RV Interiors

I stepped inside a couple of the huge RVs among the hundreds available for sale.

The slide-outs are not all the way out as the RVs are packed in close to each other.

Some had so much floor space you could hold dance classes inside.

Why the need for so much room?

This is a modest bath/shower set-up compared to some.

Mirrors throughout are used.  

Gives the impression of being more expansive I suppose.

I could only get in part of the seating in this one.

Why so much seating?  

I don't have that many friends!

Never Give Up

I went back to the BIG TENT the next day.  What a difference a day makes!  It might have had something to do with being there a couple hours earlier.  The crowd was greatly diminished and much more tolerable.  It was much like going to the home show portion at your county fair.  Vendors trying to sell you things you don't really need: veggie cutter devices "It slices, it dices...", magic elixirs to cure your ills, pillows guaranteeing you a good night's sleep, gadgets, gizmos, potions, lotions, cleaning agents, vacuums, steamers, pots and pans...you name it.  Sales people hawking their wares trying to get you to "step right up".  Sadly less than a third of the vending had anything to do with RVs or travel.  Only a few were about getting a summer job as a camp host, harvest work or a seasonal job at Amazon.  A few were trying to sell time shares at their high-end RV travel park resorts.   

Anyway, I was glad I gave it another try, got to see it and will not ever have to think about going again in future years while wintering here at Quartzsite.  We ended up not moving camp as the mayhem around us for the most part left.  Things are back to normal...kind of.  The show ends in two days, the big tent comes down and all the tired looking vendors will move on to the next big show somewhere.  Our neighborhood should continue to improve this weekend and I'll probably stay put through February as it is convenient to be able to walk the mile or so into town for a quart of milk
. 

Oh, and the big deal in progress for that $249,000 motor home on the previous post...the RV was still there, door open inviting prospects to come in.  The deal must have fell through.

Did I buy anything?  Yes, an overpriced hot dog.

I Tried

You will recall my showing the huge white tent going up for the upcoming RV show and I said I would walk through and show what it was all about.  Well the grand opening was three days ago and the traffic out on the highway near camp was at a standstill, not that that was an issue for me for I could walk to the tent.  Still, people were driving in and parking anywhere they could find a space even if it meant in someone's camp!  We were spared that confrontation.  I had heard of the huge traffic jams and now I had seen them.  I decided to wait out the three day holiday weekend (Martin Luther King) and then walk up there to view the circus after the crowds had thinned out.  Jo said she changed her mind and wasn't going.  Fool that I am, I went for it on Tuesday.  This tent is huge, I'm told a "city block" long however long a city block is.  Well over a football field long at least.  There were three aisles packed with vendors on each side hawking their wares.  The so-called thinned out crowd I imagined was NOT!  People shuffled along at a zombie pace.  I lasted for all of a hundred feet and made a hasty exit out a side opening in the tent.  The mass of humanity was more than I could endure.  So I apologize for not even having the presence of mind to snap a quick overhead photo.  Once back outside I headed back for camp through the huge lot full of RVs for sale when I caught this scene.  Notice the sign on the door...someone is actually buying this monster! 

If you think that is a lot of money a few days ago I watch one of the YouTubers I follow and the young lady is in Tampa Florida touring the huge RV show going on there.  She walked through many of the RVs one of which a Prevost with the price tag of 2.3 million dollars. 

We've had enough.  The crowded conditions, the ongoing cacophony of noise (traffic mostly) and the sheer numbers of people around we are moving out for the peace and quiet two and a half miles to the east of our present location.  I had to at least experience being in the thick of this once.  Never again!  

A Frightening Incident

I was sitting outside in the sunshine enjoying a beverage with my camp mate Jo. As I took a drink a chunk of something poured into my mouth. What the...?  I spit it out into my hand.  It was a BEE that had crawled into the can!  My mind immediately went back two months ago when a bee had stung my hand at the abandoned mine and how painful and discomforting for days afterwards that was, unlike any other bee sting I had ever had.  Needless to say I was traumatized thinking of what if that bee had stung my tongue or anywhere inside my mouth.  I believe the only thing that prevented my being stung was that it was beer I was drinking and the bee, although still alive was thoroughly inebriated. 

The RV Inspector

 Beans loves to go check inside my friend Jo's little trailer.

  Just to see if anything is new or different I guess.

Just doing what cats do.

.

Some friends stopped by the other day and one was in a new van.

"Meow, meow!"  She wanted out and made a beeline over to the van to inspect.

The Lady at the Water Fill-up

I went by to fill up on water and a lady pulled in on the other side of me.  She was in a small SUV type of car.  She may have been in her forties, hard to say as she was all bundled up against the cold.  She was heavy-set wearing a heavy coat yet bare foot except for flip-flops.  Too cold for me to not have anything on my feet! She was filling a five-gallon bucket with water to do her laundry in.  We got to talking.

I learned she had been bedridden for three years, with little or no use of her arms and legs following a traffic accident.  She said "I used to exercise, do zumba (sp?) and run 5k runs.  You wouldn't know that to look at me now."  She would tell her daughters "If I ever get out of this bed, I am making a big life change."

Her prospects never looked too good until she stopped taking the medication the doctors had put her on.  Gradually she recovered, became mobile and left that prison in a bed life.  She told me she would watch YouTube videos while incapacitated and learned of this life on the road.  She packed what she needed in her car and this was the first time she had ever been down here in the desert.  She was living out of a tent and so very happy.  "I walked five miles yesterday!"

I have heard similar stories about the determental effects of prescribed medications.  Someone once told me they didn't trust doctors.  "They don't know anything.  They don't care.  They cause more trouble than they cure.  They charge the earth and if you don't get better they blame you for it.  After  they blind you or cripple you, so that you've got no choice but to sue them, where do you have to go? To a lawyer!  And that's worse!"

The lady hefted the five-gallon bucket full of water into her car (remember, less than a year ago she couldn't even lift her leg or arm) and we exchanged good-byes.  I wished her the best.  She left me inspired for the rest of the day.

The Big Tent

During the month of January this big tent gets erected nearby.  As I mentioned in the previous RV Show post, I am usually some miles away when the "circus comes to town".  Its not really a circus but I call it that. So this is the first time I have actually got to see the Big Tent.  In a couple of weeks in January the tent will be filled with vendors hawking RV gadgets, places to go and a week called the Job Fair where you can apply for seasonal jobs ranging anywhere from camp hosting to working at Amazon outlet centers.  Some people need income to live this on-the-road lifestyle.  Fortunately I have my pension.  I don't want to work.  When the tent is open I will try to brave the crowds and get a picture or two for the blog here.  Wish me luck.

The Million Dollar RV

That's just my guess as to what these people have invested in this behemoth. 

They pulled in where we are camped.

You can see our home in the distance between the bus and trailer.

Fortunately they left soon after.

The Big RV Show

The month of January there is a big RV show in Quartzsite, Arizona.  Usually I am not near any of this but this year I am.  I'm curious by nature.  There are three big dealers here who have driven in hundreds of RVs from Yuma, Phoenix and wherever else for this show.

I talked with two of the dealers salesman, curious as to how many units they sell making the effort of driving all these RVs here in the first place worthwhile.  One told me they sell about 180 units and take in 80 in trade-ins and have 40 salesman on the grounds.  The other place said they sell "around 200 with 70% of that figure trade-ins".

I had no idea.  Evidently people come in from miles around as the best deals can be had during this show.  You can see the prices on some of those big RVs above, well this little four-wheel drive van alone is $112,543.

   

There is not much room inside.  I looked at trailers, fifth-wheels, small RVs and monster RVs.

I grew to appreciate and love what I have all that much more.

Sunbathing

We had a couple nights this past week where the temperature fell to 28 degrees (-2.2C).  One of those nights was the first time Beans ever got under the covers with me.  Sinbad used to do that all the time.  I always worried about him smothering.  Usually Beans sleeps on top of my feet or legs.  I can't imagine how sleeping on my bony legs can be comfortable.  It isn't too much for me.  But she does put out some warmth.  I'll take that.  She's a big cat.  Bigger than Sinbad and probably weighs half again as much as did Sinbad.  I wish there was some way I could weigh her.  I thought of those scales in the grocery store in the fruit and vegetable section.  I don't think Beans would tolerate going into the grocery store.  The people probably would like it either.  "Don't mind me.  I'm just weighing my cat."

Government Shut Down #2

Notice anything peculiar?

This is the only big container for trash and it is located south of us (three miles) at La Posa South.  There are six or seven regular dumpsters behind this big container and they were not over flowing although I have seen it that way once before.  The trash trucks still do their rounds on a regular basis despite the shut down.  The people here are real good about keeping our public lands clean.  You may have read a recent news item about how our National Parks are suffering with trash and human waste matter being left along park roadways, that's if you believe what the news media spits out these days.  Really, I cannot imagine people pulling off to the side of the road in the parks going poop and leaving it and toilet paper behind.  Maybe tossing a beer can or water bottle out but the other?

There is a regular dump station for RVs to dump their waste tanks at La Posa South.  Some RVers have what is referred to as a blue boy.  They are 10 or 15 gallon plastic containers with small wheels on them.  You hook your waste RV hose to it and when full tow the container behind your car or truck to the blue boy dump.  This method prevents you from having to break camp and drive your RV or tow the trailer to the regular dump station. The BLM provides a water tank (below) for you to rinse out your hose with after dumping your blue boy.  I don't have to use any of these facilities but go along with my camp mate when she does.  The time before I noticed this tank of fresh water half full.  I was curious if it was empty due to the shut down and not being refilled.  I couldn't see a water line.  I thumped on the tank and it sounded full.  Hmm...maybe they are filling it.  When talking with the guy who was using it while we waited our turn I learned the tank was frozen solid!  Yep, that is how cold it has been the last couple of nights.  It is warming back up to normal now.

Middle Ave.of Nowhere

And believe it or not, I was able to find my way home from the Middle of Nowhere.