Thursday, January 31, 2013

Bridges Of The World

The following pics and descriptions are from the internet newsletter at TravelMagma which I receive on a regular basis.

Most of these truly amazing bridges I probably will never see. Only one of them I have been crossing twice: the bridge over the Ă–resund between Denmark and Sweden. I went also underneath that bridge while it was under construction.

Rolling Bridge (United Kingdom)

The Rolling Bridge is a type of curling movable bridge completed in 2004 as part of the Grand Union Canal office and retail development project at Paddington Basin, London.

The Rolling Bridge was conceived by British designer Thomas Heatherwick, designed by SKM Anthony Hunt with Packman Lucas, and built by Littlehampton Welding.

It is twelve meters long and opens every Friday at noon. The Rolling Bridge lets boats pass by curling up until its two ends touch. Rolling Bridge

 

The Neal Bridge

The Neal Bridge located in Pittsfield, Maine, completed in November 2008, is designed and built using structural composite materials and techniques. The Neal Bridge

 

Henderson Waves

The Henderson Waves is Singapore's tallest pedestrian bridge connecting Mount Faber Park with Telok Blangah Hill Park. It stands tall at a height of 118-feet. Henderson Waves

 

Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge, Brazil

Completed in 2002, this asymmetrical bridge is built across the Lake Paranoa in Brasilia.Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge, Brazil

 

Octavio Frias de Oliveira Bridge, Brazil

The Octavio Frias de Oliveira bridge is a cable-stayed bridge in Sao Paulo, Brazil over the Pinheiros River.

Opened in May 2008, the bridge is 453 ft tall. The bridge deck is unusual as it forms a 'X', crossing at the tower.

It is the only bridge in the world that has two curved tracks supported by a single concrete mastOctavio Frias de Oliveira Bridge, Brazil

 

Millau Viaduct, France

Opened in 2004, Norman Foster designed this huge cable-stayed bridge to carry travellers across the valley of the Tarn River in Millau, Southern France.Millau Viaduct, France

 

Pont Gustave-Flaubert Bridge, France

This bridge crosses the Seine, a commercial waterway in France. With pylons at a height of 282 feet, the Pont Gustave-Flaubert is Europe's tallest lift bridge. Pont Gustave-Flaubert Bridge

 

Langkawi Sky Bridge, Malaysia

This curved pedestrian bridge is 2000-feet above sea level at the top of Mount Mat Cincang in Malaysia. A cable car takes tourists to the 400-feet long structure. Langkawi Sky Bridge, Malaysia

 

Hangzhou Bay Bridge, China

The Hangzhou Bay Bridge, the longest sea-crossing bridge in the world opened in May 2008.

It is 36 kilometres long and reduces the distance between Shanghai and Ningbo by 120 km.Hangzhou Bay Bridge, China

 

Ă–resund Bridge, Denmark and Sweden

The Oresund Bridge crosses the Oresund strait and joins Sweden with Denmark.

The bridge connects Sweden and Denmark, and it is the longest road and rail bridge in Europe stretching across a distance of length of 4.8 miles.Oresund Bridge, Denmark and Sweden

 

 

 

 

.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Rolling “Home” Again

1-DSC_0378


I
guess the day was too busy for me to write a post yesterday. I just about remember it today, that I forgot. Well let’s see whether we can get  a new posting underway.
1-DSC_0367       1-DSC_0364
From Quartzsite we started early. The whether men had predicted lots of wind and I hate to drive any high profile vehicle in crosswinds.
1-DSC_0379       1-DSC_0383
So, of course, at 7:30am(PST) the highway was still pretty empty. We had a gorgeous blue sky – not a cloud around.
1-DSC_0386        1-DSC_0392 
Bea took all the pictures. It took us about 1 hour to get to Yuma. What a difference coming from the high desert into this town. All-of-a-sudden there is so much green. The landscape is filled with far stretching vegetable fields, some of them standing in the middle of harvest. The recent rain has made harvesting a little difficult, as the ground has turned into a brown gumbo, which will not tolerate any heavy machinery. We also saw a vegetable sales stand, which literally had sunk into the ground, the tables now askew, with cabbages threatening to roll down. It was a pretty poor sight.
 
1-DSC_0390 Had we been going down the highway in near solitude from Quartzsite, then all of that changed now, as we got into the city. Yuma traffic can be quite annoying, and this morning there was no exception, as a long line of vehicles tried to get into the center.

I had been watching the fuel gauge for a while, and by now It had come precariously close into the red. I wanted to fill up in Yuma at the “Super Fuels Station”, which has held the lowest fuel and propane prices for years, but I was pretty nervous as we skipped along I-8 to the Giss Parkway exit. When we stopped at the pump the gauge was below the red mark. Whew…
I never know how much I can rely on that fuel gauge, so I rarely run it down that far. The “reward” of course, was that fuel was down to $2.89/gal and propane at a low $1.69/gal.

Soon we were back on the I-8 again and heading west into the “bankruptcy” State of California. Interestingly, fuel prices had been on the rise again and had hit 3.57/gal. Quite the difference!
1-DSC_0407Almost automatically I steered the rig up exit 131 Van Der Linden Road, turned down from the overpass and doubled back on Evan Hewes Highway towards the Hot Springs LTVA.
I had the distinct feeling of coming HOME. After visiting this place since 2005 this is our winter retreat. Here we became friends with good folks from many places, and we enjoy the fact that just about everyone knows everyone. It is the feel of a good neighborhood, as we also have it in our place up north.

”Sassy” mentioned in her last posting that she now has an “RV-Family” and that is precisely what we feel as well.


1-DSC_0403  
I backed the trailer into it’s usual spot, we got our solar panels out, and got all set up within the hour.

After lunch I decided to take a trip to town to get drinking water and fill up our fridge.

Later, we relaxed over a nice supper and closed the day around a nice bonfire with good friends.


Thanks for stopping by!

 

Sunday, January 27, 2013

The Palm Canyon Hike

The Day turned out to be sunny and after walking with Molly and hanging out chatting to our German friends, I had the idea to do a hike up Palm Canyon. We had been in the canyon a few years ago but would like to go back to this very beautiful spot. Reinhold and Jenny were also interested and joined us.
1-DSC_0284 1-DSC_0282
   
1-DSC_0286 1-DSC_0358
   
1-DSC_0285
From milepost 99 it is about another 14 miles on Hwy95 towards Yuma. Coming from Q-site the gravel road to Palm Canyon turns left to the Kofa Mountain Range at about milepost 85. Watch out for the Palm Canyon sign besides the highway.
1-DSC_0290 1-DSC_0316 

The gravel road to the foot of the mountain is rough and washboard style. A few rigs are parked along the road.
1-DSC_0318 1-DSC_0315

The well signed hiking path takes off from the parking lot and climbs up on the southern side of the canyon. The rocky path is not excessively steep but we had to watch our steps as the ground appears to be of loose rocks and gravel.
1-DSC_0331
Now why is this canyon named “Palm Canyon”?
The reason is that the canyon is one of very few places and maybe the only one in Arizona, where native Palm Trees can be found. They are tucked away in a steep narrow side canyon way up to your left as you climb the trail. These trees (Washingtonia filifera) are California fan palms. They do not carry dates. They are probably descendents of palms growing in this area during the last periods of North American glaciations.

We were lucky enough to reach the viewpoint towards the canyon at around noon. It is the only time when the sun is touching these trees. Even though sunshine is at a premium for these trees they have enough moisture to grow. The microclimate in this narrow canyon would also be beneficial for them.

In 1986 some 42 trees were counted in the main grove. Fronds which fall to the ground provide nutrients for more growth. That is the way these unique palm trees have survived up here.
1-DSC_0327
From this upper elevation we enjoyed a marvelous view across the La Posa Plains.
It is a place of serene beauty.
  1-DSC_0354    1-DSC_0350

1-DSC_0351
The hike up takes about 30-45 minutes, depending on how many stops one does to take in the scenery.
 

Thanks for following along on this beautiful day!

The Big Meeting Place And The Rain Stopped

 
The big gathering of RVs at Quartzsite also leads to meeting up with friends.
We knew that Reinhold and Jenny would be in the vicinity and sure enough I received a text message that we could find them at mile marker 99 in the big 14-day free-area.
The rain had continued over night and large puddles had appeared in the washes, but for now it seemed the rain had stopped.
1-DSC_0246        1-DSC_0254
We decided to drive over to the free area without the trailer and see whether we could spot the German couple’s RV somewhere, then go back and get the trailer. We looked many places but couldn’t see them anywhere. Turning back to La Paz Road Bea spotted a small RV heading towards Hwy95. It turned out to be Reinhold and Jenny. We sped up to them and they must have seen us in the mirror, for they stopped on the shoulder.
1-DSC_0255        1-DSC_0259
They told us that they had been stuck in the sand and were about to head to town. So we decided to follow them.
1-DSC_0257
Parked in front of the library Jenny made tea for us and we caught up on what had happened. When they had arrived at the free area it had been dark and Reinhold had crossed a sandy spot. What they weren’t aware of was that the long rain and weakened the ground and the rig had gone down in the sand.
1-DSC_0263


Later they had found a helpful guy with a big 4X4 truck who had pulled them out.

1-DSC_0267
Anyway, we decided to go back there and get our trailer over there as well.

We intend to stay another night and go back to Holtville on Monday.
1-DSC_0272  And this morning I caught up with Mr.Moon


The weather has just turned back to it’s usual blue sky and we are looking forward to enjoy this Sunday to it’s fullest.

Thanks for moving along with us.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Where Is The Arizona Sun?

This morning we woke to a grey sky and except for a few moments the sun stayed behind dark clouds. When also a cool breeze sprang up we found it better to leave our outside seats for the cozy inside of the trailer.
1-DSC_0221
We did leave the trailer after lunch to get to town for laundry, but were back after less than 2hrs. It hit me again how much I dislike high density traffic. It is amazing how many vehicles were passing through the I-10Bus intersection today. Everywhere we go there is a line-up.
1-DSC_0224
As we are parked close to the dumping station we can watch the wait line to get to the dump, and while it normally shortens during the midday hours, today the line was extremely long all day

Just now I am listening to the weather reports and it appears that lots of rain is on the way to hit our area.

Well, we have seen severe rainfalls before and especially from mid-January to mid-February, and it sure will bring out the beautiful spring flowers in the desert.

That’s all there is to report from Quartzsite today!

Thanks again for stopping by.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

A Day Out To See Fellow Bloggers

Besides of being a “ZOO”, Quartzsite is also a great place to meet up with friends. Yesterday we had fellow blogger Jim Melvin from “Jimbo’s Journeys” come over from La Posa West where he camps with the “Lazy Daze” RVers.
First time we met Jim was at
Belle Starr’s Ranch in Southern Arizona. Together with Chuck we were busy renovating an ancient building. After that we have met Jim co-incidentally in various places. Once I saw him right here at Q-site when both of us were busy at the dump and water station.
1-DSC_0158
Today we drove up to Congress,AZ to meet Al, Kelly and the Pheebs from the
Bayfield Bunch. The weather was cloudy and at times even rainy. Nevertheless it’s always interesting to see a different kind of landscape.
1-DSC_0163
We were curious to see their beautiful south-western style home. The ride from Q-site took a little less than 2hrs, and after showing us around on their nice property, we went inside. Both have done a marvelous job of transforming an average looking house into a treasure chest. The decorations with very well chosen colors are just phantastic. But the transformation didn’t halt at the inside of the house. Nope, also the exterior has undergone some magic.

1-DSC_0166          1-DSC_0168
           Trying to get the dogs in the row…
A 200+ year old Saguaro is guarding the front entrance, and if that isn’t enough there are other old and new cacti around the property.

 1-DSC_0174 1-DSC_0183

Obviously the Pheebs was thrilled to see visitors coming by and grabbing a squeaky ball she raced around in the house eagerly trying to get all attention,
What a wonderful companion they got in the Pheebs.

Kelly had made a great lunch in the oven and pretty soon we were all seated around a big dining table eating and talking. Of course, much of the conversation was about our RV adventures.

1-DSC_0162
Being 10 years of age Molly wasn’t quite up to the wild games Pheebs was trying to get her into and Bea put her in our van where she slept on the bed until it was time to head back to Q-site.

1-DSC_0188 
1-DSC_0194
1-DSC_0198 
1-DSC_0207

On our trip we got some heavy rain, but could see a much lighter sky out to the west, and before we were back on I-10 the rain had stopped entirely and even the sun got out for a while.

So, even though the weather wasn’t perfect, it was a great day. Thank you Al and Kelly!

And Thank YOU for dropping in on this.