November 2021 in the Books

We have been at the Paradise RV Resort for almost a month now, after arriving on November 1st.  We have been busy enjoying the nice weather and company of Shilo and our Paradise neighbors whom we have come to love.  We like to ride our bikes, often times to the various stores for groceries or miscellaneous project parts.  There are good sidewalks for bike riding here in Sun City.  We have stayed busy with projects helping Shilo and those on our own RV.

A nice sunset at Paradise.

Our most important project is that we both were baptized on November 26, 2021, by full immersion at Lake Pleasant just north of town.  We are twins now with the same birthday!  11-26-21  Minister Bob Shultz performed our baptisms.

First Steve....

Then Gari..

We all had a nice lunch at the marina restaurant after our baptisms.  That's Pam & Bob with Gari & Steve; Shilo is taking the picture.

Below is a shot of our set up at Paradise.  We store our bikes and grill under the coach manger overhang.

We worked on a entry door rug replacement, but that was a bust.  It's a long story, but the shop owner refused to sell it to us when we requested they sell it for their promised price.  The manager was quite the spectacle in the shop.  So we still need to find a replacement.

Below a picture taken of the battery bank terminal configuration while investigating the issue with our batteries at Paradise.  After three multiple hour equalization sessions, our battery bank is holding a charge well over 12.75 volts.  Situation resolved for now.

While riding bikes one day we saw this cream-puff parked out back of the shopping center.  Steve had to stop and get a photo.

Looking at our back yard.  Jack & Sharon our South Dakota native neighbors use their toy hauler RV to store a Harley Trike and a golf cart.  They set up a nice pavilion where we often gather for snacks and games.

Jack helps our next door neighbor Doc hang his new step ladder on his motorhome.  Doc used the same design we invented 9 years ago, on the first night in our trailer while overnight at a Lowes in Kansas.  The design has been foolproof to date.

View looking east down 16th Street.  You can see our front cap at frame right.

A view down our utility corridor at the back of our rig.  That's our black chest box on our receiver.  The water, sewer, electric and telephone all run along this corridor, plus natural gas for the park model homes.

Watch battery replacement project.... successfully accomplished.

The washer dog replacement project... who knew there are dogs in a clothes washer anyway?  The tall white cylinder is part of the washer agitator.  The dogs act as ratchet stops and make the agitator go in a full circle.

We had a few other projects that didn't get photos, such as the bicycle shifter and brake cable and assembly replacement, the bathroom light fixture replacement. the American Flag remounting project, the sunshade upgrade and replacement and below a favorite the Reuben Sandwich Cook and Eat Project!

Cheers and Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!

Winter Range - Sun City, Arizona

We made the trek from Yakima, Washington to Sun City, Arizona in five driving days and four overnight stops.  We made the trip uneventfully for the most part.  The two memorable things, excluding the magnificent scenery, were the high fuel prices and our less than fully performing coach batteries.  Diesel fuel for this trip was around $4.25 per gallon along the highway.  We were able to find $3.85 prices farther off the highway some of the time.  Our battery bank, four each 6-volt batteries, two pair connected in series, then those two pairs connected in parallel for a 12-volt battery bank system, were only holding about one half of a full charge.  We noticed this as soon as we unplugged at Swan Valley.  Nevertheless, we made both the Yakima trip and this Sun City trip without further problem.  We always had enough power to start our generator, and we did that each night that we stopped.  Since then we have equalized our way out of poor battery performance and back to all battery systems go!  That took three equalization sessions of two to three hours each with overcharging voltage going all the way up to 16 volts DC.  Always remember to turn off your 12 volt appliances as the equalizing over volatage can possibly damage those sensitive electronics in refrigerators, thermostat/HVAC systems. leveling systems, etc. 

First day out of Yakima; crossing from Washington into Oregon over the mighty Colombia River.

Snapped this pic below in northeast Oregon, near Pendleton, a very large solar array along I-84.  The picture captures only a small fraction of the array.

Cattle down on the winter range southeast Oregon, near North Powder.

We saw plenty of snow in the higher elevations.  Time to head south!

Jackpot, Nevada!  Notice to cowboys: Livestock Brand Inspection ahead.

More snow up high.

A shot approaching Wells, Nevada

Leaving Wells, climbing out through the southern pass.

More mountain road carved out of solid rock.

We always see this guy... riding a bike up a very long grade in the middle of nowhere.  Probably 50 or more miles from Wells, Nevada.

Almost to Ely, Nevada our second overnight spot.

Look at that!

Pit stop at the Extraterrestrial Highway.  This is a nice shady stop and we always look for aliens.

Look, there goes an alien now!  Oh wait, it's just Gari stretching her legs.

This is the E.T. Jerky place just down the road.  Ever had ET Jerky?  We hear it tastes like chicken.

Colorful Cottonwood trees seen along the Panranagat National Wildlife Refuge waterway.

Lower Panranagat Lake

Interesting erosion pattern, Yucca in the valley below.

More texture, more Yucca.

154 acre, 20 Megawatt Apex Solar array at Rt 93 & I-15 north Las Vegas, NV

Apex control building

Cruisin' Las Vegas past old Fremont Street.

Another solar array, this one at Hoover Dam

Scenic overlook at Hoover Dam; not much water right there in Lake Meade.

Kingman, Arizona

Sediment layers; how do you suppose that happened?

The magnificent rocks at Nothing, Arizona.  The iconic Snoopy rock in the frame.  See him?

Snoopy Rock Iso.

Joshua Trees live nearby.

Rounding the last traffic circle at Wickenburg, Arizona.  That cowboy's horse is dancing over a Rattlesnake.  This stretch of Rt 93 is Rattlesnake alley.  In less than an hour we will be at our Sun City destination.  We hope to enjoy a couple months of excellent winter weather while there.

Yakima or Bust!

Now is our time to finally make it to Yakima, Washington and visit Gari's side of our family.  With abundant construction delays this season in Idaho, we didn't know if this trip was going to be possible.  It looked like the weather may close our window of opportunity with all the construction delays.  But, alas we are here in Yakima as this post hits the blog!  We are getting lots of rain from the record low pressure moving over the northeast currently.  The moisture is much needed here in the Yakima Valley so it is indeed Heaven sent.

Below are some of the last pictures we took at our Eagle View Project.  Gari checks grade as Troy moves the dirt/rock piles around the new foundation.  Mt. Baldy shows a little snow signaling that it is time to think about a departure.

Looking out our east driveway:  We repurposed the clean out concrete left from the multiple foundation pours.  The edge slope on the built-up drive at the road curb is quite tall and steep.  We figure that the concrete should help to hold everything in place.  We had planned on bringing in more material to soften the slope, but this waste concrete was free, so why not try this approach?  We worked the concrete with our shovels to get the finish we desired!  A real hillbilly operation :)

The shot below shows the steep edges a little better.

Looking west back toward the project site:  We kept our No Trespassing signs up to warn people of the dangers around the construction site.  Hopefully that will be enough to avoid any calamity this winter.

We set steel Tee-Posts around the perimeter of the crawlspace pit.  We tied rope and caution tape between the posts to warn anyone getting too close to the open pit.

In the shot below, looking west, you can see the caution perimeter a little better.

Gari is last one out of the Shop before we hit the road.

As The Gentle Giant, Don Williams sings, 'It's hello blues, and down the road we go...' heading out across western Idaho and eastern Oregon...

We landed for the first overnight at a little BLM spot on the west bank of the Snake River in eastern Oregon.  Those that know us, remember that we always like to sip our coffee on the banks of the Snake River!

A little view from down on the bank of the river.

Back on the road, day two.... moving through eastern Oregon.

A little Fall color around the corner...

Another corner, more color...

Here we go, down the big hill into the Columbia River Valley and into Washington State.

In a week, we will be climbing up this big hill going back to the east on our way south for the winter.

There she is, the Mighty Colombia River!

Below you can see the McNary Hydroelectric Lock and Dam facility.  In the foreground you can see the fishing boats.

No sooner than we arrived at our spot in the Yakima RV park, when Jerry showed up to greet us.  Gari shares pictures of our construction project in Idaho and stories with dad.