What Did We Do to Deserve All This?

We left Sutter Creek on Saturday for a leisurely drive up to Eugene to get our stuff which is still in the old unit in a salvage yard. We had planned to be there on Tuesday.

When we got to Coloma, CA, we took a wrong turn. Now that normally shouldn't be a problem...we've taken lots of them. But this one went up a big hill. This will be important later.

Trying to turn around, we got stuck. Fortunately, some nice guys, a father and son, managed to get us unstuck, but for some unknown reason, our power steering took that moment to fail. As in all the power steering fluid leaked out in a gush. Is that still a leak? The guys put some power steering fluid in and we headed back to make camp.

Remember that hill? Well, apparently power steering has something to do with power brakes. By the bottom of the hill we had neither. Jenny used brute strength to stop us and then managed to make the turn to get us to the campground. She truly is an amazing woman.

So there we are, at the entrance to the campground, no brakes, no steering, unable to move. The guy who was checking us in identified a place we could safely pull into and Jenny (who is gaining butch cred as we speak) managed to manhandle the dang thing into a space out of the way, but with no hookups. Since it's cold up here, we wanted both water and electricity.

Now this was Saturday. Today is Wednesday. Try to keep up.

We called AAA and our membership more than paid for itself on this one. The guy arrived, realized we were stuck in a bad place, and went back to get a truck with a fifth wheel hitch. Did I mention we have the AAA RV policy? A lifesaver and worth every penny.

First, Andy (AAA guy) hooked up our RV and put it in a very nice space that even has some WIFI. Then he also hooked everything up (water, electricity, etc.)
Then he went and got our truck and brought it to our site so we could get some things out of it that we had forgotten to grab. Finally he hauled it off to a repair shop in Placerville, about 20 miles away. We love Andy and want to keep him.

Since it was Saturday night by now, we had to hunker down because, obviously, nothing was going to happen to our truck until Monday at the earliest. And this is where our Thousand Trails membership becomes invaluable. RV sites cost anywhere from $20 to $50 a night. In fact, the site we're in is $40 a night for those who aren't members. But, because we pay our $500 a year dues, we stay here for between $0 and $3 a night. We're still just paying $0 a night and we've been staying all over the place for that price.

On Monday, we learned that our truck needed new rack and pinion steering. $866 worth.  Today, the day we hoped to pick up the truck, we found out we also need new brakes. The place the truck is now wants $1500 for that. Fortunately, there is a Les Schwab in Placerville, not far from the repair shop. We have an account with Les Schwab. So here we are, waiting for a cab (yes, a cab) to take us to Placerville. Then we will fork over the $866, get the truck, and take it to Les Schwab for brakes.

Remember, this is Wednesday. If you follow the weather (or have the weather) you know that a potential hurricane is coming in this afternoon. Gusts up to 60 mph, between 3 to 9 inches of rain. Everywhere we want to be. Our plan now is to hunker down (doing a lot of that lately) and ride it out here in Coloma.

However, we are out of clean clothes (remember, we have limited cold weather gear with us) so we are off to do laundry. We are also out of food. In fact, I've had to get really creative with the cooking the last few days. But my creativity goes out the window when all I have is a can of refried beans, some marshmallows, a couple of Kind bars, and some brandy. Oh, and some cereal, but no milk. A grocery trip is in order.

Now, did I mention fibromyalgia. No, we don't need to get that. I already have it, and cold, damp weather makes my back knot up like a washboard, And my ribs. And my hips. I can walk around a bit, almost bend over, and, naturally, I can groan. If I had my sewing machine, I'd make one of those flax pillows you can heat in the microwave. But since it is in Eugene, I plan to look for a heating pad. I also will buy some rubbing alcohol so I can make an ice pack or two.

We'll ride it out, and then, maybe by Monday, be in Eugene. In the meantime, I'm grateful for our fireplace, comfortable bed, full propane tanks, and a free place to stay. If only we also had TV. Ah well, at least we have some WIFI.

35 Things We Learned Between September and November: A Mad Dash Across No-Man's Land

As you may know, on September 11, 2014, our Dutchman Denali 330RLS self-destructed on the big hill into Prineville. There were flames, there was smoke, there were lots and lots of police, state police, and firemen. And the whole town turned out. Another town that needs a bowling alley.

We had it towed to an RV joint, and began the long wait. It took two weeks just for the insurance guy to get there and decide it was totaled. It took several more weeks for them to find a replacement. Meanwhile, we lived on our usual income, the $700 the insurance company gave us, and our available savings. Most of our money is in an IRA-type thing and takes 30-60 days to arrive so that was a non-starter. Which is probably good.

The insurance company found a comparable rig, only one year newer, in Council Bluffs, IA. It would take six weeks to be delivered, or they would give us $3000 if we wanted to go get it ourselves. We took the money, after even more delays, and finally lit out for Iowa.

We did leave the cats (who hate the car) with our friends Paula and Rosemary in The Dalles. We suspect there is some alienation of affection going on, but we won't sue.

Things we learned:

1. In Pendleton, OR, they play high school football on the rodeo grounds. I guess they don't get enough shit-kicking in during rodeo season.

2. Nampa, ID has a high school team called the Bulldogs. Jenny went to high school there, so we went to the reunion. We didn't shock as many people as we did 20 years ago at her 30th reunion.

3. Pocatello, ID is where her aunt and uncle live.

4. Jackson Hole is not a city. The city is Jackson, WY, the hole is the basin it sits in.

5. You can ski right into the town of Jackson when there is snow. The runs begin and end in the town.

6. The city arches are made of elk and moose antlers.

7. A diesel truck is not a good choice for spotting animals in Grand Teton National Park. Probably not anywhere else either.

8. If you cross the Continental Divide by driving through Grand Teton National Park, the landscape changes dramatically when you get to the other side.

9. Wyoming is mostly empty. But there is Casper, which is where we stayed. There were no friendly ghosts. Not that we looked.

10. Just outside Rapid City, SD there is an old town with lots of casinos. We had a pretty good steak dinner at a place that lots of famous people have visited.

11. We spent several days in Rapid City and visited several National Parks. Devil's Monument is back in Wyoming, but not too far. According to legend, the monument was formed by a giant bear trying to get some Native Americans who were on top of the giant rock.

12. To get to Devil's Monument, we passed through the geographical center of the continental United States. How cool is that?

13.  Custer State Park is amazing. We saw lots of buffaloes just outside our car. Of course, we didn't want them inside our car.

14. The monument to Crazy Horse is huge, about 10 times the size of Mount Rushmore. It is also unfinished.

15. Mount Rushmore was a disappointment. Much smaller than I anticipated, and hard to see because of all the gift shops, restaurants, etc. We got there late so the light was lousy for photos, and we didn't have time or energy to run the gauntlet to get closer.

16. There are statues of all the Presidents on the street corners of downtown Rapid City. Obama will be added when he leaves office. These things are supposedly life size. If true, they were all very short men.

17. Wall Drug is big, sort of weird, and is pretty much the whole town of Wall, SD.

18. The Badlands are BAD. I sure wouldn't want to live there. but they were beautiful in a weird. moon landscape sort of way. Interesting geology.

19. Prairie dogs have PLAGUE. They also share their holes (not sure it's willingly) with black widow spiders and rattlesnakes. Avoid them.

20. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD has murals made out of corn. They change the murals every year, probably because the corn rots.

21. Mitchell, SD also has lots of pheasant hunters and signs like this at the motels.

22. There's a real cool museum in Sioux Falls. It was closed the day we were there, although the Internet said it was open. Another time.

23. To get to Omaha, NE you have to cross the Missouri River and drive through Iowa.

24. Omaha was the first place we encountered that had a Trader Joe's. What's wrong with these people in the mid-West, anyway.

25.  If you decide to buy an RV with slides, put them in and out several times before you leave the lot. On our second attempt the kitchen slide got stuck in the out position. It took a week to fix it. They had to order parts from Omaha. Omaha and Council Bluffs might as well be the same city. I offered to drive to Omaha (about five miles) to pick up parts, but that's not the way it works.

26. If you just don't leave the RV sales lot, and you camp out in your new RV, you might get away with it for a day or two. When you get caught, suddenly they are more than willing to pay for a motel for you. And they will make your rig their top priority. The general manager will become your contact person. I highly recommend this tactic.

27. Kansas City is actually mostly in Missouri. My best friend from high school lives there. We had coffee with them because we were trying to outrun the big storm headed our way and didn't have time to stay.

28. If the salesman tells you both propane tanks are filled, don't believe it. You will find this out in Guymon, OK which is pretty much nowhere in the panhandle and it's below freezing with a wind chill factor of 2 degrees. All of your warm clothes are back in Oregon. But you have to get the truck unhitched because if you have no propane you will freeze to death. It takes two frozen people to do this.

29. Tucumcari, NM is a sleepy town with light snow. Maybe not all the time, but while we were there.

30.  Albuquerque, NM has a great mobile RV guy. Ask us how we know. Okay, turns out the factory and the sales lot both missed the loose connection between the kitchen faucet and the line. Our drawers under the sink were filling up with water. Which we didn't notice until the water started leaking onto the floor.

31.  Arizona is not necessarily warm.

32.  Jenny's mom died while we were traveling. This was not unexpected, but it was still hard. We decided to haul ass for Palm Desert where there is a 1000 Trails campground. She flew to Portland, I stayed with the dog. And no propane, no gas in the truck and no money.We survived. But it does get cold here at night.

33. The entire Palm Springs area makes no sense. It's about twenty miles long, four miles wide, Roads don't necessarily run in directions that make sense. And I suspect telling the AAA people that you are out of gas near the corner of Famous Person and Famous Person, they'll think you're nuts. Fortunately, I finally found a station that had diesel. All the Famous Person's are Republicans. So it goes.

34. La Perlita has the best Mexican food in all of this area. The chili rellenos are to die for. We went there twice.

35. If you are going to swim here in November, get to the pool before 2 pm. At 3:30 the sun goes down and so does the heat.

There are buffalos in the room....

....but they're not free. Weirdest thing I've heard today.

We spent some time with Jenny's aunt and uncle in Pocatello and are now in Jackson Hole, WY on our way to the Grand Teton National Park. First, though, we went to Starbucks which is right next to the obligatory Sally Beauty.

Twas a gorgeous drive, a beautiful day, clouded only by the fact that I took a muscle relaxer last night, proving once again that the brain is a muscle. Those things turn me into Jabba the Hutt only dumber. Time for a nap.

Pulled off at Blackfoot to see this:

Yes, there was a Sally Beauty, too.

No snowplows between 9 pm and 5 am

What? These people have personal snowplows? Isn't plowing something done by city or county folks? Why would they need a sign telling them when not to plow? I'm baffled. Maybe out here in the land of the Marlboro man they all have snowplows.

We spent the day at Grand Teton national park. Amazingly beautiful. I took photos but will have to add them later when I have access to a real computer instead of a tablet. We saw NO wildlife although we tried. Well, there were mallards and geese and one lone coot.

The Pendelton Roundup

No, we're not at the rodeo. It's cold and wet here so that would be wrong. No, right now the rodeo grounds is being used for football which just proves that people like to enjoy America's so-called favorite pastime in horse shit.

After a free breakfast at the Oxford Suites and a brisk swim, we are headed for Idaho on our way to Iowa. I feel like Columbus without the rape, contagion, and abuse of indigenous peoples. While I've flown over the flyover states many times, I've only driven there once and that was in Canada.

Infants and toddlers were involved so it was not fun. Although my ex-husband will tell you it was his best vacation ever. He fished. I washed babies in buckets and tried to keep kids from drowning and being eaten by indigenous wildlife. Tents were also involved.

Note to fathers: if it's your child it's called parenting, not babysitting. Learn this or you may find your wife divorcing you and leaving to hang out with lesbians.

So we left Pendleton after Jenny lost her keys. I found them. In the car, which she also left unlocked. I did beg, for the million twelfth time, that she become methodical and thus keep track of the keys. I've been begging for the past 23 years. Yes, I am insane. Thank you for noticing.

Several Hours Later

We are now in Mountain Home, Idaho which is east of Boise and has no mountains. It does have an Air Force base and a Sally Beauty store. I believe the latter is obligatory in any Idaho town. However, I'm pretty sure the sun should not be shining in our eyes at 5 pm if we are truly headed east. Are we directionally challenged? Time to rethink this.

Middle of the Night

It's now after 9 pm. I am in pain, have pumped myself full of MMJ and Vicodin, and just want to go to bed. But someone (you know who you are) told Jenny to take this "better" road, the scenic route. Scenic doesn't work in the dark. We have missed many sights and I'm approaching meltdown. We're still an hour out of Pocatello, which that idiot SIRI mispronounces differently each time. I hate SIRI.

Family Reunion

While in Morgan Hill, we got to attend the 24th annual Walker-Tallmon reunion. That's Jenny's family. It was small this year, with only about 180 people in attendance.

This time around, people seemed glad to see me. Last time we went, they whited me and my kids out of the family tree. We had a fun time, eating food, talking, watching old people be weird. We also celebrated the 100th birthday of one of the original family members. The last one, if I'm correct.

The reunion was held in Swanton which is close to Santa Cruz. Jenny turned on Siri (I hate Siri) and asked it to direct us to Davenport which is not where the family reunion was. Swanton is north of Davenport. So every time we drove past Davenport, Siri told us what to do. Which was turn around and go back to Davenport.

Using skills developed after years of investigative reporting and child abuse investigations, I finally figured out that Jenny had not changed Siri's destination and we were doomed to circle around this tiny town. I turned Siri off, and Jenny drove right to the reunion. She has been to Swanton many times, and knows exactly where the place is.

Of those 180 or so people, most of them were Jenny's cousins. Some were also double cousins. Those happen when siblings from one family marry siblings from another. Don't even try to understand this. This is a family with 12 kids, each of whom had a passel of kids of their own,  Jenny is the oldest of her generation, but there are members of the previous generation who are younger than she is. This is why I just call them all Uncle Benny.

Random photo of the day:

This is oleander. It grows everywhere. It is deadly poisonous. (Think Arsenic and Old Lace..the old ladies used oleander in the tea they used to murder some guy.) Do Californians have a death wish?

Morgan Hill, California

We spent a week in the Thousand Trails property in Morgan Hill. This town is significant because a whole bunch of Jenny's relatives lived, died, and were buried here. Trader Joe's is right where her great-grandmother's house stood.

While the wifi is non-existent, the pool more than made up for it. The fact that the pool is right next to the laundry room is genius. Put in the wash, swim, switch to the dryer, swim some more. Ache like crazy the next day because you spent an hour and a half in the pool.

The wifi is also right by the pool, but doesn't work worth crap.

Random photo of the day:

This was on the wall at a little Mexican restaurant in Los Pinos, population 500, home to four fabulous restaurants. We only ate at two of them, because one was outrageously expensive and the other was only open three days a week and had a wait list that when on for all three days. I think people  just lined up in their pajamas and slept until their name was called.

Yes, that is a picture of a real firing squad. Sort of unnerving to have that sitting above your plate of chili rellenos. Which were fabulous.

And now, having used a word starting with un-, I feel compelled to tell you that we owe William Shakespeare for those two little words that undo everything.

The Cutest Damn Dim Sum

The Ginger Cafe in Gilroy serves these little beauties. Too adorable to eat, too tasty not to. We managed to have these little porcupine balls TWICE while trapped in Motel 6.

No real porcupines were harmed.

Dope is the thing with feathers.....

When you are living in Motel 6 with two cats and a dog, you need the medicine. But if you put the medicine in the bag with the cat toys, you just might get this. My apologies and eternal gratefulness to Emily Dickinson.

Drought

Did I mention that California (and Oregon and Washington, and just about everywhere else) has a drought. California is the state with the road signs that won't tell you where the next rest area is, but every few miles they tell you that there is a Severe Drought and to Conserve Water.

Well, here's proof.

The thing in back of the boat houses is an island. Or used to be. I was just glad I couldn't see dead fish flapping on the lake bottom.

If I Only Had a Thumb.....

Well, aside from almost three weeks in various Motel 6 locations, we spent a month living in our friends MaryJean and Rick's basement apartment. Why? Because one of our slides broke loose and instead of the "few days" we were promised, it took Leale's RV in San Diego from June 6th to July 17th to fix the dang thing. And they still aren't finished. We are currently waiting for a window and they forgot to fix our porch light.

I'm guessing it will be weeks before the window gets here. Since we have places to go, I suspect it will be October before the window gets installed. This has been a nightmare. We had to stay at Motel 6 because they are the only motels in California that will allow three pets AND not charge us $25 per night per pet.  Of course, for that boon we got to listen to screaming babies, domestic violence, and every high school soccer player from Arizona yelling in the halls and parking lot. We also got to watch an endless parade of pimps, prostitutes, and johns, not to mention several police officers visiting at all hours of the day and night. Such a life! Oh, and the washing machines were broken thanks to a tweaker who tried to jimmy the coin boxes.

Did I mention the cats?

Zeebie looking content. It's not true though.

The cats, the dog, and Jenny all had diarrhea on the way back. In the Motel 6.  Zee and Abby wanted out and tried fanatically to open windows and doors, and to slip by us. Zee, wonder cat that he is, understands the concept of door knobs and is trying to grow an opposable thumb and is working on his upper body strength. I got in the habit of throwing things as soon as I cracked the door to drive the hordes back into the room. Fortunately, the diarrhea slowed them all down just enough to contain them.

Just south of Mt. Shasta City, Zee managed to get the huge dog crate they traveled in open. I turned around just in time to see a front leg, shoulder, and head emerging. Sort of like watching a big plastic and metal cage give birth to a raptor. I was the one doing the pushing, though, as I shoved the door back in place and held it there until Jenny could pull off on that exit that goes nowhere. If you drive down I-5 much, you know the one. NO SERVICES. Nothing. Just a random off ramp. We pulled over and then we had to get the dog in the front seat so I could get in the back seat, all the while being the immovable object against which Zee, the irresistible force, was fighting with all his might. Cats don't get physics. Neither do I but I did get a courtesy C because I was the only person in class who could understand the instructor's thickly-accented English and provided interpretation services. Anyway, physics or not, bungee cords to the rescue. The big, thick, wide, super strong one. 

Jenny and I argued over the bungee cords when we were getting ready for this adventure. She didn't think they were necessary.  I thought they were essential. I win. She thinks a can of WD-40 and some duct tape will handle everything. Well, I think Zee had some WD-40 to help him get the dang thing open, and I hate to imagine cats all wound up in duct tape. Bumgees to the rescue.

Carmel By-the-Sea and Salinas

Yesterday, we drove down to Carmel so Jenny could take a trip down memory lane (she lived there one summer). We had a lovely breakfast and a woman we chatted with ended up paying our bill. Good karma for the strawberry fairy, I guess.

Here's my favorite sight in Carmel:

Driving by quickly,  I thought it was an elephant crossing. Looking closer, I discovered that it's actually a boar crossing. The boar's name is, I suspect, Rudolph.

After our tour, we headed to Salinas which is where Jenny was born. This is her grandparents' old house in Salinas:

This is the house John Steinbeck grew up in in Salinas:

The people of Salinas didn't like him because he wrote about the marginalized. Then he became famous and they all wanted him to come to their parties. I like him because when he was twelve, he was a crucifer at the local Episcopal church. While carrying the cross, which is what a crucifer does, he managed to drop the cross on the bishop's head and knock the guy unconscious.  Steinbeck left the church as a result, never to return.

Yes, I did eat this. It was okay.

Strawberrues

There's an organic strawberry stand on the way home from Gilroy (garlic capital of the world) and we had been trying for days to get there in time and with cash. Nothing but cash accepted.

Finally, we got there just as they were closing. Jenny asked for a half flat and the woman gave her a full one for the price of a half.

Huge, juicy, delicious. And way too many for us to eat. So Jenny drove around giving half the flat away, one box at a time. We must have looked questionable because some people wouldn't take them.

We finally finished the half flat today. Time to get more.

More Beach Sights

Pelicans.

All that's left of the See Vue in Yachats

What there is now at the old See Vue site.

A sign on a toad. Says "Be Patient, I'm Pushing a Big Motorhome

Jenny made me take this.

Blessings and Beer

Above is the Reverend Patti Hale, of St. Mattress Church in Eugene (damn you, spellchecker). She came over while we were trapped in Junction City and exorcised our RV. She then cast aspersions on it. 

At the Rogue Gallery in Newport, I asked what exactly a Dead Guy Growler was. This is it.

One of these is the men's room. The other is the women's. You have to guess.

This Is For Our Granddaughter, Princess Stegasaurus

San Juan Bautista

Those of you who know Jenny know that she would be fascinated by old California missions. We spent one morning wandering around San Juan Bautista. Here's pictures:

I'm pretty sure this guy is doing a sun salutation.

This is the holy water thing. I love the colors and folk art.

This is the BVM, Mary to those of you who don't speak Catholic. She's wearing a prom dress. In some churches, they change her dress every day.

On the way home, we drove through a local park and saw this sign:

There was a huge barbecue spit nearby. Coincidence? I don't think so.

We also met this guy:

His name is Dan and he and his wife are the caretakers of the park. Apparently, the boars come down from wherever they come from up in the hills and root around in the ground when it's wet. Since there is a drought here, we didn't see any. But we did see this sign while in San Juan Bautista.

As you can see, boars are among the things not allowed. Nor are dogs. Or people.

Back in camp, I took this picture. These woodpeckers are all over the place.

So, onward.

Adventures In and Around Monterey

With not much else to do except wait for repairs, we've spent our time exploring.
Our first day out, we went to Monterey for lunch. Naturally, with all the great seafood around, we went to an English pub, sort of like the Highland Still House back home. We chose this place because of the view.

Jenny got totally absorbed in this thing:

This is a thing used to lower sailboats from the dock into the water. The sailboat is suspended in a sling of sorts, this boom thing, then swings and lowers it into the bay. We watched them lower a boat, then the guy who owned the boat made a bad jump from the boat to the dock and embarrassed himself. We did not laugh. I am becoming better behaved.

Then we went to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

Stuck In Hollister, Maybe Forever

We are currently at the Thousand Trails property in Paicines (pop. 240) which is near Tres Pinos (pop. 500 plus three excellent restaurants) which is also near Hollister (pop. 40,000) which has a laundromat and lots of the usual city stuff like Starbucks and fast food.

We've been here almost two weeks, and will be here a couple more most likely because, as usual, we are learning IMPORTANT lessons.

New Lesson: Only get gas at truck stops when hauling a fifth wheel.

We made the mistake of trying to go to a regular gas station in Sacramento. Sacramento has long been considered my nemesis so this story is not that amazing. They planted landscaping trees in this gas station. We hit one. Although we didn't know it at that time.

When we got to camp (here in the lovely San Benito Valley) we discovered this.

Yes, that is a broken window. There was glass all over the place, inside the RV, which took forever to clean up and we are still finding little shards in odd places.

We were able to set up, spent several days, and were ready to move on when we discovered our kitchen slide would not close. It opened just fine, but putting the dang thing back in was not going to happen. Here is why:

Do not ask me how this happened. I don't know. What I do know is that we called the insurance company last Saturday. They couldn't take our claim because it was Saturday. We called again on Monday. The adjuster finally called on Wednesday, and can be here next Tuesday. And of course, we can't a) take it to a repair shop until he approves and b) take it anywhere until it's somehow back in the RV where it belongs and c) can't make an appointment until he tells us we can.

Just for kicks, we called a shop and found out that as of last Monday, their next available appointment is in June. This could be a very long sojourn in Hollister.

Spanish word of the day: Joyeria. No, after my mistake thinking a ferreteria is a place to eat ferrets, I've learned not to jump to conclusions. So I figured this probably was not a place to eat joy.  I looked this one up and it's a jewelry store. 

Ha! I bet my 3-year-old granddaughter doesn't know that one. However, I'm pretty sure that after some time in a Peruvian pre-school, she can probably form a good sentence. I can say "Donde es los banos," a profoundly useful sentence, but not what I'd call great conversation.

More later.

Playing Catch Up

So, this may be a series of random posts. We've made it as far as Hollister (earthquake capitol of the world, if Jenny is to be believed) and tomorrow we plan to head down to the LA area. I've got photos, and stuff, and things to say.

We've been here for four days, visiting Monterey, Gilroy (garlic capitol of the world), Castroville (artichoke capitol of the world...either there is a theme here or California (8th largest economy in the world) is out to take over the entire world one vegetable and one economy at a time).

So, first some good news. Jenny and I have lost a combined total of 29 pounds. That's fifteen for her, fourteen for me, but who's keeping score. We're already discussing the need for new clothes. In case you want to know how, we're doing the Whole30, sort of, and living in a fifth wheel involves lots of physical work.

We spent a couple days in a Thousand Trails outside of Oregon House (which is in California), north of Sacramento. Driving from Ashland to Oregon House, we noticed that Lake Shasta is REALLY low. The lowest we've ever seen it, and we've done this drive many times. We're used to seeing the sides of the lake bare, but this time we saw the lake bottom in spots.

And just in case we didn't get that California is experiencing a severe drought, there are electronic highway signs every few miles reminding of us this fact and telling us to conserve water. Now, can you find a rest area in California? Of course not. (Maybe they got rid of them so they could save water?) But if you need drought reminders, they are everywhere.

Lots of empty, and by empty I mean NO water, creek and river beds. The eucalyptus trees are dying, apparently due to lack of water although it could be some plague, and NO rest areas. (We did find one just across the border, and another south of Sacramento, but that's a long way between toilets.) And just try to get a glass of water in San Juan Bautista. We did. You can't.

Anyway, I digress. I'll post this, download some photos from the camera, and get on with the story.

And, yes, we've had adventures. See you round the bend.

Still in Oregon

Well.  We've been gone almost a month and still haven't made it out of Oregon. A week in Newport, waiting for our appointment with Guaranty RV. Another 12 days in Junction City while Guaranty made several stabs at fixing the RV. So far so good. Then most of a week in Florence, where we could camp for free, while waiting for some money to arrive. Now due to time constraints, we're back in the I-5 corridor, near Ashland, preparing to head south on I-5.

Repairs on the RV and a new pair of glasses for Jenny set us back about $800 we hadn't budgeted for. After all, when your new RV spends six months at the dealer, you sort of expect that it won't fall apart right out of the gate. But it did. Things the dealer said weren't a problem were, the gas leak the dealer said didn't exist did, the stabilizers they said they fixed, they didn't. "Nuff said about the dealer. We will not return there. (Curtis RV in PDX. AVOID.)

Guaranty managed to fix it all, for much less, and so far it's all working. Tomorrow we may actually make it to California.

IN OTHER NEWS

We sold our house, effective May 1. We hired a company to do the estate sale and clean up. Somebody started breaking in in mid-April stealing things. The people we hired are as baffled as we are because they are very careful about locking up.

The first night, a large screen TV and some jewelry disappeared. The next night, they took the upright freezer. Then the dryer, followed by the washer. Every night, another missing item. We are now up to several thousand dollars worth of stolen stuff.

We have a pretty good idea who is doing this, and the locks have been changed, but the culprit (suspected) never had a key anyway.  I'm not going to say more because there is a police investigation underway. Eventually, I may tell the whole story.

ONE LOST CAT

Our second night in Junction City, our cat Buddy ran away. We kept trying to find him but finally gave up when we left for Florence. So far, Abby and Zee are around, although Zee likes to go on walkabout so we're never sure when he'll be back. Needless to say, we are saddened by the loss of Buddy.

I promise more photos and stuff once we get out of Oregon and start finding better Internet. Junction City and Florence had none.

They Stole Our What?

So, things are a bit of a mess right now. We got to Junction City, the only city on earth that has thousands of RV dealers and NO Internet. We are now at Guaranty RV center, the best service place on the planet if you listen to other RVers, ensconced in their free RV "park." Basically, it's a giant parking lot with lots of RVs, and some hookups. We have power. We have water.We have no sewer (thank God/dess we emptied our tanks before leaving Newport). Most important, we have no Internet.

And since we're still working on organizing, lots of our "organization" fell apart on the road from Newport to Corvallis. I've spent the evening picking up and putting away things I've already picked up and put away.  Time to get out the museum putty and nail this shit to the wall or counters or any other horizontal or vertical space I can find.

Since we have no propane, we can't cook unless we use the microwave or the coffee pot. We do have a gas leak, hence the empty tanks. One of many things we will get fixed while here. So we had to go find food. In Eugene, 10 miles away, because there is no food that I could see in Junction City, only RVs.

After a fine dinner at KFC, we went to Fred Meyers to get a few things. Since I overdid yesterday, I waited in the car while Jenny went in. After awhile, she came out to tell me she needed my debit card. Hers was at home, as was her wallet.

She went back into the store and came back to tell me someone had stolen our groceries. Fortunately, a) we hadn't paid for them yet and b) the clerk chased the guy down and got them back. We now have grapes, mayonnaise, and flea stuff for the animals.

Yes, the animals have fleas already. Of course, they have had fleas many times before. But usually we don't forget to put that flea stuff on their necks that creeps down their bodies and causes the fleas to die or jump ship.

I took NO pictures today, being mostly in pain. But I do have some good ones to upload for later.

Keep coming back for more of the adventures of two old batts....We'll see you soon. In fact, Portland peeps, we will be in PDX next Monday to run some errands. If you need us, we'll try to hook up.

And, BTW, in addition to our usual phones, we also have a Verizon phone. If you can't reach us on T-Mobile (the Burgerville of cell phones...Oregon and Washington folks know what I mean) you'll have to call us on the McDonalds phone. That number is 971-801-4415.

Time to go find my Nook which seems to have gone missing somewhere in the truck. With no Internet and no TV (I just don't feel like figuring it out tonight), I guess I need to read a book. Like that's news. Right now I'm reading Stephen King's sequel to The Shining. It's called Dr. Sleep and has the scope of The Stand. I'm loving it.  And then a new Alex Cross mystery (written by James Patterson) is waiting for me tomorrow at the Multnomah County Library.

On Overdoing and Some Successes

Some of you may be aware that I have a tendency to overdo on good days. It's not that I hate good days; I love them. But when a fibromyalgiac (great word I made up, huh?) has a really good day, we like to take advantage of them. Which, of course, causes bad days. Yesterday (Tuesday) was a good day. Good weather, lots of energy. Let's go swimming!

We are trying to exercise every day, and this was not the first time I've been swimming since this adventure began. But I know I have to observe ridiculous limits to avoid flares. Well, instead of 20 minutes of water exercise, I did 35. Nothing wrong with that, you think. Well, then, you don't have fibro. Twenty solid minutes of water exercise is my outside limit. Thirty five is beyond the pale.

Today I am paying for it. And, to top it off, today we had to drive which meant we had to close up the fiver and then set it up again. It also meant travel on a crappy road, with lots of bumps, and, because travel days always mean extra work, I got in and out of the truck NINE times. I know. That's only half as many as last time, and Jenny was very kind when I finally announced I was not getting in the truck again, but I'm afraid tomorrow will be a not-so-good day. I can already feel it in my muscles and brain (yes, you heard that right. My brain.)

On top of all that, tomorrow they come at 10:30 am to take our trailer into the service bay. So, until sometime tomorrow afternoon, we will be homeless. And we'll have to box up the cats and take them in the truck with us. I can hardly wait.

On the success side, Jenny and I are both working at losing weight and so far I've lost 10 pounds and she's lost 8. My goal is to lose 62 pounds in the next year, a pound for each year. I'd brag that I'm ahead of Jenny except then I'd get jinxed. You'll have to do the bragging for me.

Our youngest kid, Meg, has challenged us to do the Whole 30 plan starting the day after Easter. Oh, and my Lenten discipline was to give up Diet Cola for the duration. I've been drinking iced tea instead. I did cheat once, when we went to see a movie and they had nothing I could drink. But it was Sunday and Sundays, as all you good Christians know, are always feast days. Which explains why Lent is 40 days long and not 46 or 47. SUNDAYS DON'T COUNT!

Will I go back to Diet Cola? Who knows. Maybe occasionally, maybe not.

Later, gators.

Look What I Can Do!

Before we left PDX, I splurged and bought a good camera to take on the trip. I was planning to get a Canon EOS T3 but was a bit nervous about having to think about things like f stops and apertures and light meters and all that stuff.  Then I heard about something called "bridge cameras." These are for those of us who want to pretend we know what we're doing, but don't actually have a clue and prefer to remain clueless.

I bought a Fujifilm Finepix S8200 for about half the price of the Canon AND I can actually make it do things. Cool things. Look:

 Probably the coolest picture I've ever taken.

  This is either a buoy, an oil rig, or the tin man after he's been attacked by seagulls and left to rot in Newport Bay.

  See that thing at the bottom? It's a seal!

Basking in Immediatelessness

Aside from the fact that we had plans to be in Southern California this week, we have no place in particular to be and nothing in particular to do. I'm sure we'll find causes and tasks and challenges, but so far retirement has been just doing what we feel like doing. Oh, and putting the stuff in the RV away.

Here's a picture from the process:

   

It gets a bit better every day, and we've already made a trip to Goodwill to get rid of stuff. Downsizing is actually pretty fun when you get going....Of course it would help if the big slide could open and if we were both taller. Some of the cupboards are up there. Well, and I accidentally dropped the little step stool back behind a recliner in the slide and can't reach it. 

Speaking of short people, over the past year (since we got rid of both cars and bought the truck) I've been pretty much stuck at home most of the time. I've only gone out in the truck three or four times a week. That's pretty much fine with me, but it created a problem last week.

In one day, I climbed in and out of our huge Ram 250 EIGHTEEN times. That's EIGHTEEN times up and EIGHTEEN times down. For some of you, that is nothing. But remember this: short people. To get in, I have to stand on the running board, which is almost waist high (well, maybe knee high, but still too high) grab hold of what I'm pretty sure is the sissy bar, and hoist my not inconsiderable girth up until I can get both feet on the running board.  (Did I mention that rainy night, and the big rock that I couldn't see? The running board on my side is a little smashed which makes all of this more difficult.)

Once I'm on the running board, I still have to turn around so that I can fold into the seat the right way. Trust me. Not easy. Oh, sure, if you're tall, or young, or limber. But upper middle-aged, fat, and fibro-y does not make this an easy task.  Now multiply by EIGHTEEN.

Then, to get out, I have to believe that the ground is really there. Since I've never been too sure about gravity (and made an appointment with the school priest when I was in third grade to discuss the matter), and I wonder if things exist if I'm not there to observe them, every time I get out of the truck I have to slide cautiously down the seat until I run into the ground. Sometimes I actually run into the ground and that doesn't work well with torn ligaments in my ankle. Old news. Go read some posts from last year. Or do you think I had a cast on my leg for eight months just to get attention? Another reason I don't drive much.

So, doing this EIGHTEEN times in one day left me with some very sore muscles. So sore I could barely move. In fact, I was beginning to worry that my walking days were over. Breathe easy. I'm okay. But I sure wasn't.

What I learned: I still have fibromyalgia even though I've pretty much retired from everything else. I'm still short. Lifting my body in and out of a truck should only be done three or four times a day. Fibro still sucks, still causes extreme pain, and still prevents me from being as active as I'd like to be.

Breakfast with Fat Albert

Our friend Liz wanted to see us off so we agreed on breakfast the day we left. This is Liz:

This is Fat Albert's in Sellwood:

 A great little breakfast place. Only serves breakfast. If it's crowded, sit at the group table and meet some new people.

Look who we ran into:

  This is an ex-boyfriend of our youngest daughter. Chase used to want to be a medical examiner and had a very scary MySpace page that had all the parents twisting. But we knew he was a good kid and we were right. He's now an accountant, with his own business. He's the kind of kid who ran for class parent by being funny and ridiculous and won. Then did a good job. (Lincoln peeps, think David Polonoff's run for Student Body President and the fur-lined mukluks.)

 Special thanks to Dan Quayle (Dan Who?) for the sentiment. Special thanks to me for getting it sideways. 

Blog? What Blog? or SHEEEE"S BAAAACK!

I know, we promised a blog. And there shall be a  blog. But we're on the shakedown part of this cruise, discovering new things all the time. For example, blogs require Internet, something the Oregon Coast seems to lack in any reasonable speeds. And here at Whaler's Rest, just south of Newport, there isn't even cell service.

We finally escaped  Beavercreek on April 6th, just a couple of weeks later than planned. This was due to unforeseen circumstances, such as the RV falling off a stabilizer while we were in Seattle visiting the middle child. At 3 am. Cats and humans flew in all directions, one of us assuming that the entire West Coast was heading into the Pacific and/or Mt. Rainier was erupting. The other one went outside and fixed it. Sort of. But this meant another trip to Curtis Trailers (whom I don't really trust), another unreasonable delay, and one cat who absolutely refused to get out of the RV.

Yes, we are traveling with cats. Three of them. More on that later. When the RV finally came back, we had to hurry and stow stuff, but were unable to open the slides because there was no power. We, of course, have no idea how to open them otherwise, although I suspect there is a crank or something. Of course, maybe the crank is just me.

We spent two nights at Silver Spur RV in Silverton, making trips back and forth to the house. At last, we took our overloaded fifth wheel out on the road, all the way to Newport. That's about 153 miles from our former home in Beavercreek. We were on our way.

Until we tried to put the living/dining room slide out. The RV has been to Curtis twice to have this problem fixed, and each time they told us it worked just fine. Even though they had to come to the house one time to put it in for us.

Short story: slide wouldn't go out. Called two different (and highly recommended BY CURTIS) RV specialists here at the coast, only to have both of them tell us the slide was faulty, the problem was structural, and continuing to try to open the slide could lead to the entire wall of the RV exploding. Somebody tell Scott it's not too late to follow us around with that video camera. An exploding wall could make for great television.

So we're still in Newport, waiting for our appointment with Guaranty RV in Junction City (supposedly the best in the country) starting on April 17th. It should take only two to four weeks to fix (by replacing the slide), quite an improvement over Curtis keeping the trailer for six months while watching our warranty run out and doing virtually nothing. Not even ordering the parts. There will be discussions.

More to come.....

Watch This Space

So, I'm trying a new offline blogging tool since I prematurely ended my tumultuous relationship with Beavercreek Cooperatve Telephone and now we're stuck here a few more days. I am reduced to hanging out in Starbucks.

Therefore, this is a test. However, starting in  few days, there should be blog.

Mud Again

What is it with us and mud? Last week, we brought the RV (aka Calamity Jane) home from the RV hospital. Naturally, they DID NOT fix everything so we'll have to have yet another talk with them. But this time Jane cannot stay in the shop for weeks or months. Both things that are wrong can be fixed quickly, even if I have to spend the night there and bug them. And I've become quite adept at getting what I want from these people who took six months to fix some minor things.

Anyway, back to the mud. We were trying to get the RV into the driveway, which has inappropriately placed trees, and got stuck in the damn mud. Since we live in a riparian environment (read "marsh") we have lots of mud around here. The trailer got stuck on Saturday. Around 3 pm.

We called our insurance company, who sent us the fool who dropped the RV on the tailgate a few months ago, and they declined to help us. Then we called a tow truck and the guy came, looked, and said we'd need a small, 4x4 with a winch as those same trees (and the fact that the RV was parked across the access road in a most inaccessible way) were preventing anything larger from getting by. Oh, and I'm pretty sure he said we'd need a red one. And we were blocking the emergency access for the rest of the houses.

We called other tow companies, rejoined AAA (which has a program for RVs) and still no luck. We even called the fire department. Some neighbors came and got it out of the mud, but there was so much mud it went right back into some new mud. Around dark, we gave up.

Jenny went out at 8 am the next morning to start over. The neighbors came over again. Some other neighbors came by, mad at us, and they also called the fire department with no luck. And the guy works for the fire department.

By now, the truck (with trailer attached) had been pulled out of the mud about six times, each time finding some new mud to play in. Our neighbors were covered in mud. The truck and RV were covered in mud. I even stepped in some mud.

FINALLY, we had four wheels on terra firma and spent the next hour or so with four folks trying to guide us into position so we could back out up the access road to the main road. Did I mention the creek?

To get to the main road, you have to cross a culvert over a creek. This is not a great culvert. To have a great culvert would have cost the four homes on the road $40k and we all voted no. So one side of the culvert is reinforced concrete ("the good side") and the other is an undercut dirt bank ("the bad side").

By now our neighbor is driving, I'm riding shotgun, everybody else is directing us, and Jenny is out in the middle of the road ready to stop traffic. A 38' trailer does not back easily, and for some reason it kept pulling to "the bad side" where the serious mud, undercut bank, and swimming hole are.  I know the RV was filthy, but it really doesn't need to bathe in Beavercreek.

After much insanity, including my searching for my mask and snorkel, we got it out of the access road and onto the main road. We went looking for some place to park it for a few hours. We ended up at that megachurch on the corner where our neighbor promptly cut the turn too close and took out someone's tail light. We left a note, some guy came to talk to us, and we got permission to leave the RV for a bit while we went to get some lunch.

After lunch, the Baptists just up the street from us told us we could park there until the weekend. Nice Baptists.

So the RV is now probably being converted and undergoing some kind of baptism by aspersion which will at least clean off some of the mud.

But our friends Paula and Rosemary helped us take some stuff to the RV and we're that much closer to leaving.

More to come....

We Are Now Preppers

No. We are not hoarding food or worrying about zombies appearing on our doorstep. But we are in the final stages of preparation for our Great Adventure. So far, I've planned the entire trip. It goes through 27 states and the District of Columbia. The plans are not cast in concrete, and change almost daily, but at least they are evolving.

I'm using this great tool called roadtrippers.com to plan. If you are doing any road trips, you need this tool. It's also available for your android or iphone, and works on my Nook HD as well. It lets you select destinations, tells you how many miles between destinations, how long it should take you to drive it, and how much your gas will cost.

The first leg looks like this:

PDX-Palm Desert via 101 | My new trip on Roadtrippers.com!

However, a friend who knows such things says that the northern stretch of 101 in California is covered in land and mud slides. So I may have to reroute us down I-5. We have reservations in Palm Desert for TWO WEEKS starting April 15. I know. It's getting hot down there by then, but I don't care. I need hot. My body is rapidly becoming frozen tundra, a difficult thing considering how much of it is fat.

OH! WAIT! BIG NEWS!

Jenny retired. Last Friday. It has now been three days and we have yet to kill each other. In fact, we've been having fun. I never really believed she'd do it, being all Type A and all. (Her, not me. I'm Type B- or C most of the time) But she did. And now we're both getting excited for the trip to begin and also panicking about how much we still have to do.

BACK TO REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

Our trip will wend its way east from Palm Desert, following the border and the Gulf of Mexico, until we get to Jacksonville, FL where our nephew is currently moving to. From there, we head north with stops in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, D.C., Pennsylvania, New York, and Maine (and probably some other places) to visit friends and family and see things we've never seen before.

We then plan to come back via the northern route, again seeing people on the way back.

BUT, there is a monkey wrench. Twenty years ago, we scandalized Jenny's 30th high school reunion by being there. This year is the 50th reunion, in Idaho, in September. As far as we know, there was no 40th reunion (or we weren't invited). So we intend to do a reprise of the scandal by showing up. Which means we may have to reroute a bunch of things, or drive fast.

IN OTHER NEWS

The RV place PROMISES that they will have everything they need for final repairs by this Friday. So that part of planning will be done and we can possibly move back into the RV next week.

More on the planning later. And I'll take pictures of the moving mess. And maybe the mud.

I'm almost afraid to tell this story.....

Some of you know that we've had plenty of misadventures in the less than a year we've owned a giant RV. It's partly due to our inexperience, partly due to that damn tree in the driveway, and partly due to life's way of throwing you crap when you least need it.

This is mostly a story of crap. But some of you will be thinking "denial" and "what are they thinking."

Our youngest grand turned one on January 2nd and her mother needed child care on January 3rd.  The nanny had gone home for Christmas, and her husband is in the midst of a 12 week period where he can lift NOTHING, due to shoulder surgery. We joyfully said we'd be glad to watch the kids, ages one and three, and the husband, age 33.

So on the 2nd, we picked up the RV and the truck (both were in the shop) and headed to Seattle. Around Ridgefield, we stopped at a rest stop and decided to look at the work inside the trailer. So, about 30 minutes north of PDX, we discovered that the RV place had neglected to give us a key to the new door.

We had to go north several miles in order to head south, but we finally got back to Portland and got the key. We turned around again. Now we were running late.

One of our firm rules is that we never set up camp in the dark. Naturally, it was dark when we got to the place we had reservations. And it was raining. Because we like places that are sort of rustic, we had reservations at a fairly rustic place. Which means dark and not covered with concrete.

Night, plus rustic, plus rain = mud. Which we got stuck in. And couldn't get out. I tried to direct Jenny, and all I got was wet and covered with mud. Fortunately, a guy with four-wheel drive and a chain was able to haul us out. (Note to self: buy chain and something to put under the tires when we get stuck.)

Not wanting to risk this again, we left and went searching for an RV park in Monroe, WA at 10 pm.  Yeah, like that's going to work. Instead, we headed back toward Seattle and found a Walmart. We had sworn never to spend the night at Walmart, but there we were. We are now People of Walmart. We are not proud of this.

And, during the three months that the RV was at the dealer, they never bothered to empty the black water tanks. Which meant the RV smelled like, well, crap. Fortunately, we were able to deal with that rather quickly.

Naturally, we had no propane (we'd forgotten) which meant we not only had no electricity (Walmart may have everything inside the store, but the parking lot does not have electricity except for the high-powered lights that shine in at you), we had no heat. Oh, and we had no water except what we had in a five gallon jug. It was the dead of winter, below freezing, and I was sure I would soon be the dead of winter myself.  I froze all night long, and in the morning noticed there was water all over my side of the bed. The RV place had left the vent open. Duh. We're beginning to question the wisdom of taking the RV to this place.

Jenny didn't sleep much either because she kept hearing people, she swears, checking out our rig in the dark.

At 7:45 am, we had to be at the kids' house so our daughter could go to work. The kids were asleep. Jenny still had to go find a place to park the RV so she left. Then the daughter left to go be a banker. Immediately, the one-year-old got up. And proceeded to dump every toy in the house on the floor. Then the three-year-old got up and proceeded to identify everything in the house as a "choking hazard."

On top of the fact that kids wake up AWAKE,  Cait and Felipe have the kind of couches that swallow you alive. So every time the one-year-old identified a REAL choking hazard by attempting to choke on it, or the three-year-old reported that the one-year-old was misbehaving out of sight, I had to fight gravity and the couch and get up. Jenny did not come back for four hours. She is the smart one in our family.

By that time, the one-year-old had tripped over air and hit her chin on a plastic basket, one of the ones she had dumped out early on. She had also pulled a lamp off the table before I could disentangle myself from the grandma-eating couch and stop her. The word "no" is not particularly effective at age one.

This woke up the father, who was in significant pain. He came out of the bedroom, and suddenly the baby remembered that he was there. I lifted her up into his good arm and he took her in with him for a while.  Although she's only 20 lbs, my back is on an eight pound limit. I must have lifted her on or off the bed, the back of the couch, the footstool, the shelves, and anything else she could find a couple of dozen times.

For the rest of the day, she would periodically remember that he was only a door away and stand at his bedroom door and scream. This usually happened whenever I told her no, although she doesn't know what the word means.

Jenny finally arrived, along with the dog. The dog is not allowed in the house, so she was tied up at the front door and kept barking. Then the 3-year-old wanted to let the dog in. We'd say no, she'd say "why?" By 4 pm, I was trying to ban the word why from all conversation for the rest of the day. Everybody else got mad at me. I'm sorry, but with no sleep, frozen innards, and general crabbiness, developmental normality in 3-year-old is the least of my concerns. I just wanted a few minutes of time out. For me. Every time I tried to put myself in time out, the kids found me. I adore these kids, but....

Finally, around 9 pm, we headed out to find propane and get back to Calamity Jane. We filled one tank, installed it, and discovered that the propane didn't work. It was too cold to go back outside and figure the problem out in the dark (wind chill down around 20) so we froze again.  That's two nights in a row.

The next day, after a great breakfast at a little diner we found, we went back to the kids' house to watch our daughter chase kids. We also played a rousing game of "Whatever Next," a great game for kids and adults. Emso, at 3, found it hysterical. Pilar, age 1, found Emso hysterical. We all found Caitlin, age 30, hysterical. I highly recommend this game (available at amazon.com) for little ones and big ones alike.

Then, back to the RV for yet another night of freezing. That's three nights in a row. Did I mention I have fibromyalgia? Which is very sensitive to weather extremes, especially cold and damp? By the time we got home, I was completely done in. Spent the entire next week in bed, unable to move. All that cold, damp, and heavy lifting caught up with me. Now, almost three weeks later, I'm finally almost warm again and may put on clothes tomorrow.

Oh, and when we went to unhook the sewer hose, we had frozen effluent in the pipe, which flowed all over. Jenny had to clean that up by scooping it into a black plastic bag that she tossed in the bed of the truck for later disposal. Which happened somewhere around Centralia when the bag of shit blew out of the truck.

Then, because she was weaving just the tiniest bit, and because the stairs into our rig were down instead of in the up position, we got pulled over by the cops. Fortunately, the cops could tell we were a) frazzled and b) already aware of the step and busy putting it up, so there was no ticket. Not even a warning.

Yes, we are still going RVing for the next six months. And we are constantly making new rules.

NEW RULES:

Never get to campground after dark. If we are going to get to campground after dark, we find another campground. One with daylight.

Never drive the day before we HAVE to be somewhere. Fortunately, we seldom have to be anywhere, but still.

Our rule about only driving every three days at most, has been expanded. From now on, we will drive and spend at least three full days chilling before driving again.

Avoid cold at all costs. Try to avoid rain. Sun. We want sun.

Top off the propane and gas for the truck every time we travel. BEFORE we travel. We have discovered that diesel isn't as common as you might think along I-5.

Fill the water tanks when we get there. Just in case.

Empty the water tanks and black water tanks before leaving the campground.



Sorry, no photos. My phone was dead. What else is new?