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

Thrusday, Dec. 29, 2005

The beginning of our Light Parade "God Bless America"

Beautiful sunset on Christmas Eve.

Getting ready to leave on the Light Parade. Duster can't decide what's happening.

Duster is starting to have some fun.

Here we go!

After the parade we gather at the Opera House for hot chocolate and cookies.

Headed back home.

It was a great parade. Let's do it again next year.

Christmas

On Christmas Eve we had a light parade here at Stanton Camp. Twenty-two of us decorated our ATV's with lights and paraded through the camp. Everyone was so creative. There are about 200 people here, so we had a nice crowd. It was so much fun. Duster (our cocker spaniel), rode in the back wearing his blinking light reindeer horns. Willard had on our Santa stocking caps and sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to each group we passed. After the parade, we all gathered at the Opera House for hot chocolate and cookies.

On Christmas Day we had a wonderful potluck dinner at the camp and visited with our neighbors. We called or received calls from family members throughout the day.

Weather

The weather has just been wonderful this year. Warm days, cool nights, and no rain. The night sky is beautiful as we walk Duster before we turn in for the night.

The Outing

The Gold Prospectors of America has an outing here at Stanton each year the week after Christmas. About 150 more people invade our camp. They bring their motorhomes, fifth wheels, trailers, campers, tents and vans. They also bring their kids and pets. It is a busy place. We serve breakfast and lunch for those who don't want to cook. I worked in the camp kitchen cooking and serving breakfast for three mornings. It was tough getting up at 5 am, but I managed. Vendors displayed their goods from jewelry to prospecting equipment. I bought a new hat, some gold nugget earrings and necklace, and some new badges. Willard jammed with other musicians each afternoon. We didn't participate in the common dig or the gold panning activities. Willard would rather go out and find his own gold. The common dig participants share the gold they find. We had our Indiana friends (Jeannie and Jim) from Vulture Mine and our Oregon friends (Peggy and Ray) from North Ranch visit today. We all spent most of the day visiting, shopping, and enjoying all of the activities in camp. Our Texas neighbors (Mary and Allen) had a catfish fry at lunch. I fixed the coldslaw. We also had red beans and cornbread. It was delicious.

My New Hobby

I am learning to wire wrap to make jewelry. I have made four necklaces so far. I wrap sterling silver or gold wire decorativly around polished and cut gems and rocks. If you want to get an idea of what I'm talking about then search wire wrapping jewelry on Google.

Willard has been finding gold just about everyday he goes out. He spends a couple of hours digging in the dirt and dry washing it to filter out the gold. Then he comes back home and pans the concentrate to recover the gold. Most of the gold he finds is flour gold (about the size of kosher salt crystals). He has found pickers, nuggets and quartz/gold specimans. It all adds up over time. I have no hopes of getting rich or even breaking even after purchasing the equipment, but he loves it! I think it is the hunt and getting together each afternoon with other prospectors to share their stories and show their daily results.

What Tomorrow Brings

Tomorrow is my last day in the kitchen. Then we have to go into Congress and get the mail. We have it forwarded and it usually arrives at General Delivery each Friday. After we get the mail, we plan on going to Prescott to do some shopping. It is about 45 miles northwest of Stanton. As you can see I used the word "plan." Our plans can change on the spur of the moment. We have to get back to Stanton and decorate our ATV again for another light parade for the visitors. It will be a busy day.

A Busy Thursday

We began the morning by meeting some Oregon friends at the Congress Cafe for breakfast. Willard ordered a short stack of pancakes and his pancakes were the size of a medium pizza. No kidding. We had fun with that. After breakfast ( Willard ate only 1/4 of his short stack) we headed out to find a turquoise out cropping that an old Indian revealed to our Indiana friends who are camping at Vulture Mine near Wickenburg. We survived a rough jeep road, almost getting stuck in a wash, and hiked up a mountain about 300 feet to the turquoise. And there it was. We dug out turquoise and picked up nice pieces on the surface, had lunch, then hauled 4 buckets of rocks back down the mountain. We were 6 tired rock hounds. On the way back to Stanton we stopped for some groceries and washed our truck. When we got back to camp it was dusk and a group of us walked around the camp singing Christmas Carols. It was a great day, but we were sure tired when we settled down for the evening. Tomorrow we are going to Prescott to eat at a Chinese Buffet with a group of our camp friends. The gold prospecting is put on hold until we get our running around done whenever that is.

Oil Painting by Jean of Old Stanton Hotel, Stanton, AZ (ghost town). 

This is a thumbnail picture of our beautiful AZ desert here at Stanton. 

That two people can live together for a lifetime is illogical, irrational, absurb...and absolutely true. We have been married 48 years and looking forward to many more as we live on the road as fulltime RVers. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

It is hard to believe Christmas is here again. At this time of year we turn our thoughts toward a carpenter's son born in a manger who came to speak in simple works to multitudes who listened. He talked about love and justice and the brotherhood of man. And today all over the world his message sounds as clearly as it did in the hills of Judea. Our hearts fill with hope for peace and love and justice to come. It gets so busy during the holiday season we sometimes forget the meaning of Christ's birthday. On Christmas Eve at Stanton, AZ we will take a walk around camp in the star-filled desert night and think of the real significance of our Lord. We will also count our many blessings and think of all the wonderful friendships we have enjoyed this past year. Then we will turn our hearts to the future, which will be filled with hope and great expectations.

Stanton, AZ

We are at Stanton, AZ for the winter at an Lost Dutchman Mining Assoc. Camp. Stanton is an old ghost town and RV park. There are about 200 sites which are all full at this time. Willard prospects for gold and plays his guitar. I paint, play my clarinet and keyboard, wire wrap gems and stones for jewelry, and maintain our home. We play Bingo, Bunco, and Poker for fun. We joined the Rock and Mineral Club and go on field trips and attend monthly meetings. We have so many friends and keep busy. Life is good!