Casa Grande, Arizona: Palm Creek Golf & RV Resort Rocks

First of all, let me say Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone. I hope you were able to spend time with the one you love -- I know I did.

Wow! I can’t believe how long it’s been since my last post. Normally when Mary Lynn and I are travelling I post every two or three days. In this case it’s been over two weeks since I last posted.

We originally left Maryland just after New Year’s Day, travelling south through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. When we camped just outside of Atlanta there ground was frozen and covered with snow. In Atlanta! We had some work done on the RV at Tiffin’s service center in Red Bay, Alabama, and during a brief break in the weather decided to head north to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where we visited our son and daughter-in-law.

After leaving Oklahoma  we travelled across Texas, New Mexico and half of Arizona before MLA and I arrived at Palm Creek Golf & RV Resort around the beginning of February. And boy, have we been busy. We are having too much fun.

I hesitate to mention just how nice the weather has been. With most of the country suffering through one of the worst winters on record, we have been enjoying lots of Arizona sunshine. A little cooler than normal for southern Arizona but still in the 60’s and now the forecast is for mid to high 70’s for the next week or so. And like I said, lots of blindingly bright Arizona sunshine. It’s hard to describe just how wonderful it feels.

Our family and friends back in Maryland have been inundated with snow. Lots and lots of snow. In fact our friends John and Liz in Deep Creek, Maryland shared some pictures with us from last week, when they received 5 feet of snow. That brings the total snow in Deep Creek for this season to 190 inches (for those of you struggling to do the math that’s two inches short of 16 feet). Wow! Plus there are at least two more months of winter before the final tally is complete.

I’m hoping to convince John and Liz to dig out and then join us in Arizona for a week or two. It will take them that long to thaw out!

Pulling into Palm Creek was great. There’s a huge sign at the main entrance that screams “Welcome Home” and you know, after spending three months here last winter, it does feel like home. It’s great seeing all of the people we met last year, renewing friendships and making new friends.

 

We arrived at our site around 1:00pm and before I had completed making the water and electric connections, a friend of mine was dragging me off to play water volleyball. I was in the pool by 2pm, laughing and playing as if I had never left. Well, not quite – after spending last summer in Alaska and then spending the fall in Maryland, I had no tan what so ever. Fortunately I have since resolved that problem but not before I blinded a few water volleyball players with my ‘whiteness’. It wasn’t pretty…

We started playing Pickleball again (that’s always a blast) and we ride our bikes everywhere.

Did I tell you about our little bicycle adventure? Well, it started when MLA asked for a bike carrier for Christmas that would fit on top of the CR-V. So I ordered the carrier and, as a surprise, I bought her a new bike (come on, she had to have a least one gift that was a surprise). So I purchased a cruiser that had seven speeds and was hot pink in color. She loved it.

When we left Maryland (during a break in the snow storms), we strapped that new bike to the top of the CR-V on our new bike carrier and proceeded to travel all across America with that brand new pink bike hanging out on top of the toad. Only problem was when you drove the CR-V, -- you could not see the bike up there and one could easily forget there was a bike on top of the car. Not only could one forget, one did forget. Me (You see where this is going –right?).

Sure enough, when we went to dinner in Pecos, Texas I went to park the car and didn’t realize the overhang on the restaurant was a couple of inches lower the the top of the bike. Wham! Boom! Bang! As soon as it happened I looked at MLA and told her I had just destroyed her new bike. She hadn’t even had a chance to ride it yet.

Turns out it was not destroyed. In fact, there was no damage to the bike at all. It broke the straps that hold the bike on top of the carrier and shot it off off the car’s roof. However, other than the two bike carrier straps, no damage to the bike or to the car. I really felt like we dodged a bullet.

Oh, and of course, when we arrived at Palm Creek MLA finally had a chance to ride her new bike – and immediately told me she prefers her old bike – the one without gears and with coaster brakes.

Oh well, anyone interested in a brand new bike that’s travelled 2000 miles from home and has only been ridden around the block?

See Ya!

Technorati Tags: Palm Creek,bike,Arizona

Ft Worth, TX: Look, Another Red Tailed Hawk!

After spending almost a week with Christopher & Rachael we left Tulsa today and headed south towards Texas. We had such a great time with them, with Chano’s family and with Caleb & Jody. Even though we miss seeing Christopher & Rachael as often as we would like it gives us great joy & comfort to see them surrounded by people that love them and that they love.

Whoa! (Like that? it seemed appropriate as I sit here camped just outside of Ft Worth Texas). Whoa! That first paragraph started to sound like one of those sappy birthday cards your spouse buys for you occasionally. I prefer the funny ones. I mean, I know what to do when a read a funny card – laugh and then give the card giver a hug and kiss. Simple huh?

But what do you do when you get a real sappy card from your spouse? I mean one of those really sappy ones: I’d swim the widest oceans; I’d climb the highest mountains and dive the deepest seas, etc. etc. What do you say (and do) after receiving one of them? I mean, saying “Yeah, Me too” sounds just a little weak…

Regardless, we left Christopher & Rachael tucked into their new home this morning and arrived in Ft Worth around 5 pm. The winds were pretty bad; several times the wind blew hard enough to push our RV around. Came in strong gusts and then died off to nothing. After five hours of driving, I was exhausted from waiting for the next big gust & then fighting the wheel to keep from being pushed into the next lane. That didn’t happen to us however I saw more than one vehicle get pushed halfway out of their lane – always fun to pass or be passed by one of those vehicles!

Plus the wind wrecked my plans of enjoying all of the hawks along Oklahoma highways. I don’t know what it is but for some reason the hawk population in Oklahoma is huge. Lots and lots of hawks along its highways. Not unusual to see at least a hawk almost every mile. Have to look closely at the fence posts and occasionally up in the branches of a strong tree. Beautiful bird – very powerful and always alert -- makes them look intelligent and regal somehow. I guess that’s why falconry was called the “Sport of Kings”.

Of course my knowledge of the various types of hawks is pretty limited (pretty limited being code for no knowledge of hawks), not to mention the fact that most sightings are brief glimpses of birds as you sail down the highway at 65 mph. Knowing that Red-tailed Hawks are among the most numerous, and the fact that once I saw what might be a reddish brown tail on a hawk, I tend to refer to all hawks as red-tailed Hawks. A great injustice to the other types of hawks but there you have it. That’s my verdict.

In fact, my ‘verdict’ after catching a glimpse lasting less than half a second of a bird like blob sitting atop an Oklahoma fence post sounds something like: “Look, a red-tailed hawk, an old juvenile, male if I’m not mistaken”. If I say this loudly enough and with a deep authoritative tone, people undoubtedly believe what I have said. Even if they don’t quite believe me, the hawk is now half mile behind us and no one else in the vehicle will be able to dispute me…  well, they might dispute me but they’ll never be able to prove my ‘verdict’ was wrong.

In any case, the wind wrecked my plans to show MLA just what a great outdoorsman I am by calling every large bird a hawk. I keep telling her that when she married me she lucked out and got ‘the whole package’. Wit, intelligence, strong outdoorsman skills, dashing good looks, etc. – the whole package. For some unknown reason she just laughs.. and then calls one of her girlfriends and laughs some more….

Now that we are hitting what most people consider to be “The West” distances are getting much greater, not to mention the size of the ranches. Some of them appear to have their own exit off of the Interstate – probably their own zip code -- now that’s big. Texas sized. And the high school stadiums are just huge – the one pictured is in Broken Arrow, Ok for a six A high school – and it’s not the largest in the area.

Just outside of Oklahoma City, OK we saw something we hadn’t seen before -- a Horse Shoeing School. All I know is the horses waiting in the pens outside of the school looked very nervous – I guess I would be too if a bunch novices wanted to nail a steel rod to the bottom of my feet (or anywhere else for that matter).

 

Now that we have come south by several hundred miles our route will turn westward towards Arizona (we still have to traverse two thirds of Texas, all of New Mexico and part of Arizona before we arrive in Palm Creek.

It’s still not warm. Not here in Ft Worth or in Arizona. Warmer than Maryland for sure but not warm. Although this evening’s sunset appears to support a much warmer future. That’s my verdict anyhow – lots of color equates to warmer temperatures -- and I say that with great authority and forcefulness so people will believe me (don’t tell anyone but technically the amount of color in a sunset has no correlation to future temperatures).

See Ya!

Technorati Tags: Texas,Oklahoma,Hawks,Cards

Tulsa, OK: Thunderstorms Rock Our World - In Winter?

With the last of the repairs to our RV completed, we left Tiffin’s Red Bay, Alabama Service Center on Tuesday around 10 am.

Once again Tiffin stood behind their RV, fixing any item that would normally be covered by warranty even though the one year warranty period is over. Tiffin appears to have survived the same economic downturn that has put dozens of RV manufacturers out of business; I’m convinced it’s because of how well they treat their customers ‘after the sale’.

Face it, RV’s are complex assemblies of vastly different systems: 2 wiring systems (110v as in  your house & 12v as in your vehicle) 3 ways of powering the RV (diesel generator, shore-power, and via a battery/Inverter combination) a plumbing system with 3 separate components (fresh water, grey water and black water), an entertainment system containing 3 TV’s, a CD/DVD multiplayer, satellite TV receiver, HD TV receiver, and a satellite radio system plus a myriad of other system complex systems: diesel power, truck chassis/suspension, automatic leveling system, mechanisms to fill/flush various tanks, monitors for determining when to fill/flush various tanks, fridge, microwave, etc. etc, etc. The list goes on & on.

To top it all off, RV owners drive these big conglomeration of systems down our deteriorated highways at 65 mph, on bumpy and dusty back roads and, when we get to our destination, onto less than perfect fields, deserts and campgrounds. After all that, is it any wonder RV’s need on-going maintenance and repairs? I figured all RV’s regardless of manufacturer would need quality after sale support and that was how I evaluated RV vendors and ultimately led me to select Tiffin. They stand behind their product.

Sorry, I just realized I sound like a commercial for Tiffin – Just to be clear, I get nothing if any of you buy a Tiffin RV.

This leg of our trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma took us north through Mississippi into Memphis, Tennessee, and west across most of Arkansas, where we stopped for the night in Russellville, Arkansas. Of all the states we’ve been to so far, Arkansas has been the biggest surprise. It is a beautiful state, especially the western portion. It is also home to some of the worst stretches of I-40 we’ve driven on so far, especially east of Little Rock.

 

The couple in the fifth-wheel had just retired and this was their first night camping in their new RV. You should have seen how excited they were. Russellville is about an hour east of the Arkansas/Oklahoma border so we knew we had about a three hour drive to reach Tulsa.

What’s that you say Dale? Tulsa?

Yeah, yeah, I know. We said we were going to go south and stay south to avoid the cold. Originally we planned to go to New Orleans when we left Red Bay, Alabama however there was a huge break in the weather, with temperatures in the 60’s in Arkansas and mid-50’s in Oklahoma. We wanted the opportunity to see our son Christopher and Rachael and their new house however Tulsa’s freezing temperatures and ice/snow storms had us thinking we would have to wait for spring…

Welcome to the beauty of traveling by RV! Changes in the schedule are easy, especially when your schedule is a ‘loose’ as ours. We are headed to Palm Creek in Arizona however we have no specific time/requirement to be there on a specific date (or week or month for that matter). We get there when we get there. And so, with a huge warming trend predicted to last a week or more we shot North to Tulsa..

Last night in Arkansas we experienced some incredible thunderstorms, complete with thunder, lightning and incredibly hard downpours that made the RV’s roof sing. We awoke to sunshine and by the time we left around 9 am the temperature was already 67 degrees. It was a glorious day, at least for most of us. The guy getting the ticket pictured above probably didn’t think the day was quite as wonderful as the rest of us.

We arrived in Tulsa around lunchtime and, after getting the RV set-up at the campground, spent the afternoon with Christopher, Rachael and their three nieces. The girls are beautiful, full of energy, spirit & life and growing up way too fast.

And again tonight, as I write this around 1 am, we are being hit with an incredibly hard thunderstorm. Good thing the temperatures are well above freezing; I wouldn’t want to see all this rain as snow; we’d never get out of Oklahoma…

So we’ll stay in Tulsa for a few days visiting Christopher and Rachael, probably leaving sometime this weekend (or at the first sign of freezing temperatures).

When we do leave we’ll head due south into Texas towards Fort Worth where we’ll turn west on I-20 towards Casa Grande, Arizona. Along the way we hope to spend some time at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Our good friend John recommended we see Carlsbad last year however the weather didn’t cooperate. Hopefully this year the weather will stay nice enough for us to spend a day or two in Carlsbad.

See Ya!

Technorati Tags: Tulsa,Arkansas,Oklahoma,thunderstorms,Tiffin Service Center,Carlsbad,Christopher,Rachael

Red Bay, AL: A Romp In The Park

Yesterday we took the RV to the Tiffin service bay at 7 am sharp to begin the repairs/warranty work on our ‘punch list’. Turns out the repair process to fix the kitchen slide is more extensive than everyone thought, which means it is taking much longer than planned. Oh well.

The techs at Tiffin worked on the kitchen slide all day yesterday and again all day today, finishing the repairs just as the service center closed at 3:30 pm. That said, our repair tech Terry did a terrific job of fixing the slide.

So we ‘danced with the elephants’ (all the other RV’s move from the service center to the campground at the same time) and plan to be back at the service center at 7 am tomorrow. Let’s hope they can knock off the rest of the items pretty quickly.

Actually I think the repair of the combo washer/dryer will require them to tear apart another cabinet, replace the unit and then re-build the cabinet. RV’s are built on an assembly line and everything big and bulky is loaded onto the chassis/floor and then the RV’s walls are built around them. Great for manufacturing efficiency – bad for serviceability.

 

I’ve always thought engineers/designers of most products, especially complex products with lots of technology imbedded, should be required to work in the service department for a month or so when they first start a new job. They would quickly see that a few small changes/design improvements would allow better serviceability without compromising style, etc. If I ran the zoo…  In any case we’ll be spending another day in Red Bay, Alabama.

 

For those of you wondering, Red Bay, Alabama is not exactly a hot spot of civilization. It’s a very small town in the rural south smack up against the Mississippi/Alabama state border. There are only two stop lights and they only really need one; I think the other light was installed so they have ‘bragging rights’ over other small towns. And just so you know, there is no Bay in Red Bay. Or any body of water for that matter. The town was named after a large Red Bay tree that is still alive and well.  Oh the things you learn when you travel…

 

So what do you do while waiting for your RV to be repaired? Tiffin has a nice customer lounge where everyone hangs out with their pets, reads, watches a little CNN., etc. But mostly people sit around and talk to each other. The pets perform the ‘breaking the ice’ role. Everyone makes over the various animals (mostly dogs) and then introduces themselves and serious conversation begins.

Number one topic (after discussing which animals/breeds you have/had) is what repairs are being performed on your RV, what funny/frustrating experience(s) you had because of the needed repair and whether or not Tiffin will make the repairs under warranty.

Then the serious discussions begin. “Where have you been?” & “Where are you going?” are two questions everyone asks and gets asked. RV’ers love to share information about where to stay, what to see, where to eat, crossing borders/clearing customs, etc.

 

Having spent all day yesterday exhausting these topics, Mary Lynn and I decided to take off and explore the Alabama/Mississippi countryside. In doing so we found a nice Corps of Engineers park. After all the cold weather, temperatures around 50 degrees felt pretty darn good. And Dobbie enjoyed romping through the park, and exploring every interesting smell in the air. Or I should say “in the air within 12 inches of the ground” since she is a little, shall we say, “height challenged”.

Really nice day out and the lake was perfectly still creating some great reflections. Tomorrow is Friday and we hope to have everything completed by the close of business however you never know. At least the weather is much improved although it still gets into the low 30’s at night.

See Ya!

Technorati Tags: Red Bay,Alabama,Tiffin Service Center,techs,Mississippi,Corps of Engineers,repairs,warranty,lake,reflections

Searching For The Heat

I am happy to tell you that last week, in sub-freezing weather with wind chills in the single digits, Mary Lynn and I spent two days packing the RV with clothes, food and great expectations of finding warm weather. Too cold to un-winterize the RV, we left Maryland with both heaters cranked up on high and the plumbing system still full of anti-freeze. Of course, MLA’s Christmas present was proudly attached to the top of the CR-V. Now if I can only remember it’s up there when approaching parking garages/low overhangs, etc. She loves that hot pink beach cruiser…

 

Regardless, we took off from our Maryland home (still for sale if you are interested) and as always, the joy of hitting the road in an RV descended on us like the ball in Times Square on New Years Eve. Within minutes we were cruising on down the road, laughing and having a great time. We must have looked like a couple of fools to everyone else stuck in a typical Washington DC beltway traffic jam. We were surrounded by frustrated drivers anxious to get home after a long day at work – and all the while MLA and I are laughing and grinning like a couple of kids cutting school. Even two cars broken down in the middle lanes of I-95 south of DC didn’t put a dent in our attitude.

I am somewhat sad to tell you there is no warmth to be found along the Atlantic coast – even Florida temperatures were in the 20’s. Heck, so far we have not made it out of the 30’s. All across Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and now Alabama, freezing cold weather has been our travelling companion.

No worries though – we know it will get better. Our destination is Casa Grande, Arizona, which is currently experiencing temperatures in the low 70’s (doesn’t that make your mouth water?") -- So it will get better.

When we left Maryland we travelled straight to Oak Ridge, NC to see our good friends Jack and Cathy. We had a terrific time with them however given the cold temperatures (and our frozen water pipes), we left the Greensboro area pretty quickly.

In Georgia, just outside of Atlanta, we stayed at the Stone Mountain resort and campground. Normally a beautiful, heavily forested resort, this trip it looked a little bit more like frozen tundra. You could tell,, even in this cold weather, that the views out of our front window would be spectacular once spring rolls around.

 

As I said, we are now in Red Bay, Alabama, home of Tiffin Motor Homes, where we are having some warranty work done on the RV. We were tempted to put the work off until warmer weather but who knows when we will be coming back this way. Our work is scheduled to begin tomorrow morning at 7 am sharp and should be completed by the end of the day or early the next day. And the local weather here in Red Bay is expected to hit the high 40’s/low 50’s by the end of the week. Yee Haa!

 

Today MLA and I took (re-took) the Tiffin factory tour and then crawled in and out of the new 2010 RV’s. Wow are they impressive – and each has an impressive price tag to keep it company. We love our current Tiffin however it would be nice to have a little more storage. Not sure I’m willing to pay for that extra storage but its nice to dream a little.

 

It’s always a sight to see all the huge RV’s (most are 40-45 feet long) move from the campground (really an old airport runway) into the service center. Diesels growling, big bodies swaying side-to-side, spinning in circles to navigate their way into one of the 50 service bays. I call it the Dance of the Elephants…

As soon as work on our RV is completed MLA and I will head to New Orleans to visit her sister Debbie and husband Richard assuming of course the weather warms up a little in New Orleans; it has been cold and freezing there for the last two weeks as well.

In any case, Arizona will soon thaw whatever & whomever needs thawing.

See Ya!

Technorati Tags: Red Bay,Stone Mountain,GA,Oak Ridge,Greensboro,NC,Alabama,AL,Tiffin Factory,Dancing Elephants