Quartzsite, AZ and Ramona, CA.

We got a late start out of Cave Creek because our mail was a day late getting to us. The mail finally arrived at 1:20PM and we headed out. Even with the late start we made it to Quartzsite at around 5:30PM. Quartzsite is a town in SW Arizona that has an annual gathering of over a million RVer’s who mostly dry camp in the desert to gather with friends and shop at the “Big Tent” which is full of venders catering to RVs. There is also a huge flea market where you can find almost anything except the one thing we were looking for… Dri-Wash to replace the bottles we left sitting in the garage at home along with our walking sticks.



We met with an Escapees group that all started “full timing” in 2007 the same year we did. Except now, we are just “snow birds”. It was nice to spend some time with Steve, Sandy and their dog, Yoda. We met Steve and Sandy at the Tiffin factory in 2008.



Sandy and I went to the “Big Tent” and bought some of the LED lights we were looking for. We still have to order 3 for the back because we couldn’t find the soft lighting we wanted for the back sitting area. In the afternoon 5 of us couples gathered around with the wives doing crafts and the guys just chatting. Then after supper a group of us gathered around the fire pit and they watched as I burned three weeks of junk mail.



The next morning Steve took some pictures of the sunrise with our Lazy Daze in the forefront. Thanks, Steve.



Here Steve, the two Sandy’s and I are in line for the free lunch at the La Mesa RV food building. They serve a breakfast and a lunch every day of the show. Of course the food also brings in quite a few prospective RV buyers and they sell a lot of rigs during this one week event.



After spending a couple of days with the Escapees group we moved a couple of miles to a Lazy Daze group. There were 10 LDs still there when we came in. There were 2 couples we had met before. (Gil and Nancy and John and Linda).



Sandy took this sunset picture.



We had a group supper on the last night we were there. The wind had died down so we were able to have a nice campfire.





Here are Nancy, Gil and their dog Elvis.



Sunday morning the 29th we left for Ramona, CA to spend a week in the San Diego area.
We passed some lemon trees north of Yuma, AZ.



Here are Mark and Sue with Patsy and Richard. They are friends who we also met at the Tiffin factory in 2008. They were celebrating Sue’s birthday in Yuma. Happy XX Birthday Sue!!!



Here’s a picture of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area along I-8 west of Yuma.



Here we are approaching the Cuyamaca Mountain Range as we travel east on Hwy 78 through the Anza-Borrego Desert SP towards Julian and then on to Ramona, CA. The road was very hilly and curvy… like riding on a roller coaster.



Yup, that’s another Lazy Daze ahead.





This is a short but beautiful drive back into the Dos Picos Regional Park Campground.





We are camped in site 43. At the moment there is no one camped close to us and it is a perfect 71 degrees.

Until next time,

Dave and Sandy

Cave Creek, AZ

We are now in the Cave Creek Campground on the north edge of Phoenix, AZ where we’ve been close to spend some time with are friends Ron and Jane. We will be here until the 25th when we leave for Quartzsite, AZ with plans of spending several days in Quartzsite to visit with our friends Steve and Sandy, Mark and Sue and Richard and Patsy. If anyone else is going to be in Quartzsite the 25th, 26th, 27th or the 28th let us know and maybe we can get together for a visit. We need to shop for a few things in the big RV vendor tent and flea markets.  Hopefully, Mark and Richard haven’t snatched up all the bargains before we get there.
In past years we have driven by the Turf Soaring School just west of where we camp in Cave Creek. This is something I have wanted to do since I was stationed in Germany in 1968, so it’s been a long time coming. Sandy, however, says “it may be a lot more time coming” for her. Sandy prefers to go “Soarin” in Disney’s Epcot.
Rick, my flight pilot, is giving the sailplane a preflight inspection.



Whew! This sure is a tight squeeze.



Rick is giving me last minute flight instructions.



Lift off!!!!



And away we go, heading for a 5000 foot release point.



My view as we head up.



Here we are still heading up with a view of Lake Pleasant.



After being released from the tow plane I got to take the controls for a while. Except for the quiet, it was not much different than flying a regular airplane.
This view of the cockpit shows the altimeter on the left showing 3000 feet which is 1400 feet above ground level. The speedometer to right of center shows we are cruising at 40 MPH. The instrument on the far right is called a variometer which shows our rate of ascent or decent which at this time is showing 50 FPM ascent. The big red knob in the center is what you pull to be released from the tow plane. That was my job.



Here we are coming in for a landing (the one in the sky). It was kind of weird because in an airplane you never land until all planes are off the runway, let alone parked on the runway.



I sure hope we stop in time.



Yup, we stopped in time.



After Quartzsite we are headed to Ramona, CA (near San Diego) to spend a few days at Dos Picos County Park before going to the Lazy Daze factory in Montclair, CA (the LA area) to have a new awning installed. Our awning was damaged when a big gust of wind came in at our first campsite in Zion NP this summer. Although or plans are somewhat fluid we plan on going to Death Valley, Joshua Tree NP, Lake Havasu, Tucson and then back to Cave Creek, AZ for the rest of the winter.

Until next time,
Dave and Sandy

Thanksgiving, Christmas and the start of our winter trip.

We spent Thanksgiving with Sandy’s folks, Dalles and Erwin and her sister and brother-in-law, Cindy and John. It was kind of a major event as within a 10 day period Dalles and Erwin were  celebrating their 65^th wedding anniversary and John and I were  celebrating our 65^th birthdays.





For Christmas we went to Staples first where we visited my Dad, Rueben, at the Care Center. In this picture are Tuff (Mary’s husband), Mary (Glen and Becky’s Daughter), my brother Joe, Sandy, Dad (Rueben), Cydney (Glen and Becky’s daughter) my other brother Glen, Becky (Glen’s Wife) and me.  We all got together and had dinner with Dad. 



That evening we (16 of us) went out for supper at the local rib joint.



Then it was out to Aberdeen, SD for Christmas with Sandy's family.

After getting back home we spent the next day and a half loading the motorhome and getting things ready to leave. On the evening of the 27th we went out for supper with our friends Jerry, Donna, John and Pat for the last time until spring. We all have been getting together for Friday night suppers and sometimes playing cards for over twenty five years.
We decided to head out of town a day early because of the bad weather reports so on December 28 we left the garage about 11:40 and started heading to our first destination in Tucson, AZ. We met up with Tom, a high school class mate of mine. Tom and his wife Jackie treated us to lunch at the Sonoran Desert Museum just west of Tucson. After lunch and spending some time visiting we took in a few of the exhibits.


This is a Mexican Wolf of which there are only about 50 left in the wild.



We are now in the Cave Creek Campground on the north edge of Phoenix, AZ where we will be until the 24th when we leave for Quartzsite, AZ. We plan to  spend a couple of days in Quartzsite so if anyone is going to be in Quartzsite the 24th, 25th, or 26th let us know and maybe we can get together for a visit.
Here are a  couple pictures of our campsite in Cave Creek. We love the mountain foothills and the huge Saguaro Cactus. We feel like we have our own little ranch.





Until next time,
Dave and Sandy