November 23, 2011 - Weds - Good weather; But not such a good day.

Since our last update we moved east of Mesa/Phoenix out to an area just on the NE side of Apache Junction. We are camped in a great State Park called the “Lost Dutchman.”  The name is derived from a man who was lost in the desert. He was a Miner and rumor has it that he struck it rich out here in these hills. Unfortunately he disappeared and no one has found his mine.

Until the last 30 years here were lots of different mines and there are still plenty of Cowboys. In fact just across the highway is the Ghost Town we spoke of a few days earlier.

We are “Dry Camping” which is great. It means no hookups, no power, and no water/sewer. At just $10/night we love it. The motorhome has been great – when we need TV or power we turn on the Generator (switch is on the dash). For heat and hot water we just run off propane and it seems to be quite frugal in the amount that it uses. I love camping with a nice warm shower each morning!

As Thursday (24^th) is the American Thanksgiving we have watched the campground fill up each day. They celebrate Thanksgiving much more than we do in Canada. The day after is called “Black Friday” where the stores open as early as 1201am (midnight) with crazy sale prices. Some open as late as 4am!

On Wednesday evening (23^rd) we went on a Park Ranger led hike. There were about 15 of us on the hike. As we are camped at the base of the famous “Superstition Mountains” it’s a great place to wander the desert and see the sights and nature. There are signs warning about the Tarantulas, Rattle Snakes and so on. It’s not much of a worry after reading these signs if you understand the animals.

Apparently more people are hit by lightening in AZ than bit by Rattlers each year.  From December to February they aren’t much of an issue at all as they are usually curled up inside somewhere – just hoping that doesn’t mean in our shack!

We had a great time on the hike which was about 3 miles or so. It went from the day-use area in our camp site along the base of the Superstitions and then back around by our camp site. We got finished at about 6pm.

About one hour later I was sitting outside on a lawn chair at our site and noticed that Helicopters were looking for a place to land on top of the mountain beside us. They had spotlights on and it was apparent to be some kind of search or rescue mission. My past career and experiences told me that rescue missions of this type at night are only in rare urgent situations and most times have to wait till morning. As I continued to watch it appeared to be very urgent. As I sat there I recalled hearing sirens minutes before.

I called Barb outside to come and watch. Barb ended up talking to a neighbor camper who had just been told it was a plane crash! She had seen lots of what looked like fireworks and the person who told her said that they had seen the plane flying too low and then the explosion!

What a terrible feeling we all had come over us. As we looked up one could see the orange glow so we walked down the road a bit more – not even a city block from our camp spot and there were the flames. One could see there were at least three smaller fires and one main fire burning. If you knew the terrain of this mountain in that area (basically straight up) and saw what we just saw; there was little hope.

One person said they thought it was a small jet and another thought it was a dual engine private type aircraft. Later it was confirmed that it was a twin engine privately owned aircraft.

The fire burned for at least an hour or so afterwards. The Helicopters continued flying back and forth to the top. Likely taking in rescue personnel.

As we stood there watching and listening I saw the biggest, closet and brightest meteorite I have ever seen! It was huge, bright white light and then it started to break up and disappeared from the sky as fast as I could mention “look!”

Nov. 24^th (Thursday) I woke up (at 715am) to the sound of Helicopters flying right over top of us. I couldn’t sleep so I went out side and sure enough they were flying back and forth to the top of the mountain about every 15 minutes most of the day. One was the Sheriff’s Chopper. They had a staging area set up in the “day use” area of our camp site which they were landing. A few minutes after landing each time they would take off back up the mountain, I couldn’t count how many times. The “day use” area was just off to the side where we were camping.

Later in the afternoon we went into Apache Junction so that we could get caught up with email updates from home and work. As we were leaving the camp-ground we saw several Sherriff cars blocking off roads. We had already been told that the hiking trails were closed for the day. As we got to the exit where the Park Ranger office is there must have been at least six News vans/trucks parked in the parking lot. The camp ground had been closed to the public except the ones (like us) who were already camping in there. The TV Vans had their Telescopic Dishes all raised high in the air presumably waiting for more on the breaking story.

When I thought of the hiking trails being closed I recalled we had gotten off the trail at 6pm. We later found out the plane crashed at 630pm basically right above where we were. It had just gotten quite dark at that time and one can’t help to wonder what went wrong.

From viewing the crash site today near the top of the mountain it was obvious they weren’t high enough. So sad… Why did this tragedy happen? We just pray for their families; all six died at the scene.

We spent Thursday (American Thanksgiving) just relaxing (as usual) and enjoying the cool weather. It only went up to maybe 70F today with overcast skies. The making for a beautiful sunset and the clouds helped deliver it perfectly!

JM

55 ???

This number has become all too familar lately...

It started off when we left home and I was hoping to stay at 55MPH to get the best mileage I could with the motorhome. That didnt work too well; At times Barb couldn't keep up to me going down hills at 80+!

Fred introduced me to a new refreshment called. 5.5.
Its good for the diet....

Then we began to notice that most of the RV Parks out here say 55+ !
As you may know we are no where near 55! But no one really asks to see ID? I think its the economy. You could probably stay here at these resorts if you were 30?

I also noticed at a lot of these resorts the only people around are "post 55."
Lots of white hair. Golf carts, Walkers, Bingo, Bridge etc.
So what does all this mean?
Well its quiet, thats for sure, easy to relax! Most of the people in the places we have seen are retirees. They come from all over. Some just for the winters (Snow-birds like us), some have retired and live in park model or other types of mobile homes. Every one is happy!

As we continue to investigate I noticed a lot of places have signs that say 55+ - Active RV Park.
Hmmm.... Define active? I dont know....
I know that there are people my age and younger that live or snow-bird in their RV's we just havent found many of them yet.

APACHE JUNCTION - SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS
Yesterday we took the after noon in the car and drove east out to the Apache Junction area.
The first stop was an old antique store. There's lots of old history in this area.
As I was wondering around the store I noticed two people wearing hand guns on their waist.
One was a guy who had two!
The other was a 4 foot tall woman in her 50's maybe 60? They didnt know each other.
Were the guns real? I didnt ask...

Next we went over to a Ghost Town (Gold Mine) just to the east.
We are definetley going back. We only had a couple of hours and it wasn't enough.

Gold Mine AZ. The Sheriff shot a few Bad Guys when we were there.

A real Ghost Town from the 1800's

After that we ventured over Tonto National Forest then into Lost Dutchman State Park.
We found a nice natural campground here at the base of the Superstition mountains.
As soon as we got back home Barb booked us into the State Campground starting Tuesday (Nov 22/11) for 6 nights. We won't have much for internet as we will be roughing it again. Dry-Camping with no hookups. If we wander into town we might stop by Starbucks to check email once every few days?

We will be camping the next week (Tuesday Nov 22) at the base of the Superstition Mountains.
with the Rattler Snakes!

November 16, 2011 – Mesa AZ, Update

On Wednesday last week we moved over to Phoenix International Raceway.
They have two major racing weekends each year; one in March and one in November. Jim’s been to this race a few times before and this time promised to be a little different as we were going to camp at the track.

For $60.00 a week you can’t beat it!

Camping in the desert with no hookups and lots of new friends to be made. When we say lots we mean lots! I heard one estimate that there were 10,000 RVs there and if you saw what we saw you would believe it too. RVs as far as the eye could see.

Talk about a weeklong “Tailgate Party!” there was every type of RV from Pup Tents to the most expensive and biggest motor homes you’ve ever seen and everything in between.

They mark off the lots on the ground with white chalk (must take weeks to do) which are 40 feet long and 20 feet wide. It took us about 10-15 minutes to set up camp (No Hookups of any kind). I love it!

There are many secrets to learn when camping in a situation like this and we didn’t know any of them other than look for level ground (or something similar to level).

First of all you don’t want to park by an out door generator. A lot of the older RVs had Gen Sets parked and chained outside next to their RV’s. Some of them had so many electrical things hooked up we learned the next lesson – don’t park beside them because they will run their generators all day and night! The next lesson is; if you have to park beside a generator that’s outside look for the little quiet ones like a Honda 2000 not the big diesels!

Some of these camp sites had everything from their favorite Team Flags being displayed to Plastic Palm Trees with lights, of course the mandatory Patio Lanterns. Some had huge Shrines set up for their favorite teams or drivers (A little over kill I might add) and then there’s the others with flood lights, major bar set ups, dance floors and much much more.

The more they have the louder they will be and the longer into the night they party. The rules said quiet time was from 1am to 6am each night; well I think they don’t even bother trying to police that. So if you ever try to attend one of these “Woodstock” type of events make sure you bring what we always carry – good ear plugs for sleeping!

We had an awesome time and the people were all friendly, helpful and loved Canadians.

We parked next to a group who were from Wisconsin and wintered in Tucson. Another RV beside us was from just up the road 10 minutes away. By the end of the week we were all trading emails and contact info to try and meet at the same place again next year.

We got a long just fine and had a real good time with them!

One thing that was really cool was some of the breeches of security. One example was what they call Chinese Lanterns. These can be bought down the street for $5.00 each. You light the burner and the lantern rises up into the sky like a Hot Air Baloon! Some of them go really high and it’s amazing to watch how far they will travel. There were a few low flying airplanes that I'm sure decided to change course and all the helicopters that were coming and going; some for filming for TV I'm sure had to watch for these home made “Hot Air Balloons” on every tour over the campground, even the Sheriffs.

Another example was the fireworks and what a show we saw. Every night someone would put on another firework display and it was all awesome to watch. Add to that each night the clear desert skies and stars were something you could watch for hours.

On the Friday night Jims old Buddy Fred and his son Ryan flew into town and stayed with us till Sunday. We also had daily visits from our local Phoenix friend Gary who watched the races with us too. When I say us; Barb spent her days relaxing or shopping instead of the races.

Each day was something different from going to the practice sessions, qualifying and the big races. A great time I must say, even if you’re not a NASCAR fan you should take in the spectacle. Even the Air-force showed up as they do at most major races down here and did a "fly-by" just before the green flag. I admire the Americans for being so patriotic! Next year I'm bringing my Canadian flag down to fly high!

It’s amazing at how well they organize and run these big events. For almost a week prior to the race the RVs come in from all over. We met a few Canadians from far and wide, Vancouver all the way to Nova Scotia. Americans come from all over too. If I recall properly (and this is a small race track - the kind I like) there’s about 145,000 seats in the Grandstands and it was a sold out show.

For $60.00 they have a grocery store (huge - Bashaws) set up, free clean showers, lots of porta potties (you can rent your own personal one too), Garbage pick-up every morning and all sorts of services including Trams to take you all over! All for $60.00 a week! It turns into a small city and I just can’t say enough about the experience. You owe it to yourself and if you have an RV then do it like we did!

On Monday morning we packed up camp – Most of the RV’s were already gone and there were no traffic issues coming or going. We headed over to Mesa on the east side and did a shopping trip to Camping World and then booked 8 nights at a resort called Spirit Mesa. This resort started in 1968 and has grown to over 1900 RV sites. Some of them have “Park Models” on them but the rest are RVers and a ton of them are Canadians hiding from winter. I met one couple the other night from Sask and they have been coming here for 6 years now.

Our Home in Mesa - Talk about Relaxing!

RV QUIRKS

When living in an RV you get to learn all the little quirks and issues that can come along with it. It’s a life style where you learn to expect little issues to pop up here and there. It’s all fair in my mind because I don’t have to cut the lawn nor do I have to shovel the walk so fixing quirks and adjusting things is like having a hobby.

Last night I went to bed about 10pm (which is quite common now). About 1230 am I was awoken by a high pitched squeal and let me tell you it was loud! It sounded like a loud smoke detector going off! After a quick check of Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors I couldn’t find anything wrong until I got on my knees to find a Propane Gas detector under the sink area. That was the culprit!

I don’t have the best “smeller” in the world but I was quite confident that there was no gas leak? So I re-set it and went back to bed. About 15 minutes later it went off again. Now the frustrating part was I was already back to sleep! So I got up and yes, re-set it and went back to bed feeling rather confident that I had patched the problem as there still was odor of propane. About 15 minutes later as REM was starting to set in....

my heart started to pound and I bounced out of bed ready for war as it started screaming again! I thought to myself what could possibly be causing this detector to go off and why at one in the morning?

As I scratched my head I had a thought. I opened the cupboard below the kitchen sink where we keep our kitchen garbage and yes an odor was well on its way to developing from the 25% full garbage bag. It had a few BBQ chicken bones and some left over salad in it and not much else. I thought could it be?

I took the garbage out and left it where it belonged outside! I re-set the detector and sat up for another 20 minutes or so (I'm learning now) and no alarm? My guess is that in this weather the day old garbage was emitting enough methane gas that it was setting off the detector! Another lesson for the RV Rookies!

I just know that Barb will be happy now because you guessed it; I will make sure the garbage goes out on time every day even if it’s near empty! All that I can say is that it’s a good thing there isn’t one of these detectors in the bathroom too!

So today I sit here enjoying the morning sun and blue skies out on the patio in my shorts pondering what will I do? Ever since booking in here and paying extra for Wi-Fi it hasn’t worked so that maybe one more challenge. Another will be cleaning up some of the “moss” from the outside of this motorhome (It lived in Washington State after originally moving from California). And yes I still do work!

So this afternoon before my nap I will do some Real Estate work too if the internet stays up running?

Its bigger than it looks. Our living room.
TV (free digital) and another one in the bedroom.
Recliner... Ahh.... this is where Jim sleeps during good movies & shows!

The best way to reach us is by email should you need too. That’s if it works on our end. Jim’s email is JGMessner@Gmail.com  & Barb’s email is BMessner1@Gmail.com 

PS: you can also sign up for our “feed” down below (bottom of page) on this Blog if you want. If not remember to check back often!

Have a great day and we will send more updates soon.

PPS: I promise to get started on pictures too. Jim

November 4/11 - The Beginning - Bounding the Borders

As many of you know - we (Barb and Jim) decided some time ago to start working on our “Bucket List” of things to do before we croak or get too ill t do them all. We hope that this will inspire our friends and readers to do the same.

Now we had been working on some of this and dreaming about it for some time. In fact it was just two winters ago that we (inside of a month) came up with an idea. We rented our home to friends who needed one; and we left in January 2010 for almost 6 months of travel in Europe.

So knowing that we rarely plan far ahead we decided to take this winter (2011/2012) and travel in a RV to places that had weather much warmer than Calgary. In Jim’s words we had decided to “opt out of winter” and travel during our frigid months to warm places. We live in Cochrane (we call it Calgary for ease sake) and love it there and will likely always have our home base in Calgary. Its one of the safest places in the world, our family lives there (plus our new Grandson) and the economy is likely one of the best in these times of the intertwined economies of the now unknown world economy. Add to that living in the Calgary area during summer is just awesome we love it (minus the winters)!

Now knowing that we often don’t plan to far in advance winter was approaching and we hadn’t bought an RV for this “Opting Out of Winter” idea. We wandered all over looking at RV’s for sale and even went to Thorsby (near Edmonton) one day to look at one. We couldn’t seem to make up our minds or find what really made us excited?

On the September long weekend our Son (Steven) got married to Brittany out on Salt Spring Island (west coast) so we added a week onto that trip and went down to Oregon for a break.

Four days after we got back home Barb found out that there was a “SnowBird RV Show” in Abbottsford BC, so we jumped in the car and went back down to the coast. While we were there gleaning all the information we could Barb found what looked to be a great RV for sale; but it was all the way down in Seattle, Washington!

You guessed it; we jumped in the car the next morning and drove to Seattle. Well needless to say it was “Love at first sight.” As we drove up the driveway of the Seller’s beautiful acreage in rural Renton, Washington we were both making up our minds that this was likely “the one!”

The new Rig! (The day we bought it in Seattle, 32 Ft Fleetwood Bounder, Class A Motorhome)

You have to understand that we have gone back and forth on almost every type of RV available; from the fuel miser Class B Vans to Class C Motor-homes, then Fifth wheels and trucks all the way back to Class A motor-homes where we originally started dreaming.

As we approached this RV for sale in Renton we looked at each other and once inside made the decision this was actually “the one!”

It was/is a “Class A” motor-home called a “Fleetwood, Bounder.” We knew that a “Bounder” was a good choice as close friends of ours owned one at one time and we even travelled in it together to Oregon once. It’s a well built brand and known for its reliability.

The “negotiations” began & ended; the deposit was made and we told the Sellers’ we’ll be back in a couple of weeks to pick her up!

Now if you haven’t bought a vehicle in the USA to import into Canada there’s a few things you need to know and do. The whole scenario looks a little daunting to the newbie’s doing this but Jim says after all has been said and done he’d do it again for a car or an RV.

Once the Bureaucracies’ have all been dealt with, the GST paid and Inspections done we finally made it happen. “Bounder Buddy” finally became ours and was legal in Canada! The pressure had been mounting since before we bought “Bounder” because we wanted to be south and out of town before snowfall so we set October 31 as our deadline for departure!

After all the inspections, reviews and paperwork there was no time to rest. We had to start getting the house ready to leave, the Dog (Romeo) needed shots and needless to say Barb needed her hair done too!

Packing was the farthest thing from our mind but I'm sure our neighbors’ were happy to see it all finished and the “Bounder Couple” finally gone from the street which again didn’t happen on our scheduled date and time!

As it turned out we finally left on Thursday November 3^rd, a day late and not until about one or two in the afternoon. We headed south bound and we were much relieved to have beaten winter’s arrival – no snow!

Now you might be wondering why we were so worried about beating the snow? A few years ago; friends of ours decided to go RVing “Full Time” and one year they too were late leaving Calgary. They got stuck in winter’s grasp with tanks of propane burning off by the day (for heat) and their slides (walls that slide open to allow more room once parked) frozen stuck in the open position.

After seeing what happened to them we certainly didn’t want to share that same experience. Jim just wanted to get going!

So as we headed towards the south the next potential “Hurdle” was at the American Border with US Customs & Immigration. The reason we were wondering how they would react to us is because we were travelling in “two separate vehicles!”

Remember we said we were under the gun and running out of time? Well one of the things we didn’t get done was the “hook-up” for a “TOAD!” Now you’re likely wondering what the heck is a “TOAD?” That’s RVers lingo for the vehicle that you tow behind your motorhome.

As it turned out our Honda can’t be “flat towed” which means with all four wheels down on the ground using a tow-bar setup. So our other option was a “Dolly!” Now as Jim’s theory of relativity goes – you can never find a decent “Dolly” when you need one! This theory held true as we were rushing ever so close towards our departure day. So to make a longer story short; Barb drove the Honda and Jim and Romeo shared driving duties with the Bounder!

As we hit the border on Thursday evening the motorhome barley fit through the lane approaching the booth. The US Officer at the booth began to ask the usual questions and I courageously explained that my wife was in the car behind us. He didn’t bat an eye and only cared about our potential possession of weapons and vegetables. Away we went! Barb got a similar interview and too was blown through the crossing and we were in America for our first ever full winter! I should add here that we plan on being home for Christmas with our children and Grandson.

I could bore you with more and more stories on our trip south but I’ll summarize it from here on:

We spent the first night in Great Falls, Montana doing what RVers call “Dry Camping.” That means no “hookups for sewer, water or electricity. That’s ok with us as we are totally self contained.

The next day we spent the night in a “Flying J” truck stop with about 60 or so Truckers, most of which were running their diesel engines all night as it was getting pretty cold! We found out quickly that “wax ear plugs” can be our best friend!

Our third night on the road was spent sleeping in southern Utah where we ended up parked in the yard of a Trucking and Diesel Shop. The best part that night was; it was right across the street from the best pizza we had ever eaten!

Now a few things need to be mentioned here. If you know Jim at all; he has to have his morning shower EVERY single morning. For Jim this is as important as his morning coffee.

The problem was that we had to “winterize” the RV back home before leaving because of the cold weather coming. As a result we had no water on this trip! We bought jugs of water so that we had some to drink, wash our faces and brush our teeth with. As we all know Barb stays beautiful even without a shower but after day number 4 Jim was starting to look a little rough!

As the days went by Jim would walk into Truck Stops and even the biggest, hairiest truckers would step aside – just to let Jim pass!

Now; some might think it was the odor that Jim was emitting from not showering but Jim says in all honesty – it must have been that “mean beard” I was beginning to garner! Needless to say after reaching Phoenix which was on Sunday night (730 pm) one of Jim's most sought after chores was to have a nice warm shower and shave! Next time we do this - we will make sure to de-winterize before leaving and load up with enough “shower water” for use while on the road!

So as noted 3.5 days after leaving home we arrived in Phoenix.

A few things were learned along the way and I feel we have to share them with you:

1. Do not pay attention to fuel bills when driving a “Big Ole Motorhome” it serves no useful purpose!
2. We used “Walkie Talkies” for communications which was a really good idea. What the bad part was and Jim learned it quickly: Do not sing to your spouse over the air when on the road driving alone, no matter how tired you are!
3. Sleeping in Truck Stops is not a bad thing unless there’s a Wal-Mart nearby!
   We slept in one Wal-Mart once - that had more RV’s sleeping in their lot than all the campgrounds in the state!

This trip we decided to purchase an American cell phone. It was not only affordable to buy but the plans down here are very reasonable compared to Canada’s “rip-off cell systems.”

Speaking of communications we have two more phones which do our Wi-Fi & Email, a Lap Top, a Scanner, Fax, and Photocopier/Printer too! Now we don’t have internet all the time. We have to get free WiFi at coffee shops or.... At our current resort we walk over to the Community Center to get free WiFi so that we can check and send emails.

Our first day in Phoenix was a little bit off what our dreams had told us it would be. With all the trips down here we had never experienced clouds or rain. Well for our first two days here they were having un-seasonable weather and the cool rain ended up still being a welcome event.

Today (Day three in Phoenix) as I write this Blog I must say the weather was awesome. It was likely about 70F and not a cloud in the sky! Jim worked out in the “yard” all day in a T shirt - which means outside on the Motorhome doing windows and maintenance.

In the morning (Weds, Nov 9^th) we move on to the Phoenix International Raceway over on the SW corner of town. We will be “Dry Camping” at the race track and joined by Jim’s lifelong (they grew up together) friend Fred who resides in Huntington Beach, California.

Ryan & Fred at the Races!

So we will be staying here (get this $60.00 a week) and attending all the NASCAR races up and including Sunday’s main NASCAR event.

Nation Wide Race Series at PIR

We will be pulling out on Monday and looking for a new place to live. One idea will be over to Mesa which is on the east side of Phoenix so that we can go to Camping World! If you are a “Camper” you need to experience “Camping World” Jim loves it there!

One of the great things about living this way is that we have no real schedule.
We don’t know where or what we will be doing for next week but maybe we will find something to like for a few days or maybe even a few weeks?

We will know more when next week happens. We hope you are all doing well and staying at least somewhat warm!

Saturday at the races (NASCAR) with frm L to R Ryan, Gary and Jim in the back.

PS: We wont have email until Monday or Tuesday next week.

Ciao!

We made it!

Well all we can say at this point is that we made it to our first major stop on this new adventure! We arrived in Phoenix Sunday night at 730pm.
We left home on Thursday November 2/11 and got off to a late start. We spent our first night in Great Falls Montana. Crossing the border was easier than we expected as we (Barb, Romeo and I) were traveling in 2 vehicles.
More to come as soon as we can sit for a few minutes!

Phoenix - We made it!