Last stop in Arizona, and Battle Born Batteries - April 12, 2021

 After our last week boondocking in Quartzsite, we packed up and made the 152 miles to the Mesa Spirit RV Resort in Mesa, AZ. We spent two weeks here. Our spot.

It was pretty hot and our close neighbors helped shade us. Good enough. It was a nice park.

While there, we watched our 2 grand daughters in Phoenix while our daughter and husband took a mini 4 day vacation to Las Vegas. And then spent Easter with them.

I also received my 3 Battle Born batteries while we were at their house. I spent a good half of a day installing them.

Before

Ready to work

A little work behind the breaker panel

This is to run the refrigerator and microwave on the inverter while driving.

There they are

Less space, and 193 pounds lighter.

putting it all back

done

One day, I killed the park power for a day and tested them out. Very happy with how they worked out. I took them down to 80 percent, and they were back to 100 percent before noon the next day. Cool!!

I had been noticing a severe wear pattern on the outside front truck tire. 

I went to 2 alignment shops first and my truck would not fit on their rack. I then took it to an alignment shop in Apache Junction. They had a RV rack.

It was off quite a bit, but they got it fixed up just fine. I also had to replace the tire with my spare. The spare was like new. Never used. But original. Dated 34th week of 2014. My other tires are 05 of 2018. Needless to say, I will be buying a new tire and the 'good' old one will again be my spare.

We enjoyed out last time this season with out daughter and family, the hot weather and trips to the park pool, but it was time to head northward.

April 11th, we packed it up and left Arizona. Our stop was the Palm Springs Thousand Trails in Palm Desert, CA, a 279 mile trip.

Amid the palm trees.

The Fergs out .......

Boondocking in Q Again - La Posa South BLM LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ - March 21, 2021

 This morning, March 21st, we made a quick trip down the road to Walmart to pick up some supplies. Our plan was to head out to Quartzsite and do some boondocking. I changed out our Renogy battery monitor 

for a Victron BMV-712.

And this will be the first time we have been boondocking since I added two more 200 Watt solar panels. We were out in Q earlier in January with just our first two panels (400 Watts). Now we have twice that much. The weather is great right now, and plenty of bandwidth too! Not like mid January during the 'big show days'.

I also decided to change out our 4 NPP NP6 6 volt AGM batteries 

for three Battle Born 12 volt Lithium heated batteries.

That will happen in about a week. we should get them around the 26th. Looking forward to that. The amp hours will go from 450 (only 225 usable), to about 300 usable. And the Victron BMV will talk via Bluetooth to my phone and give me all kinds of stats. But the biggest benefit, is the weight saving this will do. We want to get a Combo Washer/Dryer unit. The washer weighs 148 pounds. Our old 6 volt batteries weighs 65 pounds each. That's a 260 pound battery bank. By switching to the three Battle Born Lithium batteries, each weighing 31 pounds, we save 167 pounds and gain all the benefits of these awesome lithium batteries. Faster charging, longer lasting (10 year warranty), more efficient, less weight. I will let you know how they work out.

Our site here in Quartzsite.

I know we have free camping at a lot of Thousand Trails/Encore RV parks, but it is nice to mix it up and just get away. Very peaceful out here.

In a week, we will be in a Mesa RV park, saying our good-byes to our daughter. Then it will be time to start our migration northward. Washington state for the summer, visiting our kids, grandkids, and even great grandkids. Still planning to work at the California wildfire camps when called. 

The Fergs out .......

Our Last Stay in Yuma - Desert Paradise RV Resort, Yuma, AZ - March 10, 2021

 During our 13 days at the Countryside RV Resort in Apache Junction, we stayed home a lot. We only visited our daughter in Phoenix 3 times, because Donna caught a cold and was under the weather several days. But when we did, the weather was great and we got to hang around their pool.

Also on March 4th (her birthday), we drove back to Yuma for the day. We had appointments there for our second and final Covid shots. It went pretty smooth. Then we hit Applebees for her birthday dinner. Then back home where, the next day, we both felt like crap! It just lasted one day, thank God. Glad that's over.

March 7th was moving day. We made the 198 mile trip via Gila Bend to Yuma easily. And checked into the Desert Paradise RV Resort.

This is an Encore park and part of our Thousand Trails membership so it is a free stop for 2 weeks. Donna and I have some doctor appointments to take care of and then back to Mesa one more time.

This park had a virtual check-in. Made reservations online and checked into a site that they sent to me in an email. 

The park...a combination of RV travelers, and site owners (park models)

Our spot...

The wind really kicked up one day, so I applied the 'Colibaba Solution' to a flapping slide topper. A design from a friend, Steve Colibaba. 1 1/4 inch PVC and some rope.

Works well.

Ta Ta for now... 

The Fergs out .......

Hello to the Phoenix Area - Countryside RV Resort, Apache Junction, AZ - February 25, 2021

 February 22nd was moving day. We just completed 4 days at the Foothill Village RV Resort getting last minute house selling details completed. After packing up, we had an easy 190 mile trip to Apache Junction where we checked into Countryside RV Resort. We will be here 13 days.

Early in January, I added the Trails Connection to our Thousand Trails membership. This adds over 100 Encore RV parks to our Thousand Trails membership. It cost us $315.00 for the year. We did this mainly because we wanted to visit our daughter in Phoenix and the Trails Connection gave us 8 new parks in the Phoenix area that we could stay in free for 2 weeks at a time. It works for us. 

I always said...it is only worth it if you use it. The last park in Yuma was one, 4 days, this one, 13 days, and we are going to be back in Mesa at another park for 14 days, yep, it works for us.

Now our parks and memberships include,

Thousand Trails

Trails Connection

Resort Parks International (RPI)

Escapees

Elks

Passport America

Good Sam discount

AARP discount

Veteran discount

and I just signed up for Harvest Hosts. These are our go-to parks, along with COE, Fairgrounds, City/County Parks, and boondocking.

Pics of Countryside RV Resort

This is where they wanted to park us when we arrived.

*

No way. The spot is right of the palm tree. We have slides for goodness sakes!

They were nice to give us another spot.

Our spot

Look how close the 'neighbor is to my truck. I have to pull forward to get Donna in. It was fun getting in, and I am sure it will be getting out too.

Like I said ... It works for us.

The Fergs out .......