Our Visit to Quartzsite - Class of 2005 Rally

Picture: This picture was taken by someone at the Metal Detecting Siminar.Willard is up front and center demonstrating his Whites metal detector.

We left Stanton this morning at 8:00 am to join the Class of 2005 (those who started fulltiming in 2005) who were boondocking at Quartzsite. We were welcomed by some wonderful people. Willard presented his Metal Detecting Siminar. Everyone seemed interested. Some even brought their metal detectors. Several plan on visiting us at Stanton. Willard always takes our guests gold prospecting, if they are interested. We suggested that they park at Escapees North Ranch in Congress, AZ and drive out to Stanton in their Toads (towed vehicles). The six mile road to Stanton is very rough right now. The county recently did some road work. Now, it rattles our teeth even more. Hopefully they blade it again. To get back on the subject....we had a great experience this afternoon at the rally. Willard even got to play his guitar and sing several songs with Jo Ella & Gary along with Jim and Sherri Reed, the planned entertainment for the evening.
IT WAS A GREAT DAY!

Stanton Red Hat Gold Miners and more

I've been a member of the Stanton Red Hat Gold Miners for several years now. Today we had a lovely dinner here at camp in the Opera House. About 60 Red Hatters attended. Of all things, they made me the Queen Mother. I don't start my duties until October. I think it will be fun. It's a disorganization, so I shouldn't have any trouble.

Willard and I practiced our music this afternoon, him on guitar and me on the keyboard. We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting. I made Tamale Pie for supper.

We're off to Quartzsite tomorrow, where we will make a presentation on Metal Detecting to about 60 people who started fulltiming this year (The Class of 2005). Many of the class are now in Quartzsite for the week attending our first rally. If we pull our rig out of Stanton, we lose our site, so we will just drive over and spend the day with the group. They are going to have a jam session, so Willard will have a chance to play and sing with another group. Someday I'm going to get up the nerve to play with them. Right now I just play for my own entertainment. It's a Capricorn thing, I guess. We don't like the spotlight. That's why I enjoyed playing in the Orchestra of Southern Utah. I could hide behind the flutes and play my little heart out. "Just don't give me any solos," I'd beg.

Hobo Stew Dinner

Today we had such a nice evening. Joan and I planned a Hobo Stew Dinner. I fixed a basic beef stew and she fixed a basic chicken stew. Then we invited people in camp to bring a can of vegetables to put in the stews. We ended up with 60 people, two electric roasting pans full of stew, french bread, butter, rum cake, brownies. Some ate their stew out of their can, but most ate from bowls. Willard and the other camp musicans had a jam session while we ate. It was a big success!

Yesterday I went to Congress and washed clothes. Willard prospected and, of course, found some gold. I sold one of my wire wrapped pendants to BJ's sister. BJ is our neighbor who just had heart surgery. Her sister is a nurse from Indiana who came to take care of her for a few weeks.

This is Willard and I posing in the box canyon. It was a cold day, so as you can see we were bundled up with several layers of clothing. We usually take this ride in March when it is warmer, but everyone wanted to go today, so we did..  

We are playing in the water. It was a great day, but we were really tired when we arrived back at camp.  

We stop for lunch. 

We are exploring a boxed canyon on our trip 

This is a group heading out on a 35 mile ATV trip near Wickenburg, AZ 

January 8, 2006

Went to Laughlan the other day and won about $600 over and above what we spent. So we went shopping and bought new shoes, some new clothes, and me a new purse. I came in 2nd in a live Poker tournament and won quite a bit on a poker machine. Guess it was my lucky day. Willard lost about $20.

Took Duster to be groomed. We have to have him groomed at least once a month ,since we live in such close quarters in our motorhome. We love him and wouldn't trade the joy he has given us over the past 7 years, so we deal with his upkeep. Worth likes to roll in the dirt when we let him out, but I just clean him up with a handiwipe. I buy them by the case.

We went to Quartzsite to check out the rock show at Desert Gardens and ran into some of our friends (Allen and Mary from E. Texas and Jeff and Judy from Tombstone, AZ). We had a good day. We plan on going back to Quartzsite next week to present a seminar on Metal Detecting and sitting in on a Jam session with the Graduating Class of 2005 (people who started fulltiming in 2005). We are looking forward to seeing the people in the class that we met in Illinois this summer.

We have been so busy in camp lately. Of course, Willard prospects for gold every morning for a couple of hours. Then other prospectors come to our rig to see what he found. The musicians in camp gather over here for jam sessions several times a week. And we play Bingo once a week. The ladies in camp play Bunco on Wednesday nights and I play Texas Hold'em at least once a week. We have a potluck dinner on Fridays. We attend rock club meetings, prospector meetings, and go on rock club field trips.

Willard and Don played for a group at a guest ranch just outside of Wickenberg Monday night. We laughed because they actually sang for their supper. We ate with the ranch hands. It was a wonderful evening.

I have made several more pieces of wire-wrapped jewelry, painted some, practiced my clarinet and keyboard and of course cooked, washed clothes, and put things away in the motorhome. I'm also working on a family newsletter. Hopefully, it will be ready to send by the end of the week.

The weather has been just wonderful...cool nights and shirt sleeve weather during the day. We do need rain though. I think it has been about 90 days without rain which is almost a record.

This is some jewelry I made. It is called wire wrapping. Gold or silver wire is wrapped around polished cabs (or stones), coins, gold nuggets, etc. When I get really good at this process, I'll try making some earrings and bracelets. JB 

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it is already 2006. We've been on the road now for about 6 months and haven't missed the stick house in Cedar City as yet. We had a wonderful New Year's Eve with dancing, singing, fireworks and visiting with friends here at Stanton, AZ. Willard is finding a little gold every day that he prospects. I sold two paintings (watercolor) and am making jewelry. Willard is still playing his guitar and singing. Several musicians in camp gather several times a week to jam. Today we got our mail and enjoyed reading letters in our Christmas Cards. Our mail is forwarded each Tuesday and we get it on Fridays at the Congress postoffice. We always look forward to our mail. Jean