Leaving Douglas Arizona to ,,,,,,,,

4 a.m.????????

Why the heck did I wake up at 4 a.m.?

You'd think waking up at 5a.m. and being retired was bad enough, but 4? c'mon !!!  I know that I am in that excited / sad moment of leaving one place and headed down the road to another.

But I'm RETIRED !!! That means that I have no time of departure nor time of arrival. But here it is 4a.m.

It's true that I am stopping by an old friends house for breakfast with her and her family, but that's not until 9 and it's only an hour drive, on the way, I look at the clock and it's 4:01. What the heck? LOL

So, like any normal, retired person would do, I looked at the bed and ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

started getting dressed, darn it. I made some coffee, that would be breakfast as Donna and clan awaits with a great breakfast.

Donna and her two kids (Missy and Chris) use to be neighbors in Patagonia when the girls were younger. Now Donna is reamrried to a really nice guy Mike who is also a car buff and very knowledgeable in that area. Missy is also married and has 3 kiddies in fact Ellise is celebrating birthday # 5 today so not only a great breakfast but some birthday cake as well.

I drank some coffee, looked at the clock, 4:10 uhggggg. 8)  Dumped tanks, cleaned them as well since this new unit has automatic wash downs for the holding tanks (remember this for later) filled fresh water tanks, put stuff away etc. etc. Hooked up little box and headed into the sunset. It was morning but I "headed" into the sunset.

As I said I had a wonderful breakfast and a very sweet cake at Doona's, said Hi gave / received hugs, etc. then headed on towards Tucson. I had avoided getting gas in Douglas because it had gone from $2.99 when I arrived Feb 8 to $3.59 yesterday so figured I would get it in Tucson at Triple T. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at TTT and saw the price of $ 3.55. Oh well cheaper at least. Then I get to the pump and it's $3.62 (seems the $3.55 was for cash). When I got off the highway later I saw that in town gas was $3.42.

I was a bit disappointed when the mpg was exactly what it had been in Box 1 but then remembered Box II is 5 feet longer, wider, etc. thus in effect the mileage was better. That was at a steady 55 so when I head East I will try 60 for a tank then 65 and see what, if any, difference there is. Hoping for 27 but then the Jeep only gets 20 so ,,,,,,

I pulled into The Wishing Well RV Park in Catalina Arizona where i had made reservations a month ago when I had Box 1, the idea being that I could do some work / upgrades on it and have parts etc. readily available. Now I have Box II so will go exploring in the Jeep instead. Of course Nick is in a park about 10 miles down the road so I can visit him, and oh yeah a friend from High School Days ( WOW, that made me think of when High School Days were, I graduated 45 years ago, WOW. Alice is getting old.LOL) Anyway when in town we usually try to have lunch and she usually tries to drag me to artsy fartsy stuff that her husband wont go to. LOL So, it will be a fun month.

I found a space under a huge tree which means lots of shade which means sitting in lawn chairs under the tree on those hot sunny afternoons in the Arizona Desert.

I went for a walk to see the surroundings and when I returned the new neighbors and Park Manager was at my space. I though how nice, it's meet the neighbors time. I had heard that RV parks were really friendly places. 8) As I walked up the manager said, your not going to be happy as I looked at Box II and saw water leaking from the under floor storage bins and running oiut the door. Must have broken something said my new neighbor Rick from Seally Lake Montana. WOW, I thought, that stinks and just this morning everything was fine. So, I waded inside to look around and saw where the toilet had flooded, ???????, what the heck and then DING, DING, Ding the elevator finally went to the top and it dawned on me.

Remember I said to remember that automatiic rinsing / flush thing for the holding tanks? Well it seems I had left it on, but closed the drain valves so when I connected and turned on the water ....... Get the picture? Well, worry not because if you dont get the picture you can certianly smell it LOL. Not yucky just smelly. Remember I had already flushed the tank out this a.m. so all the yucky was gone but ,,,,, anyway my evening just got a lot busier, and now I had to jump off the entry steps because I had a lake outside the door and hardwood floors and ,,,,,, now you get the picture.

I sent a message to my ex-sister-in-law Debbie and told her where I was because she drives this way daily to work. She wrote back saying that the van stopped at the circle K next door at 4:30 a.m, so guess what? For two days in a row. 4 a.m. what the heck LOL

Everyone has been asking about Jimmy. Here he is and he says Hi. He's hanging with a couple of friends that have been with me for over 20 years, and a lego RV that Sammy made for me.

He had a great time working at Keebler, he even said that Leonardo let him paint some of the Fudge stripes but they were a little "off" so if you happen to buy any Keebler Fudge Stripe Cookies and the stripes seem a bit "off" then maybe, just maybe, your eating a Jimmy cookie.

He was telling me about some of the new equipment he helped install for the new offerings but I cant talk about them because Keebler hasnt announced it yet. He made a "ton" of Elf Bucks. Which of course means that he buys stuff, they dont take Elf Bucks" so I pay. LOL A really good savings account he has figured out.

It was really nice to see the Little Elf Dude and hear him yell out hey Big Human Dude. LOL

Moving Day, or The Box ll

Last July I left Juneau and flew to Kansas City Missouri to purchase The Box. The box, mini box and I had a great time covering 27 states over 13,000 miles trouble free. I like the box, its small enough to be manuverable and yet comfortable for 1 or 2. It was a match set for mini box and provided 6 months of adventure until I returned home to Juneau on Thanksgiving day.

That was a really cool day I surprised everyone. Only Jessica knew I was coming and met me at the airport. We went to Ashleigh's where Dan was shoveling snow (a winter hobby in Alaska. You either love it or dream of the Arizona Desert while your back aches LOL) Dan saw Jessica and said Hi, then got a glimpse of me and said who are you with? Jessica said my Dad and Dan said uh uh and looked through the window of his truck then got a big smile (I like smiles)

He said Ashleigh went to get coffee, go inside and surprise her. I went in and sat at the kitchen table and who would call me on her way back to say Hi? yep, Ashleigh. I had to stand in her kitchen telling her what I was doing in Arizona as I watched her pull up. She came in and almost dropped her coffee LOL She even cried and wouldnt let me breathe the hug was so nice.

Later we went to Dans folks for Thanksgiving dinner where his Mom came out of the kitchen talking to me like I was there yesterday for about 6 steps then stopped, got a suprise look, and said it's Bruce.

A great day surprising people and eating good food and of course just being home.

Jessica and Ashleigh had some Daddy Do's on thier list and over the next 10 weeks I think I got most of them done. I fell back into the routine fairly quickly and it felt good.

I got to enjoy Ruby's first birthday, which was fun. As you can see she started out her day sorting laundry for her Mom, hanging with with Aunty Jessica ( Jess says Tuesday and Thursday are Ruby day) and her surprise or excitement realizing she is now 1.

On Feb. 3, I flew to Missoula Montana to celebrate Taylors 3rd birthday with Jason, Amanda, and Samantha. It was a fun weekend. and I was sad to leave Monday morning for Arizona

The entire trip was delays. In Juneau a 4 hour delay for wind and probrably the roughest take off I've ever enjoyed. Up, down, side to side among a constant a severe vibrating. Then we were delayed an hour in Missoula because something broke meaning we had to wait for daylight and in Seattle after an hour we went back inside to wait another hour for another palnce coming from Denver where all flighs were diverted or cancelled. But I cant complain (oop, to late LOL) we did make it evertime so ,,,, I sort of feel that I prefer to find out something broke and you need to wait while still on the ground rather than ,,,,,, well you know. 8)

I really like the Box but bought it with the idea that if I didnt like the RV lifestyle I wouldnt be that heavily invested I also used it to see what I did and did not want on the eventual upgrade. I knew I was going to upgrade someday as there were things like a full size shower, walk around double bed, etc. maybe even better mpg.

I'd like to introduce The Box ll

I ran across a 1996 Rexhaul, 31 foot, on a Ford running gear. My only disappointment is that it doesnt match the Jeep. 8) Of course paint is cheap but I dont want a white jeep and to paint the RV, well paint isnt that cheap.

you wouldn't think 4 feet would be that big a deal but in the world of RV's it is. Box ll is still short enough not to be a pain to manuver or park. But that 4 feet gave me a separate bedroom with a full size bed and a full bath with a nice shower.

A blemish in the pic, but a real bedroom,

A shower fit for a ,,,,, well ,,,,, a me.

Glass and brass shower stall, if you open the door it closes off the hallway making the bathroom quite roomy. Across the hall (or included when hall is closed off) is a double glass door closet)

A convection/microwave oven. (Need to read the book to fully appreciate that). A nice large sink lots of cabinets throughout and the storage underneath is ,,,,, well, LOTS !! A double door refridgerator completes the kitchen.

The couch and dinette make a bed so the Grandkids can go with. Across from the couch is a recliner and an automatic step outside. It extends with the door. And even though its a mechanical thing it makes me feel special when I open the door and whrrr here comes the step saying welcome to Box ll.

All in all a nice coach, (Thats RV talk for The Box) and I drove it 150 miles back to my brothers towing the jeep and the gas guage is still on full I dont whether to be 8) with the obviously great mpg or 8)  because the guage is off. Will fill it just to see today or tomorrow, or tomorrow x 2 or 3 or ?? LOL

Ok, the part everyone ask about. How much did I pay. Without getting into the negotiations which I must say was actually fun and telling you that the guy in the next room was saying how Canada would only let him transfer $50,000 once a day per day so he would do a transfer tue, wed, thur, fri, and the balance on Saturday made my little deal seem really little. IOh yeah and he said they charge $25 per transfer so we'll have to negotiate that $125 fee. (Maybe thats why he could pay $237.000 cash huh?) checked out the $899,262.00 RV and it was huge and NICE. It was sold awaiting the buyer to fly in. Dang, snooze you lose. LOL So, I negotiated for my Rexhaul which is still considered one of the 5 best and in 1996 was one of the top two. They treated me just like the guy paying cash, giving me lunch, a free night in the campground to make sure everything works, a good cleaning inside and out, safety and systems inspection, filled the 75 gal gas tank, propane tank and water tank, Even gave me the gift they give everyone a cool all brass compass. All this for a final price of ,,,,,,,, wait for it ,,,,,,,,, ready ,,,,,,,,, Oh yeah, I forgot, Box ll drives very well. being a bit longer and wider gives it a more solid feel driving down the highway, you cant even tell the Jeep in back there, the seat is leather and comfy as heck. It has an air ride suspension which makes a world of difference.

I will be in Douglas Az until March 1 when I move up to Tucson until April 1 then head Northeast to PA then Maine and south to Florida then zigzag back North. A fun adventure with God as my co-pilot like he was on the last one.

So, to all those that follow this blog I will try to do better keeping it updated this year.

Jimmy will be meeting me when I move up to Tucson, he had some last minute details helping gear up for 2012. He said that Leonardo actually let him paint some Fudge Stripes this time. He said they're the crooked ones. So, if you buy a box of Keeblers Fudge Stripe Cookies and the stripes just seem "off" maybe, just maybe, they were painted by Jimmy the Elf.

It's moving day, the only advantage of moving from one RV to another vs one house to another is I can pull them up where the doors actually face each other and only 6 feet apart. LOL

So, till next time.

oh yeah, final out the door price

$8,037

Til, next time.