RETURNED TO CALIENTE

We were on the road shortly after 9 Thursday morning and did well with the wind pushing us nearly all the way to Globe. We stopped at Florence Junction for an early lunch as we didn’t want to arrive in Caliente before eating.

It was quite a challenge but we got the motor home in under the RV cover. Unfortunately, we can’t open either slide very far and can’t open some of the storage bays either. I called Brian, the resident RV cover builder and he is to come by to see what we can do. An added bonus was that Kathy R had already opened and cleaned the park model. Also, later, I discovered our internet was already active. Both things were scheduled for Monday.

Since the park model was ready and the motor home not very livable with the slides in, we started moving in. We did all the food stuff then it was necessary for Aileen to go for a nap. We moved more later. We puttered at our various tasks and made progress. I got Aileen’s scooter unloaded so the car is roomier again. I plugged in the carpet cleaner and after it charged a bit, I cleaned the area for the outside table so I could get the table and chairs out of my office/lab.

After catching up on my blog friends, it was time to check out the pool. The pool and hot tub were great! Jerry and Suzy commented on the last blog suggesting we could have visited them if we’d gone through Benson. Perhaps we can schedule a visit over that way during the winter. I think there is quite a bit of interesting stuff to check out in that area.

We slept quite well considering how hot it was all night. We had the fan on us all night which helped. Aileen went to the exercise room and rode the recumbent bike for a few minutes Friday morning. She did laundry later. She did quite a bit of zipping around on her scooter. Late in the morning we went looking to see if there were any yard sales then drove all the Florence Garden streets looking for used ATVs. Didn't see any!

Aileen had a long nap Friday afternoon. I’d wandered down to the office to update our name tags and grabbed a book out of the library which I read in the afternoon. We took Mitzy to the dog park several times, she was enjoying meeting her friends, too. We moved the motor home back a bit so we could access the storage we couldn’t before. I finally found the plates and bowls that were missing from the white set we brought from storage. They were mixed in with the library books and travel literature tote. Aileen was despairing thinking we’d somehow left them behind at the storage locker.

Aileen made rice pasta and potato salads which were very tasty for supper. I went to the library after supper and returned a whack of books and grabbed Aileen a bag full. Brian came by to look at the RV cover but couldn’t stay long as he was rushing off to baby sit a grand daughter. He’ll be back some time I guess. He saw enough to think on a solution, hopefully, but he’s seems to be difficult to pin down.

We went to the pool for another great swim/soak tonight. It was again very quiet, just we two, the stars and a few winking plane lights overhead. I spent a couple hours on Craigslist Phoenix checking used atv ads. I did see a few possibles.

We were awakened in the middle of last night by the oscillating fan suddenly racing in speed then all sorts of things happening with the power. The window air conditioner quit as did the fridge and most of the front end plugs. All three bathroom light bulbs went super bright then burned out when Aileen turned on the switch. I went out to the breaker boxes which are on the outside of the trailer and nothing was tripped. I did eventually find one of the 50 amp plugs into the box on the post was slightly loose. Pushing it in tighter brought the power back to everything, except for the blown bulbs. Fortunately, we did get back to sleep afterward.

I got busy early, before breakfast, and installed our six solar garden lights out front. When I thought of it yesterday, it was too hot. Aileen got the laundry caught up this morning. I’d walked over to see if the ATV group was going out today and they were so I got to catch up with some friends. They couldn’t believe I arrived without an ATV. I mentioned I was actively trying to remedy that and they mentioned seeing one being put on display out front minutes earlier. I went and checked it out then came home and called the number. I took it for a spin out in the desert behind the park later. It is only a 325 cc motor but a full size body. Everything seemed to work okay but I wonder if it would have to work too hard to keep up to the group. It didn’t have a speedometer either but a gps mounted so you could monitor your speed. However, no guesses as to how many miles are on it as there is no odometer or hour meter on it. It is right here so I wouldn’t have to figure out how to get it home which is something to consider. Some of the ATVs I have found online appear to have more value for the dollar by being newer and more powerful and not much more money. I will have to think a little more on the whole process.

After lunch we went to Coolidge for groceries. It was calm here but partway over we ran into fairly strong winds which were whipping lots of dust out of the bare fields. There is lots of cotton not harvested here but I think the fields where it has been taken off have already been tilled. An hour or so later on the return, the wind had mostly subsided down to a breeze.

Again this year, we are among the earlier arrivals. Several more neighbours have arrived since we did with more expected daily. We arrived here two days later than last year. I think we have guests booked for two weeks in February so far and we’ll probably be away the last two weeks of January. Aileen is quite enjoying having her scooter with us this year. Actually I have used it a couple times myself, once to haul water and once to take a large whack of books to the library. Some of the books we’d taken from here but lots I had purchased along the way and they were donated to our library.

Sorry there's no pictures this post. The camera has been neglected the past three days.