Nicodemus and Friends

After spending the last few days in the small desert towns of Parker and then Quartzsite, Arizona, today is a freeway-driving day as we head toward Tucson.

As I periodically glance at the tall Saguaro cactus marching like prickly soldiers through the sand outside the windows of the motorhome, I will tell you about our time in Parker and Quartzsite.

Jack and Bev Scoville, who we met through our Coaches for Christ Rv-ing group, winter in Parker, Arizona. They are very involved in the church in the RV park where they stay.

After seeing Don perform his Nicodemus monologue in Redmond, they invited us to come to Parker and do it there for their River of Life Church at Emerald Cove and we were happy to do that.

They and the folks there treated us so very wonderfully. We had a great time with them.

When we first arrived they were having a birthday dinner celebration at a local restaurant and we were invited to come along. That should have been our first clue that these folks like to eat and were going to feed us to the point that we could roll out on the last day…even without the wheels of the motorhome under us!

After that there was a fish fry at the club house, lunch on the river, a pot luck (which they call a “pot blessing”) at the pastor’s motorhome, more birthday cake after church, followed by brunch at the Early Bird Cafe.

During the church service, I introduced “Nicodemus” and the scripture on which the monologue is based, then Don, in full costume relives Nicodemus’ part in the crucifixion and burial of Christ.

Just before the service, which is held in the RV park’s club house, a grandma and her little granddaughter who was about four or five years old, stopped by not knowing there was going to be church there that morning. The little girl told Grandma that she wanted to stay.

Being a good grandma, she went back to their RV and got grandpa and the three of them returned for the service.

During Nicodemus’s dramatic portrayal of the crucifixion, the little girl was overheard saying to her grandmother, “Why are you crying, Grandma?”

We are always humbled when we realize that people are touched by this presentation and for that we always thank God.

As part of Don’s Nicodemus set-up he has a large cross that comes apart and fits under the RV for traveling purposes. Jack had admired the cross in Redmond and mentioned to Don that they needed a cross for the church but hadn’t been able to find one because it had to be something that can be stored away when not having church in the clubhouse.

Terry Welander, from our church in Sunriver, had done a wonderful job of building this cross for Don. Don asked Terry if he would consider building another one for this little church.

Terry, who is a master at building props, was happy to do it and so as a complete surprise to the church, we delivered Terry’s brand new cross to them which Don used in his performance on Sunday morning. They were delighted and thrilled with the gift. We were blessed to be able to deliver it to them.

The four people closest to the cross on the right, are Jack and Bev Scoville and the Pastor Bill and his wife Patricia Rees.

The RV Park in Parker sits right on the Colorado River. Jack has a pontoon boat there and on Saturday, six of us got in the boat to attend a Swap Meet a few miles up the river.

I have attended numerous swap meets over the years, but never arrived by boat.

After a little shopping, we all piled back in the boat and headed up river for lunch on a dock on the river. Ah, yes. Huge sandwiches, sweet potato fries! Yum!

The RV Park from the Colorado River

Don, Bev, Jack and friends, Darlene and Terry



Stopping at the Dock for Lunch

So we made a lot of new friends in Parker and had a great time there. We may stop back there again on our way home.

When we left Parker, we went down to Quartzsite, Arizona for a night of true desert camping.

Quartzsite is also one of the largest on-going swap meets in the country, so we had a couple things we were looking for there.

Unfortunately, right now is a very slow time in Quartzsite, so not much was open, but we found most of what we were searching for.

Then it was time to kick back next to the campfire and relax for the rest of the evening. In spite of the fact that there are dozens and dozens of RV parks in Quartzsite, desert camping is VERY popular here.

The desert is dotted with RV’s everywhere. Just find a bare spot and pull off into it. It’s BLM land and it’s free.

Desert views are also wonderful when it’s about 70 degrees and the sun is beginning to set with a full moon coming up.

Sundown on the desert.



Campfire time.



Full Moon Rising.

My friend, Geri, who yells at me when I don’t blog for a couple days, wrote me that there is 16 inches of snow at home this morning and super cold temps. That is motivation enough for us to really enjoy the weather here in the Southwest.

We will be parked in a casino parking lot in Tucson for the next few days. It’s not really camping there, just parking and sleeping there at night. We will be having Thanksgiving with old friends, Rich and Lisa who live in Tucson and then be on the road again on Friday.

We wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving if I don’t blog again before that. (Don’t yell at me again, Geri! It’s a holiday!) Actually I dearly love Geri, and she enjoys the blog, so I can’t complain too much.

PS: Geri just sent me this picture from her house and said it is supposed to be -7 degrees tonight. Now I'm really glad we are here!