Apricity West 2

 December 3, 2021, Friday

 

Ruth’s Bunkhouse - This is a very interesting, upscale art boutique shop and she accepts consignment. We will be returning with some of Rich’s work. We met Ruth at Richard’s 77th birthday party when we first arrived and have been following the shop on Facebook. She and her husband, Dan, have a number of Richard Martinson’s pieces on display.

 

Elks Club again. Tonight's Special was Chicken Huli Huli over rice.

 

December 4, 2021, Saturday

Wickenburg Sites

Double H Hat Company

Hassayampa Historic Building 

Wickenberg Art Club - Rich finally registered for the art club. He can now show his art at any event in Wickenburg without paying a fee. This presents many opportunities for exposure, and sales. 

December 5, 2021, Sunday 

Packing up for the trip ahead… The good thing about having a home on wheels is that you don’t have to pack and unpack when you travel - just secure all items, doors and windows. AND you don’t have to use public restrooms!

 

December 6, 2021, Monday

Heading to Oceanside, CA today to visit dear family friends of Rich… More info on them after I meet them.  It is a 6 hour trip with pit stops. The first hour and a half was pretty barren dessert passing through Aguila and  Salome - each with their own Dollar Store. Casinos start showing up in the desert - 3 in total. A huge solar farm can be seen in the distance. As we got closer to Quartzite, there were RV Parks every 1/2 mile on both sides of the road. However, Quartzite is best known for its BLM (Bureau of Land Management).

 

The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands.

Headquartered in Grand Junction, Colorado, and with oversight over 247.3 million acres, it governs one eighth of the country's landmass. Wikipedia

Agency executive: Tracy Stone-Manning, Director

Headquarters: Washington, D.C.

Employees: Over 10,000

Founder: Harry S. Truman

Founded: December 10, 1946

Annual budget: $1.31 billion (FY2021)

Acreage: 245 million acres blm.gov

 

This is where RVs just pull off the road, drive to their special spot where they go off-the-grid (aka, boondock, dry camp) with no hookups for power, water, or sewer. There is supposedly a section of nudists too - can’t imagine how much time they spend applying sunscreen! As we drive through this area, you can see glints of metal reflections (RVs) as far as the eye can see on both sides of Interstate 10. We have not used our A/C, just a fan, but do use a small ceramic heater in the morning when the temperature is in 40s-50s. Folks will come down from the North in winter and put up in the middle of nowhere for the winter! Some will have solar on their rig for electricity, but since there are no hookups, companies drive around to provide water and sewer dumps (honey pot). It may be a LOT cheaper, but Rich and I could never (would never) dry camp in the desert or Walmart! Technically because of our CPAP machines; rationally because it doesn’t seem safe. 

Chiriaco Summit - General Patton Memorial Tanks

Pulled off of I-10 for gas and here in the middle of nowhere is a museum for General Patton…

The story starts in the 1930s in the face of limited water and power, rudimentary roads, and few other amenities. Joe and Ruth Chiriaco, a son and a daughter of immigrants, fueled their vision to serve the world on wheels with a deep but sometimes rocky love. The story moves through the building of aqueducts and roads, the laying of power lines, the development of Joshua Tree National Park next door, social, economic, environmental changes, and the arrival of a new set of immigrants. 

General Patton enters the story in the 1940s with thousands of troops. He spars with Joe Chiriaco, yet they become respected friends. Today the General Patton Memorial Museum, a nonprofit (501-C3), is an easy walk from the Summit’s modern complex, and the General remains an ongoing influence.

The hard-work ethic lightened by the antics of youth, several love stories, and plain good business sense combine to unfold how and why Chiriaco Summit has not only endured for four generations but flourished despite many obstacles. This book is a history that is fun to read.

 

Crossed over into Pacific Time in Blythe, CA so now behind EST by 3 hours. The cacti disappear and the palm trees prevail. I mentioned how hazy it was now and Rich corrected me - it is SMOG. They have Smog Stations that measure the amount of toxins you're emitting, but don’t inspect brakes, lights, etc. 

 

At first we thought this cattle was being fattened up and in holding for slaughter. We were relieved to see that it was a Dairy Farm! Phew...

 

Paradise by the Sea Beach RV Resort - A very nice park right on the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), with pools, spa, picnic cove, cement pads, palm trees, cable tv, decent internet, paved roads for biking, seagulls, an entrance to the path to the beach. This is the underpass of the SeaCoaster rail that we walked through…

…for breakfast at the Buccaneer Cafe! Look st the size of this breakfast bagel and burrito!


Bird of Paradise along the way. 

It turns out that we were not able to meet up with the friends as planned, but we had a nice adventure - traveled coast to coast seeing new places and new faces along the way. We drove up the coast through Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar, Balboa Island, as far as Huntington Beach before heading inland to make our way back. Rich lived there in 2002 when he was selling welding alloys for Cronatron Welding Systems. 

Traffic was backed up for construction and the police use a very interesting way to slow traffic down - they zig zag across 6 lanes of traffic to slow it down! Never heard of that before...

 

December 9, 2021, Thursday

Took a bunch of cards into Ruth’s Bunkhouse today. They really like Rich’s work and feel good about having his cards. Interestingly, their customer’s look for large Southwestern art - 5 ft. X 5 ft. to don the walls of their spacious homes. There is so much growth, especially at Wickenburg Ranch, that it boggles the mind how they will manage the traffic and shopping needs.