Pahrump, NV

April 2, 20012

We arrived at Nevada Treasure RV Resort late afternoon after stopping for diesel fuel at the, appropriately named,  Horizon Market. This was the lowest price we have seen for a while at $3.76 a gallon. We got there just in time. One of the clerks was going to change the price as I went in and she waited until my purchase was completed.

Our site was on the corner and listed as a luxury site.  The weather is now sunny and warm.  One of the benefits of living in Horizon, we can move to a better climate when ever the one we’re in gets uncomfortable.

Ty is enjoying the patio and watching the dogs go by.

Our last blog was from Kingman AZ

5/1/12
The last blog was from Kingman AZ and it was snowing.

We actually have moved from there and are now parked next to our house in California. I’ll try to catch up to the present as quickly as possible.
And here’s the reason for the lack of blog posting, Claire Norman in Debbie’s lap less than a day old.

We left Kingman on the 20th of March, the day after the snow hit, and headed up to the Nevada Treasure RV Resort in Pahrump.  Because of the long drive, we were up early. I fired up the Cummins and raised the jacks. The idiot light on the dash indicated “check transmission” and the transmission refused to go into gear.  Still fresh in my mind was the vision of one of our neighbor’s motorhome being towed away the day before yesterday.  Checked the fluid level, ok. Tried starting and re-starting, no luck. Finally had to get out the transmission manual.  Learned how to display the trouble code and looked it up. It said to reset the EMC. No info on how to do that. The next time I started the light went out and the transmission went into gear and away we went on our way to the “Winnebago Itasca Travelers Southwest Regional Rally” in Pahrump, NV.  

Snow In Kingman

Sunday was cold and overcast and we didn’t do much but hang out. We notice what appeared to be some kind of fluff floating in the air and closer inspection revealed it was snow flakes. It was very light and intermittent. When we went out to walk Ty we were surprised to see the mountain had been covered in snow.

A new next door neighbor arrived early afternoon during one of the heavier snows of the day.  He set up and about an hour later of course, it stopped. Other than the mountain, the snow did not stick.

We went to bed to the sound of rain on the roof. We woke up to snow on the roof.  A view out our front window.

And out our side window. Our jeep I covered with snow.

Oatman, AZ

Oatman is about an hours drive from Kingman along the old ‘Route 66’.  I have a lot of memories associated with route 66. When I was younger I traveled this road every summer, with my parents and two sisters, from Oakland, California to Oklahoma. This was in the late 40’s, early 50’s before air conditioning. My dad always left right after work on Friday and drove through the night. Noon the next day we were traveling across the Mojave Desert and dyeing from the heat. We were on our summer vacation and going to visit grandparents and other relatives in Oklahoma City and Ada. Route 66 was a two lane road with dirt shoulders and as a ten-year-old remembers, light traffic except close to cities.  Our trip on the old 66 was very much like I remembered. You can see, very light traffic.

On the way up we passed by an old service station.

Here’s a view looking back toward Kingman and the valley we climbed out of.

Carole Lombard and Clark Gable stopped in Oatman on their honeymoon and stayed at the Oatman Hotel.

Oatman is also famous for the wild burros the roam around town, coming and going as they please.  Here mama is giving  junior a little nip for an indiscretion.

Looking toward the south end of town a car is stopped for burros and tourists in the street. ‘66’ turns right while the view continues into the mountains.

Kingman, AZ

We made it here to Blake Ranch RV Park. We’re in the wide open spaces, about fifteen miles east of Kingman, AZ.  Yesterday we had planned to head up to Williams and had reservations at the Grand Canyon RV Park. Because of the weather forecast which called for around three feet of snow there, we cancelled our reservation and headed here to a lower altitude and a forecast for rain not snow. 

It’s late afternoon about 60 degrees and windy. Tonight’s low is forecast to be 32 degrees.  I took the bikes off the car and had a short ride of about five miles around the area.  There are some scary abandoned buildings in the area I rode past and then down a dirt road that led up to a closed rock quarry.

Tomorrow we are going to take a ride up to the Ghost Town of Oatman on the old route 66 highway. 

Phoenix, AZ

Today we caught up with Lee and Ann who are staying a few blocks away at a real RV park. They are down from Concord for spring training. We had a nice visit.

We then went up to Old Town Scottsdale and walked around.  A cowboy made up like a bronze statue posed for pictures. Here he has his lasso around the boys next for a picture.

             

Later we drove up the Martha house. After catching up we went out for pizza and afterward Martha took us on a sightseeing tour. We met her son and then her daughter and family as we were driving and passed them. We also drove by Senator McCain's’ old house.

We’ll be leaving here in the morning so we all need our rest.

We’re heading up through Flagstaff and over to Williams to the Grand Canyon RV Park. Debbie and I haven’t been to the Grand Canyon for thirty year or so and we don’t expect it to have changed much, but we still have to check.

Aztec RV, Mesa

We arrive here late afternoon and checked-in at the office. When I made the reservation, they assigned me space F51 but told me I could change sites if I didn’t like the site.  As they anticipated, I didn’t like the site. In fact, the site was so narrow I don’t think I could get into it.  As I got out to take a look, two residents came over and they also thought the site was too small. I called the office and they couldn’t tell me where another site was available.  Finally they said find an empty site and just park in it. One of the residents had ridden his bike around and found a site which we ended up in.  

The Aztec turned out to be designed as a mobile home residence park and was full of park model homes. They rent out the vacant sites to RVs. We barely were able to back into our site due to the narrow street, palm trees, and utilities.  The lots are short and backed in as far as possible, we still stuck out over the sidewalk.

                 

You can see the tree on one side and the four inches of clearance at the utility post.

The worst part was the water facet, which was under the frame with a few inches of clearance.  The Horizon has an airbag suspension system which raises it up about five inches. When we park we dump the air and the Horizon lower about five inches.  Did what I though was a smart thing. I lowered the jacks down so when the air was dumped, the Horizon only lowered to just above the facet without hit it. When it was time to leave I realized I should have left the bags inflated. To re-inflate the bags you have to store the jacks and they raise right away and then the airbags slowly fill.  If I just did that, then the Horizon would drop down and hit. Just above the facet are some electrical junctions and what I believe is a large emissions canister.  If I hadn’t dumped the airbags, they would just started re-inflating and then I could have stored the jacks. I finally decided to try blocking the frame. I lowered the rear jacks until the frame was on the blocks while Debbie watched to make sure the blocks stopped the Horizon before hitting. It did. Now I was able to ‘store’ the jacks and the airbags inflated and raised the Horizon so we could drive off.

Enroute Phoenix (Mesa), AZ

We left this morning for Aztec RV Resort. At Eloy we stopped at the Flying J for fuel. Debbie noticed we were only about thirty miles away from the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.  We parked the Horizon in the back of the Flying J lot and jumped into the Jeep and headed over. 
We planned to find somewhere to stop for lunch on the way and as we drove through Coolidge, we spotted a Sonic Drive In.
Yes the carhops were on roller blades. The food was pretty good and of course the service was fast.
The main ruin has been protected by a covering structure.  It was three stories tall and thought to be used for astrometry as windows align the sun on important dates.

Other structures around the area, that are not protected from the weather, are slowly disappearing.
Debbie reading about the ruins.

Home and Fair

The entrance to Deb’s folks home is through the flowered covered arch.

Front yards in Arizona use drought resistant plants.

The side of the house is setup for entertaining.

Down the side and around the back is a view of the Canoa Golf’ Course’s 13th fairway and green.

Saturday we went down to Green Valley’s street fair.

We leave tomorrow for Phoenix. We have several friends to touch base with who live and another couple down in their MH from Concord for spring training. We’ll probable say a few days before heading on.

Propane Delivery

Today was the day for the propane delivery truck to roll through the RV park and fill up everyone’s tank that needed some.  We did and so did a lot of others. It took about an hour after the truck arrived to get to us. Fortunately while we were waiting I discovered that access to the Horizon’s propane fill point was not assessable with the slide out and Debbie and I quickly pulled it in.  We took a little over half a tank at $ 3.69 a gallon.

Later a Debbie’s folks house Ty enjoyed the enclosed breezeway.

 

Later a nap on the golf cart. For some reason his favorite place to sleep.

De Anza RV Resort

We’re in our site at De Anza RV Resort in Amado AZ.  A long haul from Palm Springs, about and eight hour drive.  Feels and looks more like the desert now.

This is the view from our front window.  We’re on the front row facing the mountains.

Tomorrow going up to Tucson to a gun show at the fair grounds.

Palm Springs Tramway

Yesterday we started the day with breakfast back on the deck of the Desert Willow.  Then Debbie needed to go back to the quilt shop and I accidently parked in front of a thrift shop and she found four tops, two of which still had the labels and tags on them.
We stopped back by the Horizon for a snack and then drove over to the tram for a 4:00pm lift off.
This is our tram on its way down from the top. The bright flying saucers are reflections on the waiting room window.

Another view from the waiting room where you can see the towers marching up the mountain.

We  arrived at the top during daylight. The wind over the previous day had blown in some air from LA, so it wasn’t as clear as it had been. 





There was a lot of snow and it was around 34 degrees.  Fortunately we brought coats and scarfs so we didn’t completely freeze as we wandered around. 

After exploring we had dinner at the Peaks Restaurant at a window table with a view of the valley.

As we ate, we watched the sunlight retreat across the valley floor with lights coming on as darkness fell.

We came down the mountain in the dark and it was less scary because you couldn’t see how high up you were.
Tomorrow we’re leaving early for Tucson.