Week 21, January 28 – February 3, 2020
Happy Birthday Sister of Mine!
Another week of fabulous boondocking in the Arizona
Desert. I recovered from my road trip up to Area 51 and the ET Highway. I found
my crew – the Rainbow Nomads. We’re camping in Standard Wash on BLM near Lake
Havasu City. There’s fewer folks here.
Small groups of boondockers scattered throughout the desert. It’s actually amazing to watch the ebb and
flow of groups of campers…..some days it’s crowded and others it’s quiet and a
little lonely.
The parking lot at the Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel, NV
At the end of the ET Highway.
After driving the ET Highway, I discovered that
staying one night at the Little A’Le’Inn in Rachel Nevada was a bit unnerving.
I am not totally sure what it was about Area 51, but Monday night (Jan 27) I
couldn’t get to sleep and it was a restless when I fell asleep. I guess it was
just the energy surrounding the mysteries and myths of Area 51. I did buy an
Area 51 ball cap. On Tuesday, I finished driving the highway and headed towards
Lake Havasu City to find my caravan. They were camped on the Standard Wash
south of LHC. It was so quiet and
peaceful.
I came up with the ABCs of Nevada – Aliens,
Brothels, and Casinos! LOL
The one amazing thing about taking these long and
intense drives – I am able to organize my meandering thoughts on a diverse
number of topics. Here’s an example: Something
to think about: cities across Canada and the US are creating laws to make it
illegal to live in vehicles or punishing people for being homeless, but at the
same time society has created a vulnerable segment of the population by
refusing to pay a liveable wage while increasing rents, property values etc.
How can we continue to let this keep going?
I guess spending 5-8 hours in the cab
of the truck with nothing to do but sit there and keep my truck on the road, my
mind wanders – sometimes pretty far. And afterwards I can take my thoughts
develop them into a story or an essay. And other times these thoughts are just
rabbit holes with no end.
Last week while doing some maintenance
on my Champion generator I broke the spark plug wire. I will fix it once I am
home and can order the part. But until
then I still need a generator for topping up my batteries, or using instead of
my solar especially on cloudy days, and I think I will encounter a few as I
head north. I went Harbour Freight and purchased a new one. In my haste and
excitement – I bought the 3500 Predator Inverter Generator. It is much bigger
than I anticipated, but it is exceptionally quiet and it had an electric
starter. All I have to do is turn the
on/off switch to start and push the starter button. Once the generator is warm,
I turn the on/off switch to run. It’s so easy. The biggest drawback for me – is
the physical size and weight. The generator probably weights close to 100
pounds. To overcome that obstacle I use the ramp my truck came with.
On Friday, my friend Debra Dickinson
posted a video on her YouTube Channel of my box truck tour. I am very pleased with her editing of the
video and all the kind compliments we both have received. Here’s the link, just
in case you haven’t seen it and want to.
My original plan was to leave the
Lake Havasu City are on February 2, but I found out it was Super Bowl Sunday
and I figured that my mechanic’s shop wouldn’t be open. So, I got the pleasure
of hanging out with the Rainbow Nomads one more day. My friend G found us and
took over my kitchen making our entire camp Baja Shrimp Tacos. They were so
delicious, that many of us went back for more.
It was a good way to spend our last night together.
This morning I got up early, drove to
Needles, CA and stopped at Wagon Wheel Restaurant for breakfast and went to A+
Auto Care for an oil change. Got a chance to visit with Dave who owns and
operates A+ Auto Care. If you are anywhere near Needles and need some mechanic
work done – Dave is definitely the guy you want!
photo from google.
There has been a wind advisory for
this entire area. Driving from Needles to Indio was a tad challenging as the
wind pushed and pulled Mobius around. But, I drove carefully, slower than the
posted speed limit, but was still exhausted when I pulled into the hotel.
Next up – some more visiting. Heading
to Ojai, Sacramento, and Portland. Plan is to stay and visit with my cousins in
Portland before heading to Olympia and then back to Canada at the end of the
month. It’s going to be a good month!
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