A Week of Chores in the Desert

One of the things we love about this lifestyle and specifically blogging is the people you meet. We have yet to meet a cranky full-timer, what do they have to be cranky about? This week we had the opportunity to meet a couple we have been “virtual friends” with for quite a while.  John and Pam have been fulltiming for over 6 years and are probably the most active people we have met. Avid hikers, bikers and golfers it seems like they are doing something every day.  We read in envy at many of the hikes they take hoping that someday we would meet up with them and perhaps do a hike with them and be included in one of their infamous "lunch with a view" pictures.  I looked back and we have been following each other’s blogs since 2014 so when we found ourselves in the same general area we made plans to finally meet up. Where did we meet you ask? Well a brewery of course!

Specifically the Barrio Brewing Co. It is one of John and Pam’s favorites and I am glad they shared it with us. We spent a couple hours telling tales of hikes we have been on, they shared some of their favorite area hikes with us and made plans to go on a hike together the following week.

We did get out on one mini hike in the Saguaro National Park with Forrest and Lily earlier this week. Upon arriving in the park we went into the Visitors Center where Barb got her passport book stamped. Lily spent some time with one of the rangers who explained the Junior Ranger program. As part of this program you get a workbook which includes things to looks for in the park. Upon completion you return to the Visitors Center where you go over your workbook with a ranger, take an oath and get a certificate for completing the Junior Ranger program for that park. It is a really great way to get kids involved in the park and promote teaching opportunities for the kids (and parents/grandparents). On our mini hike we looked for several items required in the workbook (a 5 armed saguaro, an animal burrow, a flowering cacti, an animal print……) we just have a few more before we can return for her certificate.

Off to the desert with the workbook

Hi Grandpa!

Our Quartzsite friends Dale and Ruth moved down to this area for a few weeks and wanted to share their favorite brewery with us so along with Greg we met them for dinner Thursday night. Thunder Canyon Brewery is a great brewery with very good food. Highly recommend the chicken/bacon mac and cheese. Great to see Dale and Ruth one more time while they are in the area.

Ruth, Dale, me, Barb and Greg

My favorite was the 2nds one on the left, Aloha Brew while Barb liked the 2nd one

from the right,

The rest of the week was filled with chores around the campers. I finally got the replacement skylight I ordered in early January. Our existing skylight developed a number of cracks. It was originally supposed to arrive by the 23^rd while we were in Quartzsite but after it did not arrive I contacted the company who said it should arrive on February 7^th, well after we are gone from the area. So I had them ship it to a UPS store down here in Tucson where it arrived safe and sound on the 8^th.

The first task was removing the existing skylight....

There were 20 screws around the skylight and plexi was broken around every single screw! They obviously tightened them too much when installing it. You could see that the cracks in the skylights started at several of these screw holes.

 After removing all the "gunk" and thoroughly cleaning the surface I put down a bed of Dicor and set the skylight in place and secured it with several screws. Then I used EternaBond Tape around it and put a bead of Dicor around that. Should be good for a while!!!!

I also took the Jeep in to have a front axle u-joint replaced. It has been making a clicking noise for a few weeks and wanted to get it done before we started our long journey north. $235 later it was fixed and they informed me that my rear brakes were in desperate need of replacement. For a mere $550 they would have it done by the end of the day! This was on my Quartzsite list but I never got around to it but I certainly was not paying over $500 to have it done! I have never done drum brakes but with the help of YouTube I changed the first one in about 4 hours...putting it together and taking it apart over 12 times before I finally got it right. The second wheel took less than an hour saving over $500 from the quoted price.

Definitely needs new brakes!

Everything removed

New brakes, new springs and tensioner....ready to roll!

And last, after being ridiculed happy hour after happy hour about the condition of the table on our chairs I finally got around to replacing the table tops. After searching Home Depot and Target for a material that would work I finally settled on a thicker baking sheet which I cut to fit. Now they are as good as new and hopefully the ridiculing will stop! 

Both of our  tables looked like this from being left out in the rain too many times

Baking sheet cut to fit!

 We have yet to get out on a major hike but one way or another that is going to change next week!