Headin' East

We're headed east, and we're going to stay headed east until we can't go east no more! Sure glad we weren't in the westbound lanes here! This line of traffic was 5 miles long. It was an overturned travel trailer that was blocking the traffic. Southern California sure has a lot of windmills, and I just can't resist taking their picture. Where we are right now is in the southeast corner of Arizona. We're going to visit Chiricahua Nat'l Monument today. Here we are. I believe those two pointed peaks in the distance is Chiricahua Peak, and it's 9,798 feet high. We really don't know much about the place, but Liz highly recommended a visit. And, we're determined to do a little sightseeing on this stretch, so here we go. We are in an area where the Sonoran desert meets the Chihuahuan desert. Chihuahua is characterized by Yuccas and agaves, growing with grasses and often Creosote Bushes. Sonoran is known for the Saguaros. Both are pretty desolate, but can be gorgeous. Time to go explore. We're also going to visit the Rex Allen Arizona Cowboy Museum. We got in the mood by watching part of 'Lonesome Dove' last night. We got the video a while ago. Larry McMurtry is one of my favorite authors. I especially like a little known book of his called 'Roads'.

Generator Living

As I mentioned before, while we were at the FMCA convention in Pomona, we were parked in the parking lot with no hookups whatsoever. We were there 6 nights. I think we did pretty good. We ran the generator a total of 32 hours and used a about a quarter tank of gas. I'll estimate that at 13 gallons. That comes out to 2.4 hours/gallon and about $1/hr. We didn't use the generator very hard. No air conditioning, no electric heat. I did use a hairdryer one day, and the microwave a couple times. We mainly need it for the computers and the satellite dish. Without electricity, this is just a very expensive sign, letting us know we're home! One of these days, we'll buy an inverter, and probably some solar panels, so that we can run our computers off our house batteries. Just haven't gotten around to that yet. It is definitely on my list though because the generator exhaust makes me sick. The generator is located right below where I sit in the coach, and the exhaust pipe is just outside my window. I keep the window closed of course, but it still gets in somehow. The first day, our CO2 alarm went off after just a half hour of running the generator so we had to turn it off. Oh boy ... this is going to be a problem. But, the next day, the wind must have been blowing in a better direction - the alarm didn't go off any more. One of our neighbors had an extension pipe on their exhaust. I'll bet that would make a big difference. We can't use those big pipes that stick up in the air because it would bump into our awning. Jim says he can pick up one of these simple extension pipes at a Napa auto parts or something similar. Although the first couple of days were cold and drizzly, the last couple were warm and beautiful. The view of the mountains to the east was beautiful. We had to leave Odie in the motorhome all day long, but we walked him every morning. It's not too hard to give him some exercise. As long as we can find an open area, Jim and I separate as far as we can, then we call Odie. He comes running first to Jim, then to me, then to Jim ... well, you get the idea! The warmer weather brought out the sociable side of these RVers too! We ran the hotspot every day to plenty of appreciative email-readers! Really, it seems like we got more people saying "Thank-you, I really appreciate this service" than at any other rally we've done. They look awfully serious though, don't they?

A day at FMCA

When people buy an RV and plan to travel around the country, I don't think this is exactly what they have in mind for a campground. But, living onsite with 10,000 other RVers, has a charm all of its own. There are lots of opportunities for getting together with other RVers. Here's Jim meeting Robert who has been following us on our Blog! He knew all about us ... we had to get to know him. He took part in a special outing arranged by FMCA to see the new Robin Williams movie: RV. We gotta go see it. He said that people were rolling in the aisles laughing. What a treat to have a theatre full of RVers to watch a comedy about RVing. We had lots of people using the hotspot. And we both helped some folks. I gotta say tho, that there aren't as many people using the hotspot here as at the last couple FMCA shows. I expected there to be a drop in problems ... RVers are more educated about WiFi now than they were a year ago (did we have something to do with that? I hope so) ... but I didn't expect a drop in usage. All I can think of is that cell phones all work pretty good here, so a lot of people are putting up with the slower speeds in order to use their computers in their RVs rather than lugging them to the hotspot. The last two FMCA shows were in areas where cell phones didn't work so well. Now we're in the middle of a major metropolitan area ... actually THE major metropolitan area - Los Angeles, Pomona to be exact. There certainly was not a drop in attendance at the seminar though. The monitors told us we had over 300 people at our first WiFi seminar. At the end of the day, we still had a little time to visit the new RV displays. I think a LOT of people come to these rallies specifically to buy a new RV - so many manufacturers are represented here. And, all their service personnel come as well. Anything you need done to your current RV or a new one you buy - you can get it done here. If you didn't want to go RVing because you couldn't take you motorcycle with you ... check this out: I was particularly impressed with the Airstream on a Freightliner chassis. We had heard that Safari was making a new Class C motorhome ... AND ... that they were saying it is the FIRST time that Safari made a class C. We certainly know different! The new Safari Class C is called "Ivory" and it isn't as nice as ours! Did you notice the snow on the mountains in the background? They say this is the coldest March since 1934 or thereabouts. Hey Jim! I'm C O L D!! Take me back to Florida OK?

Orientation Day at FMCA

This will be our 5th big rally representing Coach Connect. 3 FMCA and 2 Great North American RV Rally. But, this is the first one where we're on our own. We got here a day early to be sure we got our bearings. Here's where we're parked. Us and 4,000 other RVs! Here's the main Information Center where the Coach Connect WiFi hotspot will be. And the seminar room where we'll be presenting the WiFi seminar. Hundreds of coaches were pouring in all day. I'm so glad we got in early. We're ready! Some interesting rigs here.

Soak in Hot Springs

Ahhhhhhh. I love hot springs. And we have come across very few in our travels. In fact, the only one I can think of is Thermopolis, Wyoming. The other night we stopped in Tonopah, Arizona - about 60 miles west of Phoenix on I-10. We spent $10 each to soak for an hour in a private tub at Eldorado Hot Springs. I would call it 'Desert Funky'. I *like* desert funky! Oh ... it felt soooo goood.