Terrific Time in Tucson–Time to Travel

When we left Mesa, well almost left Mesa; we had only traveled one block when we heard a loud noise that sounded like a snap or crack. I thought Tom’s little gourd that hangs from his window shade had hit the window and cracked it. No, the window was OK. In further investigation I noticed the slide lock had snapped past the locking plate and was now past the opening of the slide and not doing its job of securing the slide from moving out while traveling.  I quickly got Cinda from RV Renovators on the phone and she said to bring it back in. We circled the block and were sitting back in the driveway of RV Renovators.  Bill was waiting for us, tools in hand and had the heavy metal plate off, new holes drilled and reinstalled in less than 30 minutes.  We unhooked the Jeep to back up, backed up the RV, hooked up the Jeep for the second time (we are pretty good at this Purple Job) and we were on the road again.   Even though traffic was heavy leaving Phoenix we were in the correct lanes each time thanks to Bill’s good directions confirmed by our Magellan GPS.  We didn’t hit real heavy traffic until exiting I-10 to I-19 to Nogales at 5:30.  There are a lot of people living in this south-west area of Tucson now and they all are in a hurry to get home (Tom says they want to mow the lawn and take out the garbage).

We had made arrangements to stay at the Diamond J in the SW section of Tucson before we had our detour into Mesa. We pulled in too late to register in the office, but there was an envelope and a list of available spaces posted by the office door.  I made out a check for 2 nights at the Passport America rate of $17 a night and we parked in a pull through right out front and called it a night.

The next day we decided to do NOTHING. I mean NOTHING except find the restaurant, Luke's  Nick had talked about in his blog, Gypsy Journal RV Travels, and go to Costco.  The food at Luke’s was just as good as promised and I had the best Veggie sandwich ever: roasted peppers, olives, Italian peppers and all the regular stuff including 2 kinds of cheeses.  We will eat there again when in Tucson.  We have missed pushing our cart down the isles of Costco and seeing all the new things we don’t have.  Now we don’t have space to store it so we saved lots of money this trip.  Our tummies were full so we didn’t get a lot of food either.  We did manage to find some snacks like the fabulous popcorn that was being demonstrated.  Please do not mention diet and we won’t think about it either.

Now with our batteries charged we were off to do the tourist thing.  The main reason we parked down here was to visit the Titan Missile Museum in Sahuarita which was about 45 minutes away.   We headed south on I-19, stopped at the Post Office to mail Tom’s damaged Droid back to Assurion and got to the Museum just in time for the 12:30 tour. 

Our tour guide, Norm, had been stationed at a SAC base in the 60’s in South Dakota and was able to give us some anecdotal stories about those times when we almost blew it in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

This is the command center where if there ever was the time where the Missile would have to be deployed, two people would have to have the secrete code, the secrete combination to the safe and have to turn the key within seconds of each other to send it to its secrete destination.  That destination is still clasified.  There were  18 of these missile sites in each of 3 states. This is the only one left in its original state minus any ability to be fired. 

We were now aware that it is Spring Break in Arizona. Kids, kids and more noisy kids.  We love our grandkids and think they are so cute even when they are rambunctious. Unfortunately we do not have that tolerance with other’s kiddos.  So when a 4  year old continues to kick the side of the metal counter in the silo we wanted to remove him from the tour.

Other than that it was a very interesting informative experience.  Even growing up in the 40’s & 50’s, remembering hiding under our desks at Mayfair Elementary school in preparation for the ‘bomb’ I didn’t not know the full impact that nuclear total annihilation was and its impact on the global military strategy, instead of Russia and the US attacking each other with nuclear bombs we just battle each other’s philosophical politics on other fronts in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East without using our nuclear arsenals.  So sad.

We thought about going to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum on Sunday, but realized there was a real nice Friends Church that we had attended when in Tucson a couple of years ago.  So we put that trip on hold and drove to the northwest part of Tucson to Northwest Community Friends Church.  While about to take our seat, who should walk up and say hi, but LeRoy Willis who we had met at Nick’s Gypsy Gathering Rally a couple of weeks ago. 

This is another small world experience: LeRoy was from Wichita, KS, where our former Pastor, Larry Kinser, and his wife Melita, are now pastoring, and is now staying right next door to us in the next RV park. How small is our world… how many RV parks and RV’s are in the Tucson area, and what are the chances of being that close the the Willis’s?  And what are the chances that Larry, who comments on our blog, would be the connection to someone who we would meet at a rally in Arizona?  It boggles my mind.  We went to lunch with LeRoy and Anne to a wonderful Mexican restaurant where I had the best Maui Maui Chimichanga EVER.  We talked a long time over lunch and then even in the parking lot.  It is so great meeting people you would never get to know unless you are RV’ing.  Love this life style.

We knew it was to be windy in Arizona on Monday, but decided to go the the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum anyway.  Boy was it blowing, my visor actually blew off once and Tom retrieved it.  The good part was the weather was comfortably cool and we walked all day long.  We should have had our pedometer on as I think it was miles. 

This is a very different museum, part zoo, part garden, part historical museum and part restaurant.  We sampled all aspects of this facility.  The view of the valley below was a little dusty, but still beautiful.   I am not a real fan of zoos, but this one was very well done: educational, conserving the species, rehabbing injured desert animals and understanding the needs of the animals in designing the enclosures. 

This educator was demonstrating what animals eat; she showed us snakes, lizards, a porcupine, a skunk, a pelican and a Ringtail Cat, the state mammal of Arizona.

 

I was behind a glass window and this guy was really this close. Great experience.

 

The desert was truly in bloom this day.

We had planned on only staying one day in the area and seeing the Titan Missile Museum and moving on to Benson to see our friends, the DelRosario’s.  But the wind advisories and the interesting sites have delayed us.  In checking with Sharon DelRosario, it was a good thing as Don has been under the weather, so today we’ll check in and see how Don is feeling, stay in Benson, or move on to Bisbee and see the DelRosario’s on our way back to California.  That is what plans in Jell-o are all about.

Until next time we are T&BnaRV On the Road Again Caching Places That We’ve  Never Been

 

Camping at RV Renovators

We pulled into RV Renovators on Tuesday about 1 PM after an easy ride up I-10 from Picacho Peak.  Other than a last minute – but very safe – lane change to transition from I-10 to I-60 to Mesa instead of Phoenix, all went smoothly. Darn these Phoenix freeways!  Between lack of adequate signage and the ongoing construction it sure makes driving a 40 foot RV and towing a Jeep a challenge.

We gave Cinda a big hug and got settled into the back yard of the service area.  We picked up the key to the gate and left for dinner and some shopping.

We had noticed the counter top in back of the stove had begun to separate from the back splash and the gap was over 1/2 inch. 

RV Renovators are good at these kinds of repairs and gave us a price of 5 hours labor.  Ouch!  We decided to go ahead with the repairs as the slide had already started dragging on the floor as it slid in and out. 

When we got back from shopping, I played on the computer and Tom emptied everything out of the cupboards and removed the drawers from the kitchen.

Yesterday we woke up early in anticipation of the work crew’s arrival. The work started on the slide lock first. The cover over the locking mechanism was removed by popping off the rivets.  That latch should be down when the slide is out, not up. It would tear a hole in the side of the rig if left like this.

The locking blade was bent and twisted.  Our technician, Bill, removed it and straightened it out then reattached the cover with new rivets.   That took a while and in the mean time, Billy, our other tech, & Curtis moved into the rig to start the repairs on the drooping counter in the kitchen. 

We had a real interesting show out the front window. Sorry about the glare.

The Dynasty parked in front of us had a serious water leak that damaged the floor and the owners decided on changing the carpet to wood flooring as a part of the repairs.  This involved removing the slide. Removing a slide, we found out,  involved a fork lift, several guys on the inside and several on the outside. The flooring looks real good. They even removed the tile and replace it with the wood flooring.

We stayed in the rig all day and watched the ‘repair show’  both in and out of our RV.  At 5:30 we left for dinner, unlocked the front gate, and drove about 1/2 mile to a local Mexican restaurant. This was a local’s only favorite restaurant with authentic Jalisco type menu. It was very good. I had tomatillo green sauce on cheese enchiladas and Tom had a shredded beef Torta.  We had so much food we both brought a take-out box home.

After dinner we bought a pair of reading glasses for Tom as he decided after looking at his new prescription, the only thing he needed was glasses for reading. We also bought the hanger for around his neck so he won’t loose them.

Now, Billy and his supervisor are adjusting the roller under the kitchen slide and we should be done.  We will have our propane tank filled, wait for the delivery on the new Droid today and we are off again heading south to Tucson.

On the Road Again… THEN “Squirrel”

For the last 2 1/2 weeks we have been in Yuma with the Advanced Team for the Gypsy Gathering Rally, Nick & Terry Russell and Greg & Jan White. We parked first at the horse barn area, our rig first, then Nick’s, then Greg’s.  Notice Tom’s new 23 foot flag that he bought just across the street from the fairgrounds.  We have had a great time getting together with these wonderful friends again. It hardly seems like a year since laughing, eating, working and even tearing up a couple of times with these guys. We will certainly miss them, but know we will see them down the road again. 

We did do a little shopping while in Yuma. We had bought a chair while in Indio. I just love it, but needed a little cabinet to go with it. We found one at Big Lots in Yuma and it is perfect. I can put the big printer-scanner-copier on it when needed and there are 3 drawers for holding my computer essentials.  We then visited the largest Flea Market we’ve ever been to and bought a little table that slides under the couch for Tom’s computer. The foot stool storage unit is also perfect for Tom’s stuff until he can find a place to put it (like shoes) .

 

Our time in Yuma was filled to the brim with activities: helping Terry with registration, working with Cool Judy & Luke Rinehimer on Geocaching and Smart Phone sessions.  Cool Judy is a champ at on the spot improvising. When at 11 PM Nick asked who could moderate a session at 9 AM the next morning, whose name  came to mind -- Cool Judy. Two text messages on our Droids and she accepted the challenge.  When I almost forgot my last session on GSAK, Geocaching Swiss Army Knife, who was there for me… Cool Judy. Thanks Judy!  You are Cool in addition to being from Cool.

We also set up 5 seminar rooms for the rally with Judy & Luke’s help. That was about 250 chairs and 20 tables to set up and break down. Whew!

If all this sounds like a lot of work, it was, however we have rarely had this much fun. If laughing is good for your health and extends your life, we definitely added several days, weeks or months to our life.  We also had the job of finding the best restaurants to eat at for the rally-goers.  It was a hard job, but somebody has to do it and we are REALLY good at it.

Because Nick blogs everyday (Nick envy here) you can check his very interesting and fun blog to see what we have been up to: Nick's Blog.

But, alas, all good things must come to an end and we left our ‘team’ and got on the road yesterday morning after doing the dumping thing. We headed east on US-8 toward Tucson.  We found a nice Passport America campground, Arizona Hideaway RV Park,  for $15 a night and did about 3 weeks of laundry, watched TV, and just relaxed. Another purchase Tom made at the Flea Market was a very striking purple shirt that just happened to match the beautiful Purple Cactus at the RV Park. Can you find Tom in this picture?

We had planned to make our next stop Tucson to see the Titan Missile Museum and Silo before heading to Benson to do some visiting with Sharon & Don DelRosario. We shared a panel discussion with Sharon, Don, Nick and Terry titled, “How to Full Time in an RV and stay Happily Married”.  What a kick that discussion was.

Tom was washing windows, disconnecting, and checking the rig when he noticed the locking latch on the roadside slide was stuck up. If he hadn’t noticed that and I had pulled the slide in, there would have been a big hole punched into the side of the RV.  Just another reminder to ourselves to not take the last minute safety check around the rig lightly.  It could save lots of trouble, not to mention money, later.  We called the Good Sam Insurance people to see what we should do first. They said have a repair service check it and call Good Sam before having it fixed. So we called RV  Renovators and our favorite receptionist, Cinda, said bring the RV in.  “Squirrel”.  We back tracked up I-10 to Mesa where we are now waiting for the OK to fix the slide locks.

If you are a regular or irregular (since I am an irregular blogger) reader you will notice I have been unreliable about blogging.  Miss Terry Russell says I should set myself a goal. So here I am setting myself a goal and challenging our good friend and fellow Boomer and Geocacher, Theta Brentnall, to blog at least one a week. 

We will be doing some catch up when here in Mesa. Tom’s Droid was run over by an big RV in the parking lot while helping the Crew park rigs at the rally.  Though it does not have a lot of damage, the flash light is broken and the HDMI plug is smashed. That’s why we carry the insurance. We also want to check on new glasses for Tom as he had his eyes checked in Yuma and should probably get the lenses updated.  There are probably some geocaches here that need finding, too.  So until next time, we are

On the Road Again, Caching Places that we’ve never been,

Barbara, Tom & Pansy

 

Rally Planning can be Fun

We are members of the Golden Spike Chapter of FMCA. That chapter was founded for people who have an interest in Rail Roads. Because both Tom’s and my father were Southern Pacific RR Engineers we joined the first year we attended an FMCA rally.  We have loved the members and really loved our railroad excursions.  What we were not so aware of was that this was a “railroading” organization.  About 2 years ago I was “railroaded” into being the Editor of the Golden Spike newsletter, The Telegraph.  This was not an easy chore as Dotty Poole had done such a good job, it was a challenge to follow in her very big footsteps (figuratively speaking).  We were then “railroaded” last March to be wagon masters at the Verde Valley rally. We were promised and had lots of help from fellow Spikers, The Harrisons and Halls.  What a great time we had.  This fall Tom was “railroaded” into running for Conductor (president) of the club when our dear friend, Tom Harrison, became gravely ill.  Then at the January Western FMCA rally we were AGAIN “railroaded” into planning the next rally at Boulder City, NV.  I think we need to join a “Do Nothing” RV club to relax.

So after our Geocaching Rally at Quartzsite we drove 3 hours north on Hwy 95 through Arizona, into California, into Nevada and into Boulder City. 

We had never been to this cute, historic, 77 year old town.  Actually, I can’t remember visiting this new a town ever.  Build to house the workers of Boulder, now Hoover, Dam, it is one of only 2 towns in Nevada that does not permit gambling and did not permit prostitution. I’m not sure of the rules on prostitution in the state of Nevada now.

We pulled into the Elks lodge RV parking area, a very nice landscaped RV facility behind the lodge with full hook-ups, picnic tables, and a host, Deborah, that greeted us as we arrived. At $18 a night you just can’t beat the accommodations and location, between McDonalds and Jack in the Box. 

We paid for 4 nights and started exploring.  Our first stop was the train station which was only a couple of blocks up the hill.  The train only runs on weekends and this was Friday, but we ran into Choo Choo Greg as he was leaving the museum. Greg is a volunteer and a rail road devotee. I think he might also be a savant.  You would recognize the similarity if you saw the movie, Rainman.  Choo Choo Greg has hundreds numbers; dates, train numbers, miles, etc., that he excitedly tells you about at break neck speed.  We finally got away from Greg’s story telling, insisting that we (and he) needed to get home to dinner.

The next morning we were at the train station at 9:30 to meet Peg, our contact for the rally tour, and to purchase our ticket to ride the Southern Nevada Railroad Excursion Train.  The tickets were only $10, and although a short ride, it was a picturesque and a very informative ride.  This was the first weekend of the railroad’s season and we had hoped to see the herd of Big Horn Sheep.  Once the trains start running they go to the other side of the mountain, but they must have gotten wind of the schedule because they were no where to be found.

I have an App on my new Droid, Find That Guy, that tells us if we are near to a restaurant that Guy Fieri, of Diners, Drive-in & Dives,  has reviewed.  We were real near to the Coffee Cup in downtown Boulder City, so after the train ride we wanted to try out this restaurant. 

Tom had their Famous Chili Verde Omlet and I had a turkey melt.  Mine was good and Tom says he has never had better Pork Chili Verde.  The current owners bought this little café, built in 1933, and decorated it in a funky eclectic style that is a cross between ‘60’s’ surfing and ‘30’s’ junk.  The waitresses look like most of their tips go to the local tattoo parlor.

Our week in Boulder City included checking out the RV Park located right on Lake Mead,

a visit to the new Boulder Dam Bridge,

some geocaching,

and lots of really good food, especially at The Bistro, a very small restaurant that we were told was pretty pricey.  Tom had a 12 oz. top sirloin that looked like  Ruth’s Chris’s with twice baked potato, asparagus, and a special salad that was made as we watched; I had butter pecan crusted trout with risotto, asparagus, and the same wonderful salad. The appetizer was a phenomenal fresh baked Italian bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip. Tom had a beer and I had a glass of house wine… the bill was $40.32.  Pricey? we’ll take that price for a special evening out any day.

		Ethyl M’s Cactus Garden VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We added 2 more days at the Elks, went into Henderson and checked out Ethyl M’s Chocolate Factory and Cactus Garden, drove down to Willow Bay, the drop off point for the Black Canyon/Willow Bay Raft ride and did some more caching.

We sure look forward to our rally May 5-9 in Boulder City.

Back on the road, over the Boulder Dam Bridge in the RV and down Hwy 93 through Kingman and Lake Havasu City to Cattail Cove SP. We stayed here last year when we attended the Western Pyrotechnic Assn’s WinterBlast.  More about that in our next blog.

Until then, keep on caching.  Thanks for checking in.

Barbara, Tom, and Pansy

One Month Full timing and counting

This full timing is really fun, but also very demanding.  We have scheduled 3 rallies this first month, each with some responsibilities. We love attending the rallies because we are able to catch up with our friends that we have met over the years RV’ing.

We had a wonderful send off in the old Mervyns parking lot in Fresno. Mom, Jenny, Julie, Jamie, Jason, Olivia, Logan and Ryan all met us, piled in the RV and there were hugs and kisses all around.

We left Fresno and followed our friends, the Halls, to Boron. Why Boron? Many have asked us that question and the answer is Domingo’s. This is a special Mexican restaurant with a very interesting owner, Domingo.  To say that Domingo is friendly, accomplished, and interesting is an understatement. As a civilian, he has flown in a B-2 and has a plaque commemorating his Mock 4 ride as well as other air force mementos . All this because the pilots at Edwards AFB eat there and really like Domingo. We really like the food, too.

Then it was on to La Quinta to meet up with the Golden Spike Chapter that had parked in the abandoned Sam’s Club parking lot. The next day we caravanned to the Date Festival Fairgrounds in Indio.

 

It was a short ride, but somehow in pulling into the fairgrounds we got completely scrambled with another group and by the time we were parked we were so close there was only a little space to have our potlucks, happy hours, and evening fires. Thankfully 2 of our members pulled in their slides so we would have a little more space. Even with all that ‘closeness’ we had a wonderful time.

We did served at the Ice Cream Social, had a very special memorial for our friend, Tom Harrison, who was the Conductor of the Golden Spike Chapter for as long as we have been members. Now Tom (Westerfield) is the new Conductor – how did that happen? He was ‘railroaded’!!!

After a very successful rally we left for the Salton Sea SRA just south of Mecca. We love the peacefulness, the view and the terrific caching in this area.

We took a couple of short trips, one to attend church in Holtville and one to Salvation Mountain & Slab City. You just have to visit this phenomenon once. We stayed a week, ate out often, got a few more caches, and just relaxed.

We left on Jan 24 for Quartzsite, otherwise referred to as “Q”.  This is small town about 20 miles from the California border that grows to thousands upon thousands of RV’ers who park on BLM land for free or in the many RV parks located around Quartzsite. There are many rally events throughout the month of January and there is a large tent full of vendors that sell all things ‘RV’. You can buy food, equipment, insurance, space at resorts and Tom even bought a flag pole for our RV. That way we can find our way home if we loose the GPS. 

The first rally we attended was an Escapee Boomer rally. It was held about as far into BLM land east of “Q” as you could drive called Boomerville. We bounced down an unimproved dirt road in our RV and found a place to park near our friends, Sue & Ken Pace and Judy & Luke Rinehimer. We had potlucks, happy hours, evening shows on the Pace Theater (a projector shown on the side of Sue & Ken’s rig), and several informational talks throughout the week.

Then we moved north of Q to Plamoso Rd to the Escapee Geocaching BOF (Birds of a Feather) rally. This was a ‘no host’ rally that the unofficial hosts were Sue Pace, Cool Judy Rinehimer and me, Barbara. Each day we had a schedule of classes and cache runs. We had happy hours, and potlucks. It was so windy and cold we finally moved 3 rigs (ours on the right) into a wind break. Even though the weather didn’t cooperate, we had a great time.

I even got my computer hooked up to the HDTV in our rig and did 2 presentations. We maxed out the seating and had several people standing in the back and others sitting on the floor. One evening we had a Z-Circle get acquainted event where 3-4 couples rotate to 7 RV’s each time meeting other fellow cachers. This is always a fun and interesting mixer.

In my next blog I’ll tell all about a new-to-us town that was created in 1933. It was so interesting that we can’t wait to bring our Golden Spike friends there and show them all the sights we have discovered. Until then keep on caching as we are

On the road again, caching places that we’ve never been.  Barbara, Tom and Pansy