Mar. 28, 2013 Where did March go?

Yikes, it has been over a month since I wrote on the blog.  I feel like we slept the month away, as we have little to report.
This past month in Antioch, CA, has had us mired down in doctor and dentist issues, along with  coming down with “the cold” going around.  We both woke up yesterday and said:  I do believe we are going to live.  Life is good.
We left off on the previous the blog leaving Quartzsite, AZ, for another trip back to Antioch, CA, so Larry could have the cancerous spot on his wrist removed.  As in February, we made the 620-mile by spending three nights instead of just one.  We returned to the Needles Elks’ Club, the Bakersfield Elks’ Club and Tracy Elks’ Club, on our way to Sugar Barger RV Resort.  I always try to keep an extra day or two with the trip in case we run into snow at Tehachapi, fog in Bakersfield, or heavy winds on I-5.
Have you heard about the bee-hive collapse situation?  Bee hives have been dying off at alarming rates.  Here is one reason:

See those white boxes?  You can’t hear it what they mean, but we did:  Smack, smack, smack!  Hundreds of the little beasts leaving their sticky yellow guts all over the front of our RV—as well as every one of the hundreds of RVs traveling up and down I-5!  It is incredible that the beekeepers haven’t figured out that bees fly in a big circle—right over the heavily traveled interstate.  In the case of Bee vs. RV/18-wheelers = bee loses!
We got into our usual spots—thanks to the caring Sugar Barge staff.  This is our back door view:
 
I am going to share a few fun photos taken during the past month—as we drove back and forth to our medical facility and other appointments.  Spring is the time to enjoy California!



One of the many reasons we like to stay at Sugar Barge is the number of RV rallies held here.  We were surrounded by Airstream trailers recently. 

I noticed the Airstream owners spent more time outside visiting than the owners of the big motor homes do.  It was a fun group.
Here is Larry, with his new slimmer, wrinkle-free wrist enjoying the view:

The plastic surgeon removed more of the skin around the cancerous spot on his wrist, stitched  and added steri-strips over the incision.  Larry had to avoid showers for 2 days, and within two weeks, the steri-strips fell off and stitches dissolved.  Very little pain and very minimal scarring.  Well done, Dr. Chong.
We are waiting to see his kidney doctor next week to see how our summer is going to shake out.  Would love to head back to Texas and my pottery wheel for a few months, but I think that isn’t going to be in our near future.  In the meantime, we will explore the Bay Area until we can head out for a month or two. 
I will try to write more often.  I hate that our plans are so dependent on doctor appointments, but we knew that when we packed the camper to travel and explore.  We just have to sneak in fun times between the medical issues!   

Feb. 22, 2013 Best-made plans fail, again.

February has been a busy month.  Larry had a kidney doctor appointment on Feb. 7, 2013, so we packed up the camper and headed toward Antioch, CA.  We got a late start on Feb. 1, so we decided to find the Needles, CA, Elks’ Club.  It gave us a 100 miles start on our 620 miles trip back to the SF Bay Area.  We never know what the club offers to traveling Elks, but at a bare minimum, we have a safe place to spend the night dry-camping.

We were delighted to find a full-service campground for $18 a night.

The following night we stopped at our regular travel spot--the Bakersfield Elks’ Club—which offers over-night parking with electricity and a RV dump for a $10 donation. 

It is located downtown and doesn’t offer a full-hook-up site, but we are delighted to have a place to spend travel nights—with electricity which is required during the HOT summer months.

Using Elks’ Club RV parking option is nice; inexpensive parking and helps support the clubs--a win-win situation.  These two show the differences available.

We spent 8 days at the Contra Costa Fairground campground in Antioch, CA.

It isn’t fancy (for $17 a night), but the location works while we do the doctor visits and lab work.  One disadvantage is we are allowed 14 days in a six-month period which creates issues if we need to be in the area for longer visits.

The doctors’ visits weren’t as reassuring as we had hoped.  Larry’s kidney function is not doing as well as before.  If he doesn’t get his albumin levels up by April lab tests, our traveling days may be curtailed for a while.  Plus he had three biopsies done on his scalp and wrist when we visited our GP.

We headed back to Quartzsite, AZ, with plans to work on increasing his nutrition levels to bring the albumin level back up over the next 5 weeks.  I planned on cooking yummy dishes to tease his appetite and increase his nutrition.  We did about 300 miles each day to get back in two days.  We arrived Tuesday, Feb. 12, very glad to be back in the quiet desert—and tired!

Alas, our five weeks were not to be.  We received a call the next morning from the dermatologist.  She had some good news that the two spots on his head were fine; however, the one from his wrist is “squamous” cell cancer and he needed to return to have a consultation with a surgeon to have more of the area removed.  We asked for the six weeks at Q before returning—NOPE!  We agreed on March 15th at the latest!  This kind of skin cancer can spread. 

The surgeon’s office called later that day—we were still in shock from hearing two batches of not-so-great news.  We made an appointment for March 5th and then called the next day to move it closer.  Larry will see the surgeon Feb. 25th and then we hope to have a surgery date prior to March 15th!  So, yesterday we packed up our stuff and headed to CA—21 days after the last trip west. 

We called our favorite RV Resort--Sugar Barge Resort to see if they could fit us in one of our favorite sites for the next 30-60 days.  Tracy came through for us—AGAIN.  They are fantastic!  We will be in Site 113 until both the wrist surgery and April labs are completed. 

The other thing taking up so much of my time is illustrated below.  I feel like I have been immersed in a new language course for the past 30-plus days.  So much to learn—so few fresh brain cells left to train!

Yes, it has taken both books to try to learn how to make the phone work for me!  I must say, I love the phone!  It is a small computer on steroids!  I can hear people’s voices and the phone doesn’t garble to sounds like my Razor phone did!  I think it could do handstands on its own! 

In closing this episode, I want to share some of the beautiful jewelry my sister makes along with one final photo from Q—showing why we love the area:

Isn’t she talented?  We took some photos for her website.

And finally, Good-bye Q—until next year.  We will miss your beautiful colors!

Check back to see what the Jennings will be doing as they wait out the next five or six weeks!  We feel blessed to have been able to travel and explore the country even with Larry’s health issues.  We hope things shake out so we can continue.  Prayers for Larry’s continued health are welcome!

January 27, 2013 -- Quartzsite, AZ – When it gets busy…

This is what we woke up to last Wednesday morning.  The sky was on fire! 
While it is beautiful, it also means there is a LOT of dust in the air—the air we breathe.  This happens every year in the middle January, just before the Big Tent show opens.  The RV show brings in thousands of visitors, many who now tow jeeps, four-wheelers, and “side by side” off-road vehicles.  And they come to run the miles of dirt roads and even make new dirt roads—which throws a lot of dust into the air.
A friend once asked about parking on the BLM lands,  “How do you know where to park?”  My response was:  Any where you want!
  These photos show a few different parking styles.
Some like to park with space around them.
Others like to park close, very close, to each other.
Some respect a set amount of space between RVs—as if there is a set “distance-between” rule,”  They park in a very orderly fashion.
Others park “willy-nilly,” according to their own rules of parking.
There are big expensive rigs.
And some that have been around for a long, long time.
For some, it must have been an act of faith to leave their home state and head to Arizona!  There were rocks behind the wheels on the RV on the right—to keep it in place.
And some RVers just can’t leave anything home—whether it fits safely or not.  This set up was a bit scary.  Imagine following him through Los Angeles, CA, in traffic.
Most visitors come for the RV shows.  I made my way to the tent three times. 

There are food vendors galore.  You name it and it is probably here.

This photo was quite unusual.  I could see the green carpet on the ground.  Usually the tent looks like this:

I had been hearing visitor numbers were down this year.  I believe it after visiting the tent.  Usually the aisles are so full, you can’t take photos.
Here are some booths this year. In addition to “everything about RVing,” other vendors come to cash in on the high visitor count.
This was just for dog owners.  Those are pouches to carry your small dogs and clothes on the back wall.  Dog accessories are a big industry in the RV world.

This was a new product—silicone sheets to put on the BBQ grill and cook food like in a skillet.


Janet carries everything microfiber.  It’s a fun booth to explore.

Chef Bob and his cooking gear.  He always draws a crowd.  I saw several generator booths this year.  Two of our brands were covered.  Honda is our favorite for the RV, while we have a Champion for the Texas house. (Texas has lots of BIG storms in the spring.)


Good Sam Club did not have a booth in the big tent this year.  This was a first for Good Sam.  Texas neighbors, Charles and Chris Yust, were in the tent with Good Sam Insurance products.

However, the Escapees RV Club had the same booth, # 201, as usual—good for them:

And, I think one of the crowd pleasing favorites is:

However, as I was wandering around alone, and it wasn’t very warm, I passed on the delicious, huge ice cream cones sold in this booth every year.
There were a few long-time vendors missing this year.  The show was a bit smaller than previous years—a sign of the down-turn in the economy.  We had enough visitors to clog the roads as usual, but not as bad as previous years.
Then, after weeks of  bitter cold weather and windy and sunny days, to round out the weather situation we woke up yesterday morning to:

It was so nice to see all the puddles.  The dust is out of the air.  We can see the mountains again!
Many of the off-roaders packed up and left yesterday.  We won’t miss them.
It wasn’t the best of weather for the vendors for the last weekend, but they too will breathe easier today—on the last day of the Big Tent Show.
Later this week, we are packing the camper and car and heading to the S. F. Bay Area .  We have doctor’s appointments on the 7th and 8th.  If all goes well, we will be back in Quartzsite around the 14th for another 4-6 weeks. 
If you are having nice weather, be sure to take a moment and enjoy it.  We are enjoying every sunny day—it fills the batteries so we don’t have to run the generator.  Life is good.
P.S., Ever wonder if we cook in the camper?  Yesterday’s rain brought on a “soup day.”

The pressure cooker that I bought at the Big Tent show two years ago makes wonderful soup in a short time.  It was sooooo gooood on a wet, damp day.  However, it trashed the kitchen for an hour.

January 14, 2014 Watching the Big Tent go up in Q.

First, I have to say, it is COLD in Quartzsite, AZ.

How cold is it?  Yesterday morning, it was 34 degrees—inside the camper!!!  And the outside temperature was about 20 degrees.  We don’t run a heater inside while we are sleeping.  It is a long story, but we sleep too soundly to have hot things running while we are asleep. We are quite warm under the layers of blankets, but those 3 a.m. potty runs are COLD!

Second, the wind is blowing along with the cold temperatures.  It is 43 degrees at 4 p.m.  Brrrrr.  However, we still feel blessed.  My daughter-in-law sent me a cute video of my GRANDson playing in the snow outside their house in Boise, ID.  Yes, we have cold weather and strong winds, but as of today, none of that pesky white stuff—called snow.

Third, we have two much time on our hands.  So much time that we have been watching the Big Tent going up.  We have been coming to Q for about 20 years and this is the first time we have taken the time and made the effort to watch the team erect the huge tent for Kenny  King’s Sports, Vacation, and RV Show held the third week of January.

The installation of the grass floor is the first sign the tent is going up.  There were just rocks and sand in this area last week.  The tent poles are laid down the center.  We have wondered how they get the poles up in the air.  There aren't any elephants to help raise the big tent.


The little piles on the right side are some of the canvas for the tents.  The main tent is white, but some of the other tents used in the show are blue and yellow.


The next day, the poles were up!



Notice all the guy wires used to raise the poles and hold them upright until the canvas is on.



Any sailors out there looking for a job going up the mast?  You can see that he is rigging the pulleys for the pole that is just going up.  Once the poles were up, they started laying out the canvas.  Another question answered:  How do they get the tent around the poles?  They connect each panel around the main poles on the ground—once the poles are up.  The guy on the left is connecting the seams working away from the hole around the big pole.



And then two days later, after a very windy day, they started raising the tent.  How do they raise a 200 or 300 ft. long tent?  Very slowly!!

 



First they attach the outside edge to the main tent and then use about 10 ft. poles to raise the entire outside edge, adding guy wires to support the outside edge.  We missed where they removed some of the big pole guy wires.  Once the outside edge is raised and secured, they start raising center of the tent from the inside.



We could hear the sounds of the ropes running through the pulleys and the sounds like a main sail being winched up the mast—and the top rose slowly up the pole.  AHA, that is how they do it!!
  


 

And the workers went to work on the second pole.  They winched and winched—moving canvas up to the same height as they worked down the line.  We left them to their work as it took most of the day.  The following morning, the big tent was up.



We stopped by on Saturday to see the next stage.  The sides had been attached—and another line of poles were in place.  The second poles are just about half way between the top and the bottom edge of the big top.



The electricians had started wiring for all the outside booths and food vendors.  I got a “charge” out of the connecting plug for the line.  It is as big as my foot.



Today, with 30 MPH winds, we didn’t go by the tent.  We figured the electricians were inside wiring the tent for the 600 booths.  The show opens next Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, and closes Sunday, Jan. 28th.
Thousands of visitors will fill the aisles—and vendors’ pockets--during the 10-day run.  I love wandering though, but it will be packed over the 3-day weekend.  When I was doing the Escapees Commercial Membership program, I would visit all the vendors who sold RV-related stuff to explain the program.  Now that I am retired, I go to shop.

The following weekend, the Hobby, Craft & Gem Show opens in the tent for 4 days along with a Rock ‘n’ Roll Classic Car Show.  So much to look at—so little space in the camper!  Ouch!

Since Saturday, we have noticed a dramatic increase in RVs parking in the BLM areas around Quartzsite.  It seems to be lighter than previous years, but I think the show will have a lot of attendees again.  Many of the Escapees RV Club’s chapters are holding rallies in the area as well as the Club’s Annual Happy Hour hosted by Denny and Susie Orr on Jan. 16th and 17th from 1 to 3 p.m. Several hundred Escapees members bring their chairs to a spot on BLM land for two afternoons of visiting and listening to two hours of fun entertainment.
 
In the meantime, we hope you are warm and comfortable—wherever you are!