Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

56 is the new 65

A few truckers had joined us in our boondocking area in Mina, Nevada, but they were back on the road early and were gone before we departed. As I mentioned in my previous post, a storm came through and the outside temperature got down to 45 degrees. We had a little water come past the driver’s side bedroom slide seal. I’ll have to check it out, but it’s not too surprising considering the high winds and heavy rains overnight.

Ozark the cat kept warm by snuggling into the crook of Donna’s knees.

Ozark staying warm

We were on our way continuing up US95 a little before 9am. Traffic was light and the wind was from the south – tailwinds make for easy driving! The storm dropped fresh snow on the mountains around us. It was scenic and the terrain changed as we went north. There was more vegetation and it was a lot greener.

Snowy peak in the distance

A closer view showing snow and low clouds

A closer view showing snow and foggy peak

We traveled about 400 miles on US95 – it was mostly good, smooth pavement and, in fact, it’s one of the best stretches of highway we’ve been on with regard to road condition.

Our route took us through Hawthorne, Nevada. Before we reached town I saw numerous dirt covered concrete bunkers. It was the Hawthorne Army Depot – the world’s largest ammunition storage facility. It covers about 226 square miles and has 2,427 storage bunkers – about 600,000 square feet of storage.

We followed the truck route which bypassed the main drag through town and continued on past Walker Lake. This is a very scenic area and we saw several places along the lake that were open for camping. One or two areas looked like you could get a big rig in and out – I saw one large motorhome and several smaller RVs. We’ll file that information away for future reference.

View of Walker Lake out Donna’s window

By the time we reached Fallon, Nevada, (map) we were in farmland. There were hay fields and horse farms. The area receives irrigation from the Truckee River. Fallon used to be the home of a Marine Air Station. When the Navy moved their air station here from Miramar, California, I think there was a trade made. The Marines now occupy Miramar and the Navy is in Fallon.

In Fallon, we turned west at the junction of US50. This took us to I-80 where I stopped at the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center. I topped off our tank with 60 gallons of diesel fuel at $2.42/gallon. Not the lowest we’ve paid, but still not bad! While we were at the travel center I weighed our rig on the CAT scale. I wondered why they called them CAT scales and found out it means Certified Automated Truck Scale. I wanted to check our weight and weight distribution with the larger trailer – I weighed our coach before with the old trailer.

I’ve read questions from RVers on forums about using a scale at a truck stop. Some guys are intimidated by it. There’s a protocol to follow, but it’s easy. Follow the signage to make sure you enter the scale platform in the proper direction. Pull up to the speaker box and press the call button. The attendant will ask if it’s the first weigh – say yes. Then they’ll ask for a truck number. Don’t try to explain you’re in an RV, give them a number. I always use 42 since those digits are on my license plate. They will tell you when the weighing is complete and tell you to pull through and go to the cashier and give your number to get your certified weight receipt. Make sure you have your license plate and trailer plate numbers also – you’ll need them. When the cashier asks what company you’re from, say it’s a private vehicle. At that point, I give them the plate numbers and they print out my weight ticket. The price varies – it was $10.50 at this center.

The weight ticket gives a gross weight – this is the certified weight using the full length platform scale. Then it breaks down the weight by axles. In my case I had a steer axle weight, drive axle weight, trailer axle(s) weight and gross weight. As expected, the larger trailer and the Spyder in it increased our gross weight over what it was with the 12-foot trailer and scooter.

Our coach weighs 30,700 lbs (combined weight of steer and drive axles) with full fuel and fresh water tanks. This is approaching our gross vehicle weight rating of 31,000 lbs. Our trailer axle weight is 4,400 lbs – well under the 7,000-lbs rating. Our combined weight is 35,100 lbs – again well under the coach’s combined weight rating of 41,000 lbs. Our weight is biased more to the rear than before due to the higher trailer tongue weight at the rear of the coach. I think I’ll move a few things toward the back of the trailer to put more weight on the trailer axles and relieve some tongue weight.

It was a short drive west on I-80 to Sparks, Nevada. We pulled in to the Sparks Marina RV Resort where I had reserved a 65′ pull-through site. The check-in process was efficient and the office was clean and tidy and staffed by pleasant people. They had an escort in a golf cart lead us to the site.

I don’t know how they figured it was a 65′ long site. Out total length is a few inches under 65′ and we don’t fit. They had me pull forward so the front of the coach extends past the site boundary a couple of feet. The rear of the trailer extends past the rear boundary and is a few feet into the street. The attendant that led us to site said not to worry and he placed orange plastic posts on either end of our rig to warn other drivers. I’m thinking it’s a 56′ site that the person read as 65′.

Front of coach overhangs site

Rear of trailer extends into street

The park is very clean and nice. The sites are paved and level. There’s fake turf between the sites over dirt with trees and picnic tables. It’s a nice place. The downside to the way we’re parked is the distance to the sewer hook-up. We’re about 25 feet from the hook-up and I have about 21 feet of sewer hose. I had to make a trip to Walmart for another hose extension.

The reason we came to Sparks was so Donna could fly from the Reno airport to Albany, New York. She wanted to spend Mother’s Day with her parents and spend time with friends and family there. Donna packed her bag and prepared for her trip while I made the run to Walmart. Then we watched TV and sacked out early. She had a cab pick her up at 4:30am to drive to the airport for her 5:45am departure. After she left, Ozark kept me up for a while, then I drifted off to sleep a bit. I was up by 6:30 am.

It’s raining as I type this and it’s expected to rain on and off through the weekend. I’ll be a bachelor for the coming week. I’m so spoiled by Donna, I can hardly stand it, but I’ll get by until she returns Friday night.

Leaving Las Vegas

Wednesday was our last full day in Las Vegas. We had plans, but first we had to take care of a few things. Donna was hard at work putting the final touches on an article and also working on a press release for her piano teacher back in Mesa. I had the usual pre-road chores – checking tire pressures, lug nuts on the trailer and getting things squared away in the trailer.

We finally made it over to the Las Vegas Convention Center a little before 3pm – later than we planned. We hit the usual traffic tie-ups as we approached Las Vegas Boulevard and turned off onto Paradise Road. We both had press credentials to enter the National Hardware Show at the center – we were identified as editorial media.

Once inside, we split up as Donna headed to the housewares area and I went to the tools and hardware section. Coming in as late as we were, we couldn’t possibly see all that we wished to see before the 5pm closing. Also, photography inside the show was forbidden, so I don’t have photos to share. I found a few items of interest that I think will be useful for RVers and I’ll write about them in a future post once I try them out. Donna also found a few products and made some contacts.

In front of the entrance, I shot a couple of photos of the baddest Ford Super Duty truck I’ve ever seen. I think it’s an F-550 belonging to Jack Link of jerky fame. It has six doors and could probably seat at least eight people. This would pull a fifth-wheel or Airstream nicely.

Jack Link’s truck – look at the fuel tanks!

Six doors

Just before closing, we made our way to the outside display area and found our friend Jeff Spencer (Rolling Recess) at the Dometic display. In my last post, I said Jeff was a rep for Dometic, I should clarify that and identify him properly – he’s the national marketing manager. Dometic supplies a number of RV products – our Penguin air conditioners, our refrigerator and our A & E power awning are a few examples.

Jeff and Deb at the Dometic display ( photo courtesy of Jeff Spencer)

Donna snagged a deal for dinner for four at a highly rated restaurant called El Sombrero in the arts district of Las Vegas. It’s supposed to be the oldest Mexican restaurant in town. Donna and I usually go out for dinner on our anniversary, which coincides with the Cinco de Mayo celebration. This year we knew we would be traveling on May 5th, so we thought dinner with friends at a Mexican restaurant on May 4th would be a fine substitute.

We rolled up to EL Sombrero right at 5:45pm, the time of our reservation, with Jeff and Deb right behind us. I have to admit, it didn’t look like the nicest of neighborhoods. The street had buildings with graffiti and bail bond offices. The restaurant itself and the adjoining building though were freshly painted and looked well-kept.

El Sombrero entrance – bail bond office in the background

The sign on the facade called it the El Sombrero Mexican Bistro while the overhead neon sign was little less pretentious calling it El Sombrero Mexican Food Cafe..

We enjoyed conversation and looked the menu over. Things got a little confusing when the server, Jose, told us the menu items for the special deal Donna purchased online were limited. He pointed out the areas of the menu we could select from. Jeff asked about getting the fajitas plate and paying extra, which Jose agreed to. We had some difficulty with drink orders – apparently if you order a margarita, you’re gold. I ordered a margarita and it showed up in no time. Jeff and Deb wanted tea and was told they didn’t have it. Later he asked again for iced tea and was told no problemo. Then he asked for it again. And again before it finally showed up. Donna ordered sangria which is a house specialty. And asked for it again. It took a while to get everyone something to drink.

We ordered appetizers, which were part of the deal. Donna and Deb got the salads which were huge and very good and I ordered the guacamole to go with the excellent chips. Jeff ordered the bacon-wrapped cheese-stuffed jalapenos. About 10 minutes later, Jose came to our table and told Jeff they didn’t have any bacon, but not to worry – the cheese and the sauce are what make the dish and it would be fine without bacon. What!?

Then it was entree time. Donna ordered the pollo tamal (chicken tamale) and was told they didn’t have any tamales. Jose explained that with Cinco de Mayo happening the following day, the kitchen was fully stocked with the popular items for the celebration (mostly street tacos), leaving no room for bacon or tamales. Anyway, the food we ended up with was good and we had some laughs and a great time.

Good times at El Sombrero (Jeff Spencer photo)

Thursday morning we were up early and prepping for the road. I wanted to get a reasonably early start as the wind was forecast to pick up late morning. As I was outside making preparations to leave, our neighbor stopped by and said I should put out chairs and sell tickets – everyone wanted to see how I was going to get our coach and trailer out of our site. I have to admit, getting out without hitting anything or losing my patience weighed on my mind. Looking down the lane from our site, I could see we would be running the gauntlet.

Luckily our neighbor moved the silver Dodge on the left and the blue Toyota on the right pulled out

I parked the Spyder by the office, planning to load it on the way out. I had no way to get it to the back of the trailer while we were still in our site. Our neighbor kindly moved his truck, allowing me a little more room. I walked through my planned maneuver and explained to Donna what I intended to do. I made sure she understood what my concerns were and what I needed her to watch and advise me on.

In the end, it was anti-climactic. Preparation and patient maneuvering did the trick. We backed up to the trailer hitch in one shot and pulled it out with no drama at all for the peanut gallery.

The traffic getting away from Las Vegas was the usual jungle, but US95 quickly thinned out once we were past the construction and madness on I-515. We settled in for a long haul northbound through the desert. The wind was from the south – southwest meaning we had a tailwind component most of the time.

People often imagine the desert is a flat, barren terrain. This isn’t the reality. The desert is made up of a series of basins. We were constantly on a slight descent into the bowl of a basin, then gradually climbing out of it only to begin another barely perceptible downhill run. The terrain may look all brown at first glance, but on closer observation, there are many colors and a variety of plants. The mountains are always there in the background.

As we headed north, the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada range was off our left. We saw snow-covered peaks in the distance. The tailwind made the drive relatively easy. At one point, I passed a Toyota Prius traveling at about 55 mph while we were going 61 mph. Then I noticed he was right behind us – a few feet from the back of our trailer. Apparently he wanted to take every aerodynamic advantage and stay in our draft like a NASCAR racer. The driver did this for about 30 miles before he exited. I didn’t like it.

At another point along the lightly traveled road, a tractor-trailer rig was behind us. I could tell the driver wanted to overtake, but his speed was probably governed and he could only go a few miles per hour faster than us. We came to a section where I could see well down the empty highway. I picked up the CB radio, switched to channel 19 and said, “Make your move now, I’ll slow down so you can get past.” He immediately responded with a thank you and went by us. For a trucker trying make a living, going four or five miles per hour faster makes a difference at the end of the day. Slowing down and letting him by didn’t affect my day at all.

Windshield view of US95

I was surprised to find us 6,000 feet above sea level as we passed through Tonopah. All the gradual up and down through the desert basins netted us an elevation gain of more than 4,000 feet.

Donna looked through the Escapees Days End Directory and found a few places where we could stop for the night. We pulled off in a tiny desert community called Mina at 4pm. Donna went for a walk and found that more than half the properties are deserted – the other half is inhabited by collectors apparently.

This block-long property is full of military stuff

Old cars at this place

This one was offering his old wooden boxes for sale – and had an old Ford Econoline and Pinto Pony

We spent the night in a large pullout area across from town on the east side of US95, a two-lane highway.

Our big rig is dawrfed by the scale of the area

Our big rig is dwarfed by the scale of the area

After dinner, we watched a recorded episode of The Americans. It was very windy and a thunderstorm rolled in at 8:30pm. The thundershowers continued intermittently throughout the night. I woke up several times as lightning and thunder accompanied rain driven by the wind. At one point, I heard hail stones lashed by the wind. We’re at an elevation of 4,700 feet and the temperature dropped to 45 degrees overnight.

I’ll check everything over for damage this morning, then we’ll be on our way to Sparks, Nevada. We have less than 200 miles to go after traveling nearly 300 miles yesterday.

Spyder on the Loose

I made good on my intention to clean the coach yesterday. The dust and rain over the past week had it looking pretty shabby. I used a California Duster first to remove the abrasive dust, then I cleaned the coach with a waterless product called The Solution. I love this stuff, you just spray a small amount with a fine mist from a pump bottle and wipe. I work on small areas at a time and the results are great.

I didn’t think a mobile RV wash company would work out here in Thousand Trails Las Vegas RV Resort because the sites are so cramped. I was wrong. A mobile RV washer came to the site next to us and managed to wash their trailer without spraying our coach. The lack of wind helped.

After I cleaned the coach, I had another project to work on. I used the same aluminum tie-down anchors for the rear wheel of the Spyder that were originally used for the scooter in our old trailer. The aluminum plates hold adjustable tie-down rings and are mounted with countersunk head screws. On the trip from Kingman to Las Vegas, the countersunk holes in the aluminum plates pulled through and the anchors came loose. Good thing I had a wheel chock along with the tie-downs or the Spyder could have rolled into the rear door.

I don’t remember what the maximum load for these plates was, but I must have exceeded it. I installed new stainless steel anchors rated for 1,200 lbs.

New anchors rated for 1,200 lbs

When I load the Spyder on Thursday, I’ll attach the rear wheel tie-downs to these plates and run a second tie-down to anchors in the side walls and use a wheel chock. I won’t have any worries of the Spyder breaking loose with this belt-and-suspenders approach.

While I was working, Donna had Mongolian beef cooking in the slow cooker. Crock pot meals are so handy. I neglected to take a photo of my dinner plate – it was a scrumptious meal. After dinner, we watched two more episodes of Homeland that our friend, Joel Myaer, recorded on our hard drive for us.

We went to bed around 10pm and I was out like a light. Ozark the cat usually sleeps with us through the night, but occasionally she’ll get wild in the night. Around 4:30am, she woke us up running around the coach and scratching the bed pedestal. Cats are supposed to sleep up to 17 hours a day. She gets plenty of sleep in the afternoons. Maybe I should interrupt her afternoon naps so she sleeps at night.

Ozark always finds a comfy spot to nap

One of the reasons we booked a full week in Las Vegas is to attend the National Hardware Show that starts Wednesday. The show isn’t open to the public, but Donna managed to get us press credentials to attend. The credential is legitimate for her, maybe not so much for me – although I’ll be sure to include information on products I find useful there in this blog. It also gives us the opportunity to meet up with our friends, Jeff and Deb Spencer (Rolling Recess). They’re here for the show as Jeff is a rep for Dometic and has a booth. Dometic makes many RV products – we have a Dometic refrigerator and our A&E power awning is a Dometic product.

Our plan for today is to do some shopping to restock the refrigerator and pantry. Tomorrow we’ll hit the National Hardware Show, then we’ll pull out of here on Thursday. Our next destination is Sparks/Reno. We have two days to get there and will probably boondock for one night on the way to break up the 400-mile trip. We expect warm to hot temperatures here in Las Vegas over the next couple of days – into the 90s tomorrow. Reno will be cooler with highs in the upper 60s and low 70s.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Window Shopping on the Strip

Donna and I decided to go for a walk on “The Strip” Sunday morning. I studied a map of the area, looking for suitable parking. If you’ve ever driven on the strip, you know what a maddening experience it can be. Traffic moves at a crawl, if it moves at all. Stoplights are long and a steady stream of pedestrians make turning in or out of a side street or driveway an exercise of patience.

We rode the Spyder about six miles to the parking garage at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino, next to Cromwell’s on Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Boulevard – about a block east of Las Vegas Boulevard. Almost all of the hotels and casinos on the strip have free parking structures. We left the Spyder on the third floor of their guest garage.

We walked past the Cromwell Resort and Casino – where Giada De Laurentis has her restaurant and climbed the stairs to the pedestrian overpass to Caesar’s Palace. The escalators weren’t working – we ended up doing a lot of stair climbing. We wandered through the shops at Caesar’s – I had to stop and look at each of the watch shops. I have a fascination with high-end mechanical watches. We stopped at Blancpain, then Officini Panerai, Breguet and Rolex. Most of the watches I looked at were in the $10,000 to $50,000 range. Of course I was only window shopping.

We also looked at a few menus at the restaurants we passed. Around 11:30am we decided to try the brunch at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago restaurant. The restaurant was empty with only one person seated at the bar. Donna had a Bloody Mary as we made our selection. Donna went for an egg white frittata with fingerling potatoes and I had the carnitas hash skillet.

Egg white frittata

Carnitas hash skillet

As expected in a Wolfgang Puck restaurant, the food was delicious with a fusion of unexpected flavors. The service was excellent. By the time we were served, the restaurant had completely filled.

After our meal, we climbed up and over another overpass to the Bellagio. There are a number of high-end shops in the Bellagio rivaling Ceasar’s Palace. We went outside to see the water show at the Fountains of Bellagio. They have a large array of water jets that shoot water high into the air. Some of the jets move, spraying the water in arcs and swirls. Speakers are located every 20 feet or so around the large pond with the fountains. Music can be heard all around the pond and the water display is timed to the music.

Us at the Fountains of Ballagio - Eiffel Tower reaturant in the background

Us at the Fountains of Bellagio – Eiffel Tower Resturant in the background

We walked south on Las Vegas Boulevard and then crossed over to the east side of the street. We made our way past the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino and the Miracle Mile shops. We did a little more window shopping and stood under the Eiffel Tower. Then we continued on to the Grand Bazaar shops and back over another pedestrian overpass.

By then we had enough of the window shopping and people watching – and it was getting warm out. We found our parking garage and headed east, away from the strip on the Spyder. We made a stop for groceries at Smith’s then came home. I had motorcycle races to watch.

Last evening, Donna prepared chicken satay and I grilled the skewers on the Weber Q. She served it with baby bok choy sauteed with garlic and shirataki noodles with peanut sauce. Two very tasty meals in one day!

Chicken satay with peanut sauce

The threat of rain seems to have passed. Today I’ll get the ladder out of the trailer and start cleaning the coach. I was hoping to have it washed by a mobile service here in Las Vegas, but the Thousand Trails Las Vegas RV Resort has us packed in so tightly I don’t think it’s feasible.

The forecast calls for a high in the upper 70s today with a warming trend through the week. We plan to leave here on Thursday and head north.

Red Rock Canyon

Donna spent most of Friday morning finishing another article that was due. I took some time to clean the Spyder after being caught out in the rain on Thursday. The forecast for Friday looked good. Once again there was supposed to be a 0% chance of rain.

Just before noon, we rode the Spyder across town to west side of Las Vegas. As we approached I-215, rain drops started hitting my face shield. By the time we stopped in a plaza at the intersection of Charleston and Desert Foothills the front of my shirt was soaked. Sitting behind me, Donna was shielded from most of the rain. Another 0% chance of rain day in Vegas.

We waited the shower out in a Subway sandwich shop where we ate lunch. Then we walked to the Albertson’s grocery store and picked up a few things. By then the shower had passed. We continued our ride west to our destination – the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

Red Rock Canyon is about 17 miles due west from the Las Vegas strip. It was designated a National Conservation Area in 1990 – Nevada’s first. It’s a place of natural beauty and a popular destination for hikers, rock climbers, bicyclists – both road and mountain bikers – and tourists. We rode the 13-mile scenic loop. This loop is a one-way road with several parking areas and turnouts.

We made a couple of stops as we slowly made our way through the loop. The sandstone rock formations are etched by the wind and have interesting textures. I tried to capture some shots, but the midday light didn’t produce the best images. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Iron minerals give the sandstone a red hue

A steep, craggy wall

Etched by rain and wind

Turtlehead Peak in the background

Deep gulch with shale on nearside and sandstone on the far side

Deep gulch with shale on the nearside and sandstone on the far side

More red rock

We decided to take the freeway home instead of cutting across town. I rode I-215 to Summerlin Parkway and then down I-515. The freeways around Las Vegas are a little scary. People drive too fast and follow too closely. Sudden lane changes and wild maneuvers are the norm.

After spending the last week in Verde Valley and the quiet Kingman Elks Lodge, the fast pace and noise of Las Vegas is a sharp contrast. While we were out, we saw two car accidents on the road. Emergency vehicles with sirens blasting can be heard throughout the day. The Thousand Trails Las Vegas RV Resort is located due east of McCarran Airport. Business and private jets typically depart from runway 1L/19R putting their flight path just north of the RV park. It seems like business travel begins early in the morning and small business jets are actually louder than large commercial aircraft. We hear them taking off before 6am.

We had new neighbors pull in to the sites on either side of us. I was asked by a few people how we got our trailer into the site. I wrote about it in my last post. This picture shows how crowded the lane we’re located in is. The narrow road filled with parked cars made backing the trailer in with our 40-foot motorhome quite the chore.

Packed in tight with a narrow road

After we returned home, I watched the Formula one practice session from Sochi, Russia. While I was watching TV, I saw our neighbor cleaning his truck. He spent hours doing a detail cleaning job. I told Donna I wondered if he looked at the weather forecast – not that it’s been anywhere near right since we arrived. But rain was coming.

The rain came overnight and continues to fall as I type this. Heavy rain is expected within the next couple of hours. I’m hoping it lets up this afternoon as I have an appointment for a mobile glass company to come out and fix a stone ding in our windshield. Other than that, I have no plans today and I’ll probably read a book until the rain stops.

Dust in the Wind

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had to change up our plan on Monday. We took our time getting ready to leave the Thousand Trails Verde Valley RV Resort and Campground. Our original plan would have had us on the road earlier to make the drive to Flagstaff. But there were high wind advisories – sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. Up toward Flagstaff it was worse.

We headed out of the campground just before noon. Our destination was about two miles away on the west side of Thousand Trails Road before we reached AZ260. We spotted free dispersed camping there on National Forest land while we were out on the Spyder on Friday and Saturday. There were two distinct camping areas with a number of rigs in them. The dispersed camping was not so dispersed.

We bypassed the first area – I was concerned about getting our 65-foot length turned around to exit there. The second area was larger and had more room to maneuver. After looking around, we found a fairly level pullthrough spot and set up to ride out the wind storm.

After getting the coach leveled and putting the slides out, we were hit with a few strong wind gusts. The gusts rocked the coach and had the living room slide topper flapping like crazy. I decided to pull the living room slide in. It was better to be safe and not damage the slide topper – our layout works okay with the living room slide in. The bedroom slides are smaller and the toppers on those are less susceptible to wind damage.

Our dispersed camping boondock spot

With wind gusts slamming the coach, I was glad we made the change in plans and didn’t risk driving. We were hit with a few raindrops at times – passing showers that dropped just enough moisture to wet the windshield and the ground. Wetting the dirt was beneficial – before the rain fell wind gusts were kicking up clouds of dust.

Dust in the wind

Donna braved the elements during a lull and went out for a short hike around the area. I spent most of the day reading and looking at possibilities for Tuesday and Wednesday nights. We will check in at the Thousand Trails RV park in Las Vegas on Thursday.

After looking at a number of options, I called the Elks Lodge in Flagstaff. Local ordinance prohibits overnight parking there. Then I called the Elks Lodge in Kingman – that would position us more than half way to Las Vegas. They welcomed RVers in their lot – no hook ups, but no charge either. After talking it over, Donna and I thought two nights at the Kingman Elks Lodge was the best option.

The storm passed shortly after sunset

We ended the day by watching a couple of episodes of Homeland before hitting the sack. The wind finally died down after dark. We both slept soundly. It was cool – the outside temperature fell to the 40s after the front passed through and the temperature inside the coach was 55 degrees when we woke up at 6am. We stayed under the comforter until nearly 7am. I could hear a generator running and cars moving about the campsites, so I got up and fired up our generator. Then I turned on the heat pump.

We pulled out of the area around 8:45am and headed north on I-17. This had us climbing out of the Verde Valley up to the Mogollon Rim. By the time we hit I-40 west near Flagstaff, we were nearly 7,000 feet above sea level. The traffic was fairly light and the going was easy. I-40 westbound from Flagstaff drops gradually for the most part but there are a few steep downgrades.

We stopped at the Pilot/Flying J travel center in Kingman, a few miles short of the Elks Lodge. They had construction going on and only three truck lanes were open. It was crowded and we were in for a wait. After topping up with 66 gallons of diesel fuel at $2.26/gallon, we were on our way again after about 30 minutes.

When we found the Elks Lodge, I drove up slowly looking the parking lot over before I committed to anything. The parking lot on the east side of the lodge looked tight and I didn’t see a way out. Driving past the lodge to the west side I found a large open paved area that looks like it was once the site of two tennis courts. I pulled in there and made a U-turn. I positioned the coach next to a retaining wall separating the old courts from the parking lot.

After entering the lodge and verifying that it was okay to park where we were, we leveled the coach and put the slides out.

Paved and fairly level at Kingman Elks Lodge

Paved and fairly level site at Kingman Elks Lodge

In the photos of the coach and trailer it looks like the trailer rides nose down. This is because I dump the air from the coach suspension, lowering the coach before I level it. When the coach is at normal ride height, the trailer is level.

Our windshield view is a golf course and around the lodge is a nice, well-kept neighborhood. Behind us there are a few houses and desert bluffs. All in all, pretty nice surroundings and you can’t beat free! We’re at an elevation of about 3,500 feet above sea level – nearly the same as Verde Valley.

Windshield view

Not only does Elks membership give us the ability to stay at certain Elks Lodges with our coach, it also ensures that we’re within walking distance of food and drink! I went to the lodge at 4pm for happy hour. It was Tuesday – taco Tuesday to be precise. I texted Donna who was working on an article back in the coach and she joined me at 5pm to take advantage of the taco bar.

We had a drink and a couple of tacos and met a nice couple, Jason and Mona. They gave us a few tips for interesting things to do and see while we’re in Kingman. We’ll probably go to the Hualapai Mountain resort to take in the views and have lunch.

On Thursday, we’ll head up US93 to Las Vegas and the Thousand Trails Las Vegas RV park. I probably won’t post again until Friday.

Tlaquepaque in Sedona

On Saturday morning, Donna and I went down to the pickleball courts here at Thousand Trails Verde Valley RV Resort and Campground. There are two pickleball courts by the pool area. The courts are open on three sides with a fence at the back of the court closest to the Verde River. No one was there. We hit a few balls back and forth and decided it was too windy to try a singles game.

We came home and decided to ride the Spyder to Sedona (map). Sedona is an upscale resort community about halfway from our current location to Flagstaff. The population of Sedona is around 10,000 and it sits at an elevation of about 4,500 feet above sea level. The area is known for its natural beauty with red rock formations surrounding the town and Oak Creek running through it. A number of festivals including a film festival and jazz festival are held at this popular tourist destination.

Our first stop was Tlaquepaque Village. Back in the 1970s, Sedona was a sleepy community consisting of mostly open range and a single stoplight. A Nevada businessman named Abe Miller started coming to Sedona for vacations. He had a vision of creating a village within the town patterned after small communities he’d seen in Mexico. He saw it as a place where artisans could create in view of the public and sell their work while living onsite as well.

He bought several acres of land and created Tlaquepaque. The name comes from the Mexican Nahuatl Native Indian language and means “the best of everything.” I don’t know much about the early years of Tlaquepaque, but today it’s an area filled with boutique shops and restaurants. Not exactly what Abe Miller envisioned, but a nice place to visit nonetheless.

Donna in front of the Oak Creek Brewery and Inn

Tlaquepaque fountain

Donna and I started at the Oak Creek Brewery and Inn. We had lunch and a cold one. I ordered a glass of porter – all the beer is brewed onsite. The porter they had available was a chocolate-cherry porter. It really wasn’t my cup of tea, but Donna liked it. So I gave it to her and ordered a glass of their nut brown ale. This went well with my brie-mushroom burger.

Chocolate-cherry porter at Oak Creek Brewery and Inn

After lunch, we spent the next hour walking through the various shops and then taking a stroll over the Oak Creek bridge to have a look around. The scenery is spectacular – my photos taken from town don’t do it justice.

Oak Creek from the highway 89A bridge

Colorful mesa seen from town

Red rock spires viewed from town

We stopped at an artist show on the side of the road near the south side of Sedona. It was mostly native Americans from Monument Valley, Utah. We looked over their wares and talked to a couple of interesting people. One was a guy who identified himself as a Navajo-Zuni from Monument Valley. He told us a few stories about the symbolism of the designs in the jewelry he created. The designs were traditional – some Zuni, some Navajo and some Hopi. He’s married to a Hopi. Like most Navajo people I’ve encountered, he was very soft spoken and I strained at times to hear what he was saying. Donna ended up buying a pair of turquoise earrings to go with the necklace she was wearing.

On Sunday morning, we decided to try our hand at pickleball again. We practiced a bit then started a singles game. While we were playing, a guy and his teenage son showed up and started hitting a ball on the other court. We invited them to join us for a doubles game. They were beginners, so we went over the rules and some basic strategy. Donna partnered with the son and I lined up with the dad. We split the first two games and Donna’s team won the rubber match. It was fun and we may have made more pickleball converts.

We met another couple there, Eddie and Carolyn. They play as well but weren’t dressed to play at the time. They’ve been to this park before and they said pickleball can be popular here with people waiting to get into a game. We talked to them for a while and learned about a few other Thousand Trails parks.

The rest of Sunday was pretty laid back. I booked us into the Thousand Trails park in Las Vegas for a week beginning next Thursday, April 28th. We made a run to Walmart to stock up on fresh veggies and beer. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching a great Moto GP race from Jerez, Spain and reading a book. Donna went out for a hike on the trails in the park.

On Sunday evening, Donna prepared a Moroccan spiced rack of lamb. I grilled it on the Weber Q – five minutes bone side down, then I flipped it and continue to grill for about 18 minutes until the internal temperature of the meatiest part was between 135 and 140 degrees. Donna served it with Israeli couscous and a stir fry of asparagus, mushrooms, peppers and leeks. A meal fit for a king!

Dinner fit for a king

This morning I’ll be loading the Spyder in the trailer, then I’ll do the usual dump and flush of the holding tanks and top up the fresh water while Donna secures the interior of the coach. Of course I’ll do another check of the trailer lug nuts and tire pressures all around. The rules of our Thousand Trails membership require us to stay out of TT parks for one week if we spend more than four consecutive nights. We have three nights to fill before we get to Vegas and we think we’ll play it by ear and boondock our way there. Our first stop will be a couple of miles outside the park where dispersed camping is allowed on National Forest land. We were planning to head up to Flagstaff but high wind advisories will keep us off the road today.

Jerome Day Trip

Donna went down to the pool area and did her workout on Friday morning while I posted to the blog. She sent me a text saying there were a few guys playing pickleball – there are two courts here at Thousand Trails Verde Valley RV Resort and Campground. We considered playing, but opted instead to take a day trip.

Around 11am, we rode south on I-17 climbing out of the Verde Valley and hit AZ169. We went to Prescott Valley and checked out the RV sites at the Elks Lodge there. The sites would be tight for us – the camp host told us we would have to drop the trailer in the parking lot. However, he’s booked up for the rest of the month. Alternatively he told us he has dry camping areas that we could use. We don’t know where we are going when we leave Verde Valley on Monday, but I don’t think it will be there.

From there we rode north on AZ89A. This took us past the Mingus Mountain Recreation Area – part of the Kaibab National Forest – a 6,000-plus-foot pass. Highway 89A climbs quickly with many tight turns and switchbacks through a forest of pine trees. Once over the pass, the road drops down toward Verde Valley. I got a workout piloting the Spyder through turns with speed advisories of 20mph.

We stopped in Jerome. Jerome is a funky place that bills itself as “America’s Most Vertical City” and “The Largest Ghost Town in America.” The traffic through the steep switchback streets of Jerome was heavy and moving very slowly. Everyone was looking for a place to park, including us. When we had the scooter, parking was rarely an issue. With the Spyder, we need about as much space as a small car. We found a triangular space that looked to be custom made for the three-wheeled Spyder.

We walked the streets and stopped for lunch at the Mile High Grill and Inn. Jerome was founded in 1876 and takes it name from Eugene Jerome – the original secretary of the United Verde Mining Company. Jerome sits above what was the largest copper mine in Arizona. It was operated by the United Verde Mining Company until 1935 when it was sold to Phelps Dodge. The fortunes of the town and its population grew and fell with the demand for copper. The mine shut down in 1953. The people who remained in Jerome started promoting it as a historic ghost town. In 1967, Jerome was designated as a National Historic District by the federal government.

Remains of an old theater

Theater entry doors

Today there are about 450 residents in Jerome, mostly working in the galleries, restaurants and saloons in this tourist attraction. There are many artists here as well. We walked around and poked through a few shops and galleries.

Jerome street scene near the old bordello

Eclectic mix of buildings in Jerome

Jerome literally sits on the side of a mountain – Cleopatra Hill – 5,200 feet above sea level. There are stunning views of the Verde Valley below and mountain peaks to the north and east.

Verde Valley overlook from the streets of Jerome – look closely and you’ll find a snowy peak in the distance

We were back home around 4pm after making an 85-mile loop. We relaxed and read for a while, then Donna fixed a tray of hors d’oeuvres for a light dinner. We ate at the picnic table outside our coach.

I’ll close today’s post with a few pictures from our last week in Mesa, Arizona. I like to post pictures and descriptions of the meals Donna prepares in our motorhome. I do this to illustrate the fact that full-timing isn’t camping out and it doesn’t mean eating out all the time. We know other full-timers like us who cook nutritious, delicious meals regularly – Lisa McGuire (Metamorphosis Road) comes to mind.

Donna’s been making some single skillet meals lately. This one is lemon-butter chicken. She browned bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs in a cast iron skillet on the induction cooktop, then finished it in the microwave-convection oven.

Lemon butter chicken

Lemon butter chicken plated with Israeli couscous

Another night she made Marseilles-style shrimp stew with rouille toast.

Marseille-style shrimp with rouille toast

On our final night in Mesa, she made tortilla-crusted tilapia with fresh tilapia from Mexico that we found at Sprouts.

Tortilla-crusted tilapia with pico de gallo, avocado and green beans on the side

The sunsets in Mesa can be spectacular. Here in the Verde Valley, the sun sinks behind the mountains before we know it and I haven’t captured a sunset image yet.

Our last sunset in Mesa

Today we plan to play some pickleball, then head up to Sedona. I want to check out the Elks lodge there and we’ll kick around town with all of the other tourists.

Good Service Gone Bad

I need to catch up on our last week at Towerpoint RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona. I won’t go into a blow-by-blow account, but there are a few highlights.

First off, I mentioned that we had another Jetpack battery failure. This is the third time in less than three years that we had a lithium-ion battery pack fail. The battery packs go into an overheat protection mode that blows the pack apart and shuts the battery down. I think it’s a charging issue with our Jetpack. I purchased a digital lamp timer and set it to vary the time of the charge with discharge times. Somehow the programming of the timer was lost and unbeknownst to me it’s been charging the battery pack full-time. Lithium-ion batteries are at their best between 40% and 85% of full charge – this should result in long life.

I had a new battery delivered overnight. It’s a different brand, not the same Pantech that came with the Jetpack. This one is branded Beltron. Both brands come from China, so they may be the exact same thing with different labels for all I know.

Old battery self-destructed

New Beltron branded battery pack

I bought the new battery from Amazon for less than $18 including overnight shipping. I reprogrammed the timer to cycle between one hour on and one hour off. We’ll see how this works out. When we’re stationary for a week or more, I’ll order another battery for back-up.

I was a pickleball demon the last week in the park. My court time culminated with a round robin session at Sun Life RV Resort for 3.5 level players. I’m not sure how much pickleball action we’ll see in the coming weeks, so I wanted to get my quota. After the round robin on Wednesday, I cleaned the Traeger and loaded the trailer. I’m happy with the results – everything has a place and it all came together nicely.

We planned an early – for us – getaway on Thursday. We wanted to be on the road by 9am, 9:30 at the latest. The day didn’t start off well. I couldn’t log in to my blog. In fact, my web page wouldn’t open at all. When I tried to open Flyingthekoop, I got an error message telling me the page wasn’t available! I didn’t have time to investigate – I had to disconnect our coach, hook up the trailer and load the Can Am Spyder.

I wanted to push the trailer back on the concrete pad at our site, then angle it so I could back the coach up to it and hook up. This turned out to be easier said than done. A few weeks ago I saw an older man struggling to move his car dolly trailer into position in the site across from us. I went over to help and pulled it into place over his trailer hitch. I knew our 20-foot car hauler trailer would be harder to move than a car dolly, but I didn’t realize how hard.

First of all, pushing it back on the pad was a slightly uphill push. I had to enlist Donna’s aid to get it moving. Then, getting turned to the angle I needed was really tough. Our old trailer had a single axle and getting it to turn wasn’t too difficult. The new trailer has tandem axles. With one set of tires ahead of the other set, all four tires describe a different arc through a turn. This means the tires have to scrub as they fight each other to track the turn. It takes a lot of muscle to overcome the friction of the tires scrubbing and laying down rubber.

We eventually got the trailer in position with a lot of sweat. I hitched it to the coach and pulled into the street to load the Spyder. The Spyder rides pretty much alone in the back half of the trailer.

Spyder occupies the back half of the trailer

We wanted to get an early start due to an appointment I had at TrailersPlus. You might recall the issue I had when they installed a door handle on the side door. It wasn’t installed properly and I had holes in the door skin. I was told they would replace the door skin while I waited if I got there between 10 and 10:30am. It’s about a 45-mile drive and I wanted to allow an hour of drive time. We left the RV park around 9:40am.

The traffic wasn’t bad and I made good time arriving at TrailersPlus at 10:30am. But, we had a problem. There were two pickup trucks at the entry, blocked by a locked gate! When I talked to the manager, Troy, on Tuesday he told me they don’t officially open until 1:30pm, but he would book time to have his guy install the door skin in the morning. I thought that was great service.

Now I was stopped on the frontage road next to I-17 blocking the lane as I tried to figure out what was happening. A couple of cars got around me to access the freeway on ramp, but then a big tractor-trailer rig pulled up behind me. I had to move on, I couldn’t sit there and block the ramp.

I went down the road and made a right turn at the next stoplight. I could see the map on the GPS and figured I would make a loop and park on a side street to see why the place was locked up. The next right turn wasn’t pretty. The road was fairly narrow with cars stopped at the light in the opposite lane. As I made the right turn, I had to go deep before I turned in to get our 65-foot length through the turn. I wasn’t going to make it. Lucky for me, the drivers were attentive – the first car pulled forward and moved over. The next two cars backed up giving me room to complete the turn.

Meanwhile Donna was on the phone with the TrailersPlus corporate office trying to find out what happened to our appointment. I parked on the street around the corner from TrailersPlus. I went to the gate – it was closed but not locked with a chain now. I could see people in the office so I opened the gate and walked in. It was 10:45am by now. I walked to the office and went in.

The guy at the counter asked me what I wanted. I told him I had an appointment and needed to get my coach off the street and into their lot. He acted like he didn’t know anything about an appointment but he agreed to open the gate and let me drive in.

After parking the coach and trailer in their lot, I went back to the office. Another guy at the counter asked me if I was dropping off the trailer! I told him I had an appointment and Troy said he would book the time to get the door skin replaced while I waited. Th guy was surly and said Troy would be in later. Then he said let’s go take a look. We walked to the coach and trailer and it seemed like he suddenly remembered why I was there. He told me to drop the trailer and he would get it into the service bay. I don’t know why I had to go through the hassle of dropping the trailer and then hooking up again. The service bay was easily big enough for me to pull through with the coach and he could have replaced the door skin with the trailer in the bay. But I didn’t argue. I dropped the trailer.

He pulled the trailer with a fork lift equipped with a ball. I got my torque wrench out of my tool box and proceeded to check the trailer lug nuts. Troy showed up while I was doing that. He said I should let his guy work and stay out of his way. I told him it would just be a minute, then I’ll stay out. But I watched the work from about 30 feet away. After the fiasco with the door handle and the guy hiding his shoddy work, I wanted to see how this went together.

Door skin removed

The guy damaged a trim piece on the door and had to replace that as well. We were on our way again a little past noon.

Our destination for the day was the Thousand Trails Verde Valley RV Resort and Campground (map). When I pulled off Highway 260, our GPS said we had arrived. All I saw was a narrow winding road ahead and a group of RVs in a dirt lot to my left. I pulled into the lot – I didn’t want to go down a narrow road without knowing where it went or if I would be able to turn around.

I found the campground on the GPS map – it was at the end of the winding road. The dirt lot I pulled into wasn’t big enough to make a U-turn. I had to jockey back and forth to get turned around – good practice maneuvering the new trailer.

The ranger at the entrance had all of our paperwork. This is our first stay at a Thousand Trails park. Our membership entitles us to 30 free nights – well, it isn’t really free if you count the $545 membership fee – it works out to about $18/night for full hook-ups. Not bad. After our free 30 nights, we’ll pay $3/night. That’s a deal! The ranger told me he had four sites that would fit our rig and we could choose the site we wanted and let him know which one we took.

I couldn’t get our full length into the frame at the park entrance

We’re in a 90-foot pull through site, so we didn’t have to drop the trailer. Oh, and while we were on the road, Donna got on the phone with Bluehost – the web hosting service for this blog. They found a bug in a plug-in and deactivated it. Then we updated the plug-in, reactivated it, and that fixed the problem.

It was very quiet here last night. We’re at an elevation of a little over 3,000 feet above sea level. It’s a little cooler here than in Phoenix. We plan to explore the area over the next few days. This post is getting wordy, so I’ll post some of the meals Donna prepared last week in my next post.

Jetpack Down

We suffered another Pantech battery failure in our Verizon Jetpack, so I’m on a very slow park wifi connection today. I’ll post a short update without pictures due to these circumstances.

On Monday afternoon, I had to go back to the dentist. I had some work done last Thursday and had a small problem with a filling. There was a sharp edge on the side of the tooth and my tongue wouldn’t leave it alone. You know how it is when something is off with your teeth – like when something is stuck between them. Your tongue always finds it. The dentist removed a couple thousandths of an inch of material and all was good. It took about five minutes.

That night, I went to the Mesa Buckhorn Elks Lodge at 6pm for the mandatory indoctrination. I learned a few things about the history of the Elks and also the many philanthropic services they provide. I had no idea they were involved in so many charitable causes. The 75-minute indoctrination became a bit tedious after a while – the husband and wife team that presented the material were good and provided a ton of information, but it was bit like watching a PBS fundraiser at times as they gave convincing arguments for the need to participate in various groups. I’m not one for joining groups. I’ll probably be what they call a BMO – bar member only.

Tonight I’ll return to the lodge at 6:30pm for the mandatory initiation. Maybe I’ll learn the secret handshake there. Seriously, this is where I’ll become an official member and receive my Elks membership card. This card will identify me as an Elks member at any lodge in the US. There are four of us joining tonight. I learned last night that all four of us are RVers and are interested in visiting Elks lodges with RV hook-ups. I’m sure it’ll come in handy down the road. The low rates for Elks members should offset the $71.50 annual dues.

I have a few things to get done before we pull out of Towerpoint RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona. We’ve been here for nearly 10 weeks and have enjoyed our stay. I think we’ll be back again next year. We’ll leave here on Thursday and head over to the Verde Valley Thousand Trails RV park. I’ve booked four nights there taking advantage of our new Thousand Trails membership – this will be a free stay.

Before we leave here, I’ll dump and flush our tanks, fill the fresh water tank and of course have the trailer packed. I added a few more D-rings and also a paper towel rack to the trailer. I think I have a place for everything and it should be easy to pack. After staying in one place for so long, I’m getting anxious to move on.

I’ve ordered another battery for the Jetpack with overnight delivery. With any luck, we’ll have it tomorrow so we’ll be back up and running at full speed. With the upcoming move, I probably won’t post for a couple of days.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

56 is the new 65

Leaving Las Vegas

Spyder on the Loose

Window Shopping on the Strip

Red Rock Canyon

Dust in the Wind

Tlaquepaque in Sedona

Jerome Day Trip

Good Service Gone Bad

Jetpack Down

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