April 15 to 17; Boise, Idaho to Moses Lake, Washington

APR  15, Monday, phone calls and laundry
We had breakfast with the Holder’s ( Linda had made delicious muffins) then showered before the rest of the gang arrived.  It is a beautiful sunny day but cold.  Long pants and jackets are in order!  With Sonny and Manfred’s help, I finally figured out how the furnace works; it is water-hydro system that heats  the place on coils of hot water.  Quite efficient once we had it figured out.  It works on an electric/diesel water heater.  Anyway, everyone went shopping so we took the dogs (Ruby and Tucker) for a walk.  I made some phone calls to McMahon only to find out that the paper work will take at least 10 days to arrive in Washington where we will be for the next few days.  We were really disappointed to hear that and no amount of begging or cajoling would make a difference.  We’ve been misled and lied to by the finance manager who should have known better!!!  I also called our broker in Canada to get extended warranty on the rig (3 years/20 000miles).
Steve and Linda got back and took us to Walmart to exchange our new coffee maker that quit on us.  We also went to a B&D Store that sold anything about homes, clothing and hardware.  We came back to the house and Manfred & Judy, Sonny & Arlene also arrived shortly after.  We all went out to a local Pub and had dinner, Mike and Stephanie joined us there.  We had a nice time then it was time to say goodbye to everyone as we won’t see them now until next winter.  We came home, watched a movie and I promptly fell asleep.  We all went to bed by 10:30 PM.

 

APR  16, Tuesday, to Moses Lake, Wash.
We were up at 7 AM, showered and it was our turn to say goodbye ‘till next winter.  We left around 9 AM and drove to I-84 then West.  We had a head wind all the way.  We stopped in Stanfield, Oregon to fill up @ $3.89 then continued on.  As we went over the Deadman’s Pass, west of La Grande, we had snow falling but it didn’t last and didn’t stick to the road.  We turned off I-84 onto 395 and stopped in Hermiston at a Walmart where we got some groceries and a new battery for Val’s car.  We continued on 395 to Hwy 17 and finally arrived in Moses Lake at 6:15 PM.  We are at Pier 4 RV Resort, a ROD park for us which means FREE.  We are here for 2 weeks and hopefully, our papers will arrived in a timely manner.  I filled up at a garage near here @ $4.09.  We are all set up and had dinner, now we are relaxing from a long day.  I sent an e-mail to McMahon Corporate office to ask them to speed up the process, not that I am holding my breath over it but every little bit helps.

We drove 376 miles in 7.5 hrs at an average 51 MPH.

N  47* 06.138
W 119* 19.704
ALT: 1032 Feet

 

APR  17, Wednesday, Moses Lake
Well, here we are for two weeks; at least it is sunny!  We spent the day emptying and organizing boxes and closet.  We did take a moment to rent a car in town for the time we will be here; they picked us up and the rate was very reasonable even cheaper than others I called. I had to pay an extra amount for using 50 amps at the Park.  So far everything appears to be working fine in the MH including the water heater and furnace.  I had to make a bunch of phone calls because of a screw up with Visa.  They cancelled my card even though I have been using it for two years with no problems; it had to do with the expiry date.  I argued as best as I could to no avail, it was like talking to a deaf person!!!  I was and still am really peed-off.  I did get some good news from McMahon who finally responded to my appeals.  She said that the documents should be in the mail soon.  We have cable TV which was also extra, of course and we watched “Survivors” in the evening.

April 12 to 14, 2013; Heading home to BC

APR  12, Friday, Heading home to BC
We were ready to go by 9:30 so spent some time chatting with Marcel & Audrey, Dave & Louise.  At 10 AM we all drove to the corner restaurant where we met Tom and Ellen and had our last breakfast together.  We took some group pictures then we all left for our different destinations; Audrey and Marcel are spending one more day here, we are heading north, D&L are headed for Parker and T&E for Quartzsite, AZ.  We stopped at McMahon where I had the horn checked as it works sporadically.  They have to order a relay so they will ship to us in Canada.  We headed west on I-10 by 12:45PM and I tried to keep our speed to about 60-63 MPH.  At Desert Centre, we turn NE on Hwy 177 and arrived in Parker, AZ where I took on fuel @ 3.84/gallon.  What a difference one State makes!   We decided to spend the night in Parker at LA PAZ COUNTY PARK.  We got here around 4 PM, so it was time to call it quit.  The drive here was somewhat boring with desert and desolate scenery however it is very nice to have the huge windshield and side window.  After setting up and turning the A/C on full, we relaxed.  I checked the weather for our trip home and it doesn’t look very appealing; snow, rain and cold weather.  I’ll decide tomorrow but we might spend a couple days in Vegas or Boise to wait out the bad weather.  It is very hot here, well over 90*F, hard to imagine the snow forecast in Boise.  Val is cooked another great dinner then she went for a walk with Tucker and I just worked around home.  She came home a while later with a BIG SURPRISE!  Al & Brenda and Leo & Lynn!!!  What a surprise, especially since we thought all those guys had already left and were headed north by now so they were the last people we expected to see out here.  We had a wonderful reunion albeit short and got to show off our new MH.

We drove 169 miles in 3.5 hrs at an average 50 MPH

N  34* 13.839
W 114* 11.287
Alt 367 feet

 

APR  13, Saturday, to Ely, Nevada
We left at 9 AM but first stopped to say our goodbyes to Al & Brenda and Lynn & Leo.  We headed North on Hwy 95 to I-15 west then Hwy 93 to Las Vegas.  We stopped in at Terrible in Searchlights for fuel @ $3.89/gal.  Traffic going through Vegas was busy but easy to handle.  We stopped on the side of the road at Hwy 93 and had lunch then we headed north through the most boring yet beautiful desert; The Great Nevada Basin!   Took Hwy 318 at Ash Spring, NV then Hwy 6, both of which are shorter to get up to Ely than 93.  We were almost witness to an accident...this jerk passed us and traffic was coming and we all had to move over or he would have gotten it...Stupid or what!!!  We fuelled in Ely at $3.89 then drove to the Prospector Casino & RV.  We paid $15 for the night and went out for dinner in the Casino as they had a special on, steak & lobster for $19 and it was delicious.  Now we are home and relaxing, it was a long day.  It is very windy and cold!!!!

We drove 432 miles in 8 hrs @ average 54 MPH

N  39* 15.585
W 114* 51.539
Alt: 6371 feet

 

APR  14, Sunday, to Boise, Idaho
We left Ely at 9 AM and headed north on Hwy 93.  The scenery didn’t change much, more of the same.  We arrived in Wells around 12:30 PM, had a coffee and left.  From here, the mountains became more prominent, especially those with snow on them.  We arrived in Twin Falls and got on I-84 west and finally Boise where we drove to our friends, the Holder’s house.  Judy and Manfred were there and also new people we hadn’t met before; Sonny and Arlene form BC so it was quite a reunion.  Of course everyone liked our new Beaver then the party began.  A while later, Mike and Stephanie from Boise joined us.  Linda served dinner to everyone and it was delicious.  She made a special sauce for the chicken and rice.  Tequila was served on many occasion and the neat thing is that it was Linda’s birthday this past Friday so it gave us another reason to celebrate some more.  We finally went to bed around 10:30 PM.

We drove 383 miles in 6 hrs and 40 minutes @ 57 MPH average.

N  43* 39.089’
W 116* 15.627’
Alt: 2636 feet

April 10 & 11, 2013; Taking possession of our new motorhome

APRIL  10, WEDNESDAY; TAKING POSSESSION OF OUR NEW HOME!

What a busy day!  We loaded up for the last time with our “Bear” and drove our “Beast” for the last time to Palm Desert, McMahon RV.  When we arrived, we had to wait until we signed the papers before we could start unloading/loading.  That took over an hour.  Audrey, Louise and Dave arrived to give us a hand and went for lunch while waiting.  Unfortunately they hadn’t fixed the loading platform ( when Val sits in her seat, she pushes a button and a platform comes out, covers the step and provides her with a “floor” at her feet) so they spent over two hours fixing that.  In the meantime, we had to do a “familiarization tour” and finally we began our turn over.  The 5 of us worked until 4 PM and finally saw the last load come out of Bear and into the Motorhome.  We are all sweating from the heat and hard work.  Thank God these guys were here because we would still be at it, well into the evening.  Dave had to load some stuff into his truck and we will take it to our storage tomorrow.  There just isn’t as much storage in the MH as there was in the Fifth-Wheel.  We continued putting stuff away and finally decided to go for dinner and since we don’t have a tow vehicle anymore, we took the motorhome and went to a nearby mall, had dinner then drove to Thousand Trails Campground past McMahon to spent the night, courtesy of McMahon RV.  We worked some more then called it quit for the night.  It is warm outside and I found out that the A/C doesn’t work on 30 amps!???  The cupboards are full, the closets are full, the lockers are full and we still numerous boxes sitting on the floor.  Oh well, soon it will all be sorted out!

 

APR  11, Thursday, to Ehrenberg, AZ then back to Desert Hot Springs, CA
I made the mistake of parking too close to the highway so I was awake at 5 AM because of the road noise and the trains going by.  We had a light breakfast then headed back to McMahon RV to get a couple things fixed that we noted overnight.  Our driver and his companion showed up and at 10:15 AM we were on our way to Ehrenberg, Arizona.  I say our drivers because it is the law here that someone MUST drive the rig out of State (Tax Law) as we are not paying any California taxes.  We stopped at “LOVE” truck stop and filled up compliments of McMahon!  Our driver really liked the rig and it rode very smoothly all the way.  In Arizona, we went to Flying J where we met a Notary and signed forms with our signature to meet Law requirement again.  We had lunch there, said goodbye to everyone and filled up the rig before leaving ($50, worth to refill the tank).  We drove to the weight scale down I-10, bought a 30 day permit to allow us to drive our Unit back home, cost $15.  We then drove back to Desert Hot Springs to Catalina Resort for the night and arrived at 4 PM.  The gang, including Marcel who arrived by plane yesterday, was sitting outside by Audrey and Marcel’s rig.  We parked beside them and once the slides were out and level, everyone paraded through to have a look.  It was good to see Marcel again.  We chatted for a while then Marcel, Audrey, Tom and Ellen went to “TILTED KILT PUB” in Palm Desert while Dave, Louise and us first drove to our storage to drop off stuff that we can’t take back with us due to space in the rig then we went to meet the rest of the crew at the pub.  We had a wonderful time and dinner, the waitresses were great and Marcel performed at its best.  The beer helped loosening everyone.  We all came back to Catalina and had more to drink.  I finally called it quit as I couldn’t keep my eyes open and I went to bed while everyone else kept going.  This was a fulfilling day!

We drove for a total of 235 miles in 6 hrs, including our stop in Arizona & fuel and travelled at an average 60 MPH.
N  33* 54.773’
W 116* 26.248’
ALT: 973 feet

April 6 to 9, 2013; Our last days with Bear and The Beast!

APR  6, Saturday, Desert Hot Springs
Windy again, quite strongly at times.  Today, we packed more stuff.  I put the spare back under the trailer then we took the kayaks to the storage and locked it up.  We also left our golf clubs there.  Val did some laundry in the afternoon then, at 4:30 PM. We picked up Dave & Louise and went to Red Lobster and met Audrey, Tom and Ellen for dinner.  T&E are leaving tomorrow for Los Angeles to return their daughter’s car which they had been using; they’ll be back by next Wednesday.  Taking about date, I got a call from McMahon RV asking that we do the switch on Wednesday rather than Tuesday which suit us fine.  After dinner, we all went to Tom & Ellen and had a nightcap then we drove Audrey home and we came back to our Park.

 

APR.  7, Sunday,
The day began cloudy but it soon warmed up to low 90’s when the sun came out.  Val went shopping with Audrey at Costco and other places I am sure.  This is a relax day for both of us, I stayed home and did just that.  I talk to a neighbour from Alberta who bought his MH in Arizona and he said there were no problems getting a permit.  Val and Audrey got back around 4 PM and Dave and Louise joined us for Happy Hour.  A neighbour of theirs also joined us and we had quite an interesting conversation about WHR membership and the attitude of a salesman here in Desert Pools.  Everyone went home by 6 PM and we had dinner.  I packed more boxes today.  I also wrote a note to WHR HQ about the stories we’ve been hearing about this “salesman” and our own.

 

APR  8, Monday, more stuff about our purchase.
I called Customs office in Palm Spring and made an appointment for 10 which we attended.  I signed two pieces of papers importing our Silverback into the USA.  That part was easy, painless and quick.  We drove to McMahon RV and took measurements for the chair in the living room and looked around some more to familiarise ourselves with it.  We talked to the manager and he seems to have concerns with the truck paperwork so to put some of worries aside, we went back to the Custom Office and filled out the papers for the truck.  The officer there will hold them until he gets the Letter of Compliance from Ford.  I put $60 of diesel in the truck @ 4.19 then came home and made some more phone calls: The insurance, Ford dealer, our insurance adjuster.  I wish I didn’t have to deal with that accident but such is life!!!  Val is making a big batch of spaghetti sauce for tonight and for when we hit the road.  Audrey came over for dinner and then we had a quiet chat.  We called it quit early as everyone was tired.
It has been extremely windy today and a good portion of the streets in and around Palm Springs was closed due to sand blowing and accumulating on the streets.  The wind with strong gusts lasted until late in the evening.

 

APR   9, Tuesday; Memories & Reminiscing
Our last full day with “The Beast” and “The Bear”!  Tomorrow we do the switch-over to our new to us “Beaver, Monterey, diesel pusher”.  Val went shopping with Audrey and I stayed home doing odd jobs around here.  The winds have abated and it is much warmer than yesterday although it was cold enough this morning to turn the furnace on.  There is a new layer of snow on the highest mountains around.  I drove to Audrey’s place at 4:30PM and met the gang over there for Happy Hour.  We got home around seven and had dinner then relaxed for the rest of the evening.

April 1 to 5, 2013; Indio back to Desert Hot Springs via Mexico

2013, APRIL  1, Monday, Indian Waters Resort, Indio, CA
It was quite windy overnight and still is this morning; the forecast is more heat and sunshine!  We went shopping to Target and Winco then came home and put everything away.  I was searching the Net and found a couple of vehicles to pull behind our MH but they didn’t pan out.  We came home, had HH then as we were going in, I saw our neighbor across the way was outside beside his BEAVER MH so I walked over and we chatted.  I found out he had seen ours at Thousand Trails and thought it was a really nice one.  He invited me inside his, a 2006 Beaver, and was much like ours except for a couple of changes.  He gave me some advice on McMahon as he also bought his there.  Val came over and we chatted for a while then came home and had dinner.  I called my bank, Registrar of Imported Vehicles and the Finance Manager at McMahon Dealership.  I hate this waiting game!!!  By the way, pictures of our rig can be seen at
http://www.mcmahonrv.com/pre_owned_detail.asp?sid=02760431X4K2K2013J11I42I01JAMQ6990R0&veh=3091573

 

APR.  2, Tuesday,
We heard from our finance broker this morning; it looks like it will be at least 2 weeks before everything is finalized.  Apparently it cannot be done via fax but everything has to be courier.  Well we were originally planning on a departure around the 12^th so it won’t be much of a difference...  I just HATE this waiting around!!!  We went to visit Audrey at Catalina Resort and Dave & Louise at Desert Pools.  We took Audrey for lunch at a small restaurant her and Louise found; the food was quite good and so were the prices.  After dropping Audrey, we drove back to Palm Desert and checked out an auto mall but nothing of interest.  I fuelled @ $4.19 then we came home, had a drink then it was time for dinner.

 

APR  3, Wednesday, to Mexico than to Desert Hot Springs, CA
We left at 8:25 AM, took 48^th street to Hwy 86 then south to I-8.  This is a 4 lanes flat road and desert like scenery with the Salton Sea on our left.  There is now a by-passed for Brawley which is really nice as we miss all the lights and narrow streets.  We got on I-8 east to Hwy 7 which took us to the border.  This is the main exit and return way to go to Puerto Penasco or San Felipe for people coming from the west or north of California.  Anyway, the crossing into Mexico was uneventful and we returned our rig’s permit.  Be warned that there is very little English spoken here!  To return to the US border, we had to drive to the main highway, turn right and go down about a half mile to a turnaround then we came back and made a stop as there was a loooooonnnnng line-up ( we learned later that this was due to Spring Break and a holiday in Mexico).  Anyway, it took us over an hour to cross.  We were searched by Army Personnel then again at the Border, we had to go through an X-Ray machine.  Finally we were back on Hwy 7, we stopped for lunch and fuel @ $3.99.  Yes, I couldn’t believe it either!!!  We headed out and back on I-8 then Hwy 86 north to Desert Hot Springs.

I don’t know what it is about all these bad lucks I have lately but as we were driving north on a very hot day (110*F), I had a frigging BLOW-OUT on a tire I bought last spring in Drummond’Ville.  It caused a lot of damage on the wheel well and part of the rear slide.  I got the tire changed as again, someone stopped to help just as I was finishing.  We continued on with our new spare TOYO tire and the shattered one in the back of the truck.  I had tried to call AAA only to find that both our cells were out of time!!  Grrrrrr!  We stopped in Indio to buy   more time on my cell then finally arrived at Desert Pool around 6 PM.  We set up and were having dinner when Audrey and Louise arrived from town.  We chatted for a while then Aud took Louise home and came back for a longer visit.  I had a shower before hitting the sack at 10 PM.

WHAT A DAY!!!  Glad it’s OVER!

We travelled 238 miles (385 Km) in 5hrs and 25 minutes @ an average 44 MPH.

N  33* 55.381’
W 116* 26.055’
Alt 1024 ft

 

APR  4, Thursday, Dealing with the damages
I called my insurance first thing this morning to have the damages repaired on the trailer and had to send her pictures of the damages including the tire.  We picked up Audrey and drove to McMahon RV to show her the MH and also to talk to the owners about the accident.  I worried for nothing as they were not upset at all, just took it all in stride.  We talked to a young man who will do some minor details and repair on the Unit then we talked to the financial manager and signed our life away.  I called the Border Customs and found out I have to have a letter of Compliance from Ford so will do that tomorrow.  He also wanted pictures of the registration tags on the both rigs so I did that later and e-mailed them to him.  Audrey is quite impressed with “The BEAVER”.  We left the RV place and went to a local restaurant/bar and had a couple beers and lunch then came back to Catalina, dropped off Audrey and came home.  Now the fun begins: packing and taking everything down from the walls. 
It is very windy at the present time and HOT!  The A/C never stopped all day!

 

APR  5, Friday, stuff
I have been searching for a trailer to buy to take back and no luck so far; my other option is to rent a U-Haul for the kayaks, bikes and extra stuff, which I am seriously considering.  I called Ford for a letter of compliance and they transferred me to a Kamloops dealership.  I spoke to someone there only to find out it will take a couple weeks to get the letter!!?  I asked them to see if they can speed up the process.  Audrey was over and we walked to the office to fax a paper for her then we went for breakfast in DHS.  She brought her own vehicle so that we could go shopping for boxes while she went home.  We also found storage for $30/month with the seventh month for free.  I called Kamloops Ford to find more about the process only to be told it would take 2-3 weeks to get the letter; absolutely unbelievable!!!  I called McMahon RV to advise them and we are waiting for a response from them.  I went to DHS and got a spare tire for the trailer.  While I was gone, Val did some packing, getting ready for the transfer. 
We had HH with Louise and Dave; while there, I got a call from McMahon RV that all was cool and we would deal with it on Tuesday.  We all went out for dinner with them at a local pub then called it a night!