Cleaning up the RV

It was a bright and sunny day, and it warmed up almost instantly.  We were up and having coffee and breakfast but didn't get outside right away.  I went up to the closest bathroom and found that it was being cleaned by about 10 Hispanic ladies.  I asked when they would be done.

That proved to be in vain, because no one could speak any English.  My Spanish is too poor to ask in Spanish, so I went back to the campsite and got the car.  That took me to the North bathroom, but there were at least 10 men in there.  Judging from the cars around the facility we had all driven there.  Again I had to wait.

Back at the motorhome, I decided to wash some of the vehicle.  It has been since back in November that the rig was washed.  The bugs were still on the front of the windshield, and I started in with a bug sponge and a bucket of soap.  I spent about 3 hours on just the front cap and the driver's door.  I was spraying water, and it was starting to water spot the neighbors black GMC diesel pickup.

The truck is brand new, and he has washed it almost constantly since we came back, so I decided to quit and wait until he was gone in the next few days to continue.  It was mid afternoon by now anyway.

After cleaning up and a short unintended nap, I headed out on the motorscooter.  I stopped at Wendy's and the local Pets Mart, but then just rode thru several residential neighborhoods. Day slipped into dusk, and I finally headed back to the RV park.

Another day spent not accomplishing much, but enjoying the 77 degree day.

Retired Rod

Another collectible watch and reservations

As usual, when Shop NBC does a feature on Android watches, I am watching instantly.  And Sunday night and Monday they were on special in their Today's Top Value.  Usually I can resist most of these sales, but on this occasion, they had a watch with T100 Tritium gas tubes on sale.

The gas tubes are like little florescent bulbs on the hands and hour markers and make the watch glow without any electric power or any charging of sun light or light from an outside source.  The Tritium is a form of radio active gas and causes the tubes to glow for 25 years.

Usually these watches go for really big money, but on special they were under $200.  I couldn't wait to get one on order and pre ordered last Wednesday even though the price at the time was $278.  I knew that the shop would honor the price reduction for 30 days.

But in order to get that reduction, I had to call in this morning and get a customer service person on the line.  She said sure no problem, and asked for the order number.  Then she began to have trouble with the computer when adjusting my account.  She reassured me that we would get the adjustment, but it seemed to take quite a while.

The payback for all of this is getting the exact dial color that I wanted and it will be here either tomorrow or Wednesday.  The folks that waited for the show to air, will not get theirs until next week.  Am I hooked on this watch collecting thing or not???

Anyway once that was over, I was out walking Biscuit up to the dog park, and stopped to talk to a neighbor from Iowa.  Mike was telling me that the office had warned some of the repeat campers to make their reservations for next year right away.  They are becoming booked up on most of the best spots.

We do like this spot we are on because it is a couple of blocks away from the US 60 freeway that passes by the South part of the property.  Also we are about equal distance between the dog park and the bath room/laundry building.  We are actually closer to the dog park, and that is visited several times each day.

I brought it up with Loyce and she said, "You haven't done that yet?"  Well no I hadn't........  So I rode the motor scooter up to the office and put down $250 for next year.  And....  we did get this same site back again.  So we will know some of the neighbors again for next year.  I laughed that now all we needed to do was get a new park model and we would be all set....  All I heard in return, was "Ya,  Right!"

After that, Loyce headed out to do some laundry, so that left me alone here and the bike was already uncovered.  Wendy's!!!!!  After that, I rode down to the Mesa Gateway Airport area, where President Obama had arrived last week.  No sign of any of his after party now, they have all moved on to bigger and better places.

There is a nice new Wal Mart on the West side of the field, so I stopped there and bought a few groceries.  Its 8 or 9 miles each way, so that made for a nice ride.

Biscuit was sitting by the door when I arrived back home.........Dad, where have you been???  We made 77 degrees again today.......

Retired Rod

Fine art of doing nothing.

I've been perfecting the fine art of doing nothing and enjoying it to the utmost.  But finally at about 3 PM I jumped on the bike and rode way over East of Apache Junction.  I was gone for almost two hours, and I haven't paid too very dearly in pain tonight.

I rode so far, that I had to stop and get some fuel on the way back.  I looked down and noticed that I only had one bar on the electronic gas gauge.  I was enjoying the ride so much that I had spaced off the lack of gas in the machine.

I thought it was an anomaly that my dash temperature gauge was recording over 80 degrees this afternoon, but I just now checked and the official afternoon temp at the airport was 81.  That is the warmest that it has been out here since we came in December.  Now I know it was warmer than that while I went home for surgery, but for me, it was the warmest I have experienced.

I contrast that to last night about 1 AM when I suddenly decided that I needed to head to the campground bath house .  the wind was blowing a gale and it was barely 50.  I didn't look, but the wind was sustained at about 25 mph.  The flags were straight out from their poles, and the fronds on the palm trees were making that flapping sound where they are all stretched to one side of the tree trunk.

I had put on the new western hat, and found that it needed to be strapped under my chin in order to keep it on my head.  Needless to say I walked rather quickly and was quite glad when I arrived back in the Motorhome.

So whether its 81 and dead calm or 50 and blowing a gale, it can all happen in one day out here in the desert.  Its a really good thing that I staked down that dinning canopy with the 10 inch aluminum stakes.  Otherwise it would have been in the next county last night!!!

Retired Rod

Swap Meet turned out not to be a good thing.

I suggested that we go over to the big Mesa swap meet this afternoon, but Loyce was wanting to go off to another Jo Ann's fabric store.  I said that I would only get to sit in the car for several hours at these stores.  So she headed on out without me.............

Well I was ok with  that because I had my scooter pants on, and the helmet was right on the chair......  First it was off to Wendy's for a junior cheese burger and a value fries.  Its been a couple of days since I was at Wendy's and I was starting to have serious withdrawal symptoms.  LOL

After that I went to the big swap meet on the scooter.   The place was jam packed.  I never even got inside the fence before a car tried to shove me over out of the lane I was in.  It wasn't that the driver didn't see me because he looked right at me.  It was like he wouldn't give up a space for me to exist.  He was aggressive toward me and the motorcycle.  There is really nothing you can do in a situation like this, but just remove yourself.  You can't retrain the driver, just get over it.

But that kind of destroyed my frame of mind for putting up with the crowd. I went into my favorite cheap tool place and purchased a big set of slip joint water pump pliers.  I walked the C aisle.  Sort of browsing the stores, but still at a fast gate.  Faster than the other patrons, so they were kind of in my way.  I went most of the way to the opposite end and then crossed to the D aisle.

But by now, I was in the wrong frame of mind to be shopping.  I just walked back to the bike giving up on the shopping trip.  The people were in their Saturday mode, where some were power shopping, while others were doing the stroll along thing about four people wide.  Completely blocking the aisle.  I needed to get away from the experience.

After leaving the swap meet parking lot, I just rode the bike for about four miles.  The traffic was still quite crowded, but folks were better citizens and didn't push me off the street.  Eventually back in the RV park, I parked and sat outside.  Biscuit sat with me and we took an nap under the dinning canopy.  It was 79 outside, and it has been several months since we have experienced that kind of warmth.

Eventually the park rangers brought a new motorhome to the site behind us.  Of course that was excitement for the rest of us seasoned campers.  But I decided to hop on the bike and head back over to Wal Mart and purchase some small steaks for supper.  Again I was enjoying the zone of riding.  I was in my element.

When I returned, the new motorhome had its four way flashers going even thought it had been parked for a couple of hours.  I walked over and knocked on the door, but didn't get an answer.  Returning home, I sat for a while, and then noticed that several people were over at the neighbors to the East.  So I walked over there and inquired who owned the new coach.

The guy hoped up and said oh yea, I never turned off those flashers......  But then we got involved talking about motorcycles, when he noticed my hat with the Sturgis patch on it.  That took another half an hour.

The steak dinner was quite good and the door didn't get closed until about 9 PM.  Its getting warmer around here......

Retired Rod