AL’S TURN TO HAVE A ROUGH NIGHT

A RELAXING NIGHT AT OUR HOUSE

About an hour after eating supper Thursday night I began feeling sick to my stomach.  It continued to get worse as the night wore on.  Kelly had saved the Fajita from Del-Taco she didn’t eat Wednesday & that is what I had for supper.  I’m guessing something in that Fajita was the culprit.  By 9:30 I was outside throwing up in the desert.  No way I could sleep so tossed & turned aimlessly feeling very sick.  At 2:30 in the morning I was outside again & threw up everything but the kitchen sink.  Sickest I have been for many years.  Not much sleep all night & I never got out of my bed until 10 this morning.  Longest I’ve stayed in bed since I was a teen ager I think.  My whole body ached including my skin.  I was back in bed by 11 & just kind of laid around for the rest of the day.  At the time of writing this tonight I am finally feeling a bit better & I think with a good night’s sleep I’ll be back in the game again sometime Saturday.

PHEEBS RACES TO GREET KELLY >>>

Looks like we are gonna be here awhile.  Our inverter is on a UPS truck somewhere & has not arrived at it’s destination at TEMECULA VALLEY RV in Murietta California yet.  Geeeezzzz, it’s only 300 miles from here.  Kelly’s been in touch with Temecula RV & they said they probably will not get it until Monday now as UPS doesn’t drop off on Saturdays.   And they said they are already backed up.  In hindsight we could have just driven the inverter over there ourselves.  But it is what it is now.

AT HER COMPUTER STATION TALKING TO TEMECULA RV THIS AFTERNOON

Kelly noticed on Facebook another 8 years + Fulltiming RV couple has just made the same decision as Jo & Fred Wishnie made.  And like Jo & Fred they made the decision rather quickly.  Popular RV couple Ellie & Jim Meachum who we have also met have just bought a place in North Ranch which is just a few miles south of Congress Az.  And like the Wishnies they are pretty excited about moving into their new digs.  I well remember our excitement a couple years ago when we bought our place in Congress.

SUNSET AT THE SLABS (no that’s not our rig)

GROANER’S CORNER:(( This guy dies and finds himself in a small room. It looks kind of like a living room from the Andy Griffith show, and has a couch and TV set in it. There's another fellow sitting on the couch watching TV. The newly dead guy looks around and asks, "so... is this heaven or hell?"  The other guy looks up and says, "Well, there's no windows or doors, and no apparent way out."  "Oh," says the first guy. "So it's hell."  "Well," says the other guy, without looking up from the screen, "but they did give us this nice big TV set."  "I see. So maybe it's heaven."  "Yeah, but the TV has only one channel."  "Oh, so maybe it's hell?"  "Well, but the TV station it gets is pretty good -- it's PBS."  "Oh, so maybe it is heaven after all?"  "Yeah, except for just one thing..." the other fellow says, sadly.  "It's ALWAYS pledge week."

IT’S THURSDAY I GUESS

Lots of excitement over at Jo & Fred’s place.  After over 8 years full timing the Wishnie’s finally decided it was time to come in off the road.  JO'S POST talks about the thoughts & feelings behind that decision, the direction they are moving & steps they have already taken.  FRED'S POST also talks about some of the reasons for their decisions & looks back on their years of constantly being on the move.  I won’t spoil their surprise by telling you what they have done but I sure can relate to their excitement & totally agree & understand their thinking.  Good for you guys & I we really, really like your new…………:))

We did the square root of nothing today so there is not even a root of an idea in my square tonight.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Faced with hard times, the company offered a bonus of one thousand dollars to any employee who could come up with a way of saving money.  The bonus went to a young woman in accounting who suggested limiting future bonuses to ten dollars.

A DAY TRIP UP THE EAST SIDE OF THE SALTON SEA TO MECCA & BACK

LOOKING NORTHWEST ACROSS THE SALTON SEA

Ok so what things did I goof up last night.  Well I left our Sirius Satellite radio on & forgot to turn the outside light off when I came in after being outside with Pheebs.  Noticed it did put a drain on our batteries.  Now let me see, what do ya suppose I can screw up tonight……….

SUNRISE AT OUR HOUSE THIS MORNING

Lots of room for morning walks here at the Slabs & where we are camped at the outer eastern edge beside the irrigation canal we can head right off out into the desert without having to go by hardly any other RV’s or Slabbers.  Bonus.  We did walk through the artsy EAST JESUS section again though.  Had walked through that area a couple years ago & there are definitely more pieces now.  I will post more photos from there over the next few days.

 

BOTTLE WALL

Cold nights but the mornings warm up fast so we figured we had better crank up the Jeep & head off early for a little road trip up along the eastern side of the Sultan Sea before it gets too hot.  It’s an area we had not seen in daylight.  A year ago coming to Solar Mikes with the Winnie Wagon we came down this stretch of highway 111 from Mecca to Niland/Slab City at night.  I remember how beautiful the lights of Salton City were shimmering across the waters of the Salton Sea.  It’s one of those memories that will stick with me.

It’s only maybe 3 miles from Slab City heading west into Niland.  Turned right onto highway 111 & headed north.  Nice to finally see this stretch of road in the daylight.  Had no destination but we did end up going all the way up to Mecca. Turns out BOMBAY BEACH was our first stop.  Well we never really stopped we just slowly drove through the place.  As with so many of the places surrounding the Salton Sea Bombay Beach was waaaaay passed it’s prime.  People still living here & some of the small homes & trailers were fixed up nice but overall it’s a very sad state of affairs with all it’s tumble down houses long ago abandoned & left in a state of dis-repair.  We have seen this on the west side of the Salton Sea as well in Salton City.  This whole area was once a very popular spot for movie stars & celebrities of all kinds.  Big Band orchestras played here for the rich & famous at one time but rather than me tell you about the Salton Sea’s sad history & how it fell on hard times you can just look all that up on Google.  I’ll just say that it gives me a feeling of sadness knowing what this whole area once was & what it is now.

About 10 miles south of Mecca we stopped at several camp grounds bordering the Salton Sea.  Got out & took ourselves for a walk at the Salt Creek Campground.  Big parking areas & lots of room for big rigs.  Water taps, pit toilets, & picnic tables as well as showers at the southern most end.  Ten dollars a night & it’s a self serve pay system.  This is the spot I took all of tonight’s bird photos.  We were pretty well the only 2 people there & that made it extra nice.  The blue placid waters of the Salton Sea backgrounded by the San Jacinto, Santa Rosa & Vallecito Mountains shimmered in the late morning sun.  Pelicans & other water birds dotted the shoreline.  A much welcomed serene feeling after these past few stressful days with the inverter problems etc.

A NICE DAY TO BE AT AN INLAND SEA

We were both feeling the need for some lunch so headed on up to a familiar place at the northern end of the Salton Sea.   We have traveled through Mecca on our way to & from Borrego Springs & Slab City before so we knew where to find some eats near the intersections of highway 111 & 86S.  Gas station, Truck Travel Center Subway, Starbucks, Del-Taco & a couple other eateries all in a small plaza complex.  We have gassed up & grabbed a Starbuck’s here several times over the past few years.  Today we decided on Del-Taco for a Chicken Fajita & a Chicken Burrito.  I had the Burrito.  The Del-Taco building was undergoing a face lift so we watched that while eating our munchies.  Kelly slipped into Starbucks for a take-out ‘light blond’ coffee for me & one of those milkshake coffee’s for herself.  Topped up the Jeep’s gas tank & headed off back down highway 111 for Slab City.

 

ONE FELLA SPRAY PAINTING & 2 FELLAS INSTALLING THE DEL-TACO SIGN

  

KELLY’S FAJITA WAS GOOD BUT SHE JUST DIDN’T FEEL WELL ENOUGH TO EACH MUCH OF IT

On the way we spotted what looked like a settlement of sorts a couple of miles off the road to the east over towards the Orocopia Mountains.  Big sign said Fountain Of Youth Spa & RV Resort so we took ourselves for a drive up that way to have us a look.   Nice places of course if you don’t mind living in a tight spaced community.  I know lots of folks like these kinds of places but it’s not the kind of living Kelly & could ever be a part off or get used to.  Maybe 10 feet between residences.  Lots of amenities though & it is a gated community.  Club House, pools, spa, lots of Palm Trees, an outdoor Café, etc. etc.  A very tight knit community I would think.

 

  

We were back to the Big EEE sometime after 2.  Kelly wasn’t feeling well all day so I think tomorrow we’ll probably stick pretty close to the rig.  She is having difficulty knowing what to eat because of a stomach problem that has been bothering her for quite awhile now.  She still tires very easily so I think we’ll have to tone things down a bit.   

AT THE SALT CREEK CAMPGROUND ABOUT 10 MILES OR SO SOUTH OF MECCA CALIFORNIA 

 

 

TAKING OFF IN THE DIRECTION OF BORREGO SPRINGS

 

Always enjoy the night sky here in the South-West not only for it’s star clarity but also for all the military activity going on overhead.  Have always enjoyed watching the aerial night combat maneuvers of jet pilots in training.  Easy to spot them with their single blinking white lights darting about amongst the stationary stars behind them.  Last night I again saw something strange as I watched two fighter pilots doing a slow circle overhead.  Watched as the second pilot slowly converged on the first pilot.  As his blinking lights came ever closer I watched the second blinking light merge with the first one.  No collision of course but no second blinking light either.  Only one blinking light in the sky now.  Where did the second aircraft go?  Did he switch his blinking light off?  And yes they were jet aircraft because I could hear the unmistakable sounds of their engines.  A few minutes later I saw a faint blinking light ahead of the brighter blinking light.  Again the lights closed on each other resulting in only one blinking light aircraft again.  I watched this all taking place overhead for about 5 minutes before the single blinking light headed off in an easterly direction possibly towards Yuma.  I have seen other things in the night sky here in the southwest but nothing I would call a UFO.  Not yet anyway but I keep watching because I know they are out there……

 

Here’s one of the perks of an aging mind.  Reading Ivan’s post this morning I was reminded of Edward Abbey’s book ‘Desert Solitaire’.  I have this book & read it about 5 years ago.  Of course I haven’t a clue what it was about because my memory has of course lost all the information.  Think I might just make it my next Kindle read & enjoy the book all over again.  Well at least I think I enjoyed it.  Must have because I kept the book.

We saw a border patrol vehicle speed by so fast this morning we figured for sure he must have been chasing Speedy Gonzales across the desert floor.

OROCOPIA MOUNTAINS

GROANER’S CORNER:(( My High-School English teacher was well known for being a hard but fair grader. One day I received a B minus on a theme paper. In hopes of bettering my grade and in the spirit of the Valentine season, I sent her an extravagant heart-shaped box of chocolates with the pre- printed inscription, "Be Mine." The following day, I received in return a valentine from the teacher. It read: "Thank you, but it's still Be Mine-Us."

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An airline pilot was telling about a particular flight where he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, give a smile, and a "Thanks for flying XYZ airline."  He said that in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for this little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sonny, mind if I ask you a question?"  "Why no Ma'am, what is it?"  "Did we land or were we shot down?"

ROUGH NIGHT FOR KELLY & SOLAR MIKE REMOVED OUR INVERTER TODAY

OUR SPOT AT THE SLABS WITH ONE OF CALIFORNIA’S POWER PLANTS IN THE BACKGROUND, THE SALTON SEA & THE DISTANT VALLECITO MOUNTAIN RANGE

Well I had me a Senior moment Monday night & did myself a boo-boo.  Ever since we have have had this inverter problem we have had a whining sound somewhere in the rig’s dash.  Not loud but it’s there & it bugs me.  Before going to bed last night I decided flip our battery disconnect switch off knowing the whining would stop.  My mind did not register the fact it would also cut off power to our water pump, refrigerator, furnace, & anything else requiring power.  That meant no heat in the coach, no water for flushing the toilet in the night & no refrigeration.  When Kelly was up in the night & found the whole coach dark, cold, & stone dead she didn’t know I had pressed the battery disconnect switch.    She figured something majorly serious had happened with the coach’s electronics & had visions of the slides not coming in, drained batteries, maybe the engine wouldn’t start, having to call CAA to have us towed over to Solar Mikes, no water for washing etc.  It was a big stressful worry & she barely got any sleep therefore having a bad night.  I did not end up being a very popular guy this morning when I told her I had disconnected the batteries before I went to bed……It’s not easy being me:((  If I ever thought I was remotely capable & had the confidence to write a book some day that is what I would write about & entitle it, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Me’.

LOOKING ACROSS SLAB CITY & THE SALTON SEA TO THE FAR DISTANT MOUNTAINS…RIVERSIDE CALIFORNIA LIES JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE

 

COLORFUL HIPPY BUS & A BURNT OUT 5TH WHEEL NEAR US…SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

 

WE THINK THIS GAGGLE OF RIGS JUST SOUTH OF US MAY BE FELLOW CANADIANS…IT’S AN AREA WE KNOW CANADIANS FREQUENT HERE AT THE SLABS

We were at Solar Mikes right at 8 & explained our problem.  He had a full solar installation to do on a Class C but with a couple helpers working he did manage to remove our troublesome inverter & install a temporary used one for the next little while while ours is sent off to be diagnosed.  All indications are pointing to one of the two software boards inside the inverter itself.  If we were full timers on the road every day we would likely have just simply opted for a new inverter which technology has advanced way beyond the older inverters like we have.  But for only boondocking maybe 4 to 8 weeks out the entire year now we decided for our situation it was best to get our older inverter simply repaired.  A new inverter could run around the $2000.00+ mark while a board repair could come in around 3 or 4 hundred dollars.  We’ll just have to wait & see what the Magnum diagnosis turns out to be. 

SOLAR MIKE’S OFFICE

 

ONE OF MIKE’S WORKERS REPLACES OUR MAGNUM INVERTER WITH A TEMPORARY USED INVERTER

Sure is nice having all our electrical plugs working properly again.  Just makes everything so much easier.  Neither one of the 75 or 300 watt inverters we have would charge my Toshiba laptop while it was on yet they charged Kelly’s smaller Acer.  By the time I was ready to publish my Monday night post my laptop did not have enough power to do the job.  Had to turn the Motorhome on to get the 75 watt inverter to work & power my laptop while the post published.  This RVing stuff sure can up the stress levels sometimes.  With a poor night’s sleep behind her Kelly ended today very stressed & frazzled.  We’re fortunate to have a quiet boondocking site with no noisy neighbors crowding in on us………………

THAT’S OUR JEEP & RIG AT THE EXTREME LEFT

 

FRANK, THE FELLOW IN THE BLUE SHIRT IS A NEW RV’ER & WAS IN HAVING MIKE INSTALL SOLAR ON HIS 29’ TIOGA CLASS C…AND THAT’S THE USED INVERTER THEY FINALLY SETTLED ON FOR US TO USE WHILE OURS IS AWAY

AND BY GOLLY THAT’S SOLAR MIKE HIS VERY SELF

Ever wondered what a heavy song had to do with coal.  Well I wondered too so I read DIZZY DICK'S latest post.  Coal of course always brings back memories of our big old coal fired furnace when I was a kid & I see it brought back memories for Dizzy Dick as well.  The song??  Well when you read what song he has linked to coal you will likely remember it right away & probably spend the rest of your day singing it over & over.  But be careful though….it might get you one day older & deeper in debt:)) (you can find Dizzy on our sidebar as well)

THIS WHOLE AREA WAS ONCE AN OCEAN BOTTOM WITH MANY SEA SHELLS STILL REMAINING IN THE GROUND

Just finished my latest Kindle read, ‘Whispering Pines: The Northern Roots of American Music from Hank Snow to the Band’.  Enjoyed this book for the musical history it provided.  Filled in a lot of blanks for me as it tracks the lives of fellow Canadians like Wilf Carter, Hank Snow, Leonard Cohen, Ronnie Hawkins, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Ann Murray plus all the members of the Band just to name a few of the artists who have contributed so much to the overall music scene so many of us have enjoyed over the years.  I prefer books & movies that deal with real people, real places, & real events.  Always so much to learn & I’m so happy my Kindle has enabled & re-kindled my love of reading after so many years away…………… 

TONIGHT’S SUNSET TAKEN THROUGH OUR RIG’S TINTED WINDSHIELD

GROANER’S CORNER:(( My pastor friend put sanitary hot air hand dryers in the rest rooms at his church and after two weeks took them out.  I asked him why and he confessed that they worked fine but when he went in there he saw a sign that read:  "For a sample of this week's sermon, push the button."

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My wife and I were traveling on the Kansas Turnpike, bucking 30 to 45 mph crosswinds. At the tollbooth, I asked the attendant, "What do you people do in Kansas when the wind quits?" The tollbooth attendant didn't miss a beat when she answered, "We take the rocks out of our pockets."