Now What?

Yesterday I forgot to mention that Gary & Mary
“Wilson” are having trouble with their slide out on their Tiffin.  While moving it in there was a snap and it quit.  They also had a problem getting to Quartzsite because of a Tiffin Powerglide chassis/engine problem.  Larry & Marilyn are doing OK with their Tiffin.  They are scheduled for jack repair work next Tuesday in Surprise, AZ where we were yesterday.  I have no comment on Tiffins at this time.

Today was the Men’s Moan & Groan Breakfast in downtown Wickenburg.  I rode there with Ed, Denny & Walt.  It must have been about a dozen or so of us.  Carol went to the Women’s Stitch & Bitch Breakfast at Denny’s Restaurant.  They too had a blast.

When we got back I went and picked up my side by side Razor ATV over at Denny’s.  I brought it back on the trailer to Ed & Sandy’s lot where we are at.  It looks sad.  It needs work and another real good wash.  I went into to town to get the trailer I bought from Lowe’s titled.  Hit a snag but it should be cleared up next week with a little cooperation.

Then it was time to go to Prescott Valley about 50-60 miles away to pick up the main part to repair the Razor.  Denny went with me.  Over the hills and to grandma’s we went.  We saw snow up in them there hills.  We stopped at the Sam’s Club and I got a 20 lb LP tank for $30.  It has a gauge on it and is already purged.  I also got a monstrous portable (?) outdoor fire pit, 66,00 BTU for $99.  I will sell our new little one to Mark for $90.  Did you know that they had a 12 volt AGM battery for $131 with a 3 year FULL replacement guarantee.  That sounds like worth checking into more for those that might be interested. 

Then we continued on to Star Island Motorsports to get the Razor part.  No problem.  Then Denny I told our adventures of how the part broke and I rolled the Razor.  We had fun joking with the staff about our adventure.

Then a quick stop at Walmart to pick up a electrical plug for the Jeep to connect to the trailer.  Seems like mine disappeared or I left it in Livingston and don’t remember.

Back over the hills to North Ranch.  I dropped Denny off at his place and went home.  It was Carol’s birthday and her present was for me to stay out of her hair for the day – success!   We decided to eat out but what.  We couldn’t make HER mind up.  Soooooooooo we went to Safeway at her request and picked up two frozen Red Baron pizzas.  We got back and heated those babies up.

Tomorrow I would like to start on the LP connection inside the rig or at least gather all the parts together and get ready.  Also, reorganize all the stuff I took out of the Razor so it don’t look like Walt’s been here at Ed’s place.  I got a few other things to do also but too boring to write about at this point.

See ya…..

A tight Schedule/Party Time

I got up about 5 AM to a very well heated RV.  That was real nice.  Love that 50 AMP.  I switched over from the electric hydro hot to two heat pumps.  The electric hydro hot just can’t stay up with heating the beast below 50 degrees outside or so.  The diesel hydro hot can.  The heat pumps, two of the three, took about a half hour to get the rig real toastie.  Here was our site for Monday night.

Now that there is cheap LP.

The repair shop has about a half hour work on the frig according to them plus another hour to do a warranty check out system.  We have an 8 o’clock appointment.  Let’s see what the real story turns out to be.

Ed & Sandy are planning a birthday party at their place in North Ranch for Carol & Walt today at 4 PM.  Walt’s birthday is today (30th) and Carol’s is tomorrow (31st).  North Ranch is about 50 miles from here which means about 1 1/2 hour in Phoenix driving time. 

AND…………..

We get a call about 10:30 AM and the repair shop said that Norcold sent the wrong part and that they otherwise finished the service on the frig.  We left about 11 AM for our short 50 mile trip to North Ranch, Congress, AZ.

We arrived at Ed & Sandy’s lot and they hooked us up with 30 AMP full hook up.  We requested a 50 AMP hook up next time…smile….

OK..let the birthday party begin.  I ain’t even going to try and put everybody's name here. Here are the birthday kids..Carol & Walt.   

I 'ill let you figure out which is the old dog!

Then…… it was Dr Pepper time.  Susie got all excited.

I had trouble with this shot because Denny wasn’t wearing a hat.

Old people need two hands to eat.  One for food and the other to catch the dribble.  Pat is pretending not to see him dribbling.

When we were finished eating we just threw stuff under the table.

Sandy decided to some arm lifting exercise.

I have no idea unless it was that Moonshine cherries.

They are so glad that they don’t live around here with these nuts!

 

Denny isn’t drinking and can’t believe these people are having so much fun.

 

Mary said she would only drink the red stuff.  she thought it was a blood transfusion.

Turn out the lights…the party is over.

The guys decided to go to breakfast at 7 AM tomorrow (Thursday) and the gals at 8 AM.  I think the guys had a little more to drink….

See ya.

On The Road Again

All three of us, Gary/Mary, Larry/Marilyn, were packing up to leave about the same time.  That left no one behind.  Our first stop on interstate 10 heading East was for fuel at the ZIP at Salome.  Fuel was $3.80 a gallon.  Next stop was in Phoenix at the Blue Beacon for a good wash.  I told them more rinse and less soap.  Next stop heading North up route 101 was Cabellas to look at their helmets.  They didn’t have what we wanted.  We pulled into the Orangewood RV Shop in Surprise about 4 PM or so.  We did a dump, got some water and backed into a 50 AMP space.  We’re Happy Campers.  I got a good look at the wash job done by Blue Beacon.  It was apparent why they are called streaking beacon.  I had soap stripes all over.  These soap stripes don’t just wipe off either.  Hey, $35 bucks and the dirt and dust is gone for the most part.

I asked the workers here at the Orangewood shop where there was a Chinese buffet that they would suggest.  They suggested one about 4 miles away near Wal-Mart.  We went, we ate, we got filled up and it was good!  Next was Wal-mart to get some basic food like milk and cookies.  They also had helmets for $40 and a lounge chair I like for $45.  Next trip we will probably get all that stuff.

Back to the Beast…

See ya….

Another Night In The Desert

We decided to spend another day/night (Monday) out in the desert.  Our appointment is for 8 AM Wednesday and we don’t want to leave here at 5 AM to get there.  So, Tuesday we will leave in the afternoon.  The RV repair shop has a dump plus I saw a water faucet.  If they have a spot we will spend the night there.  If not, we will go over to the nearby Elks.

The temps are starting to cool down both day and night after the rain we had a couple of days ago.  Temps up at North Ranch are about 10-15 degrees cooler than here.

People are saying their good byes….  

 

and pulling out..

The crowd is gone except for one Newmar and two Tiffins.  One has a broken jack and I won’t mention it’s a Tiffin.

We went into Quartzsite to find Jerry & Carol Dales lot.  We found them but Carol was off spending money in Parker.  Their lot is in a small RV community just on the skirts of town.  It’s over by Quail Restaurant if you know where that is.  They usually spend about three months out of the year there.  They got two hook ups and a big garage for “stuff”.

On the way back we stopped and visited the Two Crazy Ladies.  They will be moving next year to a better location nearby.

Back at the rig we made some kick butt Navy Beans with carrots, celery and smoked ham for lunch.  We started it this morning.  That was real good.  We all had our social over at Gary & Mary’s rig later on. Afterwards I cooked some skirt meat on the grill.  Never had it before and was expecting it to be tuff.  It wasn’t and boy was it good.  It reminded me of tri tip but a little more tender at least this piece was.

It was a quiet night and got down to the high 30’s.  Time to leave and we will tomorrow.

Oh, repair guys came out to Larry and Marilyn’s rig and got their jack up but not repaired.  They can now depart for Yuma Tuesday.  They just can’t use their jacks until repaired.

See ya……

Now What

I woke to a bloody ear.  To much outside weather without a bandage.  hopefully I will be able to hear soon.  Well, at least get selective hearing back.

We decided to stay another night (Sunday) out here.  Congress is about 10-15 degrees cooler, and Yuma is too far for a couple of days.  I guess it’s more of a process of elimination than choosing any place.  Later today we will choose where we will spend Monday night and so forth.

I did order (thru a dealer) the side by side ATV Razor part that caused my adventure of turning over.  It will be in the middle of next week or so. 

I also ordered a Kozy World Blue Flame 10,000 BTU LP heater via Amazon.  I was undecided between the 10 or 20K BTU.  Went with the 10K due to the size of the unit.  It was a factor but not the only one.  I think I have all the parts to hook it up to our frig LP line next week.  So I got two major projects to do at North Ranch and about two weeks to get them done before Lake Havasu.

The Jeep got a little dirty as did the Beast.  I did take my California Duster to the Beast.  That was mainly to get the dirt off that splashed up during the rain.  I’m thinking about taking the Beast to the Blue Beacon tuck wash.  It’s $35 for anything over 33 feet.

Carol & I went into to town so she could get a special coat she liked.  While in town we figured we would go over to La Mesa RV and check out their Winnebagos.   We’ve always liked them.  Well, typical salesmen.  The first one was more a less a greeter.  The second one thought he was a salesman.  I started asking him questions about Winnebagos.  He didn’t know any of the answers. He made some sly remark about that we didn’t really want to buy.  I told him I wasn’t buying anything from a person that doesn’t know anything.  Then I asked for him to get us a salesperson who knew the product and he did.  The next guy did know the product and knew it too much.  He told us things that I knew weren’t just true.  I told him this wasn’t our first rodeo and not to treat us as such but he wasn’t listening.  His mouth just kept moving which means he’s lying.  He left the paper work on the table with an obvious $10K mistake to our favor.  That’s one of the oldest tricks around.  Then he said something that our Dutch Star was probably one that had a low ceiling in it like must do and it would be hard to sell and not worth very much.  The guy was full of it so much we left just laughing at him.  I guess the good times our back for RV dealers.  When they treat customers like idiots I guess they don’t need good customers very bad, just ones with money and no RV buying sense.  Our adventure today at La Mesa RV was like dealing with vultures after a piece of meat.  We were seriously looking too!

We got back to the Beast and it started looking a lot better.

We sat out at the campfire at social hour.  Not everyone came out.  I guess it was a little too windy for them. 

Then we went to dinner with Sharon & Don at Q Town Restaurant.  I had fish & chips at least I tried to.  They were very very very greasy.  I had them before and they were great.  The waitress even said whoa!  Of course I asked myself why did she bring them out.  The second time was the same thing and again the waitress even remarked how greasy they were.  I ate the coleslaw.  The dinner was taken off my bill without me asking.  Everyone’s else's meal looked good.  Oh well, I guess it was my turn in the barrel as they say.  We got back to the rig and I munched on some of Steve’s number 7 pulled pork.  Since I was hungry I had to move my rating of it to an 8.

We watched some TV and it became bed time.

See ya.

RV Driving School Rally

It rained all last night and part of the day on the RV Driving School rally. 

But it did stop just in time for the pot luck dinner.  It was a real nice one. 

We had shrimp, crab meat (real), pulled pork and tri tip.  At least that’s what I put on my plate.

Of course a grand kid this size steels everyone’s heart.

Love those marshmallows….

She even got me to do the hula hoop thing…I looked stupid except to her little innocent heart.

The fire was a blazing… 

And the clouds watched from a distance as another day came to a close out in the desert. 

See ya…

Gone – Us Too!

We went into early for Mickey D’s breakfast and some shopping.  Carol wanted to get her 75 cents garden gloves that she gets each year and we were successful.  We got back to camp about noon and low and behold we were abandoned.  Just about everybody had moved on.  Those few left were in the tent working.

We waited for Jean & Claudette because we were guarding their Arctic Cat ATV along with Mark.  They showed up and got all loaded.

We moved about a 1/2 mile south to the RV Driving School Annual Get Together.  Jean & Claudette followed us so we could talk about some ATVing later on when my Dr isn’t so strict or Nurse Crachet has transferred away.

Shortly after our arrival it started the expected sprinkle.  After Jean & Claudette left to return home in Joshua Tree, CA, we made our rounds seeing old friends.  It was really great to see them all again.  About five or so the expected rains came.  Not pouring down hard but enough not to go outside for more than a couple of minutes.  Anything longer and you are wet.  It rained through out the night.  A lot of the rain water was grey.  It’s not unusual for grey water tanks to have a little less water during these times of wetness.

I found a good picture of Don and Sharon from the other day.  It’s only fair I post a good picture of them ever so often.

Here’s a little tid bit.  The other night I left my Nikon ($2K) out on the table and didn’t realize it until way into the night.  I went out and got it of course.  The next morning I went out and my wallet was setting on my chair right out in the open.  Try that in the big city. 

Here’s more good news.  Our water in the toilet had been draining out of the bowl after each flush.  We tried all sorts of home remedies over the past few months and gave up on them.  This all was trying to avoid a rebuild.  Well, it has started working normally again.  I can really dig these kind of fixes of procrastinating.

Medical Update….My ear is looking good and I’m getting prettier each day.  I’m down to just a small bandage over the ear canal so as not to gross people out.  The outside stitches have all disappeared.  My hearing has not returned but I’m expecting it to any day.  I’m sure it will return to selective hearing at that point.  All swelling has disappeared and my jaw isn’t real sore anymore, just a little.

Future plans.  Several choices for sure.  We do have an appointment to finish up the frig repair in Phoenix this Wednesday at 8 AM.  Sunday we could stay put right here until Tuesday or very early Wednesday morning.  We could go to North Ranch (Congress, AZ) Sunday or Monday.  Maybe we could get an invite to stay on the Dale’s lot here in town.  They finally got their RV fixed and are here in Town on their lot.  They were broke down in Las Cruses, NM for almost a month.  I know they are glad to be gone from there.  When our frig is fixed Wednesday we will return to North Ranch and take up Ed’s & Sandy offer to stay on their lot assuming it’s still stands.  If not we will go to Plan B or C as soon as I figure them out.

I got to get the ATV Razor fixed and tags for it’s trailer before the week of the 14th (Feb).  That’s when several us will go to Lake Havasu for the Pryo Show,  boone docking and ATVing.  Emphasis will be on the ATVing! 

See ya…….

Alaska 2014 Get Acquainted

We had a tech out here in the desert at 8 AM doing an annual service on our Hydro Hot system.  He arrived on time, worked on our unit the whole time, finished in 45 minutes and left.  That’s damn good service.  He said it was burning a little rich and smelled of diesel when operating.  He aired out a little and now it’s running perfectly.

I took Carol in town for some Line Dancing and I just putted around the flea markets.

We went to Burger King for their new subs and buy one get one deal. 

Instead of going straight back to the Beast we did a little four wheeling.  We went down some trails, went where we went without trails, over some small hills and in a river bed.  We just wanted to have a little fun in the jeep.  A car would not have made it in most of the places we went.

We got back to the Beast and did a little catching up on this and that.  Gary & Mary pulled in along Steve and Lila, Don & Sharon. Yesterday Lisa & Jim arrived.

Today people went out on the side by side ATV’s again.  Bob & Molly used Steve’s Razor, Jean & Claudette in their Arctic Cat, & Denny & Susie in their Razor.  They came back all smiles & dusty so they must have had fun.

It was getting time for an early diner.  Molly fixed a   Santa Fe Soup and others brought their stuff.  So, here’s what we look like….

 

 

Here I am giving the guys an overview of the Alaska route.

We had little campfires and a real nice evening.  About 8 PM everybody was in their rigs.

It was another great day in the desert with friends…..

See ya