Visiting In Mesa for Thanksgiving. Repairing a Cabinet Door.

November 27, 2010. Bill Williams River, NWR.

We hope you all had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving. For the holiday, Joyce and I decided to drive to Mesa, Az. to visit with my father and Karen. We had 4 days off instead of our usual 3 day on/ off schedule as the volunteers for the refuge don't work on the holidays. We drove the 200 miles in our truck as it has a nice padded flat bed in the back seat that I had built for the dogs before we started on our full time RV adventure. 

I had planned to take my computer and get caught up on the blog as I have fallen behind. However, I left the computer at home! Although I had remembered to shut off the water to the RV, I forgot to turn off our electric water heater. Just as a precaution I called our neighbor and asked him to turn it off for me as we would be gone for a few nights. I always try to shut off the water and the electric water heater when we are away in case of a water leak in the rig.

My father and I relaxed outside with Rico and Maggie as we waited for the turkey feast. The day before we had driven to Camping World in Mesa. We walked through some of the open RVs on display paying particular attention to the new Carriage Cameo fifth wheels. I didn't see anything that I liked better than the one that we have. I picked up a few things at Camping World to include some cabinet door supports and a spare anode rod for my water heater. 

Joyce and Karen were busy in the kitchen preparing the big meal.

The Thanksgiving meal was fantastic and of course, we over ate. We are so thankful for so much in our lives including the opportunity to live the full time RV lifestyle.

My father and Karen own a couple of lots in a RV/ park model community. It's amazing to see some of the very large but very bloated cactus in their park. The cactus are watered with drip lines.

A water bloated Saguaro Cactus

Another water bloated cactus

Joyce and Karen got up early and did the Black Friday shopping thing while dad and I slept in and stayed home with the dogs. As soon as they got back, Joyce and I loaded up the dogs for the long drive back to our rig at the Bill Williams River NWR. We were due back to work/ volunteer Saturday. We had a great time and hope everyone had a joyous holiday.

Back home I repaired one of the cabinets in our 2010 Carriage Cameo using the new cabinet door support. The cabinets were originally outfitted with these very strong hinges that make the door hard to flip open and close but can hold the door open. The hinges are mounted on the thin face of the cabinet with only two screws thus lacking rear support for the hinge. After time, the hinges begin to pivot and bend on the weak unsupported end at the two screws attached to the cabinet face. It's not real evident in this photo but this hinge is slightly bent.

Poorly mounted heavy spring loaded hinge

I replaced the hinges with common cabinet hinges from Home Depot. I then added this piston style cabinet door support that I had purchased at Camping World. They work great in holding the cabinet door in the open position or keeping it in the closed position.

I have 6 flip open cabinets in our fifth wheel that use the improperly mounted heavy hinges. I'll gradually replace all of them with the above hardware. I noticed that the new Carriage fifth wheels we saw at Camping World had even more of those awful hinges.

The first year anniversary of our new lifestyle was in October. I'm working on doing a first year recap so bear with me and I'll get it posted soon.

Kayaking on the Colorado River, Topock Gorge to Castle Rock

November 14, 2010. Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge
Yesterday we had a kayaking adventure on the mighty Colorado River. Actually, I guess it's not so mighty where we were!
Stan, the Assistant Refuge Manager here at Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge had once suggested that we kayak from Topock Gorge down the river. Not knowing the area, we invited him to come along as our guide! So this past week he made arrangements to borrow a couple of Kayaks for himself and his girlfriend, Nicky. Yesterday, Joyce and I met them at Stan's house and loaded the borrowed Kayaks in our truck. We then dropped off our Jeep at the final destination at Castle Rock just north of Lake Havasu City. Next we all traveled in my truck north on Hwy. 95 and then west on I-40 to a boat launch at exit 1 inside The Havasu National Wildlife Refuge.
Joyce and I pumped up our inflatable Sea Eagle 370 Kayak while Stan and Nicky made their preparations in their individual kayaks. It was windy and the temps were in the lower 60's when we launched. Stan advised the water temperature was about 59 degrees. In the picture below Stan and Nicky are in individual kayacks although it looks like they are in the same boat.

We launched near the California border not far from Needles, California. Within the first mile we passed under a series of bridges some of which, looked like pipe bridges for what we assumed were for propane.

Topock Gorge stretches 20 miles along the lower Colorado, from the Topock Bridge spanning Interstate 40 to the upper end of Lake Havasu. It is part of the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge, created in 1941. The refuge protects 30 river miles and 300 miles of shoreline from Needles, Calif., to Lake Havasu City.

The narrow gorge cradles a writhing, twisted section of river, one cursed by riverboat captains back in the days of big paddle-wheelers, which explains how an especially treacherous bend ended up with the name Devil's Elbow. The cliffs of Topock Gorge, carved into oddly leaning hoodoos, jagged spires and keyhole arches, enhance the drama of the journey.

Floating through Topock Gorge was just beautiful. The water was very clear and we could see the bottom.The gorge protected us somewhat from the wind. We floated at about 5 mph which was slower than I had anticipated.

We stopped for a lunch break and an opportunity to stretch our legs on a small beach in the gorge. By now we had all warmed up and shed our outer layers of jackets.

Nicky and Stan

Our Sea Eagle 370

Somebody was having fun!

The Needles Mountains

Floating through the gorge was a lot of fun requiring only minor course corrections and paddling. 

After about 4 hours we were all getting a bit tired/stiff. We had moved into the more open/wider part of the river and were occasionally buzzed by boats and jet skis. 

The water was rougher now that it was exposed to the affects of the wind and the motorized vessels.

Although we kept moving at about 4- 5 mph, in the open river buffeted by 20 mph winds it was difficult for us to keep the Sea Eagle on a a straight course and often paddling just made it worse. We found ourselves drifting sideways pushed by the wind unless I used the paddle as a rudder to keep us pointed in the right direction. Because our craft is inflatable, the open water and wind pushed us around like a bobber or a rubber ducky! I was not impressed with the performance of our SeaEagle in those conditions. Granted however, that even the traditional style kayaks were feeling the affects of the wind. On the other hand our Sea Eagle is very portable folding down and into a bag about 3ft. x 2.5ft.

After over 5 hours on the river we finally made it to shore at Castle Rock which is also part of The Havasu National Wildlife Refuge. We loaded up the Sea Eagle and as luck would have it WACKO Kayak outfitters, the group that Stan and Nicky had borrowed kayaks from was at Castle Rock picking up a group. So we timed it just right and they loaded up the two kayaks. 

We were home by 6:30 and Maggie and Rico were still happy to see us even though we had left them home alone since 8:00 that morning. Our dogs are always something that we have to worry about! We had a wonderful experience, one that we will always remember!

Hike up Picnic Table Rock in Sara Park

November 11, 2010 Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge

Happy Veteran's Day! 

We woke to a very cool morning with temps near 50 degrees. After watching the laying of the wreath on The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldiers, we made plans and gathered our things to do another hike at Sara Park. Today our destination was the top of Picnic Table Rock. 

Named locally of course, for the picnic table at the summit. The table was carried up there (presumedly in pieces) by a local hiking club known as The Leaping Lizards. We had hiked this route before with Mitch, a biologist here at the refuge (Sara Park Hike).  You can just make out the picnic table at the peak in the photo below.

During our previous hike we had not climbed to the summit and the picnic table. So we had said last time that our goal would be to crest the summit and sit on that table! The table is chained down and sits very close to the edge of a precipitous drop off.

It was an arduous climb over some very steep and rocky trails. Often it was difficult to discern exactly what was the trail. In the picture below Joyce is making the last efforts to summit!

Mission Accomplished!

It goes without saying that the views from the summit were spectacular. Below is Lake Havasu looking across to California.

The altimeter on my watch put us at 1300+ feet.

Lake Havasu City

Of course the climb down was not going to be easy and in fact was perhaps more difficult than the ascent. The trail was extremely steep, rocky and slippery.

Round trip the hike took us 2.5 hrs. from the parking lot including the 30 mins. we stayed at the picnic table enjoying our lunch of PB and J sandwiches. I would rate the hike as moderate to difficult. The weather had been perfect with temps in just over 70 degrees but with a strong north wind.

We had a great time and will probably return at least one more time to do a hike out to the river.