More Quartzsite Happenings

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Jim Melvin

WIN’s Ice Cream Social

Saturday Andrea and I drove over to the WIN’s (Wandering Individuals Network) Ice Cream Social off Palomas Rd north of Quartzsite. The WIN’s had invited all the LOW’s (Loners on Wheels), Escapee SOLO’s and the Escapees Boomers groups over as well. They had lots of ice cream and it was really a fun time. I did catch up with a few of my friends in the LOW’s group and it was fun chatting with them.

Final Upgrades to “The Breeze”

I finally purchased a couple more of the LED lights to go into my rig. That will be the last of my purchases for this winter. John installed my RV Motion Sensor light which replaced my existing porch light. Later he adjusted it so that it wasn’t too sensitive.

Roger installed the LED lights that replaced the fluorescent tubes. What a difference. One LED gives off more light than two fluorescents. Thanks go out to both Roger and John for all their help.

Sunset and last campfire

We had our last campfire and burned up the remainder of the wood that John supplied from his property in Colorado. We sure had a lot of campfires from all that wood. I also took a pic of the sunset.

Sunrise and farewell

I got up early to bid farewell to all the people who were leaving this morning. I even got to see this beautiful sunrise.

There were six people and three dogs who departed this morning. They were Ed and Carol (and gopher), John and Linda (and Sadie), Roger, and finally Steve (and Jiggs). We all had a wonderful time together and they will be missed. Annie and Rick (and Dweezle) were going to leave but Rick was feeling much better from whatever was ailing him and the day was so nice they decided to stay another day.

Tonight at our Happy Hour was Ann and Jerry, Chuck and Beverly, Annie and Rick, Andrea and I. We had a nice time but it was a bit quieter.

Taking Care of Business at Low-Hi RV Park

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Jim Melvin

Moving north to Deming, NM

I moved on to Low-Hi RV Park in Deming, NM in order to get a few things done. This is the LOW (Loners on Wheels) headquarters and I haved stayed here many times. Since I am a LOW member it only costs me $10 per night for electric/water. No too shabby !!!!!

Things to do but nothing got done…

I will be here for 5 nights. I got up Monday and headed to downtown Deming to get a haircut. I struck out there as it was closed on Monday. Then I was out of checks so went into Wells Fargo to get just a few until my check order catches up with me. The “Occupy” people were picketing the bank. I felt bad even going in there, but they have all my money for now. The lady who waited on me said they come 3 checks to a sheet and they cost $1 each. You have got to be kidding!!!! I turned around and walked out and decided I would use me debit card instead. These “Occupy” people have the right idea. The big banks are ripping off the little guy!

Nothing accomplished today but stopped at the grocery store for a few items including desert for the pot luck tonight. Monday is always pot luck night at the Low-Hi and you better bring an empty stomach. There is way too much food for any one person can eat. And so gooood too.

Tried to get into the 6:00pm card game but it was filled up so watched “Dancing with the Stars with Harry and Peter. I hadn’t seen it for some time so wasn’t familiar with any of the dancers.

Finally got a haircut

Tuesday I got up, made breakfast and headed down to the barber once again. Frank’s Barber Shop is a small shop that has been there long before the 70’s. Fernando took it over from his father Frank and told me how it was back in the hippy days of the 70’s when no one cut their hair. I usually go there everytime I am in Deming and need a hair cut. He really cut it short, but at least it will take a while to grown out again.

Finished up dental work

Drove down to Palomas, Mexico for my last visit with my dentist for a while. I got my permanent crown and then she cleaned my teeth. The total cost of the crown was $180 and another $30 for the cleaning. I go to the American Dental Care just in back of the Pink Store and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

North to Albuquerque

I really enjoyed spending a few days at the Low-Hi RV Park and caught up with many old friends and met a few new friends as well. It is a great central location for traveling in the Southwest. Tomorrow I head up to Albuquerque where I will have a valve put on my propane tank that will allow me to add an additional tank. Then I have a few days to get up to Fernley, NV where I will be workamping at Amazon’s warehouse.

One Year On The Road

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Jim Melvin

It has been one year on July 12 that I started my fulltime RV’ing lifestyle. I can’t believe it has been a whole year. I took the time to go back through this year and show you some of the highlights of my adventure.

Be sure to click and then click again to enlarge all photos.

July, 2010 – Inyokern, CA – My very first campsite at the beginning of my adventure. I was really a rookie back then.

July, 2010 – Sequoia National Park – Boondocking in Fish Creek Campsite in the Sequoias.

August, 2010 – Sisters, OR – Camping on the Metolius River outside of Sisters, OR. What a fantastic spot.

August, 2010 – Crater Lake National Park. Words cannot describe this beautiful place.

September, 2010 – Eugene, OR – Getting my solar panels installed. My boondocking will be much quieter and more efficient from now on.

October, 2010 – Albuquerque, NM – Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta – 10 fabulous days with other fun Lazy Daze owners.

October, 2010 – Palomas, Mexico – Central park. Visited there after attending Escapees Chapter 21 Rally.

October, 2010 – Deming, NM – Rockhound State Park – This a rock hounds dream park. Lots of different rocks.

November, 2010 – Socorro, NM – Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge – Visited there during the Festival of the Cranes event.

December, 2010 – January, 2011 – Death Valley, CA – A beautiful view of Death Valley during an annual Lazy Daze Rally.

January, 2011 – Quartzsite, AZ – Got together with a bunch of Lazy Daze owners during the Quartzsite RV Show. It was a blast boondocking in the desert. Lots of food, a campfire every night and the BIG TENT RV Show.

February, 2011 – Anza-Borrego, CA – Boondocking in the Anza-Borrego Desert.

February, 2011 – Niland, CA – Boondocking with the LOW’s (Loners On Wheels) at Slab City. Everyone should go there at least once.

February/March, 2011 – Benson, AZ – The winter SW Lazy Daze Rally at Pato Blanco RV Resort. Lots of great food and people.

March, 2011 – Picacho Peak, AZ – A civil war re-enactment at Picacho Peak State Park. Event lasted all week-end with gun battles and actual tents and other equipment during that era..

March, 2011 – Douglas, AZ – Visiting with friends at Bell Starr’s Silverado Ranch. Belle is wearing the pink hat. We all helped Belle work on her ranch projects. A MUST see. She is quite a lady.

April, 2011 – Alamogordo, NM – White Sands National Monument. Very surreal.

May, 2011 – Carlsbad, NM – Carlsbad Caverns. A MUST see.

May, 2011 – Melvin, TX – I just had to visit there.

May, 2011 – San Antonio, TX – The Alamo in downtown San Antonio, TX. Another MUST see.

May, 2010 – San Antonio, TX – The San Antonio River-walk. A really neat and fun place.

May, 2011 – San Antonio, TX – The Tower of Americas. The view from the top is spectacular.

May, 2011 – Luckenbach, TX. I just had to visit here because of the song made famous by Willie Nelson and Waylan Jennings.

May, 2011 – Blanco, TX – My campsite in Blanco State Park. How about that for a back yard?

June, 2011 – Fort Worth, TX. The highlight of my year. Being able to visit my family. It was sooooo much fun.

July, 2011 – Karnack, TX – Caddo Lake State Park. I spent a week here and loved every minute.

It has been a wonderful year. I have traveled 12,702 miles in 6 different states and 2 different countries. I have attended 8 RV Rallies where I have met a lot of people, learned a lot about things I never knew anything about, and spent money upgrading my rig.

This year has been much better then I even anticipated. I met a lot of great people who I continue to keep in touch with. I am looking forward this next year to travel to places I have never seen before and meet more wonderful people.

Petroglyphs and talent show

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Jim Melvin

A group of us traveled north of Deming, NM to visit a petroglyph site. We had to travel 11 miles down a wash-board gravel road to get to them. They are located above a spot where the Butterfield Stage Coach used to travel. It was a very interesting site with many petroglyphs. I created a short movie of our adventures to the site.

In the afternoon we all got together in the “chuck house” and were entertained my many of our LOW’s actors and actresses. It was very funny and everyone really enjoyed it.

Our first group sang the song “Make an Ugly Woman Your Wife”. It was hilarious!!

This is the wife. She was UGLY !!!!!!!

The the Blues Brothers made an appearance. They brought the house down.

I was also able to make a short video of their act.

Then Olga went into detail about her many problems to Carol.

They even had a demonstration of Will getting a mammogram from John. Very serious stuff.

It was a great day and a great rally. I really enjoyed myself. I got to catch up with some old friends I had met here last year and also got to meet some new friends as well. I hope I will run into some of them down the road in my travels. If not, I am sure I will catch up with them at next years rally. Meeting friends on the road is one of the most satisfying parts of being a fulltime RV’er.

Winery Tour

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Jim Melvin

I have been very busy with the Rally so I must apologize for not blogging. The rally is now over so I have no excuses.

A large group in our rally went on a tour of a local winery in Deming known as the St. Clair Winery. It was very interesting and I got to see all the different processes that go into making that wonderful bottle of wine that I so enjoy.

Be sure to click and then click again to enlarge all photos.

This man is pouring fermented wine into the kegs to be labeled and set aside for aging.

These are the containers used to ferment the wine.

The bottling line. The orange labels are for the mimosa, which is a combination of fresh orange juice and wine. I forgot to sample it but was told by others that it was very good. Great for brunches.

These are the kegs that contain wine for aging. They are usually left in these kegs for about 1-2 years before being bottled.

After the wine tour we all enjoyed the wine tasting as well. There was no charge and they also had really great salsa. After tasting many different wines I purchased a bottle of Cabernet and some salsa as well. Delicious!!

low’s (loners on wheels) rally – deming, nm

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Jim Melvin

From Rodeo, NM I drove Hwy 9 to Columbus, NM. This is a fairly lonely stretch of highway. Only one car passed me the entire 74 miles and most of the vehicles coming in the opposite direction were Border Patrol. I also saw Border Patrol stationed at my spots down the highway.

I stopped in Columbus, NM at the Columbus Historical Museum to visit with my old friend Jack who I had met last October. He was busy showing some people around the museum, but was able to talk for a while. The people he was showing around the museum were also going to be attending the same LOW’s (Loners On Wheels) Rally as myself so I chatted a bit with them as well. Jack will be busy working at the museum so will not be able to attend the rally. However, I do have plans to swing back to Columbus after the rally to catch up with Jack and chat about our adventures since we last saw each other.

After my short visit in Columbus I headed up Hwy 11 to Deming, NM to the Lo-High RV Ranch where the rally was being held. I decided to get here a day before the rally started in order to get set up in the boondocking area for only $3 per night. I will be here a week in order to attend the rally and also get my RV serviced.

The next day I signed up for the rally and attended the opening ceremonies. After that it was “Happy Hour” where we all introduced ourselves and told the group how long we had been in the LOW’s organization (I became a member in 2010). Some of the group had been members for 20 years.

Here is a pic of the “Happy Hour” and a raffle. The prizes were donated by area merchants and some of the were very nice. I won a free large pizza at Domingo’s Pizza. I will take advantage of that after the rally is over. The rally also furnishes breakfast and dinner every night. Not too shabby.

After the rally there was a workshop put on by Steer Safe who are located in Deming. The build a steering stabilizer for your rig to help keep it going down straight when driving in winds or when 18 wheelers pass you or when you have a blowout. It is definitely on my Wish List.

Later we all had dinner. I am in the group that handles tonight’s dinner and Sunday’s breakfast. We cooked bratwurst and chili and then had ice cream and toppings for dessert. Our club president brought out a bottle of Sander’s fudge topping for the ice cream. I introduced myself and she and I had a long conversation all about Detroit, MI where Sander’s was originally located. It brought back a lot of old memories. My sister Bev always orders a large bottle of Sander’s fudge topping for all of our family members at Xmas. I still have some in my rig. It is soooo gooood!!!

Next was our “mystery entertainment”, which was a local mariachi band from the Deming area. They played and sang a lot of music and it was great fun.