Wanderlust

Motorhome Maintenance

Nothing lasts forever and that’s especially true in the Arizona Sun. Today, we replaced some worn out slide-out toppers on our Thor Palazzo Motorhome. Well, when I say “we” I mean the contractor who gets paid by us, that is. “We” also replaced the house batteries which were getting to the end of their useful lives. They are four deep-cycle 6.75 volt units connected in series/parallel to produce the house voltage of 13.5 volts (nominal voltages). Additionally, the crew replaced the bathroom exhaust fan which failed last year.

Because the environment is so harsh, we are still considering building an RV shelter across the road from our house. We want to build something that at a minimum will provide:

  • Full hookups (water, 30 and 50 amp AC Power, sewer)
  • A concrete pad large enough to accommodate our 36×20 foot slides out motorhome
  • A roof and three sidewalls
  • A lockable north-facing door

There are still some roadblocks to construction since the town may not allow a prefab building. Additionally, we may have to construct a septic system because rumor has it the town won’t approve the RV to municipal sewer hookup (black tank chemical treatments?). We are still looking into these problems.

3D Photo Bonus

The image above was taken in February 2017 just after we brought the big RV home. I also took a side-by-side image pair that day (being the penultimate nerd) and combined them into a gray scale anaglyphic stereo image. You will need your red/cyan glasses to view the 3D image here.

A New Route 66 Neon Sign

Damsel and I hung up this classic “Historic Route 66” neon sign in the garage today. This is the second one of these to hang in the garage. When the previous sign exhibited a “failure to function,” we recycled it and ordered a new one since the garage is quite dark and a “night light” of sorts is a good thing to have in there. Before we had the first Route 66 sign, we had a little Route 66 clock with a neon tube around it. I forget what happened to that one.

Speaking of classics, Damsel snapped the (clickable) photo below of a very nicely restored 1951 Chevrolet Panel Sedan. We were on our way home from delivering some dog food to the Humane Society, when we saw this nice ride coming toward us on Wickenburg Way.

Retirement Day!

WanderlustOn this day, October 1, 2021, we’re celebrating our twelfth year of permanent retirement. I say permanent because this date is actually my second retirement, the first being ten years prior to 2009. To make a long story short, we retired rather than take a layoff in 1999 due to a manpower reduction. I immediately found another job at a competitive company to the one from which I had retired which eventually was acquired by my first company. Thus, I retired from the same company twice and now receive two pensions from them.

IMAGE: Thor Palazzo Motorhome ready to roll. Click on the image to enlarge.

In our retirement post last year, we mentioned hitting the road sometime in 2021, but that has not happened (yet). We did not go anywhere in the spring or summer in the big RV for various reasons, but the thinking now is to at least have a two or three-day excursion semi-local somewhere in Arizona. Since I am still healing up from hernia surgery, we need the surgeon’s go-ahead for that, but plan to get it done before it gets too cold for camping.

As far as keeping the RV ready for our next excursion, we have a routine where the engine gets started up and run for a while every week. We run the 6KW generator about once a month with a load, like both A/C units running. We currently have the black and gray tanks filled with a water-bleach solution which will be purged and prepared for use prior to our next run.

We’re thinking that our destination might be in the high desert north of the Mogollon Rim, perhaps Winslow, Holbrook, Homolovi SP and Petrified Forest NP. More on that when we make final plans.

So, join us in celebrating our twelfth AND twenty-second retirement anniversaries!

We’re Home Again!

Approaching Flagstaff Saguaro Sighting

Our trip today took us from the high Arizona Desert (5700 feet MSL) through the mountains (7000+ feet MSL) and down to the lower high desert (2100 feet MSL) where we reside. The two photos above are (L to R) approaching the San Francisco Mountains east of Flagstaff along I-40 and the first Saguaro cacti along I-17 as we descended through 3000 feet North of Black Canyon, AZ.

Most of the driving over the past two weeks has been fairly easy in the big RV, but for some reason, today seemed a little more tedious, with rough roads, heavier traffic, gusty winds and some winding roadways, not to mention the ubiquitous road repairs underway. We got through it OK, however, and upon arrival home we ate lunch and relaxed with an adult beverage or two. The major unpacking and post-travel chores to resume tomorrow.

We still have no access to the RV drive at the west end, so I had to once again back up the east driveway to park in our customary spot. It’s a tight fit with an uphill in reverse and a nearly ninety degree turn in reverse to get in the spot.

Believe it or not, the recalcitrant leveling jacks deployed in their normal fashion and the RV is level again after having not worked for the past two weeks. We’re still going to have the RV in for service and to check out the levelers and the door step which has also been a problem. That service will be scheduled soon, but meanwhile, we’re going to get back into our usual routine and become accustomed to home again.

Home Parking Spot

We’re Back in Arizona Tonight

Red Cliffs Along I-40

Our route was along I-40 all day with stops in Grants (Walmart – provisions) and Gallup (Diesel), NM with our evening destination here in Holbrook, AZ. Even along a major interstate, the scenery can be breathtaking as evidenced by the red cliffs near the AZ/NM border in the photo above (courtesy Damsel). There were many other worthy sightseeing photos Damsel took today, but we have neither the data space nor the bandwidth for the seven hundred plus images I downloaded from her camera today.

This is our last overnight stop and we will be home in Wickenburg tomorrow afternoon. Damsel and I both enjoyed this “vacation from retirement” excursion and will be anxious to travel again real soon as soon as practical. Meantime, we have some important things to do at home. Below is the campsite for tonight with dinner already being prepared in part within the grill on the picnic table (Chicken Jalapeño Casserole).

Holbrook Campsite

We’re Back in the High Desert

American RV Albuquerque, NM

We traveled over 300 miles today from Colorado City, CO to Albuquerque, NM. We originally planned to camp in Santa Fe, but I screwed up and waited too long to secure reservations for a weekend in a popular venue. I managed to get reservations here, so we’re happy and relaxing after a long (for us) drive. We tend to keep it under four hours, but today was in excess of five.

We stopped in Las Vegas for provisions (the New Mexico Vegas) which extended our time a bit, but we now have things we need to continue. Damsel had some items she needed for a recipe she wanted to try and we both had some things on a list we keep as we go along. All is good.

The scenery was wonderful driving down I-25. Unfortunately, although we had scrubbed the front windshield clean of bug carcasses, by the time we were an hour into the trip, the view was cluttered with splats galore. Earlier in the trip, Damsel got this nice shot of Spanish Peaks (Huajatolla) before the bugs had completely taken over.

spanish-peaks-southern-colorado.jpg

Relaxing in Colorado City, CO

Weather

Damsel took this photo today while we were taking a walk around the RV park. We have seen this kind of weather for the past couple of days, but it hasn’t cramped our style much unless you consider grilling in the rain a cramp. The linked photo is of me preparing country-style pork ribs on the grill, in the rain.

There is always something to do when traveling in a motorhome, so today, I washed the giant front windshield, dispatching bug carcasses and other road crud. I also hooked up the sewer line which I left until today to do. So there isn’t 100% relaxing, but we still feel relaxed.

We grilled again today, this time it was dry outside and we got the job done in the usual fashion. Today’s food faire was Grilled Filet Mignon Steaks and Damsel fixed a wonderful cucumber, lettuce and cherry tomato salad. We could eat like this all the time.

Steak Dinner