skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Jack and I have been having a load of fun on the road. Yesterday we left Las Cruces and drove about an hour to the White Sands Missile Range Museum. We had to park Ruby outside the gate and walk into the base. On the way in, we had to show our ID's.
The museum is all outside, so it was good that the weather was great. I got a few pictures:
This one looks like a flying saucer, and it was flying over Roswell!
Here's a panorama that I put together using 5 shots:
These were shot inside a missile launcher:
After we left the Missile Museum, we visited the White Sands National Monument. Why is it called White Sands? Because of the snowy, bright-white, soft gypsum sand that drifts into massive dunes here! These dunes can move up to 30 feet a year, necessitating plows to keep the roads passable. Here are some photos that I took there:
We spent last night at the Alamogordo Community RV park. It was a good park, clean, and quiet. We walked from there a mile up the road to Golden Corral, where we feasted. We were exhausted, collapsing into bed before 10.
This morning, we walked to Denny's for their breakfast. Then we went to Lowe's and Home Depot, there in Alamogordo, looking for a turnoff for the hand-held shower in the RV. We have not yet showered in the rig, since the campground showers have been fine.
On up the road, we stopped at the Pistachio Tree Ranch, where we got some treats and took these photos:
Jack drove for a bit:
Next, about 30 miles from there, we visited the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, a BLM-managed park containing over 20,000 of these rock pictures. I will have a collection of the photos from there for you tomorrow!
Yeah! We finally got OUT of Tucson today! It took a long time for us to get going because of the "perfect storm" of all the big changes. Getting the new RV, having a new guy in it, and just putting it all together has been a big deal.
Yesterday's last minute chores included going to the AZ BMV to get our vehicles de-registered. Then we went to State Farm to take off most of the insurance on them. This little step will save each of us some considerable money.
Last evening, we ended up going out to dinner with Donna and Al at Claim Jumper. It was sort of a last minute decision, but it turned out to be lots of fun. Then we got to bed early in the RV, and then awakened just at the break of dawn.
This morning, we had just a few things to haul out to the RV, some cleaning to do in the house, and we had to unhook the utilities for the house. Then we had to get the rest of the stuff put away in the RV, unhook, and get OUT!
And that's what we did. Then we didn't leave town immediately. We went to Mimi's for breakfast, which was really good! Then we went to the church so that Jack could return a book he'd borrowed. Then.. finally! We headed down Houghton to I-10 and we were gone.
Tonight, Ruby is parked just off I-10 at Hacienda del Sol RV Resort! Have a look at the Where is Janee Now? link over to the right, and you'll get to the site that shows exactly where Ruby was and what time, at our last communication with a ham radio station that does APRS and connects with the internet. Anyway.. there we are! Click the Satellite link and you can see where we actually were, when the woman was leading us around to our camp site!
It's been windy today -- very windy -- but it seems to have calmed a bit this evening. We went on a nice walk when we arrived here, walking over to the neighboring RV dealer, where we walked through the lot, looking at some RV's, just for fun. Tonight, we're sitting and catching up on bills and email, enjoying our RV park's free WiFi!
*YAWN* This has been a long, busy day. We've had our fun, too, and we got a lot done, but we're still no way near ready to actually pull out of here. Major things that we've yet to do include these:
* Getting foam covers for the front windows (to protect our new blinds from the sun)
* Putting our outside stuff in
* Cleaning out the fridge and putting the stuff either in the RV, in the trash, or with our neighbors who are staying
* Packing up our clothes, food, important papers, computers, and other stuff I can't think of
* Unhooking the water and electric and "summerizing" the cottage.
Today we did the laundry, loaded a ton of stuff, went to run a few errands, canceled the cable, and talked to an opthamologist about Jack's eye.
What's going on with that is that he burst a small blood vessel in the white part of his eye. While this is something that's common and not serious, it does make the eye look ghoulish. He is feeling a bit of discomfort, because it has bled enough to swell the sclera, so he has a foreign body sensation. Anyway, the doctor's office says not to worry, that 14 days is a normal recovery time from this sort of thing. They said that they would see him if he insisted, but that they were sure of what he has and that there is nothing that can be done for it.
So.. we're going to spend the night in the RV tonight -- exciting! :)
Happy Easter, to those of you who celebrate it! Today that included me! We had intended to go to sunrise service, but we sort of overslept. Instead, we went to the pancake breakfast, served in high style by the youth of the church. Then we went to the 10 am service, which was good.
After church, we changed clothes and set to work right away, getting things ready to go. We redid the under-couch area making 4 large bin-drawers there. With all the stuff that we are used to carrying, we needed some more storage!
Another project for today was getting the amateur radio outfit installed, and that went swimmingly. I got the antenna installed up high, on the cabover window. Actually, the antenna itself is not screwed in yet. I wanted to be sure that the glue for the through-the-glass installation is set well first.
I use the radio for APRS, which is Automated Position Reporting System. This little techno marvel works like this: I have my little radio hooked up to a GPS unit and to an antenna (with a small amplifier). The GPS tells the radio where I am. The radio automatically sends my position out to the ether, and it is, I hope, received by a station that has an I-Gate. This station then automatically sends my position onto the internet!
What next? You click on the Where is Janee Now? link over to the right! This takes you to a site that tells you where we are, as long as we're in the RV. Starting tomorrow, I am hopeful that we have the antenna installed and the location should be available for you to see!
We went to a nice little party today over at Vickie and Earl's. Food and lots of laughs made for a fun time for all of us!
This evening, Jack and I did more work, getting things put into the RV. And one of us is sleeping out there tonight -- Eddie, our cat! I like to give him a little extra time to be in the RV before it starts moving! He loves this RV, just as he loved the other one. He had his dinner, a bath, and a nap!
LaMesa is our RV dealer where we picked up the new little Navion. Yesterday we arrived there at 8:00 to get the valve stems replaced. Xavier was in charge of taking her to the tire place, where they had to put something solid into the tires so that the steel valve stems would go.
Hours later, we found out that they didn't have the part that they would need, but they were going to do something else. Another few hours later, they didn't have it ready. Another hour or two, and it would be back in half an hour. Finally at about 3, we saw her pull in. And the valve stems were not done yet. Ryan showed us what they'd done, and it was not much. But I will still will be able to check the air. It won't be as slick as it was with my beautiful RealWheels, but it'll work. Oh well.
While we were waiting, we walked over to Beaudry and toured their campground. Then we went to Camping World and bought a couple more things -- a nice folding dish drainer and an ice cube tray, so the day was not a total loss.
Off to AAA then for our maps for the journey! They had everything we wanted.
We made it back and got parked just in time to leave for the Cattletown all-you-can-eat Thank-God-it's-Cod. There were, I believe, 20 of us there, and we were a raucous lot! We had ridden with Al, Donna, Mike, and Carol, so we enjoyed some margaritas!
Today was the day! We went to LaMesa RV and took delivery of my new beautiful Navion 24H! We got there just a bit after 10 am and started out with moving our stuff out of the old RV and into the new one.
While the storage is a bit limited compared to that of the old RV, there is lots of just plain living room, and we're going to manage to get all we need into the little cubbies. We're going to have a challenge to pare down our travel clothes enough, to be sure.
We got the financials all done, papers all signed, and then the men got to work with getting my nice RealWheels tire covers switched. They wouldn't fit. Wheels are a different size. :/ Then they set about switching my passenger side swivel seat to the new one. Nope. Didn't fit. *sigh* They are going to get metal valve stems installed, though, and they will get the valves in there replaced to take the metal valve stem extenders. And they will rivet these onto the tire covers that ARE on the RV. And they will let me order a new swivel, and they will reimburse me. Coolness.
After that, we drove over to Camping World to get a few things to trick her out. We got step covers and a new entry rug. We bought little levels, and a couple other things. Camping World is always fun.
Our next errand was Little Caesar's and then the grocery. Jack decorated the pizza when we got home, adding onions, green olives, and extra cheese.
So... great time, great day!
Warm day today, and we both worked hard. We started out working on the RV, cleaning stuff out of the cupboards and readying it for our closing on Wednesday. How I'm going to get all the stuff into the new one, I'm not quite sure. No one in the world could even fathom how many plastic bags I'd hoarded under the bench seat in the RV! Had to have been hundreds.
I went to lunch with Julie at Oregano's, and it was great, as usual. We got the Bruschetta and a yummy Artichoke Lasagna, which we split.
After lunch, we did more pickup and cleanup and now the deck is covered with stuff from the RV!
This evening, we each worked on our respective taxes, in TurboTax online. Good fun, almost like a game. I just hope that it all works out so that neither of us has to pay much! At the rate I'm going, I should be able to be finished either tomorrow or Wednesday!
I did it! I made the deal ydy for a new motorhome! It's very much like the one that I've enjoyed for the past 2 years, the one in which Michael and I left here in 2007. In that RV, Michael and I went east, visiting Auntie Dots and Dave that summer of 2007. That's the RV in which I came back here alone in the fall of 2007, returned to Indiana the following spring, went to Michigan in the summer of 2008, and then returned here to Tucson in the fall of 2008.
The differences, however, are going to be profound for me, for us. There is a sofa (which makes into a comfy bed) and a dinette. The sofa is in a slide-out, so there's lots more room to just move around. The interior decor is beautiful, in taupe, candy-apple red, and light yellow. The wood is washed maple, light in color, which I love.
Storage space will be at a premium, so we'll have to choose our provisions carefully, but I'm pretty good at that. There are some other things that I'm looking forward to, like having a single wastewater termination point on the rig; the one that I have now has two separate ports for gray and black water.
I may just keep the overhead bed for now, anyway, so that I can store stuff up there, as Annie said in the comments from yesterday. Ray, yes.. LOL you're right about those sea scenes in the windows!
So they are going to call me tomorrow, at which time we'll set up a day and time to do the transfer. In the meantime, I have to get the RV emptied of all the things that I don't want to take along. When we go to do the transfer, I can take things like dishes and such out of the old one and put them into the new one. They will have some things to transfer in the service department, too.
I got my mail finally yesterday, and .. what a nightmare! Bills and important tax papers and Christmas cards, oh my!
Church was good this morning, Palm Sunday, and we enjoyed a lunch at Sweet Tomatoes afterward.
This afternoon, Jack did laundry as I assembled a strawberry shortcake trifle to take to Harold and Kathy's party in their new house. What fun that was! Jack and I walked over there, probably about a mile from here. Food was great and conversation easy. Then we watched the DVD of "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" I love that movie!
Today we helped Harold with his move for a little while. Then we went down to LaMesa RV to have lunch and a look around. We found some nice RV's, including one that we both really liked. It's a Navion H, a 2008, barely used with just 11,000 miles, with a much better floorplan than mine. It has a slideout, giving me lots more walkaround room. It has a comfy sofa .. and a dinette! It has the bed above, which I would have taken out and put in some nice cabinetry. You can see it here and you can drag your mouse over the photo to make the camera move. The one I want has a pattern that includes a nice red.
So I almost bought it, but we couldn't come to an agreement on the deal. And now I'm wondering if I made the right choice.
I got over my little bout with tummy ick and am now feeling just fine. Yesterday and today, Jack and I worked on building a table surrounding our little firepit. It is a 3' circular table, built of plywood and covered in pergo wood. It comes apart in halves, in case the table has to be taken off. Anyway, it's very cool and looks great.
People are starting to leave here now, just as the days are starting to get longer and a bit warmer. After Fun Day, most of the conversations around the Village are "When are you guys leaving?" Little lizards are running here and there, and the cacti are blooming in more profusion. This is a wonderful time of year here!
We went on some errands today. Jack's looking at a new camera, to replace the one that broke last fall. We went to In-and-Out Burgers, and that was fun as always. We took some stuff back to Lowe's and got some artisan bread from Beyond Bread. Good day!
