theboondork's RV blog

I'm a master of self isolation, I just stand in one spot and everybody around me leaves.

3/15/2020

don't forget to click the pic

Quartzsite Arizona sunset.

I drove the couple of miles into downtown Quartzsite this morning and filled up the truck with diesel fuel, including my spare tank so at least I've got enough fuel to bug out if I need to. I went to one of the brand-new gas stations that are at the eastern most exit of I-10 at Quartzsite, I can't remember what number it is, and the station was pretty busy, but I-10 is a busy highway coming out of Los Angeles so it's usually pretty crowded.

I also filled up one of my propane tanks at $2.30 a gallon so I don't have to worry about propane for a while. The temperatures have been very comfortable lately but I will still turn on my radiant heater for an hour or so in the morning to take the chill off the room. Since I don't sleep with any heat on its usually about 60° in the Arctic Fox when I wake up, and the Arctic Fox is so well insulated it will stay chilly inside till lunch if I don't add some heat even with the sun shining on it.

I drove past one of my favorite restaurants in Quartzsite which is Sweet Darlene's at the east end of town. I took a picture but I didn't go in and eat which is a shame because I know a lot of us geezers are self isolating and that really hurts small businesses like mom-and-pop restaurants. Big businesses can weather a downturn like this but a lot of small businesses will be lucky to survive.

In his Blog yesterday the old fat man posted that New Mexico state parks have closed for a while which made me wonder about other state parks, so I looked it up on the Internet and sure enough others are also closing.

I wonder what affect that will have on the RVing community. Will more RVers be staying in commercial RV parks? Will RVers just stay home and not travel? Will more RVers boondock to avoid the crowds in commercial RV parks? Is an RV park a good place to self isolate like the CDC recommends for us folks over the age of 60? After all in a lot of RV parks you live closer together than people in apartments do and we all know how RVers love to mingle and talk to each other. I don't know the answer to any of those questions but as a full-timer the answers would be nice to know.

But until I can figure out something better to do I will continue to do what the CDC recommends to keep myself safe and not infect anyone else if I don't know I'm sick.... Self isolate, stay away from people If possible, or keep the interaction as brief as possible. Wash my hands a lot, and most importantly I promise I wont get a job and hang around with a bunch of sick people at work.

the self-isolating boondork

sweet Darlene's restaurant Quartzsite ArizonaPicture

Sweet Darlene's restaurant Quartzsite Arizona. I know it doesn't look like much but as with any restaurant it's what's inside that counts.

Desert mountain sunset.

2 Comments

Linda Sand

3/16/2020 09:40:23 pm

This social distancing thing says you only need to keep 6 feet away from anyone else. It looks to me like you have had a meal at Sweet Darlenes without coming closer than that to anyone except the server.

I could do that at an RV park, too ,since they can't park you quite that close to one another and I only go outside when I need to dump tanks.

My fear is many fulltimers will find the BLM lands at Q the only place still open to them so the crowds could pick up a bit there. The weather makes that less than desirable over the next few weeks, though, so I have hope for your continued isolation.

Tom

3/16/2020 10:15:21 pm

Yes that's true about the 6 feet thing but the Covid-19 has me so spooked I consider that the minimum distance. But most places have closed the restaurant anyway so it's a moot point, I just hope places like that can survive. I have a soft spot in my heart for restaurants and the difficulty of keeping one alive.

I think what would concern me the most about RV parks is their full of old folks like me. And with our dilapidated immune systems if the sickness is in the area were probably the most likely to catch it and spread it. But thats just conjecture on my part because no one seems to have this problem totally figured out just yet which is why I'm trying to be extra careful.

I can't tell if it's more crowded here in Q than it normally is because like I mentioned before I've never been here this late in the season. I went down the road to La Posa South this morning to make sure the water and the dumpsite were working, and they are, I'll post pictures tomorrow. And there is more folks over there than where I'm at now but it looks like I'll still be able to stay 100 yards away from folks when I go over there in another week or so.

Yeah the heat is going to get to be a problem pretty quick in the desert areas so I'm going to have to find a better place to hole up, something that's a little cooler, but not too close to a big city, but not too far from shopping. I'm getting too old to have to deal with this kind of stuff, but unfortunately I'm not old enough to get out of jury duty.... You have to be 75 to be excused in my county.

Tom

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I'm a master of self isolation, I just stand in one spot and everybody around me leaves.

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