I started this blog on Wednesday, February 9th and continued it at home on Friday, February 11th. I’m back home now with good internet and can blog much easier now. So here it is and I’m going to add pictures and videos to it.
Good morning road warriors! I am camping in Daisee2 by myself with Bill and Cathy & Rich. So far it has been amazing. I can’t get any internet and my phone is spotty so I’m feeling pretty awesome and free! I did bring my battery bank and I have my computer plugged into it so I can use it. As I said, no internet so I’ll copy and paste this into the blog and then add pictures. I would like to have Jack and Metaxa with me, but Jack didn’t want to come because it would be too cold. It was cold last night. Got down to 41 degrees and as much as I’d like to have Metaxa keeping me warm at night, she would be unhappy here too. Plus we are going on an adventure this morning in Bill’s Jeep so she would have been all by herself.
Yesterday, I left in Daisee2 from CT-RV and followed Rich to Gila Box. Daisee2 drove like a dream. She is so roadworthy! We went there last year at this time and I was with Mama Bear and Papa Bear. My first trip out with them. Bill backed me into the amazingly long and huge sites. We’re dry camping. No electric and Daisee2 is like a DREAM. She is perfectly level on the site – no leveling ramps! Her big windows face the road and the hill over the Gila River. We can hear the river but can’t see it from our sites. Side note! No internet, but somehow the phone is getting news blasts!!! Anyway, I programmed my GPS with this campground – Riverview Campground – and followed along with Rich and once we got into Safford, the GPS wanted me to go in the opposite direction than we went. So I kept following Rich and eventually she caught up with the route, but if I had tried to come here myself, I doubt I would have made it. Anyway, the road down into the campground is pretty scary. It is only one lane and if you run into someone along the way, it might be a bit of a challenge to get by. I learned a new skill on my GPS thanks to Rich and Bill. I can program the GPS coordinates into the GPS and it will bring me right here rather than relying on the preprogrammed route that was weird yesterday. That is so awesome! Can’t wait to post pictures of this adventure! Right now the sun is coming up – it’s 7:01AM. I’m thinking about watching the sun come up at home and Jack should be seeing it about now too. I made coffee on the stove with my percolator. I took the coffee from the percolator and transferred it to my coffee pot. I now have the coffee maker plugged into the 4Patriots battery bank to keep it warm. It uses a LOT of power – 25 Watts – although I’m not sure what that really means. Right now I can see a campervan way over to my left and that is about all. I took a picture of my window scene from the couch looking out.
I had the most level spot:
At the campfire last night, I told Bill that Jack was thinking about moving back to Tucson. So that is out there now. He suggested that I rent the house out rather than selling it in case it “goes south”. Good idea – since it might be hard to get back into CT-RV in the future since it’s pretty much sold out. But I’ll always have Daisee2 if that happens – although I’m not anticipating that happening.
I turned on the furnace this morning. It fired right up. Now I have the little space heater on and it’s 69 degrees in here and 55 outside. Warmed up a bunch since I got up. I exercised the generator yesterday. I’ve used the stove to cook dinner (Chili) and make coffee this morning. Daisee2 is such a sweet little home. Remember, I stayed in her for 2 months in 2019 with 2 cats while buying my house and moving back and forth from Florida. She is just GREAT! Last night I slept on the couch but did not make it into a bed. I think I’ll fold it out tonight and use the sleeping bag and fleeces to stay warm.
I’m really disappointed in my Ryoko Wifi. It doesn’t seem to work. But there really isn’t any service – except phone notifications – what’s THAT about???? I may go and get another MiFi from Verizon and have both of them. Now that I got my $100 boost in Social Security and I’m saving $60 on my prepaid plan for my phone, I can afford to do that. Plus I need to go to the Verizon store anyway to find out about my iPad. Suddenly about a week or so ago, I can’t get YouTube to play and I can’t do my puzzles and I can’t get on to FACEBOOK. It says – no internet connection. I’m wondering if it is that 5G/3G thing that is going on. It is definitely 3G, but so is my phone and it is working. Go figure! Bill told me he would take a look at it when we get back to Benson and see if he can figure it out. But it might be due to the 5G rollout.
Cow on the ride to Klondike:
The sun is coming out now. It’s up over the mountain and it looks like a beautiful day today. It’s too bad Jack isn’t here to enjoy it. So I’m thinking I don’t like the percolator system. REALLY messy. UPDATE: Cathy and Bill told me how to use the filters for the percolator and it should work fine now. I need to look for the “pour over” box of goodies. That would be better than the coffee maker for camping. It’s much cleaner and doesn’t use the power that the coffee maker uses to keep the coffee warm. I can’t for the life of me, remember where that is. It’s probably in the storage trailer. Mental note to self – find it and put it in Daisee2.
This is a good “shakedown” trip. I’ll think of things that Daisee2 needs for our longer trips this summer. I think I have a trip planned for February with RVW, but I’m not sure.
I’ve been up for a couple of hours now. So I’m anxious to get the day going. It’s 60 degrees outside now and 70 degrees inside. I’ve turned off the heater and I’m about done with coffee. I’m going to put the coffee in my thermal mug and go for a walk. I’ll go over and sit with Bill and Cathy if they are outside. So I’ll be back later to update this blog.
I’m beginning this again on Friday, February 11th. Yesterday was such a blast. We drove to Klondike, AZ and followed a dirt road that took us to a wilderness that was amazing. We drove the Jeep through 5 or 6 stream crossings. THAT was so COOL! Then we got to the end of the road and parked the Jeep on a hill and took out chairs and ate lunch. We stopped at the Klondike store and was really disappointed in what it offered, not even Coke products so I had to settle on a Diet Pepsi.
Last night we had a campfire again. I ate my “dog food” – corned beef hash. Used my new frying pan. It was great. Shouldn’t have eaten the whole can, but what was I going to do with leftovers? But I was tired so turned in early. I was up this morning about 5:30 and it was 50 in Daisy. I turned on the furnace and the space heater and it is nice and toastie in here now. It’s 66 now and feels great! Thank you Suzee for the slippers! They really keep me warm in Daisee2.
I burned all my papers in the fire over the last 2 nights. So now I’ll just file more stuff in the bag and then bring it each time we camp. I still have one pile of wood left from this trip so Jack and I should go somewhere before our trip to California and use it up. It’s only 6:45 so I’m looking to see the sun come up today over the mountain. Rich is taking off early today because he wants to go to California to visit his kids and grandkids. B & C and I are going to enjoy a fire and coffee before we take off. There is no rush to get back.
Here is a video of us crossing the stream in the Jeep in Klondike!
I just took a picture of my 4Patriots battery back up. It’s down to 2 bars on the power. I also just figured out I can plug it in to Daisee2 while I have it at home and charge it up. No longer needing to keep it in the dining room in the house. That is AWESOME!!!!!
I was looking back at my pictures from yesterday. Can’t wait to upload my videos to YouTube and then to here. We saw snow on Mt. Graham and I got a great picture of it with the Jeep in the foreground. Looking over the pictures, it just made me so happy! What a great life I have. TUG – Thank U God!
Look what is in Bill’s back pants!
OH yeah. Yesterday we saw a Born Free hauling 2 ATV’s on the road. It is always so amazing to see them on the road. Well lo and behold, they are here in this campground. I’ll take a picture of their rig from my window. Too cold to go out just yet so I’ll take a better one later. Anyway, their names are Tina and Dave. They are from IL. Their rig is a 2000 26’. The same length as Susan’s but a different set up with a bed in the back. They bought it 2 years ago for $16K – what a deal!!!!! Anyway, they love it – especially Tina (CRAZY BITCH) on her visor. They went 4 wheeling and enjoyed the area. We’re still all amazed that we can stay here for $2.50 a night!!!!!!
I think I’ll go over to B & C’s now. I’m getting antsy. I need to put away my extra chair and rug. I think I can sweep it and get most of the dirt off of it and I want to put it in the bag before I put it in storage. Anyway, I’ll get back to this again.
Here is a picture of a the Gila River:
Now I’ll put the video of my “trek” to the river:
When I got back home I did this:
I hit the electric box with the bumper of Daisy. I miscalculated the turn. I should have GOAL – get out and look! Oops. But I must say in 20 minutes, this happened:
They fixed it right away – no damage. The guy did say I could get the stuff buried and it might cost around $1500. I think I’ll just try to be more careful. I’ve done it numerous times without hitting that box. So time will tell about burying the stuff. I probably won’t do that!
So yesterday – Valentine’s Day – Jack and I made an offer on a townhouse in Tucson. It is beautiful and the view from the livingroom is TO DIE FOR! We haven’t heard yet whether the owner will accept it. It’s a bit scary due to the finances of it, but I think it will ultimately be a good move. I’m keeping my place in CT-RV as a storage place for Daisee2 and all my furniture. More will be revealed.
So here is a great picture Jack took of OTIS3:
This is a video of the road out of the campground. Pretty awesome stuff. I hope the link works.
