RV work and Tucson play

February 10-16, 2014:

We have 3 mirrors that are glued to wood cabinet doors in our bathroom that appear to be slowly sliding down.  I can't believe someone would purposely install a glass mirror like this, but then again it is RV engineering, or lack thereof.  The mirrors are 1/2 inch below the door top and 1/2 inch below the bottom door edge with no edge or corner protection, you have to open the door by pulling on the mirror edge.  It's crazy !  So, I took one door to a glass/mirror shop to see if they could remove the mirror and reposition it and possibly add some kind of lower edging piece.  Of course, they said they wouldn't be able to remove it without breaking it, so I gave them the go ahead to do it.  Then when I pick up the completed mirror, they said they were able to remove the mirror without breaking it so they only charged me for the reinstallation.  I then tried to remove the mirror from another one myself and was successful, although it was a hard, slow process and did the other two myself.  I  added a piece of wood trim to the door bottom to prevent the glass from sliding down and to act as a pull handle.   

Mirror before

Mirror after

It was our 15th anniversary on February 11th and we celebrated by going to La Fuente Restaurant.  The decor inside is really colorful and pleasant and the food was equally good.  There was a musician playing who did everything from traditional mexican mariachi, to Johnny Cash to Jimmy Buffet to Crosby Stills Nash. 

La Fuente interior mural

La Fuente musician

I spent much time during the week working on a additional slide out battery tray for the RV to house a second battery. I fabricated it out of angle iron pieces bolted together and a sliding tray that I purchased from Mor-Ryde.  This tray allows me to utilize two 6V Golf Cart batteries, saved from the 5th wheel, for increased battery capacity while boondocking. There have been way too many trips to Lowe's and Home Depot for parts on this project.    

Thursday night I returned to LaCocina to see blues player Stephan George perform for the dinner crowd. He is a great blues guitar player but the delta blues guitar style seems a bit out of place for the dinner crowd.  

We went to the Tucson Convention Center on Saturday for more incredible Gem and Mineral displays and vendors.  Twinkles said in the afternoon as she was admiring the gem specimens:  "The Bug is bitting me hard".  That's trouble !

Gem Show display

Russian Dolls

Gem Show specimens

More gems

This is prime time in Tucson, the Gem and Mineral Show is now ending and the Rodeo started last Saturday.  The Rodeo, La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, goes on for a week and is another major event. It is one of the oldest, (89th year) and most prestigious rodeo's in the country.  An interesting fact is that approximately 2,000 cowboy hats are sold during the event.

Saturday night we were out with friends for dinner at the El Charro Cafe.  It was established in 1922 and they claim to be the nations oldest Mexican restaurant in continuous operation by the same family.  Gourmet Magazine called it "One of America's 21 most legendary restaurants.  It lived up to its reputation, the food was great ! 

It was 88 degrees on Saturday, a heat record for the date in Tucson, giving us a chance to test the AC.

At the library while Twinkles was updating and backing up the computer, the iPads and iPhones, I checked out the latest issue of "Hot Rod" magazine.  On the last page, I found a great essay (I use that term loosely) called "Road Trippin' ".  It really struck the basic "anti tech/old school nerve in me, I thought; This is the way I want to RV, how great would that be ?  So, I took a photo of it to share, to get the word out.  Am I inspired enough to return to New Jersey in June, get the 38 Dodge out of storage and drive it to Detroit for the Dodge Brothers Club annual meet and 100th anniversary of the Dodge Brothers ???

Keep an open mind,

Twinkles and Slick