roadquill1

Hello again dear friends and family!
We are now parked, once again after 8 years, in the Squaw Lake T.K.Jones campground. (Why can’t they change that name to Squall Lake??) We have just finished our 6th night here. We return to River’s Edge today to party on the 21st!

Last week on Monday March 11, we went to Organ Pipe National Monument planning on 5 nights there, but we were only able to book 3 in the non-generator camping sites. There were two other Escape 5.0s there and we chatted with both folks – Lynn and Gord from Port Townsend, and Michelle and Paul from Lake Tahoe. With more time, I am sure that we would have gotten to know them better.

Each night there were Ranger presentations at the outdoor amphitheatre. The first night was on “How to Create a ‘Monument’”, on the second night a young Navajo lady presented to us on her home in Canyon de Chelly National Monument. (pronounced, apparently, as Canyon de ‘Shay’) in northern Arizona. (By the way, a ‘Monument’ is created by the President alone, while a National Park is created by Congress.) The third night presentation was on some kind of soil covering, and since we know dirt, we didn’t go.

On the second morning we rode down to the visitors’ centre (I guess it is ‘Center’ here) to hear a presentation on a grasshopper rat. It is a fierce little rodent that can handle many dangerous enemies. Look it up!

On the third morning we joined a group doing a bird walk. No – it is not us holding our hands behind our backs, bending forward slightly and bobbing our heads as we walk!! Well, we might have walked that way, but we actually went out on a few trails to spot desert birds. We weren’t very successful. The only bird that was very clear and stood still for us was a killdeer – a shore bird…standing on the “shore” of the effleunt pond! (Well, we were hunting for birds, but…“That’s not a good kill – dear!”)

When we tried to renew our Registration, the internet was down, and even the Rangers couldn’t get us registered – so we left! Besides, Sandy had visions of hordes of Spring Breakers heading for the shores of Senator’s Wash for the weekend. That premonition was incorrect! We found lots of space at T.K. Jones campground and paid $75 for the whole year. Since the nightly fee is $15, our 6th night here was technically free. And, since the fee is good until the end of March 2025, we can stay for 2 weeks in March next year.

We have met a really nice fellow who was tenting next to us – Daniel Boone! He was from Singapore originally, but seems to enjoy himself tenting. He has an old Toyota, and plenty of technology – including a drone that he intends to use for fishing! He is really into fishing, but had not caught anything while he was here. (The drone will act like a casting rod, only putting his lure several hundred yards out in front of him.) We shared his campfire with him on a couple of nights.

We have had several bike rides, however, our attempt to cycle around Senator’s Wash panned out when we encountered the horrid road conditions from washouts and 4-wheel drives. And, although we got to the bottom of the second ravine, the loose gravel was not to be ridden on by bikes with road tires! So we headed back, walking our bikes through the worst of the road stuff. We also got a decent hike in over the hills.

On Monday, with no wind, and the potential for a beautifully warm day, we decided to try out our new Advanced Elements inflatable kayaks. With some advice from some fellow campers – we were able to get them almost fully inflated and into the water, and to paddle through the beautiful channels through reeds upstream to the next lake to the north of us. We are thrilled with their performance and ease of inflating and packing.

Much love and best wishes to you all!

Tony and Sandy

P.S. Today we return to Yuma for 2 nights before heading towards home.

Hello all! We have now finished a week in Arizona under daily warm temperatures of the mid – to high 20’s, (though sometimes with cool breezes). We have enjoyed our location at Rivers Edge RV Park. We are on electrical and water hook-up, close to a washroom, shower and laundry building, and right beside the Colorado River. The swimming pool that used to be so crowded is now almost empty as is the whole RV park. (Maybe about 50% full.)

We have completed two 25+ km bike rides on river and canal trails, and cruised through a beautiful “Wetlands Park” right across the river from where we are parked.

On Saturday, we planned to attend the Yuma Air Show out near the Marine base. So, we drove the GMC past the lengthy line-up of vehicles and police cars that were slowly parading into the Airfield, and headed around the base to the south where we cleverly thought we could view the air show without being entered into a military security database as “aliens”. We parked in a likely spot so that we were shielded from the sun, and after about an hour of waiting we finally saw a single jet performing some aerobic manoeuvres above the air base – mostly as a dot way off in the distance. Occasionally, the jet would roar over our heads. Then, as I moved my head to try to spot the distant jet I thought I saw 5 jets performing manoeuvres! But it was just bugs that appeared to be in motion on the windshield! I hope that the airshow was worth the wait at the gate, because from where we watched mostly nothing for 3 hours, it was not scintillating! (A word I learned from Danny Gallivan, the Montreal hockey broadcaster, many, many years ago!)

My levelling demonstration using a marble was the forerunner for a natural marble-rolling performance every minute that we have been here. We are parked under a beautiful Arizona sycamore tree that produces perfectly round little nuts – about the size of peas. These peas fall onto our roof periodically (a couple every minute or so) and then we hear them rolling off the roof. Thus…“THWAK…and ROLL”. The noise is a bit disconcerting! Tomorrow we head for Organ Pipe Desert Campground, where I am sure that if anything is landing on our roof, we will be “OUTA THERE!”

We expect to be out of any wifi or data range for the next week to 10 days, but we will bring you up to speed when we return to Rivers Edge – and before we head to Lake Havasu City State Park where we have reservations on March 22.

Love and best wishes to all!

Tony and Sandy

And it is also time to do a ‘Konrad’ (as in “Adenauer”! If you are younger than 75, there is a good chance the reference to the once German Chancellor will be vague or obscure!) Aside from pin-pointing my age range, the dumb pun from my youth describes what we had to do yesterday when we arrived at the Rivers Edge RV Park in Winterhaven, CA. “Add an hour!” Technically, we are still on Vancouver (and California) time, however, since Yuma is just a shout away, we must go with the flow of time! Okay…we are now an hour ahead of our home base.

On Friday, we arrived at the Indian Waters RV Park in Indio, CA which we had pre-booked. Our fuel tank was very low, but aside from opting to wait until leaving on Saturday, fuel prices were shockingly high – as they have been throughout California! At home we fueled up at the disturbingly high cost of $1.749 per litre. That translates to about $4.965 per US gallon. (Given $1C = $.75US.) Diesel fuel prices in Indio seem to range between $4.99 per gallon and $5.399 per gallon!

The reason for that Indio stop was a dinner invitation to visit with a long-time friend, Dave, and his partner Cynthia in the nearby community of La Quinta. The cost of the RV site was as mind-boggling as the fuel prices – we paid about $150C for one night of camping! (I must admit that the RV park was very beautifully laid out and landscaped like a park!) As it turns out, when Dave and Cynthia picked us up for dinner, they absolutely insisted on us staying overnight with them, so we hastily loaded overnight essentials and headed to their lovely unit in La Quinta. Our meal, visit and overnight rest were both wonderful. However, I don’t think I would ever have dreamed of parking our truck and trailer unit somewhere for $150 per night!!

As to the blog title quote from Winnie the Pooh…it turns out that our Truck House Jr. builder name (“Escape”) was eerily apt this week! Besides the daily news of the massive snow storms hitting Northern California and the Sierras, we escaped through dangerous wind warnings yesterday as we left from Indio, CA. On our way south towards Brawley on Highway 10, we were buffeted by strong cross-winds and dust storms.

After turning east on Hwy 8, we headed downwind to our safe haven at Rivers Edge.

It is good to return here to palms, warm sun and clear blue skies. There are a couple of notable changes:

• The park has a surprising number of vacant sites;
• The facility buildings have been upgraded (including the washrooms)

The young lady who registered us had no knowledge of the reason for #1. (She may have been too young to remember COVID!) The swimming pool was actively populated, however, the median age seems to have dramatically been lowered since we were last here. (Not surprising since we were close to being the “youngsters” six years ago!)

Last night – after supper – my endlessly restless (and largely sleepless) partner tackled house-cleaning, shelf-reorganization, vacuuming and so on. (I am sure those of you who know her well are not surprised! To keep her busy, we might have to move up to a bigger unit – or rent her out to neighbours!) I needed to get out of the way, so used my slightly swollen ankle as an excuse and got it level with my torso by lying down, where the only activity possible was reading. She seemed pleased with my decision (to stay out of the way) rather than miffed! What a wonderful partner!!

And…we found a simple way to measure the level status of our unit:

Today, we begin our cycling explorations locally.

Much love and best wishes to you all!

Tony (the Quill) and Sandy (the Quilter, sans sewing machines, quilting table, shelves of material, and indoor room to spread out)