Spring has sprung

 

The shed was full of models that required fixing from last winters adventures so the days that were too windy to fly gave time to do a whole bunch of repairs and maintenance on them.

A rebuilt Piper Cub that's probably 40 years old

Oh boy has it been that long since I posted an update? September! And here it is the middle of March already.

After the worst winter in 20 years here in normally sunny Arizona we are shuffling off the cold and rain ready for some more adventures.

The Monaco has been in storage here since September and we only got it out once in November for an RV Rally in Anaheim California. 

 We are returning to the Escapees “Escapades” Rally in Tucson where we began planning our fulltime RV adventure 9 years ago.

If September seems a long time ago 9 years is an eternity! We have been so fortunate to have stayed healthy and still to be enthusiastic about traveling the way we do.

In preparation for the rally we volunteered to look for an overnight stop near the Pima County Fairgrounds where the “Shanty Shakers”, our great friends from San Diego, could spend a night and also meet up to go into the rally together. This allows us all to be parked in one location and simplify the nightly “Happy Hours”!

We drove to Tucson (90 miles from home) and spent a day checking on possible locations. We settled on a place called “Hot Rods of Vail” which as the name suggests a Hot Rod shop, but also has a restaurant attached. Conveniently it also has a big gravel parking area which they will let us camp on, We made reservations for 16 in the restaurant. On the night we had 18!

Getting together at Hot Rods

 The rig seems to have made it thru the winter OK and we have been wracking our brains trying to remember what we need to put back in it for a week of camping! Lists have been made and compared.

We have kept ourselves busy in Sundance this winter with our usual pursuits: Darts, model airplanes, the Elks Lodge, dinners out with friends. The usual stuff. 

Theater in the round

Barbara had a part in the annual park play and I helped by making signs for on stage. We managed a couple of nights at theaters in Phoenix and a “Western Murder Mystery” dinner here in Casa Grande.

 Our Aussie friends Mike and Lynn have finally managed to get back to the US and have spent a couple of months getting their RV back into shape after it sat for 2+ years when Covid hit. We surprised the heck out of them when we appeared unannounced in Quartzite where they were camped at the huge annual RV event out in the desert.

Mike and some real beer.

Doesn’t seem we did much in 6 months here but it has been great fun and our friends here have kept us busy and happy.

Dinner after the theater

Having said that nothing appeared to have broken while the rig was stored, we had a problem the first night out! There was a BIG thunderstorm close by the Hotrod place and a sudden intense gust of wind grabbed one of th slide topper awnings and pulled it out all the way to the stops where it jammed. The wind and the billowing topper sounded like somebody beating a drum on the roof and we had to pull the slide in to stop it flapping around.

Luckily it didn’t stop us driving the couple of miles into the rally. The entry step also decided to mess up and we had to hold the steps out using a step stool and a plank we carry for emergencies.

Parked up at the Escapades Rally

Five rigs convoyed to the rally but unfortunately Wayne and Lynn’s motorhome decided not to start and they had to catch up with us after they found a mechanic who fixed a bad starter.

We were right back into the rally routine within hours, sitting around sipping drinks, waving to passers by and greeting old friends we hadn’t seen in ages.

The Happy Hour crew getting happy

And happier

 

Remember when we complained about the kids being on their phones all the time?

 We signed in and collected our welcome packages, met more friends, ate some free donuts and sipped the free coffee. Sometimes life is tough!

Happy Hours started up at the RV dealer’s area then at our Shanty Shaker spot, we went to the evening entertainment a couple of evenings and shopped in the vendor area.

ShadePro who are an awning specialist at the rally and we had them come and inspect the slider topper awning. The wind had pulled the awning beyond it’s normal travel and torn out the spring retainer in the end plate. They also pointed out that the big main awning had a tear in the join between the awning and the side of the rig which if allowed to progress would have the awning falling down while we were traveling. For the repairs to both it was $700 but they had it done the next day and we could put that out of our minds.

Having dealt with problems on the rig I was next to have a problem when I woke up with a sore throat. This rapidly developed into a severe cold and even after I tested negative for covid I decided that I couldn’t in good conscience go to any of the remaining events and risk giving the cold to everyone else.

Sadly I missed almost half of the rally, Barb stayed healthy though and managed a few seminars etc that she was interested in.

By the time we were due to leave the cold, of course, had eased. The trip back was uneventful and we were soon back in Sundance working on our next adventure.

Stay tuned for that !