Saturday, December 17, 2016

What is There to do in Quartzsite?


One of the most frequent complaints about spending the winter in the desert outside of Quartzsite is that there is nothing to do other than to sit out in the desert and watch that days go by. And there are days we are happy just doing that. There is nothing wrong with the occasional day of just sitting in your lawn chair reading a book and taking the dogs for the occasional walk.
That said, there is plenty to do in the area! If you are into geocaching there are literally thousands of caches in the area. There are both strings of caches as well as more scattered single caches everywhere. If you get on a string, it is nothing to hit 15 or more caches in an hour. We typically take our 4 wheeler when geocaching as it makes all but the most remote caches accessible it is also much quicker when traveling the rougher desert roads.
A wedding bell cache


This only shows a portion of the caches in the Quartzsite area
No 4 wheeler? No problem, there are still thousands of caches at are accessible by Jeep, truck or even a car.

Speaking of 4 wheelers there is always the 4 wheeler adventures back into the hills to explore abandoned mines, vistas and other attractions. Since we got our new tires we have been on several rides and although Dakota is not running to the 4 wheeler wanting to go for a ride, she is not running the other way either.
Adding Slime helps with the countless cactus thorns that will puncture your tires

You never know what you will run across in the desert....a pet cemetery!

One of our many walks in the desert
Hiking trails abound everywhere, we have not hit the trails yet this year but we did get our share in last year. I am sure it won’t be long before we hit the Palms Canyon hike that we did several times last year!

If exploring the desert is not your thing, there are plenty of things to do in town. It seems like there is something to do every day of the week and even more on the weekends. The QIA  Activity Center has something going on all the time. Spanish classes, line dancing, exercise classes and of course the ever popular bingo just to name a few.
QIA Activity Calendar
Click to Enlarge
Barb has been going to line dancing classes the past two Wednesday for 2 hours, She said the classes are a lot of fun with about 30 participants. There are several levels from beginning to level 4. Right now she is going to beginner but is considering level 2.

If none of that excites you there is also plenty to do and see with just a short drive. Yuma, Parker and Lake Havasu and even Algodones Mexico are all within 90 minutes. We spent a day in Parker this week running errands; grocery shopping, hitting the ATV and automotive store and even a movie. ($6 on Tuesdays). We saw Office Christmas Party as we were in the mood for comedy. We had low expectation but this movie was actually hilarious and it was not crowded at all. Something that I am sure will change as the season progresses. 
We are making good progress on our project list crossing off the tires on the 4 wheeler, brakes on the jeep, the detailing outside of the truck and completing the wax job on the rig.

Install new brake pads on truck
Install new brake pads on Jeep
Install new fuel filter on truck
Change differential fluid on truck
Detail truck inside and out
Get new tires for the 4 wheeler
Change oil in 4 wheeler
Repack Bearing on rig
Seal RV Roof
Replace sun roof on rig
Wash and wax rig
Buff out scratches on rig
Put up our adventure stickers from the last several months
Fishing reel maintenance
It seems like every time we complete one item on the list we add two. Waxing requires you to touch every square inch of the rig which led to more projects; while waxing the skirting on the passenger side I noticed a pencil sized hole in the aluminum skirting. Upon closer inspection I saw that there was a piece of angle iron coming off the frame that was touching the aluminum and eventually rubbed a hole through it. It was very tight under there and the only way to get to it was to use a hacksaw blade with my hands and cut 1/8” off the corner of the angle iron so it was no longer touching the aluminum. Next step figure out how to fix the hole.....Very bad design!
You can see how the angle iron would rub the side when going down the road

Hole from the outside

It won't rub anymore!
Add on project #2…..The front of the rig nearest the ground really takes a beating from rocks and gravel. Last year I replaced the rubber edging and painted it with Flex Seal, well much of the paint had come off the rubber edging so I taped it off and gave it another coat.

Before......

....After
 #3…..Then while changing the brakes in the Jeep one of the lug bolts had some thread damage and broke when trying to force the lug nut over it. This required me to take the rotor off to get the broken lug bolt out and wouldn’t you know the axle nut was froze too so I had to go buy a 36mm socket and a breaker bar but we eventually got it done.
One of these lugs does not look like the others......
But our most memorable event of the week occurred when I emptying our sewage into our Blue Boy. Until our friends Red and Pam get here with their macerator pump we either have to hook the rig and drive it over to the dump station or we have to use our Blue Boy and take it to the dump station 42 gallons at a time. Before I go any further, I know many of you are hoping that this story ends with me covered in poo, I am sorry to say I remained poo free.
Everything was going well, I got the Blue Boy filled to capacity hooked it up to the 4 wheeler and started the slow trek to the dump station. As I was driving along I would glance back to make sure everything was going well until one time I looked back and saw a wet line behind the Blue Boy I stopped to look and saw a pea size hole (pun intended) in the hose and was leaking as I went down the road. We saw a couple of Blue Boy catastrophes last year and evidently it was my turn. Well at least I did not lose the whole load in the middle of the road like one guy last year! I jumped back on the 4 wheeler and beat feet to the dump station with a trail of pee following me. Guess, I have another new project!

Temps in Quartzsite this week

Temps in Douglas, North Dakota this week!
We have been watching the crazy weather across the country and are glad we are camped out in this warm little corner of Arizona as opposed to our farm friends in North Dakota!

















So as you can see there is plenty to do in the area and we did not even get into the Big Event and all the Jeeping trails. But even with all that if you find yourself getting bored look us up, I bet there is a project that you can help with!

32 comments:

  1. Obviously happy hours have not kicked in yet!! :-)

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  2. Lots to do there, so true. Looking forward to seeing you both in January.

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  3. Is there a group that meets and runs the jeep trails? We will be camped at Q starting in Jan, and will have the Rubicon along. Would like to ride some trails.

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    1. I know there is a Jeeping club in town, I have seen signs notices for their meetings. Check the QIA calendar link above I think you will find what you are looking for.

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  4. Can't wait to get back to the desert next winter, meanwhile we'll enjoy all of our friends posts from the desert.

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    1. While you are heading here next winter we may be headed to Texas, maybe we should just trade spots! Where you are looks amazing.

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  5. I see I'm not the only one that starts a project and has it go sideways. Looks like Dakota is enjoying the new lifestyle. Enjoy your warm temps. I woke up at 3 with no heat. 50F inside and 21F outside.

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    1. At this rate I will never get everything done. Hurry up and get here could use your input on the roof!

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  6. WE booked December in Quail Run RV Park so I could install the Solar and a few other things. Like yourself the list continues to grow.
    We'll be heading to La Posa South on the 3rd so maybe we'll get a chance to visit.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  7. Enjoy! I remember our time fondly last year in the deseert

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    1. Looks like you are in the only other place in the country that has warm weather right now!

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  8. Your angle iron is similar to what I encountered this morning. I was waxing the back of our trailer and noticed pimples in the lower skirting. Turns out there is no stone guard between that thin metal and the rear tire...which is about 10 feet forward of it. Elkhart quality sure keeps us busy, Jim!

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    1. Oh ya, we have those dimples as well. You think they would have put something extra along that edge.

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  9. It looks like you have a neighbor right next to you. You said that it was hot there. Don't you two own shorts? You need to get larger wheels on your blu-boy. I remember that guy last year leaving his in the road. Emberasing.

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    1. I thought of that guy as I was writing this post. So glad that did not happen to me!!!!!

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  10. There's always lots of adventures when one is in the desert:) Good to hear Dakota is moving in the right direction! How are Daisy and Dakota getting along? Looks like you are moving right along with the projects!

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    1. Daisy loves her new sister, they run around and play all the time. Daisy loves to chase her around and bite at the scruff of Dakota's neck!

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  11. 2 inches of slush and ice minus 22 this morn. don't you miss it? all quiet on Dueholm except for coyote hunters. thanks for the updates

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    1. That is going to make for some rough ice conditions! I had totally forgot about the coyote hunters, but now that you mention it I almost hear the dogs running....

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  12. I know it isn't exactly close, but have you gone down to to Sonoran Desert Nat. Monument? I was thinking of doing some hiking there......when we are finally there (and out of all the snow in Bend).

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    1. We were down in that area early last year, very cool area. Check out our blog post from January 12th of last year titled: Tucson, Tombstone and Bisbee.

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  13. Glad you are enjoying your time. Super jealous and miss the desert

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  14. Looking forward to joining you all. Oh, we'll sign up to help out with the blue boy task... NOT! We'll bring the cocktails though to get you through it. And lets do some caching too!

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    1. Blue boy project is already done so you missed that fun! We will take you up on the cocktails and caching however!

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  15. Hi Barb and Jim, We've been following your blog for a while. Interesting info and nicely written, so we'd like to add your blog to our sidebar of favourite blogs. Perhaps somewhere sometime we'll be able to meet you in person.
    Best Regards marleneandbenno.blogspot.ca

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    1. Thanks Marlene! Looks like you have an interesting blog as well, if you see that we are near each other let us know.

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  16. Looks like you guys are having a relaxing time compared to being up north. For the hole made by the metal, I recommend POR Patch. I used it on a couple of holes in a VW floor board. It's liquid and dries like resin. Here's a link. http://www.por15.com/POR-15-POR-Patch_p_53.html

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  17. Thanks for the information, I have been wondering what I was going to do to patch that hole! I do have some touchup paint I can use after it is dry.

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