I want some coffee!

... but not there yet. The mattress topper from Sam's Club arrived a day early and we had it on the bed of our 2016 Vegas the same day. After I finished the morning dishes I headed across the street to trim off the suggested 2" from the bottom of the foam pad but the Admiral already had it done. Excellent. I had to wrestle the now-trimmed foam pad into the covering that would make it into a topper. I imagine it was very much like wrestling a very large 'possum that's playing dead- flop one way then it lies there lifeless; flop it the other way and more of the same. In spite of the adage that doing the same thing over and over expecting different results being a sign of insanity, persistence paid off and the 'possum was eventually where it needed to be. Or maybe it pays to be insane if you own an RV. The jury is still out. The sheets & bedding took both of us to get it done. With the just-washed Kokopelli comforter on top as a bed spread it looks good enough to...

All roasting cancelled because of weather. Just too *&^% hot! It's too darn hot!   And it's unfortunate, too, as the sample of the new Oaxaca from Coffee Bean Corral is excellent. So good I ordered a 25# bag. I was able to do 4 sample roasts and the one I held back for us was very good. Chocolatey, buttery and other flavors I can't put names to that combine to make a great morning cup! I looked on-line for a photo to illustrate the heat and found this. Then I realized this looks pretty much like the San Pedro Valley!

We had gotten the Vegas to our park and rented the available lot across the street. The plan was to put things in order as we emptied the 12 tubs plus piles of "stuff" that were the treasures from our previous travel trailer. Just 50 feet away it's a convenient location and we could take our time sorting thru everything to decide on the best location and "do we really need this?". Good plan except... A fire broke out east of Benson in the Dragoon Mountains which form the east boundary of San Pedro Valley- Benson is on the west side of that valley, a scant 10 miles away. With very strong winds, the Walnut fire (named I believe for the orchard area near Willcox where the fire originated) was becoming a threat on the east side of the valley and specifically the village of Dragoon. The strength of the winds was so high Cochise County Sheriff's office issued an evacuation notice for Dragoon and closed I-10 both east and west bound. Our park is located on AZ-80 wh...

It was needlessly white knuckle driving from Lazydays RV in Tucson to Benson. The walk-thru was a token effort both on the part of the Lazydays staff and us. A few switches aren't marked (😝) and there's even an unmarked spare switch. I guess Thor never heard of a blank filler. It was so hot when we left I wanted both the cab AC and the coach AC running. So I fired up the generator and ran the coach AC while we had the cab AC on while driving. Felt pretty good after we arrived. Then we parked, shut off the engine, and the temp inside shot up instantly. Time to get some sun shades kluged together! Friday we went back to get the truck we had left in the Lazydays storage yard for the night. On the way back we stopped at Camping World to remind ourselves why we never want to shop there again- God they're expensive!! But we bought a minimal surge protector for the electrical system, a couple large windshield screens we could use to cobble together a custom version for the Vegas,...

The Admiral has been doing her research so we can hit the ground running. Well... in my case maybe a fast shuffle. One of the things she did is get on the Thor Motor Coach Group on Facebook and search many of the topics. It's beginning to look like most of the things Thor builds have problems when new. Odds and ends from blocked plumbing vents to failures in electrical systems and on to cabinetry. One owner pointed out that the complaints are largely from new owners while those that have a motor home that's older than maybe 2 or 3 years have significantly fewer complaints. Without giving it a lot of thought the first impression might be "they just don't build 'em like they used to!" Or maybe it's just apathy on the part of longer term owners. I think I may have a different take on it. In the electronics world there is a phenomenon called "infant mortality" which predicts a higher than normal failure rate (failures per million hours) w...

Time is indeed marching on as we approach 17 June. Delivery was originally scheduled for 16 June at 11 AM. Last week we got a call from the salesman saying they found a previously repaired chip in the windshield that had failed. So they needed to have their shop replace the windshield. That new windshield will arrive Tuesday 15 June. Though it will get installed before Wednesday, the sealant requires 24 hours to cure. So scheduled delivery moved out a day to 17 June at 10 AM. In the mean time I spent some time on our broker's website fiddling with stocks and sold enough to cover the transaction. Unfortunately our broker (Chas. Schwab- been a happy customer their since 1991) won't issue a cashiers check. Since Lazydays will only accept payment in that form I feared we were in for some special handling and lots of driving. But Schwab said they would do either a wire transfer or an electronic transfer to a local bank where we could pick up the check locally. We already had electro...

It was inevitable I suppose. We've managed 4 blistering summers in Benson and we really don't want another without having a break from the constant heat. We made an attempt in summer 2019 and both ended up in the ER (sequentially). The guy at the Banner Hospital ER near Show Low, AZ (Pine Top, AZ?) said it was most likely an intestinal virus. The Admiral is convinced it came from the motel room and I have nothing convincing to dissuade her opinion. Friends in Key West are nearing retirement and have purchased a van , had it modified and outfitted , and are taking as many trips as they can to get the bugs worked out before Apr 2022. Michael & Layne are inveterate global travelers including a few years cruising on their Gemini catamaran... which is how we came to meet them: we were cruising on our own Gemini at the time and I was full of questions. Their years cruising Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean in their catamaran gave them the insight to work out design deta...