Closing Out Spring Training

The schedule for the day began with a therapy appointment for Josie for her leg. The appointment wasn't until 2 PM, so we decided to combine that with a stop at the stadium to pick up a couple items and to return our uniforms.

We got ready to leave for Josie's appointment when we discovered that the final game of Spring Training started at 12:05 instead of the usual 1:05. That resulted in a real concern for us as to whether we could make it before the game ended and everybody would be gone. The therapy started at 2 PM and went until almost 3 PM. We hurried to the park and made it just in time as the cashiers were starting to balance there registers at the end of the game. This was at around 3:15. The real problem we had was that when we arrived at the stadium we discovered that we forgot to bring the uniforms. We put them in a bag and, during the rush to leave, left them on the floor in the RV. We were told that it would not be a problem and we could drop them off at any time to the Aramark office at the stadium.

The season is now "officially" over and we can get on with the rest of our schedule to get everything settled in the RV, put in a final effort (by Josie) at the flower shop and leave for Jackson by May 10. The new space we will have at Pioneer is being prepared as we saw that some work was done yesterday to level the space completely and remove a cement pad that would have interfered with the placement of our fifth wheel. With our commitment to return here next season, we are hoping that it was the right decision to get the guaranteed space. Only time will tell...

Errands Day

We spent most of yesterday catching up on a few errands and doing some things that have been on our list of "to-do" items.

I started the day by going to the post office to mail the hats that I sold on eBay. There were "special" Spring Training hats for each team that sold out during the first week of Spring Training. I bought one each of the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers hats knowing that there would be a demand for those with no supply. They are "fitted" hats and I have a picture of each of those below:

These are the unique hats that were worn by the players for this year's Spring Training. They sold for 39.99 in the store while supplies lasted and I bought one each to sell on eBay. The time had come to sell them as Spring Training was winding down. I sold each of the hats for $70 and would have gotten more if they were a better, more popular size. The size of these was 6 7/8 which is a small size compared to the most popular sizes which are in the 7 1/8 - 7 1/2 range. Unfortunately, this was the only size still available when I bought mine. Anyway, I was happy to almost double my money.

I then went to get a much needed haircut and then took Josie to get her pedicure that she was given as her Christmas present by one of her coworkers.

We followed that up with a visit to the grocery store to restock some items. It felt good to have a free day to do something without worrying about getting ready for another game, or wishing that the Spring Training schedule would end.

Josie has an appointment today for some therapy for her pinched nerve problem and then we will go to the stadium - last day today - to return our uniforms and pick up a couple items we will buy that are 40% off for the last day. We will also say goodbye to our coworkers and maybe - or, maybe not - we will see them again next year...

Our Spring Training Ends

The final game of Spring Training for us was a long game. It was between the Kansas City Royals and San Diego Padres and was won by the Royals, 11-3. Once again, pitching was lacking and the fielding was also bad as there were several errors by each team. It's hard to believe that these teams are ready for the start of the regular season. We have to go back to the stadium on Wednesday - the official last day of Spring Training - in order to return our uniform and to buy a couple items we put aside that will be available to us at a 40% discount on the final day. It would have been nice if our manager would have allowed us to give the uniforms back at the end of yesterday's game and honor the 40% discount yesterday so we wouldn't have to make another trip to the stadium. Oh, well.

We can now focus on getting the rest of our things unpacked and sorted for our next trip to Jackson in May. There aren't many things that need to be unpacked, but since we are returning in October we will be able to put more items in storage to lighten the load. We will also be able to stay close to our move-in by the tenants at our house. We want to make sure we get off to a good start with our first rental experience. Everything is ready for them, so we anticipate a smooth transition.

The end of Spring Training has removed a load from our schedule. Once Josie completes her commitment at the flower shop, we are off and running again on another new chapter...

Church and Dinner

We did something we've never done before to celebrate an Easter Sunday. We went to the church service here at the park. It was, as expected, a non-denominational, simple service. It was an excellent service and we were happy that we attended. I took a couple shots of the church and the service that was held in the Social Hall at the resort:

There was a full choir and a terrific pianist that made it a very enjoyable experience. The service only lasted 45 minutes and was the final service being held a the Social Hall until October as many people are leaving now for their summer destinations.

We went to I-hop for breakfast following the service and had a good meal to last us until dinner.

We had a very good time at our neighbor's RV where Gail and Stewart held an informal pot luck dinner for a few couples. It also was a different experience for us and an enjoyable one. We almost didn't make it as Josie dropped a large can of baked beans on her foot while getting ready to prepare it for dinner and we had to ice it down before she could get her shoe on:

I once again got so involved in conversation that I forgot to take pictures. Sorry about that. There were three other couples there and they are all leaving within the next week to head to points north and east - away from the hot Arizona sun. All but one of the couples will be returning to Pioneer next winter so we expect to get together again next Fall.

Our last game at Spring Training is today - hallelujah! It will be easy to work this game knowing it is the last.

We hope everybody had a wonderful Easter....

Hall of Fame Players

Our game yesterday between the Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics was punctuated with having some Hall of Fame Players signing autographs in a booth next to ours. It was a very pleasant surprise when I noticed the tents being set up for the four Oakland Athletic's Hall of Fame players - Rollie Fingers, John "Blue Moon" Odom, Bert Campaneris and Willie Wilson:

They sat at a table next to our merchandise tent where they worked for the entire game. I got a shot of the stars following the game which was won by the Kansas City Royals, 5-2:

They are, from the left: Rollie Fingers, John Odom, Willie Wilson, a fan and Bert Campaneris.

What a thrill to see them and have them located next to us. They are heroes from my younger days.

I also go a couple shots of our store as we had long lines all day:

and Josie was super busy at the register the entire game:

You can also see the tent where the Hall of Fame Players were located.

I also have this final shot of Rollie Fingers and the players taken during the game:

We have one more game to work - tomorrow - and the Spring Training season will end for us. Amen.

Today is Easter, and we will attend the church service here at the resort. Later today, we will have a pot luck Easter Dinner with our new friends at their motorhome and get to meet some more of the folks in our park. People have started to leave the area now for their summer homes so the park is beginning to look more empty...

Happy Easter !!

Batting Practice

Our game yesterday was a night game between the San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers. It started out like a session of batting practice as there were 8 runs scored in the first three innings. I mentioned to my co-worker that this looked like another 12-10 ballgame. It ended 12-11 (won by the Rangers in the bottom of the ninth). For the second game in a row and for about the tenth game we've worked, there were only a couple pitchers that could get anybody out. Not only that, there were many home runs which is a clear indication that the pitchers aren't ready for the season to begin. The game lasted until 9:15 PM and we got home at about 10:30. This is a shot of the full moon rising over the Home-run Party Deck in right field:

We get to do it all over again today at a day game. The good news is that this will be our next to last game for the season.

I forgot to mention that we had met a nice couple (Gail & Stewart) - about our ages - here at the park. They are two spaces down from our rig and even though we don't know them that well yet, they have invited us to an Easter buffet at their motorhome on Sunday. That is a chance for us to meet more folks and get to know more of our new neighbors.

Our day leading up to the game last night was more relaxing than anything else. We did go to a burger place - Tru Burger - in Anthem for lunch and had a good meal before leaving for the game. This is a shot of Josie - in uniform - as we had a table outside on this sunny day:

I'll end this entry today with a birthday wish to our wonderful daughter Patty. We hope you have a very special day and we love you very much....

Short Game

The Spring Training Game yesterday was lightly attended - the estimate I got from the box score was 3300 fans. The game was between the Cincinnati Reds and the Texas Rangers and was won by the Rangers, 12-5. Josie and I left the game early - in the fifth inning - as a result of our having too many people working the game. Usually, there are about three or four of us working the floor in the store but yesterday there were 7 of us scheduled. We volunteered to leave early and our manager was thankful.

Our meeting with the General Manager at the RV park in the morning went well. We will move into our new space as soon as he gets measurements for placing our fifth wheel on the spot where we may or may not be able to utilize the cement pad that is already on the site. Also, he will need to have some gravel spread on the space so we are looking at about 3 or 4 days to get moved over. Of course, their goal is to get everybody to purchase a park model for each space but we are a long way from making that kind of decision. We are anxious to get moved so that we can really get our unit level for the first time since we arrived. The hydraulic issue interfered with our effort to get it completely level. The new space is much nicer anyway.

We have a night game today so we need to be at the ballpark at 4 PM. Hopefully, there will be the proper number of folks scheduled to work and we can put in a full game. We only have three more games to work including tonight. We are almost done - yeah!!...

New Space

We were approved - whatever that means - for a new, annual site. We submitted an application for one of the premium sites that are available for "permanent" park models or full time use of RV's. These are larger sites and are in a more desirable location within the park. The one we applied for - site #90 - is pictured below:

as a reminder, this is the shot of our current space:

You can clearly see the difference where our current site is smaller and not as level, among other things. We are liking the park and are finding that it is very convenient - more than Lake Pleasant - to many of the amenities and places we like to go and do. We are scheduled to meet with the park manager this morning at 8 AM to review the change. Part of the change includes some gravel that will be spread on the space. We are not sure, at this point, exactly how these landscaping changes impact our pocket book, but that is part of what we will discuss in the meeting this morning.

We have to go to work at the stadium following our meeting with the park manager. We have only four more games to work including today. Yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel...

Rented

The only problem we had with the rental application on our house yesterday was with the move-in date. The applicants had April 24 as the move-in and we wanted an earlier date. They agreed to move-in and make the lease effective start date April 15, so we have a deal. The lease is signed and the earnest money paid, so we have a huge question mark removed for the summer. We hope this is the beginning of a very good relationship and a rewarding experience. We got our asking price for the rent, have a one year lease with a desirable tenant and it was only on the market for a couple of weeks.

We went to the RV dealer (Little Dealer Little Prices) that is nearby our park yesterday to buy a new strainer for our sink that was leaking and some rubber grommets for the grate on our range that somehow went missing during our time out of the rig. Those problems were fixed and we are slowly getting settled. The remaining boxes in the fifth wheel require sorting and we need to make some decisions about keeping or storing the contents.

Josie has a doctor appointment this morning and our sorting will continue following that appointment. We are also expecting to hear some news regarding our move to a new, permanent (annual) space here at the park either today or tomorrow...

Another Rental Application

The best news from yesterday was that we received another application for renting our house. This time, we may have a great candidate. It is from a young couple (26 yrs old) with excellent income and they have no children, but a dog - a Chihuahua. They only have fair credit, but have no foreclosures, evictions or repossessions. They also want a one year lease. We may take a chance with them and will have it all resolved today. The only problem we see is that they want to move-in on the 24th of April, and we would prefer to see an earlier move-in.

Our Spring Training game yesterday between the Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies started out like it was going to be a fast, low scoring game. Just what we wanted for a very hot day. It went south in the third inning when the Rockies found their stroke and scored at least 2 runs in each of the next four innings. The final score was Rockies 9, Rangers 5. The game didn't end until 4 PM and we didn't get home until 5:30.

We will have the next two days off to try and finish all the work that is left in our RV. We hope to have it all done by the time we go back to work on Thursday.

I heard about the attacks in Brussels this morning on the news and once again, the terrorists have their way. Unfortunately, these attacks will continue until the free world unites against eliminating these terrorists once and for all...

No Energy

We have been on a schedule that has us burned out right now. Our day off yesterday was spent doing very little physical activity. In fact, Josie did some laundry and that about wraps up the activity for the day. We work the game today and then have Tuesday and Wednesday off when we expect to get the rest of the boxes emptied and eliminated. There aren't that many left so we should have everything under control by the end of this week.

We did take a walk around the park and checked out the space that we want to reserve for our RV on the annual program. The paperwork was submitted on Saturday, and we expect the management to review the paperwork today and tomorrow and we hope to have things done on that end later this week. It makes more senses from both a financial and convenience standpoint to do things under that program. Now that we have a commitment from Josie's shop to work next season, we will definitely return here in October - barring any unforeseen event(s) that alter the schedule...

End of Work Week

We are getting close to the end of our work schedule at Spring Training. It will end not too soon. Yesterday we had a good game between the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners. The Mariners led almost the entire game until the Royals scored 4 runs in the eighth inning to win the game 5-4. I was working the game while anticipating a familiar face to enter the store. None did. I mentioned to Josie that I half expected to see somebody I knew, but it has been at least 16 years since I lived in WA so I probably wouldn't recognize them anyway. They wouldn't recognize me either. Josie worked as a cashier and I worked the floor as Josie took the place of a cashier that called in sick. Only five games to go.

We submitted our paperwork yesterday to get a full-time space in the park. We should know next week if we will get the space which is much better than the one we currently have and is cheaper to boot. We are taking somewhat of a chance with our house not rented yet, but we feel that is going to happen soon. The real question is surrounding the quality of the tenant. We will do our best to screen prospective tenants to get the best we can.

Our day off today will be spent going through the final boxes we have to sort for take-along stuff versus storage stuff. We are getting closer to having our final traveling load which will be lighter than before...

Schedule Update

There was a slight change in our schedule yesterday as Josie received confirmation of her long term schedule. She had gone back to "seasonal" status at the shop so that we could work the Spring Training games and then travel to Jackson this summer. She will begin working at the shop again after the Spring Training games end and work until May 10 which is two days after Mother's Day. We will then leave to go to Washington for up to a week before going to Jackson. Josie was invited back to the shop to work next season as a seasonal worker, beginning in early November. That allows for a visit to Patty's house following our summer work in Jackson. It appears now that we will spend the winter season here at the Pioneer Resort - as long as our house rental is going well. That will be the planned schedule unless something happens to change the plan.

In the meantime, we are looking into getting a full time space in the Pioneer Resort which will save us money. That would eliminate any moving around and guarantees our same spot whenever we are in this area. We'll see how that goes.

There are only six more games on our working schedule at Spring Training. We will be happy to see the season end as we will then be able to fully settle into our RV...

Back to Games

Our schedule has us working 7 more games - including yesterday's - before the season ends for Spring Training. With our new schedule of having Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday off, it actually eliminates the final two games of the season which are on a Tuesday and Wednesday. It has been a grind this year. Mainly, as a result of our late completion of RV repairs and , consequently, late moving schedule, we are just plain worn out from the hectic schedule. We wish it were over.

We received an inquiry from a seemingly nice Resort in Silverton, CO, for workamping this summer. We didn't get any details of the offer because we are already committed to Jackson. We would consider pursuing something in that area for next year though, as we want to spend some time in that area of Colorado. That is placed on the back burner for now.

Right now we are considering a reservation here at Pioneer for next Fall. We aren't sure where we will be in October except that we want to visit Patty and her family following our stint in Jackson. Most of what happens beyond Jackson will depend on our house/rental situation. If it is going well, we will plan to go somewhere different. If it doesn't go well, we will plan accordingly.

Following the late night game yesterday at the ball park, we have to be at the stadium again at 10:30 this morning. Ugh!....

Hydraulic Repair

The technician from our RV dealer arrived at about 10:15 yesterday to perform the work on our leaking hydraulic jack. He was an excellent technician that had 40 years experience working on all kinds of RV's:

He knew almost immediately what the problem was and proceeded to fix it in about 20 minutes. Evidently, when the new jacks were installed, the technician at that time failed to tighten a couple fittings with the proper torque. He tightened the fittings and wiped the area clean of fluid that had leaked. We're sure glad it wasn't more serious. There is no way we could have taken the fifth wheel into the shop for repairs. We are relieved that the problem is fixed.

We received our first application yesterday from prospective renters for our house. Our property manager forwarded the application to us for review with their recommendation - disapprove. We agreed with their assessment as the application had several red flags - 5 people, not enough income and two large dogs. It is nice to see some activity and we are sure that the "right" applicant will come along soon.

Our schedule at Spring Training picks up again today but the game is a night game that doesn't require us to be there until 4 PM. That gives us most of the day to get more things done around the RV. We took another trip to storage yesterday and we will most likely have at least one more trip to make before we can say we are ready to travel. We wish we had more time to do the things we still need to do...

Trip to Food Bank

When you go from a walk-in pantry to a small, RV pantry, there is food to spare. Lots of it. We made a trip to the local food bank yesterday to give away can goods and other items that we had no place to store in the RV. It is also a consequence of buying large quantities of items from Costco that we would take years to use up. That was our good deed for the day.

We are making headway on the boxes but still need to do a realization check on whether some things are worth carrying in our small space. It seems that we will be taking at least one more trip to our storage unit to place more stuff that we really don't need to travel with and have no room to store. Items such as movies, cd's and excess clothes are on the list of things to go to storage. They are also heavy items which we need to eliminate to keep us within our total weight limits. One thing we discovered when we moved out of the trailer and into the house was that we were way over our weight limits.

The hydraulic leak should be fixed this AM as the RV shop is sending out a technician this morning. We are hoping that it can be fixed on site and quickly. One thing we don't need is another extended repair period that will mess up our future schedule. Actually, we have until early May to get things squared away for travel...

Tiring Game Day

Yesterday was a scheduled work day for us at Spring Training. The game between the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox was very well attended and translated into a busy day at the store. The store did over $30K in business which is considered a very good day. There are 3 other stores in the stadium, none of which equal the one we work, in size or in business. We started work at 10:30 and returned home to our RV at 6 PM. We were on our feet the entire day and that makes it very tiring.

We have the next two days off with our adjusted schedule. The RV repair shop called and said they would be out tomorrow AM to address our hydraulics issue. The fifth wheel hasn't dropped any more - that we can tell - as a result of the leak, but we also discovered a leak in our gray water tank yesterday before leaving for the game. We are having a hard time figuring out why all of a sudden our RV is falling apart. Maybe it's time to look into getting a new one. Yikes! We aren't able to do that at this time, for sure. We have to patch things and make it work - at least through the summer. It has performed well for us for 8 years, so we can push it some more.

The next two days should see some major progress in getting settled in our RV. The rental activity is picking up as we heard from our property manager that they are seeing many inquiries on our house and expect to have applications at any time. That would be very good news...

Playing Catchup

One day off just doesn't make enough impact on our unpacking. There are so many other tasks that need to be done that we don't get a chance to catch-up on the boxes. As a result, the path through the RV still exists, albeit it is shrinking. We work today but have tomorrow and Wednesday off which should allow for some significant progress. The best solution would have been to quit the Spring Training gig altogether this year. The problem with that is that we would then be giving up some good short term money which is helpful in covering our moving expenses. Once again, it all is a result of the long delay in getting the parts for our RV repairs.

We took a trip to storage and while in the area we stopped at the house. Nothing has changed since we met with the property manager and his Leasing Director last week. There should be an update forthcoming today or tomorrow. We keep hearing about the "hot" rental market, so something should be happening soon.

It is really funny how "needs" change while trying to squeeze everything into the fifth wheel. Many items we thought we would need over the next several months are ending up in "back-to-storage" boxes. There is a long way to go before we get down to our real traveling load...

Schedule Adjusted

After working three straight days at Spring Training and not having much time to do anything at our RV, we adjusted our schedule. We will work the rest of the Spring Training games at the stadium but will have Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday off the rest of the way. It isn't a dramatic change in our schedule, but it does give us an extra day off during the week. Fortunately, there are only two weeks to go in the schedule.

The RV shop called and was going to send a person out to look at our hydraulics on Monday AM. I called back and left a message that Monday would not work for us but Tuesday AM would work. I hope they get the message. Yesterday's game was the longest yet  as the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland A's, 14-5. Oakland had 5 errors and the game was very ugly. We didn't get out of the stadium until 5 PM.

It's nice to have a day off today. We will be crunching the boxes and emptying as many as we can. We also plan to take a trip to storage with some things that we will do without. It was easy to lose sight of the room we have in the RV while packing the boxes for our move. It is almost a joke to us when we look at the number of boxes we have and the little room we have left to store everything. I think we got a little spoiled while living in the house. Everything will still be there in storage when we decide to move back into the house...

Spring Training and Other Issues

Along with everything else we are dealing with, we discovered that one of the new jacks that was installed on our RV is leaking fluid. That's just what we need at this point. It is impossible for us to take the fifth wheel back to the dealer for a couple reasons. The main reason is that we can't move it with all the boxes we have to unpack. Here are a couple photos of the situation with our boxes:

 

You can see that there is barely enough room to walk or sit. The schedule at Spring Training is such that we don't have much time at all to work on emptying these boxes. We leave early in the AM to go to work - usually around 9:30 - and we don't get home until near 6 PM. By the time we get home we are too tired to do any more work. We addressed that problem with our manager yesterday and for the last two weeks of Spring Training we will only work 4 days per week so that we can take care of other business.

The second reason for not taking the RV back to the shop is that we may not be able to hitch it up with the loss of hydraulic fluid. The RV shop will have to send somebody out to fix the problem. So far, we haven't heard anything about that project.

Josie took this shot of the store where we work at Spring Training which shows the merchandise. The photo I published earlier revealed the crowds that we deal with whereas this one was taken during a rare lull in business:

The month of March has not been kind to us so far as we are paying the price for the delay in repairs to our RV. Of course, it doesn't help when you discover that the repairs are not complete. I'm sure it will all be taken care of in due time...

Rental Listed

All of the preparation is complete and our home is now listed on the Active Renter website along with many other property websites. The pictures look great and we are anticipating some activity on the home very soon. Our fingers are crossed that we get an excellent tenant that takes care of our home. The property manager keeps close tabs on the property and they inspect the home twice a year to make sure all of the conditions are being met and that the home is being properly cared for.

Our Spring Training game yesterday was between the Texas Rangers and the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox dominated, 8-2, and the game ended at 3:45 and Josie and I were home by 4:30. Our work is cut out for us at the RV with all the boxes we need to unpack, sort and organize to get settled. It will not be a quick process as we have a path going through the fifth wheel, plus we have boxes outside under our slide-out because there wasn't enough room inside to place them. There will definitely be at least one more trip to storage as we try to downsize for our traveling needs.

We have games to work on the next two days before we get another day off, but we are sure looking forward to some free time...

Major Step

It was another day of non-stop physical activity as we completed the packing and emptying of our household goods. Our meeting with the property manager and his Leasing Director at 3 PM was very successful.

Josie and I worked feverishly to get a final load taken to the storage unit, taking a load to Goodwill and loading the truck with the last of our "stuff" that goes to the RV. Josie also cleaned the house from top to bottom and I did some final paint touch up work, used the blower to clean the garage and patio and we finished up just as the people showed up for our appointment. We took them on a tour of the house and they took photos and videos of the entire home for their marketing materials. It was a very successful meeting and our home is, officially, on-the-market for rental.

There are many things yet to be coordinated - such as gas turn off, security system turn off, pool service turnover, stopping newspaper delivery, forwarding our mail to our RV address, etc. The market is very hot for rentals and the property manager believes we will have a "qualified" tenant in a short time frame. We are hoping for a April 1 move-in of a tenant. We agreed on a rental fee which places us at the upper end of rentals in the area and it should attract some quality candidates.

We are now faced with a mountain of boxes in the RV and with the Spring Training games going full force we will be hard pressed to get control of that situation anytime soon.

We are off and running..

Working the Schedule

We are really jamming a lot of activity into a short time-frame. Our second game working at Spring Training was yesterday as the Kansas City Royals beat the Colorado Rockies, 3-2, in a very fast game that was over by 3:30 PM. We had to stay and handle all of the store business until the fans left. I guess people think they need to make a day of it regardless of when the game ends because it was nearly 4:30 by the time Josie and I clocked out and went on our way to the house. I did get this shot of the store crowd just before the game started:

The shot was taken from my post at the entrance where I watch for folks to walk out with merchandise without paying. Josie works one of the three cash registers just outside the "Checkout" sign. The busiest time in the store is before the game and the line was from the Checkout area all the way back to my post. Let me just say that the pace is hectic for awhile until the game starts and people are settled in their seats. It isn't quite so bad during the game.

We went to the house from the game and packed and loaded almost all of the rest of the items that were left. While we were loading the truck, our neighbors from two doors away that are renting the house that we almost bought - but fell through as a result of a lien on the title - stopped by to chat. Their lease expires at the end of May and they may be interested in leasing our house. We said we would let them know how things go following our meeting today with the property manager. They are a nice couple that have grown kids and live alone with a dog and a cat. I don't know about the animals, but the couple seems very responsible.

We will (hopefully) complete all of the work that needs to be done to get out of the house today on our day off. We have one more trip to storage to make, a trip to Goodwill to drop off some stuff, touch-up painting to do and some cleaning to do before our meeting at 3 PM today. I'm already tired just thinking about the day...

First Spring Training Game

Our first game working at the stadium was yesterday. We allowed extra time to get to the stadium from our RV park for this first game and we made it in plenty of time. It is about a half hour drive from our location but we park quite a distance from where we check-in, so the extra time that we allowed paid off.

The game - and every game hereafter that we work - creates a full day for us. We leave at 10 AM and don't get home until close to 6 PM. Yesterday's game was won by the Texas Rangers over the San Francisco Giants, 6-5. Here is a shot of the stadium as we were walking out at the end of our day:

Last night, however, we went directly to the house following the game to pack up another load to take to our RV. We will follow the same schedule today as we still have some items to pack up and bring to the fifth wheel. Everything has to be out of the house by tomorrow when we meet with our property manager to kick-off the rental program.

We are so tired and kind of sorry we didn't cancel our Spring Training commitment. but, how did we know that the repairs to our fifth wheel would go so far past the scheduled time. If we can just make it past this week, we should have some time to unpack, sort and get settled into our space here at the RV park...

Frantic Pace

Never did we expect the project of emptying the house to be so time consuming. We took another trip to the storage unit yesterday and continued to empty drawers into boxes and load them into the truck for moving to our RV. We now have a sea of boxes in the trailer and no time to empty them and put things away as we begin our regular schedule at Spring Training today. The problem now is that the property manager is coming Wednesday to do a walk-through and analysis for setting up the renting of the house and we have no days off until Wednesday. That means working early mornings and at night after work to finish up by Wednesday.

I will go to the RV store this morning before going to work in order to get an extension for our sewer hose. The one we have is about 4 feet too short to make the connection to the drain and that is a top priority to fix. It's a shame that the RV repairs have taken us into the Spring Training schedule where we have very little free time to do our setup at the RV park. It is what it is and we will make the best of the schedule that we have...

New Location

Here is a quick shot of our new space in Pioneer RV Resort. I will update this post later as we had a super busy day yesterday and we need to leave now to finish up. Until Later....

 

 

Sorry, we just arrived back at the rig about a half hour ago and unloaded all the boxes from the truck. I'll try to give a full report in the morning. In the meantime, we will relax for the first time today...

Reunited Again

We received the welcomed call from the RV shop at around 3 PM yesterday telling us that the RV was ready for pick-up. It was the best news in almost two months. The service manager asked us to come as soon as possible to go over all the changes and, of course, to clear our tab.

Let me tell you - driving from Glendale to Mesa at 3:30 PM on a Friday afternoon is not the most wise decision. However, we had no choice. It took us over an hour and a half to drive the approximately 40 miles. We reviewed all the changes that were made, including our new TV system that was installed yesterday, and it all  looks great. We paid our bill, hitched up and drove home. It was a slightly better (faster) trip home and we parked the rig in front of our house for the night:

 

Our plan now is to load up the RV with all the "stuff" that we will need for travelling and take the fifth wheel to its home for the next couple months - Pioneer RV Resort in North Phoenix. It shouldn't take more than a few hours and we expect it be at the RV Resort at around noon today.

There are still a few odds and ends that we will need to take to storage, but for the most part, everything is there that should be. We will take the rest of today to settle-in at the RV park and tomorrow we will empty the house totally.

We are almost there, and we are about ready for the property manager to take over the house...

Finally at the End

Just like that - we received notice yesterday AM that the work on our RV will be done today and we will be able to pick it up tonight. We took our TV's and DirecTV receivers over to the shop late yesterday afternoon and the new satellite and our TV's will be installed this afternoon. Once that work is done, we will hitch it up and drive it to our house. Our plan is to bring it directly to the house and park it out front overnight so we can load it up tomorrow. Then, we will drive to the RV park, check-in, and get settled for the next couple months before heading out to Jackson, WY - via Washington.

We also made an appointment with our property manager to come to the house next Wednesday for a final analysis and review before going public looking for tenants. We are finally at the end of the tunnel.

There are some items that we need to take to storage today and we still have to sort and separate our clothes that we are taking with us in the RV. All of the other RV contents are packed and ready to load into the fifth wheel. We will work the Spring Training games for the rest of March, beginning Monday, and Josie will work the flower shop in April and through Mother's Day. Hopefully, our tenants will be settled by then and we will be off and running...

Frustration Mounts

The frustration mounts as we heard nothing from the RV shop on any progress. It is now to the point where we must once again postpone our start at Spring Training for another few days while we wait to get a pick-up date and reschedule our arrival at the RV park. If there is any positive from all of this, we may save some money at the RV park by not staying as long until we leave for Jackson.

We took our houseplants over to Jamie yesterday for her to enjoy. She was appreciative and will take good care of them.

We also had our carpets cleaned and deodorized yesterday. They weren't that dirty, but it will be a help in attracting tenants. There isn't anything left to do inside except separate the clothes and other belongings that we will take with us versus those that go to storage. Right now, we are planning to return to this area in October, but who knows where we will end up if we get a super tenant and Josie doesn't get a commitment to work seasonally at the flower shop...

Dates Still Unknown

The only resolution of any dates yesterday was the cancellation of our TV work to be done at Camping World. It turns out that our dealer who is working the rest of the repairs can also install the TV items we had Camping World set to perform. Our dealer can do the same thing for close to the same price and since the RV is already there, we can save some time in the moving process to Pioneer RV. There is no sure date for completion though.

We took our outside furniture to the storage unit yesterday and were able to fit everything into the storage unit without a problem. We still have sufficient room for the rest of our belongings which we will take there over the next few days.

The only real scheduled event for today is the carpet cleaning and deodorizing. They are expected to arrive around 11 AM this morning and we will be ready. Also, Josie plans to take our houseplants over to our friend Jamie sometime today or tomorrow. We will most likely take another load to our storage unit sometime today if all goes well...

Scheduling Mess

Just when it appears that everything is set on a good schedule, the RV repairs get pushed back again. Evidently there were more parts for a hydraulics problem that took longer to arrive and the work was pushed back another week. That throws our entire schedule out of whack and forces us to miss the first few games of Spring Training. Worse, it pushes back our check-in date at Pioneer RV Resort and pushes back the start of our tenant search by the property managers. The RV dealer has had our unit for almost two months. We obviously weren't counting on such a long project . Nothing can be done until the work is complete on the RV.

We received a call from our storage facility late yesterday afternoon informing us that the lock on our storage space is not fully engaged. Wow! We immediately went to the storage location and sure enough - the lock was ok, but the door wasn't fully closed to catch the locking mechanism. We took the opportunity while there to rearrange some things to make room for more "stuff" that we will be taking to the unit. This shot is probably the "next to last" shot before we close it up for the season (or longer):

The last shot will be after everything is stored that should be placed in the unit. Of course, much of that stuff should be sold or given away.

All of the interior painting is done on the house now, so it is just about ready for renters. We still have the carpets to be cleaned and deodorized which will be tomorrow and the final move-out when the RV is ready. We are so close now if we can only get the fifth wheel out of the shop...