Under the Tucson Sun

We finally left Quartzsite, and now we are in Tucson, AZ.  We are here for the FMCA INTO Rally called, Under the Tucson Sun.  Yesterday was pretty rough on all of us.  

I do NOT have the exciting news I had hoped we would have to share by now.  We had hoped we were going to get set up with solar panels and an inverter to operate most of our electrical stuff in the RV.   Then we could save on electricity and take advantage of all that sunshine we live with.  However, to make a very long and sad story short, we could not get what we wanted at the price we had been quoted, and at the price quoted, we would only be able to run the TV for a few hours a day.......not worth the cost.  To get what we had been told we would get, would have required at least four more batteries and a much larger inverter, so we said thanks, but no thanks.  

Another reason not to get the solar done was that we discovered we needed replace a rear tire.......and when we took it to the only tire place in Quartzsite, it turned out that ALL of our tires needed to be replaced.  They all had huge cracks in them.  We KNOW that it was only by the Grace of our Heavenly Father that we made it to Quartzsite safely.   Tires might have been less pricey someplace else, but we did not want to leave there on the old ones, so it was worth it to us to get them before we left.  The only bad part was that they had to order the tires and we had them put on yesterday, which gave us a late start on our travels to Tucson.  We didn't get here until about 5 pm.  Usually we like to arrive between 2 and 3 pm so we have plenty of time to set up and relax before dark.

The good news is that we have a full hook up site.  The bad news is that I think these sites were established before RVs had slide-outs, and are very narrow.  The rig on our driver's side has his awning out, and it is less than 18" from our slide-out.  He complained to Jim that we are too close to him!  We can't put out our awning as it would hit the RV on our passenger side.  Jim put out our chairs, but it is really too close for comfort!  

We couldn't get a satellite signal last night, so we gave up on it.  Today we spoke to a lady in one of the booths that sell and install satellite equipment.  After telling her what had happened, she suggested we check ALL connections, and sure enough, Jim found a loose one inside the compartment next to the TV.  It only took one try to get it to work once he tightened it up.  I'm sorry we missed watching Scorpion last night, but at least he WILL be able to watch NCIS tonight.

This morning we went over to the Old Pueblo Building to register and check the vendors.  We were happy to find someone selling beautiful American flags.......made in America!  Twice in stores in California we were going to replace our flag, but the ones we found were made in China, and call me crazy, but we wanted an America flag that was made in AMERICA!!!!!  And now we have one.  We had already taken our poor old one to the Elks Lodge for proper disposal of it.  We might invest in a new gauge system for reading the levels in all of our tanks, batteries and propane.  They will come to our site to install it too.  YAY!  

They have good entertainment for the next three nights here, and tomorrow I get to go to a Ladies Social.  There are several seminars we want to attend too................and this afternoon is the ice cream social.  On Thursday is a BBQ with entertainment and arts and crafts and even a "yard sale".  I think we are going to have a great time here this week.  There are also many RVs for sale that we can walk through, but there is no chance we want a new one after all we have done to make this one perfect for us!  Still, it is fun to walk through the new ones to get ideas for ours.  Will close for now, but more later on.