I love those Kofa Mountains so much I’ve been, stayed, left, and returned all with ten days. Cold nights and not so cold refrigerator had me on the move to town and different camps. Does it seem that cold came early or is it my aging memory and low tolerance for below 60-70°F.
After leaving the cold of camp Congress and buying yet another battery, this time for the camper, I stayed at Shady Lane RV Park in Quartzsite and took care of chores. That last camper battery only lasted a year and is needed to make the solar system work. Early November is pretty quiet in Quartzsite so quick service at Solar Bill and no crowds shopping. Bought a new peace flag as the old one was raggedly wind blown.
Then I headed south for the Kofa Mountains in the Sonoran desert, and camped where I was last year almost on the same tire print.
Ah, felt good to be home.
Waking to 45° instead of 34° with a view of the Kofa Mountains made me happy, though it was a little windy. Even with clouds the solar panels were charging. Back to having power, I was able to download photos and work on the computer.
High 60s during the day, out of the wind, felt delightful. Went for a walk looking for potential places to set the trail-cam. Couldn’t find any obvious animal trails, tracks or scat and only small burrow holes so I didn’t bother. I could put a container with water out to attract birds. But being I haven’t brought my filled water bottles up to count I am being stingy with water.
Wind picked up the next day and the fridge wouldn’t stay on. It’s always something. I need a RV fixit person for all the little shit that’s broken. After banging on the backside of the fridge it finally started working again. Sometimes, it just takes a bigger hammer or the movement of old and oxidized wires. Wind increased throughout the day until I could barely see the Kofa Mountains. So I stayed inside working on a blog post and video. Sadly the signal is not great, in fact I believe worse than last year, so I struggled to do anything online. I am an internet junkie.
Only mid-November with nights dropping into the mid 30s and wind making the 60° days feel chilly makes me want to be someplace warmer. Yet making heat with the oven and power under the sun keeps me home, inside, labeling photos from October 2021, and working on videos.
Early rise Wednesday morning and I took off for two towns. Starting with Quartzsite where I couldn’t get some parts, filled a propane tank, and took a luxurious 20-minute $10 shower at the laundromat. Then I drove the 40 minutes north to Parker for some groceries. Quartzsite doesn’t offer options for big box stores and I don’t typically buy groceries at Dollar-type stores. The two tiny grocery stores have limited selection for high prices. Other shopping choices are 20 minutes west to Blythe, California or a little over an hour south to Yuma.
After what felt like hours shopping, I drove back south and stopped north of Quartzsite off Plomosa Road on 14-day BLM land. I didn’t go far enough off the road so did hear a little traffic noise and had more neighbors than I’m used to. Yes, I’m spoiled by quiet and dark. But I could move later.
Only that didn’t happen the next day because I had a blazing fast signal and loaded a video about the breakdown in Congress.
The next morning at 36° I was freezing, and so was my entire refrigerator. First it won’t stay lit then obviously not turn off. That seems to mean the thermostat is bad, and that’s not too hard to change, if I can get the right one. Which means another trip to Quartzsite. I went straight to the RV Lifestyles store and a serviceman said I should move the retainer probe to different fins inside the fridge. I didn’t know about this.
Things started to thaw but then it went into the won’t stay lit mode again so I moved the probe back to where it started. Of course the later didn’t happen until after I’d returned to my camp with the lovely view of the Kofa Mountains.
Only takes a little cloud to make for beautiful sunsets.
Fridge finally lit and stayed on overnight. Intermittent problems are the worse! Another problem, my Nikon Coolpix camera died. I mostly use it while driving (I know and don’t want to hear about it). Obviously, the big Nikon D5600 with 18-300mm lens is too big for that. Guess I’ll be using my phone camera more. Now I’m thinking of what camera could replace the Coolpix (which honestly I never really liked) and the D5600 to reduce weight. Mirrorless is the now the way to go, but still WAY out of budget.
Another 36° morning and I felt cold! It’s warmer further south, so I’ve moved again because I can. I will miss those Kofa Mountains, but I’ll be back. If you follow me on YouTube I’ve been posting short videos of my camps in real time. If you’re not subscribed, please do. The channel actually broke 200 subscribers this month. Would be great to break 300 in December. Help a gal out please.
Lovely set of photos and great sky shots. I also feel the cold so I know just how you feel. Hugs, Diane
Thanks. I so dislike the cold. Let’s go to RSA.
Hi Gaelyn, well what a problem with your fridge, but as usual you are so compitent with how to do repairs I envy you your skills. Wonderful photos and thanks for sharing your journey. Lovely. Have a good week and stay safe.
Thanks. I haven’t fixed the fridge problem, it’s intermittent.
Very nice photos! I think it is our age that makes the cold seem colder. Affects me too at 68 years.
Thanks. Same age, same problem. Can’t believe you can tolerate Flag all winter. I should be able to spend our winter in South Africa for their summer.
Your Kofa Mountains are a delight to see. Winter winds keep me inside as well. Just something about all that blowing around and of course the lower temps it brings. Ruins a perfectly good 50-60 degree day! Been following your travels on YouTube. Keep uploading as you can and stay safe (and warm)!! Meows to Sierra!
Thanks. The wind really messes temps up for sure. My signal at the new camp is terrible so I’m not getting much uploaded anywhere. Meows back at ya’.
I really felt your Kofa homeness in your words and photos. And related to some places out there I return to. Following the warm Sun. Was that an antlion hole? pretty big looks like. This spurred me to go deeper, as I rarely do on utube. And reveled in your intro. I’m subscriber already, but you got me:) I also relate to devices dying/near to/screw ups. Alas. I counted one time seven things not working. Bit by bit issues solve. And really good “problems” to have:) thanks so much. These are real, relatable, respite, helpful and inspiring, to name a few.
Thanks. It’s nice to return to a place of love. Just regular ant hill. Glad you like the videos.
Sorry about the fridge, either your ice cream will melt or everything will freeze solid. ARG!
As usual your pictures are great and you have another beautiful boondock site.
Thanks. I ate a lot of ice cream fast.
What a view your Kofa campsite. The photos you got are mesmerizing.
Sorry about all the technical problems you are having. Keeping the solar panels going and the battery charged is heck of a challenge. So is the fridge. Such frustration plus dealing with the poor selection and high prices of groceries and such. Your resilience amazes me. You just keep your head up and deal with the problems as they arise.
I’ve decided that you can safely drive and take photos at the same time. I mean I do it, why shouldn’t you? (hah) I think using a point and shoot is probably safer than using a cell phone. I loved my little coolpix but it got drenched one too many times during a kayaking adventure. A replacementj was too pricey so I got a nice little fujifilm camera and it is great. Definitely can hold it one hand and has a lot of nice features like wifi transfer to a phone and such as that.
Thanks. Maintaining any home is a lot of work and I’m really not that handy. I loved my old Fujifilm that died long ago. Maybe have to look at those again.
I too love the Kofa Mountains and miss seeing and being a part of them.
I understand, and wish you could be here.
Beautiful pictures of the Kofa Mountains. Sorry you’re having so many troubles with the fridge. Hopefully, it comes around for you.
Thanks. I probably shouldn’t say, but the fridge is working again like it should. Go figure.
A year…Battery. Must be an under charging or over charging issue. Type of battery?
Digi-cam dead? I have been pleasantly pleased by how googling digital camera issues has resulted in a fix. Don’t know your model, but here is a start.> https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Nikon_Coolpix_S5300_Troubleshooting
That was a cheap battery I had to buy last year. Now I have a 31 Interstate. The Nikon Coolpix P600 was never a very good camera, and now discontinued. Looked for fixes, but no go. It’s time to replace it.
Replace Digi-cam; I bought several of the Minolta MND30 cameras for for EDC* and glove boxes. Seem to be more than I need for casual and documentary use and have potential for enhanced development in Lightroom/Photoshop. Just checked and they are back ordered @ ADORAMA, but could be available from other sources B&H, BestBuy?. I, sometime ago, bought mine at Walmart($119.00). Similar cameras are available like the Canon ‘PowerShot’ or Sony Cyber-Shot and have about the same capability, features, and price point. $120.00 to $150.??
I bought my 9-year old granddaughter a Kodak PixPro($99.00) for Festivus, but only because of the current unavailability of the Minolta, so we will see how that goes. For her B-day I gave her a Kodak Ektar ‘H35’ 35-mm half-frame reusable camera, but these days film is just to expensive for children. She is a pretty good photographer and had a lot of fun with that half-frame 72 pics per roll camera.
*EDC > Every day carry
Nice too encourage your granddaughter to take photos, with more than a phone. I’ll be waiting to buy as it’s difficult to get deliveries in the middle of nowhere.
As mentioned before, I have provided cameras for my 17 & 9 year old granddaughters. Both have the interest and a developing ‘Eye’.
It is interesting to see, through photos, how the 9-year old views the world.
Our occasional street and nature shoots are times well spent.
Fun to share a mutual interest.
Mirror-less? I recently bought a used in excellent condition mirror-less camera(Sony A6000) for my granddaughter for about $300.00 at KEH cameras. Light and easy to carry around. As a blogger your mirror-less camera functionality needs will likely require a more featured advanced capability than the cheaper earlier ones provide like the Sony A6000.
I use several different types of film and digital cameras and lately for ‘more or less’ serious digital photography a Mirror-less ‘Full frame’ camera and use my so called “Vintage” lenses on it. Vintage? I can still remember buying them new…LOL I guess that makes me a vintage model/carbon unit, too. And so it goes……
Cold. Spent part of the last two days in a cold, wet, rat crapped and spider infested crawl-space under dad’s house fixing supply plumbing issues caused by rat damage. My hands don’t seem to ignore even 40-degree cold anymore, especially when wet and using metal tools. Must be blood flow ‘plumbing’ issues and high humidity environments. It doesn’t seem to be an issue, yet, in dry lower humidity environs. Belikin Stout and Lobster and Grouper street pies and the Mayan temples/Belize and cays on the green Caribbean, and the Rio Dulce/Guatemala are calling. We are threatened with snow mid-week.
Rats seem to like to chew on plastic/PEX hot water pipes. No damage to cold pipes.
I use my phone for video. The Coolpix only got used while driving. I will be looking for an all-purpose mirrorless so it’s lighter than my D5600. But right now, it’s not in the budget. Bummer having to be in a cold wet crawl space. No thanks. I’m struggling enough with below 50° mornings. Anywhere closer to the equator sounds inviting. Take me along.
Don’t tell anyone, but I do drive-by photos, as well. I try to hide it by cropping the photo.
What an interesting place, Gaelyn. I am in awe.
I hope you get stuff fixed. it seems so complicated to me!
Kofa is beautiful and I’ll be back. Not only warmer further south but I’m helping a friend. Fridge is back to working again. Go figure.
Your second to last photo is beautiful. Well, all of your photos are but that one really struck me.
Thanks. Maybe that pic will go in next year’s calendar.
We were staying on the west side of 95 and I guess they decided to restrict that side. Rather than move a small distance we decided it was time for Yuma. Glad the fridge is working now.
I too have a low tolerance for temperatures below 60-70 and it has been a cold November in Florida where I am now but still not as cold as Virginia which is why I left. It has been below freezing there which is very very unusual for November. Your 30’s at night would send me moving. Only a year on a battery sounds pretty short but I understand that if I let mine get too low it damages it so that its life is shortened. Those RV fix it persons are hard to find as are the RV wash/wax people which for me are impossible. I like your repair method. Intermittent problems are the worst.
Those are definitely beautiful mountains in all the various lights and with those fantastic clouds above. Your spot looks wonderful. No wonder you do not want to move to warmer climes. I wish I could help you with your youtube but my signal won’t let me watch anything longer than a minute.
Thanks, I do love those Kofa Mts in all kinds of light. Definitely warmer in Yuma, but I could tolerate more. RV problems are the pits as it is harder to get repairs when on the road.
Cruising the comments here, I am impressed. You have such a big following Gaelyn, all your hard work and great photos are paying off. Love seeing the Kofa. And the skies and clouds and smelling the desert in my mind. We will be there in January. Not sure how far south we will go, but I look forward to it a lot, even for a couple of weeks. So many repairs. We have had them as well lately, but I guess that is what happens with an older rig with 120k on it and 15 years of fun driving. I am sure you probably have more. Looking forward to the calendar once again this year.
Thanks, I wish all those followers would help bring in some income but I don’t like advertising, so it is what it is. And thus YouTube. Hope to see you this winter.