Category: Campsite

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ – Tuesday October 16, 2018

This weather report is why we are here. Sunday when I got serious about finding a place to go to this was the closest place with warm weather. Monday morning at the laundromat we talked to a local guy from the Fiesta who was washing zebra uniforms who had an inch and a half of snow at his house. It will melt off but really. Don said he got in an ice storm between Carlsbad and Big Bend National Parks.

Tuesday’s drive.

Where we are:

Almost every site has a new concrete pad to park on with a six to eight inch drop front to back, REALLY.

Don’t know how long we will be here, nice warm weather is key.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, NM – October 5, 2018

Today was balloon crew training morning. I was out the door at 6:00 a.m. going to an elementary school 10 miles from here. We went through the process of inflating a balloon and then taking it down so it is ready for the next day. The pilot we worked with is a really really nice guy providing us with lots of how to information and answering all our questions. He did not fly today because we were on the east side of the valley and the wind was blowing east. He needed to get a sponsor banner attached to his balloon and it would be a lot easier in the school’s grass field rather than some other field where ever he was able to land.

This is a picture of his balloon trading card, I took a couple of pictures of the balloon but I am to lazy to get out the computer and download the pictures.

Back of the card.

pictures looking halfway across the park

today

Tuesday

Looking forward to a great Fiesta, Brian and Christine get here tomorrow.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, NM – Tuesday October 2, 2018

We are here for 14 days.

Today’s drive:

Campsite pictures.

Out the front window.

Aerials from InReach GPS.

This is an old dump which is used for RV parking during the Fiesta.

The red circle is around the balloon launch field and the yellow circle is the balloon museum where we are having dinner next Thursday the night they light up the special shapes balloons.

Cochiti Lake, NM – Thursday September 27, 2018

We moved here waiting for the Balloon Fiesta to start next week.  We will move to Albuquerque on Tuesday October 2nd it is about 50 miles.  We stayed here for a couple of days after the 2016 fiesta and it seemed like a good place to be before Albuquerque.  The way the fiesta RV area is set up once you get there you cannot move so it is a good idea to arrive with empty black and gray tanks and full of propane and water.  This park has water and a dumps site.

I’ll add campsite pictures from Ipad. Site 43.

Cottonwood Campground, Navajo Lake Dam – Sunday September 16, 2018

Today we finally got to Cottonwood Campground on the San Juan River (Site 5) we will be here until 9/25/2018.  It is a really nice site with paved parking, 30 Amp electrical, water and a lot of room between sites.  The coach front window is also pointed North.  The 1.5 mile dirt road into the campground was pretty rough with some wash board and several good size holes. 

The goal is to do some fishing until we leave.  Looks like I may be able to fish right here in the park and walk up the river from here.

Site 5 original scheduled to be here Tuesday September 11, 2018. The camp host saved our site.

Today’s drive:

Winslow, AZ – Homolivi State Park – Saturday September 15, 2018

Jason asked us to be at his shop at 12:30, we got there at 12:00 I told him I don’t want him waiting for us.  NAPA is supposed to make their Saturday parts delivery at 1:00.  They decided it would work best for them if they made the 1:00 p.m. delivery at 3:00 today.  Jason installed the ignition switch and we were out of RV Country by 3:45. 

We drove of Winslow, AZ and decided to stay at Homolivi State Park (site 30) it would be quieter than staying at the local I-40 rest stop. 
Did a Walmart stop this evening.

Today’s drive

 

 

No campsite picture

Flagstaff, AZ – Thursday September 13, 2018

Campsite for Thursday night

Yes this is an overflow sales lot for Evert’s RV Country in Flagstaff, AZ.

This is how we got from Page to Flagstaff. You think gas is expensive this is $4.00 a mile. We stayed with AAA towing because our membership which ended August 31 was on an auto pay plan and was posted the first Tuesday in August. I have to say AAA has done great job this time. The people in the Phoenix call center are pretty helpful and good at follow up

First thing this morning the mechanics looked at the coach and decided the problem was that the ignition key has a chip in it and the key chip and the steering column chip were not talking to each other all the time. We decided we would move on and look for a Workhorse chassis center who could reprogram the chips. We drove a mile and a half to a dump station ( I think the shitter was almost FULL) and than a half block to get gas. After I got gas the ignition key would do nothing. So there we were at a large Shell station under their canopy out of the sun at 11:30 a.a. in or loved but dead coach.

I found this dealership in Flagstaff who will work on the coach. The service manage even thinks he knows what is wrong. He has seen many Workhorse coaches where the power distribution switch at the end of the steering column melts. He said he could look at it on Friday if we got to Flagstaff.

I called AAA about getting towed to this service center in Flagstaff from Page. They said sure, the membership we have covers 100 miles and it is 127.2 to Flagstaff. We would have to pay the tow truck driver (Jack, that would be Mater) for the additional miles. 45 minutes after the original call I called AAA to ask for a ride back to the repair shop to get the pickup. AAA said they were working on getting a tow that the Page people were to busy to help us however they had found a truck in Winslow, AZ and he’d be on his way shortly. The pickup was still 1.5 miles back up the road so I put on a bunch of sun block and a quart of water to go get the pickup. At 2:43 the tow truck driver called to say he was on his way.

Clayton, the driver got to Page at 5:45 and by 6:30 we were moving south. By 9:30 p.m. we were at our campsite for the night. Flagstaff is not noted for being an RV friendly town so we tucked the coach in between several display models the dealership is selling.

We are here and working to fix new problem.