We had promised to visit Joyce and Jerry Harvey in Arizona sometime after I retired from Tektronix. I made up my mind to visit the last half of February, 2004. Even though we hadn’t made the shakedown trip that I wanted with the travel trailer we bought last fall, we checked things out pretty well. Bad thing we discovered was when I started looking at everything carefully, we found that someone had fired a shotgun at the trailer while it was sitting in the backyard behind the six-foot cyclone fence gate. There were lots and lots of little holes in the front top left corner of the trailer. The shotgun had apparently been fired from out in the street just north of the property line. There were dents in the heavy plastic inserts of the cyclone fence fabric of the gate that lined up with the holes in the trailer to indicate where the shot came from. Everything in the trailer seemed to work OK. The lighting problem that it had when we first bought it popped up again when I hooked up but seemed to clear itself, and the lights worked.

February 10, 2004

Left the house at 9:45 AM for Arizona. Made it just South of Oregon City and realized that the canopy door was flapping. We were worried that a cat might have got out, as Rudy was riding in the back. So our first stop was to latch and lock the door at the next rest area. Rudy was fine. Stopped South of Salem for some fast food for breakfast. We had spent the morning doing last minute loading of the refrigerator, loading the cats and dog, and doing a last minute washing. Hadn’t taken the time to eat. Stopped in Creswell for gas. Just before Grants Pass, we stopped to feed the cats and ourselves at a rest area. We were going to stay about half an hour, then drive some more before we settled somewhere for the night. As we pulled out of the rest area, I turned on the lights as it was about dusk. Found that the lights weren’t fixed after all. The dashlight/taillight fuse blew out. Luckily there was an overpass with exit within a mile or so, and we took it and went back to the rest area. I tried taking all the running light bulbs out of the trailer, in case that was the problem, but it still blew fuses. They were enforcing no overnight stays at that rest area, because there was a state park campground attached to it. So, we pulled into the campground, paid our money, and spent the night. Made the decision that we would only drive during daylight, and worry about the lights when we got to Arizona. Only 8:30 and the stress of finally getting on the road, plus light problems, has made us ready for bed.

February 11, 2004

Got up early, about 6:30. The radio was saying it was 17 degrees in Grants Pass. I could believe it, it was chilly. On the road again about 8:15. By 8:20 we were stopped on the freeway with about a thousand other cars. Up ahead two semi trucks had collided with a car and there were injuries. Also, one of the trucks had turned over, spilling it’s load. Got past the mess at 9:10. The freeway was still blocked, but it was near an overpass. They were diverting people off the freeway, across the overpass road, then back onto the freeway. Because it was still rush hour, it couldn’t be a continuous stream as there were a lot of vehicles that wanted to use that overpass and the cops had to direct traffic. Truck ran fine, but it was a slow go getting over the Siskiyous. Had to use second gear at 35 miles per hour for many, many miles. Stopped for gas near Weed, and stopped at the next rest area to let Ralf out for a bit. Decided to hold off getting gas till near Sacramento, as Jerry had talked about a service station near there that had the lowest prices in that part of California. That was a bad idea, as we didn’t find anything that sounded like what he had described and we were running out of daylight and fuel. It was panic time till we found a Shell station South of Sacramento. They had gas, although it wasn’t cheap, and when I asked about a place to stay the night, they said it was OK to park on the street near the station. There was some new construction going on just behind the Shell station, with a dead end street. They said that trucks parked there overnight all the time. So that’s what we did. There was even a short piece of board there to use to level the trailer. The good thing about the day is that we made a lot of miles.

February 12, 2004

There was lots of noise last night. The freeway is close, and we are parked on a street that has an all-night Shell station on one side and an all-night McDonalds on the other. Must have slept OK anyway, as sure felt better this morning. Made out some Valentines Day cards at a rest area about 10:30. Then we hit lots of exits going down the freeway trying to find a place to mail them. Turns out the I-5 freeway between Sacramento and Bakersfield is pretty deserted. There are exits that have gas or food, but not much else. It is so far in miles from highway 99, the original North–South thoroughfare that there are no communities of any consequence near it. I-5 in that part of California is strictly for getting between LA and Sacramento the fastest way possible on the ground. Found an exit that had a few more than the usual businesses, and a good-sized motel there let me put the cards in with their outgoing mail. Took the cutoff just before Bakersfield that Jerry recommended that takes us over to highway 99 through the little town of Wasco. It only has two traffic lights, and it had a supermarket for us to pick up a few things. Highway 99 is still a freeway, but it cuts into Bakersfield towards the East side, and we don’t hit a lot of traffic. Found the highway 58 East exit, and we were on our way towards Arizona. A real milestone after driving South for three days. Made it as far a Tehachapi, which is at the summit of the mountains between Bakersfield and Mojave. As you go through town and head up the mountain, the road leads to an airport and a trailer park. We stayed at the trailer park. There was still snow on the ridges just South of the park, and a big wind farm on the ridges to the East. Well below freezing tonight, but with electricity and a heater we are fine. Soup for dinner and donut for desert, and even as early as 6:40 PM it feels like it’s going to be early to bed.

February 13, 2004 (Friday the Thirteenth!)

Day started badly. Got distracted and pulled out with the electric still hooked up. Luckily it pulled out with no damage, and we discovered it before we got out to the road. We stopped in town, and noticed damage to the top right front corner of the trailer. The plastic trim that is on all the corners of the trailer had a hole at the top. Obviously we had clipped a tree limb with the trailer somewhere. We thought maybe it was at the campground, as there were some trees there. (After we got home and developed some of the pictures we took, the hole was there before we got to Tehachapi. Most likely it was at that campground near Grants Pass, there were a lot of trees there very close to the access road.) I taped the hole up with duct tape the best I could in case of rain, and we hit the road. Mostly just drove today, with fewer than usual stops. Part of the reason is because the rest area I was going to stop at, the only one for over a hundred miles of desert, was closed for repairs. Drove through Needles into Arizona and turned South again onto highway 95. Planned on finding a place to stay near Lake Havasu City, but that place was the pits! In addition to the fact that five miles of highway there was under construction, we forgot that this was the start of a three day weekend for a lot of people, and Lake Havasu is a popular weekend destination for many Californians. A county park South of Parker Dam still had overflow camping in the ballpark. It was dry camping, no amenities, but we didn’t care. It was getting dark pretty fast about that time. Got parked about 5:15.

February 14, 2004

Had some breakfast, packed up, and pulled out of the county campground headed South. Seven more miles to Parker, then found the turnoff that Joyce told us about that was supposed to cut off a few miles. That turnoff turned out to be another big mistake. It would have saved a few miles alright, but you had to know the area. Stopped in a little town named Bouse for breakfast. It was both very good and quite inexpensive. Linda bought some postcards made by a local artist. We ended up driving about forty miles extra before we found Brenda Arizona and Desert Gold RV Park. We found Joyce and Jerry, got checked in and set up. Linda and Joyce took off with Jerry’s two quads for a ride while Jerry and I tried to figure out the trailer light problems. We didn’t figure it all out this time, but are pretty sure what has to be done. When Linda and Joyce came back, Linda said she wants a quad. They had traveled around the park then out into the desert for a short ride. Had supper with Joyce and Jerry in their trailer.

February 15, 2004

Linda and Joyce went to Phoenix for some shopping. It’s only a 200 mile round trip. Linda saw a Super Wal-Mart for the first time. She forgot to take her camera, so no pictures. They got home about 5:00. I went four wheeling with Jerry. We left a little after 10:00 and got back about 1:30. I’m tired. I’m not used to the physical exercise. We didn’t just put around like Linda and Joyce did, we went up and down steep, rocky trails. When we were on level ground and relatively easy going, Jerry cranked up the speed. It took most of the ride for me to get the hang of shifting my weight, standing up when necessary, and figuring out how to relax a little. When we got back we worked on the lights till dark. Found two problems and "fixed" them. There’s still at least one more to go. Decided that I need to simply replace a bunch of the running lights. They are all so corroded that the connections are unreliable. Linda and Joyce plan on doing laundry in the morning. Jerry; wants to take me on a six-hour ride tomorrow. We’ll see how I feel in the morning.

February 16, 2004

Disaster. Threw up in the middle of the night and every two hours afterwards all day. Ate nothing and drank nothing. That’s about all I remember happening. (I filled in this part and the next a few days later, after I began feeling better. Writing in the journal was very low priority.)

February 17, 2004

Finally stopped throwing up this morning. Had a little water and an applesauce snack cup for breakfast. Jerry came over and we worked on the lights some. Joyce and Linda came back from the store with an ice cream bar for me. I took two bites and threw it up. Feel weak. Red spots are starting to appear on my arms , legs, and body. Managed to have about two ounces of soup for supper. No further luck on the trailer lights.

February 18, 2004

Woke up with more and bigger red spots on my body, and a recurrence of the numbness that I had last November. Eyes don’t focus properly either, just like last time. Don’t really feel too bad but took it easy all day. Jerry was here and we worked on the trailer lights some more and got it pretty well figured out. Someone had replaced one of the light fixtures and created a dead short in the wiring. Because the connections in all the fixtures are so corroded, sometimes the short would go away. The vibration from driving down the road would cause the short to appear and blow a fuse for sure. We are going to replace all the outside lights on the trailer. We went to Quartzsite to get the parts, but they didn’t have enough in stock. We will pick up the rest of what we need tomorrow when the parts come in.

February 19, 2004

Numbness is the same or better. Eyes were really bad when I first got up, so bad that I couldn’t even walk without closing an eye. It didn’t matter which one, just so I didn’t try to use both at the same time. Better in the afternoon, and Linda and I went to Quartzsite to pick up the rest of the lights we had ordered. Went to the office and paid for another week’s space rent. Eyes acting up pretty bad again when I get tired.

February 20, 2004

Got up and tried to put a new taillight on the trailer. After fifteen minutes of not getting my hands and eyes to work together I gave up. My right hand is too weak and too numb to work with, and my eyes won’t give me any depth perception. Decided to do what the doctor ordered last November, and check into emergency about the numbness and weakness. Went to Joyce and Jerry’s, got on the internet, found the nearest Kaiser Hospital was in Fontana California, near San Bernardino. It’s two hundred fourteen miles from Brenda to Fontana. Jerry drove us to the hospital and we waited. When I finally got to talk to the neurologist there, he got in an argument with the Portland neurologist over the phone about what was wrong with me. Because he doesn’t think whatever it is I’ve got is real serious, he is going to keep me overnight for observation. An attendant in Emergency saved my life by getting me a micro waved snack cup of noodles and a package of crackers and cheese. It was about 8:00 and I hadn’t eaten since 6:00 AM. I have to be transferred to the Kaiser Hospital instead of Kaiser Emergency. Emergency doesn’t have provision for overnight stay. They made room for me in the hospital by 9:30. (The Fontana Kaiser Emergency is a bad joke. It is like the worst of the rumors that I heard about Kaiser in Portland years ago before they cleaned up their act. When the workers, nurses, and doctors are in front of you, they sound pretty professional, but listening to what is going on out in the hall when they weren’t speaking directly to me was actually scary.) Linda and Jerry got back to Brenda about 11:30 PM.

February 21, 2004

Talked to the Hospital doctor about 8:30 this morning. We figured out that my symptoms were slowly going away. The best way to tell is by my trying to sign my name. When I had to sign my way in last night, it was a real chore. This morning I could dash off something that almost looked like my signature. We decided they would release me and let the doctors in Portland try to figure out what is wrong with me. At 10:30 they came in and said they had called Linda and would be bringing the papers to release me when Linda got there to pick me up. (The hospital seems to be run professionally, unlike the Emergency section. It must be operated like two separate businesses.) Linda and Joyce got there about 4:15 in the afternoon. By 5:30 we were on the way back to home sweet trailer. Jerry and come over and worked on the trailer while I was in the hospital and Linda and Joyce were traveling to get me. He had replaced all the lights and had them turned on using his power supply when we got home.

February 22, 2004

Better again this morning. Feel pretty normal except I get tired real easy. Walked the dog a few times. Went to the Brenda Country Store with Linda to get some meat for dinner. Pretty tired out and mostly just sat around.

February 23, 2004

Went for coffee and donuts at the Recreation Hall this morning. It’s a regular Monday morning thing they have. Turned out that this time there was a Park Meeting with the owners. They announced some management changes and an increase in the Annual Site fees. Then they made the mistake of opening it up for questions. The whole thing turned into one of the biggest bitch sessions I’ve ever heard. Left after about half an hour. Linda and I did the laundry and visited with some of our neighbors. It was a pleasant mostly lazy day.

February 24, 2004

There is a regular Tuesday morning pancake breakfast at the recreation hall. Linda didn’t feel like pancakes, so she stayed in the trailer, but I met Joyce and Jerry there for breakfast. Turned out Linda should have come along, as they also served scrambled eggs, sausage, orange juice, apple sauce, and coffee. Seconds were allowed and nobody is expected to leave hungry. All for a nominal $2.50 per person! Such a deal. Goofed off again and visited in the morning, and decided that we would all go out for lunch to a café in Bouse. It was a different one than the one Linda and I had stopped into for breakfast on the way down. (There are only two in the town.) It was only a 30 minute drive if you know where you are going, but it took us at least three hours from Bouse the morning we got here. Lunch was fish and chips for $5.95 which doesn’t sound like a really great deal, but we should have ordered one meal for two people. There was enough fish and chips that both Linda and I took home more than we ate there. On the way back we took some side trips into the desert. Went to a place where the ground was leveled off and the word "QUARTZSITE", "10M" and an arrow were in six-foot high letters on the ground. The word was spelled out in light-colored rocks that contrasted with the mostly dark rocks of the desert. The signs were to indicate that the town of Quartzsite was ten miles away in the direction indicated to low-flying planes. There was also an arrow connected to a circle with the letter "N", indicating North. It seems that Patton’s army used this whole area for tank training during world war two. There is a Tank Museum in Bouse, and there are encampment remains or signs all over the desert that show where some of the camps were. There are no artifacts or materials, just places where the ground in unnaturally level and/or rocks are laid out to show paths, such as could be the entrance to an Officer’s tent. Jerry also says there is at least one spot where tank tracks can still be found after sixty years. We think of the desert as being uninhabited, but that sure isn’t true around here. Even though there are only visitors on quads now, the pockmarks and holes of the extensive mining that went on in the area years ago show differently. Someone was saying that there is still one operating gold mine somewhere just north of here. Headed back to the RV park and made plans to head south to Mexico tomorrow. Joyce knows of one of the residence here that dog-sits for people, so we met with him and arranged for him to be a sitter for Ralf. It was a good day.

February 25, 3004

Got up fairly early and headed to Mexico with Joyce and Jerry in their pickup. Just head south on highway 95 from Quartzite to Yuma, go east across the border into California, and there is a good border crossing there from California into Mexico. Interesting drive in places along the way. Lots of military bases along that highway, with the most dramatic being one with a pair of gigantic anti-aircraft guns flanking the entrance. We also saw a lot of tanks on a road that paralleled the highway about a quarter mile away. They were parked at the time, several hundred yards apart, but we kept spotting them for a couple of miles travel. As we got near Yuma, there were lots of farms. One of them had a tiny church near the plowed field next to the highway. (We stopped there on the way home and took some pictures.) Had something to eat in Yuma, then went to the border parking lot and walked across. This is where Joyce and Jerry go for dental work and eyeglasses, as the prices are so much lower than in the states, and the quality of the work is quite good. The biggest industry in that little town is pharmaceuticals, with other tourist items second. You have to say pharmaceuticals, not drugs, as the word drugs would get you stopped at the border coming back. Jerry got a haircut, and we shopped for souvenirs. Linda bought some clay pots and a plaster donkey with cart garden object. Heavy items, and the line for customs was at least two blocks long. Thirty minutes later we were going through customs. Unfortunately, as I was going through the door out of the custom shed, the leg of the donkey hit the doorjamb and broke off. We loaded up our loot and headed back home. Stopped for supper in Quartzsite at a place called Silly Al’s. Picked up Ralf at the dog sitter’s at the park Went over to Jerry’s later and we glued the leg back on the donkey. Left it sitting on the workbench in his little shed overnight to set up. Tired out from the big day, went to bed.

February 26, 2004

Got up, had breakfast, took Ralf for his morning walk. Visited with neighbors for an hour or so. Went to Joyce and Jerry’s to check on the broken burro. They were getting ready to take off on the quads with a neighbor who was going to get a propane tank filled. When a small tank needs filling, it’s a good excuse to load it on a quad and take a ride through the desert to another park about two miles away that has less expensive gas. We talked, and he decided to take his wife, Jerry would take Joyce, Linda and I would take Jerry’s new quad, and we would all go. Coming back, Linda wanted to look for rocks, so the other couple went ahead, as they had the propane cylinder to contend with, and we wandered around for a while looking for different colored rocks for Linda to take home. Found a spot that had quite a bit of red jasper laying around and picked some up. No very big pieces, but some looked as if it could polish up pretty well. On the way back we stopped by a spot where one of the other parks dumps it’s burnable trash and liberated a couple of cardboard boxes to hold the rocks. Went by our park’s dump where they put broken stuff that they can salvage parts from, and found some wood that I wanted to use to make a low step for Ralf, as he was having trouble getting up the step into the trailer. I figured a low step could maybe help him a little. Linda went back to our trailer while I made the step over at Jerry’s little shop. Later we picked up some steaks at the general store, had supper, and rested. This was one of the best days down here so far. I felt pretty good all day and neither of us got overtired.

February 27, 2004

Was going to spend today making sure that we were ready to leave tomorrow, but it isn’t like getting ready for this trip. Everything is packed except what has to wait till tomorrow morning anyway. Put a few things away, double checked a few more, and went for a ride in the desert with Joyce and Jerry in the afternoon. Nothing exciting, just went out and looked at the cactus and desert. We were out for about two hours. Went to Quartzsite for fish and chips at the VFW hall. Not bad. It’s something they do every Friday night, and it’s a pretty good meal for not much money. Had to go next door to Bill and Rose’s trailer for cake and wine cooler before bedtime. They insisted we had to have sort of a farewell snack, as they probably wouldn’t see us in the morning. Nice folks that we meet down here in the desert.

February 28, 2004

Flushed the tanks in the trailer, put the last of the stuff away, hooked up to the truck, said our so longs, and we were on our way by 12:15. Stopped at the Blue Water Casino in Parker to check it out. Made us appreciate the way the Indian casinos in Oregon are run. They have very few nickel slots and zero penny slots. The slots they do have seem to be pretty tight. We didn’t leave them much money, so can’t say for sure about that. We’ll stick with our Oregon casinos. Made the same old mistake of driving too far and getting overtired. Plus we are both coming down with colds. Didn’t pull into a campground, (Newberry Springs, CA), till about 7:30. My eyes hurt, my nose was running, wind was about thirty miles per hour, and the temperature was thirty nine degrees. Conked out for the night.

February 29, 2004

Beautiful morning when we got up. Sun was shining and the wind had died down. It was chilly, but compared to the night before, it was great. Had breakfast and hit the road. Made a stop in Parker at the tourist information center and picked up some brochures. Reading those gave us a lot of good ideas of things to do if we were just staying longer. Oh well, maybe if there’s a next time. Stopped in Boron and went through the museum there. It’s pretty much a nothing town compared to the old days, when everyone that worked in the mines lived there. Now the Borax mine is several miles away, everything is done with open pit mining instead of tunnels, trains instead of mules for hauling, and with the Interstate Highway, workers can live anywhere. We stopped and toured the Twenty Mule Team Borax visitor center, and saw the open pit mining. Discovered that the team that hauled the Borax was actually eighteen mules and two horses for lead. Pulled on up the mountains, past Tehachapi, down the other side, past Bakersfield, and North on highway 99. Stayed in a nice campground near Pixley, CA.

March 1, 2004

What a day! We slept in, and didn’t get started till noon. We kept pulling off the freeway when we would see a "Tourist Information Next Exit" sign. Of course that’s the last clue you will ever see as to where to find the "Tourist Information". The biggest mistake in this category is when we turned off in Fresno, following the sign. We saw the Chamber of Commerce building, but there was no parking lot, we were going the wrong way on a one-way street, and all the curb parking was filled. It took about half an hour to find our way back to the freeway. We did drive past the Casino they have downtown at least twice. Super rainstorm from Fresno to where we stayed in Chowchilla at a nice RV park. Estimate that we made it about eighty three miles today.

March 2, 2004

Beautiful morning, sunshine, air smells fresh after the big rain. Drove pretty steady all day. Made some side trips for fast food and gas, so had a quick look at several small towns North of Sacramento that seemed like nice places. Ended up at a Federal Campground in Red Bluff for the night.

March 3, 2004

Got up, Linda’s cold is worse. Mine is holding about the same. Decided to cut over onto highway 97 at Redding instead of going up I-5. Wasn’t the best decision we made on this trip. Beautiful scenery along that stretch to the Oregon border. There was a lot of roadside snow when we got into the high country. Was concerned about campground availability. Klamath Falls had twenty mph winds and temperature about forty degrees. The rest area on the edge of town had the visitor center part closed for the winter season. We tried to get to one campground we saw the sign for, but the road was closed just off the highway. Decided we would push all the way to Lapine and stay at the cabin. Couldn’t even do that. There was eight inches of heavily crusted snow in the driveway, we would never get in without hours of shoveling. We paid for a spot at an RV park in town. Crummy park, but it had electricity at the space, which we needed. When it’s cold like that we run the electric heater.

March 4, 2004

Got up to a light coating of fresh snow on everything. Waited till about 10:00 to leave to make sure any ice was off the highway. The highway in Lapine looked clear earlier, but there are some higher spots between Lapine and Bend. The radio was saying the passes were all having more snow, so we took highway 97 on up to I-84 instead of going over any of them. It’s been a good many years since we took that route, and I’d forgotten how much up and down there was to the road. No problem with snow, and we saw a lot of pretty country. It’s a good thing we weren’t in a hurry to get home. Coming down the gorge towards Portland there was a lot of rain. When we got closer to home, the sun was trying to peek through the clouds. It made for dramatic scenery. Got home about 5:30.

It was an interesting trip. Linda calls it a trip from Hell, but there were lots of good parts. We saw a lot of countryside that we have never seen before. We visited our friends in Arizona and made some new friends. The truck ran with never a problem and even with all the second gear climbing of hills, didn’t burn a drop of oil. We had pretty nice weather all the way down to Brenda, and the Sunday after we arrived was the warmest day they had had all winter. After that it turned cooler, and even rained a couple of times. We were told that after we left Brenda, the weather turned warmer, and within a week they were seeing eighty degree weather. We found that we can take the dog and all three cats with us on a trip, and it isn’t a big deal. The animals traveled fine. Ralf was the biggest problem, as he had to be lifted into the truck each time, and he wasn’t very comfortable traveling. He’s getting pretty bad shape in the hips, and the laying down behind the seat for hours at a time seems to aggravate the problem. The cats simply found a dark place and stayed put till we pulled in and quit moving. We would take the cats from the truck to the trailer when we stopped. They would look out the windows, realize that they weren’t home, and have no desire to venture out. In the morning, we would put the cats back in the truck and they would find a comfort zone to mostly sleep all day. They had food, water, and cat box in both the truck and the trailer, so could take care of themselves. If it hadn’t been for the trailer light problem, me getting sick for nearly a week at the first, and Linda getting that nasty cold on the trip home, it would have been a good trip.

Jim