The reposition......

 8:20 am - Sunday - January 16th - Newell House, AZ - 43° F, 35% humidity, wind - CALM.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 71° F.  The view this morning......↴

.....on this date in 2020 TLE and I were putting the finishing touches on hole #9 of the mini golf course at Ramon Oaks RV Resort.  Over several days we removed the old turf, and installed brand new turf.......↴

Our interlude at Echo Lodge Resort seemed all too short, but Saturday it was time to reposition the Newell to Wittmann, AZ where over the next few weeks we will attempt to complete a few planned projects such as removing our 40 year old shocks, and air bags, and installing new ones.  We wanted to get to Wittmann early in the day so we managed to roll our wheels out of site #166 by 8:35 am to begin our 143 mile trip.  We stopped briefly in Parker, AZ to take on 27 gallons of diesel at $3.63/gallon to get us to a much better price in Tonopah, AZ in a few weeks when we head back into California. By the way, this diesel price was $1.30 less per gallon than on the California side of the river.

We initially headed south on US-95 and then southeast on Arizona 72, and ultimately to Arizona 60, which took us all the way to Wittmann via Wickenburg.  The roads were mostly pretty good except for a 10 mile section on Arizona 72, which was terribly rough.  We took a restroom break in Salome, and then continued eastward. Eventually we found ourselves descending into Wickenburg, AZ from our high elevation of the day......2,700'.  Once we passed through Wickenburg it was only 17 miles to Wittmann.....

Descending into Wickenburg

Heading down 227th Ave. in Wittmann

.....as we turned left off Lone Mountain to 227th Ave. (above) we saw that some road work has been done since were were last here in late February....used to be a washboardy dirt road.  Then Newell House came into view.....

....Tom and Darlene's home is in the forefront, and Newell House is in the background....it is enormous.....TLE took a video of our ingress to the property......

.......when we had parked, and leveled I turned to TLE and said "It's nice to be back in our happy place" to which she replied...."yeah".

We arrived at 12:02 pm without incident having covered 143 miles in the relatively fast time (for us) of 3 hours and 27 minutes.  Time to get to work on those projects!

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Cousins......

 7:15 am - Saturday - January 15th - Parker Strip, CA - 55° F, 36% humidity, wind 10 mph out of the northwest......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 69° F.  On this date in 2016 Steven Dempsey (amazing photographer) took some black and whites of TLE and I, and my friend Michael Vaccari.......↴

.....our view this morning at 7:20 am (6:20 am California time)......↴

After the marathon electrical troubleshooting session Thursday we slept in until almost 8 am Friday.....of course, it felt like 7 am since our bodies are still embracing California time.  I puttered around in the trailer for a couple of hours before retiring back inside the Newell to read for a while.  Around 2 pm we took a walk around the park....

This is a very tight park with a lot of winter residents

.....we walked by Steve's 1982 Newell Classic to say 'HI'.....looks almost like ours, doesn't it?.....

.....Steve has rented this river front site for years now....almost as long as I have known him, and it is a beautiful view......

.....my cousin Lori lives Havasu City with her husband Jeff.  Whenever we are close we try to get together.   The last time we had dinner with them was January of 2017.....it only seems like a few months since we last had dinner....lol!  Lori is the daughter of my mother's brother, Ralph.  Her mother, Connie, just passed on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer.  We met, once again, at Havasu Springs Resort Restaurant at 5 pm where we got a waterfront table for dinner.  Some 2.5 hours later we were still talking non-stop, but it was time to say our 'until next times'.  The restaurant is only about 15 minutes from Echo Lodge Resort via Parker Dam....

......we were home before 8 pm still aglow from our time with Jeff and Lori....love you cousin!

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VICTORY!

8:23 am - Friday - January 14th - Parker Strip, CA - 55° F, 30% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the north by northwest......partly cloudy again today with a forecast high of 75° F.  On this date in 2016 I had just finished installing our LED accent lighting in the salon......10 years later it is still going strong.......

The main reason we came to Echo Lodge Resort for 3 days was to get together with Steve Ward whose expertise in all electrical issues is unparalleled.  Whenever I get stymied with an electrical issue I call him.  We last saw Steve back on January 30th of 2017 when we were dry camping on the Parker Strip at Crossroads BLM Campground.  He and his wife, Patti, were at their usual winter location at Echo Lodge Resort, where they are again this year.  Steve and I talk on the phone several times a year.  

Well, Thursday was the day he was going to help me troubleshoot our electrical issue with the outlets in the TV cabinet and in the through bay.  He arrived around 10 am and we got immediately to work.  Steve has his own process that he follows faithfully, and that is why he is so good.  Every time I am with him I learn something I didn't know before. 

Over a period of 4.5 hours after having put his hands on virtually every single piece of Romex in the coach, and many continuity tests Steve slowly narrowed his focus to the wire chase access point in the bathroom.  Contrary to what I wrote a few days ago, there are actually 5 Romex lines running through that section of the wire chase....I, somehow, missed one the other day, and it was the one for which I was looking....circuit #4.  He stripped the insuallation of of the Romex, then off the black wire within that Romex line, then we ran a 30' wire to the front to test the continuity of the wire from the dead plug to that point in the bathroom....the result was we did have continuity to that point.  Steve likes to break the circuit down into sections to find the short.  Eventually we moved into the wire chase in TLE's closet where we still had continuity to the front, so the short must be between that point and the main electrical service on the other side of the hallway in my closet, and that is exactly where we found the short....it was in the ceiling above the hallway between the two closets.....VICTORY!  

Trying to pull a new wire through that ceiling would be difficult, and time consuming, so we decided to follow Steve's advice and just tap into the Romex wire which supplied power to the outlet in the Norcold bay.....that outlet is the only thing on circuit #3, and it is never in use as we run the Norcold off 12 volt, not 120 VAC.  Once Steve finished soldering the new connection we had power restored to the TV cabinet, and through bay....the time....2:30 pm.  After 4.5 hours of troubleshooting all it took was a 3' length of wire to restore power.  It is difficult for me to describe the feeling of pure elation and gratitude that swept over me.

While Steve took a break I spent the next 90 minutes putting the coach back together....we had 7 wire chases open, and the wiring to four outlets disconnected, plus all the clothes needed to be put back in their respective hanging closets.  While I did this TLE and Steve talked.  Had I had to hire an electrician to do what Steve did would have been very expensive, but the only compensation Steve requested was that I gift him the old Stewart-Warner tachometer (his has been acting up) I removed a year ago when I installed the new Speedhut digital tachometer (which I intended to give to him anyway) and a brew.  While I continued to finish putting the coach back together Steve when home for a while, but returned around 4 pm for the beer and more conversation.

Except for the fact we both own 1982 Newells one serial number apart I would have never met Steve 13 years ago.  He is the kind of guy I would be friends with anyway, but it was the Newell connection which brought us together, and for that I will be eternally grateful.  As a result of Steve's efforts we will not have to run a new Romex line, and have now removed the shorted piece of wire from use......all of which will save us a lot of work.

The birthday of our Newell was March 1, 1982, and in just 6 weeks we will celebrate her 40th birthday.  She has just over 180,000 on her engine and chassis, and is still going strong after 11 years of full time living.  Ironically, we took ownership of her on March 1, 2008 on her 26th birthday.  In the 14 years we have owned her (and around 77,000 miles) this is the first 120 VAC issue we have had, which is a testimony to how well she was built 40 years ago.

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2017 In Review - Part One.....What a year!

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(CLICK ON PIX TO MAKE THEM BIGGER!)

We began 2017 at the home of very good friends Tom and Darlene McCloud.....I had been sick for several days when 2017 dawned......we had lots of rain in Wittmann, AZ, but I managed to help Tom work on a few things in his new bus barn....

.......after leaving Wittmann we headed to Los Algondones, MX where I had my new crowns installed, and had my smile restored after over a year with a gap......

......we next headed to Quartzite, AZ where we spent about 10 days visiting the Big tent several times, hiking and biking and a few days with Charles and Bobbi Wilson....

Charles and Bobbi by the fire with TLE at Quartzite

....next we moved up the Parker Strip which is on the California side of the Colorado River....we scored a spot right on the river for the week we were there.....

.....while there we hooked up with long time friend Steve and Candy Landry....we visited the London Bridge in Havasu City......

......and the world famous 'Desert Bar'......

....we also reconnected with my cousin Lori, and her husband Jeff......I hadn't seen her in about 7 years......

Jeff and Lori Lindsay

.....next up was Borrego Springs, where we boondocked for 3 weeks, our longest time yet without having to dump our tanks.....

New friends at Borrego Springs

.....we did a lot of hiking, including a cool slot canyon, we rode our bikes almost every day.....we met and made new friends.....and toured the amazing steel sculptures which dot the landscape in and around Borrego Springs.....

......next up was a college reunion being held in Las Vegas where we dry camped in the parking lot of The Orleans Hotel for 5 days....

.....we spent time before and after the reunion at Tecopa Hot Springs soaking in their hot pools.....in all we were there for about a week......

.....from there we headed to Death Valley spending 3, or 4 days there site seeing.....it was very windy part of the time......

......by late March we were back in Riverside, CA visiting our kids for a few days before we headed to Lake Tahoe for our 4th summer.....

In Riverside

Dinner at the Pomona Valley Mining Company with my brother Philip, and his wife Jeannie

.......on our way out of Riverside to begin a 2 week trip up the California coast to Lake Tahoe we had a coolant line blow out on our Newell....I was able to repair it myself, and we were back on the road in four hours....

Old and new coolant hose

....we spent a week in Lompoc, CA at the Elks Lodge....it was the only place that had room for us at the end of Spring Break, but what a lovely surprise Lompoc was....

 Lompoc Elks Lodge

.....there were micro breweries, site seeing at local California missions.......

.....day trips to Jalama Beach, Solvang, a local winery, two drives down to Vandenberg Surf Beach....and walking around Lompoc viewing the incredible wall murals that were ubiquitous.....

 Jalama Beach

 Vandenberg Surf Beach

 Lompoc wall murals...

....next we moved north to Oceano, CA (right next to Pismo Beach) where we spent 4 days....

.....then up to San Luis Obispo for 4 days......they had a wonderful jaccuzzi, and olympic sized pool.....

 Rode our bikes down to Avila Beach one day, and the next day I rode back by myself.....

.......took an overnight AMTRAK trip down to Santa Barbara to visit with my sister Hilary, her husband Bob, and their two girls (Stephanie and Caroline)......

.....next up was San Jose where we visited my good friend Don Neff and his wife, and also ran over to Santa Cruz for one day....

 San Jose Elks Lodge

 Santa Cruz, CA

.....I had seen my good friend from high school, Scott Royer at the Las Vegas reunion, and promised to pass through Santa Rosa on our way north......he and his brother, Doug, took us on a day long tour of local wineries......what a great day it was....

 Good friends Scott and Doug

........we did some local site seeing around the Petaluma/Santa Rosa area....

.....of course there was a local micro brewery that we had to visit.....

.....finally it was time to make the final push to Lake Tahoe where we had planned to spend the entire summer......

......we arrived in South Lake Tahoe on April 13 anticipating a wonderful long summer.....

 My son Tim, and his fiance, Laila, came up over Memorial Day to visit.....a very special time with them.....we gave them a tour of 'our Lake Tahoe'

Great new friends

.....we were at Tahoe Valley Campground just under two months when it became obvious a full 4th season there was not in the cards.......we made some inquiries, and with the help of Art Young, our good friend, we found jobs in Yellowstone National Park.....

June 10th and it's over at South Lake Tahoe

.......by June 10th we were on our way to Yellowstone National Park and working there by the 15th....we spent the rest of the summer in Yellowstone working, and exploring.....what an amazing summer.  With that I will close this first installment of our recap of 2017, and continue the rest of the year in a second post in the next few days....stay tuned!

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