New Rig!

 

It has now been three years since we started our “Life on the Road” and with the anniversary we have treated ourselves to a new rig.  Since we started this adventure in this Jayco Eagle we have realized there were some things we did not not like with the floorplan and some features we were missing.  Mainly we wanted a floorplan that had the recliners opposite the entertainment center so that you did not have to turn to watch TV.  We also wanted the larger refrigerator models that are now being offered as the size we have could be problematic at times when using it full time.  We began looking at rigs a few months back and came close a couple of times but the same financing issue came up as when we bought our current unit.  Banks do not want to lend to full timers.  We were lucky on this rig in that we still owned our home so a lender was found and the loan was not based on us being full time.  It did cause us to pay more in sales tax as we had to register it first in Illinois before it could be transferred to South Dakota, our state of residence. 

This past week I was in contact with our dealer in Illinois regarding an issue with our current rig and that began a discussion on a new rig.  We had not been looking at Jayco’s because they did not offer a floorplan that we wanted.  He told me that Jayco had just redesigned many of their Pinnacle floorplans and were coming out early with some 2015 models.  After some more phone calls and emails we saw they had a model we liked that was just off the factory line and had all the features we were looking for.  Over the next three days we worked the financing issue and our dealer was able to find a lender and a deal was made.  The downside is that we have to pick it up in Joliet, Illinois.  We were headed in that direction anyway but not for another few months.  So next week we leave Las Vegas and head to Illinois.  Hopefully it will begin warming up or it will be an interesting drive.

Pinnacle is the luxury fifth wheel line for Jayco so it is an upgrade from our current model.  It has some very nice features including a six point leveling system that automatically levels the trailer at a push of a button.  A residential refrigerator with icemaker.  A 60 inch LED TV in the living room that retracts into the cabinet, fireplace (actually just an electric heater with fake flames), leather recliners and sofa and a king bed. 

Here is the floorplan

Here are some pictures of a model similar to the one we are buying.  We do not have pictures of ours yet.

If everything goes as planned we should be in our new rig the first week of March.  I will post pictures then. 

Las Vegas

 

We left Quartzite on Monday and drove to Las Vegas where we will be for a couple of weeks.  There are many RV parks in the Las Vegas area with reviews that were mixed so we decided on the Las Vegas RV Resort as it had a great rate special going on and seemed to get the higher reviews.  It is off the strip near Sam’s Town and is in a very busy area so driving around with the trailer is a little dicey (more on that to come).  The park is very nice with large sites and nice spacing between them.  The intimidating part is the narrow interior roadways.  They can barely fit a truck towing a trailer, then you have to swing into the space and then swing out to leave.  They do escort you to the site and guide you in so that helped.  I copied a picture from Google Maps so you can see an overhead view of our space and get an idea of how narrow the roadways are.

As we needed some service work done on the trailer I had set up an appointment in advance with the local Jayco dealer.  When we got here I checked the address of the dealership to get directions from our RV park.  Come to find out I could probably throw a rock from our park and hit the dealership, but not so easy to get there with the trailer attached.  First getting out of the space.  I was sure it was going to very difficult to make the right turn onto the narrow roadway but it all worked fine.  The day before I had walked a route in the park the allowed me to exit via the larger interior roads.  Now the most direct route to the dealership would have been to make a left out of the park then a right another right then a left into the dealership.  Problem #1 – get out of the park.  The park is on S. Nellis Blvd.,  which is 6 busy lanes with a center median.  No way was a left turn feasible at 8am as I faced the possibility of getting hung up in the center with the rig blocking lanes.  So, it has to be a right turn.  Problem #2 – from Nellis, making a right, how do I now get to Boulder Highway where the dealership is.  There are no direct routes joining the two.  I had to go down about a mile and make a left onto a street, then another left and finally another left to get on Boulder Highway, then drive a mile and a half to the dealership, which was on the right.  End result I drove over 3 miles to go probably 1/2 mile.  We did make it and the repairs were done but it did take all day.

We are here for the wedding of a friend’s daughter on Valentines Day weekend.  Following that we leave for a two day stop over in Death Valley then onto Bakersfield.

Route:  From Brenda, AZ  I took US 60 towards Interstate 10, then Interstate 10 west to US 95 north which brought us into Las Vegas.

Quartzite, Arizona Experience

 

We left Southern California a week ago and drove to Brenda, Arizona, which is located about 10 miles east of Quartzite.  For those of you who may not know about Quartzite let me give you some information from what I have learned.  It is in the desert out in the middle of nowhere.  During the hot months, spring and summer, the town has a population of about 5,000.  Years back the population would increase to over a million during the fall and winter months due to the influx of snowbirds who would winter here.  The numbers and length of stay have been decreasing over the past few years but the population still increases into the hundreds of thousands for a couple of months during the winter. 

The big attraction is the climate but also the rocks and gems that are found in the area.  So a big rock and gem show was started here many years ago and then an RV show was added since so many of the snowbirds use RV’s to live in while in the area.  At one time it was billed as the largest RV show in the states.  Following the RV show is a large craft show. 

To really experience Quartzite you need to come during the RV/Rock and Gem show as this is when everything is going on, so that is what we did.  We met up with my Aunt, Uncle and cousin.  They have been coming to Quartzite for many years so they have been very helpful it directing us around and telling us what to see.  Here is our two rigs at the park in Brenda.

Ours is in front of our red truck.  Their rig is to the right.

Needless to say it is very busy here during this show time.  Traffic is very busy getting to the show and parking is difficult as there are no real parking lots.  You just find some dirt spot out in the desert.  Fortunately we have 4 wheel drive on our truck as some of the areas are like quicksand.  The RV show was a disappointment as only one RV dealer was used for the main site so the brands of trailers were limited.  Around town other dealers were set up but still it was not what I had expected.  The vendor tent was pretty good for RV related items.  Outside the main tent was a huge vendor area selling just about anything you wanted.  Then around the rest of the town (one main street) was probably the largest garage sale going on. 

What is fascinating about all this is the town has a few gas stations, no major supermarket (just a couple of small grocery stores) and no bank.  The nearest Wal-Mart is 50 miles away!  I don’t understand why this is the case with so many RV’ers here. 

A popular thing for RV’ers to do here is boondock.  This where you drive out into the desert and park your RV and have no hookups.  As most of the land in the area is public land it can be done for free or for a small fee to the Bureau of Land Management.   There are businesses set up so that you bring your rig in to fill up the water tanks and dump your holding tanks, or you can pay a little more and they will come to you.  As you drive around the area on Interstate 10 you will see RV’s all over the place in the desert.

One place my Aunt/Uncle told us to stop at was a place called the Reader’s Oasis.  It is a used bookstore where the owner, an elderly gentleman, runs the shop in the nude except for a small cover over his “junk”. We stopped but it was a little cold in the morning so he was wearing a coat.  I was able to find a picture of him on the internet so you can see what it is all about.

We are here for another week then onto Las Vegas.

A new section:  While in Southern California I bought an atlas and highlighted all the roads we have driven and places we have stayed and gave it to my step-father so he can follow our travels.  With each blog post I will now add at the end the roads that we traveled to get there.  We left Anaheim on the 91 freeway going east to Interstate 215 south to Interstate 10 east.  Interstate 10 took us to highway 60 just east of Quartzite and we are staying in a little town called Brenda (probably not on the map) which is about 3 miles north of Interstate 10 on highway 60.

I’m Back!

 

Howdy folks.  It has been awhile.  As we get ready to leave Southern California I thought I would get you caught up on what we have been doing over the past couple of months. 

We arrived in Southern California (Anaheim) on Veterans Day in November.  We picked this area as my parents live here as well as some others relatives for the both of us.  In addition you cannot beat the weather this time of year in this area.  It has generally been in the high 60’s or 70’s most days.  The nights do a little cold but the sunshine makes up for it.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my one of my aunt’s.  She has been having a large Thanksgiving  gathering for years and I believe this is the first one we have made.  It was great to catch up with a lot of my relatives.  A real treat was seeing an uncle and cousin I had not seen in over 30 years.  We had a great time.

Next up was to celebrate Christmas a little early with our three daughters and son-in-law.  As flights are much cheaper before the holiday we celebrated in the middle of December.  Our two daughters from Knoxville flew in for 4 days and our daughter and her husband drove down for Portland.  We had a great weekend and it allowed them to visit with their grandparents. 

Christmas in the RV

Family picture

Since then we have been enjoying the great weather with daily walks and/or bike rides and visiting with my parents.  We have not done much sightseeing as we both grew up in the area and do not have much interest in revisiting places we have been.  We did end up going to Venice, California as neither one of us had ever seen the canals or the beach. The beach walk was pretty rundown but did have some interesting people.  It appears many people take up residence on the grassy area between the beach and the shops.  We walked the canals and it was interesting to see the nice homes all crammed together around these tiny canals.  I am sure you have all seen these as it is a popular filming location for TV shows. 

Venice Beach

Venice canals

We left Venice and drove up the coast highway a couple of miles to the Santa Monica pier.  You all should be familiar with this icon as the carousel and entrance sign has been in many TV shows and movies.  This is the ending point (or starting point) for Route 66 so it sort of means we have made the whole journey on the Old Route 66.  Technically we did not drive every portion where it still exists but we have hit all the major cities on the route, so I bought the T-shirt!  We had lunch on the pier and then walked the coast highway and their shopping district.  You could not have asked for a more beautiful day.

Santa Monica pier

Carousel building (it was closed for the day)

Entrance sign for the pier

On Saturday we head out for Salome, Arizona.  This is near Quartzite, Arizona where the annual RV show is held along with a crafts show and rock and gem show.  Due to the large number of snowbirds in the area these shows are very popular and supposed to be the largest ones around.  We are meeting up with my Aunt and her husband along with their daughter.  Following that we move onto Las Vegas to attend the wedding of a friends daughter then we begin a trip up the west coast to visit our daughter in Portland.

Made it to California

I last posted while we were in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Since then we have made our way, via Interstate 40, into California where we will spend the winter.  I have not posted along this route as we have been here before and seen the sights which I reported on.  Our stops were shorter, only 2 to 3 days.  Taking the I-40 route meant we were at higher elevations which translated into some very cold nights along the way.  On multiple nights the temperatures dipped below freezing forcing us to disconnect our water line.  In Gallup it got down to 12 degrees and froze one of our awnings over a slide.  Note to self, take I-10 next time!

We did have a blowout on one of the trailer tires while in Checotah, Oklahoma.  Fortunately it happened just as we got into the RV park so no damage was done.  I was able to get a tire the next day and we were fine.  Our extended warranty, this time, gave me no problem and honored my claim, so good news.

Here is a list of the places we stopped.  After Little Rock it was Checotah, Oklahoma, then Shamrock, Texas, Santa Rosa, New Mexico, Gallup, New Mexico, Seligman, Arizona and now we are in Yermo, California before we head into Anaheim on Monday.

Most of those towns are all Route 66 cities.  Gallup does a good job of keeping the feel of the days when Route 66 was in use and Seligman, for being out in the middle of nowhere, keeps the old feel alive, but otherwise these towns are really run down.

With our arrival in California we have completed another coast to coast trip in one year as we did last year.  We were in Savannah, Georgia at the beginning of the year and will finish out this year in Anaheim, California.  We also covered the east coast from Savannah, Georgia to Prince Edward Island in Canada.  Next year we focus on the west coast and the western states before heading to the midwest and south towards the end of the year.

Little Rock, Arkansas

We left West Memphis, Arkansas this past Thursday after a great visit with our friends the Cover’s who met up with us in their RV.  We now begin our two and half week trip to Southern California where we will spend the winter.  Our first stop was just a short distance as we wanted to see the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock.  If you are an avid follower of this blog you will remember reading about our goal to see all the Presidential libraries.  I have four to go (Both Bush libraries, Clinton and Ford) and Fran has five as she has not seen the Johnson library (I caught it while on a business trip).

We found an RV park that is just across the river from the library.  It is in North Little Rock and is adjacent to a pedestrian bridge that goes directly to the library.  The little park is owned by the city and is nothing special except for its location to downtown Little Rock and the great rates they charge.  They offer every discount and accept all membership clubs so for 4 nights it cost us $50 for a full hook up site with free Wi-Fi. 

  Picture of the park from the bridge to the library.  We are against the wall, fourth up from the bottom.

Here is the bridge that takes you directly to the Clinton Library.

The library has been called a double wide on stilts as it is box shaped and raised so that it looks over the river and is above the flood plain.

Here is a front view

Here is a view that shows you why it gets its nickname.

It is a beautiful library both inside and out and is very informative in presenting information on his presidency.

His Presidential limo

Inside of the library from the the third floor. 

A recreation of the White House Cabinet Room with Fran sitting in the President’s chair.

Replica of the Clinton Oval Office

Following our tour of the library we went to the River Market area of Little Rock which is only a couple of blocks away.  Here we had lunch and then took a walk to the Old State House.  This is where Clinton announced his candidacy to become President and where he gave his speech after winning the first election.

We leave on Monday with stops in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and then into California.  The route is one that we have traveled many times and a couple of the stops are at parks we have been at before, so probably not much to report for the next couple of weeks.

Stink Bugs!

Lovely title and I will talk about it, but first let me get you caught up.

Since my last post we spent another couple of weeks in Knoxville and did a couple of great events.  The first was an event called Wine on the Water.  Our daughter found out about this event and it sounded fun.  It was a family night as both our daughters joined us to taste wine and food on a terrace over the river in downtown Knoxville.  It was a perfect night for such an event and we enjoyed sampling the wines and trying the various food offerings.

The next day was our next event, tailgating for the University of Tennessee game.  Now I previously mentioned my nephew and his tailgating prowess, well on this day he chose to take it to a new level.  He went in with a couple of friends and rented a party tent that was placed on a grassy hill overlooking the parking lot.  Under the tent was a large screen TV, many tables and catered food.  Outside the tent was a singer to keep you entertained.  The tailgate started at around 11am for a 3:30pm game and was attended by dozens of people.  As the site was near the restrooms it was interesting to see people come over to watch the singer and then decide if they could crash the party for drinks and food.

That finished up our stay in Knoxville which went by way to fast.  We moved onto Nashville for a couple of days to visit with our friends the Sherwood’s who had just returned from a month long trip to Australia.  They had great pictures, especially underwater pictures from the Great Barrier Reef where they went diving for a week.

From Nashville we have moved to West Memphis, Arkansas where we will be for the next two weeks.  We are at Tom Sawyer’s RV park.   I have written about this RV park on a couple of occasions.  It is right on the banks of the Mississippi River just outside of Memphis.  The sites are right next to the river so you have great views and it is fun to watch the barges go by.  This ranks as one of the best parks we have stayed in and is the only park in our RV history that we have returned to so many times.  This is our fourth visit.

OK, now the stink bugs.  You may remember a couple of years ago I wrote about the moths of Tucumcari.  Well now it is the stinkbugs of Knoxville.  From what I am reading this is a banner year for the brown stink bug and we are experiencing it.  The RV park we stay at in the Smokies was heavily infested with these bugs and they would be all over the outside of the RV.  The bad part is that it is very easy for them to get inside the RV besides just coming through  the door.  They seem to be able to get their bodies through the tiniest of openings.  Fortunately they will usually just stay in one place and may fly once, so it is easy to catch them.  The problem is they are into everything.  I pulled in the slides on our RV one day and they were all over the seals of the slide.  We have found them in our clothes and in the cabinets.  As we have moved on we do not seem to be getting any new ones in this area but continue to find the ones that hitch hiked.  Based on what I am reading we may continue to find them for months as they come inside during the fall to hibernate for the winter.  Lucky us!

Here is a picture of the bug for your enjoyment