This was not our only problem. Before reaching Vicksburg our generator quit producing electric, but in the rest area it started working again and has not failed since. At Livingston we took our motor scooter off the lift and when we raised the empty lift the 7,000 pound steel cable broke three of its six strands. ACE Hardware in Livingston made us a new cable complete with fitting for $7.49. Love small town prices.

At Livingston the motorhome's engine started every time the key was turned but we did not feel comfortable hitting the road knowing the problem could return. Norm slid under the motorhome and found a loose connection at the starter solenoid. Great, we found the problem and fixed it. During a rain we discovered a leak and Norm re-chalked several places. Then as we were leaving Livingston a taillight on our scooter lift failed requiring a new bulb. Yes, life on the road can be a challenge but we're glad we have the tools and knowledge to fix most problems.

Since Livingston is our legal home address we like to spend a few days there each year taking care of legal matters. One of the highlights of camping at Rainbows End is they now have WiFi (high speed wireless internet) and from our motorhome we surfed the net at high speed day and night. (The cost is $3 a day, $15 a week or $35 a month.) Kirk and Pam Wood and Dave and Sharyl Tholen, fulltiming friends were there and we enjoyed spending time with them. Mark Nemeth, the technical guru at Escapees stopped for a visit and meal and several people stopped to visit us and tell us they enjoy our website. We had other friends we wanted to visit but our time ran out and we had to leave.

Our goal was to reach Quartzsite, Arizona in six days. When we travel cross country we seldom stay in campgrounds, we love to boondock. Our motorhome is set up for living without any hookups so why should we pay for a campground? The first night we stayed in a rest area on I-10 at mile marker 500 in Texas. The second night we stayed in a rest area just inside New Mexico, west of El Paso, Texas. That was further than we had planned to drive. Our plan was to stop at Cattlemen's Steakhouse about forty miles east of El Paso. Several people told us the restaurant served excellent steaks and had a large parking lot to overnight in after eating. We got off I-10 at exit 49 and saw a large sign pointing north to Cattlemen's Steakhouse. The road continued to get narrower and there was no restaurant or any business in sight. After traveling nine miles we decided we should turn around and get back on the interstate. There was just one small problem. The road was 18-feet wide and our motorhome is 38-feet 7-inches long with a scooter lift extending another 5-feet. So after unhitching the Honda CR-V we are nearly 44-feet long and we had to reverse directions on an 18-foot road. Don't ask how, but with Linda prepared to stop traffic (luckily there was none) Norm cut the steering wheel from extreme to extreme and continued driving forward and back, and somehow ended up facing the direction we had come from. We hitched up the Honda and drove to the New Mexico rest area where we feasted on hamburger helper.

Our third day of heading west started with a stop in downtown Deming, New Mexico for breakfast and at Lordsburg we decided we'd seen enough of interstate I-10 so we took highway US 70 north and west through some beautiful, but desolate country. That night we boondocked at Basha's Grocery / Wal*Mart parking lot in Thatcher, Arizona. The fourth day we reached Gold Canyon, Arizona and Canyon Vistas RV Resort, a very nice resort with hot-phones at every site. The nearly $30 a night was more than we usually pay but the resort was worth it. We washed the Dutch Star, Honda CR-V, cleaned the inside of the motorhome and did many loads of laundry. (We love our Sears stackable washer and dryer.)

The only reason we side tracked to Gold Canyon on our way to Quartzsite was to visit Ron and Barb Hofmeister. After fourteen years on the road fulltiming they decided to buy a "stick house" with a "real bed" and they sold their American Dream. It was nice to see Ron and Barb again and we appreciated their hospitality. We had a nice visit with them and saw their beautifully decorated home then Barb cooked a delicious meal. We feel fortunate to have the Hofmeisters as friends and hope to visit them again. Check their website Movin On.

On our way to Quartzsite we stopped at the Flying J truck stop in Phoenix to top off the motorhome's diesel tank. What a mistake. After getting fuel it took one hour and forty-five minutes to exit because so many trucks were entering and exiting no one could move. We anxiously awaited rolling over the hill east of Quartzsite to see the enormous number of RVs sitting in the desert and we were not disappointed. Each January about 150,000 RVs emerge on the small town raising the population from 3,000 to about 300,000. Quartzsite is not a place, its a happening and everyone should experience it at least once.

Thousands of venders ply their wares and one can buy a rusty iron skillet, $2 tee shirts, small and large rocks, motorhomes and anything one can imagine. This year's events run from January 10 until February 16 and includes a parade, hot air balloons, gem and mineral sales and shows, the Pow Wow, jamborees, The Main Event, dancers, fireworks, ultra light planes, music shows, a revival, an arts and crafts fair, the Sports, Vacation and RV Show, a classic car show, swap meets and many other events. But the most fun is watching the characters who visit Quartzsite and the RVs they are driving. Every day we rode the motor scooter into town and often to the desert outskirts looking for the unusual. We have included a few pictures including Stu and his coffee RV from California, the motorcycle / Volkswagen camper and some 1940's Flxible buses converted into motorhomes.

We spent six days boondocking with the Newmar Region 3 Rally (452 RVs) six miles south of town. The weather at Quartzsite was great - warm sunny days and cool nights. Since we rely on solar panels for electric we were glad to see sun every day. We were one of the few RVs at the rally using solar panels and the other 95% ran their noisy and smelly generators day and night until 10:30 p.m. Our motorhome and the desert floor shook from the rumble of generators and there were enough fumes to kill vegetation for miles. From the rally site we rode across desert land and found a desert golf course with outdoor carpet for tees. Golfers need to hit balls around cactus and sagebrush. (Caution, play with your cheapest clubs.)


During the rally we met with several old friends and made many new friends. Dick and Phyllis Davis were at a campground in town and we visited them one day and had lunch together. (Visit their website.) Jim and Patty Hammond drove in from California to visit us one day. They fulltimed two years before selling their motorhome and buying a house. One year we traveled 158 days with them and it had been exactly two years since we had seen them. We appreciate they took time to come visit us again.

Puerto Penasco, Mexico

All's well that ends well...  We have had many day trips into Mexico had never driven the motorhome south of the border so we thought a caravan would be best for our first journey south. We went with the Newmar Kountry Klub which included a caravan of 85 rigs. After the Quartzsite rally we drove to Gila Bend to meet the other RVs and we boondocked at the Elks Lodge. While there we purchased Mexican insurance for the motorhome, Honda CR-V and Honda Reflex motor scooter. Beginning at 6:00 a.m., eight RVs left every twenty minutes and we were in row #9. About thirty miles south of Gila Bend we passed row #8 because one of the motorhomes had broken down. After 82 miles we reached Lukeville and the Mexican border and all of the RVs were waved through without any inspections. Our leader accidentally switched their CB radio to the wrong channel so we all lost communications with them. Our eight motorhomes were stretched out for about two miles with everyone pleading with the leader to slow down and regroup, but the leader kept shoving along making the last motorhomes drive fast trying to catch up. It was 66 miles from the border to Puerto Penasco and the last motorhomes finally caught up.

Once on the back streets of Puerto Penasco our leader took a wrong turn and drove into a hotel parking lot with another motorhome following them. We stopped and a man in a pickup truck ran to our motorhome and told us our leader was lost. He said he was staying in the RV park where we were going and he would lead us to the campground so we became the new leader. Shortly we found the RV park (Playa Bonita RV Resort) and got parked and set up. Our voltage was good (about 122 volts) but most in the park complained about high voltage in the range of 133 volts. Workers for the electric company shut off power to the park and rewired a transformer lowering the voltage. Either the high voltage or the power company workers caused havoc with one motorhome losing their refrigerator and several RVs had electrical problems. We have a Surge Guard hard-wired in our motorhome and it protects us from low and high voltage, surges and spikes, so we never worry about electric problems. We are amazed that people pay $200,000 for motorhomes and do nothing to protect the motorhome's critical electric circuits.

The caravan was actually a rally because once parked we never moved the motorhome again and other than meals there were no planned activities. It was eight days of rest and relaxation. Puerto Penasco is also called Rocky Point and our campground was on the Gulf of California which is known to the locals as the Sea of Cortez. Happy Hour was from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. daily (Margaritas $6.50 a pitcher) and many of our meals were served in the hotel's restaurant next door. Every day we took motor scooter rides around the city, grocery shopping, gift shopping and to the fish markets. Fresh shrimp as large as 6 - 8 inches long after the heads are cut off cost $8 a pound but we settled for a size smaller, 5 inches long for $4 -$5 a pound. We cooked shrimp several ways and froze several pounds to take back to the states. One day we bought 10 pounds of clams for $5 and the vendor threw in another pound. That night we ate eleven pounds of steamed clams in a butter, wine and tomato sauce with asparagus on the side. (Fresh asparagus was $2 for three bundles.)


Our best meal was at Casa del Capitan restaurant which is accessed by a dirt road to the top of a hill overlooking the downtown shopping district and the Sea of Cortez. Ignore the water pipes and sewer lines running above ground. After sipping Margaritas on ice our server brought bowls of chicken vegetable soup. We looked at the soup, looked at each other and after discussing the soup we decided to give it a try. Usually chicken soup has a chicken broth base but that soup had a tomato base and floating in the middle of each bowl was a piece of chicken complete with bones and skin. The soup was delicious. For the entrees we ordered one meal of their speciality, large shrimp stuffed with white cheese and wrapped in bacon and grilled and the other entree was shrimp in brandy sauce with mushrooms and onions. Both entrees included mixed vegetables and white rice. As we often do we set our plates side by side so we could eat off both plates. The meal was great and the view was spectacular.

Super Ley is a new grocery store that rivals many of the groceries in the states but the prices are unbelievable - bag of laundry detergent for 20 loads ($.87), can of picante salsa ($.37), two small loafs of freshly baked bread in deli ($.21). With prices like that we want to return to Puerto Penasco and spend a couple of months.

We never felt unsafe in Puerto Penasco even though we rode the motor scooter on dirt back roads and through poor housing areas. Matter of fact, in the last five weeks we have driven the Honda CR-V only 70 miles while putting nearly a thousand miles on the scooter. We met many new friends including Dean and Laurel Wineinger and Lynn and Jan Whiting. The Wineingers taught us to play Pegs and Jokers and Laurel shared her photos of which we used several on this page.


Two campers at the RV park set up a wireless network (WiFi) in the office and a new friend two motorhomes away was running a satellite internet connection and he let us connect to him by WiFi. So we were able to do email and surf the internet in Mexico. We cranked up our satellite dish and watched the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville win basketball games. What a life, sitting on the beach, eating fresh shrimp, surfing the internet and watching basketball. There is no way we would go back to work.