Two Problems Solved

Yesterday our mail included the November utility bill from the resort. I almost had a heart attack. The bill showed we had used 2,368 kilowatt hours of electricity between Oct. 23 and Nov. 23. What? There is no way that could be possible. There had to be a mistake. Fortunately, I have the bills from last spring when we were in the same site. The beginning meter reading on last month's bill was 1,935 kwh lower than the final reading on the meter April 1 when we left. Before calling 911, we decided to go talk to the office about the matter.

They agreed something was wrong. An hour or two later, we received a call saying yes, the beginning meter reading used was wrong. The matter had been corrected and instead of being charged $249.84 for electricity and tax, we only owed $74.40. Whew, that is a relief. I think whoever entered the data in the computer hit the wrong number for the second digit of the reading. Problem solved.

The second problem involved licensing the truck we just bought. It will be titled in Arizona but needs to be registered and licensed in Colorado. Our temporary permit expires in February but we won't be in Colorado till April or later. That means we needed to have the VIN verified by law enforcement here, then send that form, a power of attorney and several other things to our son, who will take it to the county motor vehicle office.

That is the same thing we did with the new RV. Getting the VIN verification from law enforcement in Kansas was no problem. But when we asked the dealer here to have law enforcement verify the VIN on the truck, they said they had never heard of such a thing. They reported they even called the Mesa police and were told they didn't do that. Based on that report, I contacted the county clerk in Colorado and learned we could use the Arizona Motor Vehicle Department VIN verification only if the local police gave us a written statement that they would not do the verification.

Today, John took the form to the local Mesa PD substation to get the verification or have them sign a letter I had written, stating they don't do that. He walked in, asked to have the VIN verified and the female sergeant said, "I can do that for you." Great news. Problem number two solved. What a relief.