Monday, August 26, 2019

Away From the Yuma Heat - Pio Pico TT Park, Jamul, CA - August 26, 2019

After over a month and a half, it is time for an update. What have we been up to? Well, enduring the heat for one.

Thank goodness for a good AC in the car. 118!





Our Arizona room temp. But it is a dry heat... 121!





We keep the house AC temp to around 80 during the day, a single room window AC in the bedroom at night. It takes a little while, but we are pretty well getting used to it now.


Kim & Chris came over one weekend and we all went to the swim park. Had a cold one while floating down the lazy river. It was nice.


Early one morning, the only time I could stand to be on the RV roof, I replaced the motor in our rooftop air conditioner. And by golly... it works great now. Here are some on the pictures I took during the job.


















In the last month and a half, we traveled over to El Cajon to visit Kim & Chris. And they have come to Yuma to see us too. It sure is great to see Ally this often. She is growing up so fast. Here she is in our house watching her favorite video - Baby Shark.






Health insurance for pre-medicare RVers has been one of our issues since we have hit the road back in 2012. Healthcare.gov (Obamacare) has been out of the question since the last 2 years we have had to repay the healthcare subsidy because I tapped into my retirement dollars. This year, we opted for a catastrophic policy for Donna for $217.00 a month. Pretty much good for nothing unless she gets hit by a truck. But you have to have some kind of insurance. I have medicare, which is great for me. Next March, Donna gets medicare and then all will be good.

About a year ago, the Social Security Administration determined they granted my disability when they should not have, so they adjusted my eligibility date back 6 months. Yes it was a bummer that our SS paycheck decreased horribly, but the good that came out of it was our income now meets the level needed to get Donna some medical insurance help. She now pays $33.00 co-pay for a doctor visit. It is all good. Can't wait till next April when everything gets back to normal.


We decided to pack up the RV and get out of the Yuma heat for awhile. August 8th, we headed to Jamal, CA, just outside San Diego to the Pio Pico Thousand Trails RV Park for 2 weeks. The first 2 nights, we were in the North side of the park where we had only W & E.







The second night, our EMS shut down power because it dropped to 91 volts AC. So we moved over to the South side where full hookups are.








And because this park is famous for no cell or internet service, I picked up a booster from Amazon.








So far, we can make and receive cell calls and barely get an internet signal. I need to do some more tweaking, but we can be called if needed. Still waiting for a call out to a wildfire.


That's it for now.


The Fergs out .......

Monday, July 8, 2019

Summertime in Yuma - July 8, 2019


We arrived back at our house in Yuma on June 2oth. I got the RV parked and turned the house AC on.






Triple digit heat everyday now. They turned our water on the day before and I ordered garbage service and internet. We are not doing Centurylink this time. We are going with Spectrum. So begins our summer.

We made another trip to El Cajon, CA. We took advantage of free tickets to Sea World. We got 4 free passes because I was a veteran. Cool! We went with Kim & Chris. It was fun to take Ally. One year old now.












A week later, They came to Yuma for the 4th of July. We all went to a big 4th of July community event. Good beer, fireworks, and fun. Chris won a watermelon eating contest too.







We checked out the local water park here. It looks pretty refreshing and fun. We will be doing this soon.






One day, Donna and I took a little drive up to Lake Havasu City. We visited the thrift shops in town, the London Bridge area, and finished with lunch at Mudshark Brewery. A nice little get away day.






















Our RV air conditioner died on the way south this year. It seemed the fan motor was bad. I tore it apart and found just that. We just ordered one through Amazon for $114.00. Should have it going again by next week.













That's about it. Will do another update when we do something special.




The Fergs out .......

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

A Big Move! - June 18, 2019

Time in Washington is getting short. The big move down to the San Diego area is coming fast. Tim, Shannon & the boys came to Yakima to celebrate Ally's first birthday. It isn't till June 26th, but we all will be in CA then.









Ally's first birthday cake....ice cream cake!
Waiting for it...





Here it comes....






Yay!






Happy Birthday to me!!!









Donna and I parked at the Elks in Yakima. W & E for $30.00 a night. Just two nights here and we will be gone.






June 13th, we headed south. And we took Ally with us. Chris's dad will be driving down towing a borrowed 16 foot cargo trailer filled with Kim & Chris's stuff. We totally filled up the fifth wheel with their stuff too. We kept the bedroon slide in and loaded the whole front end with stuff. We now have a fifth wheel/u-Haul rig.


Our first stop was the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville, OR, 387 miles. Ally did great sleeping most of the way (thank God!).






The next stop was over the Siskiyous and into California. Beautiful drive by Mount Shasta.









We stopped at the Elks in Red Bluff, CA. W & E for $15.00.





It was hot out, 90 degrees. And our air conditioner died. That's just great. Donna and I could deal with it, but Ally was pretty hot and starting to fuss.







So we went to the Walmart and bought an air conditioner. It was a single room unit, but worked great sticking out our window. Problem solved!


Then we decided to go for it. We were planning to go 329 miles and stop at the Elks in Visalia, but because of the heat, we decided to go 505 miles to the Thousand Trails in Acton, CA where it only reached 85 drgrees there. It was a long drive. And we started up the Grapevine when it was 98 degrees out. My engine and transmission temp gauges were rising fast and the engine fans were on. I was getting a little worried... but the outside temp dropped to 81 degrees and we crested the summit as we were finally cooling off. It was a long day as we pulled into the campground.


Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails in Acton, CA.





Up early Sunday morning to drive the final 196 miles through the Los Angeles area. We picked the perfect time to do it too. Very light traffic (thank God).


We arrived at our destination, Pio Pico Thousand Trails in Jamul, CA.






We are just 20 miles from Kim & Chris's new appartment.


Chris's dad met up at the apartment. Donna kept Ally busy






while we unloaded the trailer.













It sure felt good to unload our RV too. We were getting tired of sleeping on the couch/floor. 
The campground....

A strange sign by the pool.







Nice!


There is zero cell service here. But there is a trail above the Family lodge & pool.






The trail ends at a little plastic chair. And here, is where you get cell service!







While catching up online, I had a nice view of the park up there.







Chris started work at the Jamul Casino today, and we have been helping Kim take care of Ally while trying to put a house together. Tomorrow will be our last day here, and Thursday the 20th, we will be traveling our last 165 miles to our home base in Yuma.

Looking forward to home, even though it will be hot.

Also looking forward to working this year during the fire season.

Waiting to be called out....

The Fergs out .......