It is funny, but we weren't really excited to be back here in Mesa. We both wanted to keep right on going---somewhere and besides that it was hot---REALLY HOT. Someone said, "but it's a dry heat," but it wasn't; it was a humid heat because of monsoon season. Read on for details of the excitement we have had.

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

POTPOURRI
RON IS A JINX
A FIFTY MILLION DOLLAR STORM
GETTING IN SHAPE
TRY GOOEY TO MEET FRIENDS ON OUR WEB SITE
LETTERS
THIS 'N THAT
For more information and pictures when I have them click on:
http://www.movinon.net/Whatsnew/whatsnew.htm

Barb is making noises about buying a new computer. She knows what buttons to push by mentioning that, "It would be a good tax write-off this year." I'll probably cave in.

Barb also added another day to our Disney World reservation in December upping it to six days. She used another financial ploy by saying that  we could take advantage of a six day package. There goes the campground and entertainment budget.

The airways are already filled with presidential politics and we've got a year to go. Will you join my club? Let's vote for the person who spends the least and makes the fewest speeches.

Consider this. A fiberglass recreational vehicle fares much better in a hail storm than aluminum park models or RV's with metal covering. Because our house has wheels we can avoid most violent weather except those that come up suddenly like hail storms and tornadoes.

I remember as a kid that it was a big deal if you had carpeting in your house. Now our park is tearing out carpeting in the club house and putting in ugly looking tile. The best way that I can describe the color is by saying, "If someone got sick on the floor, you wouldn't be able to tell."

In 45 days this diesel will be cranking and heading east. It will be fun!

Just before we arrived at Valle del Oro in Mesa, Arizona, on September 1, we had the oil changed in both the engine and transmission of the motorhome. We had a full tank of fuel so we could feel safe from fuel contamination while sitting still for two months and as soon as we were set up on our site, we had Mark Twigg of Mobile Wash and Wax come and wash the road dirt off our house. Our house looked very nice. Everything was in tip top working order; it had been a great summer free of mechanical problems while on the road. Ron put the wheel covers on the wheels and we were totally set up. After all of his set up work was done and with the motorhome nice and clean, Ron sat on the couch with a cold drink and pronounced that we had a "perfect motorhome."  That was just before  noon. By 3 p.m., I became aware that the rear air conditioner had not been running. In the heat of Arizona in the summer, both need to run. We were losing ground because the front one couldn't take care of the whole motorhome. We checked for the obvious (breakers flipped etc.) and I noticed that the lights on the inverter/converter were out. That meant we weren't charging our house batteries. To make a long story short, we checked with Beaudry in Mesa and they said they could probably fix it but we would need to be there over night. They suggested we drive to Tucson and get it all done in one day.

So very early on one morning, we took the wheel covers off, unhooked everything and and took a two and one half hour ride to Tucson. They spent a few hours diagnosing the problem (bad breaker) then only a few minutes to fix the breaker. We were back in business and on our way home by mid afternoon. The only real damage was a few hundred dollars out of our pocketbook.

Back in the park and all set up again, Ron started to open his mouth to say that we really had a perfect coach when I held my hand across his mouth.

But he did it again a few days later. He said that our street which had been covered with sand from monsoon storms, was finally clean. A few hours later we had a horrible storm which not only covered our street with dirt, but also covered it with hail and parts of park models. That story follows.

Okay so that was over with and a few days later, he said it again. His exact words were, "Everything is working and we have a perfect motorhome."  I knew what he was going to say and tried to get to his mouth before the words came out, but I didn't make it.

I've been working a lot on the web page and trying to get all of our old newsletters in the Our House section. For that I needed to get into our photo albums which are in a luggage compartment on the driver's side. When I went out there that same afternoon after those words came from his mouth, I noticed water dripping on top of the plastic boxes where I keep the albums. I thought, "It hadn't rained in a few days. Where is the water coming from?" There wasn't a lot so I dabbed it up with
a paper towel and closed the compartment. Later I realized I needed yet another album so out I went. There was a little puddle on the top of the box that I had just wiped dry. I had told Ron about the first incident, but he didn't seem concerned. The second time, I called him over to look. He thought it was probably from rain accumulated in the crease of the door or something. I said, "not likely in this heat," then added "it is coming from the kitchen." "Naw," he grunted. He was ready to walk away, when I felt cardboard boxes on the floor of that compartment. They were soaking wet. We pulled out everything to see how far it went. Everything was wet for about a two foot square area. I led the way to the kitchen and opened the door under the sink. It was real wet there too. Ron went back outside and shut off the water.(That was a great move).

When we had everything out from under the sink, we could easily see that the water filter had broken off at the uppermost connection and water was dripping freely. We had had this same kind of filter on our Bounder and the same thing happened once, so Ron knew what to do. We called Earnhart RV and they had the filter we needed so Ron made a little trip to pick it up. He wasn't home 30 minutes and we were back in business again. But that didn't stop me from making a serious face and warning him not to say anything about how everything is working.

On September 19 early in the day, we were hit with a terrible monsoon storm. First it turned so very dark, then the winds (up to 90 miles per hour) started shaking us around. The electricity went out and while the wind was blowing, it started raining hard and turned to golf ball sized hail. It was so noisy in our motorhome, that we couldn't talk to one another. We just stood in the middle of the motorhome
away from the windows and helplessly watched the storm. When the rampage halted, we opened the door cautiously to go out and survey the damage. We looked okay except that our sewer hose had been beaten to shreds. Our neighbor across the street in a park model has a trellis on the side of their carport which had blown over halfway and was on the verge of breaking; we used a coat hanger to tie it up as a temporary solution. Confidant that there was no further damage, we went back inside as it looked like it might rain again.

A few hours later we decided to go for a walk and immediately we were shocked to see the damage on so very many park models. Aluminum was strewn all over the park and was wrapped around trees and poles. Aluminum patio covers are in strips and shutters are torn like paper.  It was terrible. Then we heard on the news that the damage was just in a two mile square area and we were it. All of the utility poles on Southern Ave were broken in two and laid across the road like toothpicks. The folks in double wides and other trailers closer to Baseline lost major parts of their houses and were homeless. All totaled the damage estimate was 50 million. Pictures of the storm damage in our park can be seen at: http://www.movinon.net/Whatsnew/September/Stormdamage.htm

As I said we thought we were okay, until someone suggested we go up on the roof and check out our air conditioners. The adjuster just left today. They both need to be replaced. All of the fins are broken and have holes in them. Insurance pays most of it, but we have to come up with nearly $400 for depreciation.

We will never come back to Arizona in September; we prefer to wait until the monsoon season is really over with.

In spite of the heat, Ron and I are both trying to get back in shape and that means two kinds of exercise. One is walking, the other is pushing ourselves away from the table. I am really proud of Ron who has already  dropped 10 pounds and his blood sugar is way down. Way to go Ron.

I cannot go walking when it is so hot. I tried getting up at 4 a.m. thinking it would be cooler then, but 80 humid degrees and total darkness aren't to my liking. So I purchased a two month membership at LA Fitness and I like that. We go to bed at 9:30 and get up at 5 so it is a little cooler.

Besides physical fitness, we are getting our medical check ups out of the way. I am almost finished with the dentist and Ron has done his medical thing.

I just discovered a fun thing that some of you might like to try. Gooey is like instant messenger except it lets you see other Gooey members who are on the same web site you are on. It occurred to me that this would be great for you folks who like to talk to others who are interested in full-time RVing. When you are on our site (or others too), a little box pops up and tells you what other members are on that same site at the same time. You can send them a message and chat for a while. All names used are nicknames so you protect your real identity. I have downloaded my Gooey (it was easy) and will look for some of you on our web site. Let's do it!!!!
http://www.hypernix.com/

...The San Juan Mountains are truly one of the most awesome places in our country. I'm sure you've enjoyed them on each visit. If your American Dream towed the Toyota over Red Mountain Pass I don't think you'll have any trouble anywhere else. We'll be watching your traveling across the Southern states later on. We sold our house and now live in the motorhome. We'll retire in about two years - the time is getting shorter. We'll meet you somewhere one of these days.

Dick and Phyllis Davis
Montgomery, Al (formerly Tallassee, Al)
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Hi -

Just read part 1 and your comments on RV World.  We were just there and you were too nice.  I think it is probably the worst campground we've seen.  We had to move once because of raw sewage on the ground - the owners didn't seem to think it important. The fee for e-mail was $1.

Had we not been hooked up, I think the campground next door (Western something) at only $17 was a MUCH NICER park.

I have noticed that a lot of the good neighbor parks aren't really up to snuff.  We did find a Coast to Coast park in Wyoming that we enjoyed so much we purchased a lot.  It's called Star Valley Ranch, and is about 50 miles south of Jackson.  You might try it sometime.

Thanks for the letters.
Steve & Donna Shaff
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Hi,
No fear that you missed ANYTHING in Rawlins, WY.  We spent two days there a couple of summers ago and kept thinking that there MUST be a better area in this town where things are looking up and not so run down.................it doesn't exist!  It's really a sad little town. It reminded us of an old black & white movie called "The Last Picture Show" and was about a small depressed little town that had nothing going on and was dying and so were the people in it.  We stayed at the same good neighbor park you did and agree, not much to write home about.

Love, Sandy & Sherry Harper

For more letters please go the the Letters page.

We keep busy between the spa, and Ron with his kiddies. Yes, he is back at school with a new batch of second graders. He really loves volunteering there three days a week and will miss them when we leave in November.

This is still a ghost town here and it is spooky with all of the damaged park models still sitting here like no one cares if they get fixed or not. That is not true, of course, but that is how it might look to strangers. As Ron mentioned above the park here has been redecorating and I am not impressed either. It looks cold. The satellite bathrooms which should be open tomorrow don't even have commodes in them. Who knows when they will be open. If they had all summer to do this work, I wonder why it looks like they are just beginning.

We still have plenty of our old book available in case you didn't send us a check thinking we would run out. For that great price of only $10.00 which includes shipping you can have An Alternative Lifestyle which will shortly be a collectors item. We will even autograph it for you.. Just send  a check or money order to us at our address here (1452 S Ellsworth #279/3126, Mesa, AZ  85208). Remember though that we need to receive your check before October 31 because we are hitting the
road shortly after that.

I've been changing some things on the web page and that is fun. By the time you get this one of my favorite stories will be on the Our House section. It is the newsletter with the story of our second bicycle trip to England. You can find it here:
http://www.movinon.net/OurHouse/JulyAug92.htm

When you get this you will know that the Ron has penned another wonderful article that can be found in View from the Driver's Seat and a new Guest article have been added. I hope you get to check them out. Just click on any of the above links to get there quick.

Happy trails and travel safe too.

Barb & Ron