Our Two Weeks in Santa Fe RV Park

Our two weeks at Santa Fe RV Park went by so quickly.  If only winter went by as quickly in Iowa!  Here are a few more pics taken from our home for the first two weeks of snowbirding.  The first one is looking north and the second is looking west shortly before sundown.

Although, it was warm the first few days we were here, it cooled off the next few days, and there was frost on Ann's car three mornings in a row!  Still a lot nicer than in Iowa.  :)

One of the first things we became aware of once getting settled in was that the Verizon signal, although 4G, was very week.  Not conducive to Ann and my brother Brian, who are both working remotely, and need good and stable internet connections.  The signal in our motorhome was usable, and our MiFi 4620 was able to connect, but Brian, whose was several spaces away, could not get his MiFi 5510 to connect to the internet at all.  After getting the run around from several different employees at a Verizon franchise store on several occasions, and pretty much the same thing from Verizon telephone support, we made the trip to a Verizon company store where the employee agreed that the unit was defective, and they would exchange it, and send him a new one.  In the mean time he downloaded FoxFi to his phone, which is a program  that he could use to tether his phone to his computer.  This allowed him to get by for a few days.

When he received his new MiFi, it would connect, but the signal was still real weak.  The next step was to get an amplifier.  I had read about them on different RV blogs, and forums.  So as a Christmas present for him, I got on Amazon and ordered him a Sleek made by Wilson Electronics, but in my haste, I ordered the wrong one, so when it arrived of course, it didnt work properly. A little more research, including a call to Wilson tech support, I figured out which one he needed, and ordered it.  As Amazon had a 30 day free trial on there Amazon Prime, I signed up for it, so for $3.99, I got overnight delivery.  When it arrived the next day, and I got it set up, it worked so well, I then ordered one for Ann and I, again getting overnight delivery.  In addition to the amplifier, we also got the home kit, and Ann wanted an egg poacher, so I added it to the order.

As Amazon has a very good return policy, I had no problem returning the unit I ordered in error. I just placed it in the original packaging,and dropped it off at a UPS drop box, and in two days I had received credit for the return.  One more comment on Amazon;  they have what they call an "affiliate program", where you sign up for their program, and when people order from Amazon through your link to Amazon, the "affiliate" gets a small percentage of the sale, and it doesnt add to the cost of the item for the purchaser.


One of the nice thing about traveling, is getting a chance to eat at a variety of local restaurants, so one the trips to the Verizon store, Brian and I stopped at the local Mickey Ds.  On our first visit we had breakfast, and it was good and with generous portions, a couple of days later, Ann, Brian and I returned for lunch, not so good. I would recommend it for breakfast, but not for lunch.

One of things we planned on doing the first week here was to visit my brother Kevin, who lives in Sun City.  He had just flown back to Arizona after spending most of the summer and fall in Iowa.  We brought a couple of things of his that were too big to take on the airplane, including a TV.  So we headed over there on  Tuesday evening.  It is about a 55 mile drive, and going through the city at rush hour was a slow process, When we arrived  he had a spaghetti dinner waiting for us, and we were joined by my sister Mary, who lives a couple miles away.  After dinner I went to the car to get the TV, it was then that we realized that we had forgotten the TV.  Oh well, another trip would be in order, so on Thursday we went back with the TV, and this time we enjoyed a nice dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant.

On Sunday we returned to Sun City to meet Mary and Kevin at a local sports bar to watch the Denver Broncos play the Tennessee Titans.  The place was a madhouse most of the time as there were several TVs, showing several different games, and each game had followers of the one or both of the teams playing, and whenever one of the teams playing did something, good or bad, you would hear roars or groans coming from the section of the bar where that particular game was playing.  Most of the time it was impossible to know which game they were watching.  The Broncos had a good game, and we had a good time socializing with family and new found friends.  After the game we went to my brother Kevin's house where he had a crock pot full of newly made green chilli from which we made green chilli burritos; a  good way to wind down the evening.  Then it was the drive back across town to Apache Junction.

One of the usual chores we seemed to be lagging on lately was stocking the pantry(larder to some people), as a result we have made at least trips to Safeway.  On one of the trips we came across this bread.  It seemed some what eclectic, and didnt have a lot of extra stuff added, so we tried it.  Pretty good stuff!

 On Wednesday December 11 we decided to go out for dinner at a place Ann found on Yelp called the Handle Bar Pub and Grill.  It had several good ratings on Yelp, so we thought we would give it a try, but before we left, Ann noticed the Schwann's man across the street and felt the need to fiil up our freezer with Schwanns's products including some yummy peppermint ice cream. 

The place was not that big, and we got one of the last tables, and didnt have to wait.  Our server took are drink order quickly, but was pretty slow in bringing our drinks.  She finally brought us drinks, including a beer called Delirium Tremmons for my brother.   We then ordered dinner, and although the food tasted really good, it was not as hot as it should have been.  Not sure why or how that happened.  Just as we were finishing our dinner, the entertainment for the evening started.  It was a bluegrass band called The String en up Band.   We listened to then play a few tunes before we called it a night.

The second pic below is of the ceiling in the place.  Tapper handles for a bunch of different kinds of beers,  I cant say I have seen that decor before.

On Thursday we noticed some guys who wash RVs in the park, and since we had not washed our motorhome since arriving in Arizona, I went to check on prices with them.  They wanted $8.00 per foot to wash and wax our RV.  That came to $305, way more than we were willing to pay, and he couldnt get to it till next week.  There are other RV washers out there who are more reasonable.

 

Thursday evening we planned on going back to the Handle Bar and Pub to watch the Denver Broncos play the San Diego Chargers, but we decided to give the place across the street from the Handle Bar called the Mirage Sports Grill a try.  It was more of a sports bar, and their was a nice crowd, but it wasnt over crowded.  We enjoyed a very good dinner.  Brian and I each had the fried chicken and it was some of the best fried chicken I have ever eaten in a restaurant!  Too bad the game was not that good.  San Diego had a very good game plan, executed it well and won the game.

Friday was a pretty quiet day till after noon when we traveled across town to Peoria to meet up with some dart playing friends of ours from back in Iowa.  They came down to Arizona to visit with friends, but decided to get in on a dart tournament at a place called Bull Shooters in Peoria.  

The trip over was fairly uneventful until this ASU bus decided to cross two lanes of traffic, and join us in the 

 HOV lane.  The guys in front of us "let" him in the HOV lane and we proceeded on.

  

We had a little trouble connecting with our friends as there are two hotels in the area with very similar names.  We finally met up with them, and headed over to where they would play darts.  We had time to eat before they had to sign in for the tournement.  The place is huge, they had 30 some dart machines set up as well as about 30 pool tables.

It was fun to watch our friends play. We cheered them on, and they did quite well, but we stayed way later than I am used too.  I think we were all pretty tired by time we got home.

Here is a picture of us before the tournament started.  I am in the front left, then our friend Chad, his sister Wendy, and then Ann.  In the back left is my brother Brian, and Chad's wife Jenny.

 

On Saturday the 14th, we started the day by going to Village in for breakfast, followed by a trip to the grocery store.  Then it was back to the RV to do laundry, take out the garbage, and the recycling in preparation for our departure on Sunday.  Between a couple of naps, I found us a place for the next week,  Sunscape RV park, then on the 22nd we head to Catalina State Park just north of Tucson for a couple of weeks to meet with RV Forun friends for a New Years Party.

Saturday ended with a delicious meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots.  The roast was especially delicious as Ann used a recipe she got from her friend Jackie.  For desert there was the Schwann's Mint Ice cream. A good way to end our two week stay at Santa Fe RV Park.

Today, Sunday the 15th consisted of preparing for travel.  We are headed south, and my brother Brian is headed west to Salome.  We plan on hooking up with him again in Quartzsite, AZ sometime in January, at which time my brother Jim, will be coming down from Sacramento, CA, and my sister Terry, and her husband Walt will be coming from Lyons, Co.  It will be great to get together with them again.

After helping Brian get his Jeep hooked up, he left about 10:00.  We finished our preparations, and got out of the park about 11:00.  We had a relatively short drive, and arrived here about 12:15, and had to wait till 1:00 to check in.  While waiting another RV pulled up behind us to check in, and a lady came out to meet her, seems we are all from Iowa.  Lots of Iowans in Arizona in the winter.

It seemed it took forever to check in.  This is a very large park, and there are lots of activities, and lots of rules to go over.  There is even a rule on where in your site you can park; at least 5' from the back fence, at least 5' on passenger side with slide extended, and at least 12' from the front of the rig to the street.

It didnt take us too long to set up, except I noticed our fresh water hose had been leaking where it hooks into the motorhome.  Upon inspection I could see some damage to the connector, since I dont have a new one we will just run off from our onboard water until  I can get a new connector tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon Brian called to tell us he got to Salome in good time, got set up and got to meet a couple of the other Rvers there who have quads to ride in the desert.  He thinks he will fit in there quite well.

Well, that about covers what we have been doing the last couple of weeks.  Hopefully, I will blog a little more often, but no guarantees.

BTW, all comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Until next time,

Paul