Dang the RV fridge died… Part 1 of 3.

Our next stop was Sun Life Resort in Mesa Arizona. We arrived September 1st and left October 1st. We really didn’t have a lot of activities to talk about because it was so dang hot we didn’t do much except work out in the fitness room,go to the pool and occasionally to happy hour.

The hottest it got while we were there was 114 degrees. I don’t want to hear about it being dry heat because dry or not 114 is freaking HOT! One problem that arose while at Sun Life Resort was our Norcold 1210 refrigerator was becoming less and less able to keep our refrigerator contents at an acceptable safe level.

I know the heat was causing it problems but the cooling issues were not just due to the heat. I tried resetting the control board and diagnosed everything I could including replacing the thermistor but to no avail. Therefore I began researching solutions.

One was just to replace the cooling system again (we did that once already) at a cost of $1200 in parts plus labor. Another was to replace our old cooling system with an Amish (electrical only) system for $1100. The problem with both of these is that the shell or body of our old Norcold had bad seals and it didn’t make sense to simply replace the cooling system and continue to have bad seals (which can’t be replaced without replacing the whole door).

Thus the only other options were to buy a new Norcold 1210 for $4500 (YIKES) or replace it with a residential fridge for a $1,000 or less. We opted to replace it with a residential fridge because we couldn’t see shelling out $4500 plus labor for another Norcold.

NOTE:  We are currently in Mesa, Arizona until November 1st…

Why are we going to Phoenix in September!!!

We really enjoyed our stay in the Prescott AZ area but we decided to do something we may regret. The plan is to move on down to Phoenix during the heat wave they have been experiencing. We spent three nights at the Phoenix Metro RV Park using Passport America and then moved over to Sun Life RV Resort in Mesa for a month.

The Phoenix Metro RV Park was pretty empty but the sites were fairly nice but small like most are in the Phoenix area. There was a nice pool and hot tub and we had a scenic view from our RV of a small desert mountain.

With temperatures in the 110’s we spent some time at the pool to cool down and Sharon spent some time in their small, but adequate, fitness room. We didn’t do a whole lot while at this park but we did check out three breweries, one each night we were there. Our favorite was Front Pourch!

One thing we were happy to do was to meet up with former RV friends and now residents of nearby Sun City. We met for brunch at a place they chose, JD Campbells, and I had a fabulous green chili omelette while Sharon enjoyed a traditional breakfast plate.. We first met Bobbie and Jim at Betty’s RV park and have stopped in to see them a few times since. It is always fun to catch up with friends we made while on the road. These two are always great to be around!

When the temperatures dropped one day we took advantage and found a little disc golf course to play. It was still plenty hot but it was nice to be outdoors for a fun round of disc golf.

So you may be wondering why we are in Phoenix during the heat of summer. Well now that we have been here a month we are wondering why we chose to do that as well. But there was a reason…

We have been on the road a long, long time and know that the end of our fulltime travels is closing in on us. As a result we are starting to explore areas of interest to us as places we might stay for a longer period of time after our travels in the RV are over. Working on an exit strategy is something we simply cannot put off any longer.

Both of us have always liked Arizona so we took advantage of a Cal-Am promotion which allows us to stay in three parks we think we would like for only $995. That allows us to stay in any Cal-Am park on the list of the offer from September 1 to December 31st. We came down here in September to experience the 110+ heat to see if we could tolerate it.

Short answer is – We can’t. We are outdoor people and 110+ means little of that beloved activity occurs. However, it is all part of the grand experiment of looking for future homes… We understand it will be a process.

NOTE:  We are currently in Mesa, Arizona until November 1st…