Mojave Desert

Ok, it's March and nearly 100! Some wildflowers along the road with lots of cactus. I drove the first maybe 70 miles in a nasty wind. A little scary, but I did fine. We have a braking system for the truck we tow and it apparently slipped forward on the mat, because, all of a sudden my 40' coach and another 15' of toad was braking and the engine light came on.....we were in NO where's ville! I pulled over (barely getting off the road) and Alan very quickly had it all figured out. We were back on the road in no time, stopping in Needles to make some lunch and get ready for our trek thru the desert.
I can NOT figure out why people live out there.... I am NOT a desert fan.
We are staying at another KOA and were looking forward to letting Irie run in their dog park....NOT!! It is just open desert......snakes, tarantulas, cactus and the like...

On our way to Camptonville

Yesterday, the RV seller drove the coach to Blythe. This is a requirement for not paying Arizona sales tax. We will be paying our sales tax in South Dakota (much less!). A stop at the notary and we were cut loose.....being the very wise people we try to be (yeah, right!) we already had reservations at a KOA here in Blythe.
We had a glitch with the surge protector which we just removed for the night.....some people don't even use them so we figured it would be ok. Had a nice dinner, a little TV and off to bed. The RV park was right next to I-10 and the Colorado River.The road noise was pretty bad, but we slept ok. That was offset by the pet park.....I let Irie off the lead and she took off running.....she must have run at least 4 laps around til she dropped to the ground and rolled in the grass.

We arrived with a 1/2 tank fresh water and  used it all up (even tho we were hooked up to their city water), but Alan checked it out and we goofed and left the water pump on. No big deal....we can put in a few gallons before we leave this AM. I have also run 2 loads of laundry and my washer/dryer combo seems to work well. I forgot to try the dishwasher DOH!!!

I'm driving today......oh man!! ;0)

Scary Day!!

     Thursday, we were had to be up at 5:30 am to get the RV ready to go for some repair at a Freightliner shop. Someone from Camping World drove it over there. We were told it should be back by noon. Well, at 1pm, checked and it had not even gone into the shop until 12:45!! So, we had to kill some more time. Decided to drive to where it was at to see what was up. When we got there, the RV was sitting outside. Asked the guy inside about it and he said it was done and that Camping World knew. I asked who was going to drive it back, and the guy said " No one until the bill is paid". This guy had the personality of a rock!!  I called to CW and told them what was up and they said they would take care of it. A couple of phone calls by CW got the bill taken care of. The Rock hands me the keys and says "It's all yours". Gasp!!  I'm driving this thing back??  Soooo, I get it fired up with Carol and Lisa in the truck behind me. Had only driven this thing about 5 miles before this and it was 32 miles back to CW!!  Got on I-10 and was going along just dandy until traffic came to a screeching halt. It was rush hour time!!! Creeped along for miles. When I needed to change lanes, most people would not let me over, so I had to force the issue. I am bigger!!Things continued to go downhill when I took a wrong turn. As soon as I did, I realized that I had screwed up big time. Only solution was go get off the freeway and make my way back to the right road. Easier said than done!!  Got off the freeway, but could find no place to pull over. After about 5 miles, found a closed gas station that had plenty of room for me to pull in. First thing I did was take a deep breathe!
     Programmed my GPS for a route back to CW. Here I am in a 40 foot RV and this damn GPS is taking me down streets that a little VW would avoid!!  Narrow lanes, overhangs, cars parked along side the road, other cars cutting in and out in front of me, making right turns where I was looking down at the car going the opposite way and watching a look of horror on the drivers face. Finally got a chance to call Carol and let her know what was going on. She had lost me a long way back. It seemed the Gods were watching over me as I finally found my way back to the right freeway. Once I got on that I had it made. As soon as I pulled into CW, I pulled over to see if I had done any damage to the RV. Seeing none, I continued to our spot where Carol and Lisa were sitting in the truck. It was a happy reunion.
     Turns out that CW had sent someone to get the RV and he had seen me going the other way on the freeway, so he went back. Had they called over and told me this, I would not have driven it myself. Got to thinking about it and realized that I had no registration on the RV, and no license plate of any kind. Had there been an accident or I had been pulled over, my goose would have been cooked. Guess I should have called CW to see who was supposed to drive. Lesson learned.
     All in all in was a great learning experience. I got into all the situations that I will try to avoid in the future. Can guarantee that it will happen again at some point. I am just lucky that I was not towing the truck!!  No way I would have made some of those right turns!! Yes, our travels are going to be very interesting!!

Arrrggghhh.......

Everyone knows how much I LOVE my sleep and that mornings are just not my gig......well, they needed us out of the RV at 6:00 AM this morning! God, I  hate starting days like that!! LOL!! We had to be up at 5:30 in order to button it up. It's not like a house where you can just get your clothes on, brush your teeth and go. In an RV, you must secure anything that could tip over in all cabinets and the reefer, bring the slides in and levelers up, disconnect your shore power, engage your stairs.....and this is all done BEFORE you even start it up to bring up the air pressure and get going! Thankfully, this will NOT often be done at such an ungodly time!! LOL! We felt so bad for the poor people next to us, but there was nothing we could do about it.
Hopefully, today's repairs won't take long and we can practice driving (now with the "toad" [towed truck])
We are running out of prescriptions, so we had to have Jessi overnight them to us (thanks again, Jessi, we love you!)
Still gorgeous here...77 yesterday....we are loving it!
We are hoping to leave Saturday, Sunday at the latest for Camptonville. Everybody get our your blow dryers and get rid of that snow!!

We are driving the RV!!!!

We were out with the Rv inspector taking the test drive, it was raining and suddenly, the guy pulls over and says to Alan "Ok, your turn!" Alan gave me a look that clearly said "Oh shit!" He did so great!! We even had major construction to go thru and he was GREAT!!! I have driven it twice in the lot and it is really fun!! Bigger than the school bus I used to drive....but we'll get used to it.
We had to be gone yesterday so they could work on it and when we got it back to our place, dumped the air and put out the slides, we thought all was well.....til I passed the monitor panel!! No green lights where there should be green lights! We worked it out tho and Alan found that the main switch had been thrown on the electric panel outside. voila!! The green lights appeared!to
We still have a few repairs here in Az, but are hoping to leave maybe Friday or Saturday to toodle on up to CVille. We aren't in a huge hurry....just called Jessi...it's still snowing up there and we are in NO hurry  to high center the truck again!!!
Lisa is doing pretty well. She doesn't like it when her normal day changes, but she is trying hard to adapt. She's sleeping well (snoring like crazy) and eating a lot.....no worries there! LOL! She loves when we can get to a pool (like the week we spent in the hotel) and is really enjoying being warm!! It's gorgeous today......74  maybe, and sunshine!
Irie, is slowly adapting. There is a cougar PAINTED on the 5th wheel next to us that she is convinced is gonna kill us all! It's so funny....she gets low, pins her ears back and growls that deep "I mean it" growl.....hysterical! Once we find the camera, we'll get a pic of it!
Now, the funniest story (at least it had me laughing out loud) Alan is in the "loo" (and was hesitating to go since our black tank is nearly full) and doing his business. All of a sudden I hear "The stuff won't go down!!!!!!!!!" Keep in mind, we have to use minimal water and here he is in a very tiny bathroom and nothing is happening! ....I started laughing and I couldn't stop......the picture in my head was so funny.
 Just as I am getting my laughing under control , I hear this loud BANG and he goes "Ow" With that, I completely lost it! You know that laughing  where you can't stop?! Alan, at first, saw no humor in this at all, but then realized this is just one of our firsts to deal with as genuine dorks!
We are off to the other Camping World to kill some time and then maybe get some groceries....
We love you and miss you in our journey!

John Henry's

We had a wonderful lobster dinner at John Henry's in Tempe, Az! Lisa had gnocchi bolgenese (we tend to pick stuff for her that doesn't have to be cut and she loves pasta) I grabbed a menu to take back to Jessi and Matt.
This SHOULD be our last night in the hotel. Our sales guy swears all work will be completed on the RV tomorrow and it will be all set for us to move in for the weekend. More work (provided the needed part comes in) on Monday for the tow package. Then, on Tuesday, they will drive with us to Blythe to "deliver" the RV. From there, we have 90 days to get it registered in South Dakota (and we can do that by fax) Then, we head to Camptonville to pick up the last of our things, though we really don't want to leave this 85-87 degree weather for the snow they are getting.
Still having trouble with the phone change over.....good ole ACN!! I have called 3 times and they always say "24-48 hours" YEAH,RIGHT!! Tomorrow, I'll sic Alan on them!! LOL!!

OMGOSH!!

The money we have expected for a week is FINALLY in our account!!Not a day too soon either....we are picking up the RV tomorrow!! The back of the truck will be loaded with the stuff we brought so we may have to load it up in an unused office for a while (so we can leave and go do something). Whatever we do with the boxes, etc, we need to move into our coach tomorrow......Spring Training is going on and there are no rooms available anywhere!! I kind of like that we can stay there over the weekend.... we can drive around and get used to the beast!
Camping World has been amazing...helping us out in so many ways! I HIGHLY recommend them! New tires went on today and the price quoted to us was for Bridgestones, but the tire place didn't feel the Bridgestones were good enough for the weight of the rig, so Michelins were put on. Camping World ate the difference in price ($600!!) without our even asking!! Impressive place.
We met with Bill and Jere (Alan's brother and his wife) and their soon to be son in law, Cody.In the 8 years Alan and I have been together, I had not met them.  We had a great time!
We are going to take Lisa to the Rainforest Cafe tonight...can't wait to see the look on her face when the lightening and thunder starts up and then the rain.....she'll LOVE it!!
Weather is absolutely gorgeous......87, light breeze.

Arizona

Wow! The weather here is wonderful after the cold,rain and snow of CVille. We are currently at a hotel while repairs are done to our coach, but we got to see it yesterday. It's beautiful and we are excited!
We won't be able to return as quickly as we thought as a part had to be ordered for the braking system for the 'toad' (lingo for the pulled vehicle). But, actually, I'm in no hurry...they are expecting low snow levels on Friday in CVille....I'd just as soon stay in the warmth. The RV place has offered to let us stay in our new home at night and saving us the cost of the hotel. It's very nice of them, but the pool here is awfully nice, too!! LOL!! But, then again, at the RV place, we can practice driving in the lot at night. I'm pretty confident that my old school bus days will come back quickly. At least, I won't have 80 screaming kids behind me!! LOL!!
My Fibromyalgia only hurts a bit today and I think that's sleep deprivation. Lisa snores like crazy and it's driving Alan and me NUTS!! Ear plugs are no help at all....scheeesh....

Traveled all day

We are now in lovely Bakersfield....our first of 4 nights total before we get our RV. We weathered it well....Irie was the perfect car dog...no barking, peeing on command, etc.....she's awesome! Lisa was even better!!!! Never a complaint! She's such a sweetheart!
Loading the truck last night was an ordeal ...our eyes were definitely bigger than our truck!! We  had to take a bunch back into the house.Lisa 's old room is stacked with boxes!! We will pick those up when we go back....Matt and Jessi were wonderful about that!! Thanks, guys! :0)
Off to Mesa tomorrow.

WE Made It!!

Papers are signed and ready to record tomorrow or Monday!! We are outa here on Sat to make our 2 day trip to AZ. We will walk into the dealership on Monday to see our new home! SO excited......I can't sleep!

We leave SATURDAY!!

Got a call from the agent....we "should" sign on Thursday!! Even if it is Friday...we are still outa here on Saturday!! Packing the last bit to take tomorrow......YIPPEE!!
 Remember, our snail mail addy changes, too!
Alan, Carol and Lisa Kinne
110 E. Center St. #1773
Madison, SD 57042
(530) 913-4910

Soon......

It's a rainy, grey, cold day today. But in AZ, it is 81 degrees!! Can't wait to get there. The last we heard, close of escrow should be by Wed, but yesterday (on a Sat), we got a call from a Wells Fargo Appraiser saying she needed one more picture of the front of the house! WTF???? Why?? They already took 30 pics, at least! But I was nice, kept my cool "Sure, no problem" We waited all day and didn't see her, so I sure hope she actually came out. Left 2 messages with the agent (Jessi and Matt's) and an email this AM telling him of our concern. He said since it was only a "drive by"  he didn't mention it......scheeesh....you'd think as overdue as this close of escrow is, he would get that the least thing freaks us out!!
I just keep looking at the pics of our new "home"(see January) and dreaming of the lazy (and warm) days ahead.Keep your fingers, toes and anything else you can cross, crossed!!!!

Holy Cow!!

Sorry this has been a while.....we got SO snowed in...four and a half feet fell overnight....no power for 4 days, etc. Escrow also feel apart on the very last day. The problem was resolved and now expecting the closing on this Wed...leaving for Az the following Sat.After this last storm, we are more than ready to get out of here!!Oh, also, we no longer have internet at the house (storm did something to the satellite, we think) so our emails will be only when we can get into town. Thank God, for wonderful hubbies!! Alan dug and dug til he had our driveway clear and this is AFTER a friend brought his tractor over!!