1/31 - Hit Kartchner Caverns on the way to Tucson. I did a tour of the Big Room, which is only available in the winter when the female bats aren't having and raising their babies. We had a great guide and there were some really awesome sites in the cave, but you aren't allowed to bring anything into the cave. No phones, no electronics, no cameras, no water.
After the cave, we drove to Tucson to visit with Eleanor and Emma. We spent a whole week there, so maybe overstayed my welcome again, but she did say I'm welcome anytime. I stayed in the house and was in her office, so that is a challenge for Eleanor to not have her usual space. The temps were in the 80s most of the time I was there, so it was hard to do stuff with Zoe and Eleanor was afraid she'd bark if we left her in the house, so we couldn't go off and do stuff. I took her with me when I got my tattoo worked on and did the whole AC, two fans, wifi temperature monitor setup though I wasn't gone too long.
We took Zoe to Agua Caliente, but it was too warm for Zoe, so we just walked slowly and sat in the shade for a bit.
Afterward, we went to an Apple store for me to get a new iphone. I had spent a long time on the phone with someone at apple ordering a new phone thinking they would be the experts in getting my music to the new phone. I can't be without my cd music! I was told several times (cuz I doubter her so kept asking) that the music could DEFINITELY be transferred. Nope! She told me other things that weren't accurate. Grrr. I should have gone directly to AT&T because there was confusion on the price between what Apple was saying and what AT&T contract said. I was trading in my 11pro for $350! That's a really good deal as the value was supposedly only $95. I decided that if Trump was going to raise tariffs on China that I better get my phone now. The reason I hadn't upgraded sooner was solely due to the music issue because I only have a Chromebook, which can't run iTunes, which I would use to transfer the music to the new phone. I ended up ordering a $200 windows laptop to do this, but it had so little space, I ended up returning it, but in the meantime I was able to open the itunes library file from my external hard drive and as soon as I plugged in the new phone, all my music transferred. Woohoo!!! I was so happy. I spent a lot of time dealing with this, but that's OK.
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| Testing out my new iphone camera |
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| I am really happy with the white that was added to my tattoo to lighten it up. The guy (Jesse's Tattoos in Tucson) was so nice and wouldn't charge me for it. It's not at all what I was thinking, but maybe it's work. 2 days later the white seems to have faded unfortunately. |
This guy was under the cover on the outdoor couch and I sort of sat on him. 😟 I wondered what the heck was wriggling under the side of my butt and I found him under there. Poor guy. He could move, but wasn't running away, so I'm not sure if he was just in shock or I really hurt him, or he wasn't well before he climbed into the couch. Such a beautiful creature. I didn't get a photo, but his belly is a beautiful blue.
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| Zoe and the lizard sunning themselves together. |
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| Said goodbye to my iphone 11pro. 😕 I loved the size of it vs the new one, but I decided it would be good to buy one before trump's tariffs took effect. It was time anyway. |
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| Zoe making herself comfortable on Eleanor's couch |
2/7 - Arrived at Quartzite after driving through Phoenix traffic on a Friday afternoon. I guess I should have left Tucson earlier. I didn't know the setup, so I just parked somewhere and then walked around. I met a nice couple, Sydney and Harp and ended up moving to where they were. It was a little closer to the action, but not too close.
I got my first bus tour. It is so beautiful! I really could live in that.
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| I love the tiny wood stoves. They also have a mini split in the bedroom. |
Lenore and Matt stopped by and surprised me tonight. It was so great to see them. Thankfully I had moved to the main road, so they were able to find me without too much trouble. They were about to give up, but came across us and it was after dark.
The next morning is when I realized I had a mite problems in my toilet 😒 and I needed to do something about it. I texted Lenore and told her I might be gone finding some diatomaceous earth for the mites and she offered for them to get some on their way over. What great friends! I used a 10% bleach solution to clean the toilet in all the nooks and crannies and rinsed it out. I also changed out the compost material in the solids bin. Apparently, not using it/agitating it in the desert is a bad thing as the mites look for a moist area to nest in. 😒 While I cleaned the toilet, those guys wandered around. What a bummer that I was preoccupied! In the end, they took my garbage, which literally had my s___ in it as well as mites (double bagged, but still!). Are they the best kind of friend to have?! Yep!!!
I let it dry out, made some more coconut coir medium, sprinkled DE under the bins in the toilet, in the solids bin, and under the toilet in the drawer.
I didn't realize they were mites at first, when I was leaving Tucson. I was thinking some kind of mold after not using it for a couple of weeks. Then I realized they were moving. Gross. So, here I am in Quartzite having mite problems without access to a whole lot.
The next day, I still had mites, but way fewer, so I took it out again and cleaned again without changing out the compost this time. It still seemed that there were a few in there after cleaning again, but I just did my best. A couple of days later it seems that I have a few, but very few and I just keep wiping up with disinfecting wipes. 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞 Of course every tickle I feel, I think it's mites.
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| So similar! There is another dog who's face, but looks so like Zoe's. Body is more greyhound type. Lots of brindles here! So many dogs of all kinds. |
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| 2 hangliders that like to fly at sunset every night... |
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| Doing a breath work class at sunset |
Lauren, from NYC, who parked behind me, has family in VT. Her parents live on Mt Philo Rd and her brother works at BioTek/Agilent. He started <1 year before I retired, so I don't believe I met him, but what a small world! Here we are in Arizona and at an event with hundreds of other people and she parks right behind me.
Once I felt that the mite issue was basically resolved, I was able to relax and have a good time. For several days I'd find a handful of mites on the toilet seat, but finally no more. I certainly hope I never have this issue again!!! I gave away most of the DE, but decided to keep some for future use. Maybe I'll add some to the compost medium when I make it up for some insurance.
More dirty Zoe. This dirt is pretty incredible how it sticks.
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| Possibly the dirtiest yet! |
Last night I decided to wash my hair in the sink. I use wipes to keep my body clean, but especially with all the dust, I felt I needed to wash my hair. I have limited water, so I figured the shower was a bad idea. Of course, I could drive into town and get water if necessary. I had brought with me some leave in conditioner, which was awesome so I didn't have to rinse out the conditioner, which takes a lot of water. I made a mess, but my hair is clean, so yay!
While washing my hair, there was a very cool sighting in the sky, so I downloaded others photos. I guess it was a rocket sending out satellites? I can't believe I missed it! I was outside almost all the time...
I put my wallet in a different spot, thinking that if someone broke in, it would be harder to find than in my backpack. Well, no surprise, but I forgot where I put it and spent a long time looking for it. I was about to give up and almost missed it as it wasn't visible, but I found it by feel. Phew! I guess I need to be more careful when I do that...
I'm parked on the main drag, which is nice because people chat as they walk by, but it isn't ideal from a dust point of view. It is getting a bit more windy, but I think the wind is carrying the dust away from me now. At least my van isn't as dirty as I would have expected so far.
I met a couple from Quebec and we chatted for a while. They wish they could live in the US because their government is terrible. I'm like, WHAT???? They said that it's communist and the health care is terrible and that we have a president who is trying to do stuff for the people. HAHA!!! They really thought this. I'm like, well, he is doing stuff for the billionaire people, but not the rest of us! I'm so surprised when I hear this from Canadians. What news are they listening to? Of course, I know almost nothing about Canadian government, but it seems that most people know a lot about ours.
I'm enjoying meeting people and hanging out, but I'm not finding "my people". I think maybe I'm just a more solo type, mostly enjoying being on my own. Though it is nice to hang with people. I've been here for since Friday night and it's Tuesday now, so it's been a while. Tonight I hope to join some folks for music around the fire and the guy said he'd teach me harmonica. 😃 We'll see how that goes!
There are rings of rigs together with a central fire that they hang in. I'm hanging with my neighbors here, but I don't feel obligated at all and I think if I was in a circle, I'd feel obligated and get tired of the socializing.
2/11 - I'm currently hanging out waiting for someone to come help me with the drawer slides for my toilet as I'm having the same problem of it opening less and less with use. Aaargh. And this is after finding mites in my toilet. This is just the norm of life on the road though. Always some issues to deal with, I guess. I really wish the guy could give me an idea of when he'll come by!
Maxxair sent me a new motor and board and I should be trying to deal with that, maybe borrowing a ladder from someone, but I'm not. Instead, I'm sitting here listening to my fan squeak as the wind spins it... Why am I not doing it when I have people around me who could help me??? Always the procrastinator.
Juliann showed up in the evening (we met at RVW in Vermont) and we went and hung out by a fire and enjoyed the music. It was super fun. Jackson gave me some pointers on the harmonica and I played along a bit. I probably irritated the folks who could hear me! They played some fire Jenga and did surprisingly well.
2/12 - Juliann has a ladder, so we cleaned our solar panels. Mine were really dirty!!! I've never cleaned them as I think of the rain as cleaning them. Of course it hasn't really rained since when??? I'm sure they should have been cleaned anyway. Juliann was willing to help me with the fan, but I still resisted. Lots of hanging out, walking the dogs, chatting with people, etc.
2/13 - It was cloudy and even rained a little today. Good lazy day.
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| Couch on the roof. I imagine it must be really light... What a way to enjoy the surrounding views! |
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| Did an accupressure course in the wellness area. It wasn't so great as I couldn't follow him. |
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| I really enjoyed this Saguaro across from where I was parked. |
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| One of the cute skoolies |
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| I can't imagine traveling with a pig! |
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| Went for a long walk out back. There is so much open land here. I cannot imagine it ever getting filled up. |
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| Dead Saguaro |
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| The pirate bus. Supposedly very loud music, but never seemed too loud to me when I walked by. We were parked far enough away that it wouldn't have been an issue. |
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| Fire Jenga |
2/14 - Last day of event. Juliann and I went into town and did laundry and SHOWER!!!, got water, had an amazing grilled cheese sandwich from Mean Maggie's, and walked around the dog park and Celia's garden. I walked around this last year, but apparently I didn't discover it all as it is so much bigger than I thought.
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