RV Adventures

Today is the one year anniversary of our first day “camping” in the Blue Flame.  Yes, it was one year ago today that Jim and the motor home left the security of Tom & Pam’s farm (home of the former owners where he had picked up the RV) and drove it to Springfield, Illinois.  I left Janelle and her crutches post-surgery (meniscus tear in her knee) back home, hopped the train to Chicago, had lunch with Callie, then hopped another train to Springfield and a taxi to the campground (Did you follow all that?  See http://rv.cjsquare.com/2014/04/the-first-24-hours for a full recap.) to join up with him.  That first meal was spaghetti on paper plates.  My oh my, how far we have come and how much we have learned!  Happy 1st Anniversary to us and the Blue Flame.

Since my last blog post from Kingman, Arizona, we have been to California.  Did you know you can’t bring New York State apples into California?  Neither did we.  They were confiscated at the border!

Welcome to California!

The Blue Flame and Palm Trees

Specifically, we went to Pomona, California to attend an FMCA International Rally.  Imagine 1000 coaches all parked at the L.A. Country Fairgrounds.  Yes, that was us, one of 1000 coaches.

Motor homes lined up at the FMCA Rally

Jim attended every seminar he could.  We met some nice people, including a full-time couple from Long Lake, NY that we may meet up with in the Adirondacks!  Jim joined the Diesel RV Club.  We enjoyed some evening entertainment when the mood struck us…how often do you get to see Peter Noone and Herman’s Hermits!!

We also spent some money.  Ouch. The beauty of an RV rally is that if you buy something, they can install it right there at the rally!  You will see trucks all over doing awning replacements, carpet cleaning, windows, etc.  So, the biggest purchase for us was four new tires!  The front tires were still good, so no need to replace those.  The back tires were also good, but they were aging.  Old tires are more likely to blow out (ask my brother Jim!) because the rubber starts to degrade.  Better safe than sorry!  The tire place (highly recommended by everyone we talked to) came to our campsite and did the work right there!  They also sold tires to 4 more people while doing our install.  There is something to be said for being on-site.

New tires ready to go on.

Pete’s Tire Services – they did a lot of tire installs that week.

So that’s what we look like without a tire!

It’s always fun to see how others travel.  This set up had us dumfounded.  I guess this guy likes his “toys!”

This guy hauls a truck, and a boat, and a 4-wheeler behind his RV!!!!

After 6 days in Pomona, we headed out at 6:00 Monday morning.  The destination was Palm Springs, the early departure was to avoid rush hour traffic in Los Angeles.  We got about 50 miles down the road and Jim decided to stop at a rest area and check on the new tires (and give us the opportunity to have breakfast and shower).  Jim has an infrared heat gun that he uses to check the tire temperature.  I was showering when I heard banging.  “Oh oh, this is not good.”  Sure enough, I got dressed, went outside, and he told me we had a flat tire.  What!!!!  The outside tire on the drivers side was hot.  Further investigation (banging on the inside tire with a hammer) revealed that tire was flat, flat, flat.  Checking it with a tire pressure gauge confirmed the fact.

The Blue Flame with a flat tire waiting for the tire service to show up. We set up cones to reserve the spot next to us for the tire service truck.

The place we bought the tires from has multiple locations in the L.A. area.  So, we placed a quick call to them.  It was going to be a couple of hours to wait, so we caught up on email, jumped the truck next to us that had a dead battery, etc. etc etc.  The tire crew finally showed up and did a very through job of checking out the new flat tire.  The verdict was that the needle valve was stuck open.  Phew.  The tire was re-inflated, we weren’t charged for the roadside assistance, and we were our on our way.  Oh yes, the tire has been fine ever since.

Pete’s Tire Service to the rescue.

There is no way an RV or truck owner could change their own tire. That’s why most trucks don’t carry spares!

As I said, the destination at was the Palm Springs area.  Why?  Because!  Palm Springs it turns out is a relatively easy drive from L.A.  Between L.A. and Palm Springs are hundreds of wind turbines!

Wind Turbines as far as the eye can see!

We stayed at a very nice RV Resort just west of Palm Springs.  After the day we had, we determined it was dinner out and happy hour margaritas!

Post flat-tire reward.

While at the RV Rally in Pomona, I was walking by a booth for a family of RV Resorts.  I was called over and my conversation with a lady went like this:

Lady:  “Have you ever been to Arizona?”
Me:  “That is where we are heading to next.”
Lady:  “Would you like to spend 3 free nights in one of our RV Resorts?”
Me:  “What?  What’s the catch?”

Turns out there is no catch.  They just want you to try their RV resorts in the hopes that you decide to winter there or even better, buy a Park Model home.

Well, free is free.  So of the 10 resorts they have in the Phoenix area, we picked the one most out of town and at the base of the Superstition Mountains.  We took advantage of the 2 pools and 2 hot tubs.  I used their dedicated sewing room one morning to do some quilting.  We attended a free happy hour (beer and wine…happens three times a week…whoa!!!).  I could understand why people love there.  In the high season (winter), it’s like summer camp for adults!  There are more activities than you can imagine.  It was a relaxing few days.

We are currently in the Green Valley, Arizona area (two hours south of Phoenix).  This is where my parents live, we are in a campground 10 miles south of their house.  Well, I should say RV Resort instead of campground.  That is how the campgrounds market themselves to snowbirds escaping the winter weather.  We’ve been here a week and will stay at least one more.  The time has been spent raiding my Dad’s tool stash to do improvements/repairs to the Blue Flame, sitting in hot tubs, and watching the mountains.  Ahhhh.

Dad and I did a traditional Father/Daughter project (for us anyway).  Since we aren’t using the satellite setup to watch TV, the cabling needed to be redone to allow for watching of OTA (Over-The-Air) TV and cable TV as sometimes provided by the RV campgrounds.  Redoing the cabling would also allow a TV in the bedroom to work properly.  With Dad’s help and all his coax tools, we pulled out the TV, figured out what was what, and got it rewired.  Thanks Dad!

TV pulled out of it’s cabinet, coax wires everywhere!

We have also discovered that RV Resorts have a list of RV detailers that will come out to your coach and wash and wax it.  We had coach washed as we left Kingman at a truck wash, but while clean, the water left some black streaks.  For $280, two gentleman spent 6 hours washing, waxing and buffing the RV.  It was worth every penny.

So, back to the first anniversary, we invited my parents over for a cook out.  But, after 3 weeks of blue skies and warm temperatures, today is cold and rainy.  I think we might move the celebratory cookout to my parent’s house.  Grilling outside in 70 degrees and rain does not sound like fun.  At least their grill is on a covered patio.

Here are some more shots of life in Green Valley.

Where are we headed next?  Who knows.  We haven’t thought that far ahead.  The only goal is to be home by mid-May when Janelle is done with school for the year.