Fulltiming Road Runners

We’ll be heading to our homes in Ogden Canyon tomorrow.  The trailer is in the shop getting the carpet installed and should be finished after lunch.  I’m ready to get settled again.  It’s not a lot of fun living in the RV when we have to be stowed and ready to move every morning. 

I forgot to mention we were able to go to my son’s place for dinner on Monday evening.  Tiffany’s (Daughter in law) father and brother were there too.  Mike (son) grilled some absolutely perfect steaks.  Was yummy.  Best part of all, though, was being able to spend time with Coen.  He’s 1 yr old now and  walking, talking (in his own way), and a tremendously happy child.  He had a ball playing with Willow. 

We had a great time yesterday evening at dinner with Mari and Scott.  I so enjoy spending time with them.  They will be coming up to camp a time or two this summer, and are already talking about coming back to Quartzsite.

Time for me to get get out of here.

Ya’ll stay happy ‘n healthy!

Toodles

A very Merry Christmas from our house to you and yours

I get frustrated when I go to the blogs I follow and see they haven’t posted for several days, & here I am….. it’s been 5 days since I’ve posted. My apologies. I could use the excuse that we’ve been really busy, but the actual truth is that by evenings I’m quite tired and I can’t think of the things I wanted to share… my mind is mush.

Today was our day off. We woke up to a skiff of snow on the ground and dreary cloudy skies.

We’ve had some really cold mornings over the weekend. 27F one morning and 20F another. That’s a bit chilly for me, but it warms up fast when the sun comes up.

We opened on May 9th and had two campers come in. One was a group of 8 young men who were there to listen to the Jazz/Laker’s game and just have fun. They didn’t drink and were a tremendous first group for us. Perfect campers! They even left their site clean when they left. The second was a man with his two young sons. They stayed two nights while Mom had time off in the casino’s in Wendover, NV. They too were perfect campers. The children were very well behaved and the site was left very clean and ready for the next campers. Our first weekend was a very good experience and makes us look forward to next weekend.

We are getting a bunch of people driving through checking out sites for Memorial Weekend. I’m thinking we’ll be full that weekend.

Workamping isn’t for everyone. It’s definitely not for those who want to be paid for every hour worked. We have a contract for 30 - 35 combined hours/week. That means we each get paid for 17-1/2 hours a week. We are expected to perform many varied duties which take many more hours than 17.5 each per week. We love doing this. We love living where we’re living in the life style we’re living. We figure that having the site provided at no charge and being given the opportunity to see this gorgeous country and beautiful wildlife is more than worth the extra hours we put in. If you can’t feel that way, then you probably don’t want to be a workamper.

I had the most wonderful Mother’s Day. Mike, Tiffany and Coen came up for the day to visit & wish me a happy Mother’s Day. I had such a great time sharing our home/location with Tiffany. She’s a wildlife lover like me and is so appreciative of all the birds, etc.

We’ve been here 10 days now and I see a new bird or critter every single day so far. I don’t expect it to continue, but I’m sure loving it now. I took my camera out back to the far hummingbird feeder and was able to get some very nice shots of a male and a female Broadtail Hummingbird. Here is the back of the female. I took it this way because the color is such a beautiful sparkely emerald.

and this is the male with his rosy throat

and this is my new bird for the day, the Western Tanager, he’s fluffy here because it was early morning and COLD!

I mentioned today was our day off. We had to make some phone calls and buy a few things. It looks like we have to drive back down the hill to call DirecTV again because it appears they didn’t change our zip code area so we can get the local Utah channels. We will definitely let them know this is quite costly for us with Diesel at $4.39/gal and we use two gallons each trip to use the phone. Since it appears we’re going to get rain off and on during the season, we bought Thom a rain suit. I don’t go out as much as he does, so I can make do with a rain pancho. I bought another pair of jeans (I found I’m down another size in jeans… YAYYYYYYYYY!). Since my tennis shoes are 3 years old and falling apart I also bought a pair of those. We managed to find everything on sale and saved as much money as we spent.

Even though this day was a day off, we’ve found that these campgrounds are “ours” and driving on our roads, through our campgrounds, when we saw a piece of litter, we couldn’t pass it by, we had to stop and pick it up. We don’t just see the campground as a beautiful place to stop and enjoy, we see things that we could do to make it even more attractive. It sure doesn’t take long to take ownership!

I’m finding that although I’m more than willing and ready to get in there and take pics of the rattlesnakes we and our neighbors see, I am, in fact, very frightened of them.  This evening I had to go out to dump the coffee from our thermoses and found myself very uncomfortable with only the porch light to light the way.

This afternoon I went over to Sandy’s to learn how to do the daisy chain bracelet/necklace/anklet.  I just couldn’t make myself take the shortcut through the wash.  I went the long way around just in case the snakes were out hunting in the wash.  I admit it… I’m a wuss!

On my walk over to Sandy’s today I saw a lizard scurrying away from my footsteps.  He was big, fat, and FAST!  I sure wish I could have caught up to him to get a picture.  With his girth, I’d think he was either a collared lizard or a Chuckwalla, but he never let me near enough to shoot him.

Mom, the Ocotillo is either not blooming or has finished already.  I’m voting for the not there yet.  I still need to get photos of them.

I wonder what makes people think laws and rules do not apply to them.

We have the Big Tent Events going right now and parking is very hard to find. Along Hwy 95 in front of La Posa North are signs clearly stating “No Parking”. People park there anyway.
Those signs are for everyone else, not me!
When they come back to their cars and find a $50 ticket on their windshield they scream like a banshee!

Here on the Special Use area Long Term Visiting Area there is a rule that you CANNOT dump black or gray water on the ground. We had a big $300,000 motor home on the way out pull over, open the hose valve on his gray water and leave a swath of gray water on the road as he drove out of the campground.
We have a big, expensive, top of the line RV, we’re special, rules don’t apply to us!
So we little people have to smell their stink because they’re too big for rules.

There is a rule in the Special Use area Long Term Visitor Area that all pets must be on a leash when outside. We had a couple park directly across the wash from us who have a lovely Chocolate Lab. The day they came they immediately let their dog out, off leash, to run spiritedly in the wash & through other’s camps. I told them of the leash rule and that if the Ranger’s caught the dog off leash they would likely get a $125 ticket. The dog hadn’t been on a leash at all from the time I warned them, until the Ranger warned them… now the dog is on leash outside until after 5:00 p.m. (rangers go home?) when it is again allowed to run free.
Tonight around 5:45 I was outside grilling and saw a gorgeous, golden coyote trotting north across the wash, then another darker, peppered coyote following directly behind the golden one. I yelled to Thom to look at the coyotes, and all off a sudden that lovely chocolate lab came running after the coyotes with her hackles up and ready to attack. I yelled at the neighbors to call their dog off and having just remembered her name, yelled it, hoping it would stop her. Either they called her or my calling her stopped her. If she’d have caught up with the two coyotes she’d have been carrion for the ravens & stink bugs to pick at. If she’d been on the leash it wouldn’t have been an issue at all, she’d have been under control, at the trailer with her people sitting outside. But… the leash rule is for other peoples dogs, not mine!

Why do people think they are beyond rules and regulations?

We are 6 days from being here 3 months. It’s interesting to see how my attitude and thoughts have changed. It’s turning out a lot different than I’d expected.

I expected to have an abundance of free time to do my photography, create my note cards, rebuild my website and keep busy packaging and mailing the photos and note cards I’ve sold. I’d also expected to get back into reading a lot and relaxing with a good book. In 3 months time I’ve only read 2 books and only created 1 new set of note cards, and haven’t even gotten out the external hard drive on which my current website resides.

Of course taking two days to volunteer at the contact station cuts into my “free time”, but it’s well worth it. I love being down there and meeting new people and sharing information with the first timers.

It has been colder and windier than the previous 4 years we’ve been here at Christmas and New Years. Maybe it’s relative… the past 4 years we’ve only been here for 10 days to 2 weeks and this year we’re here for the season. I’m a wimp; the cold wind keeps me inside and not out shooting nature & wildlife, or sitting in the sun reading a book.

The other years we’ve been here, we’ve been able to go out for rides and explore. This year our financial situation is pretty limited. We can’t afford to buy the diesel to fuel the truck to go for rides. We limit our treks in the truck to grocery shopping & picking up pallets for firewood.

I still would not want to be anywhere but where I am, it’s just not as carefree and idealic as I’d expected/hoped for.

We’ve had more trials and issues than I think any one couple should have to deal with (would love to hear from those who’ve had similar issues)… our Honda 2000 generator was stolen shortly after we arrived here, had to buy a new one… refrigerator quit working, had to fold up the 5^th wheel and take it in to the repair shop to get fixed. They fixed it, go back to LTVA and settle in…not fixed! Fold up 5^th wheel and take it in to different repair shop and get it fixed. This time it was fixed. Thank heavens for warranties. Water pump quit working. It’s one of those “smart pumps” with a sensor to keep the water pressure even when more than one faucet is running… sensor wouldn’t work and this is the third pump dealing with this issue. This time we had them replace the pump with a “dumb pump”… no sensor, let the damned water pressure drop if more than one faucet is running. Heck! There’s only two of us, we can manage to not run water if the other is in the shower. Pump works fantastic and no issues so far with water pressure, etc… again, thank heavens for warranties, but we pay the bill and submit it to the factory for reimbursement… thank heavens for slush funds.

Out here in Quartzsite we often get heavy erratic winds… a whirligig wind catches our Internet satellite dish (on Christmas Day – Merry Christmas!), pulls the claw out of the ground and tosses the dish to the ground. It breaks the L&B Horn, which cannot be replaced and only, maybe, repaired with duct tape and epoxy.

My attitude is no longer “polyannaish”, but I’m still not a pessimist. I think I can still think optimistic, but leave room for the possibilities of negative happenings.

Friday was fierce! There was a severe weather alert for high winds on Friday - 35 to 45 mph steady with gusts 45 to 55. Thom took the internet dish down Friday morning before we went to work. The wind howled all day long. It was really nasty.

We had a guy come in with a question on Friday that I couldn’t answer, so I went to Phyllis’ trailer to ask her. She came outside to walk to the station with me and right in front of us, not 10 feet away, loped this coyote. I didn’t have my camera with me, but was looking out the window a bit later and saw her coming back toward us, so I grabbed my camera and went outside and got several very nice pics.

In spite of the nasty wind on Friday, we got 9 registrations, only 3 today.

The weather today was much nicer, not a lot of wind and warmer.

Think it’s time to shut down the inverter.

I’m not sure where to start….. I’m loving being where I am, more than I imagined.  BUT…. I think we are having unseasonably hot weather and I’m certainly NOT loving that.  I’m proud of the fact that I’ve been able to bite the bullet and not let myself cajole Thom into running the A/C, but we may have to run our 7000 generator in order to run the A/C just so we can keep the fridge at a “save the food” cool temp.  The fridge was up to 58F this evening.  I guess that’s understandable if the outside temp is 90+ and the inside temp is 90F.  We’re going to check the fuses, etc. in the morning when we have enough light, just to make sure the fridge is working okay, but I think it’s just because we’re not keeping the temp around the fridge (at least inside) at a decent temp.  Running the generator to run the A/C basically means spending $3.07/hour (the cost of 1 gal of diesel).

It’s supposed to cool down in 2 days.  I hope so and I hope it stays down for a bit.

As Thom said, we “interviewed” with Clyde, the Long Term BLM Ranger out here….. it was more like story swapping, and boy does he have some stories. I think we’re going to have some fun while working here.

After the interview we went into town to get a PO Box…… neither of us had a second ID they’d accept, so it was back to the trailer to get our voter’s registration from South Dakota, then back to the Post Office…….. the voter’s registration was okay for a 2nd ID, but not for address verification because it has a PMB # in it, they wanted our copy of our BLM LTVA (Long Term Visitor Area) permit with the physical address including Mile Marker #…….. sooooo, back to the trailer to dig out the permit, drop by the registration kiosk to have them put the address on it, including Mile Marker #, then back to the post office. We finally had everything right, paid for 6 months rent and got our keys. We go into the area with the PO Boxes to test our key……. we wanted and paid for a #2 size box and got a #1 box……. back in line to get it straightened out. They gave us the right sized box and new keys.

I’ve heard horror stories about the Quartzsite USPS personnel, but I have to say, everyone we dealt with today was patient, personable, and easy to deal with.

Have I mentioned how much I’m loving the varied wildlife here? The last time I counted I’d gotten pics of 8 different kinds birds at our feeders. Since then I’ve added 3 more, as well as a squirrel and a cottontail rabbit (who helped himself to a couple of leaves on my Aloe plant). I also saw, but didn’t get a picture of a coyote loping through our area of the campground.

It’s been hot for me here. I’m not as tolerant to heat as Thom is. Yesterday and today it’s been in the 90’s. Today was 95 here at the trailer, 92 inside the trailer. I just don’t feel like doing much of anything at those temps, I don’t know how my friends who live in AZ manage.

More later.

I don’t know if I’m disappointed or just disillusioned.

Today was my last day of work…….. forever………. unless we take a Workamper job down the line somewhere.

I expected to feel a huge weight lift off my shoulders when I walked out the door of the office today……….. It felt like any other day.

I expected to feel FREE when I walked out the door of the office for the last time……….. It felt like any other day.

I guess it won’t all become a reality until we finish getting this 5th wheel all packed and ready to roll, and we hit the road, and I realize we aren’t just on vacation and we really don’t have to go back to Salt Lake City, except to see family and the new grandchild next spring. And then it’s not a “have to”, but a “want to”.

I am sooo looking forward to experiencing retirement and being on the road with Thom and seeing how we handle 24/7 with each other. I expect it to be wonderful.