Jan 16th – Jan 25th

Our Escapees Solos rally begins on the 17th, so the 16th was a day to see who was there, get caught up and rested after a lot of driving. Starting on Friday the 17th, we had Hugs & Mugs (coffee and fruit and rolls) every morning, and various activities throughout the days. Most days we had Happy Hour around 3:30 (varied some days). One day we had a talk from an independent mobile RV technician on RV maintenance. Always something to learn! Many evenings we have dinner together, like “walking tacos”. On Sunday many people went to Desert Bar. It’s a unique gathering place wayyyyyyyyy out in the desert. They have a band, food and drink, and always a good crowd. I offered to drive my 4WD pickup truck as the last 5 miles are a very rough road. I’d gone a number of times, but not for a few years. It’s always fun. We shared a large table in the main room with the band. I used to take Sunna with me and walk around the site in the desert with her. The desert can be very cold at night and sometimes very windy.

Escapees is a national club and Solos is a sub-group for people who travel solo. This is our most official annual rally, so on Tuesday the 21st we had our annual meeting and election of officers. It was followed by a catered lunch. Several of us drove into Quartzsite to do some errands, then got back in time for Happy Hour. It was really cold, but there was a fire for awhile. Wednesday was the official Escapees gathering, “Party on Plomosa”, with several hundred people from lots of sub-groups, just a mile or so down the road from our camping area. That evening I started to experience severe pain in my left hip and left leg. I didn’t sleep well, so on Thursday the 23rd a friend drove my truck to take me to the ER in Parker (about an hour away). They took x-rays and said there didn’t appear to be any physical damage, probably a pinched nerve. I suspect is was caused by me picking up my generator from the back of my truck and carrying it a long way to where I wanted to it to be. They gave me some prescription meds and said to take it easy. People started leaving on the 24th, and by the time I left on the 26th, the area where we had all camped was largely empty. The rest of my hip story will be in the next travelogue.