Thursday, January 31, 2013

The Phoenix Flow

Since getting to "Phoenix", we're really on the outskirts chilling in a casino parking lot, we haven't done too much. My bod is still getting acquainted with this month...like a stranger in a foreign land, you'd think we'd get the hang of this eventually, it's only been happening for like 19 years! J' wanted to take some time and really get cracking on some work things, but has been hung up due to one thing or another...so we've been just hanging out really. The casino we found, on the GPS last night while driving in, is the Lone Butte Casino, there are about 25 RV's here, mostly all Class A's but some van's and some Class C's.


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The security peeps just drive around, smile and wave, they don't care that we're all here...shoot some of these people look like they live here! They have their satellite dishes outside on stands, chairs and tables out, solar panels getting all of the sunshine...it's the right place to be for us, right now. We are thinking of maybe going up to the Superstition Mountains but still have a lot to read about them and where to go. It doesn't seem there is a lot of BLM land or dispersed camping anywhere around here, so we'll have to really do some research...either that or just go up and find out for ourselves! We both found ourselves searching for some kind of entertainment while sitting in the van for the past couple of days, so we found a park that wasn't too far away. We drove the 5 miles over to the Desert Breeze park and it is quite the nice park! This park has a nice walking trail with a huge lake in the middle of it that they stock with different kinds of fish for you to fish out, a train that actually runs on railroad tracks, a cooking pavilion with grills, soccer fields, playgrounds, and a dodge ball field! It was quite the find...we would have to come back another day for sure.




[caption id="attachment_3732" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Gorgeous Gorgeous[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3733" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Cooking Pavilion Cooking Pavilion[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3734" align="aligncenter" width="225"]Choo Choo Choo Choo[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3735" align="aligncenter" width="225"]Fish...it's what's fer dinner! Fish...it's what's fer dinner![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3736" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Plumpin' up the ducks Plumpin' up the ducks[/caption]

On our way to the park, we passed a mall so on our way back to the casino we stopped off at it...I think it was called Chandler Village or something like that. This mall was amazing! It is beautiful, the way they built the courtyard out and the inside of it...it actually reminded of us of a mall we used to frequent in Denver...ahhh home!


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It was fun walking through the mall, smelling all of the smells...(especially the Auntie Anne's Pretzel's...yummy yum yummers!!) and seeing what's new in all of the stores. One thing that's not new...the smell in the Apple store! Pe-yew! Have you ever noticed it smells like ranky onion b.o. in those stores!? Well, I'm sure you will now, if you never have. I'm sorry but my goodness, they need a ventilation system in that store.


Anyway, it was fun to see what is around us and get a better awareness of our surroundings. We'll just have to see if we stay here or move up to the mountains in the next couple of days...with us, you just never know!


PEACE

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Run Errands. Squeeze a Naked Man. Get on the Road.

It's 2:30 p.m. exactly on this rockin' Tuesday afternoon. We woke up with a plan of action today! My left jaw and ear have been hurting for the past few days and has been quite painful. I'm hoping whatever it is, it just goes away...it hurts to eat, talk, yawn, sleep, smile...yep, it's been an interesting few days. I can just hear my mom now..."Well, then don't do those things!" haha Such a kidder! We woke up to it being pretty cold in the van, almost 45*...and we put the heater back on-top yesterday! Good thing for blankets and body heat! I think it also helped that we were in Blythe instead of Quartzsite, due to it always being at least 10* degrees warmer in Blythe. I had to walk the Nana Bug on a leash this morning (gasp) due to being back in the desert with the wildlife and all. As well as waiting, waiting...and waiting for her to go potty. What is it with her and the desert? I guess there are no other 'smells' to follow...Maybe I should write out instructions for her, eh!? It sure was windy out there causing the 60* weather to feel more like the 45* it was in the van this morning. We got everything packed up and ready for travel after our cafe' and it's actually looking pretty good, inside and out. The new tarp we got yesterday looks so much nicer, it's canvas instead of plastic...muy bueno! We left our spot in Blythe (good-bye




[caption id="attachment_3709" align="alignright" width="150"]Yummers! Yummers![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3708" align="alignleft" width="150"]Good-bye Good-bye[/caption]

spot), hit up K-mart to look at their blenders, went to Albertson's and got some snackies for the day; Greek yogurt, cottage cheese and fruit. We drove back to Quartzsite to grab a few last minute things; RV mat (to stop tracking the entire desert into the van, yuck) and a bag of Flax seeds and to walk the town one more time before leaving.




[caption id="attachment_3710" align="aligncenter" width="225"]2 of my favorite things! 2 of my favorite things![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3711" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Ooooooooooo Ooooooooooo[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3712" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Aaaahhhhhhhh Aaaahhhhhhhh[/caption]

I was also able to grab one more thing to finally be able to send my mom a lil' package. Oh, oh, oh, we also went to see Paul, remember the music show we went to...? He's the naked guy that owns the Reader's Oasis Bookstore in town. We went to his store to buy a Quartzsite sticker, with no luck, but I was also able to get my picture taken with him! Me likey!! haha (Bernie I'm stealing one of your photo's due to it being a bit too cold that day, thanks!) And with that I give you Paul Winer...he IS naked in these pictures so considered yourself warned!




[caption id="attachment_3715" align="aligncenter" width="300"]I see a butt! I see a butt![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3716" align="aligncenter" width="225"]Such a groovy guy! Such a groovy guy![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3714" align="aligncenter" width="199"]Sweet Pie! Thanks BK! Sweet Pie!
Thanks BK![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3713" align="aligncenter" width="146"]Nakey Nakey! Nakey Nakey![/caption]

A quick stop at twice the ice after the bookstore and away we go to Phoenix! We are en-route as I write, started with 118 miles with only 84 more to go to our destination point!




[caption id="attachment_3718" align="aligncenter" width="300"]And away we goooo And away we goooo[/caption]

From there we will get our bearings, see where we will sleep for the night and scope it all out to see if we want to stay in town or just go up to the mountains. I'm also super stoked to see a girlfriend of mine, that I haven't seen in about 10+ years. Woo Hoo!! A new town, an actual big city and new scenery...we just love it!




[caption id="attachment_3719" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Welcome to Phoenix! Welcome to Phoenix![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3722" align="aligncenter" width="300"]...and the traffic! ...and the traffic![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3720" align="aligncenter" width="225"]I ❤ Tunnels I ❤ Tunnels[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3721" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Tunnel Vision Tunnel Vision[/caption]

This travelling lifestyle is the way to go, man...right now I wouldn't ask for anything more. I get to wake-up with my tribe every morning, spend true quality time together while seeing new places and experiencing all sorts of different things, meet new peeps and the best part is, we feel free! We don't feel stuck, we are living our lives, not a life anyone else thinks we should be living. What's right for one person/tribe is just the opposite for another. Every day is another day to gain access to the goals you've always wanted to reach.




[caption id="attachment_3723" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Lone Butte Casino Lone Butte Casino[/caption]

What's stopping you today?


PEACE

Monday, January 28, 2013

What a Beaut!

Today just slipped right on by me. Can you believe I don't have one single picture from today!? Me neither. After feeling like total crap-o-la yesterday, we rinsed away all the 'dirty' with hot showers and laundry today. Good thing too! With all of the rain we had, we found out that our tarp had not held up so well totally soaking through our duffle bags on-top, totally soaking every single piece of clothing in the bags, plus rolls of toilet paper (yuck)! It made me happy to find this all out at the laundromat instead of anywhere else. Needless to say, there was a lot of folding going on at that laundromat. I totally wish I had at least one picture of what I looked like today. At this laundromat in Ehrenberg, there are many different characters roaming about and it seems everyone and their brother always wants to talk to me. Usually, I do not have a problem with this, I will smile politely and carry on a conversation, knowing it's just how it is in public places...but today, today I was in no mood. I don't mind laundry day, I actually kind of look forward to it. I like to do laundry, I like sorting everything and waiting for it, then folding it in the precise way I do when it's all dry, it makes me feel good. Today though...not today! I really just wanted to take a shower and get on the road but after we found out that everything was soaked to the bone, it held us there an hour and a half more then usual and every single person wanted to have thee longest drawn out conversation. Now, the reason I wanted a picture of me was because of this guy that came in about 45 minutes into us being there. He was a "cool guy", biker dude (he made sure I knew that), probably in his mid 30's. He came in with, who I'm guessing was his mother and starts yelling and cussing at her, dropping F* bombs, about how to put his clothes in the washer. There are about 4 other people, trying not to look up at him yelling at her, minding their own business. After he ranted on her, he left for a minute, he comes back in, walks past me, turns back around to me and says, "Excuse Miss..? (he picks up my hand like he's going to kiss it) Has anyone told you how exquisitely beautiful you are today?" Uhhh..... I wanted to burst out laughing, but just said thank you. He then, of course, wanted to know everything about me. I looked toward J' (who had no idea this was going down) and changed the subject, making it politely clear I was 1- with someone and 2- didn't really want to share anything about myself. Throughout the rest of his time there he still tried making small talk with me...only making me laugh even harder on the inside. First of all, even if I wasn't with anyone, this guy totally just berated and cussed at his mother, or whoever she was, in front of a bunch of strangers...not a turn-on dude! Secondly, you should have seen what I looked like! I had on a pair of J's basketball shorts that went down past my knees, one of his shirts that's bright green and says, Pirates arrrr Cool, black socks pulled up to my knees and my blue and green muk-luks, with my fro' all over the place. If he saw beauty in that, well....good for him, but I don't think so Bub! We made it out of there in three hours, reorganized the inside and the top and drove to Ace Hardware. We had to get another tarp, stat! It was looking like rain and we could not count on that tarp to do its job...we already knew that it wouldn't. We went to Ace and got a canvas tarp to put over the other tarp (double barricade) and drove to our old campsite in Blythe. We told ourselves we wouldn't come back here, but we were so close and didn't want to make a drive back to Quartzsite tonight so we ended up staying for the night. J' put the tarp on, even in the extreme wind, which came out of nowhere...glad he did too...it's raining again! All I can say is, I'm soooooooo happy today is (pretty much) over. My attitude and emotions are raging and it is not pretty. The laundromat was just the tip of the iceberg this morning! Sometimes I wish I would just go straight into Menopause, is it that much worse than this every month? I don't know... maybe I'm wishing myself into a whole different, much worse monster than shark week is. All I know is it's a good thing I know how to cry and that bed, tele and chocolate were invented or this would be a much worse nightmare!


Well, I'm off to get my "beauty sleep"...hahaha that guy kills me!


PEACE

Sunday, January 27, 2013

My body had a change in plans

Last night we talked about leaving today and we had every intention on making that happen...get up, pack her up, say last good-byes and roll on out. However, my body had different plans for me today...gotta love the human body! I woke up feeling alright, not great, not dandy, but alright. My left side of my face was killing me where my jaw meets my ear, I couldn't open my mouth, it hurt to swallow, even thinking about it hurt...pretty painful. I had a bangin' headache side by side with mild nausea.




[caption id="attachment_3675" align="aligncenter" width="150"]Ugh... Ugh...[/caption]

I figured I would just ride it out, it was close to my time, I can deal. Once I started moving around, the nausea would come and go but the left side of my face hurt hella bad. J' just told me to take it easy and whatever came out of today would come, we aren't in a hurry to be or go anywhere. (Such a good man!) I thought maybe if I got up, got some fresh air and walked around things might straighten out in my bod and we'd be good to go. And it worked...for about an hour.


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In that hour though, not even caring that I was in my p.j.'s, I was able to get some pics of some of my girls (that I really wanted) so that made me happy. (Cyndi you said you didn't mind!)




[caption id="attachment_3680" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Cheesin' Cheesin'[/caption]

I met up with J' over at Brian's camper to say, See ya later...they were in the middle of fixing Brian's bike and after about 20 minutes I had to leave and go back to Joon Van. I felt dizzy, nauseous and faint...gross!




[caption id="attachment_3681" align="aligncenter" width="225"]Chain Gang Chain Gang[/caption]

211 234From there on out, I called the rest of the day a loss. I napped, read some pages here and there from Eat, Pray, Love (great book) and rode out the day in bed watching Figure Skating and The Pro Bowl.


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Even though I didn't get out much today, I was still able to see another amazing sunset (thanks to our glorious windows) and Ted (a new friend) gave me a whole stash of Oreo's for when I'm feeling better...and can actually eat the darn things, stupid jaw/ear thing!


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I'm crossing my fingers that tomorrow I will be clear of this mess and we can get on with it, for I see a hot shower and laundry in our very near future...


Here's to the freshy fresh!


PEACE


 

 

 

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Desert Rain

The rain picked a good time to come. It rained on and off during the night, waking up to more rain this morning. I guess we picked the perfect day (yesterday) to walk the Big Tent, today would definitely be an inside day.




[caption id="attachment_3659" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Rainy Day Rainy Day[/caption]

I finished the velcro on the curtain for our sliding door! Now we have something to keep the warm in and wandering eyes out.




[caption id="attachment_3660" align="alignleft" width="150"]Hard @ work! Hard @ work![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3661" align="alignright" width="150"]Finished! Finished![/caption]

I'm just glad it's finished, it's a really big job...especially without a darn thimble...ouchy! It took me most of the day to get it done, taking breaks to mess with Savannah, eat some junk food and look at the weather. The rain finally cleared up around 3:45-4:00 p.m. making camp look totally different than it has the whole time we've been here. The sun was glistening off of the wet dirt roads and clouds were hanging low on the mountain tops...very pretty!


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Savannah was super excited to run around and fill her nose of all of the accentuated smells!


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She was so thrilled to be out of the van that she took it upon herself to celebrate in her own little way...rolling in da' poo-poo...for the second time in 2-3 days! What a mess she is! She was not celebrating so much though, when she got her second scrub down of the week with freezing cold water.




[caption id="attachment_3665" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Not so happy Not so happy[/caption]

We also gave ourselves a Head-Up cleansing since we were already in the groove. I love the picturesque scenery after it rains in the desert, it's just so beautiful...there's really nothing like it.




[caption id="attachment_3668" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Ah-some!! Ah-some!![/caption]

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[caption id="attachment_3667" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Panoramic View Panoramic View[/caption]

I love the rain. It's very cleansing. When the clouds have squeezed out that last drop of rain and the sun starts to shine, playing over the mountains, bringing out different colors and objects in the distance...it's spectacular.


Maybe it's time to say, "See ya later" and move on down the road, to the next adventure, the next leg of our journey...? Tomorrow will be the only one able to tell us that, for now I wish you all a warm and moist day...kind of like a Brownie! Mmmmmm Brownies!


PEACE

Friday, January 25, 2013

The Big Tent!!!

It only took us all week, but we finally made it to The Big Tent here in Quartzsite!! The end of the RV show is Sunday, so we figured it was a good time to go, tee hee. The weather has been changing around us, one day sunny, the next day windy, and the next rainy...we had to get this done soon or we would miss it! We have been told by almost everyone here, "You have to do the big tent at least once...to say you've done it." Today would be that day! It wasn't the sunniest day but not the windiest or coldest either, which actually made it thee perfect day to go. I even wore a white shirt...white does not go well with this lifestyle (or me, I'm a mess!) We started our journey on some back roads, we wanted to see what was on the other side of the road we had been camping on. It's a day use only area, the roads are more 4WD or AWD, but with Joon Van they were a breeze and it was a great photography area (but a little too gloomy for my camera to really capture the beauty).




[caption id="attachment_3616" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Tilt-a-wheel Tilt-a-wheel[/caption]

We parked down the road from all the hustle-n-bustle, instead of trying to squeeze in in the middle of all of the commotion. It wasn't a bad walk at all and the exercise is always good for the getting. The town was buzzing with drivers coming from all directions, shoppers trying to get a good deal, vendors trying not to "give away" their stuff, music, food, RV's and everything in between. We crossed over to the main drag and turned down an alley way...the alley way of amazement! The stones, rocks, geodes, and crystals they had down this alley stopped me in my tracks.




[caption id="attachment_3619" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Oh Mah Gur! Oh Mah Gur![/caption]

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[caption id="attachment_3622" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Picture Jasper Picture Jasper[/caption]

 We meandered through many vendors, many of them having the same thing as their neighbors but always fun to see and compare prices! A stroll past just a few of the RV's for show and we are in the Big Tent. The Big Tent....where vendors try to sell you anything and everything you can do to, put in, on, around, use in...whatever, your RV.




[caption id="attachment_3623" align="alignright" width="150"]Food Tents!! Food Tents!![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3624" align="alignleft" width="150"]Inside Inside[/caption]

 A short list of things people are selling: Solar (always good), cookware, blenders, tupperware, electric bicycles, remote control helicopters, food tents, yard decorations, satellite, jewelry, sunglasses, and a million different knick-knacks! It's like a very specified flea market! I think we picked a pretty good day to do this because it wasn't too crowded. Everything we have heard about the big tent is you can barely move and walk in there because there are so many people. We breezed right through the thing in about 20 minutes, all three long aisles of stuff, even with stopping and browsing! We walked out of the tent and strolled on down the dirt road leading to the RV show, turning a corner only to see the main rig we came for...The Tiger. We had to wait for quite a few people to exit before being able to stand inside so we walked over to the Progressive RV to see what they were up to. The Progressive group welcomed us into their RV, gave us both a spin on this wheel and we won a prize! I won a deck of playing cards and J' won a T-shirt.


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 After I saw the shirt, I wanted a shirt...but the deck of cards is good too (we're going to use them to workout with)...but the shirt was cool too! They were also giving out dog tags, but the line was mega long so we just went back over to The Tiger.




[caption id="attachment_3627" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Tigress!!? Tigress!!?[/caption]

It's nicely set up inside (all my pics were blurry). The bed is overhead (a plus for us), full kitchen, full bathroom, sitting area (that also folds out to a bed) and storage...lots of storage and it's 4x4, c'mon man! I definitely wouldn't be sad if I had to call this thing 'Home'. Walking out of that rig sparked our interest in other rigs (that were a little more in our price range). The Tiger runs around $112,000. We stepped into a few other rigs: a few class C's, a class A and a van, all of them very different from the one before. And as always...your mind just starts churnin'!! Happens every time! haha Ahh, if we had the room, ahh if we could stand up, ahh if we had an indoor shower, ahh if we had an overhead bed or a bed out of the way, ahh there's a kitchen area, ahhhhhhh... haha


[gallery columns="4" ids="3629,3630,3631,3632"]

We love our Joon Van but more room would be glorious too. When our dreams are meant to become reality, then it will happen...until then Joon Van is Home. On with the day... we stopped and ate some Mexicano food. It was good but when I sat down and saw what our 'neighbors' were eating, I then thought we should have done a walk around first, haha These three cute little ladies were eating this Thai food and it looked super scrumptious...that's what we get for not doing a lap! Oh well, ours was good and filling.

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As we were walking out of the food court area, J' pointed up and we both started cracking up.


What's 'wrong' about this picture?


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hahahaha


That little girl should have a much bigger smile promoting cappuccino's and mochas! hahahaha Funny stuff.


Back on the move...


We wandered aisle by aisle, vendor by vendor stopping many times due to my ooooing and aaaahhhhing. We saw a couple of friends, talking to them for a little while, only to move on to more ooo's and aahhh's! J' and I pulled our cash together (no one accepts credit) and bought two rings...we even got a deal because we didn't have as much as they wanted so they took what we had. It was only about $4.00, but hey it's 4 bucks! They are both really unique and beautiful, that's why we couldn't decide on just one! I just looked through my pictures and I guess I haven't taken a pic of them yet, so I guess you'll just have to wait...like with the pants! haha We were at the very end of all of the tents after we bought the rings so we headed back to the van...and just in time too!


We were about 20 steps from the van when    107


big drops of rain started


dropping from the sky. Perfect timing!


105And if Bob has taught us anything...You never go into town and not get ice cream. So before we went back to camp, we had to get some ice cream!! Thanks Bob!


We are back at camp now...cozy and warm in our lil space ship fort! See, we do love the van! With the rain and it getting dark, I am going to finally sew some velcro onto our other curtain, 1- to keep the cold out and 2- to have a little more privacy.


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The Big Tent was a success, the day was perfect for everything we did and the timing was just right. I must say being around all of those people and all of the buzz does have its place. It's fun to be around other people that are doing the same thing as you...you all pretty much have the same agenda...I think it works well!


The next thing on our list.....???


I guess it's time to talk about that!


But first...


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does this coat make 'me' look fat?




[caption id="attachment_3642" align="aligncenter" width="300"]what? what?[/caption]

PEACE!