Shortly after we set up in the gravel pit I climbed on the roof to erect the new photo voltaic panels to maximize the input. Carol came up to give me a hand. As soon as Carol tried to lift the first panel we undid I discovered that the panel had been put up backwards. all the electrical connections are at one end, that end has to be at the pivot end of the panel or I would need extra long cables. The other panel had the electrical connections at the other (correct for my set up) end. We put that one up and the electrical flow to the batteries really did improve. Called Solar Bill and he was not a lot of help, we were already 70 miles away and he had no helpers anywhere near us. The task would be up to me, if I could find an assistant willing to work on the roof with me. Carol does not have the strength to assist me in this project.
A while later Dan and Beverly Armstrong, with whom we had been in touch, appeared with their motorhome and parked along side. After a lengthy exchange of greetings based on our not having seen each other for over a year, Dan noticed my panels and asked the obvious question. It was hot and we had other places to go so I said we should put off the roof work till the sun was a bit lower. So after a ride to Bard to get some dates and fresh ground peanut butter, Dan got out his tools to add to mine and we ascended to the roof. After about 30 minutes we had the rear panel turned around so I could point both at the sun. Once again the meter should greater improvement in electron flow. This left me needing to buy one new tool, a 7/16 box end wrench. Carol and I drove to the Yuma Proving Grounds PX and found a very nice set for a reasonable price. While there she found a mini Cuisinart and when I price checked, it was 20% less then the best price on Amazon. Deal!
Wednesday Dan and Beverly left for Yuma Elks Lodge and we puttered around the camp site until we decided to take a ride to Mitry Lake and the PX. We were planning on moving to the Yuma Elks on Friday because there were several events we thought we might attend in Yuma and the 30 miles drive back and forth gets old, especially after dark. Thursday we decided to go ahead and move. We had been checking the Host Sites several times a day looking for a Host to buy our permit from. Never did find one present. For that matter we saw no one authorized to issue the permit until we were filling the freshwater tank prior to departure. He could not sell the permit we needed so we said “sorry” and left.
The Yuma Elks Lodge camping area is on sand with no hookups and developed in a day when RVs did not have slide out rooms. It felt tighter than we are usually parked for a large Rally. Actually I almost walked into the side of Dan’s slide room when avoiding my own slide room. The location is really convenient being in the center of town. The hospital is across the street and its helicopter landing area was right on the street. We are given to understand that the Elks Lodge has sold its land to the hospital and will be moving farther out of the center of town and may not have RV space in its new location.
While in Yuma we drove up past YPG to Martinez Lake with Beverly and Dan and took a day trip on the Colorado River with Yuma River Tours on their smaller jet boat. The skipper said the river was relatively high and thus we only spent half the time crossing from side to side to stay in the channel and avoid the sandbars. Given that the jet boat has a very shallow draft this gives a clue as to how little water is permitted this far down the river below Hoover Dam, most of the water in the river is spoken for by farmers in California’s Central Valley. We enjoyed a tour of Norton’s Landing, a remnant of the steamboat era when it served as a wood lot supplying wood to the passing steamboats. Today it is a campsite for city children to learn about the “wilderness.” The 15 foot or more climb from the dock to the high ground where we picnicked is a reminder of how deep the river once was, the terrace where we sat was just barely above water before the dams were built.
Our other activities while in Yuma included a trip to Los Algadones in Mexico. With a good referral Carol and I chose to have our teeth cleaned there. Cash, $25 each got the job done. The report is that there are 450 dentists in Los Algadones, a sort walk over the border from the Quechan parking lot about 16 miles from Yuma. We also bought some more tequila. Carol had a $7 haircut and we had a lovely lunch before getting in line to wait a bit over an hour to cross back into the US. This day they had four line open for ICE instead of the two the last time we crossed and waited over 2 1/2 hours in the sun to inch our way to the border. Sequester may increase the length of the line and do further damage to the economy of this lively Mexican town, but that is almost politics, someplace I try not to go.
Although we were a day’s drive from Tucson, where we needed to be, the morning of the 6th, we left on Monday the 4th with intention of stopping in Sells, AZ for the night. The reported parking area was not really large enough to suggest it would be reasonable for us to stay the night. We moved on with reports of boondocking locations along 86 near Kitt’s Peak Observatory (well the road to the observatory). We found one right on 86 next to the turn off and spent some time orienting the coach and disconnecting the car so we could go to the observatory. As soon as we turned onto the road in the Jeep we learned two important facts: the road is closed from 4 PM to 9 AM unless you have a reservation for a tour and star party, we had neither; there was a very large flat dirt area just off that road, outside the gate, that called to us. We moved the coach in there and had a quiet, dark night out of earshot of trains and most traffic. In the morning we were joined by another coach bound to the west from Lazy Days in Tucson who was having engine heat problems. After exchanging names and basic biographic data, we left them there cooling their engine. We saw them again at Lazy Days as we were checking out where to go for our appointment in the morning. We got to spend the night in the Service Overflow lot, plenty of asphalt, electric hookups and a chain link fence. The price was right so I was not complaining.
Getting our service work done will take some time as it may be Monday before they can get clearance from Tiffin to do what needs to be done. We decided to stay in the campground at a 50% discount for service customers and enjoy the blessings of full hookups (FHU). While waiting for them to release the coach to us for the night we drove to Sabino Canyon National Forest for a bit of a hike to shake the rust out of our legs. It felt good. For those who are interested the list of stuff needing work is long, but keeps getting shorter as some items are intermittent, they have happened once or are not happening now. Harder to diagnose and fix what isn’t broken. Even the front TV has been regularly working with the red signal on satellite for the past two nights. None of the items are really show stoppers, just mostly annoyances.
We meet with Jane and Dean on Saturday, they are driving down from Florence where they have spent much of the winter. Not sure what else we will get to, but there are a couple of plays we may take in while we are here. I’ll let you all know when that has happened.