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Showing posts from November, 2012

So Long, Lazydays and Tucson! Happy Thanksgiving!

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We picked up our coach Friday evening, about 5:30, from Lazydays. The awning mount had two butterfly screws to secure it to the side of the coach. Should this issue repeat, it is likely that the side of the motor home will be pulled out! Not likely, we are told, and we have our fingers crossed! The rear leveling systems has two new jacks, which are working beautifully! No longer does it take 45 minutes to get the jacks up before departure! One item, however, was not complete. The tech was there chatting with us, and agreed to come to our site Saturday morning to complete that task. He showed up Saturday morning, just after 8:00 AM, and was finished in 10 minutes! Are we happy with Lazydays?!  You bet! Since it was a Saturday, we traveled back to North Ranch the same way. We parked by the Club House, unhooked the jeep, and drove down to play musical chairs with the Blue Buggy we had parked where we park the coach. After completing that task, and chatting with neighbors, we went back t

Kitt Peak National Observatory, Friday November 16

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 The last full day for us in Tucson, the day our coach went in for completion of warranty update work, we drove west to Kitt Peak National Observatory, a place Lindy has wanted to see for many years! The weather was beautiful, just a tad chilly at the top (6,875'), and all of the Roving Riders enjoyed it! Of course Lindy now wants to experience the Nightly Observing Program...so we shall return! We were amazed at the list of Universities involved in the program, the number of telescopes, the two dormitories for staff, the entire layout of the facility! Dogs on leashes are welcome, we picked up the walking Tour Map from the Visitor's Center and explored much of the complex, all except the Mayall 4m Telescope. We had parked by picnic tables where we grabbed a snack to sustain us before we continued the walking tour. We are now planning on our NEXT experience at the Kitt Peak National Observatory--participation in the Nightly Observing Program! Radio Tel

Road Trip! Tucson for Fun and Service!

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It is time! After a month or so of sitting, it is time to "exercise" the motor home and generator, and we prefer to do the exercising in a real way...moving on down the road! So, we called Lazydays RV in Tucson to schedule warranty followup repairs; and Freightliner in Tucson for service on our coach. Good reasons, don't your think, for a road trip?! After our experiences in April  (see earlier post) at both locations, we are happy to return to have quality work done on our coach. Here we are at the corner of Peaceful and Lazydays, enjoying Tucson! We figured about 2 weeks would be good for completing the work, and allowing us time to enjoy and explore! We left North Ranch Monday November  5, with appointments Wednesday the 7th at Lazydays and Thursday the 8th at Freightliner. Here is our route: View Larger Map All is going well on both fronts: Freightliner completed their work, and Lazydays Service has ordered what is needed to complete the warranty work--we a

Hunting for Fall Leaves

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October 23 we loaded up the jeep with dogs and goodies, and headed out north east on Arizona 89 to hunt for fall leaves. Here is our route: View Larger Map Just above Jerome. We traveled 250 + miles, but thoroughly enjoyed the journey! Of course the dogs were very happy! We had packed a lunch, fried chicken from Safeway in Wickenburg, and ate it at tables outside the Safeway in Cottonwood! We stopped at a picnic area in Oak Creek Canyon and walked around a bit, enjoying the trees and the few trees showing colors. By that time, it was a tad chilly, and we were glad we had found the outside patio tables at Safeway. We enjoyed visiting Jerome again, although it has been many years from that first visit! Sedona has grown much since our visits of several years ago! We passed through, remembering and cherishing our memories of earlier visits when it was not as "popular." We enjoyed the drive up to the top of the ridge, where we turned around to retrace much of our route.

Our Blue Buggy

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We are enjoying our new UTV at North Ranch! We travel through the back gate of the development, designed for this purpose, out into BLM land and can choose any number of roads to explore. So far, we have 14 hours on the buggy. We have gone out several times, usually in the early morning to enjoy the coolness. We take the dogs, using special harnesses so they can be strapped in their seat with the seat belts. Rupert doesn't like it much when branches hit the buggy, so we try to avoid those as much as possible. Nothing bothers Bitty! Except, NOT being able to go! She knows "let's go in the jeep!" so we use the jeep for both the jeep and the buggy. She knows, when the she has her harness on, that "jeep" means the buggy! Here are some pictures.... Our first "stopping" place to give the dogs a chance to run around in the open.  Bitty all set to go! Rupert being buckled in.  It does get dusty! We have washed the buggy once--remov