Life on the road

Anasazi Beans With Guacamole

I am always looking for new things to eat that are healthy, inexpensive, gluten free and good tasting. The other day when we were in Parker, I found these Anasazi Beans. I had read about them in cookbooks and on the internet, but I had never seen any in a store. They were more expensive than other kinds of dried beans, about twice as much for a 16 oz bag. I bought them anyway and brought them home.

I couldn’t wait to take them out of the bag and take a picure of them. I mean, they are so pretty just sitting there in the pot:

I made bean soup with them, adding some chopped celery, onion, garlic, basil, thyme, and black pepper. I don’t usually add any salt to the pot when I am cooking dried beans. It makes them tough and chewy, so we add the salt after they are cooked if they need any. I have always added some sort of meat to the pot when I cook beans, but this time, since we are trying to eat less meat, I did not add any at all. We wanted to see how good dried beans could be with no meat added.

Also, I have found that if you either soak the beans overnight, or put them in a pot with water, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, then pour off the water and rinse the beans well, you won’t get the flatulence usually associated with eating beans. (It works, believe me, I know it does!)

After you rinse the beans, add them to the crockpot with the other ingredients. I cooked these beans for about 4 hours on high, then turned them off and let them sit overnight in the crockpot. The second day, I turned the crockpot on high and cooked them another two hours. The soup turned out just right. I served it with homemade guacamole spooned on top, and cornbread on the side. The guacamole added just the right amount of mmmmmmmmmm to this soup.

Now isn’t that a beautiful bowl of soup?

Pin16

16 Shares

Something I’ve Meaning To Tell My Sister

Karen · 5 Comments

My sister has had eczema on her hands for a long time. She has trouble with breakouts often, and has to wear gloves when washing her dishes. I have also had some trouble with my hands itching and some trouble with my cuticles and nails getting too dry.

A few months ago, while we were in Flagstaff, I decided to look for a dishwashing liquid that would be better for my hands. We had been using Palmolive for years, and it had been the best one I could find to prevent the itchyness, but even that was not working for me anymore.

Yeah, I COULD just wear gloves, but even though I had bought some, I can never remember to put the dang things on until AFTER I had my hands in the dishwater. Have you ever tried to put rubber gloves on wet hands??? Not happening, friends.

So, anyway, we were in the health food store in Flagstaff, and found BioKleen Dishwashing Liquid:

This stuff is great if you have sensitive skin! I have been using it since the last week of October. My hands are not all itchy, and don’t have the ugly peely looking cuticles I usually get when I am the one doing the dishes. See:

The bottle says Hand Moisturizing, Natural, Non-toxic, Biodegradable. It has Grapefruit Seed and Orange Peel Extract, and is Gentle to the Skin. It was not cheap, but a 32 oz bottle lasts a pretty long time. We just opened our third bottle and have been using it since the last week of October. Anyway, consider this a public service announcement. If you have a problem with dry itchy skin on your hands, get some of this stuff. It works great! (and NO, I was NOT paid to review this product. I just really like it.)

0 Shares

Driving Me Crazy!

Karen · 13 Comments

When I turned 16, I wanted nothing more than to get my drivers license. My father, however, was of the opinion that girls did not NEED a drivers license, that they could go everywhere they needed to go with their parents, their brothers, or their boyfriends. He steadfastly refused to take me to get my license.

Until it occurred to him that he could also take my brother, who is a year younger than me, at the same time. At that time in Georgia, if your parent was with you when you went to get your drivers license, you did not have to show your birth certificate. You parent told the officials how old you were, and they took them at their word.

So, on that day in 1968, my father told them I was born in 1951, so he could tell them my brother was born in 1952. And ever since then, my date of birth has been incorrect on my drivers license. It has never been a problem. Until yesterday.

Yesterday FabGrandpa and I went to the Arizona DMV to get Arizona drivers licenses. His was coming up for renewal in March. Since we are not planning to go to Georgia until November, it would have been a problem for him. He is required to have a valid drivers license for his summer job. An expired Georgia license wouldn’t work. And, because we also got a post office box in Arizona last week, I decided to go ahead and get my Arizona license, too.

When it was my turn, I appoached the desk, and gave the clerk my two forms of ID, which consisted of my Georgia license and my brand new US Passport card. And the dates of birth on them did not match! I went through the whole story of how my father lied on that day in history. The clerks conferred amongst themselves. They called the supervisor. They called The Boss. All of this was making me really uncomfortable. And they finally told me I could have my Arizona drivers license, but that I really need to bring in my birth certificate next time I am in town. You know, the birth certificate that the Passport office said was not a valid one? Thanks, Dad, for all the fun.

0 Shares

Oh, Excuse Me…

Karen · 9 Comments

It has been brought to my attention that I have not written in my blog for 4 days. FOUR DAYS! Where has the time gone? It’s not like I was doing anything really important, like working, or cleaning, or even reading the long awaited mail.

It’s just that I have been doing nothing. And going nowhere. You know, being a complete mush head. Lolling about on the sofa watching TV. Playing games online at POGO. Sleeping until 10:00 then taking an afternoon nap before snoozing on bed before actually going to bed.

When your life is like that there is absolutely nothing interesting about it, for you or for anyone else.

So, today, we got out of our pajamas and out of the house and went for a drive. Only I was driving so I couldn’t take any pictures to prove it. I wanted to go here, but we didn’t, so I have nothing to write about. Because I am sure you don’t want to hear about how we drove over to Blythe, California to go to K-Mart and buy an oven thermometer:

Oh, Yeah, Baby! and it even says Martha Stewart on it. Now I’m cooking! Oh, sorry.

So, there ya go, all the drama that was the drama, and all the news to make you sorry you asked.

0 Shares

Mail Lost And Found

Karen · 6 Comments

For eight years, our daughter, Becky, who lives in Atlanta, has handled our mail for us. She has collected it from the post office box and sent it to us about every two weeks or so. She has done this for us because she loves us, and has done a very good job of it.

Over the last year or so, the mail has been sent with more and more time in between, an indication to us that she is busy. We understand that–she owns her own business, has lots of friends, a new boyfriend, and now a new puppy. (well, her room mate has a new puppy) So, we decided to permanently change our address to a PO box here in Salome. We decided to come back here to this same RV park next winter anyway, and the post office will forward our mail for free to our job in the summer for 6 months, which is all we would need, anyway.

So, we called Becky and had her send our mail one last time, which she did, 10 days ago. When we still had not received our mail package yesterday, I emailed Becky and asked if she had really sent the mail on the day she said she was going to. Yes, she did. So, today, still no mail.

I got to thinking about it, and although she has never done it before, I wondered if she had sent the mail to the last place we were, in Phoenix. Called them, and sure enough, they had my package. But, they wouldn’t forward it to me. They could return it to Becky, but could not forward it to me. Even if I paid them to.

So, now I am waiting for my mail to take a ride from North Phoenix RV Park in Phoenix, back to Becky, then back to me here in Salome. That package will have traveled over 6,000 miles before I get it. Imagine that!

And I just want to say here, that I have worked at RV parks for years, and at every place I have ever worked, we would forward the mail. This is not normal.

0 Shares

Workampers Meet-up

Karen · 4 Comments

We were invited to a meet-up today with some members of an online forum from Workamper News Magazine. The place we were to meet was a gold claim on BLM land east of Quartzsite, about 30 or so miles from where we are parked.

This is the road to the claim. It is the good part of the road. We went about four miles out then turned off on a side road that looked more like a pig trail. Very rough, very remote.

I think they said this is a contraption used for dry panning for gold. They put the dirt in there, then sift it. Or something like that. Shit, I really don’t know HOW it is used, just that they were using it to look for gold. It was really very interesting. Really.

FabGrandpa and I walked up that hill. I got some cactus stickers in my leg. That part was not fun. It was another beautiful blue sky day. I think I got sunburned on my face. That part was not fun, either, but I really did have fun today.

Some more scenery. I love this place.

Here, FabGrandpa is standing next to this big red cactus to demonstrate just how big it is. It had really big stickers on it, too. You don’t want to be falling on one of those babies!

See, I told you it had big stickers on it. Those things bite.

This one is tiny. I had to sit on the ground to get close enough to get this picture. It was about four inches across and about 5 inches tall. It had the remains of red flowers on it. I think this is where I got the cactus stickers in my leg.

The real name of this cactus is Cholla, but some people call it “jumping cactus” because if you brush up too close to it, the little arms will “jump” off onto your clothes. And that is not fun. No, it didn’t happen to me. And I hope it never does.

More scenery. Jaimie, the girl who owns the claim, told us she has seen bighorn sheep up there before. We didn’t see any today. Probably because there were too many people around.

Here we are, proof we were there, looking for gold! George, Jaimie, Lynda, and me.

This was a bunch of people camping on the BLM land on the way out to the claim. This was a couple of miles off the main road. I bet it is real quiet out there.

That is a tiny little house out there in the desert. I probably have more room in my RV than there is in that house. It is hard to believe someone actually lives out here.

A gravel pit mine on the way out to George and Jaimie’s claim. There were several claims being worked out there. Jaimie said they do find gold, but it is a LOT of work to find just a little bit.

Of course, Workampers can’t get together without eating! We all met up back in town at Palo Verde Restaurant. The food there was good. I had liver and onions, FabGrandpa had a rib eye steak. MMMM.

left to right: FabGrandpa, me, Jim and Bev (ymeIsay on the Workamper forums), Charlie and Lynda (G’Ma on the Workamper forums), George and Jaimie (Calamity Jaimie on the Workamper forums), and Bob and Ann (TwoRootless on the Workamper forums)
Oh, and when we got home and were getting out of the truck, when Charlie opened his door, rocks fell out! Pretty rocks.

0 Shares

It Must Be A Sign

Karen · 5 Comments

On my walk today, I saw lots of signs. This one told me the road ahead would be rough. I didn’t care because I was walking. And I had good shoes.

I didn’t know there was rabbits out here! But apparently there are, because he left his tracks behind:

Here a sign that there a LOT of water here just a little while ago:

This sign cracks me up:

Because this is McVay Road:

And this is 61st Street:

And then I saw a sign that it was getting late, and I had to hurry home to make dinner:

0 Shares

A Walk In The Desert

Karen · 9 Comments

I was restless today, after having done little but sit or sleep for the past week. We had both been sick again, just a general “blah” feeling and no energy. Our trip to Parker yesterday included a visit to the pharmacist at CVS, who suggested some Claritin and a cool mist vaporizer. She explained that even though we had spent the spring, summer, and fall here in Arizona, we were still in a very dry climate, with winter being the driest. Some allergies are aggravted by the dry climate.

We brought the vaporizer home and plugged it in. It brought the humidity in the trailer up from around 26% to 51%, and we are both feeling much better. That lady really knew what she was talking about.

So, in the afternoon, I set out for a walk in the desert. Like most people, I always thought there was not much life going on in the desert. But I found lots of animal tracks, and other evidence that they had been there. The plants are turning green quickly from the little bit of rain we got this week.

I walked out about a 1/4 of a mile off the road. This picture was looking to the northeast of the campground:

This one is looking west:

I walked back over to the dirt road that goes past the campground, and walked about 1/4 of a mile to the south. There was a smaller, narrower dirt road that went off to the west, so I took that one for a way:

There were lots of animal tracks here, probably cows and javelinas. I found some seashells in a wash area, and a pretty rock, and brought them home to examine more closely.

It was getting late when I got home, so I made some dinner. Actually, I heated up leftover eggplant parmesean. After dinner, I went outside again, to get some shots of the sunset. I never get tired of seeing it:

It was a grand end to a great day:

0 Shares