Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hello again from sunny Arizona. We are still in the same area here in Cottonwood, Arizona, and our blog to keep you up to date is as follows.
10/12/10
We had a bit of a sleep in this morning then headed back to Cottonwood as we had a call from the windscreen guy to say the windscreen was arriving after lunch and he was going to fit the windscreen this afternoon.When we arrived back in Cottonwood the guy then told us that he'd had a call from the delivery guy and he had got lost so missed the rendezvous with the truck heading to Cottonwood so it now wouldn't be in Cottonwood until Monday morning.Great!We spent the afternoon wandering around the shops and finding a few things here and there and then booked into another RV Park just out of town a bit.It is a Thousand Trails membership only park but they have vacancies at present and were taking public booking so thought we'd check it out.It's a lovely park but we really feel like the young kids on the block here!
11/12/10
We had a lazy day today and spent some time cleaning up inside the motor home and going through the bits and pieces we had bought and prepared a package to go home to the kids for Christmas and putting our other purchases away in the storage compartment under the bed.We didn't do much else today though really.Noel went for a wander and a chat with others in the park (how unusual for him!!!) and I got some computer work done checking on emails etc. and printing out some info I needed to get some quotes done (we finally bought a printer yesterday).The only problem with the wi-fi here is that you have to go down to the clubhouse to use it.Plenty of tables but only 2 power points and a few people needed those to use their laptops.At least I only needed a power point for the printer so got everything ready while I waited for my turn at the power point!Tonight they had a group come in and play country and western music.They were really good but unfortunately we were 2 of 12 people who come out to listen to them.I felt really sorry for them but they were really good and we enjoyed ourselves and of course had a chat with people as well which was nice.
12/12/10
Today we arranged for a lift up the mountain to the township of Jerome.We had gone through the town when we did our mountainous sightseeing trip a few days ago and wanted to go back for a look.There is a little company here in Cottonwood called CKs Need a Lift and it is like a personal taxi service.They are really lovely people to deal with and mostly take a lot of the elderly people in town to do their shopping, doctor appointments etc. and then pick them up again later and take them home again which is a great community service and their prices are really reasonable.Anyway, they picked us up and took us up the mountain to Jerome and then came back later in the afternoon and picked us up again and brought us back to Cottonwood.Our driver Dennis was really lovely and he was born and bred in the area so was able to give us a lot of info also which was great as the history of the area is really interesting also.We spent the day wandering around the many shops up there and had lunch at a little Mexican restaurant (we had hamburgers!!!)Jerome used to be a big copper mining area and once at 15,000 residents which at one stage dwindled to around 15 after the mines closed and is now back up to around 500 so it is again growing.There is a lot of restoration work in progress on the buildings in the area which now thrives entirely on tourists.The view from the township is absolutely fabulous.We would have liked to have stayed a night there but the main hotel there The Jerome Grand Hotel is currently closed and the little B & Bs were all booked out, as they apparently are most weekends.The Grand Hotel was originally the town hospital and it has been restored into a hotel and done up really well.It overlooks the entire valley so we would have loved to have stayed there.May be next visit!
13/12/10
"Happy Birthday Noel"Today we finally got the windscreen replaced and then we went and had a look at a motor home for sale which a man in the RV Park told Noel about.A friend of his is selling it for an elderly couple who can't travel any more.It is just what we were looking for (well what I wanted anyway) and although it is a little more than what we had planned to spend on a motor home it is such a good buy so we then spent the rest of the day looking into registration and insurance laws in Arizona........ fun!We still have a lot more finding out to do though.We also did a bit more shopping and posted our package off to the kids so that hopefully they get it before Christmas.Postage to Australia is so expensive.They no longer do sea mail so it has to go air mail regardless and because they have a monopoly on it they just charge so much that it's ridiculous.We decided to have a splurge this evening for Noel's birthday and we booked into the Cliff Castle Casino Hotel at Camp Verde for the night.Noel's parents had given him some money for his birthday so we used that so thanks Mum & Dad W for a lovely night.We called in to visit the people we had met at the RV Park in Camp Verde and had a drink and a chat with them there and it was lovely to catch up with them again.We then went up to the Casino for dinner which was really nice.Our room really felt huge after spending the past few weeks in the motor home.I'm sure the bathroom alone was nearly as big as it.We had a lovely king size bed to spread out in and a big TV to watch, a lovely lounge and desk with wifi (yes I had work to do) so it was lovely to have such a luxurious room for the night as a treat.Thanks again Mum & Dad.I enjoyed his birthday present also.
14/12/10
I woke up early and got my last quote for 2011 tours finished and sent off.Noel had a nice sleep in then he went out to the motor home (it was parked just outside our room) and brought breakfast in for us.He still much prefers his corn flakes (and honey smacks here in USA) for breakfast to a cooked one.I finally finished the quote and we left our room right on 11am so used every second of our time there.It feels nice to know that I now don't have to worry about work until I get back to Australia as the schools are on holidays and most admin offices close this week also so it is unlikely that I will get any more requests for quotes now until we get back (hopefully).We spent the rest of the day looking further into registration and insurance of vehicles here in Arizona and then we went out and bought that motor home we were looking at.We are now broke but we are now the owners of a 2004 Gulf Stream Ultra Limited Edition 29 ' 6" C Class Motor Home.It is 8'6" wide so is slightly wider as well as longer than the old one but riding in the cab it seems smaller as it is just like being in the front seat of a van.Noel says it is completely different to drive and will take a little getting used to after the old one.I've attached some photos for you to see it.It's only done 26,000 miles and it is almost like new.It is lovely and has so much room.It can sleep up to 8 at a push but I honestly don't think I'd like to squeeze that many people in to it.It's so exciting.We now have some other challenges ahead of us as we now have 2 motor homes in Cottonwood. We'll work that out some how though.I may just have get over my phobia and drive one of them into a town!
15/12/10
Well today we took possession of the new motor home.It is so nice and we are really happy with our purchase.The next hurdle was to transfer everything from one motor home to the other.I didn't realize we had so much stuff in there.It was really cloudy this morning and then it started raining around lunch time (of course) as we started getting ready to put things into the new motor home, but it was only intermittent showers and nothing much really but it certainly cooled the day off.We both had a jumper on all day today which is the first time in weeks as the days have been so beautiful that we've been in short sleeves through the day.We managed to get most of the things into the new one by the time it got dark (we at least had all of the essentials).We put the mattress etc. from the old motor home into the new one which was a challenge.The old one is just so comfy that we decided to swap them around BUT it is a larger mattress than the one that was in the new one so getting around the bed is really tight and I mean REALLY tight.My sore knee is so swollen tonight from being on it all day, bending etc. and it touches the wall and mattress getting around the bed so we're not sure what we're going to do about that.Luckily we don't spend too much time walking around the bed.We moved back to the RV Park in the new one and left the old one out where we picked the new one up and after dinner I started packing things away while Noel got all of the manuals out and starting trying to work out how everything worked.Still a few things we aren't sure of but will work them out.As we are heading off to bed at 10.30pm it is still raining a bit outside so hopefully the clouds will make it a bit warmer tonight.
Tomorrow we are planning on finishing the change over and then heading off in the new motor home and leaving the old one in storage here in Cottonwood for a week or so while we are away.We can't believe that we have stayed in one area for so long but if we hadn't been delayed because of the windscreen we wouldn't have found out about the new motor home so I guess fate was on our side on that one.We are planning on coming back here in time of Christmas and then it will be time to start thinking about heading back to LA to arrange things for putting the old one on theboat to bring it home.This is another challenge in itself as we still haven't received our Import Licence yet.They said it could take up to 3 weeks to process and we sent it off 3 ½ weeks before we left home!We at least know that they have it because we received an email from them the other day and they wanted photos of the manufacturer's plates so it's just as well we were over here as we didn't have photos of that on our computer at home.Oh the joys of dealing with Government Departments...............
Well we hope that everyone at home is well.We've heard that the sun is trying to shine for awhile which must be nice after so much rain.
Thanks again for the messages, emails , skype calls and phone calls.They are greatly appreciated.Now that Christmas is getting so close I am starting to miss being at home a bit but I know that everyone is looking out for the kids for me.
Until next time, Take care of each other and don't over do the Christmas cheer!!
Lots of Love to everyone
Pam & Noel
- comments
Brendan Van Vliet Hey Pam and Noel Glad you are having a great time. NICE RV Congratulations on your purchase. What is it like driving on the opposite side of the road. Enjoy your new toy.
Tony and Helen HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOEL! I didn't realise Helen has been following your trekking about, but she told me tonight that you had bought your motorhome and just showed me some pics of it. Congrats on finding what you were looking for. When you get something like that and have to learn how to drive it ... all the nooks and crannies ... (Tony just told me to scrap the last bit, but I'm going to leave it!) He's thinking hard about what to say next, so maybe I'll just finish this for him ... Enjoy cruising in your new RV. From Tony ... Be careful when you turn! Add a little extra, or you'll end up hitting the kerb, or another car even. From both of us ... Have fun guys, wherever the road takes you. Take care. Love Tony and Helen