January 2017 – Benson AZ
This is our third visit to the SKP Saguaro Co-op in
Benson. I’ve written before about how much we like the people and the facilities here. This year we planned to
take a more active role by volunteering for a few of the many committees that
actually do the work necessary to keep the park operating. Volunteering also is
at the core of the strong social fabric that makes this place so special to us.
We also arrived with a list of needed repairs and upgrades, so keeping busy wasn’t
going to be a problem.
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| How can you get tired of this? |
Everything in the park that can be done without a permit or heavy equipment is done by the members. There are about 20 formal committees and twice that number of
informal ones that keep the Co-op humming. The formal committees include Budget,
Landscaping, Facilities, By-Laws, Grievance, Audit, Long Range Planning,
Marketing, etc., that have specific charters and responsibilities. The informal
committees tend to focus on social activities that run the gamut from Bingo to
Helping Hands, a group that steps in to assist folks with medical issues that
prevent them from handling daily chores like cleaning, cooking or
shopping. The Co-op is proud to be the largest source of volunteers within the City of
Benson , which
is deeply appreciated in the town.
I joined Landscaping and Facilities, Kayeanne
signed up for Bingo and Helping Hands. All of the grounds keeping in the park
is done by volunteers. Since the park covers 70 acres it takes a significant,
sustained effort to keep up with it all. Two mornings a week about 20
volunteers splits up into groups to trim trees, pull weeds, and plant things
in one place and uproot stuff in others.
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| Rocks! They're everywhere! |
Since we are in the desert, sand, gravel and rock make up the
majority of the landscaping materials. No grass is allowed in the park for
maintenance and water conservation reasons. I have become one of the designated
rock hounds. I always to get assigned to the team that moves rocks or, this week lays a new
flagstone walkway. Every rock in the whole park was put in by hand. I
have an intimate appreciation for what has gone into building this place.
The Facilities committee is responsible for the buildings, utilities
and infrastructure throughout the park. Recent projects included installing a
state-of-the-art WIFI system, adding storage buildings, revamping the welding
shop to accommodate new equipment, updating the sink drain system in the
clubhouse kitchen and fixing a broken sewer line. I missed those fun projects,
though. I’ve been moving rocks to repair an erosion problem and digging holes
for new security lights. I’m working my way up, I guess.
Tuesday night Bingo is a popular activity. Kayeanne is now part of the team that collects the
money, certifies winners and pays out the prizes. Like most things that looks
easy on the surface, it is training and planning that make the difference. I
was surprised at how much is involved. She looks forward to it and is feeling
more comfortable every week.
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| The key to terrific WIFI |
We have been anticipating using the highly touted WIFI system that was being installed when we left the park last March. Our initial experience was disappointing, to-say-the-least. Despite being across the street from one of the transmitters, we had lousy service.
It turned out that our next door neighbor was the system architect. Carl explained why this system worked differently that older WIFI installations and that to properly access it required additional hardware. A quick visit to Amazon and three days later UPS delivered the solution. We now have WIFI like we have never seen. Over 100 simultaneous users, most like us watching movies on Netflix and you never know anyone else is signed on: a terrific system.
We arrived here with a few must-fix problems and a number of
upgrades and issues that we wanted to tackle, too. Fixing the generator was at
the top of the list because we couldn’t dry camp without it. I checked a couple
of simple items and quickly decided that it was beyond my skills. We found a specialist
shop in Tucson
who quickly identified and fixed the problem. As coach repairs go, $265 is a
“big relief”.
The AquaHot heating and hot water system had been acting up,
again. I’ve lost track of the number of times I have “fixed” it. I have
suspected intermittent electrical problems for some time but could never pin
down one connection or a single component. This time I decided to replace the
main wiring harness. I am pessimistic, but it is working. We’ll see.
I have been chasing a constant electrical drain on the
chassis batteries that has on three occasions left us with dead batteries. I worked on it in New
Hampshire and thought I had it fixed. Ed Woznicki and
I worked on it in Nehalem, and again at Jojoba Hills in December. We pored over
circuit diagrams, tested and retested dozens of circuits and spent hours discussing
what could account for what we were seeing. It just didn’t make sense!
Ed stopped here for a few days in his coach on his way to Florida and we tackled
it again. This time Ed nailed it. Over two years ago the coach developed a
persistent “no start” problem that I tracked down to a defective relay in the ignition circuit. I
thought I replaced it with the same type, but clearly did not. I had fixed
the starting problem but created the current drain. Without Ed’s help, I would
never have found that. Thanks, again, Ed.
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| Arvel Bird, one of the visiting troubadours |
I don’t want to give the impression that all we do is fix the coach, shift rock and play a little Bingo. What sets this place apart is the social life. There
is something going on almost every day. Weekly dinners and daily happy hours
are just the start. Exercise classes, craft groups, card games, hikes,
Jeep tours and special events of all kinds happen every week. Kayeanne ’s delicious apple cinnamon cake brought $40
at the annual food auction. My Tex-Mex corn and chicken soup got strong reviews
at the “Souper Bowl” fund raiser party. The social life here can be a little
overwhelming, but we love it.
More soon,
Bob
