New member sort of - pat alexander

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Pat

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Mar 17, 2005
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Location
Payson AZ
Hi.  My name is Pat Alexander.  I've been a fulltime RVer for almost 3 years.  I winter in Mesa and summer here and there.  Last summer I was at Casey's Riverside RV Park in Westfir OR.  If you are ever near Eugene and don't mind a little 35--mile detour east on OR58, trust me, you won't regret it.  There are other nice RV parks along 58, but Casey's is something to experience.  It's not a fabulously entertaining family place.  Mostly there are adults, but not particularly by design.  The proprietors are wonderful people.  The park is right on the Willamette River.  Sites are paved.  Full hookup and minimal cable TV.  Laundry, nice, private shower rooms.  Friday night steak cookouts.  Nightly campfires. Soft ice cream machine.  Caseysrvpark.com. 

But I digress.  Oh, well, that's all there is to know.  I bicycle.  Verrrryyy slowly.  Another great park is McDowell Mountain Park campground north of Fountain Hills, east of Phoenix.  Huge sites.  $18 per night.  I think the dump site is separate.  Individual little backyards, picnic table, clean.  Warm showers.  I don't think there's a laundry.  Fountain Hills is only about 5 miles away.  BUT, the big thing is the 15.5 mile Pemberton Trail.  A great bike ride.  Also great for hiking, horseback riding.  There are many other well-labeled, nicely maintained trails in the park. 

Anybody have an itinery after Moab this year?  What's happening Octoberish?

--pat
 
Hi Pat,

Welcome to the RV Forum.  Hope you like the new look and feel. I see you have been to Moab before.  You are sure welcome to join us.  Details of theis years events and 2006 events are found in the Rallies, Shows, & Events section. We do have a great time there.  Please fell free to join in any of the discussions or start a discussion.  Glad you found us.
 
Hello Pat!

Very pleased to see you in the Forum.  Have enjoyed previous exchanges with you and look forward to continuing here.

Feel free to share your comments and suggestions and let us know if we can help.

After you've had an opportunity to look around, please respond to our poll
 
Welcome to the Forum.  Hope you can make Moab.  Ned and I will be heading to Grand Junction, Gunnison, Colorado Springs, Denver, Cheyenne, S. Dakota to MN and WI.  We will be taking in the capitols in CO, S. D., & MN because that is my goal to see all the state capitols.
 
Hi Pat and welcome back to the forum.  Glad to see you here in our new digs.  Hope you enjoy it and stick around.
 
Pat Alexander said:
Anybody have an itinery after Moab this year?  What's happening Octoberish?

Pat

SOI (formerly Sportscoach Owners International, now just another FMCA chapter that has interesting rallies/caravans) is doing a hop/skip/jump rally from LA to Sacremento and then attending the Sacramento Jazz Festival over the Memorial Day Weekend. We are registered for the trip and will probably head to LA after Moab, tho we might detour for a couple of days back home in Goodyear first.
 
If you haven't been before Bernie, that's a big hazz festival spread across Sacramento. They have shuttle buses between the various venues.
 
Tom

Had never been to that festival before, always somewhere else for Memorial Day. Our schedule permits this year and we jumped on it. Really looking forward to it.
 
Bernie

We've done it by boat a couple of times, anchored on the American River for the weekend, and dinghied to shore or hitched a ride in a water taxi. Which campground will you be staying at?
 
Tom

Don't know for sure but presume it will be at the Fairgrounds CG. Stayed there a few years ago for the Porsche Parade, the Porsche Club annual convention, and it was more than adequate.

Will you be in the neighborhood?
 
Bernie

We have a couple of conflicts that weekend, so I doubt we'll be iin Sacramento. OTOH we do have out of town visitors and, if they like jazz, we might turn up, probably for a day trip. Sounds like you'll be in Cal Expo, the location of the annual state fair and the big RV show. I suspect they'll have a number of jazz bands set up around the place, just like they will in Old Town, by the river, and other venues in the city.
 
Hi Pat,

Welcome to the forum. Hope you'll enjoy your stay. I ride as well. Try to ride fast but it doesn't always work. :) I usually do 13 miles/day when we stay in FL. Sure is great for the lungs and heart!!!

 
Jim:

Re biking, I ride maybe 15 to 16 miles at a time.  I have a 20-mile limit before I feel like I need knee surgery.  The canals here in the Phoenix valley are good for flat land riding like in FL.  I love a 15.5 mile trail out in the desert.  I'll be back out there probably tomorrow (Monday).  Today would be perfect with the clouds, but I have to do my 3 hour monitor job in the computer room. 

I am the world's slowest biker.  There are people who bike behind me - or try to - who can't believe I can stay upright and still go that slow.  A really fast uphill speed for me is 3mph.  I average about 5mph through the 15.5 mile desert trail.  Takes me 3 hours; although, lately I've gone faster on the last 6.5 miles of downhill and managed to finish in 2 1/2 hours.  Last time I was in Moab, I didn't have a toad, so I had to bike up to Slickrock.  By the time I got there the 2 or 3 times I rode it, I didn't have the energy to attempt the trail, which is way beyond my capabilities anyway.  I have disk brakes now because of some of those downhills. 

--pat
 
Pat,

Where in the valley are you located?  Several Forum members are in the Goodyear/Surprise area.

My bicycle route is the roads within the Happy Trails complex.

Phil
 
Hi Pat,

The important thing is not the speed at which you ride but the fact you ride!! I must admit I do go a little faster but that's because I'm an over achiever when it comes to almost anything. :) I do like flat land riding but do have hills with which to contend when we are in CT for the summer. It'll be interesting to see if I can do the hills this year.

Keep up the riding!!!!

 
Jim:  I toddle along with my iPod playing either my favorite music, or an audio book.  I have copied all the audio mysteries from the Chicago and Mesa Publ Libraries (at least through last year's supplies) onto MP3 and to the iPod.  I have about 200 unabridged books.  I can load my 200 or so music CDs plus maybe 30 books on my 40gb iPod.  I also have a neat new little FM transmitter for in the car, so I can continue to listen through the car's radio.  I am perfectly happy out on the McDowell Mountain Park Pemberton Trail by myself.  Tomorrow should be my next trip.  It's 35 miles each way from here on the east side of Mesa, but worth the trip.  Next year I hope to spend at least a couple weeks in the very nice campground at the park. 

--pat
 
Pat,

Have a great ride! I haven't even tried to ride here in Inyokern, CA as the wind has been horrific. I saw a couple of riders doing the road over the Panamints today. The road tops out at over 4900'!!!

 
"Inokern?" "Panamints?"  You made those up, right?

Your elevation's to high for me.

I know about CA winds.  I had a bad day slogging up I-5 last spring.  Hundreds of tumbleweeds would blow up against the fence along the interstate and then when enough of them bowed the fence over, they'd release in huge batches.  One guy pulled a 5 or 6-footer off his red sportscar and released it right into a wave of traffic.  Needless to say, it slammed into the front of my RV.  The thing went half way up the windshield.

--pat
 
Pat Alexander said:
Jim:

I am the world's slowest biker.? There are people who bike behind me - or try to - who can't believe I can stay upright and still go that slow.? A really fast uphill speed for me is 3mph.? I average about 5mph ...

I have to say I'm right there with you, Pat. I have ridden quite a lot of miles "in my time" but lately have a hard time even swinging my leg up over the seat to mount the bike (it's the arthritis, ya know). And dismounting is sometimes embarassing, as it take several attempts to clear the seat with that same leg when I am trying to get off the thing. I was all but ready to give it up altogether, but somehow the desire to ride is still there (and won't go away, damn it!) It is great excercise and makes for a good workout. I love it.

Don
 
Don:  To adjust a full suspension bike to ride comfortably, the seat needs to be high enough.  The suspension also raises the bike when you're not sitting on it.  Thus, getting off these things is a challenge.  I have developed a technique that minimizes finger-pointing guffaws at the trailhead.  I stop the bike and dismount, still straddling the top tube.  I then lower the bike sideways, stepping sideways until the bike is pretty far down toward the ground, and I can swing my leg over it a little easier.  The problem I have is forgetting to follow this procedure.  One time out at Argonne Laboratories in suburban Chicago the spring rains had flooded the trail, and we all had to walk our bikes across some railroad tracks to get past an overflowing pond.  I rode up the rr embankment but had to dismount to walk down the ties.  During the attempted dismount I got so thoroughly tangled up in the bike, I fell with my feet over the rails and my head down the embankment, completely wrapped around the bike.  To get away, I had to kick the bike over the tracks (Ok, annoyance had something to do with how far I kicked it).  I then managed to pick myself up, despite the fact that my feet were about 24 inches higher than my head.  I felt REALLY OLD when about 9 young guys on the usually deserted trail asked if I needed help.  I won't even mention all the falls I've taken.

--pat
 

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