The big push.....

 7:56 am - Friday - October 9th - LPG&RVR - 53° F, humidity 25%, cloud cover 16%, wind 16 mph out of the southwest......mostly sunny today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this date in 2011 TLE and I were in Spokane, WA.....

....specifically on South Hill riding bicycles with my sister (Hilary), and brother-in-law, Bob.

For the first 4 days of our post LPG&RVR life we did a little everyday towards preparing for our departure, which now appears to be October 10th, so Thursday needed to see significantly more progress towards our goal of being mobile once again, or the 'BIG PUSH' as we call it.  Why October 10th?  Well, there is a tropical storm off the coast of SoCal, which will push a lot of rain inland beginning Sunday, or Monday, and we want to be in Walker Lake by Sunday just ahead of the rain.  We'll ride out the rain, if it materializes, at Walker Lake, then continue our journey south to TWW.

We began the day doing small tasks so we could get to the big stuff, and it worked out well.  By 10 am we had emptied the rear of the trailer so we could begin to haul in the various smaller artificial turf pieces to be followed at the end of the day by the large 'lido deck' turf piece we've had since 2014.  Following are some pictures of the progress, ending with the large turf piece in the trailer.....

Taken around 1:30 pm after we had finished the bulk of the work...all that remained was to clear the 'lido deck' and drag the large turf piece into the trailer, which we did around 6:20 pm.

The Sea-B-Que and its table have been stowed

All the turf is in the trailer!

This all that is left outside the trailer to put inside the trailer Friday morning

The stuff in the foreground (except the Predator) will be moved to the middle of the trailer, and TLE's plants will go at the front of the trailer for easy access, and watering.

The large box on the right is the new 12 volt AC unit we bought back in April and had delivered to LPG&RVR. That will be installed next Spring, so we'll have off grid AC for the summer of 2027.

All the turf pieces are now in the trailer

....we waited to move the large turf piece until almost sundown to avoid direct sunlight...it was a warm day, and by the time 1 pm rolled around we had more than our share of working in the direct sunlight.  The final item put into the trailer was the Rubber Maid outdoor storage chest.

By the time we finished dragging the large turf piece (in front of the Rubber Maid chest) into the trailer, and shut the ramp door we were filthy.  I took the first shower, and TLE and the second. And thus ended or 5th day of taking down site #55.  All that remains is to take down the final two sun shades, put the rest of our stuff into the trailer (much of what is left would normally have been put into storage here at LPG&RVR), disconnect the utilities, then back the Newell up to the trailer, and drop the tongue on the hitch.  

We are really happy we gave ourselves a week to get all this done.  As I write this morning I am well rested, and ready to finish everything today (Friday).  We'll deliver a few 'until next times' Friday evening, and then it will be time to haul anchor Saturday and begin our final trip in the Newell.  We'll take 7-8 days getting to TWW, spending at least 3 days camping at Walker Lake when the rain is forecast.  We'll travel, on average, less that 150 miles on days when we are moving.  This trip south will more than likely be the last trip we take in our 1982 Newell Classic which has served us well since March 1st of 2008.  Our days of endless nomadic wanderings will transition into fulltime off grid living.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Many last things......

 8:25 am - Thursday - October 8th - LPG&RVR -55° F, humidity 20%, cloud cover 0%, wind 5 mph out of the north.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 87° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were in NYC visiting Liberty Island, and the world famous Katz' Delicatessen.....

Look at that lean Pastrami!!

.....after visiting the Statue of Liberty we disembarked the boat at Battery Park, then took the subway up to up to 14th, then walked the final mile to Katz' Delicatessen, made famous by the 'When Harry Met Sally' movie starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.  The hot pastrami on marble rye was, and still is, the best hot pastrami sandwich we have ever eaten.  

Wednesday was filled with many last things....our last trip into Alturas, my last haircut by Sheila at Kaleidescope, our last visit to Holiday Market, and to ACE Hardware.  My haircut appointment was for 9 am, so were on the road by 8:40 am, arriving at Kaleidescope at precisely 9 am.  Within 15 minutes we were exchanging 'until next times' with Sheila who has become a good friend over the five years we have used her services. 

Next up was a visit to ACE Hardware to secure the proper replacement pieces for the shower drain line where we received help from Malachi in finding all the right pieces.  As we were checking out we told him this was our last visit to ACE.  He has been such a great help over the years in avoiding that dreaded return trip to get something we forgot.  You all know what I mean, right?

From there we stopped at Dollar General, then over to Holiday Market for our final shopping foray there.  By 10:30 am we were on our way driving south on US-395 back to Likely for the last time.  When we leave LPG&RVR on Saturday, or Sunday we will head south for the final time over Sage Hen Pass, across the Madeline Plains, and down to the Honey Lake Rest Area for the last time.

Shortly after arriving home I began the installation of the new shower drain line parts.....

.....instead of using glue I used GE clear silicon to seal the parts together. This way, if I need to, I can pretty easily disassemble them, and won't have to buy new ones.

Our main goal Wednesday in site #55 was to fix the shower drain line, and take down the dining canopy. We allowed an hour to take it down, fold it up per the instructions, and put it its bag.  The last time we did this it took us close to an hour to get it folded correctly, but this time it took less than 10 minutes start to finish.....

....I then put away the four tables upon which we kept our emergency food pantry, and many tools.  Once that was done it was well into the afternoon, and it was getting warm.  Time to take a break, which we did!

TLE and I were able to take showers now that the drain line is repaired, which we did around 3:30 pm, then headed up the hill to the residential area to have drinks with Richard and Kathie (Kathie is TLE's counterpart) for the final time.  We hung out with them until well after 6 pm before heading home

The Dodgers, while we were visiting with Rich and Kathie, managed to win their 3rd game of the NLDS to advance to the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers, just as they did last year before winning their second World Series in succession against the Toronto Blue Jays.  Will they 'threepeat'....I don't know, but we will soon find out.  Just 8 more wins for immortality....lol!

Thanks for dropping by!

The rest of the story.....

 7:22 am - Wednesday - October 7th - LPG&RVR - 49° F, humidity 22%, cloud cover 1%, wind 7 mph out of the north by northeast....clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 87° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were walking along 5th Avenue in lower Manhattan (NYC)....

Times Square

Coffee in Grant Park

.....and later had dinner at the top of the World Trade Center.....

....we had a wonderful time during our 3 day stay.

As I wrote in yesterday's offering I spent part of the morning Tuesday clearing the drains for our kitchen sink.  There are two drain lines which enter the gray tank and they are right next to each other.  One is for the Kitchen sink, and the other is for the shower.  I thought the shower drain line was the kitchen drain line.....

The hole on the right is where the shower drain line enters the gray tank, and the drain line on the left is for the kitchen sink, and Splendide

There is the line down from the kitchen sink

....I was mistaken in thinking the drain line on the right was the kitchen drain line.  When I realized my error I began to reattach the shower drain line to the fitting in the picture above.  As I tightened it the nipple threaded into the gray tank snapped like a potato chip.  A piece of the nipple was still in the threaded opening to the gray tank so I had to remove it....

.....you can see the piece of nipple on the lower right side of the drain line.  We're going into town Wednesday (today) for my final haircut of the summer, so we'll stop at ACE Hardware to recreate this piece, and reconnect the shower drain line.

I spent the rest of the day organizing the trailer for departure.....

....I managed to take down all four tables upon which we had the food storage containers (right side of above picture), and all of my tools.  Next up we'll have to move everything to the front in order to get the artificial turf inside, and that will happen Wednesday, or Thursday.  We also took down the large sunshade which was attached to the patio awning, and helped create the 'lido deck'....

.....in keeping with our policy to not try to do too much in one day we called it quits after that.  We'll also take down the dining canopy on Wednesday.

We watched game three of the National League Divisional Series (NLDS) between the Dodgers and the Braves (in Atlanta).  The Dodgers entered the game tied one game apiece, and due to a great pitching performance by Yamamoto, who had 10 K's in 7 innings, we won 3-1.  In the nightcap we watched the Padres  (in San Diego) win 4-3 to win their first game of the series, and now find themselves down 2-1 to the Brewers.  They will need to win the next two games to advance to the National League Championship Series.  And with that day three of our post LPG&RVR saga was complete.

Thanks for stopping by!

The backup plan.....

 7:55 am - Tuesday - October 6th - LPG&RVR - 50° F, humidity 27%, cloud cover 1%, wind 7  mph out of the east......clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 88° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were in Jersey City, NJ.....

......at Liberty Harbor RV & Marina, right across the Hudson River from the World Trade Center, and just a hop skip and a jump from the Statue of Liberty.

Sorry for posting this missive so late Tuesday evening about Monday.  I had started to compose my blog at 7:55 am, but about 5 minutes later TLE advised the both kitchen sink drains were plugged.  I stopped what I was doing to check it out, and 2 hours later finally cleared the drain.  In the process, however, I accidently sheared off the shower drain where it enters the gray water tank....

.....so now we'll have to make a trip to ACE Hardware Wednesday to buy the replacement parts.  Ultimately, we were able to clear the sink drains by using our Shop Vac to blow air through the drains and pushing the blockage into the gray water tank.  If only we had tried that first....lol.  At any rate, that is the reason for my tardiness.  I'll go into more detail about the process we used to clear the drains, and how I broke the drain pipe for the shower, which has its own dedicated drain line completely separate from the kitchen sink drain pipe.

Anyway, back to Monday.  I began to take down the tool tables in the trailer in preparation for our departure between October 10th and 13th.  We're avoiding committing ourselves to a specific day, but just working a little each day to get to that point.  Since we are hauling everything back to TWW that we usually store here each winter, there will be NO room in the trailer for the Beetle.  Theoretically, this should make the organization of the trailer much easier, but we shall see what we shall see.  

I also spent a couple of hours attempting to replace the 7 pin RV plug which connects the trailer to the rear of the Newell.  You will recall that we had issues with the trailer lights on the way north last April, so after getting here, and verifying that the necessary power from the Newell was being transferred to the 7 pin cord I ordered a new cord intending to replace it just before we left in October.  I, rightfully, assumed the problem was with the cord, however, it turned out the problem was not with the 7 pin cord, but with the trailer wiring.  When I opened the junction box where the 7 pin cord connects with the various wires that connect to the brake lights, turn signals, running lights, and hazard lights I discovered that the yellow wire which controls the left turn signal had melted, and shorted out the other wires, as well as itself......

.....the yellow wire in the foreground is not the wire in question, and cannot be seen in this picture.  It became apparent pretty quickly that I do not have time to rewire the trailer right now.  Fortunately, as a backup plan, I purchased Bluetooth tail lights which require no cord.  TLE and I paired the two tail lights, which attach to the rear of the trailer via rare earth magnets, and then tested the turn signals, brake lights and hazards, and they all work as they should.  All we really need to do is get the trailer to TWW, where it will live out its life in a stationary position.  I may, or may not decide to rewire the trailer, but that is unlikely.  After working under the trailer for those two hours I was filthy, so took along, hot shower to wash off the filth.

TLE had me grill hamburgers on the Sea-B-Que to which she added a side of potato salad....she makes the best potato salad!  We watched most of Monday Night Football, before heading for slumberland.

Thank you for your patience, and for stopping by!

The finite......

 7:26 am - Monday - October 5th - LPG&RVR - 56° F, humidity 28%, cloud cover 41%, wind 8 mph out of the north by northwest.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 83° F.  On this date in 2022 TLE and I were in Likely, CA working at LPG&RVR.....

.....when we received a visit from Rich and Marnie Aaron who were our managers back in 2019-2020 when we worked for 9 months at Ramona Oaks RV Resort.  Still, by and far, in the top 5 of managers for whom we have ever worked as Workampers over the last 15 years.  We still see them about once a year all these years later.  Safe travels Marnie and Rich!

When I awoke Sunday morning something felt different.  Then I realized this was not just the beginning of another four day weekend, but actually the beginning of a never ending weekend.  No more dancing to the tune of an employer, but to our own tune for the rest of our lives.  To be fair, the last few employers we've had have been wonderful (Rich and Marnie - Ramona Oaks, Terry and Michele - Seal Rock RV Cove, Bob and Casey - Colorado Outback Adventures, and now for the last 5 years, Dennis and Kellie - LPG&RVR), but now it is time to settle down in one place and focus on living our best lives for the rest of our lives, and who knows how long that will be?  According to this Social Security page TLE and I, being of average to good health for our ages can possibly expect another 10.7 years.....

.....that, of course, is complete speculation, but it is also very finite.  When my father was 44 I don't think he thought his number would come up at age 54, but it did.  When you're young your life feels infinite, but now, not so much, right?  

Anyway, from this point on we will be working for ourselves.  We'll devote a lot of energy, and elbow grease into building out The Wilson Wilderness so that we can be self sustaining by growing our own food year round, running chickens, and expanding our water catchment capabilities, and perhaps even getting a well drilled.  Now that we will be there full time we can begin to think along those lines.

From the beginning of our nomadic lives we knew the day would come when we stopped traveling.  That we have reached that point is very sobering to us.  Our lives have been forever, permanently changed for the better by having lived this nomadic experience.  The many, many friends we have made along the way have enriched our lives beyond measure.  Sure, we've visited some amazing places in the lower 48 over the last 15 years, but it has really been the people we have met along the way that have added so much meaning to our lives.  Our home will continue to be on wheels, and I know that there will be a few trips taken, but the years of endless travel are coming to an end, and it is time to settle down.  Over the next few years we will determine what that stationary life will look like, and how it will evolve.

Now, back to the present......Sunday was a total laid back day.  I did nothing that remotely looked like work, except to retrieve my golf clubs from my locker at the Clubhouse late morning.  Otherwise I watched NFL football on the 'lido deck', took naps, and read a little.  Monday the real work taking down site #55 for the final time will begin, and that will begin shortly after I finish today's blogosphere offering.

Even though we will not be traveling hither and yon in our Newell a lot in the future, the blog will continue unabated.  It has become part of my lifestyle, and I still look forward each day to writing it.  Perhaps, there may even be some YouTube videos released on a regular basis about our experiences going forward in building a sustainable off grid property at TWW.  Okay, time to get busy deconstructing our site.

Thanks for stopping by!

The end.....

 8:09 am - Sunday - October 4th - LPG&RVR - 56° F, humidity 20%, cloud cover 62%, wind 6 mph out of the south....mostly cloudy today with a forecast high of 87° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were near Coupeville, WA.....

....staying on the property of Bob and Karen F....long time college friends.  We had been there a year before, and found out that their John Deere loader/backhoe had quit running a few months earlier.  I promised him then (2020) that we would return and help him get it running again.  It took about 5 days to figure out why it wouldn't run (a shorted wire to the fuel shut off solenoid), but we did get it running, and operating again.

Well, I owe you posts about Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  These days were the final four days of our season here at Likely Place Golf & RV Resort, and there is a certain sameness about workdays, so I will recap each day in this single post.

Wednesday, September 30th - 

We decided ahead of time that we would not be getting up at 5:30 am for any of the final 4 work days.  Instead, we decided to sleep in until 6, or 6:15 am. People were not going out to golf until after 9 am, and sometimes not until 10 am as it is just too cold until then.  I chose not the write the blog those four days as it takes me about 45 minutes, and I didn't want to rush around to get ready after writing the blog.  We were on our way over to the Clubhouse by 7:45 am each day instead of the usual 7:20 am....that extra 25 minutes was nice.

We ultimately rented 11, or 12 carts Wednesday.  Instead of being off work by 3:20 pm, I was off work at 3:45 pm.  It was a routine day, but there was no mowing, no trimming, just staging carts, and doing busy work most of the day.  I did spend time in the trees on each side of the driving range clearing those balls as has been my habit the last month, or so.  While I was walking around shagging those balls the thought came to me that this was to be our last season here at LPG&RVR.  

TLE and I had been discussing a 6th summer, and going back and forth most of the summer, but this moment of clarity settled it for me.  After finishing clearing the woods of range balls I headed back to the Clubhouse to tell TLE what I was thinking.  Pretty much, without any hesitation, she agreed that is was time to end our tenure, and refocus our efforts to finish the work at The Wilson Wilderness, and live out the rest of our days there.

I took a ride around the course one more time to take some final pictures just before TLE's daily lunch break.....

....I will miss this view!

Thursday, October 1st - 

Again, we rented 10-12 carts over the course of the day, and around 10:30 am I headed out to the driving range to clear it for the final time this year.  As I walked around shagging the balls off the driving range I began to come to terms with our decision, and felt better and better about our decision to give our notice that we would not be returning for a sixth summer season.  All that remained was to inform Dennis and Kellie Tate of our decision, and that was the hard part.  They were not around most the day, so I decided that Friday would be the day to give our notice.

Once again, I was off work by 3:45 pm, returning around 4:50 pm to get the availability from TLE, and any envelopes for late arrivals (after 5 pm) to post down at the Night Office, plus flip the sign.  By the time I returned TLE was outside waiting for her ride home.

Friday, October 2nd - 

We were at work by 7:45 am once again.  Around 8:30 am Dennis arrived at the Clubhouse, so I walked over to give him the news of our decision.  It has been a privilege to work for Dennis and Kellie these past 5 summers.  They have both been so gracious, supportive and appreciative during the past five summers that I really hated to disappoint them.  They, of course, knew about 40 acre off grid property at which we've been working the past two winters, so didn't seem too surprised at our decision.  I then headed over to Claude's Wanderlodge to give him the news.  As you may recall he visited us here the second and third summer we were here, and loved where we lived, so much so, that he applied for a job here beginning with our 4th summer here.

We rented 15, or 16 carts Friday, and I stayed pretty busy all day long.  TLE got a call from one of our customers that their Yamaha cart had died at the 12th tee boxes, so I picked up another Yamaha and headed out to trade carts with them so they could finish their round, hoping I could get it running, but I was not successful, so I called Claude to come out and tow me back to the Clubhouse.  He was there in less than 15 minutes, and we were back at the Clubhouse 10 minutes later.  As it turns out the no maintenance battery had given up the ghost.

Friday was also the 60th birthday of good friend Duke Golden.  I met Duke our first summer here.  I was driving down the row of back in sites one day and saw him setting up his Starlink for the first time.  Since I had been thinking about getting Starlink I stopped to talk with him.  We had an immediate connection, began our friendship, and over the course of the next two summers golfed a few times with he and his wife Cindy.  I will miss seeing them every day each summer.  Anyway, they hosted his birthday party at the Clubhouse restaurant Friday night, and what a turnout there was!  Since we had an early workday (out last) Saturday we bid our adieus around 7:30 pm, and headed for home.

Saturday - October 3rd - My 77th birthday - 

In order to be sure that I would be able to wash and stow as many golf carts as I could Saturday, our last day, I worked a normal 8 to 5 day.  I gave TLE a one hour lunch break, then took mine around 1:30 pm, returning to the Clubhouse around 2:30 pm to begin washing as many of the 24 golf carts we had rented.  By 5 pm I had washed and stowed all but 11 of them, so Steve will have those carts to wash and stow on Sunday, the final day of the season.

Joel and Donna Nagy, also good friends, hosted an end of he season party at their site beginning at 5:30 pm.  I didn't arrive until after 6 pm as I needed to take a shower and a nap.  The 89° F heat Saturday really took it out of me.  As I arrived I was greeted with birthday greetings, and a birthday Bloody Mary from Joel and Donna.....I love Bloody Marys!  By the time I arrived most people knew we not returning next summer, so I spent time talking with the many friends we have made here over the years.  It was the perfect ending for our 5th summer season, but also very bitter sweet.  Pretty soon it was just Joel, Donna, TLE and I who remained, hugging, and saying our 'until next times'.  It never gets any easier to say 'until next time', and this particular time was the most difficult yet.

We are so blessed to have been welcomed into this wonderful seasonal community for the past 5 summers.  We never expected to be here more than a year, but felt compelled to return to Likely Place Golf and RV year after year until we had completed five summers.  When we depart in about a week we will leave pieces of our hearts here, and head south to The Wilson Wilderness different people for the experience, and the wonderful friendships which were forged.  The memories of our time here, and the people who befriended us will remain in our hearts forever.

The years we have left here on earth are getting more finite by the year, and now we begin a new phase of our life, and perhaps the final phase, living full time at TWW.  Thank you to everyone here that made our lives so much richer, and meaningful.....Duke and Cindy, Joel and Donna, Bob, Rich and Patrice, DeWayne, Glenn, Demitrius and Mary, Ron and Karen, Sunny and Art, Rich and Kathy (Jameson), Rich and Laurie, Greg and Terri, Mike and Debbie, Mike and Lynn, Pat, Jose, Dennis and Kellie, Buzz and Karla, John and Wendy, Rich and Kathie (Smith), Romero, and the many customers who also became good friends.....the list goes on and on, and I hope I have not left anyone out.  

Thank you for your patience in waiting for this installment.  From this point forward it will be regularly scheduled programming.  Thank you so much for stopping by!

A little delay.....

 6:25 am - Friday - October 2nd - LPG&RVR - 47° F, humidity 25%, cloud cover 44%, wind 8 mph out of the west by southwest......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were in Port Townsend, WA....

.....at Port Townsend Hudson Point Marina....right on the shores of Puget Sound.

You have probably noticed I did not submit a post about Wednesday on Thursday.  I'm going to wait to post about our final for days on Sunday.

Thank you for your patience, and for stopping by!