It's late, so this will be short and sweet - just to let everyone know we made it safe and sound after a totally uneventful drive today. We got parked about 3pm. We did have discussions, though, about finding a different route back and forth - but we've a few months to figure it out :-)
We have most everything set up tonight and are starting to feel at home already. We've met our neighbors on our right side (as we face the street) and they seem like super nice people. A couple we met last year that are directly across the street pulled in a few hours after we did. Our friends at the end of the street (two sites to the left) are here but we haven't had a chance to say hello yet. We noticed a few new rigs on our street that weren't here in March. Our understanding is that 95% of all lots are now sold in the Co-op with Dec 31 set as the anticipated date for complete ownership.
We will now start meeting contractors and getting estimates. We have to get our improvement plans approved by the oversight committee and then get things scheduled. It's now going to be a matter of becoming a member of the community and getting settled for the winter.
We were lucky today with the weather - it was overcast all day and only about 80 degrees. We were dreading having to set up in the hot sun, but it was very nice today not having it beating down on us as we worked.
Not sure what day routines will start - hopefully soon. Tomorrow is Wednesday already. We need a day for grocery shopping and getting a few things we need for the RV. I will be flying to the Bay Area on Friday afternoon for a Celebration of Life/Memorial Service for my sister on Saturday but will be returning home on Sunday. Maybe Monday will have to be the real start of routines.
I will work on getting photos downloaded tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Monday, October 30, 2017
Risk Takers
Not sure what happened, but as I was closing computer, the wifi signal popped on.... just going to drop in what I wrote - no fancy stuff - before it goes away again!
Well, today was better. We seemed to have our heads on a bit straighter this morning :-) We got more sleep last night and that might have had something to do with it.
I don’t know what this posting is going to look like tonight. We are in a state park on the Colorado River with high cliffs all around us. We are at the back and there’s no wifi signal. If I go up to the office area I supposedly can get one. The phone is switching between “no service” and one bar. So the plan is to write the entry as word processing doc, walk up to the office area and cut and paste it into the blog. There won’t be any photos again - just not going to work. In the next day or so I will do an entry with the photos you’ve missed!
We got on the road about 8:30 this morning and we were through Las Vegas by 10:45. No real traffic to speak of except at one interchange where everyone was going in a different direction and there was construction. Once we got through the city and diverged from US93/US95 we turned on US95 south at Boulder City. We dropped into the El Dorado Valley. It is filled with solar farms on the west side. We found a pull out and parked for lunch and to let Roger destress from driving through Vegas! We sat facing the mountains, two solar farms, and lots of power towers. It wasn’t bad - we sat in the shade and enjoyed the view. Temperature was about 75 and there was no wind! (I think we are pushing our luck here - two days of no wind.) Hopefully photos will be forthcoming.
As we pulled into this long pull out just south of the turn off, two brand new Mercedes came screeching to a halt in front of us. One black, one white. Four guys in each vehicle. They all hopped out, changed seats and/or cars and got back on the road heading back the way they had come - towards Las Vegas. About half way through our lunch, they came flying back into the same spot and the same thing happened. It was weird. Roger and I discussed what could possibly be going on. We came up with a story to write about tonight that they were guys at a convention in Las Vegas (they were all wearing lanyards around their necks with name tags hanging on them) and had rented the vehicles and each one of them wanted to drive a Mercedes because they never had before. Sounded plausible to us. Then, just as we were putting the chairs away and Maggie was having her last pee walk, here they came again. Too bizarre. I couldn’t help myself - Maggie and I walked over and I told them we were trying to figure out what they were doing and asked if they would tell me. Two gentlemen came over and told me that they were testing tires. One little Japanese guy had on a shirt with Kenda Tires logo on it and he told me that one car had his tires and the other had another brand and that each driver was to test drive them and make a report as to how they handled. So, we weren’t far off in our guess. Then he said, “So sorry, must go I have clients waiting.” They all hopped back in and off they went. No telling how many times today they did that test run. It really was quite amusing.
We stopped in Searchlight, NV to top off the tank. The terrain this morning was up and down and we used a lot of fuel. Not knowing where we were going and the roads we would encounter nor where we would be tonight and how far a gas station would be, we decided to be prudent and fill up. This is not a task Roger does often - pulling the whole rig into the gas station. Fortunately, at the south end of town is a large one that accommodates trucks and RVs.
Roger and I are not risk takers but today we defied the odds of probability and got on the road without reservations for the night! We always have to know every night we are on the road where we will be staying - that we have a place to stay. I had left a voice mail on the main Arizona State Parks number last night explaining how I had tried to reserve a site and would someone please call me. Well, 8:00 sharp Zeb called me and let me know that none of my attempts at paying/reserving a site had worked. Whew - no huge bill to fight for a refund. He indicated that the park we were interested in had plenty of open sites and we should have no problem getting in. Of course, Roger was a bit nervous about it all day, but we did get a site. In fact, there are quite a few open. Not only was it cheaper because we didn’t pay a processing fee, we ended up in a water/electric only site sitting at the end of the park with our back to a beautiful cliff and no one on either side of us. We watched the moon rise over the cliffs across the highway! The site we had tried to get would have been in the sun, and as it was getting later in the day, this site was already shaded. Since it was 85 degrees when we pulled in, that worked out perfectly! The park is beautiful, well maintained, about 35 very large sites, no lights, restroom/showers, laundry room and with a small beach on the Colorado River. The name is River Island State Park. I would recommend it if you don’t care about wifi or phone service. OK for an overnight for us, but not sure about longer stays.
We are south of Lake Havasu City and north of Parker on AZ95 which runs along the river. I saw (Rog was driving) the London Bridge as we drove through Havasu. The city has become a huge, sprawling, metropolis of Snow Birds. The main drag is very congested and it was slow driving through town as we caught all the lights on red! Reminded us of the place we stayed in Florida only with desert plants!
I just looked outside - can’t see a thing. I’ll wait til the light of day to walk up to the office to post this!
Tomorrow, night we should be “home.”
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Discombobulation is the word of the day.
The on-line dictionary defines discombobulation as "to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate." Well, the day started out that way, got better, but then this evening, we are back into the classic definition.
This morning when I was putting together lunch for the road, I couldn't find anything I needed. It was as if I'd never been in this kitchen before. Where were the lunch sacks? What drawer are the sandwich bags in? (None of them - we are out of sandwich bags.) Dang, I left the frozen things for the lunch sacks at home so how am I going to keep the food cool? I was just going crazy. Of course, it all worked out, but for criminy sakes, that's not the way to start the day.
We realized we left Roger's slippers, my sun hat, and my hairbrushes at home, as well. Nice. I did find a small brush we bought to use on Maggie, so that'll have to work - we hadn't used it on her yet. Rog will just have to put on his shoes when he goes out with Maggs in the mornings, and I do have a back up sun hat with me - just not the one I wanted. I'm told they do have stores in Arizona, but in the meantime....
Once we were on the road it was Roger's turn. He drove right by our exit in Fernley and as he passed it he commented that we were passing the Walmart - which we shouldn't have been. Of course, I hadn't been paying attention either and realized it at the same time he did. Geez. Luckily there is now a third exit in Fernley and we were able to get off, cross the interstate and get back on - only lost about 5 miles, fortunately.
As always, the first night's sleep in the RV was not optimal for any of us and Maggie had to go out at 6:30. Think maybe that may have something to do with our state of mind this morning?
After that we were OK. Minds on our business. We stopped at one of the picnic areas at Walker Lake for lunch and enjoyed a relaxing repast. For the first time we could remember, there was no wind when we stopped for lunch in Hawthorne. The sun was shining, it was about 60 degrees and with no wind it was most pleasant sitting looking out over the lake and enjoying our lunch. We were surprised to see lots of water fowl. We didn't think that the lake supported any animal or bird life these days.
As it happens, the place where we pulled off was, in the 1950s when Hawthorne Army Depot was the Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot, the Officer's beach and I spent many hours there with my mother and sister when my father was stationed there . Now, of course, there really is no beach and what little bit of one there is, is far from the picnic area because of the drop in lake level. It did bring back memories - one in particular where I remember eating so many hot dogs I got very sick. It took many years before I could face one again.
The long drive through the desert was, indeed, long today. It took us 6 hours with lunch and pit stops pulling the RV. We thought it would never end. We both spent a lot of time with earbuds inserted listening to our audio books. Road construction for 10 miles or so had traffic backed up as it was one lane at a time. We sat waiting for the "follow me" car for about 20 minutes. We did see a large herd of pronghorn antelope just south of Hawthorne and then as we were just north of Luning there was a HUGE cow on the side of the road - belly up like a dead bug and bloated to twice it's size. Gross. Not until we got just north of Beatty did we see some wild burros. No wild horses today and that is unusual along this route.
We pulled into the Beatty RV Park about 4:30 p.m. We were fortunate to get a long pull thru site "because you made reservations and have stayed here before." It's next to the highway and is a bit noisy, but was easy in and will be easy out in the morning. The computer in the office was frustratingly slow because "everyone is on the internet streaming movies." So we parked and I went back to finish up with business. I asked about the internet and that I needed to get on Google Maps because we weren't sure how far we were going tomorrow. In the discussion, the guy in the office told us about a shorter route, so we decided to check it out.
Here's where the discombobulation and confusion starts again. First, the internet is too slow to even query the maps program, so we turned on a hotspot on Roger's phone. About that time both our phones decide to drain their batteries at an alarming rate. I looked at mine and saw 26% and two minutes later it was shutting down because it was at 1%. Roger's dropped to 26% in a matter of minutes. The computer was also running outta steam at a pretty good clip. We plugged every device in, and in all our confusion were finally able to get a map and started looking at routes again. We changed our minds about our planned route for tomorrow (saving about 50 miles and an hour) and tried to make reservations on line at a state park near Parker, AZ. We tried 5 times. Now, we either have no reservations for tomorrow, or we have one, or we have 5 and the credit card has been charged not at all or up to five times. I left a message (it is Sunday night) and hope to hear from someone in the morning. In the meantime, the place we have reservations for, but are not going to, I have already called and changed the dates once. Now I've got to call and cancel. I feel bad about that but fortunately they did not take a deposit. What a crazy mess.
Because of the internet issues here, we won't be able to post pictures tonight. I'll try tomorrow as we got some nice ones of the yellow cottonwoods along the Truckee River between home and Fernley, of Walker Lake from our advantage of our picnic spot, and a lovely sunset here in Beatty. It has been a most wonderful day weather-wise which helped make the journey more enjoyable.
Maggie is being a good girl but is very subdued and unsure. She's not (nor are we) liking being leashed just to go out to pee. At least, though, she knows what she's going out there for and is pretty good about doing her business in a reasonable amount of time.
Tomorrow - we think we are going to continue south on US 95 to Parker, AZ and stay at a state park just south of town. That's the plan tonight.
No internet to stream our shows and no TV tonight. Reading, Suduko, and Words with Friends will be the entertainment for what's left of the evening.
This morning when I was putting together lunch for the road, I couldn't find anything I needed. It was as if I'd never been in this kitchen before. Where were the lunch sacks? What drawer are the sandwich bags in? (None of them - we are out of sandwich bags.) Dang, I left the frozen things for the lunch sacks at home so how am I going to keep the food cool? I was just going crazy. Of course, it all worked out, but for criminy sakes, that's not the way to start the day.
We realized we left Roger's slippers, my sun hat, and my hairbrushes at home, as well. Nice. I did find a small brush we bought to use on Maggie, so that'll have to work - we hadn't used it on her yet. Rog will just have to put on his shoes when he goes out with Maggs in the mornings, and I do have a back up sun hat with me - just not the one I wanted. I'm told they do have stores in Arizona, but in the meantime....
Once we were on the road it was Roger's turn. He drove right by our exit in Fernley and as he passed it he commented that we were passing the Walmart - which we shouldn't have been. Of course, I hadn't been paying attention either and realized it at the same time he did. Geez. Luckily there is now a third exit in Fernley and we were able to get off, cross the interstate and get back on - only lost about 5 miles, fortunately.
As always, the first night's sleep in the RV was not optimal for any of us and Maggie had to go out at 6:30. Think maybe that may have something to do with our state of mind this morning?
After that we were OK. Minds on our business. We stopped at one of the picnic areas at Walker Lake for lunch and enjoyed a relaxing repast. For the first time we could remember, there was no wind when we stopped for lunch in Hawthorne. The sun was shining, it was about 60 degrees and with no wind it was most pleasant sitting looking out over the lake and enjoying our lunch. We were surprised to see lots of water fowl. We didn't think that the lake supported any animal or bird life these days.
As it happens, the place where we pulled off was, in the 1950s when Hawthorne Army Depot was the Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot, the Officer's beach and I spent many hours there with my mother and sister when my father was stationed there . Now, of course, there really is no beach and what little bit of one there is, is far from the picnic area because of the drop in lake level. It did bring back memories - one in particular where I remember eating so many hot dogs I got very sick. It took many years before I could face one again.
The long drive through the desert was, indeed, long today. It took us 6 hours with lunch and pit stops pulling the RV. We thought it would never end. We both spent a lot of time with earbuds inserted listening to our audio books. Road construction for 10 miles or so had traffic backed up as it was one lane at a time. We sat waiting for the "follow me" car for about 20 minutes. We did see a large herd of pronghorn antelope just south of Hawthorne and then as we were just north of Luning there was a HUGE cow on the side of the road - belly up like a dead bug and bloated to twice it's size. Gross. Not until we got just north of Beatty did we see some wild burros. No wild horses today and that is unusual along this route.
We pulled into the Beatty RV Park about 4:30 p.m. We were fortunate to get a long pull thru site "because you made reservations and have stayed here before." It's next to the highway and is a bit noisy, but was easy in and will be easy out in the morning. The computer in the office was frustratingly slow because "everyone is on the internet streaming movies." So we parked and I went back to finish up with business. I asked about the internet and that I needed to get on Google Maps because we weren't sure how far we were going tomorrow. In the discussion, the guy in the office told us about a shorter route, so we decided to check it out.
Here's where the discombobulation and confusion starts again. First, the internet is too slow to even query the maps program, so we turned on a hotspot on Roger's phone. About that time both our phones decide to drain their batteries at an alarming rate. I looked at mine and saw 26% and two minutes later it was shutting down because it was at 1%. Roger's dropped to 26% in a matter of minutes. The computer was also running outta steam at a pretty good clip. We plugged every device in, and in all our confusion were finally able to get a map and started looking at routes again. We changed our minds about our planned route for tomorrow (saving about 50 miles and an hour) and tried to make reservations on line at a state park near Parker, AZ. We tried 5 times. Now, we either have no reservations for tomorrow, or we have one, or we have 5 and the credit card has been charged not at all or up to five times. I left a message (it is Sunday night) and hope to hear from someone in the morning. In the meantime, the place we have reservations for, but are not going to, I have already called and changed the dates once. Now I've got to call and cancel. I feel bad about that but fortunately they did not take a deposit. What a crazy mess.
Because of the internet issues here, we won't be able to post pictures tonight. I'll try tomorrow as we got some nice ones of the yellow cottonwoods along the Truckee River between home and Fernley, of Walker Lake from our advantage of our picnic spot, and a lovely sunset here in Beatty. It has been a most wonderful day weather-wise which helped make the journey more enjoyable.
Maggie is being a good girl but is very subdued and unsure. She's not (nor are we) liking being leashed just to go out to pee. At least, though, she knows what she's going out there for and is pretty good about doing her business in a reasonable amount of time.
Tomorrow - we think we are going to continue south on US 95 to Parker, AZ and stay at a state park just south of town. That's the plan tonight.
No internet to stream our shows and no TV tonight. Reading, Suduko, and Words with Friends will be the entertainment for what's left of the evening.
Saturday, October 28, 2017
The Blog is Back!!
Here we are again - in our little house on wheels ready for the next adventure. Tomorrow morning we head south to join the other snowbirds in Arizona for the winter. It'll take us three driving days to get there and then we will spend the winter getting our Arizona RV site set up to enjoy for many winters to come.
We've been working for about a week getting prepared for leaving but the last three days were the tough ones. We packed up our clothes and other essentials on Thursday and loaded everything in the car. Yesterday we retrieved the RV from the storage facility and parked it in the Sparks Marina RV park for last night and tonight. We couldn't park until after noon, so we did chores around the house. Once we got here, we unloaded the car and put everything away as we brought it inside. It was quite tiring. It really is a lot of work. We are talking about not putting stuff back in the house when we return and just buying duplicates of everything to save the work. Hmmm. Sure sounds like a good idea to us today!
We slept at home last night and packed up more stuff this morning as we now had empty bags. We got to the RV early, put things away, had lunch, and went home again for the refrigerator/freezer stuff, close the house up, and put the car in the garage on a trickle charger. We were all done by four o'clock and sat down for a rest. Miss Maggie was not getting far from us today.
We had a nice visit from Mike and Erica and Erica's parents, Chuck and Tica late this afternoon. They all came over for about an hour to see us off. It was very nice to see everyone and get hugs before we depart in the morning.
The weather has been wonderful - it's been in the mid-70s in the afternoon. Granted it's 40 degrees when we get up, but it warms up in the afternoon. Lots of sunshine and no wind. It's so different from our past departures that have been later in the year when we would fight the cold and wind. Taking two days to get set up in nice weather relieved a lot of stress.
Two weeks ago Roger spotted an ad in Trailer Life magazine for a new product for the RV - some steps with a handrail that are much more stable than the ones that are standard on the RV. Since I often fall up or down stairs, we thought this new addition might prevent me from injuring myself. We had them installed right away. Maggie likes them, too, as they are not as steep, the stairs are closer to each other, and we added an optional hand rail. It was much easier going in and out with our loads. I have a feeling it's going to be worth every penny.
Tomorrow - I-80 to Fallon, NV, then US95 south to Beatty, NV and we will officially be "on the road again."
We've been working for about a week getting prepared for leaving but the last three days were the tough ones. We packed up our clothes and other essentials on Thursday and loaded everything in the car. Yesterday we retrieved the RV from the storage facility and parked it in the Sparks Marina RV park for last night and tonight. We couldn't park until after noon, so we did chores around the house. Once we got here, we unloaded the car and put everything away as we brought it inside. It was quite tiring. It really is a lot of work. We are talking about not putting stuff back in the house when we return and just buying duplicates of everything to save the work. Hmmm. Sure sounds like a good idea to us today! 
We slept at home last night and packed up more stuff this morning as we now had empty bags. We got to the RV early, put things away, had lunch, and went home again for the refrigerator/freezer stuff, close the house up, and put the car in the garage on a trickle charger. We were all done by four o'clock and sat down for a rest. Miss Maggie was not getting far from us today. We had a nice visit from Mike and Erica and Erica's parents, Chuck and Tica late this afternoon. They all came over for about an hour to see us off. It was very nice to see everyone and get hugs before we depart in the morning.
The weather has been wonderful - it's been in the mid-70s in the afternoon. Granted it's 40 degrees when we get up, but it warms up in the afternoon. Lots of sunshine and no wind. It's so different from our past departures that have been later in the year when we would fight the cold and wind. Taking two days to get set up in nice weather relieved a lot of stress.
Two weeks ago Roger spotted an ad in Trailer Life magazine for a new product for the RV - some steps with a handrail that are much more stable than the ones that are standard on the RV. Since I often fall up or down stairs, we thought this new addition might prevent me from injuring myself. We had them installed right away. Maggie likes them, too, as they are not as steep, the stairs are closer to each other, and we added an optional hand rail. It was much easier going in and out with our loads. I have a feeling it's going to be worth every penny.Tomorrow - I-80 to Fallon, NV, then US95 south to Beatty, NV and we will officially be "on the road again."
Monday, July 3, 2017
We Are Home!
The trip-o-meter said we logged ~7,100 miles on this two month trip. We saw a lot of territory, that's for sure. We now are home until it's time to go away for the winter!
We came home to find our problem neighbor had parked across our drive way. Rog told one of his kids to get their dad and get that piece of junk moved. He did come out right away and do it. Oh, it's got the potential to be a very long summer dealing with him.
The trip from Elko today was just long and boring. No other way to describe it. It seemed to take forever. We stopped in Winnemucca for lunch and fuel. We encountered some heavy smoke from fires around Fernley and I just saw an alert that I-80 is now closed both ways in that area because the smoke is so dense. Here in Sparks it was 93 when we arrived and the air is smokey.
The RV is parked at the Sparks Marina RV Park. (Wow, the park is full) - we've never seen so many people there. We were quite fortunate to get a site for two nights over the holiday. We grabbed meds, toothbrushes, computers, food from the fridge, Maggie's food and bed, and came home for the evening. We will go back in the morning and begin the task of getting the rest of the stuff and prepping for storage. The RV being so new, fortunately we haven't gotten it too dirty!
Maggie was so happy to be in her house and yard! She ran around like the Tasmanian Devil for 15 minutes - through every room, in and out the back door, under the dining room table, until she finally gave out. Her tongue was dragging on the floor when she was done.
We came home to find our problem neighbor had parked across our drive way. Rog told one of his kids to get their dad and get that piece of junk moved. He did come out right away and do it. Oh, it's got the potential to be a very long summer dealing with him.
We also came home to an immaculately clean yard and deck thanks to the neighbor on the other side. The mail was stacked neatly on the dining room table, my plants outside were all alive and thriving, and it was wonderful not coming home and having the pressure to get out in the yard to clean it up. She went way above and beyond. She said it was "fun." Sure. She really is a great neighbor.
So, signing off for now. I'll be back to posting probably the last week of October as we get ready for leaving again. It's been a fun two months. This was the trip that we had said would be the deciding factor on whether we continued. I guess since we bought a new RV we are going to continue roaming the country for as many more years as we can.
So, signing off for now. I'll be back to posting probably the last week of October as we get ready for leaving again. It's been a fun two months. This was the trip that we had said would be the deciding factor on whether we continued. I guess since we bought a new RV we are going to continue roaming the country for as many more years as we can.
Sunday, July 2, 2017
We Are Back In Nevada and Pacific Time!
We are in Elko, NV and one day's drive from home! We are both glad to be so close but dreading the drive tomorrow. It will be a long day. We will clear out some stuff tomorrow night, but the majority of the work will wait until Tuesday. We have a spot at a storage place promised to us on the 5th, so we should be all set - at least until we have to take it out to take to the dealer for the fireplace issue. (Rog took it apart again this evening in the hopes he could figure it out, but says the electronics are bad.)
Today's drive was OK - we headed south on US 93 out of Twin Falls and it took us to Wells, NV where we got on I-80 and headed west. I was surprised at the farmland in Idaho came almost all the way to the Nevada border but then the desert took over.
Just south of the Nevada border and the town of Jackpot there is a little rest area tucked among the willows and at the base of a huge cliff. We stopped for lunch as our stomachs were telling us it was time, but the clock said it was only 10:30. It's a nice little rest area along the Salmon Falls Creek, which US 93 followed for a long time. As we had lunch we watched scores of birds going in and out of the little "caves" in the side of the cliff - probably feeding little ones. It was a pleasant interlude.
We encountered two older women who were, in their words, " hauling our asses from British Columbia to Texas." They were transporting two donkeys in a beat up old trailer. When I asked if I could take a photo of the donkeys we ended up getting one woman's whole life story leading up to why they were making this journey. Seemed like nice old ladies and the donkeys just tolerated Maggie getting up close to the trailer and sniffing at them.
We got into Elko early - forgot about the time change. We are staying at the Iron Horse RV Park which is run by the Hilton Garden Inn. It's a very nice park - wide spaces, grass, trees, paved roads and exceptionally clean. They've even got park models along the outside perimeter. It looks as though the majority of the sites are permanent residents - folks here for a job, probably in the mining industry.
Only one issue - our site is way out of level from side to side and front to back and the auto leveling system freaked out trying to get us level. Poor Roger was so frustrated. He had to recalibrate several times and we ended up doing it the old fashioned way with legos under one side and manually leveling the rig. Lesson learned - if the site looks un-level it is too far out of kilter for the auto leveling system.
We were so hot (96 today) when we were done we decided to go get something to eat after getting fuel. We had a coupon for the Hilton's restaurant, so we stopped there. They didn't open for dinner for another hour. Again, our stomachs were out of sync with the clock. We ended up going to a casino coffee shop and getting a so-so meal - but we were in the air conditioning and we didn't have to fix it or clean up after! Maggie was not happy with our having left her today - there were scratches on the plexiglass, cushions on the floor, and she was hyper when we returned. Good thing we didn't try to come back to the RV and then go back out to the first restaurant. She would have been even more of a basket case.
The RV is cooling down nicely - a lot faster than the old one. It's still hard for it to catch up with this kind of heat, though, and hasn't stopped running since we turned it on.
Since Rog is not hooking up the sewer tonight and doesn't want to travel with water in the tanks, we both opted for using the park's showers. We rarely do that, but after today, we had to! It's about 8 o'clock and we are sitting outside in the shade with a nice breeze keeping us cool. Maggs is stretched out doing her flat dog impression cooling her tummy in the grass. The sun has gone behind the hill and we seem to be cooling off nicely.
P.S. I keep forgetting to share these photos. We met this couple in Miles City, MT. They were on the way to Glacier Nat'l Park. When I asked if I could take a photo of their "unique" trailer the response was, "It's not unique. There are 783 more out there just like it." 
Today's drive was OK - we headed south on US 93 out of Twin Falls and it took us to Wells, NV where we got on I-80 and headed west. I was surprised at the farmland in Idaho came almost all the way to the Nevada border but then the desert took over.
Just south of the Nevada border and the town of Jackpot there is a little rest area tucked among the willows and at the base of a huge cliff. We stopped for lunch as our stomachs were telling us it was time, but the clock said it was only 10:30. It's a nice little rest area along the Salmon Falls Creek, which US 93 followed for a long time. As we had lunch we watched scores of birds going in and out of the little "caves" in the side of the cliff - probably feeding little ones. It was a pleasant interlude. 
We encountered two older women who were, in their words, " hauling our asses from British Columbia to Texas." They were transporting two donkeys in a beat up old trailer. When I asked if I could take a photo of the donkeys we ended up getting one woman's whole life story leading up to why they were making this journey. Seemed like nice old ladies and the donkeys just tolerated Maggie getting up close to the trailer and sniffing at them.
We got into Elko early - forgot about the time change. We are staying at the Iron Horse RV Park which is run by the Hilton Garden Inn. It's a very nice park - wide spaces, grass, trees, paved roads and exceptionally clean. They've even got park models along the outside perimeter. It looks as though the majority of the sites are permanent residents - folks here for a job, probably in the mining industry.
Only one issue - our site is way out of level from side to side and front to back and the auto leveling system freaked out trying to get us level. Poor Roger was so frustrated. He had to recalibrate several times and we ended up doing it the old fashioned way with legos under one side and manually leveling the rig. Lesson learned - if the site looks un-level it is too far out of kilter for the auto leveling system.
We were so hot (96 today) when we were done we decided to go get something to eat after getting fuel. We had a coupon for the Hilton's restaurant, so we stopped there. They didn't open for dinner for another hour. Again, our stomachs were out of sync with the clock. We ended up going to a casino coffee shop and getting a so-so meal - but we were in the air conditioning and we didn't have to fix it or clean up after! Maggie was not happy with our having left her today - there were scratches on the plexiglass, cushions on the floor, and she was hyper when we returned. Good thing we didn't try to come back to the RV and then go back out to the first restaurant. She would have been even more of a basket case.
The RV is cooling down nicely - a lot faster than the old one. It's still hard for it to catch up with this kind of heat, though, and hasn't stopped running since we turned it on.
Since Rog is not hooking up the sewer tonight and doesn't want to travel with water in the tanks, we both opted for using the park's showers. We rarely do that, but after today, we had to! It's about 8 o'clock and we are sitting outside in the shade with a nice breeze keeping us cool. Maggs is stretched out doing her flat dog impression cooling her tummy in the grass. The sun has gone behind the hill and we seem to be cooling off nicely.
P.S. I keep forgetting to share these photos. We met this couple in Miles City, MT. They were on the way to Glacier Nat'l Park. When I asked if I could take a photo of their "unique" trailer the response was, "It's not unique. There are 783 more out there just like it." 
Saturday, July 1, 2017
Mr. Fix-it Saves the Day Once Again
As I mentioned last night, we had an easy day yesterday. The drive down I-15 from Montana into Idaho was, once again, beautiful. Mountains gave way to lava beds and then rolling farms and then to flatland and lots of potato plants! We followed the Snake River most of the day.
We were happy to be going south as the north bound lanes were packed with RVs heading to the mountains for the holiday weekend. At one point in the midst of construction, the north bound lanes were backed up about 10 miles. So, happy to be going south!!
We were passed by an RV with a woman waving frantically at us and pointing to the back of our RV. About the same time, Rog had looked back and saw something amiss. The door to the water heater was hanging loose and flapping around. One hinge had come undone for some reason. We still haven't figured out what happened as it was closed when we did our pre-flight inspection. Neither of us saw anything out of order. After much thought, Rog remembered that when he took the dog out first thing in the morning he had noticed that several RVs in the campground had the doors to their water heaters open. He didn't think anything about it at the time. We now think that some kids had come through the park in the night and opened them up. Ours must have been partially unlatched and when we hit the road it flopped open. A moment or two of panic but nothing disastrous. All fixed.
Speaking of fixing things - I mentioned in an earlier post that the bedroom register was not getting any hot air coming through. Again, after much pondering, Rog thought perhaps the ducting might have come loose. Of course the ducting is in the basement and behind a wall with all of our stuff in front of it. Well, this morning, on his rest day, Rog took everything out, took the wall out and voila - a duct had either never been connected or had fallen out. Again, Roger's analytical mind and fix-it skills saved a trip to a repair shop. Now, if he could just magically fix that darn fireplace.
As we turned off the road following the signs to the Village of Trees RV park, my heart started racing and I thought, "Oh, No! This is going to be a disaster." The sign says register in the store at this gas station. Rog pulled up and I got out thinking, do we really want to stay two nights? But, we've no place else to go on a Saturday night at the beginning of the holiday week. Once we were guided into the campground by a guy who moved us from a sunny spot to a shady one because we didn't have a TV dish, we both let out a sigh of relief. This is really a nice campground. Lots of trees and grass, big sites, wide pads and space between rigs. A lovely tent camping area that is huge runs along two sides of the park. From our site we can see a bit of the Snake River and the campground has a boat launch there. Today at lunch we were visited by some horses from the farm next door. We are all so pleased. Maggie has spent most of the day in the grass under the tree watching squirrels. She had to be coaxed in for lunch.
We've now had two days of sunshine, no wind, and warm temperatures. We have about dried out and thawed out. It's supposed to get to 90 today, but I don't think either of us mind - "it's a dry heat." I'll bet about dinner time we will be testing the AC!
P.S. Rog just did his first flush of the tanks and everything worked as it should!!
We were happy to be going south as the north bound lanes were packed with RVs heading to the mountains for the holiday weekend. At one point in the midst of construction, the north bound lanes were backed up about 10 miles. So, happy to be going south!!
We were passed by an RV with a woman waving frantically at us and pointing to the back of our RV. About the same time, Rog had looked back and saw something amiss. The door to the water heater was hanging loose and flapping around. One hinge had come undone for some reason. We still haven't figured out what happened as it was closed when we did our pre-flight inspection. Neither of us saw anything out of order. After much thought, Rog remembered that when he took the dog out first thing in the morning he had noticed that several RVs in the campground had the doors to their water heaters open. He didn't think anything about it at the time. We now think that some kids had come through the park in the night and opened them up. Ours must have been partially unlatched and when we hit the road it flopped open. A moment or two of panic but nothing disastrous. All fixed.
 |
| Note hole in ceiling to bedroom register. Note where the duct is. Hmm.... not connected. |
Speaking of fixing things - I mentioned in an earlier post that the bedroom register was not getting any hot air coming through. Again, after much pondering, Rog thought perhaps the ducting might have come loose. Of course the ducting is in the basement and behind a wall with all of our stuff in front of it. Well, this morning, on his rest day, Rog took everything out, took the wall out and voila - a duct had either never been connected or had fallen out. Again, Roger's analytical mind and fix-it skills saved a trip to a repair shop. Now, if he could just magically fix that darn fireplace. 
As we turned off the road following the signs to the Village of Trees RV park, my heart started racing and I thought, "Oh, No! This is going to be a disaster." The sign says register in the store at this gas station. Rog pulled up and I got out thinking, do we really want to stay two nights? But, we've no place else to go on a Saturday night at the beginning of the holiday week. Once we were guided into the campground by a guy who moved us from a sunny spot to a shady one because we didn't have a TV dish, we both let out a sigh of relief. This is really a nice campground. Lots of trees and grass, big sites, wide pads and space between rigs. A lovely tent camping area that is huge runs along two sides of the park. From our site we can see a bit of the Snake River and the campground has a boat launch there. Today at lunch we were visited by some horses from the farm next door. We are all so pleased. Maggie has spent most of the day in the grass under the tree watching squirrels. She had to be coaxed in for lunch.  |
| Watching for those darn squirrels. |
 |
| Trees/Grass/Wide roads/Large sites |
 |
| Short walk to the river |
We've now had two days of sunshine, no wind, and warm temperatures. We have about dried out and thawed out. It's supposed to get to 90 today, but I don't think either of us mind - "it's a dry heat." I'll bet about dinner time we will be testing the AC!
P.S. Rog just did his first flush of the tanks and everything worked as it should!!
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