Category Archives: Scooter

Bees and Bikes

Yesterday was a fairly quiet and lazy day for me. In the morning, I unloaded Donna’s bicycle from the trailer. This isn’t a good location for riding a road bicycle. The park is just off AZ89 on a straight, narrow stretch of two-lane highway with a 65mph speed limit. Too dangerous to be out there on a bicycle.

Donna rode laps of the park, zig-zagging her way through the streets. The North Ranch RV Park has three distinct sections. One area has gravel sites for dry camping. The problem with dry camping here is that generator use is banned. If you have a sufficient solar system, it’s not an issue. It wouldn’t work for us though. The next area is full hook-ups for RVs. It’s also on gravel and that’s where we are. The largest section of the park consists of privately owned lots on paved roads. You have to be an Escapees member to buy a lot.

People do different things with their lots. Some are just covered with gravel and have RV hook-ups. Some are landscaped with concrete pads and hook-ups. Most of them have a structure of some type on them. It may be a small storage shed or garage. In some cases they have built small houses on the lot.

A private lot in North Ranch with a small dwelling and million-dollar Newell motorcoach

After lunch, we rode the scooter up AZ89 to the small town of Congress. There isn’t much there – an antique store, gas station, Dollar Plus store. As we were bombing along on the scooter, a bee bounced off of my right bicep. He left his stinger behind. I pulled the stinger out as we rode into town. We cruised through the back streets to see what else we could find. We saw a public library – would that be the Library of Congress? We stopped at the antique shop and poked around. They also sold ice cream. Donna had a cup of chocolate ice cream and I had a cone with rocky road ice cream.

Another five or six miles up the highway is the town of Yarnell. This is the site of a tragic wildfire. The fire started from a lightning strike on June 28, 2013. On June 30th, a team of 20 firefighters called the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew from nearby Prescott, Arizona, went in to fight the fire. The wind kicked up and the fire shifted, trapping 19 of the firefighters in a box canyon where they perished. There is a very good article describing the fire at this link. It’s written by Stacie Solie, the same author that wrote this comprehensive account of the devastating mudslide near Darrington, Washington.

I didn’t want to ride up the hill to Yarnell. The traffic moves too fast on AZ89. I wanted to come home and put Benadryl cream on the bee sting. We rode back home and went to the book exchange library. I dropped off a book I finished reading and picked out another one. Donna also found a book. We relaxed and read for the remainder of the afternoon.

Last night, I grilled garlic shrimp on skewers. Donna served it with zucchini sauteed with fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic, topped with parmesan cheese.

Grilled shrimp

Donna also baked an almond torte. Her sister, Linda, sent her the recipe. It was the first time she baked in the convection oven. The torte was delicious.

Almond torte

Donna is going to make chili in the slow cooker today – not exactly a traditional Easter dinner, but it sounds good to both of us. I want to watch the Formula One race and the Red Wings playoff game in Boston. This is problematic for me. Both telecasts are scheduled for 3PM EDT. The race is on NBCSP which I get on the Dish Network and the game is NBC local broadcast, which I get over the air. My current set-up doesn’t allow me to record. I need to buy another hard drive that I can format to allow Dish Network recording.

Meanwhile, it’s a beautiful morning here. It’s 68 degrees this morning. The weather guessers are forecasting a mostly sunny day with a high of 82 degrees.

Escapees

When we’re dry camped, move days are easier. You don’t have hoses and power cords to deal with. Preparing to leave Lake Pleasant was really easy since we didn’t drop the trailer. In the morning, Donna walked to the pool and swam laps. She showered at the resort before walking back. While she was out, I tidied up the trailer and loaded the scooter.

Donna already had most of the interior packing done before leaving for the pool. When she returned at 10:40 AM she only had a few things left to do. We had the slides in, jacks up and engine running for an 11:00 AM departure. We drove west about 20 miles on the Carefree Highway to its end at the junction with US60. We turned north on US60 and drove about 10 miles to the town of Wickenburg.

I used to make this drive at least once a month when we lived in Mesa. My job included technical support for the Volkswagen dealers in Las Vegas and this was the route I traveled to Las Vegas. We planned to stop at the grocery store in Wickenburg for a few supplies. We came through the outskirts of town and it was mostly the same as I remembered it. Before we reached the old downtown area, where the grocery store is, there was a roundabout. This was new to me. The roundabout is the junction of US60 and US93. I turned out of the roundabout on US93, then I realized this was a bypass of the town.

A few miles up the road, there was another roundabout. I circled around there and returned to town. Finding parking for our rig downtown wasn’t easy. The Basha’s grocery store lot didn’t have room. We drove around the block and pulled up parallel to the curb over several diagonal parking spaces. We weren’t legally parked, but I thought we would be okay if we didn’t stay too long. We were next to a small park and noticed a sign for public restrooms. Donna and I decided a quick comfort stop was in order.

When we entered the building, I realized it was the City Hall and police station. I went into the police station and told the officer at the counter that I had parked my motorhome along the curb, but would only be there for a few minutes. He gave me the okey-doke and we walked over to the grocery store.

Donna bought mostly produce, but we also had a few heavy items. We stocked up on drinking water, beer and wine. We took the grocery cart across the street, past the police station to our coach. I quickly unloaded the cart and wheeled it back to the Basha’s store. While I was doing that, Donna made turkey-avocado wraps for lunch.

We got back on US93 north and drove another 10 miles or so to the junction of AZ89. We turned right there and drove another five miles to the North Ranch Escapees RV Park. The Escapees are an RV organization that offers many services to its members. They operate 19 RV parks across the country. Eight of the RV parks are what they call Rainbow Parks. Rainbow Parks allow non-members to stay and offer discounted rates to members. The remaining 11parks are called SKP Co-ops. You must be a member of Escapees to stay in an SKP Co-op.

We arrived at the park at 12:40PM. They close the office for lunch from noon to 1PM, so we had twenty minutes to kill. We walked into the RV park to look around. I saw an Alpine Coach! We haven’t run across too many of these on our travels, I think we’ve only seen one other and that was at Usery Park. We walked down to take a look and met the owner, Dave. Dave is from Portland, Oregon and has owned his 2005 Alpine Coach 40 FDTS since new. Actually, it had about 6,000 miles on it when he bought it. Western RV was using it as a show coach for various RV shows around the country. Dave bought it on his birthday at the Portland RV show. Dave is very enthusiastic about Alpine Coaches. He told us there were three more here in the park.

When we checked in, I joined the Escapees. We paid for three nights here. As a member, the rate for three nights with full hook-ups and tax was $60. Add that to $44 we paid for four nights at Lake Pleasant Harbor and another $22 for generator fuel and that comes to a the total of $126. That’s $18 per day for the last 7 days. Not bad.

We had to drop the trailer at our site before I backed the coach in. It took a bit of maneuvering to get things where I wanted them. While I was backing the trailer into place, the coach was blocking the road. A fire engine approached with lights flashing. Before I could move, he swung into our site and went around behind me. Quick thinking and a good move by the driver of the fire engine. Apparently someone had a medical emergency down the street from our site.

It was cloudy outside as we set up. The wind picked up and it was cool – about 75 degrees. Once we were set up, Donna wanted us to take a get-acquainted ride around the park on the scooter. Before I could unload the scooter, rain drops were falling. It wasn’t much of a shower. We waited a few minutes, then I unloaded the scooter.

We took a ride around the park and saw two of the Alpine Coaches Dave told us about. I didn’t see the third one.

When we returned, I tuned the Dish Network satellite in and found the Detroit Red Wings playoff game against the Boston Bruins. It was a tough game with great goal tending on both sides. In the end, Detroit prevailed 1-0. They play in Boston again tomorrow. The park has an Easter lunch scheduled at the club house, but I think I’ll stay home and watch the Formula One race and The Red Wings hockey game.

Last night Donna whipped up Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs. I’ve really come to like the boneless chicken thighs. The Asian glaze was spicy and very tasty.

Asian glazed chicken thighs

Although our present site is only about 50 miles away from Lake Pleasant, the elevation of 2,900 feet is higher here. The temperature here should be a little cooler.

Today, Donna will bike around the park. I want to take the scooter into the little town of Congress and poke around.

Scorpion Bay

Yesterday, Donna started her day with what turned out to be about a 6-mile hike. She followed the dirt road down from the bluff to the water. The road wrapped around to the boat launch behind the point of the bluff where we are dry camped. She saw a dirt road leading up from the water on the other side of the boat launch ramp and decided to bushwack her way across a rocky slope to get to it.

This trail ended after about a quarter of a mile at the water’s edge of a cove. She saw a small building at the end of a peninsula and figured she would set her sights on getting there to check it out, which meant more scrambling along the shore. She remembered seeing what she thought was a dirt road along the peninsula and looking up from the water’s edge, thought she saw what could be that road. More bushwacking took her up to what was not a dirt road, but a wide trail that she followed. It was a marked trail, well-used by hikers and horseback riders, which she later learned is called the Honeymoon Cove Trail. This trail meandered along the peninsula with sweeping vistas of the lake and the occasional informational placard. It looped around the peninsula and on the return trip, she noticed several large buildings up in the hills. She followed the trail toward the buildings and found its origin. It was the Maricopa County Outdoor Desert Center. A man and a woman were sitting on bench outside the building. When Donna approached, the woman asked, “Can I help you?”

She told Donna the center was open for use by reservation only. This is due to the fact that it’s mostly used for school field trips. Children are bussed from schools in the greater Phoenix area to learn about the desert they live in. The woman added that many children don’t even realize they live in a desert! Adults have to make a reservation to enter the center. This is for the protection of the children. It’s sad, but true. Donna was basically trespassing.

She had been out for about an hour and a half at that point. She called to tell me she had wandered farther than she expected and it would take another 30 minutes to return. She had tired legs and quite a story when she got back. She took a lot of photographs with her cell phone, but unfortunately, can’t get them to download because she doesn’t have a good cell signal.

We ate lunch outside at the covered picnic table. Our chipmunk friend didn’t join us this time. After lunch, I was feeling a little restless and suggested a scooter ride to look around the area outside of Pleasant Harbor.

As we were leaving, Donna suggested that we follow the road she hiked down to the edge of the water. As soon as I started down the road, I knew it wasn’t the best idea. This is a scooter made for pavement – not a motocross bike. We went down a steep, rocky hill to the lake. I stopped and took a picture, looking west to Scorpion Bay on the other side of the lake. If you look closely, you can see the marina just to the left of center in the photograph. As always, clicking on the picture will enlarge it.

Looking across the lake to Scorpion Bay

Getting back onto the road from the edge of the lake was challenging. We had to climb a steep hill which was a mixture of hard packed rocky surfaces and soft sand. The back wheel was spinning as we fishtailed our way up. We made it without incident, but I have to admit there were a few dicey moments on the way up.

We went out the gate, onto the road. I wanted to find a way to cross the dam and see the Lake Pleasant Regional Park on the other side. The dam isn’t accessible though. The road is closed and it’s fenced off. We took the long way around, riding down to the Carefree Highway, then headed west for a few miles before turning on to the road to the park.

There are wild burros in the area, but the only signs we saw of them were on the side of the road.

Watch for wild burros - this and a few droppings were the only sign we saw

Watch for wild burros – this and a few droppings were the only signs we saw

The road to the park winds along for five miles or so before you find the actual park entrance. Day use of the park costs six dollars for entry. We sweet talked our way in, telling the gate attendant we just wanted to take a ride through and see if it was suitable for a big rig motorhome. She gave us a 30-minute guest pass.

We pulled over to take in the view and shoot a photo or two on the way in to the Scorpion Bay Marina.

Looking south towards the dam from a high vista point

The park has a 10-lane boat ramp on the south side and a smaller four-lane ramp to the north. The marina sits below a bluff with a parking area. You have to climb down a stairway to access the marina. There’s a restaurant called Dillon’s there that we heard was good. There’s also a convenience store.

Scorpion Bay Marina

We didn’t walk down to the marina. We only had 30 minutes and wanted to check out the campgrounds. We looked around and took a few pictures.

Looking north from Scorpion Bay

Looking east from Scorpion Bay – you can see Pleasant Harbor Marina just left of center

We rode through the Desert Tortoise camp sites. I didn’t see any sites that were appealing for our 40-foot rig and trailer. The area is nice, but the sites are too small for us. Many of the sites weren’t level. We didn’t go out to the Roadrunner Campground. If there were big enough sites, this would be a great place to visit and hike around the area. We were told that most weekends are booked six months in advance though.

When we returned, I dropped Donna off at the pool. She had her bathing suit on under her shirt and shorts. I came back to our motorhome and picked up our toiletry bags, towels and clean clothes. We showered down at the resort. While I was enjoying a hot shower, a thought occurred to me. I was wondering why our house battery bank goes down so quickly when we use the inverter. I have to run the generator twice a day to recharge the battery bank.

The hot shower had me thinking, what if the hot water heater is running off of the inverter? It didn’t make sense to me to have it wired that way, but what if? When we came home, I checked the hot water. Sure enough, it was heated by 120V AC power off of the inverter. Heating elements can draw a lot of current. I tripped the breaker for the hot water heater so it wouldn’t be drawing from the inverter. It didn’t make sense to me to wire it this way. I checked the wiring schematic to see if something was wrong, but the schematic shows it is wired correctly with a feed from the inverter.

From now on, when we dry camp, I’ll trip the circuit breaker for the water heater. If we need hot water, we can turn on the propane switch and have hot water in about ten minutes.

Donna fixed blackened tilapia Baja fish tacos for dinner. She said it’s a simple recipe. I said it was delicious!

Blackened tilapia fish tacos

Today, we’ll rent a kayak and continue to explore.

Farewell to Mesa

Today is our last full day in Mesa, Arizona. Yesterday, I spent the morning preparing for travel. I cleaned and treated the tires on the right side of the coach with 303 Aerospace. I polished the alloy wheels with Nevr-Dull. I drained the 20 gallons or so of fresh water that’s been in our tank for a while and refilled it with 100 gallons of fresh water. I checked the tire pressure on the coach and trailer.

I checked the lug nuts on the trailer. With my torque wrench set at 100 ft/lbs, a few of the nuts moved slightly. I don’t know what it is about trailer lug nuts that causes them to loosen, but I know checking them for proper torque periodically is necessary.

I cleaned the windows and installed new rubber inserts in the wiper blades. The inserts I bought didn’t match the old ones. I had to reset (that means bend) the metal blade to fit the new inserts. Next time I’ll need to replace the complete blade assembly.

Donna rode the scooter to WalMart and Staples. She was out for a couple of hours shopping and came home with the scooter fully loaded. She stocked up the refrigerator and also bought some office supplies. One of the things she bought at Staples was a Targus Lap Chill Mat for my laptop. My laptop has been running hot. It sits on our dining table. Lately, we’ve used coasters to prop it up and allow air to circulate underneath. The lap chill mat lifts it at an ergonomic angle and has a fan that plugs into the laptop USB port. Hopefully this will work better.

I made my last stop for the year at the Red, White and Brew and said my goodbyes to the crew there. It’s a great pub. I always meet interesting, friendly people there. The Offshore Tavern and Grill in San Diego is the only other place that compares in my opinion.

We’ve really enjoyed our time here. The boondocking at Phon D Sutton was a great find. We’ll go there again. We also want to return to Usery Regional Park again next year. The climate and scenery are hard to beat in the first quarter of the year. But now, it’s time to move on.

Palm trees in the neighborhood

Last night Donna and I sat outside and enjoyed the evening. We grilled an old favorite – jerk chicken with mango salsa. Later we sat with our neighbor across from us and had a nightcap. She is leaving tomorrow as well.

Grilled jerk chicken with mango salsa

Donna went out this morning for a farewell bike ride with her friend, Dara. When she returns, I’ll pack the trailer. I want to have everything in place so I’ll only need to load the scooter later. We’ll make a stop at Lucky Lou’s for lunch. It’s their 10th anniversary celebration and a few of our friends reserved tables. We’ll say our goodbyes until next year, then finish packing.

Tomorrow, Donna will do her usual job of organizing the interior of the coach while I dump the holding tanks and disconnect our sewer and power. I created a checklist to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything. We’ve been stationary for so long, we might forget part of our routine.

Checklist

I’m looking forward to kicking the tires and lighting the fires. Our route tomorrow will take us west on the Carefree Highway (AZ 74). We’ll make a stop at Lake Pleasant and have a look around. We may boondock overnight there, depending on what we find. Our next stop will be near Wickenburg, Arizona at the Escapees RV Park. I’m not sure if we’ll have good Internet access in the next few days. I’ll post again when I can.

Under Pressure

Yesterday, the temperature stayed in the upper 70s – much cooler than the days before. Today is forecast to warm up back into the 80s. I’ll pull the window awnings out to shade the windows again since we don’t expect much wind.

I haven’t been very active the last few days. I’m resting my shoulder, hoping that whatever is wrong with it will heal. I’ve been spending too much time in the coach though. I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner. Donna and I watched that movie again Wednesday night. She was bawling.

While I was sitting at the table yesterday, I looked out the window. A covey of quail were walking through our site. There were five or six of them. They seemed curious about our scooter. Two of them stopped under it and looked around. Then they climbed on the muffler and jumped onto the rear tire. One crawled through the engine compartment. Another jumped onto the floorboard, then hopped on the seat. I tried to take a couple of pictures. I knew they would scurry away if I opened the door, so I shot through the window glass. The window glass created a moire effect, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. The photos are poor, but I’ll share them anyway.

Quail curious about the scooter

This one wanted to take it for a ride.

Speaking of the scooter, Donna was going to ride it over to the optometrist to pick up her prescription and go grocery shopping. I told her I should check the tire pressure before she rode it, since I haven’t checked it for a few weeks. It’s not unusual for tires to lose 1 or 2 psi per month.

I try to keep our tires properly inflated. Under-inflated tires are the leading cause of tire failure, such as blow-outs. Improper inflation can also cause poor handling, increased wear and decreased fuel mileage. It’s not as easy to fill tires at gas stations as it used to be. Back when gas stations were full-service stations, there were hoses with air chucks next to the gas pump. You could inflate your tires for free while the gas was being pumped. It still only takes a few minutes though and it’s an important task that too many people neglect.

The tires on the scooter were down a couple of pounds. I got the Porter-Cable portable air compressor out of the basement compartment and filled the tires to the proper pressure. I also use this compressor to fill the tires on our coach. The front tires on our coach are inflated to 110 psi. This little compressor produces a maximum of 150 psi. The pump cuts in when the pressure drops to 125 psi, so the pressure is always high enough to fill a 110 psi tire.

Proper tire inflation is important when you only have two wheels under you. It’s also very important when you are driving a 40-foot, 30,000-plus-pound motorhome. Having said that, let me add that it’s important no matter what vehicle you are driving. Please take a moment out of your day and check your tire pressures. This might help you avoid problems down the road.

Last night, Donna prepared pork tenderloin with a new marinade. It was a ginger-soy-sherry marinade and it was really tasty. I grilled it along with asparagus spears and she baked a big sweet potato that we shared. Yum.

Tenderloin and asparagus on the Weber Q

Pork tenderloin, asparagus and sweet potato

Today, I think I’ll check the library in the clubhouse and see if I can find an interesting book to read. Then, I’ll relax at the pool and read it.

Forum Fighters

Sunday was fairly uneventful. Donna went for a bike ride and quickly realized that the race organizers had made the right decision to cancel the duathlon. As we feared, flood water had left sand and debris across the road in the low spots. Also, there were signs at the entrance to the park asking visitors to stay off the trails to give them a chance to dry out. While she was out, I started organizing the trailer and the main basement compartment.

I waited to load the scooter until we had the slides in and the jacks up yesterday. With the coach leveled on the jacks, the trailer was nose high. It’s hard to secure the scooter with the trailer at this attitude. The scooter rolls back away from the wheel chock while I’m trying to attach the tie-downs. With the jacks up and the air dumped from the suspension air bags, the trailer is slightly nose down. Then gravity works in my favor as the front wheel stays tight against the wheel chock and I can secure the tie-downs.

We fired up the engine around 10:30 a.m. While the engine was warming and the air bags were pumping up, I did a walk-around inspection before we drove off. We decided to take a different route back to Apache Wells RV Resort in Mesa. We left Fountain Hills and took a left on the Beeline Highway (Rt. 87). This took us east about 10 miles to the junction of the Bush Highway. We took the Bush Highway through the Tonto National Forest past Saguaro Lake and followed along the Salt River. We drove past our old camping area at the Phon D Sutton Recreation Area.

As were were cruising along, I remarked to Donna how much I enjoyed driving this coach. It’s so easy to drive, it rides smoothly and handles well. We have more than adequate power. On the RV forums I visit (check out my new Resources page), threads start from time to time regarding gas-powered motorhomes versus diesel. Just like threads asking which is the best oil or what are the best tires, people start defending their choices and it devolves into a forum fight.

I try to stay out of these types of threads, but I get sucked in on occasion. In the gas-versus-diesel argument, there’s no right or wrong. You choose what works for you. In the beginning, we chose a gas-powered rig. The purchase price was more affordable and I could do all of the maintenance work myself. We didn’t know at the time that we would be full-timing.

After living in it for five months and traveling 7,000+ miles, we found it didn’t really fit our needs. We wanted a different floor plan, one that was more open and conducive to setting up a work station. Although the big 8.1 liter (496 cu. in.) GM Vortec engine was powerful, we found ourselves struggling at times, especially at altitude crossing mountain ranges. I detailed some of the experience in this post.

I test drove several gasoline-powered motorhomes before we bought our first rig. Ours was built on a Workhorse chassis that had upgraded shock absorbers, a beefy rear track bar and a steer-safe steering damper added to it. It was the best handling rig of all the coaches I test-drove. But it was difficult to handle in windy conditions. Semi tractor-trailer rigs passing by would cause it to sway. Even with the suspension upgrades, the coach would roll and lean through turns. Coming down long, steep grades required good braking technique and concentration to avoid overheating the brakes. Was it a bad vehicle? No. Was it un-driveable? No. But it was exhausting at times. If we were weekend warriors, we might have kept that coach.

When we decided to look for a replacement, we set certain parameters. First of all, we wanted a rear-engine diesel pusher. We wanted certain considerations with regard to floor plan. We looked online and compared rigs for several weeks before we settled down to a few choices that met our requirements. Now that we own a diesel pusher, the higher purchase price, fuel costs and maintenance seem to be well worth it for us.

The big Cummins ISL diesel engine makes plenty of power. The engine also provides two stages of compression braking. I wrote about that in this post. The air-bag suspension rides smoothly and there’s very little body roll. For us, diesel is the right choice. I couldn’t go back to a gas engine, steel-spring chassis.

I guess I went off on this subject so I won’t have to jump into the fray on the RV forums!

We’re set up in a nice site at Apache Wells RV Resort. Our site has a large concrete pad. Donna directed me in as I backed the trailer onto the pad. Once I put the wheel on the front jack of the trailer, rolling it where I wanted it was a piece of cake. Then we positioned our coach next to the pad. We have our patio carpet out and chairs set up under the porch awning. The only downside to this site is spotty wifi. When we were here before, in site 56, we had a smaller concrete pad – the site was mostly gravel. However, we had great wifi there. There always seems to be some kind of trade-off.

Our new site

By the time we were set up yesterday, we were starving. It was nearly 2pm and all I had to eat all day was a cup of yogurt and coffee. We hopped on the scooter and rode over to an old favorite, Senor Taco. I had rolled tacos with guacamole and Donna had fish tacos with a Corona beer. That hit the spot.

After we returned, I took a long, hot, luxurious shower. That’s the big plus of a place with full hook-ups. Unlimited water and sewer usage! Of course the trade-off is that we’re in a tight site with neighbors close to us and were not surrounded by nature. This will work for us until we get the hitch itch again.

Today I’ll catch up on laundry at the park laundromat. I also need to wash the scooter. Maybe we’ll lounge around the pool this afternoon. No real plan, just go with the flow!

Snootful of Nitro

Alright, we need to catch up a bit. Friday morning was a move day. I started out by riding the scooter a few miles to our friend’s house. Great guy that he is, Mike Hall very generously lent us his Jeep while we’re at McDowell Mountain Regional Park (MMRP).

This is fortunate for us. MMRP is a little off the beaten path and we’ll spend the next 10 days here. While I was picking up the Jeep and leaving our scooter in Mike’s shop, Donna was preparing the coach for travel.

On my way home, I stopped at Senor Taco and bought a chorizo and egg breakfast burrito. These burritos are so huge, one was more than plenty for both Donna and me.

We completed our pre-flight tasks and got ready to exit Apache Wells RV Resort. Our neighbor was kind enough to assist me with positioning the trailer. Now that we have a wheel that we can put on on the front jack, we take advantage of that and maneuver the trailer to a position that makes it easy to hitch up. But in this case, we had to roll it over gravel and up onto the concrete pad.

Once we were hooked up and ready to hit the road, Donna took the wheel of the Jeep and followed me on the 25-mile drive to MMRP. I expected an uneventful drive, but we ran into a snag in Fountain Hills.

We were driving down Saguaro Road when unexpectedly a detour sign appeared. At the next intersection, the road was closed and I had no choice but to turn right. This led me down a narrow road with cars parked on the right. I had to hug the curb of the center median on the left. Unfortunately, the city has been remiss with their tree trimming. I passed under a few trees that were hanging less than 12 feet above the road – these trees scraped the roof and roof accessories of our coach. I’ll assess the damage later.

We found our way through the detour and made our way to MMRP. When we entered the park, I made a wrong turn so we circulated the park a couple of times before we found our site. Eventually we were ready to back into site 37. Donna and I looked the site over and discussed our options. After pacing off the dimensions, we decided to try backing the trailer and coach in at an angle that would allow us to keep the trailer hooked up.

It wasn’t easy, but we managed to situate our 56′ length into a 50′ site without dropping the trailer. We had two bravos, one from a couple that was leaving the park and watched while they waited for us to clear the roadway, and another from our new neighbor across the road.

The only problem now was the Jeep. We filled our site and still needed room to park the Jeep. Our neighbor across the street came to the rescue. She told us we could use the excess space in her site to park. Her motorhome is smaller and she doesn’t have another vehicle. That’s the beauty of this lifestyle. Most people are so friendly and willing to assist.

Jeep slightly overhanging our site

There was a bigger concern though. I saw fluid in the road where we just were. Looking in the engine compartment, I saw the fluid came from the coolant overflow line. This is puzzling. While I was backing in, the engine was idling. Diesel engines tend to run cool at idle. So why would the coolant tank puke a little coolant while we were parking? I’m sure I’ll ponder this question many times in the middle of the night.

Friday night I slept soundly. It’s so quiet and peaceful here away from from the city. Donna and I woke up feeling well-rested. I needed to get up and at it. I unloaded Donna’s bicycle from the trailer and pumped up the tires for her training ride while she made bacon and eggs for breakfast. After we ate, I took a quick shower and then drove out of here in the Jeep.

I drove to Mike Hall’s place, 30 miles away. Our plan was to go to the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing event at Wildhorse Pass Raceway (formerly known as Firebird Raceway). We then drove to Scottsdale to pick up our friend, Lindert Hartoog.

On the way I realized that I didn’t bring my Opcon eyedrops with me. I’m having an issue with pollen allergies and my eyes are itching and watering. After we picked up Lindert, we stopped at CVS pharmacy and I bought Opcon-A eye drops. This turned out to be an epiphany. The Opcon eye drops I had were a couple of years old. The new, fresh eye drops were so much more effective. I wouldn’t have thought that a year or two would make that much difference.

We finally arrived at the race track. I remember this place as Firebird Raceway, not Wildhorse Pass Raceway. I used to ride track days here on my MV Agusta and Ducati motorcycles when we lived in Mesa. In 2008 and 2009 I was the crew chief for G2 Moto and we raced here frequently. We were moving the team towards an AMA berth, but I left in 2009 to follow my career with Volkswagen in Michigan.

Mike, Lindert and I had fun roaming around the track and pit areas.

Mike Hall next to John Force’s Funny Car

Lindert hooked us up with a guy he knows. His friend, Ray Problem (no, Ray’s not a problem, his last name is Problem) comes to the NHRA event in Phoenix every year. He pays to have his motorhome trackside near the finish line. General Admission tickets for Saturday’s qualifying event cost $38. But Ray had us covered at his site for $40 including beer, lunch and snacks. Vendors were selling beer for six dollars a pop, so this was a good deal.

Our host, Ray

Oftentimes, while I’m gassing up the scooter or whatnot, people ask me about our scooter. When I tell them it’s a Kymco, they say what? I have to explain that it’s a Korean company that makes millions of scooters worldwide. I mention this because Kymco is high profile at NHRA events. They had a big display and many teams had Kymco scooters in their pits.

Kymco scooter display

One of the things I love about NHRA events is the access. Your general admission ticket is a pit pass. You can wander the pits and see what goes on behind the scenes.

Funny car without the body in the pit

Tony Pedregon’s car getting an engine rebuild

Al-Anabi top fuel dragster funded by Middle Eastern money (Qatar)

Tony Schumacher’s ride

My friend, Lindert, had a blast shooting photos of all the action. Behind Ray’s motorhome, a scaffolding was set up. This gave us a great vantage site for the races.

Lindert shooting photos from the scaffolding

Back at MMRP, Donna rode the duathlon course for her race next Sunday and found it more challenging than she remembered. She lived in Fountain Hills when we met and rode it often back then. I think she’ll do fine. She needs to taper this week and take it easy.

One more thing from the track. Before we left, I saw a T-shirt that resonated with me. It has chemical equations for nitro-methane fuel that reminded me of Breaking Bad. I had to buy one.

Breaking Bad?

Today, I’ll be meeting up with Carole Sue Bringas and Andy King for a late breakfast. It’ll be fun to spend time with old friends again. Carole Sue made the trip from San Diego to visit people in Prescott and we’re taking advantage of the opportunity to hook up again.

The Posse

In some areas of the country, the winter of 2013-14 will be one to remember. I’ve heard from friends back in Michigan how the snow has piled up and they continue to get slammed. I guess timing is everything. Donna says we picked the right time to sell our snow shovels.

In the southwest, we’re experiencing a very mild winter. Temperatures here in Arizona have been above historical averages. I don’t know if the weather is an influence, but the citrus crop is abundant this year.

Yesterday, we started with fresh picked grapefruit. The white grapefruit grown here in the RV park is very sweet – almost like a ruby red grapefruit. The rind is thick with pectin and the grapefruit can be easily peeled.

Fresh picked white grapefruit

Donna went out for a run in the morning. She covered almost seven miles. I futzed around while she was out. I retrieved my camera bag from the basement and started charging the batteries for my Canon DSLR. I checked the oil level and tire pressure on the scooter. Mostly, I caught up on a few blogs I follow.

After Donna returned and showered, we ate a light lunch outside. We decided to take a ride on the scooter out to Saguaro Lake for ice cream. On the way to the lake, we stopped at Phon D Sutton Recreation Area and visited Mark and Emily. We ended up sitting and talking with them for more than an hour!

They have a hummingbird feeder attached to a window of their fifth wheel trailer. The hummingbirds are constantly feeding. They are fairly tame, using the feeder while we were standing just a few feet away. Our hummingbird feeder sees some action, but nothing like theirs. I think it may be due to all of the choices the hummingbirds have here at the RV park. Not only are there multiple feeders to choose from, there are also many flowering plants and fruit trees.

We left Mark and Emily and continued our ride on the Bush Highway to Saguaro Lake. Donna and I each had a cup of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup as we watched the boats on the lake.

Saguaro Lake

When we pulled out of the parking lot, there were a couple of motorcycles and a Can-Am BRP three-wheeler (one of those bikes with two front wheels and one in the rear) in front of us. More motorcycles pulled out behind us. At the stop sign at Bush Highway, a guy on an old Suzuki Intruder with un-muffled straight pipes pulled up next to us and said, “Are you riding with us?” Donna said, “No.” The guy said, “How about letting our posse pull on through?”

No problem. We followed them onto the highway. The last rider in their “posse” was riding a Harley with ape-hanger handlebars. I thought he was going to ride off the road into the desert as he struggled to get his bike around the left turn. They were a squirrely bunch. The guy who asked us to let them through passed a car on the right shoulder at one point.

When we reached the stop sign at Ellsworth, they rode straight on Bush Highway. I made the left on Ellsworth, just to get away from them. We rode over Usery Pass and turned west on McDowell. On the way home, we stopped at Basha’s grocery store. Donna bought shrimp and some veggies. She also caved and bought Girl Scout cookies from a stand in front of the store.

When we returned, the batteries for my Canon 10D were fully charged. I took photos of the interior of our coach. Donna whipped up a great guacamole and we had chips and dip for an appetizer.

For dinner, I grilled the shrimp and zucchini boats that Donna prepared. Zucchini boats are made by slicing a zucchini in half lengthwise. Then, the zucchini is hollowed out. The pulp is sauteed with onions in olive oil, and then you add garlic and panko bread crumbs and continue cooking until the bread crumbs brown a bit. After removing from the heat, she adds shredded mozzarella and chopped mint. The mixture is placed back into the hollowed zucchini half and topped with grated parmesan cheese and black pepper.

Grilled shrimp and zucchini boat

Today, I want to go to the pool and read. It was a little breezy this morning, but the wind has died down. I think we’ll be in for another warm day. I’ll try to get some guitar practice in – I finally put new strings on my ES-339.

A few of our friends have been asking to see the interior of our new home on wheels. Maybe I can post some shots tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’ll step inside

Red Sky at Night

Yesterday, Donna biked the loop over Usery Pass, across McDowell and back to the Lower Salt River on Power Road with Emily and Mark Fagan. Emily and Mark are former bicycle racers and just as she expected, they pulled away from her on the 3-mile climb up Usery Pass. After four years of cycling on the flats in Michigan, she’s hoping to improve her climbing abilities.

While they were out bicycling, I loaded up our bed sheets and towels and scootered to the Fluff N Clean Laundromat. While I was out, I filled the gas tank on the scooter. I mentioned getting 67 miles per gallon the last time I filled our Kymco Downtown 300i gas tank. This time I got 74 miles per gallon! I don’t know if it’s a matter of the scooter breaking in or the fact that around here, I ride about 50 miles per hour and don’t sit at many stop lights, but I’m liking the mileage. In San Diego we averaged 60 miles per gallon.

Last evening, Emily and Mark joined us outside our rig to talk and view the sunset. Lana Jansen and her boyfriend, Joel, joined us. Lana was our neighbor when we lived in Mesa. She delivered our mail which had been forwarded to her house. She also allowed us to have some packages sent to her place. We’re waiting to receive the induction cookware we ordered in Quartzsite (the order is delayed), a water filter I ordered for the water purifier in our kitchen and a runner rug that Donna ordered for our living area.

We all sat together outside and enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and adult beverages. It was a good time. I took a photo of the group with my Samsung S4, but unfortunately it came out too grainy to post. I also shot a picture of the sunset.

Another sunset over Red Mountain

Mark brought a gag that he picked up at a bike show. It kept my bald pate warm! Looks great too!

Who knew hair really keeps the head warm?

Today, I need to figure out what is drawing our chassis batteries down. Our motorhome is equipped with two 12-volt batteries to supply the starter motor and engine functions with electricity. With the vehicle parked, there should only be a small parasitic load on these batteries. However, I’m finding that these batteries draw down below 12.3 volts daily. This isn’t right. There’s a separate bank of four 6-volt golf cart batteries that power the interior functions of the coach. This bank is wired to supply twelve volts to some of the lights, the water pump and a few other things that operate on 12-volt DC power. It also supplies the inverter which inverts the 12-volt DC into 120 volt AC current. This supplies various outlets, the microwave oven and our TV.

I also want to hike down the Lower Salt River today. Below is a photo Mark Fagan took of last evening’s sunset.

Sunset last evening by Mark Fagan. His exposure shows our little gathering outside our coach.

Burning Fuel

Yesterday was a quiet day at our end of the campground. Phon D Sutton Recreation Area has three paved parking lots. We’re at the end of the last lot – the pavement ends a few hundred feet from our windshield. The second lot has been taken over by an RV singles group (people that are on the road alone or joined the group as singles). That lot is just about full. They have a group leader coordinating activities. We don’t see or hear them from our place though.

Donna went out for a run yesterday as she continues to train for the duathlon in March. I cleaned the windows on the coach. Later I rode to the grocery store. I’ll have to make another run to the store today as I didn’t have enough room for everything yesterday. It seems like I put 20 or 30 miles on the scooter every time I go somewhere. Nothing is close to our location. It’s a good thing the scooter got 67 miles per gallon at the last fill-up.

The other thing that’s burning fuel here is our generator. I’ve been running it for a couple of hours every morning and evening – about four hours total per day. In the morning, I run the heat pumps while the generator tops up the battery bank. During the day, the inverter provides power for laptops, microwave, Vitamix, etc. By evening I need to top up the batteries again.

One of our neighbors here gave us oranges the other day. She has a sister in the area who has orange trees on her property. She has more oranges than she knows what to do with. On Sunday, Dara and Rob gave us tangelos and oranges from their trees. So we have an abundance of fresh citrus fruit and it’s good!

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a hike up a horse trail that Donna told me about. Parts of the trail were very steep and the footing was treacherous in places. Reaching the top of the ridge was worth it though. Here in the desert, you have to watch your step. Things will poke, scratch or bite. I didn’t see anything too dangerous other than the usual prickly flora. I took a few photos of the view and interesting cacti. The photo of the trail doesn’t do it justice – it’s much steeper than it looks.

Horse trial up the ridge - it's much steeper than it looks

Horse trial up the ridge – much steeper than it looks

A thorny barrel cactus

Looking east toward Pass Mountain

Giant saguaro

A uniquely shaped saguaro

Last night, Donna cooked shrimp in a cast iron skillet on our new induction cooktop. She pan-fried corned tortillas and made chipotle-tequila shrimp tostadas with lime cream. It was a tasty treat!

Chipotle-tequila shrimp tostadas

Donna was up early today. She went to Usery Park to meet up with friends. They are hiking the trail up to the Wind Cave on Pass Mountain. I’ll finish the grocery shopping. Later, our friends Mark and Emily Fagan will join us with their fifth-wheel trailer. We’ll have new neighbors! You can read their interesting story and view beautiful photography at their site.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Scooter

Bees and Bikes

Escapees

Scorpion Bay

Farewell to Mesa

Under Pressure

Forum Fighters

Snootful of Nitro

The Posse

Red Sky at Night

Burning Fuel

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: