Joan on the Road...of Life

After a final cup of coffee overlooking the water and hills we hit the road about 9:45, a bit late for the long trip ahead. Mackay was a very friendly place. We enjoyed visits with Dino and Rose who invited us to stop and park at their place in Sandpoint, Idaho. Bill and Judy were moving on to Cottonwood Forest Service Campground, north of Challis. It looked like a great place to stay, right on the river.

Just out of Mackay, ID there was more road construction but this time we waited 20 minutes for the pilot car and then drove on newly surfaced road. Much better :) Still on US 93 we had lots of ups and dows and curves. I always like these mountain doorways. As you approach it seems impossible that you'll get through.

We drove along the Salmon River for a long time. In many places the road is narrow, through canyons, curvy, hugging the river. I swear, Jim was not "centered" yesterday. I kept telling him, very gently of course, "You know you're over the white line." So he'd move to the center. Pretty soon he's over the white line again. Now this wouldn't bother me too much except there was no shoulder so going over the white line was a bit scary but he went there anyway.

Sometimes I'm a nervous nellie. I'm sure that he was probably driving right on the line. The road was narrow, trucks and RVs going both ways, so you do want to stay in your own lane and give the other lane plenty of room. Somewhere along the way he said, "Maybe you'd rather drive." Well I don't know which would have been worse yesterday. These were really sharp 25 mph switchbacks while going down a 6% grade. A lot of the nervousness is perspective and in the passenger seat it looks worse than it is. When we finally came down from Lost Trail Pass and had a wide 4-lane road with plenty of shoulder I made my last "centering" comment. Jim lovingly said, "Well I didn't hit anything, did I?"

Two years ago this might have been a tense conversation. But a lot of things have happened. Jim has been in the passenger seat while I drive and understands the perspective issue. We also continue to learn, even after 47 years, how to talk openly and with love, how to honor the feelings of the other person.

Here's our lunch stop view along the Salmon. We could hear the water rushing along as we had our sandwiches.

About 4 PM we arrived in Stevensville, MT and called our daughter Laura to come give us a hug. While we waited for Laura and Steve, Jim ran into the Super 1 food store to buy some beer. This was a long awaited purchase as this is the only place in our travels where he's found his fave beer, Sam Adams Cream Stout. Listen to this label description..."brewed with extra portions of chocolate and caramel malts." Wow! Anything chocolate I'm up for it!

After 252 miles we arrived at Jim and Mary's RV Park about 6 PM which is a bit late for us. They had a beautiful satellite friendly spot saved. It has lots of shade but is positioned so that Mr. Moto has a clear view of the southern sky. He loves that. I'm sure glad I made the reservation because the park is full. I didn't envy the people that were turned away while I was checking in.

So after riding the white line for a few hours...all's well that ends well.

Posted by Joan at 07:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We spotted him across the reservoir, too far away to get a picture. We wouldn't have noticed except he was white and moving slowly down to the edge of the water. Even with binoculars we were not quite sure what we were seeing. Then Fred, our campground host, came by and told us the story.

4-5 years ago a local rancher rounded up some mustangs and among them was this white beauty that he tried to tame. But the mustang rebelled, jumped the corral fence and headed off to the hills, saddle and all. The locals tried to capture him. They even rounded up more mustangs and headed them toward the white, hoping that he'd join in with the crowd and they'd get them all.

But he would have none of it and ran for the wild. He made his home on the west side of Mackay Reservoir. It took several years for the saddle to deteriorate and fall off. Campers who return here are always excited to see him. How does he survive the harsh winters all alone? Why doesn't he want to be around other horses? Sounds like a great movie to me!

Posted by Joan at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lazy day? Well I guess there are a lot of them :) Today started late. I forgot to change my bedroom clock to mountain time so I was surprised at the time when I got up. But who cares? We had our coffee outside and then I made Marilyn Monroes for breakfast. What's that? Two poached eggs on rye toast! Yum.

After a few housecleaning chores we headed out for a brief scoping of the area. It was a lovely day. Here's a view of our campground from around the reservoir. Can you see us with Mr. Moto up?

The sites are huge. It's like night and day compared to some of the private campgrounds we've been in. We headed down the fisherman's access road to see the dam outlet. The water level is very high so they are releasing lots of water. It gushes out and pours down the Lost River. Here's the view. Too bad you can't hear the sounds.

...and my favorite pix of the day....

We stopped at the Forest Service Info Center for maps of the area and decided to try the Mine Hill Tour. Well we only went about 3 of the 15 miles...all gravel, bumpy, rocky, dusty...we headed back. I think it was a 12% grade again. I don't know ....maybe we're wooses...but it just wasn't fun and who needs their car rattled apart. We saw a few old sites and had a great view from up in the hills. Here's one of the old mining buildings.

To give you an idea of the immensity of the mountains here's a view of a main street in Mackay. We are at 5200' and the mountains in the Lost River Range are about 12000'.

We stopped at Ivie's Market for some snacks but we can never get out of the store under $50! Our plan was to have steak, broccoli, baked potato and sour cream...but the mountain rains came and it felt more like a "One Pot" day. What's that? Saute onion and celery, brown ground beef, add a large can of tomatoes, canned mushrooms and green beans and some sliced or diced potatoes (precooked or canned). Season with salt, pepper, Emeril's Essence, garlic and Worcestershire Sauce. Add broth, if necessary, to make it soupy. I like to use the "Better Than Boullion" paste. Pour some red wine....and voila...dinner is served.

For dessert the sun gods may grant us another excellent sunset so we're going outside to enjoy a fire with some tea and cookies.

Posted by Joan at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I should have known this would be a different day when we started out. We were doing all the stuff to get ready to leave (someday I'll make a list) and when we brought the slide in...chugga, chugga...the chassis battery was dead. Seems we forgot to throw the switch to cut off that battery and it died. Fortunately there's a switch to use the house battery to start the chassis. So we did that and, voila, all is well.

I do have to note here that we woke up laughing because it was jujst like "My Cousin Vinny". 4 AM the train whistle blasts and goes off every 20 minutes or so after that. We looked down in the valley and there was nothing there needing a horn blast at 4 AM. I really think conductors do that just for the hell of it :)

Anyway, we took US 93 north out of Wells, NV and it's a really good road (more on that later). Our lunch stop was at Twin Falls, ID where we saw the Snake River in one of its many guises. The Great Bonneville Flood blasted through here causing this gorge. Now there's a golf course beside the river in the bottom of the gorge.

We continued north on 93 through beautiful farmland feeding off the waters of the Snake. Soon we began to see the lava beds of Craters of the Moon National Monument. Jim was getting sleepy so I volunteered to drive. (I usually drive long freeway stretches but this was two lane.) No sooner did I take the wheel than we hit a construction zone. No one does construction like Idaho. They tear up the whole dang road. So I drove 10 miles at 20 mph through this kind of stuff.

But I got through it and decided to finish up the trip. We stopped for gas in Mackay and proceeded to our destination....Mackay Reservoir BLM Campground. Ok...it's not really boondocking since they've remodeled and added water and electric. It is a great spot! With our Golden Passport it's $9 per night.

THIS IS WHY WE DO THIS! All the rest of the day paled in comparison to our evening light show. We've been here before and we've seen lots of sunsets but this was a 360 degree light spectacular. Afternoon mountain rainclouds had gathered and we'd had a shower then about 8:30 the clouds began to break a bit and the sun settled below the clouds. So on the western horizon we had this....

...and on the east side of the reservoir we had this! Golden hills and water!

The sky was literally dripping with color. We had to keep turning around to see what new eye candy was being created by this glorious light.

At 10 PM the last rays of sun were fading and the show ended. Pictures don't do justice to this humbling display. Every now and then it all clicks and we reaffim why we're on the road :).

Posted by Joan at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night we were treated to a Carson City sunset. The sky had been clear all day but as eastern mountain sides often do, it clouded up, rained at the higher altitudes and gave us a beautiful sunset. Here's just one of the many views from our window of the show that lasted half an hour.

We had our black cows while watching the sunset. Then the mosquitos came out (haven't seen them for a long time) so we went inside and hit the hay early so we could get going early.

I didn't mention that Silver City RV Park is very nice for a few days stay. It has a gas station, propane, great laundry, shaded pool, 30x60 sites, groceries, snacks and a beauty shop. Tahoe is 20 miles away and there are other historical sites. You could easily fill 3-4 days with little side trips.

We drove 300 miles today from Carson City to Elko, NV and saw a couple of small towns and very few houses...just miles of hills, mountains, valleys and rivers. However, near the towns of Carson City, Winnemuca, and Elko the building is extensive. Houses, business parks, shopping malls. Guess the economy is reallly bad :)

Here's Jim cleaning off the window for the second time today....bug city. We have our windows treated with Rain-x so that we can just use a wet microfiber cloth to wipe off the bugs and a dry cloth to finish the job. This stuff really works.

The park we're in, Double Dice RV, is ok..but not the greatest park in Nevada as they claim to be. The sites are only 18x50...close quarters. Lots of parks are really not set up for newer RVs with large slides. But it's just overnight and we're outta here!....and on to our boondocking adventure.

Posted by Joan at 07:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We got on the road early Thursday, heading for Carson City and ready to tackle several 6% grades and 8000' summits. Last time we came through here in 2003 we managed the grades but got down to 10 mph in first gear. We thought we might have to disconnect the car to get over the mountain! But our Mr. Banks (the complete Banks Power System) did us proud. Worst case yesterday was 25 mph in first gear. We tow a Mercury Villager Van loaded with our bikes, books, outdoor fireplace, chairs, etc...so we are at the high end of our towing capacity.

This part of the trip around Mammoth and June Lake is just magnificent. Still lots of snow on the mountains, good road, very little traffic, great weather. I can envision staying here for a week or so. This picture is taken at one of the high points on US395.

We had lunch beside the Walker River. Remember John Denver singing..."Where the Walker runs down to the Carson Valley plain, there lives a maiden, Darcy Farrow was her name," ? Here we are and the river really does rush down to Carson Valley.

We arrived about 1 PM at Silver City RV Resort just south of Carson City, NV. We've been here before and knew the spaces would be large and clear for Mr. Moto. It as really hot so we did minimal setup, had a beer and waited for the sun to go down to finish all our tasks.

Today we did a brief car tour of the old houses in Carson City and stopped by the Capitol Building. Here's the house used in the last movie John Wayne made--The Shootist. It's called the Krebs-Peterson house, built in 1914. This would be the movie set for the house J.B. Books died in.

Just two doors down is the Governor's Mansion in a regular old neighborhood. It has a beautiful entry and front veranda.

A couple of blocks away is the State Capitol building with its unique silver dome. Completed in 1871 at a cost of $84,000 it was extensively rebuilt in 1977 at a cost of $6 million! But it's now safe.

We decided to take a jaunt out to Virginia City, 15 miles away. It was a crazy mountain drive with 15% grades and curves. When we arrived we found a typical tourist trap, loaded with people. Where they all came from I don't know. Jim said that Tombstone, AZ was better. We couldn't find a parking spot on the main drag and with temps at 101 I said...forget it! The main street had dozens of junky tourist shops and crowds of people. Little alleys ran up and down hill from the main street to more junky houses. Not my cup of tea. Here's the main street and an old school building that caught my eye.

Maybe itf it hadn't been so hot we would have scoped out a few historical sites and gift shops...maybe a saloon or two. But I was happy to leave. We took the trucker's route down and were back in the valley in no time. We decided to get on our way tomorrow and maybe get out of this heat wave...although as we always say it is a dry heat. But since we're up a mile high that lucky ole sun is piercingly hot!

Posted by Joan at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We needed to sleep in after three days of getting up before 7 AM. So about 9 we made coffee and sat outside to enjoy the cool weather. Jim decided to go up to the office and pay for another day and came back with two Hagen Daz ice cream bars for breakfast. Sure fits in with my new diet :).

After coffee, showers, phone calls and internet time we had a light snack then headed out for a brief excursion into the Inyo National Forest. We drove about 15 miles on Hwy 168 along Bishop Creek to Sabrina Lake at 9000'. It was 20 degrees cooler so we enjoyed a short walk, took a few pictures and met some nice doggies (and their owners).

On the way back home we checked out a few National Forest Campgrounds. They vary in size and ambiance but we did find places where we'd enjoy boondocking for a few days. Fall would be a great time to visit here.

This is a secluded area, sort of cut off from the rest of CA by mountains. On the west are the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite Park. On the east the Inyo Mountains and Death Valley. Lots of historical sights to see and worth an extended visit.

Back in the hot valley, Jim volunteered to cook his famous chicken stir fry for dinner. Who am I to refuse? I still enjoy the delicious feeling of drinking a glass of wine, reading and watching him cook.

After dinner we relaxed with one of our fave movies, Fargo. I know, you either love it or hate it. We just get a kick out of the exaggerated accents and the neat photography. So now we're ready for our Midwest visit...yeah, you betcha!

It's 10:30 PM and the temp outside is 86 so I guess the AC will stay on tonight. It did get down to 60 last night. I'm getting ready to enjoy tea and cookies, start a new novel and then off to bed. Tomorrow is an early day to get ahead of the heat and head for Carson City, NV ....and more heat.

Posted by Joan at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had a very nice, uneventful start to our trip. We were going the right direction heading out of LA and met with very little traffic. We were on the road by 9:15...wow! We were amazed by all the housing growth off of 395 heading north near Victorville. We always wonder where all these people work?

There's not a lot to see on 395 but it's a good road with lots of 4-lane sections and passing lanes. The scenery gets good just before Lone Pine when Mt. Whitney comes in view. There is still a lot of snow on the Sierras. But it was hot, near 100, and I wasn't in the mood to take pictures. Maybe I'll get some early tomorrow.

We stopped in Bishop, CA after 270 miles. A campground neighbor recommended Highland RV so we pulled in and it looked good. Lots of trees but we found a good site. We're so happy with our upgraded satellite system. Just press a couple of buttons and 7-10 minutes later were online.

The temperature was 98 when we parked and is supposed to drop to 56 tonight....yeah, right! We're at 4100 feet. With the heat and altitude we're drinking lots of water, taking it slow and easy. We'll stay a day here to relax and maybe catch a sight or two. After all, we're in no rush :).

Posted by Joan at 07:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We celebrated Father's Day in honor of the four CA Dad's. Left to right are Jim, son Jim, Brad, and Tom. All Dad's face challenges and these guys are no exception. But they've overcome the obstacles to raise some great kids. They are all hard-working, conscientious, loving fathers. Brad is the newest Dad...he's the father of baby Evan.

The "founding father" won three games of Bocci Ball. One of the younger guys pooped out after one game and commented about Jim's energy and stamina. He's also pretty competitive so he was jazzed to be the big winner.

We had Beef Au Jus sandwiches which were a big hit. I cooked a couple of 2.5 lb. rump roasts in the crock pot with some beef/onion broth. After 14 hours on slow cook I pulled it apart to shred it. There was lots of yummy juice to dip the french rolls in. We supplemented with Hebrew National Hotdogs and also had BBQ sauce for the beef. The beef and the dogs disappeared along with salad and baked beans.

We topped off the meal with "black cows." Some people in our group didn't know what that was :). Is it a Midwestern term? (It's a root beer float.)

We enjoyed the sunset over the water and said our "goodbyes." We are heading out and won't be back in CA until Thanksgiving. This has been a special time as we've watched our baby Evan grow and had lots of good times at family parties and celebrations. But we're excited about getting "on the road again, seeing places where we've never been."

Posted by Joan at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One more graduate! We have seven grandchildren who graduate from high school, one right after the other! Mary is #4. We are so proud of this wonderful young woman who is a valedictorian, madrigal singer and flag girl among other things!

Since "it never rains in Southern California" the graduations are outside with the occasional beach ball batted around the crowd. In an untraditional fashion all the 530+ students marched in and surrounded the field while being called up to walk onstage and get their diplomas at the beginning of the ceremony.

Families competed in cheering, screaming and blowing airhorns to celebrate their child's achievement. I don't think that happens in a more conservative, indoor environment. Balloon and flower bouquets awaited the graduates who were covered with streamers, shot from guns at the end of the ceremony.

All over the country this month millions of families participate in this graduation tradition. The kids are so excited and anxious to move on. I doubt they really understand the great change this one evening brings to their lives. No more required schooling. So much freedom ...so much responsibility.

I overheard another granddaughter who is coming home from college for the summer. She's talking to her Mom about "house rules." They're negotiating about what time she needs to be home at night. She says, "You mean you expect me to be in by a certain time after I've had all this freedom for a year?" "Yep" says her Mom. "You live in my house, you live by my rules." Hmmmmm....where have I heard that before? Seems to me my Mom said the same thing to me :).

Through it all baby Evan was a trooper, enjoying "pass the baby", but about 8:30 he crashed on Mom's shoulder....sound asleep even with cheering, clapping and horns beeping!

Mary's Dad, Jim, hosted a pre and post party with an eclectic mix of food to satisfy all tastes...sushi, pizza and roast chicken. We ended with a totally delicious "Mary's choice" cake....sort of like a tutti frutti. Yum!

A good time was had by all and she's off to college in the fall. Three more high school graduations and then, somewhere along the way, we start college!

PS to the above: This is the 4th graduate! So far we have Naomi (mother of baby Evan), Jim, Hilly and Mary...3 left...Bryan, Ryan and Zack. I stand corrected! :)

Posted by Joan at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Several weeks ago we noticed that we weren't able to get MSNBC. The screen message said "searching for signal." Gee, we thought, maybe they went out of business. Sometimes we're so dumb. Since we don't watch a lot of TV we didn't realize until a few days ago that we actually aren't getting about 70 channels. Yikes! What a strange problem. What could be wrong when 2/3 of the channels are beautiful and 1/3 are missing?

Ok. That means lots of phone calls, test this and that to try and figure out what is the problem. Is it the DirecTV receiver, the Datastorm dish, the cabling? Who knows. I'm just the observer and advice giver.

Some of the service providers are truly unhelpful. Once DirecTV found that the receiver is in a motorhome they wanted nothing more to do with us. The DataStorm users group has provided some insight. So far our Internet provider, MotoSat, has been most helpful and we may have located the problem...a failing LNB (whatever that is).

So they will replace it under warranty. Only problem is we are going to be on the move. This may not get resolved until we are settled in Montana for a week. Right now we're playing phone tag with MotoSat to figure out when and how to ship the part. Just one of the Fulltime RV challenges :).

Posted by Joan at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We headed for Newport Beach for another doctor checkup and were early, as usual, and hungry, as usual. I suggested a quick hotdog at Der Weiner and unfortunately we opted for the new Big Dog. 1/3 pound hotdog served either Reuben or BBQ style. OK...Reuben sounds good....wrong. Don't ever get it. A Reuben would have corned beef but I think this had chipped beef, very salty. The bun was a soggy mess, the sauerkraut tasteless. The dog wasn't too bad and that's all I ate of it. Ridiculous! We should have gone in to complain and get a refund but time ran out.

On to the doctor where I got a clean bill of health (YEAH). Come back in a year. Music to my ears. Since we'd waited at the doctor's for 2 hours we were hungry again. We shopped a bit to kill some time and then opted for the sublime. We returned to a fave restaurant in Newport "where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came." The Pleasant Peasant has been around for 24 years and I think we've been going there that long. Lisa and Lauren Ferre are the owner/French chef. Lisa's dad founded the Country French Bistro and had such success that he sent his daughter off to France for summer vacation. She came back with a French chef. I don't think you can find a finer lunch or dinner anywhere and the service is superb.

Behind these doors is a delicious, relaxing dining experience....

We started with hot rolls and liver pate, then smoked salmon appetizer. I had the dinner salad and Jim had gazpacho. I had been dreaming of the rack of lamb which was a special and Jim had the steak bourdelaise. We sipped a glass of house Chardonnay and finished off with creme brulee and poire belle-helene (which is poached pear, french vanilla ice cream, almonds and special chocolate sauce). A cup of espresso prepared us for the drive home.

Only in Southern CA will you find dinner for two at $100 (broke the budget but what the heck), license plates reading MOVIN UP, A401K DR, X QUSE ME, the freeway still jammed at 7:30 PM, and the Big A stadium lit up with the Goodyear blimp overhead. We arrived home safely to a beautiful mountain sunset. Guess we'll be eating soup for a week :).

Posted by Joan at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was reading some articles and comments on Chuck Woodbury's RV Journal newsletter about security and overnight stops and thought about how there sure are "different strokes for different folks." In three years of fulltime travel we have never felt insecure, but then we've never stayed ovenight at anything other than a campground. We've stopped at many rest areas, Walmart's, Flying J's and truck stop gas stations....for lunch or gas but not to sleep. Somehow the thought never enters our minds or our plans.

Generally, we travel a short day and have a few campgrounds in mind at our destination. We are willing to pay the price for a spot of our own in the company of likeminded people. I'm not comfortable thinking that all the people who stop or sleep in rest areas at night are likeminded. I figure why tempt fate.

But that's just me :). For another view, read about George and the Tioga Team who never stay in a commercial RV campground.

Posted by Joan at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday we went shopping at Trader Joe's, came back with way more than we planned, sat down for some snacks and drinks and suddenly Jim says "I've never felt like this before." He was shaking, feverish, and a little later all the snacks came up. I'm wondering and worrying...should I call 911? He wasn't in pain but he sure was sick. Food poisoning, flu? I'm looking up symptoms on WebMD.

Friday was a bad day. He had a fever of 103, a bad back ache,and threw up again. We concluded this must be the flu and by evening he was a bit better. But the great snacker was only getting beef broth. Saturday he still had a fever in the morning but by late afternoon was better and drinking tea and broth. Still a really bad back and very dizzy. All he wanted to do was lie flat in the lounge chair. He didn't touch his computer for 2 days...now that's a sick man.

Today he's feeling way better, minor back pain, no fever and he looks better. His eyes are clear and he's walking more comfortably. I think he's on the mend. In fact, he just asked "what's for breakfast? Music to my ears :)

Lesson learned: when arriving at a new campground find out what to do in emergencies. Where is the nearest emergency room? Who is the campground contact? Usually that info is on the campground flyer. Have those numbers handy.

Posted by Joan at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We only drove 65 miles but you would have thought it was a major adventure. Well since most of those miles were on Interstate 10 through LA County, it could be an adventure. But traffic was light and the drive was hassle free. We traveled over the lunch hour.

We'd been parked in Hemet for 2 months so there were lots of tasks to accomplish. Since it was a short drive I took the opportunity to clean a few corners and windows as they got free of stuff...more books, more movies, more appliances...where to put it all? Generally, Jim does the outside, I do the inside. But now we have to put the TV and the computer monitor "to bed" and that is his task. Packing up took us an hour the night before and two hours in the morning. But we got a lot done and it's so clean inside.

We did allow time to be sure everything was going to work. I get the "nervous nellies" when we are headed out just worrying about all the things that could go wrong. What a waste of time! But if the slide wouldn't go in, the satellite dish wouldn't come down, the engine would not start...we'd be stuck. All of those have happened to us but they were minor problems, solved in minutes, with lessons learned :).

Once on the road, my stomach settles down and I can enjoy the IMax view again. There's not much to see between Hemet and San Dimas, CA but once at East Shore RV Park we have a beautiful view of the San Bernardino mountains and Puddingstone Reservoir. It's pricey! $256 for a week. At Hemet we were paying monthly $585 plus electric...maybe $700 for the month.

But after our little move we are closer to the family and to our doctor and dentist for checkups. So maybe it's worth it in gas money.

Posted by Joan at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What's going on here? Maybe it's the prospect of hitting the road again, wanting to have everything in its place and all systems running smoothly. Jim has completed three projects in the last couple of days. First he put shelves in my bedroom closet.

Because of the shape of the closet (it slants inward on the rear) he had to put the standards and brackets on the side. One 4' shelf, cut in pieces, just about filled the space. Cost of materials at Lowe's was about $30. Time to completion about 2 hours.

Here you can see the shelves in use. There are actually two stacks of clothes on each shelf. I've heard that if I rolled the clothes I could fit a lot more in. Also I sure need to get rid of some stuff. Got to follow the rule of new in, old out. And do I really need four sweatshirts?

Under the closet on the night stand we have plastic storage drawers from Staples that hold underwear and socks. I'm very happy to have this done since before this I had two stack of clothes, floor to ceiling, that toppled over periodically....and finding what I wanted was a nightmare.

Next project was to get the new desktop computer set for travel. The computer box is now under the table with wiring run through the bench seat. The printer shelf had to be raised up a few inches. The space beside the computer holds cases for laptops and hard drives while traveling. Next step...put away the stuff on the seats.

Cost is about $10 with some field fitting involved. Time to completion another couple of hours. I chose to go play with baby Evan while this one got done :).

Finally, we got up at 6:30 AM to get the hot water heater drained and the anode rod replaced. When the temps are high 90's in the daytime the early birds get it done easier. Here are a few picture of this task. The anode rod serves as the collector of gunky stuff in the water heater. In the process the rod gets eaten away. Scaley gunk collects on the bottom of the tank and sooner or later the heater becomes inefficient.

Here's the new rod and the two year old rod. We really should do this replacement every 6-12 months.

Jim fixed up a copper tube to fit in the opening and flush the gunk from the bottom of the heater.

And here's the gunk flowing out.

Time to completion about 30 minutes. Be sure to turn off the hot water heater several hours before doing this. Also open the relief valve to let the water flow more freely and open a hot water faucet after refilling the tank to bleed out air bubbles. You can get a good book on basic RV maintenance at Camping World or online at the RV Bookstore.. We use Trailer Life's Rv Repair and Maintenance Manual. Even if you don't do it yourself you can read about what needs to be done and be a smart shopper.

There's still one project to be done and that's to hide the cables for the TV sitting on the dashboard. I guess it must be a nasty project because Jim is not moving too quickly to get it done. And would I nag about it?....never :).

Posted by Joan at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)