Davidson River and dry camping

I am sitting outside the ladies bathroom at Davidson River Campground taking shelter from the rain as I type on my tablet.  Yes, this is a strange place to write but I am desperate to get my phone and laptop charged and they are plugged inside at the sink.

This is our eighth day without electric hookups.  We were able to set the solar up and run it three days at Mt Pisgah after the four days of heavy rain but this campground has deep shade almost everywhere.
 
We left Mt Pisgah for several reasons.  There are rules about not camping for more than 14 days at a time and we needed to hitch up to be able to dump. And I was getting restless.   This campground is about 20 miles from Mt Pisgah and about 5 miles from Brevard.  You go east on 276 and it is at the bottom of the mountain.  One of the things that I am enjoying here is having a cell connection at the campsite.  It is only two bars but I was able to activate my mobile hotspot last night and send some emails.
 
We have been able to keep the lights (LEDS) and the water pump going with the battery.  It is all of my electronics that need feeding so frequently.  We have a 200 watt inverter that will charge the laptop but the solar panel output was not strong enough to keep the inverter going.  My laptop battery is half drained after downloading pictures and doing some editing.  My phone stays turned off all the time except when it is being used and the mobile hotspot eats the battery.  Every time we get in the car, plugging in the phone is before putting on the seatbelts!

There are a few electric sites here available on a first come basis but I don't think we will be here long enough to go through the bother.  I thought it would be too hot here but it has been pleasant....staying cool due to the daily thunderstorms.  And the price is $10, only $2 more than Mt Pisgah (with the geezer pass).

We are heading out for dinner tonight.  Not sure where we will go but it is so nice to be close enough to have many choices.  We enjoyed a meal at El Ranchero Mexican restaurant a few nights ago. And Walmart and Bilow are a little over a mile from here.

We had a delicious BBQ dinner and David did not have to cook in the rain.

Here's some pictures from our day.

Mt Pisgah

When we got home from the big trip last March, I thought that would be the end of this blog.  Now, four months later, I find myself missing the blogging.  So, sitting at 5000 ft, at 9 PM, curled up in the corner of the bed in the Casita with my Siamese at my feet, I am starting again.
I am using an app on my tablet hoping I can get internet access tomorrow.  And since the Casita is no longer in the desert, there needs to be some fine tuning to the title when possible.  But I can't wait for perfection, life is happening now!

We have been planning this escape from the heat for a few months.  Last year we were up here at the Mt Pisgah campground on the Blue Ridge PKWY for almost 4 weeks in July due to a camphosting job.  We thought that we would have more fun not working this year.  So last Tuesday we loaded the Casita (recently christened the Chatta-Egg), the bikes, the hiking gear, the fishing poles, and the cats!

Meet the girls!  Sheba is a 10 year old mostly mellow Siamese and Princess is an 8 year old black and white rescue.  They are on this trip as I am giving this cat camping thing one more try.  It was suggested to me that a weekend was not long enough for them to adjust so they got thrown in along with all the other toys.

Our area has been experiencing record breaking heat.  Rain has been needed desperately so I hesitate to complain.  But 4 days of rain combined with closed windows, a husband, two cats and a kitty litter box in a 16' Casita has just about pushed me to the end of my limits.  I forgot to mention that our refrigerator is also not working!

Fast forward to Monday afternoon...what a difference a few hours can make!  I called a RV refrigerator guy off the mtn this AM that that been recommended by locals.  This, of course, involves going to the closest overlook to make the call.  He told me that our Dometic RM 2193 would cost $660 to replace, not including labor.  I told him all the things we had done to fix it, suggestions from other campers that we had tried including tapping on the gas lines. He said that tapping would not work but beating the h.... out them might!

With a prayer in my heart I took my husband's crescent wrench and followed his instructions.  It worked!  Look up RB's RVs if you have a problem in this part of the mtns. He's in Hendersonville.

Sheba

A 24

Mt Pisgah

Bamboo Festival

Arboretum

Just heard the first rumble of thunder for the day.  It has been almost 24 hours since the last shower! The sun has done a lot to raise my spirits.  We rode our bikes around the campground and it is almost empty.  Very quiet.  I have spent the last hour cleaning on the awning while David napped.  We may get cleaned up and go into Brevard for the evening.  I want to get this posted, excited to be blogging again!  My pictures may be under another post. Not too sure how this app works.

Getting home and remembering the Apache Trail

We got back to Tennessee late Thursday, 3/1, just before all the tornadoes arrived on Friday.  I had been watching the weather all week, checking the internet for forecasts of the cities we would go through.  In Dallas we had to decide if we would head north to Arkansas or stay straight toward Louisiana.  This was about the time Branson, Mo got hit and we choose to head east instead of NE.  In Chattanooga most of our bad storms come up from the SW, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa area.  I knew that we had to drive through these cities and would be on the tornado path on Friday unless we pushed hard.

greetings from my yard

grape hyacinths

It felt great to get home!  Just seeing all the green on the roadsides excited me.  The first jonquils were sighted east of Dallas before we hit LA.  Then the redbuds started appearing along with the red maples and carolina jasmine was hanging from the pines in Mississippi.

We have been back about a week now and I have been trying to think of a fitting way to end this chronicle.  I want to post a few more pictures of the day trip we took on the Apache Trail.  This road was AZ 88 from Apache Junction through Tortilla Flatts, up over mountains, down into Fish Creek, past Apache Lake and Roosevelt Dam.  It was an old native american route that was eventually made into a road. We were on 20 to 25 miles of rough, washboard dirt that took many hours to complete.

Apache Lake

Apache Lake

view down to Fish Creek

David and I have memories that will last the rest of our lives.   We don't plan to stay still long..Next year, Alaska?

On our way home

We are on our way home.  This is our 3rd night on the road and we are currently camped in a Corp of Engineers park, Lake Benbrook, just south of Fort Worth.  The temp was 71 the last time I checked and the wind is whistling through the live oaks overhead.  I-20 E has been a struggle all day due to a ferocious wind.  But currently it is quite pleasant and not scary like last night at Monahans Sandhills State Park where the constant battering gusts made sound sleep impossible.  (I was so glad that we were still hooked up to the truck....thought we were going to be blown away.)

I am so sorry for not writing more but the isolation of the desert relaxed me to the point where I did not even want to communicate.  And the lack of internet access has helped me to break some of my electronic addictions.  Maybe on another day I will be able to describe what it felt to live in a canyon so close to nature and so far from the city.  Incredible  memories!

Quartzsite Gathering

I am tucked away in a corner of the Quartzsite McDonald's and the crowds are not too bad considering it is a Saturday morning.  I left my husband back at camp this time as I was needing to catch up with emails and business.  Quartzsite continues to amaze me with the collection of people that are drawn here.  I just saw a pick-up loaded maybe 20 feet up in the air with stuff...can't say it was junk..it may have been all their possessions.

Buckskin Mtn

We spent five nights at the pre-Quartzsite Casita gathering held at Buckskin MTN State Park.  This was in Parker, AZ and was on the Colorado River.  A beautiful place!  It was the first time on the trip that we were down to our short sleeved tees and warm most of the time.  I don't know how many Casitas, ects, showed but I think it was about 25 trailers.  We just about took over the campground.

Colorado River----entrance to park

morning moon over dome rock

our camp with dome rock in background

sunrise

sunset

Thursday we relocated 50 miles south to the Dome Rock area of Quartzsite.  We came in a day later than the crowd and camped with another Casita and 13 ft Scamp who were also first timers to this monumental event.  We settled in the back "40" and within hours we were surrounded by other eggs.  Last night was spent swapping stories with a couple from Phoenix who also had their share of learning experiences.  We plan to stay until Monday and then hit the road heading back toward Phoenix.

We are beginning to think about home as there is just a few weeks left in our time in the sun.  I am hoping that we will be welcomed by blooming jonquils and lenten roses.

We think we are going back to our first campsite at Tortilla Flatts for the remaining time but that could change.  I have loved the unstructured life with no yard or housework and already feel sad when I think of ending the trip.  But other adventures await us and we will be seeing some of our new friends again on the road.

Now it's time to head out of McDonald's ( a bus is coming in) return to Casitaville in the desert!


.

Quartzsite and Joshua Tree N. P.

I am sitting in McDonald's in Twenty Nine Palms, California and trying my best to write.  I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything and it is mostly due to the lack of internet connection.
We have been camped at Indian Cove in the Joshua Tree National Park (CA) since last Monday, 1/30....leaving tomorrow heading for Buckskin MTN State Park in AZ.

This has been the most amazing place!  We are camped up in the mountains nestled in among ancient rocks.  There has been almost no one in the campground all week and we have had the outhouse all to ourselves!  I never imagined that having an outhouse (pit toilet) would feel like luxury.  But after dry camping in the desert at Quartzsite for 6 days with a malfunctioning sewer system, this convenience is extremely appreciated!

Yesterday we hiked a 3 mile moderately difficult trail to Forty Nine Palms Canyon.  We did not see any Joshua Trees but the palms were amazing to find tucked in the back of the canyon.

Must not leave out a picture of a Joshua Tree!


We spent one night at a county park, Lake Pleasant, on our way from Phoenix to Quartzsite and the whole experience at Quartzsite will need to wait for another day.  The most amazing thing was finding the people that we met in Tortilla and camping with them.  There were 80,000 to 100,000 RVers there and we found them!  We just looked where the Casita people usually go...Dome Rock area...and David spotted the unusual looking fifth wheel Escape that they had.

We spent 6 nights camped below the Dome Rock (Quartzsite) with 5 other egg campers, two Escapes, one Casita and two Bigfoots.  These people were from Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico and knew each other from previous gatherings.

The RV show was fun and my fears of feeling too crowded did not materialize, mostly because of the spaciousness of the desert.  Yes, it was crowded in town and we had to wait in line some but returning to our little private peace of real estate among the cactus made it worthwhile.

We have enjoyed the solitude in the rocks this week but are looking forward to attending the pre-Quartzsite Casita gathering tomorrow back over in Arizona.  Not sure at this moment if we will be returning to Dome Rock on the 10th but we probably will. I might miss something since there should be over 60 Casitas there.

The solar panels will be packed this afternoon
and after another long winter desert night we'll be heading out tomorrow.