Happy Birthday Sprinty

Sunday, 24 February 

Today is officially Sprinty’s third birthday.  On 24 February 2016, Sprinty was first adopted by Bill and Suzann of Boise, ID.  I recently came across the phrase “Birthdays are an ideal time to reflect on the milestones of past achievements.”  Some Sprinty achievements include:

• 36 states camped in since February 2017
• Over 41,000 miles of adventures since February 2017
• Only two Mercedes warranty items in the 3-year Mercedes warranty (one by the first parents, one by us)
• Only a couple of Roadtrek warranty items
• Hundreds and hundreds of memories made

Speaking of Sprinty’s origin and warranty items, Roadtrek/Erwin Hymer Group North America (EHGNA) is officially in receivership.  As best as we can understand the few facts available, as part of the due diligence process with the Thor acquisition of Erwin Hymer, some accounting issues were discovered with the EHGNA portion.  This led to the dismissal of several senior executives including the CEO, COO, and CFO, and Thor excluding EHGNA from its acquisition of Erwin Hymer.  About a week ago, all the employees of EHGNA, which included Roadtrek, were dismissed.  Lots of speculation but few facts about what the future holds.  One likely possibility is that Sprinty’s five-year Roadtrek warranty has ended two years earlier than expected.

Last night’s low temperature got down to 33 degrees, colder than the forecast said it would.  The good news was that the temperature at the waterlines under Sprinty only got down to 39 degrees.  Yes, Darrell put a thermometer under Sprinty to monitor the temperature at the water lines.

Today we turned north and headed for Goodyear, AZ, which is west of Phoenix.  We selected Tres Rios Golf Course in Goodyear, AZ primarily because it was half to a quarter what it costs to play most of the golf courses around Phoenix.  They are quite proud of their golf courses, don’t you know.

With a 11am tee time, we had to be on the road by 8am.  Easy drive north.  After warming up in their rather short practice range, we started off as a two-some.  Darrell and Kris both hit very nice tee shots, with Kris making a par to Darrell’s bogey.  Darrell evened it up on the second hole.

By the third hole, it was obvious it was going to be a slow day as all but the group in front of us was a four-some.  The two-some in front of us, Steve and Sherry, invited to to join them.  Steve was a good golfer, Sherry struggled.  By the turn, Kris was up by two strokes aided by her drives of 160-179 yards, all in the fairway.

The back nine was a bit more challenging layout.  Kris continued to hit well, as did Darrell off the tee.  Kris played very well and took the day by 6 strokes, hitting 14 of 14 fairways on the day, for a net 69.

Once done with golf, the first priority was to get a place to stay for the night.  The RV park Darrell had called several times since Friday and left messages never called back.  As the closest to the golf course, we went there first in person only to find the office closed and no way to check in.  Plan B was 1/2 mile away - they were full.  Called Plan C - they were full.  Called Plan D - they were full.  Called Plan E - nothing available for tonight or tomorrow night.  Plan F was an Escapees Co-Op park located 80 miles away in Casa Grande, AZ.  Not as close to Chandler, AZ as we were hoping, but we were out of options.

As we planned to spend some time playing golf around Casa Grande after we left Goodyear later in the week, we just changed the plan.  We arrived just after the office closed, so we had to go into dry camping for tonight at $5/night.  Tomorrow morning, we officially check in and arrange a site.  We know we will be here for a few nights as Sprinty has a routine service appointment at the Sprinty care place in Chandler on Tuesday morning.

So today, Sprinty traveled north, east and south.  And is enjoying a billion star hotel again tonight.