ON THE ROAD AGAIN

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

24 Apr

As always, the night before we hit the road we eat out, tonight we ate at Texas Road House. Just like back home in Ohio, we were able to call ahead and get a table to prevent us from waiting in a long line. After 6 months at Leaf Verde RV Resort in Buckeye, AZ tomorrow morning we will start our summer road trip. With only a few snowbirds remaining and temperatures in the mid 90's or higher everyday (I love it, the wife thinks it's to hot) it's time to pack up and move on. We don't have a time table, but we do have an itinerary. From AZ to WA we will be stopping at 8 National Parks, and lots of local attractions along the way. We are even hopping to cross into BC Canada for a few day trips. However, we do have to be in NV by September as I was accepted to work for Amazon in their CamperForce program. This will be my first time working while full-timing on the road. I've read blogs and heard stories about working at Amazon and I'm excited to experience it first hand. On the other hand, I'm a little worried about our RV in the colder weather around November & December. We have always been near warm weather in the winter months and have not had the RV in cold weather. I'm hopping to be prepared, but it seems to be in my nature to always learn the hard way and learn on the go. Since we will be on the road a lot this summer with limited internet access I will try by best to keep this blog updated as much as possible. Please, check back often and follow along on our 2014 Pacific Midwest Adventures. 

See ya' on the road! 

HOW TO REPLACE A BAGGAGE DOOR LATCH

HOW TO REPLACE A BAGGAGE DOOR LATCH

We are getting close to having our RV for three years and something finally broke, that I can fix. The good thing is that it happened while we are in a RV park and that it's was only the baggage door latch (three latches on two doors). We are about ready to get on the road for our summer trip and the last thing we needed was for our baggage doors to open while on the highway and all our stuff fly onto the road.  

The replacement part cost about $10 a latch and only about 5 minutes to complete. The bad news, the RV comes with square screw head, while the replacement comes with philips head. I stayed with the square head, because the philips screw was a little thicker and did not fit perfectly. Another thing, the replacement part did not come with instructions on how to install the part. I was learning by trial and error. I worked on one door, then I decided to record a how to video just in case someone out there had the same problems I did. There is a palm tree right next to our rig, making it a small area to work and record a video. If your interested in seeing me replacing a baggage door latch on a Fleetwood Jaboree clink  HERE. 

Now that I have a youtube account with this blog I'm able to make and post videos. I don't have video editing software (yet), so all videos are currently raw and uncensored. Once I get video editing software I'll start post more videos with my blog posts.

SADDLE RANCH

SADDLE RANCH 
9375 West Coyotes Blvd
Glendale, AZ 85305
(623) 889-7770
http://www.thesaddleranch.com/glendale.html  

To tell the story correctly, I have to go back to November of last year and start from the beginning (I promise it won't take too long).

~Flash back to November 2013~ Neither one of use have ever road a mechanical bull, but always wanted to try. We found a restaurant close by that had one. We went to Saddle Ranch, located in the Westgate Entertainment District. It is basically a outside mall located a block form University of Phoenix Stadium home of the NFL Arizona Cardinals and next door to Jobing.com Arena home to the NHL Phoenix Coyotes. We arrived around noon with $1.99 Bloody Mary the wife started drinking, thus putting the mechanical bull ride on hold for another day. The ride cost $3 per person. The food was good. The wife had fish taco and I had the chicken sandwich. However, it took a little longer then we expected to get our meal so the waitress gave us each a kamikaze shoot on the house. Just what the wife need, more alcohol with no food.

~Fast forward 5 months~ We finally made it back to Saddle Ranch to ride the mechanical bull. This time we did it right, we road the mechanical bull before we ate lunch. Only a few people was eating lunch inside, so it was the perfect time for us rookies to take a stab at rodeo stardom. We both signed a contract and our lives was in the hand of the mechanical bull operator. The wife went first, and it took some time for her to get on the bull. When she finally got on the bull, the operator gave her instructions ...oh boy here we go. The bull started and to my surprise she did better than I thought. Next, was my turn. It's pretty hard to get on the bull, I had to use the mat as a trampoline then jumped on the bull. After my instructions... the bull started. I was no were as good as the wife, the operator stopped the bull two times for me.... maybe because she felt sorry for me. When I was bucked off my inter thigh/ knee area was bruised. LESSON LEARN: To anyone wanting to ride a mechanical bull wear long pants. We both had a good time and if you want to see the video, the wife ride link is located here, my ride link is located here. We grabbed a table and ordered our lunch. The wife had the California club wrap and I had the buffalo chicken sandwich.

As we walked around the outdoor mall, trying to get the feeling back in our legs we looked at the waterfountain and the sidewalk chalk art that was completed over the weekend.

Model of Westgate Entertainment District

EL DORADO HOT SPRINGS

EL DORADO HOT SPRINGS

41225 W Indian School RD

Tonopah, AZ

(623) 386-5412

http://www.el-dorado.com/

Located about 45 minutes West on I 10 (exit 94) from Phoenix is El Dorado Hot Springs. When you exit, don't be scared ... the town is really small but you are at the correct exit. There are two gas stations, post office, Mexican Restaurant and  El Dorado Hot Springs. Turn right at the Mexican Restaurant and the hot springs is just ahead on the left. The address above worked on our navigator. El Dorado Hot Springs is located above a subterranean hot spring of pure, odorless, tasteless mineral water. The water is naturally heated to an average of 107 degrees. The town's name Tonopah, translates in the local Native American language to "hot water under the bush". Reservations are not required, but recommended. We made a reservation just to be safe because we wanted a private bath. There are private tubs for large groups 4-6 people and for couples 1-2 people. We went with the couples at "Lilly Pond". The public tubs are swimsuit required and the private tubs ... nudity is up to you. I would double check with the staff just to make sure before you go all Full Monty and get in trouble.. some other visitor may have brought their children. Public tubs are $8 a person for 1 hour and private is $10 a person for 1 hour. You can pay by cash or credit card. If you forgot your towel or drinking water, don't worry they rent a towel and sell water (prices unknown...we came prepared). All the tubs are located outside surrounded by a fence and covered by trees. Our private soaking area had a hot pool, cold tub, lounge chairs and showers. There are campsite and rooms-for-rent (nothing to write home about) located at El Dorado and they even advertise on their flyer "Workampers needed all year round". We will definitely come back again next winter and try another private soaking area. Next time we'll try to get one with a view of the desert and Saddle Mountain.

After our soak we felt so relaxed we did not want to do anything. So on our way back to the RV Resort we stopped by Peter Piper Pizza for the lunch buffet. Shortly after we arrive a small group of fellow Leaf Verde campers walked in to eat too. We shared our El Dorado Hot Spring experience and they wanted to go before they leave Arizona.

By the time we got back to our RV the temperatures were reaching the mid-high 90's. With our bodies relaxed and tummy's full, we turned the AC on and passed out for a well deserved nap.

WHITE TANK MOUNTAIN REGIONAL PARK WADDELL, AZ

WHITE TANK MOUNTAIN REGIONAL PARK WADDELL, AZ

We finally made it to White Tank Mountain. We had this on our "To Do List" since we saw the view the first morning we woke up at Leaf Verde RV Resort, over 5 months ago (just like us to wait until the last minute to do something). The address was not in our navigator so here are the coordinates we used (* = degrees) 33*33'57.8"N 112*29'48.4"W. Once we arrived there is a Nature Center were we got park maps of hiking trails and campsite. There are also a display of live rattlesnakes and scorpions (in glass cases). We now know what to look for before we started our hikes of the day. The cost to enter the park is $6 a car or $2 a person walking/ biking. You can pay in the Nature Center or at the gate as you drive in. I did not do much research on camping, but know it's $25 a day.

The first hike we went was the Waterfall Trail. About 1 1/2 miles one way from the parking lot. I would rate this tail easy. For those who get tired often, there are plenty rest stops with benches along the trail. Trail is mostly flat and sandy. There are a few places where you have to climb, but have man made steps. Along the trail you can see Petroglyphs on rocks throughout the hike. There has been no rainfall this winter (1 day in 5 months) so there was only a drip of water falling over the cliff. This allowed us to get down to the basin and stand under the cliff, what a view. When we stood under the cliff, it felt like an outside air conditioner.

We then ate our packed lunch before starting our second hike of the day. We heard that some of the cactus are still in bloom and took a chance on a 2 mile hike one way on the Ford Canyon Trail. I would rate this trail medium. The path is marked, two other trails cross connected, it could be a little confusion... use the map for help. The path is sandy and sometimes rocky there is some hills you have climbing. There are fewer rest stops with benches, but you can always rest on large rock too. We were lucky and saw some of the bloomed cactus. In a few days all the cactus will be done blooming until next years. We hiked until we reached the top of the trail. By the map there was still another 5 miles to go, but when we arrive and looked down the trail it kept going down further into nowhere. We decided to turned around and started back to the car.