It was raining when we woke this morning, and as I type this late tonight it is still raining. We reached around 58 degrees again, but rain was off and on all day.
Loyce wanted to go fabric shopping as she had some Jo Ann's coupons that were about to expire, and she never lets any coupon expire........ That left me sitting in the car for about an hour, playing angry birds on the android phone.
We drove around some of the town for the first time this year, as the Jo Ann's that she likes is way out in the South end of the city at the San Tan shopping center. The Saturday traffic was typical big city Christmas shopping traffic, but since we live in Kansas City, we are very used to this. And since this is the fourth year we have been here as RVers and the 5th in the last 6 years for winter trips, we are seldom lost out here in the East suburbs.
We used to use the GPS everywhere we went, but now we don't even take it along. Rather, we get in those husband and wife heated discussions about which way is the best to take of the several options we both know.
We dropped thru the old Mesa Spirit park, just to have a look see of how busy they were. And it is even more of an empty park this year. The folks that have park models of course are here but RVers are in a thin supply. We hope that the census becomes improved after the first of the year. A large part of the business is annual full time residents, so the park will continue to exist, but it can't be a big money maker for its owner.
Checking the weather forecast tells us that it will be late next week before this weather pattern changes, and it may even freeze here on Monday night. That is about dreary for the beginning of our winter RV experience..
Retired Rod
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Odd jobs at the campground...
I spent the morning washing that motor scooter. It was the sponge and bucket of soapy water arrangement, because it was way too muddy to just spray it off. Even then it took a couple of passes with the sponge rinsing in between, to see if it was clean yet.
The mud was all in the dash and handlebars and took a wash rag to get it out. And even as I looked at it tonight, I could see where it needs more attention. I used the chamois for about a half an hour on it the way it was. But trust me, tonight it is covered up with its cover.
The weatherman says we are not done with the rainy stuff here and we are struggling to make the high 50s in the daytime. Still it has stayed about 40 ish at night so the electric heaters have been all we needed to keep things warm.
We headed off to the Mesa Swap Meet late in the afternoon, but it was almost three by the time we arrived, so Loyce decided to pass because there wasn't enough time to walk all the rows. I went directly to a tool stand in row D and purchased a converter to convert the 30 amp socket in our power pole back to a 15 amp regular cord. We don't have a 15 amp plug in the box, which is quite unusual. But this is more of a trailer park than an RV park, and they don't allow any tent style vehicles.
When we are sitting still like we are here, I often add a 12 gauge cord into the back slide. This allows me to plug in the second heater without stressing the breakers. We seem to connect the heater and hair dryers and more all on the same circuit, which pops the breakers. So the extra cord is plugged into the power pedestal and bypasses the motorhome wiring.
And before anyone brings it up, I understand that I have a 12 gauge cord plugged into a 30 amp breaker which would not be safe. But I only have a 13 amp heater on the cord by itself. The 12 gauge cord should be good for 20 amps, so we should be good to go. Still UL would not approve.
Retired Rod
The mud was all in the dash and handlebars and took a wash rag to get it out. And even as I looked at it tonight, I could see where it needs more attention. I used the chamois for about a half an hour on it the way it was. But trust me, tonight it is covered up with its cover.
The weatherman says we are not done with the rainy stuff here and we are struggling to make the high 50s in the daytime. Still it has stayed about 40 ish at night so the electric heaters have been all we needed to keep things warm.
We headed off to the Mesa Swap Meet late in the afternoon, but it was almost three by the time we arrived, so Loyce decided to pass because there wasn't enough time to walk all the rows. I went directly to a tool stand in row D and purchased a converter to convert the 30 amp socket in our power pole back to a 15 amp regular cord. We don't have a 15 amp plug in the box, which is quite unusual. But this is more of a trailer park than an RV park, and they don't allow any tent style vehicles.
When we are sitting still like we are here, I often add a 12 gauge cord into the back slide. This allows me to plug in the second heater without stressing the breakers. We seem to connect the heater and hair dryers and more all on the same circuit, which pops the breakers. So the extra cord is plugged into the power pedestal and bypasses the motorhome wiring.
And before anyone brings it up, I understand that I have a 12 gauge cord plugged into a 30 amp breaker which would not be safe. But I only have a 13 amp heater on the cord by itself. The 12 gauge cord should be good for 20 amps, so we should be good to go. Still UL would not approve.
Retired Rod
Friday, December 2, 2011
Nasty weather
Why yes it was cold where we came from, and perhaps it did follow us here to Mesa, Az. But I'm not sure that we brought it with us, as some may have accused......... I would suggest that we ran from it as the weather forecast said that we would enjoy some snow if we stayed up on Highway I 40.
Tonight that snow may well arrive in the Flagstaff area and higher locations to the East. That is exactly where we were................
We were awakened this morning as it began to rain rather heavily even though the forecast said there was only a 10% chance of rain. So I guess we were in that 10 % part. It was a nasty kind of rain because it was raining muddy water. The dust that was kicked up in the air was being rained back down.
I had removed the motorscooter from the trailer and it was sitting outside on the concrete patio. The cover was still in the trailer, as it was only a 10 % chance.......LOL. It is a complete mud ball now still sitting right where I parked it last night. No sense covering it up now as perhaps subsequent rain may wash away some of the residue...
But this morning I still needed to go sign up for a mail box here in the park. They assign each family a box, that is not numbered with your site. Its completely different. So with the weekly thursday country store in progress, I braved the crowd and parked about two blocks away and walked to the post office within the main office building.
It was more simple this year, as they have dispensed with the deposit for the keys, but trust you to bring back your key. But should you loose it, it will be a charge to remake the lost key. Well that was much easier than last year. I didn't even go into the big ball room where all the vendors were set up. The outside folks were all under their sun canopies which were now converted into rain canopies.
One other little task was to drive up town to the local Office Max and have our gate passes laminated. After three months of flashing the passes at the gate folks they become quite tattered. And on the scooter it gets completely destroyed. So for a $1.29, I had them laminated into plastic covered cards.
Since the temps were in the mid 50s for a daily high, we just hung around the house today and used the day as a recovery day from driving for the last 5 days. We thought it was too cool to enjoy much of anything, and with the foggy overcast we just lacked motivation.
The sun did try and break thru mid afternoon, but the next thing we knew it was raining again. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.
Retired Rod
Tonight that snow may well arrive in the Flagstaff area and higher locations to the East. That is exactly where we were................
We were awakened this morning as it began to rain rather heavily even though the forecast said there was only a 10% chance of rain. So I guess we were in that 10 % part. It was a nasty kind of rain because it was raining muddy water. The dust that was kicked up in the air was being rained back down.
I had removed the motorscooter from the trailer and it was sitting outside on the concrete patio. The cover was still in the trailer, as it was only a 10 % chance.......LOL. It is a complete mud ball now still sitting right where I parked it last night. No sense covering it up now as perhaps subsequent rain may wash away some of the residue...
But this morning I still needed to go sign up for a mail box here in the park. They assign each family a box, that is not numbered with your site. Its completely different. So with the weekly thursday country store in progress, I braved the crowd and parked about two blocks away and walked to the post office within the main office building.
It was more simple this year, as they have dispensed with the deposit for the keys, but trust you to bring back your key. But should you loose it, it will be a charge to remake the lost key. Well that was much easier than last year. I didn't even go into the big ball room where all the vendors were set up. The outside folks were all under their sun canopies which were now converted into rain canopies.
One other little task was to drive up town to the local Office Max and have our gate passes laminated. After three months of flashing the passes at the gate folks they become quite tattered. And on the scooter it gets completely destroyed. So for a $1.29, I had them laminated into plastic covered cards.
Since the temps were in the mid 50s for a daily high, we just hung around the house today and used the day as a recovery day from driving for the last 5 days. We thought it was too cool to enjoy much of anything, and with the foggy overcast we just lacked motivation.
The sun did try and break thru mid afternoon, but the next thing we knew it was raining again. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.
Retired Rod
Thursday, December 1, 2011
We arrive!
Today was kind of compartmentalized. The beginning was waking up to the sound of the LP heater running even though the electric heaters were both on and running full tilt. That generally spells cold outside! I just rolled over and slept another half hour.
I got up about 8:15 and went to the dash of the motorhome to look at the electronic thermometer......28, and the sun had been out for a good hour.. Must have been a bunch colder than that, but I never looked, some things you just don't need to know....
We messed around and had breakfast and read some of the computer blogs, and eventually it was over freezing so we went out and hooked up the water and sewer. After showers and clean clothes we drained the tanks and disconnected. We were on the road at 10:15.
The second experience of our day was the trip up and over the mountains where we reached 7600 feet at one time and drove thru the ponderosa pine tree forest. You would think you were in Colorado in the early fall, as the leaves were yellow or mostly gone, and the temps were about 50. We even saw snow along the roadways.
But from 7600 feet you must come down, and down and down. First down to the town of Payson, at about 5000 feet. This is quite the community, and it was bustling today with traffic at every corner. They have a large casino, which was abundant with cars parked everywhere..... we pressed on....
And down some more in a serious 6% grade that descends for about 50 miles. I used a lot of engine exhaust brake as the rpm's were above 2500 or more on the diesel. The scenery is drop dead gorgeous, but I was very busy making sure the top heavy motorhome didn't lean too far with too much speed as we wound our way down the curves and switch backs.
Then just like that the temps on the dash gauge were in the 70s and we were at Fountain Hills. I turned and parked along the road as Loyce went thru the Wendy's drive up window. We had all the motorhome windows open as we enjoyed our burgers.
We cut across the North side of Mesa and over the Salt River basin to catch the Red Mountain Freeway back to the East. We are almost locals here because this is the fifth year out of the last six that we have wintered over. No GPS needed now..
A quick stop to fill the diesel tank, and into the Valle Del Oro RV Park where the gate guard knew about our reservation and called the office that we were on our way.
This was the last compartment of our day, as we registered and paid for all three months. Next we were led to our site which we picked out last year when we put down the deposit. From 4 PM on, we spent the evening unpacking and setting things up for our long stay in one place. It was 79 degrees, as I backed the motor scooter out of the utility trailer and rode it around the park.
This camp has 1800 spots, so you can ride for quite a while and never leave the property. Of course one fellow had to yell at me for going past his place too fast........... I looked down and I was doing 18................ And yes the speed limit is 15, but some folks have themselves wired a little too tightly.
While it got cooler outside as the sun set, we have not even turned on an electric heater as I write this.
It is supposed to be much cooler in the next several days, as the storm that we were running from will come over this area as well. But perhaps it will just have some rain and cool temps...... None of that Snow stuff!!!!
Retired Rod
I got up about 8:15 and went to the dash of the motorhome to look at the electronic thermometer......28, and the sun had been out for a good hour.. Must have been a bunch colder than that, but I never looked, some things you just don't need to know....
We messed around and had breakfast and read some of the computer blogs, and eventually it was over freezing so we went out and hooked up the water and sewer. After showers and clean clothes we drained the tanks and disconnected. We were on the road at 10:15.
The second experience of our day was the trip up and over the mountains where we reached 7600 feet at one time and drove thru the ponderosa pine tree forest. You would think you were in Colorado in the early fall, as the leaves were yellow or mostly gone, and the temps were about 50. We even saw snow along the roadways.
But from 7600 feet you must come down, and down and down. First down to the town of Payson, at about 5000 feet. This is quite the community, and it was bustling today with traffic at every corner. They have a large casino, which was abundant with cars parked everywhere..... we pressed on....
And down some more in a serious 6% grade that descends for about 50 miles. I used a lot of engine exhaust brake as the rpm's were above 2500 or more on the diesel. The scenery is drop dead gorgeous, but I was very busy making sure the top heavy motorhome didn't lean too far with too much speed as we wound our way down the curves and switch backs.
Then just like that the temps on the dash gauge were in the 70s and we were at Fountain Hills. I turned and parked along the road as Loyce went thru the Wendy's drive up window. We had all the motorhome windows open as we enjoyed our burgers.
We cut across the North side of Mesa and over the Salt River basin to catch the Red Mountain Freeway back to the East. We are almost locals here because this is the fifth year out of the last six that we have wintered over. No GPS needed now..
A quick stop to fill the diesel tank, and into the Valle Del Oro RV Park where the gate guard knew about our reservation and called the office that we were on our way.
This was the last compartment of our day, as we registered and paid for all three months. Next we were led to our site which we picked out last year when we put down the deposit. From 4 PM on, we spent the evening unpacking and setting things up for our long stay in one place. It was 79 degrees, as I backed the motor scooter out of the utility trailer and rode it around the park.
This camp has 1800 spots, so you can ride for quite a while and never leave the property. Of course one fellow had to yell at me for going past his place too fast........... I looked down and I was doing 18................ And yes the speed limit is 15, but some folks have themselves wired a little too tightly.
While it got cooler outside as the sun set, we have not even turned on an electric heater as I write this.
It is supposed to be much cooler in the next several days, as the storm that we were running from will come over this area as well. But perhaps it will just have some rain and cool temps...... None of that Snow stuff!!!!
Retired Rod
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