January 21 through February 3, 2006
Saturday January 21:
It is COLD overnight. I'm up early for net time, and use most of the available battery for heat and computer. We walked together for a mile until we reached the LTVA boundary, then I went back for the coach while Claire finished the two miles…I caught up with her just about at the hot spring. There was a lot of activity here, many of them locals enjoying the spring on their day off.
I soaked until almost 3PM, Claire joined in for a time...
We then left quickly for the Slabs. We arrived before 4PM, parked in our usual spot in area 22 near Linda, had dinner and washed up dishes before joining the musicians at the range around dusk. It was chilly, but the fire barrels were starting. Soon I spotted a couple familiar from the web page pictures...Jacques and Ida ("doodlegranny"). They said they were departing for Canada in the morning. Here they are warming themselves with Claire.
I asked about Roger, and they were not sure he was coming due to the cold. A bit later Roger arrived, and we met him for the first time too. He did not think Barbara would be here tonight...too bad. :-( In a bit he noticed Barbara had indeed arrived...whee, we hit a good night! :-) Roger plays Steel Pedal Guitar, and sure filled the bill as the player with character and IMAGE tonight! :-)
The steel pedal guitar is not an instrument we hear often, and Roger adds a lot of sound to the performance. The music was good, the crowd was friendly as usual, and we knew more folks than before. I did not realize that Ida played drums with the band...but here she is on stage with Barbara and her friend...
This group sure put on a good show, contributing two sets tonight! Builder Bill passed the tip box for the musicians, and it was well worth chipping in tonight! He then contributed his own songs despite a cold induced failing voice.
Roger switched to the standard guitar. Later he told me the cold of the night throws the steel guitar out of tune very quickly. The two fires were a welcome source of heat as the night grew colder.
Finally Barbara put her gloves on to pick her guitar...
These are custom made, by Barbara, with only the necessary fingers cut off. :-) Really cute! I'm sure there are not many performers that need gloves when playing guitar, but the desert cold is COLD....and the performers are away from the fire barrels. Solar Mike came on near the end with his Jews Harp....
I always enjoy watching him play...a real technical guy who also makes music. :-) This is this first time I was able to stay until the music finished, but by then I was really ready for bed. Roger came off stage and we chatted.
I wanted to chat more with Roger, but tomorrow we were driving to Quartzsite for the ham radio gathering, and it is an early free weekend net day too...YIKES! :-) It's off to bed I must go.... :-(
Sunday January 22:
This morning started kinda late…too much fun last night, and it was cold. I was back in bed after getting on the net, and after the real wake up, decided to wash the generator air pre-filter, as we planned to dump and get water later. We left the Slabs around noon, and took a couple hours at the rest stop, showering dumping and preparing for a week away from facilities. Our route took us through the Algodones dunes. It was interesting to watch the dune buggies do their thing...
The ATVs drive out of small "RV cities" set up at certain places in the dunes.
The ATV driving areas are extremely popular, and this one commands premium fees to use it. The crowd is usually younger than at other BLM camping areas also. However, there were news reports of two fatal accidents in this area in one weekend, one being a young child. Even the very little kids ride....and perhaps some do not have the required judgement for safe operation of a fast motor vehicle? The drive to Quartzsite was much longer than I expected, and the traffic through town was heavy. We arrived just as the initial Quartzfest 2006 meeting was breaking up. Oh well, we could contribute to the donut fund and hobo stew fund....that was the most important! We found a spot more level than last year a couple spaces further north, I hooked up the 2 meter ham radio, found the frequency used for group intercom was still in memory, and checked SWR on the 5/8 wave antenna I sat next to the passenger seat. It was over 2:1, so I tried a couple lengths of aluminum foil for it to sit on, and it came down to 2:1. It works much better than the hot rod I used last year, and is more out of the way too. We will not run it over 5 watts on low power, as the fused cigar lighter connection will only provide 4 amps, not near enough for the 70 watt transmitter on high power. I looked for internet...found a STRONG one and connected quickly. Later I found the access point on, but no connection. I do not blame folks for turning it off when they do not use it...it takes a fair bit of power to run a two way satellite terminal. When Claire tried to use the microwave this evening it buzzed strongly and filled the coach with "essence of Allen Bradley"....the smell of electronic parts burning up. We shut it down, thinking perhaps it was not really necessary, and reverted to heating everything on the stove. The reheated jambalya stuck to the pot....we really DO need the microwave. :-(
Monday January 23:
I was awake early….I wanted to print out nametags for our hats early, before Claire had to go for ladies coffee. We were also expecting donuts, but there was no activity around the fire ring. At announcement time we found the schedule had changed since I downloaded it Saturday…donuts are Wednesday & Friday....oh well... I get some cookies after Claire returns from the ladies coffee, reporting it quite cold in the stiff breeze. We walked toward the back road to downtown Quartzsite....
We find it about a mile out, and it looks good enough to bicycle on....and has a LOT less traffic than US95. We walk back in time for Gordon West's afternoon presentation on horizontal antennas for portable and mobile operation.
This "ready pack" has everything Gordon needs to walk into an emergency center and start communicating.....even an antenna that can be used until better outside antennas can be erected. At the group meeting at 4PM, we see Dick riding his Segway ....
I am amazed that it can handle the terrain here...rocks, soft sand....but Dick tells us he uses it to traverse the grounds of his large home lot, and it has no trouble in grass or wooded areas or running over small logs. It climbs stairs, but the passenger walks and leads it. The meeting adjourns into chatting groups.
The breeze is cool as we return to the RV for dinner. I do dishes while Claire studies the general class license question pool she asked me to download from the net. The ladies at the morning coffee evidently presented her with a challenge.... :-) I went to the campfire for a short time, then turned in.
Tuesday January 24:
Early this morning I printed out the 70 pages of general questions, then found a source for sample exams that were emailed to me. I printed them out, and then found a band frequency chart for Claire also. I joined the last part of the winlink presentation ...
It is still quite breezy and cool, but the sun helps. Then Gordon gave a presentation on automatic antenna tuners, followed in the afternoon by one on GPS and 218 MHz 1 MW pet locators.
Similar higher powered units can locate incompetent people at longer distances, and be used for police surveillance too. It is amazing how much the desert warms in the afternoon despite a COOL start in the morning! Bob and Nan's hobo stew was a HUGE success again this year...with plenty left for all.
I stuffed myself, and we brought some home too. Dick K6HRT and Becky are here again this year too....
This colorful macaw parrot is a guest for hobo stew....
He is completely bonded to his family, does tricks, and allows himself to be held like a baby. They live a LONG time...the owners are a young couple, but may have to provide for the bird in their wills.... We gather around the evening fire for chat, drinks, and light snacks...light being enforced by Bob and Nan's filling and delicious hobo stew. Around twilight I notice Gordon's rig with the glowing green band at the top.
The silhouetted object flying from the top of the pole is an inflated pink pig.... associated in some way, of course, with "Hams" . :-)) It is after 9PM when we return to the RV to run the generator so the furnace will keep going overnight when needed, and then we SLEEP.
Wednesday January 25:
Donut day today! :-) I was up at the crack of dawn, and turned the radio on just in time to hear the announcement that donuts had arrived. I pulled the shade and looked out, saw a bright fire burning...these guys are WAAAY ahead of the advertised 8AM donut time...but that's OK with me! I grabbed my thermos of coffee, and headed full speed for the fire pit.....it is COLD this morning and a spot almost on top of the fire is most welcome! After eating mine and sharing coffee, I grabbed a donut for Claire and took it back to the RV. She intends to study more for the general ham test (it's something to do), but does not think she's ready for the scheduled 1PM test today, and doesn't want to spend the test fee unprepared. Today I resolved to take the microwave oven apart and try to determine the failed component. I skipped some good seminars to get the time, but we NEED the microwave working, and soon. Quartzsite might be a good place to buy a salvaged microwave from a scrapped RV too. When I got the unit removed from it's enclosure and the cover off I could detect no burned electronics odor.... I decided to run the unit again and see what happened...but it would not run. A little sleuthing revealed that one cover mounting screw pressed on a hidden interlock switch...reinstalling that screw allowed the unit to run. The buzzing and smell was immediate......I shut it down and sniffed for the source...which seemed to be the magnetron tube itself. This is not going to be a cheap part to buy, and it sure cannot be fixed. I might try to get one from a scrap unit in Quartzsite...but then consider looking on line....we do have fast internet all day here! Google finds a replacement for $117 plus shipping. I try Yahoo, they bring up Repair Clinic (www.repairclinic.com) with one in stock for $59. That is a reasonable price to repair our convection microwave....even the cheapest small microwave alone costs about that, and it would not fit properly in the cabinet of the motorhome, nor be an oven, and it is the only oven we have. I discuss it with Claire, and we decide to order the new magnetron in the morning when the net is again available, and have it held in Yuma's UPS office. After the 4PM meeting we chatted with Bob, the volunteer examiner here, and he said there were enough people interested to schedule another exam session for Friday.... :-)
Here Dick chats with Bob, with Becky and Claire sitting in the background. We then join Dick and Becky for dinner in their motorhome. Becky makes really good tacos, frying the tortillas and all... yummy! Dick shows us his radio controlled model airplane...it is a work of art, beautifully painted and sleek looking. The propeller is driven by an electric motor....no more spinning the prop trying to start reluctant miniature gas engines! :-) Afterwards they light a really nice campfire, which we enjoy until long after our normal bedtime.
They insist on driving us back to out home...which was nice, as we were not really sure where "home" was in the dark, and we had not even brought flashlights....duh! A homing pigeon I'm not, but we do have the equipment to get home...including a l'il GPS...if we remember to CARRY it!
Thursday January 26:
In the morning I called UPS and got the address for shipping to their Yuma office for pickup. Then I ordered the Magnetron online from repairclinic.com, under $70 shipped. The website said "Ground", so I put in the "ship to" address per the arrangements I'd made for pickup at the UPS Yuma customer service station. Late in the day I received an Email from Repair Clinic that the magnetron has been shipped to me at the UPS Yuma customer service station address…by DHL. :-( What now....before the last satellite terminal shut down for the night I sent DHL an email with the package tracking number, explaining what had happened, and asking how they could help me pick it up at their office near Yuma. Then off to sleep...wondering how this would all play out. Why must EVERY l'il thing be SO HARD to get done???
Friday January 27:
This morning I received email from DHL saying they would hold the magnetron in DHL's office at 4221 E 30th Place Ste B, Yuma AZ, and I figured it was at N32.67225 W114.56244. I LIKE DHL!! They RESPOND, CORRECTLY, and FAST! Claire passed her General ham test at Bob's 1:00PM test, only missing one question out of 35!! CONGRATULATIONS Claire! Tom, KD7ALH has taken on the task of leading this years Quartzfest, and has done a beautiful job organizing many entertaining activities, valuable seminars, and demonstrations.
Tonight Dick and Becky are coming to our motorhome for dinner. We are having burritos with Claire's home made beans. The whole wheat tortillas we have are very fragile and tear when folded...bummer, but we eat them with forks from our plates, cutting them into bite sizes. We enjoy chatting with Dick and Becky...they owned a gymnastics studio for years, and we get the viewpoint of the gym owners for a change, instead of the customers...Dick was an aerospace engineer too, so we have lots in common. I offer Dick the use on my compressor to pump up his low tire on the motorhome. We decide to do it tomorrow before the last hurrah cookout.
Saturday January 28:
In the morning a ham put out a call for an automotive OBD2 code reader. I had one and told him so. He turned out to be Jim, VE4IJ, parked just across the wash from us (50 feet away) and his diesel truck had been carried back on a flatbed truck last night after it died in Quartzsite. He was hoping he could get a diagnostic code from the vehicle...my code reader had his vehicle in memory, but it said no fault. Several tries, no fault. He then tried to start it, it started right up...but he said it had done that before, then died. I displayed the running engine parameters on my code reader just fine. The engine then died...and would not restart. Again, there were no faults showing. He suspected the injector control module he had replaced a few months ago, so we looked at the pins on the connector, and even tried with the connector disconnected...still no fault showing. I cannot see how I can help Jim more....my analyzer shows no fault. We decide Jim should check online forums for any info on this problem, and I have to go pump up Dick's tire as we had planned last night. A salesman was just finishing selling Dick an alarm for use on their portable Honda generator. It seemed like a good idea, as the Honda generators have no really secure way to chain them...the carrying handles can be broken, and chains can be cut. They have high value and are easy to fence too, so they are targets for thieves. This alarm was designed for laptop computers, with a cable that threads through a loop to the device you want to protect. It senses motion or the cable being cut and sounds an audio alarm. It seems that it would work well for generators... I do wonder about its weather resistance though....but here in the dry desert it should work well. We measured all of Dick's tire pressures, and decide to pump up only the lowest one. The rear inner tire Shrader valves are VERY hard to get to, and I fear losing too much air and then still not being able to get the pump attached to replace it. Dick had brought his radio controlled electric powered model airplane along, and it had been too windy for flying most of our time here. Today the wind was calm, and he decided to try a short flight...because the battery was not fully charged. This plane is big....over 3 foot wingspan, with a large prop that nearly reached the ground. I did not have my almost non-functional camera, but Becky asked me to take pictures with hers. I did get a few shots as the plane took off and immediately climbed almost straight up....this thing is FAST. I could not follow it with the camera.... Dick mentioned he did not seem to have good control, and he suggested I move close to him so he did not have to be concerned about missing two areas containing people. The plane darted erratically, then entered a dive from which it did not recover, crashing at the edge of the road with pieces flying. I ran to mark the spot as a truck was coming along the road. The motor was hanging by its wires, and it looks like a lot of work to repair this plane. Such a sad end ....a complete disaster. Dick looks over the remains, and determines the motor is OK, but much of the forward parts of the plane will need rebuilding, or new parts. Dick estimates the parts will cost around $100, unless he elects to make his own and sister some of the broken pieces with new wood...but that adds weight. Dick thinks the problem was caused by his forgetting to pull the antenna out of the transmitter on the control box. This sort of thing is very unforgiving of any mistakes...kinda like flying a real plane!! We walked home to prepare for the Last hurrah cookout fun. Chuck was again the campfire master this year, and had secured most of the wood. He was splitting wood as I walked up, and I volunteered to help. He had a good splitting maul and it was not hard to split enough for the cooking fire. By the time I got home, Claire had the cookout food planned...burritos wrapped in aluminum foil. We put them together and added the bag of marshmallows and liquid refreshment. Dick K6HRT and Becky joined us, Claire cooked two burritos before I had a chance to tell her I had not wrapped them securely enough for cooking in the coals...but fortunately the aluminum foil held. :-) Dick & Becky roasted wieners, and we all shared toasted marshmallows, then sat around the campfire until past bedtime again.
We were surely ready for bed when we stumbled home in the dark...AGAIN forgetting to bring a flashlight. :-( Quartzfest 2006 is over...great fun while it lasted, but it did pass FAST. Claire has her general class ham license too....and that was not even a glimmer on the plan chart coming into here. :-)
Sunday January 29:
We awake to people leaving…the radio is full of goodbyes as folks scatter for parts unknown. Dick and Becky leave mid morning…they have a 5-6 hour drive home. We have much more water left this year than we usually do after a week without dumping, and I do not need to be at the dentist until Tuesday. There is still free internet available, so I tried to sort out the camera situation….it is confusing, and I am not finished, but I'm pretty sure I want Panasonic FZ30...it is an 8 megapixel camera with excellent reviews, and Al here has one he showed me...I do like the manual focus and zoom rings, the 12x optical zoom with image stabilization (great for animal shots), and he says the camera comes on in one second, and takes pictures instantly when the button is pushed.... It does have special batteries, not my preference, but I think the advantages outweigh that disadvantage. It will also take 30 fps video in 640 x 480 resolution. With a fast SD memory card, the video can be taken continuously until the card fills. I'm not real eager to learn to use a new camera...but mine is so bad now it will only occasionally take pictures when the button is pushed, and will not run when the batteries get a little bit discharged...it is really unusable. I have taken very few pictures since it started failing, it is so unpleasant to use, so it needs replacement. I write down a few vendors with low prices and good reviews, but need to think through EVERYTHING I need to run this new camera....filters, memory card, card reader (my card reader does not read secure digital), spare battery, battery charger. I tire long before the job is done.... :-( I ask Jim how he made out on his truck. He said he had gotten on a GM truck internet forum and was told that on his truck, an engine that would not run reliably with NO CODE showing was certain to be a failed injector control module. He had ordered a new one to be shipped to Quartzsite and expected it Wednesday. The new one was coming with a big heat sink attached for $420, and that was supposed to cure the reliability problem with that module, as it gets too hot the way it was originally installed. He said my analyzer was working perfectly, and it had allowed him to diagnose the problem and feel confident he had ordered the right part. That is good news, and he undoubtedly saved himself $500 in shop labor, AND a high probability of an unreliable fix as well. We traded email addresses to keep in touch and find out how he did when the new part came in.
Monday January 30:
We are leaving Quartzfest today, but notice there is still one internet connection working that I can hit if I hold the WiFi adapter a foot outside the coach window. I check the magnetron tracking webpage, and find it has just arrived in Yuma...WOW, we can get it today if we arrive early enough. I ask Tom the Quartzfest 2006 leader if I can copy the photos he got from W8FQ, as my camera had largely failed. I picked up the CD, but could not read it reliably enough to copy the disc. It took quite a while, but I was able to copy all the pictures to my hard drive, then I wrote a CD of my pictures and gave it to Tom. I just GOTTA share this pic of a notable Quartzsite bookshop owner with you...we didn't see him, but hear he was forced to "cover up" this much by the powers that be in town as it "gentrified"...but don't click this link with the kiddies unless you want to explain all about naturism to them.... :-) We soon departed...it was quite a clean up chore to get everything stowed in travel safe places, but we were on the road by noon. The DHL office turned out to be almost EXACTLY where I had positioned it from the web maps and Street Atlas...the road is hard to access as it is broken up by canals without bridges. They had the magnetron, it was two days early!! I LIKE DHL!! We drove to Fry's lot, where I replaced the magnetron, tested the microwave briefly before reinstalling it in time for dinner. Claire used it to reheat the meal, and thinks it is hotter now than it was originally! :-)
Tuesday January 31:
Today I went back to the dentist, and found that the anchor tooth under bottom bridge needed a root canal. Dr Hernandez was recommended, and could see me at 4:30. I have no real choice now...the tooth is exposed, and it needs a root canal. His office is clean and modern, and a couple sitting in the office say his work is wonderful...I feel better hearing that. :-) Dr Hernandez fit me in at 2:25, and completed cleaning the three roots and making a temporary filling by 4PM. He offered me a LATE afternoon appointment Feb 6 or morning Feb 8 to finish up. I walk back to Dr Comacho's office and they talk on the phone and agree that the root canal can be finished in the morning of Feb 8, with Dr Comacho doing the bridge prep and impressions in the afternoon. That saves us parking an extra day for $8 in the Indian parking lot. We tried Paradise Casino on the CA side of the Colorado river on Quechan Indian land near Yuma for overnight. The security guard said their policy was "No Overnight Parking", and we would need to get a players card AND show that we were playing if we want to park overnight. This is not what we had heard on the RV groups...either they have changed policy or someone put out erroneous info. We drove the 15 miles to the VFW BLM free camping area east of Yuma on US95, and found it quite nice for an overnight, just 30 miles round trip from downtown Yuma. It is a couple miles further than Fortuna Pond, but the road is smooth and fast. The 3 mile bumpy levee road to Fortuna Pond makes it bad for just one night. I'm sure we can drive 30 miles for much less money than playing in the casino! :-)
Wednesday February 1:
Big Day! Lots to do, and we started early in Yuma. Walmart first, then email. The connection worked well, and I started looking for camera sources and writing down phone numbers for all the items I would need. I NEED to order now if we are to have a camera for the trip we plan to the San Diego zoo. I want to call and place the orders from the pay phone at Sam's, so I can control who the delivery company will be. We moved to Albertson's for meat, then to the laundromat we always use. It had a pay phone nearby, so I tried to place the camera order. The store I had picked with the $480 price only shipped Fedex...the one company I did not have a local pickup address for. The salesman said he could find one, then after I had placed the order he said there was no Fedex pickup in Yuma. He was getting pushy about buying a secure digital card from them, and I asked him to cancel the order. He said he would. I then went back to the RV to explore alternative vendors, hoping I had saved some web pages from other vendors. With the computer out, I decided to try WiFi, and immediately connected, and FAST. Here before it would not connect, but we are several hundred feet further north in the lot. I found that FedEx has several Yuma agents, but only holds packages shipped "express", at twice the cost of ground...we will try to avoid Fedex. I found a second vendor, at the same price, but when they found they could not push their expensive accessory stuff at me the phone got disconnected...twice. Strange "coincidence" I thought, but did not want to deal with them if that was their attitude. I found another vendor $3 more expensive, Electrodiscounts, and found the salesman very cooperative and arranged for reasonable ground UPS shipping to be held at Yuma. Of course I had learned by now to say I had the big SD memory card they desperately wanted to sell me at inflated prices. They promised 7 day delivery and I could call for a tracking number tomorrow afternoon. I then decided to order the Corsair 2GB SD memory card I wanted, and the multicard card reader from Newegg...I called to find out what shipper they used, and could not get Neweggs customer service to pick up, but they did say orders MUST be placed on line. I finally went back on line and went through the ordering process and found they could ship UPS, so I placed the order on line. I then wanted a polarizing filter, so called a company offering them for $12. They were willing to ship UPS, and I placed the order, $6 shipping. I asked about a UV filter also, they had one for $8 and I ordered. They then offered a spare battery for $17...a VERY good price, so I ordered that. The guy then offered a dual 12v/110v charger for $17, and I ordered that. This guy was very pleasant and persuasive...by knowing what I might need and offering the stuff at very good prices, he parlayed a $12 order into over $60. I also needed to authorize the alternate Yuma shipping address with my credit card company on the phone. By now it was getting past dinner time, I had not eaten all day, but was not particularly hungry. Claire gave me the choice of doing what I wanted...so I chose to finish our business in Yuma ( I really want OUT of Yuma...we've been here too much this trip) and move to Holtville Hot Springs for the night. We needed to finish fueling, shop Sams, then Home Depot for something to make a ground plane for the 2 meter antenna I'd bought for the RV. By the time we left Yuma it was 7:45PM, and Claire drove to Holtville. I drove the rough two miles to the free camping area north of the LTVA. I ate spaghetti warmed up in the microwave, Claire had snacked all afternoon and was not hungry. We were in bed by 10PM.
Thursday February 2:
Claire's sleep was not good before midnight...she heard people talking and was not comfortable with our isolated position. We will not come here again soon, although it is VERY close to the hot spring. Up around 8AM, worked some on the log, then Claire tried to put temporary filling material we bought at Walmart on the sharp edge of my root canal temporary filling. It did not adhere, and we are back to the piece of rehydrated dry seaweed (looks like kelp) over the sharp tooth; that is tough enough to resist cutting, yet smooth and slippery on my sore tongue. It was after 11AM when we moved to the hot spring. After a quick peanut butter lunch I went soaking. The water was HOT...reported at 110 degrees. Around 2:30 I wanted a break, and worked some more on the log. Without pictures it is easy to forget where we have been and what we've done...c'mon new camera! :-) We decided to go to the American Canal tonight to vary our boondocking sites. Claire drove, we saw a few burrowing owls along the road, but then we found a total barrier when we needed to turn east on CA Rt 98....some pickup trucks were driving around the barrier on a field road, but we decided against that, not knowing why the road was closed. We should have asked at the hot spring about this...duhhh! We returned to the free area north of the LTVA for the night. Claire awoke near midnight saying she had heard a short wave radio close by...but later decided it was probably our Verizon phone announcing it had found new service...
Friday February 3:I awoke about dawn…it is coming earlier now, a bit before 7AM. This place is sure QUIET, except for the occasional marine helicopters from Yuma flying overhead on training missions. We understand the Marines have leased land near Holtville for practice helicopter troop landings, and wish them well...ESPECIALLY when they are flying close over our heads! The sun has come up brightly, but there is much more haze in the air...it seems that west coast smog is drifting in, or some condition is present causing haze and morning clouds.
