a big odd sized.
Jewel Box patternMystery quilt with a lot of added borders
The ukulele concert was fun. It definitely wasn’t professional, but the audience and the performers (including me) had a great time. I am going to experiment with using YouTube to post the video instead of directly on the blog. If you hold the cursor at the end of the URL, you should be able to follow the link. This is (most) of the song I led – “Under the Boardwalk.”http://“Under the Boardwalk” Greater Quartzsite Ukulele Orchestra, 29 January 2026 https://youtu.be/KjdSw8vy4N4
The crack in the ukulele is getting much better. I ordered a sponge-style humidifier and hygrometer to keep in the sound hole, and it is staying at about 50% relative humidity. The crack is mostly closed, so I am going to wait until I get back to Iowa to get it repaired. That gives me a lot more time to find a good luthier.
We had some more friends show up for their first trip to Quartzsite, and, of course, we had to go to the Desert Bar (aka Nellie E Saloon) north of Parker, AZ. It is only 4-5 miles off the highway on a rough grave/dirt road, but it feels a lot farther than that. The place is completely off-grid with no cell service and no electricity except what is generated by the huge number of solar panels. There are backup generators just in case, but they aren’t used much. They have really good food, but only a so-so bar. They also have live music each weekend. They are only open Saturdays and Sundays from October through April. Here’s another YouTube video to give you an idea of the inside. There is also a LOT of seating outside in the sun.
[I somehow didn’t publish this on, just left it in draft. Not sure why, but here it is.]
We have just been doing normal Quartzsite stuff. Kevin has been doing some 3D printing too. I now have a nice setup to keep my new jewelry box on the shelf while traveling instead of having to put it on the bed. He’s also made a some small fit samples for some more things he wants to print. He really loves his printer!! And the one we have with us is just his original Ender 3 printer, not one of his newer and nice ones which are at home.
After the “design choices” I made in the October Block of the Month (code name for “mistakes”), I figured it couldn’t get much worse. It did. First, I seem to have lost the pattern for November. I cut pieces for it a week ago and sewed a few components, but now I can’t find the card with the design. Oh well, I’ll just work on December. December did not like me! I can’t tell you how many components I sewed wrong. I ended up putting the block into time out for a couple of days before finally finishing it. I’ll get a picture of it and the November one together later. I have arranged for my two king sized quilt tops to be based with water soluble thread by the quilt shop in Havasu I like, Fabrics Unlimited. She is going to use a wool batting for them. One is for our bed at home and the other is for the bed in the motorhome. I have them carefully folded up, so no pictures of those either.
And for yet more disasters, the surface of my ukulele had a rather rough feel, and I realized it was getting really dry. Duh! Humidity has been running around 15-20%, so of course it is dry! I put the humidifiers I bought at the guitar shop before we left Iowa in the case, but they are really too big to fit in the sound hole. I ordered a new one which shows temperature and relative humidity too. But it was too late! The day after I added the humidifiers I found I had a tiny crack in the front of the ukulele! It runs from the bottom of the guitar to the bridge. I am heart broken. I am looking up luthiers now, and I will be calling one in Yuma tomorrow morning. The ukulele orchestra is going well, and I am even going to lead one song – “Down on the Boardwalk>” Turns out the leader didn’t know it very well, and I started singing out on it. That was enough to get me to lead that song LOL! Our concert is in 9 days, and I am hoping to get the ukulele fixed right after that.
One of the interesting things that we have seen here is a Vandenberg AFB satellite launch. Interesting views of the first stage coming back into the lower atmosphere for recovery. It took a 2 second capture to get this view, but wow! There are two other launches this week. I am hoping they have a better launch angle.
Blown up a LOT
Kevin and I took a ride northeast of Quartzsite to a mining area north of I-10 that was quite nice. I prefer mountains to dust, and this trip delivered.
Just nice rocky scenery.A saguaro being very classically “saguaro!”Cabin ruins. Note the little side rooms on the right.
We went on a UTV ride the SunRiders today after I went to quilt guild. We took a very round about route to the Cyprus Mine then drove around it. It is a big mostly open pit gold mine that is still actively being worked. It was HUGE! It was 2-3 miles to drive around the pile of overburden they had piled up. Sadly you can’t see the pit; that would have been nice. There were a few nice flowers like the sand verbena below, but it was mostly driving on sand/dust that wasn’t my favorite locale. Oh well, the mine was nice.
Water is pumped from the tunnels to here.Sand verbena
And I will end with a classic Arizona sunrise. Absolutely stunning.
I left off on 29 December in New Mexico. We spent the night of 30 December in another Elks Lodge parking lot, this time in Gila Bend, AZ.
Oh, and just outside Gila Bend the motorhome hit 100,000 miles! Not bad for 7.5 years almost exactly. I got a quick picture from the passenger seat, so excuse the quality of the picture.
Average of 13,000 plus miles a year
We made it to Quartzsite on New Year’s Eve, and we decided to stay at Rice Ranch, a full service campground right across the road from the legendary “Big Tent.” The price was just under $40 with tax since we still got December rates; I think the rates double in January! It is just a huge gravel lot with a few palm trees, but it is clean and relatively quiet this time of year. We asked for, and got, a spot as far from the road noise as possible which was nice. We got our laundry all done, our tanks cleaned out, our power at 100%, and we went into the LTVA area ready to boondock for quite a while. One of our RVing friends was already there.
We had a tiny spot of rain that first day, so we got a lovely rainbow.
Faint but nice
That first evening in in the LTVA we were treated to one of Arizona’s truly spectacular sunsets. The colors are real, not touched up. The skies are this color frequently.
Dust and clear air makes for beauty
We were also treated to a rocket launch from Vandenberg. All day long it was relatively clear, but the clouds came in an hour or so before sunset. Since I didn’t take a video, you will have to trust me that the bright spot the arrow points to is the rocket flare.
It might seem as it if is “all sky all the time,” particularly after the next picture, but we really do get beautiful skies in Arizona in the winter. In the summer, there is frequently a lot of smoke from fires which makes the colors intense but adds a haze. The sky was clear for this photo of the Goodyear blimp on its way to the Fiesta Bowl this weekend.
We did try to go on a UTV ride with our club, the Arizona SunRiders, but the office where we needed to pick up our Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) permit was closed on Friday, 2 January, for the holiday. Sure would be nice if the CRIT ever published this information! But we did drive around the area some, just wandering through the various LTVAs. They are busier than they were last year at this time, and there are more and more tents, cars campers, and van campers than I have seen. I think housing prices are just so outrageous for renting or purchasing that a lot of people adopt a nomad lifestyle out of need, not desire. Lots of people obviously down on their luck. The local food pantry is trying desperately to handle the influx, but it just isn’t big enough.
Monday I went to my first meeting of the Greater Quartzsite Ukulele Orchestra, and it was great fun. Not at all professional, a bit on the uneven rhythm side, but enjoyable. I knew all but a few of the chords, and I caught up on those with my handy dandy chord chart. The vast majority of the players use standard ukulele tuning and chords, but my baritone ukulele uses guitar-like chords. I am enough of a musician I can handle playing with just the chord names, and I don’t require the tabs to be written on each song. Good thing, because they weren’t there LOL! Our next concert is 29 January, and I think I will be ready for it.
I did get to go to the Quartzsite Quilters sewing day on Tuesday though. I had cut all the pieces for the last three months of the Kona Block of the Month I still had to finish, and at the quilting group I pieced the October block. I also got part of November done, but by the time I had taken out the third poorly sewn seam, I decided it was time to stop for the day! October isn’t my best work either, but it is good enough for me. It will also look better when pressed.
Kona BOM for October
Wednesday, 7 January, we went to the SunRiders monthly meeting before packing up the motorhome for the short trip to Indio, CA and the Western Region FRVA rally. So far I am not impressed. There were not directions for which gate to use to enter the fairgrounds, and there were no signs directing us either. We got lucky and found our way. The organization is really quite poor at communication. I found out one of the sessions I wanted to attend had moved to a new location quite a bit away from the one in the program, and it was only know through word of mouth, not anything from the organizers. I could go on, but I won’t. I will say this isn’t a rally we will return to!
We are getting decent solar and we have enough water, so we are going to do at least one load of laundry tomorrow, probably just shirts. If I have enough water, we will also do towels, but that is quite tentative. But it is also nice to go into a boondock situation that anticipates weather swings knowing you have lots of both short sleeved and long sleeved tops. You never know in Quartzsite!
I know I said I didn’t plan on posting again, but I thought this topic would be a good one to write down so I can look at it before our summer trip. Of course, I’ll probably forget, but I will attempt it anyway.
1. The clothes hangers in the close need to be hung backwards. If I hand them normally they fall off with the first big bump. I am not sure why the direction is important, but it is. Maybe my physicist son could tell me, but I sure can’t figure it out.
2. The things you think should stay on the counter won’t stay, but the things that seem movable will stay exactly put. This is another thing I don’t understand at all. I will put two items on the bathroom counter, one of the most stable spots in the motorhome because it is over the back wheels. One of them will stay exactly where I put it, and the other one will be on the floor. Can’t figure this one out either.
3. It takes a lot, lot, lot longer than you think to rinse the RV antifreeze out of the water lines. Kevin tried to do it at home before we left, and he swears he left each faucet on at least 5 minutes. They all still taste like antifreeze! Luckily RV antifreeze isn’t harmful, but it sure doesn’t taste good. We really do need to plan on staying in a full hookup campground the first night so we can get the lines really flushed.
4. Don’t be in so much of a hurry to start on your trip that you say “I’ll put that up when we get to our first overnight spot.” No, no you won’t. You will be tired and thinking about those water lines. Put things in their place first.
I am sure I will think of even more things soon, but this is a good start.
Oh, and I re-sized the pictures I got of the cats that I didn’t have available for the last post.
Look at the pouch on Luna! She is 11.5 poundsMinnie loves her treats. She is just 7.5 pounds.
As for where we have spent the nights, we spent Boxing Day (26 December) at the Elks Lodge in Cameron, MO. The advertised electric sites were no where to be found, and the two other rigs there had obviously be there a long time. Not a fan. The second night we spent at the Elks Lodge in Chickasha, OK. It was a long day since there was a big storm coming in behind us. This was another dry camp, but the parking lot was big enough we didn’t have to unhitch. No drinks at the lodge because they allow smoking – ugh. Tonight we made a 400+ mile drive to get to Monahan, TX, staying at SJ Family RV Park. It looks like we outran the storm at least. We wanted to spend the night at the Monahan Sand Dunes State park, but they were full. This place is a real dump, but it is also only $25/night. I would gladly have spent twice the amount for a nicer place, but Kevin had already arranged this one. It is the first time in a long time that we have locked everything up tight! Tomorrow’s plan is to be at the Elks Lodge in Las Cruces, FHU hopefully. We want to do laundry before arriving in Quartzsite, so I am hoping we can get that done tomorrow.
Now back to practicing the ukulele. I still have trouble transitioning to an F chord.
We had a lovely Christmas get-together with most of the Iowa family. Lots of good food and lots of fun. After all the practicing I did with the ukulele and Christmas songs, I lost the book of the songs! So not really much music which was disappointing. We did have a really lovely Lessons and Carols Christmas Eve service at church, so I got to sing a bunch there.
But let me back up. I finally recovered from my sinus surgery only to find out my pre-diabetes diagnosis got moved to real, true, gotta take medicine-type of diabetes. Sigh. Since this was just a few days before Christmas and our snowbird trip, it was a real hassle getting things with my PCP and the pharmacy. My PCP gave me a choice between Metformin, a pill, and Mounjaro, a GLP-1 injection. Since my A1C has always been related to my weight, I chose Mounjaro because I should lose weight on it in addition to being good for the diabetes. I took my first shot on Monday evening, and my fasting blood glucose went from 160ish (pretty high) to today’s reading of 102 (normal!). No side effects so far, so I am hopeful.
Back to getting out of Iowa… We packed yesterday, Christmas Day, after pulling the motorhome in front of the house. Our town allows such parking only for 48 hours, but that wasn’t going to be an issue. Our weird weather patterns continued, and we were above freezing the entire day so Kevin was even able to fill up the water tank and flush all the lines free of antifreeze. We then went to Camping World and used their dump station to get rid of the gray water from flushing. Took the rig back home and re-filled the water tank. We finished packing everything except toiletries yesterday, and we were on the road by 9:00 this morning. We are spending this first night in an Elks Lodge parking lot in Cameron, MO. We still have quite a few things to put in their correct locations, but everything did fit LOL! Tomorrow we will have a long day trying to get well southwest of Oklahoma City to miss a storm coming in on Sunday. No matter where we end up, we will still need to be on the road by 6:00-6:30 in order to not get held up by wind gusts. If we make it past the wind, we should be good to get to Quartzsite by New Year’s Eve.
The cats are doing great! Shy, hesitant, anxious Minnie is happily exploring everywhere. She even sat on my lap for a while, and she is demanding lots of cuddles. I think Minnie thinks the small quarters are less frightening. Luna is Luna; nothing much bothers her, and she is behaving quite normally. I took a couple of cute pictures of the two of them with my iPhone, but the photos aren’t syncing quickly for some reason. Here is at least one of them.
Ignore the mess and look at the kitties!
See how they are both just strutting around?
I probably won’t post again until we get to Quartzsite unless something weird happens. Let’s hope 2026 is a LOT better than 2025.
It has been a slow time around here. We had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner with my oldest son’s family. I ordered a fresh turkey from our local meat-specialist grocery store (Fareway, for those in the Midwest), and they even spatchcocked it for me for free! They really do have great service. Good thing I had them do it, because even on a small turkey the ribs are strong. Cooking it that way was really a good idea – faster, gave lots of crisp skin, and even the breast meat was lovely and moist. We also had an Amana smoked ham. You can never go wrong with an Amana ham, and it gives us lots of leftovers. Leftovers are a critical part of Thanksgiving!
We did have dinner on Friday instead of Saturday as planned due to a huge snow storm that hit us Friday night into Saturday. We got 14” of snow, a huge amount for us. Sadly it has been added to significantly since then, and I doubt it will thaw anytime soon. The kids are all happy for snow sledding and snow boarding, but Kevin and I are not nearly as pleased. I have basically just been hibernating. I had some sinus surgery a week ago, and it threw me for a real loop. I had no idea I would feel as bad as I did, and it didn’t help that I had terrible insomnia for the first two days. The surgical center just said, “Well, that happens sometimes with general anesthesia.” I just wish someone would have warned me. I am hoping it eliminates the horrific sinus infections I get on a regular basis. I go back for a post-op appointment tomorrow, and I am expecting more antibiotics since the pathology report identified there were a lot of bacteria still around. Note I already had one full course of Augmentin, based on the culture and sensitivity from a swab taken a month ago.
The ukulele practice is going well. I still have trouble holding it correctly so I strum the lower neck rather than the sound hole like I did for a guitar, so I bought a ukulele strap and pulled it tight. It does help my positioning, so I guess I will keep using it. I also bought a page turner for my iPad. I have some PDFs and some Kindle books, and it works fine with either source. It is a Lekato brand, and it runs off Bluetooth. The most recommended brand is Donner, but it doesn’t work with the Kindle books. I hope this one lasts for a while.
I did get my 830 Record into a local Bernina shop that has a great repair guy who loves older machines. The buttonhole mechanism was really seized up, and I was just too lazy to keep working on it. While he had it, he also worked on the electrical system so the light wouldn’t keep burning out. It runs like a charm now. I also took my DILs 1031 in for just a clean and adjustment since it hadn’t been done since I gave it to my DIL 15+ years ago! He said it was in great shape too. I used it to sew some lovely lavender sachets that will be a stocking stuffer this year, just to make sure I remembered all its quirks.
All this snow and really cold weather is quite depressing. I re-followed the Quartzsite FB groups I have joined, and the fact they are having 70 degree days is really rubbing the weather in my face. The below zero weather and the snow depth is something Iowans would expect to see in January, not November and early December! I just hope it warms up a little before Christmas so we can get the motorhome packed more comfortably.
Regarding the lots behind our house and the HUGE swale for water, I finally got hold of the city Planning and Engineering groups. The lots behind me will have a 25’ wide easement for the swale, so they will have to mow it and such. I am slightly worried it is too abrupt at the edge of my lot, but we will have to wait until the snow is gone to see what needs to be done. It is supposed to be graded to a 4:1 drop (4’ linear, 1’ drop), but it sure seemed much steeper than that to me. However I have registered my concern, and I am pretty sure the city will make sure the developer follows the plans.
We are firming up our plans for next summer’s RV trip. We hope to head to western Canada, spending 6 weeks or so there. But since the US government seems firmly determined to piss off every ally we used to have, we will have to keep an eye on the border crossing situation. We do have some plans for this winter other than Quartzsite. We are going to the FRVA rally at Indio, CA in early January, then at least one rally with the Anasazi chapter of FRVA we joined. That will be in Benson, AZ at a spot with lots of astronomy action. We decided to not go to Death Valley for their Dark Sky Festival since the US government has also decimated the public relations budgets that funded the speakers. We will still get there (it is one of my favorite parks), but we have more flexibility of timing now.
I don’t anticipate any more posts until we are on our way to the Southwest.
It has been a really beautiful fall season in Iowa, at least so far. Yesterday it was in the upper 60s, and we decided to take the RZR to Wisconsin for a ride. Kevin has added all sorts of things to the RZR – new lighted whip lights, a new winch to replace the less capable one we had, and an emergency brake. Did you know emergency brakes don’t come standard on most sUTVs? I didn’t! This one just holds down the brake pedal when activated. Hopefully it will keep the RZR from moving around so much when Kevin loads it in the truck. Regarding the trip, no pictures because we road only 7 miles! Turns out the power steering is screwed up again/still. Luckily we can now reproduce the problem easily for the service shop, and Kevin had already made an appointment with them for yearly maintenance. Sigh. This was the reason we had decided to take the ride, just to make sure everything works well before our winter sojourns. Better to wait for service and parts now than when we are in Arizona!
I actually have been piecing quite a bit, but I didn’t take pictures. I added 72 piece border blocks to what will become our RV bed quilt, then I added an additional 4” border all around those. Now I have to add enough borders to get it to an RV king bed size with a 10” drop. I even planned for 5% shrinkage, just to make sure it fit. I will probably get those borders on tomorrow. Then back to the Block of the Month!
I do have some nice pictures though. The first two are a follow-up to my last post which shows the development behind our house. The first one shows our house and how it sits now, while the second shows the new lot lines. They are priced outrageously in my opinion. I live in a nice neighborhood in what is considered a LOCL area, and the lots are going to $110,000-$140,000 for a 1/4 or 1/3 acre lot! No scenery, just previously fallow Iowa farm land. No wonder young people can’t buy houses!
My house circled in blueThe new lot lines. Arrow points to a newer elementary school.
We also had some real excitement with the recent solar storm that lit up the sky with auroras. We could see them with the naked eye, but the photo sensor on my iPhone caught them even better. These photos are not processed at all, as should be obvious from the dust and the porch light flare. I think they are still pretty impressive though.
Green barsRed flares
My ukulele playing is definitely improving. I remember the chords pretty well, and I am moving between them fairly quickly. The chord transition is what I am concentrating on now. I have a book of mostly old folk songs, and I am just working through the ones in the key of G and C. Once I get these in good shape, I’ll work at some others.
I have a birthday coming up, and Kevin has already gotten me a present – a new GoPro remote control that charges with a USB C plug. My previous one had a weird custom plug that was always getting mis-placed. Since we now have 20-30 USB C cords around, I doubt that will be an issue with this one!.
We left Red Bay this morning. Until about an hour after we got up we weren’t sure if we were going to stay an extra day or leave. Last night a front came through with a significant amount of wind, and it was forecast to be windy until Wednesday morning. The worst will come on Tuesday, and it seems we really shouldn’t be going anywhere that day. The motorhome and I don’t handle 45-60mph wind gusts very well! We finally decided to head out, but we didn’t leave until 11:00 to let the storm get a bit farther past us.
We did get pretty much all of our miscellaneous work done while in the area. The motorhome looks fabulous! $$$$ but the body work and paint look great. The drip rail that joins the top cap to the sides needed a complete recaulking and repainting. That took one day. The second day was putting the new bay doors on and repairing the two that didn’t need replacing plus painting everything. We also had them polish our headlights, and they look like new. The whole thing took 2 days and 4 hours (they were long days), but we got to stay in the motorhome while they worked. This picture was taken by the guy who did the FABULOUS wash and wax – Ricky Johnson of RV Cleaning in Vina, AL. Note I am wearing my “No Kings” shirt. We both attended a protest in Florence, AL while the rig was being washed.
Isn’t she pretty?
We had Lindsey & Winchester make washable slipcovers for our pilot and co-pilot chairs. These are to protect the seats from the claws of our cats. They never scratch the furniture on purpose, but they do launch from it some times! The can be tucked much tighter than shown, but this was after driving all day, so don’t blame the manufacturer for the looseness.
Front of new seat coversBack of new seat covers
We also had top covers made for both recliners. Again, this was really just to protect against “launch” scratches. The fit quite well when tucked down a bit.
Protection for recliners
I also had L&W make washable, removable covers for our dining table chairs. These are well-built IKEA chairs, much sturdier than the originals from Tiffin. But they had a very light colored seat, and they were starting to spot. The woman who took the measurements and delivered them said these were the first she had ever done. I am quite happy with them.
Chair seats
L&W also re-upholstered the headboard, but it is virtually indistinguishable from the original so I won’t show a picture. L&W makes all the soft furnishing Tiffin uses, so the similarity isn’t really surprising! While my side of the headboard was just fine, kevin reads in bed so often that his (rough) hair had caused some minor holes in the vinyl.
Today’s travel finds us in the parking lot of an Elks Lodge in Sikeston, MO. The temperature is cool enough we don’t need AC, so we are just dry camping. Tomorrow we will be well north of St. Louis at Canton on the Mississippi at Lock and Dam 20. We plan on staying there Monday and Tuesday nights due to the wind storm coming. It is a nice place to settle for a bit since we can watch the barges lock through. Wednesday we expect to be back home! I admit that I am completely ready to be done traveling for a while. By 3 1/2 months, I am usually looking forward to home, and we have been gone for over 4 months this time. Now to get to all the doctor and dentist appointments we have scheduled between now and Christmas when we take off again.
