24/7 Chat About Anything

[vanbrat]

Our snow is about gone and the temp is back up to above freezing, but now to finish off the week is a predicted windstorm of 50 mile an hour winds. We can get out of the driveway again. Maybe we should move to Arizona! I say that every winter. But at the same time. My wood stove is warm and my family is close and I have 4-5 new library books and lots of cookies that did not make it to work so now I get to eat them. Life ain't so bad even in the winter..

I hope wherever you all are today and tomorrow you are enjoying your holiday time.

 

[maki2]

The daytime and evening speeds from the cell towers on Verizon in Quartzsite are now extremely slow. Night owl time is now required for my internet business stuff and for online shopping, entertainment etc.

Heading further south soon, I am looking forward to finding some new locations to camp at.

 

[wayne49]

I use two apps to check signal strength and tower loading, Speedtest and weBoost.

This year I had issues in places that were okay in 2021, with no obvious explanations, such as a larger group of campers in the area. I use the same devices.

In 2021 American Girl Mine was very good until Halloween weekend, when a very large crowd showed up, probably overflow from Glamis, or too cheap to buy a Glamis permit. This year when I was there, with a minimal number of campers present, the cell signal was problematic.

Ajo was good last year, hit or miss this year.

Maybe the uptick in sunspot activity year over year.

 

[maki2]

This year I had issues in places that were okay in 2021, with no obvious explanations, s
Ajo was good last year, hit or miss this year.

Maybe the uptick in sunspot activity year over year.

Or maybe just aging and poorly functioning cell tower equipment. Desert areas remote from large towns are not exactly high priority locations for funding upgrades on the equipment.

Gunsight Wash BLM area just south of Why AZ is supposed to be good cell signal as there is a close by cell tower that it is needed by the border patrol. So that particular location that is nowhere near a big town is an equipment funding priority. Why AZ is about 10 miles south of Ajo, AZ.

 

[wayne49]

Thanks for the reply.

Cell signal was also off and on at Gunsight Wash in late October. One of the reasons I cut short and headed over to AGM. In 2022 I had multiple experiences with degraded cell in varied locations that were previously okay.

 

[Morgana]

Ah, language barriers. Kid comes up to the counter in the dining hall/waiting room.
"Can I have some garblegarble?"
"Say again?"
"Some garblegarble" [points to potato chips]
"Oh, OK." "gracias." "de nada."
[now I point to the potato chips]
"What do you call that?"
"Please."
"No, what do you call it?"
"Por favor."
"Never mind."

 

[Frood]

Ah, language barriers. Kid comes up to the counter in the dining hall/waiting room.
"Can I have some garblegarble?"
"Say again?"
"Some garblegarble" [points to potato chips]
"Oh, OK." "gracias." "de nada."
[now I point to the potato chips]
"What do you call that?"
"Please."
"No, what do you call it?"
"Por favor."
"Never mind."
View attachment 33467

I think two of the most useful phrases to learn in an additional language are "What is this?" (to be accompanied by a gesture) and "How do you say ________?" where the _________ is in English.

 

[maki2]

Wishing everyone a happy New Year. May all your dreams and resolutions for 2023 be fulfilled.
Last sunset of 2022, location is on BLM land a few miles South of AJO, AZ.
A reasonably stress free drive today from Quartzsite to Ajo. Just enough clouds in the morning to make driving east into the morning sun easy on my eyes. Not even very much traffic on 1-10 heading towards Phoenix which was exactly what I was hoping for!

 

[bullfrog]

^^^Close to the same sun set here at Caballo Loco with the exception of a few mountains blocking the view! Lol!!! Expecting a chance of rain and some cooler temps here 100 miles as the crow flies southeast of you. Be sure to enjoy seeing all the different types of cactus there! Happy New Year!

 

[maki2]

A bit of exploring the area today with my friend. We drove south as far as Gunsight Wash which is a BLM dispersed, 14 day camping area. passed through Why, Arizona which is barely big enough to call a town. The desert terrain and vegetation on this BLM, 14 day, dispersed camping next to the old “New Cornelia” mine pit is a lot more beautiful than Gunsight Wash which was fairly crowded with Motorhomes, Trailers, Vans, etc.

I did not see any BLM rangers but we did see Border Patrol pass by our dispersed camp and also they were parked at the rest area across from Gunsight Wash, might have been taking a lunch break while parked under a tree at the rest stop.
The photo is of an Organ Pipe Cactus with my friend for human scale size reference.

 

[bullfrog]

Lots of Border Patrol in the area as one of their larger facilities is just north of the intersection with HWY 86. Usually the first camp with a big motor home on the left just passed the intersection going south towards Organ Pipe National Monument is the volunteers that take care of registration but it has been a few years since I was there. Lots of camping either state trust land, BLM or dirt pull outs on the reservation in the area.

 

[maki2]

I like my current campsite just fine. Vastly more beautiful than parking in the dirt at the side of the Highway

 

[bullfrog]

^^^Pretty! I watched them sway in the wind yesterday! Lol!!! Where we are at the road is dirt and most of them look like that! Lol!!! Just can’t seem to get enough of it!

 

[Seajatt]

Woke up to zero degrees and 25 mile per hour winds from the north. Minus -23 windchill this morning!

Brrr!

Be safe out there

 

[maki2]

Woke up to 40 something this
morning, turned on the heat and crawled back under the covers until it was warm in my trailer. There was enough sun on this partly cloudy day by 10am to top off my solar setup and keep the trailer comfy until sundown.

But with the sun so low in the sky it will be another month of not quite perfect Solar weather in the Southwest.

 

[bullfrog]

Just bought a new generator the other day along with an Ecoflow delta 2 the last days of their sale. By using the 12 volt 10 amp outlet of the Ecoflow Delta 2 to keep my lead acid batteries above 12.5 volts overnight I have cut down my generator morning bulk charge of them and the recharge of the Ecoflow which I disconnect first thing in the morning to less than an hour. My 100 watts of solar tops off my several year old lead acid batteries during the day. It has greatly decreased my costs and dependence on having good sun and probably increased my lead acid batteries life span as I was about ready to replace them. On days with no sun I just leave the EcoFlow Delta 2 connected. Everything seems to be working well.

 

[NctryBen]

We woke up to just north of zero degrees this morning. No wind and it was centigrade not Fahrenheit. Still kinda cool for the desert!

 

[maki2]

^^^ it sure was a pretty day though, lots of sunshine meant my little trailer was solar heated to just the right temperature from 9:30 or so until the sun went down.

 

[Zerpersande]

We woke up to just north of zero degrees this morning. No wind and it was centigrade not Fahrenheit. Still kinda cool for the desert!

Well, I expect it would be big news. If it WERE Fahrenheit and not Celsius. That would be about -18°C.

 

[maki2]

My camp mate said his outdoor thermometer recorded a low of 22 degrees last night. This is just south of Ajo, AZ. He has an vintage travel trailer and the water tank has a drain spigot under the trailer. It seems to have developed a slow leak at that fitting from the freeze. He is handy and can DIY repair it.

I did not notice the cold in the early hours as I stayed sound asleep snug as a bug in my thick rugs until 8:00 AM.

This evening I did accept my friends offer of his little buddy heater, the type that screws on top of a green cylinder. I carry a few green cylinders so it will do for a quick warm up in the morning if the gremlins attack my diesel heater. I can also get out my generator and use an electric heater. More redundancy but the little buddy is easy enough to tote along and handy to use in popup screen rooms on cool evenings.