Back to Arizona

After leaving Lark Spa on the Salton Sea we drove to the Cocopah Casino near Yuma, AZ. We had a few days to wait until the Yuma hamfest.

We were able to get into the fairgrounds at noon on Thursday and set up for the hamfest that started at noon on Friday. The crowd was pretty good for a Friday afternoon and on Saturday it was pretty crowded.

Carl and Lynda came over from Lark Spa to get some equipment and maybe take his test but decided he had better do some more studying before taking the test. He can take it locally at one of the radio clubs in Brawley, CA.

Our friends Dan and Karen Critten from Missouri stopped by to say hello. They are staying in the area this winter. Hopefully we can get together with them before we leave, or maybe when we get back to Yuma for the Gypsy Journal Rally in March.

We had a pretty good weekend in Yuma and are currently in Gila Bend, AZ for a couple of days before going on to Mesa for a few days to visit Nancy and Leona Mae and get some adjustments on the new power chair. Hopefully I will get used to it before long. getting in and out is getting a lot easier as things are a lot different than what I have been used to for many years.

The photos are of the Cocopah Casino and their RV parking lot, which was near capacity every night.

We are about ready to leave this nice place, the Lark Spa campground near the Salton Sea. We have been visiting with our friends the Byrd's for the past couple of weeks as we had some time between the hamfest in Palm Springs and the Yuma hamfest next weekend.

We will be leaving tomorrow and heading south to the town of Brawley to find a welding shop to weld a piece of stainless on the Ricon lift in the van. After that we will go on south to I8 and east to Yuma and find a place to stay to get some shopping done as well as hair cuts, etc.

We have really enjoyed our time at Lark Spa and ate way too much. We generally take turns having them come to our place and the next night we go to theirs. We have had some way down home cooking going on, like sauerkraut and spare ribs and things like that. The Byrd's are from Wieser, Idaho and lived for some time in Washington and Oregon. We have seen them several times over the years as they are members of the Handicapped Travel Club as well, so we have had an opportunity to see them at the national rallies.

Yesterday we went to Bombay Beach to the VFW as they were having a fish fry. It was the first fish fry we had attended since we left Indiana last summer.

From our front window we can see out over the units in front us and see the Salton Sea as well as the mountains on the other side, when it is clear enough. Sometimes there is a lot of haze and you can not even see the water. We are about 40 ft below sea level. The sea is much lower than we are, maybe 200 feet or so.

Friday, Ed and Bonnie Pearson came by for a visit. They were headed for Salvation Mountain which is over at the Slabs, a camping area that is all boondocking and out in the wide open spaces. A very interesting place to visit. There are all kinds of units there from small junkie ones to large expensive ones with solar panels, etc. All doing their thing in the desert.

Sand Storm

We have been in Quartzsite for over a week and left on Friday for Palm Springs, CA for the Desert R.A.T.S. hamfest. The wind was quite gusty and there was a lot of sand/dust blowing as you can see in the photos.

Driving was quite a handful as there were gusts as high as 40mph making it difficult to stay in your lane. There was nowhere you could hide even if you could get off the road, so you just reduced your speed and hung on.

We got into Palm Springs and parked in our usual spot and set up, ready for the hamfest on Saturday. We had a good day, worked hard and did well. It was over about 5pm and we were ready for some R&R.
We got away from Palm Springs about 9:30 Sunday and drove to the Spot Light 29 casino in Indio, CA and met friends Ed and Bonnie for lunch. The restaurant did not open on Sunday until 5pm, so we ate in the food court where our choices were McDonalds, Subway and a Mexican place that did not look very good, so Subway was it.

After a long visit we said our good bye's and we headed east for the Salton Sea and other friends Carl & Lynda Byrd that live at the Lark Spa. This is high above the lake and the altimeter indicated about a -40' elevation. The sea is indicated to be some -235'. No wonder it never goes away. There is no fresh water coming in, other than rain fall and nothing going out other than evaporation.

We will be here a week or so and will have a chance to explore the area and see what is out there.

Our photos are of the blowing sand and the 10 mile descent into Indio on I10. What a long hill. We did not come back that way and therefore did not have to come up, but we have in previous years and it is really a drag especially towing a 6000# van.

Quartzfest 2012

Here we are again in the middle of the desert at the annual gathering of Hams south of Quartzsite, AZ.

We finally got away from Mesa on Saturday morning. Normally we are here on Tuesday or Wednesday and have our choice of parking places. This year we had to take what we could get, so this year we are in the 3rd row of handicapped parking instead of the front row.

We were delayed waiting on a new power chair, which came in a week or so ago, but the cushion came in wrong size two times and the correct one did not come until Friday afternoon. We did not want to leave until we had everything as it would be some time before we would be back in the area.

The hamfest is going well, doing a little bit of work, other than what comes on the fax, but parking is all free except what fuel we burn running the generator. When the sun is out it is plenty warm, so we use the 1000w Honda, which powers most everything except the electric heaters and the microwave. It uses about 3/4 gallon of fuel a day. It also powers the engraver and vacuum when needed, so all works well.


Gordon West, WB6NOA is always here, last year he had to leave early due to Forrest fires near his home and he heads up a rescue group and was needed back home. This year he will be here all week, if all goes well back in CA.

We have not been given a count on the number of units here, but it is much larger than last year when there was over 200 registered hams.

Our photos are of some of the units and antennas. Gordon West travels in his van conversion which is parked close to the headquarters trailer/california room. In the distance you can see the multitude of units parked in the desert. This is looking north towards I10 which is about 7 miles away. There are literally thousands of RV's parked everywhere in this area.

The big RV tent is set up with lots of vendors as well as many dealers selling new and pre-owned units. Nothing is "used" these days, all pre-owned, if that makes a difference. Either way, they are not new. The following week will be the Rock & Gem show that will take over the area. Many of the RV's that are here are for both shows, of maybe just spending the winter. You can get a permit for $180.00 good from September to April for camping on BLM property, so a good deal if you like to boon dock that long, or even shorter period of time. It is good for any BLM area in the country.

Another year finished

Another end to another year. In looking back over the many years, a lot of things have changed. From the way we live, eat and sleep as well as what we do.

I remember years of working, some times 7 days a week to retiring and working part time to going on the road and traveling this beautiful country.

Were still working part time at engraving and working as many hamfest as we can find that are on or near our travel path.

For the past two years we have worked our way west for the winter. We generally spend January and part of February in Mesa, AZ then going to Quartzsite and Yuma with a quick weekend trip to a hamfest in Palm Springs, CA. Then back to Yuma for the Gypsy Journal Rally in March and then work hamfests in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois and back to Indiana.

We did make a side trip to Taos, NM for a 3 day hamfest which was the first time we had done a convention of this type, but it worked out well. Next year they are planning on having it near Bryce Canyon in Utah. We will not be able to make it as we will be in the Eastern part of the country.

This year we will do about the same, except we will go to Mississippi for the Handicapped Travel Club rally and then back to Indiana for our round of Dr. appointments and then we plan to work our way back to Florida and do the hamfests in that area and spend the winter in that area.
All we have to do is decide on which hamfests we will work without driving all over the place and from one state to the other. Just a matter of sorting them out.

Last evening we went to the Organ Stop Pizza restaurant for a great pizza and great organ music from a huge organ, one of only a few in the country.

So, here's hoping you all have a safe New Year's eve as well as a great New Year.

Here is a photo of Nancy and I and our "professor" mentioned in the blog. Sorry for the out of focus photo but it is the best we had of the old man.

Christmas is over and we hope all had a very Merry Christmas and will have a happy and safe New Years celebration.

Not a lot going on here in Arizona. A bit cool at night but warms up nicely as soon as the sun comes up.

Today we took a ride on the Light Rail. It runs from Tempe all the way to the north west side of Phoenix, probably some 40 miles or so. It is propelled by two power units that are located between the three cars with a drivers position at both ends. When they get to the end of the line the driver pulls down the shades and goes to the other end for the trip back across town.

We rode to the end of the line, got off, had lunch and got back on and came back to where we started, got in the van and drove home.

They are planning on continuing it on to the east side of Mesa in the near future, so it will go a few miles farther to the east.

Shortly after we got on an old fellow got on with a back pack and an arm load of files and papers. Promptly sat down, cross legged, and proceeded to drop a bunch of papers on the floor. He picked them up and just stuffed them in a folder and proceeded to shuffle through all kinds of papers, all in disarray and shove them in somewhere else.


He proceeded to open up the backpack take out a set of headphones and hook them up to some device and seemed to talk into it as if making notes or something. He loosened his tie, rolled up his shirt sleeves and continued to shuffle papers from one place to another all the way to the ASU campus stop. He grabbed everything up and got off the train, and proceeded to roll down his sleeves, adjust his tie and pull up his pants and walk off.

We finally decided that maybe he was a Professor at the university. He appeared to be a very unorganized individual.

People were getting on with bicycles, baby carriages and all sorts of things. No one seemed to have a ticket and no one was checking for them, only the driver appeared to be an employee. People just seemed to come and go when ever it stopped.

An interesting day with quite a variety of individuals encountered.