New Caliphers

We were up early today and out of the park by 8:30 so we could get to La Mesa Rv for our 9:00 am appointment to have the caliphers replaced under warranty by Workhorse.  The old caliphers have been a problem since 2002 and it took the US Gov't to put pressure on them to fix the problem.  Today was the day.  I hope the new caliphers won't stick and ruin the brakes like the old ones did.

We sat in one place with the MH for three months and when we went to bring in the slides they almost didn't come in completely.  With a little coaching they finally came in and then it was time to raise the leveling jacks.  You got it, the front ones didn't want to raise all the way either.  A couple tries freed them up enough to make the trip down to the dealer.  Hang in there, Gerry noticed the electric steps hadn't come in all the way.  I applied some lubricant to them and they seem to be working once again.  Sitting still for that long takes it toll on the MH and us.  Time to hit the road before we freeze up all together.

We met a number of couples in the waiting area and listened to their MH woes.  Two of them had Tiffin high end coaches and were having a number of problems with them.  Tiffin has an excellent name and reputation in the MH industry and we were surprised to hear about their trouble.  They both said they loved their units and would buy again when it was time.

The dealer provides a free lunch and we went down and had some tacos and drinks.  Nice feature since there aren't any restaurants in the immediate area.  The  tacos were pretty good and we are thinking about going back on Tuesday for the BBQ chicken.  LOL

One quick stop for propane and we arrived back at the park in time to hook the unit back up and settle in.  That is, after they turned the water back on and we flushed our tanks.  They have been having a lot of water outages the last couple months due to unknown causes.  At least we have extra water in our fresh water tank so all is well.

We received some good news today from our grand daughter Stephanie.  She has passed all her course work and will graduate as a nurse this May.  Congratulations Stephanie.  You worked hard for this and deserve it.  She will be pinned the Thursday night before her brother Jared graduates from East Carolina University on Friday.  Then on Saturday there will be a wedding shower for Sean & Taylor, followed by graduation parties Saturday night.  Sunday will be Mothers Day celebration and Monday crash day for us old people.


Now to get to bed early and catch up on some much needed sleep. 

Oh, BTW, congratulation to Gloria and Doug on getting their rearend repaired.  I know it must be a relief for them. 

Buenas noches. bonne nuit, good night.

Sunday at the Park

We will be taking the MH to La Mesa RV to have the brake caliphers replaced on Monday so we are storing all the "stuff" we have in the living area.  We usually only have to do this when we prepare to make the trip back to Maryland, but this time we get to do the job twice.  They say they can do all the work in one day and we will be back here i the afternoon.  I sure hope so as we don't want to spend the night there or in a motel.  Keep your fingers crossed for us.

The weather did another u-turn last night and the temps dropped but not like before.  It rained during the night and we woke to see all the surrounding mountains covered with snow.  It sure is pretty to look at when they are snow covered and I took a picture with my telephoto lens of the Santa Rita Mountains to the south of us.  They are about 10 miles away to give you an idea of how big they are.

The Rincon Mountains are east of us and I took a photo of them over the roof of our neighbors 5th wheel.  I should have went down to the back of the park and taken a better shot of the Rincons, but was too lazy to do so.

It's 3:30pm and the sun is shining brightly and the forecast for the upcoming week is temps in the high 70s.  Now that is more like it.

Trip to Phoenix

We got a phone call from Yvonne Cav this morning saying that her Gerry was feeling better and was up to company.  We finished breakfast and headed up to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale to visit with them.  Gerry Cav has been having a rough go of it and has been in the hospital for about a week receiving some needed treatment.  I won't go into details about his problem out of respect for his privacy.

We got there around 130pm and visited until 4pm and then headed back to Tucson.  We got caught in Phoenix rush hour but didn't have any real problems with it.  We managed to get in the 2+ HOV lane and cruised down the 101 at a pretty good clip.  It was surprising to see all those cars with only one person in them occupying the other 3 lanes and being backed up for miles.  

We took some back roads and made really good time once we got off the 101 and were surprised to see how quickly we were in the country.  The secondary roads were good and we made great time getting back home.  

The sun was setting over Picacho Peak as we drove by it and Gerry managed to get this great sunset photo.  I think she has taken over 50 sunset photos in the past 10 years, or is that 5000 sunset photos.

A stop at the Texas Roadhouse was on tap and when we pulled into the parking lot we were amazed to see how full it was.  I guess with the Rodeo being in town and lot of visitors they all headed out for steaks.  There must have been 50 people or more waiting to be seated and we didn't want to wait over an hour for our meal so we left.  There was a Chinese buffet dinner next door and we went there for an unremarkable meal.  Too bad, since we usually enjoy Chinese.  Live and learn.

The roundtrip was 302 miles and we made great time due to the 75 mph speed limits most of the way up there and back.  We managed to get 29.3 mpg on the Saturn driving at those speeds, so I guess it likes to run fast.

Oh, BTW, we managed to find an interesting cache on the way back.  It was interesting in that it explained how the ground has settled 15ft in places since they began to extract ground water to irrigate crops.  The well used to be around 60 ft deep and now they have to go down over 140 ft further to get to the water.  The valley in that area has over 2300 ft of fill from the surrounding mountains.  That is a lot of dirt.

New Water Filter

Another exciting day out here in the Southwest.  The wind picked up a little, however it isn't that bad.  They are calling for more wind and cooler temperatures by this weekend.  Looks like another cold front is moving through here.  I keep thinking it will be the last one of the year.  We'll see how it goes this time.

I crawled under the sink today and finished the repair of the water filter.  Whew!  That is a job for a smaller, younger and more agile person.  I had to fit both arms and my shoulders into a small space so I could tighten the threads.  Now I see why they had quick disconnect tabs on the filter before.  It looks like I will have to keep my eye out for a replacement connection before it is time to replace the water filter.

Gerry found a bottle of Tin Roof Merlot the other day while we were shopping at Costco and bought a bottle.  We had it with our pasta this evening and it really hit the spot.  It looks like we may have found another good wine to drink and will have to look for some sales.

I don't discuss politics on this blog, but I wonder why the Wisconsin State representatives don't have one of their members switch over to become a Democrat and then take a vote on the Union issues.  They say that at least one Democrat has to vote to make it legal.  The Dems picked up a Representative from Vermont a few years ago after he was elected as a Republican and then switched his allegiance.  All of the Democrats have fled to Illinois so a vote can't be taken without them there.  I wonder how long it will take the Wisconsin Governor to figure this one out.   ***** Correction ---  It takes 20 Wisconsin Senators to make a Quorum and the Republicans only have 19.  *****


We have tentative plans to drive up to Phoenix on Thursday to see our very special friend Gerry who is in the Mayo Clinic up there.  He and I go way back to when we lived on Maple St. together.  He's had a bad run of luck with his health and we had planned on visiting him in Congress, AZ a couple weeks ago, but that was scratched when we had unexpected company.  ---- Trip put on hold for a while due to Gerry having a bad night.  Not my Gerry, but old buddy Gerry C.  ----

He and Gerry share the same nickname and we had a neighbor called Jerry who had a son Jerry.  It sounded like a comedy routine when we all got together.  Of course his brother was named Larry so that also added to the confusion.  Nicknames were the rule back there so it worked out in the end.  


Gloria & Doug, friends of ours, are sitting in Tampa, Florida waiting to have their beautiful motorhome repaired.  It looks like they may be there at least 10 more days and are staying in a motel while the work on the unit is being done.  Bummer.  We hope they get back on the road real soon.

Day for Running Around

We had a number of errands to run today and made an afternoon of it.  Dee K arrived today and we stopped by to tell her hello and welcome back.  Since she just got here and we were on our way out, we made it a short visit and look forward to seeing more of her in the days ahead.

On our way out of the park we ran across this little guy.  Last winter we had him or one like him near the motorhome for a long time.  He would spend time under the motorhome and then run across the road.  We thought he became a lunch for one of the resident coyotes, but it appears not. Great! 

Our water filter in the MH broke on Saturday and we had to find a replacement part.  We went to Camping World to find it and they didn't have any idea what I was talking about.  I had to walk around the store in order to find an employee and I was amazed at their lack on knowledge on the parts. 

We went to Home Depot today and found a replacement part that will fix the problem, however it doesn't have the quick disconnect piece that I need.  At least we can hook the water filter back up and have ice once again. 


There is a new Mexican restaurant called Guadalajara Grill and we like to stop there for Happy Hour and take advantage of $3.00 margaritas, $2.50 Dos XX in a 16 ounce glass and mini chimichangas as appetizers.  One round fills us up and satisfies our desire for Mexican food.  They have decorated the restaurant very well and it is a comfortable place to visit.  We took some pictures of the Grill today and have included them below.