A long and interesting drive today from Quartzsite. Since I've never been here before I was intrigued by the geography and all the open spaces. As usual, we drove into a headwind most of the day. Entering Tucson on I-10 showed many miles of fairly new, nicely maintained city on the East.
We finally arrived at Davis-Monthan AFB (DM) and got a pull thru site without any difficulty. Agave Gulch is a really nice Military RV park and it may well become our winter home base over the next few years. The weather is great - clear skies and middle 80s. Also, it's not far from Scottsdale where our new friends Brad, Jo, and Sophie (Squatty's new friend) live in the winter (See a previous Harrisburg, OR post).
While at DM we stayed in contact with Brad and Jo who live in Scottsdale (we met in Harrisburg). While looking in the Casa Grande area at homes for sale we met them for lunch at Mimi's (great BBQ chicken salad). It was really good to see them again. Earlier they invited us to join them for Thanksgiving dinner at their friends home in Mesa. What a treat!
While touring around Tucson I discovered a problem with the truck and ultimately had to have new U joints/axles installed as well as a new hub on the right front. Big bucks but good to get it done instead of breaking down on the highway out in the middle of nowhere.
While touring around Tucson I discovered a problem with the truck and ultimately had to have new U joints/axles installed as well as a new hub on the right front. Big bucks but good to get it done instead of breaking down on the highway out in the middle of nowhere.
We stayed at DM until November 23rd (had to extend two days past the 21 day limit but space was available so it was OK). Looked at more homes in the Casa Grande area - higher prices and tighter living than we really want. We've kind of decided that having a home on wheels will work better for us than buying another home anchored to the ground. So, on the 17th we bought a new 5th wheeler - 2011 Montana 3400RL. We have so much more room than in our old one and we love it. Four slides with two of them opposing in the rear living room. Squatty and Tiger Lilly have more room to play and I'm much more comfortable too. Betty will now have an easier time with sewing projects with the extra space - I love seeing her pleased.
By the way...one of the features of this 5er that I really like is the Mor/Ryde suspension and pin box. This unit came with independent suspension that includes the larger size spring shackles with grease fittings. Hopefully there will be no repeat occurrences of the now infamous "torn shackle" incident with the old 5er.
While at DM we had a visit from Bruce and Celia Bowman who were staying in Benson at an SKP park. It was really nice to finally meet them. We've been corresponding via email for nearly a year after initially making contact through Pete when researching mechanical problems with the old '02 Montana. We'll always look forward to crossing paths with Bruce and Celia in our future travels. It will be like meeting up with family again.
We've met some really nice folks who are staying at DM - Patrick & Patty (Sedro Woolley, WA) who we will travel to Texas with and Terry & Sam (Seattle area) who plan to spend most of the winter at DM. Squatty made many new friends in the doggy playground but he can't type very well so you're spared his write up on this subject. DRW
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