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Our Travel Adventures
Welcome to the Adventures of Larry and Connie Farquhar.
January 2005 Travel Log
1/29: We just completed almost 3 weeks of wonderful fun in the sun! The Boomerang (Boomer's rally) was fantastic! Over 160 rigs attended throughout the rally. We enjoyed many of the classes, events, food, parties, and especially meeting old and new friends again. We've moved to nearby Gila Bend, AZ to attend an "Elk-a-Rang". This is another RV rally for members of the Elks, and a yearly event where many RV'ers join the Elks. This year, Larry will be joining the Benevolent Order of the Elks. Many of the friends we met in Quartzsite will also be attending this rally. While here for the next few days, we're dry camping in the parking lot and will be volunteering on various community projects.
1/24: It's hard to believe that we've been here for 2 weeks! There are so many activities to choose from each day, that time has been flying by quickly. This past weekend, we dressed up and headed back into the Phoenix area to attend a wedding. We stayed with our daughters for a couple nights and enjoyed spending time with them. This was the first time Connie's put make-up on in over 4 months. Today, we went into downtown Quartzsite to the RV show and fought the crowds to look around. Not much new out, but we still had a good time. Luckily, we only spent a few bucks on some small stuff we needed. A couple years ago, we spent over $1000 on a tow brake system for the Jeep (which has been great). Our Boomer group had a "Chili and Fixin's" day today. There was plenty of wonderful chili for dinner tonight! Tomorrow, Larry's heading out on a 4WD trip while Connie is staying around to learn how to bead. There's a bracelet she's been wanting to make. We now have had over 158 RV's stay with our group.
Perhaps you've heard of the "Red Hat Society". It's based on the poem "When I Am An Old Women" by Jenny Joseph. The following is an adapted version of the poem so you can get an idea of what it is about.
WARNING
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens . . .
The ending of the poem pleases its readers when the woman says . . .
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Due to this poem, women in the "Society" act crazier than normal. Women
over 50 years old dress up in purple and red, wearing red hats. Women under 50 years old wear lavender with pink, with pink hats. The crazy women here had a "Red Hat" luncheon. Connie has never acquired the proper outfit, so she made do with what we had. How do you think she looks?
1/17: We've been at "Boomerville" (an isolated desert setting) for a week now. At first, not much was happening, as we relaxed with new friends and took care of daily chores. Fellow Boomers started arriving slowly, then poured in the past couple days. When we got here, there were 5 other rigs. Now, there's over 90! Over the next couple weeks, about 250 rigs will arrive throughout the rally period. Activities have started and we've been kept busy. Connie's already signed up for craft classes, is re-learning to knit, and will start "beading". Beading is a popular past time with many of the Boomer women. Using small beads, they create some neat jewelry. Connie needs a hobby, and these would be perfect - small to carry and (hopefully) not expensive. Maybe she'll get real good and sell some of her new creations. We'll see...
The other day, we made the mistake of wanting to look at the new motorhomes. There's plenty of new rigs here and we were interested in what a 2005 'See Ya" was like. Boy, did we get some high-pressure sales! We were up front and told them we were only looking. They eventually had us in the coach, with the door shut, putting on the pressure to buy right now. We felt lucky to finally escape the vultures. High pressure sales turns me off big time! Even if I was going to buy a new rig, I'll walk away from a high pressure salesman as fast as I can get away from them.
1/8: The rain has made the roads into our area fairly muddy. Many of our friends are moving to areas that won't have the muddy roads. Since more rain is predicted and we were nearly out of propane, we also moved, but didn't go far. After filling up on propane, we moved 3 miles away to the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Grounds travel camp. We tried to get a site with electric, but they are full. For $280 a month with full hookups, I can see why. So we got a dry camping spot. While most chores of maintaining a "sticks & bricks" house have been eliminated, we still need to take care of certain 'living' chores every couple weeks. While here, we also took care of these chores, which consisted of dumping the holding tanks, filling up with fresh water, doing 2 weeks worth of laundry, and picking up our postal mail. And of course, go grocery shopping again. When we leave here in a couple days, we'll be ready again to spend the next few weeks enjoying more friends in the Quartzsite desert.
1/4: Most of our fellow Boomers have left Mittry Lake, but there's still about a dozen rigs left. The weather hasn't improved any, it's actually worse lately. We've had rain, and there's been some flooding around town. But we're safe up on a bluff overlooking the lake, with the muddy roads down below. It's not good weather for doing stuff outdoors, so we've been mainly playing games indoors. Our neighbors taught us to play a fun card game called "Hand and Foot". Although the weather here isn't the best right now - I'm sure it beats the freezing cold and snow that most of the country is having.
We have one leak in our roof, coming from the front Air Conditioner. I've looked to see where it's coming from, but can't find the source. I've tightened down the A/C and sealed a small crack in the A/C cover. I'm not sure how I'm going to solve this leak.
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