Joshua Tree National Park

I sure love the desert!

Well, as I enter this post I realize how far behind I am with all the trips we have had. In April  (3-6, 2014) we linked up with some friends at Joshua Tree National Park for a great weekend of camping. We stayed at Black Rock Canyon Campground, near Yucca Valley, which became our base for several adventures while exploring new country in the Park.

Our camp at Black Rock Canyon, JTNP

Our friends Don and Lynn Buck also brought Lynn's Mom Maria on the trip. One day I took the gang on a off-road Jeep adventure on the Geology Trail. Lynn's Mom, Maria said she has never experienced going off road in the desert and truly enjoyed the ride, even if it was a little bouncy.

Good day for a drive...

Jean, Lynn and Don...where's Maria?

I should also mention that it was a great flower season in the park.

One of the days I took off on my own and drove through some new country I have not explored in before. One road took me to Eureka Peak which  I hiked to a few years back. I did not know that there was a road to the peak...

Eureka Peak, elevation 5516 ft

View North from the Peak looking toward Black Rock Canyon

So once the summer heat starts to decline I'm heading back for some more desert camping!

Pechanga RV Resort

Well, time sure flies when you're having fun. I'm going to keep this blog short because I'm so behind on posting. For the weekend of March 14 - 16th, I took the RV to Pechanga RV Resort to camp with my Brother Patrick who was celebrating his Birthday.

I must admit it's a very nice RV Resort next to a Casino. I plan to go back again sometime in the near future.

At our site, Pechanga RV Resort

Information on Pechanga RV: https://www.pechanga.com/sections/rvresort/pages/rvresort.aspx

Camping with the Elks

About a year and half ago I joined the Simi Valley Elks and became a member of their camping club know as the "Happy Wanderer". Every second Tuesday of the month we have a monthly meeting to discuss current Elks and club business affairs and to go over the current camping scheduled for the next few months. Jean and I have managed to participate in a few of the scheduled camp-outs;  like Newport Dunes and Santa Barbara.

Well it was finally my time to step up to the plate and become a Wagon Master. So I organized a camp-out at Leo Carrillo State Park. I contacted the Sector office and pulled a special event permit for us to dry camp at the North Beach day use area for a few nights in February.

When the time came to go camping, I had 13 rigs make the outing. Everyone who attended had a great time and the weather was outstanding.

For a quick story hit the link
http://www.happywanderers.net/Reviews%20&%20Articles%20pdf/Feb%20campout%202014-a.pdf

Nice sunny day for the Elks campers

Relaxing

early morning coffee and Bloody Marys

Enjoying the view

Special Ranger talk was enjoyed by the Elks campers

Arizona Renaissance Festival 2014

A most unusual renaissance entertainer

It was that time of  year again for Jean and I to take our annual trip to Apache Junction, Arizona to attend the Arizona Renaissance Festival and Pleasure Feast. This particular trip has been going on now for about twelve years since we first discovered the Festival during a visit to Phoenix, Arizona.

As always, we manage to spend our first night of the trip at Chiriaco Summit so that we can casually drive into Arizona the next day. This stop over seems to work for us since Jean does not get home from work until around 6:30 p.m., leaving later that evening allows us to get through traffic and closer to Arizona. Once Jean gets home we collect our last minute items, jump into the RV parked near the house and head off toward Chiriaco.

As I have mentioned before, Chiriaco Summit is basically a trucker stop east of  Indio along Interstate 10, here they allow you to overnight if you are travelling through. What I like about staying at the Summit, is we can get breakfast at the Cafe before we hit the road to our next destination. Because there are plenty of truckers that overnight at the stop, the meals are substantially filling and at a good price.

Breakfast time at Summit Cafe

While eating I looked out a window and noticed there was a small Post Office next door. So after we finished breakfast we went outside to go look at the Post Office. It was closed, but it is an official and working Post Office catering for the local folks that live near the summit. I really like the way they have decorated the outside giving it a true old time desert feeling.

Chiriaco Summit Post Office

Just in case you need an address

Well, after our breakfast and exploring it was now time to head off toward Arizona. At 55 -60 miles per hour we crossed over into Arizona around 11 am - Arizona time. The first thing I wanted to do when we crossed over the Colorado River (State Line) was give the RV a bath, and I remembered that they had just opened a Truck and RV Wash next to the Flying J truck stop. At the truck wash the RV got a good wash for about $1.25 ft or $39. I don't remember the name of the truck wash business, but you can't miss it as you will see the Flying J on your south side when entering Arizona.

Back on the road, Jean and I both agreed that we really enjoy driving through the desert and being sure that when we do travel, we are not in any kind of  hurry. Yes I do plan out our trips, time elements of travel and locations we will be staying at in advance to assure our adventures will be with minimal issues. And yes, at times incidents or problems do arise, but if you do good planning it only prepares you  to handle them when they do materialize. Having a good GPS unit, access to internet maps (like Google Maps), planning tools (like Good Sam trip planning tools), scheduled maintenance of your rig and so on, only make your travels that much more hassle free when you are on the road.

Link to Good SAM Destination Planning Tool

By 3 pm our next stop was going to be at my Cousin Louie's place for a visit. If we are in the area we will always stop by and spend some time with him and visit. At Louie's we went out for dinner that evening  at Gordon Biersch and had breakfast (Menudo) the next day at a the Peoria Cafe in Peoria, Arizona. After an enjoyable breakfast and visit, we said our good-byes and headed off to our next stop - Cabela's Outfitters for a little shopping.

Rolling Magic's first visit at Cabela's

 At Cabela's we spent about two and half  hours walking the floors looking at all the merchandise they have to offer, but it was now time for us to move on. We know that we will be back again and yes we did manage to find some items to buy while we were in the store.

Our drive from Cabela's to Apache Junction went exceptionally well, with light traffic on the interstate. We arrived at the KOA within an hour. At the KOA the folks inside registered us and guided us to our RV site. The staff at the KOA were all very helpful and friendly folks. We even had a nice site assigned to us while we stayed there. This was going to be home for the next two nights in Apache Junction.

Those are the Superstition Mountains in the background

Our site

Tucked in with nice desert plants surrounding us

Clever sign at the KOA

Sunday, February 9th - Renaissance Festival Day!

Alright, it was now time to Garb Up (get into costume) for the Renaissance Festival and to look forward to having a fun day. Our friends Susanne and Ken were going to pick us up at our site and take us to the festival. Susanne and Ken for the last four years have been joining us at the festival and pleasure feast. They come from Wickenburg, Arizona where they stay to avoid the winters in Montana where they are from. 

The drive to the Festival is a few miles from our campground on Highway 60. At the festival location parking is free but they do have an admission for entering. Jean buys our tickets well in advance so we can get the combined Festival and Feast deal.

Once inside it was my job to plot out our activities for the day, which also includes the feast. This year we managed to see some new entertainers besides some of our favorites. We decided it takes at least two days to be able to catch enough of the goings on at the Festival, so next year we are going to plan on a two day visit. The Arizona Renaissance Festival offers so much to see from great entertainment, plenty of food merchants, artisans and more!

New act - Barely Balanced, Comedic Daredevils

+

Clan Tynker - family circus, all time favorite

Yes, let's not forget the refreshments

Being a Pyrate is a tough job!

Jean managed to find an English Lord...

Time travel is encouraged...

It was another great and fun day at the Arizona Renaissance Festival and Pleasure Feast. At the feast we had a wonderful five course meal, raucous revelry and entertainment, plenty of beverages (beer and wine), and a souvenir special edition feast goblet to take home and add to our collection. We ended our day watching the Joust  Tournaments at the King's arena.

Our friends Susanne and Ken delivered us back to our RV, said their goodbyes leaving us to complete the night relaxing under the Arizona sky. We went to bed early because I wanted to have a really early start on Monday morning to beat the work day commute on the Phoenix freeways. By 5 a.m.Monday morning Arizona time we were up and packing away our stuff to prepare to travel. By 5:30 we were on the road and making good time moving through the Phoenix area. Once we manged to blow by the early commuter traffic we stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for breakfast (a must for Jean). After breakfast we were now on the road heading home and starting to think about our next RV adventure...

THE END

Info Arizona Renaissance Festival

Cabela's Outfitters

KOA campgrounds

Quartzsite 2014

Sunday, January 26, 2014. Well I safely arrived home from my trip to Quartzsite, Arizona to attend the Annual RV Tent Show. It was another fun time RV camping under the Arizona Skies, even though I did spend some money on gadgets for the Rig.

Yes I did purchase some useful items, like a 90 watt portable solar panel and 14 LED lights, plus a few other items.

The new solar panel at work...

Got the panel from Off the Grid, Surprise, Arizona

However, let's start at he beginning of my trip. My dear wife Jean was unable to go with me on this trip so it was a solo adventure until I got to The Rose RV campground in Quartzsite. Wednesday was my first day of travel, first off I had to stop in Azusa for some personal business, but later that day I was going to meet my cousins Tony, Patsy and her husband at the Islamorada restaurant located at the Bass Pro Shops in Rancho Cucamonga for dinner.

After an enjoyable dinner and visit with my cousins it was now time to go and make my first destination on the trip - Chiriaco Summit.

I have mentioned this location in several other of my posts. It now seems to be a tradition to always over-night at this place. In the morning I had breakfast at the cafe and I was again on my way toward Quartzsite, Arizona.

First stop of the trip...

Thursday, January 23, 2014. It was around 10:30 a.m. when I arrived in Quartzsite and I stopped at the Pilot Truck stop for fuel. While I was filling the RV's tank with gas I decided I would take a shower at the truck stop. It cost me $12 dollars for a shower, but the stall was roomy, I got a bar of soap, a bath towel and a wash cloth to help me freshen my day!

With gas in the rig and a clean me, I headed over to The Rose Campground to set up camp for the next few days. I was expecting my old chief ranger Ken Smith to arrive later that afternoon with his trailer.

By 1 p.m., Ken had arrived and our camp was set. No sooner were we sitting back and relaxing when the Quartzsite Fire Department arrived to extinguish a trailer fire...

Quartzsite Fire Dept in action!

The cause of the fire was the generator...

What was interesting about this fire, just last week I was helping to put out a trailer fire, I hope this not some kind of omen. Any who, that evening Ken and I were invited over to dinner at some of my Elk's Lodge friends camp at another part of Quartzsite. We were glad that we went, Bill Sears from Simi Valley cooked up some awesome Pork Chop Steaks that evening and they were delicious! That was a great way to spend my first night in Quartzsite.

Rolling Magic at camp, The Rose Campground

Friday, January 24, 2014. It was the RV Big Tent Show day! What's nice about staying at The Rose campground is the close proximity to the Big Tent. In the morning we started by having breakfast at the Bad Boys Cafe. Once we finished with breakfast we headed over to the Big Tent to see what was going on. Well I managed to find all the items that I was looking for and them some. On the list was LED lights, a 90 watt solar panel, some cleaning supplies and a new sign for the rig.

By the early afternoon Ken and I were back at camp waiting on Ken's wife Susanne who was due in around 3 p.m. The plan was to go meet up with the Simi Valley Elks group at Silly Al's for Pizza and Beer. By 3:30 p.m. all three of us met up again with the Simi Elks and enjoyed Pizza and Beer with them all. It was good that Susanne was our designated driver cause Ken and I were feeling no pain. That evening after a short nap, we had a campfire under the Arizona night.

Saturday, January 25, 2014. Well since Susanne need to go check out the Big Tent, we started off again having breakfast at the Bad Boys Cafe and walking over to the Big Tent. We left Susanne there so she could shop without us distracting her and Ken and I went to the other side of the street where the Tyson Wells swap meet vendors were.

You can basically find almost anything you need here...

By 1 p.m., it was time to go find Susanne at the Big Tent, but Ken and I got distracted. We decided it was time to get a beer as we were walking by Beer Belly's. As we entered Beer Belly's we manged to find a place to sit down, enjoy the music and beer. Ken called Susanne to meet us there because we were not moving!

Nah, how can you bypass a jumping place like this?

Susanne finally found us at Beer Belly's and she showed us all the stuff she picked up at the Big Tent. There was a solo Country Singer/Musician (I think he called himself "Smokin' Joe) playing away to the crowd at Beer Belly's. In fact the singer/musician was so good Ken and Susanne got up to dance to his music. At last, we need to head back to camp because it was my turn to cook dinner for us.

My two stepping friends...

Finally back at camp, we settled in and relaxed for a while till it was time for me to start preparing dinner.
I was going to cook a meal using my "CanCooker" for Ken and Susanne. The ingredients were Corn, Carrots, Celery, Baby Potatoes, Onion, can of Tecate Beer and a link of Beef Kielbasa. By 6 p.m. dinner was ready and the campfire was on.

In goes the beer...

 It was my last night in Quartzsite before the drive back home. It was a nice trip and now I'm back already making plans for our next road trip. I should also mention that in Saturday I saw two friends of ours Francesca Puccio and Craig Crowell at Quartzsite who were visiting family that live there. Talk about a small world, that was a surprise to meet them there!

With my friend Francesca at Tyson Wells, Quartzsite. Photo taken by Craig Crowell

My new "Can Cooker" FYI

One of my favorite pastimes while RV camping is cooking with my Dutch Ovens, but now I have a new cooking accessory that I have added to the mix. It is a "CanCooker". I received it at Christmas time and have been having fun coming up with new menus ever since.

At camp with my "CanCooker, Jr."...

The Can Cooker is basically a steaming/convection oven cooker. They come in two sizes, the Original at 4 gallons and the Jr., at 2 gallons. Depending on who you plan to feed either will do the job. The CanCooker Jr.is basically design for a family supper, but it can be a very large family.

For more info on the CanCooker hit the link.
http://cancooker.com/

Here is the first meal I made in my Can Cooker, Jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHBZE8oSRRk

Camping with the Elks

So our first trip in 2014 (January) was with the Simi Valley Elks. The location we stayed at was not your typical campground, it was hidden in a corner of an Oil Refinery near the city of  Piru, California.

Entrance sign to the Piru Petroleum Club Campground

The Elks sign lets you know you're in the right place

We are here...

Our camp spot

I've been a member of the Simi Valley Elks Kamping Club for over a  year now and we have been on a few trips with them. They have managed to find some interesting locations to gather and camp, but this place I believe is the most interesting of them all.

With that said, I had a great 4 days camping with the club. We even got in a 5 mile hike on Saturday. The most important thing to know is that this Elks Club loves to eat and drink. So be prepared to participate in the action, because no one is left hungry!

The campground is managed by the Piru Petroleum Club and they rent out the location for other groups. It has a main community room, two large Santa Maria style Bar-B-Ques and several 110 volt outlets to plug into. You can also find two Horseshoe Pits and plenty of space to park your rig. It is not the typical RV campground you would expect, it does have it's own unique style that truly fits in with the Fillmore-Piru area.

Horseshoe pits

Did you say Bar-B-Que?

Fellow Elks enjoying an relaxing afternoon...

Our Wagon Master, Bill Sears

I must say with all the eating, drinking and great camping camaraderie, the Piru campground did supply a unique and relaxing weekend.

THE END