Winter 2026

 We left you last in January while we were boondocking off Plomosa Road north of Quartzsite.

Having arrived early, our friends from all over slowly filtered in over the next week or so and as the opening date of the big RV show arrived, the desert around us filled in with hundreds of RV's.

This year we decided to move a bit further out and while we were not right next to most of our friends, it was only a 10 minute walk to visit back and forth.   The tradeoff was having a more peaceful location with less traffic (and dust)

Absent for the past few years, The Alpine Motorcoach Group once again assumed their location right next to where our group (The Montana Gang) has been meeting for almost 20 years.    This is about our 14th year.

The Alpine group really does it up big-time!   They have about 40 coaches all lined up with a big white air-conditioned tent and catered dinners and a big band.

The Alpine Group tent

Right next to the Alpine Group is where the Montana Owners Club (MOC) set up their circle.  It used to be a big planned event with all sorts of activities, but over the years it has now evolved into a more informal get together.   Lots of the group have moved into different types of RVs (including coaches) but the gang still gets together.   Many of the old guard have moved on or passed away over the years.   One year there were about 75 rigs in attendance!   This year it looked like there were about 25-30 ish

Walking away from the Alpine Group toward the MOC circle.

We came across a rare sight..  A group of Prevosts in a circle.   We usually dont see these premium rigs out here in the dirt as the prices of these rigs are in the $2+ million range!

A group of Prevosts

Morgan & Chris were having issues with their solar not producing up to specs.   After some troubleshooting it turned out that a couple of connections on the roof had come undone.  Morgan got up there, cleaned and reconnected them and all was back in operation.

Some of the gang came over for a pizza night for Maxines Birthday.

Our more secluded spot in the desert.

The big draw at Q is the RV show that takes place for a week in mid January.   Once that is over, most of the people move off to parts far and wide leaving the desert much quieter.

A new happening that seems to have appeared since Covid has been the arrival of this traveling band of "hippies" that appear about a week after the big show ends.   They take up residence in the area that was previously occupied by the Alpine and MOC groups.  

A diverse group of nomads living a counter culture lifestyle.   They seem to operate as a small town.    Some are helping others with repairs or improvements to their rigs.  Others are selling crafts and artwork.  At night they had a band and tribal drumming.   We were about half a mile away from there, but could hear the party clearly.    They were courteous however and shut down around 10pm.    It adds to the overall charm that is the RV lifestyle.

The nomad group.

Taking a stroll one day we had this cool looking "Mackerel Sky".   Usually indicating that rain or storms are expected soon.    We only had a few drops...  this is desert after all.

After about 6 weeks there, we moved onward to Boulder City, Nv.   Our destination was the Boulder Beach NF Campground on the shore of Lake Mead.

US93 - the main route between Phoenix and Las Vegas used to go over the dam.   After 911, and also in response to traffic jams when the highway went down to one-lane either direction, a bypass bridge named Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge was built just downstream from the dam.

Approaching the new bridge from the south

We arrived at our campground - The Boulder Beach Campground - located on the shore of Lake Mead.

A treed oasis in the Nevada desert.   White barked Eucalyptus trees grow throughout the campground.

Our site was nice and private with a good view of the lake.

Eucalyptus Tree

Morning sunrise

While there, we took a trip to Ikea in Las Vegas.  We needed to replace our 2 seats at the dining room table.   Kate loves the store and could spend all day there.    I - on the other hand - like to get in and out.

To keep things moving along, after our purchase was made, I kept pointing to the exit arrows that are projected on the floor. 

"Please keep the feet moving in this direction madam"

We made reservations at the CG for 18 days.   I made 11 days in one site, and then a week in another.   Just so that we'd have a change of scenery.

Our new site had a nice lake and mountain view out of the front window.

The history of Boulder City is quite unique.   

The town was built specifically for the construction of the dam.   Built during the depression, the construction of the dam attracted workers from all over the country.   Originally living in tent cities, it was soon realized that due to the harsh climate and lack of sanitation that a more permanent solution was needed.

Downtown Boulder City

The "Six Companies" built an entire city.   Besides the administration complex, there were a couple of "grades" of homes.    Better built homes for the management and professionals were located up on the hill near the administration building.    Further down the hill were the Dingbat Houses.  

Temporary housing was built in Boulder City for those who would work on the dam.

The homes – 658 of them – were called “dingbat” houses because of the quick and shoddy way they were constructed. The boxy homes had a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom.

Two men could throw one together in about 12 hours.  So many could be built in a shift that when workers came back to town, they would not recognize where to find their home.

They looked so much alike that it wasn’t uncommon to wake up and find a stranger sleeping on the couch. When he was awakened, he’d look around bewildered, get up and head for home.

An original dingbat home

Heading back to the CG on the Boulder Highway

One day we took a tour of the dam.   An hour in length, it takes you deep into this engineering marvel.  Almost 800' from top to bottom and 660' wide at the bottom, almost 100 years old and the cement is still curing!

One of the 30' diameter penstocks that deliver water to the electric generator turbines.

Inside the powerhouse.  In a past life, working at a generating station,  I used to operate a crane just like the one the flag is hanging from.

When the bid requests were laid out - one of the requirements was "to make it attractive if possible".

Throughout the dam, the use of art deco elements, prevalent at the time, assured the dams attractiveness. 

Art deco doorway

Art deco tiles throughout many passagways

The dam is a labyrinth of inspection tunnels and passageways.   Many are finished in art deco style, but most are not.   In the inspection tunnels you can see marks where the engineers note cracks (expected)

From one of the ventilation shafts about 1/2-way down the face of the dam, we were able to take a picture of the Tillman Bridge.

The art deco doors of an elevator.

The art deco lobby where you exit the dam interior.

From the top of the dam looking at the bridge

One of the disappointing aspects of the tour was the complete whitewashing of any mention of the impact that climate change is having on the dam and surrounding environment.   God forbid that we actually talk about science and facts!  That is too inconvenient and might require real choices in government policy.

The picture below shows just how far the lake has dropped since it was full.   It took the dam about 3 years to fill.   Since 1983 the lake level has dropped 150 feet!   Due to the lower levels, the dam can only produce about 50% of its rated output.   Another 10' drop will reduce power output to 30%

150' of further drop will result in "dead pool" where no water will be able to flow downstream.

It's important to realize that the lake has filled in a deep canyon.   Its steep V-shape means that less and less of the water volume is at deeper levels so the water levels continue to drop faster and faster.

Currently,  Lake Mead is around 35% of its capacity.

View of the dam from the Tillman Bridge.

No visit to "Lost Wages" would be complete without a tour thru the Casinos.   During my working life, our financial software was developed by a company based in Las Vegas, and I would often go and attend the yearly seminars on the new changes and updates.    Accordingly,  I'm pretty well acquainted with the place.

We're not gamblers at all, but the casinos are just so fun to see and walk thru.   Two of my favorites are Caesar's Palace and the Venetian.   Both are a virtual tour thru Italy.   The ceilings are painted with clouds and the lighting slowly changes on about an hourly cycle at the lighting goes from night to day and back again.

Our first stop was Caesars.

Caesars Palace

Followed by a trip to Venice

The first picture shows it as daytime.

The Venetian

Later, nightime is approaching.

 

Outside the Venetian is St Marks Square.

St Marks Square outside the Venetian

Our last stop was the fountains of Belagio.    Timed to music, they put on a show every 30 minutes.

By the end of the night we had over 6 miles for the day on our tired old paws.

Bellagio

Our time winding down, and in prep for our return to the house, we took our dogs to a self serve dog wash to clean the desert off of their scroungy bods.

Phoebe waits her turn

Kate gives Annie a blow-dry

The dogs being all fluffed up and soft as cotton, it was time to head back to Tucson.

We left on Jan 7 and got back on Feb 25 so it was a quick 7-week trip.

Back to our backyard sunsets.

Mid-April we are on the road for the summer and fall.   Up to the North Country.   The Yukon and points north.   One of the highlights this summer will be a trip up The Dempster Highway.    

500 miles each way, a dirt/gravel road thru the Yukon and Northwest Territories wilderness to the Arctic Ocean.

Some of you might recall our trip a few years back up the Dalton Highway in Alaska to Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean.  One of our most epic trips and this promises to be the same or even more.

Next week I'm off to Red Bay Alabama for a quick 3,200mi solo round-trip in the bus.   

I'll be getting some punch list items taken care of plus a new refrigerator installed.   Our current fridge is 12 years old.   Other than running more than normal, it seems to be operating ok but I'm getting worried about it giving up the ghost when we are somewhere remote...  like the Yukon.   So I'm being proactive and trying to fix it before it breaks.   A bit more energy efficiency wont hurt when we are boondocking either!

See you down the road.

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...