New Arrival

 

I know it has been a while since I last updated this story of mine, but there has actually been a ton of activity going on.  And like I said in the last chapter....we are trying to work our way east.  So let's see if we can't get up to date.
      The big news of the day.....MAE has landed a new job with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Syracuse! Big move on her part.  She had been hinting that they were grooming her for a job down there ever since they sent her on detail a few months ago.  But they also hinted of a job in Albany with a little more IT component along with Legal Assistant work.  But they hesitated in Albany, and Syracuse grabbed her.  Now she's busy apartment shopping!  Should be interesting to see how that turns out.  So everyday as we're working our way eastbound, Debbie has been texting back and forth with MAE about all the pros and cons and trying to be a good listener. So it looks like we're going to have a busy summer getting MAE settled in Syracuse.  Way to go Princess!!!
      While we were visiting the PGD in San Diego for the month of April, we stumbled onto an RV salesman from Albuquerque, NM who was working the RV show in San Diego.  Debbie and I like to check them out and see what else is out there.  This first show we attended had nothing we were interested in, but we let Ty know that we might be interested in a used Allegro Red 33AA.  Weezy is about 28' long and a few extra feet would make it a little more comfortable.  Since Tiffin started making them in 2012, we figured the odds of locating a used one was piss poor to unbelievable!  The day before we left San Diego, Ty called saying he was back in San Diego at another RV show and there was a new Red 33AA at the show if we wanted to take a look.  Actually we had been scheduled to depart San Diego the day before, but we had to postpone our departure by 2 days due to high winds in the East County.  I remembered my days of working out there.  When they say High Wind Warning - they mean it.  So with the temperature hovering around 93, we weren't doing much besides sitting around the pool when we got a call from Ty.  After the sun went down, we headed up to the show, but the 33AA didn't have the floor plan we wanted.  Also we were looking for a used one.  Flash forward a week or so, and there we are in Gallup, NM easing our way east.  Suddenly the phone rings and it our old buddy Ty, in Albuquerque.  Seems like they just got a used 33AA in on trade and it may be just what we're looking for. "Where are you guys, by the way?"  Ends up we're just a few hours west of Albuquerque heading eastbound.  So it looks like we're heading for Albuquerque!
     Turns out, it exactly what we were looking for.  And it was preowned!  After 2 hard days of haggling, and I mean 2 hard days of haggling, plus another delayed departure because of high winds.... and suddenly we're now eastbound in a nice shiny Allegro Red 33AA!

 Lots more room and lots more amenities which makes both of us happy.   I'll get some better pictures in the coming days. The picture above shows our table and computer work station inside "Big Red".  To the left is our first night out, camped in Amarillo Tx.  Tonight we're in Gore, Ok at a nice little RV park.  Tomorrow we are camping alongside the Mississippi in Memphis, and getting together with Randy and his bride Reetha from San Angelo, Tx, and enjoying the barbecue competition going on in Memphis this weekend. Maybe we'll run into Elvis!! Then we're both headed for Nashville for the Retired BP Convention.  Lots going on.
     Plus we have to keep an eye on Ben, Joanne and the PGD who are on the edge of the terrible brush fires in San Diego.  So far they've been lucky, but they have a bag ready to go if there's an evacuation notice. Those fires are keeping Grammy up at night!

Heading East?....Well Kinda.....

     I can't believe I haven't put thoughts to paper since April 24th!  We've discovered that it's not easy doing all this visiting, and waving, and smiling, everyday.  It's exhausting!  Plus we've gone through the emotional trauma of Debbie leaving her PGD (Precious Grand Dog).  Oh yea...Ben and Joanne too.  The 6 weeks we got to spend with Ben, Joanne and the PGD went by way too quickly.  We had a great time. But we stuck to our plan pretty close, and headed out of San Diego on Wednesday, April 30th after enjoying Ben on his 2 previous days off.  Wait a minute!  High winds you say!  You got that right!  We were all packed up and ready to unplug when I got the crazy idea of watching the morning news.  HIGH WIND WARNINGS FOR THE SAN DIEGO MOUNTAINS!  Now I used to work in those mountains of the east county, and when they say Santa Ana Winds, it's like a snowstorm at home.  Just sit down and wait it out.  They'll calm down in a day or two. So we unpacked a little, and settled back for 2 days of 90 degree plus weather, and nice balmy winds in Chula Vista.  But as predicted, Crestwood was clocking wind gusts up to 70 mph, and it was a wise decision to wait it out.  Ben stopped by 2 nights on his way home from work and that was very enjoyable.  Friday morning arrived and we were on the road fighting the morning commuters as we headed out of San Diego and east on I-8.
     We put in a 10 hour day that day, and ended up in Williams, Az, a sleepy little town on Old Rt 66, and home to the Grand Canyon Railroad.  It's also at 6770 ft above sea level!  And very dry!  We discovered that the oxygen is a little thinner up here.  So we had to slow our pace down a little.  We had similar problems in Santa Fe, NM.   The journey up Rt 89 through Prescott, Az was a beautiful ride through high desert and mountains.  It's not something one should not try in a larger MH, but our little 28 footer did just fine.  Arriving in Williams, Az, we settled into the RV Resort associated with the Grand Canyon Railway & Hotel  which features passenger rail service from Williams, Az to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It is a wonderful 2 1/2 hour train ride each way.

We boarded our luxury domed car at 9:15 AM and settled back enjoying fruit and pastries, and a spicy Bloody Mary.  It was a wonderful trip and soon we arrived at the southern edge of the Grand Canyon.  Extra special on this trip was the train being pulled by the company's 90 year old steam engine #4960.

This engine is only used on the first Saturday of the month April through September.  All along the route people were lined up waving at the train and photographers could be seen at numerous points along the route catching pictures of the steam engine in action.  Of course, no train ride would be complete without a train robbery, and on the way home, the train was boarded by several outlaws as others took care of the horses outside.  And as we pulled back into Williams, the U.S. Marshal, who happened to be on the train also, was busy chasing the bad guys home.  But he did promise to get us our money back.....someday.
     On Sunday we departed Williams, Az heading for our present location at Page, Az.  Shortly after departing Williams, I noticed a yellow dash light which I had never seen before.  As Debbie was searching through manuals, a second dash light came on.  Not good.  Two dash warning lights on a Sunday morning.  We stopped for fuel a few miles down the road, and figured out that the dash lights were related to diesel particulate filter plugged and engine exhaust high temperature warning light.  Sounds scarey doesn't it?  After about an hour of troubleshooting on the net and on the phone, we discovered that occasionally a diesel engine has to clean itself out basically.  Mine was in the middle of doing that when I pulled into the gas station.  I remembered a button under the dash that had something to do with regeneration.....pushed it.....and 10 minutes later all the warning lights had gone away.  Debbie thought I was a genius!    We soon arrived at Page, Az and located our RV site at the Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas.  We are overlooking beautiful Lake Powell which is 186 mile man made lake which is actually the Colorado River.

 The dam was completed here at Page, Az in 1963, and the lake was finally full in 1980!  Enough water to cover Tennessee with 1 foot of water.  Today it is a magnificent lake reaching depths of 400 feet here at this end.  You would never know that it's 120 feet down from the full mark!  Locals are hoping that after the snow pack melts in Colorado, there will be a 40 foot rise in the lake level.
      Yesterday we headed over to Zion National Park, located about 88 miles away.

 This unbelievable park was formed simply with the flowing of water over rocks.  Water flows and rocks melt into deep canyons.  We entered the park and shortly found ourselves traveling through a mile long cave cut through solid rock.  It was truly amazing.  Beautiful vistas were everywhere, and these few pictures truly don't give it justice.  You just need to come out here and see this yourself.  It impressed Debbie more than the Grand Canyon.

There are sights like this all around us in northern Arizona and southern Utah.  I can only hope that the battery lasts on my camera.
     Red Bay, Al has made the list of stopping points for this trip.  That's where the Tiffin factory is.  I'm hoping to get this one serviced so she's ready for next year's trip.  We also want to take their tour of the factory.  Several people have told us it's something to see.  Then of course, Nashville and Dollywood before truly heading east.