Now Boondocking near Quartzite, AZ

After leaving the Pierce Ferry area and it's the light fully solitary camping conditions: I spend a couple of days in midview hanging out with Chris and Lori of Blazeourway.

We just visited, no riding and some binging of a show on Prime video.

Photo courtesy of Lori Z.

While repositioning the RV on their front yard in order to level it, water started pouring out of the rear end of the RV. Damn it. 

Turned out to be a rather small issue, the tubing going from the accumulator to the tubing that feeds the water heater had come off! 

Chris Z. got the tubing back in place and we thought we were good to go. 

Meadview Sunset

Saturday, November 1

I left midview in the late morning, and headed towards Kingman to get propane and to fill up with gas on the way to Quartzite, Arizona.

As I got out of the RV while waiting for the propane guy, I saw water once again pouring out the back of the RV!  Dammit.  Again, the tubing had come off the connector that fed the water heater.  This time though it was because the accumulator itself had come off its wall anchors and had dragged it loose! 

Doing some light cussing, I shut off the water pump and got back on the road intending to fix the connections later while camping in Quartzite.

Once I got camp set up and things at cool down a little bit from a high of 91°; I found that I didn't have the right anchors to properly mount the accumulator back on the back wall of the cabinet. So I used to set up zip ties to hold it in place after I reconnected the tubing and verified all was a well again in terms of water flow with the pump on. 

I'll be going into the town of Quartzite tomorrow, to find the correct mounting hardware for a more permanent solution.  Luckily, it's hot and dry so hopefully there will be no long-term or permanent damage to the floor of the RV.

Boondocking at Pearce Ferry near Meadview, AZ

 It's been a pretty relaxing few days here at the Pearce Ferry dispersed camping area   it used to be a primitive campground back in the day but the water levels of Lake Mead have receeded over the decades, leaving it high and dry.

I pretty much had the place to myself except for another camper or two that didn't stay long and stayed away from my site so all good.

Here's some pictures around the nearby boat ramp used to take boats out of the river after they have traverse what I assume is the Grand Canyon or something near it.

Can you spot Uma?

A short drive to South Cove area of the Lake Mead Recreation Area to check out water levels.  Not much there except fisherman and day use facilities.

Some Golden Hour views around my campsite.

Views from the block house window opening:

Sunset lighting is quite important for this area, the mountains are quite plain in the daylight hours with the flat sunlight. 

Now in Arizona, near Meadview

Left the hideously expensive state of California ( not that Colorado is much better ) just before 7:00 a.m. and had crossed the border into Nevada less than 10 minutes later. I used Nevada Highway 160 to get to and past Las Vegas, and then it was about another 2 hours to the vicinity of Meadview.

Tanked up in Pahrump, NV for half the price per gallon that I paid for in the Death Valley National Park's Furnace Creek station.  Also stocked up on some groceries while in that town.

The plan is to pick up some Amazon packages at the post office there while doing a short visit with Lori and Chris Z. Of Blazeourway this week 

By 1430 camp was set up, I lost some time trying out other sites nearby and ending up just camping at the same site I used last time I was here. 

Camping at 1309 ft altitude.

Hot and sunny.  Lost some time checking out other sites nearby before ending up in the same site I used last time I was here. 

Cool down with a quick shower, then sat in the shade of the RV the rest of the afternoon.

Tuesday, October 28

The two camping rigs, van and car, that showed up late yesterday afternoon left this morning, leaving the place all to myself. Darn. 

I rode Yagi, my TW200, to check out the two blockhouses that remain in the area. 

This is the main one I think.  Someone has cut through one of the barrier slats since the last time I was here.

View of the campsite from the block house

Blockhouse interior

The other blockhouse, that housed a generator I think

A view showing both block houses:

I rode down the hill to the lower/main campground area.

Storage for blasting caps

Note the crosses someone has left here

 

Tuesday, October 28

Spent the morning rigging up some plastic sheets to act as a dust shield for the drawers under the sink. Not exactly sure where the dust is coming from, but it settles on the utensils which then must be washed.

In the afternoon I picked up packages delivered by Amazon at the post office in Meadview. Took me the rest of the afternoon to reposition the replacement inverter from the battery compartment on the outside to the inside cabinet under the stove. It should now be much more protected from dust and dirt. 

Now to get some expanding foam sealant to close off the access hole from the bottom to keep bugs and such out.

Sunset was rather plain with no clouds in the sky.  However, it gave some nice lighting for the West wall mountains that border the Grand Canyon to the east.

Death Valley Days 2 - 4

Thursday, October 23

I rode out in the late afternoon on Yagi, my TW200, to check out a trail called Hole in the Wall Canyon.  The trail begins 12 miles or so from the campsite, in the road surface was at times akin to writing on marbles but otherwise okay.

I did find two primitive camping sites, designated, that might work in the future but they are shaded early in the afternoon so there's that. 

The Hole in the Wall

Six miles in, the end of the trail

Primitive Campsite H1

The Golden Hour started as I headed back to camp

Friday, October 24

As the sun was starting to show to the east, I broke down camp and displaced about a half mile further north away from the pads area.  I'm expecting more crowded conditions as the weekend approaches and the weekenders show up. 

Saturday, October 25

Well about 10 rigs showed up by Friday night, not too bad but I'm still glad I moved further away from the pads anyways. 

A partly cloudy morning as I worked to replace the 600w inverter that had finally failed this morning. I had been carrying a 500 w inverter has already spare. Installation was no problem and now I'm working on gathering materials to move the inverter inside the RV in order for the weather to be not such a factor. 

The old inverter lasted 9 years, not too bad considering the conditions it was living in alongside the house battery in a compartment that's susceptible to dust and moisture:

Most rigs but two were gone by the afternoon.  Only they would share the area with me overnight.  

Saturday's sunset:

 Dinner was some of my mother's roast pork.  Yum!

Tomorrow, leaving California and going to western end of the Grand Canyon, near Meadview, AZ.

Death Valley, Day 1 & 2

Wednesday, October 22

Spent the morning traveling from Jawbone Canyon to "the pads" a few miles to the SE of DVNP's eastern entrance near Furnace Creek Visitor Center.

Next time, I'll come in from the south, coming in from the west involved a long hard slog for the VRRV up and down two mountain passes and MPG suffered accordingly.

At one point Uma could barely hold 35 miles an hour on the steep slopes! 

Another note for future travel, if you're going to get gas within the National Park get it at the Stove Pipes visitor center not the Furnace Creek visitor center, it's a buck cheaper!  I paid a dollar more buy cruising past the first visitor center, damn it.  $6/gallon.

The pads were not crowded at all I think they were six other rigs here before mine. I got a spot away from all the others at the northern edge of the pads. 

Pyramid Peak in the back6

Close to 1pm as I type this, it is 89°, sunny with a slight wind coming from the east I think. The altitude of the pads is 2999 ft, surprisingly to me. I thought it would be closer to the sea level.  I did traverse the sea level locations as I crossed the valley on US 190 so there's that. 

Lots of flies here at the pads, originally it seems they are not dividing kind just annoying as they fly around one's ears, eyes and nostrils.

A bunch of rigs showed up in the late evening/early night.  The number of brakes grew from 5 to about 15 or so. But they were all gone but 5 by mid-morning so all good.

Thursday, October 23

Around 8:30 I drove the CRV into the park to check out the lighting at Dante's View.  I elected not to take Yagi my TW200 as it was a bit cool and about 16 miles away.

Not very many people at that hour, so it was a pleasant viewing of the valley floor: 

Next was a drive to Zabrieski Point.   It's probably, in my opinion, the best viewpoint on the eastern side of the park.   It also has a couple of dumpsters next to the pit toilet building so I was able to get rid of RV trash.

Then it was a quick drive to the Furnace Creek visitor center to get a map and the check out all the road closures: 

As you can see, damn near all the interesting roads that are dirt are closed due to flood damage!  I think it will basically curtail my stay here at the park and have me moving on earlier than I figured. 

The best trail is of course 20 Mule Canyon, but it was closed to traffic so no go on that. Instead you will have to be happy with pictures I took of the periphery when I stopped at points where I could actually get something worthy of a pic. 

Here's a link to my last visit to this National Park, back in December of 2018, before all the flood damage that has closed the roads that are most interesting. 

Scarlett in Death Valley

I return to the campsite before noon, had lunch, and just rested the rest of the afternoon away. I did take Yagi out for a short ride in the trails nearby but nothing much to see or take pictures of. 

There were much less flies today around the campsite, the stiff breeze that was blowing probably kept their numbers down and kept things cool in terms of temperature while in the shade.