Ron and I have been parked in the same spot in Rocklin for quite
awhile. Working and home life have kept us off the road lately. We
began planning for a fun get away, mostly to keep our sanity :-)
We left with Roamin
in tow on a Saturday afternoon in early October. Our itinerary included
the Pomona RV Show, then make our way down to Patagonia, Arizona to
spend time with my cousin David, then make a stop in Moss Landing while working for a couple of days and
end up back in Rocklin three weeks later.
Stop One: Pomona RV Show
"We're Just Window Shopping" = famous last words!! We wanted to check out the RV's and see what was in store for when we upgrade in a couple of years. I bought multi-day passes because I knew we'd want to visit the show several times. I also booked a spot at the
KOA campground which is right next door to the show.
Ron and I had discovered on our drive that the refrigerator had a problem. The freezer seemed to be working all right but the fridge part continued to hover around 45 degrees. Not at all what is supposed to happen. Ron researched a bit and thought he had a solution. He also found out this particular model of Dometic refrigerator was discontinued. In the end, we called Howard, a mobile RV mechanic. His name and number were on the advertisement sheet on the reverse side of the campground map. Ron spoke with him on Sunday night. He answered Ron's questions, explained his charges and gave us the choice if we wanted him to come out.
Howard arrived as promised Monday morning. While he did his thing, I did laundry and Ron learned a bit about RV refrigerators and how they operate. Turns out the part Ron thought was broken wasn't the problem. There was another part which had calcium buildup inside. During the drive some of the calcium must have dislodged and then became stuck in a cooling tube. Howard says he sees it often. His solution: lets carefully hammer on the solenoid to try and free the clog... ?? All I know is it worked! Once Howard was finished and the laundry put away Ron and I headed over to check out some RV's.
We walked through many, many travel trailers. We checked out different manufacturers and floor plans. We even went into a few 5th wheels and Class A coaches knowing full well we can't have/don't want that type of rig. Our last stop of the day was the Rockwood display. Roamin is a Rockwood and we wanted to check out the new styles. You know, for
future reference :-)
A few were out of the question for one reason or another. When we stepped into the 8335BSS we were floored. So. Much. Room!
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| from the Forest River website |
The rig had so many great points compared to Roamin. Bigger kitchen, bigger bedroom, deeper closet, bigger bed, bigger fridge (we still found the discontinued model in some of them at the show), two couches AND a dinette, bigger TV (
don't judge, it's home), better sound system, 50AMP with two A/C's, better stairs, two doors, lots of windows :-), WiFi booster built into the rig and more! A few not so good differences were less 'garage' space, no separate coat closet, two dump valves (one under a slide), plus a narrow & deep pantry. It was also four feet longer. Could it fit into our already tight spot back in Rocklin?? We had a lot to ponder...
The next morning we went back to see the trailer. We were leaning towards buying it,
IF all of the conditions were right. As Ron says, "If all the stars align".
Happy Birthday to Ron!!
All of the stars
did align and we were at the show until after closing time working with our sales person and the finance department. It was Tuesday. The show still ran until the end of the weekend. They wanted us to wait until the show ended before we could pick it up. But, they had a different one in stock locally. Same floor plan, same features. We could pick up our new home at a nearby dealer two days later!!! YES :-))
Moving Day
Thursday arrives. We have some stuff boxed up after a trip to Home Depot yesterday. The dealer positions our new home in the parking lot next to Roamin. Door to Door. Wish I got a photo. We were up and down the two sets of stairs for almost the entire day!! Final paperwork and inspections were done and we rolled out of there at 7:30PM. We were so exhausted that we called a local campground for a quick pull through site for one night. KOA was booked :-(
Here are some photos of Raven:
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| view coming in the front door, we love the huge kitchen window |
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| big open kitchen :-) |
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| full entertainment center just across from the double recliners |
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| the second couch is more than big enough for Rufus! |
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| basic bathroom but it has two doors |
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| plenty of foot room for us and Rufus's bed |
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| meet Raven, our new home!! |
Stop Two: Patagonia, Arizona
We did have a couple of nights in Quartsite on the way to Patagonia. At this time of the year we seemed to be the only one in the park. I didn't bother taking a photo. We did get out and explore the area just a tiny bit. I could see how it would be better experienced once the tents are set up. One day we'll go there in January, just for the experience.
Patagonia is an itty bitty town in south Arizona. David chose it as a midway point between his home in Texas and our home in California. The small campground is very basic. Gravel all around with sparse dry grass patches. But it had full hookups at a decent price of $33 per night. Over the course of our five days there we found about 100 marbles strewn about our campsite. Who ever gets our spot next may be in marble heaven! LOL
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| so that's where I left 'em... |
Ron and I were pretty much still unpacking/organizing at this point. We did manage a day trip to
Tombstone. David and Dee went a bit earlier in the day. We did catch up with them at the tour depot. We paid our fee and hopped aboard the bus.
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| David and Dee, too bad she didn't look when I took the photo |
We drove past parts of the city while learning a little about the town and it's history. Quite the colorful past. Old western towns can be interesting. I'd like to come back another time to visit some of the more historical sites. One day isn't enough...
We walked in some of the shops. We bought a few souvenirs for ourselves. We have a lot of wall space in Raven so we bought a small wall hanging. Ron bought himself a new hat.
Our daughter and son in law are expecting their first child in March. Our first grand-baby!! We didn't know it's sex when we were in Tombstone so we came home with two t-shirts. Jessica and Mike are having a boy :-) Friends are having a granddaughter around the same time so the new parents will get the other one :-)
Stop Three: Moss Landing
During the previous weeks we received additional work for the Salinas and San Jose areas. One of the benefits of this lifestyle is being able to change plans, if needed, in order to help our clients sooner. I looked up campgrounds near Salinas and found
Moss Landing KOA. You know how much I love the beach. This campground is within walking distance :-)
The park is small but situated in such a way that the sites have ample space between neighbors. We ended up staying at the park for four days, we liked it so much. During our stay two other Rockwood trailers came in. We all decided on an impromptu walk through. The first one belonged to an older couple who travel with their grand kids on occasion. They have a bunkhouse model with a Murphy bed in the front. The second one is a couple with grown children, no grand kids yet. Their trailer was purchased a couple of months earlier. This was their maiden trip. Good times :-)
Ron and I walked to the beach a few times. Why not, it's just that close :-)
the color was not altered in these two photos
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| we found some geocaches on the walking path |
I tell you, those three weeks flew by quickly. We all had a great vacation from the usual. We're already planning for our next outing. We're hoping to take a trip to the Sierra mountains in late December.
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| nope, he's not spoiled... :-) |
*As always, you can click on any photo to see it larger.
