roamers roamings

We are on the way!

2007-05-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

We finally got the RV out of the shop Saturday, May 19. Then we spent the rest of the day and Sunday loading all the stuff in it. Wow, nasty job in the heat. Will be glad to get out of here.

Our first night on the road is in Holbrook, Arizona. About 175 miles on the road.

At the right is the Navajo County Court Complex. When I was practicing law, I spent a number of hours in the courts here. Very nice people and easy to deal with.

Maps of our Alaska trip

2007-05-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

I should explain our proposed Alaska trip. Here are 3 maps showing the estimated route. The numbered locations are our intended stops in sequence or a 'way point' to force the routing.

The meander at first into South Dakota is to visit my sister.

I hope to post details of each days activities and driving along with pictures as we go . We are truly looking forward to the adventure.

Minor $etback$.

2007-05-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

We have the RV in for some service and checkups prior to our trip north. The service Guru called yesterday and informed me the brakes we in need of repair. Rotors are checked and the pads are worn .

Total bill....over $2500! Put me on life support, please. Oh well, not much choice but to go ahead. He hopes to have it done by next Friday.

High temp expected today in Mesa is 103. Get us outta here!

Opposite is Patty playing Solitare waiting for me to play some cribbage. I currently lead by 31 games. hehehe

(I will pay for that.)

L8R

My Ham Radio Hobby

2007-05-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

My hobby is Ham Radio. My callsign is K7NO and I got my first license in 1956. I have a transceiver (transmitter/receiver) in the Motorhome and can enjoy the hobby while travelling.

This shows the radio installed in the RV.

This is a picture of the auto-tuner and the base of the antenna. The Antenna is made from a 33' telescoping fiberglass mast on which I wrapped a wire. The wire comes down and connects to the tuner, giving me a good SWR match on 80-6 Meters.

When travelling, I have the mast dropped down to where it just extends over the top of the RV.

When we are camped, I extend the mast up to the full 33 feet. I have managed to have conversations with other hams all over the US and the world.

This shows the antenna extended with the wire wrapped around the mast

When driving I monitor 2Meter 146.52 and, normally, CB channel 19. When camped, I work whatever bands are open and good.

Patty's hobby is reading. She reads an average3 of 200-250 books a year. I love to read but my eyes don't work as well as they used to.

2007-05-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. We are Pat and Dean (roamer). We live in Mesa, AZ in the winter and roam the country in the summer. We are retired and enjoying it.

We are going to Alaska this summer and I hope to post comments and pictures of our roamings as we go. Of course, I have to learn this Blog stuff too and that may take a while.

The picture shows the RV in 2004 when we gave it a trial run to Quartzsite.

Our RV (35' 2002 Itasca U35, W22 Chassis) is in the shop getting checked out in preparation and plan to leave sometime shortly after May 16. So, I will present some history.

2004 TRIP

In 2004 we travelled up the west coast to Oregon and then across the northern states to So. Dak. Then we went east and ended up in New England for out first visit. We were privileged to see a great leaf season in September and October.

This picture was taken in New york and shows tree colors at their best.

From here we drove south to South Carolina to visit Patty's sister. We also made a quick run through Florida to W. Palm Beach and Clearwater, where we lived briefly in the early 70's.
We drove the southern route back to Arizona, arriving back in mid-December 2004.

The 2004 trip took us nearly 12,000 miles and 40+ states. We didn't overnight in all the states as we took side trips to get in as many as possible.

While we were travelling, our youngest daughter informed us we were going to be grandparents. SOOO, Patty decided we had to buy a 'real' house for a base.

The baby was born on April 26, 2005

Her name is Payson Lee Davenport.

The picture on the right was taken at her second birthday party.

She is the best little baby "ever"! No prejudice here...naw!

2005 TRIP

Our 2005 trip was scheeduled to be a tour through the western states. We made it up into SD to visit my Sister. While there, we had the kids fly in and had a sort of family reunion/gettogether for the July 4 celebration.

Then west into Montana. Then a big problem. While leaving Montana, we hit a deer. The damage wasn't enough to keep us from travelling but we did lose the headlights. That wasn't a big problem since we rarely drive at night.

You can see the damage and the trusty Duct Tape repairs. We got an estimate for repairs ($12,000) in Oregon but the time delay was prohibitive so we headed back towards Arizona.

Finally, in Colorado, the hydraulics gave out and we couldn't use the levelers or move the slides. So, we cut the trip a bit short and headed home. We got the repairs done during the winter of '05-06.

2006 TRIP

For our 2006 trip we decided to return to New England an up into Canada. We went up to New Brunswick and then up to Nova Scotia. While there we drove the Cabot Trail around Cape Breton. What a beautiful area.

This road is about 200 miles around and takes the better part of a day. For most of the trip, you are driving up high in the hills overlooking The Gulf of St. Lawrence on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east part of the run. Beautiful area and I recommend it to anyone who RV's.

Coming back, we were too early for the leaf color change and we headed to So. Carolina again to see the Sis-in Law.

The drive back took us to Charlotte, NC. We drove I-40 all the way back to Holbrook and then, into Mesa to spend the winter.