Christmas Bazaar in Bouse

 Friday, December 5, 2025

It was just starting to get light when we got up this morning and when the shades went up there was blue sky to be seen. Being in an RV Park the sunrise and the sunset views are not quite the same as being out boondocking in the desert. But we do see it eventually crest over Patsy and Bill's home. Not complaining just a fact...lol

Today the plan was to head over towards Bouse, AZ, meet friends Melissa and Lyle on the way, check out a Christmas Bazaar, and swap meet. All of which we did. It is so nice when a plan comes together. 

A few of the beautiful Saguaros growing on the sides of the
 Plomosa Mountains as we ride by on our way this morning.

Most of the pictures I share, like this one,
are all about a view I like. 

Following friends who know where we are going.
Well, at least, Tom and I hope they know where we are going...lol
Otherwise, the thought is adventures are fun.

The Christmas Bazaar was at the Booster Club today from 8 to 3. Interestingly, Tom and I stopped and talked to two venders who were from Michigan. One was from the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, he was selling Michigan Copper so that caught our eye, and a woman from a very small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. One we had actually spent time camping at. Small world as they say. 

The Swap Meet sponsored by the Bouse Chamber of Commerce is held the first Friday of the month typically from November through March. There was a nice variety of "stuff" you would typically find at a swap meet.

It was a fun couple of hours spent with friends browsing booths. We just chatted as we walked along, unless one or all of us had wandered in our own direction, checking stuff out, and of course chatting with the venders. 

After a couple of hours we parted ways they had some shopping to do in Parker and we where headed back to Quartzsite. They had mentioned a restaurant they had lunch at recently that sounded good so we decided to make our way home through Brenda and make a stop.

This was my favorite view today. 
This is on AZ-72 between Bouse and Vicksburg, AZ

Some more views on our way to Brenda.
This is on US-60

Lunch at Buckaroo's
We had a feeling the driver, upper left, had been sitting in this
truck waiting for a more than a couple of minutes.
I wonder if his wife said, I just need to pick up a few things, 
it will only take a few minutes? 😄

It was definitely worth the stop, the food we had was excellent. Thank you, Melissa and Lyle for sharing the information with us. We we would stop again. 

One more view on US-60

Then we are merging on to I-10.

A few miles further and a familiar place comes into view.
Quartzsite is ahead and home.

It was another good day. I know I write that a lot but for the most part they are and, yes, we do know just how lucky we are to be able to say that.

If you have enjoyed the pictures I have put out there 

or the words I have added that makes me smile. 

If you have time to leave a comment they are always special to read. 

No matter what I am glad you stopped by!

Beautiful Ride and Then....

Saturday, November 19, 2022 

Leaving Albuquerque, NM after a long day.
The sun was setting in behind us as we make our
way to Santa Rosa, NM for the night.

We were up early this morning and drinking our coffee by 6:30AM. We had a plan for today of taking turns driving and putting a little more then 500 miles behind us. Yesterday's drive was beautiful and around 400 miles. Until the last two hours when it was pitch black. I mentioned to Tom several times I bet we are missing some beautiful scenery but the goal was Albuquerque so it required those two hours to make it. I took over 300 pictures and had narrowed it down to 126 last night and as I was drinking my coffee the plan was to get those pictures on the blog and then narrow  it down again or if I just could not divide it into two post. I always start with the pictures and then add the words which I planned on doing this evening. 

I had just turned on the computer when a car alarm went off. Tom looked out and it was our Jeep which was strange since neither of us had our keys anywhere near us to accidently set off the alarm. After trying to shut it off with both our fobs Tom got dressed to go out and see what was going on. I heard it stop and thought good then Tom came in and said, the back passenger window is broken out and it looks like they took pretty much everything in the Jeep. Luckily we had taken our cash, my jewelry, and our prescription medicine in. What we did not bring in is most of our clothes, little fun presents I had to give the kids when we get there, our winter jackets, they took both of Tom's and left mine. Two nice coolers with food are gone.  They even took the Jeeps manual. Tom said, you could tell by the way they left the Jeep they were looking for money. The worse part was somehow we forgot to bring in our bag of papers, that bag we keep in case we have to leave the motorhome quickly and we can just grab it. Our social security cards, insurance policies, birth certificates, Marriage License, Passports etc...etc...I am sure you get the picture, How or why we forgot that we will never know. So now the fun has begun the car insurance will take care of the window when we get to Michigan. The insurance agent thought we would stick around in Albuquerque to have it fixed and I told her, I do not think so.  To have this happen and then not spend time with our kids, grandkids and family that was not an option. 

The rest of it is up to us. We were lucky, Tom made a call to our Credit Union and there was someone working on a Saturday that could start the process of setting up all new accounts for us and in the meantime all our accounts are frozen. First thing Monday morning we will have several phone calls to make. To cancel and or freeze more things that cannot be done on the weekend. Meanwhile we have enrolled with an Identity Theft company so hopefully if there is any unusual activity they can let us know right away and help us solve the problem, so made us feel a little better. 

For the most part, except for the papers, it is just stuff and stuff can be replaced or not. It is the way it feels to know someone went through our stuff that is hard to deal with. Interestingly, there were a couple parked next to us that had a teardrop camper and happily it was not touched and they were surprised that it was not. To prove there still are good and caring people in this world just before they pulled out, Tom said the husband got out of there car and handed him $100 and would not take it back. He got back in the car and drove off. It still brings tears to my eyes thinking of what a wonderful thing that was of them to do. Paying it forward will certainly happen. 

So tonight we are in Santa Rosa, NM  spending the night in a nice "Mom and Pop" motel quite a few miles short of our goal for today but tomorrow is another day and we will get there but first we need to find Tom a winter jacket before we get much closer to the "Frozen North".

Not to let you think there have not been some truly upset moments about all this because there have been. Plus, please know we are not looking for sympathy this is about documenting our journey. It is what it is and when we are not having one of those upset moments when we remember something else that is gone we realize it is truly just a blip in the wonderful time we are having living our retirement dream.

Friday, November 18, 2022

Below a few of those pictures I talked about above from our drive. 

Exiting here and we are on our way.

We passed by several cotton fields.

As we merged onto East US-60 I felt like
the Saguaro was welcoming us.

Then there were Saguaros.

We saw this type of sign several times today.

Yes, that is were we are going.

I am going to end this blog at this point of our ride. I just may need to break this into three posts...lol Every turn we took the scenery was beautiful.

Today, was not one of those days I would call a good day. Yet at the same time we are okay and we experienced true kindness from two total strangers that we passed on this journey we call life.  That is something we are truly Thankful For!

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

Moving Back To the Desert

 Monday, January 18, 2021

Today we took a ride over to Buckeye, AZ to pick up groceries. After five wonderful days with full hookups the wash is done, a layer of dust is gone from inside the Stinger "B" and even the Jeep is a shiny black again.  It is time to move back into the desert.

 

On I-10 heading east towards Buckeye, AZ

Saddle Mountain in the distance.

There is definitely dust in the air.

As we drove along today we were talking and realized

the last time we drove along here was in 2019.

The views are as beautiful as ever 

but the road is worse then we remembered.

Going by Tonopah we can see Palo Verde Nuclear

Generating Station sending steam up.

Lots of traffic going east and west.

Stopped at a light this sticker was on a 5th Wheel in 

front of us. We need to find one of these.

Once the groceries were picked up we headed back on I-10.

Just past Tonopah we to took the exit for Salome Road.

We have taken this road several times and have seen these

signs along the way. What we have not seen is the cattle.

I just liked the look of this tree.

We visited this Little Roadside Chapel back in February 2017.

That day we went in today we just stopped for a picture.

The clouds are covering the blue sky but are beautiful.

Back on US-60 I was watching for this sign. Tom turned

off so I could click the picture. 

Once home we brought the groceries in and once they were put away we both started taking care of a few things that need to get done before we start the engine and move on.

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Today was moving day and we opened the shades to grey skies and stepped out to cool temperatures. We either are getting better at this moving thing or it was because we had not really set up like we usually would for a stay because we were ready to pull out before check out. I believe it was the latter. Nothing against this park because we would stay here again. Our purpose for staying this time was to get wash caught up, things cleaned, and pick up groceries for the next couple of weeks. We knew we would not spend a lot of time just sitting and I think that was why we set up just what we needed to, to be comfortable. Hooked up and the final bill taken care of we pulled out of  the 3 Dreamers RV Park in Brenda, Arizona.

FYI: there are raindrops on the windshield that several of today's pictures were taken through.

Looking straight ahead as we drive through the parks entrance.

Heading down the road to US-60.

They do have an unusual sign out front.

We have turned west and there does look like 

the blue sky is trying to make an appearance.

We are now on I-10 and it really looks like there may be

hope of lighter skies ahead.

Ahead we can see Quartzsite and the tent off on the left.

This is one of those views of the highway 

ahead that always fascinates me. 

Closer and cropped I think you can see what I mean.

It looks like the highway goes up and drops off in the distance.

It truly seems strange to see this corner so empty.

Looking left stopped at the light on Kuehn Street.

Then looking right things look pretty busy.

Heading South on US-95 towards Roadrunner BLM.

We are settled in to a spot for the next week or so.

The clouds around us 

as the sun sets

on our day.

It looks like there is a pink light inside the cloud.

With the last of the sunlight gone behind the mountains so ended what had been a good day. We moved without incident and we found what we would consider a decent spot to spend the next week or so. 

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.