Arriving in Arizona Update

Ok, So we have finally arrived and safely; though in hind site I realize how fragile that sense of safety can be. The trip from north central Nevada to southern Arizona was basically a long and tedious drive. Not much to see; not much reason to stop. Arrive Gilbert.  I cut my timing too short and arrived after dark.  Somewhat confused, so what's new, I made a wrong turn into a small housing project where the streets are not straight, narrow, and frequently end without notice. So we found ourselves Friday night, facing a dead end with the car on the back (which means no backing up), and knowledge that one of the release levers is broken. Question, with the broken release lever can the car be removed, and if so can it be put back on the tow bar?

There were not many options short of calling 911 for back up and assistance or seeing if we could handle it. First task: remove car from tow bar.  I was amazed the pin could be removed. But since it was not on an incline, enough tension was off the pin to allow it to be wriggled out. CHECK.


Second task: Back up the motor home down a dark narrow street and around a corner without hitting anything and without adequate illumination or direction. This piece still has me amazed. It was fortunate there were no cars parked along the curb or around the corner on the curb.  Even so, there was a solid wall somewhere behind and I couldn't really where I was in relationship to it. CHECK.


Third task: Get the car back on the tow bar. The tow bar malfunction, fortunately, left one of the arms in a rigid, extended position.  While this is very inconvenient to the intended ease of this particular bar, it still allowed it to be used until arriving in Tucson where it can be sent out for repair, or replace it.  It took four tries and some creative thinking but the task was solved.   CHECK.

Whew... So after a nice visit with some Lb friends we wandered the final leg of the journey to Tucson arriving fully before dark and had time to do set up.

In this process I hear one of the tires leaking. Turns out the loose wheel cover (I guess) damaged one of the valve stem extenders and the inside dually is leaking its life.  Good news, it must have started not far from the park as the tire wasn't too flat yet and we didn't have an accident.  Easy fix once someone can be found to fix it; but potentially very dangerous.

Ok, so we are all set up. Today cleaned windows and put up privacy screens. It's a bit warmer than Nevada; warm enough that I decided to get a fan out of the basement late this afternoon.  Miss T follows me, not a big deal, she heads for her favorite lie-down spot in the sun. But what is that she is nosing?  I YELL at her to COME HERE and UP; to get her back in the rig. In the meantime, the creature she was nosing took up residence under the car near the door.

Dog in house first, then call for back-up. The manager came down and said, "By Golly, that's the first one I've actually seen."  I asked who had killed the other one found not long ago in the park. Jerry he decided he would call in back-up as well from the "snake-killer".  So after much discussion and thought, snake-killer used a tree lopper to drag the snake out from under the motor-home, where it had wandered off to during all the discussion.  Group think decided the head had to be chopped off and buried to prevent accidental injury post mortum to any one, and snake-killer added another set of rattles to his collection.

In all the years I've been coming to this park, rattlers in the park have never been a problem. Unfortunately, awhile ago someone saw the resident king snake and not realizing the impact, killed. The king snake had been the park protector.

So that's the story of how a long boring drive ended as adventure.