Higher than high.....

 5:54 am - Friday - June 19th - LPG&RVR - 63° F, humidity 52%, cloud cover 79%, wind 9 mph out of the west by northwest.....cloudy skies this morning with a forecast high of 77° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were taking our first tour of Yellowstone National Park.....

....here we are near the Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance to YNP.

Our first day of our four day work 'week' was hot, hot, hot!  The forecast high was 91° F, but it got closer to 96° F.  I'm barely getting used to temps in the high 80's on work days, and I was not ready for 96° F physically, or mentally.  There weren't many folks signed up for golf Thursday, and ultimately we rented 13 carts.  After staging the first 10 I headed out to the driving range to clear it of range balls.....Monday's and Thursday's we mow the driving range.  Usually I don't clear it that early (9:30 am), but it was going to be hot, and I wanted to be done well before lunch time.  In all I garnered about 2.5 gallons of balls, which is not much, but I was able to clear the range in about 45 minutes....nice!

After that I had planned to mow the employee sites, and I eventually did, but Claude needed help repairing his Husqvarna string trimmer.  Three of the screws which attach a plastic guard to the bottom of the motor had stripped out the holes in the aluminum casting so they needed to be re-tapped.  I have both metric and SAE tap and die kits.  The screws being used are metric, but the holes into which they are inserted were virtually threadless, so we needed to use a larger tap to rethread the holes, meaning we needed slightly larger screws.  We found some suitable screws (SAE) matched them to the proper tap (12/24's), then rethreaded the holes.  The new, larger diameter SAE screws worked perfectly.  We used a little Loctite on the screws to keep them from vibrating loose again.  In all it took about 35 minutes to effect the repair, but we were successful.

Claude was going to trim around the employee sites so I could mow, but since his trimmer was out of use for a few hours to allow the Loctite to dry sufficiently, I used another trimmer to get the job done finishing just a few minutes before TLE's lunch break.  Right now she is beginning her lunch break at 11:30 am each day, and returning at 1 pm....that give me 2.5 hours to get everything done in the afternoon which needs doing.  First up was to mow the employee sites, which I finished in about 30 minutes, then it was time to begin washing/stowing the 13 carts we had rented.  There were 8 to begin with, and as I continued washing and stowing the rest arrived.

I was moving pretty slowly due to the heat, and taking frequent water breaks to get out of the sun.  By the time I finished stowing the final cart I was beat, and it was 3:30 pm, so I headed for home to take a coolish shower before retiring to my recliner for a nap before returning to the Clubhouse at 5 pm to pickup TLE.  As I write this morning I am still feeling the effects of the heat on Thursday, bur delighting in the fact that today the temp will only be 77° F.

Thanks for stopping by!

Typical....

 5:56 am - Thursday - June 18th - LPG&RVR - 54° F, humidity 27%, cloud cover 48%, wind 9 mph out of the west by southwest.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 92° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were in Yellowstone National Park.....

Standing by the 45th Parallel sign on the Gardiner River

Same location three years earlier - 2017

....standing by the 45th Parallel sign along the Gardiner River near the North Entrance....cold, and rainy in 2020, and hot, hot, hot in 2017.

Once again we slept until after 7 am.  It was to be another low 90's day, and there was no reason to begin the day any earlier.  It was also another day in which I did not leave our site (#55) all day long.  TLE did twice, but not moi.  We began the day watching FIFA World Cup soccer, and ended the day watching FIFA World Cup soccer.....aka: Football in the rest of the world.  There was only one draw (tie) out of the four matches, with all the other matches having winners.

On the international front the war with Iran has come to a conclusion, and the price of oil is falling like a brick down from $110/barrel in late May to $75/barrel on Wednesday, so fuel prices for our trip back south in October should be back in the normal range by that time.  It cost us over $800 in diesel to make the trip back to Likely in late April, but should only cost us in the neighborhood of $400 in October for the trip south.

Other than that it was a typical day four of our four day weekend.  One notable thing is in spite of the warm weather the mosquitoes are not too bad.  I think I got one mosquito bite in the last four days sitting on the 'lido deck' watching World Cup soccer.  No doubt they will get worse in the next two weeks as we head into the 4th of July weekend.  Time to get ready for the first of four days of work....thanks for stopping by!

The Rubio's itch.....

 7:46 am - Wednesday - June 17th - LPG&RVR - 67° F, humidity 19%, cloud cover 9%, wind 10 mph out of the north by northwest.....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 92° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were dry camped at La Duke Springs Campground on the banks of the Yellowstone River....

The Yellowstone River is in the background

.....and frolicking in Yellowstone Hot Springs.  The hot springs were a 2 minute walk from the campground.  You can see Claude's Wanderlodge to the right of our Newell.

For the 3rd consecutive day we slept until after 7 am....just because we can.  Tuesday promised to be the hottest day of the week if the forecast high of 95° F was realized.  We left for our weekly shopping run around 10:15 am arriving in Alturas around 10:45 am at the ACE Hardware to buy a couple of things, then over to Dollar General to buy a few more things, and finally Holiday Market to do the main shopping.  I'm not sure if I mentioned it previously, but Holiday Market is an employee owned chain of grocery stores numbering around 21 as I write.  Their area of operation is Northern California.  There are three grocery stores in Alturas (four if you count Dollar General, but I don't), but we prefer to do the bulk of our grocery shopping at Holiday Market as they have the largest selection, and are always well stocked.

On our way out of town we stopped at Rubio's Taqueria, the go to place for street tacos in Alturas.  Their street tacos, in our never to be humble opinion, are in the top two or three we have had anywhere in the lower 48 contiguous states.  TLE ordered two of their pollo street tacos (chicken), and I three of their carne asada street tacos with rice and beans.  Once we had secured our orders we headed over to the city park next to eat them at one of the shaded picnic tables.....

Do we look like were are in the middle of our 77th trip 

around the sun?  I think not!

....it is truly the simple things in life which make life good.....a shaded picnic table, Rubio's street tacos, and The Lovely Elaine at your side.  As we sat there savoring every single bite we talked about this and that as we always do, occasionally commenting on how perfectly seasoned those street tacos are, and how fresh everything tasted....nothing out of bottles, or cans except for  the Dr. Pepper and bottle of water....lol.

Around 11:30 am, with our Rubio's street taco itch suitably scratched, we headed back to LPG&RVR to stow our purchases and spend the balance of the day watching World Cup matches, all of which were very entertaining.  France, Norway, Austria and Argentina won their matches handily.  Messi (Argentina - the defending World Cup champions) had a hat trick in the match with Algeria, which were all the goals Argentina scored on this day, so Argentina is off to a good start defending their championship.  The final match between Austria and Jordan ended around 11 pm, and we were heading to slumberland shortely thereafter.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shortest passing lane.....

 7:50 am - Tuesday - June 16th - LPG&RVR - 66° F, humidity 19%, cloud cover 11%, wind 12 mph out of the northwest....partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 95° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I returned to Gardiner, MT to visit with Kristen Dodge with whom we worked at the Mammoth Hot Springs General Store back in 2017.....

....she was working at the 'Two Bit Saloon' in Gardiner.  We had a great reunion which included a couple of brews, and a Ruben sandwich.

Between Likely, CA and Alturas, CA there is what I believe is the shortest passing lane in the USA.  This is not hyperbole.  It is so short that as soon as you can enter the passing lane there is a sign right there saying 'DO NOT PASS'.  All of the signs announcing the passing lane to the 'DO NOT PASS' sign are within 100' of each other....here is the sequence.....

In this photo you can see the series of four signs....you can see where the passing lane begins ahead on the left side of the picture 

.....I'm not sure why this passing lane is even here. By the time it is legal to enter the passing lane you see the 'RIGHT LANE ENDS' sign, and a few feet further the 'DO NOT PASS' sign.  This passing lane is located about 2 miles north of Likely, CA on the southbound side of US-395.  I thought when they repaved this section of highway last summer they would eliminate this passing lane, but they did not....lol.

Once again, on day two of our four day weekend, I did not leave out site.  TLE and I watched four more FIFA World Cup matches.  All of them were ties (0-0, 1-1, 1-1 and 2-2).  The 0-0 match was between the SMALLEST country in the World Cup, Cape Verde (never heard of it---population is 530,000), and Spain, the team favored to win the 2026 World Cup.  Spain could have scored 5 goals in the first half, but the Cape Verde goalie repelled every shot on goal.  Because of the 'David verses Goliath' feel to the match it was one of the best matches we have ever seen.  Spain controlled the ball 76% of the time, basically playing the entire game inside Cape Verde's third of the field, and yet this tiny country somehow earned a point (each team in a draw gets one point).  Most of the matches in this World Cup have been competitive with only two, or three being one sided affairs.

I was able to remain outside on the 'lido deck' until almost 2 pm when the temp hit 88° F on its way to a high of 91° F.  We'll probably head into town on Tuesday for our weekly shopping foray, but for now just hanging out at our site is perfect.  Today, Tuesday, we will see the highest high of the week....95° F, and then by Friday we'll be under 80° F again.

Thanks for stopping by!

'Lido deck' time.....

 7:58 am - Monday - June 15th - LPG&RVR - 69° F, humidity 16%, cloud cover 7%, wind 10 mph out of the north by northwest......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 93° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I arrived at the RV park in Gardner, MT where we would spend the summer living....

....while working at the General Store in Mammoth Hot Springs, WY.  It was about a 15 minute drive to work.  The park is right on the Yellowstone River, which you can see in the right background.

When the weather allows I pretty much spend the first day of our four day weekend ensconced in my anti gravity chair on the 'lido deck', and Sunday was no different.....

.....there were 4 televised FIFA World Cup matches on Sunday, and we watched them all.  I watched them all mostly on the 'lido deck'.  Of course, there were 2, or 3 nice naps thrown in for good measure.  As is also often the case TLE and I slept in until well after 7 am.  I do not believe I left our site the entire day, or even interacted with anyone from the park.  After four days of almost non-stop social interaction on the job I need at least a day to decompress, and clear my head.

We're finally in the part of the summer when we no longer need to turn on heaters first thing in the morning to make the Newell interior hospitable.  In fact, we leave all the windows open all night.  The only time they get closed now is when we turn on the A/C.  The high temp Sunday was 91° F, and the next three days will get progressively hotter until Friday when it drops back into the low 80's for a few days.

Around 5 pm TLE had me light the Sea-B-Que so I could grill another steak.  While the steak was grilling I rolled out our new, red perimeter rope lights.  We've been using bright white rope lights for the past several years, and they are really bright at night, which is their purpose.  They keep the rodents at bay, and literally out of the various basement bays we have.  That being said, they are really too bright for our neighbors so I am experimenting with rope lights of the red variety to see if that mutes the brightness somewhat.  We ate our dinner in the airconditioned confines of the Newell as it was too hot at 5:30 pm to be outdoors.

Around 9 pm I went outside to see how the new red rope lights looked....

.....in the first picture you can see the contrast between the new red rope lights and the bright white section that runs under the VW to keep out pack rats.  In m opinion, the red lights are less glaring, and the light does not carry as far as the bright white lights, but should provide the same rodent repelling qualities as the brighter lights....we'll see.  All in all, the first day of our four day weekend was pretty much perfect.

Thanks for stopping by!

Le Tournament....

 8:06 am - Sunday - June 14th - LPG&RVR - 66° F, humidity 17%, cloud cover ZERO %, wind 10 mph out of the north by northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 91° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I awoke in West Yellowstone to our first sunrise....

....we would spend the morning in an orientation meeting for our jobs working for Delaware North at the General Store in Mammoth Hot Springs (near the north entrance to Yellowstone NP).

Saturday was the day of the annual Likely Fire Department Tournament here at LPG&RVR.  We were expecting close to 90 golfers, and expected to come close to renting every cart in the cart shack.  You will recall that I spent time Friday afternoon staging every cart in the cart shack for the tournament, and I am glad I did.  Trying to do that Saturday morning would have been a nightmare.  All I had to do first thing Saturday was wash the four carts which had not yet returned Friday afternoon, and then stage them.  Soon it was time for the participants to head to their assigned beginning holes.....

.....we ended up renting 31 of the 33 newer golf carts.  Once the golfers had left the staging area it became a ghost town.  Claude and I split marshalling duties with Claude taking the front 9, and moi the back 9.  I made two rounds of the back 9 before it was time to give TLE her lunch break, but before I could do that I needed to mow the grass around the large gazebo which had just become vacant.  We had another group arriving early afternoon, so I could not wait until after TLE's lunch break.  It only takes about 10 minutes to mow the grass at the large gazebo, so I was only 10 minutes late for her break.

After lunch I turned on the sprinklers at the large gazebo to water the grass before the new group arrived, and also ran the sprinklers at the large grass area next to site #30.  It was around 1:30 pm when I returned to the Clubhouse, and get ready for the mass influx of returning golf carts.  Typically I receive returning carts in rows of three wide to avoid them backing into the parking lot, but that is when they returned piecemeal over a few hours.  On this day I had them parked 4 wide.  Very quickly there were 5 rows, so Claude and I began to wash and stow them.  We got the first 20 done pretty quickly, and then the second onslaught arrived.  We were able to wash and stow 31 golf carts in a little over an hour....not too bad!

By the time I put things away it was almost 3:30 pm, and time to head for home.  I didn't participate in the putting contest for the first time this summer as it began at 3 pm (one hour earlier than normal), and besides that I was tired, and ready for a long, hot shower.  TLE decided to walk home arriving around 5:20 pm, and thus began our four day weekend.  The day could not have gone more perfectly.  Claude and I make a good team.  Without him it would have taken me closer to 3 hours to get everything done....thank you Claude!

Thanks for stopping by!

A new record.....

 6:18 am - Saturday - June 13th - LPG&RVR - 54° F, humidity 24%, cloud cover ZERO %, wind 10 mph out of the north....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 89° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were in Southwest Harbor, ME.....

....having dinner at Cafe Drydock.

I don't recall a Friday anytime in the prior 4 summers where we emptied the cart shack before 10 am....in fact I don't remember any day of the week the last four summers where that has happened, but that is exactly what happened Friday.....

.....that one cart way in the background hasn't moved since April, but within minutes of this picture being taken it was moved out to be washed so it could be rented....that is 35 carts rented before 10 am.

I often refer to our older Club Car gassers as either round noses, or square noses to differentiate between them.  The square noses are our oldest carts which were bought new back in the late 90's.  The round nose Club Car gassers were bought a couple of years later....

Square nose Club Car gasser

Round nose Club Car gasser

.....now you will know to what I refer with those terms.

As I do most days, I staged an initial 10 carts, then kept adding them as needed.  In between staging carts I began washing those six 5 gallon buckets of range balls so I could refill the large trash can in the Clubhouse in advance of the tournament on Saturday.  There will be close to 80 golfers wanting to hit range balls before the tournament begins at 9 am.

As I wrote above, we had emptied the cart shack before 10 am, so I began to pull out the square nose Club Cars...

....which I park between the kayak trailer, and the fuel station.  Ultimately we rented all but 4 of the square nose Club Car gassers, so we came close to 'selling out'.  After giving TLE her lunch break I took a rare hour lunch break as I wanted to be on hand to wash all the carts before our 5 pm closing time.  The carts began to return during TLE's lunch break, so once I returned at 2 pm from my lunch break I began to wash them, and then stage them for the golf tournament on Saturday morning.  No point in putting them all away just to have to pull them out and stage them  again.  

I finished washing and staging the final carts which returned before 5 pm (there were still 4 on the course at 5 pm) and headed for home.  TLE was going to be a little later than normal in closing the office, and suggested I go home, and she would walk home when she was done.  She was home around 5:40 pm.

The first games of the FIFA World Cup were played Friday, and the USA played Paraguay in L.A.  I haven't really following US soccer for quite a while, and had no idea what to expect, but the US team won their first match handily 4-1.  They've never scored more than 2 goals in any FIFA World Cup match ever, so that is a good sign, but we'll see if that scoring prowess continues.

Thanks for stopping by!