Still in Quartzsite

I keep promising myself  that I will quit taking pictures of the beautiful sunsets here as I have sooooooo many already.   Then another amazing sunset and …well…I can’t resist .   So here are a few beautiful Quartzsite sunsets for you…

This is 2 pics stitched

And here are a couple hummers that visited us….

We moved back out to the BLM land on Plomosa Road after our 2 weeks were up at the La Posa LTVA.  It’s been a quiet week with fabulous weather until the wind started up yesterday.    Lots of walks, sitting outside, reading and taking photos of the amazing sunsets.  It’s been a lovely week.

our site on Plomosa Road

Taken at La Posa LTVA

Wet Weather

Rainy day at Quartzsite

The weatherman had said rain for yesterday and by golly that’s what we got.   Amazing how quickly little “streams” appear after a rain here in the desert.  Kinda funny,  two of the many bloggers I follow happen to be in the Quartzsite vicinity… Gundyville (in Brenda AZ) and  RV Boondocking (just leaving Bouse AZ) and they both posted about the weather too.  Guess we are all so used to blue sky and sunshine that a good rain in the desert seems like something to write home about!  I don’t mind if it rains for a day or two…what I don’t enjoy about the rain  is the stinky wet dog smell here in the trailer.  Oh well, that’s part of the deal when you have a pooch!  Not much rain today, broken clouds and breezy…a few big puddles around but the “streams” have all dried up.

Cheye after going out in the rain

We did take a nice walk this morning, out of the park and off into the desert.  Then a quick trip into town for a few groceries and now it’s reading, internet and the Daytona 500.  A very pleasant way to spend Sunday.

Muddy stream from the rain

rainy day

Walk out in the desert

Out in the desert

Another view out in the desert

Cute little Hummer

La Posa South

Entrance to La Posa South LTVA

As I mentioned in a previous post, you can only stay  free on the BLM land near Quartzsite for 14 days.  Since our 14 days were up we moved to the La Posa LTVA (long term visitor area).  It’s $40.00 for 2 weeks which includes use of the dump station and fresh water…no electric.  There are a lot more people in the Long Term area than where we were parked out on Plomosa Road, of course you can stay here all season and there is the convenience of the water/sewer amenities.  It’s a huge area, no defined sites so you could spend hours picking a spot.  We had visited some friends that were camped here so we pretty much parked where they had been….easy way to pick a site!

Our site

The vendors that stayed after the “Main Event” here in Quartzsite are thinning out.  We did pick up a few LED replacement lights for the trailer from one of the remaining vendors.  You can definitely feel the heat from the lights in the trailer, not good when you are trying to cool the place down on a hot day…so we replaced a few of the bulbs with cool running (and low amp usage) LED lights.  

The weathermen are threatening  us with clouds and rain over the weekend.  I’m prepared with a few books and jigsaw puzzles.  Of course I’m hoping they are wrong…it’s been so nice today!

View of La Posa LTVA

Firepit by our site

View at La Posa LTVA

Sunset panorama before we left our site off Plomosa in Quartzsite

Solar Panel System

solar panels on our roof

I think I have had more email asking about our solar panels than any other thing I have blogged about.  A number of people have asked what we bought…so I decided to do a post about it.

We have:
2  Kyrocera 135 Watt Solar Panels
1 Blue Sky 3024i Solar Boost  Controller
1 Blue Sky IPN-Pro Remote (display)
1 Xantrex PROsine 2.0 Inverter/Charger (2000 watt, also has a remote interface)
5 12 volt deep cycle batteries - 115 amp hours per battery  -  we bought these 3 years ago

top: inverter remote interface

bottom: Controller remote display

For the entire package (excluding batteries) with installation, we paid about $4,000.00 but you can definitely go cheaper.  We went with the best they had at Discount Solar for the Inverter and the display for the Controller.  It just depends on what all you want your system to do.

Something else people ask is what we can run off the inverter.  Today I vacuumed, charged my ipod and computer, ran the Keurig coffee maker, some lights, the water pump, used my curling iron, watched TV which includes running the satellite dish receiver, plus the furnace was on  for a while this morning.   It’s about 4:30 p.m. and our batteries are 100% charged.  I’ve also cooked a roast in the crockpot while on the inverter and we have run the microwave (only for about 3 minutes) and my hairdryer on low for just a few minutes.  The hairdryer and microwave are the two things that we use the least on the inverter as they both suck up amps like you wouldn’t believe!  

We’ve had no trouble fully charging our batteries on a nice sunny day.  If it is cloudy, depending on how overcast it is, we may have to use our generator to charge the batteries.  They say if  you can’t see your shadow then the solar panels aren’t getting enough sun to charge the batteries.  If we had a couple cloudy days then we would definitely have to use the generator.

Hope that helps!  Feel free to ask if you have any other questions!

sunset in Quartzsite - 02-05-11

Return to Quartzsite

We had plans to come back to Quartzsite in a few weeks, however, the display that gives us info about the solar panels (how many amps they are getting, how full the batteries are and a bunch of other stuff) wasn’t working properly so we decided to move up our schedule.  Discount Solar was great, we pulled into town, set up, drove to the store and they scheduled us in for the next day.  They decided to switched out the display panel for a new one and all seems fine now.

Today Dave noticed a couple getting ready to take off in their ultralight so we took a few photos…it just looks so fun!!  I would imagine Quartzsite is a great place for ultralights, so many gravel areas to land or take off.  They were out about an hour … got back as the sun was starting to go down.  What a beautiful sunset and it must have been fabulous to see it from the air!

Sun setting today at Quartzsite

Our trailer with the sun setting 

getting ready to take off

away they go

almost off

up in the air

Back at Borrego

pretty desert flower

Gosh…guess it’s been a while since I posted!  We were at Thousand Trails Wilderness Lakes preserve for about a week and a half.  After being away from any large town for a month our supplies had dwindled so we did a lot of grocery/supply restocking while we were in town.  Also fit in a haircut, some meals out and finally upgraded my old cell phone.  It was fun being back in civilization, but we were ready to get away to the desert so we returned to the Borrego Springs, CA area.

Ocotillo with a bloom

Yesterday morning Dave and Cheye were outside when a fellow boon-docker and his dog wandered by.  Dave and the man started talking, dogs started playing, when the man asked “Is that Cheyenne?”  Of course Dave is quickly trying to place the guy when the man (Richard) said he sometimes reads the blog.  It sure can be a small world…I’m still amazed he recognized us from the blog!

Things have been pretty quiet here….we have gone for walks out in the desert daily, even found a geo-cache using an app for our new cell phone.  Kinda fun.  There are a few flowers blooming, I’d love to be here when “the bloom” happens but we may be a little early for that.  Reading has been our main occupation, the internet connection is often elusive out here and there hasn’t been much on TV worth wasting the electricity on.  Quiet life, quiet setting…we like it that way!

Cheye enjoying the desert

A cool little hummingbird that visits our feeder

Isn't his "collar" beautiful?  I think the species is: Costa's Hummingbird

Still out in the desert...

Sun and rain...a cool sky at Borrego Srpings

We’ve been boondocking for about a month now…still loving it!  In a few days we are going to head in to a Thousand Trails park and I have to admit I’m looking forward to a long, long shower!  No, I haven’t skipped bathing  while out in the desert, but showers are as quick as you can make them when you’re trying to stretch your water supply as far as possible.   I also need to do some serious grocery shopping.  Poor Cheye is going to be confused, she has become very used to trotting around the desert unhindered by a leash!

Anza-Borrego State Park Vistor Center

Last week we went in to Borrego Springs with our friends Mike & Joan to visit the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor’s Center.  Neat building, it is built into the side of a hill, kind of like a daylight basement.  Inside are some display’s about the desert, printed information and a short film.  There is also an outside display of desert vegetation.  After we left the Visitor’s Center we stopped at Pablitos Mexican Bar & Grill for Margaritas and Fish Tacos….really yummy!

I can’t believe I forgot this little item on my last post;  I was in the bedroom getting ready for the day when I spied this “little” guy on our bedroom wall!   Dave & Cheye were out for a morning walk so I captured the critter in a cup (way too big to squish)…I only screamed once when it almost escaped!  I saved it to show Dave and then we let it go out in the desert.  I think it is a baby tarantula… definitely a good way to get your adrenaline going for the day!

Our site and a pretty sunrise

A dramatic sunrise

A little rainbow and our trailer

A view from the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center

At the Visitor Center