Great news to Share

We are in Yuma and have some great news to share. Everything is fine and we are moving along in a seemingly random manner. There is a method but without knowing the reasons it may seem like we don’t have a plan. Since you may not know our great news yet you may think we are aimless. Maybe we are aimless.

Not Aimless Wandering

After Quartzsite, we have been busy, busier than we like to be. From Quartzsite, we moved 75 miles south to Yuma, for three nights, and then west to El Centro, for two more nights. While we were there we had to make a day trip to San Diego to see a special delivery. After that, we went back to Yuma. Our near next big city destination is Phoenix. It was a big detour for a special reason but, we have some explaining to do. 

Back in San Diego because of a special delivery

The cause of all this moving around was based on the delivery of a precious package. Last Wednesday the package was delivered.  More than that, we didn’t even get to take the package home with us. So enough suspense building, get to the point.

Last Wednesday in San Diego our 7th grandchild was born.

This is our great news. My daughter skipped the labor part of “Labor and delivery” (except if you count the 9 months of creation as labor) and gave birth on Wednesday, via scheduled C-section. We went to San Diego to hold baby Jule last Thursday.  Mom is fine (more great news) and dad was working overtime taking care of the other kids. So far we have been there for every grandchild’s birth, or attended right after childbirth, just to hold the baby. It is a true blessing.

Jule arrived on Wednesday. (C-sections are better in the scheduling department) We have been staying close enough to San Diego to buzz into town while camping out here in the desert. Everything worked according to our plan. (great news) Babies don’t always comply with plans, but Jule did.

Arizona Desert

Until today, boondocking in the Arizona desert has been working well. I say, until today because we are currently sitting out a two-day wind storm. It isn’t too bad but it is really cold and that does put a damper on things. Solar, so far has been meeting our electrical needs, but it needed a boost from the generator yesterday — wind brought in the clouds.

Doctor schedules have mixed up our schedules

I still don’t know what is happening with my next medical appointment or where it will be. Several people are working on it but the date and location are uncertain. I will need another endoscopy (jam a camera down my throat) before too long and I don’t want to wait. Other people are more urgent than I am. My doctor is at the top of the field, but that also means that he is busy.

The plan is to go to Phoenix until we make a sprint back to Irvine for my doctor’s appointment and then turn right back around and go back to Phoenix. The trip back to Irvine is important, as is returning to Phoenix. When we get back to Phoenix we have some big things to share.

Stargazing with Geo Astro RV

The last few days have been a real treat.  We are camping on another flat piece of the Mojave Desert north of Yuma with some friends who are stargazers. They all have telescopes and we are the audience. Our part of the deal was some entertainment beverages and we choose margaritas. They said we could come back anytime.  

The gathering was hosted by our friends John and Brenda who freely give day and night time astronomy shows in various locations including several National Parks their website is GeoAstroRV. If you can catch them when they are giving a show it is great. This time we caught up to them near Yuma in the desert. As you can tell from the picture, John and Brenda have lots of solar electric power on both their RV and trailer.

We attended John and Brenda’s presentations in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and in Quartzsite, but this time there wasn’t a presentation, but rather a group of telescope buffs all looking at different things through their telescopes. We wandered from one telescope to the next telescope all looking at different spots in the sky.

I always knew that there was a fuzzy area in the sword part of the constellation Orion, now I know that it is the Orion Nebula.  Even more astonishing, I was able to see the nebula both with telescopes and binoculars. Binoculars are amazing night sky observation tools. With binoculars, I was able to distinguish a double star in the Ursa Major (big dipper) constellation. We also started to pick up some of the lingo. The Orion Nebula is named M42. (named by Charles Messier 1730-1817, an astronomer that first cataloged the location) Here is a link to John and Brenda’s website. GeoAstroRV

Star Clusters

Seeing star clusters was very surprising without telescopes. Binoculars make seeing the constellation Pleiades (part of the constellation Tarsus) which includes seven obvious stars seen without binoculars, into an obvious star cluster, including some haze (dust) around the or between us and the stars. If you want to see a picture of the constellation, all you have to do is look at the front emblem on a Subaru.

Sky Map

The constellation application on my phone (called sky map) showed me that there are some planets aligned tonight. Below the visible horizon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto are all in a line with the sun (at sunset), and then along the same line, above the visible horizon Mercury, Venus, Neptune, and Uranus and the moon. Of course, this wouldn’t astonish an astronomer, given that all the planets are on the same orbital plane… but astrologers are probably all dancing some a happy dance.

Too bad the wind is bad enough to chase everyone inside, instead we are watching the stars on our phones.

Museum of History In Granite

On Sunday we went to the self-proclaimed “center of the world” which is part tourist attraction, part history lesson, and part memorial. After that, we dropped into and created our own Super Bowl party at a local burger and beer joint. When we left, the score was nearly tied, and we missed the last half of the game and nearly all the commercials.

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Just like the rest of the stuff on our blog, we hope that it helps you. We are so happy you find these articles worth your time.

Links

Geo Astro RV

Museum of History In Granite

Here is a link to the google map for the area