Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Coachella Valley, California - Travelogue Week 014


Dear Friends and Family,

This week was a big week for GameTracker!  We visited eight high schools in the Palm Springs area.  Only one did not want to take the time to listen.  The rest were delighted with the visits.  Indio High School requested a quotation so that they could issue a PO.  We also sent a quotation to La Quinta High School as both coaches showed great interest.  We'll contact all of them this week and see if we get orders.  We have many more schools to see in this area. We will stop by again in January or February.

From there we traveled to Sultana High School in Hesperia.  Pete put on at three hour training session with five people from Sultana High School and Apple Valley High School.  Both will be using GameTracker for the first time in the next week.  Then we visited Jan Rice from Redlands Adventist Academy.  Jan is the charter customer, purchasing three copies of GameTracker on the first day it was for sale!  Pete spent a couple of hours showing Jan some great tips about the program.

On September 22nd, we had passed through Garden City, Kansas.  Coach Jeff Tanner had asked if we could stop by.  We did, but he was not able to meet with us.  Well, Jeff called on Friday morning and ordered GameTracker.  We shipped it Next Day UPS and began training John Ford, the softball coach and his stat person, on the phone.

This might be boring to y'all.  But many of you have emailed us and asked when does the work begin.  This trip was billed as GameTracker USA Tour 2006.  The work has began.  Many thanks to nephew Eric for telling us not to make appointments but to make cold call visits.  It has worked very well and it is fun to meet the coaches.

We stopped by in Yucaipa to see Paul and Elvis Horn.  We could only stay for a short time, but it is always nice to see them.  We met two of their children, Larry and Eileen. After this busy week we settled into the Chula Vista RV park to visit with Melissa, Emily (and roommates) and Chad.

The BBQ is hot; gotta go; see you next week.

Love, Pete and Ellen

Sunrise in Palm Springs


New friends visiting in our motorhome. We are reuniting with them next week in Aguanga.


Still happy living inside the box.


Our campground in Rancho Mirage, CA. $0.00 per night.


Sunset, our first night at Chula Vista (San Diego)


Emily and Pete racing us to In-N-Out Burger.


Melissa, Emily, Chad, Salsa, Beka waiting for lunch.


Chad wins this hand.


Our campsite at Chula Vista RV park.  $53.00 per night.


A seagull on San Diego Bay


Motorhome Q&A:  Why buy a diesel instead of a gas motorhome?  Considering that a diesel motorhome costs about $40,000.00 more that a gas motorhome, that is a very good question.

A diesel motorhome is heavier. It has air bag suspension in place of metal springs.  The engine is in the back of the home.  The wheels at 22.5" where most gas motorhomes have 19" wheels.  There is no engine hump between the driver and passenger.  All of this combines to give a better ride.  It will also get better mpg and have more power going uphill.

Heavier: It is not affected much by side winds.
Air Suspension: Rides smoother and is lowered to the ground when parked.
Engine in rear: Very quiet up front while traveling.
Larger wheels give smoother ride.
No engine hump allow for front entry and no loss of wall space for side door.
About 8 mpg.  Some larger gas homes will only get 4-6 mpg.
Diesel engines break in about 50,000 to 100,000 miles and can last into the high 100,000's.
Oil changes cost $300.00 but only occur every 15,000 miles.

That said, don't buy a diesel unless you will use it a lot.  It is very expensive if you are just going to take weekend or 2-week vacation trips.
By Pete . Ellen Mattson

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