Did I mention that I really, really hate getting up early in the morning? I’ve never been a morning person and never will be. I have never minded working long hours, I just always wanted the night shift, not the morning shift. But I was still awake at 6:30 a.m. yesterday morning. That’s two mornings in a row when I was up with the roosters. Will the madness never stop?

The guys at RV Renovators were on duty at 7 a.m., and they had one heck of a job getting the Norcold refrigerator in our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage loose enough to tilt forward so they could do the recall upgrade. Miss Terry had to empty the unit before they started working on it, and it’s a good thing she did, because judging by this picture it all would have been in a big jumbled mess otherwise. Fortunately, RV Renovators had a refrigerator and a separate  freezer that we could store everything in to keep it from spoiling. 

The techs had to almost crawl inside the access panel opening in the side of the motorhome to get the job done. By late morning they had the upgrade finished, and we started putting everything back inside the refrigerator. Then Miss Terry noticed a problem. The refrigerator would not ignite on propane, and kept giving us an error message. Oops! Now what?

A couple of techs tried to diagnose the problem without success, so they called in Bob, the “old timer” at RV Renovators. It only took a few minutes for Bob to figure out that the air tube directly over the burner was full of crud, and with all of the jerking and pounding to get the refrigerator out, some of it had fallen down and blocked the gas valve. They cleaned it out, and voila, the propane fired right up and we were in business.

For most of our many years as fulltimers, we have had a residential refrigerator, so there is a learning curve to RV refrigerators that we are still working on. Bob told me that the refrigerator burner air tube should be cleaned every year to prevent this kind of problem. I didn’t know that, did you? 

With that problem out of the way, we were ready to go. I would feel confident in recommending RV Renovators to anybody in need of RV service or repair. They took very good care of us, and we will call on them any time we’re in Arizona and need work done. Thanks Cinda, Jesse, Bill, Bob, and everybody else for all of your great service.

From RV Renovators, we drove a few miles east to Apache Junction, where we took a site at Happy Days RV Park, a nice Passport America campground with 50 amp full hookup back-in sites on gravel, with a concrete pad at each site. The place is pretty empty, but we’re only going to be here a few days while we visit with Terry’s parents.

Once we were hooked up and settled in, we drove to their house and spent some time with them. It’s always nice to have family time. By then it was late in the day, and we were both pretty hungry, so we hit our favorite Chinese buffet in this area, #1 Eastern Super Buffet. Even though we don’t live here, we’ve been there so many times during the last two winters that the staff knows us when we go in. I would rate it up with the top four or five Chinese buffets we have found nationwide.

Between two nights with little sleep, and getting up early, along with a full tummy, by the time we had finished eating, I was barely able to keep my eyes open. Terry drove back to the campground, and we had a quiet night watching TV, I wrote my blog, and we were in bed early. Or at least early for us, anyway.

Thought For The Day – There is no shortcut to anywhere worth going.

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Tuesday morning we were up by 7 a.m., which is way too early for anybody with common sense, but we wanted to get up to RV Renovators in Mesa, Arizona to get our Norcold refrigerator recall work done. No matter how early I have to get up, my body has its own time clock, and I still have to post my blogs after midnight, so I didn’t get to sleep until after 2 a.m. I sure hated to hear that alarm clock ring!

Then, for some silly reason, I had the old Helen Reddy song I Am Woman going through my head all night. Don’t you hate it when some tune gets stuck on automatic replay in your brain and you can’t stop it? Geez, at least it could have been something by some artist I like, maybe Jimmy Buffett or Billy Joel! Then again, maybe I didn’t have Helen Ready singing to me all night long. Maybe it was Miss Terry, sending me some sort of subliminal message not to mess with the Boss Lady!

We left Tra-Tel RV Park in Tucson right at 9 a.m. and had an easy run north to Eloy, where we pulled into the Flying J for fuel. Our motorhome was filthy, and there is a truck/RV wash right across the street, and since the nice folks at RV Renovators had told us our job would be quick and easy, we decided to get the rig washed first. They did a great job, a wash, wax, hand dry, tire treatment, and Rainex on the windshield, all for $93. Hey, you couldn’t get me to do all that work for that little money! Ask Miss Terry, she’s tried!

Of course, since I had just gotten the coach looking all spiffy, every bug in the state of Arizona with a death wish decided to end it that morning, and by the time we got to RV Renovators, the front end of the motorhome was plastered with bug guts. Yuck. Hey woman, stop that damned roaring and bring me a wet rag so I can clean this thing!

Office manager Cinda Nelson gave us a warm welcome, and she’s so darned pretty it was worth the trip from Tucson just to see her. We have heard a lot of good things about RV Renovators, and I’ll tell you what, I was impressed. The entire crew is friendly, and they let us know that they really wanted to make us happy. Here are Cinda, paint and refinish specialist Jesse Hilaire, and service writer Eddie Clayton.

Bill, one of the techs, went right to work on our RV while Cinda gave us the grand tour.

RV Renovators does everything from RV service, to body work, windshield replacement, fiberglass repair, major upgrades, and overhauls. This Class C is getting new skin, and it looks like quite a project.

This motorhome is having a major rebuild. This is what your coach looks like with the slide out. Be sure to fasten your safety straps when you go down the road!

This Class A is getting a new floor installed. We may replace the carpeting in the front of our Winnebago with some type of laminate flooring one of these days.

Hmmm…. I wonder if Miss Terry would let me have this for a tow car? It looks like it would be fun to play with.

Cinda had told us our repair would take about an hour, but you just know nothing is ever that easy for me. Bill ran into a problem getting the refrigerator to come loose, and after a few failed attempts to figure out why it wouldn’t move so he could get behind it and do the upgrade, a phone call back east to a Winnebago expert revealed that not only is our Norcold attached to the side wall like in most RVs, it is also bolted down through the roof! So Bill got a ladder and went up on top, where he peeled away the caulking, removed the screws, and then a plastic cowling. Still no luck. The darned refer would not budge!

Further investigation revealed that the refrigerator is also sealed to the compartment floor with some type of silicone adhesive. When Winnebago builds a motorhome, they don’t cut any corners.

By then it was late in the day, and the folks here needed to get an authorization from Norcold for the extra labor involved, since this is billed as a “quick and easy” job. Of course, Norcold was closed by then, so that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.  Cinda, Bill, and everybody else were apologizing all over the place for the unexpected delay, but what the heck, things happen.  If you live the RV lifestyle, you have to be able to roll with the punches sometimes. It’s no big deal, we know we’re in good hands, and we don’t have to be anyplace special anytime soon.

They parked us behind the shop, inside a secure fenced yard, and gave us a key to the gate so we could come and go as we pleased. David and Lynn Cross, whom we met at our Gypsy Gathering rally in Yuma in March, are here getting some work done too, and our motorhome is parked next to their beautiful Executive. We had 50 amp electric, and we were very comfortable. Today’s a new day, and I’m sure they’ll get things taken care of with Norcold.

One final note, I said in yesterday’s blog that Miss Terry and I were betting on how long it would take the Apple Store in Tucson to get my 3G iPad in, and Terry said they’d contact me as soon as we got to Mesa. Darned if she wasn’t right! A few minutes before we arrived at RV Renovators, they notified me that it had arrived. I need to have Terry start buying lottery tickets. She is woman, hear her roar!

Thought For The Day – Old age is when you still have something on the ball, but you are just too darned tired to bounce it.

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We woke up to wind and pouring rain yesterday morning, and it didn’t look like it was going to let up anytime soon. But we had an appointment at the Camping World in Mesa at 11:30 a.m., so I went outside and slogged through puddles of water to empty and flush our black tank, top off our fresh water tank, and disconnect our utility hookups. By the time I was finished, I was soaked.

With everything ready to go, I fired up our Cummins diesel engine, retracted our slide rooms and HWH leveling jacks, and we were ready to go. Well, almost ready to go. The indicator light and warning beeper said the right rear jack had not fully retracted. Sure enough, it was down about two inches. I hit the automatic leveling button to deploy the jacks again, and this time when I retracted them, they all came up fine.

It was only twelve miles to Camping World from Patio Gardens, so Terry drove the van behind me. After six weeks of sitting still, it was good to be back behind the wheel of our motorhome. 

I don’t think I have ever seen any Camping World as busy as the one in Mesa was yesterday. The entire parking lot was jammed, and Terry could not even find a place to park the van, let alone me the motorhome. I finally left it double parked and went inside to check in with the service department, and they pulled it right into one of the work bays.

I have been shopping for tires and batteries for our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage, and had narrowed the tire choices down to the Michelin X7A3 and the Goodyear G670 RV. In my opinion, there really isn’t any real difference in quality between the two, and I have had a lot of RVers recommend both tires.

In the end, I chose the Goodyear tires, even though the price for all six, mounted, balanced, and out the door, was $200 more. My reasons may not make sense to a lot of people, but I have hated the Michelin Company ever since Vietnam, and Goodyear is an American company, as opposed to Michelin, a French outfit.

The only French things I like are fries, toast, and kisses. My not buying their tires will not affect Michelin’s bottom line one iota, but it was worth the extra money to me not to give them my business.

We also needed new house batteries, because the previous owner of our motorhome had installed regular starting batteries instead of deep cycle RV batteries. We went with Interstate batteries, which many RVers use and seem to be happy with. Since we don’t plan to do as much dry camping as we once did, we could not justify the price of absorbed glass matt (AGM) batteries like we had in our bus conversion. 

It had rained hard off and on all day long, but it finally started to clear up about 2 p.m., and there was quite a bit of blue sky showing. Of course, by the time they were finished working on the motorhome about 3:30, it had started pouring again. That lasted until we got the van hooked up to our Blue Ox tow bar, did our light check, and were ready to take off. Then the rain stopped. Go figure.

We had planned to boondock in the Camping World parking lot if it was getting close to rush hour when they were finished with our work, but the lot was still packed, and there wasn’t anyplace to park. So we drove 86 miles to Gila Bend, where we spent the night dry camping in the huge gravel parking lot at the Elks lodge. It was a windy trip, but we made good time, and at last the rain had stopped.

There were half a dozen other RVs at the Elks lodge, and when I went inside to register, we ran into longtime readers Bob Parker and Donna Huffer, who are also on their way to Yuma for our rally.

We will continue on to the fairgrounds in Yuma today, and get settled in so we can start working on the final details for the rally. It won’t be long now, folks!

Thought For The Day – I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be. – Douglas Adams  

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Yesterday morning, after dropping the last of the new issue off at the post office, we drove 110 miles south to Tucson to visit my cousin Beverly McKiddy. My parents and all of my siblings passed away years ago, and except for my two kids and my two granddaughters, the only blood relatives that I have left are a few cousins scattered around the country, and some nephews I lost track of years ago.

My cousins are all nice people, but I’m really only close to three or four them, because I seldom get to spend much time with the others. Beverly and I have been very close since we were little kids, and we never miss an opportunity to visit with her when we’re in Arizona. She is one of my favorite people in the whole world.

The fastest route between Mesa and Tucson is down Interstate 10, but what fun is that? Whenever we can, we choose the two lane roads, which in this case is State Route 79, also known as the Pinal Pioneer Parkway, south from Florence Junction to connect with State Route 77 at Oracle Junction, and then south on SR 77 to Tucson. It takes a few minutes longer, but it is a much nicer, more relaxing trip.

Traffic was light most of the way, and as we skirted the edge of the old community of Florence, we passed the imposing gun towers and razor wire fences of the Arizona State Prison, glad we were on the right side of the fence and the law, and free to travel when and where we want to.

South of Florence we passed the memorial to old time cowboy film star Tom Mix, who was killed here in a one car accident in1940, when he drove his convertible into a dry wash, and a heavy suitcase in the back seat slammed into him and broke his neck.

We spent the day visiting with Beverly, and took her out to dinner at Luke’s Italian Beef on Fort Lowell Road, which is one of our favorite restaurants in the country. The lack of ambience is more than made up for by their huge, delicious sandwiches, and the best French fries we have found anywhere in our travels. We had a wonderful time with Beverly, and all too soon it was time to head back to our home on wheels.

We left Tucson a little after 7 p.m., and got home about 9:30. Since my night vision is poor, Terry drove back, and we enjoyed the ride, listening to good music on the radio and talking about how lucky we are to have the life and the relationship that we share.

Before I close this blog post, I need to clear up something about the Yuma Fairgrounds, to hopefully save folks some problems. At our previous rallies, the different fairgrounds had RV hookups that they rent to the general public, and have allowed RVers to come in several days ahead of the time and stay until the rally began.

But in Yuma, the fairgrounds does not have RV sites open to the general public. They have so many events going on that they just do not have room for RVs to stay there unless they are part of an activity. The fairgrounds manager has also told us that part of that policy is because they do not want to get into any hassles with the many RV parks in Yuma. They are allowing Terry and me, and a couple of assistants, to come in early and park in a far corner, so we can handle last minute rally details, but I’m afraid that folks arriving in the area a few days early will have to find other parking options.    

Fortunately, there are some good alternatives. In addition to the RV parks in town, there are many places to dry camp nearby, including north of Yuma along U.S. Highway 95, and west of town, across the state line in California. We apologize to anybody who didn’t understand this and assumed that they could arrive a few days early, but unfortunately, we have no control over the fairgrounds’ policy.

Thought For The Day – How often do you apply the knowledge you spent so much time and effort seeking?

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Overall, the RV lifestyle is pretty safe, in spite of our encounter with the burglar in December. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to use common sense and exercise caution. Sometimes bad things do happen to good people. Unfortunately, I have another crime story to report, and frankly, this one scares the hell out of me!

I got a message from a couple whom we met a few years ago at the Western Horizons campground in Casa Grande, Arizona. They said that last week they were in Louisiana, and stopped at a campground near Lafayette for the night. About 3 a.m., the husband got up to go to the bathroom and discovered that someone had slid open the window next to their door, unlocked the deadbolt on their door, and entered the RV while they slept!

They said that all of the overhead cabinets were open, the medicine cabinet in the bathroom was open, and probably most terrifying, the burglar had actually come into the bedroom where they were sleeping, and taken the husband’s pants from the hook where they hung on his side of the bed! They said that a couple of satchels were found outside the RV, and one of their cats had gotten out when the door was left afar, but nothing had been stolen. And this happened in a regular RV park!

Any criminal so desperate that they would come into an occupied RV, and even into the bedroom where the owners were sleeping, scares me a lot more than the thug we caught ripping us off!

Crime isn’t the only thing we have to be aware of. Last weekend, a couple camping at an RV park in Texas were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from their propane heater. Here is a link to a newspaper story about the tragedy. Folks, be sure your equipment is in good working order, and that your carbon monoxide and smoke detectors are working and have fresh batteries.

We have used a catalytic heater for years, and have never had a problem. But we always make sure were have a couple of windows cracked for ventilation, and we check all of our detectors regularly.

I have had several e-mails from folks who want to know if the Verizon USD 760 air card I upgraded to a couple of weeks ago works any better than the older USB 720 I replaced. Unfortunately, we are still experiencing frequent periods of very slow, and sometimes non-existent, service here in the Mesa/Apache Junction area of Arizona. I think there are just too many snowbirds here overloading the available cell towers. I fear that as more and more people are using cell phones and wireless communication devices, the problems will only get worse in some areas.

Now that we have the new issue of the Gypsy Journal in the printer’s hands, I need to put all of my efforts into the rally, which starts in just a little over three weeks. There are always a lot of last minute details that have to be dealt with, and many of them just can’t be taken care of too far in advance, such as the details for the pizza party, buying supplies, and printing name tags for the rally attendees.

Of course, Bad Nick never slows down. Check out his latest Bad Nick Blog post, We Need A Moat, and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Every sixty seconds you spend angry, upset or mad, is a full minute of happiness you’ll never get back.

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