RVing -- First Year Firsts

 

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.

 

It’s not long and this year will be history.  It’s been another year on the road.  Who would have thought we would still be satisfied with it after three full years?  When we originally started out we were thinking a year or two and maybe three but that was about it.  Now look at us.  We’re pretty content with our lifestyle.  Well, at least for now we are.  We’ve had good times and we’ve hit a lot of speed bumps but then again, hasn’t everyone else?

<<   First trip out  (notice the small pix I posted in my first year)

When we started our life on the road, we really didn’t know what we were getting into.  I was so very excited at just the thought of being on a forever vacation.  Camping or RVing had always been a vacation so why would it change?  We had gone a lot of places in our life and done a lot of things. We had traveled a great deal and were used to it.  We had also seen a lot of places including much of the USA.  The speed we saw it at was like a tornado hitting an area though.  It was just so we could say we had been there, done that and move onto someplace else we hadn’t seen.  We were working so didn’t really have the time to “toot” around other than on the weekends.  We didn’t have the time to digest everything we saw either.  Thus, the idea of “tooting” around in a 5th wheel was really appealing.

Super people we met the first year  >>

 

We had a 27’ 5th wheel trailer.  Terry was already retired so he went back and forth to Washington while I worked.  I guess you could say he was a kept man.  Was I jealous?  Most certainly I was.  He was playing and I was working.  Wouldn’t you be jealous?  I loved going places.  I especially loved going places in an RV.  Then, I had an idea or rather a brainstorm.  Why couldn’t we both fit into that little 5th wheel trailer and just travel around in it a bit?  So, the story began of our life on the road.  We had a lot of first year firsts.

Whoever would have thought other people do this?  Whoever would have thought people live in RVs for years and years and love it?  I'm talking about the people who live in an RV and  use it as an RV.  Not those that just stay put.  We were amazed to discover that we weren’t the only ones considering a life on the road.  There were thousands and thousands of similar folks out there.

<<  First year campfire & boondocking

We found several websites, forums and clubs dedicated to folks who had dreamed and planned for years of finally retiring to an RV.  This hadn’t been a spur of the moment thought with them as it had been with us.  They had actually worked towards this for years.  It didn’t take long to jump in, meet folks and listen to their ideas, plans and suggestions.    For us, this was a new thought.  We were ready to go and we wanted to go now.  Others were still in the planning stage and had been for many years.  It was their retirement plan. Their life dream.

We quickly found a group we attached to and began tapping their knowledge bank.  From them we learned about downsizing and about staying connected.  We learned about internet and TV on the road.  We learned about inverters, generators, water conservation, LEDs, fuses, propane, weights and so much more.  We could do this.  We thought we could really do this.  And, we did.

More first year boondocking   >>

We’ve learned a lot about RVs, travel and equipment. It’s almost been like going to school all over again. In this new life some of the things we took for granted and were a necessity before, have no place at all.  There are many things we’d do exactly the same and many things we’d change. We’ve learned what we really don’t need and what we really do want.

We’ve learned that what may work for others doesn’t necessarily have to work for us.  We’ve learned a lot about RVing places and RVing folks.  We are now three years down the road and we’re still loving what we’re doing.  We’re not exactly doing what we thought we’d be doing but that’s okay.  We’re doing what we enjoy doing …. for today.

The RVing places change with the time of year.  We’ve come to love certain areas more than other areas.  We’ve learned we don’t like the big RV parks with hundreds of people.  These work for some but not necessarily for us.  We still love some of the Thousand Trail parks, the Elks lodges, the small parks, military bases, COEs and even BLM land.  Some things never change.

Just like one park doesn’t fit all, neither does one type of RVer fit all.  We’ve learned RVing friends are different than the friends you left at work or at home. Some of those RVing friends become RVing family and are real treasures.  The friends you left at home can’t quite understand why you’re doing what you’re doing.  It’s hard for them to relate.  The people you meet along the road share the same adventure you’re currently on. 

<<   More first year firsts

That first year we didn't know where we would be the second year or the third year.  We experienced a lot of first year firsts and even second year firsts.   This year will soon be behind us and we've had even more firsts.  

We are still “tooting” around in an RV. However, it’s no longer the 27’ 5th wheel we started with.  We’ve made lots of changes to fit us.   The new year is just around the corner.  We know more firsts are ahead and probably more changes too.  Only time will tell what they are.  It’s been an amazing ride we’ve been on.  The most rewarding part of this ride is the people we have met.  We definitely have met some keepers!  The exciting thing about this is you never know who else you’ll meet just down the road.

'Tis life on the road.

Gadgets for “Q” and Filly’s

Everyone is a friend, until they prove otherwise. 

I remember a couple of years ago when we had our first winter visit to Quartzsite.  It was amazing all the neat little gadgets you could pick up from one or twelve of the hundreds of vendors there.  We actually discovered some of these little gadgets were a necessity.  Well, knowing that we were soon going to be heading in that direction I picked up a few more little gadgets from the sale bin at Harbor Freight.  Check out the $2 bargain headlamps.  You might think this is funny but it’s not.  When there before all of us bought the little led lights that attached on your cap to make the nightly path to and from the campfire a little easier to see.

I also found another little $2 LED light that could easily be hung on Duchess’ leash for night time outings.  I wasn’t through with my finds though.  Check out this magnesium fire starter for $1. Now I know it probably isn’t as good as one of those butane BBQ fire lighters but heck for the price, why not give it a try?  Besides that was a well spent $1 ‘cuz we were helping out the local economy.  Will we find these things at “Q” cheaper?  Well, maybe but with bargains like this, I didn’t want to chance it.

I wasn’t through with gadgets from the dollar-ish table.   A few times we found that we needed to siphon water from one place to another.  Perhaps, we’d need to do that again. Or, maybe we’ll want to siphon gas from the Jeep and fill a gas tank for the quad or a generator.  There’s nothing like being prepared.

Terry also found some little treasures of his own but his treasures meant he had to do some work on the trailer.  At least with my little finds there was no work required and only a place to stash them until we get down to our next destination.

 

In addition to that the real reason we went to Harbor Freight was to pick up a ramp to load our Vinson ATV on the trailer.  Now that we had all the work done on the trailer so we could side load one of the ATVs, we still needed to get a ramp to actually get it on the trailer.  This is the great ATV ramp we found down there at a great price. We did discover that the width needed a little tweaking.  However, that's the easy part.  The hard part was finding the ramp at the price we wanted to pay.

After our bargains, we just had to take another ride.  We just had to.  I think I enjoy the rides even more than Terry does.    It’s peaceful and there isn’t a lot of traffic or red lights on the trails.  The desert really is beautiful.  However, we did see one thing that we didn’t like.  Someone dumped a load of old tires out there.  Ugh!

We were back to Filly’s Roadhouse on Thursday night for our favorite duo in the area – Brant and Kerry.  Those guys really are fantastic.  We love listening to them and we love going to the places they perform.  Of course, the singing was fantastic but the company was even better. We met Jim and Sandie there.

  

Friday we're off for a long ATV ride up to the Superstition Mountains with a group.  Later in the evening we have reservations at the Arizona Opry.  We’ve always wanted to go there so we finally we will get a chance to.  The problem with coming to this area later in the season and wanting to go is that all the seats are usually booked.  That’s not the case this time of year.

Saturday?  It’s a weekend and we’re taking a little trip to Quartzsite .... maybe.  Well, not to stay but just for a visit.  We rarely get bored and I bet you've already figured that one out.

‘Tis life on the road.

Wickenburg and SKP North Ranch

 

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in the fruit salad.

 

Wednesday we took yet another drive.  This time we were in the Jeep and headed north.  The problem with our location and every place we want to go is that we’re on the wrong side of the city of Phoenix.  Getting through it adds about 70 miles to any trip we think we might want to take.  Needless to say, it took us a while to get through the traffic and through the city.

Wickenburg is a little town (population about 6500) with a very colorful past.  The town itself looks like it’s right out of the Wild, Wild West.  Well, maybe that’s because it really is.  There were constant conflicts between the the settlers in the area and the hostile Indian bands.  Gold brought the settlers here and gold kept them coming for many years.  There are many mines in the area as well as ghost towns. . 

The streets of the town even remind you of that era.  You’d think you were in cowboy-ville and we’d certainly like to check the town out a little bit more.  However, this day we didn’t have time to do a lot of that.  It was just a trip to scope the area out.

We also made a stop at the SKP North Ranch RV Park.  We’ve visited quite a few of the SKP parks but this was our first time here.  We were a little amazed to discover that many of the “homes” at the back end of this Escapee park were on deeded property.  There were a few for sale signs and we checked out the price.  They weren’t cheap.  We were thinking that perhaps the folks didn’t realize  Arizona had just gone through a major slump in real estate prices.

Terry stopped by the office to pick up some information.  Normally the SKP parks and their volunteers are just about the friendliest ever.  Not so in this case.  She was professional and cool but friendly is not a word that Terry used.  We were told she was ”having a bad day.”

There were also RV lots and an area for short term stays.  We stopped and talked to several who were parked on the rental lots.  Parks like this are so unlike the parks where snowbirds return year after year after year. The neighborhood changes constantly. Every newcomer to a SKP park is looked at like a future potential friend.

Another thing about this park we liked is that it borders BLM land and has a gate at the back of the park for ATVs to enter and exit.  One fella even gave us a trail map of interesting things to see on the trails.  He encouraged us to spend a while at the park riding the ATVs and especially to the old ghost town of Stanton.  However, he did indicate that one would have to go up Suicide Hill on their ATV to get there.  Now do you think I was excited about doing that?  NOT!!  The name certainly didn’t make that trip sound inviting.  I’d like to do the ghost town but not if Suicide Hill is the only way to get there.  He said it wasn’t that bad but bad to him and bad to me probably are two different things!!  The park has Verizon and ATT service.  We always check that out because cell service is important to us.

We had originally planned on meeting Sandie and Jim at Superstition Skies for another evening  of entertainment with Brant and Kerry.  Jim was fishing at Canyon Lake and he didn’t quite make it back in time.  We’re letting Jim take the blame for none of us being able to go.  However, secretly we were happy (but don’t tell him that ‘cuz we want him to feel guilty).  After our drive of the day we were pretty zonked so we were a little relieved our outing had been delayed for one more night.

<<----- Sunning on a picnic table – hadn’t seen this before and would NEVER do it.

Another little outing in our future is – Quartzsite!  Okay, we’ve been there before and actually done quite a bit of boondocking in the area.  We’ve also stayed at one of the local parks.  In January this little hole-in-the-wall town bursts at the seams with thousands of RVs for the annual RV show.  People congregate in groups there from all over and it’s quite an exciting adventure.

We already planned on meeting a group in January at Quartzsite.  However, we’re in search of a secure place to park over the holidays.  We had originally thought we would just fly to Washington over the Christmas holiday but now we’re thinking we might just drive.  Flying would be cheaper, of course, but if we drive, we have our car and we can come and go as we please. By moving down the road a bit, we save a couple hundred miles each way by traveling from “Q” over traveling from “G”.  We’re thinking why not just park there in December. Who knows what we’ll do until we do it.  Anyway …. in a few days we might make this little trip to check it out. 

In the meantime on Thursday …. we’re going to relax and ride the quads – perhaps.

‘Tis life on the road.

Back to the Shop

Don't tell me worry doesn't help. Whenever I really worry about something it never happens.

One of the outback shots from my little ATV video camera.  Gorgeous scenery is to be enjoyed.

How many times do you read the directions that come with your new toys?  Sometimes I do and other times I don’t.  Sometimes that works out and other times not so much.  The latter was more the case with the new little trail GPS which had unfamiliar waypoints.  I didn’t read the directions.  After all, how many years have we had a GPS??  They are a snap .... or so I thought.   After we had the new trail GPS mounted on the quad, we hit the desert to try it out.  I have discovered a trail GPS is totally (and I mean totally) different than the kind of GPS units you use in your vehicles.

Terry and I rode about ten miles Monday.  By the time we got so far out, all the land markers disappeared.   Thank goodness I have a good sense of direction and knew which way the RV park was or we might have ended up in Flagstaff.  I certainly couldn’t figure out how to read or even route the GPS.    Obviously before we depend on it again, I’ll resort to reading those directions and figuring it out.

 
Terry couldn't decide which flag he wanted so now he has both -- US Navy and the pirate flag ---- >>

I was so thrilled that my sewing machine would be ready for pickup on Monday.  After all, I have projects that need finishing.  The receipt indicated it had been given a “complete sewing machine overhaul”.   I was anxious to try it out. The stitching worked fine and the new bobbin plate was perfect.  However, the embroidery stitching was out of sync.  It was totally misaligned.  So …. back to the repair shop it had to go.  Now how disgusting is that?  At least we kept it long enough so that I could tweak the little flags for Terry’s quad before the shop got it back.

There's never a dull moment with us.  We still had other things that needed to be done.  So on Monday we also dropped off our trailer to have it enlarged.  Remember we bought the trailer then the second quad and not the other way around.  The two quads we have now didn’t fit the trailer.  Thus, we needed to have a little creative welding done.  We had taken pictures, measured and drew up what we wanted.  Tuesday we got to see the finished product.   R & G Welding did a fantastic job of enlarging the front with removable sides and adding a back plate for a storage container.  Just in case you ever need it and are in the area, they also install tow packages and brake systems for RVs and toads at great prices.

The weather is gorgeous in Arizona right now so we have options on outside things to do.  We can either take a long quad ride checking out more Arizona scenery, visit North Ranch or we can do laundry and entertain Duchess. We might even fill up our propane tanks.  I think we're down to the fumes. It's early in the day so decisions haven't been made yet .... well, other than that we're meeting the Dixons this evening to scope out more entertainment in the area. 

‘Tis life on the road!

Thank a Veteran

 

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. -- General George Patton Jr

 

Yesterday we celebrated the 236th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.  Today we are thanking the veterans for their service.  Being raised and living in the United States we have a lot to be thankful for.  Much of our thanks go to those who served and are serving today in the military.  It’s because of them that we can enjoy the freedom in this country that many others throughout the world have never experienced. 

There are two blogs I read this morning that I would like to link here.  They both reflect back on their fathers who were POWs during WWII.  Both are definitely worth reading.  The first one is here and the second one is here.

My father was from Kerrville, Texas.  Uncle Sam claimed him and moved him from there to Fort Worden in Washington State.  Instead of moving back to Texas after the war he settled in Washington, married my mother and spent most of his life fishing in the waters around Port Angeles.

Terry was in the US Navy and spent time along with many of our generation in Vietnam.  He didn’t spend his time in the waters off shore as many sailors did but spent his time on land in Vietnam.   For the first time TV brought that war home to most Americans.  Those of us who had loved ones over there were glued to it.  Not only did the battles of the day cover the news, it was probably the first time coverage of protestors was on every channel.  Remember when?   He can also tell you about the spraying of what they now call “Agent Orange”  almost every single day for the time he was there.  Amazing what they’ve learned about it after the fact.

As most of you know, we also have a grandson, Justin  who has followed into the footsteps of his grandfather with military service.  He is now serving in the US Navy going through schooling in Pensacola, FL. We are proud of his choice and want Uncle Sam to keep him safe.

We were invited by our neighbors, Sue and Marcus,  to attend a birthday party with them on Thursday.  Actually, we went to two birthday parties on Thursday.  The first one was a big bash thrown by a Marine veteran.  It was the 236th birthday of the Marine Corps.  It was a fantastic party.  The party was put on and totally paid for by the Marine veteran, Jim.  Even souvenir Marine Corp glasses were given to everyone in attendance.  It was an amazing event.

Our second party  was a birthday party at Filly’s – another local restaurant and lounge where Kerry and Brant were scheduled to entertain for the evening.  Actually, this wasn’t a planned birthday party but since we were invited to share part of the birthday cake, we did.  This is another local dive that was amazing.  Again, entertainment was spectacular and so was the company we were with, Jim and Sandie.

Now with all that activity on Thursday, it didn’t mean we had time to spare.  We didn’t.  We had to get in a little ride.  We did just that.  We jumped on our quads and took a spin in the desert.   I also brought back a souvenir from our little outing.  I do that more often than I want.  Notice the little cactus on the tire.

How did we ever have time to work?  And, Marti thinks she just might get bored.  HA!

Superstition Skies – Elvis’ Hangout

Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable and you'll never be asked to do a thing.

 

We actually did something a little different on Wednesday.  It was something I wasn’t too happy about either.  My sewing machine went in to the repair shop.  Ugh!  I had things to do and it wasn’t doing what I wanted it to do.  Now you might think it was the operator but it really wasn’t.  The good thing is I discovered a huge shop in Mesa.  Oh my lands!  It was huge.  I told Terry I needed to dump him one afternoon and make another trip in there to check out all the crafts and fabric.  I doubt he’d want to go with me anyway.  Oh well, my sewing is now on hold for about a week and I absolutely hate it.  How will I ever get my projects done??

We didn’t ride on Wednesday either.  After all, we’re pretty busy folks.  Our neighbors invited us to go to a get together with them.  We did but discovered they had the wrong date for the get together.  It’s actually on Thursday and not on Wednesday.  Oops. Haven't we all done that? 

We met Jim and Sandie at Superstition Skies.  This place has the most fantastic duo.  We went last year to listen to Brant and Kerry.  They are really, really good.  The food?  Well, prime rib was the special for the evening and Terry couldn’t pass it up.  His comment – it was excellent.  For an extra $5 you could add a slab of ribs and they were excellent too.

If you happened to drive down the road in front of Superstition Skies, you’d think it was a real dive from the outside.  Maybe that’s what makes it such a special place.  It’s different.  The restaurant has been around since the early 50’s even though the owners have changed. This place was popular back when ladies of the evening, cowboys and movie stars were a common sight there.  During the filming of many Apacheland western movies the stars frequented this place.  The bench Elvis sat on is still there for all to see.  Do you think they are waiting for him to show up again?  Not only was it one of Elvis’ haunts, Ronald Reagan, Kenny Rogers, and Marty Robins walked through those doors.  This place and it’s surroundings will definitely make you feel part of the Old Wild West.  And, the music of Brant and Kerry on Wednesday evenings is fantastic!

Super Scenery

We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.

Tuesday we ventured a little farther than we had previously.  Our neighbor was our guide.  We got on our ATV’s and headed due north towards the Superstition Mountains.  There are no roads and only a few trails.  The land is state land and normally not travelled a lot. You don’t really have to stick to the trails.  You can make your own.   I tried that once but didn’t get too far because of a big gully.   There was no way that I was going to try that route with or without wheels. The ride around this area is definitely Arizona in all it’s finery.  The scenery is not what one is going to see just by driving down the highways. 

Instead of leaving the park via the back gate, we decided to travel along the riverbed.  Others in the park had suggested this route.  There was a huge difference between driving down the riverbed than exiting by the back gate.  The riverbed was full of rocks!  It wasn’t the smooth surface we had become used to at the back of the park.  Getting into the riverbed was a little challenging for me too.  At one point instead of turning to stay on the road, I had a quick decision to make and ended up plowing right through a good sized thorny bush.  Ugh!  I had to carefully pick it all off of me.

The ride was fantastic.  We saw a coyote running in the wild.  Actually, the coyote was running from all the noise we were making I’m sure.  We saw petroglyphs that supposedly told others where to locate water in the desert.  We saw beautiful birds, cactus and even a bridge leftover from the old highway 60 which hasn’t been used in years.  This definitely was the bridge to nowhere.

It was a great day and a great ride.  It was also nice to have someone we could follow on this trip.  Evidently there are remains of an old ranch out there somewhere.  There’s also old gravestones and an old mine.  We didn’t see those on this day.  However, we did see a couple panning in a riverbed for gold.  This was definitely part of the old wild West.

We were totally exhausted Tuesday evening.  It’s amazing how tired riding can make you and how sore your thumb can become by holding down the accelerator.  I was so tired in fact I kept watching the clock for a decent hour to go to bed.  It was too late to take a nap at 7:00 and definitely too late to call it a night.  Slowly the clock ticked away and slowly 9:00 came.  Then, I went to bed.  I know .. a little early but I was beat!    Who would have thought you could get so tired just riding quads?

Where Are the Dixons?

Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else get your way.

Interesting cactus tree

We had visitors stop by on Monday.  Actually they didn’t come uninvited but certainly would have been welcome had they.    It had been raining earlier in the day so we were hoping we’d get a little relief in the rain drops and we did.

Highlights on the cactus after the rain

A little moisture does wonders to the desert.  It brightens the area and softens the very dry ground.

Terry testing the equipment.

That’s a good thing because it just makes riding so much more fun.

Sandie getting a little instruction here.

Where are the Dixons?  They were at our RV park taking a spin through the beautiful desert on the quads. 

Jim and Sandie posing.

I had trouble getting Jim to pose for this picture.  He wanted to finish getting ready to leave us in his dust.  We wouldn’t let him until we had the official picture of him and Sandie on the quads.

Arizona desert.

The tracks you see are ours.  Jim’s a little competitive.  Well, I can’t say he started it.  Terry found a straight path and came back with a top speed of 30 mph.  At that time my top speed was only 23 but I couldn’t let Terry beat me now could I?  Thus, I took another spin and beat him at 32.  Then, comes along Jim.  He waited until I cleared the path using me as his protector on the path just so he could beat us all at 40 mph!!  Of course, he didn’t tell us the speed until AFTER we were through riding.  According to one website the Suzuki has a top speed of about 54 mph and the Arctic Cat well over 65 mph. We're certainly not going to see if this article is correct!  However, next time I see Jim I'm sure I'll have beat his speed.  Beat by a woman!!  Yep ... not a competitive bone in our body!

Oh …. and what was Sandie’s top speed?  I guess she’s just not as competitive as the rest of us.  She proudly announced she had the Arctic Cat up to 10 mph!!!  She gave some excuse like it was too cold or something like that.  Whatever, Sandie!  I'm sure you'll be up to 12 mph next time!

Anyway, if you were looking for the Dixons on Monday, that’s where they were.


**  A little note about the Dixons -- 

      

One thing that is so wonderful about RV clubs such as Escapees or following blogs written by RVers is that you actually get to know folks months or even years before you actually meet them.  After communicating via the Escapees forum and blogging, we finally met the Dixons in 2009.   We've been good friends ever since.  Every winter we have a little group that gets together.   We've met in "Q" and also in Yuma.  This year ... well, who knows but probably some place different yet.  It actually depends on who is in the area as to how many we have!  If you're out there ... come join us in early 2012.

Arizonian–A Snowbird Park

Speak when you're angry and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.

Guess what I saw out the motorhome window Sunday morning?  

This little coyote just wandered down the road and out of the park.  Well, I guess he wandered out of the park.  At least I saw him walking down the road.  Then, I saw a second one when I was out walking Duchess. 

This is the first year we have booked any RV park for a whole month at a time.  Normally we have opted to stay more at locations where there aren’t full-time or most-time residents.  I guess you can’t call them residents but I’m sure you know what I mean.  I’m referring to the snowbirds who come year after year to the same park.  In the past we have always felt that these parks were more like staying in a regular neighborhood where everyone aleady knew everyone else.  The Thousand Trails, Elks, Famcamps, and COEs have always been more our cup of tea.  The people seem  eager to meet others and just a bit friendlier.

I’m not saying people aren’t friendly in the snowbird parks but definitely not as much as a regular campground where there are more RVers instead of snowbirds.   I think different types of people search for different types of parks.  Unless the snowbird parks are brand new, folks have already established relationships with others by the time you show up and it’s a little more difficult to connect. So, why did we book a park that was a snowbird park?  It was because this park allowed us to ride the ATVs in the park and had acres and acres of state land around it also for riding.    Isn’t that what counts? The ATV group seems pretty friendly.  For now it works because we figure we’ll do our own thing – whatever that is – and ride in the desert when the mood strikes.  There are a few other parks that also allow ATVs and we certainly plan on checking them out this winter too.

Last week we went to the little potluck affair.  It was nice and we were lucky in that we sat across from another newbie to this park.  We’ve met a few newbies so I’m sure there are even more around.  Then, Sunday night we went to the ice cream social.  I’m not so sure it’s a social event.  Even though there are quite a few tables in the North Hall some of the long ones were pushed together into one long table and that’s where they all sat – together, shoulder-to-shoulder, hip-to-hip  – at the one table.  There was no room for anyone else .. none.  I should have taken a picture.  We did find two other folks away from the mighty long table at least to sit by until the ice cream social was over and they headed back towards “home”.

Card bingo followed.  We’ve played this at other parks and always played with four per table.  We had intended to play.  It can be fun.  We had our quarters and dimes.  However, we didn’t because we weren’t at the right table.  There was only ONE table playing … can you guess which one?  We walked out.  The tables aren’t set up to allow folks to mingle and the person in charge concentrated only on the big table. We hadn’t seen it like this before.  The activity director is having a short meeting Monday morning.  That might be interesting.  I plan on attending but promise to keep my mouth shut … maybe.

After the meeting there is another event listed on the big calendar in the North Hall.  It’s shuffleboard.  Being the introvert that I am, I thought I’d walk over there and see if outsiders are allowed to play.  If outsiders aren’t allowed to play with the card group, will they be allowed to play with the shuffleboard group?  Who knows? Maybe I’ll ask.  Do I really want to play shuffleboard?  Well, not necessarily but now I’m curious.   I’m sure that the different activity groups consist of different people.  It’s not that I’ve ever played before so I might just be pushing my luck.  The scary part is what if they really let me play?  The nice part is that it’s raining right now and the chance that anyone will want to play shuffleboard in the rain is another thing so I’ll probably just have to wait for another day.  Whew!

Either way we’re here to ride and mingle with other friends in the area. We also have really nice neighbors at this park.  So, afterwards?    Well, maybe towards Quartzsite!!   Jim and Sandie are coming over for dinner on Monday and we’ve already got plans for Wednesday so things are working. 

Warm Balmy Southern Day ?

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine.

 

During the winter don’t most folks wish they were experiencing a warm balmy day especially when it starts to freeze outside.  However, usually only the folks who escape the northern winters for the south really get that balmy weather.  Arizona usually has very nice winter temperatures.  I’m not sure you could call them balmy though.  I think of Florida as having the cool and refreshing weather my mind conjures up when I think of balmy.   Arizona may get hot but it’s a dry heat!

Friday wasn’t a typical November day for Arizona.  The weatherman (who we know is never wrong) predicted strong winds which would bring major dust storms to the area about mid-afternoon.   He was half-right.  The worst part of the storm held off for most of the day where we were. That gave us a little excuse to play.

The plan was to start the morning off with Terry’s mom in Tempe.  Then we were going to visit the Swap Meet in Apache Junction.  We never made the swap meet.  We figured with the strong winds and thunderstorms predicted, the swap meet might actually shut down early so we put that off for another day or two.  Instead of heading out we ended up putting outside chairs and tables away and securing anything else that might be a projectile.  Terry also removed the gorilla bar from the front of his ATV.  Of course, that had nothing to do with the storm and everything to do with just because he wanted to.

After a little rest we headed into Apache Junction to meet with our good friends, Jim and Sandie.  It was so nice to see them again.  We had a fantastic seafood feast at the Eastern Chinese Buffet and Mongolian Grill.  The place is huge and it was packed.  The menu included just about everything a seafood lover would love.  Jim and I pigged out on the seafood while Sandie and Terry feasted on everything else.  Everything was fantastic including the service.  We know there will be many restaurants around this area that the four of us will visit together over the next couple of months.

It was dark heading back to the motorhome.  It had been windy and dusty most of the day but the evening drive back was pretty clear.  When a storm comes in the visibility can get pretty bad with blowing dust.  It had been down to zero viability in some areas during the day.  Even parts of major freeway systems had been shut down about 30 miles away.

 

The brunt of the storm didn’t hit our area until after midnight.  It seemed to go on forever.  A severe thunderstorm had been predicted and again, the prediction was right.  Winds were expected to be around 60 mph.  From the inside of the motorhome, we were sure it was at least that.  Those slide toppers make a lot of noise.  We brought in our slides and pulled our antenna down.  It seems every winter when we’re in one part of Arizona or another, we usually end up having at least one of these storms.

We do know we are missing our Weber BBQ cover.  If you see it flying by wherever you are, latch on to it.  We’d hate to have to buy another one.

The storm is over.  The temperatures have cooled and the rain brought a fresh smell to the desert.  The sky still looks threatening this morning as the clouds are low.  I’m sure we’ll see more rain today.  Duchess is doing better now that it’s peaceful outside.  She doesn’t like storms like this anymore than we do. 

RV Park Update – Memory Bank Overflow

Memory is a net: one that finds it full of fish when he takes it from the brook, but a dozen miles of water have run through it without sticking.

 

I’m not sure where to start.  My mind is stuffed with lots of new knowledge and the memory bank is even overflowing. 

It’s amazing what you learn from people doing laundry.  We had lots of loads of laundry and normally that hasn’t been an issue in the past.  We either stuck it in the kids’ machines or inserted quarters.  However, this place has these little cards you have to buy.  The machine only takes $5 bills and you can only do one transaction at a time.  First you have to buy it, then you have to fill it with $$$.  Figuring out how to buy the thing, then adding money to it was a chore in itself.  However, the hardest thing was getting the machines to turn on using this card.  Now I’m a techie person but this was way beyond me without help or some little info sheet to read.  Thank goodness, my new friend, Mary, came to the rescue.

It’s also amazing how many people you meet walking their dogs. The normal thing is to greet and exchange names and site numbers.  Once they walk past I’d already forgotten their names because someone new was approaching.  I wonder if a “hey you” works around here.

 

Next we decided to do the potluck thing that was scheduled Halloween night.  I had lots of things I wanted to find out about quad rides.  I figured that would be the place to track some of the riders down.  Everyone likes to eat.  Remember we still had one to buy since we sold the Ozark in Washington.  Another fella I met in the laundry (pretty popular place, you know) told me not to buy a little one.   I forgot to ask what he meant by “little one” but just knew I didn’t want a BIG one.  So, it was off to the potluck to get some answers to questions. 

One thing we did discover is that the trail riding is usually finalized  when the MEN have coffee at 6:30 AM to 7:00 AM each morning!  You think that’s early?  Have you ever noticed how many people are out walking in these parks even way before that time?  Now you all know I’m out of bed before then but the tricky part is getting ready to get outside.  What is the chance Terry will ever make one of these coffee get togethers to find out where the event of the day is?  That’s an easy answer -- almost zero.  However, we did discover he’s not the only one in that group who doesn’t make them. Why don’t they organize these better and post them?  I bet it’s because they don’t like the commitment thing any better than we do.

We met SO MANY people who had so many different names.  I’ll never remember their names.  Except I remembered Mary and Beverly.  I’m good with association.  Mary rhymes with Jeri so that one was easy.  Beverly?  Well, I called her the dog lady.  She does a lot of pet sitting for people in the park.  I had already heard about her and wanted to chat a bit.  We knew we still needed to figure out if we were driving to Washington over Christmas or flying?  Duchess doesn’t fly.  However, Beverly just might be the answer to leaving her here while we fly.  That would certainly be the easy way.  We like easy ways.

We still had a lot to learn on this quad thing.  Before heading south we tried out the Trail Boss, I really liked it and thought that might be what I wanted.  However, we put the skids on when we got here.  What I really thought I wanted was different from what I learned I should want.  So, now the search is on for a 4x4 and a utility.  I’m not so sure I’m real thrilled with this.  The utility ones are bulkier and heavier. I know I’ll stress when it comes time to pulling the heavy ones north but maybe I can just cross that bridge in a few months.

Another problem I have is that some of these are so ugly.  They look like hunters should own them … ugh!   And, I just can’t buy one that isn’t “pretty”.  Unless I can find another red quad, I’m going to have to buy a different helmet.  Remember my helmet is red.  I certainly can’t wear it on a green or blue quad!

Other than that I also discovered a big calendar on the wall in the North Hall.  The activities are planned out for ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE.  There were even sign up sheets for these activities.  I knew I was in real trouble when I saw that --- commitments beyond 24 hours.  Oh boy … I’m not sure the chalk and eraser work here as well as they do on my own calendar.

Like I said … my memory bank is overflowing with all the recent stuff I’ve had to add to it.  This is a whole new thing to me being on the road  -- staying in an RV park for more than a couple weeks or so. You can tell the trouble I’m in when I've added all these different thought patterns in one little blog.  Yep ….I think I’m definitely in trouble here.