We stayed at Quartzsite through Sunday. When we put the slides in to leave, we found that one of our tires was quite flat. You know, the tires that were less than 2 weeks old… 
Vaughn and the boys took the tire off and decided to have it fixed instead of putting on the spare, so I drove it to a tire shop in Q. The valve stem on the tire had failed, so it was an easy fix. While I was in Q getting the tire fixed, the guys decided to grease some of the fittings on the trailer, and to take some time to do some other maintenance work. Vaughn popped off the dust cap on that axle, and it fell apart. Great. No dust cover, you don’t go anywhere… No-one in town had anything like that, so Vaughn improvised since we really needed to leave (we were out of water! LOL!)…
a hose clamp and the plastic bag from the store 
worked like a charm – even through our very first ever rig wash (at least paying to have someone else do it). Car washes down here are different – you can’t find one where you put in the quarters and do it yourself. All the car washes are service ones where you pay a fee and they wash it for you.
I didn’t stick around for an all-clean pic since it was getting late – the kids and I drove to Picacho and picked a site.
Monday we drove to Tucson to do the laundry, a bit of shopping, and we found 6 matching dust covers for the 5er. Tuesday we spent at home (though it was hot and we did take a quick little jaunt down to the nearby DQ). Wednesday afternoon we to Casa Grande to do a bit of Christmas shopping. Christmas shopping around here can be quite an experience. We really encourage the kids to pitch in for one another and buy one gift from the siblings. The kids decide on one store to buy everyone’s gifts at, and we all go together. Either dad or I takes one of the kids to another part of the store while the others pick out the missing child’s gift. The kids pick the gift, hide it under a jacket in the cart (we live in an RV – everything is required to be small), then repeat with a different child. The kids get some serious practice with their poker faces. It is actually a little chaotic. And a lot of fun. We also picked up a fake tree and decorations, then came home and decorated it (took all of 3 minutes)…
while we watched A Christmas Carol.
(the tree didn’t stay in the middle of the room, it is now on the table) LOL! And got most of the rest of our Christmas shopping done! Yeah! One trip to Target and I’ll be finished.
and we are enjoying the warmth of the desert…
The guys have found a few scorpions, and Vaughn and some of the boys are doing part of the peak climb this morning. The rest of us are working on school and hanging snowflakes in the windows seems a little strange to be celebrating Christmas surrounded by cactus and sunshine instead of snow and the glow of the woodstove.
Merry Christmas Ticknors! I think we have that same tree and the same ornaments, lol! Not much choice or variety when you need it small, but I sure love it.