Saturday January 13: Mild temperatures continue here at La Posa South in southwest Arizona.

I continue the usual daily activities of journal writing, editing, and music with Rollie. We make a couple of videos of medleys of bluegrass songs we are playing. Clifford spends his days working on the Carnicom Institute Legacy Project, his ham radio, and playing the dulcimer. Today’s unique activity is going to a concert at QIA: the New Christy Minstrels with a couple of the original band members still active in this group, Randy Sparks, for one. It was a very fun concert.

Sunday January 14: My morning desert walk is a time of stillness, appreciating the beauty of the desert.

 

Morning desert walk

The usual daily activities follow. We all play music and in the evening have dinner, which always includes Rollie and Ninja, at the campfire.

Monday January 15: Today’s temperature: 44/70, not bad for mid-January.

Today is a town day – errands, shopping, and laundromat. In the evening, as I’m doing music with Rollie, new neighbors come over to listen for a bit. They are also bluegrass musicians and we might try to get together.

Dinner at the campfire, which we all enjoy.

Tuesday January 16: I’ve decided to start learning Morse Code, since I hear it so much as Clifford is doing his ham radio stuff. It sure does take a lot of listening concentration.

Later, while walking in the wash, I call my good friends, Ken and Shelley Anne, as today is Ken’s birthday. He and I have been friends since we met in orchestra as 7^th graders.

After dinner at the campfire, I start reading another Tony Hillerman novel, which I especially like since the setting is the Southwest.

Wednesday January 17: Clifford, Rollie, and I go to Quartzsite this morning to go to the RV show that is advertised. However, when we get there, we find out it doesn’t start until the 20^th.

On the way back to camp, we see a little sign alongside the road announcing live music this evening at an RV parked not far from the entrance to La Posa South. We head down there in the early evening and are the first to show up at a campfire where a young woman, Audrey Callahan, and her guitar-playing husband are going to do live music. She is friendly and chats with us until more people arrive. Her singing is quite the treat indeed and we thoroughly enjoy her selection of songs, some of which she has written herself. At the end, she mentions doing travel videos, so I stay and chat with her, being interested in travel videos and blogs, and we exchange FB contact info. I do hope we can stay in touch.

Back at camp, dinner is late, and Clifford, Rollie, and I chat until almost midnight.

Thursday January 18: Today is moving day. We pack up and are ready to leave by mid-morning. Rollie is going Midland, the long-term BLM place north of Blythe so he can attend the bluegrass festival at Blythe. Clifford and I are going back to Roadrunner to get ready for Quartzfest, the ham radio week-long gathering. Our previous spot has been taken by other campers, so we find another place along the same small wash, but closer to the Quartzfest event center. A table and chairs hold a place for Rollie for when he joins us.

We get set up: antennas and radios for Clifford, organizing stuff and defrosting the fridge for me.

There is a mesquite tree and a big old saguaro right behind the camper, which I am most grateful for.

La Posa was a great place and I wish we could have stayed longer, but this will do for now, as we need to be here for Quartzfest.

We have a simple dinner tonight and I read until after midnight. Clifford is up even later with his ham radio stuff. Quartzfest is quite an exciting time for him.