One of my favorite things to do is planning a road trip, and even better is going on one. Bill, Sasha and I leave Friday for a road trip to Quartzsite, Arizona, via Nevada.
We survived a week in the camper during bitter cold temperatures over Christmas and agreed not to worry about presents for each other. Well Bill did get me a comfy pair of down booties for in the house and I framed a photo of Sasha for him. Our idea was to share experiences instead. Of course my dream would be to fly away somewhere warm but that’s really not in the budget. Especially after buying a new laptop this week. More on that latter.
January is a time when snowbirds should already be south, farther south than I am for sure. Things are happening in Quartzsite, other than the RV and Rock Shows. Fellow RVing friends who worked at some point in their lives for the Grand Canyon Association gather between the 17-23 on BLM short-term south of town. I joined them last winter for a few days and got reacquainted with some folks and met some new people too. The jello plan has us arriving the 19th and cooking dinner the 21st. Everyone takes turn with dinner so I won’t have to cook for the other three nights.
Recognize anyone from last year?
Then there’s the second annual Bloggerfest on the 23rd and they meet in the same place as last year that’s BLM short-term north of town. Was so fun last year to meet IRL fellow bloggers, many I’ve known online for years. Plus now I follow a few new blogs after meeting new bloggers. I look forward to seeing who shows up this year.
So that’s the why of going to Quartzsite. What about the “via Nevada” idea? It’s 277 miles between bridges over the Grand Canyon and Colorado River, that large obstacle to the south of Kanab, Utah. One option to the southeast crosses at Navajo Bridge but first goes up to Jacob Lake at 7,000 feet and then through an equally high Flagstaff which just got dumped on with snow. The other option to the southwest goes to Las Vegas, at 2,000 feet, and crosses at Hoover Dam. Just before Vegas is Valley of Fire State Park where we plan to camp three nights starting Friday. From the photos I’ve seen, the twisted and colorful rock formations, petroglyphs, and canyons will provide plenty of dog friendly—on leash—hiking.
On the way to Quartzsite I’d like to stop at the Lost City Museum in Overton, Nevada which preserves Native American artifacts. Then continue south, cross the Colorado River at Laughlin and follow SR95, maybe camping on BLM around Lake Havasu City leaving about 80 miles to Q. After that depends on our moods and the weather. You have to know I’ll be looking for the warmest temps.
Because I use a PC in my 5th-wheel home I travel with a laptop. Haven’t been happy with the Windows 8 (fooled with Shell 7) ASUS since I bought it in South Africa after my other laptop was stolen. Also had a tiny ASUS netbook with my favorite Windows 7 but it’s too slow for photo processing and multi-tasking. I traded them both in at Best Buy towards the purchase of yet another ASUS with, unfortunately, Windows 10. Oh boy a new operating system to learn. So far better than 8 but not as good as 7. Been downloading Windows Office, Live, Solitaire, and Picasa. Still have to get Lightroom but having problems connecting to my phone’s FoxFi hotspot with often limited signal and the equally shitty signal here at the RV park. Hope this new laptop is as ready to travel as I am by Friday. But if you don’t hear from me, it probably wasn’t packed.
Look for me in Quartzsite.
Pretty sure George is now saying La Posa South. We will be there. Looking forward to seeing everyone. It will be our first time.
So not where we were last year? Hopefully there will be an update. Look forward to meeting you.
Look forward to seeing you! The weather looks great. Well, not quite as warm as we like but at least mid to upper 60s and no rain in the forecast.
You will love Valley of Fire.
60s sure beats the temps here. See you in Q.
Hi Gaelyn,
Are you going to press on to Anza-Borrego afterwards?
Not sure yet. Will keep you posted. John and Shirley will be in Quartzsite this year. You should come visit.
I love your road tripping. Winter fun and park ranger job. What an amazing life! Someday…..someday…..:) Love the bloggerfest idea. Sounds like a lot of fun. You have some extra guests now along for the ride which should keep you from falling asleep at the wheel:)
Well I love your road trips as well and having summer’s off is nice also. Am looking forward to showing Bill and Sasha some new territory in southern AZ.
At Valley of Fire, the rocks on the short hike to Mouses tank are covered in interesting petroglyphs. Enjoy and have fun!
Thanks for that, will check it out.
Hope it is warm up there. Travel safely. Diane
Warmer where we’re headed than here.
Have fun chasing warmth! New operating systems give me the jitters. I’ve been a Mac gal for 6 years now, so I can’t look back. Safe travels.
Much more of this shit and I may become a Mac gal too. But the dang things are SO expensive.
My thoughts exactly with the MAC. I’d have done it long ago but you can nearly buy 3 PCs for the cost of one Mac. Really sorry to hear you don’t like Windows 10. I was pulled kicking and screaming from XP to Win 7 and it’s fine but my laptop is now nearly 8 years old – good old Dell – and I’m thinking it may give up the ghost soon. I really don’t want to do 10. So much for that. Glad to hear you have warmer weather plans even if it’s only to 60ish degrees. The route sounds interesting. Hope you can stay awhile in the warm.
I’m not too unhappy with Windows 10, just a little learning curve from 7. May have a problem with the internal antenna that will be check out Friday on the way through St George. It better be warmer.
Have a wonderful time at the Blogger Fest. One day we’ll be close enough to attend:) We’ll be in Tucson.
We LOVE Valley of Fire! It has one of the prettiest campgrounds among the red rocks. And the park is wonderful!! You can literally hike anywhere, there is that much slickrock. Have an awesome time!! Can’t wait to read about your adventures. You can hike all the main trails (a total of seven miles) in one day. Our daughter and I did it when she was in to visit.
Tucson isn’t that far away from Q. I’m really looking forward to some fair weather hiking at VOF and love that it’s dog friendly. I’m sure to take Way too many photos.
The Valley of Fire is HIGH on my list of places I want to visit. I’ll be surprised if I don’t hit it in the next year or so. I’m looking forward to your posts from there. I’ll probably decide whether or not to take Pongo based on your report. No pressure.
VOF is dog friendly so Sasha will be hiking with us. Been wanting to see this landscape for a while. Hope I don’t disappoint.
Hope to catch you before we head east from Q on the 21st! We’ll be at the Quail Run RV Park. So bummed to miss another BlogFest, but family issues call us in another direction. Sounds like a great route through Nevada, looking forward to seeing the pics.
Sorry you’re going to miss the blogfest but understand family first. We’ll be pulling into Q sometime the 19th so maybe we can connect. Isn’t Quail Run on 95 just north of the main drag?
Yes, that is exactly where Quail Run is. Our rig backs up to the little dirt road (Cherokee Lane). PM me on Facebook if time permits 🙂
Hope to see you there.
Safe travels, have fun. I hope you get to take your ‘puter. I’m getting used to Windows 10 too, on a new computer (that is why I am so far behind on visiting and commenting. That and we have that same shitty internet connection here at this park. It goes and comes. Mostly goes. So frustrating.
Still struggling a bit with the new puter but 10 isn’t really too bad. Sorry to hear about your shitty connection as I deal with that quite frequently also.
I’ve been dragging my feet to update to Windows 10. I’m probably not going to do it because the last time I did a big update my files went wonky, don’t think it’s worth the effort. Amazing how much we rely on the internet, isn’t it? Especially, for those of us who write blogs. But, a road trip is always something to look forward to. We’re leaving on Tuesday and heading south for a couple of weeks. Safe travels ~
Windows 10 isn’t too bad but then I haven’t imported all files to it either. Look forward to reading about your road trip south.
My parents attended an annual renunion of southwest Region Forest Service people ever year at Quemado Lake in New Mexico and loved it. After three decades of reunion my Dad gave it up a few years ago and that was a sad day. So enjoy. Here in corporate world when somebody retires or leaves it is hasta la pasta baby and you are never seen again. I’m not really happy with that because I tend to like my coworkers, even the ones that annoy the bejeebers out of me, but there you go.
I love meeting fellow bloggers IRL. The local Tulsa blogging community has dwindled to the political guys and most of them are tea partiers and I just can’t stand it.
So anyway, enjoy your trip, it sounds like a blast to me.