Wrap up..

Before I forget, I have to say how much I enjoyed the blogger fest that George and Suzie sponsored this year...  Seems like I talked and talked  my head off with everyone...  Before I knew it, it was 4:30 and time to go on home.

I had arrived from the closing ceremonies of the Ham Fest three miles South at La Paz Road Runner Campground...  The drawing and comments were supposed to last an hour..  But that turned out to be in name only, because it went on and on..  The prize at the end was a $500 two meter radio, so no one was leaving...  Until they left all at once..  Going away from the back of the camp where I was camped..  Poor Biscuit had to stay home or I was going to be seriously late...   My camera was also in camp so there went photos of the Bloggerfest.  I never win anything at these give aways, so I should have left early, but one can always hope...

Of Course Al has lots Pictures..  And George had just as many pictures Here..  Al has several days worth so follow on for a few days...  I had a bright yellow green motorcycle shirt on which made me rather bright in the pictures.

On Sunday morning I was up before dawn getting ready to load out..  But being by myself, it took all morning to do all the inside work and get cleaned up, and packed up to go.. But that was only to the dump station in town....

It wasn't backed up too bad, but the show price for the dump station was $15 which seems high..  Their sewer connection is plumbed with the hose fastened right into the ground which should be faster, but the ends on the hose are worn out and leak..  Motorhomes have an inside sewer locker so the leaky hose quickly becomes a mess..  The dump station also has no water hose to wash any thing down..  Just a bucket.  Its also all gravel which is a mud hole.  So I don't like going there.

The drive back here to Mesa was about 3 hours and normally uneventful.  But with the football games going on, it took me the rest of the day to load everything back into the house.. It was dark as I returned the MH to storage.

Today poor Biscuit had to get the desert dirt washed from he her fur..  I'm not sure she was in favor of our camping trip..  But the one thing I do know is how spoiled we are to have a house with electric lights and heat on natural gas..  Unlimited hot water and sewer for the washer are just as nice.  So I'm certain I will never make a good full timer...

Retired Rod

Quartzsite for the show

Burning HAM Man.....  It can't be called Burning man as that might get us into hot water with that other thing in Utah...  Besides this one was only 5 feet tall...

I'm in Quartzsite South of town  at the La Paz BLM campground for the RV show..  But the ham people also know this as Quartzfest..  600 or so of my fellow hams come here every year and have this little get together 5 miles South of the big tent.  There are seminars all day long and we get together for any kind of foolishness, like burning a ham in the middle of the group camp fire..

There are contests for prizes and all sorts of tom foolery starting at 3:30 each day..  These folks are nuts as they began to dance in a conga line around Mr ham man...

That was yesterday....  Today they were cooking up hobo stew, and they sold over 300 tickets..  Had to go back and start several more pots, and buy another 20 dozen rolls.

I didn't take a picture of the stew but it had cooked all day..   Had big noodles and corn and all kinds of green and lima beans..  And the potatoes were not overcooked either...  I brought some home and set it in the door while I went back to the car for another arm load..  As I got back, Biscuit was finishing that bowl  full..  She must have approved...  I never thought she would eat that.  She is usually so finicky.

After the hobo stew they had some of the ham talent on their guitars, entertaining in what they called a hootenanny.

I never did figure out where the power was coming from to run those speakers and amplifiers.  He said they were plugged into the current bush behind them..  But that car may have had some golf cart batteries in the back for all I know...  They are all hams after all and electricity is is their thing.

I was really enjoying all this until the sun went down and the desert got cold almost instantly...  Suddenly I needed a parka..  Many of these folks were still there when I chickened out.

On another note, I went over and found George and Suzie in La Posa South this afternoon.   They, as most are aware, are having the 2nd annual Blogger Fest Get Together on Saturday at 1 PM.   La Posa is at the 102 mile marker South of Quartzsite on US 95.   Go East into the campground driving right by the registration office, as you only need to pay to stay overnight.

In about a half a mile you find an out house potty on the right and George is about 300 feet beyond that facility on a Northeast heading off of the road.  He said he was putting up a sign and balloons to guide us.  I hope to see you all there..

Retired Rod

Another week in the rain

Ok, its time I get myself up to speed here and load Open Live Writer…  So after deleting the original live writer from my Surface Pro 3 which has been updated with Windows 10.  I downloaded Open Live Writer…  It downloaded and installed in the conventional way..

Right away I am at a significant loss without the spell checker, that I so very much  need…  I seem to always use the wrong vowels inbetween consonates..   consonetes..  consanantes……………  Well you get the idea..

Also my typing ability on this small tablet is is about useless.  So spell checking has been the reason I haven’t used this up to now..

The last week here in Arizona has been mostly useless..  It started raining last Sunday evening and hasn’t stopped.   Biscuit and I have been house hermits.  But on Wednesday, we started out to find a windshield repair place here close to our home.  We looked on line, and on the phone using OK Google to map possibilities.   I decided on Mission Auto Glass.  This was on Angies list and Yelp..  They came the next morning..

The technician backed his truck up to my door and changed the glass right in my garage..  Of course it was raining buckets at the same time.  I decided not to go anywhere for the rest of that day as it was barely 50 degrees.  That gave the glue some chance to cure without deluges of water on it… 

So now today it was time to go to the Goldwing club breakfast.  And as I was going to leave at 7:30 the ground here at my house was still wet and rain soaked…  So I took the car, and so did about half of the other folks there…  It was 37 degrees.  We did do a lot of planning for future rides and activities, but if I went to all that they had planned, that would become my entire life….

Next week appears to be the end of the rain for a while, but the el nino rain waves from the Pacific ocean are definately not over. So this will not be nearly as nice of a winter as we have been used to for the last several years, but it still has to be an improvement over Kansas……….!

This is from last years blogger fest in Quartzsite..  Lets hope for this nice of weather for this year…

Retired Rod

New Years Ride

Unfortunately you see my white Jeep in the middle of the bikes..  My backside isn't quite ready for a motorcycle yet.

This is the Buffalo Chip in Cave Creek...  It was burned down in late November...  It was a Packers Bar..  Fire was deemed suspicious....  So we couldn't go there.

Onward to New River...

This is another country bar and restaurant with the mechanical bull..

Way too cold to sit outside and have breakfast.. No rodeo animals, today..

But we all found a good breakfast, Inside...!







After the meal we all had a toast, to a Happy New Year!!!!



And a Happy New Year to all of You too as my loyal Blog Readers....! Thanks for reading and being my friends.....

Retired Rod

Still running Windows 7

Microsoft Warns Windows 7 Has Serious Problems

Read this story..

Forbes story

or the raw address is

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2016/01/02/microsoft-windows-7-problems/?utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix

Just so you don't get caught off guard...

Retired Rod