OLD AND NEW (BACK IN GOODYEAR)

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 50 Cloudy and Chance of Rain High 67) 

After over a week at Camp La Mesa we finally left for Goodyear last Thursday. Here is our old Cameo and new Lifestyle parked next to each other at La Mesa RV. We had water and electric at both sites.

It was nice to have the Cameo so we could move the cats there and spend the day while they worked on the Lifestyle. They picked up the Lifestyle in the morning and brought it back each evening Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

You are not going to believe this but another gremlin reared its head just as we were about to leave. Any guesses? That's right the trailer brake gremlin. We got ready to leave and tested the trailer brakes and there weren't any. Turns out this gremlin was easy to find, a cut electrical wire to the brakes that was fixed and we got on our way.

Even though longer and wider and heavier the Lifestyle towed nice but we still got bugs on the front cap :-)

We have been busy with getting our new place organized and running errands after spending more than a week at Camp La Mesa.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

STILL IN TUCSON (MORE OBSERVATIONS)

Currently in Tucson AZ (Low 45 Sunny and Nice High 73)

Believe it or not we are still in Tucson at the RV dealership. What has taken the most time has been the moving of our generator from the Cameo to the Lifestyle. We got here last Wednesday before noon and moved the cats, refrigerator and just enough to spend the night in the new Lifestyle. We did our walkthrough after they took the Cameo to take the generator out. We found a few small problems during our walkthrough. Took them the rest of the day to get the generator out. What we did not expect was that it took almost two days to put it in the Lifestyle. That meant we could do no moving and we had to spend Thursday night back in the Cameo. We got the Lifestyle back late Friday afternoon with some work still to be done. They don't work on the weekend plus we had no time to move with one or the other RV gone so we stayed here. They took the Lifestyle to the paint shop yesterday for some touchup and then worked on the other items. We will probably be here again today as they finish up some things. We "HOPE" to be heading back to Goodyear tomorrow. In the mean time some observations:

The stay in our old Cameo was like camping, we had to watch live TV for heaven's sake.

It was nice having the Cameo to put the cats in and we could relax in while they took the Lifestyle.

But it seemed like all we played was the waiting game, got all done in the Cameo that we could and then waited and waited.

Jo thinks she will need a nursing home after this. We both say this is our last move; we will be carried out of the Lifestyle feet first.

Living in it while at the dealership does have the benefit of really testing out all the features, we just found out this morning that the bedroom heat pump doesn't work so we added it to the list.

Sorry no pictures yet, we just found the camera yesterday.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

ONE NIGHT NEW, ONE NIGHT OLD

Currently in Tucson AZ (Low 50 Sunny and Windy High73)

We drove to Tucson yesterday for our walkthrough spending our first night in our new Lifestyle. Tonight we are back in the Cameo. Don't worry we like the Lifestyle but we have a lot to blog about later. For now some other observations.

Thought it would be less cluttered but you should see the Cameo tonight.

We feel a little like pingpong balls, we moved enough from the Cameo to spend the night in the Lifestyle yesterday so our generator could be taken out.

Today the generator was to be installed in the Lifestyle but it didn't get finished so we had to scramble to be able to sleep in the Cameo amongst the clutter.

Our cats were a little tense yesterday but finally settled down in time only to be moved back to the Cameo today while we were packing, hence the clutter.

The Lifestyle should be done tomorrow morning so we have another night at Camp La Mesa.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

SNOWBIRD CODE OF CONDUCT

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 48 Sunny High 77) 

It is an annual event here in the Valley of the Sun, an Arizona Republic article on the snowbirds. Some of it is thanks towards the visitors for all the money we bring but some of it is snarky about driving, crowds, etc. There even is the 'complaint' that we always seem to have a smile on our face. We thought we would update and publish our "Snowbird Code of Conduct" in response to this article.

During our stay in the Valley of the Sun we will try to only:

• drive during the day during the week; leaving rush hour and the weekends to the locals.
• eat out for breakfast or lunch during the day during the week; leaving evening and weekend meals to the locals. This leaves happy hours to the locals because it is hard to be happier than being retired and living in a nice warm place for the winter. We rarely eat out for supper because we don't like to drive after dark :-)
• shop at Walmart and Target and grocery stores during the day during the week and never before a big holiday; leaving the evening hours and weekends to the locals for the big crowds and long lines.
• go to movies during the day during the week; a few times we have been the only people in our movie of choice.
• sightsee during the day during the week; generally not a problem because the locals never see the sights where they live anyway :-)

And finally, we always have a smile on our face; it is easy in this lifestyle, so what if it is one of their complaints.

We realize that if you are still working and driving in rush hour traffic, waiting in line to eat, suffering long lines at Wal-Mart that the locals need something to complain about. We know with our 'Snowbird Code of Conduct' they are not complaining about us.

We are heading to Tucson on Wednesday to pick up our new rig. We will take a couple of days there moving from one house to the other and then be back in Goodyear for the remainder of our stay here.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

WE ARE GETTING A NEW RIG, PART 3 (DAY TRIP TO SEE NEW RIG)

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 42 Sunny High 78) 

Now that the Super Bowl crowd has left our weather has turned from rainy to bright and sunny with above average temperatures. Weather was still better than either Seattle or Boston that is for sure but still not up to par for the winter here.

As we mentioned we got the call that our new home is at the dealership in Tucson. Since this is the third possible fifth wheel in our journey to a new home we decided to take a day trip to check it out and make sure that it had all the options we thought it was going to.

We didn't realize but this was the first time we saw all of our decor options; wood, leather, carpet, countertops, wallpaper, etc. in the same rig. We are so glad that we took this day to do this. We fell in love again with our new home. It has been a long and somewhat frustrating journey but we are back to feeling good about it. Here are some pictures taken with Jo's phone.

The dealership is working on getting the satellite dish and the stacked washer and dryer installed. We take our Cameo down there on Wednesday February 11th and do our walkthrough and begin moving in. We figure it will take us a couple of days and then we will be back in Goodyear.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

WE GOT THE CALL AND MOVIE UPDATE (INTO THE WOODS)

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 42 Foggy then Clearing High 67) 

We got the call we have been waiting for, our new home arrived in Tucson late last week. They will be doing their walkthrough and adding a satellite dish and a stacked washer dryer then we will be heading to do our walkthrough and the big move. This is great news and saves Bob a call to the factory on Monday.

We see a lot of movies while here for the winter and we recently saw "Into the Woods".

First of all for those who are thinking about seeing it here is one key thing to know, it is a musical! The first few trailers we saw did not have any singing at all. We had some friends attend it before we did and they mentioned the music was wonderful, so we were fully prepared. The music and songs by Steven Sondheim were very good.

"Into the Woods" does a twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales like the television show "Once Upon a Time" by combining the characters from the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel into a single original story. The combining factors are a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with a witch, played by Meryl Streep, who has put a curse on them.

This movie contains one of the best lines we think we have heard as uttered by Christopher Pine playing Cinderella's prince who says, "I was taught to be charming, not sincere". Sounds like our politicians doesn't it?

If you like fantasy, fairy tales and music you will really like this movie. If you don't, stay home.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

THOUGHT WE WOULD HAVE HEARD BY NOW

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 50 Cloudy High 65) 

We still do not know anything more about our new home. The lack of communication with this dealer is horrendous. We have emailed and made numerous calls and talked to just about everybody there, including the general manager, and yet we still get nothing except a promise to call back no matter what they find out, so many broken promises. We cannot recommend this dealership to anybody, it unfortunately is fairly common that you have to beg, plead and cajole just to get good service.

We thought we would have heard by now and we would have blogged on it along with our visit to Quartzsite so here goes our recent visit to Q. We took a day trip from Goodyear and no matter how often we take the trip it still is amazing to see the vast numbers of RVs as you come over the hill. It was so windy that we didn't want to have sand covered food so we ate at a sit down place called Times 3. The food was real good but the service was real sloooooow. The traffic was bad as usual.

The big tent was packed. We got some shoe inserts, pillows and mustard.

We got some ice cream at Dairy Queen on the way out of town. A great day had by all.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

THE GAMBLER, HAIL DAMAGE REPAIR

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 42 Mostly Sunny High 70) 

We recently saw the movie "The Gambler".

We liked this movie but it is not one that we can recommend because it not a great subject matter plus it is kind of dark and moody. The theme of the movie is 'the only way out is all in' and it deals with the character played by Mark Wahlberg and his addiction to gambling.

Sometimes you go to movies and enjoy the performances. Both Wahlberg and John Goodman were really good in it, although in one scene Goodman really needed a large towel. Those who see the movie will understand.

We are getting the damage to our truck due to hail damage fixed this week. We got hit by hail in the Denver area in September and did not realize how bad it was until we had a mobile repair company give us an estimate. There are so many dents that they needed the truck in the shop for a few days. We are now driving a rental car, a Chrysler 200.

It feels like we are riding on a skate board. We are so used to be riding high in the truck and seeing over other vehicles. We are also used to the great mirrors of the truck, these little side mirrors are hard to get used to. It should only be a few days that we are skating along.

We did get a call Monday on our new fifth wheel. It is supposed to ship late this week and be in Tucson next week. They will need some time to do their walkthrough and add the satellite dish and washer/dryer so we are looking at the first of February to get our new home. We'll keep you posted.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

A GREAT DAY AND DIESEL PRICES

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 42 Sunny High 74) 

We had a great day in the desert Saturday. We started it off at the Estrella Lakeside Farmers Market. It is held at the Yacht Club on Estrella Lake south of us.

We walked around and bought a few things but mostly enjoyed the great weather, mid 70s and sunny with a light breeze. We then left and shopped at Fry's Grocery. For one day only they were having a 4x fuel points on gift card purchases, $25 gets you 100 fuel points which gets you 10 cents off a gallon. We bought gift cards for places we normally eat at and bought some groceries. With our discount of 50 cents per gallon here is the price we paid.

The discount is limited to 35 gallons so this is what we paid, adding whatever would not fit into the truck tank into our auxiliary fuel tank.

A great day, shopping and diesel like we haven't seen in a long time, even if we had to buy gift cards to get there.

We couldn't take it anymore and called our salesman on our rig. There was a delay at the factory due to snow and he thought somebody else would call me. Monday we are supposed to get a phone call and a list of options to make sure we are getting what we think we are, we will let you know.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

UNBROKEN

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 38 Sunny High 68) 

We recently saw the movie 'Unbroken'.

The amazing true story of Louie Zamperini who was an Olympic athlete then a WW II Army Air Corps bombardier captured by the Japanese. The movie details his less than stellar youth and how he turned that around and into an Olympic athlete competing in the 1936 Olympics (he finished 8th in the 5,000 but his last lap was the fastest ever and that record stood for a number of years). 

The movie gets a little gruesome with his capture and treatment by the Japanese and ends with him being set free. For us the movie ended a little too soon. He was unbroken by the Japanese but did not let that situation embitter him. He turned his life around, became a Christian motivational speaker and forgave his captors. He even traveled to Japan to visit the war criminals in prison hugging and forgiving those who acknowledged that they knew him. In 1988 he ran with the Olympic torch in Japan before the Nagano Olympics. To be fair some of this was covered in the film, but nothing about the Christian aspect and only in the credits, there should have been more.

We recommend this movie, even with the brutal treatment depicted.

We surprisingly have no update on when we will be getting our new fifth wheel. We got the call over a week ago that it was on its way but all calls after that requesting an update have not been returned.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

OUR LAST TRIP TO THE MUSEUM

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 48 Partly Sunny High 68) 

We recently took our last trip to the Museum. We saw "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb".

The third installment of the Ben Stiller films where he is a night watchman at a museum where the exhibits come to life at night time. During this movie we find out what the secret of the tomb is and how it causes this behavior. The magic was disappearing so the secret had to be learned so they could reverse it. The three movies were certainly not academy award winners but they were good fun.

More than just the last movie in this series it was also the last movie for screen legend Mickey Rooney and for Robin Williams. We will miss all of them.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

WE ARE GETTING A NEW FIVER, PART 2

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 37 Sunny High 68) 

We got some news yesterday, our new home is on its way to Arizona so we thought we might show some photos. Here are shots of our new home from the web, first the floorplan

The interior

Lots of storage

Bob's friend from college Mike photoshopped the photo of us at Yosemite and the new Lifestyle, we think we are going to use this for our business cards.

We are anxious for our new home, the likely date is now January 14th to take our Cameo there and move into our new home

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

WINDOWS 8 AND THE YOGA LAPTOP/TABLET

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 28 Sunny High 58) 

As previously mentioned we have had a lot of changes lately. One of those was a new computer and a new operating system. We have been leery of Windows 8 for awhile but our old laptop was on its last legs so we figured it was time. We got a Yoga laptop/tablet with Windows 8.1. The Yoga is a fold-able device 

that can be a laptop.

A tablet

In stand mode.

For the most part we are impressed with the Yoga. Bob uses it in desktop mode in the morning for blog, email, etc. Then at night while watching TV it is in tablet mode. Windows 8 has not been as bad as we thought although there a few quirks that require a restart but the machine is so fast that doesn't matter much. The virus scanning now takes minutes instead of hours. What we use the Yoga for (Chrome Browser, Quicken, Outlook) it seems like we are in the earlier Windows mode a lot more than Windows 8. The Windows 8 screen has a button to get you into this earlier Windows mode at a click. Plus you can add the above programs to the Windows mode start screen or the Windows mode taskbar. Here is that look and feel on our new Yoga.

With a fully featured browser there is not the need for a lot of apps like you would in an android device. It was one of the easiest transitions from one computer to another that we have had in a long time.

Till next time

Bob and Jo

HAPPY NEW YEAR! - 2014 YEAR IN REVIEW

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 31 Mostly Sunny High 46)

Happy New Year! What a year we had! It was another year of adventures both planned and unplanned. Here is a brief summary of what has happened in our lives in 2014.

We spent last Christmas in our winter spot in Goodyear Arizona just west of Phoenix leaving in early April for the Lake Havasu Arizona area. Again this year we were able to check off a lot from our bucket list on our trip along the west coast circling back to Goodyear. We celebrated our 5th year of living fulltime in an RV in September. Among the bucket list items were the London Bridge, Da Vinci Exhibit, Reagan Presidential Library, Hearst Castle, saw a grizzly bear, saw bighorn sheep, Buffalo Bill gravesite, Mother Cabrini Shrine, and we saw a crested saguaro.

We also visited a number of National Parks (every National Park is on our bucket list); Joshua Tree, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite, Lassen Volcanic, Crater Lake, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens and Glacier.

We were along the coast for some great scenery, lighthouses and seafood in Morro Bay California, Moss Landing California, North Bend Oregon, Newport Oregon, and Long Beach Washington. 

We also attended our first RV Rally, the Oregon Cascaders Rally in Westfir Oregon. Another first was lot sitting at Escapees North Ranch where we did ATVng in the desert, target shooting, crested saguaro, etc. We added California, Oregon and Washington to our map of visited states. These were the planned adventures.

What we did not plan on was some maintenance issues that caused some distress and time delays. Our old nemesis the dining room slideout problems reared its ugly head again this year. While staying at the Emigrant Lake Recreation Area near Ashland Oregon we needed a new gear and this time we were able to make the modification that Bob read about on the internet. The slideout worked the rest of the year. We had a new nemesis this year, no trailer brakes. Long story short is that we would replace something and it would work for awhile, then replace something else and so on. Finally in Albuquerque New Mexico we found that the wire that ran along the axle from one set of brakes to the other had worn down to bare wire and was shorting out. We have had trailer brakes since then. Finally we had some hail damage while in Colorado.

Every year we jam a lifetime of vacations into one year but there is still so much more to see and do. This year we plan on heading to Maine for summer then work our way down the east coast to Florida for the winter adding a number of visited states.

We hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

OUR LAST TRIP TO MIDDLE EARTH

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 30 Sunny High 57) 

What began for us in 2001 when we took our first trip to Middle Earth to see "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings" has ended. Six movies later we have taken our last trip to Middle Earth, the mythical creation of J. R. R. Tolkien in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbitt. We recently saw "The Hobbitt: Battle of the 5 Armies".

We are sad that our visits to Middle Earth has ended. Neither one of us have ever read the books. We went to the first movie because some of our friends were giddy with excitement to see them and we were hooked. "Battle of the 5 Armies" concludes the 3 movies made from one book, "The Hobbitt". To be honest they probably should have stuck with the original plan to make 2 movies as the 2nd and 3rd movies drug a little in spots and could have been combined. But that way they wouldn't have made so much money.

In this movie Bilbo Baggins and the dwarfs have reclaimed the dwarf kingdom under the mountain from Smaug the dragon. Smaug attacked the humans in the nearby community and once that was resolved the humans and elves want their share of the treasures under the mountain. War is about to break out when an army of Orcs arrives, the old saying the enemy of my enemy is my friend applies and the humans, elves and dwarfs combine forces to fight the Orcs and defeat the first wave. A second wave is also thwarted when the giant eagles arrive.

Another great Peter Jackson directed visit to Middle Earth. 6 movies and 13 years later and we still want more. There are rumors that another movie either based on Tolkien's "Silmarillion" or an original work is being thought about, if they can make money you know they will try. We hope we can visit Middle Earth again but only if it is a good movie and not one just thrown together to make money. 

It is hard to recommend this movie; if you have visited Middle Earth before you probably already have plans for your return visit. If this would be your first visit it may not work out for you.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Goodyear AZ (Low 38 Mostly Sunny High 60)

Merry Christmas to all, "Do not be afraid. Look, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people".

Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

WE ARE GETTING A NEW FIVER, PART 1

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 47 Partly Cloudy High 61) 

Subtitled: How we got to where we are today.

We like our current 5th wheel, Carriage Cameo, a lot but were amazed at the room that are in the wider body fifth wheels like the Carri-Lite. When Lifestyle RV started making wide bodies we made the huge mistake of visiting a RV dealer in Albuquerque. Bet you can guess the rest, we found a floorplan that we liked and were flabbergasted how a few inches wider, taller and longer made it seem sooooo much bigger inside.

It was a 2014 and we were real close to buying it but it didn't have the options we wanted, specifically dual pane windows, so we headed on down the road in our Cameo. Bob researched all the options and spec'd out what we wanted figuring we would have to order one. After we got to our winter home we drove to Tucson to see the floorplan again and compare it to others. Our earlier conclusion was verified and we were prepared to leave.

The dealer had other ideas. After a lot of back and forth, from modifying the unit there to a unit already on order we finally came to an agreement. With the Christmas break and potential weather issues our new home is expected in Tucson in early January.

Part 2 will deal with our new home. In the mean time here is an exterior shot showing our paint colors.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 47 Partly Cloudy High 74) 

We have been real busy lately with Doctors appointments and getting settled in Goodyear. Plus we are dealing with a lot of changes in our lives so we haven't done much blogging. With Christmas being so close we decided we still needed a little outside decorating. What we like about these decorations is that they look almost as good in the daytime as when lighted at night.

No inside decorating for us this year as we are getting a new fifth wheel in a few weeks (more on that in a future post). On top of that we have a new bank so Bob is changing all the billpay information. All the while trying to learn Windows 8 on a new computer. Lot of fodder for future blog posts for sure.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

SAW HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 40 Clouds High 71) 

We recently saw Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.

Part of the Hunger Games trilogy of books made into 4 movies if that makes sense. We guess it does for all the money they are making. The Hunger Games trilogy is the top seller on Amazon surpassing the Harry Potter series so they have a huge built in audience.

The story is set in a world that has survived an apocalyptic event resulting in a central Capitol that is modern and prosperous and a number of districts that perform all the work for the Capitol and reap none of the benefits. Hunger Games are held with two contestants from each district in a fight to the death. The victor wins food and supplies for their district. It is a way for the Capitol to exert control. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen who volunteers for the Hunger Games when her younger sister is chosen at random. The movies deal with her first Hunger Games and then future events as she becomes the focal point of the districts rebellion against the Capitol. The first two movies, Hunger Games, and Hunger Games: Catching Fire were both good. To describe this movie is best to use a baseball analogy. This movie setups the climax in Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and is kind of like the middle reliever in a baseball. The starters are done with, the first two movies, and your closer is waiting in the wings, the final movie in the series. What the author accomplished in 1 book the movies do it in two to garner more money. We like the movies so much we fell into their trap.

If you liked the first two Hunger Games you need to see this one, but don't make this the first Hunger Games movie because you will be lost and it is kinda slow in spots.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, OBAMACARE AND OTHER GREMLINS

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 38 Sunny High 82) 

First of all Happy Thanksgiving to all! Hope everyone is safe and enjoying the holiday. We are thankful for all of our family and friends and the fact that we can tour this great country and enjoy the wonderful scenery like this from our visit to Yosemite.

Bob has been tearing out his hair recently researching Obamacare. He was one of many that lost his insurance because of Obamacare and after his experience it should be called the "Unaffordable Care Act", at least for us. He is not old enough for Medicare, who thought the day would come when you were looking forward to Medicare?

Here are the cold hard numbers, premiums went up 80% over what he was paying for retiree coverage. That premium is now about 1/3 of his pension. The deductible and out of pocket maximum are both higher. We think this change will easily double what we were paying before after you add in the higher deductible and out of pocket expenses. The only good news is that he signed with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas which we know is a good company.

Finally, we got some feedback that our description of the great horned gremlin that was causing our trailer brake problem might need some better explanation. Here is hopefully a better picture.

Here is hopefully a better description. The above is a picture of the brake wire that was cut out. The plastic insulation on the wire was peeled back forming the horns by the wire rubbing against the grommet that it ran through into the frame. As we bounced along the rubbing exposed the bare copper, you may have to zoom in to see the exposed copper, which then shorted out occasionally. If you click on the photo it should become bigger. We think this great horned gremlin was the problem with the trailer wiring.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo