May 11th we drove 130 miles from Camp Verde to Apache Junction, AZ to camp at Carefree Manor for three nights. This is the same campground that we stayed at in March.
We were getting ready to trade in the Dolphin and pick up our Dutch Star. Our friend Larry came over and helped Bill take the solar panels off the roof since the dealer did not include them in the trade-in offer. We were not able to remove the solar controller since that would have left a hole.
On the 13th we visited Wilma, a family friend that Bill had known since he was very young. She had moved to Mesa years earlier. Here is her house:
Here is Wilma:
On May 14th we moved 10 miles to World Wide RV's lot to trade in the Dolphin. We were very excited. They set us up side-by-side to start moving stuff and to let them set up the Dutch Star to tow the CRV:
At the end of the day they moved us to the campground behind the dealer lot since they run guard dogs at night and cannot allow customers to be on site. They drove the Dolphin and we moved the Dutch Star into Mesa Regal RV Resort, a huge place. Here is how it looked in the morning:
We had both motorhomes hooked to 50AMP electricity and the doors facing. The Dutch Star's air conditioning could keep up with the 102 degree heat, the Dolphin's could not. Better insulation on the Dutch Star. There were warranty items to fix on the Dutch Star so we could stay here until all the parts arrived. On the weekend we had the satellite dish going:
We had all weekend to transfer our stuff and it took a long time. It was hot and we kept needing to go out and buy more containers. We were ready by Monday but the dealer's detailers were not ready.
By Tuesday the dealer's detailers could detail the Dolphin so they took the Dolphin away:
For many more pictures see our webpage on the Dutch Star.
Our friends Larry and Connie came over to see the new motorhome one day. We ended up eating at Rancho de Tia Rosa for the first time, a very nice Mexican restaurant.
We learned the 21st the remaining parts were on back order so we left on the 22nd and Bill drove 144 miles to Black Rock RV Village in Brenda, AZ. Here is our campsite:
We were diesel pusher owners now and Bill had his first real drive of the motorhome, through Phoenix.