Ordinary life

Soledad Canyon RV Resort Thousand Trails
March 3 - March 17, 2017

The view behind us was glorious!

This park is HUGE and actually has pretty nice spots in a picturesque area.  You can definitely get side by side RV park style spots but there were several to choose from where you didn't feel quite so close.

We chose a spot up on the hill overlooking the "mountains" where we got better Verizon cell service and 4G.  When our new monthly data allotment started on the 8th, we switched to unlimited on our Verizon plan.  It was hard to do because it was another $35-40 more a month but we're really tired of running out data at the end of the month and we really depend on it!  We don't seem to have wifi as much as we thought we would (boondocking in the desert kind of does that to you!).

Got to sit out several nights with the campfire.  Note RV's in
the view in front of us!  THAT's the more typical "RV Park"!

This was a rare 2 week stay which felt like ordinary life.  Laundry, TV binge watching (at times!), church, shopping, more tax research (we got 1099DIV and 1099R and 1099S for the first time - another set of learning curves!),  Amazon ordering (magic creeper , OBDII reader, batteries for the TMPS tire monitors, fumoto oil valve).  We'll have to tell you how we like these products after we try them out!  As an aside on Amazon ordering - with one of our packages, they said it was undeliverable (we sent it General Delivery Acton with the zip code) but they handed it off to the post office who delivered it to the Acton post office that same day.  With another, they said it was undeliverableand we tried to add the street address to Amazon and it said it wasn't valid.  So we called UPS.  They finally got it to us days later.  Not sure what the lesson is here but we'll be more leery about sending things to General Delivery although from everything we've read, this should not have been a problem.  We'll try to add the street and see if Amazon will take it.  I've read that there is only one post office in each city that handles General Delivery and that's how it's supposed to be addressed (General Delivery, City, Zip).

We attended Valencia UMC two Sundays in a row.  The first was at their 9:00 "Classic" service and the 2nd was their 10:30 Praise service.  It was wonderful to feel somewhat "like home" attending a United Methodist Church.  The music was wonderful with choir, handbells, and excellent praise band.  The sermons and worship services were excellent and meaningful.

Coming back on the trail at Vasquez Rocks

We did visit a few places around the area.  We especially enjoyed Vasquez Rocks - we even went twice because we went on a Monday and the interpretive center was closed so we came back later to go through that.  We also "got outta town" during this hot spell (mid 80's) and headed up to the mountains at Wrightwood to get our ideal 70 degrees.  It was a great drive, short hike (eventually had to stop because there was too much snow and couldn't see the trail!).  Otherwise we just enjoyed reading, campfires, hikes, bike rides, and walks.  Tried a few farmers markets but they were pretty small.

Most of our pics of Vasquez Rocks
were pretty lame.  It was very striking!

Highlights:  Seeing former co-workers of Ellen's, meeting new folks at the campground (something we don't do when we're boondocking since there aren't usually a lot of folks around!).

Lowlights:  Pretty upset about the scratches all along the passenger side from the attack bush at Sawtooth Canyon as we were leaving.  They are like 10 giant  finger-nail scratches the whole length of the passenger side from the bottom up to about halfway.  Polishing with two different products did make them less noticeable but did not remove them.  We also added  a new huge gnarly scratch (through the paint this time) on one of the bay doors (opened the door and it bumped into the propane tank which was set nearby).  Luckily its closer to the bottom of the door on a down slope  (not in the middle!) so not readily noticeable!

Things we're wondering:  Will we stop feeling heartsick over the scratches, will we figure out how to get rid of them or will we re-paint or will we learn to accept them?!

Things we've decided:  We think we've learned all we can at this point on these batteries and we believe that they are indeed "ruined" (lost capacity) so we've decided to purchase the Costco 6 volt batteries to continue our boondocking testing and experience before we buy more expensive batteries.   We'll do this toward the end of the month when we'll be back into boondocking country.

We eventually gave up on the trail near Wrightwood.  It was a
great temp but we couldn't find the trail with all the snow
still on the ground!

Shaded by a Monolith

February 28 - March 3, 2017
Sawtooth Campground, CA

We left our abandoned RV park in Death Valley and headed south through the hills tp Barstow California.  Ellen had found a possible boondocking spot on Allstays just south of there, but as always, you don't drive your RV someplace you're not sure you can't escape from without checking it out first.

I stayed at a Walmart in Barstow while she drove about twenty miles to Sawtooth Canyon.  She called the OK and away I went…   There were no signs on the main road telling me where to turn off, but Ellen had directed me where to turn, and that I would be going about one mile down a washboard road to find the area.  She had a spot picked out, but was worried a huge boulder would shade us too much to make our solar panels effective.  When she said "washboard" it didn't really prepare me for the bouncy experience that followed.  Dished rattled, but cupboard doors stayed closed and nothing was shaken up too badly except my nerves.

Climbed on the rock to look down on the RV

I think Sawtooth Canyon may have been a regular campground at one point in it's history.  The boondocking site all had shelters and site numbers.  And there was a camp host site.  A sign next to it proclaimed "Volunteer Camp Host Wanted".  A phone number was given. While the hiking was good, it appeared to be a rock climbing campground.  There were spikes in the tops of some of the monolithic rocks to attach climbing ropes.

We did get good sunshine to refill our batteries, but not enough to completely fill them.  The system would recover all but about ten to fifteen amp hours per day and then go into float mode, saying we were full.  So after three days we ended up about thirty five amp hours down.  We think it's a battery issue and not a charging issue, but we'll keep looking at this and soldier on.

Oh, and on the way out we avoided a ditch on one side of the road only to scratch the other side of our coach on a bush.  We will be researching Gel Coat scratch removal soon!

Twins in our new sun hats!

From the highest high to the lowest low!

February 23-26, 2017
Lakeside RV resort (and Casino) Pahrump, NV

February 26-28, 2017
Boondocking outside Death Valley NP

Hard to tell from this pic but that's a playground
right behind us!  Lakeside RV Resort, Pahrump

We were so happy to leave Las Vegas (the city) and had hoped we'd back to "camping" but not for our first stop at least!  While Lakeside RV resort is much better than where we were in terms of space and greenery and water and paths to walk, it's still an RV Park where that's all you see from all our windows!  We backed up to a playground which saw mostly teen antics and noises!!  It was quite loud at times but we were there over the weekend.

Balloon "glow" in Pahrump

We chose Pahrump and this park because they were having a hot air balloon festival over the weekend and this park was Passport America (so 50% off!) and had wifi.  I think we could have found boondocking  spots nearby but we wanted to try out a 10 out of 10 rated park with wifi to continue with taxes and other internet stuff.

On the exploring front:  We froze ourselves going to the evening hot air balloon "glow" but it was GREAT!  We had coffee and gyros and funnel cake and visited the vendor booths.  Loved the small town feel and festivities!

It was cold in our boondocking spot at 3000+ elevation
but down here in Death Valley NP - NICE!

We took a day trip from Pahrump to Death Valley NP to see if we wanted to stay in the park or elsewhere.  We scouted road conditions and campground cost/quality.  We were disappointed that we finally were going to stay in a National Park and one campground was full, the second one was basically a parking lot (not even hookups) and the third was only slightly better than the parking lot (with fire rings) but generators aren't allowed which wouldn't be a problem with our solar but it's so cold we need to run the furnace quite a lot.  Basically, we decided it wasn't worth the extra miles into the park to turn around and go back to head south later.  So we tried a boondocking site near the top of the rim before descending into the park.

We look so tiny (and alone!) down there!
Boondocking outside Death Valley NP

The boondocking spot was great - nice roads going in and apparently it was going to be an RV park so it had concrete pads and level places to park and really spread out.  There were 3-4 others there during our stay.  Very quiet and dark and great night viewing of stars since the moon wasn't out!

As usual these pics don't do the park justice!  But try we do!
We took many more pictures but since we're on limited data
plan, we'll forgo posting them here!

Death Valley NP:  I'm not sure how these parks can be so much the same (here in the desert SW) and yet be so different but always WONDERFUL!   I'm going to have to work on my words and try to come up with adjectives that can convey the feelings you have when visiting such larger-than-life places.  It's the combination of fresh air, sunshine (and not hot!), exercise and such different  landscape and geology.  We are learning so much at the visitor centers and museums along the way - it almost feels like being back at school but on a field trip!

So funny because this looks like
a typical Oregon coast pic but that's
salt way down below which we later
walked on.  View from Dante's View.

Highlights:  Night time hot air balloon "glow", Death Valley NP, Pahrump museum (Nuclear testing section especially), wine tasting and lunch!  I (Ellen) bought a yoga mat and am slowly starting that up as a daily practice and it feels great!

Lowlights:  Figuring out propane for our small BBQ.  [We later determined our BBQ regulator was clogged - back in business!]

Things we didn't do this time:  We wanted to join the star gazing Saturday night nearby but it was cloudy (and far away).  It also didn't work out to see the hot air balloons  early in the morning (except from a distance) but we were ok with that having seen them late in the day/evening on Friday night.  So many things in Death Valley NP were closed - super disappointing.   Especially wanted to see Devil's Golf Course and Salt Creek trail which had pupfish(?!).

Things we've (re)learned:  Did I say Casino's are awful mainly because of the smoke?

Things we're (still) wondering:  Now that we have full batteries (for real this time - we think!), how much capacity do they really have and will we be able to keep the volts above the 50% AND will the trimetric readings and the volts align?!   Stay tuned - we should be able to answer this in the next blog!

Las Vegas

Thousand Trails
Las Vegas Thousand Trail is actually in the city quite a ways south of the Vegas strip where you find the bulk of the large casinos.  It's a very tight RV park.  Gravel sites with full hookups.  A storm last February dropped a tree on their clubhouse and it, the pool and free wifi have been down for the last year.  A pay for internet company was supplying wifi for the park, but we were assured they were working on the free system. There is "do not cross" tape surrounding the clubhouse area and several of the restroom are also under renovation.  We came there for the wifi so we could do taxes and catch up on a few things that required internet so we were disappointed.

Valley of Fire

Around the Las Vegas area are several State Parks/National Conservation Areas.  Valley of Fire State Park was our first daytrip.  We packed a lunch, gathered our maps, and headed out.  I had seen a few pictures of this area, but I wasn't really prepared for how scenic this "scenic area" was.  The hillsides and rocks were layered in reds and browns.  The rock formations were weathered in such a way to make you feel you were walking on the ocean floor.  We drove through a campground there and wished we had the RV with us so we could stay.  Stopped at McDonalds for ice cream cones on the way back.


Red Rock Canyon
The next day we drove to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.  Still in the desert, but a wholly different desert feel.  The rocks while red didn't have the vibrant colors of the Valley of Fire.  There was also more vegetation.  Cactus and some trees.  The large ones reminded us of home.  We hiked to a box canyon with a waterfall.  Spectacular drive both in and out of the area.


Hoover Dam and Lake Mead
A few days later we went to see Hoover Dam.  Saying it's magnificent doesn't cover it.  We took the Powerhouse tour deep inside the dam.  The guide was from New York City and was very colorful/entertaining in his interactions with the group and descriptions of the construction process and use of the dam.




Next we drove to Lake Mead (the lake formed by the dam) and took a Paddle Wheel Ship cruise.  They even gave us a senior discount.  $3.00 off is $3.00 off.  Fun times.  We approached the dam from the backside and just basically enjoyed the small part of the lake we did see.



Las Vegas

We had previously visited Las Vegas on our fifteenth anniversary and had some very good memories of the casino experience.  We are not gamblers and not fond of cigarette smoke so it wasn't for the gambling.  At that time Vegas was becoming more "family friendly" and had added some theme park-ish things to their casinos.   A gondola type ride around the Luxor, many movie displays and a theme park behind the MGM Grand, and a sailing ship the was sunk at Treasure Island.  I guess these were not financially worthwhile.  None of these things remain.  The Casinos are hotels with gambling, expensive shows, and convention centers.  The Bellagio fountain was still wonderful and Caesars Palace mall area was still a site to see.  The rest "not so much" for us.

The surrounding area made this one of our very favorite stops.  With still more to see.

Route 66 Golden Shores and Bullhead City

Feb 7 - Feb 12, 2017

Obligatory cool Post Office pic complete with a Pat finger

After leaving Lake Havasu City, we decided to stay at a Passport America RV park at 50% off for a couple of nights so we could dump our tanks and garbage, and do laundry.  After boondocking at beautiful open BLM areas, it was hard to be side by side in an RV park again.  But our neighbors were really friendly as usual and that always helps!

I think this was near the museum!

We spent a wonderful day driving up through Oatman and up to Kingman then across to Bullhead City to check out places to camp next.  We found our next spot dry camping (no hookups)  right on the river for $17 a night.  It was nice to be able to scout it out ahead of time before movnig!

The drive to Oatman and on to Kingman was beautiful (and we did see two donkey butts) but we didn't stop in town.  We took a picture of the Route 66 signs and stopped to see the Route 66 museum in Kingman which was cool.    Oh and we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel there which felt like"home" even though we don' have them in Washington state (at least where we've been!).

Proof we saw donkey(butts)

After leaving the RV "park", we pulled into our perfect spot at Davis campground with a gorgeous view out our large front windows.  While there, we rode our bikes along the river path, had campfires, read books, roasted hot dogs on the campfire, had happy hour dinner at a casino (with a boat ride to get across the river) and took a few drives around the area. And of course more errands (barber, shoe shopping (not successfully) pedicure while waiting for the movie to start since we didn't know Nevada is one hour behind Arizona!).

Next door to us at Davis Campground we met another couple from Washington and discovered so many things in common around places we'd been in Washington, books and movies etc.  This is always one of our favorite parts  - meeting folks and sharing information and a bonus to connect with folks from "home"!

Loved this spot right on the river.
Waiting for Pat to arrive in the Motorhome.

Bike ride along the river to the dam.

While we were here,  we discovered another important clue to the battery puzzle! We were monitoring how the batteries were doing with a few cloudy days and noted we were about 35 amp hours down close to the end of the day.  Not so good but we'd just run the generator later that evening.  When we went to log our "end of daylight" readings, it said we were 100% full!!  No way we made up 35 amp hours with practically no sun.  SO that is not good because it throws into question all the monitoring we've done to date.  If we're gone all day and come home and see we're 100% but we're not really, it would explain why the battery monitor thinks we're not very far down but the battery continues to go downhill.   This is a really good (and bad) thing to learn.  Our work-around:  we turned off the Tri-metic auto reset feature (since we don't know why it jumped to 100%) and when we're plugged in at Las Vegas, we will wait to reset it to 100% until after it gains the 35 amps AND after we validate our batteries are fully charged with the hydrometer (hopefully).  Basically after that, we don't plan on resetting the state of charge so we'll always know how many amps down (or up) from our new starting point.

We wondered if we should wait to leave to Las Vegas since winds were predicted at around 30 mph (with gusts higher).  Motorhomes do not travel well in wind (stressful at a minimum!). But we decided to go for it since most of the drive would be a headwind.  It turned out fine and not as bad as some of the drive cross country when we picked up the motorhome in Michigan last August.  Not sure if additional weight (being fully loaded and with solar panels) helped with that or what!

Highlights:  Camping right on the river at Davis camp with morning and evening campfires.  Weather was perfect until the day we left.  Possibly learning why the Trimetric said we'd only used 20% when the battery volts indicated we used more than 50%.

Lowlights:  still not really into the casino scene.  Too smoky, expensive (where we went).

Things we learned: Trimetric resets to 100% charged when it's not!

Lake Havasu City - Battery Woes Continued!

Lake Havasu City, AZ
Jan 26 - Feb 7th, 2017

First of all, I am so happy that I can type again.  My cast hand really hurts - not where it was broken but where it was confined for so long.  Fingers, thumb, wrist are all protesting as I try to move them!  But exercising them is good right?  So here I go...

One of the places we stayed (for free!) near Lake Havasu City

We were in the Lake Havasu area from 1/26 and left on 2/7 and stayed 4 different places (not normally what'd we'd choose!)!!  First we stayed at BLM land south of Lake Havasu city.   Met some vloggers and folks we follow on Instagram which is super cool.  Met the neighbors across the road from us and enjoyed a walk and visit.  But we left there after a couple of nights to stay in town at an RV park while we had our batteries removed and tested.


We have been experiencing low voltage overnight since we started boondocking at Joshua Tree National Park but our Trimetric battery monitor indicated that we have never been close to 50% discharged.  We were told by a battery guy in Quartzsite that it's either a bad battery OR it's just not getting fully charged (even though our trimetric says it is AND we had been plugged in for 3 days prior to QZ).  So to make sure they were fully charged, we stayed at an RV park where we could be plugged in and paid $20 to have each battery charged.  At the end of the day, they told us our batteries were bad.

So we called Newmar who put us in touch with Interstate batteries who told us we should have come to them in the first place - they would have charged and tested them for free.  So before we left the RV park, we pulled the batteries again and had them look at them.  They "tested" the fully charged batteries and told us they are good and they told us the hydrometer only tells you if all the cells are equal (no bad cells) but it won't tell you if they are charged.  The battery guy we met in Quartzsite had convinced us to purchase a hydrometer as the only way to tell if your batteries are fully charged (as well as see if any cell is bad).  Arghhh!

Arrow in the "red" zone.  Red means bad :(

Basically, the hydrometer has never been in the "good" or very good zone even after the full charge (but according to Intersate the battery is good).   At this point since we are at the mercy of Interstate (who has the power to exchange it for a good battery) we decide we will try again and see if the battery holds it voltage now that it's fully charged (again).

So we hooked up the batteries and unfortunately caught the control wires for the Trimetric on the positive cable and burned up the Trimetric (so no monitoring of the batteries!).  Found a source for a new Trimetric who sent it to general delivery (arrived the next day!!).  For the rest of the time at Lake Havasu (after replacing the Trimetric) - we monitored amps and state of charge and volts.  It is definitely better (dropping no further than 12.0 (under load) vs. the 11.7 we had been experiencing.  However, according to the Trimetric we aren't anywhere near the 50% so we are back to where we started - the Trimetric doesn't show us using near 50% (the most we show we'd been down is 70 AH and we should have 168 AH which is 4 batteries at 84 amps each at 50%).  But the volts are low (although it's not an accurate indicator "under load").

So we decided that when we get to Las Vegas, we will fully charge the batteries and do a hydrometer test, then let it rest then do it again.  If  either reading is bad, we will try Interstate battery in Las Vegas.

Testing tilting our solar panels to bring in more power!

BUT back to Lake Havasu!   We stayed north of the city on BLM land until we got an appointment to have the bay door unstuck (first mentioned in our Free Camping  post on 1/14/17).  After getting the door open, we decided to settle south of Lake Havasu again (slightly different spot) so we would be closer to our friends from home who were in Big River.  We got to go to their church with them twice and of course the obligatory meal afterwards!  We would have watched the super bowl with them but it started quite late in the day and it would be a long drive in the dark.  It was a sad game to watch since we were rooting for Atlanta!  Oh, and we also loved joining them for Friday night karaoke!

One of our hikes

We enjoyed walking along the lake (and good eats!) near London Bridge, short hikes, sunrises and sunsets, bike rides etc. while we continued to learn and monitor the solar panels and testing tilting them.   We also got mail from home which should be all the final tax stuff (oh boy!).

Highlights: Visiting with our friends from home!

Lowlights:  Ongoing battery battle (but we don't want to replace these until we figure out what went wrong  and until we know how to manage batteries (and wear these out) so we don't ruin another set!).

Things we learned:  secure wires away from the battery(!), the furnace uses a lot of battery (most boondockers use indoor propane heaters of some kind),

We haven't been able to sample
many micro brews yet - so far a
serious shortage in most of the
areas we've been so far!

Things we're wondering:    How much battery do we really need and why we can't seem to manage batteries successfully?!  Will the sun be able to fully charge whatever batteries we end up with or will we need more solar panels?  Will the NW sun (and trees) even work for us or does it matter if we stay primarily at Thousand Trails with hookups when in the NW?

One of the reasons we love wide open free BLM camping!

Quartzsite AZ experience

January 15 - 28

BLM Land
Quartzsite, AZ

We left Ehrenberg for our trip to Quartzsite,  Ellen leading in the car to scout out our spot in the desert and I in the RV to pick up propane and follow.  We were meeting a group of Escapee club members off Plomosa road north of town.  They would be there for the week. This chapter was from the northwest so we could meet folks from home for campfires, fulltimer advice and food.  Ellen found us a spot with a wonderful mountain view and not too many large rocks in our path.

We actually connected with three other groups while in Quartzsite.  Boondockers (name says it all), Boomers (folks our age), and the Newmar owners group.  All fun folks.  We visited the Newmar group a couple of times for fulltimer roundtable discussions.

While in Quartzsite we browsed the tents (insert flea market atmosphere here) and picked up some small Rv-ish things.  The most important of which was Kettle Corn.

Around the campfire we discussed RV solar with folks.  We had been running our generator morning and evening to keep our batteries charged.  Solar might not be economically the best choice but we were enjoying being off grid and it would bring peace of mind. Not having to hang around to run your generator morning and night is just a byproduct we would have to live with.  You still have to run it on cloudy and rainy days.

Everyone seemed to agree that if you weren't going to AM Solar in Oregon, then you should check out Discount Solar in Quartzsite.  I think we might have driven them crazy with questions over the next week.

Saturday we took the plunge and dropped off the RV at 9am.  We got it back at 4:30 with four shiny new solar panels on the roof and a solar controller under our fridge.  We were fully charged.  The batteries too.  We were still seeing lower than expected battery voltage in the morning, so we started to worry about our batteries.  But that's a story for later.


The BIG TENT opened.  We went at opening to beat the crowds.  We were unsuccessful.  We once again picked up a few things to make life easier in the RV.  Also visited the "Too Crazy Ladies" to have our Escapees name tags made.  Mine was great, Ellen's got messed up so another visit was in order.  Eventually with smiles on our faces and tags in hand we left.



We drove back to Palm Springs one day for Ellen's cast removal day.  Cast gone and a new brace in place for another three weeks.  I'm still seeing dish washing in my future. It's amazing how going back to Palm Springs felt like going home.  It was beautiful though.  Palm trees in the foreground and snow on the mountains in the background.

We also took a trip north to Big River California to see some good friends from home.  They took us on a hike on the Colorado river in the Bill Williams Wildlife Refuge and we took them to the Pirates Den.  Both were great.  But being with friends is the best.

Next…   north to Lake Havasu City.