We Meet New Friends

This picture is one I took at Castle Dome Museum, a reflection of the desert in an old windowed door which caught my attention.

Today started out as errand day.  We needed to take our trash into Bouse to the free transfer station, then pick up our mail at general delivery in Bouse.  After those jobs were handled, we wanted to go into Quartzsite for more errands.  I wanted to see about getting my hair trimmed at the shop where Janna had hers done.  I had decided it would be pretty messy to try to do my own trimming in the Castle, since I typically run the vacuum cleaner a lot when I trim my hair.  Jim wanted to see about some water filters and pump parts in town.  Many of the vendors have packed up and left, but there are still a few around.

On the way from Bouse to Quartzsite, we decided we’d stop for a quick lunch before continuing the errands, so we stopped at a little restaurant on the main street.  When we walked in, a couple at the booth next to the one we headed for looked up, and asked, “Are you Jim and Ellie?”  What a surprise – Becky and JD, who are readers, recognized us.  They live in Flagstaff and are down here trying to get warm for a long weekend.  We chatted for a few minutes until their lunch arrived.  After they finished theirs, I invited them to stop by our camp site for a visit while they’re here.  They also read Janna’s blog and were interested in her quilting set up.  As it turns out, they are camped out this way too, only about 3 miles from us.

We had our lunch and then went on to the hair salon, but found that it is closed on Fridays.  Hmmm….Ok, so on to the vendors Jim wanted to check out.  It didn’t take him too long to find what he needed and we were on our way back home with a quick stop to fill our drinking water jugs first.  I decided to go ahead and trim my own hair, it was getting way out of control.  While I was working on the back, which is always a fun challenge, my mirror slipped out of my hand and broke.  Great.  I was able to salvage a big enough piece to finish the job, but a new hand mirror is now on my “must have soon” list.  We ran the generator so I could use the vacuum cleaner and get my mess cleaned up.

Janna volunteered to cook dinner, using  a shrimp recipe that Jim found and said it sounded good.  It was!  While she was getting things ready, Becky and JD stopped by to say hello and plan a longer visit for this evening.  We said that would be good, and made arrangements for them to come back later on after they’d taken care of their furkids.

After a wonderful dinner, we got the campfire set, complete with s’mores fixings.  I calculated the points for one s’more and determined with the small amount of chocolate we were using, we could afford one.  Becky and JD had arrived with several armloads of firewood, so we gathered around the campfire with the Olympic opening ceremony playing on the outside TV.  What a life.

Finally, a cool wind got up a little and we decided to adjourn inside to finish our visiting before Becky and JD needed to head on back to their rig for the night.  It was great to meet them!  They are hoping to sell their house and be fulltimers by the time she is able to retire next January.  We wish them the best with that! Becky asked if it’s a weird feeling to have strangers recognize us.  I explained it’s a little startling, but that we don’t consider them strangers, they are just friends we haven’t met yet.  We look forward to seeing them again one day, down the road!