December
3-9, 2013: La Posa North BLM Campground, Quartzsite, AZ.
Cold
enough to freeze your knickers!
It’s been a cold and windy
week at Quartzsite. As a matter of fact,
it’s been darn cold and miserable weather about everywhere across the country
the last several days. We count
ourselves lucky that we have only seen overnight temperatures down to 32 and no
precipitation. Since we have a goose down
comforter to keep us toasty warm at night we don’t turn the propane furnace on
until we get up in the morning. When
it’s 32 outside – it’s 37 degrees inside.
That’s enough to freeze your knickers in a flash. With the furnace blasting away, the temperature shoots up to 60 degrees in no time in our little motor home and a
fresh pot of hot coffee warms us from the inside out. I used to think 60 degrees inside the house
was cold – now it feels like a day on a sunny beach. Well, sort of.
Oh,
what is one to do on a windy day?
Many camping neighbors have
flags flying overhead and the wind is whipping them about. There are lots of patriots in Quartzsite with
American flags. Colorful streamers are
zipping back and forth, with skull and cross bone flags, California Republic
flags, and more personalized flags flapping in the wind.
Go
fly a kite!
One neighbor is a kite
flyer. We’ve watched him for the last
couple of days flying different kites – he’s really good. He maneuvers them into upward spikes and then
forced dives toward the ground only to skim along a few feet above the earth before soaring again to new heights.
I take a few pictures and
then introduce myself. His name is
Dean. He says he’s been flying kites
since he was a kid and could just never get enough of it. He tells me “back in the day” he was a
professional wind surfer for a dozen years or so. Now he just likes to fly kites and has many
stashed here and there throughout his motor home. “Different wind requires different kites,” he
tells me. He gives me details about
kites and wind, and what kite to use when, and what string to use and why, and
on and on. Kites are obviously his
passion, but I can’t remember anything he told me. Oh well, it was a nice conversation with a
nice gentleman. Dean’s here for a few
days before heading farther south – hopefully to warmer weather. He poses for a picture with one of his kites.
What’s
for sale? Not a darn thing that we can’t
live without.
We hop in the Jeep and take
the short drive into Quartzsite to wander around the tented shops. At least the tents will help stop the
wind.
Here’s a little consignment
shop. Need anything that someone else is
trying to get rid of because they don’t want it anymore?
Well, let’s see what the offerings
are today.
~~ A custom built
banjo. No, we already sold one of those
back in Texas to a young musician from Austin.
~~ A sun oven. No, I already have an oven that doesn’t work
worth a darn. I don’t need another.
~~ How about someone’s very
used RV sewer hose? Negatory!
~~ Microwaves,
refrigerators, or vacuum cleaners? Nope,
nope, and nope.
~~ An adult potty
chair. Umm, no thank you.
~~ Bicycles, bug lights,
satellite dishes. We can pass on all
those things.
~~ Numerous walkers of different
colors and designs. We’re not there yet.
I asked the proprietor,
“Where’d these walkers come from? Did
these people start walking better and don’t need them anymore or are they
dead?”
His response, “They’re
dead.”
Just as I figured. I’m not ready to purchase one of these. Look where you end up.
On
to the next shop.
Okay, who’s in the market
for a used “retro” avocado green stove for their motor home or trailer? Or perhaps another satellite dish?
Onward
we march seeking any useful items.
Old toasters, blenders, and
crock pots. Hmmm? We can live without any of these.
Last
but not least – “That’s what I’m talking about Jack”.
We wonder into John’s
establishment to more “stuff”. He tells
us more “stuff” will be arriving daily.
If we don’t find the “stuff” we’re looking for today, stop back another
day and check out the new arrival “stuff”.
I tell John I really like
his sweatshirt because my husband’s name is Jack. He’s ready to take the shirt off his back –
literally – when I stop him and say all I really want is a picture of the two
of them together. He happily obliges.
John tells us his best customers
are young people. They’ll buy all this “stuff”. People like us – older – have gotten rid of
all this “stuff” they don’t need anymore.
He never really expected us to actually buy anything – but come back
again away.
It is now crystal clear why
we found nothing we needed to buy today.
Something about getting older – you don’t need so much “stuff”. And you certainly don’t need other people’s
discarded “stuff”.
There’s
a problem in River City.
Saturday arrives and I’m
busy cleaning the bathroom. Hmmm? Why is there moisture around the toilet? This cannot be good. I tell Jack the bad news, and then start
figuring out a solution to our problem by collecting a list of local RV
plumbers/repairmen. We whittle it down
to Bud. He can take care of it first
thing Monday morning and gives us some tips to get through the weekend without
any big mishaps.
Now Bud is an “experienced
handyman” – a Jack of all trades, so to speak.
He wears many hats. Today he
shows up wearing his plumber’s hat, or should I say – “plumber’s crack”. Bud’s a big burly guy and when he bends over
the toilet he takes up our entire tiny bathroom. Having been in construction for many years I’ve
seen more than my share of plumber’s cracks.
This one ain’t that bad! You go,
Bud!
The job done, the faulty
seal replaced, we thank Bud for his services and pay him $140 – every dime of
which he earned doing this ugly job. He just
laughs and says, “It’s the smell of money!”
Whatever ! We’re just happy to
have found Bud. We’re also happy we can
flush to our hearts’ content … or until the 50 gallon black water tank is full …
whichever comes first.
