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 Ron and Terry's fulltime blog
We are a Big Rig looking for a Tent Experience.
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Friday Jan 31
Safe and sound at our winter property.
We traveled from Quartzsite on the west side of AZ to our winter house near Benson, AZ today. 

Old file photo of our place. Three section 2300 sq.ft. Palm Harbor home. 
Next to this on the left is a 1200 ft steel shop garage

280 miles later we are here and now have SOME of the stuff we needed to move from the RV to the house. After 7 or months it looked pretthy great to us. We try to have things in each so we don't have to unload everything each time. First was the computers and DirecTV receiver. Then start the ice maker in the fridge after turning on the water and electric to the property. Got ice from the RV for happy hour till the fridge takes over. 

We love our house in the south (AZ) with the east facing new 12X24 deck we added outside new hinged patio doors. 

Terry later went to KFC about 5 miles next to Pilot to get a 10 piece crispy with sides so we can relax later and watch Bill Maher on HBO. KFC is getting real pricy but once in a while who cares. It is so nice to be here after being gone since last June. Time to recharge and get Dr appoints done... hope that all goes OK. 
BTW Terry is doing great after his abscessed appendix scare. Now I am working with top level people at United Health Care to get his Ins. issues corrected now at last. That is after I escalated to the VP of HR at CenturyLink and the Health Benefits Coordinator. Now I after several weeks of frustration now have a direct line to call without going through their Service Center. About time.. We shall see how they resubmit all the  screwed up claims. 
Back at our move to Benson.... 
We are getting the place cleaned.  We both are like most adult males not be the most adapt at keeping the RV spotless. But at times I can get on a kick and go wild cleaning, Terry not so much. A character flaw on my part. I can find in this mode find the smallest dirt and grease spot anywhere. 
So after happy hour got into cleaning the house kitchen. 
So now after many rolls of paper towels the kitchen is looking good. 
Now for the Laundry after we moved back to Quartrzsite just pilled up. We do have a washer and dryer here in the house (bought new when we moved in two years ago) so no more Laundromats for us for awhile. Sweet. 
I should mention Terry is making many trips as to move stuff from the RV to the house. 

The weather had been so exceptional in AZ during January. But now at the end of the month it has turned to cool and cloudily with a strong cold breeze. Had a cold drizzle here in the afternoon. 
Not even close to up north but we are spoiled, Don't YA know.

We ran into Benson to Safeway and Walmart for stuff for us to eat for the Big Game. 
We are now set BIG TIME with food and goodies for the Super Bowl and more.

Wanted to post a pic of the Big Tent area in Quartzsite as we left town as they are taking it down. Like they say... The Party Is Over...

Saturday Jan 25
It's been a wild ride.
I'll back up to early January... As you may know Terry was rushed to the hospital in Lake Havasu City, AZ late in December with a colon abscess. Later a drain tube, which has now been removed. 
Still fighting with CebturyLink and United Health Care to get his Insurance straightened out. It went from no Ins on Jan 1 to just use the old  ID number you had in 2013 to no Ins. to just one day of the correct Ins. which was gone the next day, to back to the grand fathered Ins from 2013 again. In the meantime claims for now in 2014... some denied because of no Ins. or processed under the old plan and not the consumer driven plan he is supposed to have. A even the follow up CT Scan to remove the tube was denied payment saying the hospital didn't get pre authorization for it. This was the third one ... the first two were covered. 
All this will have to be worked out when they get him in the correct plan.  We have a call scheduled for next week for escalation.
We had a visit with the surgeon on Jan 15 and we were told no follow up surgery would be needed. So we packed up the RV and headed back to Quartzsite.    Like they say... What a Relief It Is...
Now we have been hanging out in Q watching the madness of the Big Tent Show and all the packed in RVers in the BLM. 
Attendance was down about 20% last year according the the BLM gate guard. But they report it's back up this year for sign-ups.
Some pictures of this.
The QIA Pow WoW Gem and Mineral Show.

The Big Tent Show
Next two pics from their web site. Since I can't fly. 

Now for inside tof he big tent.

 Beer Belly's   Adult Day Care 


Need a hat

As yo can see something seems to be missing in the next picture on the dish.  While still in Havasu City my Datastorm Internet Satellite went out. It is also used to get DirecTV HD TV. So we were stuck watching the RV parks cable TV and using my Droid smartphone for internet.  My D3 control box wouldn't communicate with the dish on top of the RV. We got it to stow by putting battery power to the control wires to make the drive motors move. Now in Q after much help form the forum www.datastormusers.com was able to get Internet working again.  During the time trying to get it workiing while now camped in the BLM withiout DirecTV we went and bought a stand alone DirecTV dish on a tripod. As for getting the Internet to work had to buy a used dish from the Paul at Satellite Advantage here in Q. But I got it working. The new to me used dish is sitting on the ground for right now. These things are heavy. Had to remove the transmitter from the old one the roof (that's why it's missing in the first picture) and put it on the one on the ground to get it all to work. The company that made all this stuff is not in business anymore so all parts are used and hard to find. 
We love to be able to go off road where you don't have cell internet service. 
And this is the only way to do it so need to keep it working. 

Think we have enough dishes. The tansmitter less non working one is still on the roof. 
Buying another used dish Paul has, for spare parts. It's the last one he has. 
And he gives no guarantee that they will work. The price is right so will take my chances. 
We got the brand new DirecTV dish from him also. 

We have been getting time to have several fires. 
After all it has been the most fantastic weather down here this year. 
Mid to high 70s and even into the low 80s. Never has a January been this nice here in Q that we have seen. Sorry South TX and Florida. This year we got your weather. We can't comperhend waht -20 is like back up north. We once lived in that, but not anymore. 

We are in AZ and this is a Recreational Fire... NOT needed for heat. 

Now just yesterday our SiriusXM radio boom box crapped out. Had to order a new 18 v dc power supply for it. 
Amazon 1-3 day delivery charge of $9. Supply $24
We love sitting out with it around the fire. We are big fans of Cousin  Brucie on chan 6 on Sat. night. 
It does work on batteries.
 
 

Wednesday Jan 8
Happy... Happy... Happy
We just got back from the hospital in Lake Havasu City  where they did another CT Scan. Results were great... abscess has (dried) cleared up so they could remove the drain tube and bag. He only has a bandage over the old drain tube hole. He is so glad to get that out of him. We are on the mend and only have to go back for follow up on Jan 22. Staying here in the fancy RV Resort and will just enjoy the area.  Now to watch the claims roll in. Each CT Scan is about $7K he had 4 of them... let alone an ER visit, ambulance trip, and 4 days in this hospital. Have already seen one Dr. bill for $28K.  UHC sez that must be wrong as they will fight that. And life goes on... Thanks for your thoughts... we are now heading in the right direction.
If you have been following along... I had said we had been having trouble getting Terrys Health Ins. set up for 2013.
On Monday I called UHC and they said Terry's old ID and Group number had been reestablished and to use it.  Same one as last year. To get set up for the CT Scan the hospital called it in and it worked. 
Called and told this to the Health Coordinator for CL and CWA and he said he was getting swamped with calls as CL and UHC had things screwed up real bad. Deductible amounts, claims, you name it are not correct for thousands.
Since Terry got ill late in 2013 we will get to our out of pocket max for 2013 and now start over for 2014 and will hit max out of pocket right away again now. Wish it would have happened all in one years time frame. 
 

Thursday Jan 2
Here we go again...
Well it's the new year and our Health Ins. changed. We didn't get a new ID card for Terry so I called Medica CDHP Ins. company and they have no record of any Ins. for him for 2014. . Called Century Link who provides the Ins. and they say he should have Ins. and sez Medica Ins. is in error and are trying to work it out. So in the meantime Terry who has a tube hanging out of his side and going back to the surgeon on Monday now does not have Ins. till this is fixed. 
I have escalated this to all levels, even to the VP of Human Resources at Century Link. She wrote back saying this is not just us, but many are having the same problem and she was working on it for me. 
For some good news...
They had a cancellation at the RV park here in Havasu City so we can now stay another week or so during the Balloon Festable.
 
 

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