Turning the Page.......

7:30 am - Friday - May 8th - Page, AZ - 60° F, 14% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the north......clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this day in 2017 we were working at Tahoe Valley Campground, and it had snowed the night before.....

......May can be a very fickle month in the Tahoe Basin.

Bob Seger - "Turn the page"

Rather reluctantly we departed the friendly confines of Black Bart's RV Park around 10 am Thursday to begin our trek northward to cooler climes.  I say reluctantly, because we knew we would be heading into slightly warmer elevations for the next week on our way to higher elevations once again.  From a high point of 7,100' elevation we began our descent to 4,600' at Cameron, AZ, then slowly back to over 6,100' before diving headlong into Page, AZ which sits at 4,400' elevation.  All that being said the forecast high for Page on Thursday was 87° F.....just 7 degrees warmer than Flagstaff's forecast.

It was wonderful to see the big vistas opening up before us as we made our descent to Cameron......

.....our departure time was about 20 minutes ahead of Glenn and Laureen, so we agreed to meet up at the nicely paved truck parking lot behind the Burger King in Cameron....

Internet picture of the truck parking area

....Glenn and Laureen arrived shortly after we did, and after a walk around the parking lot to stretch our legs we set out to cover the final 78 miles of our 128 drive to Page, AZ, and the local Elks Lodge.  About 20 miles out from Page we had another one of the grinder type climbs up to 6,100' before the final downhill into Page......

Just cresting the last big climb of the day

.....we arrived around 1 pm at the Elk's Lodge without incident and 20 minutes after paying $40 for two nights we had both found our sites.....Glenn and Laureen in site #1 with 50 amp service, plus water, and us in site # 10 with 30 amp service and water.....we stayed in this exact same spot back in 2017.......

.....I can tell it is going to take me a few more days of regular view changing to get back into the swing of it.  For the past year we have been stationary 95% of the time.....9 months at RORVR, 1 month boondocking in the Anza Borrego Desert outside of Borrego Springs, CA, and 2 months at the Newell House Compound. Speaking of RORVR, a friend/former customer who still lives in at RORVR sent the following pictures.....

 Open holes, and water running down the street day after day

....they apparently have numerous unresolved issues with water/sewer lines leaking, and the pool where I spent 100's of hours laboring to keep her looking good has not been cleaned in 3 months.....it makes me sad......

....I took a lot of pride in the pool/playground area, and it is difficult seeing that work undone by neglect of the new management.  

The four of us decided to have dinner separately, and keep to ourselves as Friday will be a sightseeing day.  It is good to be moving again on a regular basis, and it is good to revisit some favorite locations.  We stayed at this Elks Lodge back in November of 2017 on our way to our job at the Grand Canyon (Desert View), after spending a week at one of our top 5 boondocking spots.....Lone Rock.

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Socially speaking......

6:38 am - Thursday - May 7th - Flagstaff, AZ - 43° F, 40% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the southwest.......clear, blue, chilly skies today with a forecast high of 79° F, but we will be rolling our wheels later this morning for Page, AZ and the local Elks Lodge, which is still offering RV spots with electric and water.  On this day in 2013 we were in Indianapolis, IN beginning our 16 days working the Indy 500......

"I think I could do this....well, maybe not...."

Wednesday we received our stimulus deposit from the U.S. Treasury Department.  Most people we know received their payments several weeks ago, but we did get them in the end.  We stayed an extra day in Flagstaff thinking we would do a big wash, but found out too late that the laundry here is closed due to the Wuhan virus, as the owners do not want to be responsible for keeping the facility properly sanitized, plus they would have to have someone monitoring the ingress, and egress of customers to be sure social distancing is being practiced.....I totally get that, but it just didn't occur to me at the time we decided to extend our stay.

So, what to do on a day we were supposed to be traveling?  Well, I spent the better part of the day binge watching Maine Cabin Masters, a show about guys who go around northern Maine reconstructing/restoring cabins, or 'camps' as they call them that have fallen into disrepair.  It's actually very interesting.  I haven't had a day of watching mindless TV for a long time, and I was due.  Of course there were numerous catnaps thrown in for good measure.

When we first arrived at Black Bart's RV Park we met Cody who had just purchased a 1988 Newell Classic about 7 months before as he and his wife, Hannah, began their full time experience.  Cody and Hannah are 20/30 somethings who decided to escape the 'cubicle' life for the nomadic life.  On Tuesday we invited them to join us for a social hour touring each other's coaches.  They arrived around 4 pm, the tour began with our coach, then Glenn and Laureen's, then their 1988.......

 TLE and Hannah talking in the kitchen of their 1988 Newell, 40 foot, tag axle Newell Classic

.....we spent about an hour at Cody and Hannah's Newell talking about the nomadic life, Newell issues, etc.  It was a delightful time, and it did not really feel like we were spending time with people younger than all of our children....they felt like peers, and that is the magic of this lifestyle......

 Cody in their bedroom with Glenn and Laureen

....about 6:30 pm we were wrapping up our social time, and saying our until next times.  We look forward to meeting up with them on the road sometime this summer....

 

......we retired to Glenn and Laureen's 1984 Newell for snacks, and adult beverages for the balance of the evening talking about our plans for the next few weeks.  While we were talking I noticed we were getting a beautiful sunset........

.....and snuck outside to get the shot.  We decided our next stop on our summer long odyssey without Alaska will be Page, AZ where we will spend a few days before heading northeast to Goosenecks State Park, one of our all time favorite boondocking sites.  There Glenn and Laureen will get a chance to utilize their new solar system for about a week.

Life is good, and we're back into the mode of 'making it up as we go'.....the best way to travel.  On a positive note it appears that many Arizona, and Utah State and National Parks will begin to reopen in the next week to ten days.....yay for us!

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Jiggling Jello......

7:10 am - Wednesday - May 6th - Flagstaff, AZ - 50° F, 40% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the southwest......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 80° F.  On this day in 2018 we were in Lockport, NY walking along the Erie Canal.....

.....we were staying at the Lockport Elks Lodge....

.....our view this morning.......↴

We awoke to 32° F temps Tuesday morning in Flagstaff.....how wonderful!   We continue to be asymptomatic, and Coconino County, where we currently reside, has had just 38 Wuhan Flu deaths.....we are in a good place right now, for sure.

When we arrived at Black Bart's Sunday afternoon and opened up the trailer to remove the Beetle I noticed the fluorescent light fixture over the work bench had become detached from the ceiling.  I temporarily reattached it, but it was not going to stay once we are underway once again, so Tuesday morning I set about to fix it.  The ceiling of the trailer is masonite, and it is not very thick.  I originally used drywall screws to afix the fixture to the ceiling, and that lasted 6 years, so not too bad.  Nonetheless, it was time to improve the installation.  This time I cut 3 pieces of aluminum sheet (3" x 6") and screwed each of them over each old hole using two self taping Phillips head screws each.  The purpose of the aluminum sheets is to distribute the load over a wider area.  I then reattached the fluorescent fixture to the ceiling using one Phillips head self taping screw per hole in the fixture screwed thru each aluminum sheet.  A perfect result if I do say so myself......

 .....TLE and I drove over to Walmart to pick up a few things she had forgotten the day before.  The store was not too crowded, but pretty much everyone was wearing a face mask.

Later in the day we drove about 12 miles out of town with Glenn and Laureen to check out a couple of possible boondocking spots, but in the end we were not happy with the choices available.  Most of the really good spots where occupied by other boondockers....

......I've wanted to check out this area for long time, and now we know it has possibilities, but not for now.....it is a little more difficult to find a good boondock site when you are looking for room for two Newell Classics...am I right, or am I right?

On our way back into town we stopped off at the local Safeway supermarket to get a couple more things which had been forgotten....seems like there is a lot of 'forgetting' going on lately.....I, on the other hand, took advantage of the in store Starbucks, and bought myself a grande Mocha Frappuccino.....score!

 Nothing like a Mocha Frappuccino to put a smile on a guy's face

....we were home just before 5 pm at which time TLE whipped up a couple of Cadillac Margaritas for happy hour, while I lit the Sea-B-Que in preparation for the insertion of a tri-tip for our dinner....

......over drinks we decided we would extend our stay at Black Bar's to a fourth day meaning we will be rolling our wheels again on Thursday.....where are we going? It appears that a number of National, and State parks in Arizona, and Utah are reopening in the next few days......the Jello is jiggling, and and plans are being reformulated, so stay tuned!

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'The Last Dance.....'

6:25 am - Tuesday - May 5th - Flagstaff, AZ - 32° F!, 69% humidity, wind - CALM......clear, blue, very cold skies this morning.....I love writing that.....very cold!  The view this morning.......↴

.....on this day in 2018 we were visiting Niagra Falls.....

We slept in until after 7 am on our first full day in Flagstaff.  We turned on the portable fireplace around 6 am to warm up the salon.....I wore my slippers for the first time in 3 weeks......these are some of the things we love about high altitude living.  The bedroom temperature got down to 58° F overnight....perfect for sleeping soundly.

Glenn and I had a couple of DIY projects to complete so he and I headed off to the local Napa store in the Beetle (just 3 blocks away) to pick up the needed materials.  TLE and Laureen, on the other hand, were in need of a serious shopping day so they headed off to explore the local stores in the Honda Element.

My DIY project was to thoroughly clean the Newell radiator......again.  Apparently the last time I did it when we first arrived in Wittmann didn't take.....I guess I was not thorough enough, because the engine temps were still running 5-8° higher than normal on our climb from the Verde Valley to Flagstaff.  I purchased a gallon of 'Purple Power' concentrate to spray onto both sides of the radiator before I used the pressure washer......

.....I've used this before, and was happy with the results.  I was not happy with the results using 'Dawn' last time.  In preparation for the cleaning project I turned on the block heater before I got out of bed to be sure the radiator was hot before I began to clean it.  In all I applied the 50/50 (I added one part water for every part of 'Purple Power') 4 to 5 times with a thorough pressure washing in between.  I'm pretty sure I got it clean this time!  Just about the time I was finishing putting away all my stuff TLE and Laureen returned home from their shopping foray.

Our niece, Christina, lives in Flagstaff with her daughter Melana (Mĕlānă).  Whenever we are in town we make a point of getting together with her at least once.  She had heard we were going to be in Flagstaff and contacted TLE about visiting with us, so we set the date for 3:30 pm Monday.  Even though it is much cooler here in Flagstaff the sun is still pretty intense in the much thinner atmosphere so TLE and I broke out he Ozark popup to provide some shade for our get together......

.....we sat catching up, and talking until after 5 pm when we decided to order some takeout from  'The Lumberyard', a local micro brewery........Christina decided to stay for dinner, but wanted to go and pickup her daughter, so she volunteered to pick up our food.....

......we all had to put on warmer clothes as the sun set, but we continued on with our get together until 8:30 pm......

 From left to right: Laureen, Melana, TLE, Christina, and moi

......after saying our until next times we all retired to our respective coaches for the evening.  I continued watching the ESPN series entitled 'The Last Dance'....a documentary about Michael Jordan's final season as a Chicago Bull, and their 6th and final championship (second threepeat) in the 1997-98 season.  The series has 10 episodes in all, and I'm through episode 6......it is totally fascinating to get an inside look at the team dynamics, and specifically Michael Jordan.  If you are a sports fan I highly recommend watching this series.....IMDB gives the series 5 stars....their highest rating.

And with that ended our first full day in Flagstaff....it's always great to visit with family, and we are so glad we were able to spend so much time with Christina and Melana this time around!  A final note....Christina is the daughter of TLE's sister Phyllis, and was born almost one year to the day before our oldest child, Chris.

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"It's good to be moving again...."

7:41 am - Monday - May 4th - Wittmann, AZ - 53° F, 36% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the west by northwest......clear, blue, cool skies today with a forecast high of 75° F.......wonderful!  On this day in 2017 we had returned to Tahoe Valley Campground for our fourth summer.  I was the head ranger, and in charge of getting the campground ready for the summer crowds.....

....which included getting all the RV and tent sites raked free of pine needles.  We would rake the needles into the lines you see in the pictures above, which helped delineate the boundaries of each site.

After two delightful months at the McCloud Newell compound it was time to haul anchor and motivate up to Flagstaff, AZ, and the wonderfully cool weather its 7,000'+ of elevation imparts.......

Almost stepped on the rather large scorpion while cleaning our windshield

.....TLE and I were up by 5 am, and rolling our wheels just after 7 am.  We left a couple of hours before Glenn and Laureen as we needed to head south first to fill up our diesel tank for the first time in 14 months.  Why south?  Well, a few months back we joined a group of high end motorcoach  folks who have obtained an amazing discount at Love's Truck Stops.  Currently, in the Phoenix area diesel is going anywhere from $2.35/gallon to $2.73/gallon.  Our discounted price at the Love's in Tolleson, AZ came to $1.355/gallon......

.....we arrived at the Love's Truck Stop around 8 am pulling up to pump #22 where the price per gallon was shown as $2.729.  It took less than five minutes using their high volume pumps to inject 139.752 gallons into our 180 gallon tank for a total of $381.38.....that's what we are used to paying.....

.......after picking up my receipt from the cashier I opened the program for the TDS card on my phone and saw what I really paid.....$186.52.....a savings of $194.86!  Is that cool, or what? 

And with that we were quickly back on I-10 eastbound to I-17 northbound which would take us to I-40, and ultimately Black Bart's RV Park in Flagstaff where we have stayed numerous times over the years.  The trip north was uneventful, and beautiful as we slowly climbed over 5,000' in elevation leaving behind desert cactus for the conifers of high elevation....

There are the San Francisco Peaks looming over Flagstaff in the distance

......we made one stop at the Sunset Point Rest Area for about 30 minutes before continuing on to Flagstaff.  Glenn and Laureen departed Wittmann a little after 9 am after topping off their propane tank at Wells Country Store.  We arrived at Black Bart's a little after noon time, and were assigned site 104......

......Glenn and Laureen arrived in their 1984 Newell Classic around 2 pm and were assigned to site #103.......

.....coincidentally there is a 1988 Newell Classic here at Black Bart's for the entire month of May......

......the owner, Cody, is a younger guy, probably in his 30's.  He and his wife bought their '88 about 7 months ago, and redid the interior before setting out on their travels.  We hope to spend more time with them, and exchange tours of our coaches in the next few days.

After spending 16 days working on their '84 Newell, with tools scattered everywhere, it was nice to see Laureen using her motorcoach for its intended purpose.....living on the road.....

.....order has been restored, and now the summer adventure begins.  We enjoyed a lovely steak dinner prepared by Laureen and TLE, and talked about everything under the sun, except for repairs, until after 8:30 pm before retiring to our '82 Newell for the evening.  

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