Our 2017 travels:  (I have no idea why that X is in there).

January 2, 2018

 Happy New Year everyone.  Joyce and I hope we all have a peaceful and prosperous 2018.

 After spending the night in the Florence Elks Lodge parking lot we got up early, hooked up the CR-V and headed out for Palm Oasis RV Park on Naval Air Facility, El Centro, CA.  Traffic was light so we got here at 2:30 PM.

 We’ve been here several times so we pretty much know the lay of the land.  The sites here are long with 50/30 amp electric, water and sewer with very few trees to block our satellite signal.  We plan to stay here for two months enjoying the great desert weather.

 NAF El Centro is the winter home of the Blue Angles so it does get pretty loud around here every day except for Sundays.  But watching the Angles do their thing everyday makes it all worth it.  The team hasn’t arrived as of today but are expected any day now.

January 4, 2018

 Before leaving Florence our water pump quit working but we decided to get it fixed in El Centro.  i called a RV repair service here and scheduled an appointment for Tuesday the 9th.

 Rene’ and his assistants arrived, checked and found there was no power at the pump.  We tried to find the pump controller but so they left until I could make a phone call.  Rene’ thought it would be inside the coach but we could’t find it.  So we decided that I would make some phone calls and get back to him.

 While the guys were working in the wet bay one of them hit the fresh water hose reel switch.  Since the hose was pressurized the connection loosened at tad causing a water leak that I didn’t notice until after they left.  I called them and they came back right away.

 I finally contacted the REV Group in Coburg, OR and the customer service technician said the pump controller is located inside the wet bay near the pump.  Of course Rene’ and and I couldn’t see the darned thing but Joyce spotted it right away.  But Rene’ didn’t think that was the controller but guess what?  Yep, that was it and it is attached to the pump.  Anyway, changing the pump got us back in business.

January 19, 2018

 “Time keeps rollin’ on.”  Been a while since I last wrote anything.

 We’ve pretty much been hanging out here in the local area and getting things together for our trip to Florida on the 27th for our upcoming cruise.

January 21, 2018

 Yesterday we drove over to Yuma, AZ and had lunch with our good friends Chuck and Sue Svendsen from Oakridge, OR.  It was really nice to see them again.

January 24, 2018

 On Monday we drove up to Quartzite, AZ to do some shopping at the annual Sports, Recreation and RV Show.  On the way up I post that we were headed there and i got a text from Rick Stills letting us know that Art and Candi Jones were there again this year.  Shortly after that Joyce got a text from Sandy Kastner letting us know that they were there as well.

 We arrived we headed directly to the Big Tent and to say it was crowed is an understatement.  We had trouble getting a parking place and walking around in the tent was difficult as well.  We have been having some trouble with our Winegard satellite dish so I was able to talk to the folks at their booth to get some pointers on how to possibly fix the issue.

 Shortly after that we met up with Art, Rick and Sandy and followed them out to their camp site.  If you have never been to Quartzite during the Show you have no idea the numbers of RV parked in the area.  It’s absolutely amazing.

 After visiting for a little while Joyce and I drove up to the Best Western in Parker, AZ where we spent the night.

 Bright and early the next day we drove back to Quartzite to do some browsing in the shopping area and then went out to spend some time with the Jones’ and Kastner’s.

January 29, 2018

 We are now in St. Augustine, FL.  I will write about the trip later.

Barry & Joyce

December 31, 2017

December 10, 2017

 On Tuesday the 5th we met Rick & Sandy Kastner and Ed & Cindy Kopic at the Elks Lodge for drinks and dinner.  We had a great time and the Mexican dinner was outstanding.  Rick gave me this copper coin:

 Thanks Rick!

 Yesterday we drove down to Green Valley,  about 25 miles south west of Tucson off of I-19 to look at some houses in the area.  Green Valley has been listed in several publications as one of the most desirable retirement communities in Arizona.  You can read more here:
  https://www.topretirements.com/reviews/Arizona/Green_Valley.html

While driving around the area we saw a sign for a realtor that was doing an open house.  Karen was real helpful in pointing us to some other locations and actually met us to show us a couple of places.  Although we aren’t ready to buy anything in the near future she gave us a lot of information about the housing market in Green Valley.

 One of the amenities in Green Valley is Green Valley Recreation that is offered with most homes in the area.  If you can think of activities for “active” retired folks you will find it here.  If your interested you can download their brochure here:  http://www.gvrec.org/Information/Brochures/GVR%20Realtor%20Brochure.pdf

 On the way home we stopped at Davis-Monthan AFB to make a base exchange run and get some gas.  Then I put the Rancho Sonora RV Park in the GPS that gave us the route on the back roads instead of sending us out to I-10.  Well, that didn’t work out so good.

 After getting through north Tucson and onto Hwy 79 we were cursing along at about 65 MPH when all of a sudden a coyote jumped out in front of us.  I swerved just a little but we caught the critter on the right side of the bumper.  We had to drive about 2 miles to find a safe place to pull over.  When I got out to look at the damage the wheel-well shroud was partially torn out of the well and the front bumper is cracked.  Joyce got on the phone to call our friends Ed and Cindy to give us a hand.

 While we were waiting for them a gentleman pulled up behind us and offered to help.  He had some tools so we were able to get the damaged piece unscrewed from the car.  I looked all around and didn’t see any more damage.  Just in case Tim offered to follow us back to our RV park.

December 14, 2017

 On Monday our insurance company’s claims department called to discuss the damage to the car and to schedule an adjuster to come look at damage.  Later in the day I got a call from the adjuster in Tucson who scheduled an appointment for the next day. 

 This claim resolution is moving along much faster than when we anticipated.  You may remember the issues we had when we were stuck so long in Montgomery, AL.  The claims adjuster arrived as scheduled and made his assessment.

December 16, 2017

 Yesterday we drove down to Green Valley again and got with Karen West of Long Reality to check out some homes in the area.  She took us to about fourteen houses in our price range and size.  We’ll keep Green Valley in mind when we get serious about buying.

 After having a nice lunch at The Olives Bistro we then headed over to the Titan Missile Museum.  If you are ever in the Tucson area you really need to take their tour.

 After getting checked in and seeing a short movie about the Titan II missile we headed down into the launch facility.  There were two tour guides, one who retired as an Air Force Master Sergeant who worked on the Titan missile.  The other docent was a retired Lieutenant Colonel navigator who flew B-52G’s and C-130’s in the AF Reserves at Peterson Field Colorado.

 As most of you know I was stationed at Loring AFB, ME from 1975 to 1978 in the 42nd Organizational Maintenance Squadron Alert Branch as an Alert Controller.  Come to find out, the Lt. Colonel tour guide was stationed at Loring at the same time with the 69th Bomb Squadron (now at Minot AFB, ND flying the B-52H.  Small world.

Launch Commander for the day.

There was some really classified stuff stored in the cabinet.

December 20, 2017

 On Saturday my brother John Mark and his wife Ronna drove down form their home in Laveen, AZ for a visit.  We had a really nice time catching up on all that has been going on in our lives and then a very nice dinner at A & M Pizza in Florence.

 On Monday Ed came over to give me a hand changing the our RV’s four coach batteries.  I got a good price on them at Napa Auto Supply here in Florence and hopefully those are the last we will have to buy.

December 31, 2017

 On the 22nd Joyce and I dropped our car off at Desert Body Restorations in Coolidge to have the damage fixed from our encounter with the coyote.  Enterprise Rental Cars picked us up and after doing all of the paperwork in Casa Grande we hit the road for Clovis, CA to visit my mother for Christmas.  We spent one night at the Morongo Hotel and Casino then made the drive on up to Clovis.  The traffic wasn’t too bad until we got into the Tulare area and then it got very heavy.

 On the 23rd Joyce drove up to St. Helena to surprise her mother.  She only stayed one night but was able to see her friend Chris Herdell and attend the Herdell Family Christmas Party.

 We had a very nice visit in Clovis enjoying the Christmas with my family.

 On the 27th we left Clovis to head back to Florence.  I had planned to cut over from Bakersfield on Hwy. 58 then down to Hwy 210 then on to Palm Desert to spend the night.  But traffic wasn’t too so we decided to just go down through Pasadena instead.  Wrong move Ke-Mo Sac-Bee.  We ran into several accidents causing backups and very heavy traffic.  It took us 7.5 hours to get to the Embassy Suites Hotel.  We won’t do that again.

More later.

Barry and Joyce