View-Q-Two

Wow, what a string of changes the acquisition of our Skinny Winnie View (2014 G) made to our lives. We’re the 3^rd owners of this marvelous creature, taking it from 11k miles on purchase to 48k miles after using it just 1 ½ years. Isn’t retired life amazing??? We moved from the San Jose, CA area to Carson City, NV in April, 2018, after being inspired and energized by the Quartzsite Skinny Winnie rally in Jan, 2018. (See related blog if you want the whole story: https://cabumpkins.blogspot.com/2018/06/god-winks.html  Here’s the story of our 5,300 mile “View-Q-Two”

We had such a good time and met such interesting and helpful people at the 2018 rally that we immediately signed up for the 2019 event. I swear that Bob Swor is my hero! We decided to hit the road early, after hearing from our neighbors that Jan & Feb are challenging months in Carson City. No problem. This will let me learn about that snow bird thing. What we didn’t know is that AZ gets snow in Jan/Feb, too. We became adept at finding places to camp and staying warm, making our propane last as long as possible. And we had an amazing journey. After trips that particularly make an impact, I generally either blog or make a Shutterfly book. I’d hate to lose those wonderful memories. So here are some happy adventures for your reading pleasure, as well as tips for great places to stay.

Grand Canyon dry camping (well, maybe a little wet!)

 Dec 31, 2018 (Mon) 42,187 8:30AM on the road, destination unknown.

We had our first adventure- The skylight popped open & insulation flew out. Bill went running after a piece of foam in 30mph wind on the way to Beatty. Oops. We thought we were so smart, adding insulation to the skylight and the rear cargo compartment under our bed, and reflectix for all the windows. We were definitely on the right track, just had a bit of a learning curve. 

 Our first stop was a ghost town, Rhyolite, where they have a very cool open air sculpture museum & bottle house, free admission. O/N boondock outside Beatty-Yay, concrete pad! But fireworks were going off over us from 11:15 until 12:30. At first I thought it was gunfire. We make a great target out there on the BLM land. What do you expect on New Year’s Eve? Being that we went to bed at 9:30, all thoughts of celebration were long gone. We partied with the wild burros earlier.

Beatty Boondock

 

Happy New Year!

Death Valley Golden Canyon hike

1/1/19 Happy New Year! We headed for Death Valley and were happy to see that the government shutdown was no problem. There was lots of good sightseeing, including Golden Canyon and Artists Palette.

Advice: Don’t take gravel washboard road to Natural Bridge trail.

O/N Tecopa Hot Springs, just south of the park. $13.50 for Passport site w/electricity, and that includes admission to the hot springs. Bill had sore neck so he needed the soak.

Wed 1/2/19 one last soak & shower, on to O/N @ the incredible Valley of Fire state park. Arch campground $20. With our goal of visiting every NV state park, we headed for visitors center to get started on passport (and earn a free yearly pass!). We bought an annual pass for $200, and will have made back our investment in just 10 nights.

Sat 1/5, sadly leaving Valley of Fire, propane in Vegas, then O/N @ Big Bend of the Colorado $10 for elec.

Valley of Fire is our new favorite

A herd of big horn sheep visited our site.

 1/6 Sunday, Heading for cousin’s place in Phoenix - O/N in street in front of house = FREE!

Then over to in-laws’, and an amazing BBQ dinner @ Rudy’s. O/N on street in front of house = FREE AGAIN!

Tues 1/8 Starbucks run and off to Grand Canyon we go! 3 nights dry camping in the park, and we were literally happy campers. FREE, due to government shutdown. But the best part was that there were hardly any other people there. One loop was open, and we had to dig out a spot, but there was a clean, flush toilet bathroom open. Many thanks to the state and volunteers for keeping things in order. We donated $35 to Grand Canyon Association to pay for our stay. The South Rim Trail was spectacular, with no crowds at all. GC in winter is the bomb!

South Rim Trail

Flagstaff - fuel & groceries at Fry’s. A funny thing happened at the grocery store... I know better than to go shopping on an empty stomach. We headed down to Williams to see if we could revisit our first boondocking experience, but instead we found a muddy mess that we didn’t dare chance to stay overnight. We probably shouldn’t have driven down there at all. (See pic) 

 
So we went on down the road to Flagstaff to get fuel and a few groceries. By then it was after 2:00, and I was starving. I got stuff to make a chicken sandwich on a fresh Asiago cheese roll. It was huge. Muenster cheese, lettuce & tomato. Sounds good right? Well I powered through that so I could have my jelly donut. And that was an eeny meenie between it and the apple fritter I also bought. Beverage = chocolate milk.  Then I ate a small banana (while it’s still green, ya know). And in the cupboard? A package of caramel TimTams and mint Oreo thins. What did we go into the store to buy? Tortillas, asparagus and milk! I was planning to make a pinwheel rollup appetizer for the rally. Right.

    We were planning to head for a campground recommended by a fellow Skinny Winnie owner, Lake Pleasant. But we dallied too long at lunch in the Fry’s parking lot, and we only made it as far south as Camp Verde where we used Passport America for a half price spot with electricity and hot showers (Krazy K). It was right by the freeway, but friendly & clean. I figured out how to power my awesome Bluetooth speaker both camping and as we roll down the road, and it makes the trip more enjoyable. We’re listening to The Highwaymen right now (Willie Nelson band).

Sat 1/12  O/N @ Lake Pleasant, on a ridge overlooking Two Cow Cove $15 Nice & quiet 4 bars Verizon

Sun 1/13  Propane @ Tractor Supply (8 gal $20.75), filled by a guy who had never done it before. A little scary, until I convinced him to call his boss over to assist.

Heading for Quartzsite. Let the good times roll! Again, FREE, due to the government shutdown.

First thing, we made an appointment to get solar installed. By arriving a bit early, we were able to get in, and now have 460 watts of power and 2 more AGM batteries… Living in electric luxury! From that point on, the only time we had to run the generator was when using the microwave. Woot!

Biscuit Wars - First attempt

Getting better!

Fantastic pulled pork dinner - Cooked in the ground, in the rain!!!

About that rally – I can’t really describe the good times and camraderie at such an event. You just have to be there. Potlucks, music around the campfire, Barista Mindy and her morning klatches, trying other people’s bikes, inspecting the mods they’ve made to their rigs, getting my daily doggie fix, telling tales that may or may not be true, convection oven lessons, drinking wine, shopping at the big tent, getting help for any little issue you might be having with your rig, and enjoying the beautiful sunsets.  Boondocking may not be for everyone, but for sure it’s our thing.

A typical Q sunset

Tuesday 1/22 leaving Q for NV: Dang, had to stop in Needles for a splash of expensive CA diesel $4.69/ gal.And to make it worse, only got 12.3mpg- really bad headwind.

O/N @ Valley of Fire (yes, again). I think we’re in love!

Scrambling over rocks to slot canyon

Wednesday 1/23 to Caliente - O/N @ Kershaw-Ryan State Park FREE w/pass. We were the only ones there. Discovered hot springs, where individual tubs welcome weary travelers.

 

Thur 1/24 Breakfast at Side Track since lunch there was so good yesterday. Visited Cathedral Gorge, but campground was meh, so on to Echo Canyon, where we were the only ones there in the non-electric section, woot. Free w pass.

Fri 1/25 Beautiful morning overlooking frozen reservoir @ Echo Canyon. Took our time enjoying it w/croissant breakfast. Drove up to muddy Spring Valley, thought better of it, then back to Cathedral Gorge for the night $10 electric 

Sat 1/26 O/N Cathedral Gorge again $10. Fell victim to my odd compulsion to go introduce myself to any other V/N owner, to make sure they know about our Facebook and Yahoo user groups.

Sun 1/27 Heading for Zion -3 nights $45+ $15 for tunnel

Wed 1/30 nice trip through Bryce (Brrrr – watch that ice)

Zion - You don't have to take the bus in the winter

Bryce was a little chilly

Great scenery if you survive the walk out there

We still have to work on that snowbird thing. 

You're supposed to go where it's warmer than back home!

O/N @ Page Walmart, because we didn’t know about the nearby BLM land that would have been a MUCH better choice.

Thur 1/31 O/N @ Homolovi SP $20. They needed the business. Lonely ranger, nice electric sites.

Fri 2/1 tour Petrified Forest. We’d been there before, but still enjoyed hiking around.

O/N Fools Hollow SP $35 – Electric, but not level.

Sat 2/2  O/N Silver City Manzano’s RV park, very sweet owners $33.60

Sun 2/3 O/N City of Rocks NM SP $10  Rain & wind, but still enjoyed hiking around.

We will go back to City of Rocks 

Mon 2/4 Luna Rosa wine tasting in Deming, where another half case of wine jumped into our rig, then off to the Luna Rosa restaurant in Las Cruces.

We really wanted to go to Nellies, but they’re closed Sun/Mon, and only open 7-2.

Nosy me, I inserted myself into a conversation at the next table. They were talking about advanced health care directives and financial power of attorney situation. Being that prevention of elder abuse is my passion, I just HAD to. Poor hubby, having to wait for me. But the other guests had great tips for our next big trip to Spain & Portugal. Win/Win!

We made a frustrating trip to a nearby state park, only one site left, and after much struggle, we simply couldn’t fit in the space. Crusty old camp host tried to help us but it didn’t work. The bushes scraped our sides, and there was no room to slide out the back. It was getting dark, so off to Walmart again, where we managed to back into a tree. There was no damage, but we certainly couldn’t stay in that spot since our bed slides out the back. We definitely need a better backup camera.

Tues 2/5 Finally off to Nellies - Enchilada & taco for breakfast – Yum!

We decided to avoid traffic and immigration checkpoint by taking back roads to Hatch instead of zooming back through Deming on I-10. Haha, there was another checkpoint .

O/N @ Willcox, AZ Grand Vista RV Park $20.35 PA price. Laundry, showers, fill & dump. Nice.

Wed 2/6 Heading back to Q so I can have a 2000 watt inverter that will run my espresso machine without having to run the generator.  O/N BLM @ Q. Roadrunner campground - FREE

Thurs 2/7 New inverter @ Discount Solar then propane& diesel & on the road again toward Joshua Tree NP

A new low: 10.4mpg, but that was going 75mph. We were on the interstate, pushed by surrounding traffic.

O/N @ Joshua Tree NP $15 for 2 nights.  Most campgrounds are now reservations only, but we got lucky and scored one of the last (and very tight) spots @ White Tank. It was so great we decided to stay a couple days.

Sat 2/9 leaving Joshua Tree, route unknown. We’ve been off the grid since Thurs, so don’t know what we missed. We squeaked through the mountains before they were closed due to snow.

Sat. 2/9-Thurs 2/14 O/N @ my brother’s place, a beautiful, level place with power if we needed it, overlooking a serene valley, full meal, shower AND laundry service! We hate to leave.

No charge for the View!

2/14-2/17 – The fancy dancy Skinny Winnie rally at a Paso Robles RV park. GREAT presentations & activities, but oh my, our site… We went from a beautiful spot at my brother’s, free, to a spot immediately next to Highway 101, with traffic zooming by all night, paying $50 a night for the privilege.  I vowed to go to the office the minute they opened to see if I could pay even more to get a space a row over so the head of our bed wouldn’t be right on the freeway. I’m happy to report we were successful, and no extra charge. I remember making the reservation last summer, as I was standing in a grocery store in Alaska, informed that the rally was full, so I needed to decide right then, and pay a deposit. I had no idea they were assigning me a place on the freeway!

All neatly in a row

     Bill was struggling with not being able to hear, and opted not to play the dice game that night, but I thought it was fun. It was new to me, and is actually mostly a visiting game, while the dice get passed all the way around the table. Everyone had to buy in with 3 one dollar bills. The dice have R, L, C, or a dot. If you roll L you pass a dollar to the person on your left, C goes in the center, R to the right, and you get to keep it with the dot. Last person with a dollar wins the pot, which was around $100 at each of the 2 tables.

That's me in the purple. I'm a loser!

     We had a pancake breakfast, and a seminar about the Scan Gauge. The gauge is an error code reader, and apparently can tell you all sorts of things about the engine. We have one, but don’t know what all it can do. I need to pay more attention. I was more interested in line dancing! We connected with old friends from 20 years ago, and new friends from last year’s Q rally. One highlight was a presentation by representatives from both Mercedes and Winnebago. We’re ever hopeful that our suggestions and complaints will make a difference. The weather for the trip home was looking a little iffy, so we decided to hightail it on Sunday morning.

Sun 2/17O/N @ Death Valley, $7. Fantastic views driving in, only to be faced with a giant gravel parking lot they call a campground. Whatever, we’re only stopping on the way by. I found another View who hadn’t heard about our groups.

Great views from the View, driving into Death Valley NP

Mon 2/18  Home 47,523 = 5,336 trip total   

Fuel economy? Ranged from a low of 10.4 to a high of 17.8, average 15

And what did we do next? We hopped into our 4 WD truck, and headed over the mountains to catch up on the hugs we missed over the last 2 months during our adventures! Can you blame us?