Young Snowbirds » motorhome

Road Trip 2011 Calendars

Darlene — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:50:10 +0000

These will go like hot cakes, don’t hesitate – get yours now!

A couple years ago I did a calendar of some of my favorite images of Peru. I got to thinking, since I took over 17,000 images on our six month RV trip south – I should do the same this year! So here is the official launch of Road Trip 2011 calendar. It includes 13 fabulous images from our 26,000 km (over 16,000 miles for my American friends) in full color glossy pages in 8.5×11.
The calendars will retail for $20 plus GST, shipping is extra if needed – I just charge you what it costs me. Shipping will be added to your total if you order online here. If you pick up your calendar I’ll give you a cash refund for the shipping cost.

CALENDARS MAKE GREAT GIFTS – ORDER A FEW!

Calendars are great gifts, staff or co-workers and those hard to buy for people. The best part is even those tough to buy for guys on your list will like it because there’s cars in it! I went with a theme this year of Road Trip as that’s exactly what our journey was – one big one at that! So the images are things along the Roadside, or things that were once on the road. We even hit Route 66 a couple times so look for some cool diners and gas stations.
Here are the images that appear in the Road Trip 2011 calendar. It’s a slide show, so just click the picture to start it. Of course they are much more impressive in print but this is a good teaser.

Click to play slide show

Odell Station on Route 66

This photograph of the Odell Station on Route 66 in Illinois is one of Rob’s (my husband) favorite images. He says he has a lot of good energy around it. We were running out of light and I wanted to make it to this town to photograph this station. We got there and it was all but dark and no lights on the building. So we started photographing with our car headlights on it for any light at all. We tried using a flashlight on it and as we started running around lighting bits of the station up – the motion sensors came on and we had an “aha!” moment. So we used the lights to our advantage – each one set off in a different exposure, some of them at long at 8 minutes. Then I worked some magic in Photoshop to combine about 9 different shots into the final image you see here. Is that cool or what?

I just remember having to go to the bathroom the entire time and when you’re doing the Pee Dance 8 minutes for each exposure is a loooooong time! What you don’t see in the image is Rob running around setting off the motion sensors and then hiding behind the posts or around back of the station while the exposure finishes. Trust me, he’s in the picture a lot, but he’s always hiding out of sight.
I asked him why he likes it so much and he told me that after a great day exploring Route 66 with me, we got to this spot as the sun was just setting. It was quiet and peaceful with virtually no other cars around to interrupt us. The stars had come out, the sky was clear and the air was so very fresh. His helping me set up the shot and running around the building setting off the light sensors just allowed him to fully appreciate the place and be fully present during the making of the shot. He says he was in pure joy for a good hour.
Back to the Road Trip 2011 Calendar.

To order your Road Trip 2011 calendar please click on the Add to Cart button below to make your payment by Paypal. If you’re in Edmonton I’ll be keeping a list and you can come pick your calendar from me directly once I get them. If you require shipping and billing to the US, please use the button below for US Orders.

Canadian orders here!

USA orders here!

For orders of more than three calendars please email me with a quantity as I’ll have to get a quote on shipping. Then if you want to proceed I’ll send you a custom invoice including the freight.

Pump and Boo’s Big Motorhome Adventure

Pumpkin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:36:00 +0000

Meow! Hi, I’m Pumpkin, Rob’s orange cat. I’m about 15 years old and my buddy Boo is a black kitty, who’s 16. This is our side of the story of our current situation.

Pumpkin on the bed

Boo on the couch

We’ve lived with Rob for almost our whole lives. We’re pretty timid and don’t really like visitors much (I hide under the bed and Boo usually hisses at them). We also aren’t all that fond of changes to our lifestyle and home. Being over 15 makes us senior kitties and we’re pretty set in our ways.

How Our Motorhome Adventure Began

That brings me to the beginning of this adventure. We were pretty cozy in our home in Alberta. After moving with Rob into Dar’s house 2 years ago, we had just finally trained her to let us stay upstairs full time and sleep on the bed. We were sooooooo tired of the basement. Dar and Rob started acting all weird and many of the things we were used to climbing on around the house were disappearing and more and more boxes appeared daily. Strangers would came and walk around the house – we didn’t like that one bit! We knew something was going on.

My Secret Hiding Spots Were All Gone

Then one day the house was almost empty and even my hiding spot under the bed was gone and the bed was part of the floor now. Next morning Rob came and picked me up (I protested with my usual loud meows) and took me from the nice warm house, out into a strange place we’d only been a couple of times. It was very cold outside (I heard them says -35c, whatever that means) and my bladder instantly stopped working. I was very upset and cold so I just peed – it just so happened that I peed ON Rob, oh well serves him right!

This new place he put me had more of those boxes and Boo was here too. I think she found a spot in the closet to hide, she’s very good at not being found as she’s black. This is like a house, with a bed and furniture and stuff, but there wasn’t as much room, and nothing smelled like our familiar things. We’d have to fix that really soon!

Eventually Rob and Dar came into the new mini house too. After much cursing and some crying, things started vibrating and rocking to and fro. Now Boo and I were very confused. It was like going on a car ride, but it wasn’t a car. I just hoped we weren’t going to the place we usually go in the car where all the other dogs and cats were and some mean lady pokes me with needles.

Boo and Dar

A New Day, A New Smell

Well, ultimately we didn’t go there – whew! But we didn’t go home either. Every day the humans would move stuff onto the bed in the morning, more vibrating, and then later they’d move it all to the big window in the front. Boo noticed that every day when the big door opened it was different outside. Different smells, sights and sounds – very weird. At first we didn’t want IN this mini house, then we didn’t want out cause we thought we’d get lost or see strangers out there. So we agreed it was best to just hide inside. One night it got very cold in the mini house and I crawled under the covers by Rob while Boo curled up on Dar’s pillow as close to her cheek as she could. They may not be the brightest creatures, but we love them and have to take care of our humans and keep them warm.

Very odd that they don’t have fur.

Great Places To Sit

Oh, the small inside issue gradually got taken care of too. Each day we’d pee in a new spot so everyone would know that was our area. We also discovered some really good places to sit. Boo likes to sit in the big window up front when it’s sunny. She can watch the stuff outside move from there too when the house is vibrating. Rob gave me a pillow and blanky on the couch right behind his chair, so I was happy to sit there. He’d reach back and touch me now and then too, so I’d purr. Lately I’ve been going in the window too and Boo rides on a warm spot on the floor she found.

one of Boo's warm spots

One of my favorite spots on the couch

Exploring The New Places

Finally all the boxes were gone and the ground outside was the same every day, so Boo start going outside to check things out. She’s the brave one so I encouraged her to go scout and report back. She said she could see a dog across the road, but he was tied up so that’s safe – and many other of these mini houses all in rows. Dar and Rob tried to put collars on us and tie us to a table outside – yeah like we’d let that happen. Boo got out of hers no problem and tangled the line around and around a chair to confuse them and wonder how she did it.

Cats thinking about going out

Boo, you go first and look around

At night we heard strange scary howling, so we mostly stayed inside. We noticed too it was much warmer, even hot, outside now. We heard the humans talk about Arizona a lot.

We Pee In The Bathtub – Sort of

So we cats adapted to the new house and got the humans retrained. Our litter box is now inside this tub we have to jump up into – the humans pee in the same room which is kinda weird for us but put up with them and their smells. Sometimes we got locked out of that room so we had to teach them about that. Usually Dar leaves some clothes on the floor by the foot of the bed – so we used that spot to relieve ourselves. She doesn’t seem to happy about it when we have to use her pillow or pajamas though. She should be honored we are marking her with our smell, to show other cats we own her and those spots are where we want to sleep too.

I like to sleep here when Dar's not sitting here

After finally getting some routine again, we packed up and move. We’re smart cats – we figured out the vibrating is the house moving. The new place had lots of birds and the humans often went to neighbors while there burned things at night. Humans do such odd things. Boo went to see what they were doing one night but she got lost and Rob had to use a light to go find her. That was scary for Boo, but she did get to hiss at the little dog over there so all was not lost.

Boo ventures outside

Visitors To Our House

We have gotten used to the new places, but still don’t like the moving too much. We’ve done a lot of that now. One cool thing is we met Kandace (they called it Florida) the lady we’ve heard Rob and Dar talk to on the phone. She brought two small humans of her own with her and a friend of theirs. I sat in Rob’s chair and let them pet me, and didn’t even hide under the couch. Seems some new people are nice too, maybe I’ll be more open and not hide so much now. I kinda liked that Mike guy that came to visit us a few times too, he’s nice and pets me. We thought maybe he was moving in with us, but he didn’t. Just as well, not much room.

Ah a piece of paper to sleep on!

Boo sleeps in the window

Pumpkin and Boo on the beach of Padre Island Texas

To The Beach

One day after moving, Rob took me out far from the house and put me in a large litter-box. Boo came out with Dar too. We didn’t know who’s litter-box it was and we didn’t like how it felt on our feet. Then the earth was moving towards me and my feet were suddenly wet – we I just put it in reverse and backed up. I was about to leave when Dar took me back home. My feet needed cleaning and they tasted all salty – weird. Boo told me her tummy got wet and her feet were stuck (they probably weren’t really, she’s such a drama queen sometimes) and Rob had to come save her. We didn’t like that place too much. They said something about taking the cats to the beach? Dunno.

So that’s about it for now. Rob and Dar often go out all day now so when they’re home we all like to curl up on the couch and watch TV. At night I sleep by Dar’s hip or between Rob’s feet. Boo sleeps in Dar’s armpit under the covers with her feet on Dar’s shoulder, or her her pillow next to her, or on Rob’s neck. We’re very happy.

Boo breaks in Rob's new computer keyboard

I can see you Rob

Day 79 – Taking the RV to the Beach

Darlene — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:32:05 +0000

We wanted a chance to park the RV on the beach and do some beach camping on Padre Island, but since we didn’t take the RV south to Brownsville (and South Padre Island) we decided to drive it over to Port Aransas. Our mission was two fold, to get a photo of our RV on the beach, and to let Rob’s cat experience the ocean. We actually have a magazine article that we wrote being published in Good Sam “Highways” and they may use an image from this shoot so we wanted it to be spectacular.

Taking the RV to Port Aransas by Ferry

Getting to Port Aransas and Padre Island by RV requires taking a ferry or driving all the way through Corpus Christi and around from the south west. Taking Victor (what we’ve named our Winnebago Vectra RV) over on the little ferry was interesting. It only holds about 20 cars and they put us in the middle of two lanes at the front in order to stay balanced. Funny.

Parking the RV on the Beach

We got to Padre Island and found a solid packed spot on the sand for us to park our RV on the beach. With memories of the other RVer getting stuck in the mud back in San Antonio, we didn’t want to risk it. Rob felt it was important that the cats got to experience the beach and the ocean. He took Pumpkin out near the water in the sand and I brought Boo out a few minutes later. They were none too happy about it and I wish I had video of Pumpkin backing up increasingly faster and faster as the water came towards her. (Rob here, um, we DO have video of that Dar) Then she almost left with a nice lady that stopped to pet her.

Cats On The Beach

Rob placed Boo in the ocean in about 1/2″ of water. She just sat there, motionless as the water came up to about 2″ and Rob had to go rescue her. And NO it’s not animal cruelty or cat torture – they are THE biggest chick cats ever and so far their RVing experience has helped them to be more daring and relaxed when things change. Now they will actually venture outside on their own, and not run and hide under the couch at even the sight of another person. So they have grown and this was indeed another experience for them. After the cats on the beach adventure, we got down to the business of getting the photos we came for.

HDR of 3-4 images combined, then us added

The RV on the beach shots accomplished, we tried to find a spot near a marina to get some boats in the photo with the RV. It was hard to find the right angle, decent lighting and access with a 34′ vehicle. Not to mention by parking it in front of the boats – guess what – I can’t even see the boats, so it kinda defeats the purpose.

RV at the Marina

Rob texting while I shoot - or he's playing a game on MY iPhone

Around the corner from there we found some pelicans flying around and Rob even saw a dolphin out in front of a big freighter that was coming in. We love pelicans – find them fascinating birds. They’re so large but graceful and how they can fly just inches off the water is amazing.

Brown pelican possibly with dinner?

brown pelican

Look at the huge wing span of these guys!

I could watch them all day

With the sun setting we headed for Virginia’s (the place with the piles of oyster shells out back that I didn’t get to eat last time cause we found it too late) for dinner. Rob parked in the biggest lot we could find nearby and put a note in the window so people would know we were not planning on camping overnight there. Rob found an online RV Journal that discusses RV unfriendly towns and made note of a few of them. Apparently some towns are not RV friendly at all and in Flagstaff, AZ they may ask you to leave even if you just stop and park to eat dinner. So now I understand why he left the note.

Beach Camping

While the idea was originally to do some beach camping on Padre Island and then go to Mexico for the day (which we did do), we weren’t actually able to pull that one off this time around. We’d both love the opportunity for beach camping, to let go of the tethers, unhook from the sewage line and do what they call dry camping. To back away from the computer, put out the awning and read instead of type so much would be a wonderful experience. Because of our schedule and events as they unfolded, beach camping was simply not going to occur.

Parking the RV on the beach on Padre Island was not only a safe experience, it was great for the cats as well. Dinner was good with a great view of the sunset over the water. A great day in paradise.

Our Review of Sea Breeze RV – Portland, TX

Darlene — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:30:46 +0000

We stayed at Sea Breeze for just over 5 weeks – and we will be back next year! Summarizing our review of Seabreeze RV Park in Portland, we would say that this is a great place to stay. We loved the location, the people, the activities and the area. You’ve already seen the owners and their classic Corvettes on the beach and the RV Olympics, so I’m not going go give too many details as I got an article on the place coming on the Good Sam magazine as well. So I’ll just show some photos of the park to give you an idea of what it was like.

The sign says "Welcome Home" and they mean it.

On a scale of 1-10 we give Sea Breeze full marks – TEN!

Our stall H48

"The Place" clubhouse where events take place

games room - patio

Dora starting off the pot luck for St. Patty's day dinner

Dancers for St. Patty's dinner

I got in on the act and picked up the spoons to play

There are an incredible number and type of birds that hang out in and around the park. Here are a few of them, most of these taken only steps from our door. If you’re into birding in Texas, this is the place to stay.

Blue heron in the creek at the park

Large egret - the littler Snowy Egrets also hang out nearby

Cardinal - I chased this guy around to get a photo of him. He has the neatest song too,

Egret

Ducks of course

Snowy egret

Brown pelicans

6 toed cat (6 on each front paw) - 12 pack as they called him that lives at Sea Breeze

Not a bad view hey?

The lights are from the city, Corpus Christi across the bay

And that marks the end of Texas for this year - cheers!

What We Liked About Seabreeze RV Park

Location – end of a road, next to Nueces Bay opposite Corpus Christi with NO SECURITY because there’s NO NEED for security. 5 minute drive to Shamrock Fitness center, 5 minutes to a movie theater, close to banks and shopping and a short 15 minutes to Corpus.
Birding – Texas is filled with birds and Seabreeze RV Park is no exception. As you see in the pictures above, many different types of birds live in the park and an area between the beach and the RV’s is designed for birds. I tried to convince Otto to put in a par 3 golf course hole here, but he declined. Otto said “That’s the birding area”.
Fishing – although we didn’t fish, our neighbors did. You can walk right out off the beach into the water and cast your line, or drive a short distance and launch your boat. Our neighbor had a boat he used almost daily
Laundry facility had accompanying television area. Can watch TV if you like, while waiting for laundry.
3 places to watch TV. The office (TV, and Pool table), laundry room, and “The Place” with a HUGE flatscreen.
Pool and hot tub
Covered games area offering Foosball, darts (and the pool table at the office)
Large washrooms with showers in 2 different places for a total of 4 showers plus an additional 2 washrooms at the office.
Daily “Happy Hour” at “The Place” where the guys meet to shoot the shit for an hour in the afternoon. Beverages optional.
Morning coffee and “shoot the shit” at The Place, which was always very active.
Every other week potluck suppers
Immediately brought into the social aspect of the park, welcomed with open arms. That was a first for us.
While the owners Otto and Dora don’t actually run the park, they are VERY active in the events. It’s their second home, so we saw them a lot.
We liked that the full timers had their own section of the park. If they went to work early, they didn’t wake other campers.
Vehicle vacuum and tire pump on site.
The ONLY downside of the park is the location of the trash bin. There’s one trash bin located outside the park entrance that fills quickly. One must save trash locally and then take it with you leave, or make a special trip. With it being the only downside, we quickly adapted.
Oh, and the price. It’s so perfect. Was the most affordable park we stayed at in our entire RV history.

Seabreeze RV Park in Portland is far and away the best place we’ve stayed at in our short time on the road. We think that it’s important to be able to call a place home and feel safe there. At Seabreeze, we were welcomed with open arms, included in events immediately and could not have felt safer or had a better view. I hope that our review of seabreeze offers you some insight into making the choice to stay here.

Days 49-51 – Drama upon arriving in San Antonio, Texas

Darlene — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:55:45 +0000

So, I’ve been to Texas only once before and that was Austin. Which, I’ve learned really isn’t at all like the rest of Texas – now I know why. Austin is like Edmonton actually, no one is from Texas there, and no one speaks with an accent.

Things Are Different In Texas

Once we crossed over into Texas (the real Texas) we started noticing little things that were different like road signs, ads on TV, etc. Guns are a big thing down here. Everyone’s got some and they know how to use them – at least if they take all the shooting classes available on TV they certainly do. There’s also a lot of border patrol going on to make sure no illegal immigrants are getting through from the Mexican side. They also display their state flag and the Lone Star everywhere! More state loyalty than I’ve seen anywhere else. Rob wrote a little travel though on Texans being VERY serious about being Texan.

Here’s a few examples of road signs and Texas patriotism. Notice the “no guns” sign on the bridge”.

I had researched a few RV parks in San Antonio and because we pushed extra hard yesterday I was looking forward to an extra day before I went to my Photoshop seminar in the city. I had planned on using it to catch up on my homework for my Editorial class and some blog photos. NOT!

I use a site that has reviews from people who’ve actually stayed there to help pick which parks we stay in. I didn’t find Hidden Valley RV Park as an oversight because it isn’t actually listed in San Antonio, it’s in Von Ormy out in the southwest countryside of the city and I didn’t think to look for it there. So I used my gut and booked it on the phone. Their web site talks about the creek, rustic location, birds, in amongst the trees, etc. Sounded really quiet and quaint.

Hidden Valley RV Park in San Antonio

We arrived about 6pm and another RV had just pulled in before us. We should have taken a clue about the state of the “park” by the fact the check in area is a little 3 walled shack outside the lady’s house. She had given the other guy his choice of two stalls so we had to take whichever he didn’t use which was likely a back-in stall. We prefer pull through as you just drive in and leave the car dolly attached at the back. Back in is more work unhooking everything.

She didn’t take visa so I wrote her a check, which she wasn’t sure her bank could cash as it’s a Canadian one. Then we drove down the hill (which is quite steep and is a dirt road of partly mud and clay). It was raining a little bit so we wanted to get set up and have dinner as quickly as possible. The other guy had attempted to get into the pull through, which required entering the RV area (which is really a big open dirt field) and coming around from the back side. Only he went the wrong way around and ended up getting his rig stuck in the mud. We took the back-in stall.

We watched the drama unfold as we hooked up

They had to bring a small tractor down to pull the RV out of the muck. The tractor stopped at one point, the RV didn’t and CRUNCH! Ouch – we later ran into the same couple in town and found out they had over $3500 worth of damages on the back of their RV.

Rob’s comment: I learned from growing up in Saskatchewan, that when pulling a vehicle out, the vehicle being towed has to ride the break actually and be the one stopping the motion when finally pulled out. What we saw happen in front of us was classic “how not to tow a vehicle out of the mud”

After we got set up we tried to get internet, no luck. Teri, the park owner, said the router was 3 trailers over so maybe the ones in between were blocking the signal to us. We decided that if they other guy left in the morning, we’d move over and take the pull-through to have clearer internet access. We’d avoid the mud and go round the other way.

Where the other RV was stuck in the mud

Stalls at Hidden Valley RV - it's just an open field at the bottom of a dirt hill really. Only stalls for about 25 or so RV's many of which are there full time.

Stalls at Hidden Valley RV in the trees

In the morning Rob talked to another couple that were bugging out entirely. Apparently some heavy rain was coming and they didn’t want to get stuck there, not being able to get up that slippery hill. Good point! We had also learned that there were no bathrooms or showers here at all. One thing I hadn’t thought to ask for, as every park at least has them – what state they’re in is another thing – but no park we’ve stayed in so far has not had bathrooms.

So the combination of rain coming, possibility of getting stuck, iffy internet at best, and no showers prompted us to make the same decision. I called our second choice and they had a spot for us so we pulled anchor.

We ended up having to pay her cash (gave her $20 instead of the $14 we actually owed) because she said she couldn’t cash our check. We explained why we were leaving and thanked her.

Truth be told, Hidden Valley RV Park is not that bad of a place IF – and I say IF – it is not raining! If you want rustic, you’re literally in the forest. If you want quiet, you’re certainly away from it all. Yes it’s only a 25 minute drive right to the downtown area. The lady was super nice and we felt bad but as we are still relative RV newbies, we didn’t want to take a chance getting flooded out in the valley there, or stuck trying to get out once the water came.

Trepidatiously, we headed for Braunig Lake RV Park, crossing our fingers. Unfortunately we don’t have any photos of that park but it was much drier and solid internet and showers! We were very happy with our move. It’s a damn good thing we arrived a day early, otherwise we’d not have had time for moving – or Rob would have been doing it by himself while I was in class.

Photoshop Workshop With Ben Willmore

The class I attended on February 2nd was a Photoshop class by Ben Willmore. Ben travels around in an RV as well, photographs, and lectures. I talked to him about RVing and got a photo of us together. No this is NOT his RV. You can see Ben’s travels and photography at www.whereisben.com. He was very inspirational and I got lots of good tips and ideas.

Dar and Ben Willmore

Things To Do in San Antonio

Over the week we stayed in San Antonio, we spent a day visiting The Alamo and then discovered the Riverwalk. We ran out of light the first day after taking the riverwalk boat ride, so we went back a second time to walk it and get more photographs.

Home at Destiny RV

Darlene — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:44:41 +0000

People have been asking what it’s like here at the Destiny RV park in Goodyear Arizona, so I went and did some photos around the place. When we first decided to spend an entire month at Destiny, we chose the location because it was close to a gym we could go to. It’s just off the I-10 on the west side of Phoenix, south of Surprise. We also liked the amenities it has, the pool and hot tub and the security they have in place. Destiny RV is a very clean RV park nestled in the middle of a citrus orchard. It’s best described in pictures though…

Let’s start at the front entrance, shall we. Here is the front as you drive in, and the main building which is the office and laundry room in the back, and one set of bathrooms on the side.

Destiny RV front entrance

Main building

On the side of the building is the Loft where you can go up to the roof and have a nice view to sit and work, read, whatever. Go up here to the Lookout.

These are the views from the Lookout area.

Bonus points to the first one the finds our RV in this photo.

I took the next couple shots to show you what is around us here – NOTHING!
It’s so very quiet here. NO road noise, NO trains… just peace and quiet.

View to the north east

View to the south

On to the pool. I didn’t think you needed to see the laundry room. Pretty standard – machines and tables. The pool is quite nice, although Rob says heavily chlorinated. The hot tub isn’t as chemically and we use it about 3-4 times a week in the evening before it closes at 10pm. George the security man here lives on site and closes everything down at precisely 10 on the dot! He’s very punctual, and no you can’t have a few extra minutes, as some gentlemen were told the other night.

Around the park there are lots of citrus trees and almost as many hummingbirds. There are tons of birds of all kinds and quite a few small doves too. I’ve never seen wild doves. They’re not pigeons for sure, they’re smaller and make different noises. The hummingbirds are my faves of course. I know am familiar with their sounds too and I know when one is nearby. They make little chirping, clicking sort of noises and they sound like a little motor flying over. Sometimes they go right overhead. I got this photo from the overhead Lookout area because I heard him and look around to see where he was. (for you Christina!)

This is the community room where activities take place. I haven’t participated in any but the oil painting class for $30 looked pretty interested when I popped in the other day. Maybe I’ll catch the next one. This is where you can find books and where I did the puzzle.

Finally, this is our row. Our car dolly is parked in behind and under the RV’s back bumper. The car goes in front at an angle. The bus on the right belongs to our neighbors: Joanna, Bob, their daughter Ashley – and their pets Mac the black lab, and Casper the grey kitty. They are from Washington state but sold their house and are full time in the RV now. The bus is from her grandfather who renovated it. Very nice people who we met on the first day we arrived and are closer to our age, as most in the park here are over 65. There are others that are here working but we don’t see much of them as they’re gone during the day.

That’s a look around Destiny RV park in Goodyear Arizona, hope you enjoyed the tour.

Days 12-18 – Destiny RV Park Phoenix

Darlene — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:04:11 +0000

It’s been a while since our last blog update but there hasn’t been much to update day by day. So here it is, in a nutshell, what’s been happening with us here in Goodyear, AZ in the last week.

After xmas we met up with my cousin, Barbilee, and her family (Dywayne, Rydel, and Taylor Rae) as they were here for the holidays too. The ladies went shopping while Rob did some errands and found a Whole Foods. That evening we all went for Indian food, which was very tasty.

Over the week we figured out where the gym is that we have affiliation with through Club Fit, found a Safeway, Blockbuster and some basic necessities in our area. Rob finally got the parts he needed to get the BBQ working and we used it for the first time. He said it was quite efficient, being small it circulates the heat and the food cooks quickly.

We signed up to get internet connections on both our laptops which set us back another $30 each, on top of the RV park fees. We were NOT expecting it to be extra for what we paid here. Rob went and looked into getting the Verizon wireless internet stick and network hub, but they wanted his SIN number or a $400 deposit, so he declined and we bit the bullet and paid the $60 for the month.

New Years came and went without much fanfare for us. We just had dinner in, and watched a movie ourselves. We actually even missed midnight by 3 minutes by the time we looked at a clock.

Destiny RV park itself is quite nice, but quite honestly the one in Pahrump was just as nice and was less costly. Lesson learned to shop around and ask questions before booking. The park is situated in a citrus grove and it is full of orange, grapefruit, and lemon trees. We have an orange tree 5 feet from our door, and grapefruit one site behind us. I took a walk one day and found lemons not too far away too.

They have a community recreation room for get togethers and group functions. It has a big screen TV and satellite channels. They also have books and puzzles, which I have already done one of, even though it was missing one piece at the end. There is also a pool and hot tub, the latter which we’ve been visiting quite frequently in the evenings. The temperature drops quite quickly here after the sun has gone down, and inside the RV can get chilly. A quick dip in the hot tub is great to take the chill out of the old bones before bed.

I took an hour long walk one day and saw horses, a road runner (inside the RV park) and 4 hummingbirds fighting in a tree. Seems they are quite territorial, or so it seems. I watched the first one chase away the new comer three or four times. They make little clicks and tiny chirps and are quite often seen in the early morning and just before dusk. I will try and capture them on camera soon.

Lessons learned: always ask the RV park if internet or WIFI is included in the price when their listing says “wifi available”.

Day 11 – Xmas in Phoenix

Rob — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:41:34 +0000

After sleeping in a bit, we pulled out of Kingman on xmas morning. Our space heater had kept us nice and warm during the night without having to run the LP gas furnace. It gets surprisingly cold at night in the desert. After a short 4 hour trip through some amazing landscape, we pulled into our RV park in Goodyear Arizona. Joshua tree’s and various types of cacti dotted the countryside along with beautiful rock formations.

Saguaro cacti

At one point Dar said “what the heck is out here” and this sign flashed by ironically. “NOTHING” it was a long stretch where we saw no signs of civilization.

Joshua tree forest

Our trusty GPS brought us to our destination, Destiny RV Park, in the early afternoon. The RV park office was closed, but the watchman guy registered us, escorted us to our parking spot and promptly sold Rob a sewer line trough contraption for $30. He informed us that county ordinance states that RV sewer lines cannot touch the ground and must be on enough of an incline so that they drain properly. The PVC tube and trough contraptions can be seen at various locations around the park, and quite frankly, do what they’re supposed to do, so he parted with the $30.

The very first thing we noticed was the orange tree located 5 feet off our front porch, full of navel oranges. Behind us was a grapefruit tree full of grapefruit and so on all through the park. Citrus is everywhere!
After hooking up the sewage, power and water, we met our neighbors, a couple our own age with their teen age daughter, Bob and Joanne. They sold their house in Washington and are spending a year on the road in their 1962 greyhound bus conversion.

Bob told us about the various shopping districts around the area so our next duties were a scouting mission. We both had our Isagenix meal replacement shakes and then took off to see what the area held.

Turns out we’re just around the corner from an organic farm, a safeway, blockbuster video, Ace hardware, Walmart, another walmart and yet another walmart.

Lessons learned today are not to rely on Walmarts, Albertsons or Walgreen’s as landmarks, because they all look the same and they’re located on just about every corner. And… an interesting fact: Walmart makes $3 Million dollars in revenue every 7 minutes. Holy crow eh? Also – find out what is meant when an RV park advertises “WIFI here”, as it was not included with this park’s fees and we have to pay for each of our laptops to connect – ouch!

After heading home, Dar cooked a meal and we watched Inglorious Basterds curled up together on the pull out bed in our front room. Dar had no idea it pulled out into a bed the way it did. Happy Holidays from the dessert of Arizona!

Day 10 – Hoover Dam

Darlene — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:11:02 +0000

As the winds had now died down, we were cleared for leaving. Rob wanted to go on the tour of the Hoover Dam so that was our first stop. When entering the dam area, vehicles have to go through a security check point and they stop all RVs and do a search of the underneath compartments, and inside. We did that, no problems, and they security guard told us that RV parking was lot #13.

We passed that lot and it was too tight a turn and small for the RV and car, so we kept going. #14 was just a roadside turn out and was completely empty. Initially we stopped there but Dar wasn’t happy parking on a slant like that so we decided to go up the hill one more lot.

At that particular lot, Rob couldn’t make the turn and had traffic piled up behind us – so onward we went. We soon realized that was the last parking lot (or first if you come in from the AZ side) and there was nowhere to turn a big rig around to go back. Now we passed out the security on the other side and were soon 5-6 miles past the dam.

Dar knew Rob really wanted to take the dam tour, so suggested he pull over on a wide shoulder, unhook the car and take it back there, while she waited in the RV. That’s exactly what he did.

Two hours later, Rob returned, after having taken the Power Plant tour (was a 2 hour wait for dam tours) but he seemed satisfied with that. Next stop Kingman, AZ.

Arriving in Kingman about 5:30pm (we gained an hour coming into AZ from NV) we wisely decided to stop at Safeway and get food for tonight and tomorrow as stores may not be opened and we’re pretty much out of fresh items. The store closed 10 minutes after we left, so our timing was impeccable.

We successfully found the Zuni Village RV Park, but as expected the office was closed for the holidays already. I’m actually surprised by the self-serve nature of many of these parks. If you arrive after 6pm you just park where you find a spot and they trust you’ll register and put your money in the slot, even if you leave before the office is opened.

The night manager that checked us into our very first park in Great Falls, MT said he is just a guy that lives there and noticed many people leaving without paying so they appointed him night manager. But I wonder how many parks lose money because of this honesty approach??

We spent Xmas Eve pretty much unaware of the holiday going on around us. People keep wishing us Merry Xmas and we’re like “oh yeah, it’s the holidays”. Dar did miss being at her mom’s house for her annual open house though.

***things we saw – a road runner, and some young bighorn sheep. Finally, some wildlife!!!

Lessons learned:

That when you have a parking place for the RV at the Hoover Dam, go with it and don’t second guess it cause there’s no going back.