April and May, 2018

First of all, I guess I should answer the question I posed in my last blog post- what happens when people get bored? They go shopping.  And boy, did Paul and I go shopping.

Our first major purchase was a new truck camper. We spent a fair amount of time looking at campers, and even toured the Lance Camper factory in California.  One of our favorite brands was the Host Camper but in the end we decided it was too big and too heavy for what we wanted.  We ended up with an Arctic Fox 1150- slightly smaller and much lighter than the Lance we were giving up.

I didn’t take the time to do some nice, staged pictures, so these will have to do.  The bedroom area has a ton of storage.

Overall the floor space feels much larger than in the Lance, but I did have to buy a step stool, and I am not all that vertically challenged.

Looking back towards the rear of the camper, the bathroom is on the right, and the dinette on the left.  The bathroom was our biggest compromise.  Its not exactly big, and has taken some getting used to- but we are managing, and we really like the feel of the lighter camper, going down the road.






Over the last two months we have taken it on two test runs- one to a nearby state park, towing the jet ski, and another to Fresno CA to see friends, towing the Jeep. Based on those trips, we have made some modifications and additions, to make it better suited to our needs.


The annual boat show in Havasu occurs in April and Paul and I made the “mistake” of going to it.  We have been sort of thinking about a boat, and renting one for a day in March made us more antsy to own one.  Boating, after all, is the main reason we built a house in Havasu.  So off to the boat show we went, thinking we would look at deck boats- maybe a bow rider.



The first booth we came to was Avalon pontoon boats. We had no desire for a pontoon boat but they were giving free demo rides. Uh oh.

Avalon advertises that “this is not your Grandpa’s pontoon boat”. And they aren’t kidding.  This boat cruises at 45 mph. 

Although we investigated all other options (spending 8 hours looking at boats, with temps of 100 degrees), in the end, we bought the boat that we took for the demo ride.

We have already gotten a lot of use out of it, and even took it for a sunset/stargazing cruise (not pictured).

Oh, we also bought a sign for over the sliding glass door-

Although April and May were quieter months, we still had visitors, including our daughter, and took several trips with the camper.


Memorial Day weekend is typically our last “hurrah” before we take off for the summer.  This year, as usual, my cousin Linda brought her friends for a fun filled, crazy weekend.











They brought a boat with them but on Friday we all piled in our pontoon and headed up the lake.












The weather was perfect for a trip through Topock Gorge to one of the restaurants on the water.















Saturday was too windy for boating, but we all managed to have a great time anyway.











Sunday we were back on the lake, using their boat, and our jet ski.  Perfect weather.

Unfortunately I found out over the weekend that my favorite uncle had passed away, so I flew out on Sunday evening, headed to Boston to attend his funeral.

As soon as I got back to Havasu, we pushed hard to pack up to leave for the summer.

Around Town –Lake Havasu (06-28-15)

We’re sort of getting into a rhythm of being in town during the week, and taking off for cooler pastures when the weekend comes along.




This past weekend was no exception, but we had to stick around until Saturday.


Friday we made the trek down to Quartzsite, about an hour and a half away.  Our daughter Jess and her boyfriend Kellan were passing through town on their way to Phoenix, so we made arrangements to meet them at one of our favorite restaurants- Silly Al’s Pizza.

Kellan works for Tesla, and was driving an electric car, so we picked them up at the nearby charging station and took them to the restaurant.  Of course, Paul and Kellan had to talk cars for a while.

We were blown away when we returned from lunch and found 5 Tesla cars being charged at the charging station!

Once back in Havasu, we headed downtown to await the arrival of the cars participating in the Great Race.

This week long classic car race isn’t really a “race” in the sense that the fastest car wins.

Each morning the drivers are given their route to travel for the day, along with a start time and an end time.  They are awarded points based on how well they do arriving at the exact minute that they are supposed to.  No electronics are allowed- not even a digital watch.







The “race” course changes every year.  This year started in Tennessee, and came across historic Route 66, ending in Santa Monica, California.

The variety of cars was amazing- everything from open air classics to 1969 Corvettes, to…..










   a one of a kind…..something or other….












When the cars started arriving, it was 114* out and I don’t think any of them have air conditioning.  Lucky for us, whenever there is an event in town, you can always buy bottles of cold water, and support local causes at the same time.

Of course, Havasu residents need very little encouragement to show off their toys, so the streets were lined with classic cars.

 
Once we got tired of water, and the heat, we headed to nearby BJ’s Cabana where the misters were working quite well, and the music was live. 


A very busy, but very fun, day.

In general when we’re in town, we manage to keep pretty busy every day- mostly finding ways to spend money it seems.  After taking the boat out on the lake just one time, it became obvious that it needed two things- the main thing was a bimini.

Its just too hot and sunny here to boat without shade.  We had this custom Bimini made here in town.  The guy says it will survive speeds of 70 mph.  Maybe we’ll see.  Probably we won’t.

The other thing the boat needed actually had Paul wincing, but his wife insisted. My days of trying to haul myself into a boat are over.  I needed a ladder.

As soon as the wind stops blowing, we’ll try and put it back in the water!

 Random Thought

One thing about Arizona- I never get tired of the sunsets.

House Update

Progress is being made on a daily basis, and they are apparently now ready to pour some cement!

They water the dirt to get it as compacted as they can before the cement pour.

In the meantime we spent some time investigating pools. The couple we bought the lot from invited us over their house to see their new pool and ask any questions we may have.

The basic shape is similar to what we want, but their needs are different from ours, since they have young kids and live here all year.




This is the basic design we have decided on, but we haven’t picked the pool company yet.  Plenty of time for that.  Also, we are still researching things like heating and cleaning methods.  Some people hate the popup cleaning systems, and like the vacuum hose, but we are leaning towards the popup self cleaning system.

A Boat and A Jeep (05-23-15)

The first order of business when we got back to Havasu was to get the camper emptied and ready to store.


At the resort where we are staying, we are only allowed to have it on our site for 48 hours at a time, while we load it or unload it.  Once it was emptied, we took it to our lot and dropped it way in the back, so hopefully it won’t be in the way. 

It wasn’t long before we were peeking under the shrink wrap of the boat, to check it out.

Paul was amazed that it was still in pretty good condition, and he quickly dug in, removing the shrink wrap and making a list of what needs to get done to it.

Of course it will need wax, and the trailer needs some parts replaced- oh, and yeah, it needs a new battery.













Well, the waxing isn’t finished, and the trailer still need parts, but 2 days later, the new battery is in, and the boat has been fired up.  It sounds good, and Paul has declared it ready to test on the water.  The only thing is…..it’s Memorial Day weekend, and we aren’t sure we want to hit the water at the same time as thousands of others do.





In the meantime though, we had a Jeep to test drive!  And how does one test drive a  Jeep?

By finding a steep, rocky, rough trail to take it on, of course!

This was so steep, Paul had to get out to make sure there was actually a trail off the side of this cliff.  There was. We were impressed, and the salesman said that this particular trail has sold many a Jeep for him.













Back at the dealership it was time to check under the hood.  Well, Paul did check under the hood of course, but he also had them lift the Jeep so he could check the undercarriage.












After a stressful day of giving it a thorough going over, price negotiations began.  It took a while, but eventually, the Jeep became ours!

House Update

While we were in Michigan we spoke to our builder and he said we are about a week behind, because one of the engineers took longer than usual figuring out the trusses.  So, the plans have been submitted to the city for approval, and we haven’t heard of any glitches, but it will probably be another week or so before we can start building.

Meanwhile, Paul and I have been making good use of the casita that sits on our RV lot.  It is completely empty so it makes a great storage room!  Not only are we keeping a bunch of our stuff in there  (and our last Costco run netted us a lot more bulky items than usual) but we are buying some of our appliances already.  Not the big ones (yet) but we found a great sale on the cook top we want, and also the convection/microwave, so we have ordered them to be delivered to us.

Michigan Road Trip-Days 3,4, and 5(05-03-15)

Day 3

Elk City, Oklahoma to St. Clair, Missouri

( 550 miles)

Yup, we drove, and drove and drove.  All day. The most exciting thing that happened all day was that Dozer calmed down and started sleeping all day…




We did have a little frustration at the end of the day.  When we were all tuckered out and ready to call it quits, we headed to an Elks Lodge that has one RV spot.  We  didn't call ahead since we figured if the one spot was taken, we'd just dry camp for the night.  Well, the one spot was taken and the parking lot was sooooo sloped, we couldn't find a spot that we could set up the camper!  Wow, now that is sloped!  We had to drive another 15 miles or so to get to the local state park.

Day 4

St. Clair, Missouri to Fremont, IN

( 454 miles)

Today’s exciting observation was signs of spring- the bright, vibrant green of new leaves on the trees…




Later in the day we started to feel like we were on home territory, as we passed Ball State University in Muncie Indiana.  Our daughter went to college there and we spent many a day driving to and from this school, back in the day.





  We almost made it all the way to our destination on day 4, but when we called the RV park we want to stay in, they were closed for the day and we couldn't confirm availability, and since we would have been really pushing it, and arriving at 8 pm, we decided to call it a day.

Day 5

  Fremont, IN to Ypsilanti, MI

( 121 miles)

This is more like the travel day that we are used to….as fulltimers, we usually adhere to the 2-2-2 rule; travel no more than 200 miles, arrive by 2 pm, and stay 2 nights.  In other words, slow down the pace. When we are on a “mission” that doesn't happen, and we can, if necessary, travel as fast as possible.  But we don’t like it.

Once we arrived at the RV park, we checked in, and got permission to take the camper off the truck. That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but some parks require you to keep a truck camper on the truck and many parks don’t allow truck campers at all.

Notice that although yesterday we had trees full of new leaves, in Michigan, spring hasn’t really sprung yet, and the trees barely have buds on them.

Our first priority is the boat.  Come hell or high water, it’s coming back to Arizona with us, and since it’s been sitting for so many years, we need to check the trailer, tires and brakes.

We remember that we packed it full of stuff-we vaguely remember that the yard rakes are in there, but we have no idea what else is under the shrink-wrap, and it isn't worth removing it just to take a peek.

After giving it a couple of test laps around the parking lot, Paul deemed it road worthy and we took it back to the campground with us so he can finish working on it there. 

That’s one less thing we are paying to store!

That was enough excitement for one day so we put off going to the storage unit for another time.