Yuma (02/06/2005)

We spent most of the week in Yuma although we started the week in El Centro and ended it in Mesa (Phoenix). The countryside around Yuma was a pale lavender and soft green land with splotches of bright yellow flowers and great craggy mountains in the distance. There were boondockers (RVs parked outside a specific park area) off the road in the dessert: some solitary but many in large groups.
I finally got our GPS travel software fully functional. I can give it addresses and it will plot a route for us and then speak the directions as we travel. It works pretty good although it wanted us to go on a dirt road on the way to the Yuma park and Rich refused to follow its directions. He can be so stubborn sometimes.
The RV Park in Yuma was great: Swimming pool, golf course, Glassmaking classes, aerobics classes, sewing group and for Max a 2.5 acre grass dog run area where he could run free and play with lots of other dogs. They even had a dog bath (actually that's a present for me (my back) not Max). The weather in Yuma was warm but very windy. As a result the pool and some of the outdoor activities were cancelled. Rich and I did manage to bicycle around the park and I actually went swimming. The wind died down the day we left Yuma. That was both good and bad news. Good news - Driving the rig is easier without wind, bad news - It would have been nice to have some good days in Yuma. Except for the park, I did not care much for Yuma itself. It is a smallish, oldish town. We will go back for the park, it really was nice. The RV Park in Mesa is also nice, although I have not had a chance to see everything yet. More about this park next week.
I thought I'd talk a bit about some of the challenges we have faced or are now facing now as we live this lifestyle. Some of the challenges I have talked about as they happened others I haven't mentioned as of yet.
Driving the rig is tiring, this may change as we become more accustomed to it but now we both are on edge, it feels so big. Driving on freeways is OK, but city streets are nerve racking, especially when we are not exactly sure where we are going. We both worry about ending up somewhere without enough space to turn around. I actually pay attention to those signs on bridges about how high they are. (Our rig is 12' 11" high). And parking (especially backing up) the rig is more difficult than Rich expected. Since we traveled for a year in a travel trailer we thought we knew how to do this. We did not, something about the 5th wheel makes backing up more challenging.
The small living space continues to be an issue with me. I think Rich has adjusted although his adjustment is part of my issue. He does not pay attention, just uses what he wants/needs so I find myself putting away so I have room. I also still freak when I cannot find things.
We had a leaky kitchen sink for a while. Rich was able to fix it but it took some time and was annoying until we got it fixed. This would be about the same in a stationary home except that there is no room to take everything out while you wait for it to be fixed.
We had trouble with one of the tires and decided to take the rig in to have the wheels looked at. This was more interesting with a rig in that you are taking your home into the shop. We found a good place where they did the work in a half a day and we sort of hung around while they did it. They also were able to fix a strut that had broken with a big bang while we had company over for dinner one evening. (Bob & Connie - remember the big bang?)
We still are not regularly able to get our dish to work. We must be doing something wrong although we did get it to work once. In general the parks we have been using offer cable so we have not solved this problem yet.
With the small kitchen space we are shopping a lot more than we used to.
We still have not worked out the timing on mail. We need to work out how long it takes to have things forwarded to us, especially when we are planning on being in one place very long. We thought we had time to have mail shipped to us in Yuma but instead had to have the park forward our mail to Mesa. After the first time I ordered my meds via the mail and we ended up staying in Temecula a week and a half longerthan we had planned, I have been afraid to make another order.
We had some challenges finding a park in Phoenix since we had waited so long to make the reservations. Not having a definite plan can make reserving a space interesting, especially in 'high' season.
All in all, not many problems and certainly not serious ones, but some were unexpected.
Average steps for week: 6,522
Final note: I saw a great sign on a car "Warning! Retiree: knows everything and has plenty of time to tell you about it."