After checking on Tues & Wed and still no mail, I contacted my mail forwarding company. Turns out my mail went out on the 7th but it went to the previously requested address in Winterhaven, CA (when I was boondocking outside Yuma). Can you say OOPS? They had it redirected to the Bouse General Delivery and I was told it would be there on Thursday or Friday. So instead of bumming rides over there (I was expecting three boxes so not something I really wanted to do with the bike), I decided to call on Thursday. No mail....sigh...
Friday morning I head out to Quartzsite to get my inverter looked tweaked. When done, I get gas then go by the RV Pit Stop to top off my propane, dump & take on fresh water. When I was done I headed to Bouse and the Post Office, REALLY hoping all the mail would be there. Well, one box was....at least it turned out to be the one with my new Garmin Nuvi 760 GPS in it. Phew! But that meant I needed to hang around for at least one more day, hoping that the other two boxes would show on Saturday. They were open for packages between 9-10 am.
So I headed back out of town and parked on the first 14 day BLM area I found....yup, my first REAL night of boondocking solo. Okay, so there was another RV barely within sight, but it wasn't anyone I knew and we could barely see each other. Peace and quiet...totally mesmerizing.
Many people don't realize that I am actually somewhat of in introvert and basically shy. Normally I spend a week or two with others and then go off by myself for a while. I've been with friends since I hit Quartzsite in the middle of January! That is a record for me...LOL!
Okay, back to the saga of the missing mail. I was wide awake last night and ended up sleeping in a little bit. I made it to the Post Office about 9:30....box number two was there. This one had more stuff that I had ordered (but not all of it) and still no "real" mail. Guess all that is in the LAST box.
Fortunately the Post Mistress had told me on Friday that she would hold it for 30 days and could do a one time forwarding for me. I called the campground in Tucson where I will be staying for a week after the RV Life on Wheels and got their permission to have the mail sent there. With that set I hit the road. I needed to stop at the Super Wal-Mart in Buckeye and get some groceries and other stuff. Ended up getting a haircut while I was there since they could fit me in right away.
After spending a couple of hours there, opted to hunker down in Augie's Quail Trail RV Park in Gila Bend. I had spent one night there before and liked the park and the folks that run it. I desperately needed to do laundry after spending 5 weeks in the desert. LOL!
I arrived just before 4pm, unloaded my bags from the store, loaded up all the laundry and headed over to get it started. I ended up with 4 loads and I still need to do my sheets...think those will wait till Tucson. Nasty weather is forecast to move through tomorrow. The wind is already blowing and there is a good chance of thunderstorms.
I'm very tired, achy tonight and have a sore throat. Often this happens when I overdo things...toss in a little stress and you have a perfect recipe for a flare of Fibromyalgia. So tomorrow really sounds like a good day to do NOTHING...
I did use my new GPS for routing today....my old one was just too small for the dash and my old eyes. Since it's pocket size, I will keep it for hiking. The new one, Garmin Nuvi 760, has a touch screen which makes it much easier to use than the old one, Garmin Quest 2, where I had to figure out what button combination to push.
While I love some of the new features on the Nuvi, there are some things that went away. Things I really liked....for example, while traveling I could see the current time, elevation and my travel speed. Boy do I miss that! I tended to use the speed rather than my speedometer since it was right at eye level. The elevation and time were handy.
On the Nuvi I can choose between male or female voices as well as American, British or Australian English (as well as many other languages that I don't speak). I tried all six combinations. I liked the idea of a male voice but find my hearing isn't the best in that range so ended up settling on the Australian female. So my GPS now has a name....Sheila. My old GPS is now Ernestine (think Lily Tomlin's switchboard operator character).
Oh, and believe it or not, the Nuvi came without a manual....just the quick start guide. I have downloaded and saved both the manual from Garmin as well as a great review of all the features from one of the GPS review sites. So far the BIGGEST dislike is the lack of a way to build a route on my computer and upload it....if I do that I have to input each of the waypoints and build the route manually. Sort of going backwards to me....hmmmmmmm
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
Stu and Donna
Donna,
ReplyDeleteI always held that as a solo, the GPS was a must since sometimes driving and navigating at the same time is not that easy. I use a NUVI in my toad but I use a NAVIGON in the rig since it has some better features. I do dislike the lack of routing input that all GPS seem to foster. I find that rather then inputing final destinations I must enter the addresses of each night's campground in order to ensure that the GPS does not route me some other way--but have you noticed that a lot of campgrounds don't have "addresses".
I love my Nuvi too (350) and you should be able to get a screen with the info you want, I can't believe it would be on the lower priced model I have & not on yours! It did take me a few times to figure out how to switch to that screen tho. Double check about the routing part...I think you can put one on a card & select that as one of your map choices, not sure, haven't tried it yet on mine, but somewhere on the Amazon review board it was mentioned as a possibility.
ReplyDeleteI have a Garmin 530 that sure earned its way for us on our trip to Maui last fall. So many of those Hawaiian street names sound the same that it was great to have Garmina to tell us where and when to turn. My son & DIL are borrowing her at the end of this month to use for their week long trip to LA & Disneyland.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the screen displays. When mine is set to map display I do get speed but not elevation. I don't get speed shown when being directed to a specific location but it does give an estimated arrival time. If you have set the time of day correctly.
Nuvi, Schmuvi. Does it heat up your rig?
ReplyDeleteMan, this is cold for Arizona!
Hi, I'm in Tucson, too. See you somewhere at the Conference.
Roxanne/Lynne
I was contacted by the "senior" technician. We are going to try to get the internet to work on Wednesday. I have to head to Tucson this week for repairs on the motorhome. Brand new unit and the levels won't come down.
ReplyDeleteI have heard some good reviews on the Verizon aircard and will check it out if this doesn't work.
I love my GPS. We don't use it on days we want to get lost. Being lost is the greatest adventure. With the GPS we can always find our way back. Unless we are in the hills.
I will never get my mother to boondock. She says she is to old to go without her creature comforts. LOL