WELL WE made it. OUT to quartzsite.AZ And then on the sequoia national Forest, National Park, and then up to ZION. IT WAS Well worth it (up to a point). WE HAD A great trip out, had a little problem once we got there (IT”S COMING)And then a lot of trouble coming back) ALL MY FAULT AND Mostly due to bad planning.

Let’s start with facts and figures, WE Drove 9500 miles out to and around Quartzsite. Total Gas cost was $900. we spent 31days on the road camping on the way out, (13 campgrounds) costing $300 in camping fees (NOT BAD AT all)and that includes the 14 days at Quartzsite which was $40 paid in advance on rec.gov.

WE WENT 12 days without a shower, then fired up the hot water in the trailer and tried to get clean there. we flooded the camper, had many soaked and dirty towels. but we were better smelling for sure. one of the things I Noticed about Quartzsite is that it is extremely dusty from cars/atv’s/ and rv’s driving around all the time. but despite all the dust in the air, you don’t feel dirty. I Didn’t anyway. the dust feels more like a talcum powder than dirty dust. IT definitely does get in your noses and eyes, but it isn’t irritating like alot of silica based dust.

THE second discovery about Q is that the area has what we might call “CHIGGERS”, but they are not really the same. There is a minute sand mite that lives in the desert that can crawl up your shoes and ankles and along the way eat a bit of your flesh causing a intense itching and irritation. the chiggers from the southwest and Virginia are a bit more severe as they actually leave little tunnels in your flesh that itch and develop over several weeks. I ound at Quartzsite rubbing my ankles with alcohol made them feel much better. SPRAYING SOCKS With Permitherin spray keeps them off you for a day. They are worse in areas with grass or vegetation.

OF OUR Adventurers in quartzsite, after a few days, we moved our camp from the magic circle area to a little further out in a less active area along a wash with a few trees and bushes for Akela to water and lie under. ON THE 3rd or 4th day living there, AKELA wanted to go out to dinner(he loves MCDONALD’s chicken nuggets) so we headed into town around 4:30pm. when we decided to return to camp, we could not find it! we drove up the MAIN ROAD like we always did, then turned off the main at the well marked post like we always did, but somewhere along the windy road going to our camp, we took a wrong turn (Or maybe we missed a turn) anyway we could not find our camper. WE drove around the LTVA For 8 hrs trying to find our camp, we were even helped by a guy who seemed to know everyone in the area pretty well and knew about 1/3 the peopleccamped within 1/4mile of us.

but around 3am, we decided we were just going to lie back and relax and sleep in the car. Akela was all for this idea, having tried to go to sleep hours ago, but driving through the desert was rocking and rolling his sleep area. I Did find out the 4×4 capability of the 4runner was quite good, as we blasted through washes and dry creek beds and found ourselves in far away places we were never suppose to go. Anyway, at sunrise, with better visibility we did find our camp and went to the comfortable bed for a few more hours. As a note to all of caution, we did have a pin of our location on our Iphone, but it didn’t seem to help since the google or apple maps always want you to stay on roads and so it took us through the desert to hiway 95 and back out to Interstate 10 and then through Quartzsite. When the sun came up and It was light we followed the familiar painted rocks and orange surveyor flags we were used to that were invisible in the night. That was our first experience with being lost on this trip. The next 2 were even worse.

To return to more facts and figures, our total mileage for the trip was 9576 after driving 279miles to sequoia national park in California and being told we weren’t allowed up to the area to see the trees since we did not have a set of tire chains in our car. I Even tried to tell them I’m in a 4runner 4 wheel drive vehicle, and I’m from Upstate NY Where we get 3-4 ft of snow and it has no effect on my ability to drive. They were not swayed, as they said they had received 3 inches of snow this morning and it was the rule to have tire chains in all cars. you didn’t need to use them, they didn’t even need to fit, you just had to have them in your car. Anther stupid National park rule.

COST OF camping was #300 on the way west, #371 on the way bad, but we camped at more state parks on the way back. FOR National parks we stayed at ZION, RED ROCKS and Joshua Tree National park Campgrounds. None of them impressed me, I would not recommend any of them. Joshua tree and red rocks were awful. for Joshua tree I counted 3 rangers and 2 volunteers working there at the campground visitor center, Yet they close the visitor center for “LUNCH” from 12:30-2:30 every one takes a 2hour lunch at the same time. DO They not understand staggering lunches and break times? RED rocks had no presence of anyone to help or answer questions. was very unlevel. and had terrible amenities. They did have solar lights inside their vault toilets, but most had no lock or latch on the door. AND your camping reservation did not allow you to drive the red rocks scenic drive. EVEN With the senior pass you had to pay $3 to enter. I booked a site at ZION that was next to a bathroom, but of course that bathroom was closed for the winter season. Also the campground next door the SOUTH campground was being rebuilt. Chainsaws, back hoes, road blocks, and leaf blowers were running most of the time. It looks like it will be a great campground when they are done. IT might even have showers! THE other thing about Zion was that you really need to go outside the park frequently to enjoy the visit. Good coffee shops, restaurants, equipment vendors are all just outside the gates in Springdale UT. but each time you have to pay to get back in or show your senior pass and drivers license. despite the rangers remembered me because Akela liked to bark HI and I always ask many stupid questions. ONE Pointed out to me that they are on camera to make sure they check everyone’s credentials or take money and place it in the cash register or they are liable to be fired.

THE best state park without a runner up was valley of fire NV State PARK. it is right next to the lake mead recreation area, but it had a great visitor center with awesome volunteers and some great sights to see and explore. I asked this little old volunteer where the best place o see big horned sheep would be and she said there are tons of them, drive up the road and they’ll be eating along the road. WE took her advice and in less than a mile there was a small family of 6 munching along the roadside. then another 2000ft and there was another family of bighorns. THere were tons of stops along the roads to see famous or historical attractions and they were well documented and had kiosks and information about their history and significance. the campground was rather primitive for a state park and they said the showers were closed due to the drought, but I Got up early and took a shower and they worked fine!

We also stayed at the following state parks homolovi state park in AZ, Monahan sandhill statepark in TX, leasburg dam-NM SP. Balmorehea SP-tx JUST AWESOME (See the video here), We also went to a number of ARMY Corp of engineers camps, which are always pretty nice. one we went to on the way west was Potters creek, which was on canyon lake, except the lake was all but dry. The lake was down 30ft I was told. and it was a bit stinky as a result. There were lots of birds and osprey and the sites were nice, but I Didn’t do a video on it because it was so bad looking with the lake so low. I Also was supposed to stay here on the way back but my GPS kept wanting to send me through the middle of the oil fields on these dirt paths, so we got to the area of the campground well after dark, and we could not find it, it was off a main road and down several roads through these expensive lakeside mansions that were a bit scary. Anyway, the GPS wasn’t any help so I Had to call my son and ask him to look it up and he tried to tell me where I Had to go, but in the end we still could not get to the campground which was probably locked up anyway. So we spent the night in a loves gas station parking lot. Then we were almost out of Texas, but then we were tired and looking for a Walmart of some place to re-stock and we lost a wheel bearing. and had a tire blowout. I blame the speed limits in Texas which are 80mph on the highways, and even country roads are 65-75, and people get up behind you and we got going 80mph a few times and then the roads are quite bumpy with expansion joints and pot holes, so my feeling is that causes he bearings to be damaged. but in the end we were traveling through this little town next to Houston and the tire came off the rim and wrapped around the axle. the rim had become so hot it had turned blue, and the brake drum fell apart from the heat. THE brakes, tire, drum, and bearings wear all destroyed. we called a mobile RV TEch and he came and stripped it down clean and replaced all the parts and they charged $1000,for 2 days work and parts, but I was back on my way you just have to have an emergency fund ready for disasters. so we slept in the trailer 2 nights in this residential area on thier cul-de-sac street in the middle of the road while the tech worked on it and tried to find parts, except it was super bowl Sunday and nothing was open or no one had all the parts.

SO those are the other 2 times we got lost. Dealing with the Iphone and Google maps trying to convince me to drive right through the middle of the Texas oilfields and then not knowing where this campground was it took me 50 miles out of the way. It took me down a road in this rich nighborhood and “Trapped” me in someones driveway. We had to back out about 3000ft from their gated driveway with a big wrought iron fence. Its not easy backing up the wolf pup in the dark on a dirt driveway.

My next trip plan will be to stay away from Texas, and have aback up GPS with all the campground set and working! Even my complete set of paper maps did not help get around easily in texas. it’s just a very poorly laid out state for roads and directions.