A Short Visit to Phoenix (11-01-13)

When It rains, it pours.  We ordered our new air conditioner in Tucson from a warehouse in Phoenix, so we drove up there and stayed in one of our favorite resorts for a few days so we could install it and make sure there were no problems, before moving on. 




  The day we put it in, we discovered that our Fantastic Vent, the ceiling fan that vents pretty much the whole trailer, isn’t working anymore.  Since its less than a  year old, that didn’t make us very happy.  Paul called the company and they did some troubleshooting over the phone.  In the end, they decided they have to send us a new one.  At least they didn’t give us an argument.  They just asked when we bought it and where we want the new one shipped. 

So, back to the air conditioner.  Our biggest challenge was getting the 110 lb box up onto the roof.  We ended up renting a ladder from a place down the street.

We set the ladder up to “walk” the A/C unit up to the roof.  I went up on the roof to help pull and guide the box, and Paul pushed it up.  While we were figuring  out our plan of attack, our neighbor came over and decided we needed a second ladder so he brought his over. As Paul pushed the box up, Bruce helped guide it and kept it moving smoothly.  It was really nice having his help!








 

Once everything was up there, it was relatively easy to install the air conditioner.  Of course, Paul did most of it- I just helped lift it into place and counted the seconds until I could get down off the roof!

When we looked at our plans for the next week or so we decided to stick around an extra day so we could go to the Halloween dance. With the Passport America discount, we’re only paying $22 a night for this place and considering all the amenities, it’s quite a bargain and difficult to leave!  We met up with Bruce and his wife Michelle at the dance, and had an awesome time.

Since we had one more day, we started the process of educating ourselves about truck campers. A truck camper would sit in the bed of our F450. Nothing would be towed behind us.  If we want to take it off the truck while we’re in a campground, we can, but we can also leave it on the truck if we want to.

We’re not tired of our Mobile Suites, and no, it certainly isn’t suddenly feeling too big.

Our tentative plan is to spend next summer- about 3-4 months- in Alaska. For a variety of reasons, we would prefer to not bring our big 5th wheel up there.  Our main reason is actually flexibility.  We feel like in Alaska, it will be much easier to “blow and go”, boondocking ( basically just pulling off the road to sleep) along the way. 

 
It will be easier to park the truck with nothing being towed behind it, and we won’t have to make campground reservations.  This past summer, in Canada, one of our stresses was making sure we had a place to park for the night.







So, we went out looking.  We’re learning which brands are best, and which features are important.  We’re thinking we’ll try to buy something used, and then sell it when we are done.  Possibly before we even leave Alaska.   Are we sure we’re going to Alaska? Nope.  It IS our plan though.  Are we sure we’re going to get a truck camper? Nope.  We may end up taking our own rig, but it doesn’t hurt to educate ourselves!