Our Temporary Home

We are in Yuma and have moved into a rental park model while we have a new roof put on our RV.  It's something we have wanted to have done for a while and found a place in Yuma that does the job.  We are having the rubber roof removed and a spray on rhino liner type roof applied to it.  Its the same thing they use to spray in the bed of trucks to make it durable and resistant to scratches.  We have worried about  our roof getting holes from hail and tree limbs.  Now we won't have to worry because it's guaranteed for life. 

The people we rent our RV lot from here in Yuma also have park models that they were renting.  They are letting us stay in one while our roof gets replaced.  Its very nice but not a lot bigger than our RV.  The only thing that makes it bigger is the huge covered deck.  There is also a large adobe shed behind it with a washer and dryer and additional bathroom.  They are in the process of selling this lot with both park models for $120,000 and they are promoting it as a rental property.   The rental season down here is from November til March.  The rest of the year it's too hot.

Our First 4 wheel adventure

We got to Quartzsite and finally got to start using our 4wheeler.   The first time we tried it we took it on the roads in town and then out to the gold claims.  We quickly decided we didn't like riding on the roads and will stick to offroading.  We now put the 4wheeler on the trailer and trailer it out to the part of the desert we want to explore.   It rides very smoothly and it has a windshield so we don't eat bugs while riding. 

We've been discovering old mines that have been covered over like the one in the top photo or they have barb wire around them.  It is illegal to go into an old mine in Arizona but people tend to ignore the law.  The thought of snakes and other critters keeps us out.  The little brown marker in the bottom photo is a "road" marker.  Just a track in the desert and we have been having fun following these kind of "roads". 

More Colorado

We left Santa Rosa, New Mexico and headed south.  We had planned to go west on I40 across New Mexico and northern Arizona but the weather turned to rain so south we went.  We stopped in Elephant Butte, NM and visited friends and got our tires fixed again.  The valve stem extenders for checking the tire pressures were bad and they had removed them in Santa Rosa but wouldn't put new ones on the tires.  The tire guy there doesn't like them however it is too difficult to check pressures without them so we had new ones installed.  We down to I-10 and headed west into Arizona.  We stayed in Benson and then shot through Tuscon on a Saturday morning.  Tuscon is getting to be very busy with lots of road construction so its nice to get through early on a weekend.  Next stop was Gila Bend, AZ.  A very small town on the southwest side of Phoenix but they have a very nice campground.  We then headed up to Quartzsite, AZ to spend the rest of October.                     

We have finally gotten our 4 wheeler out in the desert and it rides very nice.  We have been checking out lots of trails and going places we've always wanted to see but couldn't get to with our truck.

Poudre Canyon

We spent time in Fort Collins, Colorado.  We like to go through Denver on a Sunday morning when traffic is lighter so we had time to kill in Fort Collins.  We took a drive up through Poudre Canyon.  It is a beautiful drive with the road following along the river.  The road is winding and gains elevation.  There are places to pull over and many people were fishing in the river.  We were lucky enough to see Bighorn Sheep up on the canyon walls.  We followed the road as far as Poudre Falls.  We then turned around and headed back down the canyon with a stop for lunch at a small resort that had a very nice restaurant. 

We thought going through Denver on a Sunday morning would make travel easier but there was still a lot of traffic.  We spent a night in an Rv park south of Pueblo and the next day we went to New Mexico over Raton Pass.  We got to Santa Rosa, New Mexico and Jim checked our truck tires and found we had almost no air in one of the inside dual wheels.  We took the truck to a big rig tire shop and they found that the tire valve extension was leaking and removed it.  We haven't had any more tire issues which is a good thing since the roads we have been on have been very bumpy and rutted.  It is time to spend money on road infrastructure.  The freeways and highways we have traveled have been in pretty bad shape making driving a challenge and taking the fun out of travel.