Checking out a shoulder problem

I have been dealing with pain behind my right shoulder blade for a while (probably over a year). It is aggravated when I lift heavy stuff with my right arm -- it feels like lifting pulls one bone away from another bone and a nerve gets trapped between causing a lot of pain. The only things that relieve the pain are anti-inflamatories (like Ibuprofen) and putting pressure on the spot beside/behind my shoulder blade. Carl can do it with his knuckle, but to avoid him having to put pressure on it for a long time, I have found that lying on a tennis ball also does the trick -- I put the tennis ball into a knee sock, and can hang it down behind my shoulder and get it positioned appropriately as I lie down.

When I had frozen shoulder a few years ago, I waited until we were going to be somewhere for a few weeks to seek treatment -- since they often want to do physical therapy, it is better to have some time to get results. Since we're going to be in Show Low for about 2 months, I thought this would be a good time to try to get it taken care of. I called and got an appointment...

... I went to Summit Bone and Joint to get a diagnosis.

I found it interesting... when they sent me to an exam room, the lady said, "Our hallways are named after animals, please go to Squirrel room 5."

Sure enough, there was a Bison hallway...

... and an Eagle hallway!

I had gone in indicating I had a shoulder problem... but when the lady was doing X-rays, I realized that I really was not having a *shoulder* problem. When I talked with the doctor, he said that it is pretty common when people are having a neck / upper back problem, that they identify it as a shoulder problem (so I am not the first!). He prescribed physical therapy for about 6 weeks -- hopefully that will get a handle on the problem.

Working on the Oasis system

I posted a few days ago that Carl tried resetting the Oasis system by pulling the 12V power (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/06/some-work-around-rig.html) -- unfortunately, that didn't fix the electric water heater. We were using the diesel burner for hot water, but it was pretty smelly when it ran. Carl had a replacement burner nozzle and he decided to replace that to see if it may reduce the diesel smell...

Oasis system in the bay

Looking at the burner

Swapping out the burner nozzle

While he was inside the Oasis box, Carl looked at the connections for the electric hot water system. He noticed that wires going into the relay appeared to be melted...

He took a picture of the information about the relay and decided that ordering a new one and replacing it might be a good idea.

So thankful that Amazon has a lot of these parts and that we can get delivery in our campground!

And... the replacement nozzle *has* reduced the diesel smell produced by the burner -- win! 

Line dancing at Venture In

The park where we are staying for two months, Venture In, has line dancing scheduled for two mornings a week. 

The first week when I went on Tuesday, there was a fellow there who indicated that the classes might begin on Thursday. I decided to stay after the others left and play music and dance by myself - a couple of the other residents joined me. On Thursday, once again the instructor wasn't there, so I offered to teach if anyone wanted to stay and dance, so several stayed -- Carl handled queuing up the music for the dances. 

The second week, the primary instructor was still not coming to teach, but the secondary instructor, Pat, taught... 

...there were a few of us dancing to what Pat taught.

The manner of teaching is more like the higher beginner and improver/intermediate lessons at our park in Mesa -- hard for brand new folks to catch on, but folks who know lots of dances prefer it because there is more time spent dancing (and less spent learning). I can pick up a lot of the dances, but I really don't care to learn a lot more different dances.

Show Low Rockin' the Rim

When we arrived at our RV park in Show Low, we saw a flyer on the bulletin board about "Show Low Rockin' the Rim" coming up on Memorial Day weekend. We looked up what things were planned for each day, and decided to go on Saturday. When we first got there, we walked around checking out the various booths -- way in the back we found "Tails of Love Rescue" (https://tailsofloverescue.com/), the local rescue group...

They had a family of 4 kittens that had been found when they were about 2 weeks old on the White Mountain Apache reservation. No mother was found, so they were bottle raised by a local foster. (In the picture, one of the kittens is underneath the one on the left.)

The lady we spoke with indicated that they had had 5 dogs adopted between Friday and Saturday! There were a number of dogs there available for adoption too.

There were a number of food trucks available to supply needs for dinner... 

Our resort has a different food truck come every week, and Moondogs is one of the ones scheduled to come.

We had never seen a Culver's food truck before!

It wasn't quite dinner time for us yet, but definitely something to consider getting!

Looking back up the grounds toward the area where the stage was

Cody Gibson was scheduled to do the Saturday night live music set - the information about the event indicated that he would do a "Saturday-night country set packed with familiar favorites, dance-floor energy, and crowd-pleasing live music."

Behind the band, the backdrop had a seal for the City of Show Low indicating "1953"...

... and in front of the stage, there was a banner indicating "Show Low since 1870".

Show Low has an interesting history - from https://www.kupi.com/en-ae/explore/united-states/show-low/history: 

An Unusual Founding Story

The history of Show Low began around 1870 and is inextricably linked to a unique legend that gave the city its name. According to tradition, the first two settlers, Corydon Cooley and Marion Clark, jointly owned a vast ranch, but over time realized they could not coexist on the same territory. To resolve the dispute over who would remain the owner of the land and who would leave, they agreed to play a game of cards.

The condition of the game was the phrase: "If you can show low, you win." Cooley drew the deuce of clubs — the lowest card, won the dispute, and remained the master of the lands. This story is immortalized not only in the name of the city but also in the name of its main street — "Deuce of Clubs".

Although the park had provided a make-shift dance floor in front of the stage, there were only a few folks who made use of it for dancing, 

The majority of the users of the dance floor were little kiddos playing with hoops and balloons!

It was nice to participate in one of the events in Show Low over the Memorial Day weekend.

Some work around the rig

We moved into Gracie about a week before leaving Mesa so we could make sure systems were working and that we had gotten everything we needed from the house, but when we got to Show Low, we found a few things that weren't working...

One thing that seems to not be working is our Oasis electric hot water and heating system. The diesel burner works (but creates quite a diesel smell in our neighborhood), so we wanted to try to get the electric burner working.

Sometimes it seems like actions similar to magic incantations are needed to reset systems -- Carl remembered that, at some time in the past, removing all the electricity to the Oasis system (110V and 12V) caused it to reset and start working again. We could turn off the 110V system by turning off shore power, but 12V requires removing power at the batteries. He did that, but, unfortunately, no success on getting the electric burner working. We had a problem with this in the fall of 2024, and the technician at Freedom RV worked on it; he said that he did not find anything wrong, but found quite a "snakes nest" of wiring that he straightened up, and it magically started working. We're figuring we may need to make another trip to Freedom RV later this year to get it addressed again. We can't exactly remember when the electric burner was last working -- we think maybe when we were in Mexico in November, and we had other electrical problems there, so maybe something got burned out at that time.

We also started having very low water pressure from "city" water -- this started when we were in Mesa, and we supplemented it by using the water pump to supply water from our fresh tank. It took a very long time to fill our fresh water tank -- even though water flow from the spigot was strong, we weren't getting much water into our systems from the hose. At some point in this process (I think when we ended up emptying our fresh tank while in Mesa), the auto shutoff on the water pump stopped working -- we thought it might just be due to air in the line, but usually that will resolve itself. We would like to have a working water pump so we can boondock if necessary. 

We started looking into why the water flow from the "city" water was so slow -- the pressure from the spigot seemed to be fine. We inspected all the connections, looking for a screen that might be clogged, and we found a severely clogged screen right where the water hose goes into the RV system (just above Carl's hand) -- it had so much sediment caught by the screen -- good that it was caught before it got into our water system, but yuck! so much sediment coming into our water systems!

Correcting this, however, did not cause our water pump to auto shutoff, so Carl did additional debugging on that. We replaced the water pump when it was not working well back in the spring of 2023 (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2023/05/a-stop-in-new-jersey-seeing-cousins.html), and we thought that we had kept the old water pump (it wasn't dead, it just wasn't working as well as it should be). We were thinking that we should have a new water pump on hand...

... and it turned out that both of us had forgotten that we actually got a new water pump to keep in the bay "just in case".

Carl noticed that the new-in-the-box water pump had an inlet strainer that the installed water pump did not have. Because of the screen earlier in the system, there shouldn't be "stuff" making it through to the water pump, but he decided to go ahead and install the inlet strainer on the installed water pump. Between that and disconnecting, re-connecting the water pump, the auto-shutoff was now working -- hurrah! 

He still has a plan to replace the burner nozzle on the Oasis diesel burner to see if that will help minimize the diesel smell when we're heating water, but for now, we just try to minimize when we need hot water!  In Mesa it wasn't so difficult as, with 100F+ temperatures, water coming out of the tap feels pretty warm, but, in Show Low, with temperatures in the 70s, the water coming in is pretty cool.

Heading up in elevation

Long before we knew that fuel prices were going to escalate this summer, we had decided to try staying in Arizona for the summer instead of driving long distances as we have each summer. There are two places that we had heard that friends stayed in the summer -- Show Low, or near Prescott, AZ. So, we booked two months at each location, starting at Show Low.

Since we replaced the Jeep with the Honda CR-V, and since it is not towable, we drove separately -- I was driving the CR-V that is in front of Gracie, and at this point, there was another vehicle between us. We had our Family radios so we could communicate as we drove (there wasn't cell service available for the whole drive). We decided that, for the future, it might be better for Gracie to be in the front and the CR-V following as it is easier to see the motorhome from the car, the motorhome is impacted by climbs in elevation and it was hard for me to gauge how fast to take the hills, and the car has the capability of catching up more easily.

We are staying at a park called Venture In (our winter location is Venture Out -- and the realty company at our winter park is called Venture In -- so we may be a little confused at times!). It is an Encore park, part of the overall Thousand Trails system, though we are not staying under our membership.

Our site at Venture In. We are anticipating that more folks will be coming to the park in the next few weeks as the summer season ramps up.

There are lots of things to do at Venture In (not as many as Venture Out, but we're happy to have a little less scheduled on our calendar). Show Low, AZ is at about 6200', and has temperatures that average about 20F lower than the "valley" around Phoenix.

Trying out Shake Shack

Carl's daughter, Pamela, had shared that her favorite burger place is Shake Shack. When we were out and about one day (picking up new prescription glasses for Carl), we saw one and decided to stop and try it out...

Shake Shack

Ordering area

We both got burgers (me a single, Carl a double) and we shared a chocolate shake.

It was pretty yummy! 

Celebrating with friends

Our friends, Don and Linda, recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. We were glad to be able to go out for dinner with them at Famous Dave's -- and we bought a whole Baker's Square French Silk Pie from the restaurant to take home and share.

We forgot to get pictures at Famous Dave's (and for our continued celebration at their house),

But we got a picture of a slice of the pie before it was all consumed!

Happy anniversary, Don and Linda!

Venture Out Amateur Radio Club - Summer

The Venture Out Amateur Radio Club continues meeting on Saturdays through the summer, but they meet up at the community center rather than in the Oasis room, which is closer to where our lots are located. (I think that the Oasis Room is not used in the summer at all so the resort can save on air conditioning costs.)

One recent Saturday, the attending club members watched a video on a topic of interest to Ham Radio aficionados...

The group enjoying the video

The Venture Out group also has weekly "nets" at 1pm on Wednesdays -- during the season, these nets are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1pm. Usually folks join via their radios when they are in the park, but since many people are absent during the summer, they have a way to connect in via EchoLink (https://www.echolink.org/), that allows in-park residents to be on their radios, and out-of-park residents to connect in via the internet or an app on their phones.

It is nice to keep up with our VO Ham friends through the summer and hear what summer adventures they are having! 

Gracie in her spot

We're getting ready to leave Venture Out for our summer adventures.

This is Gracie on our RV lot with the new Honda CR-V in front.

Things to note: 

• The CR-V is not flat towable (or towable at all except on a flat bed trailer -- cannot use a tow dolly either), so we'll have to drive separately as we travel in the RV this summer. Neither of us is looking forward to that!
• We had moved all the patio furniture off the RV lot. Some of it fit into the shed, and the last few pieces were moved to the covered patio of the casa next door.
• You may be able to see a "For Rent" sign on the lot. We have renters for January-March, but if you know of anyone who would like to rent an RV lot in Mesa for October-December or April-May, please let us know! The casa is also available those months. I will mention that October (until the end) is pretty warm, and May can get warm, especially as you get later in the month.
• Note that we'd love for friends and family to come during the times that the casa and/or RV lot are not rented. 
• You also may be able to see things that look like dead branches in the palm trees. I don't know what kind of palm trees we have in our community, but they bloom (? I think) in early May and produce "Arizona snow" -- almost as annoying as cottonwood trees "cottoning". There are fine beige things that are all over everything -- really bad on the top of the pools and hot tubs -- the skimmers can't keep up with them. The things that look like dead branches are those bloom stalks. 

An interesting story on how the RV lot got rented... Our friend, Laura, has an RV lot on the other side of our casa. She has had a For Rent sign up for several months. One day, we were going to be taking her and her daughter to the airport, and Carl went to pick them up -- but there was someone there looking at her RV lot so they waited a few minutes until that was completed. Carl happened to mention to the RV couple that we have the RV lot just two doors down, and if they had friends who would be interested in renting it, to have them contact us. They did have a friend, and the friend did contact, so friends will be staying in the two RV lots on each side of the casa! 

When we were staying on the RV lot, friends Liz and Jerry were on Laura's lot, and we were using the casa for visiting friends and family, we had space for lots of get-togethers for our block on one or the other RV lot or under the patio of the casa if it was rainy. For the rental of the casa, friends of the tenant came to look at the casa for him, and we let them know that, if he wants it to be, he could be in the middle of party-central, but that it would be up to him to decide!

Closing up for summer

As we prepare to leave Venture Out, we have been "summer-izing" our two park models and protecting the items that we will be leaving behind.

The patio for the casa is the place for our patio furniture for the RV lot and the casa to be stored. Our golf cart is also covered and stored on the patio.

I wanted to cover the two patio tables (one from the casa, one from the RV lot), so washed the glass tops before covering them so they won't get additional scratching.

We got things covered and secured. Our neighbors across the street, Don and Linda, are year round residents and are so kind to let us know if something goes askew.

Many RVers winterize their RVs if they are going to be in freezing weather. To summer-ize, we do things like cover upholstered furniture with sheets, pour mineral oil into water traps to keep them from drying out (and allowing smells and bugs to come into the house), putting RV antifreeze into the dishwasher and clothes washer. I put signs on things as they are treated ("closed for the season") so we will know we have already done that one, and instructions on the washers and dishwasher to run an empty load before using them for their intended purpose (just so I make sure anyone who might use it first in the next season will know what to do to un-summer-ize it -- and to remind myself in case I'm the first one to use it!).

Miss Kitty's private Golden Corral buffet

Miss Kitty is getting pickier and pickier on eating... one day she might eat one type of canned food; the next day, she will sniff it and walk away. 

One day recently she had a veritable buffet set out before her... and none were acceptable!

We give in to her whims more than we should because she is constantly losing weight (a little less than an ounce per month). Carl says that if she keeps on losing, gravity won't hold her down anymore and we'll find her floating up at the ceiling!

An awning repair

After we got Gracie back to the RV lot, and had the window awnings out to provide some shade, we noticed that one of the awnings had its awning spline coming out -- this meant that the other end of the awning was not well secured into the roller. It wasn't causing any problem yet, but, leaving it this way could cause the awning to rip. We found the card of the company who installed the awning a few years ago, called and explained the problem, and thankfully, they were able to come the same day to fix it...

They had to remove the pressure of the spring on the awning, then they could re-insert the spline...

... and finally re-attach the spring.

It was a quick job, and, although more expensive than we had hoped it would be, at least it is fixed.

A visit from Scott

We had quite a number of family visits at the end of the season...

Son Scott had a customer visit in Tempe, so came to stay at the casa and we got to visit with him for two evenings.

It is nice having family visiting!

Sunset and palm trees

So pretty to see the sunset behind the palm trees in our community...

... we started having 100F+ days in May so our walks would happen at sunset rather than earlier in the day. As a result, we got to see more of the colorful sunsets!

Just in case you need it...

We were looking for something in the grocery store and found...

... bacon grease... I didn't know that you could purchase it at the grocery store. If I recall correctly, Mom used to have a metal container on the stove top into which the bacon grease went and from which we could dip out some when needed for seasoning greens or other things.

 

Miss Kitty back in *her* bus!

We got most things moved back to the RV before we brought Miss Kitty back. We weren't sure how she would deal with being back in the rig, but she was totally fine with it...

She found one of her favorite places in the sun, on the front passenger seat, though she was a little annoyed that there were other things on the seat keeping her from using the whole seat for herself!

Relaxing on her heating pad -- although we had it in the park model for her, she hasn't been using it a lot recently, but she got right back on it in the rig...

... but she was really stretched out as if she was hot, so I'm not sure why she was on the heating pad! She was also keeping an eye on her food dish -- she wasn't excited about what I had provided, but was in hopes that I might provide something better.

She is such an easy-going cat -- doesn't seem to mind which housing we have her in... though she *has* enjoyed having so many different chairs to sleep on in the park model!

Also under the heading of "It's always something!"

We decided that we should move back into the motorhome for at least a week before we planned to leave Mesa -- our experience has been that we always forget a number of things that we would like to have with us. It will be easier to get those items while we are still at Venture Out rather than having to drive back, purchase new, or do without.

As we were moving in, we noticed a puddle of water forming under the wet bay area of the rig. At first we thought it might be from the air conditioners being turned on and running pretty constantly, but then we thought that, it's so dry here, would there be that much condensation? Carl opened up the bay and found that, no, it wasn't condensation from the air conditioner, it was a broken fitting on the water softener system.

It had gotten really hot (high 90s - low 100s), so he decided to wait to work on it in the morning, "before it gets too hot".

The fitting from the hose had broken off in the inlet to the water softening system.

After a couple of trips to the hardware store, Carl had the fitting end that he needed and was able to get it installed on the hose.

A little later, he could reconnect to the water softening system.

It was also time to re-charge the water softener, so he was able to take care of that too. He also changed out the filters on the RO system.

I am so grateful that Carl knows how to take care of all of these systems on the rig (and in our house)!

Under the heading of "It's always something!"

Gracie (the motorhome) has been in a storage lot for the season. She was not plugged in, but the solar panels were able to keep the batteries charged. But, the temperature inside the rig was not being controlled (no electrical hookup) so probably she got pretty warm inside at times.

We had left our two water jugs (7 gallon each) that we had filled for going to Quartzsite in January stored in the shower while Gracie was in storage. 

When Carl attempted to take some water out of one of the containers, the faucet broke off -- the picture doesn't show the broken off piece -- we took the picture to remind ourselves to see if we could find a replacement cap and faucet. The plastic piece just gave out -- the jug is probably 

Carl found that the newer containers have red caps, and he was able to find replacement caps at Sportsman Warehouse....

It looks pretty snazzy with the red caps, right?

We generally carry at least one of the water containers with us -- we keep potable water in it just in case we end up boondocking or without water unexpectedly (sometimes, in campgrounds, the water gets shut off without warning -- usually when a fellow camper accidentally runs over a water spigot). Technically, the water in our fresh tank is potable, but we prefer using RO water (processed by our on-board RO system) for drinking or cooking. Our plans for this summer have us staying in campgrounds with full hookups all summer, but, we never know when we might want to have an additional supply of potable water available.