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.

Escaping The Heat (06-05-15)

What’s the difference between 470 and 7500? If you answered 7030, obviously you would be correct.  But in my particular example, the more important difference between those two numbers is about 25-35* F.  At 470 feet above sea level, Havasu temperatures are in the 80s and 90s.  At 7500 feet above sea level, the temperatures would be in the 60s and 70s.







I was perusing the literature and brochures that Paul and I had picked up about Havasu and surrounding areas, when something caught my eye.

Hualapai Mountain Park

This park is less than an hour and a half drive from Havasu, but it sits at an elevation of 7500 feet. Lake Havasu City is at 470 feet, so instead of the 98* in that it is in Havasu, the temperature was only 73* at the park.

We made a day trip out there and hiked one of several trails- we ended up hiking about 6 miles with 1400 feet of elevation gain.  Hiking at such a high elevation knocks the wind out of you pretty fast when you haven’t acclimated to it. We elected not to overdo.

We were pretty happy with that outing, even though the trail was nothing spectacular.










You might wonder where all my pictures are.  I mean, two measly pictures is not much.  Well, I’ll tell you. I took my good camera on that trip because I didn’t think we’d be doing a long hike. So that’s where my pictures are.  Still in the camera.

Here’s what happened.  Although the weather hasn’t been nearly as hot as it will be in a month or thereabouts, boredom and frustration are setting in.  We have not heard from the city about our house plans, so there is nothing we can do to move the project forward.  Rather than sitting and twiddling our thumbs, we loaded up the camper and left (and I left my good camera behind).

House Update

Nothing to see here.  There is nothing happening on the house at this point.  Apparently, the city is experiencing a mini housing boom so it’s taking a long time to get house plans approved.
We have been shopping around though…..

a potential back splash…

Or, maybe this…

Originally we were thinking a granite in the brown tones, in order to be neutral, but realistically, we will be decorating in a lighter, Caribbean-ish theme, so we have (pretty much) decided to go with our favorite granite- the Blue Pearl.



We already have one end table that features this granite- its one that Paul made a few years ago. We are hoping we can find a slab that leans more towards the gray tones, and less towards the blue.

Digging In (05-07-15)

Once the boat was settled it was time to dig in to the storage unit.   


Our first stop was the office at the storage center, where we discovered that the unit across the hall from ours is available, so $90 later, we had a place to throw a bunch of our stuff so we could dig deeper into the unit.








It was pretty convenient, and quite a time saver, to have a place so close by to put our stuff.

As we made our way towards the back we had to think about our stuff, and whether we would have a spot for it at the new house.  It was a sometimes painful process because anything we didn't care about was discarded 6 years ago, when we went on the road.  So, anything that is left is something somewhat important to us.

Not everything made the cut, and we have made several trips to Goodwill and Salvation Army.  The barber chair stays, though. We’ll find someplace to put it!








 
Some items that seemed important to keep 6 years ago, now seem very old school and outdated and were donated.

There are things we come across that are bringing back a lot of memories, and are kept for that reason, even though we don’t need them. In the pre-automatic feeder days, Dozer, the Emmy award winning actor, would routinely score at least two, and sometimes three, dinners in a day.

I finally made this door hanger that we put on the closet door where his food was kept.  Whoever fed him dinner flipped the sign, and when he was fed breakfast it was flipped to the blank side.

When we packed the camper for this trip we tried to pack light, figuring there would be some items that either because of their fragility or their importance, or both, we would want to bring back with us. 

The original tailgate for the truck has been in storage since we bought the truck, and rather than try to pack it for shipping, we are bringing it with us.  Unfortunately we can’t keep it on the truck with the camper on, so it will ride in the back seat….

What else is coming with us?  Our jewelry, my keyboard, and the stain glass windows that Paul’s mom made for him years ago.  They are crated pretty well, but we are going to see if we can incorporate them into the house while it’s being built.

One of the things that has made life easier is that we were very organized when we stored everything 6 years ago.  Every box was labeled with a number, and a master list was created with a list of all the contents.  We knew we would probably be having things shipped, so most things were crated or packaged with that in mind.  That sure has helped keep our stress levels down!










We’ve contacted several major moving companies and on Monday they will be coming to look at our stuff and give us an estimate on the move.