New Electric Heater Dies and Plans

Maricopa, AZ

38 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Clear. High of 61F. Winds from the West at 5 to 10 mph shifting to the NNE in the afternoon.


I don't know if you remember or not, but back on the 2nd of March, Jim went to Home Depot and bought an electric space heater to replace the old one that had died. Well, now the new one died!!! : (   Sunday evening, we had a power outage here at the park. It didn't last long, but when the power came back on, the little red light on the heater didn't come back on, and in fact, nothing on the heater would work at all.

Jim called the customer service number and talked to a nice lady who asked him some questions. One of the questions was, "Do you know if you had a power outage or a surge"?  Jim told her we had the power outage and she told him that that is more than likely what messed up the heater. She asked where Jim had bought it, and told him to just take it back to Home Depot and they would refund his money.

Now, all of you RVers out there know that the power in many RV parks is not real reliable and there are power outages at times. So, , , ,  if you're looking for an electric space heater, I don't recommend that you buy a Lasko heater with digital readout, as it seems like the electronics can't tolerate interruptions in service.

Jim and Linda really liked the heater and it did a fine job of heating the inside of me, but if it's that sensitive, it's probably not well suited for RV use.

So, yesterday morning, Jim and Linda took the heater back to a Home Depot in Casa Grande, and they refunded the money without hesitation. Jim then asked the lady at customer service if they had any other heaters in stock? She told him that they hadn't had any left for about 3 weeks!! : (

Jim really wanted to get another heater, so on the way back here, they stopped by an ACE Hardware Store and Jim went in to check. Well, they had some left, but not any tower heaters like he had.  But, they did have some "Pelonis Safe-T-Furnace Ceramic Heaters", so Jim bought one.

This is a much smaller heater, but it sure puts out the heat!! : )  It's been running all night, the temperature outside is down in the 30's but it's 72 degrees inside of me!!! 

I think it's going to be just fine!!! : )  And, it doesn't have all the electronic readouts and controls, so a power outage shouldn't bother it.  ; )

We're leaving here this morning and because of where we'll be going, I doubt if I'm going to be able to post every day for awhile. In fact, I doubt if I'll be posting much at all in the near future.

Here are the plans for the next couple weeks.

From here in Maricopa, we'll be heading to Quartzsite for a few days to do a little book-docking. Like I said yesterday, that will be a new experience for me, but I have confidence that I can handle it, for a few days at least.

From "Q", (as it's known in the RVing community), the plan is to head up to the Needles, CA area. There's an RV park up there that Jim and Linda have been to before, and if things go according to plan, we'll stay there for a day or two.

From there, we'll be heading to Tecopa, CA which is just outside of the Death Valley NP. Jim has found a park there that can accommodate me and has made a reservation for 1 week, starting on Sunday, the 25th of this month, (which is less than a week from now). The name of the park is Peterson's Tecopa Palms RV Park and has very good Reviews on RV Park Reviews. It is however, far away from any large towns or cities, so cell / Internet service may not be available.

From this park the plan is for Jim and Linda to take CLT and explore Death Valley on day trips.

Jim had originally planned on taking me into Death Valley and to one of the NP Campgrounds inside of the park, but one of the Campgrounds is closed for maintenance, and there are length or generator restrictions in some of the others. Also, it seems like this is one of the busiest times of the year for visitors to Death Valley, (because of the weather and "spring break"), so many of the campgrounds inside of the park will more than likely be full.

Now, I know some of you are wondering why on earth Jim and Linda would want to go to a place like Death Valley. There's nothing to see there, it's hot, it's dry, it barren, there's nothing growing there, no wildlife, and did I mention, it's Hot and Dry????

Well, Jim and Linda have wanted to see DV for quite some time now, (especially Jim), since it's one of the National Parks that they've not been to, and Jim seems to think that there are quite a few things to see. He's done quite a bit of research on the park and has come to the conclusion that it's worth spending some time exploring.

So, until April 1st, at least, I have no idea if I'll have any kind of Internet connection. In fact Jim and Linda  are not sure if they'll even have cell phone service. So, you may not hear from me or them for awhile.

Have no fear though, I'll keep track of  my wanderings and what's going on and will up-date you as soon as possible. And who knows, maybe I'll be able to post as usual!  : )

Did you know that at one time camels were used to transport goods across Arizona?