Touring Bouse, Arizona

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Stayed around camp most of today.  I have been carrying a brand new 2000 watt Inverter Champion generator in the back of the jeep for the past two trips out to the southwest.  I had originally bought it to use in our Miss Adventure 18’ trailer, but bought the RV before I had a chance to use it.

1. Today I pulled it out of the jeep, put some gas and oil in it and it started on the first pull.  Hooked up the 30 amp power cord to it and let it charge my batteries for awhile.  It is very quiet.  I think I will use it on those cloudy days instead of the big 4000 watt RV generator.  It makes more noise and I can’t move it to a quieter spot like I can the smaller generator.

 

 

 

I now have many sources of power for the motorhome.

1. alternator power from the RV engine
2. 4000 watt house generator
3. 2000 watt mobile generator
4. 100 watt solar pane with 30 amp controller
5. 5 AGM house batteries with 2000 watt with modified sine inverter
6. 2 wet cell batteries with a 600 watt pure sine inverter

After lunch, Yuma and I took a tour of Bouse, about two miles down the road.  Not much to tour.  We stopped by the Bouse Historical Landmark.  There was a plaqueand a broken up concrete slab which must have been the foundation of the house and as the plaque says, a water tank.

Yuma and I walked past Thomas Road and over Bouse Wash bridge.  On our way, I saw this rundown trailer on Thomas Road that had two gargoyles in the driveway entrance.  The place wasn’t much, but those two gargoyles were neat.

Even with the half inch of rain there is no water in the wash.  Looks like it is used mostly as a road for ATVs.

We then stopped by the Roadrunner Market #2 and I bought a can of beef stew and some fig newton cookies.   Also checked out the Laundromat for later use.  I wonder where Roadrunner Market #1 is?

Then Yuma and I walked over to Renee’s New & Used place and looked around.   Lots of stuff.Was looking for a bird feeder, but the ones she had were not very good so passed on them.  As I was heading back out, I spotted two box turtles in a box.  They looked so real, I didn’t realize they were made of concrete and painted.  What do you think?  Dolly loves turtles so bought both for $15.  Couldn’t split the two.  Never will know how long the two have been a pair.

Noticed the historical sign mentioned Bouse cemetery.  Will have to make a run over to it before I leave the area.

See you later.

Cleaning, Errands and Yuma’s First Bath

Sunday and Monday, January 25 and 26, 2015

Yesterday was going to be the last nice day for several days to come, so decided to clean the MH, change sheets and give Yuma his first bath.  Haven’t cleaned since I got Yuma a couple weeks ago and the place was an inch deep in dust and dog hair.  Time to do it.

Took all the rugs out and shook them.  Then got on my hands and knees and wet wiped the entire laminate floor. Thank goodness it isn’t carpet or it would be ground in to it.  Didn’t take long since there isn’t much space, but it sure looked nice to not see dirt everywhere.

Then came Yuma.  Didn’t have any dog shampoo so a little Head and Shoulders would have to do the trick.  I heated some water so he would have a nice warm bath.  Not really a bath; more like a sponge bath with a wash cloth.

At first, Yuma balked a little and backed off when I put the wet wash cloth on him, but that was it.  He sat there like a perfect gentleman while I talked to him and ran a wet cloth over him with shampoo.  Washed and rinsed him and then brushed his hair.  Yuma even did a little washing himself and when I dropped the wash cloth, he was nice enough to pick it up for me.

He absolutely loved being brushed.

Then came the brushing and drying part.  We both enjoyed that.

Once he was clean, Yuma sprawled out on the couch enjoying life for awhile and then nap time.  I don’t know how he gets his feet tied like that.

Today was errand day.  At 11 am, Yuma and I loaded up the jeep with laundry and headed for Parker, about 25 miles north on hwy 62.  It connects to hwy 95 about 10 miles south of town.

Found the only Laundromat in town and quickly got my clothes washed and dried.  The place was packed but they didn’t slow me down at all.

On the way to Walmart, I stopped at the park and let Yuma walk around for awhile and then filled the jeep with gas.

I left Yuma in the jeep while I did my shopping.  I had called in my prescription medicine earlier in the day, so went and picked it up with no problem.  I wasn’t long getting the groceries and out I came $85 poorer.  Threw the bags on top of the laundry and we were on our way home.

When I came out of Walmart, it started to sprinkle and by the time I was down the road 10 miles it was raining.

Didn’t do much after getting home except put the groceries up and fold the laundry and put it up.  The rain is coming down pretty hard as I write this blog.  Thank goodness, there are a lot of rocks around here or it would be a mud bath moving around out there.

See you later.

Blog-Fest 2015

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Yesterday afternoon, I attended the first ever Blog-Fest here on Plomoso Road just north of Quartzsite.  I expected around ten bloggers, but from what I hear, there were over 50 in attendance. Fantastic turn out for the first event.  Even Pheebs was having a great time wandering around meeting other dogs.Jerri from Just Wanderin' and Sandie from Where are the Dixons Today organized this event and I’m sure there are a lot of people thankful they did.  Great job. 

First on the agenda was for each of us to get up and give everyone some background and the name of our blog, if we had one.  Then it was time to eat and mingle.

There is Al and Judy of Travels with Emma.  I have followed her blog since starting my travels and wanted to me her but didn’t get the job done.  Maybe another time.

I only knew a few, but was glad to meet them in person.  Even though I couldn’t remember names very well, it was just great to talk with travelers such as myself.  We all seemed to have something in common and that made it so easy to make conversation.  Even Al from Travel With The Bayfield Bunch loosened up and had a good time with the crowd.  May have to change his handle from “blabberfingers” to “blabbermouth”.  Just kidding Al.

I did get to meet Sassy of Sassy’s on ‘Da Road fame.  Such a petite woman that carries a 2006 Harley Davidson, Heritage Softail Classic in her class A toy hauler.  She’s showing me her roadrunner decal.

Always glad to see Kelly again.  Her and Al are such nice people.

Pheebs was smitten with Yuma.  She kept wanting him to jump and play, but of course I had Yuma on a tight leash today.  Not going to make the same mistake twice.  Al finally gets to meet the famous Yuma.

Everyone was having such a great time, the event lasted long after 3pm.  I was so tired from being up all night, I left at 4pm and people were still mingling and making plans for getting together at campfires later.

Great event!  See you next year.

Worst Day and Best Day of my RVing Experience

Friday and Saturday, January 23 and 24, 2015

Yesterday, I did not write a blog about my trip to the Swansea ghost town 30 miles east of Bouse.  The reason was I spent last night sleeping in my jeep next to the miners’ cabins in the ghost town.

Al, from Travel with the Bayfield Bunch had sent me a comment about this ghost town, so Yuma and I got up early to head out there.  It’s about an hour and forty-five minute dirt road trip so wanted to have plenty of time to see the place.

The drive was beautiful.  The first portion was desert and the road wasn’t bad. I even stopped to grab a photo of Yuma and me with the jeep in the background.

After about an hour we got to the mountains and the road was a little rougher, but Yuma showed me the way.Soon we were heading down into the valley where Swansea is located.  Here is a closer view.  See the nice new roofs?When we got to the little building that had brochures and descriptions of what we would see, there were three other vehicles and and about eight people congregated there. 

I let Yuma out of the jeep without his leash and he was an instant hit with the group and he seemed to enjoy their attention.  In listening to them, I found that three of the men had worked at restoring the roofs of the miners’ cabins over the past 10 years.  They only worked on Fridays because they were doing it on their own time.  These men knew a lot about the history of Swansea.

We then all went down and stopped at the miners’ cabins to begin our individual tours of the area.  One of the men was Irish and he and I talked quite a bit about his travels here each Friday in the winter to work on the cabins.

  Yuma seemed to be enjoying himself walking around the people and the cabins.  After about 15 minutes, I called Yuma to come so we could go look around.  Yuma gave me a look of pure fear, like he had no clue who I was.  He took off with his tail between his legs around the other side of the building and down a quarry embankment to the south and up the other side along a mountain ridge.  Over the ridge he went out of sight, all within about 45 seconds.   He ignored my pleas for him to stop.

I couldn’t go down the quarry embankment, because it was too steep.  I had to run around and by the time I got to the ridge, he was long gone and all I could see was mountains,  ridges and ravines as far as the eye could see. 
You can see my jeep down there behind that rusted brown mine hole cover if you enlarge.

This happened around noon.  I spent the rest of the day climbing to the tallest mountains within sight of the jeep, so I could make sure he didn’t go to the jeep to wait for me.  I called out till I was hoarse pleading for him to come back,  I climbed up and down everywhere I could, but no Yuma.  Finally, I just sat on a rock at the top calling out and crying for him to come back.  I was just too stunned and exhausted to do more.

Evening came and then the sun was gone.  It was just me sitting in my jeep and Yuma out there with the coyotes and ravines.  All night, on the hour, I would start the jeep, turn on the heat and lights and go out and call for him.

At 7:30 the sun finally peaked over the mountains to the east.  I sat there quietly, looking all around hoping he would notice my single jeep, but no Yuma.  I made one more climb to the top of the nearest mountain and called out for him. Nothing but silence came back.

It was now 9:00 am, and I decided he was no longer in the area, so I would drive back to Bouse praying I would find him running down the dirt road looking for home.  Although, I’m sure he didn’t know where that was because I had just arrived at the BLM camp late the day before.

I turned the jeep around and started down the long crying road.  I went no more than 50 yards when something caught my eye out my driver’s side window.  There was Yuma galloping along next to the jeep.  I could not believe my eyes.  I stopped the jeep and Yuma jumped on me like nothing ever happened.  I put a leash on him quicker than lightening and put him in the jeep.  My prayers had been answered.

He didn’t have a scratch on him thank goodness.  I cried on the way to Bouse, but they were tears of joy and not the tears of loss and sadness.

Earlier this morning, I had planned to put photos of Yuma and description on my blog and then go to the 2015 Blog-Fest and ask everyone to copy a photo and put it out on their blog asking for help in getting Yuma home safely. 

I am so glad I was able to attend as just another blogger wanting to meet other bloggers.   I was very surprised at the turnout.  There must have been at least 40 RV bloggers at this first ever event.  A good time was had by all.

I am going to do nothing but go to Parker, Arizona tomorrow for Walmart shopping, gas for the jeep and laundry, so I will post the photos of the Blog-Fest then.

Yes, these two days have been the best and worst of my RVing adventures.  I guess in the scheme of things you would just call it a wash and nothing more.

See you later.