Thursday, January 27, 2011

Ensconsed in Mesa, Arizona

Our street in Mesa Regal RV Resort.
There are over 2000 RV and park models in this resort.  Several swimming pools, bocce courts, tennis,woodworking shop, library, concert hall, and whole list of activities one can partake in.  It's our first time in a resort like this and, truth be told, we're not sure this is what we look for in snow birding and RV'ing in general.  It's good to experience it though.
A grapefruit tree....right next to us.  Very nice indeed.
Jeanette and I made a few phone calls, answered a few emails and after breakfast, we thought we should head to Camping World to help keep them in business.  We needed some things and we did manage to pay for some of their overhead.

On our way to Camping World on Highway 60, west bound... (The Superstition highway)


When we returned to the rig and we're unloading our goodies, an attendant in a golf cart appeared and told us we had to hook up our 5'er and move her back, remove our swivel wheel, and to avoid encroaching on the sidewalk..

When we had called to inquire about getting into this park, we were told that the lots are 45 ft. deep and 35 ' wide. Well, where they put us (with our long 43 ft. length) was in a lot where the park model owner behind us encroached three feet onto the lot we were assigned. His garden shed was on our assigned lot. Our rig didn't quite fit in....and we hung out on the street; but ever so slightly.  I asked the attendant not once, not twice, but three times if this was OK.  He said yes.  I tied two reflective cones to the hitch pin and I asked the neighbours what their thoughts were.  All was OK with them. Till early this afternoon, that is!!!  Typical of small communities (like small towns) someone complained that our rig encroached a tiny bit over the sidewalk. One complaint was all it took. Someone likely had to step 6" off the sidewalk and onto the road (that is not busy).

I even witnessed one guy in his car complain to a guy on a bicycle that he obviously knew,  that my fiver was encroaching.  He did not realize I was reaching onto my side garage and heard him clearly.  Both were most surprised when I stepped around the grapefruit tree to address their complaint and to explain that the parking attendant had approved the encroachment.  I thinks some folks are far too bored with life...and are looking for something to complain about.
See the cones?  You can clearly see how little we encroach over the sidewalk.
At the risk of repeating myself, at our arrival in this park, the parking attendant did OK our parking...and we left only six inches of space to the back shed of the encroaching neighbour.

With the attendant at our door step this afternoon, I asked about moving two doors down where there was an open site that was 90 feet deep - you read right - 90 feet deep.  He would not hear of it even though the neighbours who own park models here stated that in the past two years, no one had used that site.  It would have solved a problem.  But.....and it's a big but, the attendant would have none of this common sense.

Taken from our galley window, this shows the two sites next to our compressed site that are plenty long to accommodate us.

So, we sorted everything inside the 5'er, closed the slides, lifted the back jacks, hooked up the truck and moved forward.  The result was that we blocked the entire road while we unloaded the motorcycle and removed the swivel wheel. 

We hitched up...moved the fiver forward...unloaded the bike...removed the swivel wheel...backed the fiver in again...!!!!
GET THIS!!!!!  Although there are roads galore in this park, several residents insisted (with their eyes and facial expressions) on us moving our truck and rig so they could drive by.  We ignored them and continued with our speedy work.  It took a few minutes for these drivers to realize they would not get through so why not turn around and head the other way!!!  I'm not kidding!!!!!  I'm not making this stuff up!!!!!!

With the swivel wheel removed, we backed up a few more feet and proceeded to complete all the tasks required to set up all over again.

Sorted things out....got level once again...opened the slides....unhooked....GOSH!!!!!
Moved the motorcycle and locked it up.
Once that was accomplished, Jeanette and I went for a long walk outside of the park.  It felt good to get outside the gates and see more of Mesa, on legs.  It was a gorgeous day with temperatures in the mid 70's.

On our return we found a bag full of goodies resting on our 5'er steps.  Inside were two 2011 Mesa Regal RV Resort champagne glasses - etched with the resort logo and name - a bottle of white wine, some other nice little gizmos and....well, you get the picture?  We believe the attendant learned from some neighbours - and us too - that all of this frivolity could have been prevented had the original attendant done his job properly in the first place or that the front office could have moved us to a longer site.  We have walked around this park and there are well over 40 sites open.....maybe even more.  Residents in this park do not own their sites (land that is) but they do own their park models.  That we could not have a slightly longer site made no sense to the park model owners around us who sided with us on every turn.

Our experience in this park emulates the small town nosiness that Jeanette and I grew up in.  We have lived in large cities all of our adult lives and we certainly appreciate the independence we feel.

We had a good chuckle after all was said and done and we wish to thank those neighbours who came by to express their thoughts on the silliness of all of this.

Hey, we got a bottle of wine out of the deal.....so it's not a bad outcome after all.  It is nice that the park management saw the error of their ways and their gesture was most appreciated.  (No photo.....aw shucks)

Nice cactus and grapefruit tree on our street in the park.

ONWARDS & FORWARDS:
Tomorrow's plans include lunch with our good White Rock, BC friends and golf partners - Phil and Diane - who winter here in Mesa.  The evening will find us enjoying dinner with Langley, BC friends - Ione and Annalea - who live in the park we're in.  Saturday is reserved for lunch with our good friends from Montreal, Quebec - Gerry and Pauline - who winter in Gold Canyon, about 12 miles east of Mesa, Az.



Thanks for stopping by.

6 comments:

  1. my goodness..some people have far too much time on their hands ...sounds like a bit of 'sour grapefruit' to me!..move three feet, three inches or three hundred miles, the work is still the same!..glad to see that the office tried to rectify the problem!..have fun with your friends!...by the way..that cactus is getting mighty close to the sidewalk??

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  2. Hmmm, and that is the reason we are in the desert.

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  3. Sue & Doug,

    Love the lines; 'sour grapefruit' and the 'encroaching cactus'

    JB,
    I'm with you on the reason you are in the desert.

    Cheers,
    René

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  4. It seems the bigger the park, the more rules they seem to have. Mesa has a bit of a reputation for sticky rules though - like your rig has to be perfectly straight on your site - to the millimeter!

    You seemed to have handled that situation very well, I think I might have had a few strong words to say to that attendant who made you move.

    Have fun visiting with your friends from home.

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  5. If we had to stay in RV Parks we would stay home!! Grab yourself some solar panels & gain yourself some freedom. Come on over to the world of Boon Docking. Go where you want, when you want & how you want with nobody telling you what to do. No neighbors means no stress. No attendants on golf carts at your door. Countless acres of land to park your rig whichever way you want. No crowding & no noisy neighbor noise. Just the wind in the cactus...:))

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  6. And there is just another reason why we avoid RV parks as much as possible!

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