Day 53 - 2019 Review (Part 2)

Happy New Year!

July - The month started out with a camping trip to Eklutna Lake north of Anchorage. This was a camp out arranged by Gary and Stacy of Pau Hana Travels. Later in the month, we thought that we found an affordable used diesel pusher coach that checked off most of the boxes for us. It was at a dealer in GA so Bridget and I spent a few days north of Atlanta to check it out. Thank you Lori and Chris for your wonderful hospitality.

August - I drove the Prius down to Oregon with most of the stuff for the new-to-us RV. I then flew to Atlanta with the intent of picking up the 2005 Mandalay 40E. The dealer didn’t have it ready even though they had 5 weeks to get it checked out. Again, thank you to Chris and Lori for putting up with me. I would not recommend this RV dealer.

September - After a nine day delay, I headed west from northern Georgia to Corvallis, OR, where I had left the Prius and Bridget flew in with two dogs and a cat. We met up with friends Brad & Brandy, and Lynne & Jerry in Salem before we began our snowbird trip. After a few days in Sunriver, OR, where we met up with Ginny and Dave, we headed east and south through Idaho and Utah. There was snow in the forecast for Montana and Idaho.

October - After escaping the frosty weather and threats of an early snow, we stayed in southern Utah/Nevada/Northern Arizona. My son and Alyssa drove out all the way from MN to spend several days with us exploring the area. We went to Las Vegas for a couple of days before heading back to Utah to meet up with Dom & Martha, and John & Renee. We hiked in Zion before heading to Lake Powell. We went to Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon that everyone probably has on their bucket list. From there, we continued south to the Grand Canyon and finished off the month in Tucson.

November - We continued south from Tucson to Benson and stayed for a couple of weeks. I went back home for several appointments and picking up some things I forgot to pack. While in Benson, I arranged to have the cooling system on the coach worked in Tucson on as the engine would get close to overheating on just about any grade. Even the modest 2% grade from Tucson to Benson. After the repair, we headed west to Quartzsite to see how this new-to-us coach did boondocking. No more overheating!

December - After our boondocking “test” we headed to Casa Grande, AZ, for a couple of weeks then on to Needles, CA, where we are spending the holidays. This coach does fine for short dry camping stays but really prefers campgrounds and RV parks. Being 41½ feet, it likes level spaces and smooth roads. And even though the tanks are all much larger than those on the 5th wheel, they filled up twice as fast. Based on our “test” we probably won’t be adding significant solar and we decided to purchase a Thousand Trails membership.

That’s about it for the year in review. 294 blog posts in 2019...