TOUR AMERICA, 2020: TUCSON, ARIZONA – THE GRAND CANYON STATE

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:   NOMADS Project, New Hope United Methodist Church

February 16, 2020

Temperature 73 Degrees

We Have A New Theme Song

Back to Driving School

Back Home in Yuma Again

Some Day We May Have Everything Put Away

As suggested by a good friend of ours we now have a new theme song.

I get a funny feelin’ up and down my spine
‘Cause I know that my Elvira’s mine
So I’m singin’

Elvira, Elvira, my heart’s on fire, for Elvira
Giddy Up, Oom Poppa Oom Poppa Mow Mow
Giddy Up, Oom Poppa Oom Poppa Mow Mow
High-o Silver, away.

 I’m singin’

Elvira, Elvira, my heart’s on fire, for Elvira
Giddy Up, Oom Poppa Oom Poppa Mow Mow
Giddy Up, Oom Poppa Oom Poppa Mow Mow
High-o Silver, away.

Elvira, Elvira, my heart’s on fire, for Elvira

Yup, Elvira is now definitely ours.  I must say it sure felt funny leaving Graybeard behind.  I swear I honestly saw a tear on his windshield as I gave him a final hug and thanked him for the many miles that he safely carried us around this great country.  I’m sure he will do the same for my son Paul and his wife Brittany.

It was back to driving school for me on this trip to Yuma.  Driving a diesel is quite a bit different than driving a gasser.  One big difference is the rpm that they each run at.  A diesel is at or below 2000 rpm most of the time.  Indeed, Elvira seems to have a sweet spot of 1800 rpm when doing 63/64 mph.  My Ford usually ran around 2300 rpm unless climbing a hill and then it was up to 4200 rpm or more.  A diesel pusher is much quieter, you can even carry on a conversation in a normal tone, no more yelling back and forth.

The big question I had, though, was do you run the diesel in power or economy mode most of the time.  I learned that you basically put it in economy mode, set the cruise control and let it do it’s thing.   On an incline depending on the engine temperature you disengage the cruise and maybe drop it out of overdrive into 5th or if necessary 4th gear and keep it around 2100 rpm.  So that is what I did and it worked like a charm.  I’m sure when the super duper hills come in the future I’ll be learning a lot more.

All in all it was a great, if not boring,  run from Tucson to Yuma.  The miles just seemed to go by without a sweat.

We did make one important stop on the way out.  We took Elvira to the scales to see if we would need to put her on a diet.  As of now we are about 1100 pounds light on the front and about the same on the back.  With the results in hand I can now adjust tire pressure accordingly.  Next month when we’re at the Escapees park we’ll get her cornered weighed.  That’s the best way to do it.

Due to dental commitments we are back in Yuma.  Even back at the same park we were at the first time.

It’s the park with all the neat lawn decorations, especially all kinds of turtles.

We’re right around the corner from were we first where.  Our site this time is #289 and it is as great as the first site.  It is level, all utilities are right at hand, and since we have our satellite antenna on the roof now we don’t need to worry about where to put Gertrude.

One thing I have to do tomorrow is clean the windshield.  You can’t see it but we got hit by a swarm of something on the way out and the windshield is a mess.

I’m having to learn a whole new setup routine.  Once I get Elvira on site, you dump the air from the air bags, then place your blocks under your jacks and level side to side first, then finally back to back – per Newmar’s recommendation.

Then you shut the engine off and deploy the slides.  You can’t even move the slides unless the engine is off.  That takes some getting used to.

To date several things have already sorted themselves out.  The toilet which refused to hold water is now working perfectly.  I guess the seal just needed some time to swell and/or become flexible again .  The city water fill fitting stopped leaking and is perfectly fine right now.  I put new gas struts on our bed so it would stay up when it was lifted.  I’ll need to pick up a few for the outside locker doors since a few of them are not holding their own.  

Tomorrow I’ll order the kit that will convert our Norcold Never Cold absorption refrigerator to a residential compressor refrigerator.  We’ll run it off an inverter when we’re on the road or at Harvest Host or Boondockers Welcome locations.  Oh, and I’m just getting started.  Now, if I could only figure out what switch turns the outside lights on!

Needless to say we still have a few things to put away.

I did get my collection of T-shirts hung up in the wardroom closet.

Barbara taking a well deserved break.  As I said to her, We’re here for a month, we don’t have to do it all in one day.  I can also guarantee you, once we get it all put away, we’ll probably change our minds and start changing things around!

Our first full day in our new LV  on The Road of Retirement has come to a close.  We’re sitting in our recliners with a glass of wine apiece and just enjoying this great life of ours.  There is still so much, much more to do to make Elvira our own.  I’m looking forward to every minute of the transformation.

Thanks for coming along with us today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch your tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!