Well, the good news is that Greg White is back from whatever dark place he went to, and finally relented to take me to Dairy Queen last night. Life is back to normal.Or as normal as it ever gets when the two of us are in the same zip code. 🙂
We spent some time playing tourist yesterday, as I gave Greg and Jan a tour of some parts of Tucson they had never seen before. Greg said later that he never knew there were so many topless joints in one town!
We stopped for a late lunch at Luke’s, for some of their famous Chicago style thinly sliced roast beef sandwiches and their delicious French fries. Whenever you introduce friends to a restaurant you like, you always worry that it won’t measure up to their expectations. But Luke’s didn’t let us down, and now Greg and Jan are converts.
We drove out to Tucson Mountain Park, on the west side of town, and stopped at the scenic overlook at Gates Pass.This has always been one of my favorite places in Tucson, and we admired the rugged mountains, with ancient saguaro cacti marching up their steep sides.
There are two or three stone buildings on the hillsides that were erected by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, and if you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you can hike up to them. None of us were.
We drove out past the Old Tucson theme park and movie studios, and then back into town, where we stopped at WalMart to pick up a few things. Well, Greg, Jan, and Terry went shopping. I stayed in the truck and took a nap. Just looking at how steep those mountainsides were wore me out!
Our next stop was at my cousin Beverly’s house, where we introduced her to Greg and Jan and had a nice visit. From there, we made a stop at Trader Joe’s, and then went back to the fairgrounds.
We were only home a short while, before we piled back in Greg’s truck and ran to Dairy Queen. Folks, I’m telling you, that chocolate milkshake was nectar from the gods! Life is good.
Life almost wasn’t good, which we discovered while we were in Yuma, when Terry unloaded the bay where we store our RV rally supplies. At some point in our travels, one of the digital projectors we carry in that bay apparently rubbed against the overhead light and managed to move the switch into the On position. Then it pressed against the light so closely that the bulb melted the plastic covering over the light, and then burned a hole through the outside flap of the projector’s case, through the side of the case itself, and then melted an electrical power strip inside the case!
I shudder to think of what could have happened! We really dodged a bullet with this one! To prevent a recurrence, we have rearranged things inside the bay, and taken the bulb out of that light.
You might want to check your storage bays too, and make sure you don’t have a potential fire hazard in your own RV. I’m forwarding a link to this blog to my friend Mac McCoy to incorporate into his RV fire safety classes. Hopefully someone else can learn a lesson from our near miss.
Thought For The Day – Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Wow! Scary stuff. Good thing that case was not flammable. I’ll give another plug for Newmar, or at least the design of our Mountain Aire fiver. All of our bay lights are controlled by a single switch by the door that lights up red when it is on. We can just leave all of the individual bay light switches turned on and control them from inside.
We can attest to the beauty of Tucson Mountain Park as we spend the winter at Desert Trails which is adjacent to the park and we can hike into the park from our campsite.
We were just in that park this week. Such beauty in so many thorny things.
We had a bay light out when we bought Liberty. and this week I removed the cover and found a light the had been left on till it burned out. Our bay lights are like the side lights on some rigs. Large flat globes with an 1156 bulb. I am looking for switch covers like for a nitros bottle so the cover cannot be bumped on by shifting cargo.
GLAD you found it after the fact and not due to the issue. ALSO glad you and Greg made up and burried the hatchet with a DQ.
Whew! When I saw the title of today’s blog, and then zipped down to glance at the pictures (before reading the text), I thought that someone had used you guys for target practice! Glad to hear that wasn’t the case — but still, a fire in one of your bays would most certainly have ruined your day!
Nick,
Was the bulb a Halogen bulb? They are much hotter than normal old fashioned 1141 types? Gene
Glad to see that Greg took you to the DQ. It is my guess that what happened to Greg with the electric line, was a direct result of him being so worried about what was going to happen for not taking you yesterday. I know if I am ever around you and you mention DQ, I will immediately begin searching for a vehicle to transport you in. No way I am going to get on the bad side of a man who uses that much ink.
Buddy
Nick, check the switches beside the exit door on the MH. We have a switch there that shuts off all the by lights, makes them inoperable until we switch it on.
Oops, I meant bay lights.
I don’t want to sound like bump in the road but since I haven’t been following your blog very long, it took me a sec to see that you are joking about the ‘sights’ in Tuscon. How’s about a JK (just kidding) for us that are a little slow on the pick-up.
As I was reading about your near miss I was thinking the same thing…..another fire hazard. Glad you caught that one before you had a significant event in ya’lls life. Stay safe! Good to read your blog in the morning. It reminds me that there’s life yet to be lived and that it’s all good.
Thank heavens the RV gods were watching over you. Mike turns off all of our bay lights just so they do not run our batteries down, we checked to make sure that there was no other hidden hazards that we forget about. Glad you and Greg made up a celebrated at DQ.. We missed AZ and all the gorgeous scenery. Be safe
Nick close call. Now here is a thought. L.ED. bulbs. I bought a couple last year at your Eastern Rally to replace some more commonly used ones. When I enquired about replacing one in my outside motion light the lady told me that I would probably find that it had melted the case. Sure enough she was right, and that was from a bulb that is never on for more than a couple of minutes at a time. While I’m on the subject of your venders the lady let me take a couple of bulbs back with me to see if I liked them (without paying for them first) before I bought them. I was impressed and did replace several bulbs in my rig. I found one of your other venders to be just as generous. That’s why you will see me again at your next Eastern Rally later this year. Oh and the fact that I enjoyed the seminars and entertainment had nothing to do we me desiring to see you again.
You might want to replace that bulb with a cool running led bulb.
Dave