H&P South once more 2024-25

Feb 22nd - The Philippine Mars flying boat was sold to Pima Air Museum from Coulson aviation in BC. It is being disassembled at Lake Pleasant north of Phoenix, then trucked down to Tuscon. We drove up to the lake to take a look see. Unfortunately we could not find it but the lake and area is beautiful. We passed some wild burrows with a baby. This is the best photo they allowed me to take. Most of the lake is surrounded by a regional park. There are many areas around the lake for recreation. There was supposed to be a restaurant on one of the docks but we could not find it either. I think a long walk from the parking lot. Took some pictures, then headed off to find some lunch. Putting restaurants in the GPS, it came up with Tennessee BBQ and bar in Anthem. A few miles north on Hwy 17. It was very good, I had a smoked brisket sandwich and Pat had Breaded Shrimp. Back to camp. Feb. 23rd we drove to White Tank Regional Park. Another nice park, lots of trails and camping. We found a nice t...

 Yay, we got our truck back. Hamilton Auto and Diesel have been fantastic. You could not get better service anywhere. They shuffled jobs around to get us in and busted their butts to get us on our way.  For some reason we could not get on the net till now 5:32 Arizona time, we got the truck back at 10:30. I have been trying to post this since then. We will be on our way west in the morning. I will make another post on our escapades around here later.  

 We just got back from the repair shop, our truck is mostly back together but won't be ready till Monday. They hope to get it running by the end of today. Then comes all the testing and road trip to make sure that it is ready to go. As it is a long trip home, this has to be done right. So they will get no pressure from us. If all goes well, our plan is to hit the road Tuesday. Then slowly make our way back home around the middle of March. Some pictures of old engine, new engine. These are a couple of pictures I wanted to put on here from Bouse. At the time I had other things on my mind. I was cooking on the BBQ when I took this. Lastly, it did rain one day, made everything smell great. It wasn't for long but everything did get wet.

Other than the blown engine, things have been going smoothly. We got a rental car from Enterprise, they even came and picked us up. We have it till next week if we need it. Leaf Verde R V Resort made it so we have a place to stay for as long as we need. They changed the price to weekly, which makes it $36.00 a day and not $75.00. They have been extremely helpful. Our site and the brand new rental car. Yes, that whole area is our site. On Tuesday, we drove over to Florence for a day trip to see John and Rex. They are camped out at the Sunlakes RC field, practising for the upcoming contests this weekend and next. We chose to take the long route there, through Gila Bend, a nice two hour drive. We decided to follow the hour and a half GPS's route on the way home. It took us around the bottom of Phoenix at rush hour. That turned into three hours, with the last looking into the sun. Not fun. It was good to see John and Rex though. Yesterday, Wednesday, we did some shopping, etc and hung ...

Yesterday, Sunday, we left Bouse and headed for Florence to visit with Rex and John. Our plan was to go to 85 south to Gila Bend, then across to Florence. When we turned down 85 toward Gila Bend, we heard a ticking noise. Sounded like a rock in the tire but it kept getting worse. I stopped and checked the oil, thinking it might be low and a lifter was making the sound. It was a bit low but I didn't think it should cause the noise. I did add some and it seemed better for a moment but persisted. There was a Ford dealer not far from where we were, so we elected to head that way. The Leaf Verde RV park is across form the ford dealer. We did not get far, it started making all kinds of horrible noises, I shut it off and we called a tow truck. Both the tow truck owner and his driver did not recommend the ford dealer, as they were small and had no diesel guys. They recommended a shop across the road from their shop.  We phoned Leaf Verde RV, $75.00 a night, and got a site for two days, not...

 Having full tanks, we headed for La Mesa Verde RV park in Bouse. Reasonable rates $30.00 US and nice big sites. We were only going to stay two nights but are now going to stay till Sunday. We didn't want to drag our trailer through the dust on the BLM roads. Most of the previous ones have been more gravel. The road out front is quite busy during the day but quiet at night. The guys next door  have a very noisy furnace but we are used to it now, so not a problem. Yesterday, Feb. 11th, we drove to Lake Havasu. Got the truck washed, lunch at the Black Bear Dinner, cash from Wells Fargo, then to Walmart.  It is a beautiful drive along the Colorado River and Lake Havasu. We stopped at Bill Williams River Wildlife Refuge. From an overlook along the river. There are some BLM lands along the road to Havasu but they were mostly for ATVers. Too much dust, noise and people for us. There are a couple of nice State Parks up there but they are full all winter, not much chance of getti...

 On the fourth, we did pack up and went to Rice Ranch RV Pk. Not much there but they are full service, so we could get dumped, filled and laundry done. It was a pull through, so we didn't have to unhook. Next morning we headed back to Plomosa Rd BLM, and returned to the spot we had vacated the day before. It was calm so we sat outside and read.  Feb. 6th was very windy, lets take a drive to Parker. Pat wanted to get her hair cut. We also needed some fresh fruit and such. They are repaving the road between here and Quartzsite, so getting out to the road takes a while. You have to wait for the pilot car, hwy 95 can be quite busy. If you keep going up Plomosa Rd. it will take you to Bouse, then a left to Parker. It is only about fifteen minuets longer and a nice drive through a pass. Going through Bouse, we checked out a couple of RV Parks, we may stop there for a night or so when we leave here. Over the pass looking toward Bouse.     Pat found a place to get her hair c...

 For a RV Park, Sonoran Desert is very nice, even if it is expensive, $65.00 US. Full hookups, big wide pull throughs.and very clean. Got the laundry done, dumped, filled and we were ready to head for Quartzsite. Our first stop was the BLM Hi Jolly, it was a bit crowded but we found a spot and set up. That evening the couple in a tent behind us came back and proceeded to have a big fight, then the loud music, then the car alarm. It did calm down before eleven, so that was a plus. Next day we went to Parker to do our shopping, they have a Walmart. On our way back we stopped and looked at Plomosa Rd. BLM., lots of room here. We got back to the trailer and the neighbours still had their music going so we unloaded our groceries, pulled in the slides and half an hour later we were at our new site. Some of the views from our new site. As you can see, we have no close neighbours. Sunset last night. Our holding tanks will be full in a day or so, then we will find an RV Park, dump, fill and...