The Sequel October 24 Biking

 

Thursday, October 24  Nice bike trail

Humans, can I go outside?  MEOWT!

We readied the bikes and headed to the trail we found yesterday.  The canal apparently runs for miles, accompanied by power lines.  On one side of the canal is the paved bike trail.  On the other side is a dirt walking trail.  There are people enjoying both sides, but it isn’t crowded. 

The trail winds around, goes through a tunnel and past the botanical gardens.  We cross into Tempe.  We pedal around a local park with a lake with a few fishermen out enjoying themselves.  It really is very pretty.  We go roughly 5 miles in this direction, then doubled back, past our starting point for about another mile, past homes and neighborhoods.  This was such a pleasant surprise, but time to end it and hit the road.

Back at Artee, we were able to hook up, so we figured we don’t need to come home, yet…

We decide to head up to Flagstaff, up I17.  Then we decided to try going up hwy 180 towards the grand canyon.  This was kind of iffy, as it is high altitude passing ski areas.  Should we be towing?  We looked at some online chats and decided it was worth a try.  This is exactly why we don’t make reservations.  We rarely know what we want to do and where we want to go.

The ride up I17 is pretty.  Picking up 180 in Flagstaff is a bit tricky.  Oh, no way we can turn that corner while we are towing.  We could be towing a VW beetle, and wouldn’t be able to make the turn.  We figured out how to get on the highway and soldiered on.  It is a nice, easy highway through high elevation and lots of pines.  You can tell it rained recently as the dirt roads are quite wet.  We would love to explore some, but not in these conditions.  We did find a nice spot where we could turn out for the night.  We turned our chairs around to face a beautiful snow capped mountain.  Yes…

Our turnout is at the head of a dirt road.  The fragile gate is closed, but you can easily open it as long as you don’t mind wading through water.  We can navigate walking, but NO WAY would I risk taking the rig back there.  We walked down the dirt road in this crisp air.  We stumbled on folks in their rigs back here.  Brave in my book!  Great for walking tho.

The sequel October 23

 

Wednesday, October 23 Look what I found!

My humans keep poking me.  I don’t like that.

Our morning walk took us around the neighborhood.  At the end of the street, we found a really nice bike trail!  There is a canal, and walking trails.  Oh, yeah, we will do this before we leave.

Rudy’s diabetes has been acting up.  We are constantly sticking him, and he is so tolerant.  What a great cat.

I really can’t remember what we did this day.  I might have confused yesterday with today, but the gist is we found a bike trail… 

And, we got one more night of volleyball hell.

The sequel October 22 Is it fixed yet? The sequel to the sequel

 

Tuesday, October 22  Is it fixed yet?  Another sequel…

I like this place.  I don’t smell any predators.  My humans took me for a good walk.  I even got to go in a tree.  Yep, I like it here.

Our morning walk took us around a sports complex.  There is an archery range, looks like a baseball field and more.  It is a nice walk on open land with views of the rocky crags.  This is part of Papago Park.  There is a botanical garden I would like to see in the spring with the desert blooms.  It is a pretty area.

Back at Artee, we got it ready and hopped back on the freeway to the RV repair.  Welding, pounding, tapping…  testing…  Ok, good to go.  We decided we better head back to the Elks, just in case.

We held our breath, but we were able to disconnect.  Did we trust it?  Not really, but it seemed ok for now, so let’s go play.  We headed over to an RV dealer that handles Outdoor RV.  We are thinking of downsizing, but only if we can find a smaller rig that is of good quality.  Turns out, Outdoor RV is made by Arctic Fox, just like Artee.  We are looking at a bumper pull trailer, instead of a 5^th wheel.  As much as we love Artee, she is big.  She is wide.  She is tall.  A bumper pull trailer would not tow as nicely as Artee, but given our propensity to drive through the forests and campgrounds where the overhead is low, it would probably be a little better for us.  We did see a couple of workable models, and filed that in our little brains for now.

We then headed over to Usery Park.  It is a county park with great RV spaces.  But… it is in the desert.  There are lots of hiking trails.  It is not hot, but it is too warm to start the trails for us today.  Definitely a November through March place.  Although since many baseball spring training camps practice there, we were told those months for next year are already booked.

We then got to listen to volleyball antics once again…

The sequel Oct 21 - Is it Fixed?

 

Monday October 21  Is it Fixed???

Human?  Are you awake?  My bowl is not full.  Let me sniff you.  My purrbox is on loud.  Human?

Spouse found someone who could fix Artee.  We took our morning walk, then said our goodbyes to Lynn and family and hopped on the freeway.  We no longer trust our usual GPS so we have our phone.  Phoenix freeways are busy…  way busy, but we found the spot.

After about 2 hours, we were good to go.  Since we weren’t sure if this fix would hold, we decided to go to the Elks in Scottsdale.  The Elks are very accommodating to their members.  If we could not disconnect, not only would they be ok, we could go inside and have a drink!

We pick our spot and then take the plunge… we unhook…  oops!  Oh, that is not holding at all.  How are we going to get it high enough to hook up again?   I told Spouse to go fuel up while he was not connected then we would see what we could do.  When he returned, he got out jacks and started jacking Artee up.  This one there, and that one here.  Spouse is struggling.  Why he didn’t call AAA since we have RV coverage is beyond me.  I guess that would have been too easy!  We finally got Artee positioned to try and hook up.  It took a couple of tries but we got it.

Spouse then called the repair guys and let them know to expect us tomorrow. 

At least we can now open the sliders and enjoy ourselves.  Kind of….  Right outside are volleyball courts…  Until about 10 PM, some type of tournament was happening.  The screams and yelling of the peeps was not annoying, but the music was pretty painful.

The sequel October 19

 

The weekend of October 19   So Long Jake    

My human let me walk outside.  I got to roll.  OOOH that feels good!

Our morning walk is through the desert.  Just a block away are all sorts of trails through the saguaros, past the chollas and over those beautiful rocks.  Oops, a few of those rocks jumped into my waistpack.  Shhhh… The weather is cool so this is a truly nice adventure.

This weekend is all about Jake and Lynn.  Jake passed away in July after what turned out to be a 2 year battle with cancer.  Jake’s son and daughter-in-law have been staying with Lynn, and a bazillion friends came to pay respects, including every neighbor within a mile from their house!  The celebration started at a nearby Mexican restaurant, and ended at Lynn’s. 

We visited, played cards, and I watched some of the Dodgers playoff, but people were more interested in Football.  Go figure…

On Monday, we need to see if we can get Artee fixed.  So, we either soldier on, or, we head home… what will it be…

The sequel 10/18 What was that?

 

Friday October 18  What was that???

There are other felines here.  I want to go outside but I don’t think they will like me in their territory.  I must be careful and stick close to my human.

It is pretty windy this morning.  My morning walk is now ‘our’ morning walk as Spouse joins me.  In these hellacious winds, we head down the street and turn left on the dirt road to walk along the river…  with the dust blowing… and the tumbleweeds flying…  Did I mention the dirt flying?  And we are going to drive in this?  Towing?  Ought to be fun…

We headed back to Artee.  We did not disconnect so we were ready to go.  In the truck we go… then…  SPOILER ALERT!  What happened next pretty much paved the way for our trip…

As we pull away, we hear, and feel a thud.  Spouse looks at me and asks ‘What was that?’.  I know this is hard to believe but I calmly gave the most profound answer…  ‘Why don’t you get out of the truck and check it out?’  Right?  Sheesh…

Then I heard the ‘oh shit’.  Ok. I gotta see this…  Although we did not disconnect from the truck, Spouse put down Artee’s landing legs up front for more stability. Normally, he puts them on these bright yellow chalks, but since we were on grass, he didn’t do that.  And, he forgot to raise them… one was ok, but the other… not so.  This means, we would not be able to disconnect! 

We made a few calls to RV repairs in Quartzsite, but nothing was going to happen today and we had to get to Lynn’s for the services.  Spouse did some magic and got the leg up so we could drive.  Once we get to Lynn’s, we do not have to disconnect as we stay in front of her house.  So this is what we do…

2024 The Sequel

 

The Sequel…   

On October 19, we had a celebration of life for our dear friend Jake, in Phoenix.  So we figured we would do a bit of a road trip while we were there.  I forgot our laptop, so I could not blog.  Sooooo, I tried to remember stuff so I could, at some time, post the adventures at some time.  And yes…  there are stories to tell!

I won’t be too precise on dates and such, but I will get a few things out there starting with our departure on 10/18.

Not a whole lot to say about travelling the I10 freeway.  As it gets closer to the state line, it gets bumpy.  Wow!  What a revelation!

We stayed at an RV park on the Colorado River.  We have stayed here before.

Spoiler alert…  this was our easiest day…