Better late than never... VA to Az.

 I left this blog hanging almost 3 months ago.    Today a friend Butch reminded me that I left the blog hanging and that was the kick in the butt that I needed to get back to work and bring things up to date.

As I write this, I'm sitting in the PartyBus in Quartzsite, Arizona, so I have a bit of catching up to do and I'll try to get it done quickly and to the point.

After leaving Shenandoah River State Park, we spent 5 days at Pocahontas State Park outside of Richmond, Va.  It's another state park that we enjoy in the fall.   Our third time here, and still have not made it to the lake however.

Pocahontas Sitem 108

While there I was able to find a really good bagel place.    As close to real NY Bagels as I've had in a long time.    We would up buying 2 dozen and putting them in the freezer to enjoy as we traveled onward.

Next on the list was a stop on the NC coast at the Cedar Point NF Campground.  (50a electric)   It is a really nice campground about 30 minutes from where we used to live in Beaufort, NC.   We had a full schedule of visiting friends and missed many others that we'd have like to see.   But we only had so much time as we had appointments to keep further down the road.

Cedar Point NFCG #33

Among several, we visited friends Donna & Jim in Beaufort, plust Fabian and Sylvania who used to own a restaurant in Morehead City.   They have a great place along the Intracoastal Waterway in Newport, NC

The dogs got to meet their first cat...  A really tame kitten that seemed unfazed by their sniffing.

Phoebe give the kitten a sniff

We set aside one day just for us, and spent it at the beach on Emerald Isle.

While there we saw a pod of dolphins feeding as the moved along the coast.

We had an appointment at Freighliner in Gaffney, SC set for Nov 8 so we had to move on.    When passing thru this way, we always stop at Gaffney as it is where the chassis is built and this particular service center is where they train the mechanics from all over the US to work on them.

We had a normal annual service performed and the next day were on our way.

Next was Misletoe State Park in Appling, Ga, not far from Augusta.    We had a fantastic site on the water and surrounded on 3 sides.    It was at the end of an extremely tight cul de sac and took some work to make it around but soon we were settled in.

Mistletoe SP site #38

Our last night at Cedar Point, our inverter/charger died and the part that charges, and passes the 102v shore power thru to the coach stopped working.    I was able to bypass the unit but it meant that I had no way to charge the batteries other than our solar.    We had some cloudy days ahead and I knew we'd need some help so I was able to order a 50 amp Lithium Charger on Amazon and had it delivered to a maibox etc store near Augusta.   It turned out to be just what the doctor ordered and performed beautifully.

A picture of our site in the morning as the storm clouds moved in.

Really cold weather was moving in so we left a day early and beat feet down to an RV Park north of New Orleans where we spent 2 days.

Sun Outdoors New Orleans North Shore is the name of the place.   It is a tad expensive but has a ton of stuff for families.

Finally we arrived at McKinney Falls SP in Austin, Texas.   We were here to attend a wedding and I had my new inverter shipped to the Bride and Groom's (Kelsey and Jake) house.   Morgan & Chris were waiting for us at the state park in their Airstream and they had already retrieved my inverter so it was on site and i could begin to remove the old and install the new.

First I bench wired up the new one to get it ready to install.

Bench wired with (2) 120 volt legs of 30a each.

The inverter weighs about 70 lbs and is mounted on the ceiling in the basement.   It is a very awkward spot to work, and difficult to lift it in position and hold it while tightening the bolts to secure it in place.

To solve that problem...  I travel with a small motorcycle lift that just happened to be the perfect tool for the job.

Removing the old.   The the new is put on the lift and raised into position.

Inverter installed and working....  Wedding attended and couple married...   It was time for the final push to Arizona.      We broke the trip up into (2) 350 mile segments and left about 250 for the final day.

First night was the Hilltop RV Park in Ft Stockton, Tx.   Dry and dusty but a decent place to overnight in barren West Texas.

Hilltop RV Ft Stockton, Tx

Next was 81 Palms in Deming, NM.    This is a snowbird resort in the winter but was pretty empty as it was still a tad off season.   The owner said that since the Canadians have stopped coming they are really hurting.    We had some exciting T-Storms roll thru and was treated to a rainbow but no pot of gold.

The dogs got to romp in the dog park.  

A beautiful blue sky greeted us for our final push to Tucson.

4 hours later we were rolling up in from of the Mustang Cactus Ranch and we let the dogs out of the bus.

They ran like crazy into the house for the first time in about 9 months and had a good old time reacquainting themselves to the smell of their part-time home away from all the other homes.

Thanksgiving and then Christmas came...   Morgan and Chris (and Georgie Girl) arrive for the holidays.

Morgan & Chris made us Roulade,  Red Cabbage, German Potato Salad, and Spaetzle all from scratch for Christmas dinner.

All day to cook... and moments to eat.   It was a delicious meal.

Well - we were home for  7 weeks on the nose, and I've been itching to get back on the road.   It was time to wash the mutts, give them haircuts, and then off we go for our normal wintertime desert boondocking.

I took the bus up to Cummins in Phoenix during the 7 weeks for some semi-major preventivie maintenance on the generator, plus some replacement of a few engine parts that I felt were getting suspect.

I brought the bus home straight from Cummins, we loaded it up and left the house on Jan 7.

We drove 4 hrs and spent the night up on Plomosa Rd in Quartzsite.

The next morning we moved on another 4 hours to the Pacific Coast at Huntington Beach, California.

The town takes one of the summertime beach parking lots and turns it into an RV Park right on the beach.  It has 50a and water with a dump on site.    This is our 3rd or 4th time here and we love it.   We have several friends who live here so beside a really nice beach fix we get to catch up with them.

One day Kate visited with her BFF from. College and I strolled the beachfront with the dogs.

Huntington Beach does a fantastic job with their waterfront.   Tons of parking, restrooms, trashbins, volleyball courts and firepits.   It's really set up nice for people to enjoy all season.

Good friends of ours - We met in 2018 on the Queen Mary2  - Catherine & Ken.   We had dinner one night at their place in Newport Beach, then another night they treated us to so Italian food.   

Thanks again guys!

After dinner Kate and I strolled about the Newport Beach waterfront for a bit.   

Newport Beach Pier

Newport Beach Waterfront.

Back at the bus, we took the dogs out to enjoy the last sunset before departure.

After 5 nights at the coast, it was time to head to Quartzsite for our normal get togethers.    This year we are parked in a slightly different spot.   I've been wanting a change of scenery here.   We'll still see our friends, but will have to walk a bit to get to them.    Some friends will be here with us, and others over at the Montana Circle where we have been the last 12 years or so.

Sadly...   Our Canadian friends will not be here.  (are you seeing the trend yet?)

Overzealous untrained ICE goons, Tariff Wars, and that 51st state crap have just understandably put off the Canadians and they are staying home until America hopefully regains some sense of decency. 

Our new spot in Quartzsite

We are still up on Plomosa Rd.   Just a bit further into the desert off the road where it is more quiet.

And with that....   we have our usual Quartzsite Sunset and the blog is back up to date.

Sunset from the bus

Saturday is playoff day...