We got setup last evening for the Desert Rats ARC hamfest. It was held at the "barn" on the Boskovich estate in Palm Springs, CA. The estate covers about 35 acres at the foot of the mountains overlooking the town of Palm Springs. A really nice home and "barn".
The barn is actually a 50'X50' structure with two overhead doors, one 9' tall and the other 12' tall, where they keep their 5th wheel trailer. The ceiling inside is 17' high and on the one side is a huge 20'X20' hamshack with a complete kitchen, a bathroom and a 20X20 office area in the other corner. The actual garage area is 30'X50'. It is all insulated and lighted with a complete sound system and a huge overhang that is 20'X50' over a concrete slab. There is a large graveled area which also held vendors and tailgaters. It was well attended and I think all of the vendors did well. We had a very good day with the engraving. We are spending the night here again and will head east for Mesa tomorrow. I did not want to drive for an hour or so til dark and find a place to stay as we have a nice place to park here with an electric hookup. What more would you want.
Our photos are of Gary and Suzie Boskovich, our hosts and owners of the estate.
A shot of the "barn" from outside














The patio behind the barn next to the mountain
















Sunset over Palm Springs from the barn.

We stopped at one of the BLM areas just south of Joshua Tree National Park. Due mainly to a limit in most of their campgrounds of 25 foot units.
After getting the unit situated we took the van and drove through the park and out the north side. This is a very interesting park as you drive up the mountains to quite high altitudes. You make the transition from the Colorado Desert to the Mojave Desert. You do not see any Joshua trees in the Colorado Desert and you do not see many Greaswood bushes up north in the Mojave Desert.
There are several old mines in the area that are not in operation, however they produces a lot of gold and some after the gold ran out they mined lead and then copper. One of the mines you could see the mine shafts openings high near the top of the mountain. You would think that they would be down near the bottom, but someone found gold way up there.

We say the Cholla Catcus Garden. Apparently they do not know of any use for them, but there they are. As soon as you get into the transition area, there are not any Cholla at all, Just in the one area are they plentiful.
There are nice campgrounds mostly nestled in among big rocks, or should I say huge rocks. The mountains appear to be mostly jagged stone and they you come into an area where there are gigantic smooth rounded rocks. Some appear to be 50 feet or more high and then there may be a small round one just setting on top. It looks like if you could get to it, you could just push it over.
We toured most of the campgrounds and they were all very nice, however primitive with no hookups. All had a fire ring and picnic table but a beautiful setting in among the huge rocks.
We went out the north end of the park and west on sr62 around the west end of the park and down the mountain into Palm Springs, Desert Palms and a bunch of little towns all nestled at the foot of the mountains. Lots of snow in the upper elevation of the mountains, but quite warm down below.
We spent the night at the BLM as it was near dark when we returned.
Thursday we traveled the short distance to Indo, CA and the Shadow Hills RV Resort. We needed to get the laundry caught up as it had been two weeks since we had taken care of that little chore. This is a quite posh gated rv resort with a pool, spa exercise room and a nice gathering area near the pool. They were having a pizza party, so we signed up, had some delicious pizza and met some very nice people. One couple we met was from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. He had been a wheat farmer all his life. He said that they left on Dec. 28 and the wind chill was -32 degrees Celsius. I asked if they were not a bit late in getting away and she said, well you know how it is with several grandchildren. I think I would just call them and wish them a Merry Christmas. We did go out and get a prescription filled and the van washed as it was quite dirty from the trip through Joshua Tree NP as it rained lightly at the higher altitudes.
Friday we moved a few miles to Palm Springs to the location of the hamfest. This is on an estate of 35 acres with a nice house and a huge garage, 50X50 with 17' ceilings, a 15' door and a 12' door and a 20X20 hamshack with lots of radios and equipment and a nice big office. We are within a few feet of the base of the mountain with a beautiful view to the north across the valley.

These photos were taken at the Gen. George S. Patton Museum

This is a very interesting place to visit and it certainly brings back memories of the WWII days.


















This is a Patton M-60 tank














This is a Sherman M4 tank















This is the chapel built by the soldiers training at Ft. Young

Photos for yesterdays blog. Sorry they did not come through as they should.

Saturday morning it was cool, about 50 degrees and cloudy. The sun finally got over the mountain and through the clouds and warmed things up nicely. There are a lot of rv's coming in from every direction, it seems. The hamfest actually starts on Monday, however the opening ceremonies will be on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday was also cloudy with the sun peeking out of the clouds on occasion. The opening ceremonies were at 4pm with the Mayor of Quartzsite welcoming us all to the area. He mentioned that there were about 3800 permanent residence in Quartzsite however the population during the winter months increases to over 1 million with all of the snowbirds in town. That will give you an idea of how many rv's there are out in the desert. There are a couple or three campgrounds in town, but most everyone is out in a BLM area or just out in the desert boon docking. Lots of solar panels for charging batteries, lots of generators running during the evening and some during the day. We run our Honda 1000 during the day with the motor home hooked to it as well as a battery charger to charge our house batteries. We generally run a tank of gas each day, 6/10 of a gallon. Later in the evening we will start

the big generator to run the electric heater(s) for warmth after the sun goes down. It really cools off fast after the sun goes over the mountains to the west, especially on a clear day. It will get down in the 40's frequently and you need some supplemental heat during the evening and early mornings. We found that that routine kept the house batteries charged up and ready for the nights service of running inverters for bed warmers, etc. More motor homes coming in all day. Cliff, KD4ZBP, the organizer of the hamfest for the last 3 years said that we had about 140 rigs registered in with over 200 people. Pretty good for a gathering in the middle of the desert, but hams will go any where to have fun and play with their radios. There were several seminars scheduled during th week. One of the presenters, WB6NOA Gordon West came in and planned on spending the week with us but he was called back home due to the storm coming in on the coast with 20' seas which could cause some serious damage. Gordon left on Tuesday evening.
We have had some weak wi-fi service but with all of the motor homes in the area, the signal is blocked and we were unable to get on line without going into town and borrowing a signal from a business. Someone in the area had a really strong signal named LINDA, but we never could find out who it was to get permission to use it and obtain password.
Monday was cool and cloudy and the wind picked up in the afternoon.
I received a phone call from Carl and Lynda Byrd as they were in Quartzaite, out east of town. We decided to have lunch on Tuesday afternoon at the Mountain Quail Restaurant. We met them at 3pm and the place was busy, had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. The food was very good, Evelyn had liver and onions and the three of us had Reuben sandwiches. All, quite good, however some of the food that was going by to be served to others really looked delicious. Will have to go back for their Chicken Fried Steak as it really looked good. When we came out, it had started raining and there were at least 50 people waiting in line for a table. It was going to be a long cool evening for some of them as they had to wait outside however they were under a roof, but still quite cool. We said our good byes and got back to the motor home in the desert and able to get in during a lull in the rain. It rained all night and most all of the next day. A couple of the hams had complete weather stations and one reported rain fall of 2.6 inches of rain in a 12 hour period and a maximum wind gust of 61mph.
The wind and rain made it difficult to keep our engraving sample board up, however we did a fair amount of business in between showers, however the big day wound not be until Saturday's Yard Sale. The BLM is not familiar with what a hamfest really is, but they OK'ed a Yard Sale, so that is what we call it.
The wind and rain closed the big tent downtown as there was a Tornado warning out for Blythe, Quartzsite and the complete SW corner of the state of Arizona. I guess there was a lot of water in the tent and several people had product get wet, but they were told to grab their valuables and evacuate the tent immediately. I do not know where they went, other than to their rv's. We had nowhere to go, so we just let it rock and roll in the wind and hope it did not get to bad. No shelter out here in the middle of the desert. There was not really anywhere to go, the storm came up from Mexico and California. It was far to the north and headed east toward Phoenix and they closed I10 to high profile vehicles due to the wind, so you had not choice but to sit and hang on. But all was fine after it blew through.
Saturday morning it was up early as the shoppers were out before daylight with flashlights looking for bargains, as is usual at most hamfests. We did a fair amount of business as several had already gotten their tags earlier in the week.
Sunday, we went to the big tent to see what was there as it was the last day for the RV show. We purchased some DVD's, a carpet for the outside at the door to keep some of the dirt out. Found some good BBQ and had some lunch and came back to the motor home. Several of the ham had already left going in all directions, mostly to the south toward Yuma.
Monday was spent getting things ready to move. It takes a while after setting for over a week as things get scattered around and need to be put in their place ready for travel.
Tuesday we got away about 10am and headed west to California. We stopped at Blythe to visit the Chamber of Commerce and pick up a map and mail some letters at the Post Office. While at the Chamber, the lady we talked with said that they had been out of power for a week and it just came back on from the storm that went through, so I guess it really did some damage in that area. We traveled on west on I10 to the town of Chiriaco Summit and the Gen. George S. Patton Museum. A very nice museum with lots of artifacts from the war, lots of photos and a very nice video. Inside there is a lot of memorabilia and equipment from field offices, a box that opened up into a desk with a typewriter and supplies needed to write messages as well as radios from that era. They certainly have come a long way in communications since WWII. Outside is a nice collection of trucks, tanks, mine sweepers, etc. It was interesting to see all of the different power that was used in tanks. For instance: the Stuart M5 tank (WWII) had twin Cadillac engines with a Hydramatic transmission and a top speed of 40mph. The Sherman M4 (WWII & Korea) had a Wright 9 cyl. radial air cooled engine with a manual transmission. The Pershing M26 (WWII) had a Ford V-8 engine and automatic transmission. The Patton M-47 (Korea) had a Continental V-12 air cooled engine and an Allison cross drive transmission. The Patton M-6o (1959-`99` Mid East) had a Diesel air cooled engine with an automatic transmission. It was also noted that they stopped using radial engines as they were needed for aircraft. I noticed that there was not any places to lubricate the running gear. Either it was permanently lubricated, or they did not think that they would last long enough to need to be serviced. Tomorrow we will move on to Joshua Tree National Park for the day and maybe stay the night, if it is not to cold, as the campgrounds are up in the mountains and we can see snow on many of the higher elevations.
Our photos are of the desert standing in water. A site many have never seen. The other two are of the Yard Sale that we had on Saturday.

Thursday, we had some work that needed to be mailed out. We left about noon for town and then to the flea market. We wanted to go to the big tent, but it does not open until Saturday. We went through one section of the flea market and looked at water softener filters and the Pressure Pro, a monitor for the pressure in each of your tires. Something you really should have, but a bit pricey for our budget at this time, about $700.00 for the unit and 10 transmitters. The water softener was not that bad, about $120.00. Something we could afford if we sit still for a while and do not buy gasoline. Later we were getting ready to go back to the coach, but decided to go to Blythe, CA instead. It is only about 20 miles or so across I10, the only road between here and there. Gasoline here in Quartzsite is $2.69 and in Blythe it is $3.19. Worth the 20 mile drive to get gas, especially if you have a big rig to fill up. The old highway through Blythe, main street, is lined with vacant buildings and businesses. There were several old motels that were still open and still hanging on. We drove out to the fairgrounds where they were having a blue grass festival over the weekend. It was jammed with rv's of every description as close as you could get them and still get your door open. It would have been nice to have gone, but I am sure there would not be any room.
The photos are from Wednesday nights sunset at North Ranch and 100 miles away out in the desert the view out our front window. What looks like a pile of trash is really firewood for our bonfire each night next week during the hamfest. There were not a lot of units here when we came in, but they are filling up, maybe 50 or 60 by this evening with more expected over the week end. This is a nice hamfest with seminars daily and lectures on several subjects, a hobo stew one night and a pitch in on the last evening after the yard sale. I am sure everyone will enjoy themselves.

Monday we took a drive north on US89, into the town of Congress, on top of the mountain and then on to the town of Yarnell, a little larger than Congress. On toward Prescott, all seemingly uphill as the altitude increased to the point that we were seeing snow alongside the road and in the wooded areas. We were at about 6,000' at the highest where we found the snow.
When we got to Prescott, we went on north to the town of Cheno Valley. Evelyn had been there many years ago and it did not even look similar to what she remembered. Still a lot of small farms, 5 or so acres, with some horses, etc.
We returned to Prescott and found a Walmart on the west side of town. We needed some groceries, so did a lot of other people, as the store was quite busy. There was a Subway there so we had some lunch and then we were not sure how to get back to US89, so I just asked the GPS how to get back to Wickenburg, AZ. IT sent us on west out of town on a nice blacktop road, however it was a black road on the map, not red. It took us south west for a while then back
southeast through the town of Skull Valley and Peeples Valley and then back to US89. It was downhill all the way and it bypassed the big mountain and the steep grades. A really nice drive through the mountains.
Tuesday we did not do much other than get things ready to leave for Quartzsite on Wednesday.
Wednesday, Evelyn did a load of wash and dumped the holding tanks and filled the water tank, as there is not any facilities out in the desert boon dock areas. We had a nice drive, about 100 miles fron North Ranch to our location in the desert about 6 miles south of Quartzsite and back about a quarter mile of dirt road to the location of the hamfest. There are several others already here. The couple next to us have been here since November. Apparently they stay here all winter. Certainly nicer than spending the winter in Florida, especially this year. We are all set up and the Honda generator is running, powering the motor home as well as all init except the electric heaters and the micro wave. It takes the big gernerator to run those.
Our photos are of the Court house in Prescott, AZ and the entrance to a housing edition just north of the town of Prescott. Some beautiful homes built right on and in the big rocks. Lots of snow alongside the road at higher elevations.

the

We got away from Mesa, AZ a little after noon and headed west on US60, which also is I10 through Phoenix. Lots of traffic, but only normal for most any time of the day. It is 5 lanes wide, each way, with a commuter lane on the left side. On and off lanes on the right, making it 7 lanes wide at times. I really do not like to drive under these conditions, but that is the only way to get out of town going west. We stopped at the Flying J for fuel and LP gas. Got the rig in a position where we could not go forward and of course you can not back up the rig more than a few feet, so we had to unhook the van, get fuel and lp and then hook up the van again before we could continue our trip. That is the first time that has happened and it only happened then because I made a move before I really thought it through and thus, more work for Evelyn.
Back on the road, we continued on north on surface streets until we could hook up with US60 again north of Glendale, AZ. We finally arrived at our destination of North Ranch, an Escapees park near Congress, AZ. A really nice drive, after we got out of town and a lot of the traffic. We climbed in altitude all the way. We went from the 900ft, in Mesa to over 2800ft at North Ranch.
A really nice park with over 400 spaces, many with nice Park Model homes and some custom built ones as well as some unimproved lots. As we were eating dinner, it was getting dark and the photo is of the sunset out our dining room window. The sky was beautiful in most every direction you looked as the sun was setting in the west.
Today, they had an RV show, with two motor homes and a 5th wheel from a local dealer. They also served lunch for free, which really caused the park members to turn out. Escapees are always into food, especially if it is free. They served grilled sausages and chips and soda. The RV's were nice, but out of our price range, as it was for most of the lookers, but it is always nice to see what is out there and dream a bit. After lunch we were in the van so we decided to do some exploring. We headed up US89 and soon saw a sign saying no units over 40' allowed. All of a sudden, we were going up the mountain to Congress, only 6 miles, but all uphill. It would be a long slow trip in the motor home as there was a lot of 7 and 8% grades. On top is the small town of Congress. We explored the town a bit, back up the Ghost Town Road. It shortly turned to dirt and we drove up to the Congress Cemetery. Apparently it is the only one for the town, as there were old graves as well as some in the recent years, that we could see. Back another road was the Pioneer Cemetery, but the road was to rough for us, not being a 4X4. Back out to the highway and on down to SR62 which turned to dirt and we saw a sign that said Hillside 21 miles and another town 42 miles. Not me on a dirt road in the mountains for 21 miles. We drove a mile or two on the washboard road and turned around. We will do more exploring tomorrow with the map and camera.

On Saturday, after we left the car show, we went to visit the Heart Attack grille. Not a really good day for a visit, as it was crowded with lots of out of town visitors due to NFL game as well as the Fiesta Bowl the next day. The menu is written on the wall, with a choice of a single bypass burger to a double, triple and a quadruple bypass with 4 half pound burgers plus cheese, etc. They also have fries, coke in the bottle, beer and a couple of mixed drinks. Nothing healthy and everything cooked in pure lard. No lettuce, only cheese, pickles, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers and sliced onions for the burgers.
The waitresses were in rather scanty nurses uniforms, a bit revealing, but that is a part of the atmosphere. You can have your photo with your waitress, if you like and even with the doctor, if you like.
The food is quite tasty and hot. You can watch the fries being processed. The potatoes come out of their shipping box, into the slicer and into the hot lard, in that order. Wash the potatoes? Maybe if they got washed after they were taken from the ground and put in the shipping box, but not at the Heart Attack Grille. However I am sure the hot lard would sterilize the potatoes? Delicious, however they were fixed.
Sunday afternoon we cooked chicken on the grille and had a nice meal and relaxed the rest of the day.
Monday, Nancy and I went shopping, to the bank and ran some other errands.
Tuesday, we met with the Mesa Lunch Bunch, a group of friends, mostly members of the Handicapped Travel Club, at the IronWorks restaurant in Glendale, north of Phoenix. A nice restaurant, on a golf course and some very good food. I had fish, with fries and coleslaw, which was quite tasty, however I missed those fries cooked in lard. They just did not have that natural flavor. Back home about 4pm, a short nap and then a bite to eat and watch tv for the rest of the evening.
We are planning on leaving Friday for the Quartzsite area for the hamfest next week and then on toward Yuma for a week or so. Who knows from there, only time will tell.

Thursday being New Years Eve, is always one of reflection for me. You look back over the year at things that have happened and you think about they have changed the course of your life. It is always interesting to realize that things have worked out in ways that you did not anticipate. Being full time rv'ers changes few things. You always wonder how it would have been different in a stick and brick home. But, being a full time rv'er you have the option of changing your course of direction at most any time. We have often had a destination in mind and after a day or two on the road changed our route to that destination to see something we found or saw an advertisement, or just decided to see on the spur of the moment. For example, it took us two additional days to get from Hondo, TX to Mesa, AZ.
We did see the new year in, by watching tv. We watched a foot ball game, basket ball game and watched some of the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction from Las Vegas. To bed a little after midnight and up about 9am. Not a lot going on other than a trip to Superstition Mall for lunch. We were looking for carmel corn and understood it was available at the Dairy Queen, however they did not carry it but said that their store in Fiesta Mall had it. We went across town to Fiesta Mall and sure enough, they have carmel corn, so we bought a tin full. Quite tasty and easy to eat. Hopefully, we have enough to last for some time to come.
Today, we went to a local Charity car show at a local RV dealership. I would estimate 200 cars were there from late 20's to 2009 units. There were many customs and many classic cars. Our photos are of some of the more rare units, from the beautiful Karmann Ghia to the Kaiser Darrin with the sliding doors that go into the front fender to the Chevrolet Nomad and the '49 Mercury custom. There were several 49 Mercury customs there, probably
one of the more popular vehicles to customize. Several cars had high power motors with blowers, etc. Most
had custom paint jobs, several were exotic in appearance.
Later, we went to the Heart Attack Grille. Probably not a good idea, being a Saturday, on a holiday weekend
and with a lot of visitors in town for Bowl games, etc. The restaurant was packed with customers and we had to wait for a while and finally found a corner counter we could use. The burgers were quite tasty and the fries were delicious, being fried in pure lard. The condiments consisted of sliced tomatoes, onions, pickles and jalapeno peppers. No lettuce or anything healthy. They have a single bypass, double, triple and a quadruple bypass burger consisting of 4 half pound burgers with cheese, etc. I did see one fellow working on a triple and heard cheers from across the room as one finished a quadruple and got a ride out of the restaurant in a wheelchair. You could get photos with the nurses or with the doctor himself. A really fun place to go and the food is really tasty. We may go back another time during the week and maybe a more relaxed time to eat.