RV Life with DAISEE2 #138 Tuesday, July 15, 2025

I have made it to SHOW LOW! It’s 85 here and 105 in MESA. SO that is why I wanted to get out of town.

I had to use my leveling blocks, but I am now perfect. The sites are dirt so it will be dirty here. Jack will not be happy! It’s raining right now which will make it bad. Genie just arrived. I’ve been here for a couple of hours.

This is my elevation:

People just got back from Vancouver and the AAIC (AA International Convention) and I was going to go, but decided to skip it this year. I may try in 5 or 10 years – here is where they will be and their dates:

I’ll be 80 and 85 for them. I sure hope I can make them. I’m going to try to go to both. Time will tell!

Good Morning Everyone! It’s Wednesday, July 16, 2025. I’m in SHOW LOW and these are my temperatures this morning!

I’m staying with Genie at Show Low Campground. It is mostly a rustic campground, but there are about 6 electric sites and we have 2 of them. We’re in our own little “island”. The sites are uneven and DIRT! So I’ll be dirty when I get home, not to mention that it is supposed to be rainy a lot – it rained yesterday. I may go out later and use my new “blade” to dry DAISEE2 and RED. Jack would be proud! The sun is coming up – I went to bed at about 8:30 and I was up at 5. I slept really well. Even needed the little shawl for warmth. I miss Metaxa for that, but I’m glad I left her at home. I think Jack makes me feel guilty about that so I don’t leave, but that isn’t going to happen!

AHHHH! First sip of HAZELNUT coffee! Listening to my bluetooth – it’s The Boxer! I got the camera to work in DAISEE2. It’s amazing!

Genie and I are going to poke around Show Low today. It’s supposed to rain. Tomorrow we’ll try to find that property in St. John. I thought I wanted to go to the Petrified Forest National Park, but I don’t think we’ll have the time. Maybe on our way back from St. John. We’ll see. It would be nice to tick off another National Park. That would be Yellowstone, Saguaro, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, Great Sand Dunes, Dry Tortugas. Just 45 more!

This is the campground. You can see our spots in yellow. It’s a pull through for Genie and back in for me. The lake is really low and looks more like a pond now. Ivy (in the office) said they drained it last year and they need to refill it – they are waiting for lots of RAIN!

This is my site. It’s in the trees so it is nice. The picnic table is in an opening so that is where my STARLINK is. Here is another view:

My rug got very wet last night. I put the chairs away so they are dry. It’s going to be messy packing up on Friday!

This is both of us:

Genie is towing her “new” Mini. She just got it. 65K miles 2013. She is planning to go on a trip to N.C. at the end of the month for a family reunion. She doesn’t want to go – bad politics – but feels it may be the last time she sees all of those people. So she got the TOAD! It was at an “Estate Sale” and she loves estate sales!

Did a 40 minute walk around the neighborhood. Here is a view of the lake:

Here is my site from Show Low Lake Road:

Walked around a neighborhood. It was really nice. Got the name of a realtor: Lots go for $88K – out of my league!

Cute cabin:

Found this painted rock in the bathroom today. I took it for my wall:

I’d be interested in how much this lot was: 5452 Red Squirrel. I may call about it one day. $88K!

We went into Show Low today. Genie wanted mud flaps for her rig. Found them at O’Reillly’s. This guy was “packing”!

Next we went to Goodwill. Genie found a tool box to buy. Then we had lunch here:

Next we went to another Thrift Store. Genie found a cane, plug and jar opener. She can always find something. I bought NOTHING!

Starting this again on Thursday, July 17, 2025. I’m up making coffee and waiting for my meeting to start. I am chairing this month on Thursdays. SO I got up early for this. The coffee smells pretty good while I wait! These are my temperatures now:

Note the time! 4:31AM!

Genie and I went on an adventure today to go try to find that property that belongs to Suzan and Bette. We had all of the maps and information she sent me and we tried desperately to find it. We drove around and around the property – we found the property, but it was fenced off and we could not find the 503 lot. Here is a picture of the route to the property from Show Low:

The directions got us there. This was one of the signs:

This was one of the main roads out to the property.

It was really pretty getting out there. Nice drive and beautiful open land. But once we got out there, we could find some of the markers for the lots along the main road above. But when we got into the property, it was fenced off and a junk RV was out there with a bunch of appliances that were dumped and some weird picnic table on it’s own. There was also a nice RV boondocking out there which I thought it would be nice to talk to the guy – but chickened out. Who knows what he was “cooking” up. Here is another picture of the property that was really sketchy:

It looked like it was really soft and down hill and that I might get stuck, since I didn’t use 4 wheel drive (don’t know really how to use it) so since I was with Genie, I didn’t want to take the chance – it scared me too. Since that was a “bust” we decided to go the The Petrified Forest National Park. A National Park afterall. It was only about 40 minutes from where we were. So off we go. We stop here first – just outside the park:

They gave away a little piece of petrified wood for free – I took one. I bought a sticker there too, which I need for my book of stickers. This campground has no stickers. I wouldn’t come back here though anyway. The sites are way too dirty – muddy and not very level. But it was in the woods and was pretty that way, but I won’t be back.

These pictures were at the gift shop before getting into the park:

$2600!!!!!!!!

This was the sign into the park. We entered from the Concho end – the southern end:

We got in free because I have the America the Beautiful pass. We went to the Welcome Center – I bought a real magnet from there and we got our stamps for our Passbooks. I need to find mine – I think it’s in the rig. Anyway, they had a nice movie talking about how the National Park started and all of that JAZZ. So we thought we would drive on the road a little before turning around and going back to SHOW LOW. We made it to one of the turn offs – Chrystal Forest – about 3 stops in and we were going to turn around there but the JEEP stopped working. I mean I couldn’t put it in gear – I could turn the key and the dashlights came on, but the gear shift would not engage. I rolled back out of the way of the other cars and kept trying to make it work. NOT HAPPENING. Thank goodness Genie had AAA. I have Coachnet, but I’m not sure it would have worked for me out there. The car stopped around noon. We had water and I had some granola bars. That was helpful. So I put up the hood to show we were broken down and just sat and waited for the tow truck. It took until 3:30 for him to get to us and the JEEP dealer in SHOW LOW closed at 5:30 (but the service techs ended at 5:00). We got there at 5:05! Our AAA tow truck driver was Brandon. He was AMAZING! Just a great guy and did a wonderful job getting us there. Anyway, while we were waiting, lots of people stopped by to help us. One guy named Jeff figured out it was a relay plug and tested it and the motor ran, so it wasn’t the starter. Then another guy named Jeff came by – he was a mechanic and he crawled under the car and determined that it was the “transmission cable grommet” that had come loose and he jury rigged it so we could start the car. So the deal was should we drive it or wait for the tow truck. He did say that it could shake loose while we drove it and might stop again, so we decided to wait. In addition to all of that, my phone was dying. I did not have the new charger in the JEEP for my new phone. So I had to shut it off and I didn’t get any pictures of the park. It was really interesting, but I don’t think I need to see it again – maybe someday. Finally after about 3 hours of no phone, I realized that the Jump Starter that Jack has in the JEEP can charge my phone. It comes with the pigtail that has 3 different chargers on it. So I began charging it, but by then the tow truck was there and we needed to leave. WOW what a wild day. Started with all of the other “what if’s
that could have happened to us. We could have been out on that vacant land and they would never have been able to find us. At least we were in a safe place. Then the fact that all of those “Jeffs” were there to help us! THANK YOU GOD! So here is a picture of RED on the Towtruck:

Here is a video of it:

https://youtube.com/shorts/IpZmmynZ-Bs?si=0glPRh_znDXz2qKE

It is a short so you need to copy the link and put in in the browser. Didn’t know that was how “shorts” worked. I hope it will be at my channel. Anyway, it was quite an interesting day. Jack said I should come home and we will drive back up there in our other JEEP and pick it up on Monday, or Tuesday. So now I’m bushed. It’s 9PM and I’m going to bed. I’ll pick up on this tomorrow!

Good morning it is now July 18, 2025. I’m up at 5:30. I’m leaving the Jeep at the Jeep Dealership here in SHOW LOW. I don’t need to go until 1PM so I’ll take my time this morning. I need to clean a bunch of stuff from this dirty spot. I’m glad we came here and it certainly is a story we will always remember! Jack is ok with driving back to pick up the Jeep next week. What can he do? UPDATE- They fixed the JEEP and I was able to tow it back to MESA. TUG!

So I joined AAA again. I was still in the system. I became a member back in 1974 when I worked at Victoria Station. They came in and sold memberships to all of the wait staff. Beirne and I got one. They took his away because he kept running out of gas. SO FUNNY! I added Jack to the membership and I got AAA Plus with RV. The tow yesterday was FREE because of Genie – they will tow 100 miles – we were at 79 miles! The membership is now $189.45. WORTH IT! Brandon said it would have been over $600 for our tow yesterday!