After we got home last fall, I started researching trips for this year (2018) and thought we might try some of the RV rallies I had been reading about last summer. A week in Quartzite was the first, then two weeks in Tucson. After that, a summer couple-month trip to the Pacific Northwest with a one-week rally in Coos Bay, Oregon. The last of the planned trips is to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta in early October.
The Tucson trip was for a Freightliner Chassis rally. I had signed up to take a class on maintenance for my chassis and was looking forward to spending a couple weeks in Tucson.
After spending six months on the road last summer, a new mattress for the coach was required. Our mattress was a foam type that was way to soft for me, so after reading Consumer Reports, we picked out an innerspring model that was on their recommended list. The closest dealer that sold it was in Yuma, so I purchased the new king mattress over the phone during the Presidents’ day sales in February with the intention of picking it up in Yuma on the way to Tucson in March.
Prior to pulling the trigger, I started asking on some forums if folks with my specific coach model were able to get an innerspring mattress thru the front door. Most folks said no, but a few said they had done it. I started thinking the “no” responses had probably never tried it and just went with another foam or air mattress, and a few mentioned they bought two long twins which equals a king-size bed. So after the few folks said they had gotten one in but that it took two people to get it in there, I pulled the trigger. After that I got to second-guess my decision for a month till we headed toward Yuma.
We arrived in Yuma last Monday afternoon and parked around back next to the loading dock. I put out all the slides to give us room to maneuver both mattresses. I had their warehouse guy help me move the old mattress out of the way, but not out of the coach yet, in case the new one wouldn’t fit in thru the door. After a bit of struggling with the new mattress, me pulling and the young man pushing, we got it in. Hooray! Keeping the plastic on it was very helpful, allowing it to slide a bit on the steps as we manhandled it up and thru the doorway and steps. We offloaded the old mattress. Geez was that thing heavy, probably triple the weight of the innerspring mattress.
We pulled in all the slides and headed for Tucson, another 3 1/2 hours of driving. About 50 miles shy of the campground, we pulled into a Pilot fuel stop and I was able to pump 138 gallons into the tank. [As we were driving the rest of the way, I was smelling a strong odor of fuel. Bill at first said it was because some splashed on him, but then later he he had forgotten to put on the fuel cap and it was still in his pocket, oops!!]
We arrived at the RV park at Pima County Fairgrounds just a bit after dark and luckily a camp host came out and guided us to a site. It had been a long day and we just deployed the coach, hooked up to water and electricity, and called it a day. Perfect time for a bourbon & seven, but as we looked for the bourbon, we realized we hadn’t packed it. 🙁