Monday, January 6, 2014

Still In The Saddle

 

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We’re having such a pleasant time at Saddle Mountain and the weather has been cooperating, so we see no reason to hurry on to the crowds at Quartzsite. After a couple of busy months and spending too much money, it’s been nice to be back on free, little used public land with nothing to do but a daily hike or bike ride. In fact the car hasn’t moved since we got here New Years Day.

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We stopped at the T/A Travel Center in Tonopah for gas on the way here and decided to weigh the Lazy Daze and car. It’s been a couple years since we last weighed, and we had a feeling we were probably over, since things have a tendency to accumulate without even trying.

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Our rear axle was 400 pounds over, but at least the front was 200 under. Having filled the water tank before leaving McDowell Mountain, and just getting gas before weighing, we knew we would be overweight but had no idea by how much.

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So we’re taking advantage of the time to do some cleaning out of our storage bins and surprisingly we found quite a bit of stuff we can do without. Some is going in the trash, and the good things will be put on the freebies table in Quartzsite. We also redistributed several heavy items to the front storage from the back, which should help a little.

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After tackling the outside bins, we were inspired to work on the inside storage areas. So far we’ve gone through the two long overhead cabinets in the living room, and the area under the couch. We filled up a couple more trash bags with junk we found up there, and emptied out three Sterlite containers.

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Our hike turned out to be a little longer than planned yesterday, but afterward Jim cleaned out some more inside containers, while I touched up some paint chips on the Lazy Daze.

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It feels good to have accomplished something, but finding a place to throw away garbage while boondocking can be a challenge just dealing with our every day trash, so it isn’t the smartest thing to do major cleaning when you are nowhere near a trash dumpster. We talked about hanging around here until we need to dump our tanks, but now it may be dependent upon how many more garbage bags we can fit in the car.

Here are a few more photos from our hiking and biking around Saddle Mountain, a rugged, rocky, volcanic desert landscape. It just so happens to be located about 10 miles from the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Plant, the largest in the U.S., and the only one not located near a large body of water. They evaporate the water from treated sewage of nearby towns to provide cooling of the steam. We haven’t climbed high enough on the south side of the mountain yet to see it from here.

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13 comments:

  1. For my preferred style you have found a fantastic place. I had a hard time finding that place on the BLM website. But now I know about it to add to my places to go. Thank you.

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  2. Great way to start the New Year! Did some cleaning myself yesterday, but all I uncovered was that I need to start dusting occasionally. It was kind of scary ;)

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  3. Neat view from the top of the mountain.

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  4. Good to know Colorado's water is being put to good use down south. Those crops are startlingly green!
    Box Canyon Mark

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  5. I am trying to think how you would label your cleaning...It isn't spring, and it isn't fall. My mom would have never done winter cleaning. I guess RVers do their cleaning anytime of the year they want. Good job!

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  6. Good for you, sorting and throwing away things. We did some of that while moving into our new RV and are doing some more here. It feels good, doesn't it?
    I had to laugh, though, when you said your stay might be limited by how many trash bags you could fit in your car.

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  7. Love that last shot. AZ has the best sunsets. Cleaning and purging always feel good...sense of accomplishment. Have fun in Q.

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  8. I hope you can find somewhere to dump it - otherwise you're just moving the weight from the rig to the car. LOL

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  9. It's amazing how little you really need to live this life style. Every year we clean out and eliminate more.

    Love that green ocotilla!!!

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  10. Isn't it amazing how little you need to live this life style. Every year we clean out and eliminate more items.

    Love the green ocotilla!!

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  11. I too am eliminating things I no longer use.

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  12. I am the victim of horrid internet and am so far behind in commenting. How can I be in the middle of urban Florida and have trouble and you are out there in the wide open spaces having none. NOT FAIR! Your pictures are beautiful. That's an interesting curve of rocks. Not having moved the car for a week sounds fabulous. We've gone through all our stuff numerous times and at this point seem to be down to the things we actually use but the bins are still bulging. Two of them are full of tools and air compressor etc. David says we can't eliminate any of them. I'm afraid we are still bordering on over weight. I'd like to weigh us with full water and gas to see how bad it is.

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  13. We should be hitting Q by the 13th. We'll see how long we can stomach the place :-)
    There are a few good boondocking spots around Lake Havasu with lots of hiking do walking/swimming and microbrewerying. I think we'll linger a while longer.

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