Dec 30, 2009 ... Australians welcomed in 2010 with spectacular fireworks displays over Sydney harbour. 
Watch the whole display here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhN6v7E5Yhk

Then in New York

Launch the slide show... 

The blue moon came up... over Arizona. 

I've set the DirecTV DVR to record the Rose Parade in HD in case we don't get up in time. 
A given me thinks... But you can be sure we will be up for the Rose Bowl game. Go Ducks...
 

Did you feel the earthquake this morning? 
I sure did being here in Quartzsite, AZ.  I think a first real quake for me. 
Oh so you're not in the southwest... Sorry... If it's snowing where you're at... 
See if god and mother nature wants, we can have a little non winter fun right here in the sunny southwest. 
I have stumbled at times walking, blaming it on, that the earth moved under me, but mostly it was my lack of balance do to my blood alcohol level.

But this was late morning today and not even clsoe to happy hour... 

I was sitting at the computer in our RV and there was a breeze outside, but when the trailer started rocking I looked out and thought is the wind blowing that much to make our home on wheels rock from side to side like this. Thought it must just be the wind. 

Next time I will rush outside to feel the earth move under me, not just a trailer on wheels shake. 
This thing moves all the time just by walking around in it. It's on wheels after all. 
Now I do want to feel a bigger one, but not if it damages sticks and bricks homes or buildings. 

Adventure in the desert... who would think it could move. 
Now later I read the rest of the story.

FLASH: Earthquake Rattles Quartzsite
Wednesday December 30, 2009: A temblor rolled across Quartzsite Arizona at 11:49 AM local time, rattling RVs. 

Yuma County, Imperial County and northern Mexico were rocked by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake just before noon Wednesday. There were no immediate reports by Yuma Fire Department or Yuma Police Department of injuries.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake originated 13 miles northwest of Guadalupe Victoria, Baja Calif., Mexico, and about 23 miles southwest of San Luis, Ariz.
An aftershock tremor followed about five minutes later and was a category 4.8 according to the USGS Web site. The USGS service has recorded 50 aftershocks from the quake, as of 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Quartzsite quake meets mixed reaction
from the  www.rvingquartzsite.com site 

Wednesday, December 30, 2009  — The earthquake which rolled through the RV capital of the southwest earlier today met with mixed reactions. Employees at Herb’s Hardware store, just of Highway 95, barely noticed the quake.

A few blocks away, another resident whose home is built on a concrete slab was sitting down to lunch. Ralph, “Rocky” Webb said he was hoisting a forkful of food to his lips when he thought he was having a dizzy spell. “I didn’t figure I’d worked that hard,” he said, relating to his ditch digging efforts just prior to lunch. “But I figured if it got any worse, I’d just lay down.” Webb said he was relieved it wasn’t a health issue when he noticed household items rocking back and forth.

RVers may have noticed more of the shaker’s effects, with their units being up on springs. In the RVing Quartzsite blogger home, things definitely shook, and there was no mistaking an earthquake was the cause.

Blythe, California resident Paul Porter, was on the phone to RVing Quartzsite staff when the quake rattled his home, also situated on a concrete slab. Porter tells us this quake felt anything like a lightweight.  About a half minute after Porter first noticed the shaking, the quake’s effects rolled in Quartzsite, 25 miles west.

Other RVers in the Indio area say they too, felt the quake. Fulltime RVer Loyal McCamond said he was well aware that a quake was making its way through Yuma when he felt it rattle the floors in the an area Walmart store where he and his wife Rose, were shopping.

While no damage appears to have been done in the area, unconfirmed reports from Mexicali, Baja California Norte just south of Calexico, California say buildings have been damaged. The US Geologic Survey reports the quake felt in the US had an epicenter 20 miles southeast of that Mexican town, with a 5.8 richter scale reading.
Posted by: Russ and Tiña De Maris, December 30th 2009 
 

Wow where has the time gone... guess I have to give up some of my naps and get busy and post to this blog. 
Ya sure if that was only the case.  Been doing updates to my other sites. 

We went for a drive today over into California to the Blythe Intaglios grounds north of Blythe on HW 95. 

The Blythe Intaglios are huge - ground drawings of humans, animals, and geometric shapes. 
The largest human figure is 176 feet. 
Links to these Blythe Intaglios, A Photo Gallery
 Geoglyphs of the SW Desert  and Blythe's Giant Figures
We are here as humans for just moments in time, much like those who were here thousands of years ago,  who produced these awsome geoglyphs. Will you have anything like this that lives after you? 

A blue moon is about to happen right here this week.  Hope to view it, and comtemplate life as we know it, and reflect on how those before us, must have felt viewing a event like this from the highlands where the geoglyphs north of Blythe were built so many moons ago.

 The real reason we went to Blythe was I wanted to get a new Iomega USB 500 GB  portable hard drive. On sale at Radio Shack this week. My outlet in the desert... The Shack as they now say... (I called ahead and they held one for me) (they only have one or two of most things so you need to call to see and hold things till you can get there) This new HD is Reg. $120 onsale $99 and I also had a $10 off coupon)  I got a Iomega USB 320 GB HD last week and will use it for the netbook and now this one for the desktop. I had been using a 150 GB Maxtor USB drive (worked great but it needed external AC power and these new ones use power off the USB buss connection. The Maxter was geting to be to small to do a full backup of the desktop now with Windows 7.
I'm on a backup kick now that I've installed Windows 7 on my desktop. 
And in the last few of weeks I have had to reintall the OS on the netbook due to viruses. Wonder how they were downloaded... Terry. 

So now to spend quality (fun) time getting all this set up so if any problems, I'm covered. Using Acronis and Second Copy backup software. 

Later will talk about all the goodies we got for News Years.  Several bottles of Champagne. You may remember in years past blogs the pictures of the empties. 
We didn't find all the goodies we wanted in Blythe at Albertsons (that store sucks, if you have been there you know it) so we might just take a drive up to Parker on Thursday to finish our shopping. Any excuse for an outing. 
 
 

Thursday Dec. 24

We ran around Quartzsite late this afternoon as we needed generator gas and propane (had to hustle for propane as the Pit Stop was closed) Never saw that before.  Another place was open and he was busy, so it worked out. (Propane has gone up to $2.39 + tax) So for 7 gal it was $18.20. Still not bad me thinks. 

Our mail forwarding from SD didn't show up at the Post Office. (bummer) We called and they were still sorting mail to the PO Boxes here in Q at 2 PM so at 3 PM we went in and still no mail. I had called MyHomeAddress (our mail forwarding service) in SD early Monday so it should have been here via Priority Mail but wasn't so what can you do. Guess we will not know if some secret Santa sent us a card with a big check, untill next week. So if you sent greetings, thanks we just wont know tilll Monday. 

I have been consumed updating our desktop with Windows 7 which for the most part installed very clean. Just had to uninstall a couple of programs it said I must that were not compatable. After that it ran the course for hours and came up clean with the new OS. Now I'm learning the new aspects of it. First view is it is not much different than Vista. Looks about the same. Sure not the big change that in the past going from XP to Vista was.  After $120 for a new OS it better be an improvement. (I never had trouble with Vista like so many complained about)  Need to do the tutorial to see what is so much better. Vista needed lots of RAM so this should be leaner as it is less RAM dependent. 

Now for a bit of Christmas history that you might remember from your past it you are old enough....

Now if you step back a bit and look at this you might remember how a string of these looked on your tree as a kid.  Remember how you had to make sure they were level so the bubbles would work. The magic of it all... What a great memory... We were poor back then as most people in Iowa on farms were,  I remember at that time how I loved those bubble lights...  I remember those lights on the tree were the best as a pre teenager.  I know you had to have been there and done that. 

Those lights were one of the best parts of Chirstmas as I remember. Now as I write this on Christmas eve in 2009 it brings back the good times, looking at the above graphic and the YouTube along with the hard times back then. 

 Only looking back over the years, do I see how poor times were then. I remember as a kid never having to go without as far as food or clothes were concerned.  We had a nice big farm home and I had my own nice second floor bedroom. Only a couple of times as a teenager was Christmas a disapointment. I was a kid and life moved on.  I had a good high school experience and went on to achive post high school education at DeVry and after a stint working out east came back to a 33 year career with the big midwest telco where I was lucky to work the whole gamit of that business. And Ya know I never did have to climb a pole. I spent all that time in a central office (local and long distance call switching, power systems to keep it all working, repair testing local and business private lines) and later in test centers for high capacity digital products. A union made that possible.

Now to the real life lonley stuff...  Tis the season for these feelings to come to the seuface.  I remember when for so many years, I spent this time as in Christmas Eve and Day all ALONE. I know what that feels like big time, and I hope, if you are alone at this time of year, it is by your own choosing. If not, hold in there, as we are thinking about you tonight, because many of us have been there. It took me many years (after I was over forty) to find a partner in this life..  Life is good...NOW. as every day the sun comes up is another day to let it hit you in the face. 
I could go on and on but it is getting late... This time of year is the best of times, and also the worst for others... Try to make it a good times for you, if you can... 
 

We picked up packages at the post office and later went for a ride to Blythe, CA to get extra goodies for the holidays. Stopped at Radio Shack and pickred up Windows 7. (I called qahead last night and they held the second to last one for me). I always said I would never do an upgrade but get a new OS only on a new system. So look at me, here I go again. If no posts for awhile you'll know why. I have a Vista desktop and of course all backed up and scanned for any problems. We shall see how it goes, and I will report so you can learn from me. In case you are dumb enough to do as a I do. I started out with a Commadore 64 way back when... and everything that came out since so I just had to have Win 7, Don't Ya Know. 

Speaking of packages got new Wrangler jeans from Walmart online since my size never seems to be in stock in the stores. Well I knew they are trying to compete with Amazon big time. They have stated as much. I think they must be trying to impress online shoppers for repeat business as I ordered late last week with standard shipping. They said delivery wouldn't be till the second week in Jan.  Got a USPS tracking email that it was at the post office already.  They sent it Priority mail. Cool. I might just keep them in mind when ordering things again. Like their signs in store say, if you don't find it here, we have 1 million more items online. Especially since the Parker, AZ store is just a mini super store. 
If /when I get the new OS working, I plan on working on the main www.hitchitch.com site with several new listings and removal of a few that have not been kept up. Sort of end of year house cleaning. 

So now several hours later... I'm up with a new OS and my blog software works. 
 

This is the start of Christmas week and then it will be over till next year. Oy Vey... 
Or in otherwords to helpterms you might understand Bah Humbug

For Santa this is hard to do in the desert sand here in Quartzsite so you can still read it. 
Bet they were lined up for a group Santa shot, with the huge snow they just got on East Coast.

We went to Blythe, CA on Saturday to do a little shopping and to just go for a ride. Cabin fever ... I mean trailer fever.  K-Mart had all we were looking for. So strange as not the case in the past. I needed more printer paper and ink as I printed out the worlds largest Christmas Letter (our Fall Blog Travels). Complete on full size paper with pictures. It took a whole ream of paper and you know just how much color ink that would take. It was for our best friends back in Iowa since they don't have a computer, we like to send them a book like printout to read our travels and what we have seen during the year. 
Three pounds of paper. I thought after looking at the stack, I should be sending this off to a publisher.  And the next thought was I wrote all this in a blog in the last few months. WOW I must be crazy. And to think in our youth when we had to write a term paper or something we whined and procrastinated big time. Now we all do it for the joy.  Life on the Internet has changed us. It must be for the better as we do have to engage our minds to blog. Would we do this if we had to sit down and put pen to paper, Never. How many snail mail cards are sent anymore?  Just send an email. Or do a tweet. I have so far refused to get deep into Facebook. I started one but could not see why, so gave up. This blog and maintaining several other web sites is enough. I spent hours just today updating a AFL-CIO union site I contract to do with the latest health care bill info. If you must it is  www.cwa7102.org

It all has to filter through the Politics Tube. 
We are so lucky, Terry and I we have good health Ins. Provided by the company I retired from due to a union negotiated contract. (I do have to pay imputed income on the value of his benefits).  Retired middle management employees do not fare as well. As companies cut benefits their retired management are the ones who get the short shaft in many cases. Why, because they can. Airline pilots, teachers, and even professional sports players, along with CEOs, have employment contracts.  Why do so many workers think they don't need unions, saying my employer will treat me well, as I'm talented. Later when they get the shaft they learn a hard fact, if you're not in a union you have no negotiation power. As in who gets laid off first, the last hired, or them, the more senior worker who was being paid more with benefits who is more costly to them. 

Back to health Ins. So many in this country do not have Ins. and are one illness, away from brankruptcy. Now that's a disaster for all sides of this issue. The US House members, are me thinks doing the peoples business but the US Senate is full of members who porstitute themselves for their own greed and their corporate doners who control them. So sad, so many, it seems never think about why they were elected. To serve the people... Pretty nieve on my part in the past, but I'm taking note more and more, like others, and with the internet it helps to expose their hidden agendas.

Now enougth of that...  today Terry did some baking...

Bannana Bread with Walnuts. Several batches.  He got dates the other day in Blythe so he must be getting ready to do Date Bread. It does smell very good in here. It might just get me in a  Holiday mood if I'm not careful. 
I will Resist If I Must... More later on how we deal with this Season To Be Jolly... 

So here we go... It's mid December... How many snowbirds and fulltimers who are basking in the relative pleasant  weather as compared to the blizzards we only see on the news, feel guilty, especially when they get that call from their families up north, who ever so subtly suggest how did we as in snowbirds/fulltimers, have the gall to be down here and leave them alone in the cold for the holidays. Whimper, whimper me thinks. A suggested reply might be to say, come fly on down and visit us in the sun and we will all have a great time. 

Time for a picture... Looking to the southeast from I-10 over the pass back from Blythe before you get to Q.

Ya like that would work in this economy, some snowbirds have just enough money to get them here. 
The BLM Long Term Visitor areas are more than just for some who don't like RV parks because they don't like RV parks (parking lots)  but for many, who just can't afford anything else. That's fine as we are all in this together and all are welcome regardless of the reason. That's what is so great about this lifestyle... You can see it in the BLM all the time. People in all kinds of camping units, in all walks of life, sharing a common campfire. People, are what is important, not what you camp in. Most all in this lifestyle know that. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. 

Onward...

We drove to Blythe, CA on Saturday since our little mouse for our netbook died. 
I think  the tiny wires gave out. I could wiggle them and get the laser light to come on... But... 
I have never been able to move fingers over that little pad on a notebook to do anything. I NEED a mouse. So we got a new wireless Logitech notebook mouse at K-Mart. Good price. 
Some observations since we where there... Not in the last several years have we seen so much product packed all over in this store in Blythe, CA. The Men's Clothing Dept. had more items on sale at about 40-50% off than what the entire small Walmart in Parker had in their entire Men's section.  What a difference that had on our our minds. I got a new hoodie.

Onward again... 

I should make this into separate posts for several days instead of a big one post. But what do I know... 
I'm having fun with this so... 

Later we took a drive north of Blythe, CA looking for the Midland LTVA. 
We after several years in Quartzsite had not been up to see this site on the CA side. 
It was Saturday so why not. 

Midland BLM LTVA

From the Boodocking Guide website  which has all the info about the BLM areas in the southwest the directions state  proceed north 6 miles on Lovekin St. out of Blythe then northwest 4.8 miles on Midland road. The LTV area is located on either side of Midland road.

A sign said see the campground host with an arrow pointing off to the west... 
How do they keep the books from blowing away in the wind. 

Not a guard station like down around Quartzsite. They did have the local telecom install a phone  for emergency calls. The sign did say you still needed to to pay the fees $40 for 14 days or $180 for the season. Not sure who collects.

This site is still 10 or more miles north of Blythe, CA up on the plateau so to get supplies you do have to drive a bit. No water on site but dumpsters and a possible dump station to the east. We didn't stop to see if it was usable. There are orange groves to the south and the county landfill which looked like you might be able to get water from them. 
This is further north back from the ridge that overlooks the Blythe Valley so you don't get views of the valley from here. If you want to be where you can see the night sky without lights this is about as good as it can get me thinks.

While on site we saw this cement historical marker... WOW do read this...  Now you can camp on this BLM site. But we should know about the history of it all. 

Read more about it... A few links about this event  Joint Exercise Desert Strike 
  Armed Forces: Non-War Is Hell

Now back in the Quartzsite BLM,  watched it rain later on Saturday, but not like the storm last Monday.... 
So just hanging out, still looking for lots to buy in Q. 

More on that later... 
Q is a strange town and getting a title to a lot can be a legal adventure. And what you can do with it. 
You have to be very careful when buying property here in Quartzsite. 

We shall see what we find... As we are now consulting a Real Estate Agent to help in this process. 

Now back in our happy BLM spot wondering again why we would want to move to town.

I dream about a hot tub and treadmill on a patio, with a storage shed, that might later store a ATV. 

See we got our tarp canopy back up on the frame after the last storm... Later.... 
 

On RV.net/forum I saw this question.. about Quartzsite. 
Where is the closest medical facilities?
Good question as we need to think about these things. 
My post... and expanded here with more info. 

La Paz Regional Hospital in Parker, AZ  See their web site.  (35 miles north of Quartzsite)

They just expanded their surgery and cardiac sections with the latest image scanning and now also have greatly expanded their Quartzsite remote location. 

Last year they opened a walk in clinic at the Parker location during the busy snowbird season so you didn't have to go to their ER. So you may still have that option or you can make an appointment at the completely remodeled and greatly expanded Quartzsite Clinic  and Imaging Center at 150 S. Tyson Road, Quartzsite, Az. 928-927-8747 

(Next to the fire station on the north side of Q) Also a Care Flight helicopter is normally stationed in Q between the fire station and the health clinic. 

A private company with ambulances is based in Q. Let's face it they are here because there is a need with the older population and in season snowbird RVers. 
I listen to the police radio while here in Q for the season and the response time is quick. The fire department/rescue is not volunteer, but fulltime on site, so the response time is very good.

We had to go to the hospital in Parker a couple of years ago in the middle of the night and my partner had to later have surgery. At that time they only had one operating room so we had to wait for the procedure. Now with their announcement of their expanded surgery facility (now completed) that should not be a problem. The staff and doctors were the best as we were treated very well with great personal service. The hospital has won awards as being rated one of the best 100 small hospitals in the whole country. Later when we heard that we knew why after spending several days in their facility. 

We feel very lucky to have this resource here for us when we need it (and hope we don't) as we spend the season here in Q as Terry is involved big time in the Gem and Mineral Club. 
So much so we feel we can get better health care here than in our summer travels and or even when visiting in our orig. home state. Ambulance response time here is about 5 - 10 min. and back in the mid west manytimes they would have to call out the local volunteer fire dept. They are great people, but that takes forever so you might need to drive yourself 20-30 miles to one of the big hospitals. They are huge but you need to get to them from out in the country. Much like anyone who would be a campground host not near a large city.

So to the original forum question.  Where is the closest medical facilities?  As around Quartzsite. 
You can get great health care right here in Quartzsite and a fine hospital up the road in Parker, AZ.

Oh, and we got both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 shot right here in Q this month from the La Paz County Health Dept. I read just today back in our orig. home state they were now just offering the H1N1 shots for people up to 24 years old. Here everyone who wants one can get it now. Thank You La Paz County.

We had a wild ride last night... and yes it was the weather. We knew it might rain, but what we got was unprecedented  for in Q at this time of year. We were looking forward to a little storm and rain for excitement from  the, day after day, of perfect weather you expect here. 
The upper midwest was in for a super epic big winter storm so we felt we should have to pay the price just a little bit. But what we got was much more than we expected. A rush of runoff  ran through our site so we will hve to lift up our green grass carpet, so to speak and deal with that. 

As the night progressed we determined we needed to secure our canopy tarp a little more. So we moved the truck so we could tie it to it.   A little later as the winds picked up we had to go out to remove the tarp from the frame. It was all we could do to hold it as we released to the cords holding it to the frame. 

Now that was done so the frame was standing without any tarps connected to it so it would be ok. One of the poles is just a couple feet from our main 5er window and we didn't want it to slam into it and break it. 

So went back inside wondering what was going on as it was starting to hail. This was acting like a midwest storm in the spring, which doesn't happen here in AZ in the winter. So we didn't take it seriously.

Back inside watching the local radar on the internet I said this does not look good and then a pop up from our weather service, warning of a severe storm as it said, just 7 miles west of Q with and winds above 70 mph heading this way. As if the winds could seam higher as we had just been out in it. .  At that time the local police radio on our scanner reported things going down hill big time with semi trucks on the interstate being blown over and a roof blowing of  Flying J truck stop west of here on the CA border on I-10. 

This was getting serious.  Back inside we decided we needed to bring in our slides as the 5er was rocking big time... I was still online watching the radar updates on the NWS site. As we retracted our slides I sent a signal to tell our DataStorm dish to stow. It struggled but made it down with winds getting right at the stage where it would be blown off the roof. 

The bottom line we came through all this OK. No damage. But as you can see others were not so lucky... 

See more Q storm reports from our friends at  RVingquartzsite.com
And see more pics of the storm from them.

We are very glad we moved our service appointment at RV Lifestyles from today, Tuesday to Wednesday, as we are still recovering from the storm.  We knew we would have to move our DirecTV HD standalone tripod dish as it was right behind our 5er.  How stupid was that..  But now as it blew over in the storm, we picked it up and moved it out of the way today, so in the morning we can back up and get out of here for our RV service needs. 

A little more thought about the proposed fee structure changes by the Forest Service
and much more about this fulltime lifestyle. 

In our travels this fall in the northwest I recall staying in only one true Forest Service campground and that was on the main highway north of Sulphur Springs in MT. Not a destination campground by any means right along the road. We needed a place to hold up waiting for a repair part for the fridge  to get to Great Falls, MT our next destination. (A minor plastic door part, not related to cooling)

(I say not a destination campsite but Ya Know Terry caught more trout in the small stream across the busy highway than he did anywhere else. How strange.) The site was clear unlike it looks in the picture. But the flies were a bother. 

We looked very hard to find FS campgrounds as I had just gotten my Senior Pass in Sulphur Springs. Most of the times the back roads to get to the campgrounds were very ruff to pull a large trailer over and then the sites were to small for our rig. We took many day trips scouting out our next stops and FS campgrounds just didn't fit the bill, much to our displeasure. Now that is not to say the FS campgrounds were at fault, but they were never intended to be used by people with larger rigs when they were built. 

As you can see above we did find some great sites but you just can't get trailers back to these locations. They are  a grab your tent or pop up and head to the hills kind of adventure. Now that is not a bad thing to be sure. Perhaps these FS sites should be kept pristine for the true backwoods camper. If that's you, go for it.

We went through tents and pop up trailers in our vacation modes over the years and later a tiny 5th wheel pulled by a Ford Ranger and then a 17 ft Jayco 5er pulled with a long box Chevy gas truck just so we could go to places like this. 

Now with our big 5er we miss not being able to go camping anymore so to speak. But we live fulltime in our 5er now, so less is not more. We have to give up things to live this lifestyle. And one of those is getting way back up that road to the outback. Day trips in our truck are now the adventure. 

As for other alternatives to FS campgrounds... Don't get me going on state parks.... Way over priced, over run, and not user friendly. Some want an entrance fee and also a camping fee on top of that. 

Now Montana has some fishing access campgrounds (not true big ugly state parks),  this one with just a few spots right on the river.   Discounted camping fees with a fishing lic. right on the Blackfoot River in MT east of Missoula on Highway 20. More info on this area on our blog post in  Aug. 2009

It doesn't get much better than this as the above picture shows. I took this shot while sitting at the computer desk. 

Now back to topic...
Our best bet for the most part this fall was city or county parks, local fairgrounds with campgrounds, and Passport America 1/2 price parks. With a big rig you sometimes have to just park where you can, and go on long day trips. 

What I foresee is our best use of the Senior Pass will be at COE Campgrounds. These are great places to camp with wide open spaces designed for big rigs. COE locations are sparse in the northwest but we did find a gem, north of Libby, MT right on the Kootenai river below the Libby COE Dam and it was free. Picture is below. 
(14 day limit) Wonderful. Libby was a cool town to boot.

Now you will forget I told you about this place wont you. If we get there again, and you are there and it is full, you will pack up when you to recognize us and move on to give us a spot wont you. I'm sure you will be right at your 14 day limit as once you get there you wont want to leave. 
Spock sez... Do remove all this info from your mind... NOW. 

Looking forward to the vast choice of COE parks to choose from at half price. You can find all the COE parks with this COE Google Earth link.

Other thoughts on this FS fee thing. 

Senior Pass users who are retired tend to stay on during the weekdays, for more days, since the price is right. Right when the campgrounds are least occupied. Thus generating income from sites that would site idle otherwise. Raise the fees and they just might bypass the organized camps all together and boondock down the road and then just stop by to use the out house and dump their trash and not pay anything. Raise your prices and your best customers will leave. Lots of empty sites with no fee paying Senior Pass customers. I hate using the term customers when talking about campground users. Only concessionaires think of us as paying customers. 
As for the concessionaires who are lobbying for more revenue they knew the score when they signed up.  Now for them to get greedy me thinks is just wrong. Maybe the forest service should take the parks back and let true volunteer campground hosts help them instead of giving control to private companies who seem to have now determined the parks exist for their benefit and to pad their bottom lines. The forest is owned by the people and should not be exploited by a few for gain, but be managed well for the owners... US. Me thinks it was a bad decision when the Forest Service gave up running the campgrounds because they didn't want to bother with them anymore. The Forest Service as we travel around have huge building complexes in many towns and for what? They must be busy doing something, and we wonder what that is.  Guess I should ask my old governor from Iowa, Tom Vilsak now that he is over all this as the Secretary of Agriculture what that is. 
Bet a FS park ranger or two would chime in if it didn't impact on their job security. 

I know things are tough all over and my comments are not going to change that. 

Gather up some firewood and enjoy a campfire, with friends, or if the case may be, just with yourself, and reflect on what is good in this life as we know it on this planet.  Life is short, pretty soon we will be a part of the forest, for all time, not just camping in it.

I had a good time reflecting on our fall travels doing this post. Later... Ron.
 

News you should know about. 

Do read the following...
Escapees E-News Release
U.S. Forest Service Announces Proposed Changes to Senior and Disabled Camping Discounts 12/4/2009

A news release from the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition was forwarded to us at headquarters by a fellow Escapee. That news release, which publicizes the U.S. Forest Service’s plans to reduce or eliminate some current discount programs, is excerpted below. Needless to say, any change in the senior and disabled park pass programs has the potential to affect a large number of RVers and outdoor enthusiasts. 
<Begin excerpted news release>
December 2, 2009 For immediate release
Contact: Kitty Benzar 970-259-4616 wsnofee@gmail.com 
http://www.WesternSlopeNoFee.org
Forest Service to Eliminate Senior and Disabled Camping Discounts

DURANGO, CO - The U.S. Forest Service has announced it plans to eliminate the 50% discount at National Forest campgrounds that has traditionally been available to holders of lifetime Senior and Access (permanent disability) passes. The change will apply at campgrounds operated by private concessioners, which represent 50% of National Forest camping capacity and 82% of reservable campsites.

Under current policy, concessioners are required to honor Senior and Access passes for campground fees under the same terms as if the Forest Service operated the facility directly, meaning that a 50% discount must be offered. Most highly developed campgrounds are now concessioner-run.

In a notice in the December 1st Federal Register, the agency outlined a new policy that would replace the half-price rule that has been in place since the mid-'60s with a 10% discount. The policy would also require Senior and Access pass holders to pay a fee at National Forest day-use sites that are currently covered in full by their passes.

Day-use sites managed by concessioners will also be affected. Under the new policy, holders of the annual America the Beautiful Pass would be entitled to free entry, but Senior and Access lifetime pass holders would get only a 10% discount. This changes current policy, which calls for all three passes to be honored equally at day-use fee sites.

Seniors 62 and older pay a one-time $10 fee for their lifetime pass. Lifetime passes for the permanently disabled are free. Together, Senior and Access passes represent more than 78% of all pass sales.
<End excerpted news release>

We strongly suggest that you take a moment to tell the U.S. Forest Service what you think by clicking on the comment link below, or by sending your comments via postal mail. You may also wish to contact your state and Federal representatives as well. 

Comments must be received in writing by February 1, 2010.

You can send comments electronically by following the instructions at the Federal eRulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov, or utilize this link:  http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480a60f36

Comments also may be submitted by mail:

U.S. Forest Service, Attn: Carolyn Holbrook
Recreation and Heritage Resources Staff 
1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Stop 1125 
Washington, DC 20250-1125 

Comments sent by postal mail should reference the notice by the following title:
Proposed Directives for Forest Service Concession Campground Special Use Permits (Document ID FS-2009-0001-0001)

Escapees and our friends at www.rvecafe sent a heads up to help spread the word. 
 

Some things never change in Quartzsite. The Auction Red tent is going up again. They just don't wait for you to browse and shop they push their goodies direct at you and temp you to bid on the stuff. But you know what, it is popular and people come back for more. It's entertaimment in a Quartzsite sort of way. People can come in and sit down and have fun as the auctioneer is a hoot. He has to be to get these tightwad shoppers to part with their money. 

Now looking out our 5er windows we can see the weather has turned for the worse. I even got a weather alert pop up from Weather Watcher.  High winds tonight and colder as it might go below freezing Saturday morning. Then next week cool with rain. The perfect days of November have come to an abrupt halt me thinks. Not to worry it will get nice later on. Just a cold snap as they are talking about cold and snow even in Louisiana... what is that all about. 

Just our luck as we have an appointment to hook up and take our 5er to RV Lifestyles here in Q for service. Dexter Axle sent a new wheel bearing to them for us, so I guess we get to, I hope, not in the rain close up our trailer and get it to the shop. 
Now let me think about this, rain in Q at this time of year. Might not happen or the rain may not make it all the way to the ground.  We shall see. 
I'll be sure to let you know if we get wet. Might have to find a rain coat for Terry. 
I did make sure the appointment was for noon and not the first thing in the morning. I need my beauty sleep after all, or more like I'm retired and refuse to get up before the sun if I don't have to. That's a rule and I'm sticking to it. 

Late this morning I heard sirens and turned on my police radio and watched a Q fire truck pull into La Posa West right where we are at. I now could see why. A black smoke cloud was rising up just to the southwest of us. It was behind some Palo Verde trees and Grease Wood bushes so couldn't see what was on fire. But with the black smoke it looked big and was worried someone was watchng their MH or trailer burn up in front of them.  Later the police radio said they had it put out and were staying for cleanup.  Much later a tow truck was carrying a car out that had burned. WOW only an auto and not someone's fulltime home. Just last week a 5er did burn to the ground over in Desert Gardens. The Free local paper Desert Messenger said they were venders and the unit was not insured. 

Now for tonight... 

Now tonight is the big football game with Oregon playing Oregon State for the right to play Ohio in the Rose bowl. This is a big one.  We are NOT big college football fans but tonight is different. We got interested in the Oregon Ducks since our good friend Tad is a big fan and alumnus. 
 
 
 
 

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