Category Archives: Travels with Maria

Blogging from the road.

Snowbirding 2020 Postcards: Dogs in Baby Strollers

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A shocking trend that seems to be getting worse.

Dogs in Carriages
Two dogs share a ride in a baby stroller.

It’s been a common site in Quartzsite for a number of years: (mostly) old people with (mostly) small dogs in baby strollers. I only took two photos this year, but I must have seen at least 50 dogs carted around like this.

The worst thing about this is that manufacturers have begun making strollers actually designed for dogs. I can only imagine how much this encourages people to participate in this shocking — read that “embarrassing” — activity.

Don’t get me wrong: if your dog is old or sick or otherwise has trouble walking around on his own, taking him out in a carriage or a wagon is a great way to get it outdoors for fresh air and interaction with others. But if your dog is fully able to walk on his own on a leash? Why would you do this? Why won’t you let your dog get exercise and enjoy the fringe benefits of sniffing new things and meeting other dogs?

More dogs in strollers
Yes, all three of these strollers waiting at the World’s Best Corn Dogs booth had at least one dog in it. These people were not together.

Anyway, if you love and respect your dog and he’s able to walk on his own on a leash, skip the stroller. Not only does it make your dog look dumb, but it also makes you look like an empty-nester who misses the grandkids.🙄

Snowbirding 2020 Postcards: Rock Shopping

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The first round of rock shopping.

If you know much about me and what I do, you probably know about my latest “hobby gone wild” and related rock problem. Basically, I collect gemstone cabochons and, a while back, began making jewelry with them. I tell people that I make jewelry to support my rock habit and I’m not really kidding.

Anyway, I buy the majority of my rocks in Quartzsite, AZ during the gem and mineral shows there in January. I started this year right on New Years Day and even took photos of my first (but not biggest) purchase.

Rocks
Among the rocks in this shot are Kingman Turquoise with Bronze, Kingman Turquoise and Orange Spiny Oyster Shell with bronze, malachite, K2 granite, azurite and malachite, blue jade, blue lace agate, and larimar.

More Rocks
In this shot, you can see bumble bee jasper, amethyst, red jasper, ruby in zoisite, rainbow calcilica, rhodenite, one I can’t remember, and a few I can’t identify because of the quality the photo.

I wound up spending over $1,000 on stones this winter. I’ll definitely have enough to take me through the entire year.

Snowbirding 2020 Postcards: Last Aerial Look at Camp

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I send the drone up for one last look at our camp in relation to surroundings.

Our camp, which was home to six people at its peak, is down to just three of us. Karen and Steve left a little over a week ago; they couldn’t seem to get work done with some much nature to distract them. (Steve loves to go fishing.) Janet left on Sunday morning to set up camp at Tyson Wells in Quartzsite, where she’ll be selling her artwork for the next three weeks. I moved Lily Rose, my mobile jewelry shop, over to my Tyson Wells spot yesterday afternoon. I toyed with moving T2, my camper, over there later in the day but decided I wanted one more night along the river. I admit that I was thinking a lot about Penny, who can be off-leash here. Once we get to Quartzsite, she’ll need to be tied up whenever we’re around other people. The Canadians, of course, are still here and will remain a few weeks after I’m gone.

After doing my last power walk along the levee road and driving down as far as what we call “Janet’s Camp” — maybe 6 miles south? — to see who was camping down along the way, I came back to my much smaller campsite community and sent up my drone for a few late afternoon shots. Here they are.

Campsite Looking West
Here’s a shot of my campsite looking west. In this shot, you can see my path to the levee road and the channel coming in from the river. You can also see the backwater channel on the other side of the road from our site and the island it makes. While everything looks pretty flat in this shot, I’m about 10 feet above the river/channel average level and another 5 to 10 feet below the level of the levee road.

Levee Road
Here’s a shot of the backwater channel south of ours, on the other side of the road with the southern tip of its island. I see here that the opening to the river is pretty much dried up. That huge sandbar would be covered with water when they release enough from Parker and Palo Verde Dams, but right now it looks as if you could walk right down it, wade across the channel, and step into California. The levee road runs in an arc from the right side of the shot to the center. To the end, it’s just 1/2 mile from our camp, making a nice, brisk one-mile round trip walk.

Two Channels
This shot is looking northeast from where the road from our camp makes the turn onto the levee road. You can see the narrow entrance to our backwater channel from the river on the left. Those folks camped on the left are only a few hundred yards from us by air but several miles away by road. The white van on the road belongs to Steve, who had come to go fishing with the Canadians; they’re on their way back here.

Our Camp
Here’s another look at our camp from the air, this time from the west. You can see the top of T2 (my truck camper); my truck is hidden by the tall bamboo. On the Canadian’s side of camp, you can see their fifth wheel and truck, as well as Steve’s van, which has just arrived. If you’ve got really sharp eyes, you can see Penny chasing the van.

I feel extremely lucky to have arrived at this camp shortly after the previous occupants left. This site is one of the best on the river and my personal favorite, mostly because of the long backwater channel for paddling — it goes two miles north, which is almost all the way to the freeway — the privacy, and the relative proximity to pavement (only three miles). I know for a fact that when I leave on Monday, my spot will be taken within two hours.

I’m sad to say goodbye to this camp, but it’s time to move on.

Snowbirding 2020 Postcards: The Expired Food Grocery Store

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Where old food goes when it leaves your supermarket.

This is one of the oddities of Quartzsite, AZ: a grocery store inside a tent that is filled with (mostly) food past its “best by” date.

Discount Grocery
The entrance to the Discount Grocery shop in Quartzsite just before Christmas.

This was very close to where I was camped for most of January so I went there a few times a week. It has mostly canned and packaged foods from the middle aisles of supermarkets.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I have always treated those “best by” dates as some sort of food expiration date. Recently, however, I’ve been educated about just how random those dates can be. And while I still prefer buying food that has that date way into the future, I’ve occasionally purchased (and eaten) food with old dates. This is where I’ve gotten it.

You can’t argue the prices. One year, I bought (and made) box after box of $1 coffee cake mix that was kicked out of the supermarket two or three months before. And those old crackers don’t taste bad with a smear of fresh cashew butter or brie on them. And does candy really expire?

Cheap Chocolate Chocolate Expiration Date
How could I resist Ghirardelli chocolate for just a buck? Hell, it was less than 2 months past its “best before” date. (It was fine.)

But what always surprised me was how some of the items weren’t past their “best by” dates at all. Like large cans of menudo (which I actually like) and canned peaches. And how about the 17-oz (500ml) bottle of organic extra virgin olive oil from Spain that won’t “expire” until August 2020? For $2? I thought it might be rancid, but it wasn’t. I’m still using it.

Anyway, you can find the Discount Grocery on the south side of Kuehn Street at Tyson Wells during the winter. I recommend it.

Snowbirding 2020 Postcards: Our River Campsite

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An aerial view of our campsite at the Colorado River backwaters.

I launched the drone early Thursday morning to capture some aerial views of our campsite. In hindsight, I realize I did it too early — the shadows were still long. But the wind had been blowing too hard to fly safely during the previous days and I didn’t know if it would kick up again. So I launched, grabbed a few photos, and landed. Here are two of them.

River Campsite
Here’s a view from the east and slightly south.

Janet and I are camped on the left. Steve, Karen, Jeff, and Theresa are camped on the right. There’s an access road between our two campsites because there’s a boat ramp there. The water has been too low to launch a boat of any real size so it’s only been used twice — both times by wildlife researchers — since we’ve been here. (I launched my little jet boat here two years ago.)

The body of water we’re on is one of the backwater channels that exist alongside the Colorado River in some places. I don’t know the story behind these areas. Were they cut to drain wetlands? Did they form naturally? Whatever the story, this particular backwater runs about two miles north of our position with various side channels. The only opening to the river is just west of us, although with the water so low, it’s impassible by even my kayak. You can see the Colorado River in the far left of this shot; everything in the top of this frame is in California. (We’re in Arizona.)

Top Down View
Here’s a look straight down at our setup.

If you think there are a lot of vehicles here for just six people, you’re right. On the left, you can see Janet’s trailer (“Joey”) sitting by itself. Below that in the frame is a lineup of my vehicles: my truck camper (“T2”) parked on its legs, my cargo trailer/workshop (“Lily Rose”), and my pickup truck. On the right, you can see Janet’s truck (“Blue’) and her workshop trailer (“the Vega”) parked at the top of the frame, closest to our camp. Below that in the frame is Jeff and Theresa’s truck and fifth wheel trailer. In the top right of the frame is Steve and Karen’s bumper pull trailer. In looking at this, I realize that Steve and Karen’s van is missing from this shot; one of them must have been out with it. If I’d taken the shot the day before, you would have seen their 10×10 work tent set up between the Vega and their trailer.

The campsite is fewer than 3 miles from the freeway, which I’m thrilled about. We usually camp at least 7 miles away and the gravel road we drive to get back and forth into town is a jarring ride that beats the crap out of my truck’s tires and shocks. This site is off that main gravel road, although it’s close to the levee access road. Fortunately, we’re sunk down off of the levee road to nearly the high water mark, surrounded by bushes and long stands of bamboo. We have plenty of privacy and the vegetation prevents dust from getting down into our site.

This campsite is completely off-the-grid. There are no hookups or other facilities so you have to bring in everything you need: power, water, propane, and toilet. My rig has 2 12-volt RV batteries and a total of 360 watts of solar power to keep them charged. It holds 30 gallons of fresh water, but I also have 2 7-gallon jugs to fetch more. I have 2 5-gallon propane tanks that provide heat and hot water and keep my refrigerator running. Over the years, I’ve learned how to minimize toilet usage so the 30-gallon waste tank lasts two weeks without stinking. We do have cell phone service, but it’s weak — usually 1 or 2 out of 4 bars on my phone. If I hold my phone just right, I can get on the Internet.

For the most part, my companions are fine to camp with, although the newcomers, who don’t have solar panels on their rig, tend to run their loud generator a bit too often and long for my taste. (If you’re going to camp off the grid for any length of time, you need solar panels to keep your batteries charged. Running a generator for hours on end is simply inconsiderate to the people around you who don’t come out here to listen to your cheap generator because you don’t know how to conserve power.) We occasionally get together as a group for dinner or a campfire, but more often, Janet and I do our thing independently of the others. She and I are both getting work done here — she’s an artist and I’m making jewelry — but also finding time to fish, go out in our little boats, or go into town to shop or take care of errands like fetching water or propane.

We’ll be here for about two weeks — which is the limit for BLM land. Steve and Karen will pull out Saturday and Janet will do some traveling without her rig for the holidays. She’ll get back for a few days and then we’ll pack up and move out to our next destination at the first two Tyson Wells shows in Quartzsite about 25 miles away.

This is my fifth (I believe) December camping out in this area with my friends. I first did it with my big fifth wheel (“the Mobile Mansion”) and then, when I sold that, continued doing it with the two truck campers I owned (“the Turtleback” and “T2”). I have to say that despite the few shortcomings in comfort, I really do love coming here and I look forward to it every year.