January 2003 What's New Page

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What's New from January 2003

January 1
Happy New Year!!!

I have just added our new articles. My article is Small Appliances and Full-timers. Ron's article is RVers Like to Rally.

Judy and Cec, our good friends arrived on the 30th. They drove their motorhome 2,500 miles from Palm Springs, California, just to be with us this month and help us like they did last year. It is so good to be with them again. The last time we were with them was in July in Washington state when we celebrated Ron and Judy's birthdays.

New Mystery Picture

Last month was easy; lots guessed correctly. This one may be difficult so I am going to give you a hint. We took this picture in November. By checking back through our old pages you will know where we were, but that might not help much. To play from this and other months please go to our Guess Page.

January 6
Before we get to the big announcement which we are posting a day early, I have added a great new recipe which was sent to us by Larry Hammond. Larry's Leaves-turning Pork is terrific and great for those cold weather days.

The Big Announcement

All of you who responded to our quiz regarding the big announcement did a super job. Two came so close that we just have to reward a duel prize. We will be sending a copy of our book, Movin' On, to each of the guys below.

Ron and Barb:

I'm gonna take another stab at your riddle:

1.. A different direction. (You're getting a house for at least part of the year.)

2. Named after a cactus which only grows in a small area of Arizona. (It's
near Saguaro Lake in Arizona.)

3. Closely associated with something like walking under a ladder. (Also near the Superstition Mountains.)

4. What the second little pig did. (He built a house of sticks. You're new
home will be a "stick" house.)

5. A German found gold... so the story goes. (You'll be near Lost Dutchman Park.)

6. Belonging to an elevated piece of land which is larger than a hill plus a
small stream or creek. (Your house will be in Mountain Brook Village.)

By the way, after reading your site almost daily for several years, I finally got a copy of your book. (I had looked for it in several bookstores, but finally ordered it via Amazon.com) Enjoyed it immensely and feel I know you much better. Zipped through it in two evenings. Ironic in a way since it appears you may be giving up fulltiming - unless I'm way off course in my guesses. Anyway, more impetus for me and my wife to get out there and contribute to the ranks of fulltiming. All the best to you whatever you end up doing.

Joe Blanton

R&B,

I have to assume you are building a house at MountainBrook Village... Gold Canyon, Arizona....It would be a stretch, but is it on Saguaro Blossom Drive?

I have read Movin'On and have followed your travels since early this summer. My wife and I are 48 years young and are considering your lifestyle, if health and finances are on our side, in 10 years or so. I guessed based on your hints and help from an atlas and the internet. Best wishes in the new year and with your "BIG News".

John Dunnell

We are very excited to announce that we have just purchased a "stick" house in Gold Canyon, Arizona. The closing was this morning. The change in direction is that we will no longer be full-timers but since we are keeping our American Dream motorhome we will still be traveling. We hope to do more seminars around the country and will of course take vacations too. Having a home at this point in our life is something we have talked about off and on. Right now it seems to be a very good investment with the market down and we will have some tax advantages.

Here are the clues followed by the real answers.

1. A different direction.
2. Named after a cactus which only grows in a small area of Arizona.
3. Closely associated with something like walking under a ladder.
4. What the second little pig did.
5. A German found gold... so the story goes.
6. Belonging to an elevated piece of land which is larger than a hill plus a small stream or creek.

1. A different direction simply means that we will no longer be full-time RVers but part-timers.

2. The model name of our home which is one year old and built by Shea homes is "Saguaro."

3. Many got that clue as it referenced the Superstition Mountains

4. The second little pig built a "stick house" and that is what full-timers call a house that is not on wheels. Some thought we were talking about the piggy toes (this little piggy went to market etc.,) and one of them stayed home.

5 & 6. Mountainbrook Village is in Gold Canyon. It is at the base of the Superstition mountains where the lost dutchman gold mine is supposed to have been. Of course the German could be Ron too.

Mountainbrook is a active adult community which has a golf course as well as many other things. We first discovered the area two years ago when we attended a rally in an RV park out in that area. Gold Canyon is only 30 miles east of Phoenix so it is close to all we love but out in the country too. The mountains there are beautiful and I had fallen in love with this particular model when I first saw it.

When we last visited Mountainbrook to just look, the new homes were all sold. We weren't ready yet anyway so we knew that when we were ready we could buy a used home. While we were in Jacksonville, Florida, and surfing the web at the libraries, I just checked to see what was available in houses there in Mountainbrook and there it was. We have never set foot inside this house but with the help of a wonderful realtor, Margaret White, and a good friend, Tom Vind, we know it is fine. We knew what we wanted and are so glad that things worked out.

We will head west as soon as we are finished here (we leave on the 30th) and when we get to Gold Canyon we will stay at Canyon Vistas RV Park near Mountainbrook for a month while we go shopping. We don't own a stick of furniture or anything else one needs in a house. We plan to keep everything except clothing and perishables in the motorhome so it doesn't have to be loaded and unloaded, but that means we need everything from a toilet brush to small kitchen appliances and a house full of furniture. Thankfully the big kitchen appliances are already in the house as are the washer and dryer. This should be fun.

January 9
We have been getting lots of congratulatory emails regarding our new home, but some worry that we won't be doing much on the web site any more. Not so. We will still be traveling lots (probably 6 months out of the year) so it really won't be much different than when we used to park the motorhome for 5-8 months at Valle del Oro or other winter resort parks.

We are having lots of fun meeting folks here at LazyDays. The seminars are going great and Judy and Cec are lots of help.

January 12
I just got back all of the email updates which were sent to all of the MSN email address on our update list. What is going on with that?

January 16
Lazy Days is such a phenomenal place that I just have to share a tiny bit of what it is like. Imagine over 1200 RVs on display, huge office building, the rally park campground, and hundreds (yes hundreds) of service bays. Here take a little walk with us.

My picture of the entrance doesn't do it justice because you can't see that the building stretches for a long way on either side of the main doors. Upon opening the doors we greet you. A huge posted proclaiming savings and our seminars greets guests.

At the far east side of the main building which houses sales offices, service department, finance center and general offices, is Festival Hall. Guests (anyone shopping for an RV) are welcome to enjoy breakfast and lunch on the house Monday through Saturday. The food is good and having a meal with fellow RV lovers is always enjoyable. .

Heading back towards the main entrance from Festival Hall in the main corridor. Notice the sold signs pasted on the wall. Those are just from this January's super sale and before the end of the month the whole wall on either side will be completely covered. I heard a salesman telling a customer that they sold 7,002 RV units last year. Their goal for the month of January alone is over 1,000. There are over 50 sales men and women whose offices are in this main part of the building. Each salesperson has their own golf cart so they can easily take customers out among the thousands of RVs on display.

Just a few of the over 200 service bays here at LazyDays

Everywhere you go there are lots of beautiful motorhomes on display and the doors are all open. There are seldom any sales people there to bother you from looking all you want. Everything is really open and inviting.

Near the motorhomes is a huge display of all of the chassis used in the coaches sold here. Ron is looking at the Spartan Chassis above.

There are also hundreds of fifth wheels and travel trailers on display and they are also open for browsing.

In the Luxury showcase you will find the biggies. And it may surprise you to see all of the sold signs on them especially when you consider that the prices of these units are close to or over one million dollars.

Ron is looking at the new American Eagle which is 42 feet long. It sure is pretty.

In the Crown Club but down a bit from the big busses are the other high end coaches like the American Eagle shown above. Notice the large plasma screen TV behind Ron. That is the new thing and it is in most of these big coaches. Other makes in this area are Monaco, Beaver, Country Coach and Holiday Rambler. These range in price from the high 200's to $500,000 or higher. I really liked the Holiday Rambler Navigator pictured below.

I really liked the house type GE refrigerator complete with water/ice dispenser.

A pretty bathroom, large bedroom complete with lots of closet and drawers along with the plasma TV made this really nice. The wood was beautiful as was the black ceramic tile floor and textured carpet.

There are three long rows of double lots where folks move from one RV to another. Here they park the old and new with entry doors facing each other. Often the old one is sold before it is even completely moved out of. Both times we traded here our old one was gone before we even started to move in.

Speaking of pre-owned units, there are rows and rows of them and it is amazing that some of them are only a year or two old and most have very few miles on them. People always want the newest model and trade often.

Tomorrow I will take pictures of the seminar room. Last month I showed some of the Rally Park center so if you missed that go back to December.

January 18
Here are the pictures of the seminar room that I promised. It is a lovely room and everyone seems to enjoy the seminars we do as well as all the seminars that are presented daily. Lazy Days has done a terrific job of promoting the seminars and everyone attending seems to really appreciate what we have to share with them. We also appreciate our good friends Judy and Cec who drove all the way from California to help us this month. They like visiting with the folks at the seminars also.

Our faithful friends and excellent helpers, Judy and Cec.

January 26
Wow it seems that we just got here and now our time is almost up. It has been fantastic to meet so many wonderful friends (new and old) and every one here at Lazy Days has been terrific. Even though the weather has been cold and in fact blustery we have felt warm in our friendships. We only have two more seminars to go (Tuesday and Wednesday) and will be leaving on Thursday the 30th. I will upload our current articles and so on in the morning of the 30th just before we leave.