Chaos Leaves Town

Had some fun there in Amado Arizona, and also got some chores done the week I was there. Bought 90 days of insurance for both vehicles (nearly $500) from Lewis & Lewis online, went to Nogales, AZ and bought $2,000 pesos cash to have on hand during the trip and nearby, had an appointment to have Kwan the Kat’s rabies shot updated and got a certificate for it to show at the border if asked for (it wasn’t). Also did some last minute shopping at the local Walmart there in Nogales. And the biggie, contacting my Credit Union and getting it in writing via secure email that they understood I’d be traveling into Mexico all the way down to Mazatlan. If I go further the that, I’ll let them know. It has sometimes been a bit of a problem in the past.

In the Nogales area there are two border crossings. I’ve crossed at both in the past, the one downtown Nogales, and the Mariposa truck crossing. Both with a 36′ RV but this recent one with a car attached. The downtown one was easy, but you do have to drive in downtown type tight quarters for 2-3 miles after negotiating the difficult crossing area. But I made it without damage. Back then, (5 years ago), they had a dog sniff my RV and someone came aboard to look around. Easy.

But most RV’s cross at the Mariposa truck crossing and that’s what I did the day I headed into Mexico. It’s confusing now in year 2020 as you enter the crossing area as the US side has a big STOP sign that says, “Wait for Officer” and no officer ever shows up. You wait and wait and then all the cars behind you start beeping because they’re trying to get to work. And there was a different big sign that pointed to a ‘TRUCKS’ entrance but didn’t say a word about RVs or Buses, or any keyword I’d become use to seeing for big vehicles like mine. So I turned left without waiting for an officer. Very tight, nasty tight, crunch your RV tight first left, than a short distance from there, sharp right followed by another left. I slowly made my way through the route without damage tho. I should have turned right to the truck road, maybe it would have been wider. To late for that tho.

Eventually I made it. Negotiated around the sharp corners and tight lanes to get to a 2 lane road. Still no American official in sight. Off I went on the road and started picking up speed. And got flagged down by a Mexican who got me to stop a half mile down the road, walked up to my window, and pointed to the sign that indicated the route I should take to get to San Carlos. He was worried that I might take the wrong road into the Mexican city Nogales. He could tell from the earlier thing I did that I might need help and he wanted to make sure I kept left at the upcoming Y in the road. Very nice of him.

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Welcome to 2020!

I ended the year 2019 and started the new year at the B10 RV Park in Quartzsite. My friend John came to the B10 so we could hang out a few days before I headed on to Yuma. He’d planned on coming to QZ anyway. Nice to have someone to talk to.

When I left QZ, I had been monitoring the weather and it still wasn’t that great in the lower SW but I did want to stop in at Yuma for some shopping and whatever so that’s where I headed. Again, as I approached the town I stopped at what turned out to be more BLM land right next to a VFW. I’d driven past it several times over the years and always wanted to stop in and check out the campgrounds but I never had. What I couldn’t tell from the road is that it is a dry camp. I didn’t know that. It was getting hot enough in the day, and there’s no wifi, so after I drove around the place, I decided against staying because I didn’t want to be running my genset for hours per day. John had done the same thing, driven through the place, but he didn’t remember if it was a dry camp or not so I took the time to find out for myself, and pass it on to you readers just in case you might want to stay there. Looks popular based on the number of RVs there so I imagine the VFW has pretty good food and a nice bar, as otherwise there’s not much reason to stay there, except to save money. It’s a few miles north of Yuma on the 95. If you’re into dry camping, it’s right behind the VFW but you pass the entrance to the property quickly so be on the lookout. You do see a bunch of RVs first as you round the sweeping corner on the road coming down from QZ. I did drive the RV and toad around the area carefully just to explore and it was a bit crowded but there were still many places to park as there are no assigned places on the packed dirt. Rather informal. Eventually, decided against staying and headed into Yuma.

What I ended up doing when I reached Yuma was head for the hills. The Fortuna Hills to the east of Yuma. Still part of Yuma really. Like a suburb. Came here because John was talking it up and I’d already stayed in 3 other RV parks IN Yuma so this was a new adventure. Eventually settled on and in the Gila Mountain RV park. And like all RV parks in Yuma, this one’s wifi also sucked. When I stopped in I was specific about having halfway decent wifi, that was my only requirement…have banking to do and preparations to go into Mexico so need it. Well, one thing lead to another, I was there being golf carted around looking at RV sites, that took too long trying to find a decent space with wifi for my RV, it started getting late, and they gave me a free place to stay for the night with all services EXCEPT wifi. Well, I like free stuff so I stayed.

I unhooked the car and the next morning zipped around the area checking other nearby RV parks and testing their wifi with an app on my phone. If I found half way decent signal strength, I’d stop at the office and sometimes ask for the password to test speed while checking on rates. I stopped at at least 5 other nearby parks and they were all something else. Didn’t want to stay at any of them. So I came back to the Gila park. And pondered. I walked here and there around the park and found that if I could see the main office building, I could pick  up a decent signal. So I then biked around the park until I found a spot where I was pretty sure I’d fit and still have the possibility of having decent wifi. It had a clear view of the office building which had the wifi modem inside…they apparently have no outside antennas…so with my high gain gear, I felt I would have a good chance at a good signal. Asked the staff and sure enough the space I’d found was open, so I drove over. Took a good 45 minutes with expert help provided by the office to get the RV backed up into the space. This after two cars in the street were moved. Really tight squeeze. Park looks like it was designed for Class C or small trailers. But actually it seemed, once parked, to be a bigger site then the 5 others they had offered me. And none of those would have gotten wifi very well if at all. After I was all snuggled in, had paid for a week, dropped my jacks and extended my slides, I find the wifi still sucks, but not as bad as those other spots. (I have signal strength apps on my phone and I drove around with the host in a golf cart checking the open sites). But happened later to go out to connect the water and there’s a neighbor right there. So I ask him about wifi and he’s paying $30/month for a cable modem that has wifi. Ask him if I can piggyback for $5 and he says sure! So then I had blazing fast wifi! Yea! Since I only stayed a week he just let me have the connection for free.

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I’ve been a little busy the last couple weeks, but wanted to let you all know that I’m planning on entering Mexico at Nogales this coming Wednesday, Jan. 22nd. Heading for San Carlos to spend the night, then it’s on to Mazatlan.

I’ll try to post a new article before I leave but it’s been a bit more difficult than I anticipated what with the travel planning and all. Anyway, thanks for your patience.

One thing about the River Lodge RV park…it’s right about in the middle of the area between Parker, AZ and Lake Havasu, AZ. It’s on the California side of the downstream section of the Colorado just 2 miles south of Parker Dam, on a winding 2 lane road with several signs warning of wild burrows potentially in the roadway. Lots of blind curves.

A bit of info about the wild burros…they are remnants of the lost or freed burros brought up from Mexico by the Mexican slaves as part of the Spanish searches for gold or silver. They combed much of this area. Well known for their cruelty, not hard to image periodic rebellions and other disasters befalling a group like that traveling here, allowing burros the opportunity to escape. The Apache hated the Spanish and would attack them wherever found so that’s another way they might have escaped. So that’s where the burros came from, and centuries later, the herd had grown so big as to be a danger. I was told that last year (2018) they rounded up and culled 500 of them. Because of overgrazing and inbreeding was causing problems. In the month I was in the area, I only saw 5 of the beasties and they look pretty healthy so I guess the plan is working.

You can only travel here in an RV from the California side using Parker Dam Road as RV’s and trucks aren’t allowed to cross the dam so you come up from the south. Cars and smaller vehicles are OK to cross the dam. So you can drive to Parker for shopping on that road and it takes 25 minutes. If you go the other direction, cross the dam, than head to Parker on 95, it only takes 20 minutes. Nice road, 4 lanes in some places.

If you want to head to Lake Havasu, it’s a 30 minute drive. Cross the dam, turn onto 95 going north whereas heading south takes you to Parker. It’s just faster for shopping to take the 95 into Parker.

After settling in at the RV park, getting my engine looked at by the diesel mechanic, and wandering around the grounds, visited the dam since I was so close. Had fish and chips special at a nearby restaurant…pretty good.

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The road trip down from Wendell, Idaho was uneventful. Which I’m happy about…nice to have my RV run smoothly and the new tires gave me renewed confidence in the machine over long hauls. I shouldn’t have been all that worried back before I replaced the four 10 year old tires I’d had replaced in July in Walla Walla but before that it was a little nerve racking after reading about fellow RV’ers who had blow outs. Of course my rears blowing out wouldn’t have been as bad as a front tire blow out, but I replaced the fronts back in ’16 so had confidence in them. I did carry a 10 year old spare in the truck of my car for the last 3 years…but after I got the new rear tires, I left that with my son so now I don’t have one with me. But with all new and newer tires all around, less anxiety while on the road even without the spare. Anyway…

Stayed in Ely for one night, then the next day after four hours of driving, passed and stopped at the Death Valley Nut & Candy Co. there in Beatty, NV. I needed fuel too and that was an adventure as that place is always packed and not really designed for allowing an RV towing a car near the pump I needed to access and some bozo had parked his pickup truck, set the pump nozzle to fuel up automatically, then wandered into the nut store. Probably to use the bathroom. Leaving his truck sitting there blocking 2 pumps, and blocking access of my RV towing a car. I could not navigate around the pump island with his stupid truck parked there. I debated calling the cops because he’d left the highly flammable gas nozzle just hanging out of his filler hole. That’s a misdemeanor in many states. Just as I was getting ready to walk back in to have the idiot paged, he wanders out and I yell at him. Still took him 4-5 minutes to leave while I’m sitting there blocking traffic.

After carefully negotiating the RV wrecking type fuel islands and traffic there, I got a few gallons, left the station and parked across the highway where they have a giant overflow lot. I do not like that station because it was designed for cars and small trucks, not big RVs. I should have just gone up the road, there’s a better station a couple miles on. OK, next time I’ll do that. Anyway, after parking in the overflow lot, walked back over to the Death Valley Nut & Candy store, got myself a nice 2 scoop ice cream cone, and afterwards bought 3 bags of nuts and some sugar free candy.

Well, that was nice. Ice cream was good. After that pleasant interlude got back on the road headed towards Pahrump. Only two hours to go and around 4 pm, pulled into Preferred RV Resort, paid for a months stay and was soon settled in. Right at this point in my RV adventures, this park is one of my favorites and I always enjoy staying here. It’s not the park spaces really as they are just gravel with nose to tail parking, it’s the amenities, the relatively good wifi, the bike riding distance to so many good places to eat, the nearby casinos, one with a huge TV for game watching, the pleasant weather, and on and on. I just like it here. And after 16 years of full timing, I should know what I like. If I had made up a check list for my favorite things in and around a RV park, staying here would check nearly every item. Now there are times when I’m looking for a bit more solitude or adventure, and for those times I’ll plan a trip. When I’m just wandering N-S or S-N, this park is it.

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It was getting to be the end of the season here where I was staying in Wendell, Idaho. I’d paid for a months stay after arriving from Milton-Freewater, Oregon in early September. There was a chill in the air, frost on the grass in the mornings, and far fewer campers. It was getting to be that I was one of the few long term campers left at Intermountain RV Campground. Which was fine with me as they only have one 50 amp RV space and I was finally able to move there when I only had 10 days left of my paid up month. My knee was really bothering me so I wasn’t able to get the wifi extension system up for them like I’d planned but I’ll drop by next spring and do it for them then, probably. Anyway, here’s some pictures of the camp and where I stayed after I’d moved over from the spot right next to this one…it took almost an hour to find the best positioning for the RV in this space to get wifi, satellite, and OTA signals all at the same time. Whew. That was a chore, lots of moving the RV back and forth, left and right. Eventually though finally found the exact right position where both entertainment antennas could peak through the trees and get a consistent signal.

Because of the cold front that was dipping down from Canada (made the national news it was so sudden and fierce) I really wanted 50 amp just for comfort. With it I could run my heat pump and all my electric space heaters and it would actually be able to warm up the RV quickly in the cold mornings instead of taking hours on a 30 amp supply. Here in southern Idaho, we only got the southern edge of the cold front but it was noticeably cool near and after sundown and definitely cold in the AM.

Take a look where I’m parked. A day after I parked there, I drove out to do my shopping and on the way back, pulled my little in-the-canal hearing aid out of my ear and put it in the console and when I parked behind the RV, picked it up and stuffed it in my pants pocket. The same pocket where I keep my keys for the RV’s front door. And I knew when I did that I’d have to be careful I didn’t drop my aid when I pulled out the keys. And damn if that isn’t exactly what happened. As I got to the door and pulled out my keys, trying to be careful, the aid went flying. So it was somewhere on the ground next to, under or way far away from the door. For the next week, whenever I went out, I’d slow search the path I’d taken. It was nowhere to be found.

But then I had a great idea, I went over to the office and asked Jessica the owner if I could rent her three kids to search for me. With their low to the ground stances, their good eyes, and tiny fingers, just maybe…

I offered them $1 apiece just to look and $5 to find it. The three of them wanted to look but I had to shoo away Jessica because she was looking too. Showed them my other one so they’d know what to look for, where I thought I’d lost it, and told them to have at it. TWENTY MINUTES LATER the smallest kid found it. She’s around 5, older brother around 8 and the oldest boy is around 10. She found it under a leaf in the grass just outside my door steps. From the looks of it, it had been smooshed into the dirt a few times as I stepped on it I guess. I was so happy I paid her her $5 and gave the boys $2 apiece instead of just $1. Girl saved me $60. It was nearly new too, I’d just bought it the month before. Happy to have it back. After cleaning it’s working fine too.

And here’s a shot across the way from where I’m parked that you can just make out the ‘temporary’ setup for the wifi extension system I made and blue taped to that shore power tower for testing. It worked really well, but there weren’t many campers either. Does need more testing but I think it will work fine right there. There are many reasons that would be a good spot and I’ll go into them when I actually permanently install the extension. Like I said, my knee was giving me fits so I didn’t want to have to dig holes for posts and things like a ditch for wiring so I didn’t finish the installation. At the end of the road is the parks dump station. This RV park doesn’t have sewer at each site, just this dump station. It is convenient, has water too, but usually I wouldn’t even use it, instead I’d drive to downtown Wendell the long way in order to warm up the engine and tranni.   Every morning they would prepare and serve waffles. Free! Usually it would be warm enough to eat outside at the picnic tables under the cover but because of the cold people would eat inside the office where they have a couple tables set up. The antenna on top of the building is the wifi. It’s too far from the center of the RV parking area which is why I’m trying to get an extension installed for them.
While I was here in town I went to a local tire store and bought 4 new tires for my car. When they finished I noticed there were 3 large weights on two of the wheels, that ain’t right, so I took it back the next day, the owner understood my concerns and watched the tech as he re-did the spin balancing on all four of them. Turned out he’d used the wrong wheel cone on the machine so they were all wonky. Dummy. That’s the 2nd time a tire shop has done that to my wheels. After that was fixed, I was ready to head south…but first…

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I’m on my way to Pahrump, NV as of tomorrow AM. I am here in Wendell, Idaho staying at Intermountain RV. It will take two short days of driving to get there. If any of you would like some help working on your rig, I’d be happy to help. I’m spending too much time on the computer and need to get my hands dirty so you’d be doing me a service.

The only projects I’ve got in the pipeline for myself are recharging the dash AC system and either repairing or replacing the dash heater core. That should be fun (?) as I have to drop the front end cap to access it if the core needs replacing. I don’t have dash heat right now as I’ve bypassed the heater core but I only have 1.5 days of driving in the coolish weather to worry about until I’m down in the sunny and warm Pahrump valley. I will run the genset to stay warm if need be.

I’ll be staying at Preferred RV Resort. They take the Passport America card or Good Sam so you can get a nice discount. Plus the park is within walking distance of 3 casinos if you’re into that sort of thing. Also it’s only 55 miles from Las Vegas. Has a nice VA clinic in town too.

I’ll be there for more than a month, until around Nov. 20th,  then I’ll be heading to near Parker, AZ just below Parker dam.

Drop on by and say hi!