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| Flagstaff at 10 a.m. and 28 degrees |
Bottom line: We are
safe and sound in Tucson, Arizona. But it wasn’t easy.
First let’s go back
to Tuesday in Tucumcari, New Mexico. I’ve already told you when had dinner at
the Pow Wow Restaurant and Lizard Lounge. What we didn’t know at the time is
that the place is advertised as “historic.”
I guess if you are around long enough you aren’t old, you are historic.
So I guess that makes me historic too.
The trip from
Tucumcari to Flagstaff was uneventful, but we did run into some pretty stiff
winds along I-40 between our night stop and Albuquerque, but the winds slowed
considerably after Albuquerque.
Also like last year
we listened to the Michigan bowl game on the XM radio and unfortunately for the
Wolverines the result was the same this year as last.
The electronic highway
message sign repeated last year’s holiday warning. “Drive hammered, get nailed.”
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| Tucson at 4 p.m. and 68 degrees |
We repeated last
year’s stop at Twin Arrows Casino and Hotel so Joan could have a little fun
there. Unlike last year, we booked a room and stayed there this year. The cost
of the room was less than the hotel we stayed at last year and a much nicer
room.
If you go back and
read last year’s blog about our stop at Twin Arrows you will see that she won
$358 during our brief visit there. That must be the magic number because again
Joan hit for $357 this year on a different machine. No gambling doesn’t pay,
but let’s just put it this way, we left home with $500 cash for the trip and we
left Twin Arrows in the morning with $830 cash.
Oh, and we’ve
spent some money on food and drinks along the way, so Joan did pretty well with
her entertainment and profit this year.
Last year, the
trailer battery died (it served us well for 12 years) and we knew we needed to
purchase a new one before picking up the trailer in Flagstaff. I called Camping
World, which is right down the street from our storage lot in Bellemont,
Arizona (near Flagstaff).
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| San Francisco peak from Twin Arrows casino |
So I went to the
internet to find the phone number for Camping World and learned that the
business closed last year after we stored our trailer. I quickly looked for
another RV dealer and found one that would be open Thursday morning early.
We arrived at RV
Country in Flagstaff at precisely 8:30 a.m. and as advertised it was open and
we made a quick purchase and headed on our way to the storage lot. It was
hovering in the high 20s and low 30s and a pretty brisk breeze was blowing making
it all the colder.
We transferred some
of our cargo into the trailer as we always do and then I set to work to remove
tire covers, assemble hitch equipment and make sure we were safe to go. With
the new battery the new electric hitch lift we bought last season before we
left Tucson worked well.
What was different
this year was the trailer had about 6-inches of snow on the roof, which added
some considerable weight to the trailer which had me a little worried. The size of our trailer is already at the
upper limit of what the Tahoe can pull and the extra weight of the snow
probably put us over at least for the time being.
But after a minor
snafu when my cellphone couldn’t open the storage gate because I didn’t have
cell service, we obtained another gate code from the owner and we were on our
way.
The speed of the
trailer and the high winds cleared about half the snow off the roof before we
started down the long hill from Flagstaff on I-17. The increasing temperatures
as we descended made quick work of most of the rest of snow and ice. It was all
gone by the time we hit Phoenix.
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| One of the more decorated RV spots at Voyager |
The wind died down
considerably as we descended and that made driving much easier for the rest of
the trip.
At our Phoenix gas
stop we had a little sticker shock as the gas prices were $2.85 for the cheap unleaded.
Usually we find Arizona gas prices less than home, but for some reason Phoenix
prices are very high. Tucson gas prices are in the $2.30 range.
We pulled into the
resort in mid-afternoon and lined up behind two other RVs who were also
checking in. We noticed right away some new grounds improvements made here at
Voyager in our absence.
After check in we
were led to our spot by one of the courtesy patrol who helped me back into our
space. It is a very welcome service they provide.
Once I got the
trailer on our spot it came time to lift it off the Tahoe. Except our new hitch
lift did not work. My Tahoe was parked half in the street and half on our space
and that would not be acceptable for any length of time.
It appeared that I
was suffering from an electrical problem as every time I tried to raise or
lower the hitch it would blow an inline fuse on the hitch lifter. We eventually
called a mobile RV service who determined that the pipe that extends to lift
and lower the hitch had become stuck. He unstuck it, we wrote him a check and
we finished setting up our spot.
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| Joan's newest jewelry creation |
As is our custom
we had dinner in the Voyager grill and because of the hitch delay we didn’t
have time to grocery shop, so we will do that on Friday.
On Friday I did a
quick workout in the resort fitness center and then finished setting up our
camp site. The outdoor mat is in place all the wheels are covered and the Tahoe
is all cleaned out.
We stopped at the
activities office to purchase concert tickets for some friends and family who
are coming to visit in February and March. Many of the shows are already sold
out, but fortunately for us two season ticket holders had just called in to
cancel their tickets minutes before we arrived and so we snatched up all the
needed tickets.
Joan set up our
banking at the resort branch office, I set up our mail box to receive our
forwarded mail and we joined the computer center so we can make copies and use
their great Internet.
Joan went to her
polymer clay class and made a necklace and ear rings (see photo).
Bob and Karen, friends from Michigan, arrived
at the Voyager (they have visited us here briefly on previous visits to the
area to see family) and have rented a place for the month of January. We are
looking forward to spending some great times with them while they are here. With
all the added traffic we have brought to the Voyager we should be getting a
commission.
We also went food
shopping today and had a Walmart chicken for dinner. The process of putting
everything away and getting things organized in the trailer continues but is
nearly complete.
Mileage out at Tucumcari: 33878
Time out at Tucumcari: 8:25 a.m.
Mileage in at Flagstaff: 34360
Time out at Flagstaff: 8:09 a.m.
Time in to storage: 9:16 a.m.
Time out at storage: 10:10 a.m.
Mileage in at Tucson:
34630
Time in at Tucson: 2:49 p.m.
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