Thursday, January 6th, 2011
Boy oh boy you folks are really bored. We heard from some of our loyal following after yesterdays report. They do not care what we record including the number of sheets used in each toilet sitting, but they need their daily fix that they claim is far better than the local news media. This means one of two things. We have to find better ways to describe our trips to the garbage dumpster or we have to get off our butts and do something worth recording.
Another cool night and we kept the tap dripping just in case. Apparently there is lots of water and the park supervisors encourage this practice. The alternative is frozen lines so there is not much choice. Thank God they do not make us put heating tapes on our hoses. That would cost a fortune with the length of hose in use.
Vic and Shirley left at 10:15 AM for California. We will miss them but they plan to be back in March. We shall look forward to their return. It is a good thing they were off their lot because a large motorhome backed in on it shortly after they left. Apparently everyone knew this and the reason they had to leave today.
This is Vic and Shirley going out around the corner at the end of 23rd Street. Vic worked on formula one racing cars all his life. He knows Jacques Villeneuve and knew his father Gilles. He said Jacques is now racing stock cars of all things.
Vic said he was one of the few not suffering from tinnitus from the noise of the engines. That was my main question to him. We felt the pit crews were always fine tuning in attempt to get that extra squeak of speed and performance. We were interested in the courses he had taken over the years. There were none. It had not dawned on me that the engines and transmissions were all classified by their manufacturer. If something went wrong it simply went back to them. They would have two or three sets for each car. Vic and Shirley were always on the move from one race to the next all over world actually. They could be racing in England today and in South Africa tomorrow. He told us some very interesting stories.
Our truck needs tires. It will never make it to Calgary the way it is but one has to admit it managed good mileage on the tires that came with the truck when new. It has over 58,000 kilometres on them and I remember having to buy tires for the old blue truck at 45,000 kilometres. This morning I wrote down the tire size on a slip of paper and Jerry yelled at me from across the street. I was asking him where one could get a deal and he said Costco. Joan and I programmed the GPS and went to Costco in Gilbert, Arizona.
If this place is tourist friendly my butt is a cookie cutter. Costco would have to order them in of course so we got down to paying for them. They would not accept VISA so we walked across the block to the National Bank of Arizona. They could give us $200.00 a day only because we did not have an account at their bank. So we went back to Costco and cancelled the whole thing and decided to go to Wal-Mart.
We came to Wal-Mart here at Apache Junction having been there many times. The old boy looked up in everything he had and was unable to order tires for the truck. Cars only apparently. So we left and went down the street to James Tire Sales. Every time I went past that place I had the feeling they would be selling us tires. No problem, a new suit of Michelin’s tomorrow because they have to order them in. They could have slapped a suit of Firestone on her this afternoon but I felt the Michelin’s would be the better buy. They will phone tomorrow when ready and will change the oil while they are at it. The best part is they will accept my Canadian Visa card that is in U.S. Dollars. The price difference in the tires there than at Costco is so little it would never pay for one trip to Gilbert let alone a second trip to get them. We hope to still be this happy this time tomorrow.
For those of you who may be interested and for those of you who aren't this is our rig sitting on site 543. Note the black power pole in the way. They sent one of the supervisors down with us in his golf cart to give us a hand backing in on the site. One has to back in on every site in the place. This guy was very very good, none better. The trailer missed the power pole by ½ inch but in trying to get it in straight with the cement pad my right K & J mud flap caught and ripped the bottom right corner off. Darn it! K & J did not like those flaps and told us to get a good set and they would replace them. Joan and I like them but we may replace them if we find a nice set some place. The guy who helped us back in was afraid it was a tire that had been torn for a moment. We knew we needed new tires then so simply felt that was the excuse to get them. We were disappointed more in the mud flap than a tire.
Bernice, Winston and Neil run such a good campground at Elm River, Glenholme, Nova Scotia that we cannot help but compare each campground we enter to theirs. Most of you are sick and tired of hearing me say that I know. Note all the hose and power line we had to purchase in order to set-up here. Then think of the hundreds that have had to make this investment. We have no idea what we will do with it all when we get home. At least Mitch has a nice 50 amp power cord to use if he can find a use for it. Natasha has a nice 50 foot white garden hose to water her flowers. And so on and so forth.
The weather remained sunny and warm all day. Shirt sleeve weather all the way.
After supper we made a laundry run. Both Joan and Karen go together on these laundry runs and it is amazing how quickly one needs to make this trip. The jig saw puzzle was complete and gone with a new one started. This one is a wharf someplace and probably Maine. There are a lot of lobster boxes on the wharf and buoy floats nailed to the front of the old shed. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to complete this one. A fair bit of it is already completed.
That was the day and if you still want the toilet tissue sheets counted you are welcome to the job. We ain't about to get involved in that. Good Night. God Bless.