April 8, 2017
Havasu Falls RV Resort
Lake Havasu City, AZ

We've been here at Havasu for almost 2 weeks now and have been doing our part to re-energize the local economy ;>)
We've tried several of the local restaurants and done some shopping at the local retail stores. We went back to The Island and visited the English Village.

This tourist area lies beneath the London Bridge and has several restaurants, gift shops, boat tours and rentals, and marina.

The Lake Havasu Visitors Center is also here and they can help you with tours and events. They even have a small gift area, so we picked up a fridge magnet.

We've been driving all around town to get a feel for the community, housing, economy, and layout. It seems to be kind of a scattered design with no real development plan. You have nice, new, beautiful homes next to trailer parks or concrete plants. There seem to be few large housing developments but a street or two of newer homes built within an area with much older homes. Also, the main attraction is the lake and there is no housing near it anywhere. We think this is because it is all BLM land....the best you can get is a distant view of the lake.

The weather has been very warm and dry (as you would expect) with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s. The wind can spring up at of nowhere and be very strong (20 - 40 mph).

You get some beautiful sunsets with the distant mountains as a backdrop.

...but you have to be ready for strong winds and dust storms....

After the dust storm last week we decided to get the rig washed...

It's great... you just give them a call and they come to you. An hour later they're done and your RV looks great. Our cost was $114 and it was worth every penny ;>)    We've used mobile washes several times on our journeys and they are great.

We also had Shade Pro come out last Monday and give us a quote for installing our window shades (the ones we had so much trouble with at Holland Motor Homes). We got the quote, placed the order, and they were installed 4 days later (yesterday).

We think they turned out great, we saved a lot of money, and we have already put them to good use.

Well, that's it for now. As I said, we'll be here for another 2 weeks so I'm sure no restaurant is safe...

March 29, 2017
Havasu Falls RV Resort
Lake Havasu City, AZ

The winds died down (they never stop out here) and we took the opportunity to head on toward Lake Havasu. I had an argument with our Garmin RV GPS because it wanted me to take CA 95 north to Needles and then over to Havasu. After some research, I decided it was better to take AZ 95 from Quartzite. My route was 97 miles, the GPS route was 134, so it wasn't much of an argument. Since it is an RV GPS I debated whether it knew something I didn't..... turns out it didn't ;>). We pretty much followed the Colorado River north and it was a nice (and scenic) drive.

Havasu Falls is a very nice resort with nice roads, concrete sites, pool, clubhouse, etc.

We have a nice pull thru with a picnic table... but we are fairly close to neighbors.

Down the street you see the mountains in the distance (the lake is in that valley).

We are right across the street from the pool/clubhouse...

Up the street... not much for shade or trees so we're glad it's still spring...

Here is a view of the lake from the end of the street inside the RV park....

We took a quick drive around town and saw a few of the sites..

 This is the London Bridge. Built in the 1830s and formerly spanned the River Thames in London. It was dismantled in 1967 and relocated to Arizona.

Driving across the bridge (notice the street lamps).

The bridge takes you out to an upscale section of town known as the Island. Here are some shots from the beach area.....

We had considered staying at The Islander RV Resort in this area but decided it was too pricey at $75-$80 per night. We drove into the park for grins and here are a few shots..

Some sites back to the water....

Not bad....I think of it as an upscale Caney Creek (where we lived in TN)....

Anyhow, we're here in Havasu and will be staying put for almost a month...plenty of time to really explore this part of the country.

March 27, 2017
Arizona Oasis RV Resort
Ehrenberg, AZ

We left Indio this morning around 10am and headed east on I-10. Today we are only traveling 134 miles stopping in Ehrenberg, AZ, which is a few miles east of Blythe, CA. The winds were pretty strong hitting 20 - 30 mph. That made it difficult to keep the coach in the lane. This area is very dry and desolate.

Arizona Oasis is small RV Park with gravel (dirt) roads and gravel sites. It's not a great park but the choices in this area were pretty slim. This park is on the Colorado River and that is the big attraction. We were planning just an overnight stay here but the winds are expected to be even stronger tomorrow so we are going to sit tight for an extra day. Leaving here, we will be going north on US 95 which is a 2 lane highway (not a lot of room for error) and it is a 100 mile stretch running from I-10 to I-40.

We have a 65 foot pull thru site and have only hooked up electric.

Someday that tree will be nice ;>)

Up the road....

Down the road.....

Another surprise when we got to our site was a dead battery in the CRV. I discovered there is a big difference between the Accessory position and the On position on the ignition.....

Accessory, good.......  On, bad!!!!

Glad I hung on to that battery charger I used for the trolling motor on the old pontoon boat :>)

So we'll be heading on to Lake Havasu on Wednesday...

March 24, 2017
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree, CA

Today we decided to make the hour drive over to Joshua Tree National Park. We drove northwest on I-10 to CA 62 east to Joshua Tree. The drive takes you through the Palm Springs/Desert Hot Springs valley. This area is very windy and therefore contains hundreds of wind turbines.

Even though this is a desert area with temps reaching the high 80s this time of year, you get a beautiful view of snow capped mountains.

I believe this is Mt San Jacinto which has a height of 10,833 feet.

Traveling east on CA 62 heading towards 29 Palms (big Marine Base) you come to the main visitor center for Joshua Tree National Park.

I can't say that this was the nicest visitor center we ever visited. It was small with insufficient parking and extremely crowded. We drove a short distance past the visitor center and quickly came to a mile long line of cars waiting to enter the park. We took a few photos of the area and headed back out.

Note to self "never visit a California park on the weekend"

Probably not the most memorable National Park we have visited, but at least we got our fridge magnet ;>)

March 23,2017
Indian Waters RV Resort
Indio, CA

Well our 5 days of warranty items and the install of the towing system and window awnings turned into 17 days...... The kitchen and shower drain issue really stumped the repair Techs. It felt like one step forward two steps back as some things got fixed and other things went wrong. Suffice it to say eventually everything was completed except the window awnings. After reordering them twice they ended up on a truck in Washington and we couldn't wait any longer (big disappointment for Marilyn). We got to know all the folks at Holland Motor Homes and even became friends with Rita, the Receptionist.

Even though it was a very stressful and frustrating time, Rita was great and always looked out for us. Victor, our Lead Service Adviser/Coordinator always kept a calm demeanor and kept working the problems, even when we were losing it.

Today, Victor showed us how to hook up the car and test the towing system.

Then we hit the road for Indio....

I think Marilyn enjoyed riding in the co-pilot seat, but I need to work on my nervousness and short temper. I think that will get better as I get more used to driving the new rig....

We drove north on the 15 and drove east across the mountains to I-10 and then on through Palm Springs and into Indio. The temps jumped from 60s in San Marcos to 87 in Indio.

Indian Waters is a very nice, well maintained, older RV park.

We are in a nice and big concrete pull through....

We'll be here for the next four days and hope to see some of the sights like Joshua Tree National Park. Then we move on to Ehrenberg, AZ for an over night before heading on to Lake Havasu.

March 12, 2017
Holland Motor Homes
San Marcos, CA

On Monday March 6th we left Rancho California and made the short trip, an hour south on the 15, to San Marcos.

We are getting a few warranty items fixed and also having two window awnings installed as well as getting a towing system installed on the CRV so we can tow it 4 wheels down. That will allow Marilyn and I to ride together in the motorhome.

We expect to be here until Wednesday the 15th and then head over to Indio, CA which will officially kick off our travel year.

We were able to get all the paperwork done and even received our Tennessee license plates. I thought for sure one of us was going to have to fly to Knoxville, but Marilyn got to know Tim at the Roane County DMV very well and he did a great job of making sure we got our plates. And the plates only cost about $50..... any questions why we use TN as our state of residency?

So that's it for now.... not real exciting but everyday is full of things to get done. Can't wait to hit the road.....

February 24, 2017
Rancho California RV Resort
Aguanga, CA

Well we've been staying busy with family outings and get togethers. Last week we took a trip back to Vegas to attend Sydney's Jamz National Cheer competition. We stayed at The Orleans Hotel where the competition was held... very strange to see all the young kids running around a Casino. Sydney's Cheerforce team did very well and placed 2nd in their division.

Another thing that has taken a lot of our time is the purchase of a new motorhome.... yeah, we have been dreaming of having a motorhome and finally took the plunge. Every time we would see a motorhome come into a park where we were staying and see them hit a few buttons and be all set up, practically without leaving the vehicle.... well, we were quite envious.

We decided to go to Camping World one day to pick up a few items and saw a  RV Dealer next door. We told ourselves we would just go look and you know how it goes from there. In fact, the Salesmen joked about a lot of people who end up buying a $200k roll of toilet paper from that Camping World.....

We purchased a 38 foot Fleetwood Discovery XL model 38K. Here are a few pictures.

I hope to have some better photos soon but this is what we have for now. As you can imagine we are frantically trying to arrange and rearrange everything to fit in all the new spaces. We were amazed at how much space we had in the old 5th wheel and truck,,,, but we were able to find a spot for everything.

We  are also planning this year's trip which begins in 2 weeks, This year we are traveling around the southwest. Our plans are to go to Lake Havasu, the Grand Canyon.  Lake Powell for a family reunion on a houseboat, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, then head over the Rockies into Denver, then Colorado Springs, and down to Santa Fe and Albuquerque for the Balloon Festival and down over to Tucson and Yuma before returning to Southern California. It should be another great year and a great trip.... we can't wait to see it in our new home.