Moving into Arizona and a New Tech Gadget

Yuma, AZ

Friday we left CA and headed toward the state we'll winter in this year, Arizona.  The drive was about 255 miles from the SKP Co-Op at JoJoba Hills, Aguanga, CA to the SKP Co-Op named KOFA in Yuma, AZ.  The trip was uneventful (always a good thing), but this time I was trying out a new gadget in the motorhome.

I recently decided to purchase a dash camera for our travels.  The decision was two fold.  First, it's a way to record our travels down the highways without having to constantly take pictures thru the windshield.  Secondly, and more importantly in my mind, is the ability to have the camera act as a "witness" in the event of a crash or similar event.  In this world of excessive litigation, sometimes just being in the "right" is not enough.

As many who follow this blog know, I am an active poster and follower of the Tiffin RV Network Forum. I've received a lot of help there and have received honest opinions of products.  This was the case when I began my search for a dash camera.

I had a few criteria to be met for a dash camera.  Price is always a concern and I didn't want to pay a fortune, but most importantly was the ability to capture a clear picture.  After following a few discussion threads on dash cameras I placed an order for the Windshield Witness. This camera is lightweight and comes with a suction cup window mount, an AC charger, a DC power cord, a USB cable, and either an 8gb or 32gb SDHC memory card (depending upon your preference). Best of all, the camera can record a true HD image at 1920x1080 or 1280x720 resolutions. The file format is .mp4 and files can be captured from a menu selection of 1,2,3 or 5 minutes, or a continuous capture (until the SD card fills).

The item is shipped from the Baltimore, MD area (I'm sure it's made in one of the Asian countries) and arrived to me in CA via USPS Priority Mail in short order.

Okay, with all of that out of the way, I thought I'd show an edited 86 second clip of our journey from Aguanga, CA to Yuma, AZ.  I've edited the trip to show different road conditions and ambient lighting.  SPECIAL NOTE HERE!  The full HD 1920x1080 video looks MUCH BETTER in the raw version coming out of the camera when compared to the following YouTube video because YouTube compresses their video so that it will transfer faster coming from the internet.

For some reason, the YouTube link is not playing well with Internet Explorer. (I think just a black box is shown.)   Just click on the "black box" and you should see the play arrow.

Make sure to select "720p HD" from the settings menu in the bottom right part of the YouTube screen below to get the best clarity available from YouTube's already compressed video.




Should you have any questions or comments please drop me an email.


Ok, enough product evaluation for today.   On to Arizona!

We're staying at the SKP's KOFA Co-Op in Yuma, AZ for the next week.  The entire landscape and climate is different from what we've experienced thus far in our travels this year.  The temperatures have "dropped" to the lower 90's now, but most owners in the campground have not yet returned for the winter. (BTW, the humidity midday is around 7-10%).  Remember, it's a dry heat.  Karen likes to say that it's a dry heat in an oven also. 

The entire CG is extremely flat, so an unlevel site is really not possible.  We have plenty of space around the rig.  In this picture, our site is from wall-to-wall.

I really enjoy the layout of the streets in this CG. All are very wide, so getting into and out of (all are back-ins) sites is very easy.  Also, no having to pull off to the edge to enable another rig to pass by in the opposite direction.

Being Yuma (and very hot in the summer months), a pool and hot tub are welcome amenities.  Only a few of the SKP Co-Op parks have pools and we were happy to see one here.

Landscaping is very different in the Southwest.  If you really have to see a lot of "green" and "tree cover" then the desert areas in this part of the country are not for you.  We have come to enjoy the variety of cactus and plants (many of them new to us "Easterners").

Aside from a central lounge which houses many of the activities in the park, there is also a very nice and clean laundry.

What blog on this area would be complete without the obligatory picture of the cactus.














Sunday was television football day for me (Karen went out shopping), so not much else was accomplished today.   Hey, how about them Washington Redskins!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!