Category Archives: RV Living

Dropping In & Saying a Quick Hi

Posted on Thursday May 2nd, 2013 by | Comments Off on Dropping In & Saying a Quick Hi

I have a post that I want to start working on, but I’ve just been so busy and so tired.

Can’t believe that a few months ago, getting up at 8am was early……lol Today we got up at 5am to try and start working out again. ToRn running the trails and me doing a fast walk.

The good thing is that when we hit the road on Apr 2nd, we had a hard time sleeping in, especially in the desert.

We got here Apr 21st and have been busy ever since. We are only required 5hrs a day, but we’ve been doing more because it has been busy and so much to learn. So many birders and so many brains to pick. Birding is whole another world…..grin

We are really enjoying ourselves here at the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve. And the town of Patagonia is it’s own quirky, artistry, ranch town.

Birding is a big thing here. There is even a local house that the late owner put out so much bird feeders over the years, allowed birders to share in it, that when she passed her family has a care taker there to keep up the tradition while they try and find another birder to buy the house and keep up open to birders. It is called the Paton‘s…it is a must see and the current caretaker Larry is a wealth of knowledge.

More info on Paton’s : http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g31303-d3369728-r158787471-Paton_s_Hummingbird_Haven-Patagonia_Arizona.html#REVIEWS

Now we just need to get into routine and time to go over there, learn and enjoy it….grin

Here is just some of the area’s attractions for birding : http://www.patagoniaaz.com/category/area-attractions/birding/

And we still have all the canyons to explore….the good thing, is we have 5 months do to that.

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Posted in Everyday Stuff, RV Living, Travels

Getting New Experiences

Posted on Friday April 19th, 2013 by | Comments Off on Getting New Experiences

Lets see if I can get this post done tonight…..lol

Right now, sitting by the fire, stars are out, we are at Gunsite Wash BLM just south of Why, AZ, the nearest fellow RVers are a couple 100 yds away, so totally private feeling.

It has been an interesting few days on experience, I can tell you that.

The experiences….well, hubby learned what not to do when needing to turn around. I’ll let you read <a href=”http://wherethehellarewe.com/2013/04/19/new-lessons-learned/” target=”_blank”>his post</a> on that and what was going on with his way of thinking.

But we got Ackbar stuck in about 8″ and 4′ wide sandbar, with Kermit being towed behind him and getting him stuck in a few feet of loose sand. With Kermit being the reason why Ackbar got stuck. We really should’ve taken pictures of it….BUT we are like, holy crap! How are we going to get out this? So emotions won’t have allowed that.

We unhooked Kermit, got him out easily, next was trying to Ackbar out. ToRn tried rocking him, we tried putting the leveling pads under the wheels, in the end, Torn shovel out some of the sand, put some old mats under the wheels, we put Kermit in front with the tow strap, in low 4wheel and slowly got Ackbar out.

I have NEVER done that in my life. I’ve never had my wheels, keep going and going in one spot and things shaking….I thought I was messing up the Jeep. But we did it and Kermit and Ackbar are fine.

The good thing is that my dad got me a tow strap with my first car in ’90 that we have never used and still had. I’m very proud I still had this…..sometimes being paranoid about being prepared for the worst helps out big time. I got that from living in Alaska….you carry chains, jumper cable, tow straps, food, water, blankets, first aid, tools…..if I really did what I was taught to do, the back of our Jeep would be packed.

Then when we thought we were in the free and clear, the even-brake monitor gave us “pull cable not operational” (rolling eyes). Just what we needed. Long story short after messing around with that, we unhooked and ToRn drove Ackbar and I drove Kermit for the last 80miles.

I since then I have called even-brake and they say the braking system will still work (then one when you brake on the RV, the tow will brake) even with that error. So we will tow our last leg of the trip. Then support gave me instructions for resetting (he called it “relearn”) the monitor. If that doesn’t work, we’ll deal with it once we get to Patagonia….right now, it is just nice to know that it is safe to tow.

On our first BLM experience outside of Joshua Tree, our house batteries seemed to run down pretty fast. And that was just after stopping, so they were charged and full desert sun on the solar panels, not good. Ended up running the generator and then they didn’t seem to run down that fast. But I think we found what the problem was, the ‘fridge didn’t switch to LP and stayed on AC….so that put a drain on the batteries. Which brings me to the ‘fridge……

ToRn did a <a href=”http://wherethehellarewe.com/2013/04/17/ackbars-maintenance-update-2/” target=”_blank”>post</a> on this, but the ‘fridge is not working on LP. The freezer seems to be, but not the ‘fridge part. It runs fine on shore/generator. Which made us not go to more BLM/boondocking sites after Joshua Tree.  But since then I’ve learned that when the generator is not charging the house batteries and sending power to the plugs, to check the circuit breaker on the generator itself.  Those things are everywhere….lol

We decided to head to a RV park in Quartzsite, AZ…not realizing that many of them close on Apr 15 since their season is over….lol I did find us 88 Shades RV Park. It was reasonability priced, $29.67 with GoodSam/AAA discount, including tax. It had several pull throughs for big rigs with tows, 50amp/water/sewer hookups, leveled gravel lots, only issue with the lots was ToRn keep finding 3inch nails from fencing, not good for tires, otherwise it was maintained, just showing some of the age, a lot of permanent residents, didn’t use the laundry/shower/restroom area, couldn’t figure out their internet step up, got decent 3g verizon most of the time, but they had a very nice desert garden. Would stay there again if in the area.

Used the time there to get the ‘fridge down on temp, make more ice, do laundry, clean and chill out.

I’ll do more on Quartzsite and Gunsite Wash in the next few days. This post is getting pretty long and my battery is getting low. =)~

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Posted in Hiking/Camping, RV Living

A Blow Out Kind of Day

Posted on Sunday April 7th, 2013 by | Comments Off on A Blow Out Kind of Day

It has been a rough day overall. The kind that you have being dreading that was going to happen, did. So close to our destination and then what sounded like an explosion….we had a blow out.

An inside tire on a Sunday…..blah….what the heck is AAA for if there isn’t anyone around to help? So many calls, none of it helped. But at least we are here and are safe. Going to have to deal with it first thing tomorrow.

Buying used and such, you expect things to happen….but is it too much to ask to at least spread it out some?

A 6 hr 39 min trip according to google, we added about 90 more minutes to our estimate because it is an RV with a tow and going over mountains….yeah, you can’t go as fast as other vehicles. With the blow out we got here about 4:48 after hitting the road at 05:45 this morning.

We are suppose to do another 6hr 38min day when we leave here in a few days….I don’t think so. That is way too much especially with going through high population areas. I’m going to divide that up. I’ll be looking into that once I finish this up.

We are here at the very small RV park of the Castle Air Museum, in Atwater, CA. That was created on the Air Force Base that was closed in the ’90s.

I’ll save my first impressions and comments about the RV park part for when we take pictures and post about it.

For the overall feel, if you ever lived on a military post/base….no matter which branch….this still feels like a military post to me. There is obvious stuff like the fuselages they have in a field or the old ordnance they have for collecting dump fees….which bring back MAJOR flashbacks for me, since I grew up on an ordnance post. But even without all that, it still smells/feels like the military to me. I don’t know how to explain it….maybe it is just the Army brat in me that misses it so much.

One of the few positives today, really got to see the beautiful hills coming out of Oregon and a good view of Mt Shasta coming into California. =)

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Posted in Everyday Stuff, RV Living, Travels

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Getting Situated

Posted on Saturday March 16th, 2013 by | Comments Off on Getting Situated

When I took a break from my work, last Wed and I’m like to ToRn….there is so much I want to do and get organized but have no idea where to start. So we just started to taking everything out of the cabinets that we just threw things in when we were packing. Felt good to get some progress made that day

So we are slowly, surely getting it situated here in Ackbar, until we drive and discover what is not secured down….lol Using Museum Putty/Wax to get things secure on our desk. It seems to be working pretty good so far. Prefer the wax over the putty….seems more workable

We figured out what we where to put the litter, because it isn’t going to work in the shower. ToRn made an enclosed box to put the litter in, secured it down where a chair use to be and attached the scratching post to it. They seemed to enjoy it.

The good thing about getting the litter out, is we finally get the shower cleaned out and set up. We changed out the shower head. We were going down to our friends’ house and using their shower. LOVE the running hot water….bbbutt…we really needed to start practicing in ours and getting use to it. Really need to learn how to conserve water….trying to develop a routine.

Thanks to Daphna, came up with an idea for the bigger closet. We had been using those hanging cloth shelves and they were so not working. Pretty much made pine tables since there is no real way to secure them to the press wood. With Daphna’s help I got it made and put up. Our closets look much better. We got some hooks up in the bedroom for our towels (can’t really get them into the small bathroom), jackets and hoodies.

ToRn attacked under the sink…it was just an open space that is both small and totally open. He got a shelf added for light things and put up hooks for some of our pans. Need to see if they are going to make noise when driving….may need to cushion/noise muffler on the wall where the pans hang, but won’t know until we drive it. But it looks so much better and more workable under there.

I found that the veggie hammocks are great for my scrunches in the bathroom, my small plush animals in the bedroom, veggies in the kitchen (of course) and another one in the kitchen for extra things. Thinking that it’ll come in handy when we are driving I’ll be putting in the little kitchen things for securing….like hand soap, etc…….empty starbucks cups….lol

It is finally feeling “homey”

We really want one or two nice days so we can totally rework out basements and weed out more stuff. That is the only stuff left that we have in our friends’ office area. Got the feeling we will be getting rid of a lot of it. The rest of the stuff we have in their office, is what we gave them……but makes it so confusing with the stuff we are keeping.

Had a good weather day yesterday….not so much today….our luck….lol And we really wanted to get more done….but that will be for another day.

Tomorrow, I’ll be attacking books and emails….if the weather doesn’t improve.

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Posted in Everyday Stuff, RV Living

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Getting There

Posted on Saturday March 2nd, 2013 by | Comments Off on Getting There

Hubby took Ackbar back to Roy Robinson RV for finishing off the furnace Thursday.  They didn’t take long at all, helped that the furnace was already apart….lol  But they were nice and very helpful.  If you are around Marysville, WA and need RV help, we would send you them.

Hubby got Ackbar parked much easier than the first time, practice helps…like he says, only way to learn.

Our living/workspace is temporarily set up.  We wanted to see how it looked and how it see if we needed to make adjustments before securing it.  Need to take the tops off to seal the pine wood and secure everything down.  It has felt nice to have a somewhat normal workspace again.  Especially since today was an intense work day and having my workspace set up was a huge help.

Once we get it all secured, we can start putting everything in it’s place and empty some of our cabinets of the office stuff and books….kind of a mess in them. =)  Once we get the office/book stuff out of the cabinets, we can then start going through all the stuff we put into Daphna & Allen’s office/garage.  Looks like we have more things to donate, that is for sure.

Felt good to start getting somewhere on it.  =)

Hubby started to attack the kitchen cabinets….wow, we have to donate a lot of our rubbermaid stuff.  I kept like one of each size and rest is going to be donated.  We still need to refigure out the pots & pans.

Went to the Safeway here in Everett….wow….totally miss our Troutdale, OR Albertson’s.  It is an older store, so small and it was very busy and all the customers were so aggressive.  No excuse me, pleases, or thank yous….and wow, so many of stank of cigarette smoke….yuck.  The employees were nice and friendly, but I can tell we weren’t in OR anymore.  We really got use to how laid-back and friendly OR is, overall.

Last few hours I’ve been trying to figure out our lighting solution.  Very good news is that we don’t have to replace all our fixtures like we thought we would to get LEDs.  I found LED replacements for bulbs 1076, 1141, JC-10 Clear and I THINK fluorescent F8T5 (although I don’t have a clue on the wire in?) .  For all but the fluorescent, the cost of the bulbs is about what we were thinking for a whole new fixture and we don’t have to wire anything, big plus!

Just need to figure out what we need, who is cheaper, and budgeting.  Don’t want to spend a lot at once.  So need to figure out which ones are priorities.  All the incandescent are probably going to go first. They take the most energy and are yellow….blah. We really like our sunlight light. =)

The only issue that I’m having is, is I can’t find something for over the bathroom sink….the vanity bulbs.  I found vanity LED bulbs, but they don’t say if they are the replacement ones for the ones we have.  In the owner’s manual they have Cosmetic Light – 9-019C  I googled that, I wasn’t even able to find those….and I really want to replace those.  But I’m too tired to keep looking right now…..lol

Here is hoping that we get a lot accomplished tomorrow and Sunday.  Would totally love to have our workspace done.  =)

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Posted in Everyday Stuff, RV Living

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