Archive for April, 2015

Leak

Sunday, April 26th, 2015

It is hard to believe my youngest son is 30. Karen says wait until her kids start having babies and then I will be a great grandpa. That’s even more unsettling to get my head around. I wish someone would discover a formula to reverse this aging process.

I called Dave yesterday for his birthday. We had a good talk. Karen and Jenny traveled to Rochester for a surprise party for him, but I’m pretty sure he knew all about it before hand. I would like to have been there to see David on his birthday and meet my newest granddaughter Harper, but a trip back east will have to wait for a while.

We are into our third day of rainy weather. The sun has poked through the clouds a few times today but it still remains cold and windy. Before long, I will need to get to town for supplies. My shopping list is growing each day. Most of the items on the list are not important except for one – silicon caulk. During the night I noticed that Minnie has a leak around the front window. At first I couldn’t tell where it was coming from and thought it was maybe condensation, but as it rained harder I saw the unmistakable drip from the glass to my bed. I knew that the previous owner had replaced the window and apparently the repair was not done well.

The weather tomorrow is forecast to be better. I have to admit I’m beginning to come down with the first stages of cabin fever. There are quite a lot of van campers here, and although I sometimes miss the freedom and simplicity my van gave me, When the weather is nasty, It’s nice to have room to move around and stand up like a modern ape.

Garbage

Friday, April 24th, 2015

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How is it possible to accumulate this much garbage in only a few short days? It seems like every time I prepare and eat a meal, there are left over wrappers and empty containers scattered high and low on every reachable surface. I don’t think I’ve been eating an inordinate amount of prepackaged snacks and junk food, but I am forever tying up shopping bags filled with trash and stuffing them into an unused corner. Until today, that unused corner has been the forgotten realm of my shower.

I thought about all this when I wanted to take a shower this morning and had to remove all the debris from the stall. To be fair, a lot of the garbage stems from using paper products for eating and cleaning. Water seems to be the most precious commodity when boondocking here in the desert and conservation is the key to making it last.

Along with really quick showers and rapid flushes, I have some tricks that may help other new, desert boondockers conserve water: It is not absolutely necessary to wash your hands even if they become sticky or discolored. When washing dishes the term “good enough” is an expression to keep in mind. And you would be surprised how clean a spoon can be just from licking it. I learned most of these tricks from the Appalachian Trail.

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Tonight seems like a good night to burn a lot of the trash. Today was cold and rainy and the winds mostly light so I won’t have to worry about sparks getting out into the desert. It has been too wet, cool and windy to go anyplace, so I have stayed home and occupied my time with more domestic pursuits. There is always some little project that I think up to make things better, even rearranging storage, adding some little do-dad that I thought up, or just cleaning can pass the time with a satisfied mind.

Jerome, AZ

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015

Except for the wind, which continues to blow every day since I pulled in here, the weather has been beautiful. I like temps in the 80’s. It is great for motorcycle riding and exploring the shady side of my camper. The nights get a little chilly but a sweatshirt in the morning for a couple hours is all you need. I talked with two other RV’ers here and they said a lot of people left last week for higher territory because it was getting too warm.

I had some visitors this morning. The cows we share this land with a very tame. I could swear they wanted to say hello as two of them walked near my rig and took up a curious pose.

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Today I rode to Jerome, a little town on a hillside above Cottonwood, all but abandoned years ago when the copper mine ran dry. Now, a few hundred people live there, most making a living from tourism or some type of related activity. I didn’t walk through the shops in town but went to the Jerome State Historic Park and toured the Douglas Museum. This was the second time there for me. When Karen and Noah were out last year we went there too. I have to say it was more fun when I went with them but I still enjoyed learning more history.

Eating lunch in Jerome

Eating lunch in Jerome

On the ride back I got something in my eye. I don’t know how it got by the helmet visor and my sunglasses but it did. Maybe a piece of copper got in my eye. Tonight it feels better. It might be scratched and just need some rest. I’m sure it will be better in the morning. Last night I had tacos for dinner and tonight I’m thinking of making some fish sticks.

Too Much Excitement

Monday, April 20th, 2015

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Not really. It was a totally uneventful drive a few miles north from Tempe to Cottonwood, AZ where I found several rigs camped in an obscure piece of desert. Richard gave me the coordinates to this place, otherwise I would never have found it. I have never been here but I have heard several bloggers talk about it. It is a little higher than Phoenix and maybe 10 degrees cooler, making it a prime destination for us mobile wanderers to get out of the valley heat and stay just south of the cold that still visits the area around Flagstaff. It only took me 3 hours to get here and that included a brief stop in Black Canyon to fix myself a sandwich. The weather has been windy with a few puffy clouds.

There are quite a few paces to visit around here. I went to most of them while I stayed with Karen and Noah on their vacation in Sedona. But who says I can’t go again? Check back in tomorrow to see if I do anything interesting.

Roosevelt Lake

Friday, April 3rd, 2015

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I took a ride around four of the campgrounds here at Windy Hills Recreation Site and there are only a handful of sites left. This weekend is going to bring a mob of people to this lake. Quite a few campers have boats. They usually pull out early in the morning, drive to the boat ramps, and spend a few hours out there playing in the water. I’m not sure how good the fishing is but more than a few fishermen must be throwing their fish guts in the dumpsters – I’m camped by one that really reeks!

Hold your nose!

Hold your nose!

I haven’t been doing a whole lot since I arrived here. I sort of hurt my back when I tried to lift my motorcycle last week after I had a flat tire. The only time it feels good is when I lay flat on my back, so I’ve been doing a lot of that. Today it feels much better, thanks. I did make a tripod of sorts for my satellite dish. It is still in the experimental stage and I have some more modifications to make on it. That’s why you see rocks doing most of the work of holding it up.

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I also decided to load my motorcycle without dropping it into the slots for the tires. The whole purpose of the slots is to secure the tires so nothing will move, but getting the bike raised up and out of the slots has become too much work. I figure I can use more tie-downs to hold it on. I hope it works – the last thing I want to see is my motorcycle sliding down the shoulder of the road as I glance in my rear-view mirror.