"Q" Monday through Friday the 27th

Monday:

Roger and Gopher and I walked to the Big Tent this morning expecting to find it not very crowded. Was I wrong. Apparently, people figured that the weekend would be a madhouse so they would just wait until Monday. Not that it mattered because I didn’t need anything anyway; just taking a nice morning walk.
A most unusual event today; it rained. This is the first time Carol and I have seen it rain in a desert. Throughout the night we could hear the rain on the roof.
Two more rigs pulled in today. Foy and Helen from Texas and Bob and Linda from AZ.

Tuesday

A bright and sunny day. The “girls’ piled in two cars and went into town today. It’s times like that when I feel bad for Carol. Because of her special needs, she doesn’t get invited on such outings. On Thursday, we’re going into town together to run errands, share an apple fritter, have lunch and such.
A friend of Jack and Jeanette joined the group today.

Wednesday

Frank, John and I went to town this morning to do run some errands. When I left Carol was inside the camper but when I got back, she was sitting outside with her friends. This evening was the big covered dish dinner followed by the campfire.

Thursday

In the morning we drove to La Posa South for the dump/water fill. The line was longer then we have ever seen so we turned around and went in town to the Pit Stop. For $12 you can dump your tanks and fill with “filtered” well water. The filter was the typical cartridge type sediment filter. We toped off the propane tank at $2.75/gallon. Then we went to another vendor area off Main Street across from the Pilot station. We poked around for perhaps an hour then headed back to our campsite. We’re “stuffed” out.
After having been to Q for two years, I’ve found an alternative to the $40/two week fee at the LTVA’s if someone was so inclined. There are several free, 14 day BLM areas not very far away. If a person came to town with empty tanks and topped off with water, they could stay for two weeks by paying the Pit Stop $24 for using their facility twice vs the $40 BLM fee. If you’re in town for just a few days, this is clearly the most economical way. The advantage of the LTVA’s is that two of them are within an easy walk of the Big Tent area; not so with free 14 day areas. Of course, there are a number of $5/day dry camping areas that are also within walking distance of town.

The cabinet work in this LD is substandard compared with my 2000. The struts that hold open the large overhead cabinets have failed. The finish is wearing off the wood doors in places and the finish on the cabinet hardware is likewise, wearing off after less then four years. Basically they are junk cabinets fitted with cheap hardware. I did find a way to fix the struts so they will hold the weight of the heavy doors but a sturdier strut should have been installed in the first place.

We saw the most unusual RV we’ve ever seen. It looks like an old diner in a lot of ways. There are stairs that lead to a second level steering station like you see on some fishing boats.

Steve went to the BLM dump/water station this afternoon. It took him an hour and a half!!. The $12 we paid was money well spent.
Two more rigs pulled in today. Les, a full-timer and Gil and Nancy with their highly trained, flawlessly groomed poodle, Elvis. (Actually, Elvis is not a dog anymore, he has attained child status. ;-) We had met all of them at previous SW Lazy Daze Group GTG’s.


Friday

Took one last walk to the Big Tent with the guys. Jim was so impressed with the LED replacement for the fluorescent fixture that he wanted one for over the stove. The Starlight brand bulbs seem to be the most popular items in the Big Tent. In the Lazy Daze group, the most popular purchases were LED lights and the LED motion detector.
Another Lazy Daze pulled in a few minutes ago. It’s a 2012 model. Didn't get the couples name. I lost count since some people have pulled out, but I suspect there were about twenty LD's in the group.

"Q" is an interesting experience, but I suspect this will be our last trip. Were it not for the great group of friends, two days, or so, would be enough time to see the exhibits.

We heard from John & Marge today. They will get into Tucson on February 2nd. When we leave here, we'll head that way.