Author: mchazen

We took a quick tour of the town before Bob and Carol arrived and a trip to the post office yielded a ton of mail (about two weeks).  After sorting through the mail, we ran more errands before Bob and Carol arrived by taking advantage of the Walmart Supercenter in town.

Bob Schoeman with his trusty dog Dutchess at Deming, New Mexico campground.

Bob and Carol Schoeman in front of their new motor home ready to hit the road.

Deming is a very nice town.  The people are friendly, it seems to have everything you would need and there are recreational opportunities in the area.  Problem is, it gets killer hot in the summer.  It is an Almost-On-The-A-List town.

It had been a long hard drive for Bob and Carol, so we kicked back before hitting one of the local steak places for a very good dinner.  They gave us a tour of their new motorhome, which they had picked up just a few weeks prior.  It is a very, very nice coach and should give them many years of good service.  After dinner, we visited for several hours before retiring for the night.

We had planned to stop in Benson, Arizona for the night, but with a strong tail-wind, we were making good time and decided to head for Deming, New Mexico.  We pulled into Deming in the late afternoon, but had plenty of daylight to set up.  The wind was howling and kicking up dust.  It was a good thing we were driving with the wind.

We heard that Bob and Carol Schoeman were heading back to Arizona from their Mardi Gras trip and we finally were able to get them via cell-phone.  After some planning, we agreed to meet in Deming and camp together for a night.  It will be good to see a familiar face again and we’re looking forward to it.

We’ve been in Mesa about a week.  Mesa is mostly a retirement community and reminds us of Florida without grass and humidity.  The RV park is certainly clean and well maintained but it is in the middle of a city populated by Snowbirds, mostly Canadians.  The park is also huge, with over 1,800 sites and recreational facilities.  The weather is still cool but we were able to use the hot tub a few nights.  Staying here is like camping in the middle of Van Nuys and we are looking forward to moving on.

Natural arch in Tonto National Forest near Payson, Arizona.

Jeanne and Marty pose for the camera.

Jeanne in Segauro forest.

Marty and cactus.

On the way to Payson, Arizona. Marty and the paddle cactus.

Parked in Mesa, Arizona. Sort of like camping in the middle of Van Nuys.

While in Mesa, we spent several days and had some great meals with our friend Owen Norris, who Jeanne worked with at State Fund.  Owen recently retired and is living in Mesa full time.  Jeanne took some side trips with Owen while I ran some coach-related errands.  Since we had been living in the motorhome for about a month, there were still a few things we needed and Mesa is loaded with RV stores and supplies.

One memorable meal with Owen was a German restaurant, which was the best meal we had in a long time.  Another pleasant surprise was a deli Owen took us to where I was able to get a roast beef sandwich like the ones Grandpa and I would share in Buffalo, NY.  It brought back some great memories.

We discovered there is a lot of weight on the left-rear leveler and it will sink into soft soils.  To prevent this, we went to a Lowe’s and had blocks cut from a 2×12 plank to provide a stable base.  Between the 2 x 12 blocks and the plywood Andy cut, problem solved.

We did visit a few special places.  One day Jeanne and I drove to Payson, a small town in the mountains north of Phoenix where a very good friend lived for years.  It is a truly beautiful area and we very much enjoyed the day.  Another day, we visited the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) museum at the Mesa airport where there was a fine display of vintage aircraft, fully restored.  Our last day there Owen drove us past a beautiful lake for a visit to Tortilla Flats for a taste of the Prickly Pear Ice Cream. A treat.

Marty in front of B-17 restored by Commerative Air Force (CAF) in Mesa, Arizona.

Marty as waist gunner in B-17.

Jeanne in front of C-47 transport.

estored B-26.

Restored MIG-17.

WWII spotter.

Vietnam spotter.

We continued with our workout routine and discovered the maintenance roads along the irrigation canals provided the perfect running surface.  One day, it rained and I went to a local gym — the first time I saw the inside of a gym in fifteen years.

The high-speed internet connection through T-Mobile is working great.  All we need to do is find a hot-spot at Starbucks or Kinko’s to get our wireless internet connection.  I also got some time to update the CHFC (Compton Hunting and Fishing Club) web site and to investigate how to configure chazen.net to accommodate this triplog and pictures.  It will not be easy and a lot of new code needs to be written.  I also got a chance to work with the internet server software, IIS that comes with the XP Professional operating system.  It is very different from the Personal Web Server I was using with Windows 98 and Windows ME.  The documentation isn’t that good and I don’t have a full understanding of how it works yet, but the pieces are slowly fitting together.

With our business in Mesa finished, we’re looking forward to getting back on the road.  It looks like the drive across the rest of Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas will include some long days.

Contemporary Note:  One evening, while soaking in the hot tub, we talked with a retired guy who ran a 7up bottling plant somewhere in Canada.  He explained, in excruciating detail, how to run a 7up canning line.  It was mind-numbing and there was no polite way to dis-engage from the conversation.  All I remember was being held captive in bubbling water, subjected to his endless beer-embellished work memoirs.  It was time to move on.

A long drive to Mesa, Arizona.  We discovered that there is not much in central Arizona and the roads weren’t all that great.  Not much to report, it was just a long drive.  And there really is a place named Nothing, Arizona.

After a drive through Phoenix and Mesa traffic, we finally found the RV park, Mesa Spirit.

Today we traveled to Kingman, Arizona to visit with George and Danna.  The road was good but there were several grades to climb and descend.  There was quite a lot of truck traffic.  After the 9/11 attack, commercial trucks are not allowed across Hoover Dam and are mostly diverted onto Route 95.  Most of the trucks headed for Interstate 10 while we headed for Kingman on Route 93.  We stayed at a KOA.

We had dinner with George and Danna after visiting their new home and taking a quick tour of the town.  They seem to be living a quiet life and George seems to be doing well.  We very much enjoyed spending the evening with them.

We’ve been at Cottonwood Cove for about a week.  This is a nice place with lots to do.

We spent one day exploring some of the mining roads in the Jeep.  The trails weren’t all that rough but the Jeep Jamboree experience sure helped.  There are lots of old mines in the area and some are easy to get to with a 4×4.

Parked at Cottonwood Cove on the north end of Lake Mohave about 14 miles east of Searchlight, Nevada.

Exploring the desert around Cottonwood Cove, Jeanne standing next to cactus with Lake and Arizona in the background.

Stopping for lunch.

Jeep Liberty conquers mining road, money shot for marketing campaign.

Teddy Bear cactus. Signs warned the plants are aggressive and are thorns are hard to remove from skin, pets and clothes.

Jeanne did not read warning about aggressive cactus. Much time spent removing cactus from shoe.

Barrel cactus.

Jeanne setting up kayaks for day of exploring on the lake.

Kayaks ready to launch on maiden voyage.

One day we launched the kayaks on the maiden voyage.  It took about 45 minutes to set up both.  We were very pleased with them and spent most of the day on the lake.  They were exactly what we wanted.  We were even bold enough to cross the lake, which was fairly wide.  The water was crystal clear and we could easily see the bottom along the shore.  Too bad we didn’t have the kayaks when we were living in Florida.  Even the locals were impressed with our kayaks.

Ron and Mary Fennell stopped by on their way back to Oklahoma.  It had been a long time since we saw them and it was great to catch up.  They plan to be on the east coast later in the year and maybe we can hook up.

We are continuing with the workout routine and found the best place to run is along a powerline maintenance road in the middle of the desert.  I never thought we would be running through the desert in the middle of nowhere, but the surface is perfect — almost like the track at Birmingham High School when I was a kid.  Strange how things work out.

Searchlight is a very small town.  This was the first time we picked up our mail at general delivery and it worked perfectly.  The Laundromat in town was sparkling clean.  We were surprised to find no grocery store, just a few items at the Terrible Herbst fuel station/mini-mart/casino.  We had to make a few trips into town because the campground was out of cell-phone range.

The day started with a bad omen.  The hose, water filter and pressure valve were all frozen solid.  The wrapped water pipes in the campground should have been a clue, but it is one of those live-and-learn things.  The hose spent the day defrosting in the shower. I ended up roasting the hose washer with a cigarette lighter trying to free it from the frozen hose bib.  The lighter was not a good idea and hot water would have worked better.  The water filter was a total loss.

When we started for Cottonwood Cove the weather was clear and the winds calm.  About halfway between Barstow and the river the wind started blowing.  Hurricane force winds would be more descriptive.  The coach handled well, but it was a white-knuckle ride all the way.  What a relief to pull into the campground.

Cottonwood Cove is a beautiful and remote place.  You wind down a narrow road from Searchlight, downhill all the way through desert.  Nothing here but sand, rocks, cactus and lake.  I think we’ll like staying here if the wind stops blowing.

Contemporary Note:  There is more to the hose story.  When connecting to an RV park water system, a back-flow valve, pressure regulator and ball valve are connected to the spigot before connecting the hose.  All this is to protect the coach water system from excessive pressure and nasty-tasting water.  If a freeze is predicted, it is best to disconnect everything from the spigot and re-connect when it warms up.  This particular night, none of this happened and the valves, regulator, filter and hose were frozen solid.  The hose was like wrestling with an angry 25 foot snake and the valves had to be removed with pliers.  The spigot was frozen open and I had to come up with a method of defrosting it before we left the site.  In retrospect, the lighter idea was lame.  While checking tire pressure, the plug of ice melted just enough to shoot out of the spigot and spray everything, including me, with ice water.  Lesson learned.

The past two days were in final preparation to leave.  Jeanne said her goodbyes to the family and our very good friends.  Doug and Karen took us out to dinner at Casa de Soria, a favorite restaurant in Ventura and gave us a very thoughtful gift of a road atlas and travel books.

On the beach near Rincon looking southwest.

At the campground in Ventura, we spent a week here saying goodbye and getting ready for the trip.

Looking west at the Channel Islands.

Looking north along the coast, Channel Islands in background.

This morning we set off for Victorville.  The weather was great and the ride was uneventful.  The coach handled well and the Jeep towed easily.  We pulled into a KOA along the Mojave river.  The park host pointed us in the direction of the Wal-Mart for supplies, Starbucks for an e-mail connection and an open area for a place to run.  Nobody told me Apple Valley was at altitude and I got winded during my workout.

We moved from Valencia to Ventura on February 4.  This is a really nice park and staying in Ventura gave us a chance to say goodbye to the family and finish getting the coach in order.  The place is beginning to feel like home and we have a good idea where everything is.  We spent most of a day unloading and repacking the storage areas underneath the coach.  Andy cut some boards to use under the landing gear; they were very much appreciated.

The weather has been perfect and we have been continuing with our workout routine at the local parks.  Before leaving Mom’s house we both bought new running shoes and my pair seem to be much easier on the knees.  The Pilates, weights and running seem well adapted to the lifestyle.  And, cutting down on the business lunches seems to have a beneficial impact on the waistline.

We got a nasty surprise.  It seems the Presidential holiday and Valentine’s Day hit on the same weekend and we can’t find a place to stay locally.  The plan was to spend another week in Southern California but fate is forcing us to move on.  After a long discussion we decided to find somewhere remote to hide out for the holiday.  Remote means Nevada.  After a few calls, we booked a week in a place called Cottonwood Cove near Searchlight, Nevada.  It is at the north end of Lake Mohave, about 14 miles east of Searchlight.  This is just about as remote as you can get.  We have no idea what is there.  And so, the adventure begins.

Jeanne spent the past few days sorting through our things and efficiently loading the coach.  I had my doubts, but she eventually whipped it into shape and everything seems to have its place.  In the meantime, several trips were made to the storage facility to drop off items not really need.  We developed a less-is-more outlook.

The house closed escrow on January 30.  I returned to the property on January 29 to remove a few remaining items and take pictures of the empty house.  I still can’t believe that we were able to clean the place out.  The family had been there since 1955.  I know that certain things were brought into the house in 1955 and, except for two earthquakes, had not moved until I got rid of them.  It was physical and emotional struggle.

Front of house where I grew up.

Back porch that flooded in heavy rains.

Corner of room where desk went. A lot of study took place here.

We were done when the garage was clean.

Garage workbench.

We had to decide what to do with an extra set of keys after escrow closed.  After much discussion, Jeanne convinced me they belong with Mom. So today I went to the cemetery to say goodbye and bury the keys at the grave site.

So, that’s it.  With Mom’s house sold and our stuff in storage, there is no going back.

Contemporary note:  There is more to the key story.  The house locks had never been changed and Mom used the same key for 48 years.  Needless to say, the key was worn to the point of fragility.  Jeanne and I were at a Panda Express when I said “well, we won’t be needing these anymore”, tossed the house keys on the tray and headed for the trash.  Jeanne almost burst into tears.  She said we couldn’t throw away Mom’s key with the uneaten noodles and rescued the original, worn-out key.  I’m sure the key is at the cemetery to this day.