Dennis & Carol's RV Adventures

How Early Again!!!

2012-03-10T05:08:00.001-08:00

We were up before 6 AM and was rolling down the road by 6:45. We had 300 miles to cover to Carol’s Line Dancing Rally.

FUEL – WE WERE A LITTLE LOW..

How Early!!!!!

2012-03-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

We got up a little before 5 AM. We pulled out of Denny & Susie’s lot about 5:45 AM. We arrived in Peoria (Phoenix) about 7 AM. That was an hour before our scheduled appointment at Charlie Echols RV Repair.

It’s not a new place and it looks like a lot of old RVs have been thru here. I think some are still here.

At 8:10 he pulled the truck in a bay. It had the most work to be done on.

I sat across the street in the Beast watching TV. Carol and the kitty slept most of the morning.

During all of the this I got an email from the escrow company which included some documents that need signing and returned. OK I did. First try too! Of course I assume she will call me if she didn’t get them.

About 4 PM everything was done and checked out. Their mechanic Bill who did the install was really great. Very particular and neat about his work. The boss, Steve, even had to help due to time.

Drove back to North Ranch. The Beast with its 400 HP Cummins had no problem pulling the 6200 lbs or so truck/Razor. It did know the difference on take offs from red lights. It just asked for more fuel. The trip back was uneventful.

We settled in and spent a short time with Denny & Susie. Carol wanted to get an early start to get to her line Dancing near Hemet.

See ya……………..

This & That

2012-03-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

Attended the men’s breakfast this AM (Thurs). We shared stories about cars to RV lots. As always it was fun and educated.

Denny & I returned to North Ranch and we went to our new lot. We talked while we walked the lot. Jim Kimmins came over as did Roger across the street. All were a help with suggestions as to water, electric and sewer, etc.

At 2 PM I took the Mercury Mariner to Jones Ford the local dealer for a scheduled 20K maintenance. An hour later I got it back with all the service completed and a wash/dry job. Talk about being nice, this dealer’s service was great. PS..no money due for the first 5 or 6 years (?) ownership..bumper to bumper…nice…Yes it was a additional cost when we purchased the car.

Now it was time to go over Ed & Sandy’s for Kellie and Sandy’s birthday. I think there were about a dozen or so friends for the “kids” birthday. Why did I say kids? the pictures speak for themselves.

Somebody has seen a lot of these birthdays so this was just another one .. ho .. hum….

Then all was quiet……….again….

See ya…………….

Full Timer’s Jello

2012-03-07T04:13:00.000-08:00

What is Full Timer’s jello? For us it’s our tentative schedule. It’s called jello plans because it could and likely changes. In the last several weeks are plans have probably changed more than ever in the last 12 years of full timing. Why – because we can is the best overall answer we can give without going into a lot of details. Our schedule starting this Friday and thru the end of this month is pretty tight. I won’t bother you with it now.

April we will set in Livingston, TX for a month taking care of medical, vehicles, and the lot. Then early May we will head for Newmar in Indiana to replace (warranty) the roof. It starts getting to be like new jello from there.

Back to today (Wednesday). I got to watch Denny change his oil/filter in his Razor. Now I know how to do mine. Then I wanted to take my Razor out of the truck and practice putting it back in. Plus redo the tie downs and so forth. Well, first ding in the new truck happened. Nothing major. The truck was setting in Denny’s driveway and the ramps were on the road. Thus the truck was setting up higher than before. When I backed in the Razor it bottomed out and scraped the inside of the tailgate. It also tore about 6 inches of plastic covering off the inside of the tailgate. Hey, it went in and lesson learned. The truck/ramps needs to set level or be higher in the front. The Razor is in it’s final destination for awhile. I would like to get it out when we visit the Yuma area here in about 8 days. Of course that is after Carol’s Line Dancing Rally near Hemet next week.

We are hoping are install guy is able to make the truck towable ( brakes/tow brackets) Friday. He called and said that he is hoping to get the tow brackets in Thursday for a Friday install. If not, the truck will set at Denny & Susie’s place until our return around the 20th. Then the truck can be made towable. If we do take the truck (towing) the car will sit here. It even gets more complicated when you throw in a settlement for the lot on the 21st. We would also like to see the Good Sam Rally in Phoenix 22-25 March. They got some outstanding entertainment lined up.

We finished the day by going to the Tastee Freez with Denny & Susie for pizza. Yes, pizza at Tastee Freez and pretty dog on good pizza at that.

Tomorrow (Thursday) will be an easy day. Men’s Thursday breakfast downtown. Car gets serviced. Carol goes to the Jam Session. We wait to see if the last parts for truck comes in for a Friday install in Phoenix. And then we go to Kellie & Sandy’s birthday party. Hey, what could go wrong!

See ya….

Getting Done

2012-03-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

Still got work to do to make it right.

The wind really kicked up today. Tomorrow it may not get into the 60’s. What’s up with this?

See ya………..

New Lot Owners

2012-03-05T03:05:00.000-08:00

We made “another” final offer on an empty lot here at North Ranch, Congress, AZ. The seller refused the offer and increased their counter offer. We offered the same amount and informed them (agent) they had to 10 AM tomorrow. Three hours later they excepted our offer. Tomorrow we go see the real estate agent and start the paperwork.

Full timers like us need a place to land and rest up during the year. We’ve using my Mom’s lot in Livingston for the past several years. We usually spend Nov-Dec there. Then we would go to Quartzsite and spend about a month there. Mother bought the lot when she was full timing years ago. It’s not unusual to buy a lot and usually it’s in a RV community. We will probably spend January thru April in AZ next year. Yes we will have a few trips during that time. Some full timers will also use a friend or relatives place to reorganize. We have used Denny & Susie’s RV space on their lot here at North Ranch. We have been here for the most part since February. It’s a loosey goosey affair. They do their thing and we do ours. Sometimes we do things together.

Earlier today us guys, Ed, Denny, Walt and myself, left North Ranch and headed for the desert. We even did some mountain climbing with these little motor vehicles on steroids. These things were challenged today. Everybody volunteered me to do the most dangerous climb. I tighten up my 4 point racing harness and went over the big rock and up the hill – SLOWLY! The rest followed. No pictures of the hard climb because everybody was pretty dog on busy. Here are some other pics.

We don’t travel no where close to this. We were stopped enjoying the views and are now getting ready to leave. That’s a huge drop to our left.

The trail disappeared but we kept going.

Walt is trying to figure where we are. We didn’t care as long as we didn’t have to go down the big hill.

We did 29 miles of trails and one real big hill/rock climb. We got back in time for social hour at Ed’s and Sandy’s place. A little later my ATV ramps for the truck came in. Denny & I first tried driving the Razor straight in. That left the rear tires on the tail gate. Not acceptable. I then back it up the ramps into the truck. What a trip. Now it’s in the bed but can’t close the tailgate. I knew that already from measuring. No big deal. It was getting near dark but still was able to strap it in. Tomorrow will be the test drive. I think I will put the stock tires/wheels back on it for traveling. It should be a lot easier to back in. At present I got about an inch on each side getting it in. Stock wheels will give me about 4-5 inches on each side. Pictures tomorrow.

See ya………….

Sunday Sunday

2012-03-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

Several of us were going to go out today for a 1/2 day run in the desert. About 2 PM nothing was happening for various reasons so I decided to go out by myself. Some people won’t go out by themselves because they are afraid they would get lost. I say hogwash. I went out for about an hour with no problem what so ever. I don’t know what the big deal is. These ATV’s can go over 75 miles on a tank of gas. Who could get lost out here.

Later that day I called the realtor again. We made another offer on a lot here at North Ranch. No call back today.

I watched NASCAR racing and it didn’t seem like it was a good race to me. Even the kitty got tired of watching.

Later that evening we had diner with Denny & Susie. We talked about our summer plans a little bit. They will be in Utah for part of the summer doing some 4X4 in their jeep. Denny is trying to figure out how he can get his Razor there.

I’m starting to watch Celebrity Apprentice. It’s a little drawn out towards the end of the show. It’s interesting watching these stars trying to work together on projects. Then the knives come out at the end when they are trying to save their butts.

Tomorrow us guys are goanna try and go out again for an all day adventure.

My ATV loading ramps for the razor/truck should be here tomorrow.

See ya…………..

La Fiesta Day

2012-03-03T04:37:00.000-08:00

Today was La Fiesta Day. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Then there was a pulled pork lunch ($5).

During the day they had games. Then the evening ended with a big fire with a jam session at the fire.

Also during the day we made an offer on a lot here at North Ranch that was for sale. It was not accepted. We will do one last offer on it tomorrow.

See ya……………

And Away We Go

2012-03-02T03:06:00.000-08:00

NOT!. It was in the 40’s all day and the wind was howling about 20 MPH. That makes for a very unpleasant day even just to go outside much less to ride 4 wheelers in the desert.

Carol & I went grocery shopping to get the items that were on sale. Some food items on sale aren’t really that great of deal always. We did asparagus for 99 cents a pound – that’s real good. We also got ground beef 90% for $2.50 lb. These were the highlights of our day today.

That evening they had line dancing here in the park. I can’t line dance and don’t like trying to talk over music so it was a no win for me. Carol really enjoyed herself.

Tomorrow is La Fiesta Day here in the park. I will go see what that is all about if the winds go away.

Busy Doing Nothing Again

2012-03-01T02:41:00.000-08:00

We made arrangements to get the truck tow brackets and a supplement braking installed here locally (Phoenix). Joe Tenpenny recommended a company for us and we are going with them. I forgot their name off hand. They ordered the parts and hopefully will be in next week. We had to cancel our trip to the Gypsy Journal Rally. We are just out of time and really wanted to attend. We have to get the truck tow ready and in AZ is a pretty good place to have those type of RV things done for us.

Denny & I worked on his NEW Razor. It had a bad rattle and was getting worse. It turned out to be a heat shield that was touching the engine that was causing the noise. Problem resolved. We then took a quick run in the Razors the back way to the Post Office/gas station. While at the Post Office I got a call from the Dodge dealer. They have are our side steps for the pick up. We got back from the Post Office/gas station and I was off to Phoenix. I got to the dealer and pulled into the service department. A half hour later the steps were on and I was gone. That is service. I got back to North Ranch and Carol & I went thru our mail.

We are trying to figure out our schedule for the month of March. We have to go to Carol’s Line Dancing Rally in Hemet, CA of course. We have to get to Mexico near Yuma to get our dental done. We have to get the truck ready to tow. Plus there is some entertainment happening in Phoenix we want to see near the end of the month. Plus I want to get some more ATVing in here at North Ranch. April should be a lot calmer. Only have to to the medical thing.

Back to now. Tomorrow us “guys” are planning an all day trip on the Razors/ATV. We’re going out where none of us have been before. It should be pretty neat and I will have my little camera.

See ya…….

Leap Year – So What!

2012-02-29T05:52:00.000-08:00

Or as I say, just another day of adventures for us.

Our plans for today include getting gas for the Razor.

Later today several of us are planning to take our ladies out for a fu fu ride thru the desert. That means no 40 MPH thru the river bed side by side. No 25 MPH thru the switch back trails for miles and miles. No playing with snakes if we find one. No just hanging it out next to the ATV’s and wetting the sand next to the tire. Oh well, it will still be fun.

I got to check on our mail and see if it arrived at the local post office.

I got to call Southwest Driveline and get a price for the tow brackets and supplement braking for the truck.

I have to send a copy of my DD214 (military discharge papers) to the dealer for the $500 Chrysler special military rebate. First I have to find it.

Also pick up a extra set of goggles for me for the Razor ride. I’ve been using Carol’s Walmart specials.

Oh, and we need to move the beast and our 3 other vehicles by noon over to Denny & Susie’s place for a few days. So, I have to get started…….

Well, it’s the end of the day and I got everything done by noon except the DD214. Try tomorrow.

A bunch of us went out riding in the desert today. Three hours and 25 miles later we were back. All the girls got to drive today. Here are some pics from the desert and a box canyon getaway.

Kellie that’s my job!

What can I say other than The Ends!

See ya…….

Yes I Did!

2012-02-28T05:35:00.000-08:00

I bought a truck. A big truck that can be towed behind the Beast.

I haven’t owned a truck in over 10 years and never a 4X4. It’s a guy thing. It’s a Dodge 1500 4X4 with a eight foot bed so the Razor can fit in it. It’s a 4X4 so it can be flat towed behind the motorhome. The Dodge is the only 1/2 ton truck (4X4 auto) that can be towed. It has the right options for me and a few fu fu options like cloth seats and a nice radio. It has a 390 HP engine with a 6 speed automatic. It friggin moves out with that engine. The old days are back with that horsepower. It has a tow package that includes a class IV hitch with wiring for a 7 point and a 4 point plug. It also has an extra transmission cooler plus extra engine cooling. Also a trailer brake controller. It has other “stuff” too. The sticker price with a couple of dealer options (tint, running boards (not installed yet)) was 31K. I got it for $23.5 with Texas taxes paid ($1,500) out the door. Plus, 3.09% financing (72 months) with Chase thru the dealer. I think I got a damn good deal. I did a lot of research on the internet and knew what they could go for. I had three other trucks to look at along with their internet price. I let this dealer know that up front so as not to waste their or my time. They beat the best price I could find by about $1,000+. The dealership is Larry Miller Dodge in Peoria (Phoenix). It was the most pleasurable vehicle buying experience we’ve ever had and that’s saying a lot.

Carol made them throw in a set of door step bars at the last moment to close the deal. We both have a very hard time getting into the truck with out them. They will install them Saturday.

Now I have to arrange to get Demco tow base plates and a SMI AFO tow brake installed by someone. I will try Redlands RV & Truck Service and see what kind of price I can get. They will be at the Gypsy Journal Rally in Yuma and I sent them an email. Newt will be Southwest Driveline in Yuma and they are experts. We’ve had work done there several times.

The Razor ATV ramps to get it in the truck might not arrive here in Congress, AZ before we leave Sunday. The truck can not be towed yet without the base plates. Yes, Carol is keeping her Mercury Mariner. We will be going to Yuma for a week. Then on to Hemet, CA for Carol’s line dancing rally for another week. Then four days later we have Dr’s appointments in Texas. Stay tuned. This will be interesting.

See ya………

Another Day In The Desert

2012-02-27T18:26:00.001-08:00

We’re ready to go at 10 PM. Denny on the left. Then his son Shawn, then Steve, then me and all the way to the right is Walt.

We take a little brake and enjoy the scenery.

Yes we did…. Walt said it was a gopher snake. I thought any snake with a diamond shape head was poisonous. I haven’t seen any gopher holes out here.

This is my ride…

That white spot in the middle of the picture is North Ranch.

Denny got cactus needles in his butt. It was funny. Basically he was hanging out his butt going down a steep hill and slanted. He was hanging his butt out so as not to flip over while his son was driving. Yes, this is a true story. This was funny to everyone else.

Three hours later we ended up at McDonalds for lunch.

We then returned back to North Ranch. I think we went out for 40 miles, maybe 30.

See ya…..

Cancelled

2012-02-26T04:13:00.000-08:00

The Daytona 500 NASCAR racing was cancelled until tomorrow (Monday). Darn…

It was time to loosen up the suspension a little more on the Razor. When I was done it was loose as a goose. The rear was still very tight meaning that adjusting the springs on the rear shocks made little if any difference. It’s stiff. The front was very soft. We went out for 20 miles today. That’s my Razor on the right. Then Ed’s Rhino and Walt’s ATV with him setting on it. Steve’s Razor is behind Walt. It turned out that I could give it the gas and the front would really come up in the front then down when I let up on the gas and stepped on the brake. It looked cool to me. It turned out to be too much as I learned during the day. It sat too low in the front for trail riding. It made turning on tight turns difficult. I only ran into one desert bush. I also got stuck on a small boulder and tore off the right rear fender. Good thing I had some bungee cords to hold it together. It then had real character. I also went up a steep mound of dirt and got stuck on top like a teeter tot . I had to back down that little hill. When we got back Shawn, Denny’s son, fixed my fender. Denny & I were his gophers. Thanks Shawn. Everyone agreed that bungee chords would be a good thing to carry. We all decided to go out again tomorrow.

Carol walked our cat Rainbow. Rainbow loves to go out and told me she doesn’t get to got out as much as she likes too. I told her I would talk to the boss for her.

See ya…………….

A Little Of This & That

2012-02-25T03:59:00.000-08:00

We started off the day by going to breakfast at the Country Kitchen. They didn’t have waffles on the menu but Carol asked and they could make it happen and did.

We then went to the Dodge dealer to harass the sales people, my favorite pass time lately. In years pass they weren’t the easiest to deal with. The tide has changed and it’s a buyer market. Thus, my turn to harass them. I would like a truck that can be towed and put my toys (Razor) in. It’s a guy thing. I haven’t had a pick up in over ten years. Carol don’t agree in me getting a truck. She will keep the Mariner Hybrid.

We got back to the Beast and it was time to do some work on the Razor. First I washed it so we could find it. I went over to Ed’s place. Between Ed, Walt and myself we got the Razor door back aligned. I screwed up going thru a gate and almost tore the door off of it. Hey, Denny & his son rolled his new Razor over on it;s side so I don’t feel bad. A large crow bar, a big hammer and a car jack and we were in business. It reminded me of the three stooges. We laughed and got it back in shape after about an hour.

Later we went over to Denny and Susie’s and had diner with other close friends. It was fun. We didn’t leave until 9 PM. That was unusual for all.

Tomorrow is Daytona 500 NASCAR time…

See ya

Not Today

2012-02-24T03:40:00.000-08:00

Today was auction day at Prescott, AZ for a lot here at North Ranch. People call it he pink house lot. The lady died two years ago and it’s been empty ever since. Anyhow, the auction started off at $57K (us) and quickly moved to $69K. We stopped and the Ponders got the lot. Good Luck…you got some work ahead of you..

That was the highlight of the day….

See ya…..

Here It Is

2012-02-23T03:47:00.000-08:00

People have been asking for pictures of our new (used) Razor so here it is. Mine is a 2008. The Blue one is brand new (2012) and it’s Denny & Susie’s.

She’s pretty dirty but you get the jest of it. The suspension is set up pretty harsh. Ed, Walt & I adjusted it to where it is a lot softer. I will adjust it again later on. The terrain here is different than what it was set up for. Walt, Denny & his son, and I went out today for about 30 miles in the desert today. It was fun and we all got real dirty from following each other. You know when you use to go to the beach and get sand it places you didn’t know existed. It’s the same with dirt/dust on these machines in the desert. I had to take two showers today. There goes my monthly allotment.

Later we made some adjustments to our schedule for the rest of the year for various reasons. We didn’t like making the changes one bit but they had to be done for reasons due to family and medical. Those are things that some full timers have to deal with on their terms accordingly. Family and health first. We called our friends and coordinators and let them know what was going on. We won’t be doing the east coast SKP rally in April in NC. We won’t be doing the fall Escapade in September nor the Gypsy Journal Rally about then either. We are also backing out of the Smart Weigh Program at this time. Maybe in the future. Our good friends in FL we won’t be able to make it to see you before your boat trip, really sorry.

From here we will go to the Gypsy Journal Rally. Then to Hemet for a Line Dancing Rally. Then on to Livingston. We’re not sure how long we will be there. We would like to be gone before it gets hot and muggy hopefully. Time will tell.

Tomorrow (Friday) is auction day. The lot we have been chasing thru the auction process is going up for auction for sure (?). If we get it – good. If we don’t get it – it wasn’t meant to happen. Their are other people that will be bidding on it we are pretty sure. It ain’t going to go cheap!

So, that’s the number of that…….

See ya…..

Gone Again - Kinda

2012-02-22T03:50:00.000-08:00

What do I mean gone again kinda. Ed hooked up his trailer to his Jeep and we were off to Joshua Tree a 250 mile one way trip. It was a rush trip. One stop for fuel and stop to eat each way. When we got to Jean’s and Claudette’s we loaded up the Razor and returned to North Ranch. We got back about 4:30 PM. No pictures of the Razor yet. I got extra stock parts with my Razor thanks to Jean & Claudette – thank you. I in turn gave some to Denny for his new Razor. One was a roof that went on top of his roll bar. The other was part of the rear roll cage that made it complete in the rear of the Razor. Denny & Susie’s Razor is “looking good”. Several people came over to look at our new used razor. they were admiring all the extra options it had. I will list later. Carol & I jumped in it and went for a ride with Walt leading. We went out for about about 7 miles in the desert. The ride was very firm so I have to soften it up for this type of riding around here. I will go extreme on lowering the dampening on the after market shocks and lower the air on the oversize tires to their minimum. This should work. If not, I might have to go back to the stock shocks for the time being.

I got my camera back from Ed. I left it over his place the other day. Here are some pictures from a couple of days back.

TTN Thousand Trails Palm Springs.

A little tight.

Quartzsite…

This is the area that was jammed tight about 5 weeks ago with over 400 people at the SKP Quartzsite gathering.

Here we are at North Ranch campground.

Here we are at Ed & Sandy’s getting ready to graze over some food.

And the adventure continues….

See ya………

Gone Again

2012-02-21T04:36:00.000-08:00

We got up with all the intentions of staying a few days. By 10 AM we were on the road back to North Ranch, Congress, AZ. There were a couple of reasons that I will get into tomorrow.

250 miles or so we arrived and are staying at the campground. We don’t want to impose on anybody at this time.

We had dinner at Ed’s and Sandy’s place along with Denny and Susie and Walt & Kellie. Kellie cooked up some real nice chicken and red taters. Good memories were talked about by all.

Ed is picking me up at 6 AM tomorrow which is almost now as I type this. We’re going to Joshua Tree to pick up my Razor from Jean & Claudette. We bought it Monday.

See ya….

Good News, Bad News, Good News

2012-02-20T03:41:00.000-08:00

Good News….I checked my email first thing this morning and I had one from Remco about the F350 truck towing. They said that yes that it could be made to tow behind a motorhome. Their web page was incorrect. Bad news…it takes about 6-8 weeks to make the parts.

I then went to the dealer to undo the deal due to the time it would take to make the truck towable. I explained the situation and showed them the email. Good news…they said OK and returned my check. Wow, I’m not use to be treated so nice on an auto purchase deal especially in this type of deal.

We then packed up the Beast and left for TTN Palm Springs which is a 187 miles away. Along the way…

When we got to I-10 traffic was very heavy. Carol reminded me it was President’s Day.

Carol said “NO!” and I didn’t even ask.

We arrived at TTN Palm Springs and got a pull thru 30 AMP FHU side. We were lucky. We got set up and headed for Joshua Tree to look at a Polaris Razor about 50 miles away.

We got to Jean and Claudett’s place. They were part of the Loosey Goosey Gang to Alaska last year. We took their 2008 Polaris Razor out for a short run. It really looks tuff with it’s options. Good news..we bought it. Good news….earlier Ed & Walt offered to come and get it later this week and I will take them up on it. Thanks guys…

We returned to the Beast and finished hooking up the Beast. We were beat and went to bed early.

See ya…..

And…..

2012-02-19T04:43:00.000-08:00

I went on line today and found out that the lot in Congress has been postponed (again) until Friday. That works out for the time being. It makes this Monday/Tuesday more workable.

I stayed in bed until 8 AM. I’m starting to like this sleep in business.. 8 AM is sleeping in for me.

I made some phone calls and did a little research on the internet about the F350 and towing it. It appears that it can be as long as we don’t tow anything real heavy behind it with the Remco installed. It can handle about 15K without the Remco kit. With the kit installed I would probably never tow anything even half that weight. If I need to, then a stock drive shaft would have to go back in. I will cal Remco first thing Monday to see what they say of course.

We went for a little drive on London Bridge road near the lake/river. No bigee to us.

Then we came across a flea market. You know one of those that is selling mostly new things from China and very little used stuff. It took about an hour to walk around. It was OK and it was on pavement and not dirt. That was nice.

Here’s a picture of a truck we think is in our real price range with a little Enron financing. The tan color matches our rig too.

When we got back to the campground we jaw jacked with Jim a little while. They are parked just one row over. Jim & Pat were among the Loosey Goosey Gang to Alaska last year.

For diner we went back to the China Buffett on London Bridge Road. We met Sharon/Don, Pat/Jim and Denny/Susie. Carol Hinkley was a no show. We jibber jabbered a lot and ate a lot. Some where still planning to go to the fireworks again tonight – not us. The pic quality sucks.

So that’s about it…..until tomorrow of course. We will check on the truck situation, move 175 miles and check out Jean’s Polaris razors, both his new one and old one.

See ya…………

And Today Started Out So Nice

2012-02-18T04:40:00.000-08:00

As most full timers know we must be flexible or we would go crazy pretty dog on quick. Take it in stride and all that BS…….Everyday Is An Adventure! Sometimes more than others. This was was one of those “other” days.

It started off with me staying in bed until almost 9 AM. That was a sign. Then Carol fixed me breakfast. Ok today was going to be a nice day. Sun was out and it was expected to hit 70 degrees. We went to the local Ford dealership to see if we could get our car serviced. Nope – have to schedule an appointment. OK…We looked on their used vehicle lot for a truck we could pull behind the RV with a Polaris Razor side by side 4 wheeler. I call them go carts on steroids. Of course we lasted about 2 minutes on the lot before a salesperson preyed upon us. Bottom line and after a half hour they did not have anything for us. I knew that after about 5 minutes but what the hell.

We left there and headed for some place to eat then Wal-Mart. As we got close we saw a Dodge dealer that might have something we wanted. We pulled in and right up to the sales office. Before we could get out of the car we were approached. Again nothing that we wanted. Then the sales person said I might have something on the back lot that we just got in. We looked and they had a 2006 Ford F350, not a dually, extended cab, 8 foot bed, diesel, automatic, AC, and cruise. Bingo….we haggled over price and agreed to buy if they would make it towable by installing a Remco driveshaft disconnect so to make it towable. They said they were very familiar with the system and agreed to have it done and in writing OF COURSE! Done Deal. I wrote the check and they kept the truck to have the work done early next week.

We left and now it’s about 2-3 PM and it was time to eat lunch. Carol was starving and I was a little hungry. We stopped at Mickey D’s and then went on to Wal-Mart to get groceries as planned earlier. We met Don & Sharon there for a quick moment. We’ve been trying to hook up with Denny & Susie but that never happened due to our side excursions.

We get back to the Beast and unload. I call my brother in law Steven who says he will get the truck’s VIN checked out via his Ford source. Great but it’s a done deal but OK.. Then out of the blue Pat & Jim show up on our door step. They are members of the Alaska Loosey Goosey Gang. We will try and meet up with them tomorrow They wanted to go on to the big fireworks display scheduled for tonight.

I went on line and went to Remco’s web page. Bad news. The F350 Ford truck does not have a driveshaft disconnect kit because it is not towable according to them the experts. Oh no Houston – we have a problem. We just bought a truck and it can’t be towed. Well, lessons learned my friends. We had the dealer but it in writing as I said earlier that they would install a driveshaft disconnect kit. The dealer was closed and they aren’t open on Sundays. So Monday I will call Remco very early to double check that it is not towable. Then I will be at the dealership when they open their doors to undo the deal. I will also have the tele number to our bank to cancel the check if they don’t return it.

I don’t have to make trouble. It finds me very easy. Will I get mad – no. Will I use tact – yes until they say no. I will then just walk away making sure they can hear my phone call to the bank. Worse case I just cancel the check – no big deal, it really isn’t!

It’s just starting to get complicated. Monday we are suppose to be in Palm Springs and will be. We are going there to buy a Polaris Razor from our friends Jean & Claudette. They are Loosey Goosey Gang members also. They just got a new Razor and are willing to sell their 2008 to us. Great……

Monday is also the day we find out if the lot in Congress is going up for auction on Tuesday in Prescott. If it is, we will be there. This jello schedule is starting to get real tight now, isn’t it?

Now it’s getting towards evening so we depart for the big fireworks display. We get there and they are full. Oppps. Carol really wanted to see them. We turn around and find a place to park in a nearby bank’s lot. It too was pretty full. We are watching the fireworks and the large truck next to us moved to in front us and blocked our view along with others. I went and told them thanks…yes I did…they left about 15 minutes later. They had an excellent spot next to us…why move? We left about 8:45 PM and headed back to the Beast.

We get back home and we get a call from our daughter. She just got her college graduation date. She’s on one of those accelerated programs so the normal college dates don’t apply. She graduates in mid September (14th) in California. Oh no…..what about the Gypsy Journal and the Escapade in September back east? We have obligations at both. Well folks, family first……..

So, how was your day?

See ya…………..

The Big Bang

2012-02-17T04:08:00.000-08:00

We left North Ranch (Congress) at about 8:30 AM and drove the 158 miles to Lake Havasu, AZ. We had reservations at a Coast To Coast park called Lake Havasu RV Resort. It’s $10 a night for 30 AMP full hook up.

Our cat Rainbow settled in real quick.

En route pictures…..

There’s Indian’s in them there hills

Denny & Susie are ahead of us.

It speaks for itself…..

Just another one of Patton’s tanks in Bouse, AZ

It was a nice little drive and traffic was a little on the heavy side.

We went to the fairgrounds that night for the 22nd annual pyrotechnic fireworks display. We saw Cool Judy and her friends real quick when we arrived. They start the big show about 8 PM and it last just under an hour. Let me tell you something. If you are into seeing this kind of stuff. This is the place to come. We were setting about 40 yards right in the middle front from where they lit these tubes off. There were some loud bangs too! Car alarms were going off like crazy. We were all amazed of the show. It’s the best we have ever seen. We’ve seen the DC show, the Baltimore Inner Harbor Show and they were great. But they take second place to this show. This is worth going out of your way to see. They will have a bigger show Saturday and then an another show Sunday. If you are nearby come on out NOW. Plenty of boone docking or $25 at the Sara Event Show grounds (fairgrounds). Local RV parks are full.

See ya……

Hold On Here We go!

2012-02-16T03:30:00.000-08:00

…….at 7:15 the guys are eating breakfast like they do just about every Thursday in this neck of the woods.

Here Denny & Susie are cleaning their new Blue Razor for a ride. This thing has power steering. Denny & Susie went out riding for a little while.

In the mean time I cleaned the front end of the Beast.

Then the guys went out. We had four ATV’s all together.

First stop was for lunch up in Yarnell which is about 17 miles via the back way. They got some great hamburgers.

There were some wild animals up here in the highlands..

We call these guys TS chickens after Tommie Sue. They guard the restrooms. I heard they do a great job.

Here is over the road gang. Or is that over the hill gang?

Who is this masked man?

Yes there are wild animals out here in the desert. And what do wild animals do in the desert?

A man and his country.

We met some friendly things out here. I was wondering where all the poo was coming from. At first I thought it was from Walt Gunn. I got proof that some of it was….yes I do…..to be published at the right time…..how sweet it is……NOT!

Five hours and 47 miles later we return. Look at Denny’s face real good. I guess you could say he has some brown eye and has even a brown noise. He was following Walt to close……think what ever…….

Then Mr Steven Dudley pulls up with this 2008 Polaris Razor that he just bought. This thing has a lot of options.

We all, Orr’s, Dudley’s, Gunn’s, Kruty’s and us had dinner. The girls were yakking so loud that us guys could hardly here are selves tell lies to each other about the day.

Another good day down the tubes….

See ya.

2014 !

2012-02-15T05:27:00.000-08:00

Two days ago Mom Hill was admitted to the hospital in Livingston with pneumonia. The doc said she is responding to meds at this point and our presence is not necessary. We will be there in 4 weeks if not earlier.

Yep. We are already planning 2014. Why so far ahead you might ask. Because we can! 2014 will be our 5th trip to ALASKA. We already have 2 couples and a single saying they are going. We should have 4X4 vehicles and ATV’s both ride on and side by sides going. It will be a mix for sure. It will be another lossey goosey gang that worked so great in 2011. We had a total of 6 RVs and that was about right.

Oh, I’m looking for a pick up with a 8 foot bed and automatic. Let me know if anyone has one for sale.

Denny & I worked on expanding the entrance to his shed for his new Razor. Now you have two Dennis’ working on a project…..get ur done!

Rainbow the cat loves roses too!

She really gets into them and eats the green stuff.

See ya……………..

Valentines Day

2012-02-14T02:38:00.000-08:00

The day started out by taking my honey to breakfast at a local place. She got raisin bread French toast. I got a 1/4 order of biscuits & gravy and spicy taters. I still couldn’t eat it all.

Then I took her out and got her a dozen yellow roses.

You know what Denny did? He put me to work expanding his door on the shed.

I had two supervisors watching my every move.

Why was Denny making the entrance to his shed bigger you ask? Because he got Susie a Polaris Razor side by side for Valentines Day. Wow! Ain’t she lucky to have a guy like Denny. Here it is being delivered.

It just barely fit in that 8 foot bed truck.

Here comes the welcome gang, Walt & Ed.

The rest is history….

Denny & Susie going for their first ride in their cool side by side.

Can you see the little green man? He’s around and watching us.

A while later they came back. Then Denny took out Mary Pelly for a ride. She had a blast.

They returned and then it was me & Denny for a ride.

We returned later. As a matter of fact we came back a half hour late for dinner at Sandy & Ed’s. Ed cooked some thick NY strip steaks out on the grill. Walt & Kellie was there as were our babes Carol & Susie of course. The eight of us sat around and we had a very nice and fun time. It was really great to set around with friends and chat and laugh a lot. That’s what’s it all about – being with good friends.

It’s now 3 AM and it’s 32 degrees out. What’s up with that? It got only into the 50’s yesterday. Damn Nick….

See ya……

Campground Reservations

2012-02-13T03:52:00.000-08:00

I really hate making reservations at what I call public (non membership parks). We made a reservation for a park in Lake Havasu. It was the last site they said. Three days before our arrival date I called and cancelled. They friggin charged me $25. They didn’t mentioned that would happen when I made the reservation. They didn’t tell me when I cancelled the reservation. It was only $21 night under Passport America. What the hell. I can’t put a hold on my credit card charge unless I send them a written request. Our charge card bill is due this week. If I pay it then I can’t stop the charge. If I don’t pay it then I get a finance charge. Oh, it’s so hard to be a full time RVer – NOT! It’s just one of things that happen and I jump up & down then my feet get tired and I move on just like life does.

Later today we will find out if we need to go to the court house in Prescott. People have been guessing right so far. We are going there for an auction on a lot here at North Ranch. We need a place out here to rest & play and hopefully we will get it.

Now it’s later and the auction is postponed again. Oh well. We will continue on and return when need be.

It was pretty cool today and windy. Locals said this is normal weather now and not the warm weather than has been here lately. I think it is because Nick Russell is in AZ myself.

Carol has been sick today, probably just a little allergy or dry weather.

See ya.

Busy?

2012-02-12T03:36:00.000-08:00

Busy doing nothing and not even that. I would list the things I should be doing but that would be boring to me and you. I rolled up an extension cord and even put it away. That was exciting. I reaffixed the screen door latch handle that I fixed last week and put it back together upside down back then. I’m proud that I can fix my fixes.

Tuesday afternoon we will know if we are leaving that day or not. If we end up not leaving Tuesday then it will be decided Wednesday if we leave that day or later. That decision will be made on the court steps Wednesday morning if there is that meeting. That meeting will be decided Tuesday if it will happen. That’s why we could leave Tuesday. I think I’m getting a headache from this. Anyhow, two people have called/emailed me & guessed correctly what’s going on. It’s not all that big of deal – kinda.

Now that Denny is getting his Polaris side by side delivered Tuesday I’m thinking more and more about it. Hey, these things are go carts on steroids. What more could a guy ask for. I just can’t figure out how to take it with us on the road. The best overall solution I can come up with so far is to double tow behind the Beast. Remember I do have a commercial license and would just need to get an endorsement on it. But that’s in Texas. That should make me legal in all states being it’s a commercial license. Length becomes the problem then.

These are the nice problems that full timers have. That is how do I take all of our toys. I do see an orange something in the future. Polaris doesn’t make a orange side by side in my price range (cheap).

We had dinner with the Orr’s and the Dudley’s and it was great. I ate too much and had to take immediate power nap. I woke up and everybody was gone. Oh well, guess I wasn’t missed evidently.

See ya….

It’s Was Only Fair

2012-02-11T20:31:00.000-08:00

This morning Denny took me to Verizon to spend my money. I purchased a WiFi Mobile Broadband using Walt & Kellie’s old MiFi equipment that they gave me. For $57 (incl tax+) a month I get 5 GB per month. So, basically I got internet in most areas.

We went back to North Ranch for lunch. Then it was only fair I take Denny shopping and spend his money. I drove Denny to Prescott Valley to a Polaris dealer who carried side by side razors. A half hour after arriving he was the proud owner of a 2012 Polaris Razor. It was fun spending his money. “It was only fair.” In all fairness he did make a few phones call back to North Ranch I guess to get the OK (again). It will be delivered Tuesday. I made the same call to North Ranch and got a no…..what’s the number to that TV Show Wife Swap?

We arrived back at North Ranch at 5 PM just in time for a Dinner Mystery Murder Show. It was fun watching other people being hams. We had chili with all the trimmings during intermission. The show was funny.

And the day ended again no matter what we did.

See ya…………….

4 Wheeling Day

2012-02-10T03:46:00.000-08:00

And we’re off…There’s even a women’s bathroom out there.

Susie’s cactus.

Walt found a rock he wants…

Then he found some wood he wanted…..

Yes it was fun………..

See ya……….

Nice Start

2012-02-09T02:38:00.000-08:00

I slept in until 8 AM. Then Carol cooked me breakfast. This is so rare that I thought I was still sleeping and dreaming. Maybe I should rethink about getting up before dawn and not getting a cooked breakfast.

We went for a little walk and caught this quail setting around.

Denny didn’t return yesterday as planned. He decided (Susie really) to go ahead and get the AC in their rig fixed while at Freightliner. Now he will be back tomorrow.

In the mean time it’s birthday time for Jerry Lea. Here’s the I’m ready take the picture pose.

Here’ the before picture..all sorts of things are running thru her mind. One can only imagine. Like, “Does each candle mean 5 years or 10 years?”

Friends……………….

““I like birthdays when they aren’t mine.”

A good time was had by all…….

Tomorrow is off roading..

Oh, Nick Russell, those were probably Love Bugs that God sent you. Oh, I haven’t shined my wheels or washed the rig since last year. Not even dusted after Quartzsite. I’m retired!

See ya….

Do Nutin Day

2012-02-08T07:31:00.000-08:00

It was a lazy day. Carol got to go to line dancing in the morning and in the afternoon. She’s happy. I did some playing around with Microsoft Streets & Trips. Just playing the what if game.

Denny had an appointment at Freightliner for 7 AM tomorrow. He’s going to get his valves adjusted. He left this afternoon to make sure he would be there at 7 AM.

Kellie, AKA as Cupcakes, brought me some of her special prepared gizzards. they were very good and it didn’t take me too long to eat them all. Thanks Cupcakes.

The sun retired and so did we.

Tomorrow we will find out (supposedly) what we will be doing at the court house hopefully. That is if we have to go or not.

See ya………

Jello Plans Changed Again

2012-02-07T03:10:00.000-08:00

We were up and ready early and went to the Prescott Court House again. Things out of our control were changed so we will return again another day. Can’t say what we are doing until it’s over.

Being a full timer it’s OK if things happen that aren’t in your control or even in your control. You just adjust to it accordingly and go on. We had to cancel two reservations we made over near Lake Havasu. First we asked Denny & Susie if we could stay longer. They said we could. Tomorrow we have to wash and paint their house by noon then dust all the pebbles in their yard by dark – NOT. I think!

Later us and Denny & Susie got invited to socialize with George & Valerie at their place. they tried to fill us with food and booze and were pretty successful. We solved the presidential problem – put me in office. A good time was had by all. George & Valerie are leaving tomorrow (Wed).

We’re not sure how much longer we need to be here. I figure Denny & Susie will get suspicious when we are still here for Thanksgiving.

See ya….

Let’s Go For A Ride (car)

2012-02-06T01:47:00.000-08:00

We decided to go up to see a little town in the mountains called Prescott. Along the way we saw the Escapee’s North Ranch Park from a distance.

We saw a frog.

We went over this mountain.

Went thru Yarnell.

It got cold….slightly and not the 65 degrees. The other.

We came to Prescott to ……? Nope not that. It’s one of those things you might think about but never do it. Well, we are doing it.

Reminds me of a campground in Hyder Alaska with the same name.

On our way back to North Ranch via Phoenix we got these pics.

We stopped at an interstate rest area and got a picture of the Winnie. Notice the high door, the unusual slide and the windows in it.

Today was about 225 mile trip around in a circle. I think we will do it again Tomorrow. Stay tuned to find out why? No we are not buying another RV.

See ya……

Boot Camp & Football

2012-02-05T05:31:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day for Boot Camp.

The instructors were taking questions from the students. Neil must of gotten one of those weird questions. What a face.

This crowd looks very interested.

Super Bowl – good game. I chose all the losers to win in the play offs and then again in the big one. I should have betted against myself. I picked Baltimore and they lost. I picked San Fran and they lost. I picked New England and they lost. Hey, when you’re good you are good.

We changed our plans like a lot of RVers do. Instead of going to the Thousand Trails park near Hemet, CA today, we are staying here a couple of more days. Then Wednesday we will head for the Lake Havasu area. They got a big Fireworks Bash that will be going on in about 10 days or so.

See ya……………..

Butt Rubbing, Boot Camp & Eating

2012-02-04T04:33:00.000-08:00

Now that’s a title. But (pun intended) first Denny & I finished up making the batteries wiring pretty and safe. Then we unhooked the Beast’s 50 AMP hook up to see how the 6 house batteries would work. They held a full charge all day long with the inverter and stuff on. I really like my 6 house batteries. Thanks Ed and Denny.

Then it was time to rub butt. Denny & Susie did this together as all couples should do.

First they rub the mustard in and then a seasoning. I haven’t used Pappy’s in a long time due to unavailability on the east coast. Pappy’s is from Fresno, CA where I spent my younger years. After rubbing in the Pappy’s we stuck in the frig until tomorrow.

Later in the day I went over to the Escapee’s Boot Camp and see how George was doing with his seminar. He was doing real good and just needs some fine tuning.

You’ve heard of Parrot Heads. This is a box head. Someone told Kellie to put a lid on it so she did. she makes a great lemon pie. Maybe I will get one before we leave….hint……hint….Joe got one…

Then it was time for Mac the Fire Guy with his “hot” presentation on fire safety.

When I was younger and drank a lot of beer I could do this.

Now..sorta like this…..

These ladies are ready to dish it out with experience. At least that is what their husbands said..

Go girl..the hell with the diet……!

My two legged buddy…….

This is called eating in sequence.

She’s making that Weeeeeeeeeeeeee oink sound. It sounded like a pig that watched to much of the Three Stooges.

After eating it was time to retire………..

See ya………………

In Memory Of Patches and Brandi

2012-02-03T03:10:00.000-08:00

Patches, our cat, her health has gone down hill very quick over the past week. After several vet visits, x-rays and blood tests with no results it was time for her suffering to end. This was a damn hard decision and hurt a lot for Carol & I.

Brandi, Patches’ buddy, health has been going down hill because of her age of 15 years old. Since they were ever lasting buddies, it was only appropriate for them to continue their travels together and without us.

MEMORIES…………thru tears……..

Patches had her favorite warm spots during the winter.

She was our favorite dish.

She was a loving cat and would even make love to the cement bird bath.

Here she is sharing the heat with her young buddy Rainbow.

She could and would sleep anywhere and in the middle of what ever you are doing.

Yes, she’s inside the bag.

She didn’t like the cold tile floor so we fixed her a little blankie..

Tell me these guys weren’t buddies.

They switched beds often.

Brandi liked when I would smoke some beef ribs.

Here’s my Mom with her dog Brandi with a jealous visitor.

The gang’s all here…

She’s helping me pack.

How do you like me now!

“So do you like me now?”

What can I say….she’s my little buddy…..

Man oh man……good night little buddies. Thank you for the memories.

Not good bye…but se ya guys……….Where’s the friggin Kleenex.

Start Time 0730

2012-02-02T20:28:00.000-08:00

At 0730 I was eating breakfast here with some fine gentlemen.

All grandpa’s should be this cool!

These pork loins marinated overnight and went into the Bradley Smoker when I returned.

Then it was time to work on installing the two extra 6 volt batteries and moving the chassis batteries.

These two batteries along with wiring are…

going to be moved to here…… after a shelf is made and installed.

I got my tools out..

I removed the chassis batteries and installed the 2 new 6 volt batteries on the left where the chassis batteries were. The wiring will come later.

The batteries fit real nice, all 6 six volts. Not wired yet. That area to the far left is where the chassis batteries (two 12 volts) will go.

I had to call in the Seabee, Ed Kruty..

Then we got both batteries in the compartment with not too much room to play. They are on a steel platform that Ed built and then installed. He then said the wiring was up to me…I can do that!

That is with the help from Denny and a trip to get some cables made.

We wired up the house batteries then the chassis batteries. Tomorrow I will make the wiring neat and safe. No sparks or shocks and everything works.

Now it’s time to look at the smoker….wow…

While others went to the local restaurant we had diner with a few close old friends and all enjoyed the pork…it was juicy.

We watched some TV and the day was over. Damn I missed by power nap time.

See ya….

Mayor Of Talkeetna, Alaska

2012-02-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

When we were in Talkeetna, AK back in 2009 I was taking pictures as usual. I took a picture and posted it to our blog. Now, an associate editor of the Alaska Magazine has requested my permission to use a photo I took of the mayor of Talkeetna from back then. You know that associate is reading my blog because she had my current email address. The mayor is a cat. Yes, that is right a cat called Stubb’s. That’s cool…..

Back to reality….today was a little of this and that. I got 12 lbs of pork loin ready to smoke.

Smoker is ready for an early start tomorrow morning.

Then I started working on little things that are overdue for fixing.

The screen door handle was real loose. I fixed it but installed one hnadle upside down. It’s good for now. The cloth cover was on it so the clamp wouldn’t hit the paint.

Next was replacing Carol’s light with a LED. She can’t find the LED light. It don’t get back together until the LED is found.

Next was the outside LED that stopped working. A couple of hits and turning the LED and it started working again.

Later in the day there was a social in front of Mark’s rig. It was great….had some new faces there but the camera must have broke when I tried to take their pic. Stay tuned….

see ya……

Happy Birthday Baby Buddy

2012-01-31T00:41:00.000-08:00

Today Carol, my buddy, turned %$#&! years old. Her choice of breakfast this morning was Denny’s Restaurant. Denny & Susie came along with us. Carol like’s her Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. After showing the waitress her ID her breakfast was free ($6.49 credit). Now that was something. When we returned we visited Mark. It was the meeting of the minds or at least a meeting.

Here’s Denny & Susie’s place. The Beast is along side in the second pic. Denny’s rig is in the background.

Later that day Denny & Susie had a Birthday Party for Carol. It was a lot of fun. Whenever someone would show up everybody sung Happy Birthday to her – again and again. Susie cooked pizza for everyone and then we had cake & ice cream. Carol was in her glory.

When the sun went down everybody moved inside to the warm house. During the evening we got entertained by Mark’s famous Scottish song. He had to be asked only once.

The evening was over by 7 PM (Walt’s bed time).

Patches our cat has been staying at the local vet due not eating/drinking/lost of weight. The vet said she was doing better and we could pick her up tomorrow. She was looking/acting pretty bad beforehand and hopefully she has recovered fully. We had our doubts there for awhile.

Denny & Susie leave their MiFi on overnight so I can get this blog out. They know I have a tendency to do it in the middle of the night. Thank you…

I’m in the middle of fighting a losing battle with Verizon about their bait & switch offers. This concerns their plan for a 2 GB MiFi for $30 a month. They have advertising at their stores that says it’s available during the 2011/2012 winter. When you call them they say they only have the 5 GB for $50. That my friends is called bait and switch by anyone’s definition except theirs. Hey, I’m letting them know what I think. I’m suppose to get a call tomorrow from some Verizon muck a muck person. Let’s see how concerned they are really about keeping to their advertising.

See ya………..

Enough Boone Docking

2012-01-30T01:28:00.000-08:00

We’ve spent 21 days in the desert with no hook ups. It’s time for us to go. We got 117 miles to the Escapees park North Ranch. We will be staying at Denny & Susie’s lot there. First we have to stop at the Wickenburg vet because our cat Patches is pretty sick.

We stopped at the ZIP and got fuel at $3.79 a gallon and LP was $2.95.

We took some pics but they really are rough. Plus here’s a couple from a few days ago.

We arrived at the vet around noon and they took Patches right in. Later that day we got a call and they didn’t find anything so far but will observe her over night.

We arrived at Denny & Susie’s. Denny arrived earlier and got situated. We pulled right in and got all situated. Carol started doing the wash right away. Today was a try and recoup day after a short drive.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is Carol’s birthday…..

See ya…………

See Ya’s Abound

2012-01-29T21:10:00.000-08:00

We don’t say good bye, we say See Ya because we will. At least we better….

The day started with the gathering of the guys at the fire pit at 8 AM. Then it was off to the Subway at the Pilot truck stop for breakfast. Subway has a pretty decent breakfast for a fast food place.

Then we went to the big tent. I talked with Verizon about getting the internet. They now want $50 a month for the basic WiFi. I can see $35 but not $50. I just don’t see it right now. So, I will become one of THOSE people who are always looking to sponge off people or find hotspots. If you don’t see a daily blog entry that is why. I will do a blog for each day but they might not get entered for 3-4 days and all at one time.

Back at the Beast and a few people have left. Tomorrow it’s going to be like a big suction when we all leave.

Silly Al’s for diner we thought. This was usually a time when we celebrated Carol’s and Walt’s birthday with friends. Due to a lack of communication and last minute changes that we were not informed of, we skipped Silly Al’s. We decided it was better to have a quiet diner by ourselves at a small restaurant.

Later that night we had a real big fire and burned the rest of the firewood.

See ya……

Friends, Chili & Prizes

2012-01-28T03:42:00.000-08:00

I started my chili at 6:30 AM this morning. I think I will have some strong competition. Great…

We ended up with 24 RVs here for our last hosted RV Driving School Get Together. George & Valerie got us going away cakes. That was very nice….

The sky was blue all day and set the standard for a nice day.

We had more than enough food to include chili.

Then the rest of the food was coming out.

And the people…..

The sun was setting….I gave a farewell and thank you oh rah. George then gave a welcome to all and I think he said porterhouse steaks next year.

It was then time for the fun give away prizes. We also gave gold coins out to RV Driving School students and the wives of the instructors. Wow, I didn’t notice but just about everything was orange. Now ain’t that something.

And the fire is started.

It was time to say good by to the “Dick” Reed work shirt for many reasons. A lot of good memories and only one bad one. That’s pretty dog on good record for 5 years. The one bad memory was a down fall of a legacy of a once great person. Too Bad…..

And the night burned on…..

Oh what a friggin GREAT DAY!

See ya…

First Day of Get Together

2012-01-27T05:32:00.000-08:00

Today officially starts the RV Driving School Get Together. Carol & I have been doing this for 6 great years. I think this has been the best weather we have ever had over all. One year we almost got washed away because of the real bad thunder/rain/wind storms here. It’s something to see a monsoon rain and water running across a desert in an RV in the middle of no where. It got a little scary that year and we still managed to have fun. It’s the attitude that wasn’t discouraged.

We pass the torch on to George & Valerie and wish them well. Oh, we’ve told everybody next year they would be preparing steaks, porterhouse of course! Tell your friends.

Carol & I went into town before 9 AM today. I wanted to get some solar lights at K & B Tools. K & B has a lot of good “Stuff”. After Mickey D’s we parked right in front of K & B before 9 AM. I got the lights and then we went to the laundry mat. I dropped Carol off and I went to the big tent. Here’s Denny & Susie working it. It wasn’t crowed so I got to walk around and meet some fellow vendor friends. About 10 AM I decided it was time to go to the Post Office and start to wait. They hand out General Delivery starting at 11 AM. I got there about 10:15 and was mentally prepared to wait. They are so s - - - l - - - - o - - - - w - - - - ! After 10:30 or so it becomes an 1 1/2 hour wait. I was 4th in line. I walked out about 11:10 with mail in hand. I went and got Carol and we went back to the Beast.

I think I counted 23 rigs before the end of the day.

We had a pretty big social hour and then a pit fire later that night. We went out to diner with Gary and Mary, fellow Loosey Gosey Gang members from our Alaska trip this past summer. We went to a Mexican restaurant. I can’t talk Spanish or read their menu’s even though they are in English. It just don’t click in the brain housing for me when it comes to Mexican food. I need a child’s menu that is descriptive. I ordered a mini samboro (?) with ground beef and crossed my fingers. It came and they must have thought I was a rabbit. There was a lot of lettuce and I never did find the ground beef. It reminded me of a taco salad with no sidewalls or beef. It was outstanding if you are a vegetarian.

Another good day. Damn wind picked up again. The weatherman changes his report as the weather changes so he’s never wrong. Just a little off on the timing. Tomorrow is predicted to be in the 70’s with no wind or clouds….hope so.

The pot luck/chili cook off will start about 3:30. Hope I don’t see those mega food trays. Come on folks let’s don’t go down that road. I’m expecting about 75 or so people again this year. We will see…. I got to go start my chili – it’s now 6:30 AM.

See ya……

Datastorm Dish Gone

2012-01-26T04:09:00.000-08:00

Well good ole old Steve came over this morning to give me a second opinion on our datastorm being broke. He has a little puller that is really neat and set up for long distance traveling and boone docking. His diagnosis was “Yep, it’s broke!” We unbolted it and tossed it off the roof. Surprisingly the dish didn’t brake. No pics because I was working and I don’t need to spread those kind of pics around. People might think I actually can work. Steve wanted it for parts and so be it. He owes us a big fat hamburger due some day. And he and Nancy are off…..

Now Don needed supervising. He was cleaning his base plate for his datastorm to go on their NEW RV. Yes they are getting a new 40 foot farton. Congrats. Tommie Sue and & Harrell are getting a a new Tiffin also. Victor and Tarri are getting a new RV too. Thank goodness it’s not a Tiffin. We might have to go look again. The bug didn’t bite us this year. Again thank you all for buying those new RV’s so we didn’t have to. It’s more fun watching you all spending your money and MOVING and RESTTING UP everything….

A few more rigs came in today and I can no longer keep track of everybody's name. We had a real nice 4 o’clock get together and had some great laughs.

That evening Frank Hinman started the fire and we had a nice group outing. Mark brought the stuff that was need for smores and we put a hurting on them. Buy this time it was joke time. Wow, these people hurt my Marine Corps ears – NOT.

Today was perfect Quartzsite weather in that it was in the 70’s, not one cloud in the sky and no friggin wind. Damn it don’t get no better out here. The next few days is suppose to be the same. Life is good…………

Now you ask how am I getting this blog out if I don’t have no datastorm. Denny dropped off his MiFi thing for me to use early this AM (4 AM). It’s a pretty neat little device. I don't have to turn on the inverter for the datastorm equipment. I just turn on this little gizmo and log on. It’s faster than datastorm at least right now it is. In crowded areas I’ve been told it slows down. The computer I just run on battery. How sweet it is……

My blogs might be a little slow getting on line but I will have one for each day but they just might not be published for one or two days. In other words go back until you come up on a repeat….

See ya………………….

Nice Day – Pot Luck And All

2012-01-25T02:44:00.000-08:00

Today……I’ writing this at 3 AM and it’s a little hard to remember the do nothing day I had.

We started of by having breakfast with George & Valerie at the Q town Cafe across the street from the Qsite Yacht Club. Their regular cook was off. I noticed a difference in the omelet and commented to the waitress. She said their regular cook was off today. My omelet was still good but not as good as the other day. Denny stopped by and we had a good time.

Then we…then we…. I don’t remember.

A few more people arrived during the day.

Later Denny and I went over to Victor’s new rig. We helped him with reinstalling his solar stuff. Well, Denny did. I was like a federal supervisor. I didn’t know what they were doing but I was telling them how to it. As long as they kept moving I was doing my job. He installed an extra two batteries for a total of 6 house batteries. That’s nice.

Here’s some other RV’s he was near on BLM north of Qsite out Pomosa Road.

On the way back I thought it would be nice to have one of those last minute pot lucks. These throw the girls into a frenzy because they don’t know what to bring. I remembered we had a couple packages of smoked pulled pork in the freezer so that took care of that. We called the girls who immediately went into the panic mode. It all worked out very well thanks to the girls…brownie points……… We ended the day with a nice little campfire plus no wind. I think we got 7 rigs here now with more due to arrive tomorrow. Five of us parked like a circle of the wagons as possible wind barriers.

Tomorrow as all days will be an interesting one. Carol has it all figured what we have to do and I’m just going along for the ride. Not to much thought for this boy..

I published yesterday’s blog a day late(same time as this one) so you might want to go back one day. It has some funny pictures.

See ya….

Last Official Responsibility As Owner

2012-01-24T02:06:00.000-08:00

This morning I completed the 1099’s for the instructors. Turn on the lights the party is beginning what ever that means. People have been asking why did you sell the school and what are you going to do now. Why sell? The timing was right for us to sell and no real special reason. We just knew it was time. Now what are we going to do? Nutin. How’s that? We’ve agreed to help the new owners the next few months at different venues and Carol wants to attend a couple of line dancing rallies in California. We will leave the west coat about mid March and head for FL with a stop in Livingston, TX. After visiting some real good friends in FL we head for an Escapees rally in the Carolinas. Then a slow pace to the Newmar factory in IN to get the roof replaced on the Beast under warranty. It’s sagging like we are all doing. Then……..?

Anyhow back to the hear and now. Today it’s suppose to be windy and near 70 degrees. Then the rest of the week in the mid 70’s and sunny…….hopefully.

The day was a normal busy due nothing day. Then it was time for Silly Al’s with a bunch of friends. It was……it was…….it was….it was…well you figure it out…

Then the day ended I think……

See ya…………….

Out Of Food ?

2012-01-23T05:38:00.000-08:00

No not really. We got milk the other day. We do need some regular “stuff” that we might have to go to Blythe. Carol wants to make some corn bread for the chili this weekend. I need some stuff for my chili.

Today it got to near 70 degrees , clouds and wind later and even a quick rain shower.

I dropped Carol and Marline Hinman off at line dancing and headed for Blythe, CA about 25 miles away.

AT……

Killer donuts…

Downtown Blythe…

I washed the car for $1.25

In Az Milepost 5 this is the place to get fuel . 10 cents cheaper than Flying J, not as crowded and it’s even larger.

Northbound on route 95 about 2 miles out going into town about 12:30 ……no thank you!

Later we connected up with Denny & Susie and went to the Families Three (?) Restaurant. Not too shabby. It was our third restaurant where we didn’t have to wait more than 10 minutes. The others looked longer. We fixed some world problems and spoke about our future plans. When we finished and went outside we noticed it had rained. There went my clean car.

Lesson learned probably – don’t go into town between 9:30 AM and 4 PM. It’s a friggin zoo. Bumper to bumper traffic with parking spaces few and far apart. You know, Quartzsite just ain’t the same for us anymore.

See ya……

Spreadsheet

2012-01-22T05:28:00.000-08:00

Now that we don’t have the RV Driving School anymore our expenses have changed. I have set up a very detailed spreadsheet to watch our money go out of our pockets. We did this back in 2000 and 2001 to ensure we could live out here full timing. Yes we could and have. Since then we started working doing something we enjoyed and even getting paid sometimes. I will try and give a little report on our full timing lifestyle expenses each month. Hopefully this will helps some wannabees with their planning. Others to compare theirs with ours…I know I have. So far this month our biggest expense has been fuel (over $1,100). Second is food (groceries/dining out) at about $450. And third is RV Repair/Replacement parts at over $500 (batteries). All of these figures are high. Fuel because we moved from Texas to Arizona. Food is high because we have been eating out more than often like a lot more. Then we needed house batteries. All are controllable and could have been reduced/not purchased one way or another.

Sunday, NFL playoffs, Ravens, 49’ers, big TV, food, see ya………….

The Big Tent

2012-01-21T05:02:00.000-08:00

We were there for the opening of the first day of the Big Tent Event here at Quartzsite. Wow, it hasn’t been this crowded in many years.

We had to park in a special parking space. It had a bunch of white lines in our space and we fit fine. Only three rows away. It was belly button to *&! hole. Why in the hell people bring dogs to these events have always made me wonder why. I was almost at the point of asking a few but the traffic was too much. It’s cruel to the dog and other people. You want to carry your mutt in a bag across your chest – fine. But why a medium/large dog on a leash in a high traffic area beats the hell out of me. Who’s gonna clean up if the dog takes a dump? I know who will probably step in it. You just can’t fix stupidity and down right lack of concerns for others and the dog.

Anyhow we did a trip up and down all three isles then around the outside one time. I got two special water disconnects and a Spartan hubcap. If you order a hubcap from Spartan it cost $35. I got one here from Spartan and it was $22. Same hubcap. Carol got a do hickey that hangs on a chair for $6 . It looks like a $15-20 device. We left then immediately. It was getting more crowded in the tent along with more animals.

We went back to the Beast. It was very very very very very very very windy. Sun didn’t come out until after 1 or so then I wasn’t sure if it was the sun. OK, one not real good day but a OK inside day. It did hit 70 degrees.

Gary & Mary Olson stopped by to visit. Damn I thought they couldn’t find us. They followed us all over Alaska and we couldn’t shake them. They’re staying with the Moan & Groan Club (Tiffin) nearby. Fun couple… they will come over early next week after the Tiffin group throws them out. While they were here we had our first official arrival, Tom & Pat Wither. They have been coming here for several years via new Tiffins but they keep buying them so they can make it here. They now have a 42’ Farton. They too are planning to go to Red Bay and are hoping it makes it – just funning – kinda. Nice Tiffin. I like teasing people who have any type of RV. Oh Gary & Mary have a Tiffin Allegro Bay or is it a Tiffin Allegro Bus. Great guys all of them……

Steve O’Bosky sent me an email saying that he would stop by and take a look at our Motosat sat dish. He’s the man when it comes to these things.

See ya……………………

Peace & Quiet

2012-01-20T02:28:00.000-08:00

Well, we started off about 8:30 AM. We hung a left out of our spot at the SKP get together and headed for the dump/water station down the road a couple of miles.

Water & a dump was $20. Plenty of water fill and dump stations which are separated. Water fill in one area and dump stations in another. Very convenient for when it gets crowded.

If you wanted to flush your black water tank it would cost you an additional $3. Quartzsite has become a money hungry tourist city. The vendor said it was the city as he put the $20 in his pocket – no receipt.

Next we headed for Satellite Advantage which is located across the street from La Mesa RV. We arrived and I confirmed that he would buy our MotoSat sat dish for $400. An hour later I had it ready to lower off the roof. Paul, the owner, got on the roof and took a look at the sat dish. He said that a $60 part was broke and didn’t wanted to mess with fixing it. I reinstalled the dish/cables and it took another hour. He gave me some Dicor caulk to reseal some holes. We then left for OUR AREA down at MM 99.5 which is about 5 miles south of Qsite.

Wow…..peace & quiet in the open desert. We will just wait for you all to come. Follow the signs that say WHEELS N KEELS and you will run into us. Hope they keep the signs up. We will put up our small orange survey steaks about Tue or Wed.

It’s now 3:30 AM and it’s damn quiet. It got into the 70’s yesterday and night in the low 50s. This just might be the best weather in a long time. I got my shorts out…yea……

See ya……

Another Action Day

2012-01-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

We started off with going to the Q Town Cafe with Ed & Sandy for breakfast. They know how to make big omelets. Then we returned to the SKP area where we are parked. Shortly after that the gathering started again.

Santos was the entertainment today. Here he is getting his do wop singers.

During all this Steve O’bosky came over and found a boo boo in my datastorm. It’s all fixed. Tomorrow will tell.

Before all this and after breakfast Carol had her Line Dancing at Desert Gardens.

Victor and Tarre Schrubs bought a new rig but first had to remove a few things off the road.

Quartzsite even got a visit from MetLife.

See ya……

A Wow Day

2012-01-18T03:48:00.000-08:00

At 4:30 AM the cats will set around the heater with me while I do this blog. The heater goes out and they are gone back to bed with Carol.

We decided to go to the Escapees Quartzsite breakfast. We arrived about 7:30 AM for the 8 AM breakfast. We know when it’s food and Escapees you have to arrive early or you don’t get a good seat. We were right. It ended up to be 34 people of which most stay here for the winter. The food itself was good and the friendships were even better.

We went back to the Beast and got ready for the Escapees Quartzsite (1-3 PM) gathering which was at our front door. I broke the big camera out and took about 175 pictures. Here are a select few.

Entertainment..

Joe being a bad boy…..

It’s a long dog day….

Here’s Tommie Sue trying to get away from the birds..

Afterwards a few of us went into town and had $1 tacos down at Rice Ranch.

That was it for this fun packed day. Another big get together tomorrow.

See ya………….

Days Are Becoming a Blur

2012-01-17T03:02:00.000-08:00

I missed a day as some of you know. I will try to recap but these days are starting to become a blur. I’m glad I haven’t been drinking.

I think we went to La Mesa RV for a free pancake breakfast with Denny & Susie. Don’t remember if Ed & Sandy came. Afterwards Carol & I went to Paul Evert RV. We wanted to go tease the salesman. Hey, for years they would harass us when ever we were just looking. Now I harass them. The tables have turned. We looked at several rigs with two salesman following us around like lost puppies. The one we liked the most was a 2006 Executive 44 footer. They’re bringing a coach down from Fresno Friday they said we might be interested in. So, Friday we wonder over there again and disappointment them again. They just haven’t made the perfect coach with that real big bedroom yet. At least we haven’t found it yet.

Then came the social hour for us early arrivals at the Escapees get together area here on BLM land. Maybe about 30 or so people so far.

Then it was Silly Al’s time.

This is a place where a group of us visit every year several times and we have a blast. We do everything from karaoke (not all) to oink, oink to the new weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. We also eat fantastic pizza and some even have a beer or two or three or four plus. I just had water. I wasn’t in the mood to drink. It was fun as you can see. We will return and even have more fun as usual.

It’s 11 o’clock. Do you know where your parents are?

See ya………..

Cook Out

2012-01-16T04:07:00.000-08:00

I started off the day with a trip to Mickey D’s with Denny/Susie and Ed/Sandy. After that we stopped at several campgrounds to check their rates. Rates were $30-32 and were full this up coming weekend. It happens to be the first weekend of the Big RV Tent Show. The next two weeks is the biggest drawl of RVers to Quartzsite and the numbers soar.

We all went back to our area. Carol was departing for her line dancing. We sat around and greeted the newcomers. The sun was out and the wind was blowing which made the 65 degrees seem cooler.

The Girls were pow wowing

And the guys were BSing each other.

Next was lunch. You know what that means – La Mesa RV. We had hotdogs. After that we went back to the Beast. We loaded up the car with soiled clothes and Carol was off to the laundry.

The new comers continued to arrive one at a time. the 4 o’clock circle was big, almost not doable. At the end of the social it was time to have a cook out. We had 4 dozen beef dogs/buns ready to grill. Four guys came up with their cookers and we were one – fire them up. About half way thru Mark arrived with 20 chicken lip dogs/buns to polish off those that wanted seconds.

People pitched in and fixed chili for the dogs, sauerkraut, onions. Then we had special dips for the chips and so on. It was pretty dog on good for just about the spur of the moment thing.

Tomorrow is Taco Tuesday. Poor little restaurant is going to be hit by a tidal wave of frugal Escapees.

See ya………

Yuma Flea Market

2012-01-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

We got up this morning and decided to go to Yuma’s big Flea Market. It’s open Thur-Sun. We first went to Mickey D’s for our 2 egg muffins ($3) and free coffee. I think they are giving their coffee away until the 26th. After a 1 1/2 hour drive we arrived at the flea market. First thing that caught my eye was this. Hey, what’s wrong with this picture. If you can’t figure it out, then you are one of them!

I’ve been classified as 40% permanently disabled for almost 20 years by the Veterans Administration and I would never think of doing what this guy did.

Anyhow, they have a cute petting zoo at the flea market if you can’t find any thing better to pet.

I guess one could say that it was not crowed at all.

It was noticeable smaller than last year also due to less vendors. We got a few things then we were off to Sam’s.

I needed to get two more 6 volt batteries since ED said that he would rearrange my chassis batteries. We also took back 4 old batteries for the deposit on the ones I got last week. While there we figured why not get some dogs/buns. We can have a cook out back at the SKP get together place one night. Why not.

On the way back from Yuma Carol was bored so she got hold of the little camera and took some pics.

When we got back to the Beast more people had arrived at the campsite. To many to list. Most of them were going out for dinner and we decided to stay back and guard the fortress.

When they returned a few stopped by.

After that visit we went and visited Sharon & Don then Walt & Kellie. We went back to the Beast for a restful night – NOT!

About 11 PM we were awoke by a sound of a portable generator which happened to be about 20 feet from our bedroom window. Honda’s are quiet but not that close at 11 o’clock at night. I decided to go over and see what the emergency was. Someone evidently needed help. Names will not be used to protect the guilty. I knocked on the door and a lady answered. I asked what the medical emergency was. She acted a little surprised that I asked and she said why. I said that their generator was being ran an hour past BLM hours (6AM-10PM). She said that they just returned back to the rig and were out of LP and that it was 62 degrees in their rig. I was tempted to explain boone docking in cool weather but didn't. I didn’t even get into the how to take care/use of LP bottles. Every morning when I get up our rig is in the 50’s. She further said that her husband had left to go fill BOTH of their LP bottles. She asked if their generator had woke us which I immediately said yes. I wanted to say a few other things but didn’t. She said if it was that bad I could turn it off. I just said no thank you and walked away. The husband returned a little before 11:30 PM and turned off the generator. I guess their emergency was over and they didn’t need any other assistance. Hopefully they have learned a lesson and I’m glad it wasn’t really a serious emergency. I guess an emergency is in the eye of the beholder. Sort of like handicap parking. I was up by 6 AM. I didn’t even turn on the Beast’s 400 HP Cummins, 7500 KW generator or even our diesel Hydro Hot. It was 55 degree’s in our coach. I turned on our Mr Buddy on low and did this blog. I feel like Andy Rooney from the 60 Minutes show.

See ya…………….

Mo People

2012-01-14T03:23:00.000-08:00

What do you get when the guys get together so early in the morning…..nutin honey.

Carols is getting into the off road mood.

This ATV place had free hot dogs and entertainment. The entertainment was pretty good when she wasn’t cleaning her nose out.

Here’s Carol trying to pick up these youngins.

Another lunch at La Mesa. It was beef stew. Where’s the beef was a favorite question.

People came from all over. Some even had RVs. It was over cast and cool but the friendships were warm. Ahhh ain’t that nice?

Maybe you can recognize a few of these SKP’s. Click on the picture for a blow up.

Another day of doing nothing and then trying to remember what we did do to put in the blog. Oh yea, football. One very exciting game and one blow out game. Each team that one had a good day. Tomorrow I predict winners. How’s that for sports reporting? Sounds like a weatherman – yes there will be weather tomorrow when the sun comes up and then some when it goes down.

See ya……

Friday The 13th – So What!

2012-01-13T04:59:00.000-08:00

I have nothing to do but will be busy all day – again.

Somebody asked about the weather. How about near 70 this week and sunny. The nights get down to near 40. As long as the wind don’t kick up too bad, it’s pretty dog on good.

Anybody want to buy a Datastorm cheap. Ours is for sale cheap. Did I mention cheap.

There’s about 8 rigs out here now.

The only guys up this AM was me & Denny. So we decided to go to Mickey D’s for breakfast.

After that we went back to the rigs. It was time to put out and up signs for the Escapees get together for next week.

I had some orange tape and ribbon on hand to brighten things up.

Then we all looked for loose change on the round.

We had supervisors….

Now all this hard work made us hungry. So you know what that meant – La Mesa RV for free lunch. They have the free lunch from 12 –2PM. Today we learned not to go at 12 because everybody goes then.

Inside was crowded too….we had taco pie, beans, salad and pie. Everything was good because it was free. Afterwards we went into a Eclipse 42 footer. We saw this shelf/drawers behind the sink. We will have one similar to it made down the road.

It was back to the ranch after getting a gallon of milk ($3.79). It was time for me to get the antifreeze off the Beast. It was on the passenger side and rear. I first dusted the dust off. Then used a damp cotton cloth and wiped the coach as far as I could from bottoms to high as I can reach. I know that isn't high..ha ha. Then I went over it again with a damp chamois. It needs a cleaner/wax now but that will have to wait. Next where the wheels and tires. First a dusting then a damp rag then a chamois. They need a buffing to really make them shine. Now you have to remember this is all only on one side of the Beast.

Now later on everybody left to go see the New Christie Minstrels something or another. Yes it’s that group from the 60/70 era. No thanks. I stayed back and cooked some ham for dinner. They all returned about 9 or so and spoke highly of the $12 show.

Tomorrow I don’t know what I’m going to do. Probably another busy day do nothing day.

Oh someone said that I needed to use better grammar. I told them that this is me and they needed to change channels. No I didn’t. My grammar makes the mind work in figuring out what I’m saying. What do you want for a 7th grade gentle education. I skipped the 8th and quit the 9th two weeks before graduation. Yes, there is more smart schooling but it was years later and even made the Dean’s List for something. Seems like I’m always on somebody’s list for something.

See ya.

Nothing Again Today

2012-01-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

7:45 AM ED & Denny are anxious to go and eat.

We headed out for breakfast about 8 AM. After about 10 minutes driving we realized we had not said where were going. After a few minutes of “You decide”, “No you decide”, we agreed to go to Subway. Then that presented another problem – which one since there are two here in Quartzsite. We couldn’t decide that either. We all did decide that’s why we have wives. They have no problem telling us where and when to go without hesitation…..

After breakfast we went to a place called “RV Lifestyles”. It’s a dealer with a parts department and Ed needed something. They had these UTV’s setting outside. They’re golf carts on steroids and you set in them rather than on them. The salesman got all excited when I was crawling under one and asking a bunch of questions.

We left and went back to the rigs. Ed & Denny came over to look at the Beast’s battery box area. Ed the Seabee decided he could move the starting batteries and I could get another two six volt batteries in the compartment for a total of six. When we go to Congress next month he said he could get it done in a day or two. When I return to Yuma to return the old batteries (4 X $9) I will pick up another two. When? As soon as I get time from doing nothing.

Now it’s lunch time. Yep, back to La Mesa for lunch. Everybody went. They had hot dogs (1), chips and a drink free. It was good (free). Coming out we all went into a 38 foot toy hauler 5th wheel. It was pretty neat. At this point the salesman were circling us so we left. Prior to departure we all decided to go loosey goosey which each of us to our own direction. Carol & I decided to go to Rice Ranch and both sides of the road there. This took several hours to hit all the flea market booths. Carol got some books and I got a back ache. We went back to the Beast. The rest of the crowd arrived shortly there after. A few more SKP’s arrived and we parked them. It was then 4 o’clock and time for social hour. We sat around in a large circle and talked small talk to the right and left of where we were setting. The circle was to big to talk/listen to everyone.

Then it was time to go to dinner. We all returned to Rice Ranch and had $1 tacos at a little stand. They even had a sit down area for us to eat and chat. After eating tacos Ed & I walked down the street and had $1 hamburgers. Pretty good little things. Everyone else was having ice cream. To cold for me to have ice cream.

Hey the women were smiling because they were ready to tell me where to go.

Got back to the rig about 6 and it was getting dark. We had moved the rig earlier to this spot. We are at the starting point of making a large rectangle at this point.

A few of us fired up a paper log and sat around for awhile. Next think you know I was the only one setting there. I poured two beers on the fire to put it out. I know that’s a waste of beer but water is more valuable out here. I could have used some yellow water but the smoke smell might have been a little much for some.

Tomorrow I hope I really don’t do nothing because I have some things I need to get done. I still got antifreeze on the side of the Beast that I should be getting off real soon. Then I need to shine my wheels of course.

See ya……..

Yuma Luncheon

2012-01-11T01:37:00.000-08:00

We all decided to go to Yuma today and go loosey goosey – each of us doing our own thing. We arrived at the Foothill’s Restaurant about 10:10 AM and it was already crowded for the 11 o’clock luncheon. Why it’s called a luncheon I don’t know. Most people order the breakfast special. A lot of good friends were reconnected. It was great seeing familiar faces again. Ed and Elaine Brandt have been doing these luncheons for 15 years. He got bald and she got red hair. Wow.. no grey hair…it must be the shampoo.

They worked the crowd and ensured to meet everybody. I wonder if they are running for office. Ed wouldn’t let go of Elaine's hand.

This is the M Po Tent people table…

This is Denny with his mouth in it’s normal position. His foot isn’t even in it at least at the moment.

Carol’s birthday is at the end of the month so the restaurant brought her a treat. It’s a Twinkie with strawberries and cream. Hey..it’s free….

And Carol liked it…..

From here we ran to Sam’s. I got four golf cart batteries for $80 bucks a piece. I figured I could replace these batteries 3 times and still save money over AGM batteries. We also had lunch again at Sam’s. It’s hard to beat their prices for lunch. Then it was time to go back to Qsite.

We got back and we decided to move the Beast from this spot. The Beast was getting lonely. Actually we were the corner stone site for the SKIP get together. We decided to move up to the present day crowd. Another day or so I will show our new site.

Well, I was gonna wait till the guys got back to reinstall the four house batteries. I decided to go ahead and do it now with a little sun light left. Now this is the third time I have worked on taking these friggin batteries out so I just about had it down pretty good. I took some extra back pain pills and went for it. No problems. I think I even hooked everything up right. I had to run the generator about 1 1/2 hours to charge them up all the way. All instruments/gauges looked good thru the evening. It’s now 3 AM and I’m at 12.3 volts with the inverter on and things running.

The Orr’s and Crusty’s got back from their Mexico adventure early evening and they came over. We talked about Mexico and we have decided to go back with them later this month. They did say it was over an hour to get thru customs. That means it has returned to normal. Last year was hardly a wait at all when we went.

Tomorrow I will monitor the batteries and see how they take to a solar charge. The guys are going to Mickey D’s for breakfast probably. then..?..?

See ya……….

Quartzsite – Full Day

2012-01-10T02:23:00.000-08:00

Will we were off and running before 8 AM. That is early for some. We went to La Mesa RV for a free pancake breakfast with Denny/Susie, Ed/Sandy & Ray/Jan. The guys were in one car and the ladies in another. The pancakes were really good. We sat there for awhile afterwards and talked and talked. Then we all walked around the new RVs with a salesman tagging around. I actually met a salesman who knew the difference between an exhaust brake, VGT brake and compression brakes. I was impressed so he got to stick around longer while we went in a half dozen rigs or so. After breakfast us guys went to two solar shops to see what was cooking in that area of expertise. I was really was preshopping for batteries. I think the Beast’s are tired. After that us guys ended back at our rigs. Carol went line Dancing in town for two hours. She’s a happy camper.

Us guys started to check the Beast’s batteries. We discussed where the water should be filled to in a battery. I said about halfway to the bottom of the fill ring. They all said to the bottom of the fill ring. I lost and I watched them fill my batteries to their requirements. I felt like Tom Sawyer watching them do my work. I was out numbered.

Then it was time to go and check out Ed’s solar panels to make sure they were working. Denny got on the roof with a rug. I stood next to the RV and Ed was inside watching his solar controller numbers. Denny would cover a solar panel and Ed would shout out the numbers. We did this for each panel and it turned out they were are working just fine.

OK…now it’s lunch time. Back to La Mesa RV for a free lunch. It was meat loaf, mashed potatoes/gravy, biscuit and corn with a drink of your choice. We all agreed it was worth the money. It was pretty good and I don’t normally care for meat loaf unless it’s Mark’s smoked meat loaf.

Now what….. We all had brought are own vehicles because we were going to be loosey goosey and do our own things. We went to one of the flea markets near the Big Tent area. The Big tent is closed for another week plus. We walked for hours and bought nothing. No real good deals jumped out at us until we got near an ice cream shop near the Two Crazy Ladies wagon. They make ID badges, etc. Whoa – for three bucks we got a beast of a cone with a lot of ice cream. We then had to walk some more.

By now it was time to head back to the rig for the 4 o'clock social. Social is a old person’s name for a sit down party. I think we had about 12 people and I ain’t even gonna and try to remember their names now at 4 AM in the morning.

You know what is next – right. It’s dinner time. La Mesa RV doesn't do dinner. Someone mentioned Taco Tuesday ($1) at a Mexican Restaurant in town. I think they only have Mexican Restaurants in Arizona. We found the joint and it was quaint as they usually are. We had to wait. I don’t know if it was because there were that many people or that small of place. Maybe both. During our wait I felt obligated to entertain everyone waiting. The audience was about 15 or so. I know…that’s a small group but what the hell. I had everyone laughing in time. One couple had finished and were exiting when the lady came by to see me. She said that I better hurry up and due today’s blog because she knew I didn’t do yesterdays' and she missed it. With that she walked out. I sat their baffled for a moment and then continued my joking around. Then we got in a line and followed the waitress to a room. Service was good and I was still on a roll. I was having a great time kidding with others in the same room. I think they figured it was better to join in the fun than to make faces. We ALL had a blast and could not even plan this – it just happened and yes I had one beer at the social.

Back at the rig (7 PM) the batteries were fully charged. We turned on the TV, a light and the computer stuff. One hour later we were down to 12.1 volts. What does that mean? It means we do need batteries. Now do we go with AGM or water filled? Haven’t decide yet. That will probably will be decided tomorrow (Wed).

We will have another action packed day tomorrow. We are doing the loosey goosey thing again tomorrow. Most of us will go to Yuma for a monthly SKP luncheon. From there some will go down to Mexico while others shop around for batteries.

I will try to take some pics tomorrow….

See ya…………..

Now That’s Service

2012-01-09T02:33:00.000-08:00

Blog is late due to trouble with the datastorm. It’s up and running.

It got down to 28 degrees last night (Sun). The cat loves when we put on the heat and she has her spot.

Here’s our campsite at the Red Barn.

Don recommended this little local place for breakfast. It was sufficient in quantity and quality. The price was pretty good too.

We got back to the Beast and I added a gallon of antifreeze. I made calls to Newmar and Spartan about the possible heater core leak. I was directed to Freedom RV in Tucson. When we arrived they took us in immediately. I guess they didn’t like the antifreeze leaking all over the place. The problem was a loose heater hose connection at the heater core in the heater core box out of sight. After adding antifreeze they let it run for a half hour making sure it didn’t leak. They gave me a bottle of antifreeze and sent us on our way. NO COST! That’s service and we will be back. I have never been treated that nice by any dealer under any and all conditions.

We’re off and running.

That’s Quartzsite off in the distance. About 30 miles before here we stopped at the ZIP and got fuel. It was $3.79 a gallon. I took on 54 gallons and ended up getting 7.1 MPG. Considering today the engine idled for along time and at times my cruise control was set on 77 MPH – 7.1 was great! Yes the Beast likes to cruise that fast. I was losing antifreeze by time and not mileage so I needed to make time to Tucson.

We arrived and the crew was awaiting our arrival. Denny & Susie the Crusty’s (Ed & Sandy) and Newbies Ray & Jan. We all went to Silly Al’s for pizza & beer. It was great as usual. We did our OINK OINKS so everybody knew we were back. Of course nobody really cared or knew who we were and we didn’t care after a few beers nor did they….

See ya…………..

Snow Showers – No Way!

2012-01-08T04:21:00.000-08:00

Looked up the weather for El Paso today and it’s calling for rain/snow showers/windy in PM and high of 60 degrees. Not my type of shower for sure. PM to me means anytime after high noon. Time to leave…………..so we did. That is after a stop at Denny’s on base. We also filled the “Beast” up on base. It took 127 gallons. That meant I had approximately 23 gallons of fuel left. So all those bells and whistles about low fuel was correct but not gospel. On the Beast’s worst day I should get about 850 miles out of a tank before it gets really low. Fuel was 6 MPG this time and mainly due to the wind I hit the day before last.

This a man made road runner at a rest area near Las Cruces, NM on I-10. It’s made of junk metal. It’s pretty neat.

Carol wouldn’t let me….

When was the last time you picked up a hitch hiker?

Seeing the Beast in the back of this truck was like one of those mirrors at a circus.

Not today. It was pretty good.

Everybody should see the “THING”. I see one everyday!

The bad weather was coming.

Once we got to AZ it was behind us.

This is something new that I saw on several trucks the last few days. It’s like a wind tunnel on the rear of truck to help fuel mileage I guess.

I had a little problem earlier today on one of my walk a rounds at a rest area. I had a liquid coming out from underneath in the front. It appears to be a heater core leak. Thanks Nick! Our warranty expires Tuesday. Plenty of time. I guess I will call Newmar first thing tomorrow and see if it’s their warranty or Spartan’s.

We arrived at Passport America Red Barn Campground in Benson. FHU 30 AMP for $12. It’s an OK overnight or so park. Hey $12 it’s real nice. I couldn’t see paying an additional $4 for 50 AMP. The Beast does very well on 30 AMP just like most RVs can. It’s the people that can’t live on 30 AMP!

We went over to Sharon’s and Don’s for dinner. Don had fixed some ribs and they were good. I think Don need’s to tweak his smoking a little bit more and I volunteered to be the testee of course. After we fixed the world problems we went to Wally World. I needed to pick up some antifreeze. I figure if I don’t get it the leak will get worse. If I get it, it will stop. Let’s see if my guy reasoning will work. We’re headed for Quartzsite/Silly Al’s and to meet Denny & Susie.

El Paso – Not For Us

2012-01-07T02:50:00.000-08:00

Can’t put our fingers on it but El Paso isn’t our type of city. Of course we don’t like any big city and El Paso is big by our definition. It’s just too busy…..busy.

Anyhow here is a picture of our sight here at Ft Bliss.

Damn – Lost another hub cap. Lost the other side up in Alaska. That can be expected. I didn’t even hit any rough roads today. Oh well…… $35…

Alaska – Carol & I just recently actually talked about going to Alaska this up coming summer. Then we switched to 2013 maybe. We want to spend more time on our next Alaska adventure than we have in the previous 4 times. We are thinking about leaving Milepost 0 around mid May again. Then let the snow chase us out in late September or early October. We want to do more dry camping and stay a little longer in certain areas. Just a thought on the back burner.

Went to the Ft Bliss commissary today. I needed ground beef for my chili that I’m cooking for our little get together in Quartzsite the tall end of this month. If you would like to attend send me an email, dennisrving@gmail.com and say so. I will send you an information letter. It’s ALL free. Just 20-40 RVs and RVers sharing stories and having fun.

When the sun went down the wind kicked up something terrible. It’s 4 AM now and it’s been howling all night long. If it continues I’m not sure if we will leave in the morning (Sunday). Sure would hate to miss the rib dinner that Sharon & Don have planned for us in Benson. Here’s the difference of being on vacation and being a full timer. We don’t have to leave hell or high water like a vacationer would. Even though if might be dangerous a vacationer would STILL leave. Been there done that!

See ya……………

See ya.

Nippy

2012-01-06T00:05:00.000-08:00

AT 6 AM when I got up it was 39 degrees outside and 51 inside. I fired up our little Mr Heater Buddy for front room heat.

Carol got up about 6:45 and said let’s go. Of course she wanted to make coffee first and then dog had to be walked. We fired up the generator because our voltage was down to 12.1. Coffee made, dog walked and now down the road to look for a breakfast stop.

About 150 or so miles down the road we got to Ft Stockton and stopped at Mickey D’s. Hey, 2 big breakfasts with pancakes and senior coffee for under $11, it was deal. It was 9:30 AM. We couldn’t eat the pan cakes so that will be tomorrow’s breakfast. The temps dropped down to 32 degrees while on the road getting here. We left and a short while later we came up on Balmorhea. Our jello planned to stop went to the wind we and decided to go on to El Paso.

Now on the interstate.

No way!

Not real blue sky due to the very very very strong wind.

Immigration. Most us don’t have to worry.

Immigration station checking vehicles the other way.

We pulled into Ft Bliss military campground (380 miles today) about 1:30 local with no problem. One spot left and of course we got it. Sometimes we are lucky and sometimes we’re not. $16 for 50 AMP full hook with cement slabs with a patch of gravel. We’re staying two nights. Pictures tomorrow.

Lost a front hub cap ($35) and the house batteries are acting up again. It’s beyond my experience…help….Denny…..see you Monday.

Before getting here to El Paso I had a red dot come on below my fuel gauge. Next I had a sign in my dash display panel that said LOW FUEL. Then later I had a little fuel pump light up on my dash. This means you better have emergency road service which we do. I think I have a bell alarm that comes on next but it didn’t. The fuel gauge is to give a thinking person a reference. There’s a military gas station across the street and they sell diesel for $3.67. The Flying J down the road in Anthony is $3.79. I wonder where I will get fuel. I’ve gone just under 800 miles and have a 150 gallon fuel tank. That means I have an easy 800 miles before fueling and should have 900. It was very windy today. It’s pretty normal going west across I-8 or I-10. I know my fuel mileage dropped like a lead balloon. Can you say 5 miles per gallon without stuttering….? When it drops like that I goose the speed up to 65+. What the hell?

See ya………..

On The Road Again

2012-01-05T17:17:00.001-08:00

We said our goodbyes and we are off and running. Our first stop will be Ft Hood. En route…My co-pilot resting….

All oil pumps were pumping………..

It’s even has AC

We got close to Ft Hood RV Park (military) so I gave them a call to see what gate I should come in with a large RV. They didn’t know. Then I was informed I would have to go to the Visitor’s center first. I asked if it was big enough for a large RV. They didn’t know again. I said a few appropriate words and hung up. We drove on to ???? We got to Eldorado and parked next to their Court House and Police station. It was a nice quiet spot. This city is dying. They do have three new buildings. Two banks and a police station. What’s up with that? We walked around town and 15 minutes later we were back at the RV.

We went 380 miles and that’s more than we planned which was 250. Oh well…………… It was all back roads and only a couple of bigger towns. Sun was out got to 70 degrees and traffic was very light. We traveled most of our route on route 190……staying north of Austin.

The Beast is running fine. Saw fuel as low as $3.49 in a couple of places. We paid $3.57 in Next fuel up for will be in El Paso. Plus we saw 11 Armadillos today and the were alive. That is very rare. they were all within about a 10 mile stretch. I guess it was a family outing.

See ya…….

Batteries Again!

2012-01-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

Yep……but not as much info as yesterday. Well, overnight ever thing seemed normal. This morning I unplugged the 50 AMP and went to solar power. Everything appears normal after a few hours except the solar charger numbers. It was still reading 7 volts. I traced the wires from it down to the batteries. It looked normal but I don’t know what normal looks like so I don’t have a reference. I decided to change the positive cable of the solar cables to another battery (+). I did. The solar charger is now reading 13 volts (normal). I called Mark and he agreed that was the problem probably and that the solar panels were probably charging just that one battery thus the over charge/heated battery. Four six volt batteries are hooked up in series and parallel. I had them right but the solar cable was hooked up ?????? wrong. My dumb luck fixed it but my dumb luck hooked it up wrong several weeks ago when I was “checking/cleaning” the batteries. Bottom line – I got some old batteries that are OK and they are working just like me – old but still working some.

Later that day/night I put the batteries thru several tests and they performed “OK” and didn’t get hot.

We are leaving tomorrow (Thur) a week ahead of time which is really one week later than we normally leave. I won’t explain. Carol & I are running around like two chicken with our heads cut off. It will all come together tonight. If not, we leave Friday it’s just that simple….. When full timers set for awhile they get the “itch”, which is really not that long usually. Things move pretty quick and even naps are sacrificed. Well, let’s don’t get too carried away. I need my power naps.

I’m not sure if my back is hurting or not from moving/lifting all those batteries all around. I’ve taken so much Ibuprofen I think I could play a couple rounds of golf……NOT!

I got a call from Molly & Bob Pinner the other day. They are the Escapade National directors for the Escapees RV Club. Molly asked me if I would do a special seminar during the September rally. I said, “sure” then I asked on what? She told me the subject and I was really surprised that no one had ever done a seminar on this subject. It’s a well deserved subject that needs to be done. I promised that I would NOT tell anyone the topic. So, with that in mind, I guess you all will have to wait.

So I got to go and finish preping the lot for our departure.

See ya…….

House Batteries

2012-01-03T20:39:00.001-08:00

Carol walked by the rear of the Beast yesterday (Monday) and got a rotten egg smell and then told me. I told her I was not back there at all and the smell wasn’t me. Maybe she got a up draft! Anyhow, I went out to check it out and whew was it a good one. The Beast was letting loose. I pulled out the battery tray and yepper the batteries were cooking. I felt each one of the four house batteries and all were cool to touch except one and it was pretty warm. Took off the battery caps. It was like an entire football team ate beans for a week then came over and drank beer and ate boiled eggs. It was that bad. I believe it was some type of sulfur acid cooking in the battery. So now what. I called the local stores and the cheapest I could find a 6 volt deep cycle battery was $109 – no thank you. Now what…oh yea I got a golf cart with six 6 volt batteries. I borrowed one. After some grunting I installed it in the beast. Then I found another battery that had a broken post. I remembered when I checked the batteries about a month ago that this one terminal post was almost broke but holding. Well, it was broke now for sure. This might have caused the first battery to over charge (cook). I went back to the golf cart and got another battery and installed it. Now I got two batteries that are one year old (Beast) and two batteries that are least 4 years old (golf cart). I know you should not mix good batteries with old batteries but hey, I was out of options at the time. Plus I’m cheap - - I mean frugal… Next test is to unhook from the shore power (lot pedestal) and see how they do. If they don’t hold “OK” we will get new batteries (4) when we are in Yuma from Sam’s.

Today (Tue) I looked at all my gauges. One is my Xantrex and it was reading about 14.8 volts and batteries are charged doing a float charge. I disconnected from the 50 AMP shore power and went on coach batteries and solar. Xantrex was reading 13.8 – looking good. The solar charge gauge was reading 8.4 volts and sending 30 AMPS to the batteries. Something isn’t right with the volts. I checked the wiring of the house batteries and they are correct. I ran the microwave and ran the batteries down to 12 volts. Then I turned off the microwave and the batteries recovered to 12.6 and then to 12.9 pretty quick with the solar cranking them up. Appears to be normal. Later the battery in the same location over heated. I called Newmar, they said do a hydro test of the batteries. I went to the Auto store and bought the little hydro tester. They all tested alright. Called Denny Orr. He thinks it’s the wiring. I called Mark Nemeth, we talked and decided he will stop over tomorrow AM. Carol’s doc called and said we can leave Livingston. I took out the last two batteries and installed two more golf cart batteries. The cart is looking sad. Especially after I took two more batteries out.

Now I got 4 golf cart batteries in the Beast. Check tomorrow and see if everything is back to normal tomorrow. Maybe it’s the solar charger going hay wire?!…..

Did you catch where I snuck in about we can leave Livingston?

Too much talk…I got to go get ready to leave Thursday? We still got one more check $ in bound that we will wait for. Gotta make sure that we don’t cook batteries while en route also…

See ya…..

We Are Ready To Go

2012-01-02T08:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all of the “Welcome Back” emails. I was surprised by the people that were waiting in the wings for my blog. It helps my ego……I still haven’t brought out the big camera yet, just using the tiny one. I would like to have a blog that is bigger so the pictures appear bigger. Maybe somebody can help me down the road to rearrange the blog….anyhow..

Oh… New Year resolutions. I only made one and that was not to make more than one. I think I can keep this one…..

Another week or so to go before we depart Livingston, TX. We’re taking 5 days to get to Quartzsite with planned stops every night. We usually make the 1370 miles in 3 days and have even made it in 2 days with Donna Clifton riding along. We have made plans until about mid May. The reason for the plans vary but all are what we have decided on and have made obligations to others. All are fun and with friends. This is full timing for us. Now for the summer we have no plans not even jello plans. We might do the Maritime Provinces. Maybe we can get some loosey goosey RVers to go up.

Early May we have to be in Nappanee, IN home of the Beast (43’ RV) – Newmar. The Beast is going to get a new roof at no cost. They will put us up in a hotel while they work on it. The roof is not leaking but sagging in a couple of areas beyond what Newmar (& me) wants it to. Hard to see in this picture but will give you a rough idea. These are the little sags. I have to take down the datastorm and the 4 large solar panels. Newmar said they don’t do that. I will try and sell the datastorm ($500-$600)in Quartzsite. If not I will take it down along with the solar panels when we return to Livingston in March. Then no solar or datastorm the rest of the summer. That will be a little strange without these. Back to the basics. Hey, that’s how we started full timing in June 2000 and didn’t even have sat TV. Wow, how did we live! The big difference between now and then – real good full timer friends. We can do fine without all the electronics but not the friends.

See ya…………………..

New Year’s Day – No Big Deal For Us.

2012-01-01T05:09:00.000-08:00

Here was our New Year’s dinner I cooked. 5 lbs of crawfish and corn on the cob……It was good……………

I can’t remember when I last stayed up to midnight to welcome the New Year. While in AZ in years past we would watch east coast TV stations and that wasn’t a guarantee for me to stay awake. We are not in AZ as planned due to medical reasons. We are still in Livingston, TX. The actual reasons are unimportant other than saying old age stuff. We have to return to Livingston, TX in March for some more testing (me) and then the doc’s will decide if they need to sharpen their knives or not. Welcome to full time RVing and getting older. If you are young and can come out now and play (full time), do it.

As most of you know we are no longer owners of the RV Driving School. One of my instructors and wife, George & Valerie Mayleben, purchased the entire business and all rights to it just not part of it. I think it’s the only ethical way to do business unless both parties agree to do something else and put it writing. I know I don’t like to be blind sided thus won’t do it to someone else. Get it in writing - At least that’s what Judge Judy would say! I thought we did 5 years ago! Damn still learning who are friends are……anyhow life goes on for us with real friends in tack.

Yes, I don’t have a job. I need a job to make some fun money. We can survive without a job but I would like some pork for my new Bradley Smoker. Thus need fun money. We work for food then I will cook it for everybody. I burnt my last Lowe’s Masterbuilt smoker up. I’m taking this smoker with us. I took out the underneath freezer and put in the smoker.

I do have my Weber grill with us also.

Diesel fuel is coming down a little bit. I usually use the fuel prices in CA as an overall guide to see if prices are coming down. Right now all diesel prices at Flying J in CA are under $4 a gallon. That’s OK considering what prices have been. Here in Livingston fuel is $3.57 and gas was $2.95 but just shot up to $3.05 a couple of days ago. Diesel stayed steady. The “Beast’s” tummy is 150 gallons and right now it’s pretty hungry.

The other day (bored) I figured out what it cost to move the Beast down the road. Figuring only fuel, maintenance, tires (pro rated), insurance, miles per gallon, it cost right around 70 cents a mile. Damn that’s expensive. I better stop doing that kind of figuring before I realize how expensive RVing can be. We might have to set for 3 years before we can move again.

This year I have an Excel spreadsheet that I’m gonna keep track of all of our camping costs plus others. Then next year we will start dropping memberships. The ones we know we will keep are Thousand Trails, Passport America & Coast To Coast. These we use pretty often. We have a few others like RPI, AOR, ROD that I can think of off the top of my head. The business paid for their yearly dues but we probably won’t down the road.

The first 18 months of full timing we kept track of every penny. Yep we could afford it but no meat in the spaghetti sauce. Then we started doing work camping jobs so we could add meat to the sauce. We’ve been working ever since at our leisure and liking. We like to work and meet people. Out here in the RV world of Full timing it’s neat to meet other people. If you meet them once, you will meet them again. I normally don’t remember people’s names that’s Carol’s job. I remember their RV. That’s the way my brain is wired…so be it.

Carol is gonna try and speed up her 10 Jan appointment with the Doc but it depends if they get the results back on her special tests. One time we left and halfway to AZ the doc called and said to return to TX. That was a big scare. We did and we think it’s the same ole same ole thing that has been dormant for years. New doc….

These bees attacked our bird feeder…

Then our cat, Patches, wanted to make love with this bird.

Well, that’s it for my first blog in months. Don’t forget my email is dennisrving@gmail.com….

OK…..

2011-11-30T16:21:00.001-08:00

This blog will start up again 1 January….

Thank You & Now The Blog Is Retired

2011-10-22T03:42:00.000-07:00

Thank You for all the kind words. It really means a lot.

I’ve decided to retire this Blog.

If you would like to keep up with our movements via Datastorm notification, send me your email.

Again, thank you for being a reader…

See Ya……………..

RV Driving School Sold

2011-10-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

The RV Driving School Changes Ownership

Livingston Texas — October 19, 2011 — Today Dennis Hill, owner of the RV Driving School announced the sale of his company to George and Valerie Mayleben. George Mayleben announced the school will continue intact and will maintain the high standards set by Dick Reed and Dennis Hill. The web site www.rvschool.com will continue, and the telephone number for the school will remain 530.878.0111. The actual date for the transfer of ownership is January 1, 2012.

The school was originally created by Dick Reed in 1991 to help people who were acquiring RV’s get acquainted with their vehicle and to aid them in gaining the skills necessary to operate their vehicles safely. Dick conducted seminars at rallies across the country discussing various aspects of the RV life-style and technical matters.

Dennis Hill’s acquisition of the school in 2006 assured the continuation of the school meeting the needs of people who own RV’s. Dennis is well known for his emphasis in driving “SLOW”, and his exaggerated insistence that we are driving “recreational vehicles”. His humor and friendly style has endeared him to many seminar attendees.

George Mayleben has been teaching and instructing people on the safe operation of vehicles for over twenty years. He brings his knowledge and skills to the school and expects that the tradition of quality instruction and behind the wheel teaching will continue.

George and Valerie have been full timers for five years and George has been a respected instructor for Dennis Hill for four years.

The 2012 seminar schedule will be be maintained, and new seminars will be announced during the year. All information will be posted on the web site.

See ya………………

Catching Up

2011-10-20T04:28:00.000-07:00

Our outside frig vent got broke. I say it was at Newmar and they say basically prove it. They did give me a white replacement and wouldn’t paint it to match the paint job. I painted it it with Hi Temp flat black paint. It will blend in with the dark brown. I will install it in a few days or so.

Then our outside table needed help. It was starting to rust. I sanded it down a little and found some paint by chance. Wow, orange too!

OK the Barn is a little more organized. The pile on the left is going back in the Beast in the future.

Carol got me this “cool” ice chest last year for Christmas.

Here’s my cooking area.

See ya………………

Oktoberfest Last Day

2011-10-19T01:41:00.000-07:00

Well folks, all things must come to the an end and thus it has. Seminars, cake/pie auction, fire truck display and then the grand prize give away.

But before all of that I went to

and made an appointment for the Beast and the car. The Beast has a bad front A/C since leaving Newmar. It has three AC and we run the front the most. I’ve been told it’s a $20 capacitor. It’s still under the manufacture one year warranty and we will see what happens. Also, the U.S Gear Unified Brake on the car hasn’t worked in months. It’s not under warranty. Get this. Their first available date was next Monday at 8 AM. Let’s see. This is Wednesday and they can’t see me until Monday. Wow, three days to get seen. I like this. I hope they don’t try and make their weekly profit on me. They’ve been real good in the past when times were good.

Friggin diesel went up 11 cents here in Livingston since last week. I need over a 100 gallons (150 tank). I think I will wait until mid December now. That’s when it has dropped the last couple of years. We’re not going to a FMCA rally hat we normally go to in November. We’re not going to a Chapter 10 rally next week. We’re still not got things under control here on the lot and in the Beast plus we are expecting some friends in two weeks.

Back to Oktoberfest…The Fire equipment display.

The Escapees had a bake sale and collected over $6 thousand dollars for the volunteer fire company. The fire boys were very happy.

The Oktoberfest sheriffs collected over $100 for the SPCA. They also removed the warrant out for my capture. They had to return their badges and authority to harass people.

Then it was time for the Grand Prize drawing. A $500 certificate from Adventure Caravans. Everybody was there and waiting. It was so quiet you could here a walking cane fall. Who was going to win…

AND Cathie Carr announced the winner……

What can we say….thank you…..

See ya….

Oktoberfest Continues

2011-10-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

Hey, what’s this?

RB says “Hope you don’t get sick but if you do come and see me at CARE.”

Carol got this free massage and wasn’t any good the rest of the day.

Market Day appears to been a big hit….

Angie is showing me how she appreciates me taking her picture!

This lady was from the Chamber of Commerce.

The audience seemed to be really interested for the most part.

They are waiting in line to yodel in a contest. Mark was rated the worst ever in the history of Oktoberfest.

Just as the dinner started the lights went out and stayed out during the meal. Hey, his was a candlelight dinner without the candles. Flashlights were a hit.

Looks like Diane just woke up. She’s tearing into that yard bird!

They played some old movie called The Sound Of Music. It was more like the sound of people leaving. Maybe show the movie RV next time. I know Oktoberfest…..but it was attended by RVers…

See ya……………

Doing “Stuff”

2011-10-17T01:57:00.000-07:00

I decided to lift the RV up and put boards under the rear tires (3). The boards are 2X10 each. They are wide enough for the tire footprint to set on. If the tire is not setting under the tire completely, it will damage the tire in time. Setting for a long period I wanted the Beast to be more stable so that’s the reasoning for the boards. Two of the three tires were off the ground.

We got that rolled up linoleum for Carol’s line dancing room. It’s 12X20. Just the right length. We got it from Lowe’s and carried it home in the Mariner car. So it stuck out a few feet.

My room downstairs is now officially trashed and I don’t care. I know where everything is – kinda. The Beast is almost empty underneath and looking good.

I gotta clean my batteries and all. This will take a few hours to do it right so I’m not in any hurry.

The car is looking good at least on the outside. I still had Top Of The World Highway dust around the inside of the rear window. We very seldom open it but did today to carry the linoleum. A lot of caked dust but now cleaned.

Oktoberfest is still going on.

I took a quick pic of this bi plane.

The food is coming in for the pot luck.

“Oh no – same ole same ole”.

Hey, they ate it all almost….

Night entertainment was good and is very popular.

Tomorrow I have no idea what I’m doing – that’s good!

See ya.

Oktoberfest In Livingston & Mom Hill

2011-10-16T03:08:00.000-07:00

We went and visited my Mom today. We knew she wanted to see her dog Brandy so we took her too.

The first Oktoberfest at Rainbow’s End here in Livingston I believe was in 1984. A few of the attendees were here for that like Bill & Dee Holt. Here are some pics…

I know this is really not readable but it shows how busy the next few days will be. Plus it’s free!

At the door prize give away Carol & I were the runners. I got to wear my orange hairy hat. Maybe a pic tomorrow.

See ya…………

My Clutter - Projects or Toys?

2011-10-15T03:06:00.000-07:00

I think I’m in denial that I’m a pack rat. That’s not good for a full timer unless you have a barn. Hey, I got a barn – problem resolved.

I think Carol is one too. Her room is up stairs. Yes, the barn is that big. This is her line dancing room too!

Here Carol is cleaning the porch after being away 10 months.

I got projects at different stages of completion and even a few completed. One was about 1 1/2 years ago. It’s a large portable movie screen (PVC pipe)with real movie screen material. I used it when I gave about 20 seminars out on the west coast during a RV show.

Another project was to find the perfect grill. Result – there is none and I have about 8+ grills. I have tried charcoal, electric, LP, big, small, heavy, light, aluminum, stainless steel, cheap and expensive. I think I have this project as still active. Right now I’m trying a LP Weber. It’s pretty popular so that’s good enough for me.

I have one smoker and have really used it. It’s just about burnt out but will continue to use it tell it stops working or burns thru a door or wall. I will then replace it with a Bradley (?).

I also have a 3,000 PSI Troy Built commercial pressure washer. It’s not recommended for doing vehicles. You know what that means – it’s good! I use it to clean the slide out covers on the Beast and the engine, radiator and such. Plus what ever Carol wants cleaned like outside “stuff”.

It takes me a few days to get orientated to what I was working on and where everything was when we left 10 months ago. Here’s my towing stuff.

I’m organized only in that it’s in the barn or the RV somewhere. I still haven’t learned where everything is in the RV and I’m getting ready to rearrange everything again. Why? I will have the time and need to remove items that I don’t use anymore. This is the first trip here to Livingston with the Beast.

We also moved the Beast around and installed the Magne Shade AGAIN!

So, that’s the number of that.

See ya…………..

Woke Up, Played, To Bed

2011-10-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

Don’t we all...

See ya…….

Alligators, Kayaks, ABS Brakes & The Barn

2011-10-13T03:09:00.000-07:00

What do they have in common? Hopefully by the time you finish reading this we will all know.

We started off little after 8 AM this morning. We drove smack through the middle of Branson with the Beast and the car in tow. Normally we didn’t even drive the main drag because it was so clogged up for the shows and tourists. We traveled the “other” routes to get around Branson and not the main drag. But early in the morning it’s dead. Highway 65 south for ever. It started off real nice then changed to a two land highway with a lot of turns. The road itself was pretty good. We got around Little Rock and the I-30 was worse than up in Alaska. Then it happened. I hit a friggin big alligator while changing lanes. This was another one down the road. Tire pieces are called alligators because they will bite you like the one I hit did.

It was nosey. The trouble with hitting these things that they flip and turn like an alligator hitting the underneath of your RV. There is all sorts of “things” under there. I watched my gauges for any immediate damage. We stopped as soon as we can to inspect. Nothing I could see under the RV but when it came out the rear it became more noticeable. This is where it hit under the frame of the mud flap and bent the lettering Newmar on the other side.

Then it came up and hit the car. Just some hard rub marks with no physical damage. I would say no real damage over all. When we get to Livingston I will crawl underneath and check out the “Beast” better.

When we got ready to leave the rest area I saw this sign. Never ever saw a rest area that had designated sites for OVERNIGHT campers. This was just south of Little Rock on I-30.

We had decided to spend the night near Texarkana, AR at a city campground(Hope is the city). We got to the Flying J at exit 7 to go over our options. We got a call from Wayne who wanted to buy our Kayaks. He was another 200 miles. It turned out he had to work the next day and we couldn’t meet up with him. He’s one of those people who still work but plays on weekends sometimes. We told him we would try to make it today but no promises. It was 3 PM and we had already gone 300 miles. I was fine but Carol was getting in one of “those” moods from traveling so long. We headed for Jasper, Texas.

Here’s an interesting picture. The school bus is actually a converted cut down school bus made into a tow truck. Hey, these southern boys “get er done”.

Need I say more…..

We hung a left on to highway 59 south. We got to Jasper a little after 6 PM. Wayne met us at the Walmart near his house. I followed him in our car to his nearby place. He has a lot toys to include a Wanderlodge motorhome under a carport next to his Snap On tool truck. He’s a Snap On guy. He gave me a tour of his RV and truck. Both are in great shape. The RV is in outstanding condition and has 90K on it but you would never guess. I forgot the year – maybe a 1998. It’s For Sale for the right price. If he sold it he would get another one. Him and his wife hope to full time in the future. Needless to say I told him everything I knew about kayaks – get in and paddle. He got a great deal on our kayaks and will even use them more than we did.

I forgot to mention that we had some earlier engine problems. I lost power twice and regained it about 20 MPH later. Then as we were making a turn in Jasper we lost all power and I had to make an emergency pull over downtown. The engine lost all power and we were slowing down quickly. It died when I stopped and on the dash console display appeared ABS DEFAULT. Now’s that strange. Maybe that alligator bit into a wire underneath near the ABS brake wiring. I turned off the ignition and waited about two minutes. When I checked the display for fault codes it now showed no defaults. I turned the Beast on and it came back on and we drove on to Walmart to meet Wayne.

OK, it’s now 8 PM, dark, and we are into this adventure 500 miles and 75 miles from Livingston with this new problem of the engine dying. I don’t think or at least remember driving the Beast at night either. Oh what the hell, life is an adventure and we went for it. It was a nice quiet drive with no further problems. We arrived at the Barn about 9 PM. We had this barn built two years ago for our storage. We out grew the one next to it. We can drive the car into this one and have a lot room left over. Carol uses the second floor for her line dancing room.

I drove the Beast straight in rather than backing in. We can turn around tomorrow.

This is the mobile with a big covered porch on it. We call it the laundry room. We stay in the rig. This lot belongs to my Mom but we take care of all of it. She’s in a nearby assisted living home.

The lot is a 1/2 acre with trees and has two 50 AMP full hook ups and one W/E (30 AMP). The driveway wraps around. Sometimes I drive in from the other side behind the mobile. Carol’s brother rewired the RV sites when he wired the barn. Outstanding job.

We plan (jello) to be here until after Christmas. We will probably take some little trips from here. The blog might get a little boring at times so……

See ya……….