January 17th – January 31st…
I managed to arrive in Quartzsite on January 16th in time for the Escapees SOLOS rally starting on the 17th. We had up to 60 RVs participate. We parked in the BLM land north of Quartzsite on Plumosa Rd. This is a fun group of people, many of whom I’ve known for 7 years or more. The group hosts Hugs & Mugs every morning to get the day started, usually have Happy Hour every day and many planned activities and often dinner together, followed by gatherings around the campfire. We shared several meals with the Escapees Christian Fellowship group who parked near us.
I took Sunna for many short walks in the desert between activities. I was still trying to take care of frig and hot water not working. Then I made an appointment to take Sunna to a vet 100 miles away (no vets closer would take new clients) to get antibiotics for a UTI.
Marty Clark and Karen Gilbert from Lopez Island joined us and parked near me. It’s fun to share my adventures with folks from home! We ate dinner together. The next day they went in to the Big Tent RV show and then continued their travels. I skipped going to the Desert Bar (have been there several times) because I didn’t want to leave Sunna for too long. Instead, I went to dinner with Myrna P, Sue M, Marty R, and Kathy M in Quartzsite. We have all been to Alaska and it was fun sharing our experiences.
I was still having problems with my frig. Sue kept my freezer packs in her freezer and I swapped them out once or twice a day to keep my food cold. I also ran my generator and that helped kept it cold. Still no hot water, so I took “sink baths”. I had a mobile tech come look at things, but nothing really got fixed. Sunday it rained a lot and there were rivers running all through our camping area. In the desert, water turns into a lot of mud.
On Monday Marty and I headed into Q to go to the Big Tent. We were there for several hours, looked at a lot of things, bought a few things (including a Harvest Host membership). We had to skip the HUGE flea market across from the Big Tent because it started raining again and all the vendors where closing up. It poured the rest of the day. Our traditional dance event (open to all) had to be cancelled.
Tuesday was the Solos annual meeting, election of officers, with lunch and then an auction to raise money for CARE, a SKP facility for RVers who are no longer on the road. It started to rain during the auction and pretty soon we were all huddled under the awnings on the 3 big RVs that lined our gathering area. We shared a stone soup dinner (everybody donates a can or fresh food). Wednesday was our last Hugs & Mugs and then there was a Party on Plumosa sponsored by the Escapees organization. One final campfire, then I left on Thursday heading to Yuma. I made an appointment at an RV repair place in Yuma, recommended by Myrna. I parked near Myrna outside Yuma at a VFW site and got the repairs done on Friday. Sunna and I went to one of our favorite parks while they worked on it. Yay! Hot water and frig are working!
On Saturday Jan 27th we left Yuma and drove to Casa Grande to a SKP park where a number of Solos have lots. It gave me a chance to do laundry, dump and fill tanks, etc.
January 28th was Kelley’s 35th birthday, and the 14 year anniversary of adopting Sunna. A very special day.
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