As we were nearing our next overnight stay in Tuscon, we pulled off in a parking lot to un-hitch the jeep. When Tom pulled out, one front tire of the RV caught the curb of the narrow driveway and he heard a CRACK! Our front windshield shattered in the bottom corner – apparently a common thing in Monacos. It wasn’t until we arrived together that I knew what happened. Uh-oh. But no time to freak out about it yet because we had to meet our hosts and get parked.
Our hosts were great and just as concerned about our windshield as we were! We’ve had nothing but good experiences with Boondockers Welcome , and this stay in Tuscon was no exception. We we got on very well with our hosts. They had a beautiful acre of county land that was close to shopping and to daughter Jessica’s place. They gave us lots of recommendations for places to eat and things to see. We hope to meet up with them again, and invited them to come visit us in Oregon.
We called our insurance company as soon as we got settled in and told them we had a repair place in mind: RV Renovators in Mesa – the same guys who got our fridge replaced in December. Now we had to plan on heading to Mesa – not Salome as originally planned. Luckily it’s practically on our way. But first things first: family.
We had a wonderful lunch with Jessica, and it’s always fun to try the different vegan restaurants that she picks. It’s so nice to see her doing well in these crazy times.
We invited her to come over that night (she has never seen our new rig) but she had other plans, so we planned on getting together again for breakfast before we left the next day.
But as we were pulling out of our parking spot, we realized we had a flat tire. Pancake flat. Tom aired it up while looking for a close-by tire shop. We got there only to be told there would be a three hour wait. Then we remembered it was Saturday. As travelers, we often forget about busy weekends. We checked out a few others – all with long wait times – before we found a tire place across town that could get us right in.
Flat repaired but so much for our second meeting with Jessica.
When we called RV Renovators to book an appointment, they told us they wanted us to stop by for a measurement before they ordered a replacement windshield, so we booked an appointment for Tuesday morning. Great, we would stop by on our way back to Salome. But we needed to find a place for three nights.
Tom saw that our friends Sue and Darrell were camped nearby so we invited ourselves to stay with them on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land at the Ironwood National Monument in Marana.
They had picked a beautiful spot and we enjoyed catching up over shared meals and campfires. The weather was in the eighties, and it was so nice to be in shorts again! Plus, the sunsets were amazing.
Darrell even found me some dead cholla cactus wood and helped me gather it up – much to Tom’s dismay. But he was a good sport about it and now we have half the jeep full of old wood to take to our place in Oregon!
I was really sad to leave that warm spot, but we had a windshield to fix.
We stopped by Mesa for quick measurements before heading out to meet up with our friends staying at Snowbird West in Salome. Great seeing everyone again, but it was no longer shorts weather!
It was nice to see the changes they’ve made to their lots and we had some nice campfire visits there as well as visits in the warm indoors.
We also went with a group into Tonopah one night for dinner at a place that played a Family Feud style game. It was a lot of laughs.
After leaving Texas, we knew we’d stop by Snowbird again, but we didn’t have a plan for how long. Luckily we had an open-ended spot there while we waited for our windshield to arrive. In addition to having fun there, we also went into the town of Salome to do laundry and deliver packages. I ended up sick for a couple of days, so the time passed quickly.
Nine days after they measured and ordered, RV Renovators had our windshield in, so they set us up for installation. We would have to stay at their lot for two nights because once the glass is installed, they don’t want you to move it for a while.
So we headed off from Snowbird West. Saying goodbye to dear friends – some we will hopefully see again this summer, and some we may not cross paths with again until next year. That’s the way nomadic friendships work.
We’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: We love RV Renovators in Mesa Arizona. They did a great job on our windshield installation and let us stay in their lot an extra night while it cured.
We had to find something to do all day while they were working on the rig, so we took the jeep to a car wash, and then got the oil changed. We avoided Costco, but we went to Ikea just for fun. (I spent $10 on a couple of things for the grandsons).
Then I found a consignment store that I thought we could waste some time in. Turns out it took us four hours and fifty bucks to get out of there! I found some unique finds for the fairy gardens.
So we successfully wasted the day and the next morning we were on the road again. We are heading back to Oregon for the summer but there is no timeline other than we made plans to spend Easter with my daughter’s family.
That left us time to go down to Yuma to visit friends before heading back through California.
We’d been invited to stay with Ted and Jan at “Ernie’s Place”. Ernie is a generous man with several RV hookups on his property in Yuma. In addition to meeting him, we met fellow Ernie’s Place visitors, Bill and Merylee from Wyoming. We joined them all for Ernie and Paulette’s anniversary dinner.
Including Rick and Janet, who had just purchased a place not far from Ernie’s. They invited us all to dinner the next night and we had a great bbq dinner with our old and new friends. It was wonderful to see Rick and Janet so excited about all the work they planned to do at their new winter home.
Too soon it was time to leave. Now we’re heading to California so see more family and friends.
Happy Travels,
Peace & Love, Joy
