Hogtied and Branded

After getting the VW fixed, we completed our vehicle registrations without difficulty. The next step was to get our Texas driver's licenses.

Our first encounter with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) was none too thrilling. We didn't have the VW registered yet, and the Texas rule is that "all your vehicles" must be registered in Texas. Technically, the VW was still owned by the Montana LLC, so we could have argued otherwise. But our plan was to sell it to ourselves and register it here, so we got that done first.

Later that day we returned to the DPS office, filled out the forms and presented all our paperwork for licenses. We knew that we would need to take a written and a road test, since our motorhome was over 26000 pounds. We both took and flunked the written test since we had not been given the study guide and didn't know in what year 2 tail lights became mandatory, among other irrelevant details.

Texas gives you three chances to pass within 90 days. We got a copy of the study guide, went home and studied (1960 was the year) and returned the next day, passing the test with ease. We then scheduled the road tests the next day.

The road test requires that we drive our own motorhome around town, stopping turning, backing up, and of course following all applicable laws and signs. Consuelo went first and passed without incident.

Then I got in, stopped my normal routine to listen to the inspector's instructions, and then started the engine and pulled out onto the road. The inspector immediately told me to pull over and stop the engine, which I did. Then she told me I had failed for not fastening my seat belt. Yikes!

I scheduled to take the test again the next day, which I did, and passed without incident. Yay!

Between my nervousness, and the interruption in my routine, I missed the seat belt. Of course, I should have restarted the routine and picked that up. Normally, I always fasten my seat belt, and if I should forget when I start out, which happens occasionally, I usually get it done within a couple minutes.

Since I'm a golfer, I know the wisdom of the Scots, who say, "Any bloody fool can do it the second time!"

Houston! We have a problem!

Life in a motorhome is no different in some ways than life in a home. Sometimes, you need to call somebody to help with a problem. If you find somebody who is particularly helpful, that's who you call the next time for similar problems. When you're 1500 miles away from the last really helpful person, calling somebody closer usually makes more sense. But not always.

We took our VW Beetle into a shop in Livingston, Texas, to be inspected as part of getting it registered in Texas. I knew going in that one taillamp was burned out, and asked the shop to fix it, they said they could. However, after 15 minutes, they came and told us that they couldn't figure out how to change the bulb, so they couldn't inspect it. While they inspected our motorhome, I looked at the lamp fixture, and I couldn't figure it out, either. A call to a local foreign car service shop indicated that they couldn't look at if for 36 hours. The VW owners manual said to take it to a dealer if we needed a light bulb changed. Yikes!

Before we left the parking area, I decided to call for help. The nearest VW dealer was in Houston, about 100 miles away. I found the phone number in our Street Atlas Plus software, and called a Houston dealer. After being connected a service writer, I explained the problem. He said that I needed to remove the lamp fixture, but he couldn't tell me how to do it, and he wouldn't connect me to a service technician that did know how to do it.

So we drove into town, to continue the registration process with the motorhome, and then to get our licenses. We got the rig registered without incident.

We took an hour to eat lunch and catch our breath while we waited for the Texas DPS office to re-open after lunch. I decided to call Dana Automotive, in Northampton, Massachusetts, a place that has serviced our bug several times while we've been travelling. They connected me with a technician who walked me through the process to remove the fixture and change the bulb. I then removed the light, walked a block to an auto parts store, and fixed the problem. Later that day, we got the inspection complete on the Beetle.

Irrational as it may seem, sometimes calling that place you know to be helpful, even though they may be a world away, is the best option.

San Saba, Texas

San Saba County Courthouse


We stopped in this sleepy little town for a couple nights on our way east. San Saba declares itself to be the "Pecan Capitol of the World", and after driving through the countryside, I cannot argue that there are a lot of pecan trees here. The city (population about 5000) is the county seat of San Saba County, and the San Saba river traverses through. On the east side of town there's a golf course and a new RV park.


The water wheel in the park

We stayed in the older Mill Pond park near the center of town. Nice setting with a waterfall, water wheel, and a spring fed lake. The camping was cheap, $15 with full hookups including 50 amp electric.

Thumper had great fun chasing the ducks away from our motorhome, and got to rinse some of the west Texas dust out of her fur by swimming in the lake. We took showers to achieve the same result.

Sunset in San Saba

The weather was warm, and in our bug we toured some of the dirt farm roads north of town, through a little village called Pecan Grove. When we got back to town, we stopped and had praline pecans with a caramel pecan frappe at the Alamo Pecan store. We walked around town and through some of the mildly decaying neighborhoods near downtown, and we noticed that the luxury homes are outside of town.

Snow in Miami

The near full moon in Kent

We left Apache Junction on Saint Patrick's day, after a wonderful corned beef and cabbage dinner Sunday night with Pat and Bill in the clubhouse, we hit US 60 east and ran into.... SNOW!! in MIAMI Arizona. It snowed all the way up the mountains into Globe.

At one point, a westbound car slid into an 18 wheeler, and started sliding out of control, coming right at us. Somehow, he managed to miss us and our toad, and slid into the guard rail behind us on our side of the road. Pieces of the car were flying off, but I doubt the driver was seriously injured.

Kent Post Office

We put about 275 miles behind us, stopping in Deming, NM for the night. The park was one of the Escapees parks, and unstressed by a schedule, we spent 2 nights there, in dry camp (no hookups). We found that our battery system needs careful management in order for us to have power through the night. I'll make a few queries on the Yahoo Alfa group when I get on line again to find out the scoop on that.

After checking out the town a bit, we put another 275 miles behind us, stopping on the way in El Paso to fill up with diesel. We consumed 69 gallons to travel 620 miles, giving us just over 8 mpg. Not quite as good as the old rig, but pretty close. Diesel cost at Flying J was 3.88/gallon.

No cheap fuel here

We pulled into Kent,TX for the night, stopping in a large empty gravel lot next to the Kent Mercantile, and next to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, just ahead of a grade crossing, so the trains sound their whistles as they pass by. Should be an interesting night, but not as bad as the angry cattle. Diesel fuel cost at the Mercantile is 4.22/gallon.

Arizona Fishing 2

Unable to catch any fish on Saguaro Lake in December, when we returned to Apache Junction for a couple weeks in March, I was ready to drag 'em into the boat. Of course, it strill wasn't that easy, but I did have some success this time.

My first catch was a 14" rainbow trout, nice fish, and the only catch that day. On the second outing, Bill's grandson Austin came along, and between the 3 of us, we couldn't catch anything. On my third outing, we tried a lot of places, finally going up river a couple miles to quiet water, and I caught a small bass and a slightly larger striper.

Meanwhile, the turkey vultures were watching us carefully, flying their lazy circles overhead.

I'm still amazed at the juncture of water and desert in the Salt River lakes. The river and channels run 40-80 feet deep, and in many places the desert just seems to jump right up out of the water, in hills and cliffs. So unlike the New England and Minnesota waters I have cruised.

Moving Days

New and old

We cleaned out the old motorhome; sorted, trashed, stacked, stuffed, stored. It took a full three days, and we still have to find places for many things. Many things that are in places, will need to be repacked in suitable containers once we figure out what those are. The space in the new house is about the same as the old one, but the shapes are different. We have much more storage up high, and not so much underneath.

The last thing to come over from the old motorhome was our 18 year old cat Moonie. Consuelo tossed her in the kitchen sink and gave her a bath in the old home, then brought her over to snoop around in the new home. She's drying pretty quickly in the dry Arizona air.

The big slideout

We're enjoying discovering how to live in the expanded space, and how things work (or don't). Many years ago, we relaxed on a sofa together with Consuelo leaning on me as we watched TV. We can do that again. I can put my feet up on a coffee table and relax, exactly what I'm doing as I write this.

On Sunday, one of the dealer's people came out and drove our old coach away. There was a bit of sadness as we saw our faithful home disappear for the last time.

Monday was the final packing. I had a pile of things like hoses and pipes that needed bins that would fit in the one compartment designated for them, so I picked up a couple from Walmart. And I got the satellite receiver stuffed in the tight compartment up front and connected it to the external dish through the Alfa's built in wiring. The Kingdome still needs to be changed to Dish network, so we can't use it yet.

Max leaving us

The satellite dish is the overflow, and won't fit into storage. For the moment, we'll haul it in the back of our car. I'm hoping that there will be enough room for it below when we take the solar panels out and mount them on the roof.

Today, Tuesday, we will drive to the dealer to see if they'll fix a few nits, like missing catches on some of the drawers. Then we'll head to Apache Junction for most of March.

Buying a new motorhome

2004 Alfa See Ya

We've been thinking about upgrading our home on wheels for some time. The primary pressure we felt was the desire for more living space created by having slideouts. We had seen several different brands and different models in each brand. We were strong on the Alfa Leisure brand, and the So-Long floorplan, but we realized that our budget wouldn't support a new one, and that used ones with this floor plan were still too new for our pocketbook.

For better or worse, we found a used Alfa at a dealer in Arizona. We went to look at what was available, and after being shown the high end and the low end, we found an Alfa See-Ya which was ripe enough for us to afford. We signed the papers and went home to worry that we had not made a big mistake.

We were smart enough to demand a 24 hour cancellation clause, and after doing some research on the internet, we discovered that we would be paying too much for the coach. We went looking totally unprepared to buy, and got sucked into the laments of the sales people. At the open of business the next day, we cancelled the deal, offering the sales price as the reason. The sales people made counteroffers, and we made some demands, we gave up some incentives, and reached a new agreement, which we found much more reasonable.

Space, the final frontier

Owning our vehicles though a Montana LLC turned out to be an obstacle for the dealer's finance department, though. They claimed that our LLC limited the options they had for arranging the financing as we had agreed, and we made several concessions, and they made some concessions, and we finally reached a workable agreement.

We signed piles of agreements at least 4 times. On the final signing, the finance manager made a typo on the contracts, and had to start all over again.

That behind us, we're now waiting for the service department to complete their tasks to prepare the coach for delivery. We've begun the ordeal of sorting through the things we have stuffed in various nooks and crannies and deciding if they are appropriate for the new house. Of course, most of them are, but some items won't fit the color scheme. And all the effort I've made to get the media wiring installed as I wanted it will have to be re-thought and reinstalled. Meanwhile, we've begun piling bins and bags of things that will go into the new home when we get it. Once we get everything moved (a major task in itself) and put away (decisions, decisions) then we will have the daunting task of trying to remember where we put everything, a process that will likely continue for a year or more.

Needless to say, we're both excited, and impatient to get into the new place. The new motorhome is 2 feet longer than our old one, which shows up in a little extra drawer/closet space and a little extra living space. Many of the ameneties are similar to what we have now, though some are newer, better designs, like the main awning being electric instead of manual. There are a few things we don't have, like the slideouts and a dome satellite TV dish on the roof, which will help increase our enjoyment of living on the road. The engine is a step up. And of course, everything is 7 years newer, meaning we get to use up those items for 7 years to get them to the same state we have them in now.

A couple things will be a step down. One, the tires are 4 years older than the ones we have now. I would hope we made up some of that difference in the trade-in value. And the washer-dryer is a year or two older than the one we have now, since we upgraded that in 2005.

There will be more reports on this transaction as we continue our travels in our new abode. We can't (but must) wait.