Adventures in the Villa

Thursday began with rain showers at about 5:00 am. Yes, rain. The temperature dropped from 95 degrees yesterday to about 55 degrees this morning. No sun means no battery recharging via solar panels, so I kept quiet to conserve battery power for most of the morning. Once the sun poked out of the clouds I could start using power again, so I fired up the furnace and the laptop…

Thursday was the last day of most scheduled activities. There were were a few seminars, but none of interest to me.  There was a chili cook-off for lunch, which was fun, and there was the “Closing Ceremony”.  Also, there was a “Birthday Bash” (cupcakes) for Kay Peterson, the founder of Escapees, who is 90 years old.  It’s an interesting story… Check out the Escapee website for more information.  For a link to their website, click Escapees…

I also had my truck weighed…

Escapees has an excellent “Smart Weigh” program that lets RVers know all about their rigs and if they should be doing anything to better handle the weight of all the stuff that we seem to be hauling around.  First they weigh the tow vehicle solo. Next they weight the TV and the trailer connected. For best results, everything is supposed to be loaded as you would be for traveling.

So today we weighed my new truck.  I’ll write more about the results later…

The highlight of Thursday was a meet-up with Bill and Maureen Ball, old Airstream friends who now live in the Tucson area.  So after my truck weigh-in, I headed north towards Tuscon, stopping for fuel along the way. (It’s WAY easier to maneuver through a gas station without the Airstream in tow…)

We met for an early dinner in Downtown Tucson, at Cafe Poca Cosa. It is a avant garde Mexican place, with a very innovative chef.  Maureen didn’t want her picture posted, so she took one of me…

The menu is written in Spanish on a blackboard, and our waiter translated. The food was unique, very good, very interesting, and an enjoyable time was had by all…

I arrived back at the Airstream as darkness fell…

What an amazing series of seminars is being offered this week!  In addition to an RV show, and a Marketplace full of RV equipment, gadgets, and services, I have a wonderful opportunity to learn more about this RVing lifestyle!

But first, on my morning walk, I discovered that the fairgrounds has a Bar and Grill!

I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks like an interesting place to escape the heat…

On Monday the seminars I attended were:

“Equipping Your RV for Electrical Independence”, where I learned more about electricity and solar panels and batteries in 1 hour then I had in all my previous years.  I now know how attaching two 6 volt batteries in series is better than two 12 volt batteries in parallel.  I learned that an 120 watt solar panel at 12 volts delivers 10 amps per hour, or about 40-60 amps per day, depending on the amount of sunlight.  What I still do not know is why batteries are rated in amp-hours, solar panels are rated in watts, the RV has some things that run on 12 volts and some things on 120 volts, and the “shore” power we plug into the Airstream is 50 amps.  Why we can’t use common terms is still a mystery.  (Presented by RV Solar Electric, Scottsdale, AZ)

“Insurance Shopping – Comparing Apples to Apples”, where I learned that all insurance varies by state – what policy is offered by a carrier in California might not be offered in Arizona.  I learned that policies may pay out for total loss replacement, purchase price, actual cash value, or an agreed-upon value.  I learned that the most important thing that affects the amount of your premium is how many claims you file. Not how much was paid out, whether you were at fault, but just how many claims were filed.  Also, a call to your agent asking about whether you might make a claim is as generally reported as a claim, even if you don’t file a claim.  Best advice: decide what you can afford to pay out of pocket, keep your deductibles at that level, and only make a claim if you actually have to! (Presented by Miller Insurance, Lake Oswego, OR)

“Photo Memories with Google Photos”, where I learned that Google Photos is awesome, and there are some really good, knowledgeable people out there who can teach you how to use it!  I learned that your photos are stored “in the cloud”, for free; that you can clear out photos off your phone to conserve memory space, and that you can easily make albums, share with friends, even print books, all at the touch of a button. These guys are great!  (Presented by Geeks on Tour; geeksontour.com)

“The Intentional Traveler”, where I learned about trip planning, resources available to locate attractions, RV parks, etc. It was all about planning, but also how to change plans if needed. And how to get the most out of your RV travels along the way.  (Presented by Pam Johnson; ntentionaltravelerblog.rvnotepad.com and rvnotepad.com)

And that was just Monday!  The evening brought more “entertainment”. The less said about that the better…

On Tuesday, I signed up to get my truck and trailer weighed, using the SKPs “Smart Weigh” system. I was assigned to gather data from my rig – tire size and DOT date stamp, weights and capacities of all axles, GVWR and GCWR, and other things that had me rolling around on the ground, in the heat, trying to read all these numbers… I weigh the truck on Thursday, and the entire rig on Friday. This will be interesting.

More seminars:

“Technology to Tell Your Story”, where I learned that I should change out of Word Press for this blog, and start using Blogger. This was presented by the same folks who did the Google Photos seminar. Again, lots of great information. There was a third seminar on working with Google Maps, which I could not attend, but I did sign up for their tutorials that are available on-line, mostly on YouTube. I have a lot to learn before we leave on our 4 month journey in June…  (Presented by Geeks on Tour; geeksontour.com)

“Are you smarted than your smart TV?”, where I learned that most problems associated with watching TV inside your RV are due to faulty or incorrect wiring connections and menu selections. Pretty basic stuff, but It was fun listening to questions from the audience about why their 16 year old TVs don’t get any over-the-air stations any longer… (Hint: Old TVs are not digital, and all TV signals today are…)  (Presented by RV Connection, Yuma, AZ; rvconnectionparts.com)

Tuesday evening I did something I’ve never done before:  I joined a bunch of odd old people and we played Bingo!  For $1.00 I was able to play 3 squares for 15 games. The winner of each game won $10.00.  As usual, I won $0.00. But it helped kill the time until it was a bit cooler outside, and in the Airstream…

Wednesday was devoted to 5 seminar sessions all about different aspects of living in your RV full time; no home base, no permanent address.  Some were geared towards younger, working people, who have figured out how to work and earn while on the road; others focused on the emotional issues related to “moving away” from your former house-based life. The last session had a panel discussion with three full-timing couples: a retired couple who have been on the road for just over 10 years, another couple who started full-timing when his doctor said he had less than 8 years to live – that was 25 years ago. The wife kept repeating that she only agreed to do this because it was only for 8 years… The 3rd couple was younger, working, and living and travelling full time for 7 years, with 4 kids, aged 6-14!

All in all, a very productive few days. Wednesday evening it started to cool a bit, and rain is predicted…

The clouds gave us a nice evening sky…

The Villa has left California for the first time!  While we have camped in The Villa 61 times over the past 3 years of ownership, before today it has never left California.  I am traveling solo this trip, because, well, I can. Lynda is still working, I am not, so I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to take part in the Escapee Escapade.  More on Escapees and Escapade later…

I left Irvine just before 4:00 am, with the goal of being at the Pima County Fairgrounds, about 10 miles south of Tucson, well before the check-in deadline of 2:00 pm.  It is about 500 miles, and since I travel at 55-60 mph, or sometimes slightly higher, I knew I needed 8-9 hours of travel time, plus a generous allowance for stops for gas and rest…

It’t always fun to leave in the dark, early in the morning, before the rest of the world wakes up.  Traffic is light, and adventure awaits!  My first stop was at the Golden Acorn Casino, in Campo, CA, in far east San Diego County.  I didn’t need anything except to stretch my legs, grab a protein bar and some water from the refrigerator, and use the restroom, so I was on my way in a few minutes.  My next milestone was the Arizona border!

A few minutes later I was able to pull into a rest stop and add the obligatory sticker to the map of the states we have visited in The Villa…

Before long I had reached the eastern outskirts of Yuma, AZ, where I was able to buy fuel…

I know! These are exciting photos!!!

Back on the road, I proceeded to make good time across the Arizona desert.  At about 1:15 pm I pulled into the Fairgrounds; I was shown where to park by one of the volunteers in a yellow shirt, and I made camp.  Not much to do, except leveling and stabilizing, since this is “boondocking”.  No hook-ups of any kind.  No amenities of any kind.  We are all parked in a giant field of gravel, weeds, and dead grass…

It’s about 94 degrees in the shade, and there isn’t any shade… I needed to get registered, so I headed out to the main building where most of the activities occur. It’s about a 1/2 mile walk!  At least the building was air conditioned!  After checking in, I received all my information on activities for the week.  I headed back to settle in, read a few things and plan my week.

Why am I here?  “Escapees” (abbreviated SKPs) is a club for most- and full-time RVers. Escapade is their annual “convention”.  What attracted me first was the list of seminars on everything you need to know about being on the road for extended periods of time. Mail, internet, trip planning, places to spend the night… Also, there is a marketplace of vendors pitching their wares, from solar panels, tow hitches, insurance, and satellite TV.  And plenty of fun RV gadgets to see…

After perusing the schedule of events, I set out tinkering with my own gadgets. First came my portable solar panels. I have had them since Christmas, but, since it has been raining constantly in SoCal since Christmas, this was the first chance I had to try them.  And they work great!  They keep my batteries charged throughout the day, and, as long as I don’t waste battery power at night, I can get along just fine with no electrical hook-ups. Everything in the Airstream runs on 12 volt battery power, except the TV, microwave oven, satellite receiver, TV, and air conditioning.

Next, I pulled out my generators.  I have two Honda 2,000 watt generators, that, when linked together, produce 30 amps of power. At least that is the story.  I had tried them once before, and they appeared to work. But this time, in the desert heat, when I really needed air conditioning, nothing worked.  After running a few minutes the systems shut down; warning lights on the generators said, “overload.”  I tried running just one generator to see about the TV and Microwave oven, and that didn’t work either.  I seem to recall that this has happened before, so I am confident with a little trouble shooting I can be fully functional again.  So for now, I use the solar panels, run the fans during the heat of the day, and watch CNBC in the morning using Sling Box on my iPad… After all, we are camping…!

Luckily the weather cools down quickly by 9:00 pm or so, and mornings are in the low 60s, so sleeping is not a problem.  By Thursday, the high temps are expected to be in the mid-60s – I may need by furnace!

Tomorrow I’ll report on my first full day of seminars!