On the road with Jim and Pat: Hello from Santa Fe, NM

Hello from Santa Fe, NM

Sunday evening January 24, 2010 (Third travelogue of this trip)

Our stay in Quartzsite was quite interesting to say the least.

First, lets talk about the motel (Super 8). It is one of two motels in Quartzsite, and the largest. Our cost was $116 per day plus taxes. For that we got a very mediocre room (at best), no internet in the room (router was too weak) and the “Super Start” breakfast (Fruit Loops and toast – literally). We brought string cheese so that we could have protein. The TV had about 10 channels the first couple of days and then the major networks no longer worked.

Then, lets talk about the weather. As noted in our previous post, on Thursday, the day started with very strong rain and got worse. The rain continued all day and then tornado-level winds came up in the evening (actual tornadoes near by). When we came home from dinner, a large Saguaro cactus had been blown over into a car. I helped remove it so the owners could go to dinner. It was about 7 feet tall and must have weighed over 100 pounds. Many streets in Quartzsite were flooded and closed to traffic. The area of the rally was very hard hit. A large metal culvert was washed down the drainage ditch (see photo). Friday was a bit better, but had very cold winds. Yesterday was clear and reasonably warm during the day.

In the last post, I mentioned that this was a GM/Flxible/Eagle bus rally. There had been some confusion about the rally schedule and the Flxible buses had their rally the previous weekend. This was a real downer for me, as I love the classic style of the Flexible buses. However, there were perhaps 75 buses at the rally. I was surprised that there were not a lot of GM buses, but there were 30 Eagles, several Prevost and MCI buses, and a handful of what we call SOBs (some other buses).

We got to spend a lot of time talking to lots of old friends and meeting many new folks. Because of the nice weather on Saturday, everyone spent a lot of time outside, since they had been cooped up for the previous days. I think most of the folks had a good time. Not having the bus at the rally was a real downer, but we still had a good time chatting with folks.

Pat and I attended the Eagles International board meeting. Pat is the secretary and I am a board member. Quartzsite is the designated annual meeting for our chapter and the board meeting is, obviously, required. In addition, we also attended the general meeting.

Our very good friends (Ed and Stevi) gave me a hard time because I mentioned having steak with friends, but not have a gourmet fired chicken dinner at the Loves truck step with them. So, now they are mentioned {grin}. Indeed, we had dinner with them two more times. We always enjoy their company, and regret that we will not be able to stay with them in Yuma this year. We had the best time the last two years sharing their beautiful lot in the Foothills area of Yuma. It is still possible we can get down there, but the probability is not great.

After the general meeting yesterday, we left Quartzsite about 5:00 and drove to Goodyear, AZ and stayed in the same Holiday Express that we stayed at on the way down. Today we drove 530 miles to get here. We traveled up I-17 to Flagstaff and then I-40 to Albuquerque and I-25 to Santa Fe. Flagstaff had over 5-7 feet of snow while we were in Quartzsite and the drifts were still quite high. However, the roads were dry and the driving conditions were good.

That is all for now.