theboondork's RV blog

I finally had to do it, and it was painful !!

11/16/2021

There's no way around it, the pics have to be clicked. So you might as well do it now and get it over with.

Quartzsite mountains boondocking Picture

My last sunrise at the Road Runner BLM boondocking area.

A nice sunrise woke me up this morning, and after taking a few pictures and drinking a cup of coffee, I moseyed into town to do some laundry.

There's a couple of laundries in Quartzsite, and I usually go to the one on the main road instead of the one on Highway 95. Since there are not many people in Quartzsite yet, I figure the laundry would be just about deserted, but actually, it was pretty crowded, but not as bad as during the Big Show. During the Big Show, people have to wait for machines to open up before they can even do their laundry.

And since everyone puts off going to their laundry because it's so crowded, when they do finally go, they've got bags and bags of dirty laundry, which means that waiting for the machines, and doing the laundry, can take all day. So that's one of many reasons why I get out of town before the Big Show starts.

Well, I finally did it! I didn't want to, but I knew sooner or later it had to be done... Yes, I finally paid over four dollars for a gallon of diesel fuel today. The speed of the price increases lately was a clue bad things were on the way, and this morning the cheapest diesel fuel in town was $4.07 a gallon.

Normally when it comes to the price of gas or diesel fuel, there's a variety of factors that can make it go up or down, which are usually out of any one person's control. But in this case, there's only one reason it went up this high. I think everyone knows who's responsible for it, so I shall not speak the name of this reprehensible individual.

Last night I made up my mind to return to Wickenburg, Arizona. I heard that professional Team Ropers would be in Wickenburg for a couple of weeks practicing for the championship in Las Vegas Nevada which is part of the NFR [ National Finals Rodeo] starting December second. So I figured this would be a good time to see how the pros do it, compared to the hobbyist and regular cowboys that I normally see in Wickenburg. So after I finished my laundry, I saddled up and headed for Wickenburg, the team roping capital of the world.

Theboondork

Quartzsite Arizona sunset

Mountains in Quartzsite Arizona boondocking Picture

Sunset Quartzsite Arizona, BLM boondocking

This is a fairly big laundromat in Quartzsite and they seem to do a pretty good business. I paid $2.25 each for two tiny little washing machines barely the size of a RV washing machine, and RV washing machines are really small.

Most of the folks in the laundromat were hundreds of years old, and all they could talk about was their ailments, and their operations. That didn't give me much talk about so I just listened.

This is the laundromat parking lot Quartzsite Arizona Picture

This is the parking lot at one of the laundromats in Quartzsite, as you can see its pretty darn busy. And yes people pull up here in their RVs.

This is one of the two grocery stores in Quartzsite, and its right across the street from the laundromat, that's why I have a picture of it, I was just killing time. They sell most of the things you would need, but they're kind of expensive so most folks make the 36 mile drive to the Parker Walmart every week or so.

12 Comments

Linda

11/17/2021 04:55:59 pm

The second I say your Quartzsite, AZ, picture I thought of Barney. I can see him painting that one.

Tom

11/17/2021 05:50:32 pm

And I'm sure he would make it look a lot better than I did.

Tom

Judith

11/17/2021 07:50:28 pm

So, some wee clouds for your sunrises and sunsets, which are of course lovely to see, and I must say I thought you've done some stunning photos with the cloudless ones. And for some reason, I am quite fond of the first picture of the laundromat.

And you've found one person to blame gas prices on! Good job. I'm always looking for one person to blame the state of things on.

I look forward to photos from Wickenburg. I still remember that great photo of the young woman barrel racer....

11/17/2021 08:29:54 pm

Thank you Judith. yes I not only need clouds for nice sunsets, they need to be the right kind of clouds, not too thin, not too thick, and being in the right part of the sky helps to. Maybe that's a lot to ask for, but it doesn't take much to keep me happy nowadays.

You know looking at that first laundromat picture again, I think I should've made it black and white, something kind of earthy and grungy, I may redo it just to see what you think. I'm okay at taking pictures and showing what things look like, but making a scene look like something I want it to look like, or even something I "feel," requires talent, and imagination. and I think I'm the only one in my family that doesn't have any of that.

Wickenburg photos are on the way, mostly landscape stuff. I'll probably wait till this weekend to go watch the Team Ropers.
in early January there's a rodeo in Tucson and there will be barrel racers, so I won't miss that.

Tom

KennyD

11/18/2021 10:40:59 am

If you didn't like that $4.07 price for fuel, you better not mosey into California. By the time you would get here, add $1.00 to that price, all caused by that individual you didn't mention.

11/18/2021 12:07:01 pm

Yeah, KennyD I stopped going to California many years ago. I don't want them to have any of my money, and I refuse to honor them with my presence.... As if that bothers them. It wasn't always like that, and It's a shame it has to be that way. But I don't see anything shaping up in the future that will stop, or even slow down, California's downward slide.

And that used to be fine with me, until I started noticing what was happening to Oregon and Washington as more and more Californians moved there and slowly but surely, changed their politics into California politics.

And more frightening to me is I can now see it happening to my home of Colorado. Denver has been a magnet for Californians, and watching the local news I can see the seeds of California politics being sown. It seems like Californians never realize that California politics is the reason they were forced to pick up and move, and since they obviously don't realize what they've done to California, they bring their politics with them. To the detriment of everyplace they go.

Tom

OFM

11/18/2021 09:35:11 pm

The last time I was in California was infantry training in April-May 1969. I did not like it then at Fort Ord area. I have crossed a little bit a couple of times since then when a road looped into California but was soon back in Nevada which I did like. Never had even a little bit of desire to go back. to California.

11/19/2021 08:12:55 am

Yeah Barney, I don't see any sense in giving California any portion of my money, it just rewards bad behavior.

Oddly enough my longest experience with California also had to do with the military. I was discharged from the Air Force at Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco, also in 1969. And I spent over a week there going through the paper shuffle to separate from the military. Separation physical, VA benefits lectures, and worst of all, a final haircut that made me look like I had just stepped out of basic training, apparently just to make sure everyone knew, I was in, or freshly out of the military, which in those days, as you well know, only got you derision from most civilians you came in contact with.

So among other things I don't have any good memories of California that makes me want to return.

Tom

11/19/2021 05:55:27 pm

So Barney was going in while Tom was coming out and my Dave still had a few months to serve in Texas. He would have had another year but they sent him home early since they no longer needed all those helicopter pilots. At least they waited until after our daughter was born so we got her cheap. :)

11/19/2021 08:02:08 pm

Yeah 1969 was when Vietnam was winding down and I too got a three month early out, for the same reason, the Air Force simply had too many people without much of a war left.

And of course all branches of the military were laying people off around that time which meant there was a whole bunch of young men like me coming back to the states, looking for a job so jobs quickly became hard to find, and with so many applicants it kept the pay low for a long time.

Tom

11/20/2021 01:03:48 pm

Yes, Dave sent out a ton of resumes looking for a pilot job but too many more qualified people were also applying. He was lucky though, in that he got hired at a small manufacturing company where many of his family members had worked over the years and he stayed with them until retirement eventually making really good money although he started at about half what he'd been making in the Army.

11/20/2021 02:12:56 pm

To me flying helicopters is one of the more dangerous things that you can fly around in, so who's to say you're Dave would have even survived 30 years of flying around in a helicopter? They don't even have any wings for Christ sakes. So getting a job where both feet remain on the ground, and the chances of getting hit by a rotor are zero, may have been the best thing that ever happened to him.

Tom

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I finally had to do it, and it was painful !!

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