Phoenix Wrap Up

I just wanted to share a few thoughts about our stay at Pioneer Park in North Phoenix.  I found it to be a nice RV Park.  Mostly snow birds or full time residents in their late 60s to 80s.  We had a site on the perimeter edge, so that our back window looked out on to the desert.  We did really enjoy this as we were able to watch the local wild life, including the twice daily parade of quail, the daily visit of the local coyotes as they ran by on their way to Lake Pleasant, the bunnies, the squirrels and the birds.  The sunsets were gorgeous!  This is a quiet park.  People were friendly, and the office staff very helpful.  The restrooms and showers are a bit dated, but clean.  The pool and spa are under cover which is nice morning or late night swims.  There is a pool (billiard) room, a craft room, a card room, a library and puzzle room, plus a large multi purpose room.  There was a shuffle board court, and a quite popular horse shoe pit (complete with bleachers), and bocce ball court.  Shopping is close by off I-17 at the Carefree Highway and Happy Valley Road.

The only minor complaints I had about staying here were nothing that the Pioneer Park people could fix.  The wind whips up quite a bit at night and can shake and rattle the rig quite a bit.  It's worthwhile to roll up the awning each afternoon.  There is a shooting range just over the hill, and the sounds of gun fire carry.  You learn to ignore it rather quickly.  And when the FBI comes to practice with automatic weapons at the nearby Correctional Center, it's a bit unnerving.  I'd rate the park a 9 out of 10.

We did drive out to look at the camping areas at two regional parks - Lake Pleasant and Cave Creek.  Beautiful desert camping areas.  There is water and electricity at each site, but no sewer hook ups.  I loved the views and the quietness of the parks, and would definitely consider camping at either place in the future.

All and all, our visit to Phoenix was good.  We have family here, so we will return.  I didn't realize how big the metropolitan Phoenix area was.  The freeway/highway system I found confusing, and I am very thankful for GPS.  What did we do without it?

Traveling By Air - Now Feels Weird

We are back at Pioneer Park in Phoenix, after flying home for the holidays.  The last few years, I had flown hither and yon on business and pleasure, so much so that it got to be routine, and no big deal.  Now it just feels weird.  No fear or anxiety, but just not right.  I guess I am liking this whole RV thing.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset on our first night back!

 The coyotes were surely howling last night.  I guess they appreciated the sunset too! Rumor has it the javelinas have returned but I neither saw nor heard them.

This morning the sun is out, the quail are on parade, and life is good .

Electronics - Really, Really, Fingers Crossed, The Rest Of The Story

Headed back out to Pioneer Park today, hopefully to stay, until we fly home to Snohomish for Christmas.  The insurance inspector, the RV tech and electrician have all been out to look at what happened.  Kim has run all the test checks, and we are going to try it again.

Many thanks to Ken, Tom and Cathy for putting up with us for the last few weeks.  We will miss playing pinochele each night.  I do have dibbs on the 'good' chair when we come to visit next.

And now, here's the rest of the story, according to Kim:

The rest of the story....


Previously, we experienced an electrical problem that ruined our day as well as several pieces of electronic equipment; ie: LCD TV, DVD/Surround Sound System, UPS, Printer and most importantly the ac/dc converter. The converter keeps the 12 volt batteries charged which run most of our lights, the refer control panel and the furnace fan and it's been darn cold at night lately.

We thought we had found the problem in a shorted water heater element and as the water heater can also be run on propane we replaced the burner out ac/dc converter and thought we were set to go.

Not to be. The new UPS started beeping, just like the previous one did just before Armegedon struck, and the new ac/dc converter made a hissing noise and emitted a puff of smoke just before I could get to the main circuit breaker to cut the power.

I called the RV repair technician and told him what occurred and he returned the next day to look deeper into the problem. He finally located the problem as a loose neutral wire in the receptacle in the trailer where the power cord plugs in from the campgrounds power box.

Instead of causing an electrical surge and tripping the circuit breaker the electrical current found a different path back to the breaker panel and combined it's 120 volts ac with the 120 volts ac already there and became 240 volts ac which the electronics didn't like.

We have a new converter installed and I test ran everything yesterday for several hours, running all the heavy power users, electric space heater, toaster, electric tea kettle as well as all the normal things like lights, refer and furnace.

We will be moving back into the trailer today. We've been at the campground for just over two weeks now and only stayed in the trailer for 3 days. Its been fun staying at my brother's house but it will be nice to be back in our own 'home' again.

Thar She Blows

It was perfectly calm in Laveen, but apparently the breeze picked up out at Pioneer Park in North Phoenix.  And of course, you guessed it - We left the awning out when we moved into Tom's house, waiting for the electrician and insurance adjustor.  I haven't seen it yet, but there apparently is a nice rip in the awning over the doorway, and some damage to the extender thingees.

Have to wonder, is there a place to put a note on the insurance claim that we are new at this stuff, or will they think we are perpetrating insurance fraud?  Nope, we are just learning through our mistakes.

Funny this is, I'm a practicing psychic and got the hit to check the awning the other day, and didn't follow through on it.  What a dope!

Living and learning and carrying on.

The RV Honeymoon Is Over

I suppose it was not realistic that we could just not have a single problem ever with a rig.  Well, we had the whole thermostat issue, where the heat wanted to set itself at 94, but that was nothing compared to what happened the other night.  Thursday night, we were sitting in our recliners, watching TV, minding our own business, when the lamp on the wall started flickering and the UPS (uninterrupted power supply) to our computers started beeping.  The UPS will beep anytime power is cut, no matter how briefly.  It gives you 15 minutes to shut down your computer(s) and not lose any data.  Usually it happens when we've overloaded the kitchen breaker - like the space heater, the tea kettle, and the hair dryer.  Or when we lose power because of weather, etc.  Nothing was going on that night.  We re-set the power supply, and took a look at the other rigs around us.  They all  had power.   Must be gremlins.

Less then an hour later, boom, it happens again, accompanied by a big pop.  Next thing we know, there is smoke coming out of the dvd player and the UPS.  We quickly unplugged the computers and the dvd player.  Kim flipped the main electrical breaker so we were just on battery power.  Now smoke is coming out from the converter box and the water heater.  WTF!  I'm outta here! 

We called Kim's brother Tom and invited ourselves to spend the night.  We told our neighbor Gary what had happened, and left a note for the management.  We packed up a bag, grabbed out computers, unplugged everything and headed to Laveen.

Friday morning, Kim called Pioneer Park for a referral to a local repair person.  He was not an electrician, but he and Kim did do some checking of 'stuff' and concurred that an electrician was needed.

Saturday, Kim and his dad, Warren, went back out to the park and did some more tinkering.  Long story short, we think the hot water tank was leaking and caused a short, and that 's where I quit understanding what Kim was talking about.  Something to do with 110 and 240 and batteries and grounds.  I'll let Kim do the detailed explanation.

As I write this, it's Sunday morning.  We are still at Tom's.  Hopefully we will get an electrician out to the rig tomorrow to fix it.  Very thankful for our extended warranty.  I'm crossing my fingers that it will cover the electronics that are now toast (dvd, flat screen tv, UPS) not to mention the converter panel, the refrigerator and the water heater. 

Pioneer Park in North Phoenix

After visiting a number of parks in the Phoenix area, we decided to take a spot at Pioneer Park for two months.  Kim's parents had lived here in their own motor home and then in a park model for a number of years, so we were familiar with the park.  It is a 55+ park, and so we are some of the youngsters here.  We picked a site so that when we backed in, our main living room windows looked out onto the desert.  The recliners we have are swivels, so we can turn and look out at the view, or we can turn and look in at the TV.

We do have neighbors on both sides, but we just close the side shades and leave the back ones open.

And we finally have the awning out!

Our view, looking toward Anthem.

And the view toward the northwest.

We have fun watching the quail, the roadrunners, and the bunnies each day.  Still waiting to see (or hear) a coyote or the havalenas.

I think we will like it here at Pioneer.  There is an indoor/covered pool, hot tub, card room, pool/billards room (with at least 4 decent tables), a big rec hall and lounge.  There are 2 laundry rooms with regular size washer and dryers and also commercial size.

There is shopping within 5 miles, going north to Anthem, or south to Happy Valley.

We will be here for 2 months, which hopefully will give us time to do some exploring.  I want to get back up to Sedona, over to Cottonwood, Prescott, Wickenburg, Superstition Mountain, and down to Tuscon.  I'm giving Kim a week or so to get settled before I start in on, "Let's go here" today....