Anniesantiago

Monday, February 25, 2019

Another Big Clean Out - October 2018

Well, this week was an exceptional one for me.

I made the decision to let my needle-felting fiber go to a new home.
The supplies are lightweight, but bulky, and so just aren't "right" for van-dwelling.

I enjoy doing the felting, especially the pet sculptures.

But the craft supplies are just too big to carry around in a van.

I put up my Addi-quick machine on my Etsy page, and within a day, it was SOLD! In the add, I mentioned having a huge stash of fiber. The gal who bought the machine emailed me and was very interested in the fiber, so I took photos and told her "make me an offer!"

Here is just a small portion of what I had to sell:

Within a couple of hours, she wrote back saying, "How about $250?"

Well.. it was hard for me, because I have several THOUSAND dollars worth of fiber. The photos just show a portion of it.

HOWEVER, it's doing me no good sitting in storage.

So I accepted.

The money will pay for the new colored pencil sets I bought.

Plus,

She's a beginner.

She's getting a great deal.

It's going to a good home.

It's ok.

But whew! It was a hard decision.

I boxed it up today and took it to the post office.

That's 4 less boxes of "stuff!"

I still have the needles and eyes and horsehair and other supplies.

They're more expensive tools and worth hanging on "just in case."

But I'm happy.

I've decided the BEST art tools for me in the van

are watercolors and colored pencils.

Now I have to make a decision on my doll business.

Unless I get an RV,

there's really no room for 300 plus Bratz dolls,

a sewing machine,

and fabric.

Plus it takes a bit of water to sanitize the dolls.

Not quite ready yet to let those go...

I sold this one today so they're still making a little bit of cash.

I do pretty well during the holiday season.

So I'm going to fill the shop before the RTR,

and maybe I'll just work on them from here when I visit Joe.

Anyway, I'm excited.

After a year in the van,

I'm still getting rid of "stuff."

Can't wait to head out to Quartzsite.

Looks like it will be around January 1.

My son bought me a ticket home to Portland for the month of

November 20th to December 28.

I'm going to pet-sit while he and Michael are in Hawaii.

It will be nice to see all the kids and grandkids.

I'll be back around the 28th, then back into the van for the winter.

Stay tuned!

Annie

Back in DHS Painting

September 20, 2018.

I'm back in Desert Hot Springs.
It's hot and humid here today,

(about 102 with 35% humidity!)

so I'm staying inside

and starting a new class on colored pencil portraits.

I finished the Anna Mason class on The Hand

last week

before I took off on my trip.

My Hand Painting

I love watercolor, but sometimes I get bored
and want to do something different,
so I bought some Coloursoft Pencils

and I'm going to try my hand at colored pencil art.

I signed up for a portrait class from ArtTutor.

Today I work on eyes.

The teacher is using a different set of pencils,
but they cost near $200
so I'm working on a color chart
to try to find equivalent pencil colors for the class.
I wish she'd included a chart with the lessons,
but it's good practice for me.

Soooooo....
I'm off to do art and try to stay cool.
See you on the road.

Happy Trails!

Annie

Route 66, Gallup New Mexico

It was late in the afternoon when I arrived in Gallup.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the place is tiny.

I needed to find a campsite before dark, so I drove on through, figuring I'd go back to explore the next day or two. I was getting tight on cash and needed to find a place to hunker down for a week or two. I found a campground not too far up into a canyon called Quaking Aspen, where the fee was only $5 and half of that for me with my federal pass.

I arrived and as I was looking for the pay envelope I saw a sign that said, "CAMPGROUND CLOSED SEPTEMBER 17 AM!"

Oh crap! Really?

Just as I was bemoaning my luck on this danged trip, a car with a sign, "CAMPGROUND HOST" pulled up.

I said, "Is the campground REALLY closing tomorrow???"

He nodded, and said, "And you may want to follow me to the next campground, because the host here says he's locking up as soon as he collects the envelopes in the morning. Last year, he locked a guy in!"

Sheesh! Apparently the fellow had to use bolt cutters to get out of the campground. I didn't carry bolt cutters, so I followed him a mile or two up the road to another nice campground. I had the pick of the place as there was only one other camper left. Really nice campground that I'll return to next season. However, it was also closing the next morning. Budget cuts, I guess?

So I parked for the night in this wonderful quiet place with pines and meadows, got a good night's sleep, and decided to head back to Desert Hot Springs next morning. The Universe just didn't seem to be cooperating with my plans of finding a place to hang out a couple of weeks until the weather cooled in DHS.

I've learned to LISTEN to these signals from the Universe, and though it's over 100 degrees with humidity of 35% here today, I feel I made the right decision. I'll hang out here and paint and do water aerobics in the mornings, and continue my Route 66 travels possibly later in the season. At least I did make it across Arizona.

By the way, I stopped at this place just before crossing into New Mexico. It's on the North side of the highway and a grandmother there runs a little stand inside with the BEST tacos!

New Mexico looks like it will be gorgeous!

My nice campsite

As I was leaving I stopped in Gallup for breakfast and ran across this sign.

Maybe another clue from the Universe that I should get my butt home!

::laughing!:::

Happy Trails!

Annie

GPS: 35.40581, -108.54017 for the campground

Painted Desert Route 66

The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert are basically in the same park. You enter one from the south and one from the north. Both Visitor Centers are worth a stop, though the one at the southern end is better because they have a short trail where you can see petrified logs up close.

The Painted Desert was crazy spectacular! I'm really happy I visited. The colors were amazing; blues, purples, pinks, tans, just like someone took a paintbrush to the hills. Beautiful.

There was a fellow with camels there - he was busy talking to a lady so I didn't stay to find out what his deal was, but the camels seemed to feel right at home ther ein the desert.

After a wonderful day exploring here,
I got back on the Highway and headed to Gallup, New Mexico.

Route 66 Petrified Forest

From Holbrook, I headed to the southern end of the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. The Petrified Forest is in the southern end of the park and the Painted Desert is in the northern end. If I had it to do again, I'd enter the Painted Desert at the northern tip right off Hightway 40/Route 66, but for some reason, the guidebook didn't say that was possible and I ended up driving the full length of the park 3 times.

I parked at the lower end, right outside the park, in a small FREE Crystal Forest Shop campground run by tourist shop there. The lady there was nice, and said as long as I had a toilet, I could park there free for up to 10 days.

HOWEVER, for some weird reason (people without toilets?) the FLIES were CRAZY! I'm talking 50 flies if I opened my van door for 2 minutes. I wasn't too happy about staying there, honestly, due to the flies. Otherwise, it would have been fine and I bet the stars would have been magnificent that night!

I left my ice chest and chair in my camping spot, the one under the big tree she suggested that had shade all day, and headed up the 20-something mile road to see the Petrified Forest, then the Painted Desert at the other end. Once I got up at the northern end of the park, I saw the sign that told me I could get back on Hwy 40 there!

I looked at the map and it was closer than going all the way around. If I'd not left my ice chest and chair, I could have just hopped onto the highway there, but the chair is special to me, so I drove back down to retrieve it. Then I drove back UP and stopped at the points I'd passed before due to the number of tourists in the parking lots. The park is self-guided, with pull-outs at the important points. It was pretty busy, so I'd passed some points, and was happy to have the opportunity to stop and see the ones I'd missed.