To catch you up we spent most of Sunday, Dec 14, packing and getting ready to make an early exit on Monday morning. I even hooked up the truck so we could just unhook the utilities, pull up the landing jacks and we would be off. Monday morning I was out disconnecting the utilities and one of our neighbours dropped by to wish us safe travels. He's a nice fella from BC who really likes to chat. At one point he says to me "don't you hate it when you are trying to get packed up and hit the road and someone stops and starts talking to you". He paused very briefly to take a breath and kept right on talking about their travels. We finally got in the truck and pulled out. I'm sure if I looked in my side mirror he was still there talking to the back of our trailer as we rumbled down the road.
We had been having a problem with our Sidewinder Pinbox/Hitch setup and I had diagnosed the problem, I think, so we had made an appointment at the service dept of LazyDays RV. Its advertised as the biggest RV Dealer in the US, with locations in Tucson and Tampa. I'm thinking they have seen our problem before and should be able to diagnose and fix it quickly and we should be on the road by noon. Our appt was for 9:00 and we arrived on time and after some paperwork and a few minutes to track down their Hitch expert he confirmed that the wedge had slipped, which was my diagnosis. He said that many installers simply tighten the bolts with the supplied lock washers however with all the vibration they soon loosen. He readjusted the wedge and this time applied some "lock tight" to the threads of the bolts which act like a cement, locking the bolts in place. I didn't ask but I'm hoping that the bolts aren't locked in place permanently as I'm sure that another adjustment will be required at some point down the road. We were on our way shortly after 10:00, ahead of schedule, a great start to our trip.
The highway we took wasn't an Interstate, but rather a 2 lane highway winding through the desert. Because of traffic and construction it took us a little longer to get out of Tucson and the sprawling suburbs but once we cleared civilization we had a very relaxing drive. Not being on an Interstate provided us with an up close and personal view of the desert. At times it felt like we could open a window and reach out and touch the cactus. I set the cruise at 50mph and enjoyed the scenery. One of the advantages of having nothing but time. We arrived at Gold Canyon RV & Golf Resort at about 12:30 which gave us lots of time to get setup and still relax and explore a bit.
After clearing the front security gate we were greeted with this pretty drive up the main street.
At the end of the street we were greeted by the main building which houses the administrative offices and all of the activity facilities.
 |
This is the view outside of our door. This mountain is part of the Superstition Mountain range which is just a few miles away and I am sure a hike or two will take us for a closer look.
On Tuesday we had to get some groceries and a few other items so we set the GPS and drove up Hwy 60 into Mesa. Pretty easy to get around so Wednesday we decided to drive all the way over to Glendale which is on the other side of Phoenix and about 100km from our RV Park. Our destination was Cabela's (the only one in Az) and also to see the Gila River Arena, the home of the Coyotes. We are going to see them on Jan 8 when the Jets are in town and wanted to get an idea of where we were going.
In the past few years we have heard all about the financial woes of the Phoenix, now Arizona, Coyotes as well as the financial problems of the City of Glendale. Glendale kept cutting cheques to the NHL to keep the Coyotes in Arizona until the NHL could find a viable owner. After driving through the area I can see why Glendale City Council kept writing cheques. Its a great development with the Arena, the absolutely huge white domed football stadium (home of the NFL Cardinals) numerous baseball parks which are the spring training home to various Major League Baseball teams and the Cactus League Spring training games as well as condos, restaurants and shops. I'm sure the development was a great idea until the 2008 Financial Crisis hit and brought into question the financial viability of not only this development but the City of Glendale itself. We will get an up close and personal view of this area on Jan 8th, decked out, of course, in our Jets gear.
The ride home was a real adrenaline rush. It was rush hour and we were on the freeway with thousands of other cars all going somewhere in a real big hurry. For much of our journey its a 12 lane highway, 6 going one way and 6 going the other. Speed limit is 65mph and no one, except me, travelled at less than 80mph. A multitude of On Ramps, Off Ramps and Overhead Crossing Ramps kept me pretty focused and we were doing pretty well until we took one off ramp and while waiting for the next set of directions as the road in front of me forked, I heard, "RECALCULATING".
Ever since we updated our maps program a year or so ago and had to add a SIM card to handle the larger file, our GPS has been a little slow and, shall we say, wonky. Like for no reason at all it will go from a friendly womans' English voice to some angry dude speaking Afrikaner. By the time we had recalculated we were on the wrong off ramp and had to take a little detour to get back on the right freeway. We made it home and only one wrong trun so, all in all, a successful adventure.
Lori gets quite mad at the GPS lady and some day I would not be surprised if I see it flying out of the window. I'm thinking we will stay off the freeways for a few days so we can all relax a bit.
Later.
No comments:
Post a Comment