We bought a horse!!!

When life hands you lemons... or in our case, a cheap horse that needs love... You make the most of it.  And that we did!  We've been saving our money to begin building our own little homestead someday, but ya never really know what the Universe has in store for you.  We're excited to announce that we are now the happy stewards of...

 

 GAH!!!!!  HAHAHA-  JUST KIDDING!!-- APRIL FOOLS!!!  (is today)  We didn't buy a horse!  HAHAHA.  No.  (And maybe you didn't fall for it😉)

 This blog is "The BIG news" I meant to share about 6 months ago! 😛  Oh my gosh, I finally wrapped up this story with the good pics.  And it came full circle.  What I'm sharing here happened for us exactly a year ago today!  No joke.  Read on:

(Not a reader?  Here's the photo album- Clicky Clicky)

Before Joel and I traded-in city life to live in other places in an RV, we were renting half a duplex with a yard in Minneapolis, MN.  Our landlords were super cool.  They let Joel build a side-by-side compost bin in the front yard, and sizeable raised gardens behind the garage.  We loved it so much!!  I'd never seen soil come into being before, which was truly fascinating.  And there were often mushrooms around.  It's so delightful to watch a garden grow.  We had fresh herbs throughout the summer and a bountiful harvest in the Fall.  Joel was exceptionally happy building and growing.  It really feeds his soul.
After being mobile for 2 years, he was really missing having a yard.  And we still say the same thing to people who ask us if we are going to have children: "Yeah, we want KIDS one day, but we're talking about baby goats...😋 -HEHE.  

(And a dog.  And chickens!")  

Sedona Pines Resort

The first 3 years we've been gone had us parked mostly in Sedona at a vacation resort.  It was like... "pinch me- This is wonderful. We had access to a pool, hot tubs, ping pong! showers, free laundry and more.  We also were parked close to our neighbors.  And we weren't far off the main drag into town, so it was pretty noisy.  Some days I strongly yearned for a break from the sound of the highway, and space to ourselves, and we would go dry camping for a short spell every month, out on our favorite forest service road.

the SHOCKER
In the Summer of 2020, THE DAY BEFORE we left on our annual road trip up north, ALL the RV owners received a letter telling them to vacate the property, with no info about when or IF we might be able to return.  
This was a slap in the face!  Was it even legal??  Each owner has a contract saying we're allowed to be here, so... what the heck was this?!  
We found out there was new ownership and all kinds of big changes sweeping through.  A small collective of other RVers told us they would look into things while we were away, and find out what our rights are in the situation.  So we packed up our tent, parked our RV at the storage facility, and off we went to enjoy camping and time with our family.

Probably Colorado

We returned to Sedona in September feeling refreshed, happy, and certainly curious about any latest news concerning our living situation.  We found out that nobody was allowed back at the resort yet.  So the first couple weeks after pulling home out of storage, we were dry camping.  It was great!   The weather was still hot, but nights had turned cold.  You're only allowed 14 days at a time in an area tho, so we had to mosey on to someplace new.  Turns out the forest roads were (unusually) closed in the next town over, so that was not an option.  However, it was starting to get cold out, especially at night, and we would want to be plugged-in for sufficient heat through the winter anyway.  We were slowly coming to terms with the idea of paying rent again for a while, so... it was time to shop the local RV resorts. 

After an entire day of calling and driving around, we discovered the majority of them were already full!  However, not long before the sun went down, we finally found one that said they'd take us in.
A couple days before Halloween, we pulled into Sedona View RV resort, perched up on a hill, just outside Cottonwood, AZ.  So note that if you stay here, you will NOT be in Sedona! but instead have a view of (some of) it... along with Mt. Humphreys all the way up in Flagstaff 😮(wowy) and a goodly hunk of the Verde Valley, which is very beautiful.  We were placed in a dynamite spot and told we'd probably have no neighbors parked next door (bonus!), at least for a couple months time.  Our view was truly spectacular.  Especially in March, when a lot of rainy weather rolls through, and the clouds come and go, along with an occasional rainbow... we spent a lot of time with cups of coffee and tea in hand, just staring out the window, watching the world go by.

Sedona View RV resort, late February

 

Once Winter began to fade away, I found myself looking out across the valley, feeling pangs of wanting to leave the resort for some kind of new adventure.  "Where are we going from here?!" I would wonder.

Quite a few rigs stayed at Sedona View throughout the winter.  Others came and went sparingly.  And the place was PACKED toward the end of February/beginning of March.  By April the weather was turning nicer, warmer, drier... Joel and I were feeling ready for a change.  As much as we enjoyed where we'd been the last 6 months, with our electric heater helping keep us cozy through the wind and snow/rainy weather, we were both wanting to leave, and to be free again of paying monthly rent.

 

The bridge...   One afternoon in March I got a text from Joel's cousin who lives in town, asking if we'd be interested in possibly dog-sitting for her coworker.  I said sure.  She asked how much we charge.  And i had no idea.  We'd sat for a couple other ppl before, one of them for free, and the other gave us several hundred dollars unexpectedly (it was never discussed!).  I had no idea what a going-rate around here was. So i got the idea to pop on Craigslist real quick and see if i could find what other ppl were charging.  And this is what i came across right away in my search:

Seeking part-time caretaker/pet-sitter(s) for micro-farm in exchange for full time RV pad- water and sewer included as well as a healthy share of farm fresh eggs, vegetables and herbs...  (full posting in the photo album.)

I wasn't even halfway through reading and I felt these zings of energy.  By the end, i did briefly think "This sounds too good to be true." And there are SO MANY ppl around here that boondock on forest roads, that "I'm sure a GAZILLION other people are going to want this gig!"   And then I figured... "this is probably queued up especially for us."   (HeeHeeHee.)   So i called the number.

On the last day of March 2021, we left work early to go meet the land owners, husband and wife, and see what this opportunity was all about.  After 20 minutes together, I thought it seemed we were hitting it off pretty well.  The duties around the place sounded like something we could handle and enjoy.  Then they showed us where we would park our RV- at the end of their giant, 5 door garage/shed.  On the other side of us was this strange, unfinished wall of tiered, compact dirt.  Our rig would have us sitting UP quite a bit tho, so we'd not be staring out directly at the wall.  Instead, we'd have the added beauty (sarcasm here) of a rusty truck bed sitting next to a scrap-pile of rotting wood in the neighbor's back yard.

Hmmm.

Our view from here would be... something like the OPPOSITE of what we currently have.  I found myself stuck between feelings of laughing and crying about it, LOL.  

One thing about the spot tho- we could do whatever we wanted back there.  They pretty much gave us free reign to build or change things around however we wanted them.  I could see the wheels in Joel's head beginning to spin like mad.  HeHeHe!

And one of the last things we brought up with them was our trip up north every Summer.  It sounded like it wouldn't be an issue this year, given the plans they already had set.  And we could probably work things out in the future if needed.  

Overall, they wanted someone long term.  And were clear that they'd like us to stay for at least a year, if not 2 or more... "You can stay here till ya die, if ya want to!" Holly said 😆 HAHA.  Well, she's serious!  There's so much to do around here- she's always going to need some help.  And it takes a while to learn the ropes- an entire year, really, as the seasons cycle through and things come full circle.  So we told her we'd commit to at least a year.  However, time does fly!  So it was pretty likely we could stay for 2.  It would allow us to keep saving money to put toward creating our own little homestead! This seemed like a dream come true for us at this time.

They'd had many inquiries for the position but hadn't asked anyone to take it.  Until today- before we parted ways, they asked if we wanted it!  With a move-in date about a week out.  We agreed to take a couple days to think it over and be sure.  As we went to get into the truck and drive away, I realized if I stood in just the right place, there was a line of sight between the hills of land surrounding us, and I could see the campground we were currently staying at!   Miles away, but there it was visible, perched up on the hill, straight across from where we were standing.  I recalled all the times I had stared out our living room window, wondering where we would end up from there. Was this IT!?!

Before we even got home, we both agreed we wanted to do it.  We didn't even wait- called Holly up, worked out some details, and they actually had us move in the following morning!!  (Oh my goodness, it all happened so fast!!!)

We're IN!   Her hubby still had to clear out the area from the last person who was living there, so they had us park alongside their house for a few days.  But the clearing-out happened swiftly, and before we knew it, we had our home backed into it's new spot, at the end of their HUGE pole-shed.  They gave Joel the code to access it, along with permission to use any of the equipment and tools inside: all kinds of woodworking and metalworking stuff, a bobcat, backhoe, dump truck, on and on...  Joel's jaw just about dropped! (the first time i stepped inside, my jaw about dropped too.  It's just so big!)

He took them up on their invite ASAP!  Within a week he was creating and building us a shade structure for behind the RV.  A labor of love.  He was so happy building that thing!  Holly's hubby had to help us drill the holes for the posts, which he was happy to do.  He's helped us with all kinds of stuff.  We didn't even have to buy the pavers for the patio floor- Holly gifted us a load that had been laying around for a long time and she had no plans for them.  In the Fall we finally took a stab at some landscaping, putting in purple flowering sage, tall grasses, something with orange flowers, and a vine to grow up the side of the pergola.  It looks like everything we planted survived the winter!  And I'm eager to see how big they grow this year, hopefully filling in a goodly amount of space throughout this goofy dirt wall!  (We can get a good glimpse of the fantastical sunsets tho.)  Joel constructed some raised garden beds for us too.  I planted lettuce and stuff in them, just like Holly said, although nothing has come up.  At least that i know about.  Holly did recently mention that it's not uncommon for lizards or mice to munch down a seedling before we'd even see it!  Joel suspects our soil mixture isn't actually the best, so we're gonna switch that up and try again.

Diggin' holes for the pergola project

Holly is super laid-back, we get along great, and she's also into rocks- a geology nerd, actually!  She also knows a lot about plants.  We're learning a lot from her about growing food, and pruning trees.  Most Saturday mornings after we moved in, we'd meet with her in the very early morning to do chores together around the yard, learning how to tend her gardens and multiple flower beds, trim the trees and hedges, mow the backyard that is actually grass! (not so common in these here parts), maintain the greenhouse, clean the chicken coop, and the pool...

And help her EAT everything she's growing.  She can't even keep up with it!  (Her hubby is too busy with his own stuff.)  She just LOVES to grow things.  I was eating spinach daily and still a bunch of it became compost.  We had zucchinis coming out our ears (as is typical) and we were trying to give them away every day for over a month.  Joel fell in love with her two plum trees.  I find myself partial to the apricots- both of which we could pluck off the branches and eat while floating around in the pool.  HA!  now THAT really made this place feel like a mini-paradise to me.  Along with all the fresh herbs, eggs, not to mention the beautiful flowers everywhere...  it's such a mini-paradise 😍 in this dry, desert land.

Fruit trees around the pool

 

Hen on a back

The chickens are hoot... such curious and sometimes cuddle-y companions!  Joel and I are obsessed with them.  They like to jump up on him when he feeds them in the mornings.  We have 2 different breeds and one is very tolerant of being picked up and pet (the other ones not so much!).  With time, they come to like it, and now they run right up to us!  And chicken cuddles ROCK.  Their soft, pretty feathers, and the little cooing sounds they sometimes make once they settle down in our arms... Aaaaah, it's so sweet.  And then there's all the other funny noises they make... they are so talkative!  

my little buddy

 

In the evening an early frost was forecast to hit us, the first week in November, we found ourselves suddenly having to integrate a flock of little ones in with the older hens.  What a crash-course-crazy experience that was!  Although it went well in the end, and we learned a lot.  That same day we were also scrambling around (after work) to harvest the last of the garden crops: honeydew, tomatoes, beans and watermelon.  (WATERMELON!!  In the desert 😀?!   More paradise.  It was her first attempt to grow them, they grew absolutely delicious.  A few got just HUGE.  Holly definitely has a green thumb.)

The other critters around here include an adorable white lab named Arthur, and 3 cats.  Holly and her husband have taken off traveling a few times since we've been here, usually for 2ish months.  They always take the dog, and sometimes a cat.

Cat on a back

 

End of March- asparagus

Although we just recently learned that this Summer (2022), they will be gone traveling for the entire season and into the Fall.  That's a lot longer than we anticipated!!  And it means we'd have to forgo our Summer trip to MN and WI.  We had the option of leaving, but we've chosen to stay another year.  It's a bummer we will miss our family and the events we return for, but with much appreciation, we look forward to continuing our stewardship to this land, enjoying the animals, saving more money, and then we'll launch out of here to either travel more or perhaps already be building on our own land to call HOME. 

 

HOME sweet HOME

ALL THAT being said, let us know if you or someone you know may be interested in taking over our spot one day!  It's a fantastic gig, and so perfect for us right now, but we won't be here forever 😁 

 We hope everyone is doing well!  Take care and

TALLY HO ~

~Angela and Joel

 

P.S.  We never did dog-sit for Veronika's co-worker.  It was all just a ploy to lead us to the ad!

P.P.S.  I don't blog as often these days, I'm not much on FB, but i'm pretty active on my instagram 😉

2020 Summer Trip (ttatc10)

 

2020...

Our annual Summer trip got pushed out a month, but we pulled it off! (Just wanna see pictures?  Click here) We survived the Sedona heat longer than usual this year, and were eager when the day came to store the RV for several weeks and blast off in the truck on August 8th.  On the first day of our journey, we logged a whopping 40 miles- HAHA- up to Flagstaff, just to get out of town and be able to hit it sooner in the morning.  Joel's nephew graduated high school that night.  We were able to stream it on his phone.  Quiet out here and we slept great.  Next day we drove through some of the painted desert, across the Indian res for a few hours, into Colorado.  From here we would meet up with a couple friends of ours from Mpls, MN, in their van, with their dog and cat.  We are gonna have several days to just lollygag together across southern Colorado.  Most of where we're going is new territory for us 👍

Woke up on day 2 and saw THE FIRST MUSHROOM of our trip, right behind the tent.  (YaY!!) There was a small creek behind us.  We were right off the dirt road, but nobody had driven down it since yesterday just before sunset.  Private, quiet, alone.  Great spot.  That afternoon we met up with Charlee and Peter in Ourey, CO.  We took them back to an area that we stayed at last summer-  we had loved it so much.  Very different this time!  MUCH busier.  NO privacy.  The spot we had in mind was taken.  And blah blah blah- We had a nice time there for 1 night then decided to shove on. Spent the next day going further east on Hwy 50.  Found an absolute 💎GEM💎 of a campground.   There were only 6? sites.  And a vacant spot large enough for both our vehicles.  The river was RIGHT THERE/our backyard.  They also provide a pump for water, it tasted great, and a bathroom (i love that.  so much.)  All this for a mere $5.  We love the BLM so much!  Holy Heavens- spent 2 nites here, went for walks in the area, and it was such a rejuvenating place:  perfect temps, gentle breezy, no bugs, mossy, shroomy, the sound of the water, playing in the water! and TONS OF BIRDS- they were everywhere, all day long.  At one point a chipmunk made it's way down the treetrunk that Peter's hammock was tied to.  Peter was laying in there eating a snack.  And this chippy inched it's way not only across the rope but then onto the hammock edge, just a couple inches, but pretty close to Peter!  It paused for a second then turned around and ran back up the tree.  It was hilarious. This is one of our favorite finds of all the places we've ever tent camped.  (Btw, Charlee and Peter's van is SO fun- they have it set up really cool in there!  I can see the appeal of "van life".)

Next stop: the UFO Watchtower in Hooper, CO.  This is our 4th time spending the night here.  The sky is gorgeous!  The energy is unique.  There is a large raised deck observing area, and a "garden" made of "gifts".  (Can you find the Torofulx?)  The following morning we made a brief pit stop at the great sand dunes national park.  That's a cool place to revisit, too.  The rest of the day we just chugged further east, checked out a lake, and landed in a new campground, down some winding roads, in something of a canyon, with a creek that was dry.  It was a pretty area for 1 nite. 

We broke through CO into western Kansas.  Somewhere along the way we visited a rock shop and I saw a type I'd never heard of that resembles my dad's name.  Our home that night was not very far off a busy freeway, but yet very pretty, with burn barrels and lots of space, nestled within meadows of yellow flowers, and it had a bathroom, bonfire barrels, trash bins... it was really nice.  And humid.  Holy heck, was it sticky.  We're certainly not in the desert anymore.  That next day we made it to outside Fredonia, KS, to spend 1 nite with our friends Andy & Lou.  Charlee and Peter ate a meal with us then split, heading back to MN.  I planned to see Charlee again in a few more days for camping with family in WI, at our favorite little campground ever.

It is where Joel and I got married, and we return every summer for more swimming, swimming, and swimming.  And kayaking, hammocks, fishing, fires, yard games, and for the first time this year, we harvested 2 different types of edible mushrooms 😀 that we sizzled up over some coals.  Also for the first time, my bestie and her family drove up to join us from Iowa.  Callie was born in the Philippines.  And she showed us how to make her mom's homemade eggrolls.  They were FAB!  She also indulged us in her newest and favorite frozen cocktail creations.  GOOD TIMES 💛

One day after our outdoor reunion, we got to visit with Joel's grandma, for at least a little bit.  It was outside at her nursing home. We sure look forward to being able to hug and be close again!

Now the MN regional burn was just a couple more days away.  Fewer tickets were sold, masks were mandatory, theme camps refrained from hosting gatherings, and ample amounts of hand sani were EVERYWHERE. As was our gladness to be pulling the thing off- and gloriously- nothing short of weird, hilarious, safe, and much needed.  As far as I know, everyone stayed healthy, and our camp even made the front page of the paper for the first time, so... a pretty cool year for being (pod) Anti-social 👍

After that, we fit a few more days of stuff into our time up here: some 3D printing, a whole day of 4wheeling around WI, a backyard man burn burning man party (say that 5 times fast), a visit to a bog (in the city, FILLED with mushrooms... I used to live not far from here.   HOW had I never been to this magical place before??!!?!).

When we finally skipped town after Dance Church on Sunday morning, we made it as far as Joel's cousin's new place, kinda out by Northfield, MN, where their family has a rad little hobby farm.  It was our fist time ever seeing it, and we hadn't seen Jason since the wedding 3 years ago.  They have goats!  A couple horses, grapes, apples, and Honeybees.  It was fun- such a lovely place they are creating.  And it was hot.  So very hot and humid.

Our leave of the Midwest happened on Labor day.  We drove to Rockerville, South Dakota.  We had plans to look for agates in the Black Hills.  When we rolled in that evening it was snowing.  So much for pitching the tent 😮  We got a room, woke up the next morning and it was thick in fog, there was more snow, and even more was on the way.  So much for rock hounding?!  Weighing out the situation: our truck doesn't handle well in mud, and the rocks are under inches of snow.  

Hmmm... 

time to move on.  Into Wyoming.  (Shall we go to Yellowstone, honey??)

 

Wyoming, Sept. 9th

We had no rock collecting planned for Wyoming, but we did have a strong itch to check out Yellowstone for the first time.  So we just enjoyed a day of driving our way across the state toward the park, seeing some new scenery, and got ourselves to Cody, WY for over night.  Still too cold to pitch the tent!  Another motel room.  Woke up the next morning feeling super jazzed for the day😁

I was in Yellowstone as a kid, but I don't remember it.  I am SO glad I went back.  This was Joel's first time, too.  WoW.  I'll just share it with pictures.  We took a ton of pictures.  However, I do not share everything  > wink <  You gotta see it fresh for yourself, too.  That, and it's a BIG place! HAHA. We could have spent another couple days here EASY, given the trails and hiking one may do.  We left the park after dusk and found it was still too flippin' cold out to pitch the tent!  So another motel tonight.
 

From here I'm directing you to the blog I wrote for our business website, where I already typed up the majority of this part of our trip.

Mostly just sprinkle in visiting Joel's Aunt Sharon, who lives outside Boise, Idaho, in Eagle.  We called her rather last minute (😲).  She had been social-distancing herself for months, just her and her dog, Buddy, but she eagerly hosted us for several different nights. We had a marvelous time!  One of the first things she did when we arrived was show us the rocks she'd collected over the years.  And she wanted to know more about what we do at our business.  She is new to all of it.  (So were we, not very long ago!)  We showed her where we planned to go rock hounding a couple days from now, and she showed us her map of the area, then offered to drive us around and see some of it.  And so the four of us went out on several car rides together, seeing some sights, the parks, a river, and eating pie.  We also got to have dinner outside with Sharon's daughter/ Joel's cousin, who he has really missed!  Somewhere in there Joel and I spent our day collecting rocks and spent the night in some new mountains, then returned to Sharon's.  It took the span of two nights for us to watch all of Hamilton for the first time (well, not for Aunt Sharon.  I think she's seen it about 50!).  She made us lattes every morning.  We lounged in her charming backyard, picked fresh herbs and veggies from her garden for meals, and one afternoon Joel and i went out for a bike ride into the city.  This is a rapidly growing area- Holy smokes.  Speaking of smokes!  It was so thick in the sky the entire time we were there, that we didn't even know there were mountains surrounding us... I've heard there are- we'll have to go back! And when we do, it is going to look VERY different.  We sure look forward to whenever that is.  Sharon said we were the best roommates she'd ever had!  She also mentioned that Joel is her favorite nephew.  We had the greatest time making meals and chatting and playing together!  But alas, our office in Sedona was expecting us back after the weekend.  We left Idaho on a Thursday in September, spent the night in a few more nifty places, and went back to work on Monday the 21st.  

Awesome Aunt Sharon!

 

It was a wonderful trip, we are healthy, business is good, and we have new rocks to cut into.  Some of them we have already polished, as of this posting-  There's a few pics thrown in at the end of the album.

We are staying at a new campground now, for the winter months, and are looking to purchase land.  We daydream about creating our own little luxury RV campground/ hobby farm. We will live on one space, reserve a couple for drop-ins from friends and family, then rent the others out.  Maybe even combine it somehow with our rock shop.  The vision keeps evolving, so we'll see!  

Our next plan for travel is to the outdoor Quartzsite rock show in January-ish.  We usually pull our home and spend several days there buying new inventory, hiking, and collecting more rocks on our own.

Oh! and

 I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT:   

"The world's largest collection 

of smallest versions 

of largest things"

Joel found this listed in a collection of oddball sights to stop for in Kansas.  I was driving when he read it out loud to me.  I had him repeat it about 6 more times.  It sounds delightful just to say it!  And it was too far away for us to visit this trip.  

 

(THIS trip...  

)

 

TallyHo, amigos!

~Angie la la la

 

(CLICK HERE to see the full photo album)

Holy Ship!!

click here for just the pics!

We hadn't used our passports in a long time, but the day finally came:  i decorated our luggage in the weeks beforehand, bought some Dramamine, selected one of my "lost in translation" signs, and packed up our snorkel gear.
Joel and I were off for 11 nites of rock-a-bye-baby on the Serenade of the Seas.  This was gonna be our first-ever cruise ship experience! thanks to the nudging of my parents.

They booked this trip for themselves about 2 years ago, and invited a bunch of other ppl along.  I invited others as well.  A couple ppl were booked but had to bail out, and they were dearly missed.  We ended up with a party of eleven:  my folks, joel and i, cousin and aunt, and another cousin with his whole fam, who live in Alaska, and I've hardly ever seen.  My other family I only see once a year, when we return home to MN/WI for a spell in the summer.  So it was looking SPECTACULAR to have all this adventurous time in store with them!!
My dad bought a selfie-stick just for the occasion, and he went to town with the thing! (okay, we ALL did)  Overall, it was a blast, even though the port days flew by fast.  What a strange string of travel, where you just begin to get a feel for a new place you're in, on land, and then *WHOOSH!*, back on board you go, to float through the night, and wake up in a whole new place.  

What i found so incredible about living for 12 days on a cruise ship, was the absence of a multitude of things on our part:  NO MEAL PLANNING, NO COOKING, NO CLEANING, NO CELL PHONE, NO INTERNET.  (Those last two by choice- instead of paying for access, i shut my phone OFF.  it was HEAVEN; my brain, eyeballs and (typing) thumbs thanked me for the respite).  What a luxury!  WoW.  I was able to focus 100% on staring off at the ocean, playing lots of games, and napping in the sunshine.  Or we were off excursioning.

one of my spirit animals

CRITTERS! At times even in our bedroom.  My most-memorable was in Costa Rica, the very first sloth we came across.  We were on a boat making our way up the canal.  It's arm was stretched out with claws hooked around a branch, the other arm draped over it's shoulder, head turned, and a goony, relaxed grin on it's face... i think it might had been drooling.  Good Lord.  So adorbs.  We also saw a small cayman, and both male and female Jesus Christ lizards (they run on the top of the water). After that was zip-lining through the rain forest.  With a half-hour left before ship blast off, we met Ritmo, a man selling his handmade jewelry in the market.  He's got a thing for combing the local stream and river shores, looking for attractive rocks and stones to polish and wire-wrap into jewelry.  We spent all our time chatting it up with him!  Showed him pictures of the rocks we sell from our shop, and he was blown away!  Many of them he'd never heard of before.  I got his business card so i can mail him a box with some fun new stones to play around with. 

Touching a moldy wall

The next day, after an early morning bus ride an hour away from port, passed the Panama city skyline, which surprised us all; sprawling, with many many buildings- we had no idea!  Then a couple hours later, I was touching the Panama canal!  Joel tried to lick it.  It still kinda blows my mind that we were in it.   What a marvel!  Our boat had to piggy-back behind a giant freighter through each of the locks.  It took a few hours, was hot as heck, and quite the experience. 

Day 5 greeted us with yet another impressive skyline, right from our balcony, in Cartegena, Columbia.  We saw more critters, up close and personal, through a sanctuary area, on our way to find a taxi into town.  With my rusty spanish, we found a friendly driver who dumped us just outside the giant cityscape, in a quaint area with narrow brick streets, filled with shops and restaurants.  It was so hot and humid, and we pretty much just hung out in a lounge drinking cold beers and sharing a cigar.  The artwork was fantastic.  The owner was cool beans.  It had a color-changing floor with a fountain bubbling up from underneath.  (nice touch.)  Along our walk to hail a taxi back home, we did discover that Columbia is known for it's emeralds, and saw a hunky specimen inside a jeweler's shop. 

my kinda place        >HAPPY<

By early evening the following day, Aruba took us into port.  We were docked there for the evening and part of the day tomorrow.  So we gave our dinner waiters on the ship a break and all went out together for a happy hour, FINALLY getting my feet into the ocean!!  And then dinner.  The following day we did a snorkel excursion on a Catamaran with my mom and dad, in some very choppy water, over an old shipwreck.  We saw HUGE schools of fish hanging out around the rusting rubble.  It was wild!  If that wasn't cool enough (it was, but...) when we did a little shopping later in town, i  happened upon another MAGIC RING (Toroflux) to replace the one i lost on NYE.  (Someone danced off with it and didn't bring it back!)  I've only ever seen them online, and despite missing it, i hadn't ordered another yet.  so, BOOYA--  I got my "adult slinky" back.  (OMG, it was a HIT on the dance floor one night, outside by the pool, under the stars- about 30 ppl passed it between each other!  I LOVE WATCHING faces when they first SEE at it, and wonder what it is, or what you're supposed to do with it.  HAha!!!!!  Aruba has a fantastic energy.  It was my kind of place.  (Happy) 😄 and i we experienced very little of it!  We'll have to go back sometime.  Our last stop was in Curacao, with more postcard-picture-perfect beaches, and crystal blue waters.  This place is very Dutch-y.  Like our stop in Columbia, Joel and I did not book an excursion, choosing instead to wing it on our own.  Altho we ended up spending it with my cousin and his family!  Roaming the colorful streets, just browsing the shops, and eventually eating a very island-authentic lunch.  We were back on the ship by late afternoon, then shoved off for 2 more days at sea, on our return to Florida.

I have to say, the crew on the ship will have a lasting impression on me.  With the exception of one night in Aruba, every evening of our trip, the eleven of us enjoyed a fancy 3 course dinner together.  We'd meet at the same time, at the same table, with the same head waiter and his assistant. Two nights were formal and we got all
dolled-up.  It was a unique experience seeing our 2 wait staff each night- we really got to know and appreciate them both.  Niraj was head waiter and Tirachi his assisted.  They were both from the same country, and it was a place that none of us had ever heard of.  In fact, hanging out on the ship and chatting it up the with staff overall, proved to be nothing short of a geography lesson!  Oh my goodness, for the countries i'd never heard of, or knew their exact location.  Oi! 😮  One night Niraj took out his phone to show us pictures of where he grew up, on the island of Mauritius.  It's just east of Madagascar.  His photos were jaw-dropping: the clear blue waters, palm trees, and other things that looked a lot like Aruba, only even more pristine.  Niraj had the travel bug, and experience in the hospitality industry, so he scored this job and was getting to visit so many new places around the world.  The crew works long hours, and often do not have time off the ship to enjoy where they go, but he seemed happy and appreciative of his experience.  I'm not sure how Tirachi ended up with this gig, but she was adorable, a bit soft-spoken, and we enjoyed seeing her open up to us through our many little chats and jokes, which they were great sports about (we got a little rowdy at times! HAHA).  It was a pretty short amount of time overall that we had with them, but with seeing them consistently, we all sure bonded.  Our last dinner was kind of sad!  They posed with us for a picture to remember them by.

We'll always remember the man who tended our stateroom twice a day, too.  His name was Inyoman.  He's from Malaysia.  His had some broken English, but conversed with us well.  After a day went by, he told me i could call him "Yoman" for short.  Almost every single day, he'd be somewhere in the long hallway, no matter how far down, he would see us, wave and greet us by name.  I enjoyed waving and shouting back "Yo, mon!!"  HAHA.  Not only that, multiple times he made sure to let me know the sign on our door made him laugh and smile whenever he walked by it.  (He got the joke.  YaY!!)

The ship holds 2,490 guests and 891 crew.  My parents say it was not at guest capacity on this voyage.  I had nothing to compare the sheer size of the ship to, but this thing seemed pretty big- YET, it was small enough for our party to scatter off, and within a couple hours we'd all usually run back into each other.  My folks have been on larger ships and claim that doesn't usually happen.  So it was BIG! but cozy.  (Perfect!)
Looking back, I'm also SO glad that our first two days were at sea.  (Excursion days were very hustle and bustle.)  This gave us time to really unwind, go exploring and get to know the ship.  There were so many different things to do and nooks to hang out in: a cinema, lending library (i nerded out till 3am one night on a book all about chicks who surf), fitness center, spa, casino, lounges, bars, 2 pools, hot tubs, shopping center, night club (the Vortex !) the theater (stand up comedy!), formal dining room, and all-day buffet, with it's crazy-cool dessert bar.  I went to town on that thing (who DOESN'T!?).   So fun!  There was also a self-serve ice cream machine that my mum and aunt were ALL ABOUT!  They looked forward to making their own creamy creations every single day.  They had more dang fun with that thing 😂  There were oodles of games; ping pong, shuffleboard, mini golf, scavenger hunts, pickle ball, and a rock climbing wall, which Joel did for his first time.  He was at it for a while.  It wore him out!  He said it was a lot of fun.  I went to my first HUSH party, and boy, that was a HOOOOOOOT-- one of the funnest times i've ever had!!  If you ever hear about one and consider going, i highly recommend you do  😄 

Me watching Joel watching a movie at the pool

One day the boat was rocking CRAZY intense.  I kept holding the hand rails when available as we walked around.  That afternoon we thought to go for a swim, and to our amazement, the pool we chose was closed, and we witnessed multiple waves of water jumping up and sloshing out of the pool, splattering across the floor.  The perimeter was roped off while staff were continually, and somewhat frantically trying to keep up with squeegee-ing the water back in.  It was a funny thing to see!  Another similarly rocky day they kept the main pool open and i went for a swim in it.  What a strange sensation making it through the wonky waves.  It made me giggle.  So did the thought that I was out on the ocean, and i was swimming in a pool.  I wasn't IN the ocean, but it was right there below me!  Instead I was floating IN a pool.  ON the ocean.
{{{{{Ooooooh, Deep thoughts}}}}}

Also, AH!!  SO MUCH (cool) ART!!  Truly unique sculptures, blown glass, photographs, textiles, and paintings, permanently installed all over the place.  Not only that, on the morning of our first full day at sea, there was an hour-long art history seminar going on.  It proved quite interesting! and i learned some new things.  The following day was the first of multiple, LIVE art auctions.  I went to my first art auction!  They were fun, and pretty interesting. I'm glad i got to experience that.  At one point there was bidding on ceramic plates made by Pablo Picasso.  I thought that was really neato.

So after 2 last days at sea, we woke up just before 7am, as the ship was just docking into port back at the mainland.  Everyone was shuffled off and through customs around noonish, then we had most of the day to enjoy with 6 of us still.  (the Cousin family had to take off right away.)  We had lunch only a walk away from the hotel that my folks were staying at, tried some fun new drinks, and to top it all off, Life rainbow-ed us just before Joel and I hopped a ride to the airport.  My mom and dad were spending the night here, then going to Miami the following day to board another ship for a week.  TALK ABOUT TIMING- that next morning they announced that all cruises were cancelled until further notice.  How AMAZING that Joel and I booked this a year and a half ago, and we got to safely enjoy our entire trip.
W😮WY

 What else...?  Some details i'm just leaving out.
We never needed the dramamine (even tho that ship really got a-rockin' at times!)
That sensation while laying in bed at night is something i really miss.
Looking out across the sky every day, with it's far views, and sunsets, were phenomenal.

We'll definitely do it again.
Haven't booked another yet, but let us know if you wanna come with next time 😊
    ROCK-A-BYE-BABY! 

     Tally-Ho, amigos!  👋

 

2019 Summer Trip, pART 1

Since Joel and I took off in an RV a couple years ago, we always return home for our regional Burning Man hoop-de-doo in MN, to spend time with family, and take pictures of mushrooms.  This all happens thru July.  We leave our camper in AZ, pack up our tent & sleeping bags and take just the truck.  We always plan 5 days travel time each way so we can experience new places.   Once we're back hometown, we stay with friends or pitch our tent in a yard.  One of my favorite things about this trip is being spontaneous about where we spend the night.  Freecammpsites.net is a wonderful resource that we use often.  It has lead us to some really perfect, and amazing places.
Last year we had over two months!! to do this trip.   This year was much shorter, as we have a new business to maintain.  With the help of our 2 biz partners, they were running the show while we were gone,  for a full 4 weeks.  (YaHoooo!! and THANK YOU, AGAIN, Counrtenay & Mike 🙏)

At least a month before we took off, i could not stop talking about Zion national park.  i was SO excited to go there for the first time.

Friday June 28th
By the time we dropped the RV off at storage, unloaded our hitch into a friend's garage, packed up the bed of the truck
and stopped by work for final check-ins, and some long good-bye's, i think it wasn't till after 2pm that we finally left Sedona.  We didn't have far to go today, tho!  We clocked in a whole 4 hours, and spent the night in BLM area only 15 minutes away from Zion.  It was a great spot that was perched high with a view into the distance.  The dirt road was an easy drive and tall pine trees stood scattered everywhere.  There were many different spots to pitch a tent.  The one we picked had an awesome view overlooking some of this funky, canyon-y land. (WooT!)  Only two other vehicles were out here with us and they were rather far away.  It was a perfect, star-filled night.

Day2
Joel drove us into Zion by 9am with little wait in line.  Not so much with the length of this park, but with what is sitting within it- this place is MASSIVE.  I didn't take many pictures because it seemed pointless... you really need to be here yourself.  I could say that about ALL the parks we've been to, honestly!  However, this one takes the cake in its own way.  it is unique and beautiful to behold.  By the time we'd driven all the way thru to the other end (about 30ish minutes) it was a ZOO!!!  (and very hot out).  "Let's get outa here!" we laughed!  I came to this place thinking we'd probably do a hike or something, but instead Joel turned the truck around and i took over driving so he could oogle out the window all the way back.  We were a mixture of focus, taking in Zion for the first time while simultaneously dreaming about coming back in the Fall... (it's only a few hours away from us!) maybe there will be fewer ppl and cooler temps- we'll go hiking, and camp a couple more nights in this amazing land!  Mmmm.
Fun.

Bryce Canyon area

Bryce Canyon is another gorgeous place, just a hop over to from Zion.  We checked out a possible camp spot before heading into the park area.  These were forest service roads, all over the place and connecting together, through flowery fields and pine tree forest.  it was here that we collected a few large agates to take home and slice into.  (They proved rather cool!  not pretty enough to sell, but a fun find nonetheless.)  Joel suspected it would be less
busy at this park and he was right.  He happened to know of a waterfall we could hike, and it was grand!  We spent a couple hours out here, in awe of the erosion, and the waterway that cuts through this arid, strange landscape.  We returned to the place we found earlier for the evening, in the middle of a pine tree forest, and made dinner over a fire.  Tomorrow we'd go thru Capital Reef.

Ball tingles are coming.  (Escalante, UT)

Day3
We made breakfast over the fire then shoved off down Hwy 12 past Escalante (nat'l monument), to finally get out of UT before the day was over, being we still have 4 more states to get through!!!  We had no idea the fantastical road surprise that awaited us!  We pulled over for a pano shot before dipping down into the cream-colored barren rock below.  Lots of winding UP and DOWN through this desolate, lumpy area.  It was all quite odd and oddly beautiful.  Toward the end of this scenic route we found ourselves up rather high, and suddenly the road became a BALLS-TINGLING DRIVE across the top of a ridge.  !!! Looking down either side showed a sheer drop off... that was... RIGHT THERE.  HAHA   Like... if you dislike heights, hopefully you'd pass out before the couple mile stretch was over.  It was something i will never forget! and the views were something else.  Eventually the barren-ness fell behind and the terrain became more forest-y, and green.  The road was open range and we took it easy, breaking or slowing down for cows.  We got out again for another pano shot with a mountain in the distance.  The green and pine trees fell away again, and by afternoon we hit Capital Reef.  More cool red rock formations and views that go on forever.  Lots of places to stop and check out along the way: hiking trails, native ruins, petroglyphs, the creek, etc.  We parked at a trailhead and walked for about 20 minutes.  It was too hot.  We saw some interesting things (rounded basalt? rocks that looked out of place, and a great view up higher than we were willing to climb.)  We'd have to come back here another, cooler day, too!
We continued thru more of Utah we'd not been in before.  This state is so weird.  with its weathered rock sculptures and mountain-y ridges.  What's not to LOVE??   We stopped for dinner in Green River, UT, not too far from CO now, and found another possible camp area near Grand Junction, CO.  We drove through a big thunderstorm, then watched it pass off to the side of us, where it looked like it was dumping WHITE, like i've never really seen before.  was it snow?!  i dunno.  but it did give us a wonderful rainbow ribbon of sorts.
We scoped out the camp area in Grand Junction and didn't like it at all.  The sun was gonna set soon.  "Well, there's this other one in up in the mountains..." Joel said, "on a lake, but it's gonna be a drive."   What else were we gonna do?  Besides- it's at a lake?  we LOVE landing near water!  So we went for it.  The skies had cleared considerably, it grew dark and we began to see stars.  After 90ish more minutes of driving, we noticed lightening flash up ahead, toward where we were headed.  Not long after exiting off the highway it began to pour.  It rained and rained (and thundered!! holy cats) and rained hard, and we drove and drove, kinda slow, down the long, hilly, country road.  What timing!  We arrived at our destination mere minutes after the rain stopped, at a pretty reservoir, called Lake Avery, just after 11pm.  We kinda crammed ourselves in between 2 RVs in this smallish area directly in front of the shoreline, and went right to sleep (crashed out hard!)

Day4
it's before the crack of dawn, still dark, and i hear a long "BAAAAAAAH!".   And then some more.  and more.  and more and more and more and...  "is that...  sheep?  goats??  cattle.  Wait- WHAT??"  it sounded like chaos, and it made no sense... a ways off in the distance, so... i went back to sleep a couple more times.  When we drove out that morning, we got to see the view overlooking the pretty lake, in the middle of picturesque rolling green pastures, peppered with many boondicking RVs.  What a lovely site!  And if that wasn't cool enough, we began to see the sheep.  Shitloads of sheep, EVERYWHERE!  they were thick in one particular area where multiple rigs were parked in a sort of cul-de-sac.  People were out and about, making or eating breakfast, readying things for the day, and all these sheep were just wandering around between them, and their RVs.  It was such a cute thing to see!  We drove a while, passing some LONG-horn cattle like we'd never seen before, more velvet-y looking countryside, until we hit the town of Gillette, and found a nice city park to hang out in where Joel busted out his handy-dandy twiggy camp stove, that feeds off of small sticks and a fan, to make us coffee on it for the first time, while i took pictures of mushrooms speckled around the park.  And ate some breakfast.

Howdy, Devil's Tower!

The rest of the day we just drove, drove, drove across Wyoming.  We made it to Devil's Tower less than 2 hours before sunset.  What a great time to get there!  there weren't a lot of ppl around and the temps were cooler.  I'd never walked up near it before, only whizzed by in a car on my way to BRC once, so it was super rad to see it up close!  The walking path all the way around it is so pretty: pine trees, squirrels, mushrooms!  This is faery area, for sure.  We caught it's sillouette that reached out into the valley as the sun sunk lower to the horizon.  It's such a beautiful place, all around.  And a satisfying monument to see if you only have an hour or 2 to spend.
Just as the sun was in it's final setting stages, we finally took off for our next camp spot, somewhere in these rolling green hillsides, the closest town called Aladdin.  We were all alone again down a forest service road.  Outside was very dew-y and moist.  What a change from the dryness we'd been in for so long!  The area was thick with tall, wet grass, and there was a 5th wheel parked here but looked like nobody had been using it.  We decided to pitch right in front of a gate that blocked what looked like another road, but it's overgrown with grass.  This put us nicely hidden off the road we drove in on and right next to a babbling creek.  (See- he's so good at this!)  It was sweet to fall asleep to, and in the morning i had a most GLORIOUS bath.  (what a treat!)

Minnesota mushrooms!

DAY5
Tonight is the last one before our camping reservation in Wisconsin with Joel's family for several days.  So we gotta get across all of South Dakota.  We went through a couple hours more of Wyoming then stopped in Spearfish, SD for breakfast.  The drive was quite pretty!  That evening we landed at a lovely $10 county-run campground somewhere closest to Windom, MN, with large oak trees, and a creek ran along the edge of the property.  The whole place was ours!  and when night set in the fireflies were DAZZLING, like we'd never seen before!!  We enjoyed a fire, seeing some stars through the treetops, and slept with the fly totally off the tent. 

Wenesday July 3rd
Cooked breakfast over the fire.  Drove across MN.  By afternoon we're back at the campground we got married at.  (A couple days ago was our 2 yr anniversary.)  Since i've been with Joel, this is an annual thing we do with his sister, her 3 kids, and some other family.  So now we've tied the sister time in with our anniversary and,,,  it all works out swell.  😊  We spent 4 nites here and had a blast: Loons on the lake, mushrooms all around, and the water was warm enough for comfortable swimming.   We had some friends swing by, but none of us were at camp- we were all out on the lake.  So lo and behold, the whole family was swimming and floating their way across the water to find us.  that was so fun!  and we were blessed with a couple hours together.  Joel went fishing with his friend Dean (the guy who married us) and they were SO HAPPY to get out together!!  Quality time for those two, indeed.  The kids caught bass throughout the weekend and we ate fresh fish almost every day.  it was delicious.  My friend Anne brought her inflatable kayak and Dean had his canoe.  I spun fire, we played Kubb, chased the dog, and floated.  Lots and lots of floating on the lake.  There's a crazy rope swing that we'd float and watch ppl fly off of, too.  We were here until the 8th.  We should go visit grandma.

Less than 2 weeks now till the cabin burns.

Joel, Anne and I are part of a theme camp with several others, and we're bringing some new creations this year.
So more antics are to be had.
There is still much yet to do.
 Playing and working and gathering together-

The rest of that in Part II! 

  

 

click here for videos and pics

RockHound Rookies (no more!)

 

Joel and I went on our first-ever rockhounding experience in May with the Sedona Gem and Mineral Club.  What a wonderful time it was!  On a beautiful, bright, sunny Saturday morning, about 20 of us gathered together then caravan-ed up into the hills above Jerome, AZ.  Some of the club members already scoped this area out to make sure it would be a worthwhile place to field trip our efforts (and OH, YES- it sure was!).  This area is littered with Red Jasper containing brilliant Hematite bands.

Oodles of pieces were already laying exposed on the ground- you could practically trip over them!  Other larger chunks were lying in wait, and we dug some up using crow bars and small shovels.  Nobody went home empty handed. 

It is fractured material, however, our cutting guy, Mike, is proficient in using Opticon, so that helps  😊 and we've polished up some very nice pieces.  The hematite bands really pop within the solid red jasper color.  We are offering this material as both rough for cabbing and carving, and smaller pieces as slabs at ColorWright.com.
If you find yourself in Sedona during the Oak Creek Arts and Crafts show seasons, (click here to view their schedule.) you can see us in person and purchase hand-size pieces of this material partially polished, along with other locally-sourced kinds such as Apache Gold, Malachite/Azurite (also from Jerome) and MORE!!

CLICK HERE to see more pictures and a few short videos of us digging.

Home with our load.  Time to clean 'em up!

Our 2 biz partners were not     available to be with us, but they sure were pleased with what we brought back!  It was so much fun and very rewarding to add to our inventory by our own means and adventuring.  We'll definitely be going out on other trips with the club, when they resume after the heat of the Summer is over. 

MANY THANKS to the Sedona rock club for scouting out this location and taking us up with them!  We're so blessed to have joined this group and we look forward to seeing everyone again in the Fall!

Until next time,

TallyHo!  and ROCK ON

Quirky little Quartzsite

 

WaHoooo!!  It's a New Year, and we're pulling the RV to a new homebase for the first time:  5 nites in Quartzsite, Arizona.

Population 3,700 for most of the year, then it blows up throughout Jan and Feb, playing host to the largest gathering of boondockers in the world AND an open flea market of rock and specimen vendors-- so i have read, and heard.
Time to go dig into it ourselves!!!

Just want pics?  Click here.

DAY 1 MONDAY, Jan. 14th-  We packed in the RV and left Sedona close to 1pm.  It was a fun drive.  The sky was soft and pretty for most of it, eventually turning grey, and foothilly mountains were plentiful.  I'm always rejuvenated by seeing new lumps of land.  Growing up in MN was beautiful, and interesting.  But it is very different from the SW.  You can see for far longer distances down here, with the trees being so darn short!  And there's simply a greater variety of all Life and Earth to witness.  It continues to wow me.  It was drizzling rain as we rolled past the green sign with the town's name on it.  We still had a couple hours of daytime left when we arrived to our destination- an area off a long stretch of road past the outskirts.  We navigated ourselves to where the Escapees RV club peeps gather together.   I've missed this clan!  It is quite the organization, chock full of kind and fun ppl.  Most of our camping tends to be pretty solo throughout the year, which is perfectly wonderful, but i miss sharing my fire hoop at night, and kickin' it by the fire under the stars with others who want to share cool stories, travel tips, and laugh their butts off.
As soon as we parked and got out of the truck, a chatty midwestern man came over to say hi with his dog.  (HAHAHAHA)  There was a chill in the air, and the rain had stopped, but the entire sky was still full of grey.  It didn't take us long to detach the 5th wheel and set up, being there's nothing to plug into.  We just extend the slide-out, crank the back jacks down to better steady the rig, flop out our big outdoor patio rug at the door and... *Wha-Lha*  -we're home  :)
A cold wind began to blow as i laid my hula hoops underneath the RV, helping to keep them dry.  Only a minute after we began to cozy-up inside, it began to rain.  And it rained all night long.

We don't rely on running our furnace for regular, extended periods of time, as it eats through propane much too fast.  We've been looking for alternative ways to heat our space when not plugged in to power.  In the meantime, we lite candles, enjoy making a hot meal on the stovetop, and sip tea in the evenings under a blanket.  This particular night was tea-time over the cribbage board.  We hadn't played in over a year.   and all of a sudden, tonight was the night- Before even opening my mouth to suggest we play, Joel was in the cabinet fetching out the board!  My jaw kind of dropped, i shook my head and laughed.  3 games went down to perfection in the end: he kicked my butt the first round, was neck to neck all through the 2nd, and in the 3rd i surprised us both with counting first and having a BIG hand, that took me over the line.

GAMES!!!!!!!

DAY 2 TUESDAY- It's still pissing rain.  And it's cold.  We layered up and threw on rain coats.  I put on my rubber boots.  I LOVE rubber boots.  Rubber boots, they are HOOTS!!  Splishing, splashing, invincible through puddles... they ROCK.  they're kinda like the Jeep of footwear.  I LOVE 'EM!
Off we went to "T Rocks"- this big, outdoor, resident rock shop that's part of town, run by Mike and Theresa.  Theresa's from Michigan.  She moved down to AZ just to run her own rock shop.  It's such a fun place!  One of the neatest rock places i've ever been thru.  They have a lot of rough material (for cabbing and carving lapidary stuff), and we needed to stock up on some for work.  So Rob, the gentleman who sold us his business, met us here in the morning, with his lovely wife, Joanie, and introduced us to Theresa and her husband for the first time.  We had a nice time chatting for a bit under their makeshift shelter as the rain beat down.  Joel and I wandered around for a little bit, too, Spending an hour or so here.  We decided to come back in a couple days to purchase things.  Rob and his wife treated us to lunch.  Then we parted ways until the following day.
So Joel and I went into town to check out the showcase of RVs and camper-related supplies for sale.  We waltzed through the rain, stepping here and there into the newest models of  RVs- some are so HUUUGE! with fancy outdoor kitchens.  Others were more our size, and we found one in particular that really piqued our interest.  Joel was able to stand up straight in the entire bedroom, AND it had a very spacious, walk-thru bathroom.  We'd never seen that before!  Especially in the shorter rigs.  We talked about that layout for the rest of the week.  Could totally picture ourselves in it some day.

Before heading back home, we hit up a popular warehouse called GEM WORLD, another local shop that's open year-round.  I found it absolutely crazy ridiculous and overwhelming... pretty hilarious!  for one, it's HUGE- many many rows of stuff, high ceilings, all that.   and it's a bit WTF with the goods: there's shelves and shelves of gorgeous Amethyst geodes, lamps, crystal displays... and at the end of the row... a giant box of pizza cutters.  ??  There are rows and rows of various size Selenite crystal towers, Orthoceras fossils, different colored Calcite... and then a huge bin of assorted veggie peelers.  !!   (Ron Swanson shops at Food'n Stuff, and i find this place is more like Gems'n Stuff)  It was very busy inside, most ppl pushing shopping carts, clogging up the isles, and it was fun to see once, but we left before making it through the whole thing.  Once we were back at outside, the rain had let up.

Some blue sky started to show through.  We got back to our little house and i played with my fire fans as the sun began to set.  I sewed my own covers that go over the wicks, that way soot doesnt rub off of them and get things dirty.   I chose this spandexy, reflective, green material.  well, it caught somebody's attention with the sunlight hitting them, and one of our neighbors across the way came to investigate.  TeeHee!!  His name was Thurman.  he invited us over to the bonfire he and his clan were gonna have later.  So Joel and i ate dinner, took a nap, then hung out with a gaggle of new friends for the evening:
JR was in his late 40's, living by himself in his old, long motorhome.  Thurman was much younger, and kind of newish to traveling solo in a van.  He was loving it tho.  Terry was a lady with a green car that pulled a little travel trailer.  And another woman, who's name i don't recall, had a small truck with a teardrop trailor.  I spent hours with the 4 of them, sharing drinks and learning how they each decided to leave the typical world to be more free, more of a vagabond.  They were all very different ppl, and knew each other to some extent- they camp out together from time to time, such as at this event.  The night was EXACTLY what i'd been craving.  It puts you into such a different energy and frame of mind- just to be outside, for one.  So much of traveling and living off grid is about being OUTSIDE, and THAT alone causes one to feel different.  For many of us, we feel better.  Then add the element of fire, and fresh new friends to the mix.  It so invigorating!  And re they really "friends"?  I hardly know them.  but YES- we all enjoyed each other's company, and would help each other out however we could.  They live this lifestyle a bit more hardcore and raw than we yet do, but they say the same thing Joel and i feel whenever we travel or camp:  we all have each other's backs.  and most of us seek some degree of fellowship.   Hence= the BONFIRE 😁
It grew quite chilly to be away from the fire, even bundled up with a hat and gloves.   Eventually i went to bed.  It was a COLD, COLD night.  We layered on the blankets, and could have slept better, but we made it to

DAY 3 WEDNESDAY- 7:30am, up and at 'em!  It's a little rough to get out of bed in this cold.  We do kick on the heat for a while in the
mornings, enough to be comfortable getting dressed and cleaned up a bit.  
The sun was out, hardly any clouds, and it stayed dry all day.  We met Rob and Joanie at the Powow rockshow.  This is where Rob introduced us to author and rock-digger Pat McMahan.  Turns out this guy lives just down the road from us!  And we got to see a copy of his beautiful (coffee table) book .  We spent at least an hour shopping through his grey plastic bins with water and pretty slabs of stone in them.  We found some great material to take back home and sell!  Before we said goodbye, he invited us over to his home and lapidary shop sometime.  What a cool guy!

Rob introduced us to over half a dozen more guys he was used to doing business with over the years.  Like Kim Nielson of K&K Minerals.  I think he drives down from Nebraska, camps in his motorhome right in the show area and sets up shop just out the front door.  Kim sent us home with a chunk of something with little shells and fossils in it, called Turritella, to take back to our shop and polish up- see what it looks like, and if we'd want to buy from him in the future.  He was a lovely man, very friendly.

We also met John Bennet, a british guy with a hard, australian accent, sets up an RV and places his many rusty bins of rock in rows all around his appointed space.  This is what a lot of sellers do.   It's such a campy-vibe, this whole town.

We met a gaggle of Austrailans running a shop together, and ran into the president of a blade and wheel company we do a lot of business with, and... we met a lot of ppl.  So, we're more officially plugged into this rock world of work now!  It's pretty groovy.

We spent hours walking around the powow show, with so much to look at, beautiful and strange.  The air was drying out, the sun was shining, and we still had plenty of daylight to play in after we got home.  We went for a little bike ride and enjoyed the fresh air.  It was fun to see some of the new campers that rolled in and set up that day.  I practiced my not-lit fire toys.  At some point before dusk, i crawled up on to the top of the camper to hang this 5-piece bundle of El wire from the top of our internet antennae.  Each strand is a different color, and hanging down makes it look like rather squidlike!   I also got a cool shot of the mountains, and neighbors around us.
I lit my hula hoop a couple times once it got dark, and heard cheers over yonder.  Then we went inside to make dinner.   As we got puttering in the kitchen, there was a knock at the door.  It was some of the clapping ladies from a big caravan of ppl to ask "what the heck WAS that?!"  I told them it was my hula hoop.  They asked to see it, how the wicks attach to it, how it works.  Then requested that i do it again after we ate dinner.   So yes, i did! and spent the remainder of the night enjoying their huge fire, and equally large group of warm hearts and smiles- all from Canada.  they all come to this same spot every year, and welcomed us back to their giant fire again next time.

DAY 4 THURSDAY  Played outside the camper this morning, took it easy, ate breaky, then tooled around more on our bikes.  Came across only a few saguaro cactus.  They're peppered sparsely out here.  And some super-rad RVs, with balconies, decks off the back!  7 slide-outs?!?  whaaaaaat?  WOW.

Went back into town to buy stuff from TRocks.   We spent a few hours this time!   Most of it toting around a big wagon, spraying rocks with water bottles, checking out their coloring and patterns, learning about more names and types of stone... so many to turn over and look at!  It is quite the shopping experience.  We chatted a lot too with Theresa and her husband.  they are really cool ppl.  Happy to give them our business. Sunset tonight was really gorgeous.  And it seemed very odd-- everyone around us was so quiet!  and in their campers unusually early.   Nobody was out having a fire. ??   Was i missing something?  YES.  Yes, i was:  a fire!    So we had our own, for the first time, and it was perfect.

DAY 5 FRIDAY  A nice, relaxed morning.  Went on another bike ride.  So much space to peddle through!   it's an interesting terrain to explore.  Then back into town to do the last of our business with some of these new peeps we were introduced to.  After that, there's a big lump of land right behind Desert Gardens, called Q Hill.  We drove to the bottom and walked to the tippy top.  WHAT A VIEW!  Such a wonderful feeling to look around and see for so far.  There is a LOT of white quartz pieces up there.  I took a chunk with me, which we polished up back at our shop, and gave it to a friend for her birthday.  She loved it, it turned out really cool!   (Thanks, Q Hill!)

We leave Quartzsite tomorrow morning.   It is so neat that we'll be coming back here every year as a business trip (and much pleasure!) to replenish our inventory.  What a marvelous time it was.

If you've ever thought of living out of a car, van, trailer, tent or camper, this place is an open haven for you, anytime of year-- ALL THIS OPEN LAND!  that anybody can just park and live on... and Leave No Trace.


Tally Ho!