Finally the holidays are over! Thank God! I always look forward to them but I�m always happy when they�re over. This Jan. is dedicated to Tortugapalooza.
I�ve been working on the scripts, art, video and advertising night and day. Things are coming along well. I�m actually pleased with the amount of interest in advertising in our program. If all goes well the program will actually pay for itself. I�ll tell ya, this show sure is rushing at us at full speed.
Last year at this time I purchased a new trailer just before we left for Arizona at the beginning of our season. Just as we were about to leave we found out that our truck couldn�t pull it. I had two days to find a new truck to pull our new house to make it in time for the Arizona show. I managed to find a great deal on one just in time. (A gift I seem to have.) It all worked out but I promised I�d never do that again. (Famous last words!)
We (Sharon and I) decided that since we�re spending so much time on the road that we should rent our house in Florida out. It makes sense. We should just let someone else pay our mortgage for a while. Then we can take the money from the rent and put it in the bank. We have a 30� fifth wheel with a single slide now. But, if we�re gonna live in a trailer full time, I want it to be a nice one with enough room for Sharon, the dogs and me. So I figured I might as well keep an eye out for one.
So I went to the dealer we bought our last trailer from� and what did I find? A trailer that would be perfect! Remember my famous last words? Well here it is�one week �till we leave and I�ve stumbled on a trailer that Sharon and I love. So, it�s time to scramble to figure out how to pay for this beast. Lucky for us we do own a house, �cuz two years ago we had the house appraised. This year we had the house appraised again, but this time it appraised at 45k more than the last time. WAHOO!! Well, there�s the money we needed for the new trailer.
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All we had to do was get a home equity line of credit and it was all ours. It�s a beautiful 32� fifth wheel with three slides. (Kitchen, Living room, Bed room) It�s much more like the monster that Ronn bought but, a little smaller. It�s just right for us. It�s got a big bedroom with tons of closet space, nice living room with a recliner and an island kitchen. All the comforts of home!
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Of course to make the story shorter I�ve left out most of the insanity that came with trying to make this deal happen three days before we left. We were supposed to leave the day before Superbowl and spend a day with my good friend Mark Meyers. (my best man) But, we had to leave after Superbowl and skip the visit with Mark. We actually went to a Superbowl party at my friend Earl�s and then left for Arizona after the Game. Thank God we waited or we would have missed the viewing of Janet Jackson�s breast!
One thing�s for sure, we won�t be doing this next year! (once again the kiss of death, but I�m up to the challenge) I think I can safely say we�ve got ourselves set up to save some money and have a great moving homestead. Only time will tell.
February 2004
On the road again! Well, we�re off to Arizona. We left after Earl�s Superbowl party at about 10:30pm. I figured we could get to the panhandle of Florida by 2 or 3am, stop for the night and get an early start Monday morning.
Well, we made it to I-10 in the panhandle without a hitch. We were tired but that�s ok. We�re pulling our house - complete with bed - behind us. We parked at a rest stop for the night, moved the dogs to the trailer and bedded down for a much-deserved rest. We were exhausted from packing and moving into our new house, after all. The cool thing about a travel trailer is that you have AC and DC power plus Propane, so you can run your appliances, light and heat without being hooked up to any outside source. So we set our alarm for 7:30am, turned on our heat and called it a night.
We awoke the next morning to the sound of the dogs rustling around wanting to go out. I looked at my watch and it was 10 o�clock! Wow, I guess we needed the sleep! So, it was time to get back to drivin�. Off we went, west on I-10 toward Houston. The next day was relatively easy, passing Mobile and New Orleans without a hitch. We cruised past Houston around 11pm and headed on to San Antonio. We didn�t quite make it to San Antonio before realizing we were both fading fast. So, once again we decided to hit a rest stop for the night.
The next morning we woke up to find the heat was not working and it was freezing. Apparently we�re having some problem either with the propane or the DC battery system. I guess we�ll have to wait �till we get to Phoenix to find out what�s wrong. For now we�ll just chug along to get to our final destination so we can get set up for the first weekend. Next stop... the Texas panhandle.
The panhandle was much easier this year than in the past, thanks to our new XM radio receiver. It�s wonderful! No matter where you are you get perfect reception. And believe me, there�s not much radio in the panhandle of Texas. There�s just a lot of sand, tumbleweeds and wind - a lot of wind. We made it to El Paso - the last city in Texas - at about 7pm and decided to stop for dinner. We were both a little edgy, being tired of being cooped up in the car and trailer for so long. We really need some real food. Riki caught up to us while we were eating. (Ronn and him left a little behind us) After dinner we left to try to make it the rest of the way to Phoenix.
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New Mexico blew by in about an hour and a half since we only drive thru about 100 miles of it. We were finally in Arizona! We�re probably only about four hours from the festival site now but I�m getting tired and Sharon�s gonna kill me if I make her sit in this car any more. At about midnight we decided to stop in a little town called Wilcox and get a hotel room. It seemed to be the best idea since the trailer�s heat was acting up and it was gonna be in the thirties that night. Even though it�s a desert it really gets cold at night.
What a difference a hotel with heat can make. We parked the truck and trailer and brought the dogs up to the room with us. Little did we know the surprise the next morning would bring. We woke up refreshed the next morning at about 8:30. I decided to peek outside to make sure the truck and trailer were ok. I pulled the curtains open and looked outside. My jaw dropped and I quickly closed the curtain. Sharon freaked thinking there was something wrong. I assured her everything was fine before opening the curtains to reveal the two inches of snow that had fallen that night plus the near blizzard conditions that were continuing. It was so cool! There was not a hint of any snow the night before but now it was like we were in Minnesota or some other northern locale prone to snow storms like this.
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We packed up, changed clothes and headed to the car to finish the remaining three hours of our trip. The dogs were a riot! They�ve never seen snow before. Jasmine the American Eskimo just ran all over the place in it. Silky the Black Pomeranian didn�t seem to like it as much. As a matter of fact she looked a little miserable. Sharon went for breakfast at Mc Donald�s while I warmed up the truck. Then it was off to Phoenix!
The snow slowly disappeared and we descended into the valley of the sun but what a great experience it was. I�ll tell ya, you�ve never lived until you�ve seen snow on a cactus the desert.
