Labor Day at the Colorado River

Last year, we seemed to get away more for 1 or 2-night RV trips, but this year we worked nearly every day. After we checked the last rental out on the Friday before Labor Day, we rolled away in the 40' Monaco Camelot diesel pusher, towing a wakeboard boat. Jeremy and the kids insisted on driving the little Geo Tracker separately, even though it has no air conditioning!

Our destination was the Colorado River near Yuma, Arizona (about 3 hours from home), a favorite boating spot for Dan and the kids (Lesley is a little more delicate and does not appreciate 115-degree heat!). There were no campgrounds with hookups to be found, so we tried the old family standby spot, Squaw Lake, which has non hookup spots for RV's, bathrooms, showers, etc. To our surprise, there were no other campers at Squaw Lake when we arrived. Later, some brave souls arrived and camped in tents on the beach. The camp host said if we parked at the far end we could run our generator all night and keep the a/c on. We launched the boat and tied it up at the beach.

Unfortunately, we soon found that the Monaco generator had a problem and would not run both air units at the same time, and the front air was not fully cold. We made do using the rear air, running the generator 24-hours a day. (We proved Dan's theory that the generator uses about half a gallon of fuel per hour.) The fridge didn't do too well, either. Good thing we discovered those flaws before we rented out this RV to someone!

Dan and the kids like to get up at sunrise and go out wakeboarding and waterskiing before any other boaters make the water choppy. By the time they come in for breakfast, Mom and Nick are up.

Boating on the river is fun as long as you stay wet and moving. When you stop the boat, you dry off in a few minutes and start to roast.

Squaw Lake is near the Imperial Dam and just across from Hidden Shores. You can take a quick boat ride over to Hidden Shores for fuel, groceries, cell phone coverage, etc. Farther up the river are other campgrounds with facilities too. Dan likes the stretch of river just upstream from Squaw Lake because it is wide and deep, with few sandbars to get in the way when skiing. Other people like to go upstream to the big sandbars, where they set up chairs and awnings and sit in the water with their friends.

Nick can swim well with his life jacket, so he had fun jumping into the water and he even took a ride in one of the tubes with Melissa. Lesley took her first tube ride, but we ran out of gas before she really got going and we had to get towed in by the sheriff's boat.

One day, Lesley and Nick took the Geo into Yuma (hot!) and shopped a bit. On Sunday, we packed up the RV and took the whole family to the evening Mass at St. Francis of Assisi parish in town. We also found out that there is a 9:30 a.m. Mass at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground chapel just 10 minutes from Squaw Lake, but we were not able to make that one. Next trip we'll try that.

After the final run Monday evening, Dan took Melissa and her friend, Julia, out to learn how to drive the manual transmission Geo while Jeremy and Lesley backed the RV down the launch ramp and retrieved the boat. We fed the rest of our carrots to the friendly wild burros who came out to see us off. When the bag was empty, though, the burros became less friendly and chased us into the RV.

For the next trip out here, we will be sure to check the status of the a/c and fridge first! And, next time, rather than the Geo, we should bring one of the trucks with good air conditioning, perhaps using the truck to bring a second boat (like the little jet boat repair project Dan has not finished yet). If we can plan ahead, we can get a site at Hidden Shores with hookups, internet access, the laundromat, etc.

As an aside, I'm glad Jason was able to come to our house and dog sit for us for this trip because this environment is not safe for dogs. Even if you leave them in the RV with the air on, a circuit breaker could pop very easily and the dogs would be in big trouble!

New Monaco Camelot diesel pusher joins the Rice RV rental fleet

The Rice family never stops working to make sure our customers have enjoyable vacations. Like right now, for instance, we are spending Sunday at Campland on the Bay in the new 40 ft Monaco Camelot diesel pusher with 4 slides that just joined our rental fleet. No sacrifice is too great for our customers. Of course, we have to acquaint ourselves with each rental unit so we can teach renters how to use it--especially with complicated rigs like this Camelot. How else could we figure out how to operate high-tech things like the iPod connector, the surround sound, the satellite TV, the ice maker or the washer/dryer if we didn't take it out for a night with our teenagers?

This RV is ideal for a group of 2 to 4 who are driving a long distance and staying at RV resorts with space for big rigs. What a great vacation--cruise around California now that the crowds are gone and the kids are back in school, but the weather is still perfect. Stay at luxury RV resorts and look like you spent a quarter million dollars on a top-of-the-line RV, but come back when you get tired of traveling, let someone else clean the RV up for you, and still have money left in your bank account!

Cruise America doesn't give this kind of service!

Nights and Sundays we forward our 800 number to Dan's cell phone in case a renter has an emergency. Aside from an occasional renter who calls at 2 in the morning because he can't remember how to turn the water pump on, we don't get many emergency calls. This Saturday, though, someone called at midnight because of an ominous engine sound. They were still in the area, but had to get to Los Angeles that morning for a business engagement. Leaving 3-year-old Nick and visiting 3-year-old grand-daughter Kimi in the care of our teenagers, we headed off to Rice RV and then to Chula Vista to deliver a new motor home. We finished the transfer at 3 a.m. and plodded home, listening to the spooky all-night AM radio show about aliens and conspiracies. The joys of being a small mom-and-pop business.

July 4 at Santee Lakes

July 4 is one of those holidays when we rent nearly all of our units. After a grueling week preparing for the rush, after the last rental rolled away, we loaded up one of the few remaining units – the 32’ Sprinter trailer with 2 bedrooms – and headed to nearby Santee Lakes to camp near some visiting relatives.

The Sprinter is an amazing trailer. A 2008 model, the interior is pristine. The front bedroom has a queen bed and the rear bedroom has 4 bunk beds and plenty of storage. In the large living area, the sofa opens into a true sofa bed and the wrap-around dinette makes into a large bed as well. There are beds for 10, although you could squeeze a few more in on the floor. The trailer has two separate entrances and, interestingly, the second entrance opens into the bathroom. This is a great idea when you are camping and you don’t want to track dirt or beach sand through the entire trailer to get to the bathroom. (With the sofa bed open, it blocks the aisle, so the occupants of the front bedroom might have to use that second entrance to get to the bathroom at night too!)

Our weekend in the Sprinter also reminded us why it is so important (besides being fun…) for us to try out all our rental units so we know all the features and problems to tell future renters about. This unit had never been rented yet, so if we had not used it ourselves, we would not have known about a blown fuse. Dan ran up to Wal-Mart and fixed that in a few minutes. We also discovered that if you run the air conditioner, an electric skillet and a coffee maker at the same time, the a/c fuse will heat up and pop repeatedly. We turned off everything and let the a/c breaker cool off and when we started up the air again we had no problems. If this problem had happened to a novice renter, it might have spoiled their vacation.

Santee Lakes is a great little getaway in the middle of the city. As a matter of fact, I am typing this blog sitting at the dinette in the Sprinter using their free wireless internet access. The dogs are looking out the door at Nicholas and his cousin riding bikes out front, barking at any ducks that stroll by. The older kids are at the pool. Earlier, we rented a couple of bumper boats…I mean paddle boats. You can go fishing from a boat or the shore. With cable TV hookups, we can catch some fireworks shows from the east coast on the large flat-screen TV on the wall between the living room and bedroom (which, by the way, you can rotate so the TV is in the bedroom instead).

Car seats in RV's part 2

In a previous blog, I talked about the difficulty finding a safe place for a child car seat in an RV.  One of the dinette seats is forward-facing, but the seat belts in the dinette are only bolted to the wood frame, not the frame of the vehicle like the front seats.  I mentioned that I heard some motor home manufacturers make an anchor for a car seat tether behind the dinette (for the LATCH system).  Two of our motor homes, the 29' Itasca Spirit and the 29' Minnie Winnie, have these anchors.  I will be checking the other motor homes to see if they have the car seat anchor.  

Jeremy the Eagle Scout

Our 17-year-old Jeremy has been something between a junior partner and a janitor at Rice RV since he graduated from high school last summer (2 years early).  He thinks he is a slave and we think he has a cushy "job" - spending an awful lot of time in the air-conditioned break trailer watching Sesame Street with Nick when he should be dumping holding tanks or changing generator oil.  But, in his own unique way, Jeremy usually gets things done.  Last week, he had his final meeting with Boy Scout higher-ups and is now officially an Eagle Scout, following in the footsteps of his stepbrother, Chris.  I think it's sad that, like Chris, he will wear the red-white-and-blue neckerchief only a couple times before he leaves scouts behind him.  But Chris says his Eagle Scout belt buckle, which he wears every day, has opened more doors for him that he ever imagined.  Chris just started working for the City of San Diego in the motor pool.  We expect him to work his way up to mayor!  Oddly enough, Jeremy does not see a career in RV cleaning and is talking about signing up with the San Diego Sheriff's Department.  

Rice RV sales picking up/new inventory coming in

Perhaps the economy is improving or perhaps this is related to my previous post about so many other local dealers closing, but sales are definitely up at Rice RV in the past couple of weeks.  We are also getting in tons of new inventory (thanks to Dennis being back on the job!).  As usual for this time of year, the summer rental reservations are pouring in, so we are all busier than ever.  If you want to drop in to buy or rent an RV, early Sunday (we open at 11) has been a less-busy time.  Or drop by on a morning mid-week.