Quartzsite..the bad, the good, and the dusty

We had been looking forward to attending the "big RV Show" in Quartzsite AZ for the last year, hearing that thousands of people from all over the country came to see hundred of vendors sell you all sorts of cool stuff you didn't even know you needed!  We had visions of tools, gadgets, mats, chairs, shades, stuff for inside the rigs and stuff for outside.  Things to make it go faster, smoother, give it better gas mileage, etc.  Patio furnishings from lights to fireplaces to screened in decks with flags.  BBQ grills of all kinds and sizes, with every kind of gadget to go along with them.  Outdoor TVs, music speakers, and any other kind of entertainment we hadn't seen or heard of.

We were ready to be thrilled.  We (all three couples) expected to see and hear about new things that would "wow' us beyond our expectations.  With money in hand, once parked and settled, we all hit the show!  Dust was flying as we took off in our cars to find parking along with the hundred of other hopeful shoppers.  Well...

It didn't take us to long before we all looked at one another and said, "so, where is all the RV stuff?"  Lots of T shirts, cheap jewelry, gadgets, "stuff" you see at every swap meet or fair everywhere, but nothing "new".  Eventually we found some things, and we all managed to spend money, but the "wow" was never found.  We traversed the various parts of the show each day, finding areas we hadn't been to, finding a little thing here or there to buy.  Our biggest success was purchasing LED lights and exchanging all of our old lights out for them at a really good price (I love the new white light inside now!).  Our friends got new Direct TV antennas installed.  The rest were small purchases.

Our friends that came for a couple of days to see if they could find an RV to purchase - did.  They found a 2008, 42' Fleetwood that they liked and put a down payment on.  They are having a couple of second thoughts about it, but I think it will all work out ok for them.

The time together with our friends was the best.  Bringing other couples together that have never met before, for a week, was a gamble, but it worked out great!  Everyone got along super and we all spent a lot of time together laughing and telling great stories.  Each night's meal was incredible and I'm sure I've already gained 5 lbs!  It will be lonely when we all go our separate ways again.  I'm glad I will get one more week with one of the couples before they head back to their home in Utah...that will help ease the break a bit.

The weather treated us nicely with sunshine in the 70's, but oh my was it dry and dusty!  Our campground was just a pile of dirt with some loose rocks on top to (kind of) hold some of the dirt down.  Of course the whole town is that, so every car throws it up and it's constantly in the air.  My nose is so sore from sneezing and blowing it, I look like a clown.  I will be glad to get to Parker to wash all this off and be around grass again, I must say!

All in all, it was an experience, and I'm glad we did it.  Not sure I want to again...but now I can say "Quartzsite?  We've been there!"

...on the road in Arizona,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/   

Welcome home!

Although San Diego CA is not our "legal" home state, it is where we spent the last 40+ years (husband) and 55+ years for me.  So, every January we come here to visit friends and family and to "thaw out" from the last couple of months of the cold, damp weather of the north.

We don't usually drive an 8 hour day, not our style.  If you follow my blogs, you know it's all about enjoying the day, so usually we drive about 4 hours, settle in and see our surroundings.  Well, we were a bit anxious to get there, so we pushed it - 8 hours!  We were familiar with the drive, reminded of the traffic (ugh) and determined to get into town in time for the sunset.  We weren't disappointed - it was beautiful!  I didn't bother taking my camera, I just dashed to the water's edge (we always stay at Mission Bay RV Park) and just enjoyed it.  I leaned against the fence and said to myself "welcome home Marie".   It was warm, the sky was orange and for the first time in weeks all I had on that evening was a long sleeve shirt.  Lovely.

Don't get me wrong, Southern California isn't "perfect", it's crowded, over-priced, noisy, has crazy politics and probably a bunch of other problems, but...the weather is heaven!  After driving all over the country, enjoying low gas prices, "normal" traffic, reasonable food prices, etc, coming back into California, especially through Silicone Valley for three weeks, it was almost a shock to our system!  There were times when the traffic was so bad that I had to close my eyes for fear of screaming - and I'm the passenger!  My daughter told me to stop grimacing and scaring her, that this was "normal" here!  I'd forgotten how awful the drivers were here!  Last night, in San Diego, there were a couple of small accidents and all of the side roads, freeways, etc were bumper-to-bumper for hours! For hours!  I remember those days, yuck, no more, thank you.  Yep, it has lovely weather.  Keep reminding yourself of that. You don't even want me to get started on the price differences on food and gas!  ha ha

But...our wonderful friends and family live here, so we get the luxury of visiting and enjoying this great weather, in January when the rest of the world is freezing (I'm so sorry).  Seeing the Zoo, seeing how the progress is going on the San Salvador with the Blacksmiths, going to lunches and dinners, seeing all the changes in the city since last year (and in our previous jobs).  Then there's always the job of weeding all the "stuff" out that we've collected along the way (how does that happen?) and taking it to storage.  Good ol' spring cleaning!  Then...we're off for the next year's adventure!

We are so excited for 2014!  Several of our friends are getting back into RVing and I think that we will be seeing them more this year, which we are really looking forward to!  We've also made some new friends along the way, who are making plans on meeting up with us as well, so that will be great too.  It's always nice to have company!  After we leave the San Diego area we are heading to Quartzsite AZ to one of the largest RV shows there is.  About 150,000 folks converge on this tiny desert town for a week to see every possible thing that you could ever even think you might want for your rig, or maybe a brand new or a used rig to buy!  We are meeting 3 other couples there for the week!  I'm really excited - both for the experience of the show, but also for the first time of being with friends camping for the week!  Cool!

This is last year at Mission Bay, it always looks the same!

Our day at the Zoo!

Jack catching up with his Blacksmith buds at the San Salvador site

 See, 2014 is going to be a great year!  Glad you are coming along with us!

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/   

Goodbye 2013...

2013 was a very different year than 2012. We had planned it that way, wanting to spend more time visiting National and State Parks and spending more time at less places.  We also had family that was very ill and knew that we didn't want to be to far from the west coast at any given time.

The year started off spending a couple of months in California.  One of the things we learned was that when you stay long periods of time in one location, the opportunity to meet and get to know people rises.  "Snowbirds" from Canada flock to California in the winter, and the campground was about 75% Canadian and 25% US!  One lovely couple camped next to us was from Calgary and we had the joy of getting to know them.  When I shared that I had always wanted to visit Calgary and see the Stampede they invited us to their home and to come see the Stampede.  Their daughter works for it as well!  We ended up taking them up on their offer, and even leaving the rig there for an extra few days and traveling on up to Banff and Lake Louise.  Our friendship has continued and we will be meeting up with them again this spring in the US.

We were able to see 9 National Parks in 4 states and enjoyed every one of them!  Each one different from the other.  Yes, we have a favorite (always asked that), it's the Grand Tetons in Wyoming.  They just took our breath away.  I've gone on and on in other blogs about our National Parks, so I won't again here, but let me just say one more time, that what a blessing we have in this country.  The natural beauty is only something you can truly enjoy in person, no picture can do it justice.  If you can give yourself one gift, give yourself a trip (s) to our National Park (s), you won't ever forget it.  Better than a trip to Europe - honest!

We also went to our first BIG RV Rally this year.  It was put on by the Family Motor Coach Assoc. and held in Gillette WY.  Hundreds of RVs and people gathered togethers for 4 days in the rain to have fun and attend classes and shop!  The "campground" was a big dirt field that quickly turned into a mud pond that was a hoot getting out of, but get a bunch of RV'ers together and what you have is a bunch of "friends" helping each other, laughing and having a good time doing it!  It was informational and fun!  We even ran into friends there we had met the year before in Red Bay AL (at the Allegro Manufacturing Plant) - and ran into them a couple of times in our travels!  Love that!  I'd post on FB a picture of our day, she'd see it and say, hey, we are here too, where are you?  Then we would find each other and get together!  What a hoot!

We camped at 270 campgrounds this year and spent a little under $7900.  The most expensive campground was in Canada at $57 a night, in the US, it was in San Jose CA (big surprise!) at $45 and the lowest was in eastern Washington at $10.  We traveled 6000 less miles this year, for a total of 11,569 and spent a little under $6800 in gas. 

We celebrated two weddings and two baptisms and the news of an up-coming new grandchild.  The tough part of our year was that we lost 7 dear people.  3 family members and 4 special friends.  That hurt.  It reminded us how precious life is, and how important you have to live each moment, share it, and love those around you - be in the moment.  That's why we do what we do.  That's why we are continuing on for another year.  We are still loving this life we lead, there is still so much to see!  There are 10 states we still haven't gotten to!  Friends and family we need to spend time with.
..so, 2014, here we come!

...kicking back in California,  Marie

Tootling down the Oregon Coast...

I'm way late in posting this, but we had such a delightful and unusual trip down the coast, I just had to share it!  Last year, traveling south to California, as we always do at this time of year, we visited the eastern side of Oregon, in hopes of finding a "dryer, warmer Oregon" to perhaps, consider moving there.  If you've followed me, you know that it wasn't what we thought it was going to be - quite the opposite, actually. 

This year, we threw away any idea of "searching for a new home site" and decided to just tootle down the coast, hugging Hwy 101, and enjoying the views.  We had, of course, been down this route before, but not in the RV and not for many years.

We also thought it would be warmer and less rainy, ha!  That was a fantasy!  Don't get me wrong, we had sunny days, and we didn't really get much rain (only at night, so that doesn't count, right?)  BUT, what we didn't count on was the SNOW & ICE!  I can truly confess, it never occurred to either one of us that we would face that kind of weather!  But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Just say cheese!  All the other trips through Tillamook, we never stopped, just sailed on through and said to ourselves "someday we will have to stop and check out the Tillamook Cheese Factory".   I was determined that this was "the someday"!  So, stop and enjoy, we did!  It's a "self-tour", really just windows that you can watch the workers, along with signs that tell their story and what you are seeing.  It was kind of interesting, but definitely fun!  Of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity to purchase plenty of goodies, both food & T shirt wise.

We learned that there was more to see in Tillamook than the cheese, so we decided to stay over for another day.  We weren't disappointed.  Because Jack loves anything to do with WWII history, it was a "no brainer" to make a trip to their Air Museum.  The first thing you notice is the building - it's a 1940's, wooden blimp hanger.  It's supposed to be the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world.  It is huge, 6 acres huge!  I've never seen anything so big before!  Inside and out, they had quite a collection of more than 30 aircraft from a mini-guppy to a P51 Mustang.  They also had a small museum area with memorabilia, pictures, stories and posters depicting men and women who flew during the war.  That's where I learned that WASPs were never inducted into the armed services and did not receive veterans benefits until more than 30 years after WWII!  So much for "equal rights"!

Another stop along our route was at the Cape Meares Lighthouse.  What a cute little thing!  A couple of quick pictures (it was closed for the season) then a walk over to see the Octopus Tree.  What a unique tree!  The Octopus Tree is a Sitka Spruce shaped like an upside down Octopus.  The tree measures more than 46 feed in circumference and has no central trunk. Instead, limbs extend horizontally from the base as much as 16 feet before turning upward. It is 105 feet tall and is estimated to be 250 to 300 years old.  Something worth stopping to see. 

One more stop at a coastal lighthouse, Yaquina Bay Lighthouse in Newport.  This one included a wonderful guided tour by a costumed docent who gave great insight on what it was like to operate that lighthouse back in the 1870's.  Not a life I would choose, that's for sure!  Beautiful lighthouse though. 

Snow decided to join us on our trip, as early as Tillamook.  Mostly it came at night, and melted during the day.  One early exception was the snow left on the Sand Dunes in Coos Bay!  Now that's an unusual sight...at least for us anyway!  It didn't spoil the continuous beauty of the coastline - blue oceans and blue skies, with various sized sea stacks to add to the pictures.  Always lovely.  

The cold weather continued to follow on down the coast, well into California. The last night, coming down the coast, we spent at the Golden Rule RV Park in Willits - it's where the horse Seabiscuit was born and died.   That morning we woke up to frozen ice and snow all around us!  Brrrr   Driving through Humboldt, both sides of the road was covered in snow...pretty, but it just made us want to move faster south - to safer driving and warmth!  

A fun trip, but another cold one through Oregon!  Even though everyone we talked with shared how this was "so unusual" for them...it just reaffirmed to us that as pretty as Oregon is, it's best left for "summer fun"! 

Marie in the Tillamook Baby Loaf truck!

The floor of the Tillamook Cheese Factory

Tillamook Air Museum

Jack in front of the TBM Catalina

Cape Meares Lighthouse

The Octopus Tree, Cape Meares OR

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

"1870's Lighthouse Keeper's Wife, Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

That's SNOW on those sand dunes!

Sea stacks along the Oregon coastline

Snow filled trees along Hwy 101 through Humboldt CA

 ...kicking back in Northern California,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/   

...On the road again!

The countdown to leave began.  Thanksgiving was Thursday.  The very last of the doctor re-appointments was Friday morning and by Friday afternoon we had taken two loads of "stuff" back over to the rig for reloading and reorganizing.  Phew!  It's surprising how many things wandered over to my sister's in the 6 weeks we were over there!

Friday night was the "good-bye dinner", the last of the turkey, a few more hugs with admonishments of "no tears tho".  No need to wake up extra early Saturday, because we were only going to Vancouver Washington.  So a nice breakfast, lots of hugs and kisses, and back to the rig we went!

I couldn't believe how slow I was at "remembering" to pull in the slides, to pull up the levels, at each of the steps to hook up the truck!  Jeez, 6 weeks and the brain cells went on vacation!  What used to happen without even thinking, actually took some thinking!  Tisk, tisk.  It was more than time to be on our way!!

As I've shared before, there's nothing like the feeling of getting in the passenger seat, strapping myself in, getting comfy and seeing the road ahead and the world passing by along the side, I was smiling now!  We were on our way - somewhere, it didn't really matter where!  It didn't matter that it was raining and it doesn't matter that the campground is just a pretty parking lot with gravel sites, we're traveling again!

We're in Vancouver for a couple of reasons.  We have a couple of dear, long-time friends who moved here years ago from San Diego that we see every time we pass this way.  They are special people that we don't get to see often enough.  He just retired this last May, so hopefully now they will get to travel a bit more, so that will change (their not RV'ers tho, darn).  The other, is that we are big fan's of the Powell Books in Portland, and can't be near this area without a day visit there!  If you've never been, and you love to read, you need to add this place to your "must visit" list!  One (they have at least 3 stores) store is 4 stories high, a square block full of every kind of book ever written!  Their other stores are specialties - travel, technical, etc. Way cool.  They have new & used, so you don't have to spend major dollars either.  We only carried out 6 books this time and spent less than $50.  That's really good for us!  A really nice dinner capped the day off, then back to our wonderful, cozy home for the evening.

Sunday, we ventured over to Portland's (famous) Saturday Market (yes, I know it was Sunday, but, hey, it's Portland, they can have it on Sunday too!).  What great finds we found!  So much better than buying in stores!  Those that know me, know I really don't like to shop, especially in stores, but I do like markets, or bazaars, boutiques, anything locals hand make or put together themselves.  That, I will support.  Something really special for the new baby coming in June, a incredible vest for Jack, some very unusual earrings (always can use new earrings, right?) for me, along with another knitted ear warmer (my ears get cold and I don't like to wear hats so much) and a fire starter for his cousin that he should have gotten one for every guy "on our list"!  ;-) Very fun!  A stop for pizza that turned out to be one of the best we've had in the two years we've traveled - so, again, if you are ever in Portland, stop in at Old Town Pizza!

A search for dessert led us to Voodoo Doughnuts, of course!  Our first 'go-round' we passed it up as it had a line down the block!  So, we headed out to check out one of their local gardens, Lan Su Chinese Garden.  It was just about to close, so the nice docent let me in for free!  I quickly snapped a bunch of pictures and scooted out.  Then, we headed to the "World's Smallest Park" - Mill Ends Park.  It was created by a man who gazed down on the busy Front Avenue thoroughfare.  He turned a a utility pole hole in the median strip at Taylor Street into "Mill Ends Park"!  Later it was made official.  What a hoot!

After braving the rain and the traffic, we deserved the donuts, so off we went back to Voodoo Donuts, this time, no line!  Jack was a happy man.  A great way to end the night.

Can you tell it rained all night?  Nothing "fancy"here, but, it's camping!

Only place I've seen where someone handmade a chain-mail "tie dye" shirt!

This is the elevator shaft where "Nina" went down and still "haunts" at Old Town Pizza!

Yummy Voodoo Doughnuts on the "doughnuts go-round"!

Lan Su Chinese Garden

 Mill Ends Park, Vancouver WA

...on the road in Washington & Oregon,  Marie

A rose by any other name...

Do you ever think of your name?  Probably not.  Living in a "stationary place", you are probably used to hearing your name a lot.  Neighbors, friends, coworkers, family, all sorts of folks calling you by your first name, Mom, Aunt, Grandma, etc. all of the time.  You don't think anything about it, it's just part of life.

Well, when you live the nomad life like we do, that's not the case.  Other than Jack calling for me, I really don't hear my name!  Even when we check into a campground, the hosts
don't really say "welcome Marie, or Mrs Beschen".   I didn't really give it much thought until this long visit with family.

Suddenly, I'm hearing my name all over the place!  Being introduced to friends, then seeing the same ones again and having them remember me, using my name again saying "hello Marie, nice to see you again!"  Lots of Aunt Marie, and "Sister" this and "Sissy" that.  One evening while we were leaving a restaurant, and I was carrying a take-out box, I heard someone say "watch out Auntie, it's leaking!"  I had to look around to see who they were talking to!  It was me!  I had to chuckle to myself, I wasn't used to this.  It still takes me a second to respond when one of my sister's says "sister, would you....?" because I always think she's talking to the other one!

One of my sister's friend's name is also Marie and when we first met we commented on the rarity of meeting someone with our name.  When we were at another function together, every time she passed me, she would say "hello Marie".  It got to be kind of funny, and it never stopped sounding strange to hear my name.

Funny how when you are in a "normal" lifestyle most your life, then when you change it (so drastically) you don't notice the little things that made up that lifestyle until you walk back into them for awhile.

I like all of my names, I have to admit.  I do miss some of them more than others tho...mostly "Mom" and Grammy/Grandma.  Those I have to get by phone more than I'd like, but at least I do!  I've saved some phone messages that they've left me in the past, so when I need a "fix", I play them back and just smile.

I think all our various names are just another word for love...

...kicking back in Tacoma WA,  Marie

Has the meaning of friendship changed?

I've been thinking a lot about friendship lately, how it's changed, and wondering if it's just different, better, worse, or if just depends on who/what/when & why?

I, being of the era of "Webster", checked there first, ugh, has THAT changed too!  IT used to be SO much more definitive and useful and, well, helpful! "Friendship" was pathetic, so I went for "friend", and I didn't think it was much better but... after several gleanings, this is what I was able to come away with:

- one attached to another by affection or esteem- to have a friendship or friendly relationship with
- a person who you like and enjoy being with

What I was hoping for was something that indicated more personal communication.  Actual face-to-face or phone-to-phone talking.  You know, the kind you actually hear and or see the person?  Remember that kind of communication?  Are those days really gone (forever)?  Dear God I hope not.  I have a Facebook love/hate relationship.  I love it because it connects me with people I've lost contact with over the years.  It lets me hear from and about people I know and care about on what's going on in their day-to-day life.  It let's me know about (some) world events and happenings I enjoy seeing and learning about.  I hate it because people have let it (me included, to often) be their voice, instead of picking up the phone, or taking the time to see, or even, oh my gosh, (hand) writing a letter or card!  Our personal contact is being lost, and being replaced by communal blurbs to a myriad of our "friends" on a "posting" - many times just by a public poster quote that we didn't even write!  We've separated ourselves so far from each other that we are going through a public quote, through a computer that's sent out through the "waves" to people that we can't see or hear, in hopes that they may see and may "post" or "like" or  type a response!  Wow!  Is that what we call friendship now?

This really hit me when we found out about a dear friend's death the night before his funeral.  Had we been called when he passed, Jack would have flown in to San Diego for the funeral.  Jack was very close to this lovely man and it hurt him deeply that he couldn't be there, and that he only found out about it through e mail hours before.  No call.  I was stunned.  I still am.  This is MY generation.  WE didn't used to be like this.  WE used to pick up the phone and call each other.  Now it's E mails.

I was sharing with a fellow traveler and blogger that many of my friends don't call or contact me like they used to and when I tease them about it, they say that they "mean to, but don't have anything new going on!"  They always comment (when I call) that they love hearing all about my travels and reading my blogs, etc...  My friend agreed and said she found the same thing happened to her.  It seems that they get all our news by reading our blogs, so don't have the "need" to call and see what we are up to, etc. so  don't call!  They don't think about our need to hear from them...

I love our travels and I love talking with all the various people around the US, but they are not my friends.  My friends are the people who have shared my life with me.  Who have been there with me, creating my stories with me, sharing my life with me, knowing me.

I want to hear your voice, your laughter.  I want to see your face when I can.  I want to feel your hugs and hold your hands and share your tears if you need.  Life, my friends is way, way to short not to, once more, without regrets.  Otherwise, you'll never know how much I truly love you...

So many fun times then, so many more to come!

Only a friend would help you go get the "new baby" and make sure you didn't kill yourself doing it!

What began with a small music gig, turned into a lifetime friendship

Some friends are worth hunting for and not giving up until you find them again!

 

Only your best friends would share a mud bath with you, and not kill you for showing this picture!