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RE: SNOWBIRDING ARIZONA
OK, let me know where you are going to be located. We do not arrive this year until Jan 2nd or so. Chris
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Chris
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09/13/12 10:19pm |
Snowbirds
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RE: SNOWBIRDING ARIZONA
Check out Palm Creek Rv park in Casa Grande . The best park we have been in !! We have wintered here for 9 Years . Look at there specil deals also.
Palm Creek was really over rated and has but one pool and one hot tub for the 1800 or so people. Far better just down the road and the people seemed much more friendly go to rvreviews.
Just for a slight correction on info: Palm Creek has 2 pools and 2 hot tubs.
Along with being 40 or 50 miles from anything. If you want to be sorta out in the middle of no where, then you will be happy. Except maybe for the wind, stock yards and a park run with a iron fest of rules. Many love their parks without a lot of comparison to other parks.
Barb likes Mesa Regal for access to Phoenix actives, we like Gold Canyon because it is just a little outside city life and metro RVing, and Larry and his wife love Palm Creek because it has been their winter home for many years.
You build a new family of friends in your park when you return year after year. As I say it is more fun greeting returning friends in the fall then saying goodbye in the spring. Pick a nice park, embrace the life style, make new winter friends and enjoy the parks actives. It is not about landscaping or number of swimming pools.
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Chris
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09/13/12 09:01pm |
Snowbirds
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RE: Injector cleaner
Be careful, some additives has solvents that are not good for your engine.
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Chris
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09/13/12 08:34pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Warm places to RV camp and ride Motorcycle
As a biker and a FL resident I'd stay around Leesburg FL. There are a few nice RV parks on RT 44 that are inexpensive and the roads are hilly with a lot to see. I stayed in one and had a ball. Teki bar, on Haines creek and a lot of good people. Daytona and Sanford are just 45 minutes away and both have a lot to do.
Hills in Fl???? I thought the bridge in Jacksville was the highest point in the state???
Actually the highest point is 345 feet at Britton Hill, Fl, and is the winner of the lowest state elevation wise and the lowest elevation span. "See that other pass over there!!!!"
Space Needle in Seattle is 604 foot tall, the base is at 144' above sea level and around 12 blocks up the hill from Puget Sound. Next to the Space Needle is Queen Anne Hill neighborhood at 456 foot tall. Less than 60 miles away, Mount Rainier rises 14,409 feet above sea level.
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Chris
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09/13/12 02:57pm |
Snowbirds
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RE: 2010 Montana what is the size of the king size bed Dim.
We added an inexpensive WM 1.5 inch half egg crate / half memory foam mattress pad to our camper king 72x80 in our trailer and we were so happy with the improvement that we did the same on the boat.
That said we have used a custom mattress store in Seattle to build a short queen for an earlier trailer and a Cal King for the house. We were happy with both. For the short queen we choose a thinner spring setup, and they put two 1/4" felts on each side to give it more body, as we did not want a TOO TAIL mattress.
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Chris
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09/13/12 02:31pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: SNOWBIRDING ARIZONA
More questions - heard back from Canyon Vistas in Gold Canyon & they 'have a few spaces left'. I was about to call with a credit card # for deposit BUT when looking at an aerial view, it looked awful ugly. Is that pinkish stuff desert dirt? All I saw were slabs, not a tree or cacti in sight. They responded that the spaces are 40' wide but are they all this bleak? I'll check out Sunscape next. Like I told husb, picking out the dream RV was a lot easier than finding a place to park it!
Tell me the site numbers they offered and I will tell about those sites. Chris
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Chris
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09/12/12 08:34pm |
Snowbirds
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RE: Warm places to RV camp and ride Motorcycle
Most parks in Arizona allow a number under 55 year old people (by law I think). Also most larger parks have Motorcycle clubs with planned rides.
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Chris
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09/12/12 01:46pm |
Snowbirds
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RE: 2010 Montana what is the size of the king size bed Dim.
Careful, the bed in many Montana's is not square on one of the corners so the side can come in.
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Chris
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09/11/12 02:39pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: 2 seasons on LT265/75R16 LREs. (+Torsion axles and disks)
I'm glad you've been trouble free since the swap-over to LT's but I fail to see the logic in buying the 'cheapest Chinese tire' you could. In my mind that's asking for trouble. For the money spent you could have bought some great Cooper SRM's made here in the states. Secondly, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought LT's had a carry capacity of 3042 lbs, far less than the ST's 3402 lbs? Oh, best of luck with those curb strikes.
Mike
He is running LT265's not LT235's or LT245's. He does not believe in following the industry standards for rim width and encourages others to follow his lead. To each his own! Note: He said his trailer came with LRD tires which are rated to 3000 lbs.
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Chris
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09/11/12 01:52pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Labor Day has passed - it is time to think about Snowbirding
I allways have a long list Chris but this year my top line item is "bring Parkzone T-28 Trojan" (full size) with me. This one is a bigger challenge than all the micros hanging from my ceiling. I may have to leave the wife at home to make room for it;););)
I have to get the info on my neighbors powered glider and other plane. He wants to trade one for my rock crawler.
I can fly the Champ now!!!!
Leaving Gail home might now be the best plan!
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Chris
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09/11/12 09:40am |
Snowbirds
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Labor Day has passed - it is time to think about Snowbirding
So as we enter fall, it is time to think about snowbirding for another winter.
We could share tips on getting ready!
One of the things that we are going to do this time in getting ready, is to weed through things that have be brought aboard over the last 4 winters that have no use and just add weight. "Put it on a diet!"
I do not repack wheel bearings each year, however I do jack up each wheel and check free play and rotate the wheels. In the spring getting ready to return, I also jack up each wheel and test things. I am about due for new brakes, so may dig into things deeply this fall.
I always clean the roof with spic-n-span in the fall and inspect everything up there, resealing as necessary!
Chris
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Chris
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09/11/12 07:22am |
Snowbirds
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RE: pull down shade for door
We bought this sun shade at Homedepot. We have removed the screens and installed Lexan in the "screen" door.
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1223.jpg
And I made valance to hide the new shade.
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1275.jpg
For new valance I copied the look of the slide out trim.
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1271.jpg
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Chris
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09/11/12 07:02am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Sales Tax on Used Trailers from private sale etc.
Just buy it in Az and pay the fees. It is a buyers market and Az needs small fee that they will collect.
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Chris
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09/10/12 08:11pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: SNOWBIRDING ARIZONA
Some Happy Trails pictures.
http://www.bigrigbible.com/WeeklyTravelogues/week272.html
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Chris
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09/10/12 02:20pm |
Snowbirds
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RE: Exxon Disaster
You were "snake bit".
~
Do not know what you mean. But when these newer injection pumps fail because of bad fuel, metal pieces go throughout the fuel system. The only way to be sure that it does not repeat, is to replace everything fuel tank to injectors and back to the tank. The 6.7 are reporting similar issues with very little water, with similar cost to repair.
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Chris
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09/10/12 01:35pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: SNOWBIRDING ARIZONA
We toured it many years ago. It is one of the older resorts in the valley. Most sites have carports for the RV and Arizona rooms built on them. Using Google Earth , sites appear to be 40' wide generally.
I believe that this park is an ownership one, and you will be renting from an individual owner that is not using their space.
Traffic on Bell RD and Grand Ave is very heavy most of the time, as you are in the thick of things with Sun City West and Sun City Grand, along with a lot of others. The pulse side of that is that there is lots of shopping very close by.
There is a good RV supply store at Bell and Ave of the Arts 7.5 miles East. I thought it was a couple miles, then measured it with Google Earth ruler.
Phoenix is a very large metro area, and one drives a lot to get places. It is 90 miles from our park on the other side of the valley to friends in Sun City West!!!!
People drive very fast on the freeways in the Phoenix area also!!!
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Chris
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09/10/12 12:33pm |
Snowbirds
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RE: SNOWBIRDING ARIZONA
Chris, there are so many parks in Az that the choices are many.
We liked Tombstone area one year (1 hour from Tucson)
We liked Casa Grande ( 1 hour to Phonix, 1 1/2 to Tucson, 1 hour to Apace junction)
We look to the area. Some are pretty isolated and some are to busy. We look to the shopping, restaurants, casinos. We look to the park for their ammenities like bingo,dinners, entertainment and to rvreview for what people say about them.
Very true! If one wants to come to Arizona and fully embrace the RV Resort Community the first year, then picking one and book it for 3 or 4 months is not a bad way to start.
If you come without a park reserved you will bang around and not become fully involved from the get go. Me have friends that live in Mountain Brook across the highway in Gold Canyon. We drove through Canyon Vistas in about 2000 when it was fairly new while visiting them. In 2008 we decided to try snowbirding and called these friends and asked them to look at Mesa Regal and a couple other large parks in the area for us. They took pictures of the sites that Canyon Vistas offered to us.
We booked site 76 against the East Wall and spent two winters in that site. It was always cold on the door side of the trailer, so two years ago we moved to site 420 with our door to the South and could not be happier. I race an electric RC truck on the parks paved oval race track and go out in the morning to work on it, so the morning Sun is nice.
We have visited other parks in the area and feel that we made a good choice. That included the one in CG that you commented on as being over rated, which I agree with.
We stay at the Sun Flower in Surprise coming and going once an a while to visit friends on that end of the valley, and find the parks that are mostly park models are not that RV friendly.
Not to offend anyone, but each park has it's own personality. If one just is looking for a landing pad to sleep at and spend their time touring outside the park, then it does not matter. However if one wants to embrace the RV Resort life, then you need to pick one and enjoy it, getting involved in the parks activities and making new friends. There is so much to do! Golf leagues, baseball teams, pickle ball, leaded glass, pottery, woodworking, wood craving, dances etc etc.
I spent about three months winter of 2009-2010 making these two leaded glass panels for our kitchen at home.
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/PICT0005.jpg
Other Canyon Vistas pictures.
Race track
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1191.jpg
Veteran's Day
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/IMG_20111111_102933.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/IMG_20111111_102026.jpg
USCG ET1 1965-1969 Built Loran C Station, Sattahip, Thailand 7/1966-6/1967(part of the electronic war)
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/IMG_20111111_102340.jpg
Our Site - This is what you get in a 40' wide site!!!
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1181.jpg
Wood Shop
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1182.jpg
Pickle Ball Courts(6)
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1186.jpg
Superstition Mountains
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1215.jpg
Laundry
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1213.jpg
Quilting
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1203.jpg
Wood Craving
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/snoking1127/DSCF1204.jpg
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Chris
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09/10/12 08:45am |
Snowbirds
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RE: SNOWBIRDING ARIZONA
1st ever Snow Birding! Hopefully 1st of many.
I read every single post & last years' where it said discussed before, click HERE. Feel more confused than ever. Wrote down every single park mentioned & am researching them every night. Don't want to get there with no place to stay, driving around endlessly in an unfamiliar area.
Sounds like it's a good idea to stay a month in each place to see what we like. We don't want to be wedged in like sardines if at all possible. If we find one, I was going to ask to rent for a month with
the option to stay four if that's possible. We want to leave 1st wk Dec & return last wk March. I'd leave Nov 1 but husb is retiring Dec so we have to wait that extra month. I don't want to get stuck in snow on the way down!
Several mentioned Gold Canyon in Apache Junction & I'm not sure if they mean Cal-Am or Roberts Resorts. Are they one & the same or different ones? I have an email inquiry in but haven't heard back yet.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=33.355839,-111.473594&spn=0.030146,0.028453&t=h&z=15
In this image, Canyon Vistas is the long narrow park on the left that runs North and South. Gold Canyon Golf and RV is in the center. The dirt area upper center is a new high-end addition to Canyon Vistas RV Resort. Around the bottom and off to the right is Montesa which is a Cal-Am Community with pit mounted double wide mobile homes.
You will also notice that the number of park models is quite different between the two.
What is labeled S. Camino Vistas Way is now S. Canyon Vistas Way. That is the Eastern Street in Canyon Vistas RV Resort and has back in wall sites off the East side of it.
It is hard to go wrong with Canyon Vistas RV Resort. I have seen few that have come that did not like it. We have even had people buy homes and return to the park because of life style there.
Chris
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Chris
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09/10/12 06:47am |
Snowbirds
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RE: SNOWBIRDING ARIZONA
Two separate parks with common wall. Canyon Vistas is the better one. CV is 2/3 RV's the other one is more than 2/3 park models. Chris
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Chris
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09/08/12 09:04pm |
Snowbirds
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RE: Backing up a fifth wheel
I tell people to pull ahead 1.5 time what you would with a normal bumper pull trailer. The rear tire have to move side to side to effect a turn, so it is much slower to react. Chris
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Chris
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09/07/12 08:50am |
Fifth-Wheels
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