Red Bay to Texas -- we got all of our warranty work taken care of at the Tiffin factory, including the replacement of our rear jacks (which collapsed while we were there). We also got the annual chassis and engine maintenance done by the good folks at Red Bay Diesel. In addition, we got some custom work done by Brannon Hutchison at Custom RV -- a ceiling fan in the bedroom, a revised driver's shift panel, and relocation of some halogen lights. All in all it was a good visit, with everything done to our satisfaction -- and the prices were right too! Here are some pictures of the new items.
We were anxious to get to Texas to see our family there, so we hit the road and drove from Red Bay to Liberty Hill in two days -- it was a trip we'd made several times, and we didn't have any stops or sights to see along the way. We got to our sons' place and parked the motorhome, and began to enjoy our sons and their families. We were able to snap a few pictures of our good times there --
We took off from Liberty Hill on Saturday, October 24 and headed out for west Texas -- we'd made arrangements to meet up with our good friends Al and Claire who were heading back to Austin from Albuquerque with their new motorhome. We spend a great 24 hours with them in Balmorhea, TX at a Passport campground (which was very nice -- we'll definitely be staying there again on our trips through Texas). Their new rig is a heavy duty class C toy hauler (Chevy Kodiak chassis with a Duramax diesel and an Allison transmission), equipped so they can take both their motorcycles and a tow car with them when they travel. We had a great time going over every inch of it, and making plans on how to spend their money on add-ons. We didn't take any interior pictures, but we did get a picture of their rig and ours alongside each other in the wilds of west Texas:
After our visit with Al and Claire (and "our" German Shepard Elsa, who they take care of for us . . . . ), we headed out early the next morning for points west along I-10 -- we made it through El Paso without incident (I hate driving through there, but there is really no bypass), and just kept going through New Mexico. We'd gained two hours as we headed west and crossed the Arizona border, so we just kept rolling along until we got to the Elks Club at Gila Bend -- and found out when we tallied it up that we'd put 625 miles on that day. We usually don't go to that extreme, but we wanted to get to Yuma, and didn't have any reason to stop on the way. We boondocked there for the night, and then arrived in Yuma by mid-morning the next day -- just ahead of a couple of days of high wind warnings (another good reason for a 600 mile day . . .).
We pulled into our rental lot and had plenty of time to start getting things cleaned up, and to see our friends again before we collapsed for the night. We spent the next two days getting the shed cleaned up and the yard cleared and had it all in order by cocktail hour that evening (celebrating Mandy's first Social Security payment!!) -- at which time our landlady came by and told us that she was raising the rent for the current season -- by 50%. No advance notice (we'd been leasing for 5 years), and no explanation -- just dropped the bomb and spoiled our day!
It didn't take us long to decide that her new price was totally out of the question -- so we promptly began to look for a new place the next morning. Fortunately we were able to rent a much larger lot a few blocks away in the same development from our good friends Mark and Faye, and moved there as soon as we could. All in all, it was a good thing, as we weren't all that pleased with the way our landlady had been treating us recently, and it gave us an opportunity to clean out our junk from the rental shed. In addition, we're on a much nicer lot for less $$ -- and there is no way she'll rent the lot for the price she is wants -- what goes around comes around.
So . . . . we're all settled in for the winter, and have been getting in plenty of biking and socializing with all of our Yuma friends. As full-timers, our wonderful winters in Yuma have been the one consistent item in our past 6 years of travel, and we really look forward to them. Mind you, we're ready to leave each April/May to do our summer thing -- but in late October, the Yuma foothills is where our compass points us to.
Speaking of summer travel, there is one other item to note -- we've already finalized our plans for Summer 2010. We'll be spending June and most of July volunteering at the D. C. Booth Fish Hatchery in Spearfish, SD -- the rest of July and August will be spent traveling and visiting friends and family in Montana and Wyoming. In September and October we'll head to Lago Vista, TX (just about 20 miles from our sons' place in Liberty Hill) to volunteer at another US Fish and Wildlife location -- Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. We visited both of these locations this summer, and are very excited to be able to participate in their volunteer programs next year. As usual, when we pull up the jacks (and hoping they work) in late October 2010 in Texas, we'll be heading west again to Yuma for another season here.
That's about all for now -- although I guess we should also note that we're planning on using a few of our airline miles to spend Christmas this year in Liberty Hill with our family there (our granddaughter Gabrielle will be spending Christmas in Texas this year and we didn't want to miss her). Greg will also be taking a mid-winter break in January or February to fly up to Seattle to visit his mother. All is well with the both of us as we complete another year of vagabonding, and, as you can see, we hope to continue taking advantage of this great lifestyle for the foreseeable future.
