I guess records are made to be broken, but this is ridiculous. Here we are in the middle of the Sonora Desert, in Quartzsite Arizona. At this moment there is lightning flashing and thunder rolling, and the rain is pelting down. There is an inch of water all about the coach, and the wind is whistling around the corners. I pulled in all of the awnings to keep them from getting ripped up. I am getting to the point that I feel sorry for the promoters of this Bluegrass Festival that we are attending. We arrived only an hour and a half ago and here comes the rain. We just had a lightning strike inside the campground. Judy and I both saw the bolt hit and a puff of smoke came out of a billboard sign at the edge of the park. Boy are we glad that we are no longer tenting! I am thinking that the canoe is going to come in real handy getting over to the stage for the Bluegrass show. This is called “Dry Camping.” It is a more descriptive word for what is commonly called “Boondocking.” The term refers to doing without water and electrical hookup for the coach. It has nothing to do with the mud swirling around the tires. Even so we have unplugged the computer and sewing machine from the coach systems at least until the lightning quits popping all around us.

Annual rainfall average for Quartzsite is just over four inches a year. August gets the most rain with 0.66 inches average. December through March all get half and inch , more or less. Parker AZ, a town just 34 miles north of Quartzsite already is reporting 1.49 inches of rain just in February this year. The desert is as lush as a green grass meadow back in the Willamette Valley in Oregon this time of year. Fortunately these storms don’t last long. A sliver of sky is starting to open up on the horizon.

Now lest our friends think that we are not having fun, let us assure you all that we are having the time of our lives. We went hiking on the trail system around Buckskin Mountain State Park, just north of Parker AZ. Yes the trails go right up the side of the mountains and yes we got wet. We got to look deep into a mine shaft and got a wonderful panorama view of the Colorado River slicing through this rugged country. You might want to check out the panorama photo I have taken.

Goodbye for now, and we send along all of our love. Gary and Judy