Snowbird Mesa, Overton, Nevada; Interstate 15 north into Utah, Parowan Gap BLM land, Cedar City, Utah

Above is our spot at Snowbird Mesa in Overton, Nevada; just a few miles up the road from Valley of Fire State Park(which is closed for Covid19).  

We were here for 32 days. As many of you fully realize, the parameters of the Covid19 shutdowns kept changing almost daily. It became suggested and expected that customers would wear masks in the stores, so Jan and I looked up how to fold a mask. Jan's was from a dishtowel(note butterflies) and mine (not shown) was from a blue bandana.  Being fulltime RVers, we do not have an option(out here on BLM land) of food delivery, UPS,Fedex,etc. So we have to mingle with other people at a dump station, propane station, grocery store, and laundry. Luckily Overton was a small town and had no Covid 19 cases(as far as anyone knew)while we were there.

A bonus of our stay was being ably to catch Prickly Pear blossoms and other plants as well.

These tiny flowers pop up among the rocks. The blossoms are smaller than a dime.

Not sure of the name, but this plant has a sage like color with beautiful blue/purple flowers. Could be a variation of Schott's Dalea or a Lupine.

Look close!!!
The little guy--about 5 to 7 inches long is a Horned Lizard. We would see a number of these every day, but only after they moved. They would blend perfectly with the rocks and seemed to be like chameleons in adjusting their own color.
Southern Desert Horned Lizards

The plant above we thought was definitely an alien from outer space or a 1960's sci-fi movie.  But it is a Desert Trumpet.
Very strange!

This picture is taken from our longer walk over on Poverty Flats Mesa. You can see that Lady Blue is being very conscientious about Social Distancing.

It was a beautiful clear evening for the Supermoon on April 7th.
With the RVs at the bottom of the picture, you have an idea how large it seemed in Nevada.

32 days on Snowbird Mesa. The first few weeks were quite pleasant with cool evenings and days in the 70's or low 80's and about 7 to 12 per cent humidity. Some heavy showers would pop up and some very,very strong winds(50 to 60mph) But then around April 20th, it started to get much warmer. By April 24th, we were looking at temps close to 100 degrees and staying fairly warm at night. When we saw a forecast for April 29th of 103 to 105 degrees, we decided it was time to try to find another place.  Remember that we are boondocking on the mesa--no electricity, sewer, or water. We had a great 4000 watt generator on board, but you do not want to run it all day and night.  So we checked and saw a possibility of BLM land northwest of Cedar City, Utah at the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs. The elevation at Snowbird Mesa in Overton was around 1200 feet and the elevation at the Petroglyphs is 5500 feet. The difference in the temperature forecast is a comfy mid 80's for April 29 versus 103 degrees for Overton. We decided to try it. We head north out of Overton on Route 169 and then north on Interstate 15. It does not take long to begin a climb(in a small northwest section of Arizona).

Another scenic highway in the west, cutting through some rugged mountains.

We see that this road follows the Virgin River and the Virgin River Recreation Area. You can see the muddy brown river below.
Virgin River Recreation Area info via Trip Advisor
Note that the above link was through Trip Advisor which gave us a number of beautiful pictures. Try another search if it does not work for you. if you sign up for Trip Advisor you will get emails.

Beginning to see some of the red rock associated with Utah.

This part of the highway easily follows the river and valley created over thousands of years ago.

In Utah, we begin to see natural grasslands, Juniper trees and snow covered mountains ranging from 6700 feet to 11,300 feet.

A number of stops have been necessary, including dumping tanks, filling with water and propane, and also some grocery shopping. Eventually we reach Cedar City, happily fill with much less expensive gas($2.12 per gallon) and head out on Route 130 towards the Gap.

Thousands of years and an ancient river cut through the rock here. The river dried up, but the petroglyphs are still here.  Pictures coming in the next blog.

Lady Blue is quite happy with her new spot!

The view above us includes a picturesque hiking/atv road, and views of the high snow cover mountains.

Much happier with 70's and 80's weather. The nights drop into the 40's but quickly warm up to the 60's in the morning. When it was 105 degrees in Overton, Nevada, we had mid 80's here and then cooling nicely overnight.  Ahead the forecast is low to mid 70's which is fine with us!  Still trying to find out what our plan might be for May and June. Alison sent us a link for Maine that indicates strict closures into May and 14 day self quarantine for all of June. The restrictions on private campgrounds are still not clear and state park openings are still not clear. Same still for New Hampshire and Massachusetts and Rhode Island and Connecticut.  

Many miles available to hike! And all with beautiful Utah views.

Snowbird Mesa, BLM Land, Overton,Nevada

The Prickly Pear Cactus were beginning to blossom before we left Katherine Landing  Campground in Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
When we published the last issue on March 21st, we were understanding that we could stay there for another 30 days. Well----a few days later there was a leaflet on our windshield(and everyone else's windshield)that we had to leave within 24 hours.  Thanks for the advance notice-not.  The workers in the park totally understood. It was a dry camping spot.  There were bathroom cleaners, but no other maintenance needed.  The directive , of course, was from the National office. Felt bad for the workers because they received the same notice as a layoff happening immediately.
Everyone in the campground was scrambling to decide where to head and what campground might be open.  We decided to head to BLM land above Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. The state park was closed, but the dump station and water were supposed to stay open.

Meanwhile---a great view from our window at Katherine Landing.

In the parking lot and driving around the area was this 1956 Morris Minor 1000.  Rarely see any of these.

This is a web picture of a 1956 Morris Minor 1000 , two door traveller.  For sale for about $16,500.

A picture from the Marina dock . The campground is a ways behind the trees.

We actually got more than 24 hours. We were leaving the next day and a camper let us know that they were allowing campers a few days to make plans and then everyone was out.  We did go to the office to get our one day refund. But when the office was closed, we decided we would stay one more day.

Such a simple move to head west and north on small roads to the BLM spot.  Not so simple. They had the road closed that went through Lake Mead Recreation Area(west shore) Route 167. So, of course, we had to backtrack and drive through Las Vegas on Route 515 to Interstate 15 north.  A few glimpses of the strip and the Stratosphere Pod above.  Stay at home was in place for Las Vegas, but you couldn't tell from the number of vehicles on the road.

Ah-h-h-!
We. find a wonderful spot on the BLM Land, Snowbird Mesa, just south of Overton, Nevada. About 50 miles north of Las Vegas . Our trip turned out to be about 200 miles.
The BLM land is huge here. Room for more than 100 RVs. Nowhere near that many, probably because of the Covid 19 shutdowns.  There is no water, electric, dump station, or bathrooms here. And the cost is zero.  We called when we arrived, to Valley of Fire State Park and they said the dump station and water were open. Cost would be $10. So, we thought we were good until we knew what was happening in camping.  We already knew that our Escapee membership parks were full and not taking any new campers. Corps of Engineer Parks were closed. National Parks were closed. And many State parks were closed for camping as well.

One for Bailey. A Westfalia on the edge of the Mesa with a snow covered mountain for a view. Not too bad?

A picture with the Canon out our window of the snow covered mountain. The mountains mean that clouds can gather quickly and be quite dark at times.  Rain too.

Jan is enjoying our walk over to Poverty Flats Mesa.  A good deal of walking area here. This Mesa is also not full.

The video above is from Snowbird Mesa. At the beginning you can see the small town of Overton in the distance.

The small plants are beginning to blossom.

The video above is from Poverty Flats Mesa.  The separation between RVs is huge. A good thing for Covid19 protection.
Unfortunately, as fulltime campers, it is necessary to make trips to the grocery store, a dump station, a laundry, and a gas station.
Speaking of dump stations. we headed out at our normal interval to use the dump station at Valley of Fire.  The road was closed!  Thanks for that update too.  Yes, we were told by the park that it was going to be open. But, we guess, the state decided that it had to be closed. Luckily , a local RV repair owner found out about that and posted a note at the BLM land that they were available to offer their dump station and water in Overton. They posted the note on that same day that we needed it.  They were very nice . Cal's Repair Center in Overton, Nevada. The wife was on the town board and had argued that RVers on the Mesas would have no way to empty or have water.  They were not listening , so she opened their business dump station. The alternative was a 60 mile trip .  She was going to try to convince the state to reopen the park dump station.  We are so thankful!
As of now, 40 of the 52 states have closed their state parks to camping. Utah, for instance, has state park campgrounds open, but only for local residents. Some KOA campgrounds are either closed or limiting a one night stay. National Park campgrounds and National Forest campgrounds are mostly closed. Private campgrounds that we have contacted so far, are reluctant to have RVers stop in because they are afraid of the Covid19 virus.
In a sense, we fulltime campers , are now a pariah of sorts to the campground industry.  Hopefully we can stay here until May 1st at least and then see what is available.
Sheltering in place is okay for us, but we do need a spot to be able to shelter in place.
We thank many of you for signing on to that petition to keep parks open. As you might realize, that petition died with the national and state closures. 
There are over one million fulltme RVers. Hopefully, they have found places to be.

Yes!! This is a real picture with our Canon.  It suddenly appeared and we had just enough time to grab the camera. The sun was setting behind us--not behind the mountain.  The light was catching in the clouds and highlighting the snow covered mountaintop. The kind of picture you just cannot plan.

A little gift to end this blog.  
If you are looking for a video to take up time during the Covid19 isolation.  This gentleman has a number of videos. This log cabin took about a year to  build and the video is fairly long(not a year). His name is Shawn James of My Self Reliance and his videos are on Youtube.  The build is done alone, without power tools , and over the span of a year in 1917.
Anyone for building a log cabin???

Gilbert Ray Campground, Tubac,Windy Hill Campground-Tonto National Forest-Roosevelt Lake,Cave Creek Campground, North Ranch Escapee Campground,Katherine Landing-Lake Mead Recreation Area; Arizona

After Organ Pipe National Monument, we headed up Route 85 to Why and then east on Route 86 to Gilbert Ray County Park Campground. The large , natural boulder above is located near the office. Reminds us of a confection laced with butterscotch or caramel.(Hey-- just missing that Valentine candy)

Arizona can present all kinds of wonderful sunsets. Did not expect any color this evening, then-rather suddenly-the whole sky turned pink. Grabbed the camera while we were cooking our hamburgers.

We were told about Tubac by the art store cashier in Mesilla, New Mexico.  We head over from Route 86 to Interstate 19 south (of Tucson) to Tubac.  A town of artists and unique stores and restaurants.

We found our visit to be very enjoyable. The view above is  from the steps of the Center of the Arts. The object in white is an art sculpture we saw as a dancer. The town is nicely planned with unique shops and gorgeous views.

Poppies were just beginning to bloom.

A leather studio, clothing, and furniture.
One very interesting store was furniture like dining tables and coffee tables made from Mesquite trees--very large trees for some.
One huge, beautiful, coffee table was priced at $4500.

New Mexico and Arizona are noted for all kinds of lawn or outdoor decorations. Many very colorful and reflecting the native history and culture.

Above is a metal sculpture titled The Selfie.
A little hard to see with the tree in the background, but the purple boots and hat, the smart phone, and the sunglasses are particularly enjoyable.

An old Hudson draws attention to a jewelry and pottery store.
Definitely was not offered in this color.

The Hudson logo and upside down "V" are unique.

An online picture above of a 1952 Hudson Hornet.

This store was featuring small yard ornaments like Saguaros, plaques, and  Terracotta Chiminea. Didn't know much about these, so following is a link to a history and sales website.
Link to History of Chimineas

Wide streets, enough parking for us, and easy walking.

Arizona State Parks have become almost impossible for visiting campers. We tried several times to see if there were any sites available at Lost Dutchman and Catalina , for instance.  The girl on the phone laughed when we asked(which was a little disturbing), and then indicated that the sites fill up a year ahead of time--as soon as they are posted.  Diehard seekers can line up early in the morning for any cancellations.  Laurelee(Quartzsite Lazy Dazer) actually was able to catch a cancellation over the phone.
The picture above was while we had , at least, been able to drive through the Catalina Campground.

From the Catalina park we head north  on Route 77 towards Roosevelt Lake. On the way we decided to stay overnight at the Apache Sky Casino. We asked permission inside(generally given to RVers) and had the entire upper parking lot to ourselves. Very quiet with a few coyotes howling.

Thought we were out of Saguaro territory, but many were seen on roadside. Unusual large number or arms.

How about Saguaro and Poppies?

From Globe, Arizona we take Route 188 to Roosevelt Lake.

Roosevelt Lake is in the Tonto National Forest and the campgrounds are National with the Senior Discount applied. If you haven't been here in a while, the fees are now taken care of at a fee machine inside each campground. Our senior price was $12.50 per night. 5 years ago it was $3 per night for seniors. The park was much quieter now. Maybe because the non senior prices went from $6 per night to $25 per night, which is a huge increase for campers watching a budget .
The video above was taken from the Visitors Center.

Such nice color from the poppies and other spring flowers.

The video above was taken from Windy Hill Campground. The lake is 22 miles long and averaging about 2 miles wide. A little hard to tell from the video, but boats appear as tiny specks ,while you are expecting them to be much larger.
5 years ago the water level was way down. Lots of shore showing. The person at the Visitors Center indicated that 5 years ago the level was about 20 to 30 per cent capacity. This year, it is 80 plus per cent full. Like other large reservoirs , Roosevelt level is managed to control water below the dams.  This year is more about releasing water.

A cemetery is preserved inside the campground. 
3 Blevins children, an unidentified man shot by the sheriff, and 5 others who are unknown.

Nice, large , and separated sites. Many have great views like ours did.

Leaving Roosevelt , we head north to Jake's Corner on Route 188 and then head south towards Phoenix on Route 87. A good part is climbing to around 4700 feet and eventually down some very steep inclines,

What comes to mind is that this must have been either an engineer's dream or an engineer's nightmare to construct .

Speaking of County parks, we were able to find a site here at Cave Creek for 2 nights. That was it. Nothing available before or after.  We were glad to have the opportunity, a very nice park.
To get here, we followed Shea Boulevard west  from Route 87, then Route 101 north to Route 74 and Cave Creek in Carefree.

From Cave Creek, we continue on Route 74 west to Route 60. 
Then north to Wickenburg. From there there is clear signage for Route 93 to Route 89 to Congress, Arizona and North Ranch Escapees Park. We were happy to see a number of cactus with flowers just starting.

The park has the usual full hookup sites and then about 5 spaces for dry camping. We chose to dry camp. Even with the rain, we were able to use our normal amount of electrical usage and still fully charge the batteries every day.  Below the park itself are a number of private properties , most with homes--some with storage units and places for RV hookups. Jan and I thought this style was particularly interesting. We like a small footprint.

We are not sure of the name of this cactus. It is small like a Hedgehog cactus, but seems a little larger than Pincushion. What beautiful flowers!

We have seen the cactus like this before with styrofoam.
It seems to protect the buds until they blossom 

Toothpick Cactus
We wonder why?

Teddy Bear Cholla hosts many bird nests. 
Actually hard to see. But if you follow the red arrow , you can see the head, eye , and beak, facing right of the bird sitting on the nest.
What predator is going to bother them in that cactus?

From North Ranch we jump back on Route 93 north towards Route 40 and Kingman. Beautiful views and Joshua Trees along the way. Kingman turned out to be a good stop for groceries or anything else you might need.
West of Kingman , we take Route 68 to the Davis Dam exit. 
The picture above is from part of that drive. About a 6 per cent drop for 12 miles . Sure makes you pay attention!

Makes you wonder how all this was formed millions of years ago.

Upward formation or erosion?

New Englanders are always amazed at how much land in the west and Arizona in particular is uninhabited.

Back to another favorite .

Katherine Landing Campground on Lake Mojave in the Lake Mead Recreation Area

Above is a short video from the south side of the marina. This is on Lake Mojave. Beyond , on the far side of the water is Nevada. Davis Dam is just south and the Boulder Dam is about 100 miles north on the Colorado River. At that point the Colorado River heads east towards the Grand Canyon. California is very close here, just a few miles beyond the far shore.

An interesting name for a pontoon boat.
You can look for it in the following video(very small letters)

The video above is from the dock stretching out into the marina.

The Oleander is just blooming around the campground.
There are pink and white blossoms.

Also blooming cactus.
We had planned about 4 days here(again-one of our favorites) and then Covid19 became a national issue.
Some of you were aware that we had planned to head towards Death Valley and then to Lone Pine and the east side of the Sierras. From there, head north , maybe catching Lassen and Crater Lake and more before heading over to Grand Tetons in Wyoming.
Well-------first we heard that Death Valley campgrounds were closing. Then we thought we could head north through Nevada. The very next day , the Governor of Nevada closed the state parks in Nevada. Then, we had planned to head from the Tetons to New England via Canada and the border to Canada was closed to non Canadians. Today we read that a number of our Escapee parks are full to capacity and not accepting visiting campers. Also, the state park and private campground list of closures increases every day. Today we noted that most of the Corps of Engineer Parks are closed. So-----and maybe this is for the best---we are able to add up to 30 days here at Katherine Landing--National Park Campground--$10 cash per night for seniors. And we will be looking for the best plan forward. The National Park Campgrounds across the lake in Nevada are now closed, so we are crossing our fingers to have some time here---maybe not have this close yet.

We had promised some coverage of our updates and fixes to Lady Blue. We had been seeking answers for months about our solar charging setup that was not charging the batteries to full. The glass mat batteries are supposed to charge to around 14.4 volts. We were just seeing around 13volts--not terrible, but not right. The other problem was it took forever to charge to that level--and we were in Arizona sun.  At Quartzsite we went to Discount Solar and were happy to have Clay do a full test of our system. Turns out the culprit is in the picture above. An inline 25amp blade fuse . You can see that the wire is black and the area around the fuse is melted. The fuse itself was still working , but a frayed wire was not letting the full current from the 4 -100 watt solar panels through. The way the wire was placed did not allow anyone to see the melting or black wire.  Clay found the problem by a test on both sides of the fuse.
Solving the problem, he wired the line directly into our fuse block. Now the fuse is firmly placed with all the other fuses for Lady Blue.

Now we reach full charge of 14 to about 14.45 every day. Even this morning, after watching TV last night, charging all of computers and phone, plus the 1.2 amps per hour, every hour, that is used by Lady Blue; we reached 14 volts at 9 a.m. What a difference!

The green light shows we are checking amp usage. 1.4 amps is the normal hourly usage of 1.1 to 1.2 amps plus a double LED light.

And the green light is on Battery %Full, saying 101 per cent. It creeps up there sometimes, but mostly stops at 100 per cent.

We do a lot of dry camping--no electric hookup. So we rarely used our electric space heater. That, and our new one was too big and did not do what it promised.  So---we finally listened to what our Quartzsite Lazy Daze friends were telling us--add a propane Wave heater.  The first step was to have Phil in Quartzsite add a propane disconnect.  He did a very secure addition under the stove area and to the left of the door.  It is out of the way , the hose locks in securely, and there is a shutoff lever that disconnects the propane supply before the hose.  We had a 6 foot hose made at Pit Stop in Quartzsite.

Our new (as of early February)Wave 3 propane catalytic heater. It has two settings--low and high.  Just enough on low to take the chill off. Strong enough on high to provide good radiant heat.
If it does get cold , we start up the propane furnace which heats very quickly--and noisy. Then we can maintain temperature with the Wave 3 , unless it is very cold outside. The furnace can be quite noisy and is also much less efficient(a lot of heat goes outside). The Wave 3 is silent, provides a great, red glow at night, and is super efficient.  The connections are sealed and tested for leaks. We have a propane detector on board. So thanks Quartzsite Lazy Dazers--Dan, Steve, Laurelee, and more!

Lastly, we had mentioned that our furnace stopped working as we entered Virginia back in November.  We made do with our generator, electric space heater, sometimes our engine heater, and dressing warmly until we reached Escapees Rainbow Park in Livingston,Texas.  There we had great service from Price Mobile RV.
Turned out it was the circuit board, similar to one above. Took a bit to pull out the entire furnace, test it, and then replace, but it was then up and working great.  Which was a good thing, because we had some seriously cold weather since then.
Please note, we are basically "sheltering in place" , maybe as long as a month---or two. At that time, we hopefully will know where we can go and what is open to us on the way.