Hello from Quartzsite, AZ

Note: This is the first post on our new blog.

I have been writing travelogues for many years. The main purpose was to document our travels for future enjoyment by Pat and I. We have delivered these posts, via email, to our daughters, a few family members and some friends.

We have followed a great blog that some friends write as they travel around the country in the very unique and beautiful converted bus (see: http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com/). We recently met with them and they encouraged me to post our travelogues to a blog so that others could follow us as we travel.

I will start building this blog by posting the first two travelogues I wrote for this trip.

Jim

Now to the first post:

Wednesday Morning; January 23, 2008 (First travelogue of this trip)

Well, as been the case with the last few travelogues, I am very late in writing this one.

I have added a new feature to this travelogue. I am adding a link to Google Satellite Maps to show you where we are. Our current location is here.

We left Evergreen on Saturday 1/5/08 around noon. We had planned to leave on 12/27, but I had the bus torn apart in several locations as I tried to finish some projects. I did get some front cabinets done, relocated all of the heat exchangers and several other projects.

Leaving that late really put us in a bind. We had to be in Indio, CA by 1/8. That is a trip of almost 1,300 miles. We got off to a bad start, as we ran into terrible cross winds almost from the start. We saw several truck/trailers rolled over and the highway signs said that any RV would be ticketed if they were on the road. We pulled off at the Walsenberg exit and stayed the night. From there we traveled to Demming, NM (over 500 miles) and stayed in a Walmart. Next stop was a parking lot in Tonopah, AZ (slightly less than 500 miles). On both of those legs, we were severely buffeted by winds and a few severe rain storms. That part of the trip was NOT fun!

We made it to Indio at mid-day on Tuesday (1/8) and got settled in at the Expocenter Fairgrounds. This was the site of a large regional FMCA (Family Motorcoach Association) rally. Most regional rallies have around 500-700 motorhomes and this one had 1250 (down from about 1500 last year). Tuesday I scoped out the vendor area and did some unloading. Wednesday, I started to set up in the morning and then drove Pat over to Palm Springs (about 30 miles) to the Hilton where her Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference was held. As is always the case, she had a great conference.

The rally was open three days. It was very busy for me since Pat was not there to help as the “traffic cop”/partner. Our sales were low, but there were many folks very interested in my system (hopefully that will translate to future sales).

I was too tired to go to the first two evening entertainment events, but I did get the booth torn down on Saturday in time to go the Diamonds concert. They are a group out of the '50s and they put on a GREAT concert.

I picked Pat up on Sunday morning. We moved the bus from the parking field to a great place with water and power under some beautiful Palm trees (I will post some pictures later, after I catch up on some projects). The weather was great during the day but got a bit cool in the evening (not like Denver). We decided to stay another couple of nights and then left for Quartzsite on Wednesday (1/16).

As the map will show, we are east of Quartzsite just off I10. This is where the Eagle Bus Rally was held. The official dates of the rally were 1/18-20/08. Several folks came early like we did and a few are staying over.

The Eagle rally was well attended and fun. There were almost 40 Eagle buses and several other kinds of recreational vehicles that folks drove because their bus was not done. One couple drove a beautiful fully self-contained semi-truck.

While I do not hang out my “shingle” at these rallies, I sold over $1,000 worth of product!

We are staying over for a few days to go to the huge flea markets and the very large RV parts tent (open one week each year). Our plans are to leave here Friday and go south to Yuma and stay a couple of days with a fellow bus nut.

I have a lot more that I would like to document, but I am out of time since we are headed to town in a few minutes.

Jim