Hanging out at Quartzsite, AZ at the Big RV Show

We arrived in Quartzsite AZ on Friday January 15th. We stayed at Casa Del Sol for 4 days, to get acquainted with the town and get the camper charged up and ready to dry camp in the desert with our RVW friends. We went site seeing and stopped at Reader’s Oasis Books and met the owner, who gave us a small concert on the piano. He can be found at the bookstore everyday, and wears nothing but a thong most days. On the days he has more then that on, it is just a jacket. He has over 80,000 books and knows them all. Airaday found a job at Sweet Darlene’s Restaurant, cooking eggs 5am-2pm.
On the 19th we headed out to the desert, at Road Runner Mile Marker 99 BLM long term land. We met all kinds of really nice women, who are members of RVW. The weather was rainy and on Thursday night the 21st a storm came through with 70mph winds. We survived the storm, but a few of the other campers had small problems. Airaday and I used the opportunity to help people out and make some more friends. It turned into a nice bonding experience, but a few pulled out early because the storm was too much for them. On Friday night we went out with some of the girls to a fish fry. There was no seating left inside the building, so we were sat in a make shift tent that had live music. I think we got the better deal; we had entertainment while we ate.

Resting in Phoenix AZ

We are staying 2 nights in Phoenix AZ at Covered Wagon RV Park. We are getting the camper, and ourselves, ready for Quartzsite. We did some shopping, cooking, and much needed cleaning to the camper. It is beautiful weather here, it is 8:10pm Wed. Jan. 13th and it is 66 degrees. The park is small, downtown, older hookups, and they charge to take showers. We are glad we have a shower in our camper. They have a pool that is open year round, but the water seems a little chilly. The price is good though, all the other parks around the area are $10-$15 higher. Plus we have a beautiful sunset and oranges growing next to us. *** We will try to post more often, but Quartzsite is dry camping, no electric and maybe no internet.

Pictures from the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon to Phoenix, AZ

We are currently in Phoenix, AZ at a Flying J for the night. It is very warm and we both have short sleeves on.
We left the Grand Canyon today. We had loads of fun while we were there. We stayed at Camper Village for two nights (Which is a full hook up site for $32 a night plus $2 a person over one), then at Mather Campground last night (Which is a dry hookup site for $15 a night).
The view from all the lookouts and areas around the rim were spectacular. We did not go hiking due to all the snow and ice on the trails, but we saw several people who were brave enough to get some hiking in. We took a lot of pictures, but nothing does it justice other then seeing it in person. Did not see anyone riding mules down the trails, but we did see 2 rangers getting mules ready to go down the canyon to check trails and pack in supplies for the ranger station at the bottom of the canyon.
We meet some people who work at the various lodges and restaurants at Grand Canyon. They work through Xanterra, so we stopped off at their human resource building and got applications. They also run the lodges in other national parks, so we can apply online with them to work at our choice of parks. We told them we would be available next winter, if they need any help.
The prices for groceries and daily living were very steep. Bananas were 89 cents a pound. People who work at the bottom of the Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch have to hike down to go to work and back up when they are done. The rangers work one week on and one week off. The ranger we talked to said she thought that Xanterra employees work a 12 day stretch and then get 4 days off. The rangers also get to have there stuff take down by special mules. The workers at Phantom Ranch must hike in all there stuff or use a $65.00 duffel service, which is also available to the guest. Guess we will have to work up top for a few years, at least this is what Airaday thinks….lol

On the move-Grand Canyon for 3 days, 4 nights

We headed towards the Grand Canyon, off exit 195 in Flagstaff on Route I-180 the scenic way. You can go into Williams and take I-64, which joins up with I-180 about half way there.
As we got closer to the park we decided to get the National Parks and Federal Lands Pass. That way instead of paying $25 to just get into the Grand Canyon and then paying to get into other national parks later, we paid $80 and can get into any national or federal park and stay at any BLM land for a whole year. They have over 390 parks that participate in this pass, so it will pay for it self in time.
We are camped at Trailer Village inside the park, and will be staying 2 nights and using the free shuttle to get around. They have full hook ups, which is nice for we can run the heater and the electric blanket tonight. I see some snow, yet not as much as our dear family back east seems to have right now.

On the move -- More free petrified wood

At exit 286, which is the back end of the Petrified Forest Drive we stopped at Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Co., for we had a coupon for a half lb of free petrified wood. We even got to pick our own piece. We actually picked out a piece that was a little over a pound and a half, so we just paid for a pound of it. We could have chosen many smaller pieces to total a half pound, but the piece that called to us was a pound and a half. There store has many wonderful pieces on display, with prices to match. Got to see “Wild Bill” the 2-600 million year old fossil alligator as well as many other fossils. There is an indoor cactus garden and petrified water fountain that had a few fish and turtles in it.

On the move -- Shopping for lawn ornaments

We stopped off at exit 303 at Stewart’s to receive our free small piece of polished petrified wood the size of a pinto bean and a post card, the guy was nice and ended up giving us 2 more. They also had an ostrich farm, yet were out of eggs and tons of interesting lawn artwork. Took pic’s so people could see what may or may not be artwork.

On the move -- Finally in Arizona

We entered into Arizona on Friday Jan 8th and stopped at the visitor center there and got pamphlets about the Grand Canyon and other interesting places to see in Arizona. We stopped at the Painted Desert/ Petrified Forest Park info center. We watched a movie on how the petrified trees were formed. Decide not to take the driving tour since it was cold and when you stop to see things you must stay on the paths and walk a ways to the displays. Will try and come back this way when it is warmer. Found out that you can get a Park Pass and will be good in all NPS, so if we do that it will wave the $15.00 fee.

On the move -- Bumpy road and Mud

We then decided to get off I-40 and stop off and try to see the Wild Wolf Sanctuary off exit 81. We were on Route 53, crossed the Continental Divide (Elevation 7882), BIA125 and then turned off on a gravel and mud road, BIA120. When we got there the camping sites were muddy narrow lanes that our RV would get stuck on. We drove up to the entrance and Darla thought it might be best to leave and not spend $10.00 to dry camp over night. She was afraid if the weather turned bad, we might have even a rougher time getting back to I-40. (This is a place to see in the summer, NOT winter and maybe camping some where else and taking a car in.) So after driving all that way we left with only seeing the wolves from a distance and did not get a chance to take any photos. We drove back down the bumpy back roads, and took the loop to Gallup and spent the night in a mall parking lot. We woke in the morning to a very cold camper. Even the dogs were shivering. The temp was 22 degrees and the water in the dog dish had frozen.

On the move -- Two Casino -- Zero $$$

We visited two casinos in New Mexico on Thursday Jan 7th, the Route 66 Casino (exit 140 on I-40) and the Dancing Eagle Casino (exit 108 on I-40). At the Route 66 Casino we signed up for players club cards. They gave each of us a duffel bag with their logo as a gift for signing up. This was a great place to stop because they had all kinds of Route 66 decor and slots with the logo all around. There was a movie theater, night club, hotel, many restaurants and flashing lights to get your attention as well as a full service walk up hot and cold drink station in every corner. We both donated money to the casino.
At Dancing Eagle Casino we went to sign up for players club cards. We saw duffel bags there and thought maybe we would end up with getting them as a gift, but you had to of already signed up and used the coupon they send you. Darla signed up anyway; her gifts were a pen and case with the casino’s logo and a card for $10 free gas. There gas was $2.79 gal which only gave us 3.572 gallons and we had just got gas at the Flying J a few miles back. We donated money at this casino too.