Boron, CA

This was our 2nd overnight stay in Boron, in as many years, and we chose to do a little more than just camp. After the requisite visit to the 20 Mule Team Museum in town, the curator suggested we visit the Borax mine and processing plant 4 miles west of town. Wow! I do not know how we missed this bit of history the last time through. A few pix to follow, but first a little Wikipedia reprint:

"A large borax deposit was discovered in 1925, and the mining town of Boron was established soon thereafter. This borax deposit is now the world's largest borax mine and operated as an open-pit mine, the largest in California, one mile across. This mine supplies nearly half of the world's supply of refined borates, employing over 800 people."

The road up to the Visitor Center was RV friendly, actually smoother and better maintained than Hwy40, with plenty of parking and room to turn around.

The equipment running around this 24/7 operations mine look like ants, but are huge. Look at the men standing next to the shovel in the next picture and you'll get an idea of just how big this operation is. We watched the giant dump trucks going in and out of the mine from the view deck on top of the Visitor Center.

One of the fellows at the Visitor Center, Larry, was friendly and informative about the area and operations. We found out that Borax is used in many household products, and in the making of glass and other things we use every day.

Larry, to the right of the chunk of mineral, greeted us at the door ... This specimen contains crystals of boron and other substances. The Visitor Center was really interesting with well-documented picture captions, dioramas, and a history of the plant, the people, and the area. Larry told us that Lithium was recently discovered in the mine, but wouldn't talk about it for some reason ... maybe a pending contract with Tesla? Ha!

There is a hugh version of a dump truck in town, similar to those used in the mine, and we were told that it would fit inside the bed of the much larger trucks in use at the mine.

That's it for this post. We are headed to Fresno today as soon as it warms up a bit over the Tehachapi pass, where it was 19 degrees this morning. Tonight we stay at Fresno Elks Lodge, where we've been before, but never when the lodge was open. So, we are looking forward to going inside, meeting a few local folks, and maybe have dinner, served on Wednesday's.

Oh, one more bit of info ... Domingo's Mexican Restaurant in town is under new management and serves up the best Mexican food we have ever tasted; stop and eat here and you won't regret it. This is a family-owned and run restaurant, and they will make anything you ask for, even if you can't find it on the large, multi-page menu. 

Christie and I had a combo plate of Chile Colorado and Chili Verde (not on the menu) ... OMG, good, while Louise ordered Carnitas Fajitas, on a platter with more meat than you can consume in one sitting (leftovers anyone?)! We met the new owner, and a 16-year employee who waited on us, small-town nice!

More to come, so stay tuned ...

Lake Havasu City

Lake Havasu City is likely the "snow bird" capital of the USA during the winter months. I'm seeing license plates from all the northern and north-eastern states. And, virtually all of the RV parks are full. I found a couple nights at DJ's RV, about 4 miles north of town.

A little tricky backing-in, but my snow-bird neighbor helped with a few hand signals so I wouldn't run over the water spigot. Full hook-ups are nice to have after camping in the desert for 7 days.

A little overcast today, with early-morning showers, but not enough to keep us from driving down to "the bridge" to walk around the few businesses there. Louise bought a T-shirt and a cool do-dad for the backyard. A few pictures follow, first the entrance fountain at the gate into the old-timey English village:

Louise stopped to make a call, but the phone was gone ...

And, here is a pix from the opposite side of the canal from where we watched the RC boat races yesterday, all gone today:

Okay, I'm going to pause here, save the draft, and pick it back up after the Italian dinner tonight. I'll have the waiter/ress take a picture of us chowing-down on a plate of some kinda pasta, I'm sure. Ha!

Dinner was excellent, preceded by lobster-stuffed mushrooms, spinach salad, and a glass of the finest Chianti. The girls had lasagna, and lobster ravioli, respectively. I went for a trifecta of ravioli, spaghetti, and pesto gnocchi. Excellent! Unfortunately, we were so busy eating we forgot to ask our waiter to take a picture.

From the restaurant, we explored the island, stopping at few lighthouses to watch the sunset across the lake.

These are scaled-down replicas of 28 full-size lighthouses found around the Great Lakes in the north-east, most originally constructed in the 1800's. Each had a plaque with history and a mention of the good folks in Lake Havasu City who built the replica.

I'll wrap up this post with a picture of Lake Havasu City with the setting sun shining on the city to the east. We were going to stay to see the city in "lights", but as soon as the sun set the temperature dropped 10 degrees ... Time to head back to the RV.

Tomorrow we head for Boron, CA, so stay tuned ... always more to come.

Dennis

Quartzfest to Lake Havasu City

My pal Sal and I attended the closing ceremonies at Quartzfest, hoping my two tickets would snag the "grand prize", a new Icom IC-705 transceiver ... not that I really needed one, but it would have been nice to actually win something. Most of the 406 participants at Quartzfest, Roadrunner camping area, had already left ... still a bigger turn-out for closing than I expected.

We decided to stay one more night, and then head for Lake Havasu City where we plan to stay two nights. The 2-hour trip through beautiful, rocky canyons was uneventful. A stop for gas and propane went smoothly as we passed through Parker. Oh, and gas was $2.89/gallon, more than dollar less than California! I always think something is broken when I fill up and the pump doesn't go over $50, like at home.

I booked an RV park a couple miles from downtown Lake Havasu City. What is interesting is that this park is a 40+ park ... I didn't know there was such a thing. It's really quiet and anyone under age 18 must be on a leash. Ha!

After we got backed-in to a fairly deep but narrow space, on gravel, we headed for town to have a look at Havasu State Park. The state park was full, like most everything else this time of the year, but I wanted to scope out the overflow parking area as an alternate for another trip here when the 25 FHU spaces at Elk's Lodge are full. 

The overflow at State Park was spacious, all asphalt, and would have worked for us dry camping. $10/night with water and dump station available. But, it's nice to have full hookups here at DJ's RV Park. Plus, my Senior Pass would have worked to get a 50% discount, as well ... Not trying to be cheap, just frugal.

We drove along the canal that connects to the Lake to get a good view of the famous London Bridge.

It was a simply perfect day here, with temps in the mid-60's. And, we just happened to arrive to watch RC boat racing on the canal. This looked like a big deal, with many trailers on the opposite side of the canal, teams prepping big 4-foot long boats, and then the racing around an oval course maked by pylons ... I'm estimating 60 mph+ with some spectacular crashes.

Today we are going to poke around Lake Havasu City, weather permitting, as it did shower this morning. The rain on the roof of the RV is so relaxing, laying in bed listening to the pitter-patter. I got the car washed yesterday, so no worries about being embarrassed driving around this high-end neighborhood with a dirty Jeep.

A view inside the bus looking forward with me at the portable ham station, Christina working online, and guard dog Rian watching the door. Ha!

That's it for this post ... so long from Dennis, Louise, Christie and Rian, the guard dog, in Lake Havasu City.

Next stop is Boron, CA and a visit to the Museum of an era where a 20-mule wagon trains were used to haul Borax to places unknown. As always, more to come, so stay tuned ...

Quartzfest - Day 6

But wait, you say, what happened to days 4 and 5? Well ... we had two days of strong winds, upwards of 30 mph gusts ... some antennas came down, there was dust kicking up, and everyone hunkered down in their respective RVs. We played cards, we did 350-piece puzzles, we drank heavily! Hot chocolate, okay?

Yesterday was a perfect day, 65 deg, no wind, and the girls headed back to the flea market while I shopped the big tent for replacement LED bulbs ... on sale, for a change, $2 each for good quality bulbs.

I'm guessing the flea market covers about 5 acres of space (or more?), and serves up just about everything you would expect to find, even hot, cinnamon rolls (yum) ... plus much more!

A few pictures of the participants follow. I called for a group photo, wives included, but no one wanted to venture out into the cold this morning. Even Rian, our GrandDog had to bundle up:

And, of course, your author with ham license plates. Note, Louise's call is the plate on our bus; my call shows up on the Jeep tow vehicle.

Today, except for saying goodbyes to people heading out, there isn't much planned. I'm going to the Welcome Tent for the closing ceremonies, raffle tickets in-hand, looking to win the "big prize", whatever that may be.

Another sky-scape I have to include, showing a bit of the beauty of this place. Christie took this picture with her cellphone ... It appears the mountains behind those in the foreground are a shadow, rather than a different range. Pretty cool!

So, that's about it for this post. We will stay tonight, then head to Lake Havasu City tomorrow for a couple nights. There is an Italian family-owned restaurant with our reservation already in place for Monday night.

So, stay tuned ... for more travel notes and pictures.

Quartzite, AZ ... Day 3

Sunrise on Day 3 in Quartzite started at 33 degrees ... Yes, a bit chilly, but nice and toasty in the RV. After breakfast, I traveled back to the city, 6 miles north of here, to drop Cousin Frankie's towbar off for service and safety check, at the 9am opening bell. As it turned out, his 8-year old Blue-Ox was ready for a replacement rather than a rebuild, as age and active use had taken its toll on moving parts. Luckily, the Blue-Ox folks had two demo units and cut Frankie a screaming deal on a new one ... like a 50% discount! Right place, right time!

So, back to camp and prep for the day's activities. Today we drove to a place called Palm Canyon, about 14 miles south, then 4 miles East on a gravel road to the canyon.

The road up to the trailhead was actually not bad at all. Lot's of cactus and other interesting desert landscape. I stopped a few times to take some pictures, included below.

On the trail, which meandered up and down the side of the canyon, walking wasn't too terribly challenging, just good exercise. A pix of Louise and our Daughter Christina on the trail. Then a pix of the actual palm trees on the side of a cliff in the canyon. I'm not sure how they got there but, yes, actual palm trees. I'm thinking some bird must have dropped seeds up there at some point, as there is no way anyone could have climbed up in that crevice, except for a mountain goat, maybe.

Maybe a little hard to see, but here is a look at the palm trees up on the side of the canyon wall.

Then, a view back towards the West from the top of the trailhead.

Back at camp ... I hooked up with Randy-K7AGE, Mike-KJ7LPO, and a couple other guys from Grass Valley Group days. I hadn't seen these guys for over 10 years, so it was a treat to sit and visit, and catch up on life experiences.

Later, Birton-N6UG from Rocklin and I attended a "talk" on antennas by Bill Mader-K8TE from New Mexico, specifically on radials v.s. counterpoise ... Interesting to have "definition" and/or terms assigned to things I somewhat already knew about. At my age, that happens a lot, just saying, maybe my memory isn't as good as it used to be, or maybe my life experiences have covered many, many things at this point?

So, that's it for Day 3 (or is it day 4?) and I'll wrap this one up with a link to ALL the pictures we've been taking. Enjoy, and stay tuned. More to come.

Link to the pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Va6NPiVqSthgxWE77

Dennis in Quartzite, AZ.

Quartzite, AZ ... Day 2-1/2

I suppose I should count the half day we were here, Sunday on arrival,  so will call this one as shown in the title. Yesterday was a lay-low day with not much going on. The winds crept up to 30 mph gusts, which whipped up the dust like a fog in the area. Most stayed in their rigs and read or napped ... we did the same.

Today was a beautiful day, clear and light breeze, so the plan was to head to the big tent, drop off our towbar for safety inspection, and walk through a few RV's. So, we left camp about 9:30am and headed for that first driveway you see in the bottom of the picture above, but actually parked in the dirt area just before it, and walked in.

After finding out that parking was free and first-come-first-served (remember, we're newbies at this), I moved the car into the parking area, closer to drop off the towbar, and had no problem finding a place to park. We headed into the tent ... Wow! The place was like a county fair tent but, times 10! There was everything RV-related you could possibly imagine, some new inventions, and batteries, solar panels, beds and bedding, cookware, cleaning and waxing products, jewelry, clothing, LED lighting, and yes, fudge ... I could go on for three paragraphs, but just have a look at the next picture instead.

I think this was about half way down one of the four rows of vendors of every flavor, 400+ in all. While Louise and Christie started shopping, I headed to the Roadmaster booth to check-in and see where to drop-off the towbar. I found the booth and the sales guys directed me outside, to a 40-foot trailer and repair area just behind the big tent.

Locating Todd, the tech I had talked to a couple weeks ago by phone, I found he had been with Roadmaster from the beginning, starting at age 18. Now a 40-year employee, he knew, and had seen, rebuilt or repaired just about everything Roadmaster ever sold. Well ... he took one look at my towbar and told me that they had been out of production for over 20 years, and thought there were none left on the road ... his goal being to make sure they were all pulled by now.

Todd told me that mine was actually in "good but questionable shape" for the age, and to service it might cause issues, like needed parts no longer available? So, he offered a trade-in deal on the new version ... And, confiscated my antique to the scrap heap! The new one is simple and effective, and I don't have to worry about the Jeep passing me on the freeway while towing. Ha!

Okay, enough boring stuff ... Now the problem was finding parking ... again ... and catching up to the girls. I found a spot that only a 4-wheel vehicle would choose, on a mound of sand between two bushes, and walked back to the tent. There were vendors along both sides of the outside, and we visited those as well. We spent time looking at RV furniture from the vendor in Oregon we had planned to visit during the Vancouver trip ... but didn't, thinking that "show discounts"  might be available ... Yes, we were dreaming! Prices had gone up 50 to 75% ... thank you!

Anyway, after 4 hours of walking around, it was time to head back. But wait! We hadn't looked at the RV's yet! After all, the show is billed as the Great American RV Road Show, ya know!

Okay, RV touring will have to wait to another day then ... I found the car, almost getting stuck in 1-foot deep gravel while leaving, but a switch to 4-wheel drive got me going again. Back at camp we freshened up and made plans to go out with the group for Mexican dinner in Quartzite, only 6 miles away.

After dinner with our friends, some new, and a pretty good meal, we headed back to camp to relax a bit around a propane fire pit, Sid and Carol brought from Laveen, AZ. And, that was about it for today ... Tomorrow it's back to the Blue-OX towbar people to drop my Cousin Frank's towbar off for a safety check and service.

Oh, before we left the restaurant, we had a surprise visit from a special guest show up, shake everyone's hand, and pay our check! What a guy!

Maybe, another cruise through the tent? In any case, stay tuned for more from Quartzsite, AZ 2025.

Quartzite, AZ ... Day 1

Yes, we finally made it to the biggest RV show in the USA, dry camping in the desert about 4 miles from the "big tent", on BLM land. This is a new and interesting experience! There are easily 5 miles of desert, covered with RV's of every flavor, even some brave tenters, on both sides of Hwy 95 south of Quartzite, AZ, as far east and west of the highway as you can see.

Although we dry camp in Fowler's Camp most every year, there is water and a way to dump gray water there, and a short drive into McCloud if you need to dump black water. So, it isn't REALLY dry camping, to some extent.

Well, this place is TRULY "dry camping". You cannot dump gray without risking a huge fine, and the only water is what you bring with you. So, we are learning to conserve like never before. You can sign-up to have a private company come out and empty your tanks and haul it away for a modest fee ... which will happen on Thursday. We are hoping to make it until then. :-)

So far, other than our coach batteries failing in the colder weather, causing me to source a replacement in-town, the stay has been uneventful. Tomorrow we visit the big tent (2 football fields long) with over 400 vendors, and maybe look into getting the tow bar safety checked, for free, so I've been told. Also, lots of gadgets, new inventions, and non-RV stuff ... like a giant state fair and flea market all in one.

Every RV manufacturer has something to show here, so it will be fun to do walk-throughs. BTW, the desert has been beautiful, a different perspective, dusty, and cold in the mornings. "QuartzFest" is also going on this week, which is a big amateur radio thing, for amateur radio operators (aka, hams) and enthusiasts, like me, coming in from all over. There are seminars and much to do related to amateur radio. I've met several people I talk to every day on the radio for the past few years, but have never me in person. More fun!

And, more to come ... so stay tuned.

Dennis, Louise and Christie