Big Boomer Behaves Badly--Again!

Where has the time gone?  I have broken my New Year’s resolution to be timely in posting my blogs.  But, I have been so busy having fun, I’ve no time to write!  Let me give you an update…

February thus far has been packed with fun!  Since we no longer watch professional sports in our household, we enjoyed a Non-Superbowl Party for 3 (plus my Rat Pack).  Mom baked homemade pizza and calzones for our culinary pleasure while we binge-watched “Seinfeld”.  Those of us who are fans of the show can attest:  every situation encountered in life has been a comedy bit on “Seinfeld.”

Calzones ready for the oven!

Mom's prepping the homemade dough to make a veggie pizza!

We attended 2 paint parties, where members of our dance classes decorated our group shirts and jackets that we all will wear at our March Madness event.  This year’s theme is “Kick the Dust Up”.  Dad is the creative, artistic, and detail-oriented one in our family.  But I must commend Mom—she did most of her own painting, stayed within the lines, and even went outside her comfort zone and added some “bling"!

Mom added just a smidge of "bling" to the hat rim and boots.

Special thanks to dance friends Marlys and Luann for organizing these fun events!

The Town of Quartzsite sponsored a Valentine’s Day Party at the Community Center with light refreshments, photo booth, live music, and door prizes--all free of charge!  While my parents’ celebrated their love at that party, I canoodled under the desert sky with my own lady love, Mademoiselle Rochelle.  Then we all joined together for a special Shrimp Scampi dinner (yes, Dad cheated on his plant-based diet).

 

Performance by The Roadrunners 

Showing my love to Mademoiselle Rochelle under the desert sun.  (Hey, that nosy Nezumi was spying on us.  You can see him hiding in the cup holder!)

Capping off V-day with shrimp scampi over linguini.

We ventured out to the Yacht Club to see dance friend Nikki perform with the band Ceci and Friends.  Though we normally don’t frequent this venue, it was a fun afternoon.  We are always happy to support friends in their endeavors!

 

Nikki doing vocals with Ceci and Friends

JR’s RV Park hosted a special dance for Valentine’s Day, too, waiving their usual cover charge of $5/person and offering door prizes, baked goods, and a grand old time to all of us attendees.

 

We only play pickleball once a week lately, so we were shocked to see 18 people come to the courts recently!  

Lots of folks waiting their turn to play pickleball.

Similarly, the Senior Center dance floor has been extra crowded these past few Friday nights.

We added a bit of cultural enrichment to our itinerary by attending a classical piano concert and Auction sponsored by the Roadrunner Gem and Rock Club as a fundraiser for their scholarship fund.  The pianist was accomplished, personable, and entertaining as he shared his life experiences.  Plus, we received quite an education when he provided the backgrounds of the various composers and the inspirations for their works.  It was a wonderful event, though I was disappointed I did not win any of the auction items on which I bid.

 

The month wasn’t all fun and games.   Big Boomer, our medium duty truck, behaved quite badly one Friday evening, blowing its lower cooling hose and causing the truck to shut down as we were enroute to a dance.    We have only used our emergency road service a handful of times in all our 12 years of full-timing.  Yet, here we were calling Coach-net for Big Boomer a second time since 2024 commenced!  Coach-net dispatched a service to tow us to Love’s Travel Center 2 miles away.  International Trucks boasts that it “partners” with Love’s Travel Centers, so we felt we were in good hands.  The “certified mechanic” was due in on Saturday morning at 7 a.m., so we tipped the tow truck driver to drop us off at the Contact Station at La Posa Tyson Wash Long-Term Visitor Area (LTVA), and we had a leisurely 2-mile night-time stroll back to our camping spot.  We hopped on Maximus the Trike on Saturday and arrived promptly at 9 a.m. at Love’s Travel Center to get an update, only to be told the mechanic was not coming in until 3 p.m.  Well, that proved to be bogus information since the “certified mechanic” phoned us at noon to advise that the repair was “outside the scope of the services they offer”.  Furthermore, Love’s did not have the proper hose size in stock.  We were informed that we would need to go to another service vendor to resolve our issue.  Well, the nearest International Trucks center is in Phoenix (nearly 2 hours away).  There’s no way, no how Coach-net would cover the costs of that tow.  But Dad never accepts defeat.  To him, nothing is impossible.  He is like that Little Golden Book character of yesteryear, “The Little Engine That Could”.   So, with his “I think I can, I think I can” attitude, Dad unloads his tools from the truck and begins the process of dissembling the wheel well and removing the old, ruptured hose which is buried under the engine.  Meanwhile, Mom worked the phone, looking for the part.  Ureka, O’Reilly Auto Parts in Blythe, CA has the hose size we need!  We all hop on Maximus again, pick up the part, and return to Love’s by 3 p.m.  Dad had Big Boomer up and running within an hour!  What a pathetic state of affairs when a “certified mechanic” is either unqualified and/or unwilling to perform a service that a layperson is able to accomplish. 

 

Dad is our Super Hero.  With his "I think I can" attitude, he completed the job the "certified mechanic" at Love's refused to do.

We also had quite the saga trying to get new “shoes” for Big Boomer.  BEFORE becoming members of  Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) at the Big Tent RV Show, we researched their Continental Tire Program.  According to the website dealer locator, there were 3 participating tire shops within the Quartzsite/Ehrenburg area that carried the appropriate size truck tire for Big Boomer.  But none of the 3 shops were aware of the FMCA program.  We contacted FMCA, who in turn contacted Continental.  Bottom line:  the discount program is not honored at truck stops.  We argued that the dealer locator is quite “misleading”.  We checked other cities, including locations near our home base in Livingston, TX.  Each time the dealer listed was a truck stop!  The Continental Tire representative informed us the closest non-truck stop tire shop was all the way in Yuma.  He was very fair, however, and gave us an additional discount on the truck tires for the confusion with the website and the inconvenience of us having to travel nearly 1.5 hours to Yuma (especially when we have one tire that keeps losing pressure). 

 

Always great at time management, my family combined the trip to Yuma for the tire installation with the opportunity to visit with friends.  Hence, we enjoyed a late lunch with Rick/Gloria, whom we met when we all participated in the Amazon Camper Force program in 2016.

Friends Sue/Jack and Sylvia invited us to attend the Close the Border Rally the next day.  So, we booked a room at La Fuente Inn.  This small, locally-owned hotel provides a private and secure courtyard, clean rooms, and reasonable prices.  It has plenty of options for the complimentary breakfast.  And if you stay on a Thursday, you can enjoy a complimentary happy hour, too.  We checked out at noon on Saturday, picked up Sylvia and headed to the rally location to catch up with Sue/Jack.  Though the rally organizers had good intentions--to raise awareness to a national security issue—the event in Yuma was a bit anticlimactic.  I was waiting for a “convoy” to arrive.  If one did, I never witnessed it. 

 

We said our good-byes at 5 p.m. and headed home.  That’s when we noticed one of inside dully tires was losing pressure.  WHAT the heck!  This SHOULD NOT be happening since we purchased all new valve stems in addition to all new tires!  And we had a LONG trip ahead of us on desolate AZ-95 before we would arrive back in Quartzsite.  Dad stopped TWICE to put in air with our compressor and tried to tighten the valve stem--no easy feat in the dark.  Of course, this all occurred outside the tire shop’s normal business hours of Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. til 6 p.m.   God was good to us, though (as always).  We arrived home safely despite losing 20 pounds of pressure in that tire!  Fortunately, the next day Dad was able to get under the truck in daylight and tighten that new tire’s new valve stem appropriately to eliminate the air leak.  We spent $3,000+; yet it seems no one does a job once and does it right!!!  Mom doesn't know what we would do if my handy-dandy Dad wasn’t around.

 

On a more pleasant note, Spring has sprung early here in Quartzsite!  With more rain than usual, the brown earth has transformed into green carpets.  We have so much grass in our “backyard”, Mom jokes she should have brought her weedwhacker.    The wildflowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, the lizards are emerging, and the coyotes are yipping.  A roadrunner came to visit recently, and I glimpsed a hare before our neighbor’s dog Blue caught wind of him.  

 

Look at that colorful desert!

Carpets of green grass everywhere!

My first desert bloom sighting!

It may look like a bug in the photo, buy that is a view of a powered parachute gliding over our desert abode!

This mourning dove posed for us!

More gorgeous sunsets...

...It NEVER gets old!

"Meep, Meep", said the roadrunner!

He's a big one!

Oh, how I love our Southwest desert “home”.

Desert Parties, Performances, and Meet-ups – Quartzsite, AZ

The remainder of January in Quartzsite, AZ was jam-packed with special activities for us in addition to line dancing and pickleball.

Another of my desert self-portraits.

Gold Star RV Park hosted a musical variety show that we enjoyed immensely.  Our friend, Chrissy, acted as MC, and her comedic bits rivaled those of today’s late night talk show hosts.  The talented musical artists played an array of instruments, from guitars to violins to autoharp, complimenting their beautiful voices.

This fiddler is amazing!  And would you believe she is 94 years young!

We also attended an ukulele performance by 20 of the more than 60 members of the Greater Quartzsite Area Ukulele Group.  I am shocked at how many people play this instrument, including about a half dozen of our friends!  It was a fun and enjoyable evening, and we thank Gold Star RV Park for providing their venue.

These ukulele players were so much fun, Mom may be inspired enough to learn to play the ukulele herself!

We had two days of heavy rains, which canceled two group happy hours/get togethers for us.  But the forced “relaxation” was probably a good thing, and we were all rewarded with a lovely rainbow afterwards.

The nearby washes began to fill from the rainfall.

The rainbow appears to be coming out the roof of the outhouse!

 

The next day we all made up for lost time at the Escapees RV Club annual event, Party on Plomosa.  Held within the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 14-day dispersed camping area, this event is open to the public.   The Status Crowes always provide terrific musical entertainment, and many of us with dancing feet couldn’t sit in our seats, including our friend Lisa, known as the Dancing Unicorn.   Free refreshments, games, door prizes, and an annual visit with RVing friends—what’s not to enjoy!

 

.

Friends from Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, Denis and Vivian.

Catching up with Kirsty, whom we met initially at Delta Junction, AK in 2016.

Friends Jack and Sue (and adogable Teddy), whom we met when we all volunteered for CARE Octoberfest in 2019.

So great to have our annual meet-up with Deb and Randy, friends from our 2016 Amazon Camper Force days.  Meeting so many great folks, remaining in touch, and getting together down the road has been such a wonderful perk of full-time RVing.

My parents with friend Lori, the Dancing Unicorn!

Great performance by the Status Crowes.

We attended a happy hour with fellow DRV owners Davie/Nicky, along with their group of Xscapers who were hanging out for a short time at the Roadrunner 14-day BLM dispersed camping area.  Everyone was very welcoming, and a fun time was had by all.

We popped over one day to the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation, and RV Show, also known by us “locals” as “The Big Tent”.  My parents took advantage of Escapees RV Club’s show discount for membership and renewed for another 3 years, saving $30 (that translates into more cheez money for me!)  There were the usual vendors, but one that caught our eyes and my parents’ wallet:  The Geyser System Low Flow Personal Shower/Wash System.  Designed specifically for van life and car camping, it utilizes 1 gallon of water for a 15-minute shower through its proprietary tank and sponge system.  There are two options:  the tank set-up or the showerhead conversion.   We are not vanners/car campers; our fifth wheel has a 100-gallon freshwater tank onboard; and we have an inflatable 150-gallon water bladder for when we boondock for extended periods (like here in Quartzsite.)  So, you are probably wondering why the heck we purchased the showerhead conversion ($105).  Well, we loved the entrepreneurial spirit of the founder/CEO Jonathan and the fact that the product is manufactured in a small plant in Montrose, CO.  We shower every day, even when boondocking, so it would extend the life-cycle of our water supply.  But most importantly, every drop of water we all can save, especially in these Western states, helps to sustain our natural resources.  Just think of the consolidated benefit if every “dwelling”, whether a sticks/bricks or home-on-wheels, utilized this system!  And for those whose water bills are exorbitant (like folks in areas of CA), that translates to a huge monetary savings over the course of a year.  All I can say is that the product earns one of my Rambling RV Rat 5-cheese awards, and we are considering buying a second conversion set-up (again, sans the tank) for our kitchen sink.

Full system with water tank made specifically for vanners/car campers.

This is the shower conversion we purchased.

Speaking of the kitchen sink, did I tell you about the fantastic job Dad did this fall of making Mom a happy camper?  From Day 1 of purchasing Suite Retreat in 2019, Mom complained that the sink angles were no conducive to proper draining.  And the divided stainless kitchen sink was too small for her Italian-sized pots.  Her frustration was so bad, she said she no longer wanted to cook.  WHAT!  Dad went into panic mode!  He immediately got quotes for a replacement stainless steel custom-sized sink, but they were astronomical, the cheapest $3K+ and the highest $6K+.   Dad, trying to ward off Mom’s cooking boycott, decided on a do-it-yourself project.  He made an extra-deep, custom-sized fiberglass/epoxy resin sink for Mom for a mere $500.  It is so big, Mom can stack tons of dirty dishes/cookware in it and still fit the countertop sink covers, forgetting she even has dishwashing to do!  This DIY project was a winner, giving Mom the sink she desired without breaking the bank.

 

We took a trip down to Yuma, taking friend Sylvia for lunch at Bernardo’s, which offers tasty pizza and Italian subs/hoagies.  Bernardo’s even obliged Dad by using his plant-based cheese!  Mom found her Italian sub/hoagie delicious, and Sylvia and I enjoyed sampling both options.  We three then ventured to Fortuna Hills for Howling at the Moon.  We arranged to meet up with Vivian/Denis again, who left Quartzsite and were spending just a few days in Yuma before returning home.  If you have never been to Howling at the Moon, it is an awesome party in the desert each month between October and March when a full moon occurs.  Food and merchandise vendors, bands, and the star of the show, the full moon, combine for one howling good time.  We had spectacular weather, good friends, a fun crowd, the chance to line dance to a half dozen songs, and a gorgeous full moon for us all to howl at like wolves.  I sure am looking forward to attending again in February.

 

Friend Sylvia with whom we volunteered in 2020 in Idaho for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Denis was in full wolf mode, practicing his howl for when the moon rise occurred.

Dancing in the desert!

We got together for dinner at Silly Al’s with friends Debbie/Steve (from the now defunct RV Dreamers group) and their friends Rick/Angie.  We have gone to Silly Al’s on prior occasions when the Big Tent Show was ongoing, but had never seen it quite this crazy.  My family arrived at 5 p.m. to get our party of 6 on the seating list.  But we didn’t get seated until 6:30 (the host was taking parties of 2 before groups of 4 or more, which seemed weird), and we didn’t get our food until 7:30!  Good thing we had great company and lots to talk about, though no easy feat with the unbelievable noise level.  The Senior Center dance my family was to attend afterwards started at 7 p.m., but we didn’t arrive until 8:15.  At least we had a chance to join our classmates for a few line dances.

 

We heard from our dance classmate Cheryl that musician Kelly Hughes was putting on an impromptu concert in the desert on Saturday.   We had seen Kelly perform 2 years ago at a Howling at the Moon in Yuma, and he put on a great show.  Dad and I hopped on Maximus the Trike and Mom on her motorcycle, Yellowjacket, and headed about 5 miles down US-95 to La Paz Valley Road.  What a fantastic time!

Dance buddies Lee and Nikki.

With a blink of an eye, it is already February.  Our time in Southwest AZ is flying by rapidly.  I’ll bid adieu with some more photos of spectacular sunsets (they never get old).