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.

This is the entrance to the Bus Rally

(note the irony of the photo)

 Replacing the culvert that was damaged by the flood

Hello from Quartzsite, AZ

Hello from Quartzsite, AZ

Thursday morning January 21, 2010 (Second travelogue of this trip)

After leaving Cortez, CO we traveled on US 160 to US 89 into Flagstaff. We had thought about taking a quick detour in the Monument Valley (a favorite of ours), but we were concerned about the weather. It turned out that we did not hit snow until just before Flagstaff. We got there about noon and it was snowing hard. We then traveled south on I-17. That highway drops fairly steeply as you head south towards Phoenix. After a bit less than an hour, we were below the snow level and the driving was not bad.

We stayed in Goodyear, AZ which is just west of Phoenix. The hotel was very close to the Wigwam resort that we used to travel to each year for a business meeting. It was a fabulous resort and we miss those trips. As a side note, that whole area was owned by the Goodyear Rubber Co. at one time. They made the blimps there and had huge cotton fields so that they could have a supply of reinforcing material for all of their rubber products during the WWII. When Goodyear owned the Wigwam is was fabulous. After they sold it, it was never quite as good.

Tuesday we made the short drive to Quartzsite. I made a quick run out to the site of the Blue Bird rally site to make sure I knew where they were located and to talk to the rally master.

Yesterday, I did my presentation to the Blue Bird folks. The day did not start well, as some BLM representative slid his truck in next to mine as I arrive and told me that I could not be in the area. He said I was selling and that was not legal without a permit. I told him I would leave, but needed to inform the rally master. When I talked to the rally master, he said that the “tin marshal” could go to @#$%. He did not think that the person was even an government employee (I do not recall that he had a uniform) and had been harassing them every since they got there.

We simply “hid” the truck and got on with the program. That was a challenge in itself. First, to be on the safe side, I announced that I was not there to sell and could not because of the regulations. Most folks understood that I was merely doing the official requirement. The seminar was outside and the wind knocked my screen down and tore the screen material. Then the projector was not powerful enough to overcome the sunlight. So we winged it. And it seemed to go well. There was reasonable attendance and good participation. We then did a fire extinguisher demostration with a pan of diesel/gasoline and that went well.

Yesterday afternoon, we went out to the bus rally site. It is an official GM/Eagle/Flxible (correct spelling of Flxible), but there are lots of MCIs and Prevosts as well. The rally does not officially start till today, but there were at least 50 buses there last night.

We were able to see and talk to many friends. We even had a great steak dinner cooked by some friends who invited us to eat with them. Everyone expressed their concerns about our bus problems as well as our family health issues. It just gave us a very warm feeling.

This morning I woke up to a terrible rain storm. There is flooding in Phoenix and a flood watch here. The forecast is for even heavier rain and high winds. I have no idea how this will all play out. It will not be fun looking at buses in the rain and most folks will be holed up in their buses, so jawboning will not be big. There is the huge flea market and the “Big Tent RV” vendor show, but my guess is that the rain and wind will close that show down at least for today.

I guess we will play it by ear. I have some sales to deliver, so we will stick around for at least another day.

That is all for now.

Hello from Cortez, CO

Hello from Cortez, CO

Sunday evening January 17, 2010 (First travelogue of this trip)

Well, we are on the road and this blog will go back to being what is was intended to be – a travelogue! We are headed to Quartzsite, AZ for a very large bus rally and a bit of business. I will be making a presentation to a large Blue Bird RV organization.

Before I get into the details, I would like to thank all of the folks who have expressed concerns and support related to some of our recent “trials and tribulations”. When you are involved in situations that really test your resolve, it seems unbearable at times. There were days when it was 16 degrees below zero and I had a hacking cough that I really questioned my sanity as I headed out to the shop. Then, when the results were not positive, it really seemed grim. The health issues our daughters (and their families) have experienced are very troubling to us and tend to make us quite emotional.

HOWEVER, in the grand scheme of things, we are really quite fortunate. None of the health issues are in the category of cancer (or similar). Pat and I enjoy pretty good health. All of the things we have endured in the past few months will seem like a small speed bump in the future. We have been so fortunate in our lives, that a period of setbacks is probably magnified far beyond realism.

Apparently I have raised some concern with a few folks. We got a call yesterday from Irina, our German exchange student ('81/'82) that we have kept in close contact with over the many years including several visits on both sides of the ocean. She read the blog and wanted to call and make sure everyone was doing OK. We sure enjoyed that call!

Now to our travels. Because of the bus problems, we made the decision to make the trip in the service truck. It travels well, but is a bit hungry when it comes to fuel. Part of our decision to make this trip can loosely be called “avoiding the issues”. I am not sure that is all bad. Sometimes people just need to “get away” and clear their minds a bit. I spent today being able to think quite a bit more clearly about several issues that I have been wrestling with (obviously the bus was the focal point).

In the bus, we would normally take the “conservative” winter route of I 25 south to either I 40 or perhaps down to I 10 if the weather dictated. However, since the service truck is 4WD, we decided to take the scenic route. We traveled US285 (which is close to our house) down to US 160. That route took us over Wolf Creek Pass, through Durango and on to Cortez in south western Coloarado. That is about 350 miles. This is the most direct route, but also the most scenic. We have driven this route several times when I used to attend business meetings in Phoenix each year. We are really looking forward to tomorrows drive. The scenery is very unique and beautiful. I will fill in the details in our next blog.

The weather today was not all that bad for this time of year. A bit overcast, but no snow. The roads were dry. We were amazed at the amount of snow on the ground in various locations. Tomorrow will be a different story. If you follow the weather much, the majority of the south western part of the US is going to experience several days of rain and snow. The area we are traveling through will have snow. Before we leave tomorrow, I will check the road conditions. However, the predictions are for about 1-3 inches and that will be later in the day.

That is all for now.

Hello from Quartzsite, AZ

Sunday morning January 18, 2009 (Fifth travelogue of this trip)

We are at the Eagle Bus Rally (map). Actually, this is a combined Eagle/GMC/Flxible bus rally (yes Flxible is spelled according to the company name). There are close to 100 buses here (33 Eagles). The space alloted is a bit small, so we are kind of close together, but it is not too bad. Some of late comers had to park a bit off site, but they are close enough that they can participate in all the activities (coffee and donuts in the morning and h'orderves or pot luck at night,plus nightly bonfires and our board and general meeting). I have attached a picture that shows some of the rally.

If you have been following our blog, you know that we came here from Indio where we did two trade shows. We need to catch up on the FMCA rally in Indio. There were over 1500 coaches in attendance and lots of activity in the vendor area. Talking to many vendors, I got the same answer: lots of interest, but not much in the way of sales. That was true for our booth. We think that we had good contacts – both in terms of quantity and quality.

After the FMCA rally, we pulled under the palm trees and camped for a couple of days. The weather was great, getting into the 80's during the day. On Tuesday we traveled a bit over 120 miles east to Quartzsite.

We have written a bit about Quartzsite in the past. It is a crazy place to say the least. In the summer the population is less than 4,000. However, in the winter that number grows drastically. I have heard that during the December/January time frame over 1 million people will send a few days in the area. Quartzsite is in a basin and when you approach from either the east or west, you will crest a hill and see a sea of recreational vehicles of every shape and size.

This time in January is the peak population period, since the huge RV trade show is in full swing. This is a huge tent with several hundred vendors (we do not vend there). In addition, there are acres of “swap meet” booths all over town.

When we are here, we dry camp (no electrical/water/sewage hook-ups). We have solar power (not too effective this time of year when the sun is low), a good generator and lots of water, sewage capacity. We could probably dry camp for a couple of weeks before we would have to dump and get water.

From here we head to Yuma, AZ to stay with some good friends for a week or two.

That is all for now.

Eagle Bus Rally in Quartzsite

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