Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Retirement

Bringing the New Thor Palazzo Home

Thor Palazzo at Home

We took the (not very) old Georgetown RV down to Camping World in Mesa, AZ yesterday and gave it up for trade on this new Thor Palazzo 35.1 Class A Diesel Pusher. Our short list of preferences for a new RV have mostly been realized with this acquisition.

  • New Diesel Pusher
  • Under 36 feet in length (35’9″)
  • King Size Bed
  • Dinette with chairs (not a booth)
  • Washer and Dryer

On the trip home from the dealer in the new RV, the cockpit noise level was like night and day compared to the truck chassis we had been used to for the past year. Damsel and I could have a conversation with normal voice levels – no shouting required as when the G’town was in third gear going uphill. The ride was also much better with the airbag suspension on the FreightLiner™ chassis as opposed to a spring suspension.

We’re still exploring all the new gadgets and goodies in our new RV. I have been going through some of the manuals and have barely cracked the ice.

The next step is to begin organizing and transferring the contents of the old RV into the new one. This coach has considerably more storage available, so there should be plenty of room for the stuff we stacked here and there after emptying out the Georgetown.

Our first trip to a campground is scheduled for mid-February when we will again go to Palm Desert for our monthly excursion to visit the kids and grandson. Having made that trip over and over for the last year in the Georgetown and for a few months before that in our old Skyline trailer, this next trip ought to be a pleasant contrast to the ones before.

31 Jan 2017 by Retirement Wanderlust

Inclement Weather

Inclement WeatherIt looks like the long holiday weekend will bring our desert some rainfall. I took this photo this afternoon at about 4 PM as the dark clouds approached from the southwest. It didn’t actually start raining until around 5:45 PM but the rain is still persisting at two hours after it started.

Our forecast calls for continued chance of rain throughout the year-ending weekend and on into the first part of next week. Damsel and I are all self-contained in that all of the shopping is done for the holiday weekend menus and we’re well stocked with other survival provisions.

We know it is very cold in other parts of the country and it will be relatively warm here compared to some places, although our high temperatures are not forecast to exceed 55 or 60 degrees for the next few days. That is harsh for us since it has only been a few weeks since the highs were in the 90’s.

Meanwhile, we’re battened down and prepared to enjoy a nice Happy New Year holiday regardless of conditions. We wish you all a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

30 Dec 2016 by Arizona Environment Holidays Retirement

Harvest Moon over Arizona

Harvest Moon over Arizona

Well, it has been over a week since we posted anything here on the state of the world, etc. We have been busy with our October to-do list, consisting of a few chores and some important healthcare milestones.

Damsel took this photo of the harvest moon rising behind our big saguaro and ocotillo a couple of evenings ago. We are having a pleasant “second spring” with daytime temperatures in the high eighties to low nineties and nocturnal lows are still in the comfort zone of low to mid sixties. We love our desert retirement home.

Click on the image to enlarge.

18 Oct 2016 by Arizona Astronomy Environment Retirement

Seventh Anniversary of Retirement

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Another year of retirement has passed. As we head into our eighth year, we have generally good health (only a couple of minor issues), our financial situation is quite manageable and we have been traveling to keep in touch with family and to explore in the motorhome.

The forecast for the year is to continue with our retirement routines here at home and to venture out to do more family contact as well as go and observe the August 2017 eclipse in Wyoming. We actually have been planning for the eclipse since we heard about it several years ago.

We consider ourselves blessed by God to be in our situation and look forward to the future with optimism and enthusiasm. Our dreams are still coming true.

01 Oct 2016 by Aerospace Arizona Retirement Wanderlust

(Not) Camping Day C – Wickenburg, AZ

Home Again

After a very nice vacation from retirement(?), we are once again parked in the RV drive behind our little house in Wickenburg. The drive home from Palm Desert was uneventful, although we had gusty winds most of the way until crossing into Arizona which put an extra workload on me as the driver. We did manage to keep the high profile RV between the lines and got home without incident.

Overall, Damsel and I are very pleased with our excursion. We saw beautiful scenery in Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California and we were able to have an extended family reunion with Damsel’s sisters and a brother while we were in California.

Damsel managed the housekeeping in the RV including feeding us with fantastic cuisine along the way and when we camped in Stockton, she and her sister took turns at preparing wonderful meals. We both will be going on diets to get back to where we were before we took off on the excursion. Meanwhile, we are resting and contented.

25 Sep 2016 by Arizona Retirement Wanderlust

Camping Day B – Palm Desert, CA

Emerald Desert RV Park

Tonight, we are at Emerald Desert RV Park in Palm Desert, CA. We have been coming to this facility for over a year now on just about a monthly basis to visit with the kids and the now one year old grandson. We will be here for two nights at this five star campground and heading back to Wickenburg on Sunday.

While we are relaxing and blogging about being here, getting here was quite another story. We left Bakersfield this morning at about 10:30 AM expecting about a four and one-half hour drive. Alas, when we got to Boron, CA, on the high desert we encountered an extreme traffic jam. When I say extreme, I mean the sort of delay where we went 6.2 miles from Boron to Kramer Junction in an hour and a half. That’s 4⅓ miles per hour on average.

The delay getting past the traffic threw us enough off schedule that when we got to the Inland Empire (San Berdoo, etc.) we were greeted with rush hour slowdowns on I-15, I-215 and I-10. The net result was that we had a late check-in at the campground (office closes at six and we were here at ten after). In spite of all that, we’re relaxed and unwinding from a rather unpleasant commute.

23 Sep 2016 by California Retirement Wanderlust

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