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| 2000 Monaco Knight 36Z |
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2007 December - Camp Verde, AZ Steve picked up a razor and slit the middle of the carpet. "There, now we have to do it." Neither one of us had the urge to get this project started but we both wanted to get rid of that carpet so bad. Despite not being allowed to work on our rig we were able to take the carpet out. We used the biggest piece for our patio and then slowly cut it up and took it to the dumpsters over the next couple of weeks. Marnie picked out an oak-colored vinyl floor product at Home Depot (the kind with sticky tabs). It wasn't as easy as they make it out to be of course but we were able to get it installed over two days with much swearing and nashing of teeth. December will be a slow month for us. A couple of Christmas parties but that is about it. We took an opportunity to trade spaces to a more level spot. The front jack can lift the rig off the ground but not the back and we are at our limit, not quite level. |
| 2007 November - Camp Verde, AZ While we are here I decided to look at a map of the area. The area to the South and East of us looks like wilderness so Steve takes off one weekend to check it out, without a camera. So, the very next weekend Steve and Marnie take off on a Jeep Adventure with a camera this time. We visited Fossil Creek and the Verde Hot Springs. We stuck our feet in a pool on Fossil Creek and it was cold! The fish would swim up to a few inches from us so it was like being at an aquarium. A couple of little girls came up in bathing suits so we asked them if they swim in the creek. They said they did and then jumped in! Kids must be numb until they are 10. The drive to the Verde Hot Springs from Fossil Creek is only a few miles but the road gets pretty rocky. With Steve's head being screwed on with wood screws that means we go slow! It is about a mile hike to the springs from the camping area. We shared the hike with another couple. They seemed kind of shy so we didn't talk much and when we got to the springs they kind of held back until we left and they thought we were "done." However, they didn't give us a chance to warn them about the other couple ☺ I am pretty sure they were naked because the one fella had to get out of the spring to hand the other fella his swimming trunks! Marnie took and passed her Technician test and has joined the Hams! |
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2007 October - Camp Verde, AZ Camp Verde is much warmer than Flagstaff so we are going to stay the Winter. Neither of us mind the cold but having to insulate the hoses and put heaters in the wet-bay defeat the whole point being mobile. The dealer found that the transfer case shift lever on Steve's Jeep is binding and, sure enough, that would cause it to do the kinds of things we noticed including popping into gear. However, this binding is being caused by a faulty lift kit install and so there is no way to hold Jeep accountable for the damage. 80 meters was the ticket. Steve was able to hold an hour long QSO with Michael on this band and it was quite clear and easy to understand each other. It is fun to be able to communicate long distances without being "on-grid". After all, the first thing to fail in a disaster is probably the cell systems. Our dear friends, Pat & Carrie , are in town for a couple of weeks so we are having a great time together. They live on the Terra Firma so they are in the maritime version of an RV. Steve went for a joy ride through Fossil Creek and down to the the Verde Hot springs. I never made it to the springs as I didn't know where they were and there are no pictures because I forgot the camera... We met Don, Mary and their cat PC (Pretty Cat). Don makes wine too so we shared some home brew and had a couple nice visits. |
| 2007 September - Colorado In September we are off to Colorado to look at Real Estate and do some fishing. Things don't go well from the start. Steve's boss won't sign the leave request. A week before we are due to leave he says, "I have been holding on to it with the intention of probably approving it." A WEEK before is unacceptable, Steve took it to a higher court. Sep. 8 we pull out, put the tx case on Steve's Jeep in neutral, roll it back and forth just to make sure, hook it up and we are off! Just to the fuel station accross the street. We fill up and then take off for real. We only get a couple hundred yards when I notice the MH is sluggish. "Something is wrong." I say. I look in the mirror and I see smoke as I am pulling over into the suicide lane. I pull into this lane as there is no shoulder (what is up with that? Aren't there shoulders anymore? When did they change that?) Marnie bails out and jumps in the Jeep, she reports that it had slipped "slightly into gear." We are off again, our first real mistake! 300 miles later, we pull into the Cortez Walmart to get our fishing licenses. Aparently all the computers are down except for "Outfitters in Dolores." No problem, we will get settled into a campsite and drive the 20 miles back into Dolores and get licenses with plenty of time to fish before dark. We get to the first campsite to find it gated shut! I checked before we left and the website said Oct. 15 it closes. Not only that, but most of you know that you can't back up with a toad. It should have been marked at the highway! No big deal, unhook the Jeep, drive it seperate to the next campground and no harm done. The Jeep won't start, blown engine. You can imagine the language in use at this point. We tried unsuccessfully backing up and forcing the Jeep to cooperate but this was useless. We were on a steep hill down to the creek so pushing it was out of the question. Finally another Jeep happened by and the nice couple pulled our Jeep up the hill where we could turn the rig around and hook back up. But what to do now? Our plans are ruined without a vehicle to get around in. After much debate and gnashing of teeth we decided that a blown engine would take more than two weeks to fix so regardless we needed to head back to Flagstaff and maybe cancel our vacation. I opted for the Casino outside of Cortez as at this point I was too exhausted to go further. It turned out to be a nice campground, $20 with full hookups so we couldn't complain about that. We went to the casino restraunt to eat and we COULD complain about that. I found the food not edible. (Though keep in mind, at this point I didn't really feel like eating.) Day one was completed with a shot(or two) of whiskey. Day two, after a long drive (and talk), we decided and implemented a Jeep swap with Marnie's Jeep. We dropped Steve's off with the mechanic and decided to continue the vacation (damn the torpedoes!) We went to stay at Sunset Crater campground but it was... CLOSED! What is it with these people? September it the nicest time of year everywhere. Why are the campgrounds closed?!!! Well, we drove accross the street and camped in the woods, the best $0 campground anyway. Marnie says we are learning what it takes to be full time. After overnighting at the Casino again we made for Gunnison. This trip is not for the faint of heart in an RV. Some of the mountain roads are pretty steep and winding, plus people drive like fools. Gunnison does not turn out to be what we expected. It is very open prairie and windy. We ate out since Steve had been driving every day and is exhausted. The park we stayed at, Mesa RV resort, was supposed to have river access "walking distance" away according to the internet but not so. Steve gets a message from the mechanic on what a new engine cost will be. As we left Gunnison a deer runs out in front of the RV... "Hold on!" and Steve jams on the breaks. Just as the deer is in front of the rig ANOTHER one runs out - okay, there is no way we are missing this one!. It dissapears completely from view under the front windshield but, miraculously, there was no crunch! From Gunnison we went to Silverton and found a nice, free Forest Service Campgound just outside of town. There were a lot of campers but there was plenty of room. We stayed here a few nights (did I mention it was free?) Steve gets another call with an update of how much more the engine will cost than expected. We found a campground closer to Durango so that we could check out Real Estate in the area and hang out in Durango. From here we scouted out Vellicito with the Jeep and found the campground closed. They make it very difficult to plan a trip when they close early like that. I am just glad we went and looked first because there wasn't room to turn a MH around. We decided at this point, since we couldn't do Vellicito we would go back to Dolores and stay at our favorite place; Along The River RV-Park run by Gordon & Jeanna. They have a riverside farm and they have made five RV spaces on the river and are generous enough (for a fee) to allow RVs to use thier land and fish this section of river. Steve caught the biggest Rainbow he has probably ever caught here. Dolores has a Joey's restaurant and they have all-you-can-eat prime rib. It was fantastic! Steve's Brithday was a bit too windy for fishing so we went for a drive and took naps. ☺ Steve met the son of the owners down on the river. Bill gave Steve a fly that caught a fish right away. It was getting late and time to wrap up the last fishing excursion of the trip. Periodically during the trip Steve has gotten on 20 & 40 meter radio to talk to his friend Michael but only once did they get to hear each other. I suppose in an emergency it doesn't really matter who you can talk to since any Amatuer Radio operator would be thrilled to help you. As we bring September to a close we are back in AZ at Camp Verde. We have met Dave & Mary Anne, Jim, Ron & Michelle and Dora. Steve got his Jeep back with a new engine. We still can not tell what caused the transfer case to slip into gear so the next step will be to see if the dealer can take a look at the shifter. If they find something wrong maybe they will step up and help with the cost of the engine. |
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2007 Aug. - Flagstaff August finds us back in Greer's for the month. Steve's Jeep wasn't able to do freeway speeds because of the four cylinder and so he decided he would have to take a loss for the work he put into it and replace it. We went to a couple parties and this month and we met Earl – the new manager, Rich & Wanda, Frank & Julia and Bob & Wanda, plus a few others. Against extreme odds Bob was stationed and retired from the same AF Squadron that Steve was in at Luke AFB, 607 TCTS. For more information on Steve's carreer in the Air Force you are welcome to learn more about Stephen on our personal pages. |
| 2007 July - Mexico, Page & Flagstaff We got back from Mexico on July 2 and left the next morning for Lee's Ferry. No breaklights, blown fuse, 117 F in the shade on July 3 and 118 F on the 4th!!!!! Steve caught one sucker fish but never saw a trout. We left early due to the heat and poor Guinness. Even with the air conditioners running it was 95 inside at the heat of the day. On the 5th we are at Williams for Hamfest (Ametuer Radio Swap Meet.) We met Harry and Jean from Oregon at Ft. Tuthill. It was their anniversary so I offered a bottle of homemade wine. It turns out they too make wine and gave us a sample. They grow their own grapes so this was a real treat! We also met Sonja and Joan from Phoenix and I think we put away about 4 bottles of wine one Friday night! The end of the month finds us in Greer's again. We saw Gary and Jeannie the first evening and a few of our old friends from before. We are in a "premium space" this time so we met some new folks: a traveling nurse, Frank and Julie and a few others. |
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2007 June - Flagstaff June finds us back in Greer's for the month and we are taking a mini-vacation at the end of the month. We also met a fellow Ametuer Astronomer, Bill, with an 11" Clestron and had a small star party! This is how we met Loraine and Adrian We also met Jim & Anitra, Bill & Alice and Henry. As of June 24 Steve's Jeep is still in Jeep hospital as the mechanic found some issues with it (as was expected). The end of June and Steve's Jeep is still in the shop (can I pick 'em or what?) We are with friends in Rocky Point until the first week in July. We met Dan and Renée and were introduced to "Skip n' Go" |
| 2007 May - Flagstaff, Phoenix & San Diego 2007 May 4 - Steve took - and passed Elements 2, 3 & 4 of the ameteur radio license tests to earn his Ameteur Extra Class License! Okay, it wasn't easy. I think the question pool I studied for the Technician test was outdated (the book was from 2002 or so). I thought for sure I had failed! Then the General test was easy but when I got to the last test, all the formulas fled! I thought for sure I had failed that one. AE5BI We are in a state or county campground with sewer & water but no electricity. After some research we picked the Honda EU3000iS. This is the next step for us in learning to be self sufficient. Still, we can't make gasoline so I foresee solar in our future. 2007 May 12 - we went to Phoenix to check out some motorhomes that we found on the net. They didn't turn out to be what we were looking for so we went a few more miles to Beaudry RV at the new site in Chandler. This is going to be a BIG dealership. They have a lot of RV's to choose from but when we gave our criteria to the sales person he had two to show us. We liked one of them but we would have to give up some features. We ran out of time due to a previous engagement so we agreed to drive down again the next day. We got there early so we took some measurements and identified some more concessions we would have to make to get into this RV. We told the saleman this and that, according to the internet the price was too high. I honestly thought that there was no way we could reach a deal but the day ended with a signed contract. 2007 May 18 - We drove down to Beaudry and other than the typical bad drivers the trip was uneventful. They tried to put us in a 2006 and Marnie even started a walkthrough! Oh well, ours is a nice coach and we were able to play in it on Saturday. The walkthrough produced a propane leak, failed TV antenna, faulty inverter and a few minor things. It is a used coach but they agreed to fix most of the issues. The saftey inspection had not been performed and they asked us to stay through Monday. We agreed and if I had half a clue I would have asked them to change the oil as this is not a standard practice on used coaches unless you think to bargain for it. Buyer beware! So far both the sales team (Bob Kay and Greg ??) and the service team, (Tony, Rocky, Todd & Gordon) have done a steller job and have treated us very well. 2007 May 21 - We took delivery of the coach and they changed the oil! We had one fast-stop on the freeway on the way home but nothing broke. We made it all the way to Flagstaff okay. I dropped Marnie off by her Jeep and when I pulled out of the parking lot the coach gave a heave and all the dishes left the cupboard. Some of them broke. Oh well. Memorial day weekend found us in San Diego visiting friends. It was a quick trip so I didn't get to visit family this time. 2007 May 30 - Steve bought a used Jeep to round out our transportation needs. Wow, what a month! |
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More snow!
We had to fire our property manager for one of our properties and so we are
going to switch. Our favored property mangager does not do "furnished" so
we are moving the trailer back to the property to liquidate the furnishings
and repair all the things that the property manager failed to repair...
The good news is that we can live for "free" for a couple weeks and then we will shop for a new "home".
On Apr. 29 we were back at our rental to start the liquidation. We decided to get the last bit of "stuff" out of storage and as of 5PM on 30 Apr. we were completely out of our storage unit. This is a huge milestone in the Fulltime RV time line! Hooray!!!
Finally it is warm. These last couple of weeks are the reason we live in
Flagstaff!
We had some new neighbors move in, Mike and Sheryl (sp?). The seem super nice
but we don't see much of them. They are fulltiming and working just like us.
Steve is studying for his amateur radio license. This should be easy so I think I
will go for the Amateur Extra right away. With my background in Radar I will
just need to review the electronics and then study up on FCC rules. With this
license I might be able to talk to our sailing friends. It will be fun to try.
If you do this already, please email me with some encouragement!
It is starting to behave a little warmer. Marnie and I hopped in the Jeep and
drove to Camp Verde to look for a warmer spot for next Winter.
We changed our address to Traveler's ReMail Association in Arlington Texas. This
freaked out the entire family, our financial advisor and of course the Human
Resources person where Steve works. What fun!
One of the issues with a 5th wheel is with one over 35 feet you can't legally
(or safely) have a toad. That is "towed vehicle" for the non-rv people
reading this. Steve likes to have his co-pilot so driving the Jeep seperate
is not an option. The normal solution for our retired peers is to use a Motor
Home (MH) to live in and you can easily tow a Jeep. But we both work so we need two
personal vehicles for the forseeable future. Steve comes up with the idea to
trade in our truck and trailer on a MH and tow a flatbed with two Jeeps. We
ran this idea by the Class A forum and this idea isn't so great due to length
restrictions and safety issues. It would also have it's own logistic issues
like what to do with the flatbed when parked. We both still like the MH idea
so we can take the Jeep with us on vacations so the last weekend in Feb. we
went to the Phoenix Sportsman RV show just to look at them.
 | Providence 40E We didn't see a lot of RVs at the show but then we went with our friends to Beaudry RV. I bet we saw 30 DPs and this was our favorite. Our new dream home! We just need to figure out where the money will come from... |
It's getting cold again...
Temperature in the low teens. No water. Despite the fact that we bought the
"arctic package" the manufacturer saw fit to run the pipes outside the
insulation. It took a few weeks to get all the plumbing re-routed inside
the living space or heated underbelly.
At fifteen below we still have water!
Success! But, the dump valves won't open. Nice. I put a trouble light
in the belly and put more insulation on the valves.
I decided to write a little article on Winter Camping so that others may learn without pain.
Link to 2007 weblog
Link to 2006 and earlier weblog
Stay tuned for more. This is my first Weblog so bear with me...
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