Up the Mountain

I want to say 'thank you' to fellow RVers Sue and Mo of the MoHo and Other Traveling Tales fame.  Sue and Mo stayed a few days at the Agave Gulch RV FamCamp here at Davis-Monthan AFB and hunted us down.  It was very nice of them to say hi and introduce themselves.

They were in the midst of doing laundry and hanging out and we chatted for a while.  If you get a chance, I know you'll enjoy their blog.  Sue really does a nice job with it.

Wednesday has been our usual golf day but I picked up a bug and wasn't sure I was up to it.  Instead we decided to go for a drive up to Mt Lemmon.  Wow!  That was way more than we expected and totally worth the time to see.  The panoramic views were spectacular and the change of scenery up the mountain and around the back side of it were drastic.

We started on the outskirts of Tucson and found ourselves on the Mt Lemmon Scenic Byway.  It has been described as the equivalent of driving from the deserts of Mexico to the forests of Canada in a short span of 27 miles.

We saw a number of cyclists the way from the edge of town and up the mountain.  In fact there must have been 25 or 30 people climbing the mountain.  One thing about this area ~ it very accommodating to bicyclists.

 We had to stop a lot to take some pictures of the saguaros and the vista over the city.

 Up the mountain, the climb was quite steep.  The rock formations were beautiful.

 At a number of scenic view stops, there were parking areas and quite a few had toilet facilities.

The photo below is of Jeff, whom we met while he was coming up the steep hill. He was glad to stop for a couple of minutes and chat.  He's a newcomer from Chicago and recently relocated to Phoenix.  Out for his first accent of the mountain with his friend who was a few hundred yards back.

 More spectacularness...

 Nice facilities along the way.

 We went all the way up to the Ski Valley at Mt Lemmon and then drove a little farther.

Pam taking in the views.

On the back side of the mountain, across the Santa Catalina range, you could see the San Pedro River Valley below.

Near the top of the road we saw some snow.  Pam had to get out and jump in just to say she did it.  And for a photo to send to the kids.  Yes it was COLD!  Temperature on the mountain was 57 degrees.  Back in Tucson, 23 miles away, it was 88 degrees.

It was a great drive and I recommend it.  The way down the mountain went a lot quicker although I tried not to use my brakes too much.  It was very steep at times but the highway was in great condition.  

Still, I would not be tempted to take the RV up the mountain and stay at one of the mountain campgrounds we saw along the way.  We saw a 5th wheel parked at one and I imagine it took some doing to get it there.  Seems as if the area is more conducive to pop up trailer and tent camping.

Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles today!  We appreciate you taking the time to do so.  Until next time...

A 2010 Christmas To Remember

First, a big THANK YOU to our newest Followers:

Rene' and Jeanette

Roxie and Annie

Britta

Ellie Great

Janie

Please take a look at their blogs/websites by clicking on their name

It was a great Christmas for us here in Virginia!  We had a momentous time with our Habitat friends last Wednesday (more in another post) that got the vacation/holiday time-off mood going.  I love the time of the year when everyone says 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy Holidays'.  There is just something special about people wishing everyone well.  It is infectious.  Kind of like smiling...when you smile, other people smile back.

So we had a nice time at Habitat and Adam arrived at Kelly's house in Norfolk on Thursday.  They came out to the campground and we had a nice dinner at Pam's Roadrunner Kitchen along with a couple of Kelly's friends (Nikos and Josh) who stopped by.

Then we went down to the Holiday Light display on the Boardwalk and ran into a massive traffic jam.  That was a bad idea.  We settled for some ice cream at Chick Filet.  That was a good idea.  Something wonderful about a brownie ala mode...

On Christmas Eve Day we got together again and went to the Christmas Eve service.   We went over to Niko's and Rickie's house and watched a movie and then came home to bed at a decent hour.

On Christmas, we left the campground and got to Kelly's house about 8:45 am.

Then we had one of the most memorable Christmas dinners in recent history.  One of the guys who has worked at Starbucks for a long time invited us over for a pot luck lunch.

It was a really good idea.  Lots of food, friends and fellowship.  There was food galore:  turkey, ham, dressing, potatoes, green bean casserole, raspberry pie, etc..

After we ate we all sat and chatted a while.  We had about 20 people and there must have been another 10 who took the offer for a free Christmas dinner.

Next, we went back to the campground and hung around for the rest of the day.  Then the snow started.

And it kept coming.  Kelly and Adam made it back to her place before it got too bad.  And then the day after Christmas they drove over from Norfolk in Adam's Pathfinder.  That was a little dicey.  And it snowed some more.  We even went down to the beach to get some pictures.

 I changed the lens settings and we had a blue Christmas too...

And I monitored the tanks and had to dump the black and grey but it was no problem.

The white beaches of Florida Virginia

The drifts were pretty deep at times.  I would have never in a million years expected us to be in snow 7 or 8 inches deep in the Roadrunner!  Yet we were and just enjoyed it.  We learned how to keep warm with our 30 amp campsite.  

Monday came and went and the roads in the Virginia Beach area were a mess.  We took Kelly over to her house and the main highways were mostly clear but still had some ice and snow.  Meanwhile, Adam drove back to Brooklyn and made it the whole way safely.

We cleared off her porch and returned to our campsite while it was still warm and before it got cold for the night.

We missed our departure day (we had planned on leaving Virginia Beach on Monday) and watched the snow melt a lot.  We ventured out and returned a Christmas gift and were encouraged by how much the snow and ice had melted off the roads.  The sun was out all day and it got up to 40 degrees.

Pam did a last load of laundry and then we took a short walk on the beach.

We look forward to hearing from you and want to thank the many folks who have posted comments over the past few days.  It was very nice to hear from you.

Thank you for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles and hope you are enjoying the holidays.  Happy New Year!

Snow Related Issues

First, I want to welcome our newest Followers!

Gregg

Angry Charlie

Libby

The Old Geezer

Jo Beth and Catherine

Thanks for joining the Roadrunner Chronicles!  (If they have a blog, I have linked it to their name.)

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Over the past week we have had really cold weather (last night it was down to 20 degrees) and some snow.  The cold weather affected our heater (among other things).  Our front a/c heater unit on top went out.  Heat pumps are not the way to go in cold weather.  So we are using a lot of propane for the heater and hot water.  

On Saturday we called around and decided that on Monday we were going to fill up with propane.  Uh--it was snowing pretty good on Monday.  We decided to pack up and go get the propane tank filled anyway.

This is one thing I have feared and avoided for 18 months:  Driving in the snow.  The whole idea freaks me out a bit.

We packed up and headed out.  It took us about 30 minutes to unhook everything and put everything away.

Yikes!
I found out the snow we were dealing with wasn't all that bad.  It was like driving in rain and I kept the speed down.  My issue isn't really the snow, it is my fear is ice of black ice.  The thought of skidding and sliding around in my one and only home does not appeal to me.

I think it is more about nerve...like learning to drive these big RVs for the first time.  The main thing about getting confidence is thinking about the right things.  ~ Like where I want to put the left wheel as I go down the road.  Or watching my mirrors and going slowly through tight places.  Not thinking about what could happen or oncoming traffic or who knows what else...

As I said, I took it fairly slow and we waited until about 1030 AM to get going, so it was warming up a bit.  It was probably about 35 or 36 degrees by that time.  (This is Virginia Beach?)

Since I called earlier, our guy was waiting for us and jumped right on it.  He made the hookup and filled us up in about 15 minutes.

Then it was back to the campground.  I wanted to avoid the noon time traffic and it worked out fine.

We got back to the campground, eased the Roadrunner back into our spot, hooked up the electrical and had lunch.

That was interesting!.... all these months and now we can say we have driven in snow.  Instead of dreading the thought, now I know we can do it if we have to.   (But I know this is not real snow, like what they are going through in Canada near Marg and Bill's, or in Buffalo, NY near Jon and Barb's.)    But that is fine with me -- I have no intention of ever needing to drive in the real snow, an inch or a light dusting is enough for me.

Later that day, we decided to see if we could do something about our a/c heat pump unit.  We found Meyer's RV Service which is a mobile service.  He came to our campsite yesterday.

 Tanner jumped on top of the Roadrunner and took the cover off our Coleman unit.  He found a burned up capacitor that needed replacing.  Aside from the 30 degree weather, it was a pretty easy job.

James asked about our Norcold refrigerator and we discovered we missed the recall on it in October.
He called the company, set us up and got registered, then replaced a component on the back side of the refrigerator.

They blew a fuse while working on it and after a couple of phone calls to Tiffin, we found out where it was located.  He replaced the automatic reset unit and we have that issue solved.  It took them about 2 1/2 hours to replace the capacitor in the heating unit, replace the recall item in the refrigerator (and fix the slow leak they found) and to replace the fuse.  James and his son Tanner at Meyer's Service do great work and charged me $183 which I thought was reasonable considering them came to me and it was hassle free.  I recommend them!

It has been an interesting time the last few days, but we have added to our RV full-time adventures with some cold weather experience.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  I hope you are warm were you are and enjoying the holiday season!