Monday, January 3, 2011

Benson Arizona

New Years day

We started getting the rig ready to travel. I had already done most of the outside things the night before. We were  taking our time waiting for the temps to rise. Max was going to have a chilly ride with the temps right around 40 degrees.

We got hitched up and was about ready to leave when I noticed that one of the front landing legs was slowly dropping. I hit the button to raise it back up and then the other front leg started to slowly drop. I did not see any hydraulic fluid anywhere and felt that it was not an individual jack problem since both sides did the same thing.

We only had about 150 miles to Benson so I thought I could just hold them up or slow them down by wrapping them with duct tape. It would last for about 15 or 20 minutes before one side or the other would drop too low to make it safe to travel. I decided that we would just stop and raise them as needed and limp on in to Benson. With the motorcycle Max would be able to keep checking them and then could call me on the CB when they got about halfway down.

So with a plan we started south on I-17 to pick up I-10 heading east. We had to stop a couple of times along the side of the highway and raise them up. While driving I kept thinking about the issue and felt that it had to be air in the hydraulic system. We pulled over at a rest area to raise them back up and I thought maybe if I moved one of the slides in and out it may move the air away from the jacks. I pulled the kitchen slide out and back in then went out and raised the front jacks. Success! They stayed put the rest of the way into Benson.

Maxine leading the way between Phoenix and Tucson.

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Max looking good after checking the jacks.

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We arrived at the Saguaro SKP Co-op park just off Highway 80. This is an escappees park where there are actual lease holders of the RV sites. When the lease holders are not on their sites the park rents out the site while they are away.

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The office was closed due to it being New Years day so we had to dry camp in their dry camping area just past the office. Dry camping means no hookups of any kind. We have not dry camped yet with this rig so we were not sure how well the batteries would hold up. We did not need any TV or the use of the microwave for one night. I could use our generator until about 7:30 pm if we needed it but after 7:30 it is considered “Quiet Hours” and generators are not allowed.

We pulled into a dry camping spot and did not have to unhitch and leveled the rig.  One of the things we have to do when we travel is we let the air out of our Sleep Number bed for traveling over the mountains. This is so the air pressure does not rise at altitude and damage the bed. So I had to get the generator out just to be able to air the bed back up.

The temps were dropping pretty fast and the low was suppose to get down to the mid 20’s for the night. I had enough propane but was concerned about the furnace running all night just on batteries. If I ran the batteries down too much than I might have a problem getting the slides back in.

We decided to save the batteries by going to the clubhouse until bedtime. They have a huge clubhouse here and it is a very social park. Probably one of the best one’s we have been at yet. We walked into the club house and met about 10 people that were inside chatting. We were then invited to play some cards . After a few hours of socializing and card playing we headed back to our rig.

Our first night of dry camping went well. The batteries held up but the slide did come back in a lot slower. At 8:00am I checked in with the office and they put us into a regular full hook up site. The sites here are huge and most have a small Casita along side. Some of these Casita’s are really interesting and they have them decorated very nice. There are two here that have a train track town set up all outside around their lot. I will get some pictures later on but it is pretty neat.

Our site across from the clubhouse

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We spent Sunday watching the Chiefs lose and meeting more people. One guy and his wife have a new Mobile Suites fifth wheel on order so they stopped by twice to check ours out and to take some measurements. He still has some time to make a few changes and I think we were of some help to him.

Sunday evening there was an Ice Cream social at the club house so we walked over. I forgot to mention that our site is right across from the club house, very convenient. After Ice Cream we settled in for another night of cards. I think cards are going to be an every night thing. They are going to teach us how to play Pinochle on Tuesday. They offered to teach me how to play Texas Holdem also, but winked when they said just bring some money.

While we are here in Benson we plan to go to Tombstone and to the Desert Museum in Tucson. I had mentioned that while playing cards and it just so happened that one of the ladies we were playing cards with was a member of the museum and gave us a couple of free passes. That was very generous of her and it saved us about $30.00 dollars. Very much appreciated. Thanks Stella!

Monday we will be doing our normal weekly routine of laundry bills and groceries and then will have the rest of the week to play. Every Wednesday they have a motorcycle ride. I guess there is enough riders in the park where they have a weekly ride. There are so many things to do here it is amazing. There are live bands on weekends, dancing classes, arts and crafts and other type clubs. If we get bored here it is our own fault for sure.

Enjoy the moment!

 

1 comment:

Flights said...

I like the post.Thanks for sharing your travel experience.I like this experience so much.