Coach to NIRVC and a second stay in an Airbnb apartment

We had an appointment with the National Indoor RV Center in Phoenix, Arizona to fix the driver chair issue, a slide-out glide issue, and a bunch of other stuff. So we drove the short 22 miles (half an hour) from the nearby Buckeye campground to NIRVC to drop off the coach. Here’s the route (going left to right):

Map route

The colorful front of the NIRVC building:

NIRVC

In the reception area:

NIRVC

The waiting room:

NIRVC

We had the option of sleeping in our coach on-site (with a power hookup), and hanging out in that waiting room while it was being worked on, but that wouldn’t really work with a cat, and we’d be more comfortable staying somewhere else.

So again, we rented an Airbnb apartment; see that listing for more information. Here are a few pictures:

Airbnb apartment

The carport was a bit tight for our truck. The apartment was upstairs:

Carport and stairs to apartment

Pool, grill, table:

Pool, grill, table

Pool (we didn’t use it, but it seemed popular):

Pool

We’ve recently booked a third Airbnb for another visit to NIRVC in March, to (hopefully) finish off the items on the list.

Travel from Lake Havasu City to Buckeye, AZ

We departed the Xscapers Annual Bash near Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and headed to a one-night stay at Leaf Verde RV Resort near Buckeye, Arizona.

Here’s the route map (top to right); 165 miles, about four hours drive in our coach (including a lunch break):

Map route

A fairly familiar route, having been along I-10 a few times this winter.

But the trip had a bumpy start; we couldn’t bring in our front driver-side slide-out, or move the driver chair, due to a disconnected wire underneath the chair:

Disconnected wire

This stop was the first time we had rotated that chair around to face the living area, so we guess the wire didn’t have as much slack as it should, and got pulled out.

Obviously this is a big problem; we can’t drive with the slide out. The reason the slide was affected is the switch to extend or retract it is on the side of the chair, to help ensure the chair is forward enough to not get hit.

Fortunately there is an emergency retraction button in the fuse bay in the basement, so I was able to use that to bring in the slide:

Emergency rectraction

Also fortunately we had an appointment at the National Indoor RV Center in Phoenix the next day, so we only had to live with this issue for one day.

That issue worked around, we moved the coach to a clear space at the Xscapers Bash grounds to hook up our toad (tow vehicle); you can see our truck and the neighboring coach (nice folks, that we enjoyed meeting and chatting with):

Xscapers General section

Our coach, ready to hook up the truck:

We’re on our way; a bridge over wetland:

Bridge over wetland

Wetland

Colorado River:

Colorado River

Hilly highway:

Hilly highway

Our coach has an RV-safe GPS, that knows the height and other info about our rig, so it doesn’t route us places we can’t go (we also have a label above the GPS as a reminder for low bridges):

GPS

A fun and handy feature of the GPS is the ability to mirror the output to the (otherwise pretty useless) TV above the windshield — useful so I can see the GPS more easily (it just displays grayscale for some reason):

GPS on TV

TV and windscreen

In Parker, Arizona we encountered several VW buses, probably leaving a recent gathering of them at London Bridge in Lake Havasu City:

WV buses

Highway:

Highway

Quartzsite sign:

Quartzsite sign

I-10 freeway:

Highway

Mountains:

Mountains

Cacti:

Cacti

We would have liked to stop at the first rest area on the I-10 portion of the route, but it’s been closed for a while for renovations:

Closed rest area

So we continued to the next one, half an hour later:

Open rest area

Crackers, summer sausage, and cheeses for lunch:

Lunch

Paladin wasn’t thrilled when we started going, but settled down in one of his nests during lunch:

Paladin

When we got underway again, he was a little happier than earlier. We do hope he gets more used to travel days eventually:

Paladin

Our exit:

Exit

We had a one-night stay at Leaf Verde RV Resort; I won’t bother doing a separate post about it, since we basically just stopped there to dump our tanks after dry camping for over a week during the Bash, to catch up on laundry, and as a location fairly close to the National Indoor RV Center:

Leaf Verde RV Resort

The map:

Map

From the little we’ve seen of it, I wouldn’t call it a resort; while the transient campsites are mostly pull-through, they are fairly tight “buddy” sites, where pairs of RVs face opposite directions, and thus their doors face each other. Not very nice:

Campsite

Notice that we didn’t extend the front driver-side slide-out, since the switch wasn’t working:

Campsite

We didn’t bother unhooking our truck, since it’s just an overnight pitstop (an advantage of a pull-through site):

Campsite

A timelapse of this travel is coming tomorrow. Please subscribe to the Sinclair Trails YouTube channel; I need a bunch more subscribers to be able to get a nicer URL.

Travel from Salome to Lake Havasu City, AZ

We departed Salome, Arizona and headed to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, for the Xscapers Annual Bash. Our first coach drive of 2022.

Here’s the route map; just 83 miles, a couple of hours drive north in our coach:

Map route

Heading down the highway to Quartzsite:

Highway

Love’s fuel stop:

Love's fuel stop

We weighed our coach and truck again at a CAT Scale at Love’s:

CAT Scale

The weight was up a bit, in part due to adding more stuff, in part due to having a full tank of water, in preparation for dry camping at the Xscapers Bash. But still within acceptable tolerances:

CAT Scale report

Paladin wasn’t enjoying the trip, as usual:

Paladin

Heading north on the highway:

Highway

Road to park

Entrance to the bash:

Bash entrance

Sold out:

Entrance

Another Tiffin:

Another Tiffin

Paladin settled down:

Paladin

Backing in to our spot:

Backing in

We arrived a few days early, as Jenn is volunteering in the mail room. So there’s lots of empty space now, which will be filling in as everyone else arrives today:

Empty space

Our truck and coach in our spot:

Truck and RV

If you’re at the Xscapers Bash and see us, feel free to say hi. We’re introverts, and this is our first time at a rally, but we’re looking forward to it:

Xscapers stickers and badges

Stay tuned tomorrow for the timelapse video of our journey.

Black Rock RV Village

We spent the holidays at Black Rock RV Village in Salome, Arizona. (Campground Reviews listing.)

I thought I’d start adding some extra information about our stay, for future reference:

Dates: 2021-12-18 to 2022-01-06. Yes, I prefer to post about a campsite after we’ve left it.

Weather: sunny, a little drizzle, windy at times (gusts up to 30 mph), high temps around averaging 60°F, lows around 40°F, dipped just below freezing a couple times.

Noise: a bunch of side-by-side vehicle traffic, but no trains, negligible road noise.

Site: back-in, gravel, full hookups (50 amp power, water, sewer), large, about 80 feet long by 30 feet wide, with a hedge on the passenger side. No table or fire pit.

Internet: no Wi-Fi; AT&T okay, about 1 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up; T-Mobile unreliable, about 1 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, when it works.

Amenities: mailboxes and mail room, cafe, pool, rec room, park, various outdoor games.

Here’s the (very much not-to-scale) map:

Map

A satellite view shows the layout better, especially over where we were staying. As you can see, a lot of the sites have park models or other long-term structures (park models are like tiny homes that can be moved, but generally aren’t, and aren’t self-contained, requiring hookups):

Black Rock RV Village satellite view

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

Our campsite was quite large:

Campsite

Electrical and water hookups; the ground is damp as I always run the water for a bit before hooking up, to flush any contaminants. I also had to use a short hose connector, as the tap was so low to the ground:

Electrical and water hookups

Campsite:

Campsite

“The first RV”:

The first RV

This park is a popular place for side-by-side vehicles, being next to public lands:

Side-by-side

Office:

Office

This park is unusual in that it has a public cafe on-site:

Cafe

It also has mailboxes:

Mail

The mail room; we used it a lot, with packages from Amazon pretty much every day. Receiving mail is complicated when traveling the country; I should do a blog post about that sometime (if anyone’s interested):

Mail room

Collecting some packages:

Mail

They have a couple of desert tortoises, though they are currently hibernating for the winter:

Turtles

Rec hall:

Rec hall

Pickleball courts; one day we’ll get around to learning to play:

Pickleball

Bocce ball:

Bocce ball

Cornhole:

Cornhole

Swimming pool; apparently heated, but it’s too cold to want to swim:

Swimming pool

Charlie’s Park:

Charlie's Park

Community garden beds:

Community garden beds

Gate to BLM land:

Gate to BLM land

BLM land:

BLM land

Lots of vacant sites:

Lots of vacant sites

RVs

Park models:

Park models

Entrance sign at sunset:

Entrance sign at sunset

We were here over Christmas, and they had a parade of side-by-sides and other vehicles:

Christmas parade

Sunset:

Sunset

We ate in the cafe several times:

Cafe

Chicken fried steak, baked spud, beans:

Chicken fried steak, baked spud, beans

Mexican:

Mexican

Burger & fries, plus fish & chips:

Burger and fries

2021 campgrounds

Another interesting summary of 2021 — the places we stayed during the year.

I’ll start with buying our coach, then our Yellowstone trip in a rental travel trailer, and continue with our subsequent coach stays. For each location, I’ll include a link to the corresponding blog post, the campground map (if available), and a picture of our site. Enjoy!

You can also see all of the campground-related blog posts via the campsite category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

Pasco / Tri-Cities KOA Journey in Pasco, WA, where we purchased the coach:

Campsite

At our homestead in Estacada, OR:

Coach at homestead

For our Yellowstone trip in the rental travel trailer; Grand Hot Springs in La Grande, OR:

Grande Hot Springs

Campsite

Twin Falls / Jerome KOA in Jerome, ID:

KOA

Trailer

Madison campground, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming:

Campsite

Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, MT:

Jim & Mary's RV Park map

Trailer and truck

Coyote Run RV Park in Connell, WA:

Coyote Run RV Park map

Campsite

Back into our coach, our first stop after leaving our homestead was Portland Fairview RV Park in Portland, OR (no blog post, so this is a newly-published picture):

Campsite

Mom’s place in the Seattle region:

Parked at Mom's house

Kevin and Julie’s Boondockers Welcome site in Chehalis, WA:

Campsite

Olde Stone Village RV Park in McMinnville, OR:

Coach and truck

Valley of the Rogue state park in Gold Hill, OR:

Campground info

Truck and coach in campsite

Heritage RV Park in Corning, CA:

Heritage RV Park map

Coach and truck in campsite

Coyote Valley RV Resort in San Jose, CA:

Campground map

Large site

Thousand Trails San Benito Preserve in San Benito, CA:

Campground map

Campsite

Truck and coach in new campsite

Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield, California:

Orange Grove RV Park map

Campsite

Shadow Hills RV Resort in Indio, CA:

Shadow Hills RV Resort map

Campsite

Sonoran Desert RV Park in Gila Bend, AZ:

Sonoran Desert RV Park map

Campsite

Dry camping at Straight Line RV in Phoenix, AZ:

Coach

Black Rock RV Village in Salome, AZ (blog post coming next week):

Campsite

I hope you enjoyed this tour of our campsites in 2021!

2021 travel

Happy New Year! 🎉

As we begin 2022, let’s look back at our coach travel in 2021.

We bought our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP diesel pusher motorhome on September 2, 2021, and other than a few times when we’ve been out of it due to our Yellowstone trip and a couple of servicing appointments, we’ve lived in it full-time since then.

We’ve driven the coach about 2,300 miles in that time, on the west coast, from as far north as the Seattle area, and as far south as the Phoenix area (actually Gila Bend, not far north of Mexico). We’ve stayed in it in just four different states so far: Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona.

Here’s the map of our coach travels and stays in 2021, via the excellent RV Trip Wizard website:

Map route

If we include our Yellowstone trip, staying in a rental trailer, we can add Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming to the list of states:

Map route

You can see all of the travel-related blog posts via the travel category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

I thought it’d be interesting and useful to include a summary of travel days. I didn’t start blogging about them consistently at first, but over time settled into a pattern. Here are links to blog posts, and a sample picture of the view of each, so you can see how the landscape changed as we travelled in our coach.

Travel to Mom’s place in the Seattle region:

Driving

Driving to Southern Oregon:

Freeway

Video timelapse:

Into California:

Nice view

Video timelapse:

Travel day to San Jose:

Horrible road

Video timelapse:

To San Benito, CA:

Highway driving

Video timelapse:

To Bakersfield, CA:

Trucks on freeway

Video timelapse:

To Indio, CA:

Desert road with lots of dips, and Joshua trees

Video timelapse:

To Gila Bend, AZ:

Welcome to Arizona

Video timelapse:

And a timelapse to Phoenix:

To Salome, AZ:

Road

Video timelapse:

What’s in store for 2022?

We are looking forward to the Xscapers Bash in mid-January, then will head to Disneyland for Jenn’s birthday in February, to the coast, then back to Arizona, and the FMCA convention, then north into Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming to hit more National Parks. Then via Idaho into Oregon to visit doctors and dentists. After that, we’ll head north, then east, then south, heading towards Texas for next winter, as we slowly make our way across the country.

We already have reservations up till mid-June, but the rest of the year is subject to change.

Here’s the current route and stop map for 2022; starting from the Phoenix area, heading to the coast, then going basically clockwise:

2022 route

Still a lot more of the country to see, but we’re working our way across, with trips back to Portland each year. The maps for subsequent years will be similar to the 2022 one, but heading north from and ending up further east each time:

2022 route

2021 was an eventful year, what with the big transition from the homestead to coach. 2022 should be an interesting year, as we continue to explore. I hope you’ll enjoy following along via this blog.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

We visited the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Arizona, which focuses on desert plants.

The entrance:

Entrance

An interesting building:

Interesting building

Cacti:

Cacti

A selfie:

Jenn and David

Rocks

Cacti

What they label as a lake, but I’d call a pond:

Pond

A shelter:

Shelter

Interesting tree bark:

Tree

Palm trees:

Tree

Rocks:

Rocks

A sketchy bridge:

Bridge

An Australian desert exhibit:

Windmill

Australian exhibit

Flowering cacti:

Flowering cacti

We bought a small potted cacti for our coach:

Potted cacti

The garden map; we only explored about half of it this time, but plan to come back in March, when more things should be blooming:

Map

A stay in an Airbnb apartment

A temporary change: we had an appointment for some work on our coach, so like when we got it serviced up in the Seattle area, we needed to stay somewhere else for a time. (Actually, we could have stayed in the coach for most of the time, but it’s problematic with a cat, and less comfortable with the slides in and other limitations.) So we rented an Airbnb.

We departed Gila Bend, Arizona, and drove to Phoenix, Arizona. Just a short 63 mile journey this time, only an hour. We had chosen the Sonoran Desert RV Park in part for its reasonable proximity to Phoenix, so we could deliver the coach by 09:00. Here’s the route map (the leg in the top-left corner was part of the route getting to that park):

Map route

The Airbnb was a nice two-bedroom apartment, just 20 minutes away from the shop. See that listing for more photos, but here are a few.

The living room:

Living room

Kitchen:

Kitchen

Mountain view:

Mountain view

Pool area (which we didn’t use; it wasn’t quite warm enough to want to do so):

Pool area

And yes, Paladin stayed here too; being cat-friendly was one of the criteria. He adapted without difficulty:

Paladin

The apartment felt so spacious after living in a motorhome! It was nice to have a bit more room to spread out, and a full-sized shower. Being in a big city was different, too. But it was only temporary; we’re not yet ready to give up the freedom of taking our house with us as we explore the country. And with a cat, it won’t be the last time we stay elsewhere; we already have another Airbnb booked for some more work on the coach at a different place in January.

Sonoran Desert RV Park

Our first stop in Arizona for a week, the Sonoran Desert RV Park in Gila Bend:

Sonoran Desert RV Park

Campground map:

Sonoran Desert RV Park map

Our campsite was quite large; long enough to park the truck either behind or in front. And in fact enough room to park several other vehicles, if we had them. We left our truck hooked up for a couple of days until we were ready to go out, then parked in front, until the last day, when we hooked it up again for faster egress the following morning:

Campsite

Paladin in the doorway:

Paladin in the doorway

Jenn and I did our traditional walks around the park; some of these pictures are from each of us. Starting with the Sonoran Desert RV Park sign:

Sonoran Desert RV Park sign

The office:

Office

Cacti:

Cactus

Ranch house activity hall:

Ranch house

Pool:

Pool

“Solitary confinement”:

Solitary confinement

Patio:

Patio

Dog area:

Dog area

Our campsite again:

Campsite

Agave plant:

Agave

Quail sculpture:

Quail sculpture

Very nice sunsets here:

Sunset

That factory is a Calgon Carbon facility, doing stuff with activated carbon.

Coach ground effect lights:

Coach ground effect lights

Our first full day here, the campground owner sent an email saying they’d have a Mexican food truck visiting that evening; we partook of their services for dinner. Convenient!

Mexican food truck

Another sunset:

Sunset

Another night, we had some griddle burgers:

Sunset

A nice campground; we’d stay here again.

Travel from Indio, CA to Gila Bend, AZ

We departed Indio, California and headed to Gila Bend, Arizona. Another new state in our RV journey (we’ve been there before, but not driving).

Here’s the map route; 252 miles, a four or so hour drive in our coach. (That marker in the middle is where we’ll be spending the holidays.)

Map route

The first step for a travel day is to load up the truck bed with the outdoor stuff; it’s quite full, with chairs, rug, griddle, fire pit, propane tank, cleaning equipment, and other stuff. But great to have that extra storage:

Truck bed

Hills and part of the Colorado River aquaduct:

Hills and aquaduct

Paladin:

Paladin

Being passed by another RV:

Date palm trees:

Date palm trees

Arizona state line sign:

Arizona state line

Welcome to Arizona sign:

Welcome to Arizona

Arizona centennial sign:

Arizona centennial

Quartzsite and Phoenix sign:

Quartzsite

One of the first sightings of cacti:

Cactus

Love’s fuel stop:

Love's fuel

Yes, that top number is dollars; $295 for almost 69 gallons of diesel (nice)… less than half our tank capacity (150 gallons). Though we get a discount off that via our fuel card:

Love's fuel

Desert:

Desert

Paladin:

Paladin

Sitting in his box on the counter:

Paladin

More cacti:

Cactus

Stay tuned tomorrow for a timelapse dashcam video (with music!).