Fifth Wheel Repairs

The mobile tech arrived shortly after 7:30 yesterday morning. The good news is that he spent about 3 hours replacing the leaking hydraulic line with a new, heavy duty line. He ran the line under the coach and had it operating flawlessly.

The bad news is that, after an hour of trying different ways to adjust the slideout controls for our bedroom slide, he couldn't move any of the cylinders or connections to be able to make any adjustments. There has to be something else wrong with the slideout that cannot be done without taking it apart. That requires a trip to a an RV shop and means that we will have to take it - probably to the Orangewood RV Center on Bell Rd in Surprise, and have them diagnose and repair the problem.

I had hoped to be able to show photos of the before and after, but it looks like I am able to only show the before:

You can clearly see the 1.5 inch "gap" at the bottom, which results in cold air constantly entering through the bottom of the slideout. Throw in dust that comes in on the windy days, and it is a nuisance. That was only the beginning of our problems yesterday.

At about 4 PM, I decided to try to close the slideout and reopen it to see if maybe the work that the tech did may have affected the slideout, which is also on a hydraulic line of its own. The pressure within the system should once again be "balanced" with the new line on the stabilizer creating even pressure throughout the system. I couldn't get any different outcome, and while pushing out the slide, I heard a "pop" and didn't think anything about it - until I went try to level the fifth wheel from the day's work on the stabilizer and discovered that nothing worked.

It seems that one of the other hydraulic lines somehow wrapped itself around the hydraulic controls while closing the slideout and pulled them off their platform and caused the fluid to drain from the system. I immediately called the tech who was still in the area and he returned to try and see what happened. The net of this problem was that a different valve was damaged and needs to be replaced.

In the meantime, we will have no use of the hydraulics until the valve is replaced. The concern I have is that the tech is saying that the problem was not caused by any work he did to replace the old line and blamed consequential damage, but the fact is, nobody else touched that compartment all day. It seems strange that the problem should occur, after six years of use, only after someone was performing work on the system. We'll see how that turns out.

Josie did our laundry yesterday while the tech was trying to figure out a solution so that chore is done for the weekend. No other plans are made at this point, but we haven't had a real opportunity to plan anything, so that will be done this morning - the final day of January, 2014...

Emptying Basement

We tied the record here yesterday for consecutive dry days in winter - 39. The temperatures have been in the 70's every day for almost three straight weeks which is above the normal 69 average. You can't ask for more than that.

I took another 5 mile bike ride yesterday making it 25 miles for the week so far. It's like any other exercise routine in that once you get into the practice of doing it, you almost feel guilty when you don't. I got this one shot of the lake from the south ramp where I could see a few sailboats out on the water:

The main task for the day was to empty the basement in preparation for the mobile tech who arrives this morning. It is a good practice to empty, clean and reorganize the basement at least once a year, so this qualifies for that. The basement looks like new after the cleaning:

This will enable the tech to run the new hydraulics line to the rear stabilizer that has a leak. It also will allow him to gain access to the remaining support bracket for the bedroom slideout. The slideout needs adjustment in order to open flush with the interior walls. I hope to have a before and after photo tomorrow to show the problem and the fix.

Josie has her final work day today for this week. It is the calm before the storm, as the Valentine's Day push begins on Monday and her hours will be extended. It's great that she loves her work and never complains...

Little Discoveries

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and you said "I wish I had known that"? Yesterday, a very nice gentleman came up to me while I was cleaning our grill and started a conversation about Mobile Suites. He owns a 2005 model, similar to ours, and is staying here at the resort for his 8th season. We talked about each other's fifth wheel and experiences we've had, and of course, we got around to talking about our tire blowouts that we had on the Interstate almost two years ago while traveling from Vista, CA to Jackson, WY. He also had a tire blowout a couple of years ago and that's when I said "I wish I had known that". It seems that he took a piece of the tread from his Goodyear tires (same as ours) to a Goodyear store and they not only replaced his tire, but paid for the damages to his rig. We paid to replace both tires, and have not yet repaired damages from those blowouts that will most likely run into the thousand dollar range. Of course, we will try to figure some way to get those repairs done under our insurance. Each of us said "I wish I had known that" during our conversation. It really does pay to have conversations with folks that own similar equipment.

I took another 5 mile bike ride yesterday and stopped to take a couple more shots of the mysterious, and pretty wild plant that is all along the roadside. I did some research on the wildflowers in AZ and discovered that this particular plant is called Wild Desert Globemallow. Here are the shots that I took while riding yesterday:

 

It is getting to that time of the year when wildflowers will be in bloom everywhere, and the cactus will also be in bloom. I hope we can get some good shots of those when the time comes.

The next, and hopefully final, appointment to finish the work on our fifth wheel is scheduled for Thursday at 7 AM. At that time, we hope to get the final slideout problem fixed and also have the hydraulics leak repaired. I will empty the basement before that appointment so that the tech has complete access to the work areas. That about does it for now...

Local Bike Ride

The bike ride we had on Sunday was invigorating, even though it was only 10 miles. In fact, it felt so good I had to try it again, only I had to do it locally with no way to transport my bike to a spot away from Lake Pleasant. There are plenty of places to go within the park though, so I made a 5 mile ride around the resort.

Even though the ride was shorter than the last one, there were some steeper hills to climb - especially a the boat ramps. I also was able to get a few photos of some of the areas I traveled. Starting with the view of the desert from the end of the side road in the resort:

I always expect to see wildlife in this area, but so far, there have been none. There are "road apples" all along this road from the burros so I know they have been through this area recently. There are also many of these weeds that are along both sides of the road that I haven't yet identified, but they are full of orange blooms that look like buttercups:

I will try to identify the weed today as they are everywhere around the resort.

The steeper hills that I referred to are the north and south ramps at the lake. This is a shot as the north ramp appeared yesterday:

and then another one of the south ramp:

You can see that it was a nice, sunny day. The temperature reached 74 here yesterday and it makes us feel sorry for Patty and her family who are suffering through the Polar Vortex again in the Chicago area with minus temperatures and lots of snow. How well we remember those kinds of days when we lived in Michigan.

The forecast here is for more of the same which is getting very close to the record for dry days during winter. We are almost at 40 consecutive days without rain, so there are no complaints here.

Josie is about to begin here marathon schedule for Valentine's Day, so she is working her last few days with "normal" hours this week. Next week starts the rush for the special day that is just over two weeks away. Once that holiday is past, we will concentrate on the spring training schedule and then Mother's Day. The time is flying by and before we know it, we will be off again to Jackson, WY...

Bike Ride and Harold's

We were determined to find the path that crosses the northern desert from North Phoenix to Cave Creek. Without knowing exactly where it was, we went out the Dove Valley Rd near Brian's house and near the end of the original road, we found the start of this nice, paved path.

Our bikes were unloaded from the truck and we were ready to go shortly after 11 AM:

There were unpaved trails that branched off of the main, paved path all along the way. The bike path was fantastic and was mostly level with occasional rises and falls that followed the desert topography. The nice thing about this path is that it had many areas to stop and rest and take in the views of the desert landscape:

The other big surprise was that Dove Valley Rd now cuts all the way through the Sonoran Desert to connect with Cave Creek Rd in Cave Creek. The path followed the road for exactly 5 miles (10 miles, round trip) before it ended. At this point, you need to ride on the completed portion of Dove Valley Rd which we did not want to do. The ride was beautiful, and these shots give you some idea of the type of landscape we rode through, even though they don't really provide the full appreciation of the beauty of this part of the desert:

The ten mile ride was just enough for us since we haven't been exercising with our bikes for several months. We will definitely be back to do it again.

Following our ride, we took the road to the end at Cave Creek Rd and drove north to the town and also to Carefree to see the changes since our last visit to this area many years ago.

There were many changes, but the two towns - Cave Creek and Carefree - were bustling with visitors and as busy as we remembered. There is one Restaurant - Harold's Corral - where I used to "hang-out" with my friend Joe from the Russ Lyon Real Estate Company where we both started our real estate careers in the year 2000. We spent many evenings following work, sipping a beer at the bar at Harold's which is a Carefree landmark:

We had a great lunch there before heading home.

It was a great ending to the weekend and a reminder that there are good places to ride and hike that aren't too far from us. We may even try one of the hiking trails that are part of this beautiful location in the desert...

Arrowhead Mall

It was a busy morning for us yesterday that involved taking care of some business which didn't give us time to prepare for our bike ride. So, we decided to take a trip to the Arrrowhead Mall in Glendale where we haven't been in about a year. I wanted to look at getting a new Seahawks hat, and the mall has several sporting goods stores that carry a good selection. I looked online to buy one, but wasn't sure about my hat size. I have a couple of those in storage, but they are all the old type hats that I bought years ago when Chuck Knox was the coach and Jim Zorn was the quarterback - pretty old.

I saw several different hats that were very nice but I wasn't going to pay $40 for one. They had the Super Bowl Logo on them, but that is still a rip-off for a hat. I decided to look online when I got home and discovered that the going price for that hat - everywhere - is $40.

On the way home from the mall we passed a couple of hot air balloons that were just starting to prepare for a flight. It takes a while to inflate them, and we were able to get some good shots as they were going through this process. This first one is taken as we pulled over to watch:

After about ten minutes or so, they were upright and just about ready for lift-off:

Notice the glider that happened to have flown by at the same time.

They lifted off about a minute apart. Here's the first:

and then the other:

It was a perfect day for flying, and this final shot shows the two of them rising and floating to their destination:

Since we were not able to do our bike ride yesterday, we will try again today. We want to get out early - at about 10 AM - so that we can get back at a decent time to enjoy Josie's last day off this weekend. I hope we can make it happen this time...

Visit to CantaMia

The day started with clouds and cool temperatures, and it didn't change much all day. Actually, it did go to 71 degrees but we didn't see sun at all the entire day. Highly unusual for this area. We made a stop at the Village Inn in Surprise that we like and had a nice breakfast before heading south on the new 303 freeway to Goodyear, AZ.

We received information from a direct mail request we made in the Where to Retire magazine about a new retirement community in Goodyear, AZ. It is named CantaMia, and is an extension of the development called Estrella Mountain Ranch which is an all ages community of all different sizes and prices. We were there several years ago in the pre-downturn period when the original homes were being built. We thought at that time that the community was a bit too far south for us which was about 12 miles south of I-10 in Goodyear. We were interested to see the changes in the area and the retirement community sounded like something worth looking at and evaluating. The changes in the area are incredible as shopping centers have popped up all along the Estrella Parkway, including the new baseball stadium shared by the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians for spring training.

When we arrived at the models center at around noon we went into the Model Home Center building and were immediately connected with a sales person who gave us the overview, information and pricing on the models and escorted us to the start of the model homes tour. It was at this point that we realized our camera and phones were left in the truck. We continued on and walked the 15 models that ranged from 1189 - 2852 square feet, and $143K - $263K in base prices. They all, with the exception of two of the high end models, were great room concept homes which is what we like. The homes were nice, but it appeared that the lots were small and there weren't as many amenities as we have seen in other communities of this type. Also, the monthly association dues seemed steep to us - $156 per month - for what was being offered in the community. There was only one outdoor pool and one indoor pool and no golf course within the community. When they complete the build out of around 1700 homes, there will be too many people for too little amenities. Plus, there are no hiking or biking trails within the community even though all of these amenities are outside within driving distance as part of the other Estrella communities.

We wanted to see the clubhouse when we completed the models tour, so we picked up the camera and walked back to the Model Home Center to get this shot:

and then we walked next door to the nice Clubhouse:

The clubhouse was very complete and had a super fitness center:

 and indoor pool:

among many other meeting rooms, craft rooms, bar and lounge areas. The outdoor pool was huge:

but again, when all 1700 homes are completed, it will seem small.

Given that it is so far away from real shopping and lacking some amenities, we decided that it would not be a place for us to consider. Of course, we aren't ready to consider any home right now, but we like to stay on top of what is available in the areas we do like.

We are again talking about a bike ride today to the area that will take us to Carefreee, AZ, so that may finally happen today...

Cabin Fever

It has been very different this year as it is the first time - since we started out over 5 years ago - that we have spent an extended amount of time in one place with only one vehicle. Don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed the extra time that I have to do some things I wouldn't have done otherwise. But - I sure do miss the option of going somewhere during the days when Josie works. It only leaves the weekends to go places and has a tendency to create cabin fever during the week. That all ends soon though, as we both will be working the spring training games in late February and all of March.

We will venture out today to visit the new retirement community in Goodyear and stop at a couple other places to do some shopping. There is a yarn sale at Michael's that we will investigate for Josie and perhaps even try a different store since the selections were meager at the local Michael's. There is another one in Surprise and also one near Goodyear - or Avondale, I believe - so we should get a good chance to see some variety. There are about a dozen models at this new retirement community, so we are looking forward to visiting there. It is always fun to see what's out there in the way of "sticks and bricks" in case the day comes when we might want to try that again.

Another stop that we have planned is actually a treat - breakfast at the Village Inn in Surprise. That is a great way to kick-off a weekend that we hope will include some outside, physical activity that we both enjoy and have missed recently. Hiking is a possibility, so it's off to enjoy our weekend...

Caught Up Now

Just about everything I wanted to accomplish yesterday was completed.

The warranty work on our fifth wheel will be scheduled for next week as the mobile tech is waiting on the hose to use as a replacement for the hydraulic line that has a leak. He was waiting on final approval from the warranty company and he has that now.

I heard from Danny, our Spring Training Manager, and he e-mailed a schedule for training classes to be held in February. We chose one of the rare days that Josie has off just before Valentine's Day which is February 9. It will be about a four hour class that will run from 11 AM to about 3 PM on that date. The games will start at the end of February and run through March. The timing is great as my unemployment benefits from Wyoming have run out.

Another action item that was completed yesterday was ordering a replacement piece of foam for a sofa cushion. The center cushion has flattened some with most of the use being on that cushion, and another was ordered from foambuy.com, and will be here in about 10 days.

From now until the end of the first week in February, we will be receiving all of our W-2's and 1099's for the tax year. I have all the receipts and files ready to prepare the taxes when they arrive, and already have the Turbo Tax software to complete the taxes for the year 2013.

That brings us up to date on miscellaneous chores. We are looking forward to a nice weekend which will include a visit to a new retirement development - CantaMia - that is located in Goodyear, AZ, near the Estrella Mountains. We are always open to looking at new retirement communities, even though this is not in an especially desirable area for us. Hey, maybe the area has changed...

Typical Day

There wasn't much to tell about yesterday except it was a typical day. That is probably good news. Usually, when there is an other-than-normal day, it is resolving problems, very expensive, or both. We had no unusual occurrences and it was a good work day for Josie.

There are some things that require follow up though. I haven't heard back from the mobile tech about another appointment to finish up on the warranty work for our fifth wheel, so I will call them today. I was suppose to hear back from them early in the week, so I hope there are no issues there. I also haven't heard from Danny at Aramark about our Spring Training schedules, so that is also on the list for follow up today. I have a couple items that are due in the mail that we haven't received yet, so those will be researched today using tracking numbers.

One task that I have been delaying is the start for organizing the taxes this year. I will create folders for all the year end statements and gather up receipts for items that need to be reported. Usually, I am ready to send in the taxes during early February to receive our refund as soon as possible. That is, assuming there will be a refund. I can't remember too many years where there hasn't been one. We only had income from two states last year, so that simplifies our state tax reporting. Fortunately, Wyoming has no state income tax so we only have to report our Arizona income.

The beat goes on...

Books and Computers

Several years ago we purchased Kindles so that we could take advantage of reading almost any book that is available without creating a heavy, hard copy library. Usually, when you finish reading a book, you either store it someplace or donate it to a cause somewhere. These eliminated those concerns. The problem we are having with the Kindles - at least our versions - is that the electronic versions of these books are abbreviated copies and hardly ever include any diagrams, photos or maps that are in original copies of the books I like to read. Josie likes to read the endings of her books before completing the body of the material - that's difficult to do on our Kindles as it is easier to scan the ending pages in a real book vs electronic versions. Anyway, we both kind of migrated away from the Kindle versions and have been buying books again to satisfy the conditions that we don't have with the Kindles.

Josie likes to read romance novels and I prefer non-fiction and historical books. I recently purchased a new one - Stonehenge, A New Understanding - which is a better and more thorough description and explanation of the mysteries surrounding this great monument in England. I have the book - Stonehenge Decoded - that I bought many years ago, but I am still fascinated by the history surrounding this stone monument. This book is loaded with photos, maps and detailed pictorial descriptions of the Stonehenge mystery and would not be a good book to read in the Kindle version. The reason for this discussion is that we are considering a replacement for Josie's computer - which is my previous system - that is acting up with some communications problems and pop-up programs that we can't seem to get rid of very easily. Anyway, we will not spend any money to fix her system. By the time you invest a couple hundred dollars in repairs to a system, you can justify a new one. The more we read about the new, enhanced versions of the Kindles and all that they can do, we are looking at replacing her system with a new Kindle. It is also a color unit and can perform many of the functions that are lacking in the old ones, plus it can do everything that Josie does on her computer system - surf the net, store photos, play games, do email, print, and perform all of her other needs - for a lot less than a computer. Maybe, if it performs all the computer functions, I can also replace my system with one when the time comes.

We're looking at more dry weather for the foreseeable future. I heard something about a consecutive day record for something, but it must be for the season. I know that the record for consecutive dry days is around 102 (?) and we are only at about 30 something, but it is nice to have sunshine every day. Combine those sunny days with temps near 80, and it is certainly the place to be...

NFL Playoffs on TV

It was a bit cloudy yesterday but still dry and warm. The AYC (Arizona Yacht Club) Regatta ended yesterday and we took another walk down to the lake to check out the activity. The lake was practically wide open of any boat traffic, so I guess the crowd is packing up and heading out. The trailers that I described yesterday are still sitting in the parking lot behind us, with the exception of one that pulled out yesterday afternoon. I have not seen any activity around any of them since they arrived. It's hard to believe that any company can justify having these huge trailers sitting anywhere, for days at a time, either empty or waiting to be used as transports again.

The main activity for us - actually, for me - was to watch the NFL playoffs on TV. I was not disappointed. The Super Bowl match up will be the Denver Broncos against the Seattle Seahawks. What a game the Seahawks had yesterday afternoon. They trailed the entire game until the fourth quarter when their defense took over and they won 23-17. I kept telling Josie not to worry during the game because the Seahawks would wind up winning at the end. We now go through two weeks of hype before the game to be held on February 2. The only disappointment is that the game will be held in Rutherford, NY, where it can do anything, including snow, for the big event. It is rare that this game will be played in an other-than-warm location. Football's top offense will meet the top defense. It should be a winner.

 It's time to get serious again about our weight program. We have been hanging around our starting weight for over two weeks now into the new year, and there are goals we want to achieve before leaving the area in May. The splurges are over, and we plan to get back to our eating habits that produced the nice weight loss in 2013. This year should be the year that we reach our target weights and can concentrate on just continuing the right portion sizes and healthy foods to maintain the weight. So far, the biggest difference from last year is that we don't have the fitness center to help with the program. It's all just part of the challenge...

Arizona Yacht Club Regatta

Several days ago I watched four huge transport trailers pull in and park behind us in the parking area at Lake Pleasant. The trailers all say they are from Intercity Lines and are automobile transport units. I watched them park and un-hitch these big rigs and was curious why nothing was unloaded. Each of the tractors that were towing these rigs moved over to the short term sites that we have here on the lake and got set up for overnight camping.

These are the trailers as seen in the parking lot behind our site:

The mystery is most likely solved now as Josie and I took a walk along the lake in the afternoon and discovered that this weekend is the Arizona Yacht Club (AYC) Regatta. The temporary - or short term - sites, were almost completely taken up by these attendees to the regatta. We took these shots of the lake and the races that were being held:

As you can see, the lake was filled with sailboats and there were signs all along the short term parking area indicating AYC Regatta reserved spots. It was a perfect day for sailing and it is just one example of the many annual events that are held here at the lake. I'm going to keep an eye on the trailers to see if they ever unload any cargo.

Josie did a small load of laundry in the morning and we also sat outside and read our books on this beautiful day. Our planned bike ride is still in the "planned" stage, as Josie isn't 100% confident that the bike trail is totally off the highway for the entire length. I'll do more research on the route and it may just end up with us traveling to the path and riding as far as we can to evaluate the trail. It will be tough to tear me away from the TV today as the NFL Championship games are scheduled this afternoon.

Go Seahawks!!!

Shopping Marathon

We hadn't planned on spending most of yesterday shopping, but that's the way it turned out. It wasn't until near noon before we got started, so that had a lot to do with eating up the entire afternoon. Stops were made at Michaels, Walmart, Costco, Walmart again and finally we stopped at DQ for a day ending treat. It was almost 5 PM when we returned home and it was too late for Josie to get her nails done, so that will be on today's schedule. We probably will push back the bike ride until tomorrow. As long as the beautiful, warm weather holds, it should be OK.

I found this neat picture on one of the sites I follow online of a Bowling alley in Clearwater FL. Evidently, they have had a record business since the transformation of the lanes:

This was the accompanying caption:

"A bowling alley in Clearwater, Florida , Bowl-O-Bama, is doing record business despite a bad economy.

The alley also reported a record number of 300 games.

Since opening in November 2010,

963 patrons have bowled a perfect game,including strikes in the warm-up frames.

 This alley also has the highest bowling league average in the country, with a 237.

 

And that's the senior league."

Pretty funny, and very clever. Sometimes you wish you had a ball and they were real teeth.

The resort is in the peak season right now and we see all kinds of flyers for events that the residents are putting together. There is a gravy contest this weekend, if you can believe it, and the top three gravies will be offered for a biscuit and gravy breakfast on Sunday morning. I can think of a lot better food contests than that. At any rate, there are lots of things happening that give all the guests options. Most of the guests, ourselves included, are just happy to be enjoying their time in the desert to relax and enjoy the lake. Maybe if we both were totally retired - really retired - we would get more involved in those things. For now, we like our free time, when possible, to be scheduled with more physical activities - like hiking and biking...

Watching Renewals

This is the time of the year when many products and services are due for renewal. One such example is our subscription to the Norton Computer Security product that we use for keeping our computers safe from viruses. I am on what they call the automatic renewal program where they automatically charge your credit card for the annual renewal price. It is a real convenience and one way that you don't have to worry about subscriptions running out. The problem is that, unless you know exactly what you paid the previous year, you can be blindsided with unannounced increases. Norton tried to renew my product at a whopping $28 increase over last year, and when I went online to "chat" with them, they informed me that last year was a promotional price to join, and not the regular subscription price. When I told the representative I would cancel my subscription, and rejoin at a promotional price, he lowered the charge to match last year's rate. It pays to keep a close eye on automatic renewals.

We have had such beautiful, warm weather all week except for the winds - again. I spoke too soon about turning the corner on the winds as it has now been 6 straight nights with gusting winds over 25 mph, with steady winds about 15-18 mph. I will definitely ramp up efforts to locate an expert to explain to me why it is windy in this location, but 10 miles away there is no wind at all. It makes no sense to us how it can vary so much in such a short distance.

Josie is off now for the next three days and we will do some running around today with a bike ride scheduled for tomorrow. There are some things we need from Costco and Josie will also, finally, get her nails done and get a pedicure. The planned bike ride is one we heard about from Brian that takes us from the north valley to Carefree on a bike path built for that purpose. It will be about a 20 mile round trip ride, but there shouldn't be too many hard hills to climb. We'll find out soon enough...

RV Repair Update

The RV Tech from ASAP Mobile RV Repair was just a few minutes late yesterday. He was scheduled at 9 AM but didn't arrive until close to 9:30 but he was flagged down when he entered the park by another guest that was having an emergency with a water problem. He fixed that problem and began the review of our problems when he arrived, starting with the slideouts. His first thought was that they just needed an adjustment which are not covered by the warranty. The one slideout was fixed easily by making an adjustment, but the second one - our bedroom slideout - looks like a more serious problem and that one may be covered by the warranty. The second major problem was with the hydraulics. One of our stabilizer jacks produces a leak of fluid when in operating mode and he could see the leak as I raised the jack. That problem is a result of a small hole in the hydraulic line and that will most likely be covered by the warranty. That is also causing the problem of not getting proper pressure to completely level the fifth wheel. It involves replacing the entire line from the hydraulic control in the front of the rig to the left rear location of the stabilizer. Again, that is not an easy fix and will be covered by the warranty. The net of the whole visit which lasted almost two hours, was that we have one slideout fixed and a return visit will be scheduled to complete the other tasks. He will also get whatever approvals he needs from the warranty company and will return, probably late next week.

I did some computer work during the rest of the day until Josie came home at 2:30. She has her schedule for the Valentine's Day rush, and it appears that she will be working entirely at the 19th Ave store. The two locations she has been working are vying for her time, and this holiday will be spent at the location that lost out for her time during Christmas. It is not her favorite location to work, but she will go where she is needed the most.

With the terrific weather forecast for the next several days, we are talking about taking either a hike somewhere or a long bike ride that we have been looking at taking. No matter what we decide to do, it will be something to take advantage of the warm, sunny days ahead...

Nice Birthday

It was a very nice birthday for me yesterday. I had birthday wishes from lots of family and friends and always appreciate the thoughts. We went to Macayo's for dinner after Josie got home from work and we had a fairly early dinner at 4:30 PM. It is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and we took our Macayo margarita mugs to use:

These mugs have paid for themselves many times over the years as it only costs $3 for a margarita in these mugs that cost us $9 each many years ago. The regular price for these large margaritas in their regular restaurant glasses is close to $7 each.

The dinner was excellent, as always, but seemed to stay with us all night. Our dieting over the last year has not included much of what we ate and drank, so our bodies aren't used to splurges like last night. Throw in the wind, and it was a bit of a restless night.

The winds are still with us this morning and after having a nice 4-day windless streak, the last four days have been windy with high recorded gusts of 34, 32, 28 and 30 respectfully. Someday, I'll figure out why.

We are expecting the RV repair company - ASAP Mobile Repair - to arrive at 9 AM this morning to evaluate the work that needs to be done. We hope to have that project completed quickly as we have endured the slideout issue and hydraulic problem for many months now. Whether or not he will get the work done today remains to be seen as he needs to get the OK from our warranty company before performing the work. We'll see how that goes...

Repair Appointment

We finally decided to do something about a couple of the nagging problems we've had with our fifth wheel recently. There are two problems that needed attention and they are; 1- two of our slideouts don't fully open to create a weather tight seal while in the open position, and 2- there is a leak in our hydraulic system that is only apparent while extended/retracting the stabilizer jacks, and has resulted in inaccurate leveling. Almost two years ago we signed up for a four year extended warranty and it is time that we take advantage of the benefits. The only reason we waited this long is to try to include other items that might be covered under the warranty, but there are none at this time. The mobile service will be here tomorrow AM to look at the problems and make all the arrangements with the warranty company.

The winds have returned as we have gusts that almost reach 30 mph right now and are averaging around 20 mph. It's hard to understand why these winds are only present in this area and not anywhere else in the Phoenix area. At least, the local forecasts don't give any indication that there winds anywhere else in the area. It almost seems like we get the Santa Ana winds that southern CA gets on occasion. They are experiencing those winds now and will have them for the next couple days.

We plan to go out to dinner tonight after Josie gets off work to celebrate my birthday. Yes, I've been having these for 71 years now. Last year we celebrated by going to Laughlin and the Golden Nugget which was a fun trip. This year, it is more difficult to get away like that as Josie is working more hours. We will probably go to Macayo's in Surprise which is a favorite Mexican restaurant of ours. We purchased a couple of their margarita mugs years ago when we lived in Surprise, and they entitle us to $3 margaritas as long as we bring them to the restaurant. Good food and reasonable drinks is a good combination...

Wrapping Up the Weekend

We made a discovery yesterday - or rather, Josie did - that Sunday was not a good day to do laundry at the resort laundromat. It seems that most of the folks that have weekday jobs do laundry on Sunday mornings. We expected that to be a good time since Sunday morning is a time for people to be in church. So, it is one of the discoveries we have yet to make - the best time to do laundry. It is also the peak season here - Jan through Mar - so that also has something to do with the crowd. At any rate, the laundry was done and the rest of the day was just spent relaxing in the nice weather and watching another NFL playoff game. It will be the San Francisco 49ers vs the Seattle Seahawks next weekend for the NFC Championship. It is guaranteed to be a great game.

Our streak of windless days ended late last night when we began rockin' and rollin' again at about 11 PM. It seems to be back to normal again this morning, but we had gusts recorded at 34 mph last night, and 32 mph early this morning. One thing we have learned is to not to go to bed at night before raising our awning. There are too many nights when we had to get up during the night to raise it - thank goodness it operates remotely from inside the rig.

We decided to pass on the workamping opportunity in Banning, CA as it doesn't quite meet the criteria we are looking for at this time. The job sounds close, but there are too many horror stories that the reviews from former KOA workampers reveal, and that scares us. With the nice arrangements we now have between Jackson and Lake Pleasant, we will wait for the "can't refuse" offer.

This week should produce contact with the stadium folks to discuss our Spring Training positions. We're just about there for this fun break from our other activities...

Stay Home Day

We started the day yesterday thinking that Josie may do some laundry and go to the salon to have her nails done. She started downloading some music in the morning to put on her phone and that pretty much consumed the rest of her day. I was waiting around to watch the Seahawks playoff game against the New Orleans Saints, so I wasn't anxious to go anywhere. We did do some extra exercising as we did the 2 mile walk in the AM, and followed that in the early afternoon with another one mile walk.

The NFL playoffs are especially exciting for me this year as I have been a Seahawks fan for almost 35 years, and this year I think they have a great shot to win the Super Bowl. Their last - and only - visit to the Super Bowl was in 2006 when they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was a good start yesterday, and they will play next week for the Conference championship which will determine the Super Bowl representative from the NFC. Go Seahawks!

Maybe today we will get the rest of the stuff done that was planned for yesterday. With only one more day left before Josie returns to work, so she will have to do her planned activities today or wait another week. Between her crocheting and now her music project, it may be tough.

Is it possible we've turned the corner as far as the wind is concerned? It has been since October that we have had more than 3 consecutive days with wind gusts below 10 mph. We are beginning our fifth consecutive day this morning. Temperatures are forecast in 70's all week, so it is looking real good...

Testing the Waters

Along with every other activity and all the things we normally do every day, we keep a keen eye out for workamper opportunities that may be of interest to us. I responded to one of these last week when there was an ad for an assistant manager team at an RV resort that was located near Palm Springs, CA. We like the area, most of the time, and were curious to get more info on this long term opportunity. Fortunately, our backgrounds, experience and references are usually good enough to get us to first base with these opportunities. We heard from the company yesterday that is doing the hiring for this opening. The Resort is located in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains, near Palm Springs and with the address of Banning, CA, and is called Banning Stagecoach KOA.

We heard from a Vice President of the investment company that runs the campground and we had a nice conversation with him about the positions. The campground appears to be very nice, but we have heard some negative comments from other workampers over the years about working in the KOA franchises. We don't know if this is run as a "typical" KOA campground or not, but at least it is worthy of additional investigation. Any opportunity that would take us away from our Jackson, WY ties and our growing attachment to Lake Pleasant will have to be a "too good to pass up" opportunity. We'll let you know how that investigation turns out.

We performed our scheduled tasks yesterday morning - picking up the hearing aid, Josie's paycheck, depositing that at our bank, and grocery shopping. We also did our exercise routine in the afternoon and generally had a busy day. Whenever we are presented with a workamping opportunity that may be of interest, it generates a lot of computer investigation and discussion which occupies a lot of our time. That is always interesting time, if not always fun time. We will do some more of that today along with getting some laundry done and Josie perhaps going to the salon for a pedicure and manicure. That is definitely something she looks forward to doing, so we'll attempt to make that happen. We're on a streak of calm and warm, sunny days, so we are hoping that continues...

Loose Ends

There are some tasks that need to be completed for the new year that can become a nuisance. One of the disadvantages to moving around and having an address where we never stay is renewing registration tabs for our vehicles. I renewed the truck tabs in December, and the fifth wheel tabs are due by my birthday on the 14th. Well, it was December 14 when I sent the check to Escambia County in FL to renew the RV tags, and I have yet to even see that the check has been cashed. Sheesh. There is no way the tabs will be received in time. Wouldn't you think that one month is plenty of lead time to get something like that done? It's just another example of the disappearance of customer service and government inefficiencies. I guess I'll have to chase it down on Monday when the offices will be open again. The good news is that the RV is stationary and no one will know that the tabs are expired.

Another "annual" task is to renew memberships in organizations that require dues - like Thousand Trails, for one. They have several options for payment of your annual dues, so that will be done along with a couple other organizations that we subscribe to. I remember that during my working days I dreaded January not only because these kinds of annual dues had to be paid, but social security deductions also started up again for the new year. Paychecks shrunk while more money had to be paid out, so I guess that's still the American way. At least we have until April 15 to pay income taxes.

I received a call yesterday that my hearing aid that was sent back to the factory for warranty work is back at the Audiologist office. Josie and I will be out and about this morning as she will pick up her paycheck and I will pick up the hearing aid, along with a side trip to get groceries.

The weather looks terrific for the next several days and the winds have disappeared the last couple days. Thank goodness for that. Our exercise routine is in full swing, so added to our planned trips, it looks like a busy day...

Milestone

There are many things that happen to surprise us and kind of "sneak up" on us as we go through life. Yesterday, I reached a milestone that would not have been predicted almost five years ago. The blog entry was number 1700, which doesn't seem like much of a milestone except that these entries were done without missing a single day. In 4.66 years of travel and living this lifestyle, I have written about activities, events, trips, holidays, visits and on some days, just doing not much of anything. When I started writing the blog it was with the intent to keep our family informed about where we were and what we were doing. It has turned out to be a public diary of our daily activity and through yesterday, we have had almost 22,000 views. Every time I think that missing a day would not be a catastrophe, I think about breaking the streak which I have no intention of doing at this point. There have been exciting and significant entries, and there have been boring and almost nonsense entries. I apologize for those, but life is full of days like that. I'm sure the day will come when I miss a day for the blog, or am physically unable to write it, but as long as I can sit and write an entry every day, it will be done.

As we are reaching a point where we are beginning to look seriously at a long term plan for settling somewhere, there are many options available to us. Short of winning the lottery, our long term living arrangements will not include another "stick built" home that has a 30 year mortgage attached to it. We have become accustomed to being mobile, and with our advancing age, do not want to be tied to another "single" location - ever. That means that most likely, we will find an area where we love to spend winters, and another where we like to spend summers, and find accommodations that will satisfy both requirements. Our travels have pretty much eliminated most areas in the east, but you never know. We do plan a couple more trips there - and to Alaska - but they are more for satisfying a curiosity and for enjoyment rather than for searching for a permanent place to put down stakes. But, who knows...

In the meantime, the beat goes on, and here is another beautiful, Arizona sunset that we enjoyed last night:

Routine Day

It was just a normal and quiet day here yesterday. Josie worked at the production center for her second day this week and she returns to the shop on 19th Ave today and tomorrow. I did more research on vehicles in trying to arrive at a solution to our increased costs using only the truck for transportation. There is no easy solution, and we will probably continue, as long as we can, with just the single vehicle. Every time I figure the cost for another vehicle plus insurance and the fact Josie would be following the trailer again during our travels, we concluded that we should wait. So, no further discussion on the 2nd vehicle for awhile.

Last year at this time we were interviewing for our jobs at the stadium for Spring Training. This year, we are waiting on a call from Danny - the manager of the operation - to contact us about coming in to update our paperwork. Also, I was scheduling doctor appointments and a Colonoscopy at this time last year and I don't think there is any pressing reason to get that done again this year. I will most likely have another physical though before we leave here for Jackson. It is more important at this time for Josie to get a physical as she is now on Medicare and hasn't had one for several years.

There's not much else to report, so I'll end this entry with a nice photo of the sunset we had last night, January 7, 2014:

Watching the Deep Freeze

The biggest news is, of course, the deep freeze that the entire eastern half of the country is experiencing. There are record low temperatures from what is being referred to as the "Polar Vortex". There are near, or below, freezing temperatures almost as far south as Miami, FL. There are unheard of lows in almost every area east of the Mississippi that have created very dangerous conditions for everybody living in those areas. We keep a sharp eye on the Weather Channel reporting, particularly how it impacts Patty and her family in the Chicago area. We also know that Brian and his family are visiting in the Bloomington, IL area, and are also experiencing the effects of this freezing weather. There is no precedent - that we are aware of - that describes the depth of this deep freeze. Is this another sign of our changing climate, or just a freak of nature that occurs every hundred (or thousand) years?

We are fortunate to have only "wind" problems where we are located. The temperatures are still in the low 70's and we are very thankful we are in the Southwest right now. The windy conditions we experienced again yesterday are really small stuff and insignificant compared to the rest of the country.

Our "track" for walking that we laid out a couple days ago appears to be working fine. We did the walk again yesterday, and it appears to have the same effect as the treadmill had last year on our exercising program.

Preparation for our taxes began yesterday while I calculated all the travel expenses for the year of 2013. The effect on our gasoline purchases was dramatic as we are driving only the truck for all activities. In fact, the cost of gasoline using only the truck probably justifies purchasing another, more economical vehicle to use when we are settled in one place like we are this year, and will be in the foreseeable future. That is still being evaluated.

We are hoping for a break in the weather for all of those that are suffering through the deep freeze. Our thoughts are with them...

Walking the Track

I had two different tracks identified for walking within the resort. The first one, which takes us around the perimeter of the sites, is .83 miles. The second, which takes us down to the boat launch and around the sail boat storage area, measures 1.00 mile exactly. Yesterday, we walked - fast pace - around both tracks. The time was just about a half hour which is pretty close to our treadmill time for almost the same distance. We plan to slightly modify the first one to measure 1 mile to equal the second one, and give us 2 miles to walk each time. The hope is that the walks will replace our trips we made last year to the fitness center to use the treadmill. There are advantages to using these measured tracks. The first one is that we get to look at  different scenery versus looking out a window at the same spot all the time while on a treadmill. The second one is that we don't have to worry about all the machines being taken - we can always walk these tracks, anytime. We'll see how it works.

Not much else was done yesterday as we watched the weather channel a good portion of the morning. Patty is getting hammered by snow and frigid weather and she texted a couple photos of her front step:

The back porch:

and the boys shoveling the drive:

It's not our idea of a fun day and we feel bad that the temperatures are going to go even lower the next day or so. The twins already have the day off today from school, and Austin went back to WMU a day early to beat the snow. The good news is that eventually, it will become nice again.

It's back to work for Josie today and I'll just begin to gather stuff for tax season which is, once again, that time of the year...

Softball Tournament

We made a trip to our storage unit to unload all the Christmas decorations and to go on to see Taylor play in her fast-pitch softball tournament. We found the field with no problem, but as a result of having every inch of the truck loaded with our boxes for storage, we didn't bring any chairs to sit on during the game. We took a chance on there being a grandstand, but there was none. Anyway, I was taking lots of pictures while Josie talked with George, Cheryl and Cot and Lois who also made it to the tournament.

Taylor is definitely a key player on her team. She caught the first two games they played on Friday night, and she was pitching the game we watched. She really whips the ball and is very good. Here are the first of the shots:

Then this shot of her waiting on deck to bat:

The first two at-bats she had, she waited out for a couple walks:

Finally, on her third at-bat, she got a good pitch and drove it down the third base line for a double:

She eventually came around to score:

Her team won the game, 10-9, but she was injured during the last inning when she pulled a hamstring muscle and had to be helped off the field:

The coach and other players put a heat patch on her leg and she thought she would be ready to play the next game. Josie and I were leaving after this game and we got this shot of Taylor before we left:

It was great watching her play and she is a very good candidate for playing on a college team when she finishes high school.

Along with all the other fans watching the game, there was Traeger who was being baby-sat by George and Cheryl while Brian and Amy are back in Bloomington, IL visiting her parents. We can see some growth already in this cute pup that will be full size in just a short few months:

We're happy that we got to watch one of Taylor's games and wish her luck for the rest of the tournament.

Following a stop at Costco on our way home, we watched a little TV and then turned in for the night. We had a very windy night again last night but it appears to be settling down a bit right now. We will walk one of our "tracks" that I measured yesterday morning to begin our exercising regiment. We hope that works for us in lieu of a treadmill or fitness center...

Decorations Ready for Storage

Following a short trip to Surprise to my Audiologist to have one of my hearing aids sent off for warranty work and a stop at the grocery store, we returned home to take down Christmas and pack everything for storage. It took most of the afternoon for us to gather everything that needed to be packed. Josie did the inside while I took down the outside lights, rolled up all the chords and readied the containers to pack everything. It actually was done in less time than we expected, so we loaded the boxes in the truck for delivery to our storage unit today.

We plan to go to one of Taylor's softball games which is not too far from our storage unit, so we will go to storage at around 1 PM and then follow that with a trip to the ballpark in Glendale. We are anxious to see her game as we hear great things about her talents in softball and it will be exciting to finally watch her play. She has three games scheduled today, the first to begin at 3:15 which is about when we plan to arrive.

Another action on today's schedule is to ride our bikes to try to establish a one mile "track" that we can use to do our walking exercises each day. Without a treadmill being available, it is probably the best solution for us. That way, we can fast-walk the track - twice if we want to do 2 miles - and get the same benefit. There are many options around the resort, so it will be interesting to select one that won't be too boring to walk every day. Maybe, we can discover a couple different routes to break up the views.

We're back to a normal existence without the Christmas lights and Christmas decorations for another year. It's kind of a letdown after enjoying all the cheer during the Christmas season...

Starting The Year Right

The extravagances and splurges of December, 2013, are behind us as we get back on our proper eating and exercise track. It was not a pretty picture yesterday when we stepped on the scale to start 2014. Although we did a terrific job in 2013 in losing weight and changing our eating habits, we let December's holiday cheer get the best of us. Both of us gained weight at the end, but we finished the year down 22 pounds for Josie, and 30 pounds for me. It didn't take much in December to put some weight back on, but we are now back on the losing side for 2014.

Our effort begins today to remove and pack away all of the Christmas decorations for another year. We plan to have everything ready for storage by tomorrow. It's not nearly as much fun taking them down and packing them away as it is putting them up and enjoying them.

We got word that Taylor will be in the area over the weekend for a fast-pitch softball tournament that we heard about from Debby over the holidays. We will plan to catch one of her games while we are in the area tomorrow and look forward to watching her play. She will have a busy schedule with about 8 games to play over the next three days, beginning tonight. It will be exciting for us to see her play.

Aside from taking down the decorations today, we have several other errands to run on Josie's days off from work. I have to take one of my hearing aids into the clinic to be sent back for warranty work and we have to stock up on good food - fruits, vegetables and fish - for our healthy diets. The dreaded "tax season" is almost upon us, so I have to pick up some materials at Staples or Office Max for our record keeping in the new year to replace the ones we used for 2013.

We are off and running in 2014...

Back Home

Our trip home was in beautiful weather as we departed Laughlin at 9:45 AM yesterday. The return trip was a familiar one, traveling through Kingman AZ, and on route 93 through central AZ.  There was our usual chuckle as we passed the "rock" between Laughlin and Kingman that always seems to give us the message - "to you, too":

It was a terrific holiday break for us and could only have been better if it were longer and more successful in the casinos. That's OK though, as we feel we are still way ahead of the game over the years. If we could win every time, we would be there full-time. We enjoyed some new experiences and saw some pretty country that we hadn't seen before. We accomplished our goal of seeing the "ownership" RV parks that were along the Colorado River, and have given us some food for thought.

There is one area that we stopped to check out that is located just outside of Kingman at the start of Route 93 that is called Silverado Estates. We had stopped there many years ago and the office was closed, as it was this time. We drove to the "model" homes that were built since our last trip and we were totally shocked at what we saw. Either the company went broke or some other disaster had struck the company as the homes were all totally destroyed inside. The windows were all broken and the inside of the homes were trashed. These photos pretty much say it all. The first home we went into:

you can see the glass and debris that is all over the floors. Here is another shot of the rear:

Again, all of the glass was smashed out of the sliding doors and there was cattle feces everywhere, including the floors inside. There was also rat feces in every room and on the patios and in the garages.

These are the beautiful models that we couldn't believe were all sitting here in this horrible condition:

Here is one more of the destroyed models:

 and the inside of another:

Everything inside was ruined. It appeared that somebody had gone through each of these homes with a sledge hammer and just wanted to make sure nobody got anything of value from the homes. Even the drywall and doors inside were destroyed. We are still in disbelief over what we saw. We will try to get some explanation for what we saw, but I'm not sure where to start.

It is otherwise back to normal at home. We will begin putting Christmas away for another year. We expect to have everything packed away again and into our main storage unit by the end of the weekend. Josie works today, but then has the next three days off...