You Never Know What (or Who) You're Going to Find

After 10 days or so on the north side of town, I moved the Scamp to the south side of town in preparation for a gathering.

It doesn't seem that that sunrises and sunsets are quite as brilliant, but the sunrise is still worth getting up for!

I went into town first thing on Saturday morning to take one last past through the "big tent." Things were MUCH quieter than they had been on the first day of the RV Show. Still nothing that I needed, but I did get more info from the gal that was looking for summer workers in Alaska.

The big reason to move south was to be positioned for the Escapees GeoCachers event that is always scheduled for the week after the Big Tent.

They meet for four days to teach new folks interested in trying geocaching, to compare notes and make recommendations, to tell stories that may or may not be true, and to geocache in the surrounding area.

Numbers vary from one day to the next with most of the days limited to people who are members of Escapees.

Yesterday morning, I teamed up with another fellow to see if we could find some caches that had just been published. Sure, there was a presentation scheduled in camp, but there were First to Finds that needed to be found!

We managed to be First to Find five of the six new caches southeast of town while others headed to new caches west of town.

Not only that, we were back in plenty of time so that we didn't miss the snacks!

Not only have I found some fun caches this week, as we were standing around talking late yesterday afternoon, I discovered that one of the other attendees and I share some mutual friends. Turns out, she lived down the road a bit from a gal I dated in high school. Small world!

Quartzsite Quest

We dropped the trailer off in Quartzsite on our way back from Death Valley. After a couple days at home I came back to start my annual Quartzsite wandering. Q draws me back for the fiery sunrises and sunsets and the surprises that you find as you wander the desert. The weather is cooler this year but that's OK.

I wondered if the stick in the pile of rocks was a claim corner.

Not far away, I discovered a collection of rusty tin cans which pretty well confirmed my assumptions.

Not sure if this was supposed to be Mickey Mouse or a rabbit or their sister, but it made me smile.

I happened to be in the right place at the right time to log a few First To Finds, and meet another geocacher in the process.

Another chilly morning, I was able to help some other geocachers as they got their phones set up to do Wherigo caches. Getting the app downloaded with Quartzsite's overloaded cell towers was the biggest challenge!

BJ and I did tour the Big Tent one day, but I didn't take any pictures. You're not missing anything except crowds.

Last night's sunset was even better than normal! Unfortunately, the squiggle in the middle of the picture was MUCH more impressive in real life!

Next week, the Escapee Geocaching group gets together. Time to make another pass past the new caches I placed and make sure they're clean and ready.

I've Got Gas

One of the things we learned in Death Valley was that it's BIG. While the truck has a big tank, it's always easier to burn off the top half when you don't know where you're going. We paid $2.20 in Bullhead City on our way to Death Valley, and $4.25 in Baker, California figuring gas would be more expensive in the park.

There was a gas station at Furnace Creek posted at $5.05 but we ignored it.

We went to Beatty, in part for fuel, but also because of some ghost towns around the area. Gas in Beatty was posted at $3.25 but it cost more than that because there was a candy store in the station...

Another day, we drove out to the west side of the park, where we could see the snow covered peak of Mt. Whitney in the distance. Apparently there are places in the park where on a clear day you can see both the highest and the lowest points in the continental U.S.

Coming back towards Stovepipe Wells, we made a note of the gas price in Panamint Springs but did not partake. Instead, we fueled at Stovepipe Wells ($3.58/gallon) before hooking up the trailer for our southbound departure.

We stopped in Shoshone at the famous Crowbar Cafe and Saloon for lunch with friends who have been volunteering at a nearby wildlife area. Good food and good conversation!

The gas pump next door to the cafe said 44 cents but it was dry. The pump across the street said $5.05, but we didn't partake.

We continued south from Baker through the Mohave Nature Preserve to check out the restored railroad depot in Kelso. It is now used as the visitor center for the Preserve but was closed due to the shutdown. We found a boondock (thanks, Campendium!) with a view before we got to the intersection with I-40 which made a nice overnight stop.

We had plenty of fuel to reach Parker, Arizona where we took on 24 gallons at $2.19. It pays to shop around!