Hi Jolly Boondocking, Quartzsite, AZ

 

      This is a short 2 day stay in the desert west of Phoenix.  There are literally hundreds of thousands of RVers who visit here each winter, especially during the World's Largest RV Show in January which attracts nearly 250,000 folks.  

      We will boondocking off grid with the on-board Arctic Fox Solar/Lithium setup.  Instead of running the generator each night for about 8 hours I will use the Jackery Power Source to power my CPAP which will only require about 2 hours of generator time each day to recharge the Jackery unit.  

      This BLM LTRV area is about 3 miles north of town on Hwy 95.  There is no charge to camp here, just a simple registration.  There are no facilities or services of any kind out here.  You may camp for free 14 days.  We did water up at the RV Pitstop in town before heading out here.  Topping off the freshwater tank cost $6. On the way out it cost $10 to dump.  NOTE:  If camping long term in Quartzsite there are businesses that will send a truck out to refill your water tank and even dump your tanks for a fee.  You never have to leave.  

      We'll chill out, get some laundry done and refill any supplies we needed. When travelling we try not to let the laundry stack up, so we do laundry about every 5 days.  Roux loved the outside time, able to enjoy the new smells and sniffs.  With mild temps we didn't need the heat and were able to enjoy windows and doors open.  

      While here we dined on BBQ Brisket Stuffed Baked Taters and Smoked Pork Loin.

Smoked Pork Loin w/beans, taters, and gravy

Brisket Stuffed Baked Potato

      This is always a nice stop over on our route north.  We have stayed much longer in the area, but usually south of town at La Posa, which has water spigots, trash dumpsters, and dump capability.  These are best for longer term stays.  From here we headed north on Hwy 95 to Las Vegas, however Railroad Pass Casino no longer provides overnight parking for RVs so we scooted down the road to Boulder City and stayed at Canyon Trails RV Park.  Nice park, good for an overnight.  Canyon Trail RV Park, Nevada

NOTE:  DUE TO VERY HIGH WINDS (THAT WOULD BE CROSSWIND WHILE DRIVING) WE STAYED AN ADDITIONAL DAY IN QZITE TO WAIT IT OUT.  

"The desert when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the Earth began" 

Tom Hanks

The Yankee's Place

 

      This restaurant has been around Leakey for about 4 years now, first out of their home and then from a food truck.  They have spent the last few months renovating a new place to call home and recently opened.  They specialize in pizza but offer much more Italian as well.  They are located just south of the town on the east side next to the Wash Barn.  

      The renovation lasted nearly all of our winter duration here, but finally they opened on Valentine's Day 2025.  Besides just the construction aspect they improved with other aspects such as ovens, supplies, and logistics.  There is seating for 29 customers.  

      Their menu is diverse, including a new beer/wine menu.  They also still offer take out.  The Yankee brings the best of his original New York Italian heritage cuisine to the Texas Hill Country.

           

      We decided to dine two days before our early spring departure.  Once seated Barb decided to try out the 'build your own pizza while I went with Pork Sausage Lasagna.

      We had mixed feelings about our meal.  I thoroughly enjoyed the lasagna.  Barb, however, was not thrilled with her pizza.  Her 10" pizza was $8 and each topping was $1.50 more. Barb is particular about her pizza sauce so she ordered the Ricotta Sauce.  This turned out to be 4 glops of Ricotta on top of the pizza.  The service was quite good.  I enjoyed 2 beers and Barb had lemonade.  Total for our dinner was $40. On a scale of 1-5 our rating is:   

"Your diet is a bank account.  Good food choices are always a good investment" 

Bethanny Frankel

 

 

Lotus Thai Cafe, Rocksprings, TX

 

      This is the cutest little cafe you'd never expect to find in Texas.  Located in Rocksprings (pop 830), about 58 miles northwest of Leakey.  The drive thru the Hill Country is always spectacular.  This small cafe offers a pretty diverse assortment of Thai food.

 Online Menu of Lotus Thai Cafe Restaurant, Rocksprings, Texas, 78880 - Zmenu  

      There are only four eateries in town. The chef at the Lotus Thai Café moved to Rocksprings from Thailand.  The owner, Aisika Davidson, people call her ‘A", is from Thailand. She used to work as a sous chef in Vegas, but her dream was to own a Thai restaurant.”

 

      On this day I was solo and drove over for the 11-2 lunch.  I have always enjoyed Oriental cuisine, but Thai might be my favorite.  I make Pad Thai at home a couple of times each year.  The driver over through the Hill Country is usually quite beautiful, but today it was drizzly with the ridge tops pretty much shrouded.  

    The dining room only holds about 33 folks, but that is plenty in a town this size.  Today's lunch special @ $8.99 was Thai Broccoli, Chicken, and Rice.  I, however, went with the Thai Orange Chicken.  The only rice they offered was white.  I prefer brown, but that's ok.  

      I loved my meal.  They give you plenty of food.  So much that I couldn't finish all mine.  The service was excellent.  The place was about half full for the lunch crowd, but the waitress was constantly moving, satisfying every customer, including me.    Total price for the meal was $14.95.  A long drive, but a meal well worth the effort.  

   

"Thai food is like a hug in a bowl" 

Will Ferrell

A Home for Winnie

         We got "Winnie", our new Polaris Ranger last winter.  It has proven to be a very handy ranch utility vehicle, even though we can only use it for off road use.  When we're not here during the summer months we need to store it.  Last spring we covered it with a custom fitted cover and ran a battery tender to keep it trickle charged while weren't here.  This works, but we were looking for something more permanent. 

 

      We decided on a small metal garage out near our other shed so we could run power from there as well.  I could also use it for a small work and storage area for tools.  I went with Derkson's Buildings, the same company that built our RV patio cover.  This garage will comfortably house the UTV with a little room for other storage.

      We ordered the building in late December and as such had to wait for them to put together the materials package, then schedule for building it on site.  Due to our idea of placement I had to trim a few limbs off a live oak and have gravel delivered to cover an area 12' by 20' about 6 inches deep.... about 5 cubic yards if gravel. 

Live oak is a workout even for a fat guy with a chain saw

12'x20' gravel bottom for 10'x18' garage

      The materials arrived and we finally got our 'build date' of January 21st.  Amazingly, when the truck arrived it contained a fully assembled garage.  Apparently, they don't build them on site anymore.  It was a tight fit back thru the trees where I wanted to put it, but he had a motorized hand truck (almost like a pallet jack) that he used to drag the building on skids and put it right in place.  A few limbs did still need to be trimmed.

  

      The garage was moved, settled, and leveled within 90 minutes.  We did have to contact the 'gravel guy' for a bit more due to the skids and increased height of the entry ramp.  We save a bit of money by having it delivered, and we raked and leveled it ourselves (Boy Howdy, this really tried kicking our butts).

      We had an electrician run electric from the other shed to this garage with an outlet for lighting as well as the battery tender.  

      The last of our projects this year.  Winnie now has a summer home complete with dry storage, recharging for the battery tender, and lockable. 

  

"Building your dream home is about desire and fantasy, but it’s achievable; anyone can do it" 

Kevin McCloud

Black Bear Link Cheddar Sausage

 

      The newest meat processing/smoking project for this winter is once again thanks to Barb's recent successful bear hunt.  So far, we have enjoyed bear burger, backstrap, and steaks.  Bear meat has quite a bit of internal, natural fat so it should lend itself well to smoking.  For this recipe I decided to concentrate on the processing of the ground meat into sausage with seasonings and packaging.  That leaves the cooking to whatever method desired according to your recipe.  

3 pounds bear burger

1-2 pounds bacon, diced small

2 Tbsp kosher salt

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp sweet paprika

2 Tbsp fennel seeds, toasted

1 Tbsp coriander seeds, toasted and crushed

2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 cup binder, such as dry powdered milk

1/2 cup cold water

1/4 cup red wine 

cheddar cheese 

3-4 feet hog casings, I used collagen casings for this, no soaking required

      Place burger into large bowl.   Add the seasonings/binder to the meat mixing well, being sure to coat all pieces.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

      When ready, grind all of the meat mixture through the grinder.  Add the bacon bits, cheese, cold water, and wine to the sausage grind and mix well, grind again.  Set the bowl of ground meat into the refrigerator for 1 hour.  I did mine overnight.  

      Setup your hog casings on the stuffer tube and start stuffing the ground sausage into the casings.  When done, measure the size of the links that you want and pinch/twist every other link in the opposite direction to ensure consistency.  Using a small pin, prick the sausage to help release air.  

      I did pre-smoke these on the wood pit at 150F till browned but not cooked to 165F. I used pecan chips over lump charcoal.  This firms up the skins, starts the cooking process, adds some smoke, but does not fully cook.  They stay together in the freezer when done this way.  Refrigerate or freeze when done.  This allows for cooking for your desired meal at a later date.  You can broil, bake, smoke, grill, or even fry these.  

      

      We did have a few issues with the process.  Creating and stuffing works smoothly, but our creation of links needs work.  I usually stuff the entire length and then crimp by twisting.  I used collagen casings this time.  Several links broke when twisting them (hence the irregular sizes) so I'm going to research further to see if I want to use hog rings and pliers next time.  Maybe I'm overstuffing them.  Final tally:  5 packs of bear sausage links, 

"There are two things nobody should ever have to watch being made, sausage and laws''

Mark Twain