Almost felt like Christmas!

Yesterday, we drove about 129 miles (206 kms) to just north of Kingman, Arizona. We've dropped back down into the desert now, and temps are warmer. It's just me, but I really do like the forest and the trees better than the desert. Even if it comes with slightly cooler temperatures.

Before we left, I had taken apart that switch that was affecting our transmission torque converter. I cleaned the contacts, and that seems to have done the trick. So our gas mileage is back to where it should be and Sherman's transmission is acting the way it was designed.

The first part of our drive was back on the Interstate 40 highway.

Another beautiful blue sky.

It wasn't long before we turned onto a section of historic route 66. Much better than the interstate, even if the route was slightly longer. 

Entering Seligman.

Seligman was a busy little town until the Interstate highway opened in 1978, bypassing the town. They say that traffic through the town "virtually disappeared".

Seligman looks little changed since the 1960's.

It's become a bit of a tourist town.

We didn't bother stopping, although in hindsight, we probably should have. After Seligman, the scenery gets a little boring...

Back in the desert.

Still, better than the interstate.

Somewhere in the desert.

"Kickin it on 66 at Mikes Outpost Saloon"

We made it to Kingman, Arizona (pop 29,000) where we stopped and picked up a couple of things at Walmart. 

Also, there was an Autozone store where I checked to see if they had that transmission switch in stock, and they did...for $10 so I picked one up even though my repair job on the old one seemed to work fine.

Then, put in another $60 worth of fuel to top things up at $2.29 a gallon (about 79 cents per litre $CAD).

Then, 15 miles north of Kingman, we made it to our Boondockers Welcome hosts, Roy and Melonie . They have a large property here out in the desert, and even have a full hookup site with sewer. Nice, because Sherman's tanks were getting full. 

And, they've got a beautiful big garage where they store their own motorhome out of the hot desert sun.

Kevin, Sam (the dog), and Roy.

Roy is not handicapped, but he likes to fix stuff and someone sold him this electric wheelchair because it was broken, and he's now got it fixed up and working!

Somewhere on the property.

Sherman, parked up beside the garage.

Our view at dusk last night.

When we arrived at Roy and Melonie's, they brought us our packages. It was almost like Christmas! We had arranged to have some items that we had ordered from Amazon delivered here in time for our arrival. 

The first one was just a new interior filter for our air conditioner. Last time I took the access panel off to clean the old one, it pretty much disintegrated! So now Sherman has a new one.

But the other two items we're looking forward to telling you about.

The first is a new wi-fi external antenna. Very often, we find ourselves parked up near a McDonalds, or a hotel, or a library, and they have unsecured wi-fi available but we're not always close enough to be able to get on the network. We have been using an external antenna that we bought a few years ago but technology has improved quite a bit. So here's the new one we bought...

BearExtender PC USB WiFi Booster and Range Extender for Microsoft Windows

(They have a different one available for you Mac users).

It has great reviews, and will supposedly increase your range by 4x. You can also get a 16 ft optional cable so that you can place the antenna on your RV roof to increase reception. So far, we've only been able to use it here at Roy and Melonie's, but it increased our signal strength from 3 bars to 5 bars, so it's definitely working!

The last item is our new RV washing machine!

MobileWasher - Hand Operating Washing Machine - Perfect for Camping

So, we'll try these items out for a couple of weeks and then report back to you!

Have a great Sunday!