ANOTHER REPAIR TO DO!

After getting settled in for the evening we decided to put up the satellite dish to get an update on the happenings back home. So guess what? It wouldn’t start up for the initial satellite finding mode. I checked out the system connections in the coach and on the roof in the morning. All seemed ok so I then started fooling around with the buttons on the main control. It then started and went to the last location we used it at and stopped. Then after that it would not do anything as it was telling us it was already stowed and not in the up position. So as luck would have it, this campground has a huge rv repair and sales facility and off we went to make an appointment. The Repair Foreman then informed us our unit’s manufacturing company is no longer in business (@#$%@#$%&@#$%-crap). So we made the decision to have it replaced (ouch!) They have to order the parts in from California and Utah and they are unable to install them until Saturday, the day we were planning on leaving. So we are extending our stay 1 more day and leaving Sunday (we hope).

The sat. dish is facing straight up, not going down.

Last night we didn’t get much sleep due to a least 4 dogs barking constantly in the back area of the park. Cathy says she heard several trains through the night which I didn’t hear. We were up to here the jets from the Air Force Base taking off at 8 o’clock sharp. They seem to be coming and going throughout the day but it is not annoying.

In the afternoon, we bicycled around checking out the park, the various units in the park and the new coaches for sale. We didn’t notice any other units from Ontario but saw a few from British Columbia and Alberta. There are orange, lemon and grapefruit trees throughout the park but some have been hit with frost and are looking in pretty poor shape.

Pool area

Coach wash

There are 50 service bays for repairs.

Picking my morning orange juice.

Since today is Valentine’s Day I am taking Cathy out to the Park Restaurant for their Valentine’s Dinner as she suggested  several times (happy wife – happy life).  The entree options are New York Steak or Bacon Wrapped Prawns along with an appetizer and dessert. It was very good.

We have been wearing our shorts and t-shirts all day and see everyone else wearing long sleeved shirts and jackets with long pants. They are sure giving us some strange looks. It was a cloudless day with a high of 22C.

Happy Valentine’s Day

WE MADE IT TO TUCSON!

It was cold last night! I am glad I brought in the water line for the coach as the water supply valve was frozen a little in the morning when I reconnected the hose. I just had to take Cathy’s hair dryer to it for half a minute to thaw it.

We had a shorter drive lined up for today so we didn’t need to leave until 10 am. The day was cool but nice for driving and taking in the scenery. We hit more construction today than we have any other day and we again had to stop at a Border Patrol Check point. No problem, they just asked where we were going and looked at our driver licenses. We lost another hour today so we are now 2 hours behind Ontario. I was wondering why I felt younger this afternoon! We also crossed the Continental Divide along the way.

These boulders were right beside the road.

Decorated over passes.

An abandoned town.

At the rest stop we parked beside this truck hauling a load of bees. There is a mesh over all the boxes. Cathy was pretty brave taking this picture as she is allergic to bee stings.

We crossed miles of flat, dry dessert and these warning signs were posted.

There were several of these fancy picnic shelters located at a roadside rest stop.

This water retention bank was covered in art work.

We arrived at the Lazydays RV Resort around 3 o’clock so had a little time to take a small walk and look around. They are not filled to capacity by any means here. We will have to do more exploring tomorrow.

We are pretty close to the Davis Mountain Air Force Base and could see some kind of jets flying around. Hope to find out more about them.

 Oh yea, the problem with the coach trouble light may be fixed (fingers crossed). It has not come on since the repair yesterday in El Paso and it has also regained its’ power. My understanding of the problem is they previously replaced one sensor, and Ford has since sent out a bulletin to the Dealers to replace the second sensor as they have found that Bosch made a bad batch of them. So they must have had a number of vehicles with the same problem. 

It is dropping to 2C here tonight and the high today was 15C but very sunny.

http://goo.gl/maps/gp4n0

Till tomorrow....

TUESDAY – ON THE ROAD

We were on the road at 7:15 in order to make good time getting to the Ford Dealer in El Paso, Texas so they can have their turn at rectifying our check engine light indicator. This will be the fourth Dealer we have visited. I was thinking, if Ford has a National Convention we should be able to attend since we will have met a lot of them. There is now an additional problem with the coach losing power, since the last Dealer installed the newest and greatest calibration. (Yea – Right!) 

It was a nice drive going through some flat lands and then around some hills.

A grove of pecan trees.

The blond horse was looking all around but the brown one was not happy.

 El Paso.

Our final destination for the day is Coachlight RV Park in Las Cruces New Mexico.

The day had spotty clouds, the temperature was getting cooler due to the elevation. High around 10C and the low for tonight is going to be -5C. We are only staying one night here then moving onto some warmer weather we hope.

http://goo.gl/maps/vxdSc

All for now.... thanks for viewing!

CHECKING OUT THE AREA TO THE WEST

Monday, we left the campground and headed west to check out the roads etc.  It was a nice partly cloudy day with a high of 20C.

The riding took us through some small towns and more mountains. The area had ranches with some cattle spotted throughout them.

  

For lunch we stopped at a restaurant in a small town called Fort Davis.

It was busy with the town’s people attending so we knew it would be good. It was, and when I went to the washroom the sink was a galvanized 2 gallon pail with the plumbing hanging over it for hot and cold water and the drain was attached to a hole in the bottom centre of the pail. The toilet area was separated by a shower curtain in both the mens’ and womans’ washrooms.    

We came upon the McDonald Observatory so decided to check it out. There are a total of 8 various telescopes located here.

This shows the height at which the telescopes are located.

We arrived just in time for the tour and an orientation of the site and facilities. The view from the peak on which the telescopes are placed was spectacular.

View of road we took.

The Director’s house is located just below them providing him with an outstanding view to wake to every morning.

Director's house built in the 1930's.

Astronomers from all over the U.S. are able to book time on the telescopes and live in the quarters provided. If however the skies are cloudy, they are out of luck and have to rebook. 

The Hobby-Eberly (one of largest optical telescopes in the world).

Telescope with the grey section of the wall that opens. The whole roof rotates around for a view in any direction.

We saw this deer and his buddy checking out the observatory as well.

After visiting the observatory today I had to check out the skies before going to bed. This area is known to be extra dark for good star gazing and there appeared to be many more than I recall seeing at home, and they sure did appear brighter. It was much easier to identify the usual star clusters.

When we arrived back at the campground we had to pack up what we could to get ready for an early departure on Tuesday.

Our evening sunset.

 

On the road tomorrow....