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.