JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK

We left Quartzsite about 7:30 AM, stopped at McDonalds to have breakfast, and then again at the Albertsons store in Blythe to do grocery shopping.

Heading west on I-10, we got off the freeway at Chiriaco Summit to visit the General George Patton Memorial Museum. General Patton established the Desert Training Center here in March 1942 under orders by the War Department.

The purpose of the center was to train troops for desert warfare because the Army believed that American forces would be required to fight the German enemy in North Africa.

The Desert Training Center grew from General Patton's headquarters at Camp Young to include 10 other camps that trained nearly 1 million American servicemen and women. It was the world's largest military installation, both in size and population.

Statue of General Patton outside the Museum:











Just inside the museum, is the Big Map, whose purpose was to help keep engineers and construction workers on track as they dug a canal through the desert and over the mountains to bring water to Southern California...the 242-mile-long Colorado River Aqueduct from Lake Havasu to Diamond Valley Lake in southwest Riverside County. The Big Map weights close to 5 tons and is designed to come apart like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

The Big Map:











On the museum grounds are quite a few tanks, some of which are pictured below:

Sherman M4 Medium Tank:

Stuart M5A1 Light Tank:











Patton M-60 Medium Tank:











After finishing at the museum, we got back on I-10 and took the next exit, the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. We stopped at the Cottonwood Visitors Center where I bought a book on the geology of the park (we didn't have to pay the entrance fee because Earl has a Golden Age Passport).

After leaving the visitors center, we stopped along the road and took a walk along a wash where there were all kinds of wildflowers in bloom:
















We also saw a lizard on our walk:












Another stop along the way:

Mohave Yucca:











Two deserts -- the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert -- come together in Joshua Tree National Park. The Colorado Desert, which occupies the eastern half of the park, is the lower of the two and is dominated by creosote bushes and small stands of ocotillo and jumping cholla cactus (they don't actually "jump," but will stick to you like industrial-strength velcro if you brush up next to them).

Ocotillo at Ocotillo Patch:

Cholla at Cholla Cactus Garden:











The Mohave Desert, which occupies the western half of the park, is higher, moister, and slightly cooler and is the habitat of the Joshua tree:












The Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) is a giant member of the lily family and is in a subgroup of flowering plants which also includes grasses and orchids. The park also contains some of the most interesting geologic displays found in California's deserts...exposed granite monoliths and rugged mountains of twisted rock testify to the power of the earth forces that shaped this land:

















View from our campsite:











Maxx likes to climb rocks:












And so does this guy:













We drove to Key View, a scenic overlook of valley, mountain, and desert from its elevation of 5,185 feet. From Key View, you can see the Salton Sea, Indio, and Palm Springs -- when it's clear. Unfortunately, it wasn't clear on the day we were there -- smog from Los Angeles clouded the view.

The small line of hills in the center
of the picture is the San Andreas Fault:











Note snow capped peak in the background:

APRIL 2003

Earl took the Chevy in for its first oil change, tire rotation, and to get the electric mirrors fixed.
On Thursday, the 3rd, we took the Arctic Fox out of storage...where it'd been since we bought it...parked it next to the New Horizons, and started unloading stuff from one fifth wheel to another. We got everything moved over by Sunday morning and spent the rest of the morning cleaning the New Horizons...pretty easy, as we'd done all the heavy cleaning before this (cleaning the carpet, oven, refrigerator, etc.). After all that was done, we moved it to the spot that had been reserved for Ken and Debbie and hooked it up for them. Ken and Debbie arrived later that afternoon together with Ken's brother who had come along to help them with the drive back, as he's had experience driving big rigs. We did a basic run-through of some systems and then we went out to dinner at On The Border with Ken and Debbie.

Monday and Tuesday were spent going through all the systems, showing them how everything worked and then teaching them how to drive the truck -- with and without the fifth wheel in tow. They got a much better education that we did when we bought the truck and fifth wheel, and, I dare say, better than most people get when they purchase a new rig.

Once Ken and Debbie left on Wednesday, we had a chance to concentrate on getting things organized in the Arctic Fox. We found out quickly that the connection at the back of the toilet wouldn't hold, so we had to work off the water pump for a while. We finally got it repaired at RV Lifestyle in Quartzsite and had a shut-off valve installed, too.

We took a trip to Quartzsite with a load of boxes on the 12th and stopped again at Taco Mio for lunch.

On the 15th, we rented a truck, went to the Room Store warehouse in downtown Phoenix to pick up our furniture, and drove to Quartzsite to unload it. I didn't think we'd ever get everything into the house, particularly the couch that has recliners on both ends and is very heavy! But we did get it all in and were back in Goodyear before 9:00 PM that evening.

The next day we returned the truck, then hooked up the fifth wheel and took it to Quartzsite. We still have stuff in storage, but most of it will wait until we return in the fall. In the meantime, we got busy unpacking the boxes we'd brought with us -- and unloading all the furniture from their boxes. We were knee-deep in cardboard boxes by the time we were through!

While the fifth wheel was at RV Lifestyle having the toilet fixed, we talked with them about installing solar, so the next week we took it in to have the solar installed. Now we're all ready for boondocking and are prepared to leave here on May 1 to begin traveling until this fall.

MARCH 2003

We had a fifth wheel hitch and brake control installed in the Chevy and also bought a truck box for the bed of the pickup. We did a walk through of the Arctic Fox one day, and the next day we took out-of-state delivery in Blythe, California. On our way back from Blythe, we stopped in Quartzsite and had lunch at Taco Mio -- very good Mexican food...if you're ever in Quartzsite or passing through, be sure to stop and eat there.

We took a trip to Camping World in Mesa to buy stuff for the new fifth wheel and took it in to RV Doctor to have a black tank flush installed as well as an on/off switch for the front landing jacks (the switch is on the outside, making it easy for anyone to come by and play with it).

Ron and Anita Wilson (New Horizons owners) stopped by on their way to the Escapade (slowly, as it doesn't start until April 6) and we had lunch at Cracker Barrel. It was great to see them again.

We found a new place to have breakfast -- Townes Square Cafe. They have great ham! But it's huge, as we found out the first time we ordered it. So the next time we went there for breakfast, one of us ordered the breakfast with the ham, and the other one ordered just eggs.

We had eye exams done and got new frames and lenses at Costco and Earl went to the dentist.

FEBRUARY 2003

On February 1, Earl and I had blood tests done and I had a mammogram. The blood tests and mammogram are sponsored by Bashas' HealthStyles (Bashas is a local grocery store chain) and is done by Sonora Quest Laboratories (blood tests) and MOM (Mobile On-site Mammography) at a lot less than it would cost to have the same tests done when referred by a doctor.

We had taken Maxx in for a rabies shot at the local veterinary office in January. Since he had a large lump in one of his front "armpits" plus some smaller lumps elsewhere, we wanted to have them removed, so took him back to the vet to have the surgery done.

Before doing the surgery, they do a pre-surgery blood test and we were told that Maxx's white blood count was up so they wouldn't do the surgery that day. They recommended a complete panel of blood tests to find out what was causing the elevated white blood count, which we had done.

In the meantime, the vet prescribed some antibiotics, Amoxocillan. Maxx had a very bad reaction to the Amoxocillan...he started throwing up and then stopped eating. Finally, we took him back to the vet and found out that the second blood test had shown that there was nothing wrong with his white blood count! I was understandably upset...all this for nothing!

After we got Maxx to eating again, we did take him back and have the surgery done. Poor Maxx! He had to wear a collar for a few days and then the incision in his armpit started to fill with fluid, so we had to have a drain inserted. It still wasn't healing properly, so the vet took the stitches out and told us to put him in the shower twice a day and flush the wound for about 5 minutes. We bought him two little T-Shirts to wear so he wouldn't lick or scratch at his pit. He sure looked cute in those T-Shirts! Finally, his incision healed.

During the month, we got a call from Ken and Debbie Toth, a couple who had looked at our fifth wheel and truck when we were in Quartzsite at the Boomerang. They had thought it over and decided they wanted to buy both vehicles as a package...hooray! They paid off the truck loan for us, allowing us to put money down on a Shult manufactured house -- a small, single wide with 675 square feet. They were also willing to wait to take delivery of the rigs until we were moved into the house.

We went down to the Room Store and bought a whole houseful of furniture -- living room, bedroom, and dining room (we'd sold all our furniture when we'd started fulltiming). We also found the new fifth wheel we wanted -- a 25' Arctic Fox -- so we bought it, too.

We took a trip to Quartzsite to open a post office box and to apply for a mobile home placement permit.

Bill and Gisela came into town so Gisela could have a blood test done at Luke Air Force Base and we went to lunch at Chili's. We also had a mini-rang with other Boomers at the Wickenburg Elks Club.

JANUARY 2003

Earl did more golfing and we did more eating out. Mom took her friend, O'Neil, and me out to lunch at Mimi's for our birthdays (O'Neil and I have birthdays just a few days apart). Earl took me out to dinner at the Olive Garden on my birthday. Mom and I also had lunch at various places during the month.

In preparation of selling our fifth wheel, we decided to start cleaning out stuff that we didn't really need right away. We bought some storage boxes and started packing...it's amazing just how much stuff we'd packed into our fifth wheel! And there's still more stuff in there! We also took the map off the side of the rig with a heat gun and then used Goof Off to take all the sticky off. We had United Aero Shine of Arizona come out and wash and wax the fifth wheel, too.

A friend and fellow New Horizons owner, George Bruzenak, stopped by Cotton Lane RV Park for a few days on his way to Quartzsite for the annual Boomerang (a gathering a Boomers, a Bird of a Feather group within the Escapees RV Club). We took him to Murphy's of Glendale, an absolutely yummy German food restaurant. The next night, George cooked dinner for us and on the third evening, we returned the favor. Bill and Gisela also stopped by for one night on their way to co-host at the Boomerang and the four of us went to Macaroni Grill for dinner.

The highlight of the month was the Boomerang in Quartzsite. We spent the first week of the Boomerang (which coincided with the big RV show) camped out in the desert with other Boomers. We had a lot of fun hanging out with the Boomers, going to Happy Hours and sitting by the bonfire each night. We also spent time touring all the goings on in Quartzsite and visited our friends, Don and Patti Hellman, who live there during the winter.

On Tuesday, we were treated to a dinner prepared by "Handlebar Jim" (one of the Boomers) and was it ever good! We also had dinner at Bill and Gisela's rig one night and on Friday night, the four of us drove to Brenda where we had dinner at the Black Rock Cafe. One night, we had George B and another fellow New Horizons owner, Lloyd Treichel, over to our rig for dinner.

While in Quartzsite, we bought a lot in the Q Mountain RV Subdivision.

After the Boomerang was over, George B came back to Cotton Lane RV Park to do laundry and stuff before heading off for the Elk-a-rang in Gila Bend. The Elk-a-rang is a Boomers event held at the Gila Bend Elks Club where they initiate new Elks members and do work for the lodge...cleaning, repairing, building stuff, etc. We took George to eat at Macaroni Grill.

DECEMBER 2002

December found us doing some more eating out at our usual restaurants. We added a new Mexican food restaurant, Los Altenos; a barbecue restaurant, Thee Pits Again...both of these places had good food. We also ate out at El Paso Barbecue with friends, Buck and Phyllis. And, of course, Earl did more golfing.

We took advantage of vascular screening done by Life Line Screening at Estrella Community College. We each had a carotid artery screening for stroke, an abdominal aortic aneurysm screening, and peripheral arterial disease screening. In addition, I had my bone density checked. We passed all the tests, so I guess we'll live for another year or so!

We had an enjoyable Christmas, even though we were by ourselves again...my mother had gone to Idaho to have Christmas with my brother and his family.

NOVEMBER 2002

We arrived at Cotton Lane RV Park on November 1. I immediately got busy putting the Freightliner and the New Horizons fifth wheel up for sale on various websites, even tried a stint on E-Bay. Although we got several inquiries, no offers were made.

We had nerf bars put on the Chevy as well as having a spray-in bed liner put on.

Made a trip to Brenda to check out an RV park there where we could put a park model. We also checked out some park models, even going so far as putting a refundable deposit on one that we liked. However, in doing some additional checking on park models, we found out that while banks will loan money on a new park model, they will not loan money on a used park model. Therefore, when you go to sell a used park model, you'd either have to carry the contract yourself, or find a buyer willing to pay cash. We decided against a park model.

Cotton Lane RV Park had some manufactured homes on various lots around the park, two of which we really liked. Unlike park models, banks will loan money on used manufactured homes. We thought that once our truck and fifth wheel sold, we'd buy one of these homes. The only drawback was that we wouldn't own the land on which it sat; we'd only be renting the land.

Earl golfed with Buck and other friends, usually twice a week...Estrella Golf Course, Falcon Golf Club, and Villa De Paz Golf Club being the usual hangouts.

We did our usual eating out, normally lunches...Takamatsu, a Japanese & Korean restaurant; Kyoto Bowl and Japanese Express, both Japanese fast food places with Japanese Express being our favorite; Lilly's, a Mexican food restaurant where we ate with Buck and Phyllis; On The Border, another Mexican food restaurant; Bennetts BBQ; Cracker Barrel; and Schlotzsky's, one of our favorite sandwich places.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving by ourselves...cooked a chicken rather than a turkey because it's tough to find a turkey small enough to fit in the roaster than fits in the oven and because space in the refrigerator is limited for leftovers. We did take part in the potluck at the RV Park the weekend before Thanksgiving, which was fun.

Had the couch and the carpets cleaned professionally in preparation for selling the fifth wheel.