Borrego Springs

   It's 9:15 am, Thursday, February 21 and we are in site #318 at The Springs at Borrego RV Resort & Golf Course where we have been since Monday afternoon, Feb 18. It's a very nice park and a nice change of scenery from Indian Wells RV Resort, our home for the past month and a half. It's been overcast and chilly for the most part since our arrival, and rained overnight last night with the forecast calling for more intermittent periods of rain throughout today and tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday, however, are supposed to be sunny.

   The drive out Monday afternoon was pleasant and uneventful. However, once you turn off Rt.86 in Salton City, the remaining 30 mile drive west to Borrego Springs along S22 is a little rough. My new Garmin Trucker GPS had advised me to continue further down Rt.86 to Rt.78 west, but having taken S22 on our recon mission a couple weeks ago, and it being such a picturesque stretch of road, I opted to retrace our previously traveled route. There was a pretty stiff headwind heading west on S22 and the sky ahead looked threatening. However, we were lucky. The weather held out and we didn't have to set  up in the rain.
    We arrived around 4:30 pm. Site 318 is a back-in site so I exited the coach to unhook from the car while Suzanne headed for the office to see to the paperwork. I quickly realized that it was considerably colder here in Borrego Springs than it had been in Indian Wells a couple hours ago.With Suzanne following me in the car, we were escorted to our site by a very nice gentleman in a golf cart - wearing a winter coat over his hoodie. After parking and setting the air brakes on the coach we chatted for a few minutes. He jokingly apologized for the bad weather and told me that in the 8 years he has been work camping here this is the only time he has seen snow in the foothills northwest of town.
    I was planning to grill a couple filets but we were both a little tired from the day's activities and instead decided to break out our emergency-ration Marie Callender's frozen turkey pot pies. Perfect fare for a cold desert night.

Sunset

    When Travis and I arrived at one of the two dog parks here at TSABRVR&GC (that's funny right?) there was woman chasing away a coyote with a golf club (the woman had the golf club - not the coyote). I had seen a coyote the previous evening during a walk with Travis. Later in the day, I was doing a few chores outside the coach and heard what sounded like a dog fight out in a yet-to-be-developed section of the park. As I walked to the front of our site I saw a park employee on a John Deere ATV speeding in the direction of the ruckus, where he dispersed a group of 3 coyotes who were obviously having a serious disagreement. That night, at about 1:00am, I was reading in bed and heard what sounded like a dozen coyotes out in that same area howling and carrying on like a bunch of... well... like a bunch of wild coyotes. I woke Suzanne up so she could hear it.
    We've decided that it's probably best not to leave Winnie (or Travis for that matter) chained outside unattended.

   TSABRVR&GC is a very nice resort. I've opined in previous blogs about the liberal use of the word 'resort' by many RV parks. TSABRVR&GC is a resort in the true sense of the word. Neither Suzanne nor I play golf but they have a very nice 18 hole golf course here and we're thinking about taking a lesson this weekend before our departure Monday morning. There is a large heated salt water swimming pool with 4 surrounding salt water hot tubs (mineral baths) - one of which is large and able to accommodate 8 or 10 people. The others are smaller, two person tubs. Yesterday, after an afternoon workout at the park fitness center, Suzanne and I took a half hour soak in one of the small mineral baths. I thought to bring along my phone and Bluetooth speaker - but forgot the margaritas! Maybe this afternoon.

   Last night we dined at Carmelita's Mexican Grill & Cantina. The food was outstanding and Suzanne said her margarita was as well. I opted for a Corona.
   Suzanne's three-day work week ended yesterday so today we are going to drive into town and do some exploring. We've been told there are a few cool/funky shops worth checking out. We also want to take a drive to see the Galleta Meadows Metal Sculptures.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

  

Waddup?

   It's been quite a while since my last post so I have quite a bit to write about.
   We've been here at Indian Wells RV Resort since the 5th of January. The weather has been a bit cooler than is normal for this time of year, but very pleasant nonetheless. There have also been some very windy days and nights that have kept the park maintenance staff busy cleaning up date palm tree debris - and me re-positioning awning mats and furniture that keep getting blown around. Having said that, as we get further into the new year, the daily highs continue to creep up into the mid 60s and low 70s - much more pleasant temps than we would be experiencing back home in Northern Virginia.
   So, what have we been up to for the past several weeks...

   The cable reception here at IWRVR is a little sketchy. It's kind of weird in that channels at the upper end of the dial are relatively clear but channels between, say, 2 & 20 are so grainy as to be unviewable. We have an OTA (over the air) antenna on the coach that we deploy pretty much every time we set up at a new location. It's a powered antenna with motorized rotation and does a great job of pulling in local OTA channels. Depending on our location, we are sometimes able to receive a few dozen channels. At other times, in more remote areas, we might only find 3 or 4. Sometimes none. The Coachella Valley is a fairly bustling area with powerful, not-too-distant transmitting antennas - and so, currently, we are locked onto over 51 channels and usually able to find something descent to watch at the end of the day.
   The coach is also equipped with a King Dome satellite dish - which I've never been able to figure out. I bought a DISH receiver a year or so ago and have spent several hours since then attempting to get a signal... any sort of signal through it, to no avail. In my research I have found that it's not a problem peculiar to my motorcoach. These things just don't seem to work very well. Even when they do work, it apparently takes forever to get them to locate and lock onto a satellite.
   So...
   I decided to pull the trigger and ordered a Winegard Trav'ler satellite dish. There are professionals who will install these things for you, but after watching several YouTube videos and reading the instructions through a couple times, I decided the procedure seemed fairly straight ahead and opted to do the installation myself. I took my time removing the old King Dome unit, scraping off the old sealant and using mineral spirits to clean up the residual. There is a chase through which the power cable and two coax cables snaked their way from the electronics cabinet inside the coach, through the ceiling and out the roof next to the old King Dome. The power cord was incompatible with the new dish - and I wanted to run new coax - so I cut the end off the old power cord, taped the new wires to it and fed them through as Suzanne pulled from down below as we communicated via our walkie-talkies. It was a tight fit and pretty slow-going, but we managed to successfully fish the wire bundle to the desired location.
   I attached the Trav'ler dish to the roof, sealing everything that needed sealing with Dicor RV Roof Sealant. It seemed to me that the material in that section of the roof was a bit thin and was concerned that the dish might not be anchored properly so I called both Winegard and Winnebago, speaking to tech reps from both companies and coming away with the feeling that neither really knew any more about it than I did. The Winegard guy did, however suggest that if I wanted, I could order a special mounting plate for thin roofs - which I did. Now, the task remains to strip off all the new Dicor, remove the nine screws holding down the dish, clean everything up with mineral spirits, attach the new mounting plate to the roof and the satellite unit to the mounting plate. It's on the to-do list.

   What else...

   It had been a year and several thousand miles since I last changed the oil in the coach. I like doing this job myself (I like doing most minor (and some not-so-minor) mechanical jobs on the coach and car myself) so a couple weeks ago I ordered the filter online. When it arrived a few days later, I went to Walmart and bought six gallons of Rotella 15W-40 diesel engine oil and a couple of shallow 24 qt. Rubbermaid-type plastic storage bins into which I could drain the old oil. I put a large garbage/leaf bag over each of the bins to make clean up a little easier and went to work. It's a bit of a time consuming job but a few hours later the 450 Cummins had a belly-full of fresh, clean lubricant. The leveling system on the coach makes it much easier getting underneath the back end of this beast. I merely fired up the engine and lowered the rear landing gear until there was plenty of room for me to work.

   Attempting to return the used motor oil to Walmart proved problematic. If you're interested, you can read my Yelp review HERE.  I ultimately was able to recycle it at AutoZone.

   Let's see...
   I replaced the coach's old and shabby looking tire covers (it's important, especially in this climate, to keep RV tires covered and protected from the suns UV rays) with new and very cool looking Magne Shade Tire Shades. I like them because they cover the sidewalls but still allow you to see the aluminum wheels that I work so hard to keep looking like chrome. 😁

   I've gone on a couple of great mountain day hikes with our friend, Tim. We first met Tim last year here at IWRVR when he was our next door neighbor. He now resides on the 'other' side of the park - but we remain friends, regardless.

   Suzanne, Travis and I went on a very cool hike yesterday on the East Indio Hills Badlands Trail. Here's AllTrails description of the trail...

"This trail enters the Indio Hills badlands and traverses the San Andreas Fault exposing twisted and tortured rocks that have been uplifted and moved over millions of years. The trail enters several narrow slot canyons and twists and turns in the sandy washes before climbing up to the ridge with panoramic views of the entire Coachella Valley."

  It's a fascinating landscape and a fun hike!

  A couple days ago Suzanne, Travis, Winnie and I made a reconnaissance run out to Borrego Springs where we've been thinking we'd (or more accurately, I've been thinking that I'd) like to spend a few days dry camping on BLM land. A lot of people traveling in RVs do this sort of camping from time to time. It's kind of a thing.  We've yet to do it. We've dry camped in the occasional Walmart or Cracker Barrel parking lot and once at a Harvest Host - but never on BLM land. I find the idea intriguing, Suzanne's not completely sold yet. She'll come around. After all, it's not like we'll be totally roughing it. We have a 90 gal. fresh water holding tank, 105 gal. gray water, 53 gal. black water, six big AGM batteries that are capable of powering, via the inverter, everything in the coach except the A/C (which we won't be using anyway), a 10,000 watt Onan diesel generator capable of powering up a large house...and of course, our brand new satellite dish!
   After checking out the BLM area we headed into town to see if we could get a better cell signal as Suzanne had to be on a conference call in half an hour. On the way we came across an RV resort. 😎

   Suzanne likes her resorts.

   It's a very nice place and their weekly rate isn't too bad.
   Anyway, we made a reservation and will be spending a week there beginning Monday 2/18. I'm lobbying for a couple of days spent dry camping on BLM land at the end of our resort stay before returning to IWRVR. I have this mental picture of myself sitting out under the stars by a slow burning fire, smoking a cigar, nursing a glass of Macallan 12 and listening to The Sons of the Pioneers singing songs about tumbleweeds and such.

   After installing the new satellite dish I was considering ordering two more DISH receivers; one for the bedroom TV and another for the outside TV. While contemplating the coax situation and the additional monthly expense of having two more receivers, I remembered reading something about wireless HDMI transmitters and receivers. I visited the local Best Buy store and ended up purchasing an ActionTec wireless HDMI system. It seems to work great! I connected it to the bedroom TV. I may get another one for the outside TV at some point in the future but I'm in no big hurry to do that.

   The under-mount galley sink had separated from the countertop and needed to be repaired. So I did that and a few other small jobs that needed doing.
   Today I intended to replace the coach's diesel fuel filter and water separator.  A while back I bought 2 or 3 of each online, so I have them on-hand. However, Suzanne has been on the phone nonstop and I need to start the coach up to raise the back end in order to gain access to the engine compartment. I haven't completely given up hope for getting that job done today, but it's beginning to look like (she's on the phone even still) it may have to be put off until tomorrow. We'll see. It's a beautiful day - I might just go sit in the sun and read for an hour then head for the RV park fitness center.
   That reminds  me, a brand new Planet Fitness just opened about a mile from our location. I'm a PF Black Card member (meaning I can work out at any PF) and Suzanne and I have had to travel six miles in order to work out at the Coachella PF. Now we have just a five minute drive. Sweet!


Thanks for checking out the blog! I'm gonna try to post more often.

 

 


 
 
 

No Snow Here!

Well...

  I wrote a really long blog (maybe the longest I've ever written) a couple weeks ago and, assuming it was saved (as I had been saving my work every couple minutes) and frustrated that pictures I was trying to insert weren't loading, I refreshed the page.
   Poof!
   It all went away.
   Two hours worth of work... up in cyber-smoke.
   I had neither the mental energy nor the desire to attempt to recreate everything I had written... and I won't attempt to do it now.
   In a nutshell...
   We arrived at Motorcoach Country Club in Indio, Ca. on December 29th and spent a week. Allie and Andy spent a couple days of their multi-destination honeymoon about 30 minutes away in Rancho Mirage and we were able to get together with them for dinner and for a few cocktails & cigars back at the coach one evening. They had a great time on their honeymoon - which began in Anguilla and ended in San Diego by way of Napa and Rancho Mirage.

   A few pictures of our time at MCC...

Our Back Yard

2.5 Miles of Man-Made Navigable Waterways

   It's a pretty nice place. 

   We hauled anchor and drove less than a mile to Indian Wells RV Resort last Saturday 1/5. The term "Resort" is often used to describe RV parks. Motorcoach Country Club is truly a resort - Indian Wells... not so much. It's not exactly a Hee-Haw-Hell. But a resort?? 

Umm, no.

   At any rate, we're here until March 31. Staying that length of time at MCC would have been outrageously expensive. IWRVR is undergoing a much needed face-lift and is noticeably improved since we were here last winter. I tried to reserve a spot at a nicer RV "Resort" a few miles away but apparently one needs to book one's stay at Indian Waters RV Resort more than 6 months in advance.

   Suzanne is working part-time (3 days a week) for the firm she's worked for for the past couple of years. She's up at 5:30 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in order to be in sync with her colleagues in NYC and done at 2:00pm. A pretty good schedule.

   I've been keeping busy doing odd jobs around the coach - making minor repairs, cleaning rims, cargo bays etc. We had our friend, Tim over for dinner one night last week and had a great time visiting and watching the Clemson/Alabama game. We met Tim when he was parked next to us in site #50 last year (we're in site #51). He now resides on the 'other' side of the park - a much tonier, more upscale neighborhood (not really). 

   It's nice being back in the desert. Although temperatures have been about 10 degrees cooler than average, it's still much more temperate than Northern Virginia at this time of year ...

... and the forecasters are predicting a return to mid to upper 70s by Saturday.

   A couple other highlights since our arrival...

Cadillac Margaritas at Mariachi's

A Trip to Salton Sea (If you're thinking of making the pilgrimage, don't bother)

Thanks for checking out the blog!

    

Almost There!

Tucumcari...Tucumcari... what can I say about Tucumcari...?
 Not a whole lot.
   It's one of those towns on old Rt.66 that time forgot after completion of Interstate 40 back in... I think it was 1957.  A drive through Tucumcari on old Rt.66 is an interesting glimpse into the past. Well, I thought it was cool and interesting - Suzanne just thought it was creepy. There are several abandoned gas ('filling') stations, a couple dozen motels; some still in operation, others long ago abandoned and weather beaten with their once colorful neon signs now rusty and hanging akimbo. A divergence from Rt.66 and into the residential and "Old Town" section of town is, indeed, creepy.  This is a very economically depressed part of New Mexico. If you're considering relocating to Tucumcari, New Mexico... you might want to reconsider.

  That being said, if you're into mid 20th century American pop culture, it's worth a visit. Creepiness notwithstanding, I think it's cool that there are still places like this in existence. I'm a fan of rusty relics of bygone eras.
   I am one!
   Here's a short Youtube video promoting Tucumcari tourism.

   Having arrived Christmas eve afternoon, we had planned to spend Christmas day in Tucumcari. Up to this point, we hadn't spent more than a single night in one location. We have a reservation at Motorcoach Country Club in Indio, California for 12/29 thru 1/5/19. Allie and her new husband, Andy will be in Rancho Mirage 12/30 thru 1/3/19 and we're looking forward to spending a little time with them before they head back home to Maryland. Suzanne and I had to wait a few days after their 12/15 wedding to head out in the coach - so time is of the essence and we've had to maintain an average of 250 miles-per-day in order to arrive on time.
   But I digress...

Cleaning and replacing batteries in malfunctioning tire pressure sensors

(When in Tucumcari...)

   We HAD planned to spend Christmas day in Tucumcari. However, after seeing what Tucumcari had (or hadn't) to offer, upon further consideration, we arose early Christmas Day, prepared the coach for departure and headed further west on I-40 to Albuquerque, NM.

   Enchanted Trails is a Passport America affiliated RV park in Albuquerque. There was a note on the office door advising us that the office had closed Christmas eve and would reopen the day after Christmas and that visitors wanting to spend the night should chose a site, fill out a registration form, place that form and the appropriate amount of cash in the provided envelope and slide it under the office door. We did that, set up and settled in for a lovely, New Mexico Christmas day.
   Cornish hens were on the dinner menu, but having arrived early, around 11am, I made a late breakfast and we watched a little TV - something we'd been unable to do for the previous couple days due to remote RV parks - too far from over-the-air TV antennas. In this park a channel scan was able to memorize 50 channels!
   Following breakfast and some chill time we made the 5 mile drive back east on I-40 to the exit for Historic Old Town Albuquerque. Most of the stores in Old Town were closed because of the holiday but we had a good time browsing the few that were open. Suzanne found a pair of New Mexico themed socks and I found an Albuquerque baseball cap I couldn't live without. We also bought a magnet for our collection. Returning to the coach, we began preparing our Christmas feast and cracked open a bottle of champagne. It was a good Christmas.

   Flagstaff, Arizona lies 325 to the west of Albuquerque on Rt.40. The Flagstaff weather forecast called for snow both Thursday & Friday. Wanting to beat the bad weather to Flagstaff, we decided not to stay an extra day in Albuquerque as we had planned and instead, got an early (7am) start and, after taking on 110 gallons of diesel fuel at the nearby Love's service area, rolled out onto the interstate.
   As it turned out, the forecasters were wrong - at least about the Albuquerque area weather. Clear skies were forecast for today. However, we weren't 10 miles into our trip when it started snowing. At times, heavily - and some of it was sticking. There was a serious accident on the east bound side of the highway - a tandem tractor trailer overturned, completely blocking both lanes of traffic. It didn't look like there was any way of detouring traffic around the accident and I'm sure it was at a stand still for hours. Glad I wasn't headed east.

   It was a long drive. The speed limit on this section of I-40 is 70 & 75. I did 55 and 60 for the majority of the trip. It cleared up after 150 miles or so but as we neared Flagstaff I could see the road had just been treated in anticipation of more bad weather and icy driving conditions.
  Change of plans.
  We had planned to stay at a campground just west of Flagstaff but a quick weather Google showed snow beginning earlier tomorrow morning than the weather guessers had initially expected. We decided to push on another 40 miles to Seligman, AZ where the elevation is almost 2000' closer to sea level and the probability of snow, much less.

Much better weather at the end of our day

   And that's where we are now. Temps are supposed to dip into the 20s overnight so we were advised, by management, to disconnect from the water supply by 7pm. We have only 290 miles to go to reach our final destination of Indio, Ca. Our reservation was for a Saturday arrival but in our efforts to beat the bad weather we find ourselves a couple days ahead of schedule. We called Motorcoach CC and arranged to check in two days early. I also made an appointment with the guy who washed and waxed the coach when we were here last winter. He and his crew will show up sometime Friday afternoon to wash 2700 miles of mud, grime and road salt off the rig. It really is a mess. I don't think it's ever been this dirty.

   Time to walk the dogs one more time before calling it a night.

Thanks for checking out the blog!
 
 

Making Friends, Arkansas & Oklahoma

  Clarke and Elaine Hockwald happened to be parked just a few miles outside of Nashville when Suzanne and I rolled into town Thursday. Clarke & Elaine have been living full time in their beautiful vintage 1982 Newell motorcoach for six years. Clarke blogs on a regular basis - and by regular, I mean daily. I discovered Clarke's blog 3 or 4 years ago and have been a loyal reader ever since. His daily musings on 'life on the road' are well written, entertaining, educational and have been a great source of inspiration as Suzanne and I spend more and more time traveling around the country in our motorhome. Our paths have crossed a couple of times in the past few years and we met briefly when Suzanne and I were in Lake Tahoe a couple years ago. When I realized we'd be within a few miles of each other this week, I reached out to Clarke and the four of us met for breakfast Friday morning before Suzanne and I rolled out of town. We chatted for well over an hour and had a great time sharing tales of the road. We went our separate ways after exchanging handshakes and hugs and hope to see them again in a few months when, once again, our paths will cross in Southern California.
 It's always fun to meet people who share our love of this lifestyle - and when they're as friendly and as genuine as the Hockwalds, it's an extra special treat.
 
   It rained for most of our drive Friday but as we approached the Arkansas state line there was a clear north/south line of demarcation overhead where the clouds we'd been traveling under for the past four days gave way to blue, sunny skies. By the time we reached Forrest City, AK, our destination for the day, the sun was shining and it was 60 degrees.
   We did some light grocery shopping at a store within walking distance of our campsite and spent a quiet, restful evening under clear, starry Arkansas skies.

   Saturday's destination was Fort Smith, Arkansas - clear on the other (western) side of the state. We arrived at Spring Hill Campground sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 in the afternoon in nearby Barling, AK. Spring Hill Campground is a federally run recreational area and, with a National park Senior Pass, the nightly fee is a mere $10. It was a very nice park - and if we weren't on a schedule, we would have absolutely spent a few more days relaxing in this beautiful venue located on the banks of the Arkansas River.
   After setting up and walking the dogs, Suzanne and I drove the 6 or so miles into the town of Fort Smith to explore Historic Fort Smith. Though the visitors center and other buildings were closed, due to the partial government shut-down, we still had a fun time walking around, exploring the grounds and reading the markers. Though it wasn't filmed there, portions of the movie True Grit take place at Fort Smith. It's where John Wayne delivers his prisoners and meets up with Kim Darby and Glen Campbell. So there's that.

   After our tour of the fort we decided to have an early dinner at La Huerta Mexican restaurant, just a couple blocks away. I had the Burrito La Huerta with chicken and Suzanne had the Burrito Mexicano. Both were delicious - as were the accompanying margaritas.

   Which brings us to where we find ourselves tonight... Sayre, Oklahoma. I have nothing of any particular interest to share in regard to Sayre, Oklahoma. It's remarkably unremarkable. The RV park is nice enough... and in reaching it, we put ourselves 310 miles closer to our final destination of La Quinta, Ca.

  We did have a beautiful sunset here in Sayre...

Stay tuned!

California Bound!

  December was quite  month for us. My son was married to his lovely wife, Molly on the 2nd in a beautiful ceremony in Detroit and my daughter was married just two weeks later (on the 15th) to her husband, Andy in an equally incredible ceremony in Washington DC. Suzanne and I couldn't be happier for our kids and their new spouses. However, winter has come to Northern Virginia and we're becoming accustomed to spending our winters in warmer climates. So last Tuesday, with full hearts, happy in the knowledge that both our children have found their soul mates and are destined to live happily ever after, we shut the water off and adjusted the thermostat in the townhouse, loaded the dogs and the few remaining items on our 'pack list' into the coach and hit the road!
   We were planning to leave Wednesday morning but the cleaning woman came Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon, realizing the house was spotless and we really had nothing more to do in preparation for lift off - decided to split.
   Having gotten a bit of  late start, we traveled only 96 miles to Shenandoah Valley Campground in Mt. Jackson, Va. SVC is sort of an RVers pit stop. Just 5 minutes off I-81, it was the perfect place to spend the night and perform a few necessary housekeeping chores before racking up more serious miles over the next several days. Having winterized the coach a few weeks prior, we needed a water hook-up in order to flush all that nasty pink stuff from the plumbing system. That was my first order of business.

   We pulled out of SVC mid-morning Wednesday and traveled 275 uneventful miles further down I-81 to Shadrack Campground in Bristol, Tennessee. The entrance to the campground is a bit tricky - involving a very sharp turn off a heavily traveled road followed by a steep downhill drive to the campsites. We found our site, parked and leveled and upon exiting the coach to hook up to shore power and plumbing I noticed the hub cover for the passenger side front wheel was missing. Thinking it might have popped off upon entering the park, Travis and I took a walk up the hill for a look-see...to no avail. I lost the driver's side one two years ago - the day we took delivery of the coach! The two front hub covers have a Freightliner emblem in the center and sell for $120! Generic, non-Freightliner caps sell for a fraction of that price and, the following day, at a truck stop, I was able to buy two (one for backup) for $5.99 each.
   Anyway... back to Shadrack...
   After setting up, Suzanne and I hopped in the car and headed into town to do some much needed grocery shopping. We now have more than enough grub in the fridge and cupboards to get us to Southern California.
  We had a bit of a glitch the next morning when, car in tow, coming off a flat section of gravel and onto the steep 30' stretch of pavement leading to the road above, the rear weight of the coach shifted to the tag axle lifting the drive axle a couple inches off the ground. I wasn't going anywhere and had to uncouple from the car in order to back up and get a running start up and onto the paved section - where I was then able to reattach the car. A minor annoyance... but a pain in the ass nonetheless.
   Thursday's destination was Nashville, Tennessee. It rained all day. I'm not crazy about driving the coach in the rain and considered calling it a day about 150 miles in. But when Suzanne informed me that the forecast called for more rain Friday, I decided to power through and at around 4pm we arrived at the Nashville KOA Resort. An hour or so before our arrival Suzanne went online and scored two tickets for the Vince Gill & Amy Grant Christmas Show at the old Ryman Auditorium. So, after setting up, having a bite to eat and tending to the dogs we Ubered into town. I considered driving but after a day of piloting a 45,000 lb bus (with an SUV in tow) 300 + miles over the Smokey Mts.... in the rain... I thought it might be nice to let someone else do the driving. The show was great!

It got much more crowded by showtime

...and following a post-performance stroll down Music Row, we summoned our return ride to the RV park and hit the sack. Nobody had to sing me a lullaby. Both Suzanne and I were out like a light.
     We're now in Fort Smith, Arkansas. There's more to tell about yesterday and today but it's getting late and the dogs need to go for a walk before calling it a night. I'll catch up tomorrow.

Btw, it's been a while since I've recorded any new Christmas songs - but if you haven't yet been Christmas-songed to death, you might want to listen to a few of my recordings from Christmas' past here, on my website.

Thanks for checking out the blog! 
 

And We Roll...

   Our plan was to move from Patten Pond RV Park to Bar Harbor Campground where we planned to spend a week before heading for my brother's place in Massachusetts. During a phone conversation with an employee at BHC I had been assured that, even though the upcoming week included the very busy 4th of July holiday, they would have a spot for me. They operate on a first come first serve basis and if I showed up early Sunday morning, people having spent the weekend would be heading out and I could move into one of the vacated sites.
   There was, however, another campground about 7 miles from Patten Pond that we had passed several times on Rt.1 on our way to Ellsworth. On one such excursion I took the opportunity to pull into Forest Ridge Campground and inquired as to site availability for the week of the 4th. The young man in the office offered me a map of the property on which he highlighted 4 or 5 available full hook-up spots that would accommodate our 43 foot coach.  It was a nice looking campground and the price was right (about $15 less per night than Patten Pond). I paid for six nights. We would arrive Sunday morning and leave the following Saturday morning - June 7.
   Sunday morning we packed up and traveled the 7 miles down Rt.1 where we slid comfortably into site #2 at Forest Ridge Campground. It's the shortest distance we've ever traveled between RV parks.
   Sometime in the intervening days a beautiful 1998 Prevost XL 45 had moved into the site beside ours. Temperatures were such that, during our stay, much of our time at the campground was spent inside in the comfort of our air conditioning. The same was true for most of the guests so that the opportunity to meet the owner of the Prevost didn't present itself until Friday, when they were packing up to leave. I'm a big fan of these stainless steel and aluminum clad beauties and would someday like to get a tour of the interior of one.

   Suzanne had a couple of very busy work days so I amused myself with a hike up Cadillac Mountain with Travis one morning and a 26 mile bike ride another. We drove into Bar Harbor on Wednesday where the dogs and I waited patiently in the car while Suzanne had her hair cut and colored. There is no shortage of lobster 'shacks' along Rt.1 between Ellsworth and Bar Harbor and during our stay we shamelessly sampled lobster rolls from three... possibly four of them.
   We had a night of steady rain and I discovered a small leak in the roof where two FM radio antennas are located. I think it was a result of the low hanging branch at Greenlaw's RV Park I mentioned in my previous blog. I decided to just remove the antennas for now and fill the holes with Dicor RV roof sealant. The antennas and mounts are looking a little frazzled. I'll order new ones when we get home.

   We left FRC Saturday morning as planned, driving 300 miles and arriving at my brother's place in Phillipston, Massachusetts around 2pm where we spent the next week. Well, I spent the week there. Suzanne had business in Boston and Manhattan. I drove her to her hotel in Boston Sunday afternoon where she spent the next two days. She then flew to NYC Wednesday morning and returned to Logan Friday evening. I retrieved her from Logan at 9pm.
   I managed to keep myself occupied during Suzanne's absence by completing a few projects on the coach, exercising at the local Planet Fitness, taking a long ride on my bike and spending quality time with family, particularly my mom, who lives with my brother Bob. I really enjoyed spending time with her!

 
   Travis & Winnie had a good time in Phillipston as well...

   Our journey back to Virginia began yesterday as we left Phillipston and headed for Cape May, New Jersey by way of Easton, Connecticut - where we spent last night at Silverman's Farm.
   A few months ago I ponied up $49 and joined something called Harvest Hosts.  Harvest Hosts is a network of vineyards, orchards, farms and the like offering free overnight camping to RVers. We hadn't yet stayed at a Harvest Host and were looking forward to our first HH experience. Silverman's Farm was about 15 minutes off the 'beaten path' but well worth the detour. Our host couldn't have been nicer or more accommodating. We parked the coach in a large open field across the road from the farm stand and a hundred yards or so behind their animal farm. It was mid afternoon when we arrived and still rather warm, so I ran the generator and a/c until the sun set and temperatures dropped to a level where I was able to shut down the genset, open the windows and turn on the ceiling vent fans. The coach's inverter, powered by its six AGM deep cell batteries is able to power everything in the coach except the air conditioners.
   After walking the dogs and getting things set up we walked over to what Silverman's calls their 'farm stand'. It's really more of a farm stand/gift shop/florist/craft shop/pie, ice cream & preserves emporium. It was really a cool place. We ended up buying a cherry pie, a quart of Tahitian Vanilla ice cream, a loaf of cranberry bread, blue corn tortilla chips and a jar of sweet vidalia onion salsa. Yum.

Our spot at Silverman's

   Oh, a week ago I decided to order a Garmin dezl 770LMTHD, a truck specific GPS. We've been using Google Maps and it's just not up to the task. We've ended up on too many size-inappropriate roads, detoured around unexpected low overpasses etc. The coach has in-dash navigation but it too is unpredictable and has gotten us into some tight spots. I had read lots of good things about the Garmin Trucker GPS and finally decided to pull the trigger - and take some pressure off my navigatrix... Suzanne.

   We used it for the first time yesterday and it did a great job and raised my comfort level several points! The drive from I-95 to Silverman's farm took us on some winding rural roads but I knew, because the coach's dimensions and weight had been programmed into the unit, we wouldn't be asked to navigate anything that wouldn't safely accommodate our rig. Maybe the best $375 I've ever spent.

   

   Today, once again, the new Garmin Trucker GPS performed flawlessly. It rained for a good portion of our 210 mile trip, spoiling the wax job I had performed in my brother's driveway. 

   I had planned to take I-287 over the Tappan Zee Bridge, thereby avoiding the very bumpy and heavily trafficked Cross Bronx Expressway and George Washington Bridge. But at the last minute, seeing that Sunday morning traffic was lighter than anticipated, we decided to stay the course and continued down I-95. We had only a brief slow down during the approach to the GWB. 

Good call.

Crossing the GWB

We stopped at a service area about 15 miles from our destination and topped off our half empty diesel tank. I was expecting something in the neighborhood of $3.50 per gallon but was pleasantly surprised at the $3.15/gal price tag.   

   Tonight we are in Big Timber Lake RV Resort in Cape May Court House, NJ - a Sun Resort. BTLRVR is a Passport America RV park and I was able to get 50% off the nightly rate for our entire 5 night stay. According to the PA notes on the park, the 50% discount is only supposed apply to the first two nights. But when I made the reservation earlier in the week, I was quoted a price that reflected a 50% discount for the entire stay. I didn't argue the point. 

   Thanks for checking out the blog!

The Maine Thing

 Last Friday's lunch before leaving Plymouth on Saturday...

 Driving through, or rather under Boston last Saturday morning...

   Stonington Maine is home to a fleet of more than 300 lobster boats (it's the largest 'lobstering' port in the state) and just about the cutest little seaport town you'll ever visit. Though the bridge to the island elicits a bit of a 'pucker'...

   ...the drive along SR15 was beautiful.
 

   If you look at the home page for Greenlaw's RV Park & Campground, you'll read, in paragraph one that, "Wi-Fi is available and we have have good cell service". More on that in a minute...
 
   GRVP&C was a charming little campground. Pretty obviously built several decades ago and although not ideally suited for big rigs such as ours, it is wonderfully secluded and very conveniently located just a couple miles from picturesque 'downtown' Stonington and the harbor. As we rolled up their long, windy gravel driveway, coming around a bend we spotted the owner, a woman in her 70s and a friend waiting for us by her car. I guess the arrival of a 43' coach isn't an everyday occurrence at this little campground and warrants a special greeting. I unhooked from the Traverse - into which Suzanne hopped and followed me as I followed the two women, in their car, to our site - raking a low hanging branch along the length of the roof along the way. 😕 A subsequent roof inspection revealed no damage. Just a bit of foliage in the TV antenna.

   Up to this point, no money had changed hands. They don't accept credit cards at GRVP&C so we were advised to take our time getting set up then stop by the office on our way into town later on to settle up. Before leveling and deploying the slides, I though it wise, given our remote location, to perform a signal strength check on our cell phones. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, Suzanne works remote and needs a good cell signal for her conference calls. Also, as RV park wi-fi is, more often than not, pretty sketchy, we usually end up using our hot-spot for internet connectivity, an absolute necessity in her line of work.
   Our signal test showed two bars of 1X - which is roughly equivalent to sending smoke signals. Even when placed next to our new wiz-bang Weboost antenna, there was no significant improvement in the signal. And there was no wi-fi.
   "Wi-Fi is available and we have have good cell service"??... Umm, no.
   I jumped in the car and drove to the office. Sharing the disappointing news with the proprietor and pointing out the misleading information on their website, I decided to pay for one night (we had planned to spend the week) and try to make other arrangements.
   Returning to the coach to retrieve Suzanne, Travis & Winnie, we struck out in the car, heading back toward civilization, and hopefully a Verizon tower. Our abysmal signal was such that we couldn't make a phone call or do any sort of online search for another RV park. We had to get to a location where we could communicate with the outside world. Thirty-five miles later, it happened. We got a signal.
 
   Patten Pond RV Resort is a very nice, albeit pricey, campground in Ellsworth, Maine.

   It's located on the mainland and only 18 miles from Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park by way of routes 1 & 3. The pond (which looks more like a large lake to me) is beautiful, the sites spacious, but most importantly, we have 4 bars of 4G LTE!!! It's where we've been since last Sunday.
 
   Oh, I forgot to mention that, before striking out from Stonington in search of a cell signal, we drove down into the village for lobster rolls and ice cream. We have priorities.
  Also, before departing GRVP&C Sunday morning, I got up bright and early and washed the coach. Many RV parks have rules prohibiting RV washing. I was pretty sure Patten Pond would have such a rule but there was nothing in the GRVP&C literature stating their policy either way ... and the owner lived off premises... and it was early on a Sunday morning.
What off-premises-living-RV-park-owner is gonna come poking around my campsite early on a Sunday morning? Ya follah?
   My roof, in particular, was filthy - not having been cleaned since we left Indian Wells RV Resort in SoCal in February. It had to be done.
 
   So, what else has been going on...

   The weather has been idyllic - except for today. It's been raining heavily all morning.

   I've been running with Travis the last couple of days. He's not much of a jogger. His pace improves when he realizes we're headed back home. But constantly having to encourage him not to lag behind me makes the task of completing three miles in less than 30 minutes just a little more difficult. He may be staying home during my next outing. The other annoying thing about jogging in these parts is the horse flies or deer flies or whatever the hell they are. They're tenacious little bastards - and their bite hurts!

   I grilled scallops and zucchini Tuesday night...

When in Maine

   I've done a few minor repairs on the coach over the past couple of days. There was a rusty access panel on the 10,000 watt Onan diesel generator cover that needed sanding and paint, a couple of woodwork screws whose holes had stripped, wheels that needed cleaning, cargo bays in need of reorganization, a shower drain in need of snaking. Stuff like that.

   Yesterday morning Travis cut the under-side of his tongue pretty badly on a marrow bone. I didn't notice it until after licking himself for several minutes, all four paws, legs and his belly and chest were a bloody mess! I realized pretty quickly what had happened and sat with him on the floor, keeping him settled until the bleeding stopped - which took quite a while.

   We are scheduled to leave here Sunday morning and relocate to Bar Harbor Campground where we will remain until Saturday, July 7th. BHC is a little unusual in that they don't take reservations. The owner assured me, however, when I spoke with him Monday morning, that he would have a spot for me and that I should arrive as close to opening time (8am) as possible. 

   This morning, as an afterthought, I logged onto the Passport America website to see if there were any participating RV parks in the area. To my surprise, we are in one! When we checked into GRVP&C last Sunday I made it known that I was both a Good Sam and a Passport America member. I'm not sure if the woman didn't hear me or if she was new and unaware of the campgrounds PA affiliation. At any rate, I donned my rain gear and headed for the office where I received a $100 refund to my Amex account. That's always a good thing.

I guess that's about it.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

 



 

   

 
 

Pilgrims & Stuff...

   Late one night, a couple years ago, Suzanne had gone to bed and I was sitting on the couch watching TV and checking email on my laptop. I was about to delete an email from Ancestry.com from my spam folder but instead, decided to open it and see what they were trying to sell me. It was a free one month membership.
   I decided to give it a try.
   Entering my credit card information, I wrote the date on a post-it and stuck it on my laptop, figuring I'd cancel my subscription the day before the automatic renewal kicked in.
   Three hours later, after following the branches of my family tree I thought most likely to lead to something interesting (all of which dead-ended about five generations in) and about to call it a night, I decided to see how far I could shimmy out on my paternal grandmother's branch of the tree. She came from very humble beginnings so my expectations were low. I expected records would be hard to come by and my search would yield nothing of real interest - probably hitting a wall three or four generations in.
   I was wrong.
   In fact, four or five generations in, I had discovered and saved more birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, census and military records etc. than all previous paths had yielded. It seemed the further in I got, the hotter things got.
   I found a multi-paged document containing correspondence between my 3x or 4x great grandmother (and her attorney) and the federal government in an ultimately successful attempt to secure widow's benefits as a result of her husband's death as a Union soldier in the Civil War.
   Another distant grandmother was murdered my a mentally disturbed fellow from down the street.
 
   Compelling stuff.

   I guess it was around six generations in that the surname Bradford appeared, which ultimately lead to William Bradford, author of The Mayflower Compact and Governor of Plymouth Colony.
   Not just any pilgrim... THE pilgrim.

   It took me over a year to gather all the documentation required to submit with my application to the Mayflower Society. My first application was denied and I had to gather more evidence in support of an as-of-yet unestablished link in my proposed line to William Bradford. In actuality, there was another line to WB that I could have used. My great grandfather married a cousin (yeah, I know) who was also a descendant. Her line to WB had been established and would have been an easy lift. I saw the other line as a challenge however, and really wanted to lock it down. Creating and documenting a new line to William Bradford seemed like it would be a cool and fun thing to do.
   I acquired the missing evidence, satisfying the Mayflower Society's requirements and creating a newly established line in the process. My application was approved and I have been a member in good standing ever since.

 
   All this to say that, although Suzanne and I have visited Plymouth, Ma. in the past, this is the first opportunity we've had to visit this historic location since discovering my relationship to William Bradford. Everything here seems just a little more interesting to me this time.

   Anyway...

   We arrived here last Friday (6/15) and will be leaving tomorrow, Saturday 6/23. The weather has been beautiful, the seafood delicious and the history fascinating. We visited the Mayflower Society headquarters and Pilgrim Hall last weekend and found both to be very interesting. Pilgrim Hall has a very cool collection of Mayflower artifacts, some of which belonged to 'Grandpa Bill'.
   This was his bible...

   His Chair...

   William Bradford's grave site on Burial Hill...

Nice view of the harbor

   Ellis Haven Campground is a very nice place with all the amenities, conveniently located just a few miles from downtown Plymouth and the waterfront. With the purchase of seven nights you get an eighth night free - hence our departure tomorrow morning. There's a beautiful lake for swimming with a long, sandy beach, a restaurant serving breakfast & lunch and plenty of wide open spaces for Travis and me to play ball. 

   There's a pretty little pond a hundred yards or so from our campsite where geese, turtles, frogs and blue heron like to hang out...

   Sunset over the pond...

   Suzanne had to fly to Newark, NJ on Monday. Her flight was scheduled to depart at 3:00pm so we left EH campground for Boston's Logan Airport at noon and I dropped her curbside a little past 1:00pm. She called me about 30 minutes later to tell me her flight had been cancelled and she'd be sitting in the airport until 7:00pm waiting for the next available flight. What a drag.

   I got into some hellacious traffic making my way back to the airport Wednesday afternoon for her 3:00pm return. I've driven in LA and NYC commuter traffic on several occasions but I have to say that Boston traffic, if this was typical, is the worst. I grew up in Massachusetts and had driven in Boston commuter traffic years ago but don't recall it being anything like this.  

Travis & me at the waterfront on Tuesday

   Last evening we drove into town for dinner at The Waterfront Bar & Grill. I inadvertently parked in a space reserved for vehicles towing boat trailers and returned to find a $20 ticket on my windshield.    Oh well. 

  The food at the WB&G was fantastic as was this uniquely labeled bottle of Pinot Grigio... 

   Our destination for tomorrow in Stonington, Maine. It's a bit of a hike but looks like it'll be a beautiful place to spend a week or so.

   And Winnie says "Hi".

   Thanks for checking out the blog!