6/1/2013 Washing & Waxing Day

(Tucson, AZ)

We put everything away and got the 5th wheel ready for travel.  We didn’t go far, maybe 300 feet.

Our friends Bonnie & Steve had gotten their rig washed and waxed and it looked beautiful, like it had just come off the showroom floor.  The people here use a swirl free wax. 

We had our 5th wheel washed and waxed when we were still in Quail Run but we weren’t happy with the job.  Steve and Bonnie had also gotten their coach done by the same people and they too were less than satisfied with the job performed.

So we took our filthy, dirty house over for a good cleaning.   We even had the carpets cleaned since Lazy Days comp’ed us the wash part of the work.  Yes, I went and asked for a wash on the house.  It was given with no hesitation.



We dropped it off and went to run some errands.



We returned a few hours later and it was ready.  Kinda, sorta.  As we walked around the rig we noticed these brown splotches and pointed them out to the fella on duty.  He grabbed a rag and ladder and got on with rubbing it out.  The more he did the more we saw.  He finally told us to over to the lounge and he would find us when it was done.  He wasn’t going to fool with a spot here and a spot there, he re-waxed the entire side.  We didn’t see any spots on either end or the other side.  Service with a smile from the detail department.  Forty five minutes later he came to get us and it looked beautiful!  See how shiny it is!



We went inside to look at the carpets and they came out beautifully.  We both vowed to be very careful about walking on them with shoes.  We’ll see.  I wear flip flops most of the time so it won’t be a problem for me.

At the end of the day I heard Bob say, “Oh no, do you know what we didn’t do?”  I couldn’t think of anything and Bob said, We never got our military ID’s renewed.  Oh darn…that’s something we have to get done as mine runs out very soon.

Plan A   Change 98?

5/30–5/31/2013 Plan A Change 97

(Tucson, AZ)

I’ve never heard of anyone’s plans changing as much as ours do.  The plan was to stay here until Friday morning.  Scrap that.

As a rule we don’t like to travel on weekends so we decided to stay put until Monday.  This will also give us a chance to get our 5th wheel washed and waxed.  We made an appointment for Saturday morning.

I had kind of a reality check on Thursday.  When I call home to Delaware my mom, 90% of the time, will answer the phone when I call.  If she’s at the store, working in her flower gardens, at church or wherever then my dad would answer.  Those times that he did and she wasn’t home or available would be our time to talk.  We’d talk about what we’re doing, where we are or where we’re going, what we’ve seen, what books he’s reading, how our Phillies or Eagles are doing, the latest news about the National Guard, everything and anything.  We’d usually talk about half hour each time and averaged twice a week with shorter conversations when he did answer but mom was there.  He always said, “Love ya babe” as we were hanging up.  Stay with me here, there’s a reason I’m telling you this.  I called home Thursday morning.  Mom wasn’t home.  The phone rang and rang and rang.  Finally the answering machine picked up.  And it hit me.  My dad isn’t there to take my calls anymore.  There won’t be anymore conversations about our Eagles or Phillies or telling him of things we’ve done or where we’re going.  I’ll never hear my dad tell me “Love ya babe” again.  I sat here for a few minutes processing all this and then the floodgates opened.  That sobbing, gut wrenching, headache inducing  cry came.  And it lasted all day.  Now, I didn’t sob all day of course but it didn’t take much for tears to fill my eyes and that lump to form in my throat as memories floated in and out all day.  I miss my dad so much.  I just keep telling myself something that an online friend wrote me shortly after my dad passed on.  My friend wrote, “remember the great things about your Dad and know that he will still be taking care of you”.  I go back and read the entire email at least once a week.  Isn’t it strange how something from someone you only know online can give such comfort?

Our buddy Fred is going to be pulling out this weekend.  We wish we were following right behind him but it won’t be long now.  Monday morning can’t get here fast enough!

5/29/2013 Our Move To The Campground

(Tucson, AZ)

We are moving to the Lazy Days Campground since we are finished dismissed from the service department.  We just have to be sure the leak is fixed.

During the next few days we’ll decide where we’re going from here as it seemed we were never leaving and we really haven’t given much thought to it.  We’ll also do a good grocery shopping and go to the air force base to get our ID cards renewed.

Our site.



Pool time.  I’ll get lots of pool time while we were in the campground.  As it turned out we are in a site right across from the pool



The laundry room is right across from us too in addition to the gym and shower rooms.



Right next to the pool is a small garden which is nice to look at on these hot, hot days.



As we float and sit around the pool we have the constant sound of the waterfall.  The water here has a high salt content, can you tell?



All around this desert campground are large pots filled with colorful summer flowers.

This is the main building that houses the campground office, a lounge, a glass enclosed café, the Florizona Grille, a gift shop and meeting rooms.



To give you an idea of close we are to everything, I’m standing outside the pool and looking at our rig/truck.

It’s a nice enough campground for being In the desert,  Lucky for us we’re getting the “service rate” which is less than $20 a day.

Since we’ve been here so long now, we were starting to believe what these flags that are hanging everywhere around here say.

Well, it won’t be long now and we’ll be on our way.

5/28/2013 We’re Done! er…DISMISSED???

(Tucson, AZ)

Service bay time at Lazy Days/Tucson for the Quinn’s today!  YAY for us. 
Today we will have our fireplace replaced because it made way too much noise.   The technician here said that he couldn’t hear any noise so therefore it didn’t exist.  Oh please.  I wrote an email to DRV, our manufacturer and before the day was over had authorization for a new fireplace to be shipped and installed.  This was brought up when we arrived in March and here it is May and its just being done.  I guess its ok because we certainly aren’t using the fireplace anyway.

We’ll also have our AC’s fitted with new grommets because they (the AC’s) vibrated so much that when I sat in the dining room chair my rear end vibrated and just this past week it had gotten so bad the when the AC came on in the bedroom at night the bed vibrated.  The walls vibrated!  The noise when in the bathroom was horrendous when the AC’s were running!  We had brought this up when we first got here and again after being here for about a month.  As the weeks went by it got progressively worse.  We were told they had done all they could do and that it is what is and we’d have to live with it.  Just the nature of the beast.   Oh no, no, no.  I contacted my buddy at DRV and told him what was going on.  Within an hour he got back to me and told me that this was a known problem with Dometic AC’s and that the fix was to replace the grommets already in place with new soft ones.  I went back to our service writer and gave her the info so that we could get this problem fixed once and for all.

We were also having a leak in our hydraulic lines fixed.  Again.

I do have to tell you that we had to request a different technician work our rig than has been.  We were finding that we always had to clean up after him when he worked inside our house.  If he had to strip a wire we would find little bits of the plastic covering on the floor or on the island.  When he installed our new speakers he put our TV back in crooked.  We would find grease spots on our carpeting and fingerprints everywhere.  We just didn’t feel that we had to do that.

Around 2:30 our rig was done and was being taken back to the parking lot to our spot.  Our service writer called me on the phone to let me know that paperwork was done and when I got the chance to come over to the office.  It didn’t take me long to get there because I had been hanging out in the very cool waiting lounge.  As temps near a hundred degrees one doesn’t stray far from the air conditioning.  I went over to the office area and she was ready for me.  She went over the items that were done and finished up with, “We’ve done everything on the list so I' guess you’ll be pulling out tomorrow.”  I replied, “No, I think we’ll stay a few days to make sure there isn’t any more leaking since that seems to be a problem.”  She came back with, “There’s nothing more we can do for you, you’ll have to go to the factory.”  My first thought was, “Oh my, we’ve been dismissed!”  I was pretty much stunned by what she had said and told her I wanted copies of everything done to date.  She said ok and that I could pick it up later that afternoon or in the morning.

I walked back to the 5th wheel where Bob was getting it set up again and I told him to sit down, that we needed to talk.  I told him what took place and what he said is not important.  Actually, it is but I don’t type words like that.  <<grin>>

In the end we decided that tomorrow we would move to the campground attached to the dealership.  We have to see if this is going to leak or not.  We just can’t take the chance of the landing gear coming down when we’re traveling 62 miles an hour down the highway.  We were assured it was fixed.  We’ll see.  We’ll stay in the campground until Friday morning.

We finished out the day having dinner with Fred in our blacktop yard and talking the evening away,

Seventy seven days.  We’ve been here seventy seven days!

5/26-5/27/2013 Memorial Day Weekend

(Tucson, AZ)

All over the country this weekend barbecue dinners are being eaten.  It was no different for us even though we are in a parking lot in Tucson.

We still remembered those who wrote that blank check made out to Uncle Sam.  Those brave military members who gave their all so that people like Bob and me could live our dream.  Travel in freedom where and when we want….well, maybe not when considering we’ve been here, for what, 76 days now????  But I digress.  We are both so thankful for our military, all branches, past and present but especially to the service members, and lets not forget their families, who made the ultimate sacrifice.  God bless you all.

Our new friend, Fred, has been sharing our barbecue dinners with us.  I’ve been trying out some of the recipes I’ve gotten on Facebook and I’ve had some happy men at the dinner table.

Bob and I are so ready to get on the road again.  It’s not all that bad here really, but its time to GO!

5/25/2013 Mystery Diners

(Tucson, AZ)

Memorial Day Weekend and we’re not at the beach.  Instead, we’re still in Tucson.  Still in Lazy Days.  This is day 74.

A couple of weeks ago I told you that Bob and I and Bonnie and Steve went to dinner at the restaurant here on the grounds.  The Florizona, remember?  Bob and I both ordered steaks that were like shoe leather and we were referred to as “you guys” by everyone which a pet peeve of mine. 

Well, a few days later I called over to the restaurant and obtained the manager’s name and email address.  I wrote her a very nice letter explaining about our steaks and the “you guys” but also gave kudos where they were due.  Friendliness of staff, dinners enjoyed by Bonnie and Steve, freshness of salads and the quick smile of our server were some of the things I mentioned.  I didn’t hear anything for about a week and a half and then got a reply to my email.  The manager told me that she was glad that I wrote and brought the “you guys” situation to her attention and that she was sorry the steaks were not to our liking.  She went on to say that she would talk to the staff about how they address the guests and she hoped we would return to give them another chance.  That was it.

It is not unusual for me to write a letter to an establishment to bring something that was not to my liking to the manager’s attention.  At the same time I am also just as likely to write a letter to an establishment to bring something to the attention of the manager that pleased me very much.  An outstanding meal, an employee that went above and beyond and sometimes just because I liked an employee and they did their job right.  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t send out a letter every week or even every month, but when it warrants it I will take pen to paper or in this case put fingers to computer keys.  Most times I will receive a note in return and most times will receive a token of the manager’s appreciation in the form of a gift certificate for a return visit.  That didn’t happen this time.  The gift certificate part that is and that’s perfectly ok, I didn’t write the letter for that purpose in the first place.  However, since we had less than acceptable meals I was surprised there wasn’t something said about coming in for dinner on the house.
A few days later I wrote the manager back and said that yes, we would very much like to give them a second chance.  I went on to suggest that she leave a gift certificate at the front desk of the campground and after we had dinner again I would email her or call her and let her know if her talk to the wait staff was worthwhile and taken to heart.  We would in fact be “mystery diners”.  Within a few hours I got a reply and my suggestion of being mystery diners was embraced wholeheartedly.

So tonight we went to dinner again.  It was their prime rib dinner night and the restaurant was busier than the last time we were there.  We happen to have the same servers.  The young lady who took our drink orders and brought us the bread was the same as was the woman who was our server for dinner.

We both ordered the prime rib and it was delicious!  Friendliness and smiles were the call of the day and we were never asked a question when we had food in our mouths.  The service was truly attentive but not overbearing and I can honestly say it was top notch.
Dinner done, we handed over our gift certificates and tip when presented the bill.  As we got up to leave our server called to us…..You guys have a good night.”

5/24/2013 New Tires and Dust Devils

(Tucson to Casa Grande and Back Again)

We were on the road to Casa Grande a little before nine this morning as we had a ten o’clock appointment at Glenn Jones Ford to have our new tires installed.

We settled into the lounge area and a conversation was started with another gentleman who was waiting for service work to be done.  One thing led to another and before you know it we find out that we lived not too far from each other back on the east coast.  He is from Havre de Grace, MD which was about 45 minutes from us.

This Ford dealership was have lunch for the public today.  Anyone who wanted to eat could stop in.  Of course since we were there anyway we took part in the lunchtime giveaway.  We had a choice of hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad, cookies and sodas and water.

By one o’clock we were done and stopped at the park model in Arizona City to pick something up on our way back to Tucson.

Traveling back and forth we saw lots of dust devils.



The dust devil pictured above was quite a ways away as we drove down I-10.  Dust devils come in all sizes, from small which could measure from a foot and a half wide by twelve feet high to a much larger one which could measure thirty feet wide to three thousand feet high.



Usually harmless, these well formed, usually long lived whirlwinds can on rare occasions grow large enough to cause damage to both people, pets and property.  Rare occasions are the operative words here.  An injury from a dust devil is reported once in a five to ten year span.  Of course there are exceptions, parachutists under canopy and small aircraft have to be particularly aware.  This area is known for skydiving too.



Dust devils form when hot air near the surface rises quickly through a small pocket of cooler, low- pressure air above it. If conditions are just right, the air may begin to rotate. As the air rapidly rises, the column of hot air is stretched vertically, thereby moving mass closer to the axis of rotation, which causes intensification of the spinning effect by conservation of angular momentum.  Now I didn’t really know what I just wrote, I confess, I looked it up.  If the truth be known I don’t have a clue what conservation of angular momentum is!  I just know I’m somewhat fascinated by dust devils.  I don’t even know why, its nothing but dirt and debris caught up in a whirlwind.



Did you know that dust devils aren’t only found on earth?  Nope, I didn’t either.  Actually this is something I have never given thought to but in reading up on these dusty whirlwinds I learned that dust devils have also been found on Mars.  Who knew?