CHOPPER LANDING, SATELLITE DISH SMASHED & AN I-POPPING IPAD

I don’t know who it was who peeked out of their rig first this morning.  I cautiously parted a curtain to have a sneak peak out the window & saw Ivan stealthily peering out from under his window shade.  From around the corner of Wandering Willy’s rig I saw a long pole sticking out with a mirror on the end of it and big eyeball in the mirror.  I suspect we may all meet outside at some point for a quick chat & then we will all scurry back inside our rigs again.  I suspect it won’t be long until out comes the mirror pole, slowly up goes the window shade & there I am again carefully peeking through the curtain.  Oh we lone Dockers are quite a bunch.  And, I love it:))

 

I was out the door earlier this morning simply because we are in a new area & there’s nothing like a new area to peek my enthusiasm.  I always have an urge to scramble up the nearest hill or over the nearest ridge.  I love seeing things I have not seen before.

EARLY MORNING SHADOWS STRETCH ACROSS THE DESERT FLOOR

 

SURVEYORS MINING CLAIM STAKES STICK OUT OF THE GROUND 

Kelly, Pheebs & I headed off over a ridge to our west and clambered high up what might be called a small rocky mountain formation.  This type of terrain is excellent for climbing because nothing is too steep for aging legs.  Just need a good pair of hiking boots.  Being on the very western edge of the Sonoran desert we have fewer Saguaros & Palo Verde trees but there is enough vegetation to make the landscape interesting & give it a green feel.  This is definitely a great area.

 

There are many shapes & faces in these rocks & with a little imagination one can see many things such as the old Indian’s profile below.

From the higher elevation in the rocks we were able to get a feel for how very large this boon docking area is.  Goes for about as far as the eye can see with plenty of privacy for everyone.  I’m guessing thousands of acres.  The small town of Bouse can be seen way off in the far distance.  Yes, this area will definitely go on our favorites list:))

THOUSANDS OF BLM ACRES

 

Wind dropped just enough for Ivan to fuel up his chopper with fresh battery power just after lunch.  This is quite a piece of high end technology which I have no hope of explaining.  Remember, I’m still back at rotary phones.

IVAN & HIS HEAD TECHNICIAN HAILEY CHECK OVER THE FLIGHT EQUIPMENT BEFORE TAKE-OFF

  

IVAN CHECKS HIS LAST MINUTE COMPUTER FLIGHT CONTROLS

 

NO, THAT IS NOT A BLACK WIDOW SPIDER ON THE GROUND, IT’S IVAN’S ‘CHOPPER’ COMPLETE WITH OLYMPUS CAMERA MOUNTED 

I knew from Ivan’s aerial photos that it must have a quality camera on board & sure enough it’s packing a detachable Olympus.  Winds picked up just after Ivan got airborne forcing him to land after about 5 minutes.  I was surprised at how quiet the chopper is.

 

HAILEY MANS THE CONTROL TOWER, A CROWD GATHERS, & THE CHOPPER HAS ‘LIFT OFF’

  

OH OH……STRONG WIND GUSTS!!

HEAVY CONCENTRATION ON THE EXPERIENCED PILOT’S FACE AS HE DEFTLY SETS THE BIRD ON THE GROUND

Although Ivan had a successful landing…..our Shaw tripod dish did not.  Although set up properly, a sudden gust of wind swirled in around the back of our rig & knocked our dish flat on it’s face snapping off the LMB arm at the dish.  Ivan just had his dish slam dunked a couple days ago as well with a similar, but not as bad a break as ours.

<<< THE BOYS CHECK OUT THE BROKEN DISH

Bad news was the dish getting smashed but the good news is we have a couple innovative Mr. Fix-it type guys here & within minutes Wandering Willy & Ivan were devising a method of repair.  Dish was carried over to the tailgate of Ivan’s truck & the surgery begun.  WW carefully applied liberal amounts of ‘Goop’ to the damaged fiberglass while Ivan performed the surgical end of the procedure by carefully fitting the broken off piece of fiberglass back into place.  I kinda stood there looking my usual dumb self trying to look important by holding the dish steady during surgery.  And then came the ingenious clamping part.

THE PATIENT ENDS UP ON THE TABLE AS THE SURGEONS GO OVER THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE ‘GOOP’ GLUE TUBE

Just as his own tripod repair a couple days ago, Ivan put a series of wood blocks into place, put the satellite dish on them & then located it next to the jack on his fifth wheel.  Now, here comes the smart part.  He very carefully lowered his fifth wheel onto the broken & glued satellite part securely holding it in place for the next 24 hours.  Hopefully my pics will explain this procedure.  We will probably slip into Parker tomorrow & pick up a fiber glassing kit which will be applied over the fix adding extra strength.  As long as the electronics aren’t damaged inside the LMB we might have a chance of it working again.  Meanwhile it’s back to our antennae for TV again.  No complaints there because we can get a fair number of channels.

 

YEP, THAT FIFTH WHEEL MAKES FOR A GOOD CLAMP ALRIGHT

Both Kelly & I are really in the dark & far behind in all this Apple Ipad, Apple this & Apple that technology.  IPhone 4, 3G, 4G, & and then there’s all this ‘Apps’ stuff.  Remember rotary phone!!  I never even knew what an IPad was or did let alone see one until today.

  

Luckily, we are again in the company of a couple IHead guys.  Ivan & Wandering Willy are really into all this stuff & know all about it.  Wandering Willy brought his Ipad & IPhone 4 over to our rig this afternoon & smartened us up real good with a demonstration.  Well, I didn’t smarten up as well as Kelly did but it sure gave us an idea into what some of this newer technology can do.  By the time WW left, we were on information overload.  Now, how do we get all these ‘Angry Birds’ out of our coach anyway!!

 

WW BRINGS US UP TO SPEED ON ALL THE I-EVERYTHING STUFF     

We sure don’t like having to use our generator more often these days to keep our weaker coach batteries charged.  Don’t like the idea of that noise shattering the silence of the desert & bothering other folks nearby.  Looking forward to getting back on total solar power shortly.

 

HAILEY:))

And a happy ending to something which could have easily gone the other way.  Some may remember a few posts ago I mentioned about the missing Texas couple.  They have been found alive and well….HAPPY ENDING.

<<< THESE TWO ARE KEEPING A CLOSE WATCH ON EACH OTHER

How nice it is to have faster internet again but it does have a habit of fading in & out.  The Verizon coverage at Darby Well was slow & sketchy where we were & it was frustrating waiting for things to open all the time.  Here, northeast of Quartzsite we have a much better signal & Kelly’s phone works much better as well.

 

GROANER’S CORNER:(( 

Knock Knock!

Who’s there?

Madam!

Madam who?

Madam foot is caught in the door!

And, did you know….Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

Sometimes the closest I think I will ever get to a brainstorm………. is a slight drizzle:((
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
BAYFIELD BUNCH PHOTO ALBUMS https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of
right  now...AL.

stargeezerguy@gmail.com