The 26 th day & ready

The big day is here, all loaded and ready will leave about 5 or so to get to our riding spot.

The weather sounds good but cold, have had good comments on the area we chose to try

this 4 wheeled rocket.

27 th day & junk cars

We made it out to Desert kings today,this was in Casa Grande the other one was in Deer Valley
about 35 miles North so we went 35 miles south today. This place was 25 acres full of cars 40's
through the 60's much cleaner than the one up North, cars in nice rows and you can walk all
around them, Flathead V8s V12s Buick straight 8s Corvair conv.  $1250 you name it parts of it
are there somewhere.Great day
The girls went West to some Casino, and had to borrow money to get home,good thing I didn't
buy a car at that wrecking yard, you know something else for the kids to deal with.
Tomorrow we pickup the desert rocket and get ready for the big ride, will leave early Wed morning
to get our money's worth have to return it by 5 or so and I hope its in one piece.

26 th day & a good drive

Woke up this morning with sun shinning in my eyes, had to be the day to go see the
old Indian dwellings.Did pretty good getting there only 1 wrong turn and 60 miles
out of our way, a narrow dirt road, creek crossing and a small private copper mine
we were back on the right trail. So we ended up above Roosevelt Dam on the Salt
River. It was about 1/2 mile hike up to the lower dwellings. These were established
around A.D. 1250 by the Tonto basin people and mysteriously abandoned them
around 1450 A.D. These caves were high above the Salt River so flooding shouldn't
have been a reason for leaving. I suppose the reason will never be known. In 1907
Theodore Roosevelt declared the dwellings a National Monument. Vandalism has
made it so you can't go inside but the view high above the river is remarkable.
Made our way back to Sun Lakes less the 60 mile detour. GOOD DAY!
Plan to go to the other Desert King's Antique car site tomorrow.

                                                   The End

25 th day and getting warmer

Well the days are getting warmer about 75 and shorts weather, I think Jerry might still be
wearing long johns just a  guess., stands in front of the fireplace when its 65 degrees.
Today was the same as yesterday the girls went oneway, and we went the other, right
out to the swap meet & junk and spent most of the day there.
Perhaps before we leave I can get up to the old cliff dwellers caves about a mile hike,up
by lake Roosevelt ,dont know if I can talk Jerry into that .

The 24 th day &??????

The girls went their way and Jerry &  I went straight out to the Department of Natural Resourses
and got our maps for our BIG ride that went quite well  or 12 dollars later we walked out with our
maps and a smile on our faces. I can remember when the maps were free. so after looking at our
maps it was decided we were 3/4 of the way there so off we went to check these areas out for the
BIG ride.Arriving at the first site we found some riders that had just came back from there morning
and were very pleased with the area, so I guess that is done we are set.
By the time we got back to home base it was time to go to dinner with some some friends of Jerry &
Sheryl's at some fancy steak house .
                                                          THE END

The 23 rd day &junk cars

Well the day started a little slow, but I just had to wash the  Jeep it was  slowly
changing color to brown.With that done Jerry & I headed out . Left the girls todo there
own thing probably the casino's .We had much more important things to do .We had to
find a ride for WED and we did GOOD A brand new Polaris Razor 88hp- 18 inches of
suspension travel a side by side ROCKET that should handle whatever Superstition MT
has to offer as far as trails go.
Next we headed on out of town to Desert Kings wrecking yard wasn't quite like they
showed on TV but it got our attention for 3 hrs and alot of walking. did find a set of pulleys
that I have been looking for and a few cars I could't afford but would like to have, just for
the kids [ something else for them to get rid of ] and the icing on the cake was a stop by
Habor Frieght

 

The 22 nd day & not bad

So I do have to say the weather is pretty nice here with no wind, got up to about 70
to day but still a little cool in the morning. Great for the morning walk about 11/2 miles
round trip.
Didn't get out to Desert Kings today maybe tomorrow, so thats retirement, NOT BAD
Also want to check out some side by side 4 wheelers to rent so Jerry & I can go riding
up in the Superstition MT maybe look for that lost gold mine.

the 21 st day & logging

So much for peace & quite , 7.00  o'clock this morning I awoke to what I thought was
a full scale logging operation chain saws and all but it was really the yard guys with their
blowers so much for sleeping in.
I had forgot to tell the rest of the story from the last nite at Quartzsite we had 2 buses
close to us that run their generators all nite and to finish off the nite 500 o'clock in the
2 buses right behind us started up 1 reving  his motor to build air pressure I guess. So
much for campground manners.
Other than the early wake up it was a nice day about 45- 70 temp. range went over
and got the generator problem taken care of from a few days back.Will do some P.M
maintenance tomorrow and then play maybe go out to the Desert kings junk yard thats
the program that was on TV awhile back
        THE ALMOST EASY LIFE if only we could find more oil-gold!!!

The 20 th day buses & chains

The wind has gone so we don't have to chain the buses together.
So today we were going to go back over to the big tent and check
out a couple things  but decided it wasn't worth it. with all the old
people over there with their little carts & there dogs riding in the
carts.
We decided to go to Sun Lakes and visit our friends there for awhile
and get out of the wind & dust will try and keep up on this blog just
so much to do and not enough time I guess I will have to work on my
time  managment.

Last nites wind + a little BS

The wind last nite became so strong rocking the buses , we had to start one up this
so we could get slack in the chain to unhook them so some of the buses could leave
this morning for Canada .I believe we logged 1432 miles so they had to be 2000+
miles to Quartzsite.
So today we went into Quartzsite with more shops & the same stuff ,but i did find
the old car place but it was closed, maybe tomorrow. Found a grocery store and
went out to dinner with a group from Wash.pretty much finished the day
If things go as planned we will go to Sun Lakes for a few days then start working
our way back hit some of the places we skipped on the way down

18 th day & windy

So the wind is here, rocking the bus like a baby rocker and not time to go nite-nite.
Had to form a [ bus train ] so we could get dinner served.Most people went back
to their buses to eat, didn't like the free sand & dirt in the Tri Tip steak.
Today we walked over to the Big Tent what a zoo. It was a life & death thing for
some of those old people to be the first one inside if they had a power chair
look- out  like 2 bull ELK fighting for the female but they were fighting for the
RV gadgets, really didn't see any good deals, but alot of shit. Well with that behind
us we got a free air ride back to the bus.
Tomorrow we will check out the big city of  Quartzsite, and got a directions to a
antique junk yard with a good collection of cars.

Well some guy is here looking for a chain to hook the buses together so we don't
blow AWAY

17th day & getting warmer

So the weather is getting alittle warmer each day it seems, cool when you get up but nice as
the day goes on.All the dirt and small rocks are ground into a fine power from all the rigs
driving thru looking at the buses or trying to find a place to park
There was some unhappy people this morning that had driven in for the Grand Opening of
the big tent that was to open today but was changed to tomorrow.We spent most of the day
looking at the rest of the shops at the far WEST  end, still have abunch on the NORTH side
to go.
We have met alot of nice people with a wealth of knowledge about buses. Tomorrow will be
the last day with the ti-tip dinner.I heard one of the guys cooking say they were fixing a
140 spuds. They had 75 signed up with afew canceled.I know of 6 buses that didn't want
to dry camp here,needed that 50 amp power & asphalt under there tires!!!

So I will end with a  { HAPPY BIRTHDAY to BOB A }did you get rich ??

16th day The incoming rain

As the forecast goes the rain liked Wash, better, and turned to snow but another front
might get us Monday. That will be OK as the  Eagles rally will be over and we will move
300 yards to higher ground and finish looking at all the junk.The Flexable &  MCI bus
nuts will be coming in .Already one 1948 Flexable pulled in,[very nice] to have their rally
which well be next week
We are getting our exercise as the shops are in rows getting further away each day, parking
is hard and will only get worse the 20th when the big tent opens with the [ good ] stuff.We
might sleep in rest up and let crowd clear out and go the next day. The days highs have been
about 70 with the low around 40.
Was talking with a  older gentleman today thats being coming here for years, he said the
Adult stores were in the far west corner so they are here.

15 th day and rumors of rain

The rumor today is possible rain Sat. depending on how much it could be very
interesting. Some of the high end coaches came in today & they are pretty important
if you know what I mean
We spent most of the day looking thru all the little shops & there is still alot more about
the only thing we didn't see was a Adult store and that might be in the next row.

14 th day &the 1st destination

So we have arrived at Quartzsite and found the Eagle bus rally site.There are about 30
buses now and expecting 70.The area they have will be pretty full with that many rigs.
The big tent will open the 20th but there are lots of small tents every where with every thing
from soup to nuts.We will check everything out tommor with alittle less BS.
Every where you look as far as you can see there are people camping just out in the desert.
I guess when the big tent opens its a ZOO

13 th day & lots of side wind driving

The  short cut I tried wasn't to bad of a 2 lane road but the side winds were awful .
Found the Indio ELKS fine but their 45 spaces with hookups were all taken. So we
will be dry camping along with 3 other couples from Wash.& 1 from Kelso.
So some how while registering my lovely co-pilot said that I was a mechanic,before
we even got parked this guy was looking me up about a oil leak, which turned into a
bigger project than what I was looking for, but being the new ME ,I pulled his hyd
cooler from under the air-air cooler so he would have a sample.
The good side of is maybe next my Co-Pilot wont say my driver is a Mechanic because
it cost her atrip to a couple Casino's,but we did meet some nice people, and I didn't
have to go Casino hunting

12 th day no rain but dark clouds & real windy

So just about the time you think you have seen everything, something new
happens.I forgot yesterday to tell about this 6ft+ guy with a harness on
a chain hooked to a large tire running up this long hill going who no's
where along the road, the nearest campsite was better than 2 miles away.
Then today after going to a all cat zoo, decided to stop for a burge
before going to the Borax museum
When we went inside this Jack in the box up on the counter were 5
machines with faces of  5 different people, on the screen it said, fast
friendly service. When you get closer it says Hello, may I take your
order, the screen lites up with pictures of the menu, shes says would
like to super size if you say [ yes ] she spits a large cup,you may fill it
to your left as you complete your order she say that will be X amount
dollars you put in the money gives you change, says THANK YOU,
your order will be ready in a minute.So we sat so we could see how
other people handled [ her- it ] whatever some new what to do,others

just stood there, others shook their head and left.
Will head for Indio tommor,see if they can top Lancaster

11 th day

A little road trip turned long, we had wanted to see Death Valley so we were going
to drive up , take a quick look ,then go to the 20 mule team mine.That plan didn't
work out, the scenery was so interesting we just kept driving up to 5000ft over
one of the passes, to 284ft below sea level at Bad water lake we ended up making
a big loop and stumbled across the first Borax mine that only survived 5 years
because of its location that was  1882 and a long way from anything.So our
little road trip turned into 400 miles, but well worth it.

10 th day and no rain

Well you know when you wake up and something isn't quite right but you haven't
figured it out yet well thats today first thing is the car still there yes OK what is wrong?
The bus is leaning to the left, first thought how did they get a tire off the bus with us
sleeping inside? Up and out the door gun in hand, are they still here no but my tire is
still here to it was a air bag that leaked off during the nite
We are headed for  Lancaster ELKS today ,will top off our fuel the further south we
go the higher the price [ with thousands of wells pumping in the Bakersfield area ]
whats wrong with this picture?Nice drive up and over the Tehachapi mountains.
So we arrived in Lancaster, nice lodge 40 some back in sites power & water,
friendly people had lunch and dinner there.Talked to some people that had stayed
at Bakersfield before during Superbowl and said they were friendly so it must have
been the cloths we had on

9th day

Well ! got up this morning and first thing I did was make sure we still had a car
and tires on the bus { good to go }
After our big Oat meal breakfast we are off to find the Kern County Museum
which tells the story about the area from early days to present with about 50
genuine structures they have set up as a village.With alot of time spent on
Black Gold { oil } old drilling rigs and pumps and the history of oil in the
Bakersfield area, how they found it ,how they pumped it and developed ways
to improve oil & gas & help oil people get filthy rich. OK enough
Well to keep the Co- Pilot happy we are off to Eagle Mountain Casino ,45 miles
later, narrow county road and a dead end canyon we arrive,about 15 miles back
down the road we had seen these big parking lots but didnt  known that most people
park there and leave the driving to them.
Well after that we went to the Buck Owens Crystal  Palace for a great dinner and
alittle live music  THE END

8th day & NO RAIN

On the road again,left Placerville about 9.30 run 99 all the way down arrived at Bakersfield 3.30.
Lots to see running the back roads.Had no problem finding the ELKS lodge ,parking  is not the best
and the people inside were not very friendly we left after 1 beer.
Found a casino to throw in the trip,along with the museums in Bakersfield for the day.

7 th day

Well my Co- Pilot is getting tired of looking at old junk, so off to S Tahoe up and over the hill on 50 we go.
About 11/2 later we arrived nice drive and not to bad of road
We visited 4 casinos and had lunch & left with a few extra dollars  [ good day ]
Off to Bakersfield tomorrow.

6th day getting bored yet NO

Off again, heading up to Placerville ELKS but will stop at Sacramento Village Ford on the way [ GREAT PLACE ] like a candy store for Hot rodders
On up the hill and set up camp, was getting a little dry so we headed to the Hanging tree tavern,this was a
real hanging spot in its day but the tavern was closed. So we visited some of the antique stores and found
something my Co-Pilot had been looking for.
From there we went to the Red Hawk casino and had dinner,after that my Co- Pilot won 100 bucks but
quickly lost most of it.

5th day

Well the day started off with a bang , generator problems , runs for awhile and quits,spare time project
Drove out to Heidrick Ag Center and found the Hays truck museum in the same building , got the guided
tour from one of the old timers, very interesting.
From there we went back down to old town Sacramento auto museum ,used up the rest of the day
Great day !

4th day

Washed  The other woman before heading out to Sacramento Elks arrived about 2.30.
Decided to go see the R/R museum , and walk around old town Sacramento lots to see
even candy stores giving samples, should have kept walking !

3rd day

Cool& cloudy today with a couple of hours before Kents meat market opened we drove up to
Shingle town & Mt Lassen the old volcano got up to 5000 ft to see snow along the road
Headed back to the bus stopped and got tri tip steak & chicken for lunch.
Easy drive from Redding to Chico Elks where we are now.

2nd day of trip

Left casino at K falls about 9.10 clear& cold no snow as predicted
Arrived at Redding Elks about 12.00 had lunch & then went on the
hunt for a car wash with that done my Co Pilot was on the hunt for
the Win More casino which she lost some of winnings from the nite
before.Still having a few dollars headed to Jacks for dinner GREAT
Got back to Elks lodge & took nice walk along the Sacramento river
walkway found our way back to the lodge for our free beer
Ready for another day

Did good..left Longview only 15 mins later than our planned departure time.  Traffic lite weather good. Turned at Eugene and headed up 58 to 97 Willamette Pass. Snow on side of road but no problems. Stopped for lunch at Crescent Lake and on to the Kla-Mo-Ya casino about 30 miles from K-Falls.  Parked next to a RV and found out it was an old friend from Scappoose hadn't seen for years.  Still talking about snow tomorrow on upper pass. Will head out in the a.m. for Redding and hope for the best.