We were in no hurry yesterday, and that was a good thing. It was cold in Gila Bend overnight, and I was too lazy to get up and turn on the furnace, so instead I shivered half the night. Finally, about 7 a.m., I got up for a bathroom trip, and when I came back to bed I snuggled up to Miss Terry and dropped into a deep sleep. So deep that finally somewhere around 10:40 a.m. Terry woke me up and asked if I ever planned to get out of bed. There were several RVs at the Elks lodge overnight, but by the time we opened the curtain over our windshield, there was only one travel trailer parked back at the far edge of the lot, and I think he’s staying there long term.

We puttered around for an hour or so, checking e-mail and returning a couple of phone calls, and finally got on the road about noon. But we only had about 120 miles to go, so there was no pressure.

It was a beautiful day, and the storm from the day before had blown itself out. We cruised west on Interstate 8, stopping only long enough to pull into a rest area for a quick walk around the motorhome and van, making sure everything was still in one piece. It’s always a good idea to stop every hundred miles or so do a walk around and stretch your legs. It gives you an opportunity to check your tires, be sure your tow bar and safety cables are still secure, and look for anything that might need attention. We had friends who once drove 400 miles nonstop, and when they arrived at their destination, they discovered that the side window of their SUV had been shattered. They had no idea when or how that had happened, and it remains a mystery today.

I like comparing how our Winnebago motorhome compares to our MCI bus conversion on steep grades. There is a small mountain range just east of Yuma on Interstate 8, and in the past, if I had a good running start at it, we’d top out in the bus at about 15 to 18 miles per hour. We had stopped at the rest area just before the uphill climb began, so there was no running start, and I had to slow down for a big truck, but in the Winnebago, we still hit the top at about 50 miles per hour. What a difference! However, I still much prefer the Jake brake in the old bus to the exhaust brake on the Winnebago. I just felt more secure with it on steep downgrades.  

After a stop for fuel at the Flying J on the east side of town, we arrived at the fairgrounds and stopped to check in at the office. They have several other events going on between now and our rally, so we found a quiet spot away from the main area, parked next to the stables. We have 20 amp electric and water, which is plenty to sustain us indefinitely.

Once we were settled in, we called our friends Mike and Elaine Loscher and arranged to meet them for dinner at the Golden Corral. Mike and Elaine are sweet people, and very dedicated supporters of our efforts. They have been to every one of our rallies, always volunteering to help. We could never afford to pay them for all that they do, from helping with parking and registration, and a hundred other chores that come up. We feel very honored to have such wonderful friends. 

I noticed in Gila Bend, and again here in Yuma, that our Verizon air card is working much faster than it was in the Apache Junction/Mesa area. Some snowbirds had told me that they were experiencing slow service here in Yuma too, but so far, so good. We’ll be busy getting all of the last minute rally chores done in the next few days. The clock is ticking down!

Thought For The Day – Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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We publish several guides to help make the RV lifestyle less expensive and easier, including our Guide To Free Campgrounds & Overnight Parking Places, our Casino Camping guide, and the Guide To Public RV Dump Stations, to name just a few. They can all be found on our online bookstore, along with a lot of other great RV reading.

Another of our top selling publications is our Guide To RV Good Guys, which lists honest and reliable repair shops from coast to coast. I developed this guide because I know how hard it can be to find somebody to work on our RV or van when we’re in some strange town where we don’t know anybody to ask for suggestions.

Businesses cannot buy an advertisement in our Good Guys guide. The only way a business gets listed is if we have dealt with them ourselves and had a good experience, or if they are recommended by somebody we know and whose opinion we trust. I have a new business that I am going to add to this guide.

We want to replace the tires on our Winnebago motorhome. They have a lot of tread left, but they are seven years old, and that means it’s time to get some new rubber on the RV. Most RVers never drive enough to wear out their tires, but over time the sidewalls can weaken and crack, which can lead to a blowout. Having survived a front tire blowout on our bus at 65 miles per hour a few years ago, it’s not an experience we want to repeat.

The other day, I spent some time calling tire dealers in the Mesa and Apache Junction area, getting quotes for six new Michelin tires. One of the places I called was Fletcher Tire on Crismon Road in Mesa. The gentleman I spoke to there said they could not help us, because they don’t carry the big 22.5 tires we need, and our RV is too big for their equipment.

But, the salesman asked for my cell phone number and offered to make some calls for me and try to locate a couple of shops who handle big rigs. True to his word, he called me back a short time later with the phone numbers and contact information for two tire shops that stocked our size tires and can handle a big RV.

Now that’s service! He isn’t going to make a penny from me on my tires, he knows that I’m an RVer, not a local who might come in sometime for something else, but he still took the time to go the extra mile for me! You can bet that Fletcher Tire gets added to our Good Guys guide, and that if I ever do need tires or any service on my van, if we’re in this area, that’s who I’ll go to. 

I’m still tire shopping, and I quickly learned that prices are all over the place. Big O Tires was almost exactly $1,000 higher for the six tires than a place called Copperstate Tire in Phoenix. When I told the guy from Big O that his quote was way out of line, he asked me incredulously if I was really willing to drive 35 miles just to save $1,000. Uh…. yeah, I am!    

I’d like to get the new tires on before we go to Yuma for our Gypsy Gathering rally next month, unless somebody reading this has any leads to a good tire shop in Yuma I should call to get a quote from.

If the guy at Big O thinks traveling 35 miles is a big journey, he needs to talk to my pal Al Hesselbart, historian for the RV Hall of Fame Museum in Elkhart, Indiana.

While he was at the National RV Show in Louisville, Kentucky in December, Al was approached by representatives of the Chinese RV industry who invited him to come to a large outdoor lifestyle show in Hangzhou, China next month as their guest. They explained that they were inviting representatives of different parts of the American RV industry to discuss our system at their show.

Al told me Hangzhou is about 100 kilometers southeast of Shanghai, and he is scheduled to leave March 2^nd, and he will arrive in China on March 3^rd. He will give his 20 to 30 minute presentation on the growth of the RV lifestyle and its effect on the American culture to a group of government officials on the 4^th, and to RV industry officials and show goers on the 5^th, then the group will get an officially escorted tour of the Hanzhou area on the 6^th, and will return home on the 7^th.

Al said they are flying them business class, putting them up in first class hotels, and he will have an interpreter to help him present his program. Gee, and I thought my buddy had a swelled head before! Can you imagine what he’s going to demand if I want him to come to our Eastern rally in Elkhart this year to present a seminar? I may need to sell a kidney or something, just to cover his tab!

Thought For The Day – Never take life too seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

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Yesterday we had lunch with about 40 of our family members. No, it wasn’t a family reunion in the typical sense of the word, but rather a meeting of Escapees Chapter 45. Members of the Escapees RV Club are our extended family, and whenever and wherever we meet up with Escapees, we always feel like we’re with family.

Our dear friends Ed and Alice Allard hosted the luncheon at Roadhaven RV Resort in Apache Junction, and even though we do not belong to Chapter 45, all Escapees are welcome at any event. So when Ed invited us, we made it a point to be there. Who can pass up good food with good friends? I know I can’t!

If you have ever met my pal Ed Allard, you’d remember him, because he’s almost seven feet tall, and he makes a big impression on you. Ed truly personifies the term “gentle giant,” and I cannot tell you how much this guy and his lovely wife, Alice, mean to us. We have known Ed and Alice for ten years, and in that time I have come to understand that God had to make Ed as big as he did, because he’s got such a huge, loving heart that no normal sized body could hold it!

I have to apologize to anyone who tried to leave a blog comment yesterday morning and could not do so. The gremlins were apparently at work, because for some reason, the blog comments were turned off. Thanks to our friends Jerry and Suzy LeRoy for letting me know about the problem so I could get it resolved. I still don’t really understand how it happened, I’m just glad we got it fixed.

In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned Phoenix Commercial Paint in Elkhart, Indiana and posted a link to their latest excellent full body RV paint job. The folks who own that coach posted a comment later in the evening, highly praising the job Michele Henry and her crew did, as did another couple, Jim and Cathy Palm, who’s RV Michele painted last summer. Good work takes time, and Michele says you can expect your rig to be in the shop about three weeks for full body paint. She told me yesterday that she has worked out a special arrangement with Country Inn and Suites in nearby Mishawaka to give a special deal to her customers who are coming in for paint jobs.

Last week I wrote that after weeks of very slow service, I upgraded my older Verizon USB 720 air card with a newer USB 760 model, and said that I would tell you how it works out. I’d like to say that the newer air card is as different as night and day, but that’s not the case. I do think it is a little bit faster, but we have still had frequent times with very slow service, and we are still getting knocked offline occasionally.

It doesn’t seem to make a difference if the air card is in our Cradlepoint MBR1000 router or plugged directly into the USB port of my computer. I think a big part of the problem right now is that the cell towers here in the Mesa and Apache Junction area are just overloaded. It’s pretty frustrating at times, but that’s life, right? We need the hassles once in a while to help us appreciate the many more great days we have with no problems.

Thought For The Day – I keep some people’s numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

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