Weatherford KOA

2205 Tin Top Road

Weatherford, TX  76087

817-594-8801 or 800-562-0848

2/26/2014

A much better travel day without any mishaps but we were still on a time schedule and the weather was NOT cooperating so once again no photos.

We paid $31.04 using our KOA discount card for a pull through water, electric, sewer site on fairly level gravel that included cable and WiFi.

They were doing some major renovations of pipes in the ground so the entire area was in disarray and many of the roads and sites were inaccessible which made it difficult to maneuver around. 

Plenty of full time oil workers were making this their home and since their pet policy was a bit lenient many of the folks took advantage and did not pick up after their pets and our neighbor left his Pitt Bull chained outside most of the time we were there.

Under different circumstances we may give this park another try but we would not go out of our way to stay here again.

Need Some Extra $$$$$$$$$$$$$

HELP WANTED - If you are in the Dallas area or can be here by Thursday to work through Sunday please contact us for further information for a chance to work at the Convention Center for a concession company that we will be working for and needs more help.  

St David RV Resort

801 S Lee Street

St David, AZ 85630

520-720-4140

10/2009 & 2/18-2/24/2014

They are a Western Horizon Resorts and they accept our Coast to Coast at a $10 rate for water, electric, sewer that included cable and WiFi.  Our Verizon signal was very low but more doable then their WiFi.  The sites and roads were gravel with many pits but were fairly level once situated in the site.

Our Site 2009

Our Site 2014

The views from the top where we were not parked were spectacular, we might ask for one of those sites on our next visit.

The laundry and restroom facilities are clean but not too many to make it a great part of the park, they even have it posted for your next visit, try to do your laundry elsewhere and plan to use your own shower in your rig while here. That is not a problem for us since we always use our own but laundry was on our agenda and it took much longer than anticipated since they only had 2 working washers.


They offer activities, the staff was extremely friendly, especially the maintenance man who drove us into town for a needed RV part and when we needed ice because the nearest location for any needs is back to Benson.

If we are ever in the area again, we would stay here and we highly recommend it to others.

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

Who Knew There Was a Winery in Tombstone?

Not just one but we found two…we seem to be able to sniff them out anywhere nowadays!  Actually they are fairly new, both have only been there about 2 years and it has been close to 7 years since our visit there in 2007.

Terry & Jeri, full time RVers, friends and bloggers of Just Wanderin came into the St David RV Resort for a night and we all went into Tombstone for the day.

They went shopping and we went to the first wine tasting at…

Silver StrikeWinery

334 E Allen Street

Tombstone, AZ  85638

520-457-2399

Kyle was our server that gave us 5 tastes with a free souvenir glass for $10.  They feature Arizona wines that are made from Arizona grown grapes from vineyards located 50 miles east and west of Tombstone.

We tasted a light and airy Pinot Gris, a nice and smooth Red blend with a cranberry tone, a licorice flavored Dolcetto and two different Tempranillo’s, one aged in stainless steel and the other aged in oak.  They all had great flavoring and the only one that we would not have purchased was the Tempranillo that was aged in oak, it was just too pungent for our taste buds.

After that tasting we just walked the streets when we found yet another wine tasting at…

Tombstone WineWorks

15 North Fourth Street

Tombstone, AZ  85638

520-261-1674

Their wines express the uniqueness of the Cochise County territory and they offered 5 tastes with a free souvenir glass for $10.  There wines are expressions of Arizona’s spirit and influences; Tombstone Wines and Monkey Wines.

We tasted a semi-sweet Red that blends red and white wines that was smooth, a perfectly sweet clear crisp Rain, a blush Madame that had a berry and kiwi fruity flavor with an excellent balance, a red port of Cabernet Sauvignon that was smooth with a slight candied cherry and plum taste, a white port that had a touch of brandy and a very wow effect.  Then we tasted a few of the Monkey Wines, the Playful had a nice scent but not too great taste, the Cheeky is a Sauvignon Blanc that is dry but a nice ending, our favorite was Naughty which is a sweet Moscato Bianco with Apricot, Melon and Honey flavors that is so refreshing.

We tasted some very different types of wines that we really enjoyed, but we still find it hard to pay $20+ for a bottle so we just enjoy the tastings. 

Just as we were finishing we got a text from Terry and Jeri and met them for lunch at

Big Nose Kate’sSaloon

417 E Allen Street

Tombstone, AZ  85638

520-457-3107

It was a fun place with loads of memorabilia everywhere and the servers were dressed in the saloon garment that were worn back in the old western days.

Jerry had The Mother Load, which is a juicy ½ lb Black Angus topped with melted Swiss loaded with sautéed mushrooms with a hint of garlic butter and sprinkled with parmesan cheese that had the perfect combination of ingredients that made the mouth want more. 

I had the Goldie’s Famous Overstuffed Rueben that was served on toasted rye bread that was overstuffed with juicy slow cooked thickly sliced corned beef, kraut, Swiss cheese and Kate’s special sauce that just melted in my mouth.  The sandwich was so stacked with meat I could only eat half of it and the fries were perfectly fried with a great seasoning on them.

Terry and Jeri got right into the atmosphere and dressed the part for a photo.

On our way out of town we stopped at the Boothill Graveyard and took some photos.

We had such a great time and once again it was great to meet up with Terry and Jeri on our travels.

We took so many photos, not only from this visit but we combined them with our photos from our visit in 2007, check them all out our Google + Web Albums.

It’s Happening Again…

It seems this time of the year happens the same way all the time and it is getting really old.  We thought we were done with having low funds but it’s happening again and we do not like it at all.  We have a great lineup beginning April 1^st but nothing from now until then and Maggie’s issues ran our funds so low, scary low, so low that we may be sucking fumes on our way east.  Even though we have traveled this way so many times before, we got so comfortable with having a few extra bucks that this is once again making us a bit anxious. 

We have been looking for work along our route using every avenue we know how to use and finally yesterday we got the call.  Hallelujah!  We had been waking up with hope and then go to sleep with dread because nothing happened throughout the day even though we had done all we could to make things happen.  We were getting discouraged and once we get that way, then the big black dark hole of despair opens up and swallows all of our hopefulness and then things get really bad.  We refuse to allow that to happen this time.

All it took was one call from a wonderful person we had sent our resume to and for it to pan out.  We will head for Dallas on Monday to train on Thursday and then work the weekend at the Convention Center for a concessionaire company.  The pay is great, the hours are long and they just may have more once they see if we like one another.  How great is that?

So now we hang out here in the St David area enjoying the weather, meeting up with some friends and then NASCAR on Sunday.  Does life really get any better than this?

January / February Wine Tastings

SnoQualmie 2012 Winemakers Select Riesling – This bottle was a gift but we would pay $12.99 per bottle for it because it is a clear, crisp taste that accentuates the taste buds.  One of the sweeter and best tasting Rieslings we have tasted.  A Columbia Valley wine with an alcohol percentage of 10.5 that we rated a 9.8.

Oak Leaf Vineyards Moscato – An Australian rare find wine that has 10% alcohol and we rated an 8.6 in which we paid only $2.97 per bottle.  We were so surprised that such an inexpensive wine could taste so good.  The floral, peach and pineapple flavors makes it a very sweet and light taste.  Moscato in this brand is hard to find, so whenever we do find it we will purchase it.

Chateau Ste Michelle 2012 Harvest Select Riesling – Another nice wine from the Columbia Valley that we gave a rating of 8.9 with 10.5% alcohol that we paid $4.97 per bottle.  The apricot and peach flavors burst in our mouths but were not overbearing, it was as if we were tasting clear fresh water.  The brisk taste was refreshing without being too dry or too sweet.  We would definitely purchase it again.

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

Colorado River Adventures CRA Memberships - Lousy Customer Service

We have been members of Coast to Coast (C2C) since 2009 and have used it many times and for the most part have been very happy with them.  We have had a few issues with some of the resorts but this article is about one particular issue with CRA and unfortunately there are several locations in the C2C system.

Making reservations with C2C can be challenging at times since most of the resorts limit the usage by the C2C membership but all except CRA’s are flexible.  Reservations must be made between 72 hours and 60 days prior.  If changes need to be made to the reservation within the 72 hours it needs to be done by calling the resort directly.  Any other resort on the C2C system does not have an issue with calling them and changing reservations or even making a new reservation but apparently the CRA does not know how to do that if requested.  We have always been a little peeved on how they treated non CRA members but just always overlooked it since several of their locations are where we like to stay…that is until now!

There are some people that are just not meant to be in the customer service environment.  We get upset because if we would ever treat people the way we have been treated while we were working at any of our jobs we would have been fired and never rehired.  But we notice other people getting away with it all the time and that just not sit very well with us.  People that work at the resorts are very nice, it is when the corporate office gets involved when the issues arise and apparently they are the ones that make the rules that they insist cannot be changed.

Our original reservation was the 7^th to the 11^th but then a few days prior when I looked there were a few more days available that we could add to the end of our reservation which would be perfect but it was within the 72 hours so I called both C2C and CRA.  As usual they both pointed fingers the other direction and nothing was being done.  Then somehow in the process without our knowledge and all fingers are now pointed at us for making this error, the arrival date got changed to the 8^th but it was through the 20^th now.  When I seen this error I called the resort the morning of the 7^th to see which arrival date would they be honoring and the lady told me the 7^th, so we chose not to stay another night in Ehrenberg and to head to Yuma instead, which by the way Ehrenberg was willing to add another night to our C2C reservation without any issues.

As we were checking in on the 7^th at Yuma Lakes RV Resort which is a Colorado River Adventure membership resort but accepts Coast to Coast I asked her to extend it through as far out as we could go which would have to be cutoff at 14 days per our membership.  She was inexperienced so she called her main office…big mistake.  

Wendy (the wicked witch) stated that our reservation now says we cannot get in until the 8^th and we would have to come back the next day…END OF CONVERSATION!  So I asked if I could speak with her…another huge mistake.  From the start there was an edge to her voice so I tried to stay calm because I know you can get a lot more if I remained nice and she just told us that they “could” not but more like “would” not allow us to stay the 7^th.  Are you kidding me?  We are in Yuma during winter season where rates are high if we could even find a place to stay the night.  Now factor in the tire issue we are having and you get where I am going.  THEY HAD THE AVAILIBILITY!!!  Our original reservation checking in on the 7^th was the one she was honoring at the gate. 

We pulled over while calls were made but Wendy always came back with the same response so out of frustration and not willing to put up with her nonsense any longer, I told them to cancel our entire reservation, give us back all of our points since the reservation was not until the 8^th we were within the penalty and we drove off.

Now I know that sort of reaction only hurt us but we were so frustrated and there was NO way they were going to let us in since Wendy apparently said I had a bad attitude.  Yes, I did once we were told that under no circumstances would they honor our reservation I was to say the least a bit discouraged.  No yelling, no vulgarity, just firmness and trying to understand why she was not willing to even look at any other possibilities. 

We hoped it was just her having a bad day but this is not the first time we had to deal with the corporate office, not sure if it was always the same person we dealt with at that level but it sure sounds as if it was the same person. 

Things happen while traveling and there are times when reservations need to be changed and to be so rigid is just not customer oriented at all, especially when I have worked at resorts before and have made the exact changes and it really is not that difficult.  We were not asking for a handout, we were not asking them to put us in where there was no availability either physically or by membership status.  All we were asking for was a bit of kindness and compassion, neither of which we received on the phones. 

Let us be perfectly clear about the personnel at the gates, each time we had to deal with these issues they were fantastic, but as soon as corporate got involved is when it went bad.  And, apparently the folks at the gates could not change anything without corporate approval or they would be reprimanded. 

We would most certainly like to boycott these places in the future but there are several that are located in areas where we love to hang out during prime season and would only end up hurting ourselves.  So instead we would just like to forewarn others to keep your reservations at all CRA resorts simple so there is no reason to have to deal with the corporate office.  

That is how we plan to handle all of our future dealings with the CRA resorts and we believe the corporate office just has mean spirited people working there and should look into it.

Maggie in for Repairs and Our Own Vortex

When we pulled into Quartzsite we noticed Maggie began to shake while we were driving.  At slow speeds a very little and then when we reached highway speeds a lot more.  Since we felt this shake on our first voyage drive over 8 years ago we assumed it was our UJoints that needed to be replaced again.  Something that Jerry thought he could do since he had done this sort of repair many times before during his life as a Mechanic, but it wasn’t going to be so we made an appointment with Mead Automotive and RV Repair in Blythe, California. 

Three hours later they said they replaced the 3 UJoints, and that 2 of them were bad and then told us that there was a right rear axle seal leak that would need to be repaired but they did not have the time to do it and would not be able to schedule that until next week but that it needed to be done as soon as we arrived in Yuma.

We had made a reservation in Ehrenberg, Arizona which was less than 10 miles from the repair shop and once we got up to speed on the highway the shake began again with little difference. 

We found out a few years back that Maggie could not be aligned due to the way Ford made the bar that fits on the front tires, it would have to be redone by Ford and would be costly if at all.  So we have opted to rotate tires and purchase new tires more frequently than most people do and thus far this had worked but we had slacked off doing it the past few years since we had not been traveling many miles and staying west for the most part.

Once we got settled into our site Jerry got underneath to check out the tires for strange wear and tear and he found it.  Not only was the inner, rear, passenger side tire leaking it was warped and bubbled.  We called Good Sam Road Service and had them put our spare tire on and then the plan was to drive to Yuma to get tires rotated and replaced if necessary.  We are now confident that this is the answer to the shake and we really didn’t need the UJoints replaced yet but they are done and it doesn’t hurt to have them newly replaced.

We had a long and uncomfortable drive to Yuma with the spare tire on and the leaking seal but we made it without any issues.  Discount Tires were pretty booked up for appointments over the weekend so we were going to check into the resort and then get it done first thing Monday morning. 

Unfortunately, from that moment forward all hell broke loose and we got into this vortex that has taken us for a ride under the blackest cloud.  We wrote a separate article all about our difficulties once again with Colorado River Adventures CRA MembershipParks, this time in Yuma.

As for our issues with Maggie, they continued and then got worse…

Since CRA would not honor our reservation we were in a pickle to say the least.  We were stranded at 4pm in the afternoon in Snowbird Yuma without a reservation and Maggie was wounded.  After many calls we finally found a place to stay the night that was not going to break the bank.  We limped over to Rolle’s Lynda Vista RV Park and we are really shocked that the reviews were so good.  See our separate review on this stay.  Anyway after a sleepless night due to extreme noises we called Discount Tires to try to get in that morning, which was a Saturday, they were able to squeeze us in so off we went.  Or, so we thought…

As I jumped into the driver’s seat to move it off the blocks, I turned the key…nothing!  A slight little click, click and then nothing again…  We do have an emergency button that allows us to switch our engine battery to our house battery in such an emergency so to start our engine and it worked great.  Whew…again could have been worse but we now have to purchase a new engine battery but at least we are not stranded.

Arrived at Discount Tires for our appointment and the place was packed…  After standing in line and then going out to Maggie to check out the tire issues we then determined that because of the one tire causing the shaking just made everything else worse.  After closer investigation that shaking caused a few of the other tires to have strange wear and tear and the only thing to do was to purchase 6 new tires…OMG there went our travel fund cushion.  We now barely have enough to get across country but the alternative would have been much worse so we bit the bullet and got them all replaced and it only took a little over an hour.  They were fantastic and now with Walmart stepping away from tire replacing on RV’s more and more we think we will be happy with Discount Tires for servicing along our travels.

Once they were done we stopped at Walmart and replaced our battery…more out of our travel fund…will this ever end?  We thought it had and we found a nice place right next door to stay, read our separate review about our stay at Suni SandRV Resort, a little over our budget but we felt welcomed and right now in our journey that was what we needed.

Once settled into our site we turned on the water heater for showers as I put the dye into my hair, all of this stress was turning my hair grey…yea right!  After about 45 minutes I stepped into the shower and turned on the water…waited for the hot water that never came.  Screamed out to Jerry for some help as I came out of the shower.  We then realized that the water heater was not igniting, usually when that happens we get a warning light but probably due to the battery issue the warning light never lit up.  The igniter burned out since it was continuously trying to ignite for those 45 minutes…ugh…really?  There I sit with dye in my hair for a lot longer than advised and wondering when this will ever end.  Once Jerry realized it was the igniter, he remembered that he had a backup that we had purchased in Quartzsite the year before when we had that issue then.  What a stroke of luck!  It took him only moments to replace it and it ignited and the water began to heat up.  Thanking the lucky stars that keeping the dye on for a lot longer than it should have been on did not hurt my hair and that all this mayhem could be worked out.

We did dig deep into our funds with all the issues and at this point we only have just enough to make it back east with nothing to spare.  So we are looking for work, something temporary that we can do between Benson, Arizona and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina that will replenish our funds once again.  If not we have decided that we will continue east with what we have and just continue to pray it is enough.  Not our ideal way to travel across country but it won’t be the first time and the way our lives seem to play out, it won’t be the last time either.

Life throws us curves and we can choose to either take a deep breath and go with it or we can kick and scream and allow it to take us down.  We choose to release our fear and just believe that we are meant to head east and have the time of our lives enjoying all the wonderfulness of our dreams.

If anybody knows of anybody in need of a few good workers along our route, please EMAIL US with their information, and of course please say a little prayer for us.

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

Suni Sands RV Resort – Encore

1960 E 32^nd Street

Yuma, AZ  85365

877-570-2267 or 928-726-5941

2/7-2/10/2014

We have heard people describe this resort as the friendliest place in Yuma and we would most certainly agree.  We arrived on a Saturday afternoon during a Jam Session when the office was closed and one of the workers escorted us to an open site and told us to check back at the office in the morning.  We went to the office several times throughout our visit which we extended from what was going to be one night to three nights due to the absolute friendliness of everyone there.

We paid $37.10 per night using our Good Sam 10% discount for a long, not too wide pull through, fairly level site on gravel with water, 30amp electric and sewer.

The pool was always full with guests and lots of activities which we did not participate in but if we stayed longer we may have joined in the fun.

The landscaping was kept up nicely as well as the restrooms and laundry facilities were well maintained.

Conveniently located right next to a Super Walmart right in the middle of a great area with plenty of restaurants and other stores nearby.

We do not plan to be in Yuma ever again but we would highly recommend this place but keep in mind it is more of a community then a RV Resort.

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

Rolle’s Lynda Vista RV Park

NO WEBSITE

2900 W 5^th Street

Yuma, AZ  85364

928-782-9009

2/7/2014

We took no photos…we were in a very bad place due to mechanical circumstances beyond our control.

The area was very sketchy, seemed as if we were on the wrong side of the tracks.  Very worn down area of Yuma, trashy trailer park lots up and down 5^th Street with a few roosters living in the area that were not sure what time of the day it was since they squawked all day and all night long.

We paid $14.08 using our Passport America 50% Membership for a water and electric site on the corner in the overflow area which was grass on dirt, not very level and we barely fit into the site which left our nose within inches of the road.

The management and other campers were very friendly but for us it did not make up for the area and the noise all night long.  Most of the long termers kept their area up and the area throughout was well maintained. 

We would not have felt safe to take our bikes for a ride in the neighborhood so for that reason alone we would not recommend this place at all and we were so surprised that this place received such great reviews.

What A Difference a Week Makes

Quartzsite has just about cleared out, last week there wasn’t an open spot anywhere but now what a big difference, just a hand full of RV’s left.  

We plan to hang out for another week before we head to Yuma and/or possibly Benson to hang out a few weeks before we venture east.  The snow storms and frigid temperatures continue to plague our route and we do not want to run into any of that weather.  We had planned to head east already so it has been difficult to get reservations in Yuma but we continue to try to get our Coast to Coast membership to pay off, grabbing a few days at a time and hopefully be able to stay a few weeks, if not we will have to pay the price…ugh!  We do have a few other choices, like Benson, Arizona where it is a bit chillier but not as bad as the rest of our route.  We will just continue to check out the weather and resort availability along our route and see where we end up.

Jerry went under Maggie to check out what is causing a new shake when we drive, just like what happened on our very first voyage.  It is probably the U-Joints that need to be replaced so we are looking to get that done.  He was hoping to do it himself but that will not be possible after all.  We called Best Auto & RV Repair in Quartzsite and the woman was so rude we would not even consider taking Maggie to them to work on.  We called a few other places but no luck, then we called Mead Automotive & RV Repair in Blythe, California and from the first conversation things were marvelous.  We made an appointment to get the work done on Wednesday.  We just have to button up a few things around here today and we will once again be in travel mode. 

The wonders of Neosporin…Jerry’s finger is just about healed and it was in really bad shape.  He literally cut off the tip of his finger and we kept it bandaged with Neosporin on it for the past week and when we took the bandage off to change it today, it was 99% healed.  Life is Grand!

Silly Al’s Pizza

175 W Main Street

Quartzsite, AZ  85346

928-927-5585

2/4/2014

We started with Margaritas that were not anything special but the glasses were pretty cool looking and if they were plastic they might have found themselves in our to go bag.

The Garlic Cheese Bread was prepared with fresh Italian bread topped with a garlic butter blend, crushed garlic, and grated mozzarella cheese, sliced and toasted to perfection and just melted in our mouths.

Then it came…The BEST pizza EVER!!!!

We ordered the Goliath, thinking we would take it home for dinner but it will probably make it to breakfast tomorrow as well.  We could not decide between two and the server suggested we get ½ and ½ and that is exactly what we did.

½ Mediterranean – creamy pesto sauce topped with mozzarella and feta cheese, artichokes, Greek olives, garlic and bell peppers.

½ Al’s Rueben Pizza – mustard, mozzarella cheese, sauerkraut, Al’s pastrami, onions, topped with cheddar cheese.

Thin crusted pizza and not sure which half was better since they both took our taste buds to the extreme.  Never did we think a Rueben was ever meant to be put on a pizza and even though it sounded crazy we love to try new things and this time it did not disappoint.  As for the Mediterranean half, well Jerry is a meat lover but this had all the perfect blends of flavors that he didn’t even miss the meat.

The BEST pizza EVER!!!!

Even though we have been to Quartzsite many times and heard several friends rave about this place we were never inclined to go but now that we have we know that we will not only highly recommend it to others but we will return the next time we are in the area. 

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.