I am being stalked by ravens the size of dogs. They are waiting patiently for me to go inside so they can inspect everything there is to tear apart. The camp check-in lady says they really enjoy destroying sewer hose. Not a pleasant thought. So... we are only dumping when we need to. And since I am doing 5 loads of laundry, that's getting to be often.

Steve took his ATV to a repair shop in Flagstaff which turned out to be a mere 2 hrs away. He turned it over while we were riding in Hualapai and its smoking oil and not running real well. It wouldn't be a trip to AZ without us supporting the local economy... unfortunately..

But since I haven't blogged in weeks, I guess I'll recap our trip so far..

After our campground in Parker, we headed to a fun-filled week in "snobs knob" or better known as Lake Havasu RV Resort - an ownership type place. You rent a lot. Ours was bank owned and on the market for a mere $49,000 - for a large cement pad with hookups and a little room. The resort had two community centers, pools, spa...some lovely upgraded lots with casitas and million dollar motorhomes. It also had attitude which wasn't much fun. We were the "poor" relatives apparently.
But there was some good riding out of the park.

Then we moved about 5 miles to the rodeo park for our fireworks adventure. We paid to park in a large parking lot within a half mile of endless fireworks. And I mean endless. They set those suckers off morning, noon and night. The big shows were unbelieveable. It was pretty cool to sit in front of the motorhome with our campfire and chairs and be entertained nightly with an impressive range of fireworks. It's a private conference, but they put on shows for the public. And they test fireworks... and license new operators. Apparently it must have been a new operator who sent a couple of fireworks our direction... I mean literally right over our heads. One came down and exploded about 20 feet from us. Hence the waiver we all signed to be camping there.. Steve loved it. Jada...not so much. We drugged her each day so she didn't shake or whine, but definitely wasn't happy.

I have been the travel guide. A responsibility I would love to relinquish. Sooo... Grand Canyon was on the bucket list for our friends but they didn't want to stay a full week and they didn't want to stay in Williams near the train and they wanted to stay on the rim...

So I had to find somewhere we could ride ATVs for a couple of days prior to heading to GC. We ended up in a wonderful county park called Hualapai Mountain Park. Normally it would be snowed in, but this year it was dry and we were the only ones there. The riding was mountains and we took the Isenbergs on a 45 mile ride to the goldfish pond at Boriana mine. Also, turned out there was a resort there (resort - term used loosely) which had a wonderful restaurant. We had the BEST prime rib - which was a surprise. The elk and deer have run of the place and it really was a great campground. We had 50 amp and wifi. Only the water was turned off.

Sooo. Monday we left that campground and headed three hours to the Grand Canyon South Rim. The trailer village is actually quite nice. It's in the National Park, about a halfmile to the rim on a walking trail. We have really strong 50 amp power, water pressure that will knock you off your feet and cable. And here is where we are being stalked by huge ravens. Last night, a herd of elk wandered through which was cool. We will be here until Sat when we leave for Cottonwood, which is near Sedona. The plan is for two weeks there in one of our membership parks. The Isenbergs are leaving for home this Friday so we'll be by ourselves for the first time.

So far, the motorhome is running great, everything is working and we are very comfortable. Minus Steve' little accident with his ATV, the trip has been trouble free. But of course, we still have a couple more weeks to get into trouble.
I will attempt to upload photos.. we'll see

It's dusty here. I'm sure I mentioned it already. But this year AZ is having similar water issues which seems a bit strange for the desert. I'm ready to head for the campground. On Wed. we will end 18 days of living "off the grid." Today we are going on an ATV ride to Apache Cabin which is over the hills behind us.
Our big purchase this year for the motorhome (should have been tires... but that's another story) was a system to monitor the tanks more accurately. For some reason, Steve feels the important need to know exactly how full the "xxxx" tank is.. at all times - in digital glory. So.. that's what we did. They are supposed to install out here on Sunday or Monday.

Well, I've got a low battery on the computer so I'll have to finish another time. Oh the joys of desert camping.

Yep... Im a bad blogger. We are in the desert now and learning the ways of the motorhome for boondocking. So far, so good. Everything works - we have heat and hot water and power. That pretty much covers everything. Tomorrow the big RV tent opens offering all kinds of stuff for RV people. We are thinking about a couple of "must haves" including perhaps... maybe... a steering gizmo to improve handling... new tires..shocks... or solar panel for the roof or.. lifelong air filter or... who knows? We probably wont do anything yet... but maybe tires.. may not have a choice. We are close to needing new tires.

Otherwise, we have taken a couple atv rides and today was laundry day. Such excitement.

We are close to the Tiffin rally (30 plus) motorhomes less than a block from us. Attended such exciting seminars as the diesel mechanic could provide.. and the automatic leveling system. It was actually informative considering we have no clue about such systems yet.

And... our closest neighbor has a super loud construction generator which he runs each and every night until 10 p.m. It's loud.. very loud.

We will be here until the 29th. A very long time to be boondocking. We'll see if I ever want to do it again.

Pictures soon... I promise.

We are in the desert!! It a boring and uneventful trip... emphasis on boring. Did I say boring?
Well, that's not quite true. The trip over the mountains outside of Bakersfield was a bit dramatic as there was very dense fog. I couldn't see the motorhome in front of me and sometimes could barely see the front of the truck I was driving. Then of course, there was the wind factor. I didn't feel it, but Steve did as he was driving a billboard down the highway.
We have been nesting today moving stuff around and figuring out the systems in the motorhome. Apparently, the aquahot system (heat and hot water) needs service as when it runs it produces a giant black soot spot on the ground. I can't believe that's normal. But we have an appointment in a couple weeks for a guy to service it out here in the desert.

We parked in a rural area. After setting up and claiming our spot, we were informed that we are going to be near 40 Allegro motorhomes - which is exactly the brand of ours. I knew they were having a rally out here just didn't realize is was right next door. It is a good thing actually since they can answer our questions about this coach. And... they are only scheduled to be there a few days.

We are going for our all-time record - 18 days of boondocking. We'll see how the tanks last.

So far the weather is in the 70s and there's a bit of wind - although its not too bad.

I am running out of battery power.. so I'll update again later.

Onward. We are still at home in Folsom. I finally tied myself to a chair and set up yet another travel blog. This is the best way for me to keep in touch with the chosen few allowed to view this blog. If I let everyone in, then I will have to refrain from including some of my best topics - our fellow RVers. Honestly, a blog is nothing without a little gossip. So in two days we'll start the happy parade to AZ with Steve driving the motorhome and me behind the wheel of the truck full of firewood and kayak and pulling the ATV trailer. Our first stop is fabulous Bakersfield. So, as we continue to dump much of the house into the motorhome, stay tuned.