Morning in Why, Arizona

In the morning in Why, we went on a walk to see other camp sites at Gunsight Wash...

We saw this site and thought, "Someone forgot their Starlink!" We walked over to inspect it, and found that it was a white wooden cabinet door that maybe folks used to put hot pots onto when they were taken off the fire.

Nancy and Pepper (their Corgi) leading the way!

Heading back to where we were parked

We would be heading out this morning to cross the border into Mexico.

Sunset at Why, Arizona

We met friends Steve and Nancy at Gunsight Wash near Why, Arizona...

We enjoyed sitting outside and seeing the sunset...

... beautiful!

What a beautiful evening!

Homecoming at Venture Out

In November, the Venture Out Activities Office / Social Board host a Homecoming celebration -- complete with a free lunch ("did someone say, 'Free lunch'?") and vendors available to share information about services that they can offer the residents.

Carl joined other members of the Ham Radio group to help the vendors get to their appropriate locations in the ballroom and took some pictures during setup... 

There was a band who shared enjoyable music...

Some of the Ham Radio folks were already set up with a table to tell folks about Amateur Radio.

There were tables by Venture In (the realty group that works with buyers and sellers in the community) and Camp Bow Wow for doggie day care services.

The onsite massage therapist was giving free chair massages -- Carl took advantage of getting one as he has been having shoulder pain since lifting the golf cart batteries. He said that it felt better after the chair massage!

The representatives from the Venture Out Ham Radio group ready to share information about becoming an Amateur Radio operator.

There was a photo booth with various props...

... so neighbor Barb and I took advantage of it...

... and Carl and I did too!

We enjoyed our day at Homecoming!

A couple of funny thoughts...

We saw these recently on Facebook...

The joys of aging!

More battery news

We are preparing to go in Gracie with friends to Mexico -- we were moving some things to the "new" park model when the Jeep refused to start when we were ready to drive back. We weren't sure if it was the battery (we knew it was almost 3 years old) or the starter, but we asked a friend to come over and help us jump start it, and it started okay.

We headed to Autozone to get a replacement battery...

We got the existing battery in January, 2023, from Advance Auto in Florida, so it was just under 3 years old. 

Since there are no Advance Autos in Arizona, we went to AutoZone.

We got the battery and had the fellow there install it.

*If* there had been an Advance Auto near us, we could have gotten a free battery (the 3 year warranty would have gotten us a free battery). Unfortunately, there are no Advance Auto stores nearby, and we needed a battery now. There is evidently a "procedure" that we could have gone through -- but we didn't realize that until after we'd already gotten it replaced. Oh well, we're glad to have a working battery!

Sunset from Walmart

We were out shopping at Walmart one evening...

... and saw a beautiful sunset from the parking lot!

 

Lithium battery for golf cart

When we got back to Venture Out, we uncovered our golf cart, checked the batteries, and started charging them. They were flooded cell lead acid batteries. We knew that they only had a limited life in the heat of Arizona, and had figured that we would need to replace them this season. They had charged up to about 80%, and we had an errand to run in the park, so we decided to drive the golf cart. We did our errand, and then were driving to the RV storage lot to see the parking space that we have been allocated in storage, when the cart suddenly died completely. I was watching the charge meter (fuel gauge) as we drove, and it was around 75% when it suddenly died with a very fast stop of the cart. We put it in neutral and pushed it home (getting all sorts of comments from fellow residents advising us that it was supposed to be carrying us... to which we responded that we were just taking our golf cart for a walk). 

Carl had been doing some research on what we could replace the lead acid batteries with, and had some criteria that he planned to look for. He found quite a selection of batteries on Amazon, with prices from about $700 to over $3000. It was hard to find any material differences between the $700 batteries and the ones over $3000. The $3000 batteries had a 10 year warranty, while the $700 ones had a 3 year warranty, but we figured we could buy the $700 ones 4 times over and still come out ahead. The $3000 ones included a kit, but Carl figured he could work out the components of the kit.

Under-seat compartment with four 12V lead acid batteries (at least one now dead)

Batteries removed

Support board installed

New 51.2V lithium battery installed

The new battery works great -- the cart is very peppy! We need to be sure we don't "floor" it as the speed limit in our community is 10MPH. So far, Carl hasn't gotten the 12V power figured out, so we don't have lights or horn, but I'm sure he will have that figured out soon!