Following our morning workout at the fitness center, we spent some time catching up on a couple of the Christmas movies we copied from the Hallmark Channel and started to read through magazines that have been lying around. Most of the magazines we get are through annual memberships - like AAA (Highroads), AARP (AARP Magazine) and Costco (Costco Magazine). There are also some that I get from life memberships that I signed up for years ago, like Thousand Trails (Trail Blazer), Good Sam Club (Trailer Life), NAHC (North American Hunting Club) and the NRA (American Hunter). I also have one subscription to Laptop Magazine, so you can see how easy it is to get behind in reading material. On top of those, throw in periodical publications that we get from other places and their are lots of magazines that we need to sort through.
While reading through these magazines and sitting on our porch, we decided to set a goal for ourselves. Next year, following our workamping assignment in Wyoming, we would visit Patty and her family in Chicago before heading back to AZ for the winter. We would stay at Lake Pleasant next winter and leave around the first of April to head north to visit Kristine and Tracy in WA and then head to Alaska. After spending a couple months traveling to, and visiting places in Alaska, we would head south to Canada, drive east through Canada to New England where we would spend the fall (October?) and then head to Fl to visit Josie's family there. The trip back to the west would not be a straight line but would include places we haven't been yet, such as Branson, MO, south Texas along the Gulf, and others that we haven't yet identified.
It actually represents the start of our "real" retirement. We would have sold the Jeep before heading north and just using our truck. The plan would be to sell the truck, sell the fifth wheel, buy a new vehicle and find a home base in AZ to use for winters. We hope to be able to buy a small trailer to use for weekends and for travel to another, summer base, somewhere up north.
There's a lot of time to plan this future, so a lot can happen between now and then. If all goes well, it will be accomplishing several goals. Number one, we will have traveled to all the areas we set out to see almost 5 years ago. Secondly, we would have gotten full benefit from our investment in the truck and fifth wheel - and the Jeep. Thirdly, we would have seen enough areas to decide where we want to spend our retirement years. Lastly, we would have seen our beautiful country the way it should be seen, while we were still healthy enough (hopefully) to enjoy the time. Sounds like an aggressive plan and we hope we are able to make it happen...
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Canyon Vistas
We've been seeing the ads in our RV magazines - and the AZ Republic newspaper - about the the new development in Gold Canyon called Canyon Vistas:
There has been an RV Resort there for years, but they have opened a new section for custom built RV Port homes. These new homes are converted Cavco manufactured homes with custom interiors and exteriors, plus an additional attached carport and/or RV port.
The models were located right off the Superstition Freeway in Gold Canyon, which is just east of Mesa and Apache Junction.
Of course, a salesman met us at the models and had to take us through each one. There were models with different floor plans that were 14, 16 and 18 feet in width, with the optional carports and RV ports (or garages) attached. These shots give you some idea of the homes:
Each of the balconies gives you a great view of the Superstition Mountains.
One last view of the very nice pool area:
They were wheeling and dealing on the prices and you could get a complete home, with carport, patio, RV port and custom interiors for around $150K. The biggest problem that we saw was that you don't own the land on which your home sits and there is what they call a "Lifestyle Fee" each month which is similar to association dues, except you are leasing the land. Although it includes all services (security, landscaping, maintenance), it runs over $500 per month! The salesman told us that they were writing agreements with up to 5 years free "Lifestyle Fees". The thought of not owning our land and knowing that your stuck if, for any reason, they don't renew your annual lease for the land turned us off. It's a shame that such a great deal is overshadowed by the enormous monthly fee.
We returned home by 4 PM and started watching some of the Christmas movies we have been taping on the Hallmark Channel. They are having a Christmas marathon of great Christmas movies - most of them tear jerkers - from now until Christmas. It's worth checking out if you like Christmas movies.
The awards and recognition have begun for Austin following his spectacular football season. We see that he has been chosen for All State honors by the Coaches Association in the state of Illinois. Fantastic! What an honor and accomplishment.
It's back to the fitness center this morning and who knows what else on this beautiful, sunny AZ morning...
The models were located right off the Superstition Freeway in Gold Canyon, which is just east of Mesa and Apache Junction.
Of course, a salesman met us at the models and had to take us through each one. There were models with different floor plans that were 14, 16 and 18 feet in width, with the optional carports and RV ports (or garages) attached. These shots give you some idea of the homes:
Each of the balconies gives you a great view of the Superstition Mountains.
One last view of the very nice pool area:
They were wheeling and dealing on the prices and you could get a complete home, with carport, patio, RV port and custom interiors for around $150K. The biggest problem that we saw was that you don't own the land on which your home sits and there is what they call a "Lifestyle Fee" each month which is similar to association dues, except you are leasing the land. Although it includes all services (security, landscaping, maintenance), it runs over $500 per month! The salesman told us that they were writing agreements with up to 5 years free "Lifestyle Fees". The thought of not owning our land and knowing that your stuck if, for any reason, they don't renew your annual lease for the land turned us off. It's a shame that such a great deal is overshadowed by the enormous monthly fee.
We returned home by 4 PM and started watching some of the Christmas movies we have been taping on the Hallmark Channel. They are having a Christmas marathon of great Christmas movies - most of them tear jerkers - from now until Christmas. It's worth checking out if you like Christmas movies.
The awards and recognition have begun for Austin following his spectacular football season. We see that he has been chosen for All State honors by the Coaches Association in the state of Illinois. Fantastic! What an honor and accomplishment.
It's back to the fitness center this morning and who knows what else on this beautiful, sunny AZ morning...
Sunday, November 18, 2012
RV Self Repair
On Wednesday I talked about the water pressure problem and the fact that I made an appointment on the 29th to have a tech come repair the fresh water connection. The more we thought about waiting until the 29th and spending, probably, close to $100 for the repair, I decided to attempt it myself. I am always fearful of doing these kinds of repairs myself because I inevitably create more problems than I started out to fix. This one just didn't seem that complicated or difficult. Here is a shot of the original connection with the quick-connect adapter locked onto the connector:
The main reason I initially rejected the idea of self repair was because the rear of the connector was very difficult to reach to disconnect the threaded end that was behind the connector. I recruited Josie to help with the removal of the old connector. We went to the local RV dealer and parts store in town and bought a replacement connector for $17. With Josie's help, we did the repair in about a half hour, reconnected a new quick connect adapter, turned on the fresh water and we were set to go. Here's the new setup:
Now I just need to call the mobile tech tomorrow and cancel our appointment for the 29th.
We spent the afternoon sitting on our porch and going through magazines that we need to decide whether to keep or throw away. While doing that, we discussed more about this Christmas season. We are getting anxious to get our storage units consolidated and part of that consolidation is getting our Christmas decorations out for this year. Much of those decorations will be used for the last time this year, such as our electric deer that we used for about 5 years before we hit the road.
Today may be a day where we drive to the east side of Phoenix to view some new RV (port) homes that are being advertised near the Superstition Mountains in Gold Canyon. They look like the nice homes we saw while we were in Laughlin and, according to the ad, are very affordable. We hope to get the real scoop on those...
Saturday, November 17, 2012
MVD Visit
The dreaded task of renewing my drivers license was completed yesterday. It's not the test - a short eye test - or the money - $10 for 5 years - but the long wait for your number to be called. Actually, I arrived there at around 10:45 AM and was through the front desk, had my number, completed the test and had my photo taken before 11 AM.
That's the easy part. I sat in the waiting room, with about 75 other customers, until close to noon. I actually had 2 situations to address. The first was that I changed the address on my original drivers license on October 12, so that it would be easier for me to vote. See, our drivers licenses are for AZ, but our address on the license is our mail forwarding address in FL. The problem was they sent it to this location in Happy Trails just a few days before they actually set up our postal box here for our space - 976. The new license was returned to MVD and I never received it. It turned out I didn't really need it anyway as we voted using Provisional Ballots. The second situation was, of course, getting the new license.
When I reached the counter to complete my transaction, the nice young lady got confused and I ended up having to fill out a second form and have my picture retaken. Oh well, I'm legal now until January, 2018. It's sad to get old. They renew licenses for 10, 15, 20 years, and sometimes longer, depending on your age. I guess they figure I'm in the "risk" window of only 5 years now.
We're trying to figure out a good time to go to CA to salvage our goods in storage there and bring them back to AZ. We would like to have that done before Christmas, but the slow emptying of the shed here has caused a delay in that project. The whole activity needs to be coordinated with the sorting of our stuff in the space we have here in Surprise, and combining everything into one, slightly larger space. It doesn't appear like we will be able to get rid of our storage space entirely, as there is just too much stuff that we want to hang onto, and we do plan to eventually move into some kind of home base within the next couple years. We'll see how that turns out...
That's the easy part. I sat in the waiting room, with about 75 other customers, until close to noon. I actually had 2 situations to address. The first was that I changed the address on my original drivers license on October 12, so that it would be easier for me to vote. See, our drivers licenses are for AZ, but our address on the license is our mail forwarding address in FL. The problem was they sent it to this location in Happy Trails just a few days before they actually set up our postal box here for our space - 976. The new license was returned to MVD and I never received it. It turned out I didn't really need it anyway as we voted using Provisional Ballots. The second situation was, of course, getting the new license.
When I reached the counter to complete my transaction, the nice young lady got confused and I ended up having to fill out a second form and have my picture retaken. Oh well, I'm legal now until January, 2018. It's sad to get old. They renew licenses for 10, 15, 20 years, and sometimes longer, depending on your age. I guess they figure I'm in the "risk" window of only 5 years now.
We're trying to figure out a good time to go to CA to salvage our goods in storage there and bring them back to AZ. We would like to have that done before Christmas, but the slow emptying of the shed here has caused a delay in that project. The whole activity needs to be coordinated with the sorting of our stuff in the space we have here in Surprise, and combining everything into one, slightly larger space. It doesn't appear like we will be able to get rid of our storage space entirely, as there is just too much stuff that we want to hang onto, and we do plan to eventually move into some kind of home base within the next couple years. We'll see how that turns out...
Friday, November 16, 2012
Tanger Outlets Glendale
As most Outlet Malls go, the new Tanger Outlet Mall in Glendale is a keeper. It celebrated its Grand Opening yesterday at 9 AM and at noon, we arrived to join in the festivities. The traffic and parking situation was about as expected as we got to the off ramp on the freeway. Traffic was lined up all along Glendale Ave from the mall entrance to the off ramps, both north and southbound. Rather than fight all the traffic, we drove around the perimeter of Westgate (adjacent to the Mall) and came into the parking area on the south side of the Mall which was pretty smooth. We actually found a parking space within 50 yards of the southwest corner of the complex. The entire area, as you can imagine, was mobbed.
The Mall contains almost all of the popular outlet brands and even some new ones. The layout is simple, and as can be seen from these photos, partially covered so that summer heat can be kept to a minimum:
We did really great fighting off some of the great deals for opening day and only spent about $10 on a couple gadgets from the Kitchen Collections store. This last shot is of the Christmas tree, already placed for the season:
This mall will be highly successful and is very convenient from the 101 freeway. The only thing missing that we could see was a food court of some type. There were only a couple places where you could buy any kind of food - like pretzels and pizza - and we gathered the lack of food availability was intentional. The restaurants in the adjacent Westgate area are starving for business and the hope is that people will shop at the outlets and go across the street to eat. The problem with that concept is that all of the restaurants in the Westgate area are high end, expensive places to eat.
The cloudy day made for a dreary afternoon at home so we just hung out around the rig. I pulled the trigger on the Costco.com computer deal that was just too good to ignore. I ordered an HP Envy Dv7 configured just the way I would have ordered it from HP - but for $400 less, including shipping and tax. The only concern I still have is making the Windows 8 commitment. It should be interesting as the computer is scheduled to arrive around Thanksgiving...
The Mall contains almost all of the popular outlet brands and even some new ones. The layout is simple, and as can be seen from these photos, partially covered so that summer heat can be kept to a minimum:
We did really great fighting off some of the great deals for opening day and only spent about $10 on a couple gadgets from the Kitchen Collections store. This last shot is of the Christmas tree, already placed for the season:
This mall will be highly successful and is very convenient from the 101 freeway. The only thing missing that we could see was a food court of some type. There were only a couple places where you could buy any kind of food - like pretzels and pizza - and we gathered the lack of food availability was intentional. The restaurants in the adjacent Westgate area are starving for business and the hope is that people will shop at the outlets and go across the street to eat. The problem with that concept is that all of the restaurants in the Westgate area are high end, expensive places to eat.
The cloudy day made for a dreary afternoon at home so we just hung out around the rig. I pulled the trigger on the Costco.com computer deal that was just too good to ignore. I ordered an HP Envy Dv7 configured just the way I would have ordered it from HP - but for $400 less, including shipping and tax. The only concern I still have is making the Windows 8 commitment. It should be interesting as the computer is scheduled to arrive around Thanksgiving...
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Bombarded by Promotions
I know everybody thinks the same way about the Christmas season - it arrives earlier and earlier every year. I'm also sure that your emails, in terms of number of emails per day, have at least doubled like mine. It's probably a result of being signed up on these sites for alerts when they have sales, but the last few days have bordered on ridiculous for emails from these sites. I counted 22 emails just yesterday from stores and sites that I have on my contacts list. At this rate I will be spending a half day going through emails before Thanksgiving arrives.
One advantage though is you just might discover a deal that you have to evaluate. Specifically, I saw a special sale on the computer I have configured on the HP site that is $400 less than HP's price - at Costco. They have almost the identical configuration that I priced on the HP site and I am evaluating to see if there isn't something I'm missing in some fine print for the sale. I'm still debating whether to take the plunge and go to Windows 8, or look more at another solution, like Windows 7 on a different system. Most of what I've read and heard about the new Windows is positive, but I hate being among the pioneers for any new software.
The rest of these emails are alerts to special prices that are sure to kick-off your shopping adventures for this year. Some of them are from stores we haven't shopped in years and others are stores that, even with their sales prices, are beyond what we would spend for similar items somewhere else. All of this has created curiosity for the new Outlet Mall in Glendale which is opening today. Josie is anxious to go and check it out but, if we go, it will be a challenge to keep the hands away from the pockets. We should know tomorrow if we have been successful...
One advantage though is you just might discover a deal that you have to evaluate. Specifically, I saw a special sale on the computer I have configured on the HP site that is $400 less than HP's price - at Costco. They have almost the identical configuration that I priced on the HP site and I am evaluating to see if there isn't something I'm missing in some fine print for the sale. I'm still debating whether to take the plunge and go to Windows 8, or look more at another solution, like Windows 7 on a different system. Most of what I've read and heard about the new Windows is positive, but I hate being among the pioneers for any new software.
The rest of these emails are alerts to special prices that are sure to kick-off your shopping adventures for this year. Some of them are from stores we haven't shopped in years and others are stores that, even with their sales prices, are beyond what we would spend for similar items somewhere else. All of this has created curiosity for the new Outlet Mall in Glendale which is opening today. Josie is anxious to go and check it out but, if we go, it will be a challenge to keep the hands away from the pockets. We should know tomorrow if we have been successful...
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Some Outside Work
We have had a water pressure problem - too low - since we arrived here. Actually, we have been dealing with that problem, off and on, for several months. Yesterday I decided to do something about it while Josie was doing a full load of laundry.
This was a problem that I discussed with the tech who came to replace our water pump and he determined that the problem was in the actual fresh water connection. I use a "quick connect" hose attachment so that every time we set up at a different location I just have to snap on the hose to the connection rather than threading the hose into the connection each time. It has worked really well over the last couple years. The quick connect hasn't been removed at all during that time and I had a problem removing it yesterday. I couldn't. The brass connector would not budge and even after I sprayed WD-40 on the connector, it wouldn't move. The next step was to try to remove the whole fresh water connection which I couldn't do because I couldn't reach the rear of the connection to remove the part. To make a long story short, while trying to remove this connection, I ruined the tight seal between the quick connect parts and now have to use the new water pump and water from our holding tank until I can get a tech out to repair the connection. The appointment is set for Thursday the 29th of November, so we will get a lot of use out of our new water pump until then.
We finally received our letter of recommendation from the Virginian Lodge yesterday. They sent the letter to our FL address before we arrived here but they had the wrong zip code on the envelope (32512 instead of 32513). That resulted in the letter being sent to the Naval Hospital in Pensacola before being re-directed to the proper zip code. Since we only get mail forwarded once a week, it didn't arrive until yesterday. It was worth waiting for and gives us a real advantage when applying at any other lodge, hotel or facility in the hospitality industry. It was signed by all the management (General Manager, Operations Manager and Front Desk Manager) and we feel blessed to have found such a wonderful group of people in Jackson, WY. We also received a nice check for commissions that the Lodge received from other facilities where we sent customers when we were booked, and from the vendors where we sent visitors, such as horseback riding, rafting, etc. The money was divided equally among all the front desk workers. That was on top of the regular bonus we received as workampers for them. They sure know how to treat their employees...
This was a problem that I discussed with the tech who came to replace our water pump and he determined that the problem was in the actual fresh water connection. I use a "quick connect" hose attachment so that every time we set up at a different location I just have to snap on the hose to the connection rather than threading the hose into the connection each time. It has worked really well over the last couple years. The quick connect hasn't been removed at all during that time and I had a problem removing it yesterday. I couldn't. The brass connector would not budge and even after I sprayed WD-40 on the connector, it wouldn't move. The next step was to try to remove the whole fresh water connection which I couldn't do because I couldn't reach the rear of the connection to remove the part. To make a long story short, while trying to remove this connection, I ruined the tight seal between the quick connect parts and now have to use the new water pump and water from our holding tank until I can get a tech out to repair the connection. The appointment is set for Thursday the 29th of November, so we will get a lot of use out of our new water pump until then.
We finally received our letter of recommendation from the Virginian Lodge yesterday. They sent the letter to our FL address before we arrived here but they had the wrong zip code on the envelope (32512 instead of 32513). That resulted in the letter being sent to the Naval Hospital in Pensacola before being re-directed to the proper zip code. Since we only get mail forwarded once a week, it didn't arrive until yesterday. It was worth waiting for and gives us a real advantage when applying at any other lodge, hotel or facility in the hospitality industry. It was signed by all the management (General Manager, Operations Manager and Front Desk Manager) and we feel blessed to have found such a wonderful group of people in Jackson, WY. We also received a nice check for commissions that the Lodge received from other facilities where we sent customers when we were booked, and from the vendors where we sent visitors, such as horseback riding, rafting, etc. The money was divided equally among all the front desk workers. That was on top of the regular bonus we received as workampers for them. They sure know how to treat their employees...
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