Retired

I retired the motorhome yesterday. No, it’s not what you think. I got 6 new tires on the motorhome.

They came right out to the resort and in less than 2 hours the job was done. Mounted and balanced. Even with a $25 service call (that’s right only $25) the price was about the same as if I had taken it somewhere to have the job done. Not a bad deal. I ordered them on Monday and after the tire guy called in the order he said they would be in next week. I was surprised when he called and wanted come by to install them yesterday.

We took off yesterday morning with the grandson to Oatman. Oatman is a small town on Route 66 in Arizona that was at one time a copper mining town and now is basically a tourist attraction.

Probably the biggest attraction of the town is the ancestors of the original minors burrows. They now come into town everyday to get handouts from the tourists.

They have even been knows to walk right into the shops at times.

Landen got a kick out of the gunfight at high noon. He got be a part by helping to block the road for the show. He had a really great time.

Plenty going on

We sure have been busy here in Havasu since we got back.

Landen insists on going in the pool everyday and I can’t blame him. The weather hasn’t been bad at all. It has been in the low 90s and little wind. Today though we skipped the pool because our friends took us out for a boat ride.

We went up river all the way across I-40 and had lunch then headed back down. We stopped once on the way up to play along the shore and once on the way back. What a nice ride.

The other day we headed down to the London bridge to show Landen. Turns out they are filming a movie called Piranha 3D in the channel.

We headed over to check out some of the action and walked right into the scene. One of the workers said we are welcome to stay as long as we react to the action. So it looks like we may be in the movie, if they don’t cut the scene.

I have been trying for the last couple of weeks to get new tires for the motorhome. Seems like Michelin has dropped the ball and their tires that fits the motorhome are on back order for 6 to 8 months. How can a company let one of their most popular RV tires get that far behind? I am sure I am not the only one that needs tires in the next 6 to 8 months and will have to go with a competitor. That’s a lot of lost business.

Well we got friend coming to town tomorrow so we have plenty to do while we are here.

Made it back to Havasu

We traveled 6 hours to Havasu today. It was quite a trip for our Grandson. He is going to spend the summer with us and hopefully we can do some traveling. The weather here in Havasu is a lot better than where we were in California. We left overcast and drizzle in California and are now in sunny 89 to 90s here in Havasu. Landen has already spent some time in the pool

and played some golf this afternoon. It’s nice to be back in Havasu.

Hopefully while here I can finally retire the tires on the motorhome. Or Re-Tire the motorhome, pun intended. No one could come up with the tires I want while we were in California so I got one more trip out of the old ones. They are common Michelins but I guess they laid off to many people and can’t keep up with the demand.

Sunshine

Today there actually was sun. The sun came out in the late morning and stayed out all day. I took the opportunity to suck up a little vitamin D.
We found out we got some bum scoop. Our Grandson doesn’t get out of school until Friday the 12th. We are all set to pull out of here this Sunday the 7th. We will be pulling him out of school a week early and stick to our plan. He is a good student and there is probably not much school work during the last week.

Can’t move on

One good thing about being a Fulltimer is if we don’t like where we are we can move on. The weather has been crappy here on the coast of California. We have woken up to drizzle for the last 2 mornings and everything is a muddy mess. It should get better as far as the drizzle but the weather is still supposed to be overcast, damp and cold. Also other than family we have no reason or desire to visit southern California. It is too crowded with obnoxious people, too expensive, and I have probably mentioned the Hispanic population before. The problem is we can’t move right now. We have to fulfill our commitment to dog sit our daughter’s dog.

This is not something that is difficult since she is a really cool dog and she is happy to be with us.

Man am I sore

While here near the coast in California I have been shining up the motorhome. It is too hot and dry in Havasu right now to do it so I waited until we got here where it is cooler. So far I have spent 4 days and still am not done. I probably got another 4 days to go. Of course I am only spending a couple of hours a day on it. If I had all the fancy power equipment the professionals do I would probably be done by now but I’m doing it all by hand. It’s pretty hard work by hand.

Huh, Good thing I checked

Today, since I am in town, I took a drive by to see my parent’s grave. While there I checked mine, since the last time I saw it they hadn’t placed the headstone yet. Yes Susan and I do have a gravesite. We took care of all our arrangements so our kids don’t have to worry about it during their grieving. It’s a good thing I checked…they got my birth date wrong.

It should read Feb 24, 1953. I went in to let them know they messed up and they pulled out my records. Turns out I signed off on that date so it looks like I will have to pay for the new one. The guy said he will see what he can do and if not free maybe we will split the cost. He also asked me if I wanted the wrong one or have them destroy it. I gave it some thought but couldn’t come up with a good use for the wrong one. Susan said since I am so good at fixing things that maybe I can fix it myself. I don’t think duct tape and felt pen will last very long though.

Also today I finally found the Virus on my computer. For quite some time now, when I opened Internet Explore, then closed it, it was still showed as running in my task manager. And if I opened it again, there were now 2 running in task manager. Sometimes my computer would not turn off because of the running process. I tried several virus scanners and registry cleaners with no change. I combed the Internet for others that had the same problem and a possible solution with no success. Finally I heard of “Windows Live OneCare” at http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm and gave it a run. It identified a Trojan virus and removed it. Problem solved! Although it didn’t seem to cause any problems other than the ones I mentioned, I am glad to be rid of it.

Huh… Recall

Got a “Pre” Recall Notice on the motorhome today. What is a “Pre” Recall Notice, you say? It is a notice that workhorse recognizes there is a problem and will issue a recall as soon as they figure out what to do about it. Seems a lot of people have been having problem with the brakes dragging. There have been enough complaints that Workhorse is issuing a recall. The causes of the brake failure are lack of use, driving in damp conditions, and riding the brakes going down hill. Since I do neither of these and have had absolutely no problems I guess I am ok until the recall is issued. I need to get tires first.

WHAT THE…

Well since Arnie decided to just about double the vehicle registration in California and I now own property, and have an address in Arizona I decided it’s time to register our vehicles in Arizona. Along with the registration I knew I would have to insure them in Arizona also. So I called the insurance company to see how much the insurance will be in Arizona. DOUBLE! WHAT THE… Yes it is double and it turns out the increase in insurance will cost me more than the increase in registration fees. Damn, I thought I was going to be able to rid myself of California but I guess not.

I set out today to line up some tires for the motorhome. The place I called a couple of weeks ago is gone, yes gone. I called the other day and the phone has been disconnected so today I did a drive by. It looks like an old abandoned warehouse. WHAT THE… No sign of there ever being a business there. Now this is no fly-by-night business. It is one of many and even Michelin recommended them as an authorized dealer. So I headed on down the road to the next authorized dealer. Well this place is still in business but none in stock. They called Michelin and none available there either. Seems they are building them as fast as they can, and are backordered by about 500, they are not taking any new orders. Before I left Havasu I talked to a place that said they could get me some so I will have to trust the old tires to get us back to Havasu and have the new ones installed there. This is more convenient anyway because they will come right out to the resort and install them.

Dog sitting

We left the party last Sunday and made our way down to Encinitas California. We are now setup in our daughters yard for the next 3 weeks. They are heading for Italy and we are going to dog sit their dog.

We did this last year around Christmas time also.

They are still in the process of rebuilding their house

so they are also living in their Motorhome at the house.

Wine and Balloon Festival

We just spent the weekend in Riverside at a friend’s house for their 3rd annual Wine and Balloon Festival. They call this the Home Wine and Balloon Festival because it is a private affair at their home. Each year they have hosted the party at a different house.

There were 10 motorhomes and trailers here this weekend. They managed to fit them all in on their property.

We each setup a booth with a theme and offered wine and appetizers to go along with the wine. We first did one round of white wine and later a round of red with a break in between.

Later in the evening we had a band to entertain us.

And a fine band it was. As usual we had a great time and look forward to next year. You can see more photos by clicking the thumbnail in the left hand column.

Getting ready to hit the road

We are preparing to get back on the road. This Friday morning we are heading on over to California for a weekend of Wine Tasting. Some of you may know I don’t drink and think this may be a bit unusual for me. We have been invited by some good friends to participate in a fun weekend. A friend is having a private wine tasting festival at their house. We will be setting up booths with a theme and provide wines to match the theme along with munchies. Our theme? A Surf Shack.
After the weekend we will be heading toward our daughter’s house for 2 weeks of dog sitting.

They are heading for Italy and we get to take care of their dog while they are gone.

Computer repair again

Yesterday morning I pulled the laptop apart again to repair the power jack. This was about the 3rd time I have repaired the computer for the same thing.

This is not an easy job since EVERYTHING has to come out before the motherboard.

If I were still working my electronics job I would take into work and repair it right the first time. I needed to take it apart anyway to clean the dust out of the CPU cooling unit because it has been running a little hotter lately. It’s up and running again. I’m thinking I need to find a donor computer or at least pickup another motherboard. If anyone has a Dell Inspiron 1100 they would like to donate let me know.

Nice boat ride

It sure is nice to know some that has connections with a boat shop. Yesterday a friend called and asked if we wanted to go for a boat ride. The weather was perfect and the lake was glass so he hooked onto a boat in the showroom and away we went.

It was evening and no one was on the lake but us. As I said, the lake was glass so he opened it up and reached about 60 mph before backing down.

The boat ran so smooth and quiet you wouldn’t even know we were going that fast. He said next week we will take out a faster boat.

Today the temperature pushed over 105°. Tomorrow is supposed to be the same then it will cool a bit for the weekend.

The century mark

Today we went over the century mark. Temperature wise that is (104°). The casita has come in handy since I have a covered patio to sit under for shade now. If there is a breeze blowing it is very tolerable.

If there is no breeze I turn on the ceiling fans in the patio and it is also tolerable. We can still get by with running only one roof air in the motorhome. It stays pretty cool inside. We will see what happens when the temps reach 120° as they have been known to do here.

Nice Place

Just thought I would share this photo of the London Bridge here in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Can you tell why we like it here so much.

Getting lonely around here

It’s that time of year again. Most owners have left the resort and gone home.

We are just about the only ones left at our end of the park. Susan and I took a walk this evening and noticed even the rabbits have come back. We noticed an absence of them and figured it was due to the amount of dogs in the resort. Seems most RVers have dogs these days.

We will be heading back over to California in a couple of weeks. We have a wine party to go to and then we are going to dog sit our daughters dog again for a couple of weeks. After that we plan to pick up our grandson and come back here. He wants to see our place here in Havasu. We have no real plans for the summer. We are just going to wing it.

My Aircard Internet has been giving me fits here the last couple of days. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the heat since it’s been pushing 100 lately or if Verizon is doing something with the towers around here. It has slowed considerably and sometimes it just cuts in and out. I sure hope it gets better soon.

A wild week

What a wild week. It all started out with the NASCAR race in Phoenix. We traveled 3 hours over to Phoenix for NASCAR weekend PHOTOS HERE. We had a great time and a great site for viewing all the action.

The day after we got back Susan’s parents came into town. They stayed for a week and enjoyed Havasu enough to look at a couple of houses. Her father said he plans to list his house for sale when he gets back home.

On Thursday some good friends from Tennessee came by for a few days to visit. They also liked Havasu enough to pick up a brochure and price list of lots here in the resort. They are originally from California and are heading back to visit friends and family. While here he got the trailer a little to close to the truck while backing and blew out the back window. Good thing I know a good glass guy in town. He had it fixed the next day for a very reasonable price.

On Friday everyone left so I took a ride down to the channel where they were getting ready for the big off shore boat race on the weekend.

Saturday Susan and I took a 1 hour drive over to Laughlin Nevada to check out the Laughlin River Bike Run PHOTOS HERE. This is somewhat of a mini Sturgis Bike Run. Lots of motorcycles, mostly Harley Davidson’s, Bikers, and vendors selling every kind of bike accessory you can imagine.

Today I headed back down to the channel to see some of the boat races PHOTOS HERE. Lots of big boats and big trucks to tow them.

Busy Week

We returned to Lake Havasu on Sunday after a weekend of racing. The weather here in Havasu has pushed over the century mark the last couple of days and the wind has stopped. Last night however the wind returned and it is in the 80s today. We have visitors that we met at a rally a couple of years ago. They moved to Tennessee and are on their way back to California on a vacation. I told them if they come down I-40 and don’t stop by I would be upset since we are only about 15 miles off I-40. Also Susan’s parents are here from California visiting for the week. It has been a busy week so far.

Good Spot

Our daughter is in a different infield spot than the previous years. At first we thought it might not be a better spot than the last but were opened minded about it. Turns out it is a great spot. It is right at the exit of Pit Road and in the middle of turns 1 and 2. We get to watch some of the action in the pits and the race off Pit Road.

Seems this part of the track has some tricky turns because there were about 8 or so crashes into the wall right in front of us. This part of the wall is hammered from all the cars crashing into it.

This guy was trying to put his car back together so he can get back out there.

Turns out it was not possible.

Even though last nights race was just a Camping World West Series race, which is mostly western US locals, it was a pretty fun race.

The weather was a mix of sun and clouds with little wind. It stayed cool and was for the most part comfortable. Today is supposed to be warmer and it will only get better from here.

The wind at our backs

We made our way over to Goodyear Arizona this morning. We are about 13 miles from the track. This is the closest full hookup park to the track. As expected it was a windy drive however most of the drive was with the wind at our back so we didn’t even notice it. The weather is supposed to get better. The wind should die down and the temps should get higher. Today we are just chilling and tomorrow morning we are heading over to the track. As usual our daughter has an infield site and we have a car pass that gets us right up to their motorhome.

Ready to go

Were off tomorrow for Susan’s NASCAR fix. We are heading for Phoenix International Raceway or better known as PIR. Wouldn’t you know it, the wind has come up again. It is supposed to blow all night and into the morning. I am not happy about driving in the wind. Hopefully it will be mostly at my back. Anywho, I will just slow down and take my time. It is a 3 hour drive and we have all day.

Short list

The to do list for the Casita is getting short. I finally got the baseboards painted, installed, and touched up. Did I ever tell you how much I hate painting? I put it off long enough and decided it needed to get done. Today I sealed all the tile grout so about the only thing I got left to do now is hang shades in the patio.
The wind around here just won’t let up. We usually get 3 days of wind then quite a few days of nice weather. Lately we have been getting a bunch of days of wind with maybe 1 day of calm between. The temperature is all over the place too. We can’t rely on the weather reports, seems no one knows what it’s going to be like in Havasu. We will be heading over to Phoenix in a week. The exact day depends on the weather. I really don’t want to drive in the winds we have been having.
The population around here is getting slim with all the “Snowbirds” heading home. Soon will be time for a major age change here. The older head home and the younger show up for their summer fun.

Number 4

The Saturn now has windshield number 4 in it, the original one, one about a month after we bought it, the distorted one, and this new one. At least it’s 4 since I have owned it. I don’t know about the 3 previous years before I bought it.

The glass guy came out today and installed the windshield right here at our spot in the resort. He did an excellent job being very neat and meticulous. This guy is not the Havasu norm. He did the job when he said he would and was prompt and on time. We both inspected the windshield for distortions before he installed it. After he installed it he called me over to check it out. We both sat inside the car with our heads bobbing up and down looking from top to bottom for any distortion. He says he sees some but I had a hard time finding it. He says if I don’t like it he will order one right from Saturn and try that. I think he was being too critical, all windshields seem to have some distortion. I will be able to tell more when I drive it.

I got a chance to look at the cowling when he removed the plastic grill to install the windshield. If I hadn’t seen it before they fixed it, I wouldn’t believe how damaged it was. Even the glass guy (who saw the before and after) said they did a really good job.

I body shop didn’t seem to want to do anything about the over spray on the car so I spent the last 3 days rubbing it out myself. Fortunately I was given a good car finish restorer from one of the mobile detailers here that did the trick very well. Then I gave it a good coat of wax, except for the freshly painted surfaces, which I will wait for at least 60 days until the paint cures. I got to admit the car looks real good. Even my neighbor came over and asked what kind of wax I use because it looks so good. I even had to go over the windows with a wet razor blade to clean them up.

You can sure tell spring is in the desert. The flowers are in bloom, the quail are squawking for mates and I found a snake sunning on our lot yesterday. I don’t know what kind it was but it didn’t have rattles. It was brown, about 3 feet long, thin, and fast. I tried to pick it up to relocate it but as soon as I touched it, off it went as fast as it could, which was pretty fast.

I have been neglecting the casita the last few days. I still need to paint and install the baseboards and paint the door trim. I did get some shelves installed in the bathroom for Susan to put her knick-knacks. I still also have a shelf to install in the laundry, cover the water heater cabinet and seal the grout. After that it’s pretty much done. Then it’s time to turn my attention to the motorhome. That should keep me busy for another month or so.

New items should work

What happened to Quality Control? Our “New” water heater was defective right out of the box. I got a 30 gallon water heater for our casita because of the bathtub. When filling the tub for the first time the water went cold after about a couple of gallons. Not even enough for a good bath. This is why I bought a 30 gallon. After a bit of troubleshooting I found the lower thermostat to be defective. Rather than returning the water heater I called the service number on the side of the unit. Sure enough I called India. The guy called himself Rocky although he sounded more like Rogish. Anyway I told him I believed the lower thermostat was defective. After a few questions he told me to head over to Lowes and pick up a new thermostat and Whirlpool will reimburse me. Huh…I have to fix it myself? Rocky said it’s either that or he will send me the part and I can call someone to install it. Let’s see…Wait weeks for the part and hope he sends the right one or head for Lowes and get the right part and have it up and running in less than an hour. No brainer, off to lowes. Water heater fixed.

This morning I called the body shop to let them know they installed a defective windshield. They were very nice about it and referred me to the glass shop that did the work. The glass shop sent a guy out and confirmed the defect and said he will order a new windshield and should be able to install it Thursday. He also said he is going to order it from a different company. Good enough for me.

After cleaning up the car a bit today I noticed what I thought was dirt but turned out to be paint over spray. What used to be a smooth surface is now more like fine sandpaper. I tried waxing it out and also tried using a cleaner/wax. The over spray didn’t budge. Looks like I will be giving the body shop another visit.

The wind came up again last night and has not stopped. It was a little after 10:00p when suddenly it went from a gentle breeze to a full on blast. I jumped up and started rolling in awnings and securing everything. Hopefully it will mellow out a bit but is supposed to blow all week.

Car’s back

We finally got the car back today. I got to admit it looks pretty good. In fact it looks better than good since the old hood and fender had a few rock dings. Now they are brand new.

Wish I could say the same for the aftermarket windshield they put in. The whole lower portion of the windshield (about 6 inches) has a bad distortion. Looks like we will have to give it up for another day so they can put another windshield in. Also the windshield washers don’t work. I think that is probably a minor thing and I will most likely fix that myself. I don’t know how they did it but the cowling looks really good. At least the part I can see. The part under the plastic grill is probably ugly. They failed to replace the antenna that was sheered off but I think I can replace that myself. I am hoping it’s just a matter of unscrewing the stub and screwing in a new antenna shaft. I will be making a visit to the auto salvage yard when we get back to California because the dash top has quite a few scratches from the windshield being shoved across it in the crash. I will also pick up the antenna shaft while there. In the mean time I will just listen to CDs.

Today was another one of those famous Lake Havasu windy days. The wind has been plowing about 20 mph with 40 to 50 mph gusts. It didn’t come up until about 1:00p so we at least got half a day of really nice weather. It is supposed to drop a bit tomorrow and be back to nice by Saturday.

Down to the final touches

We are getting down to the final touches on our Casita. I got all the cabinets in and just installed and calked the countertop this afternoon.

I am pretty anal when it comes to these things. It takes me forever since I have to stop and analyze it and decide the better way and the future impact if I need to get to something or change something in the future. What the heck, it’s not like I need to be in any hurry.

We even found time to squeeze in a St. Patties day party here at the resort.

Susan has already made use of her washer and dryer and saved us a lot of money not having to feed the machines in the laundry here at the resort. I figured with the money she is saving we will have the casita paid for in about 13 years.

We are still without transportation. Last I heard they were still waiting on a part for our car. This has put a bit of a hurt on getting supplies for the Casita. Good thing Lowe’s is within walking distance for the little things. We have great neighbors all around us here that have offered their cars and trucks to help us out. I made use of a neighbor’s truck to get the cabinets and countertop. I will be giving the shop a call Monday morning to get another status report on the car and remind them we are without transportation and see if the repairs can be expedited at all.

Another project done

Friday the patio tile was laid and yesterday it was grouted.

Today I cleaned everything up and moved the furniture back in place. It sure looks nice. That is another project done. I still have more projects so we aren’t done yet. Since we still don’t have a car some of the projects will have to wait until I can pick up some supplies. Hopefully the car will be done this week. I am not expecting it until toward the end of the week though.

Last night our neighbor had a Milk Can dinner. This is where you take a Milk Can, the type you find on the farm, and layer it with potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, corn on the cob, and sausage. Then you boil it for about an hour and dump it out on the table. There were about 20 of us and everyone enjoyed.

The market was good to us last week. It would be nice if it continues this upward trend but I know better. If I could just get back the money I lost, I would be a happy camper.

Passed

We passed final inspection today on our Casita. We were kind of sweating a few things but the inspector spent a total of probably 5 minutes and over looked most things. Heck, the only thing he did was check the outlets and took a quick look at the water heater. Anyway, it’s done and we are clear to finish it up. Tomorrow the washer and dryer gets delivered and the tile guy is coming by to see what is needed to tile the patio. He plans to get started on that Friday. This place is looking good.

Good day

Today was a good day. We had a bit of a problem with the Casita. Turns out the plumber didn’t provide plumbing for the T&P valve from the water heater. Also the water heater needed a drip pan under it. This held up the final inspection. Today the plumber showed up and took care of it all. Next, our neighbor came down and asked if I needed any brown landscaping rock. Seems he ordered 3 ton and they delivered 5 ton. Just so happens I was going to buy some but since I have an unexpected expense (the car repair) I decided to hold off on that purchase. So when my neighbor offered the rock for free I jumped on it. I even got his landscaper to bring it down to my lot with his Bobcat for a 12 pack of beer. Since I haven’t heard from the body shop that I delivered our car to Monday I decided to give them a call. They weren’t sure if they wanted to fix the car because of the damage to the cowling. He informed me today that they not only will fix it but are just about done fixing the cowling. The other parts are on order and the car should be done next week. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, our stocks took a big jump in the right direction today. So other than sore muscles from shoveling and spreading landscaping rock most of the day, it was a Good Day. Tomorrow is final inspection on the casita and if it passes I will take a walk (no car remember) over to Lowes and buy Susan’s Washer/Dryer and get it delivered. That will make her real happy.

Over an hour to hang a toilet paper holder

I have been busy doing all the little things on our Casita since most of the major stuff is done. We are about ready to call for final inspection except the plumber messed up and forgot to plumb the water heater pressure relief valve to the outside. Also it needs a pan under the water heater. The electrical got done yesterday and it all works well.




I spent over an hour today just to hang a toilet paper holder. The reason why is because I kept getting interrupted by friends coming by. Not really a problem though.

Before we returned from Las Vegas, I ran the car in to the Saturn dealer to get an estimate on the bodywork. It came to around $3500. When we got back to Havasu I got a local estimate. That one comes to $2900. I gave then the go ahead and they will be picking up the car on Monday. Hopefully it won’t take long since that is our only car.

I posted our photos from the last 2 NASCAR races. Check down the left column and click on the thumbnail titled 2009 NASCAR.

Back in Havasu

We have arrived back in Lake Havasu this afternoon. NASCAR was great. We really had a good time in Las Vegas at the track. Susan was unhappy that Jimmie Johnson crashed late in the race but it is still early in the season and I am sure he will do well. I will be posting pictures soon.

On the way back I stopped by the Saturn dealer in Henderson Nevada to get an estimate on repairing the car. They don’t do body work and called in an appraiser from the local body shop. He said he would get back to me this afternoon with the estimate. That didn’t happen. I will be giving him a call tomorrow. I would like to see what price he gives me before I take it to a body shop here in Havasu. The good news is it can be fixed. The bad news is it could get expensive depending on the part for the cowling.
I have had at least 3 people so far that have offered their car for our use here at the resort, another reason why I love this lifestyle. I may take them up on it since I need to pick up more stuff to get this Casita completed.

I sure was nice to be able to pull onto our own lot this time. The motorhome fits well with the Casita on the lot.

Las Vegas NASCAR

We moved over to the track today where we will be through the NASCAR weekend. I made an appointment with the Saturn Dealer here in Las Vegas to get an estimate on the Saturn Monday. If it is reasonable I might leave it hear and come back to pick it up when their done. I’m getting kind of tired answering questions every time someone sees it.

I guess I didn’t mention it but the night Susan ran into the gate, she was going over to spend the evening with her favorite NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson.

Even though she was pretty upset she still had a good time.

The race weekend was fun and it sure was good to see some old friends again. Some of which we only see at the track. While we were there we got photographed for a promo and might be selected to have the photo appear on TV and in some magazines. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.

Sam’s Town Las Vegas

We have arrived at Sam’s Town RV Park in Las Vegas today. After dropping off the rental car this morning we got on the road by 8:30a. Not bad. We had a good drive and made it to Las Vegas in about 4 hours. We will hang out here at Sam’s Town until Wednesday when we head on over to the Race Track where we will spend the rest of the week. Tomorrow I am going to call the Saturn dealer here to see if they do collision repairs. If so we will swing by on our way back to Havasu since it is on the way to see if it can be repaired and get an estimate. We have sure been getting a lot of attention with a busted up car parked by the motorhome. It is amazing what stress can do to you. I never stress over anything until this car incident. The stress must have lowered my resistance because I have come down with a cold. It has been so long since I had a cold (probably 10 years) that I forgot what one felt like and didn’t understand why I was feeling so funky. Hopefully it will be short lived.

Oh CRAP

Well sometimes your luck just runs out. Susan and I have been driving for MANY years with out an incident. But last night that all changed. Susan was blinded by the sun for a split second and had a collision with a gate. No one was hurt physically but Susan was pretty upset and I lost a night sleep trying to decide what to do next. Turns out since we had such a good driving record that I figured we didn’t need collision coverage on our insurance. WRONG! This one is on my dime.
Otherwise we are having a good time here at the NASCAR race in Fontana. I ended up renting a car to get us from the Elks Lodge in Ontario where we like to stay to the track and back everyday.

Upsetting service experience

It came time for an oil change on our Saturn and since there is no Saturn dealer in Havasu and we are traveling I scoped one out in route. I found one in Ontario where we are right now and since we had a day to kill before NASCAR I zipped it over to Saturn of Ontario. Now I usually spend about $50 for a synthetic oil change at the Saturn dealers. This is not really a bad price since the price of Synthetic oil has reached $5 a quart. It would cost me around $35 to do it myself so for an extra $15 I will let them do it. They also give everything a good check over and top off fluids, which I probably wouldn’t do. Anyway, the upsetting part is they handed me a quote before the job for $82. I questioned the amount and they said that is what they charge for Synthetic. I was ready to decline but it needed doing. However after the job was done the bill came to $53. What was the $82 estimate for anyway? You would think they should know what it cost to do an oil change on their own brand. There should be no estimate and just a set price. In fact the other dealers I have gone to have a set price posted and that is what you pay. They almost lost my business over this.

PITA

What a pain in the…Well you know what. We made our way to the Ontario Elks Lodge where we will be for the rest of the week. From here we driver over to Fontana for the NASCAR race. I hate driving through LA. The traffic was a mess and the roads are the worst. The motorhome got a good shakedown driving these roads. We are settled in for the week so it’s all good now. Even the refrigerator and Water Heater are working.

Not the best day

Today was a challenge for us. It all started sometime early this morning while we were sleeping. The wind started to blow, REAL HARD. Then the rain started to fall REAL HARD. Then the power went out. No big deal I thought. I got up and shut off the main breaker inside the motorhome just in case there is a glitch with the power coming back on. Don’t want to blow anything like the refrigerator circuit board. I woke this morning and the wind had subsided but it was still raining pretty good. I switched the breaker back on and the motorhome came to life…except the refrigerator. When the rain died down enough I went outside to investigate. The gas valve would kick in but the igniter was silent. I could smell plenty of LP so I stuck a match to the burner and it lit. OK I thought, as long as it is running we can travel and not worry about our food getting warm. We packed up and hit the road. Susan went back a couple of times and the refrigerator was still on. After driving through some pretty nasty weather, we arrived at the Santa Barbara Elk’s lodge where we had made reservations. First thing I noticed was there was a motorhome in the spot we had reserved. I headed for the office to see what the deal was and found they are closed for President’s day. OK I guess I will just take another site, hope it’s not reserved. Susan switched on the water heater and it lit but the igniter kept sparking and it shut right off. Now what, I thought. Our water heater is gas only, a power glitch should not effect it. I pulled the board thinking water must have gotten in from the drive in the rain. Nope, Dry. I reset all the connectors with no change. Finally I did the last step in troubleshooting. Beat on it. I thumped on it several times and the igniter shut off and it stayed lit. I will deal with that later. Now it’s time to move on to the refrigerator. I took the cover off the board and checked the fuses. Darn, they are good. I traced wires and found the igniter and checked the connectors. AH HA, a loose connector. I reset the connector and switched on the refrigerator and it lit immediately. Wow, I had thought last nights power glitch took out the board. Well it seems everything is working again. The rain has stoped and the sun is shining. Now as long as someone doesn’t come by and try to kick us out of this site, we are good.

Wish us luck

Our time is up here at San Antonio Lake. We are heading out tomorrow. Tomorrow the weather is not favorable at all. Normally we would stay and let the weather pass by. I have checked the weather reports and there is not going to be a good time to travel for a few days and I need to get Susan down to Fontana for the next NASCAR race. Actually we are not driving to Fontana tomorrow. We will make a stop over in Santa Barbara for the night and do the second half on Tuesday. Since I have been breaking my rules lately (2X2X2) I figured I could break my travel in bad weather rule. We have a 3 hour drive tomorrow and if it takes us 5 hours, that’s OK. I will just take my time and drive very careful and defensive.

Mixed weather

We have had some mixed weather up here at San Antonio Lakes near Paso Robles. When we got here on Wednesday it was sunny with 60° temps. It quickly turned to rain then hale. Through the night it rained pretty hard. Since then it has been alternating between rain, fog, and sun. It gets into the 30s at night (good thing I fill the propane tank) and 60 during the day. We have use of the group room, which is heated though so all is well. Last night we had a crock-pot dinner since yesterday was the official arrival date and some didn’t arrive until later. This morning was omelet in a bag. This is where you dump all your omelet goodies in a baggie and boil it for about 10 to 15 minutes. They come out pretty well. We got a video feed going this morning with a former rally attendant who is now in Tennessee. Pretty Cool. We have enjoyed the company of Wild turkey, deer, and there was even a mountain lion spotting.

RV Rally

We are now at San Antonio Lake up in the hills just west of Paso Robles, CA for an RV Rally. We left Bakersfield this morning in good weather and it went down hill from their.

We traveled a couple of hours in rain. Most of the time it was just a drizzle but came down hard at times. As we were approaching Paso Robles the skies cleared up again and it was a good drive up to the lake. The motorhome and car were a real mess but as you can see by this photo,

I had a chance to clean everything up. We will be here until Monday morning. Hopefully we will have some good weather.

Truck jam

We thought we were getting an early start this morning until we got to the AZ-95 and I-40 junction. There must have been 500 trucks parked everywhere, and I am not exaggerating. We pulled in for gas and people were even parked in the gas isles. I had to ask one to move so I could get in to fuel up. What was going on was they had eastbound I-40 closed off because of snow. Fortunately we were heading Westbound so we got through OK with little delay. The weather today was so much better than yesterday but we did run into a good bit of wind between Needles and Ludlow. Enough that I thought I might have to pull off if it got any worse. Once we got closer to Barstow the wind let up and the rest of the trip was OK. I probably got pretty lousy mileage though because I was bucking a head wind the whole trip.

As expected we found snow in the Tehachapi’s but the roads were clear and dry.

Once we got over the mountain it turned from white to green. That area is pretty cool with miles of rolling green pastures. We are at one of our favorite places, Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield. Unfortunately there are no more oranges left on the trees. We never seem to come through here anymore during the peak orange season. Tomorrow we will be heading for the hills west of Paso Robles where we will be until Monday, unless the weather says different.

Hold on a minute

Or more like a day… We were planning to take off tomorrow for an RV rally in California. After checking with a couple of weather websites we have decided to hold off until Tuesday. The weather for tomorrow isn’t going to be as bad as expected but they are still saying rain and winds. Tuesday will be a lull between the storms since another is coming later this week. We should be at the rally location before the next hits. We have access to a clubhouse at the rally so rain will not hamper our fun at all. Hopefully it will clear before we leave the rally.

No work today

I has been raining all day. Well, It actually started about 10:00a and has not stopped yet. I got such a good deal on some door casing the other day that I decided to use the same for baseboard so off to Home Depot today to pick up some more. Yes I did say Home Depot. Susan is a BIG NASCAR fan and a fan of Jimmy Johnson in the number 48 car, which is sponsored by Lowes. Normally she won’t let me shop at Home Depot but if they have what I need at a better deal Home Depot it is. The door casing I bought is priced at $0.72 a foot but they had 5 seven foot lengths packaged together for about $9.00. That’s about $0.27 a foot for the same stuff. I also had time to clean my leveling jack before the rain came. The jacks have been a little lazy retracting lately and a good wipe down usually fixes that. I need to get up to the Casita tomorrow and check for leaks. I doubt it leaks but you never know and the rain will be a good test.

I sure hope the rain lets up before we need to take off for California. The plan is to head out Monday but like I said before if the wind comes up or it is still raining a lot we will wait until Tuesday. The weather reports still say Tuesday is a good day.

Susan is a happy camper now since NASCAR has start up again. As I sit here writing this post we are watching the Budweiser Shootout.

Just about done

We were supposed to get a roof yesterday but no one showed up.

Well as you can see they did show up today. It didn’t take them too long to install the complete roof. Now Our Casita doesn’t look like the oddball in the neighborhood. It looks pretty much complete. It still needs the final plumbing and electrical done inside along with a few minor things but it is pretty much done. All in all, it went together pretty quick and I am happy with the results.

We had planned to take off Monday to head for an RV rally in California but the last weather report I saw said 65 MPH winds. I don’t think so. We might wait until Tuesday and break our 2X2X2 rule and drive 5 hours to the first stop.

We got brown

Yesterday they applied the final brown coat of stucco on our casita. It sure looks good. The roof was supposed to go on today but no one showed up. The contractor called and said they will be here tomorrow morning. The bathroom door was also installed today. The casita is really coming together.

Our Verizon cell phone coverage is terrible here in Lake Havasu. There is Verizon across the lake on the California side but here on the Arizona side we are on extended service. Usually the Extended service works well however here in Havasu we get dropped calls, calls that don’t go through, and just plain weird stuff happening. I was told that if enough people call Verizon they will eventually setup service here in Havasu. So I called. Ironically, right in the middle of my conversation with customer service, the call was dropped. What really bothers me is they didn’t have the decency to call back.

Paint and tile is in

I spent 3 days painting the inside of our Casita. Not that it is big, it’s just that I am not an experienced painter, I hate painting, and am too critical of my own work. But it came out great.

The first day I spent cleaning and prepping for the paint. The next I put 3 gallons of primer on the walls. The 3rd day I applied 2 gallons of paint. I got lucky on the paint since my neighbor came over to help. It made the job go a lot faster.

The tile went in today.

There are still a couple of pieces that need to be installed arount the tub but we are waiting for the bathroom door to be installed to get the measurements. Tomorrow they are supposed to apply the color coat on the outside. It’s getting close!