The real hazard.......

 5:50 am - Thursday - July 30th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 32%, cloud cover 3%, wind 14 mph out of the west by southwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 94° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE were in Long Beach, WA....

.....following the US-1 through the Olympic Peninsula.  The town claims to have the longest beach in the world, hence the sign, but I think the longest one is in Southeast Asia somewhere.

So far this summer I've only gone to work not wearing a sweatshirt once, or twice.  I thought Wednesday would be another of those days, but it wasn't warm enough.  I'm sure another of those mornings is coming as the temps climb slowly into the mid and high 90's.  So far there are no forecast daily highs in the 100's. I think the highest temp forecast for the next 10 days is around 97, or 98° F.  There's something about the temp being less than triple digits that is comforting.  I'm sure it is purely psychological.

Upon arriving at the Clubhouse Wednesday morning I still had those 5 carts leftover from Tuesday to wash/stow, but first I staged 5 Yamaha gassers thinking it would be enough for the entire day, and I was right.  We rented just 4 carts Wednesday.  Including members, who had their own carts, there were just 8 folks on the course Wednesday.  Certainly it was the slowest day since early May.

Once the 5 carts were washed, and stowed I made a round of the course to check the four sand traps finding no evidence of human habitation.  The last time they were raked was Sunday.  I've mentioned this before, but I will again.  The sand traps do not really come into play on our course.  The main hazards on our course are the very narrow fairways, and the mostly 'small', tabletop greens.  There is one real water hazard on the #3, par 3 hole where you hit over a pond, and there are several creek crossings (5 in all), but that's it.  Hitting the ball straight is paramount.

Upon returning to the Clubhouse I set four, or five sprinklers to water some dry areas, then did some string trimming around the 'Caddy Shack', then washed the six older, square nosed Club Cars so they can be rented over the next few days to get some 'run time'.  They've been sitting mostly unused for several weeks. 

Then it was time for TLE's lunch break.   Once I hit 12 pm I've only got 2 hours of work left outdoors in the heat.  The 90 minutes I spend in the office while TLE is lunching gives me a chance to recover from the heat before I make the final push from 1:30 to 3:30 pm.  By the time 3:30 pm came around 3 of the four Yamahas we rented had returned so I washed them, and then spent the rest of my shift watering, and moving sprinklers.  Thursday it will get to 94° F, but I'm ready for it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Acclimation.....

 5:54 am - Wednesday - July 29th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 28%, cloud cover 1%, wind 15 mph out of the west by northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 92° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were near Raymond, WA.....

With fog....

....and without fog

.....out on the Olympic Peninsula residing at a RV park on the banks of the Willapa River....early morning fog is beginning to lift.

Ahhh, back to work.  Upon arrival at the 'Cart Return' area I found just one cart needing attention....all the others were already stowed.  There were only 5 people signed up for carts in the daily tee sheet, so I staged the five Club Car electrics, then washed the aforementioned cart, and stowed it.  Knowing it was going to be a slowish day, at least that's the way it seemed, I spent time making sure all of 'sanding bottles' on the carts were full.  The sand, mixed with grass seed, is used to fill in divots in the tee boxes, and fairways.  People must be using them because many were empty and needed to be refilled.

By the time I had finished with the sanding bottles all 5 Club Cars had been rented, so I next staged the six EZ-GO carts, and then headed down the hill to our large gravel pile to fill a couple of buckets with gravel to fill in some thin spots in the gravel around the area where I wash the carts.  In all I hauled 8 buckets to the 'Cart Return' area on Tuesday.  There are still more thin areas, and I'll get to them over the next few days.

The time was 11 am when I finished spreading the new gravel, and time to head out to the golf course to mow around those tee boxes for which I am responsible.  It took me just about 55 minutes to get them mowed, and return to the Clubhouse to give TLE her lunch break.  It was a typical Tuesday after the 4th of July weekend, meaning I answered just a couple of phone calls, and sent out a couple of golfers for 9 holes.  Other than that it was very quiet.

By 1:30 pm there were 5 carts ready for their daily spa treatment, and as I washed and stowed those more returned.  Ultimately we rented 14 carts Wednesday, and by 3:30 pm 9 of them had returned leaving 5 to take care of Wednesday morning.  I find I am getting increasingly acclimated to the daily 90° + temp days, and not quite as waisted when 3:30 pm rolls around. It is a good thing, because the next time temps dip below 90° F will not be until August 9th, or 10th. TLE was home by 5:10 pm, and thus another day here at LPG&RVR has slipped into the past tense.

Thanks for stopping by!

Eight days a 'week'......

 5:49 am - Tuesday - July 28th - LPG&RVR - 50° F, humidity 27%, cloud cover 0%, wind 11 mph out of the north by northwest....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 91° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were hiking to 2 Medicine Lake, and Aster Falls.....

Aster Falls

2 Medicine Lake

.....in Glacier National Park, Montana.

It comes around once every 8 days.....the final day of our four day weekend, and then we begin another 8 day cycle, or 'week', if you will.  The work days are pretty much the same (stage carts, wash carts, stow carts, water, mow, wash, rinse repeat), they just occur on different days each week.  The days off are pretty much the same (shop one day, work on a simple project each day, nap, relax on the 'lido deck', wash, rinse, repeat).  It might seem boring to many, but there is this kind of gracious rhythm to which we dance each 8 day cycle, or week.  Our current 8 day cycle will take us to August 4th leaving less than 8 weeks in our 5th season here at LPG&RVR. Time marches relentlessly forward, and there is not one thing we can do about it, except enjoy the ride.

As you will recall, our East Oak dining canopy succumbed to a micro burst wind event about 10 days ago, and we actually received the new one (same brand) early in our previous 8 day cycle.  We avoided unpacking, and setting up the new one as we had pretty strong breezes the firsts three days of our four day weekend, but Monday proved to be the perfect day with almost no wind.  We were not afraid of the new one being damaged, but did not want to fight with it in breezy conditions.  Once I had finished my latest missive TLE and I went outside to do the deed.....

.....the new East Oak dining canopy has some new features which we like.  The previous iteration of this model had only one attachment point for the lines which attach it to a stake in the ground, whereas the new ones have two......

.....additionally, the new version has a loop at the bottom of each of the six corners through which to drive another stake into the ground further securing the structure to the ground....

....which we believe will keep it from moving around in strong winds causing damage to the fabric.  In all it took us around an hour beginning to end to install the new East Oak dining canopy.

Once that was done it was time to spend some quality time on the 'lido deck' enjoying the balmy breezes on a day where the forecast high would be 90° F.  In spite of that forecast I was able to comfortably lounge on the 'lido deck' until after 3:30 pm before I headed indoors to the cool, air conditioned interior of the Newell.  I listened to music, smoked a cigar, read, and napped for about 5 hours.

Well, it is Tuesday morning, and time to get ready for another 8 day week, and four days of work. As I finish today's entry I can see the sun's rays peaking over the eastern horizon with NO clouds in sight.

Thanks for stopping by!

Reflections on our nomadic life......

 7:41 am - Monday - July 27th - LPG&RVR - 62° F, humidity 18%, cloud cover 10%, wind 14 mph out of the west.....mostly clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.....

TLE standing by the Hoh River

Moi, standing in front of a 200' tall Sitka Spruce in the Hoh Rain Forest

.....and were visiting the Hoh Rain Forest.  We had been on the road for just a tad over 5 months at the time.  Following the path of US-1 through the Olympic Peninsula was one of our 'bucket list items'.  We've now done it 3, or 4 times; never gets old.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how our nomadic life has changed over the 14 years since we took on that moniker in 2011.  Our first couple of years on the road we acted like we were on a perpetual vacation crisscrossing the USA 4 times, rarely staying anywhere for more than a week.  Other than our 5 week sojourn in Cedar Key from late December of 2012 to early February of 2013, that was our pattern.  We rarely remained in one place to really get to know the area, or the people.  By the time we spent three weeks traveling through Alberta, Canada in July of 2013, and re-entered the USA we were ready to spend more time in one area, so we spent the next month exploring Glacier National Park, and the surrounding areas.  

When we had spent those five weeks in Cedar Key, FL we got a taste of the sometimes stationary nomadic life.  We met many people in Cedar Key, two of which were Devi and Bill Kasson.  They were originally from Lake Tahoe before they began their nomadic journey, so being life long fans of Lake Tahoe we had a lot in common with them.  Over those 5 weeks we spent a lot of time with them, and learned of a summer long camp host opportunity at Tahoe Valley Campground.  Spending an entire summer at Lake Tahoe seemed like an unattainable dream.  When ever my family would visit Lake Tahoe for two weeks each summer back in the 50's I would never want to leave.  

Through Devi and Bill we were introduced to the manager of Tahoe Valley Campground, and by May of 2014 we had secured summer positions there.  Our first summer we lived there, working, from May to Labor Day, and the same in the summer of 2015.....

Left to right: Moi, TLE, Devi and Bill

......each fall (2014 and 2015) we spent two months being docents at the Cape Blanco Lighthouse just north of Port Orford, OR.  We found out about this volunteer position through Chris and Cherie Dunphy, whom we also met at Cedar Key, FL.....

Chris and Cherie Dunphy

.....we spent four summers at Tahoe Valley Campground, our longest stay being 2016 when we arrived in late April, and did not leave until November 1st.

After four summers at Lake Tahoe we decided we needed to get back to exploring new places, so our next summer job was in Yellowstone National Park, then a winter at the Grand Canyon, followed up by a summer working near Bar Harbor, Maine.   Being able to spend months in a place gives you the opportunity to get to know people, and experience that place on a whole different level.   Following our travels to and from Maine we spent 9 months working at Ramona Oaks RV Resort where we met, and became good friends with Rich and Marnie Aaron.....

Left to right: Moi, Rich, Marnie and TLE

.....we've met up with them several times since then, including one of our favorite boondocking places, Borrego Springs, Keystone, SD, Glamis North Hot Springs, and Yuma, AZ a couple of times.

Many of the people we met over the years have had an influence on our nomadic lives, and we will always be forever grateful to them for their friendship and influence upon our nomadic lives.  In late 2021 we began discussing slowing down, and slipping into sort of a 'north/south' arrangement where we would spent summers in the northern regions of California, and the winters in Arizona.  We found, through Workamper.com , a summer job working at Likely Place Golf and RV Resort (Likely, CA is about one hour south of the Oregon border) in late 2021, and began our first summer working there in 2022.  We are now in our 5th summer there working 5-6 months each Spring/Summer.  We now have roots in this cattle country community, and have made lasting friendships.  We cannot imagine being anywhere else each summer.

In February of 2024, when we were working our second winter running the side by side rental operation for Colorado Outback,  Charles and Phyllis acquired a piece of property near Seligman, AZ, and by October of that year we began to spend our winters there, and The Wilson Wilderness then became the permanent 'south' part of the 'north/south' pattern we have adopted.  We are slowly incorporating ourselves into that rural community, and love the time we spend there each winter.....

....over the past 15 years our lives have been immeasurably changed forever.  How we view the world has changed, and what we hold as valuable has changed significantly.  We find our selves somewhere in the 'shoulder season' of our lives caught somewhere between Fall and Winter as we edge toward the end of our 77th trip around the sun.  We have slowed down our pace considerably.  We love returning to familiar places each Winter and Fall.  We are learning to live 'off grid', and immersing ourselves in rural America.  We are still able to change our view without going through escrow, but do not do it as often as we have in the past.  We have now lived in our 1982 Newell Classic for 15 years, and cannot imagine living in a sticks and bricks home again, but I'm sure that time is somewhere just on the other side of the 'shoulder season' in which we now find ourselves.  I haven't taken the time to get philosophical lately, so today, Monday, July 27th seemed like a good time do do that.  Thank you for indulging me!

Oh, and by the way, the 21st Stage of the 2025 Le Tour de France concluded on Sunday.....

The podium winners left to right: Remco Evenepoel - 2nd place, Tadej Pogacar - first place, and Isaac del Toro - 3rd place

.....two of the three podium finishers were from the UAE team (Tadej and Isaac).  It was an amazing Tour de France with twists and turns that no one could have ever seen coming.

Thanks for stopping by!

Out with the damaged, and in with the new.....

 8:05 am - Sunday - July 26th - LPG&RVR - 68° F, humidity 17%, cloud cover 0%, wind 15 mph out of the west by southwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were in Yellowstone National Park.....

TLE at the entrance to the trail

One of the beaver ponds

.....hiking the Beaver Ponds Trail near Mammoth Hot Springs.  We hiked a lot that summer on our days off work, and ended up doing over 100 miles.

To begin day two of our 4 day weekend TLE and I took down our dining canopy.  Why?  Well we had a micro burst wind come through the RV park which ripped an awning off a class A motorhome, and destroyed a couple of dining canopies, ours being one of them.  Up until that point, over two summers, the domed dining canopy had handled the occasional winds we get here at LPG&RVR, but not this one.  So, we dismantled the damaged dining canopy to clear the way for the new one we received via FedEx a few days ago......

.....by the time we had folded up the damaged dining canopy and tossed it into the dumpster it was getting warm, and I really intended to head indoors, but remembered that TLE had mentioned she saw a broken sprinkler on our lawn, so I went to inspect that.  I'm not sure how it got broken, but there it was laying on the grass.  I headed over to the 'Caddy Shack' where we have a supply of new, unused sprinklers to pick out new one to replace the broken one and had it installed within 25 minutes.....

New sprinkler installed

....and then I headed indoors for the balance of the day.  

During the day we watched the entirety of Stage 20 of Le Tour de France which set the 'stage' for the 21st and final Stage of this year's tour.  

Of course, there is always the weekly putting contest held at 4 pm each Saturday.  TLE and I headed over just before 4 pm....

.....to set up our chairs, and get ready.  Saturday was not my day, in fact, it was far, far from my best day.  I lost my first match, but due to the scarcity of putters this weekend, we had double elimination, so I got a second chance, and won that match in a one hole 'putt off' (one putt by each player, closest to the hole) with a very good putt.  I was doing well in my third match, putting my ball close to each of the first 2 holes, and was up 1-0 beginning the 3rd hole when I miss hit my first put, only getting half way to the hole.  I barely missed my second putt, and fell into to a 1-1 tie.  On the 4th hole I made a good putt, but missed my second putt, inexplicably....it was only a couple of feet, but it stopped right on the lip of the cup, and stayed there.  I was sure it was going to fall into the hole, but it did not, so I lost that hole to go down 2-1, and with a tie on the 5th and final hole I was eliminated....doh!  All that being said, we had a great time joking, and laughing with our fellow contestants.

We were home by 5:30 pm at which time TLE served dinner consisting of a bowl of Ceviche (cold) accompanied by chips and salsa.  It was the perfect dinner for a hot day.  Her Ceviche, by the way, was her best effort to date....she really nailed it.  As I often remark, it was 'restaurant quality'.

Thanks for stopping by!

There's an ECHO.....

 9:31 am - Saturday - July 25th - LPG&RVR - 78° F, humidity 11%, cloud cover 7%, wind 15 mph out of the west by southwest......mostly sunny today with a forecast high of 92° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were visiting Glacier National Park....

.....we were having lunch at East Glacier Village Cafe where I had my first ever bottle of Moose Drool.  Whenever I find it I buy a six pack to this day.

I got a call from 'Full Throttle' in Alturas on Thursday that the string trimmer I left with them a month ago had been repaired.  I'm not sure if I wrote about receiving the used ECHO string trimmer as a gift from good friend Bob Longacre.  Someone had given it to him, and he had not been able to fix it so he gave it to me.  I fiddled around with it a few times but could not get it to run, so I took it to 'Full Throttle' to see what wrong with it.  When I gave it to Eric to check over he said the ECHO's are very expensive, commercial grade string trimmers costing just under $400 new.....wow!  At any rate, I figured if it cost under $200 to fix, it was a good deal.....

......ultimately, the issue was the carburetor.  It must have sat for a long time unused and the Ethanol in the gasoline has crystalized in the carburetor, making it useless, and unrepairable.  The cost of a new carburetor was $70, so I authorized him to make the repair.  Total cost was $135...killer deal!  On top of all that he said the ECHO had been lightly used, and was virtually new....even better.   It will come in very handy this winter at 'The Wilson Wilderness'.

Anyway, 'Full Throttle' is not open on the weekends, and only open on Friday until 12 pm, so we needed to go into town earlier than normal to get our shopping done, and pickup our now repaired ECHO string trimmer.  At any rate, I deferred the writing of my daily blog until after we returned from Alturas.  As you know from reading that just published missive about Thursday that I forgot to write the post when I returned.

Upon arriving in town we made a quick stop at ACE Hardware to buy a new toilet for new Dometic toilet.  One of the hinges decided to break Thursday night, and while it was still useable, needed replacing.  How handy that we were going into town Friday.  If it had broken after we returned, I'm not sure I would have made another round trip into Alturas until next week. We made our usual stops at Dollar General, Grocery Outlet, and Holiday Market to resupply our fridge and pantry before heading over to 'Full Throttle' around 10 am to pickup the ECHO string trimmer.  On the way out of town I picked up a Mocha Frappuccino at Java Doctor, and then a quick stop at the fuel station to top off the VW tank before arriving back home around 11 am.

While TLE put away the groceries I removed the old toilet seat, and installed the new one which features the 'slow close' option.  Then turned on the TV to watch the replay of the 19th stage of Le Tour de France, and what an exciting stage featuring a long climb at the end to the finish line.  Over the past few days Tadej Pogačar's teammates had been dropping like flies to some sickness, and had barely been able to finish the previous two stages within the time limit (usually 40 minutes after the Stage winner crosses the finish line).  By Friday those who had not abandoned the Tour were feeling better, and able to help him.  On the final climb to the finish line on Friday Tadej was behind the leaders by over 3 minutes with 5 miles to go, when he began his attack.  He was able to not only catch them, but passed them winning the stage easily.  One of the most amazing things I have seen on the Tour.  He now has a 7 minute lead over the second place rider, and one of his teammates, Isaac Del Toro, is in third place, with a chance to finish on the podium in Paris on Sunday.

The temp did hit 96° F around 4 pm, but then it began to cool as it always does.  By 8 pm it was down to 78° F, and by this morning (Saturday) it was down to 56° F!

Thanks for stopping by

Thursday was our 'Friday'....

 8:21 am - Saturday - July 25th - LPG&RVR - 70° F, humidity 12%, cloud cover 6%, wind 15 mph out of the west by southwest.....mostly clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 92° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were in Yellowstone National Park.....

......doing a 9 mile hike to Undine Falls.

I owe you a post from Thursday, and I apologize.  TLE wanted to go shopping in town Friday morning, when I would normally have composed my latest offering, so I decided I would wait until we got home.  Well, you know how that sometimes goes.  I got home, and turned on Stage 19 of Le Tour, and totally forgot.  So here is what happened on Thursday, the final day of our four day work week this time around.

The forecast high for Thursday (our Friday) was 94° F, the hottest day this week so far, but that coolness in the morning air had returned, thank you very much, so I knew the heat would not really arrive until late morning.  When I arrived at the Clubhouse around 7:30 am with TLE I had a few carts left over from Wednesday, and since we had no golfers scheduled to tee off until 10 am I washed them first, put them away, then staged 10 of the Yamaha gassers to start the day. 

Once that was done I headed down to the gravel area, the home of sites 1-20, to remove a bunch of Russian Thistle that was beginning to become an issue.  Last year it took me parts of three days to remove it, but since I was so thorough last year it only took me around 30 minutes this time around. 

By the time I finished weeding I was time to close the driving range, and harvest the range balls so DeWayne could mow in the afternoon.  I wasn't expecting there to be many range balls out there, and for once I was right.  In all I garnered just over 5 gallons of balls, and was done in about an hour.  

With an hour left before TLE's lunch break I retrieved one of our string trimmers from the 'Caddy Shack' to trim around the three residential lawns up the hill, which I had mowed earlier in the week, then around the trees in the parking lot grass, which I had also mowed earlier.  That took me just about an hour, and then it was time for TLE's lunch break.  The 90 minutes passed quickly with only a couple of phone calls, and one couple going out to play a second round of 18 holes.

I was able to wash and dry the range balls I had collected that morning in about 30 minutes then began to wash, and stow the carts that had been returned.  In all we rented 15, or 16 carts, and I was able to get 8 of them washed and put away by 3:30 pm.  While TLE still had 90 minutes to go before her 4 day work week was complete, I was able to go home and begin my 4 day weekend, and get out of the heat.  TLE was home by 5:10 pm, and was able to begin her four day weekend, too.

Thanks for stopping by!