Activities Begin
Unlike the previous two years, regular activities have returned to Quartzsite. When asked what there is to do here, Jan describes Quartzsite as an adult playground. You can literally do some kind of activity every day of the week! Desert golf (which we will be experiencing this week), singing, rock hounding, desert excursions, jewelry making, quilting, dancing, hiking, biking, and lots of socializing.
I kicked off the week with digging up the sewer connection and getting it repaired. This involved buying a pick mattock, a tool I’m not fond of! Thankfully, the needed parts were available locally. Had it all working in short order.
On Wednesday I took Big Red to Parker to get the right rear axle seal replaced. It was under warrantee, and it only took a couple hours to get done. Walking around the town I discovered a good place to eat. I noticed that the parking lot was full, so that was my clue to give the place a try. The open face roast beef sandwich was really good!
Friday I fired up the Traeger and cooked a pork butt for pulled pork. I followed a simple recipe, and it came out great. Next time I’ll add more garlic, onion, brown sugar, and a tad more salt. It was really juicy. Had it with rice on Friday, and with BBQ sauce today.
A lot of places we stay have really hard water. To fix that problem we installed an RV soft water treatment. By day 2 we could feel the results. It will use two boxes of salt every 1,000 gallons. We really missed having soft water, and this is a luxurious addition to our life! This unit is small enough to go with us on the road. No more hard yucky water! As you can see in the photo, I have two filters before the softener, and there is an additional filter going into the main system. This really helps keep our water clean. We also use a Berkey filter for drinking water.
To celebrate Veterans Day, the park put on a breakfast for everyone. Jan was a cook, and amazing at the pancake grill, and I was a server. Almost 200 people attended. I forgot to take photos until the very end. Next time I’ll get some “action” photos of Jan at the grill. Amazing to watch her in action!
Saturday, the Stake President brought the meat for a luau at the Branch. Jan made Hawaiian potato macaroni salad and butter mochi. both were gone at the end! I forgot to get a photo of the food tables, but there was LOTS of food and many desserts. I filled my plate twice! There was also a hula and a hakka lesson. Yes, we both participated. Very soon I plan to upload videos of the evening. President Kalauli taught us well. He is a Keaukaha boy, with lots of family from Hilo. Small world!
This evening President Palmer, the new Elders Quorum President, and his wife, came to visit. It turns out they spent many years in Boulder City, NV. That’s significant, because they know our good friends Dawn & Dennis Stockton, who we knew in Keaau, HI, and who we visited after they moved to Australia a couple years ago. They used to live in Boulder City, and were in the same Ward. It really is a very small world! The Palmers are going to introduce us to desert golf tomorrow. This will probably prove to be a unique adventure!
