Fulltiming Road Runners

I’ve had issues with my computer connecting to our network and therefore the internet.  Scott is a guru, but I’ve not been able to corner him while we had time and now I’m unable to connect to my network AT ALL and can’t get online…. except here at the casino in Mesquite I’ve piggy backed on someone elses unsecured WIFI and at least am able to check my email and do my blog… won’t let me on Facebook though.

Side note:  Mari ‘n Scott, keep my fishies alive!  LOL    …’N Scott, expect a phone call next weekend or an evening this week.

Yesterday we left the campground around 12:20 p.m. or so.  We stopped at Anderson Cove to drop off keys ‘n a few other things, then we stopped in Ogden to get a quick bite to eat.  We arrived in Nephi around 3:45 or 4 p.m.  I was exhausted.  My eyes are wonderful, but the right eye is still a bit “jumpy/flittery” so by the end of a couple hours of driving, I had a headache and very tired eyes.  At least I slept great until the trucks came in dropping their loads to transfer to other carriers… around 7:30a.m. or so.

FYI …for those of you looking for free places to spend the night on the way to a destination… Nephi Chevron station at the last Nephi exit (I-15) will very happily let you park at the very back of their lot to spend the night.  Just be prepared to be awakened by trucks dropping trailers around 7:30 or 8:00 a.m.

Today we drove from Nephi, UT to Mesquite, NV.  I believe I said the casino is the Montego Bay… I was wrong!  It’s the Casa Blanca.  They provide some area for RV’s to park free (again, I-15) and it’s a perfect spot for us to stop before the last leg to Quartzsite.  We’ll go into the casino and probably partake of their buffet (too bad it’s not Friday night - Seafood!). It was 101F when we arrived

Tomorrow, If I can last, we will drive around 6 hours and arrive in QZ in the heat of the afternoon, which is supposed to be 105F.  I’m so ready to be there and start getting our “home” set up.

OK… I’m getting hungry and think I’ll drag Thom into the Casino for food.  I hope to get our internet issues cleared up after we get settled in QZ.

PS… those of you planning on visiting us this winter, remember, we will be in La Posa South instead of La Posa North.  If we’re not manning the Contact Station, whoever is, will probably be able to direct you to our site.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles

I can’t believe it!  We didn’t have to leave the campground all day today!  We both worked our hindy’s off getting loaded and ready to leave.  Thom got the tires checked and filled with air… on ALL vehicles.  He also got air-suspension on the trailer pumped up.  Once the weight is on the trailer he’ll check it again and make sure it’s pumped up to the right pressure.

I don’t remember what I’ve shared before about our travel plans, so I’ll do it again.  Tomorrow we will head down to Anderson Cove (9 miles) to dump the black and load up fresh water.  Then we plan on going south to Nephi, Utah, only 2.5 to 3 hours south.  The next day we’ll go about 4 hours to Mesquite, NV and stay in the Montego Bay casino parking lot.  The next day we should be in QZ.  Phyllis and Larry are being real sweethearts about letting us take our time and be comfortable in our getting there.  Our work days will be Thursday and Friday, if I remember correctly.  Phyllis will set me straight if I’m wrong.

In the meantime, I’m going to go sit on the couch and chill for a while before I go to bed.  (knowing me, I’ll be finding cubby holes and places to stash things that need homes)

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles!

… not really lost, but not packing up and getting ready to hit the road.  We left here a little after 9 a.m. to go down to meet the wholesale broker to see if he wanted to buy the Motorhome.  He said he’d crunch numbers and get back to us.    After visiting Tiffany and Coen for a bit, we went to do lunch/very early dinner with Marv and Deb at our favorite Chinese restaurant.  After dinner we went to see Mike at his place of work.  He was so totally busy, I had time to say bye, love ya, and get in touch later.  Tiffany, the sweetheart, let us leave Willow in her back yard while we went to the restaurant, so after saying g’bye to Mike we went back to the house to gather Willow.  I called the Wholesale broker to see if he knew what he wanted to do.  His answer was “don’t wanna do nuttin’.  We went back to Marv’s and pulled the batteries (we’d already winterized the water system, etc.), so Marv  could charge them as needed and save our hineys.  LOL

Now we are back in the campground getting ready to finish packing and buckling things up so we can hit the road and get to Quartzsite on time.

It would’ve been nice if this thing with Russ had worked out, but since it didn’t we are doing the best we can with what we’ve got.  We need to sell the Motor Home and pay the loan off.  At this point we see it going forward to next spring, so we will make payments from now ’til then and hopefully we can sell the unit then.

Right now we are so excited about getting down to QZ, we can’t wait until we hit the road.  There are so many variables that will make this next season so much better than last year, and even the year before, I can’t wait for it to happen and be sharable.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

I’ll keep in touch.

Monday was a full day away from the campground, therefore we didn’t get any of our stowing and packing done.  We did go to Costco and managed to spend about $200 less than I expected… BUT… we found the portable garage at Costco we’ve been looking for .  We want it to stow things, as well as provide space for me to work on my crafts out of the wind and cold/heat.  Soooo, we went back to Costco to pick it up.  That pretty much covers the $200 we didn’t spend the first trip.

The shocks didn’t come in on Tuesday so we postponed a day and just stayed here and sorted and loaded.

Wednesday Thom went down to Ogden to fill both 22 gal. propane tanks (cheap propane day).  While he was gone we got the call the shocks were in, so after he brought the propane tanks back he headed back down to Roy to get the shocks installed.

Today, Thursday, we went into Salt Lake City for my post op on the left eye.  Great news.  My left eye is 20/20 and my right eye is a bit better than 20/20.  Doc says my eyes are healing fantastically and all I have to do now is get my eyes checked yearly for possible diabetes related issues.

We stopped at the RV dealer Marv works at to see if they would take the motorhome on consignment.  It’s too old for them to consider consignment, but the consignment salesman called a wholesale broker to see if he might be interested in it.  We moved the motorhome to Marv’s place and the wholesale broker is meeting us at 10 a.m. tomorrow to see if he wants to buy it from us.  We’ll lose a bit if he offers, but that keeps us from having to worry about it wintering okay in Utah.  Again, today was not a good day of sorting and packing.  We definitely will not be leaving tomorrow, and maybe not even until Saturday.  If we don’t leave until Saturday, we’ll still get to QZ before the end of the month, but just barely.

One good thing is driving with my new eyes.  I can read signs well before I’m on top of them.  My left eye still get’s tired easily, but heck, it’s only a week old.  We plan on taking 3 days to get to QZ so it shouldn’t be much of a strain on me.

(side note):  Phyllis ‘n Larry… we’ll be there to start helping by the end of the month… PROMISE!

We’re really excited about getting down there.  We’re going to miss having time with Mike, Tiff and Coen and Mari ‘n Scott.  We’ll miss Marv ‘n Deb too, but they’ll join us down there in November.

We got home this evening to discover the Forest Service has turned off our water.  Luckily our fresh water tank is 2/3 full (approx 63 gals).  When we leave here Saturday or Sunday, we’ll stop at Anderson Cove to refill.  I’d just as soon not refill because I’d like to keep the weight off, but Thom isn’t comfortable without a good supply of water.

I’ll try to post at least one more time to let you know when we get on the road and when we expect to be in QZ.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles.

We locked the gates on Monday and were off the clock at the end of Tuesday.  We had several people drive up to the gate hoping we were open, but turned around at encountering the locked gates.  We’re sorry we weren’t open, but I truly think we would have only been 1/2 full for the weekend.  I’m not sorry we closed early.  It’s been nice to only have to concentrate on personal things and not worry about the campground and campers.

I had my left eye cataract surgery on Wednesday morning.  At the pre-op exam on Tuesday afternoon the Dr. said my right eye is healing and adjusting better than usual.  I’m loving the clarity of sight.  Yeow!!

I’ve been impatient with my left eye.  Since I didn’t really know what to expect with the right eye, everything that happened felt like it happened fast.  The left eye is adjusting at about the same rate, but I expect it to be quick, so it doesn’t seem fast enough.  My sight in both eyes is clear and sharp.  I still have a bit of shake in the left eye and see a blur now and then in the middle, but that’s exactly what I experienced with the right eye.  I just hope it’s all normal and ready for me to be able to drive by this coming Friday.  My post op check up is on Thursday, the 24th and we hope to hit the road on Friday.  My biggest challenge has been to not overdo the exertion in packing and getting ready to leave.

All in all we’re doing quite well in getting ready to leave.

Tomorrow we’ll go down the valley and visit with my son, Mike, and grandson, Coen.  Tiffany will be off pampering herself with a manicure or pedicure or something like that.  She deserves it!  After our visit we will go to CostCo to do our “personal paper product” (toilet paper, kleenex, paper towels, dinner napkins) shopping for the winter.  Tuesday we have to take the car down to have shocks installed.  Wednesday is cheap propane day at Amerigas so we’re going to fill the big tanks then.  Thursday is my post-op appointment and we’ll visit Thom’s mother afterwards, and Friday we hope to leave for Quartzsite.  In between all these appointments and down canyon drives we hope to get the laundry done the carpet cleaned and everything stowed so it will survive the drive south.

We have no idea if we’ll be back this way next summer or if we’ll be somewhere else.  Our manager doesn’t even have a chance to discuss the situation with corporate until the end of the month.  I did send an inquiry to the State of Oregon volunteer coordinator regarding a position at Cape Perpetua (coast), either as campground host, or visitor information center volunteer.  Tomorrow I will send an email to the gal in charge of the Cape Mears lookout on the Oregon coast.  If we can’t come back here, I guess I want to go to Oregon coast.

Yesterday our friend, Marv, came up to help Thom do some of the heavy work loading the truck.  He knew I just had the surgery and couldn’t do bending or lifting, so to save me and help Thom he came up to help.  If he hadn’t, I probably would have tried to help Thom myself and may have done damage to my eye.  We’re going to miss all our friends when we leave.  I hate the thought of not being able to drive 1/4 mile to see Mari, and not knowing when we may see them again.  And knowing it will be a couple of months before we see Marv and Deb is hard.

I still have some pics to share, but it may be after we get to Quartzsite before I can share the fall in the canyon.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles!

On the phone with our manager yesterday and he told me to lock the gate, we were closed for the season.  That works for me wonderfully… but we have a few campers who were planning on coming up this coming weekend to camp.  What a shock they’ll have when they get here and the gates are locked.  I guess we’ll just have to direct them to South Fork Campground since they will be open and we won’t.

I had my left eye cataract surgery done today.  It seems to be doing as well as the right eye did.  I’m really hoping everything goes the same.  We have so little time to get packed and down to Quartzsite (relatively speaking) we can’t afford to have any screw-ups with my eyes.  We have 8 days before we plan on hitting the road and I’ve not done any of the stowing and packing inside the trailer, and now I can’t do any lifting (heavier than 1 gal milk) or bending over for a few days.

We always make it work and manage the deadlines we set for ourselves so I’m really not worried other than I don’t want Thom to overdo again.

Got a phone call today from Phyllis, our campground coordinator last year at Quartzsite BLM.  She and Larry have been moved to La Posa South camp area and she asked if we want to join them there.  They have cleared it with the Special Use camping BLM Ranger to have us there as hosts.  We are guaranteed the last 2 positions that receive a stipend.

I think we are asked back because, even though we don’t “dress up” the way they’d like, we take our responsibilities seriously and are always there to  cover the job, fill in when needed, and won’t walk away.

Today has been a very full day.  Left here at 6 a.m. to get to Salt Lake City for my surgery by 8:15 a.m… because traffic was really light, we got there almost an hour eary.  I was taken in early and we were pretty much done by 10:00 a.m.  In spite of my being a bit shakey yet, we stopped at a restaurant for breakfast and then headed home.

A little bit after we got home I went to bed to sleep off the meds and Marv and Deb showed up to work out a few things for when we all get down to QZ.  I can’t express how wonderful these two are and how much we enjoy and appreciate them.  I was too awake to sleep and got up about 1/2 hr after they showed up.

This morning our alarm went off at 5 a.m. and we were on the road at 6, and tomorrow morning the alarm will be set for the same time and we should be on the road by 6 a.m. again My post-op is scheduled for 7:45.   Tomorrow we WILL NOT set the alarm and we WILL sleep in!  The gates are locked we don’t have to deal with campers or questions.  I may even turn the ringer on the phone off!

Being done and closing down is a bit bitter sweet, but it’s nice we are being allowed the time for my eyes to heal in peace, so to speak.

My eye is being a bit contrary and letters are jumping around on the screen, so I think I’ll say g’nite and ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.

The campground emptied out totally today.  Even Mari ‘n Scott and their friends Geri and Jim left today.  Geri and Jim are down in S. Fork for a week.  Mari ‘n Scott will be back here next weekend to get Mari’s motorcycle and say a final g’bye.  I’m soooo going to miss Mari.  Scott too, but he wasn’t here every day like Mari was.  I’ll really miss having contact on demand with her.

Yes, I’m anxious to move on down to Quartzsite and get some rest, but I’ll also really miss this canyon and some of the people here.

Driving around the campground and on the river path in the golf cart makes me realize the season is really over.  I look up on the hill and see the lovely fall colors in the trees.  The Hawthorne berries are the last to come on and ripen and they are shriveling up now.   I’m really going to miss the trees and grass and river and critters.  Sure we have the Ironwood and Palo Verde trees in Quartzsite, but not a heck of a lot of grass.  Willow is really going to miss the grass, she got quite used to it here.

Had a funny thing happen yesterday.  Tracy drove in to deliver his paperwork to me.  I went out to see what was up and as I walked up to his car a chipmunk jumped out of the under carriage of his car to the ground.  We don’t have many chipmunks here, I hope this one survives and finds a mate.

It started raining last night and has been raining off and on all day.  Supposed to rain through Wed or Thursday, then clear up Friday thru the weekend.  I hope we get enough campers to justify our staying open one more week.

Tomorrow afternoon I have my cataract Pre-op appointment and then on Wed morning we do the left eye… post-op on Thurs. morning and followup on Wed. the 24th.  We’ll most likely leave here on the 25th.

I’ve a few decent pics to share.  Will get to them soon.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Tah!

I do believe my last post said we were told we were going to shut down NOW, as in lock the gates Monday, 9/14.  Today we were told we should stay open thru the weekend of 9/19.  That’s fine, we can do that.  They just need to understand that I will be having the cataract surgery done on the left eye on Wed, the 16th.  That means a pre-op on the afternoon of the 15th and a post-op on the morning of the 17th.

Our supervisors are really great in making things work for our needs.  The difference between last year and this year is unbelievable .  We really have full support this year, while last year we  had to fight for everything we needed.

This morning, Friday Sept. 11, we were told we will be locking our gates on Monday, 9/14.  That means we will no longer be managing the campground other than to do the final cleaning of bathrooms and campsites.  We don’t know if we will continue to supervise the other campground shutdowns or not.  We only have South Fork open still, but still have the final shutdowns of the other campgrounds.  I’ve got most of it done, and could consider myself done, but I want things to be in order for start-up next year whether we will be doing it or someone else.  We won’t know for a while yet if we’ll be back or not.

It’s Friday night and we are only about 1/2 full.  It would be nice if we filled up tomorrow, but I don’t expect it to happen.

Mari & Scott and a couple of their friends are moving in here tomorrow ( don’t know how long the stay, whatever they choose is fine with me).  We were expecting Mel & Kirk and Brody in here tomorrow, but Brody injured his knee in football so they will only be coming for a day on Sunday probably.  Still can’t wait to see them!

Tracy (Meadows manager) started his move to S. Fork to finish the season out there.  It’s supposed to be open until Oct. 1, but that could change if business isn’t very brisk.

The gal who was managing the Magpie and Botts campgrounds seems to be trying to make us seem less than desireable managers.  She told our manager that we refused to provide cleaning supplies to her and told her to buy them herself… so she told him she was taking the cleaning supplies (we provided to her, tho’ she said we didn’t)  home with her.  If we’re back next year AND if we have a say, she will NOT be coming back to work for us.

To be honest, I don’t believe it will work out that we come back.  Would be nice, but if not, it’s no big loss.  We’ll head for the Oregon Coast and see how that goes.

My Right eye (the one I’ve had cataract surgery on) is doing fantastical.  I can’t wait to get the other one done and gain a little balance in sight.  Right now I’m dealing with headaches from my two eyes seeing things so differently.

I’ve got 4 photos to share with ya’ll.  This first one is while we were up at Monte Cristo helping them shut down.  They had a bit of a forest fire going and this is a shot of the helecopter and retardant bucket they were using to help put out the fire.

This is just a shot of the fall color of the columbine plant leaves

This is a view of the valley from about 8500 ft. elevation, just a bit below Monte Cristo.

This last one is a shot of the suet cage in our campsite here in Perception Park.  It’s a juvenile Western Red Shafted Flicker.  There were sure a lot of these guy hatched and fledged this year… bumper crop.

That’s all for tonight.  We look forward to a couple of weeks of being closed and only having a bit of closeup to deal with.  I really can’t wait to have a morning without the alarm going off!

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles.

We have officially shutdown Willows campground, both Meadows campgrounds, and Magpie and Botts campgrounds.  Monte Cristo is shutting down as well, tomorrow.  We won’t have to drive up there again unless they call us with needs.

Glenn in S. Fork told us he’d be gone this coming weekend, so we told Tracy in Meadows to get ready to move.  He plans on moving his things into S. Fork this weekend in a site next to the Host site and when Glenn is gone, move over to the host site.  Tracy will stay open to camping until Oct. 1 unless management tells him to shut down earlier.

Thom and I (Perception Park) will be open until I can talk management into letting us shut down.  Preferrably Sept 14th.  I have a pre-op appt. with my eye Dr. on the 15th, then my surgery on the left eye on the 16th, and post-op appt. on the early morning of the 17th.  That pretty much uses up that week.  My 1 week followup is the 24th & we hope to hit the road on the 25th.  Even if we do close on the 14th, we will still do Canyon Campground Management work such as helping with issues and collecting paperwork from S. Fork and doing area reports.

We are both looking forward to having spare time to pack up AND take a few restful moments.  For a week after my last cataract surgery, I won’t be able to do much of the getting ready to go… no lifting over 10 lbs, and no extended bending over… no bending over at all the first 2 days.  If you think about it, living in an RV requires a lot of bending over.  Much of the RV storage is in lower compartments and cupboards.

All of the campers for the Labor Day weekend left today, and it seems at least half of the sites were filled with day use people.  Of of the sites was a large hispanic family.  They cooked up Carne Asada and brought a plate of 2 servings each for Thom and I.  OH YUMMM!  There was the Carne Asada, flour tortillas and fresh tomato salsa (which was just the right spicey heat).  Thom doesn’t normally eat beef, but tonight he decided to give it a try and absolutely loved it.  Hopefully the beef won’t  attack his tummy like it usually does.  In the meantime, the chicken I had half-thawed went back into the fridge for tomorrow night’s dinner.

The motorhome still hasn’t been posted for sale on the web.  I was under the impression another person was going to post it for us, but apparently that person was under the impression I would.  I hope to get the ad all worked up tomorrow and get it posted.  I’d love to get it sold before we leave Utah.  All of a sudden it feels like we have more on our plate than we can handle in the next 2-1/2 weeks.

In spite of all the  trials ‘n tribulations, this year has been a far better experience than last year.  Our supervisors supported us to the hilt and our final campground managers were a tremendous crew.  Even if we don’t get to come back next year, I’m thrilled some of this years managers will be back next year.  I think that if we do manage to come back next year, the canyon campgrounds will be a very cohesive, profitable concern.  I’d love to give it a try.  (Under our conditions).

I still want to do the Oregon coast, but the fuel to get there is very costly… over $700 one-way.  We’ll see what happens.  I’ll be very happy to be near my family another year if things work so we can come here, and, if not, I’ll be just fine pinching pennies if we end up on the coast.

In the meantime, I’m anxious to get to Quartzsite.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles.