Another Mystery

When I opened my iPad to log in to the RV park wifi tonight it automatically did it without any prompts.  It's never been here before so how did it know?  The computers and my phone recognized the wifi signal but we still had to enter the password.  Not so with the iPad.  It logged itself in.  Feeling as if I should be hearing Rod Serling telling me I've logged into the Twilight Zone!!!

Colors seemed so vibrant today

We had a little rain last night and it seemed to clear the air.   So much so, that we could see all the way across the Las Vegas valley.  It was so clear - no smog, no haze, no dust blowing.  It was just awesome.  I don't ever remember seeing it like it was this morning.  It made a happy start to the day.

We stopped along the road at a pull out
at the junction to Scotty's castle in Death
Valley.  This was our view from the RV.

During the morning hours we continued to have the same wonderful clear air. The colors in the mountains seemed vibrant and you can see for yourself that there was no haze.  So, beautiful today.  




These two were shots from the moving vehicle of eastern side of the road:

Unfortunately these don't do the colors of the mountains justice but hopefully you can see what I am talking about.

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Then about two hours later this is what we were looking at.  

We thought we were headed into this storm cell, but the road veered off to the left of it and we skirted it for a very long time.

In the middle of the storm clouds a ray of sunshine hit the top of this mountain and the snow just dazzled.  

We stopped in Hawthorne, NV around 3:00, got unhooked and set up and then the rain came.  It didn't last long but we were feeling as if our timing was right on today!   We left Las Vegas early - around 8:30 again - and had little to no traffic leaving there heading north.  Once we got on the two lane road, it seemed like more, but it wasn't anything like we expected or had yesterday.  All in all, just a long drive and no adventures, thank goodness.  

Even Maggie had a more relaxing day.

Right now she is recuperating from the drive.

Tomorrow we go home.  We will pull into the Sparks Marina RV Park to unload and schlep all our stuff over to the house. 

 Wednesday we put the RV in storage until the next time!

It Was A Fairly Easy Drive Today

We didn't get as early a start as we had planned but we were only half an hour late so it wasn't so bad.  We had light to moderate traffic through the LA basin.  Everyone was going the speed limit so there was no stop and go.  Once we climbed over the San Bernardino mountains into the desert, the traffic got heavier.  Lots of folks headed north on I-15 to Las Vegas! Again, though, no traffic issues - just lots of cars going 70-80 mph while we poked along at 55 (the speed posted for trucks and towing).   The one roadside rest area along our way had so many cars in it that they were parking in the truck spots and off into a cleared area in the scrub.  We lucked out and got the last truck spot but stayed only long enough for everyone to have a restroom break.  We used our facilities or we probably would still be there waiting in line!  We got into the Nellis FamCamp about 3:30p and we were ready to stop for the day!  We've had our dinner and replenished the fuel tank and we are sitting outside with our computers.   It's now in the high 70s, overcast, with NO wind.  A very pleasant evening.   

We had lunch just south of Barstow at an exit where there are outlet stores.  We figured there would be lots of big parking lots and it worked out quite well.  We found a parking area in front of a store front off to the side that was either being built or was abandoned.  No occupants so the area was empty and big enough for us.  It worked out quite well, because in the next retail space was a Starbucks.  We bought iced coffee/tea, used their facilities and then sat on their patio area with Maggie to eat our packed lunch and didn't have to go inside the RV to eat. It was a beautiful day, so it was nice.    

While we were sitting there we noticed two couples pull up, go in and get drinks and then sit down outside.  They were German and they just couldn't take their eyes of our RV.  One of them kept taking pictures.  As we left we asked them if they liked the RV  and when they said it was so beautiful we told them it was ours.  They asked to come closer and see it and so we opened up and put the main slider out so they could see the inside. (Yes, we remembered to pull it back in and put the steps up before we left!) They were so amazed.  Over and over the term "fantastic" in English floated around.  We stayed and talked with them (actually, only one - the others didn't speak English) for a while and Roger got to talk truck and RV.  They said that nothing as large would be approved for the roads in Germany.   After arriving almost three weeks ago in San Francisco, traveling down US 1 along the coast to Santa Barbara and then over to Palm Springs to visit friends, they were on the way to Las Vegas.  Somehow they saw Sequoia National Park in there somewhere.  (I couldn't figure that route out.)  From Las Vegas they are going to Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon before flying home.   All this in three weeks.  Yikes.  They seemed nice - thanked us for showing them the RV and took our picture with it.  

Maggie needed my lap today.  She curled up as best she could across my legs and wanted to stay there the whole time.  We could not convince her to get in her bed on the console and stay there.  She would only last about five minutes before wanting back into my lap.  She tried to get Roger to let her over in the driver's seat but he was mean and wouldn't let her.   We are thinking maybe needing the extra comfort is because on the way south Roger had to make a couple of sudden stops and she and her bed went sliding off onto the floor in front of me.  We have her tethered so she won't go through the windshield, but she did take a couple of falls.  She had her anti-anxiety pill before we left and didn't seem all that stressed - just needy.  She does have a tendency to get  heavy after a while and it's not too bad most of the time. How many foot pounds of pressure (no pun intended) would you guess a 19 pound dog has on those front legs when she sits up? LOTS when your bladder is full!!!  

We've got a great spot tonight and I've requested it for our next visit here in November when we start our "wintering."  Hope we can get it.  

Tomorrow we aim for Hawthorne, NV for the night - 317 miles - about 5 hours without pit stops.  

We spent the day getting ready for travel

Instead of sitting around being bored as predicted, today turned out to be pretty busy.  We did some prep work for travel tomorrow as well as for putting the RV in storage.  

I did laundry (since it was free) so I didn't have to do it at home.  The laundry room was quite busy all day.  I was surprised until I realized that most of the "customers" were guys doing uniforms.  I felt bad taking up washers and dryers when the active duty folks needed them, as they had the weekend free.  Of course, this was only after I had started the loads that I realized what was going on.  Oh, well.  I didn't have all that much.  

My other chore today was vacuuming and mopping the floors. How did they get so dirty so fast?  I'm sure I did the same thing when we left Santee!!  

Rog fueled the truck, got a new windshield wiper, and dumped the tanks, and took Maggs for a couple of walks today which kept him pretty busy.  

We heard from our Pensacola kids - they are camping this weekend.  They set up the tent and grill in their backyard! What a great idea!!  Wonder who is going to be sleeping in the tent?   I understand that s'mores are on the menu for after dinner and that everyone was having a good time. Andy shared some pictures of the grandkids playing in the hose, eating watermelon and having a good time.  How fun!!!  

Maggie got a bit braver today and wanted to stick her head down the squirrel holes.  One squirrel family in particular got her wound up today - mom and babies.  We had a hard time convincing her that she might get her nose bitten!  She wasn't happy that we didn't let her near the burrow entrances once we saw her do it the first time.  

We are feeling good and ready to be on the road.  Off to Las Vegas tomorrow and back to Nellis AFB FamCamp for the night. Keeping our fingers crossed that traffic will be not horrible tomorrow morning in the LA basin since it is the middle day of the three day weekend.  We plan an early start.  

Aquarium Visit

With the wind blowing between 15 and 20 mph today under low hanging rain clouds and temperatures hanging at about 62 degrees,  it was a good day for indoor activities.  After a nice lunch at a restaurant in Long Beach,  we -  and eight bus loads of school kids -  spent a few hours in the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.  Of course that didn't include the regular visitors with their little ones. There was a mess of kids, that's for sure.   It was quite busy and quite loud with school groups.  I kept seeing the chaperones counting heads and trying to herd their little group among the other little groups.  I have no idea how they managed not to lose anyone.   

It's a nice aquarium and the exhibits are well done.  It's small in comparison to others we've visited and I would rate it as "average."  We saw some fish we had never seen before, so it made it worthwhile.  

We followed the GPS instructions to get there and drove through some interesting neighborhoods.  Little Cambodia was one area where all the signs were in the Cambodian language. We drove through several areas with stores and homes sporting bars on the windows.  The route we took was not exactly through the nicer parts of Seal Beach and Long Beach! Interesting, though. There was a museum of "Asian Pacific Ethnic Art" and one of Latin American art across the street.  It was a real mixture of people and cultures.  Traffic wasn't bad and it only took about 20 minutes to get there.   

Speaking of neighborhoods, there is a neighborhood just outside the base here that looks as if they are high priced homes in a gated community.  At the gate are several large pumps that look like grasshoppers (the kind you see in Texas) and interspersed among the homes are more.  I suspect they are pumping natural gas since I saw some signs elsewhere that said that.  It really looks strange and quite incongruous.  If I owned a million dollar place in a gated community I don't think I would want to look out my window and have a view (or smell) of the machinery.  Although, if that rig is what's allowing me to live there, maybe the view isn't so bad.  

We stopped at a Ralph's grocery store to pick up a few things for our lunches on the road.  It seems that if you want a bag for your groceries and you don't bring in one of your own, then there is a ten cent charge per bag for them to load your groceries into one.  We didn't have our bags with us, so we just put the groceries back into the cart and rolled them out to the truck with Roger saying, "I don't need no stinking bags."  The other day we were at the Target and were not charged for plastic bags.  I don't think.  I didn't look at the receipt now that I am thinking about it.  Anyway, this is the new world order, I guess, and I need to remember when we are traveling to move my bags from the car to the truck before we leave.  I have no issues with using my own - in fact, I prefer it -  and at home I am rarely without them.

Not exactly sure what we will do tomorrow - Saturday of a three day weekend.  I do have a book I started and need to finish right away and my crochet project is in need of some attention. I also currently have five "Friends" playing multiple games each of "Words with Friends."  If they are home tomorrow they will be playing off and on all day so that gives my brain a workout.   Roger has two books going - one on Audible and one on the Kindle - so, that and some Sudoku should entertain him most of the day and keep his brain from atrophying!! He's also got some woodworking magazines here - he needs to find a project for when we get home.  Of course, the Maggster will be hunting squirrels and acting like the little terrier she is.  

Will check back in tomorrow, but it will probably be a short note.

Post Graduation Slow Down

It's been quite the dull "day after."  All the excitement has diminished, everyone but us left for home this morning, and the kids (Steph and Pierce) are exhausted.  Apparently they partied at the beach until 10 when it closed, so it was late getting to bed for everyone.   We don't envy the ones who had to get up and get on the road back to Reno today.  (See, we have learned something with age and that's why we aren't leaving for a few days!)     

Steph and Pierce did come see us this morning for a short visit. They stayed for lunch but then had to leave - both of them back to work. Neither were looking forward to it - what they were looking forward to was tomorrow morning when they had no commitments and could sleep in before going to work.  We won't see them again this trip.

So, no more family news from here.  We are considering going to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach tomorrow.  Shall see what we feel like doing in the morning. 

Maggie is being driven to distraction by all the ground squirrels and rabbits.  This, in turn, is making us nuts.  She is usually good about being let in or out without the leash and going to and from her pen or the truck, but, nooo, not when there are squirrels to chase.  We open the door and she takes off running  - her ears and posture on high alert looking for them. She bounces like the little terrier dog in the cartoons.  She won't come when called as her focus is not on us but the critters she thinks she can find.  She sits for hours on the back of the couch watching out the window.  If one gets near the RV she high tails it to the door and dances around but doesn't bark or whine.  She just wants out.  We have to coax her back to her perch.

I brought a book with me but didn't expect to finish it and did. Now I have a quandary. I have my regular book club book and my mystery book club book at home.  I now have received notices from the library that two books I had on reserve are in. (One I put on hold back in January and was 38 on the list and the other I was 7 on the list when I reserved it last month.)  So, now I have four books to read - with deadlines.  In the meantime I am out of reading here. I'm not sure I want to start one that I have on the Kindle app as I don't know if I could finish before we get home.  Hmmm.   What to do?  Not sure I can go four days without even though I'm going to be reading non-stop for a while when I return.  Genealogy research, yard work, and chores - oh, well, I've got books to read!!!! 

Weather today - 68 was the high with a 15mph "breeze."  I don't think there is much variation in the weather here except for rainy days.  

Graduation Day

It was a very nice day - the weather cooperated - and a good time was had by all.  The crowd was big.  The College of Liberal Arts had three ceremonies yesterday to accommodate all the graduates, but I'll let the photos tell the story.  

In the processional.  

Roger, Erica and Mike

Tony and Jaycee, his girlfriend

The mortarboard was acting like a sail!

It's all over!!

Steph and her Dad

Steph and her brother

Steph and her grandparents

Pierce left the graduation once Steph was called and he and friends set up a nice barbecue on a local beach.  Steph's family, Pierce, and several of their friends joined in the celebration of Steph's achievement.  

Pierce and Steph

Enjoying the beach

Hugs from Erica

Erica is always smiling!

Friends and Family

Watching the sunset wondering when he could leave!
It was getting COLD!!!

Steph and Tony stopped by today

We had a surprise visit from Steph, Tony and Tony's girlfriend, Jaycee, this afternoon.   They were out kayaking nearby and stopped in for about an hour.   They couldn't get on base - Rog had to go to the main gate and then bring them back to the RV in our truck.  It was nice seeing them, though, and meeting Jaycee. 
  
We had a quiet day today before the chaos of tomorrow - went out and found a Camping World and got a few things this morning, but we hung out here this afternoon with the Maggs. (I had a nice long nap!)  Tomorrow she will be left most of the day, unfortunately.  We know that dogs don’t remember things, but it still is hard to believe they don’t. An old dude who was working at the Camping World saw her today (we took her with us as they are a pet friendly store) and asked if she was a “recycled” dog.   Hadn’t heard that expression for a dog before.  Gave me a chuckle. 

I was asked today if we used a checklist when we traveled that might have prevented some of the things that have happened so far.   Nope - we rely on memory on those small things for the most part.   We do have a preflight (as in before we leave home) and post flight checklist that we do follow, but having a list to look at every time we move just doesn’t seem feasible —although, if our brains keep this up, we may have to have it tattooed onto our arms like a cheat sheet!   Rog bought a gizmo today that will keep him from repeating the event of the other day!!  

Nothing else new.   Hope to have photos and an update after the big doings tomorrow~~

Now We Know Why They Call This Place "Seabreeze RV Park"

Yes, indeed!  According to our weather app the wind has been at a constant 15-20 mph all day today.  The temperature has hovered around 70.  The wind chill makes it just uncomfortable enough that sitting outside is not an option - at least for me.  Roger found a spot on the leeward side of the RV, put on a sweater and a hat and got his cup of tea so he could be outside listening to his audio book!   We had previously thought  that if this turned out to be a nice place that perhaps we might spend some of our wintering time here, but now we are thinking NOT!!  

The RV park itself is one of the nicer Navy ones we have visited in our travels.   It's clean, has lots of grass, has nice landscaping, and the laundry facilities are free!!  The park, though, is the nicest thing about this base.  ( Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach )  There isn't much here.  No commissary and exchange, we didn't see housing, but lots of military looking buildings along one road or two.  The park is situated next to an estuary that has signs that it is part of the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge and is a heron habitat.  We've seen egrets and tri-color herons, so the preserve is doing it's job, I guess. 

Maggie and I did see this sign along the walking trail.  We were surprised that we didn't hear any last night and we haven't seen any during the day.  They should be abundant as there has to be hundreds of ground squirrels for "dinner."  

As I mentioned yesterday, we got a nice spot at the end of the park on the outside corner.  The laundry and bathing facilities are in that building behind the tail of that RV on the right.  Nice and convenient.

These trees with the interesting and colorful bark are along the perimeter of the park along the walking path. Anyone know what kind it is?  The bark is really fascinating. 

We went out for lunch and to "make groceries" this morning, but the rest of the day we have been resting after yesterday's drive.  We didn't have to go far to find a shopping area with the basics - Target, Ralph's (grocery) and a Rubio's for lunch.  I washed a load of dark clothes - to make sure that Roger's jeans from yesterday's sewer event got clean and did some crochet while Roger sat outside. 

So, I fibbed (unintentionally) about the sewer issue not being a rookie mistake.  After sitting here most of the evening trying to figure it out, Roger went back out and checked all the valves again. It seems he had left the kitchen gray tank valve open
(it's located apart from the other valves and he missed it) and a day's worth of gray water had dropped down into the drain line and sloshed around all day, cleaning off all the stuff that had accumulated on the sides of the pipes over the years that apparently never really came totally clean.  So, when he opened the valve to hook up the sewer hose, it all came pouring out!  That's why there was so much there.  He'll remember next time to close that valve, you can be sure of that!

Then it was my turn to not be on top of things.  We have a indoor/outdoor thermometer set that we use with the RV.  We set the transmitter up somewhere outside so that it is in the shade and we get a fairly accurate reading.  I asked Roger this morning if he picked up the transmitter in Las Vegas before we left.  He said he hadn't see it, so no.  I told him I had placed it back between the tires in the shade on the passenger side so if he didn't pick it up, then we must have run over it when we left Las Vegas.  (This would not be a first time for doing that - We have gone through a lot of transmitters over the ten years of RVing!) We figured we would need to get a new one while we were out today.  Then we noticed that the thermometer inside was telling us that we were receiving an outdoor reading. Hmmm.   How can that be? They certainly aren't powerful enough to send signals from LV to LA - even if they survived being run over!   Well, as it turns out, I had put the transmitter out yesterday - only it was here and not Las Vegas - and it was working just fine.  We seriously think I'm losing my mind! 

Tomorrow we will do some exploring while on a quest to find somewhere that sells the toilet chemicals we use!!  (You know it all revolves around the sewer!)  We will connect with Stephanie tonight to get our instructions for Wednesday and graduation.  She is busy today and tomorrow with work and her Mom and brother.   Her dad arrives tomorrow.  Wednesday is graduation and then everyone else goes home on Thursday.  We are staying until Sunday so we have a couple of days that we hope to hang out with Steph and Pierce - working around their work schedules.  

A Rookie Mistake and a Sewer Issue......

....but they aren't related!

We have been doing this RVing business for over ten years now. When we hook up to go we both do a walk around and check everything to make sure the RV is ready to go.  Roger starts on one side and I on the other so that we have two sets of eyes and each set is looking from a different angle. Rog refers to it as our pre-flight check. It's saved us big trouble in the past and is good practice.  When we stop for a pit stop and for lunch Roger does a walk around, checks the tires, etc. - just like the big rig drivers do - while Maggie and I are off taking care of business. Today we stopped for lunch just off the interstate in a big dirt lot with plenty of room to get in and out. Roger did his walk around while the truck cooled down.  Maggie piddled.  We then opened the RV and put the main slider out about 12 inches so we could access the dining room table.  We had our lunch, closed the door, put up the steps, got in the truck and drove off. I bet you can guess what we forgot to do. A few miles down the road we still hadn't noticed anything in the side view mirror.   A pickup truck pulled up alongside Roger and the woman passenger was waving frantically and pointing at the RV. She looked panicked!!  Sure enough, we are driving along with the slider hanging out about a foot!  Fortunately it was on the shoulder side of the road and not the traffic side.  We have a remote for operating the sliders so we were able to pull it in from the cab of the truck and not have to worry about getting out alongside the road.   VERY rookie mistake.  Can't believe we did it.  

We were on the interstate in North Las Vegas at 8am.  We had moderate traffic all the way to California where the road turns into two lanes each way and the traffic became a bit heavier. No major issues, just constant, heavy traffic all day.  Are Sundays no longer a good bet to miss the mess?  We still aren't sure we want to chance a week day if the highways are so congested on Sunday!   We got here at Seal Beach around two o'clock.  Roger said it wasn't awful but it sure wasn't a pleasant drive.  The roads were rough in spots and the inside of the RV certainly showed it at the end of the day.  Things were pretty discombobulated and a few things broken. 

We got to the RV park, found a spot (no camp host on Sunday to assign one so we picked the best of the open ones) and started the business of setting up. Roger opened the sewer connection to hook up the sewer hose and many gallons of "stuff" came pouring out onto him and onto the concrete at his feet.  (So glad we are at the back of the park with no one next to us to see it happen.)   It was awful.  He got it cleaned up and we tested the line. It didn't leak, but we still can't figure out why it happened. All the valves were closed - or appeared to be.  All the bouncing around today on the rough roads maybe loosened one?  Then there's the question:  Where did it all come from? We've only been using it for one day.  Did it not get totally empty when he cleaned it before we parked it?  So many confusing things.  The scene wasn't quite as bad as the one of Robin Williams in that RV movie he made, but it was close.  Sitting here at the open window I still get an occasional odor wafting up.  Roger is in the shower trying to get to where he feels clean again.

Roger's sister gave us a tip yesterday about an app called WAZE and I downloaded it for today's drive.  It's a traffic app and seems to have thousands of users.  The point is that as someone sees an accident or stopped traffic or a cop, or whatever that might effect driving conditions, they enter it into the app and you get an alert.  It was great.  We could see heaviest traffic and how long any back up was, we knew when there was someone on the side of the road, and when there was a policeman spotted.  It's supposed to recommend alternate routes as well but luckily we didn't need to do that today.  I recommend it.  It was fun, too, because you are asked to update as you come to the alerted issue.  If the car is no longer at the side of the road you just push that button that says "no longer there." This keeps the information current. It obviously needs a passenger to do this while the driver is busy, but it was helpful!  Warning, though, it sucks the life out of your phone battery so have a car charger handy! 

More tomorrow as we explore the RV park and Seal Beach.

A Beautiful Day in Las Vegas

M

After a fitful night's sleep in a strange bed, we managed to get ourselves going around ten this morning.   It was a nice day weather-wise with sun and clouds and reaching about 77 degrees. The air was clear - no dust blowing or smog - with a steady breeze.  It's a pleasant change from home the last few days.  

The cactus garden here is starting to bloom and helps makes the place nice. 

We had to go back through the main gate to the Nellis Inn to check out of the lodging facility this morning.   The line to get on the base was at least 25 cars.  It seems the base is in Threat Condition Bravo (normally it's Alpha).  Lots of extra security checks and the APs were wearing  body armor and carrying automatic assault rifles as well as their side arms.  They were being extra careful this morning.  It was a little unsettling.  

We hooked up to the RV and put it in a site for tonight.   All systems were working, thank goodness. The brake controller acted properly but we need to get on the road to make some adjustments.  So far our only issue today is we seem to have misplaced our primary set of keys.  Fortunately we have a spare set but it's driving us crazy as to where the main set is.  They will pop up when we are looking for something else, and hopefully soon.  Not sure where we would get another set made as they are a weird size and shape. 

We have three steps from the main area to the bedroom/bathroom area.  Roger was playing ball with Maggie this afternoon- tossing the ball from the living room couch and bouncing it so it goes up those stairs into the bedroom.   Maggie came running back down them with the ball in her mouth , missed a step and did a face plant. She shook herself and brought Roger the ball. The next retrieval she stopped at the top step, looked around, went into the bathroom and came back to the step.  She wasn't sure she wanted to go down them again.  With some coaxing she walked slowly down them one at a time. Of course, four or five tosses later she was flying down them at her typical speed. 

All three of us got short naps this afternoon after we got things put away. It feels good to be back in our little house on wheels and rested up for tomorrow's journey.   

Back on the Road for a Short Trip

We are settled in tonight at the Nellis Air Force Base Pet Friendly Temporary Lodging Facility after an eight or so hour drive from home.   This adventure will be a short trip - eleven days start to finish.  We are headed to Long Beach, CA for our granddaughter Stephanie's graduation from Cal State Long Beach. The reason we are going to take that much time is that Roger wants to enter and leave the LA basin on a Sunday while hauling the RV behind him.  He is hoping that it will be easier for him traffic-wise.  We will be staying at a Navy RV Park on Seal Beach Naval Weapons Center in Seal Beach, CA.  It happens to be the next town over from Long Beach and close to the university, so, hopefully we will be ideally situated for the graduation festivities and family visits.  

Where we are staying tonight is a part of the Nellis Inn lodging facility, in a segregated area near the RV park.  Little one bedroom apartment style rooms in a 4-plex building.  There are about 10 buildings.   They are not posh by any means, but comfy with a living room, dining table, kitchenette, bedroom and bathroom.

 No carpet - my guess is that is because it is a pet friendly room and it makes it easier to clean.  Once Maggie's ball came in from the truck and she got her dinner she was fine. In fact, she is spread out on the couch next to me and the ball, sound asleep.  

She didn't sleep much today. She kept wanting to see what was going on.  
 

Her pill wore off about the time we hit Las Vegas so the last half hour or so she was a bit antsy, shaking, and shedding like we needed the fur to make a nest or something.  The rest of the day she did quite well. She even sat patiently in the truck while we got some dinner. We could see her sitting on the console staring at the restaurant door we went through - but not barking or crying - just waiting! Good dog!!

We are here for one night, then tomorrow we go pick up the RV where it has been stored since the first of April and check into the RV park for one night.  This gives us, a) a break from driving after an eight hour day; and, 2) time to get all the systems set up and running before we take off again.  One of the things that Roger needs to check out is to make sure the new brake controller he installed in the truck works the brakes on the RV.   If you remember, when we left Santee the first of March, the brake controller wasn't working and Roger had to brake the RV manually. This is definitely not a good way to do things!  He's since bought and installed a new one,  and, with any luck it works and we won't have to come up with a Plan B.   Then, bright and early Sunday morning we leave Las Vegas for Seal Beach, CA.  

Today we started out early.  We were on the road at just a few minutes before 8, which is usually my getting up time. 

Walker Lake with Mt. Grant in background

The weather wasn't so great - low hanging storm clouds and intermittent rain.  We could see the bottom part of the mountains but not the top.  The snow last night had dropped pretty far down - it looked like about 6,000 feet in elevation. Fortunately the valley only got rain and it wasn't raining when we loaded the truck.  It was in the low 40s this morning when we got up and stayed that way most of the morning as we drove south.  We had some light rain, some heavy rain and then some sleet at we climbed up to about 6,000 feet at Tonopah.   We switched drivers there at around noon and as soon as we started dropping in elevation, the sun came out and we had patches of blue sky with lots of puffy cotton ball clouds. By the time we got to Las Vegas it was in the high 60s. Basically Roger drove in all the crummy weather this morning, and I got the nice weather and dry roads this afternoon.   Worked out great!!! 

Traffic was light but we did get stuck behind this guy for a while and when you're on two lane roads "a while" can seem like forever!! In case you can't tell what that vehicle is, it's a flatbed trailer loaded with a pre-fab building that was very heavy, very large (read very wide), and very slow.

We are Home

This will be the last post for about six weeks.  We are home now and doing no traveling until the middle of May when we go back to LA area to see Stephanie's graduation.  So, until then, I'm not going to be writing anything.  I've got other projects to work on!

We thought we would get an early start out of Las Vegas on Monday, but, despite getting up early and hurrying, it took us until 9am to get the RV ready for storage and the stuff we were bring home crammed into the truck backseat and the bed of the truck packed in around the hitch.  We parked it in the short term storage lot next to the campground and left about 9:20 or so.  It was about 10:10 when we finally got out of Las Vegas and into the desert heading north.  

The desert was quite pretty this trip - like someone had put a green carpet over the dirt and some wildflowers along the side of the road.   I'm sure it won't last with no rain and the heat coming, but it was nice to see this time.   We stopped for a sandwich in Beatty (I had nothing to pack for our lunch) and a chance to stretch our legs and let Maggie do her business.  I then gave Roger a bit of a break and drove from there to Hawthorne where we stopped for fuel.  Rog drove us the rest of the way home in some ferocious winds.  We were sure glad we did not have the RV behind us - it would have been quite dangerous.  

We got in about 6:30 and unloaded the truck.  Fortunately we had something in the freezer we could eat.  No, it wasn't there for 4 months - only since we had the quick trip home in February - so it was still good.   We started putting stuff away but ran out of steam early.  There was no hurry except to find our jammies, meds, and tooth brushes.   We've discovered a few things we forgot - my book club book and reading glasses and Roger's hearing aid case with the in the ear parts.  Oh well.  Just have to wait til May to get them.  Hope there's nothing else we forgot.

We have not had a minute of down time since we got home, literally!   Spent yesterday shopping - the fridge and pantry now do not have that starved look!  Today was the gym, laundry,  put the office together and take Maggs to the park.  The good part of being so busy is that I'm not finding myself in the kitchen snacking - I'm busy and not thinking about food.  (Also, the kitchen and the food not in the same room as I am all the time.)   So, losing the seven pounds I gained while we were gone shouldn't be too hard - I hope.

We were greeted at the gym this morning with "welcome backs" from regular goers as well as a super hug from the owner.  Now, that's the kind of gym to belong to!  

I bought a large monitor at the base exchange while we were gone.  My little laptop screen is not hacking the program any more. I think my eyes are getting old.   I do spend a lot of time on the computer so I splurged and bought the monitor at a good price with no tax.  Well, when I got home I decided that I needed to switch sides of the desk with Roger because of the glare from the windows.  Well, one thing led to another and with  a little furniture moving,  I now have a really nice space to spread out for when I do the genealogy stuff (there's lots of paper) as well as everyday stuff.  In addition, the office was filled with boxes from before we left (ones I had saved in case I needed them for mailing at the holidays).  We use the office as a dumping site when we get home from our trips - everything gets piled in there and we put stuff away a little at a time.   I spent a couple hours on it last evening and then this afternoon between trips to the laundry room.  (There is something to be said for doing laundry in a laundromat - it gets done all at one time!)  Although there is also something to be said for the stair climbing exercise I get.  

Roger put his garage back into workshop mode this afternoon while I was messing around upstairs in the office.  He's hoping it warms up enough soon so that he can start spending some quality time out there.  

I hope you all enjoyed the tales of our wintering experiences and will tune in again next time we get on the road with the RV!  Ciao.

We Made It To Nellis

Just a quick note to let everyone know we had a long, mostly boring, mostly uneventful day and are safe, sound and very tired and parked at Nellis AFB for the night.    The only issue was that the automatic trailer brake wasn't working, so Roger had to brake the trailer manually.   Made for some interesting stops.  Gotta get that fixed before we hook up again!

 My only comment on the scenery today is:   When people see the desert why do they feel free to throw their trash out the window?   There used to be a bumper sticker "Nevada is not a wasteland" when there was talk about dumping nuclear waste here.  I think it is still appropriate, although, judging by what we saw today in the way of trash, people do think it is a wasteland.  So sad.  

We were up and out early - about 9am.  Probably could have gotten away 15 or 20 mintues early, but neighbors came out to wish us a safe journey and promises to see us next winter.  David came down to say goodbye and get Maggie kisses.  She was already in the truck ready to go, but when she heard him she wanted out and jumped up into his lap and gave him lots of love.   She is so taken with him and no one else and it is so weird to see.  She rarely reacts to us the way she does to him.  Maybe they were together in their previous lives???  

I'm defrosting the freezer as I write.  We've already filled tote bags with stuff that's going home with us and loaded them into the truck.  We shouldn't have much to do in the morning.  The office opens at 8am so we will be ready to put the RV into storage and then point the nose of Big Blue north towards home.

We are ready to go!

Tomorrow, as bright and early as we ever get, we will be moving on.  Destination:  Nellis, AFB, North Las Vegas, NV.

Roger spent the day today putting away all the outside gear (gazebo, rugs, chairs, etc.) , dumping tanks, airing the tires, tightening lug nuts, and resetting the truck computer to towing mode.

I spent the day cleaning the inside, putting stuff in cupboards (candy dishes, silk flowers, etc.), and packing up the stuff we need to take with us to Sparks.    One of the things the Navy taught me was how to be a good janitor, so I was, once again, in deep clean mode.  It's amazing how much dirt, dust, pollen and dog hair one accumulates so quickly.  I'm sure it doesn't help that most days we have the windows open with the vent fan sucking air in and that Maggie is in getting ready -for-summer shed mode.

Remember the new sofa and us measuring it to see if it would fit?  Well, we decided we had better try and get the slider in today instead of waiting until tomorrow in case we needed to do something drastic.  It's a bit of a tight fit, but.....

Part of  the issue is that we had to decide what we can do without for the 8 weeks we will be home before we go back and pick up the RV.  That, and just how much can the truck hold?  There is limited space.  Normally, this is not an issue - we just haul everything home and schlep it back into the house.  So, lots getting left in the RV clothes-wise and dry goods - wise.

Maggs is taking it all in her calm demeanor. 

But the plants for sure are going. 

Obviously we have to empty the refrigerator and freezer tomorrow night before we put the RV in storage, so we have been  eating some very weird meals this week.  When Roger asked what was for dinner tonight I told him I had some egg substutue, milk, cheese and lots of condiments along with a prepackaged salad from Costco.  He volunteered to go get a pizza - thank goodness.   I have some potato salad and cheese and crackers along with our usual apple and chocolate for tomorrow's lunch, but who knows what we'll come up with for dinner - cereal?  PB&J?   We've always got protein/snack bars for when we get hungry on the road.  We certainly won't starve.


So, off we go tomorrow, leaving the site as we found it and on to our next adventure - getting home.

It's Been Ten Days - Yikes!!!

We just realized it has been over a week since we posted anything, but this time it's not because the time has flown by.  Quite the opposite.  Time has been dragging its feet.  

I just washed my hair and can't
do a thing with it!  Do you think conditioner
would help?  

We are really ready to head home, but have already paid for the month in this spot.  No refunds for leaving early.   Rog sat down and calculated the weekly rate vs the monthly rate and figures we will hit the break even point on the 22nd if we had been paying by the week. So, we are leaving and heading home on the 22nd!  It's been uncomfortably warm (mid 90s) and Roger's sciatica is a pain - literally - so, for the most part, we haven't been able to get out and do any zoo trips or touristy stuff.   I'm too hot and he's too gimpy!  What a team! We also noted that the weather is going to cool off and be wet  in Sparks the first week of April when we were due home originally.  We didn't want to mess with the RV unpacking in the rain, so we are going to go home while it's still nice and warm there and get comfortable in our house before the unsettled weather happens.

We will be going from here to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas where we will overnight and then leave the RV in short term storage.  We'll drive home on the 23rd, getting in late (It's about an 8 hour drive.)   The rest of this week will be planning the packing of what we will haul home with us in the car and what stays in the RV.  Clothes - no problem as we have lots at home.  We do have to eat everything in the fridge and freezer, though.  That could be interesting.  

The reason for this is that we are due back down in the LA area the third week of May for our Stephanie's graduation from Cal State Long Beach.  We will pick up the RV in Las Vegas and spend a week at the Seal Beach Naval Warfare Center RV park.  It's about 10 miles from Long Beach and will give us and Steph's dad a place to stay.  We thought about coming back in the car and staying in a hotel.  Two problems with that:  1) expensive hotels, and 2) what do we do with Maggie?  This way we may be able to do a little LA sightseeing the week we are there - maybe.  

One day this week we did take our neighbors up on their offer to watch Maggie so we could go out galavanting for a day and not worry about leaving her inside for hours on end.  We did have a nice time.  We drove out to Coronado and found a nice place for lunch, then walked around the old neighborhood for a while looking at the small 1920s houses that cost millions.  After that we drove south along "The Strand" which is a spit of land linking Coronado to the mainland.  Lots of beaches but most of them owned by the Navy and not accessible by civilians.  Once we passed that area there was a state beach and it was packed with people and their RVs.  They were enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and the beach.   We made a couple of stops and did a little shopping and then headed back to Santee.  A nice day out.

The rest of the time we have been hanging out here and going out to the Dairy Queen when appropriate!   Roger sits outside listening to his Audible book while Maggie snoozes under the RV in the cool sand.  I've been staying in the air conditioned RV doing busy work.   

One of my activities included organizing the photos in iPhoto by year and then running an app to find duplicates.  That kinda worked.  Still some photos in the wrong year and still finding duplicates.  It's a work in progress.  This activity triggered another that has been quite fun.  I can't find any photos for 2009 (well, just a relative few) and I thought we went on a cross country trip that summer.  That segued into finding my old travel journals (before the web posted ones) and figuring out what we did that year.   Got to skimming over them and found them fascinating and fun to read.  What a kick to read about how much trouble we had with WIFI, the heat, the RV, and the price of gas -  a lot of the same issues we are still having ten years down the road.   I decided to print them all out and put them in a binder.  Then I ran out of printer ink.  But, I got most of the way through 2007 before I did.  The rest (8 more years) will have to wait until I get home.  I'm having so much fun reading the journal entries, which are in some serious need of editing.  They were written in the days before Roger edited my work as they weren't meant for publication.  I will be reading along and then just start laughing aloud because of some of our antics.  It's been enjoyable and I can't wait to get to the rest of them.  I've got to figure out how to print out the web-based ones.

Yes, we did take a long trip in 2009 and, no, I can't find any photos.  I'm hoping I moved them to a CD and they are at home,  Although, on one of our trips I did have a computer crash issue and after many hours on the phone with Apple Care was told I couldn't retrieve the photos I lost.  So,  maybe that's were they are - lost.  I sure hope not.   I also spent an afternoon building a spreadsheet timeline showing our trips so that in the future when Roger asks what year we went to Cooperstown, I can whip that puppy out and tell him!!  I know, crazy, huh?  

I've spent three afternoons working on Ancestry.  My friend Cathy has come up with a couple more names of ancestors that might be Revolutionary War "patriots", so I've been working on the links from one generation to another.  I'm finding glaring errors in my data. I have one person listed as a widow in 1860 census, but her husband didn't die until 1880.  Hmmm.  I decided that I had the wrong person with the same name in the 1860 census and deleted that information.  After that things looked a bit more correct.  It's been fun, though.  Yesterday I found a name in someone's private tree on Ancestry and sent them a request for information.  Today I got an email giving me permissions to go into their tree as a guest.  People can be so generous!  I love it!!

My iPhone had decided to drain the battery every day. There was also an app that was running constantly draining our data allowance - nearly 8 gigabytes (we only have 10 in our plan) in a couple of days,  I started reading about how to stop it and one of the things the article said was to reset all of the iPhones settings   I did.  I stopped getting emails.  After a few days of fiddling around I finally took it into an AT&T store where some young tech savvy person could help me.  He got the email working.  Today when I entered a vet appointment (just a check up and shots - she's fine) that I made, I discovered that the calendar wasn't syncing with the ones on the computer and iPad.  That was another afternoon of frustration and it still isn't working.  I never should have reset the dang thing!  Oh, well, lesson learned.  Think that kid will fix my calendar?  

The bike that Rog bought at a charity shop when we got here got thrown in the trash area this afternoon after a very close call with a Honda CRV.  He didn't fall but came awfully close and was a bit shaken.  That's enough bike riding.  

A Trip to the Farmers' Market

The colors were so vibrant, and no, I don't know
these people!  

Spring has arrived and the farmers' markets are gearing up.   They happen all year here, but with the warm weather the produce looked just wonderful. 

David and Eileen took us to one today in Poway, which is the town they lived in before they became RV full-timers.  We packed up the dogs and climbed in their mobility van (David has a ramp to get up into the van behind the drivers'  seat with his power chair.  He locks it down and then climbs into his seat which is equipped with hand controls.)  Eileen, the two Maggies, and I were quite comfy in the back seat while Roger rode shotgun.

Roger talking with the chocolatier.

The sun was shining, it was 84 today, and there were lots of people like us looking for a nice day out. There were greens, vegetables of all kinds, fruit, soaps, breads, and a few food vendors.  We picked up some fresh produce, some home made doggie cookies, fresh pasta noodles, and some very expensive chocolate! 

There was an abundance of flower vendors, and again, the colors were eye popping!  Almost everyone had an armful of bouquets.

Our Maggie got tired and hot but we found a cool cement slab in the shade and took time out  to cool off her tummy while we people watched.   She did really well with the crowds and all the strange sniffs and noises.  She met other nice dogs and one not so nice dachshund who snapped and growled at her.  She just backed away and went about her business.  She was such a good dog today.  








The other Maggie got to ride around in the power chair!  You can see her head in Dave's lap checking stuff out.

     

We left the market and found a restaurant with outdoor seating and had a nice lunch while we rested and got cooled off - the dogs sitting at our feet in the shade.    From there we went to the town's dog park and the Maggies got to run around loose with some other small dogs that were there.  They chased the balls and just enjoyed being free.  They finally just collapsed under the picnic table where we were sitting in the shade and we knew it was time to take the poor tired dogs home   

It was a lovely outing and fun was had by one and all -  and Roger didn't have to drive!