Usually my neighbor John, a co-worker, picks up the cart TLE and I bring home each night and takes it back to the maintenance yard to plug it in, but John is off the same days we are, so around 10 am I drove it back to the maintenance yard, and our maintenance manager, Adam, gave me a lift back to our site. By time I completed my blog post it was 11:30 am, so we decided we would head down to Carson City at 1 pm. I drove the VW over to the maintenance yard to wash it for the first time in two weeks, and then returned to our site to vacuum it out. By that time it was after 12:30 so I took a shower and was in the car with TLE by 1 pm!
Traffic driving through Stateline was obnoxious to say the least....usually we can leave TVC and be in Carson City in 40 minutes tops, but it took close to an hour due to the heavy Stateline traffic. We stopped in at El Charro Avitia (Mexican) for lunch.....we have been going there for years when we are in the area, and unfortunately, for me, the food was just not up to par. Nevertheless, we had a nice time chatting and relaxing until I gave my bank card to the waitress to pay the bill.....she came back saying the card had been declined........
......if you have been reading our blog for a while you know this happens at least once, or twice a year as we travel all the time. Every once and a while the bank's software decides I am not where I am supposed to be and believes fraud is occurring thereby blocking my card. I have to call their automated fraud line and verify it was, indeed, me using the card and that the charge was, indeed, mine. After clearing the card I got back on the phone and called to talk directly to a customer service person to make sure it would not happen with TLE's card.....that took around 30 minutes of my life that I will never recover. Apparently they now have the ability to add a 'travel code' to my account advising the computer we are in South Lake Tahoe until a time specific so this won't happen again until we begin to move again, then we'll have to get back on the phone and give them our new itinerary.....uggggh!
The rest of our shopping went fine with no more bank card issues.....we made our usual stops at Trader Joe's, Walmart and COSTCO....they are all within two blocks of each other so it is very handy. We were back home by 4:30....again the traffic through Stateline was mind numbing.
The high in Carson City was 97, while the high in SLT was 82, but it was still feeling warm inside the coach when we returned so we turned on the AC for a couple of hours before opening up the windows and going outside for cocktail hour about 6:30, which evolved into a fireside chat. The evening was delightful and we managed to burn a few logs from our enormous firewood collection.....
.....mind you, we have not purchased one stick of firewood this summer.....I just pick up what campers leave behind. I keep telling myself to stop picking up the wood as I don't think we have a prayer of burning what we already have collected, but I have a problem....I just can't leave free firewood sitting there.
We headed inside just after 9 pm where we watched a recorded episode of "So You Think You Can Dance", then were in bed before midnight.
Thanks for stopping by!
Start picking up some extra cash by selling the firewood!
ReplyDeleteNot sure which card you use, but with my Discover, they will text me in a situation like that, and I can answer Yes or No to the transaction. This spring I saw the guy at Walgreens run the card, look at it strangely, my phone beep telling me I had a text, I answered "yes", and as he was telling me that there was a problem with the card I said, "Try it again, I just authorized the transaction...", and it went right through. Have not had a problem up here in Alaska and Canada all summer long with either card, thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteI once had a neighbor that collected firewood compulsively. His name was Chuck - I called him Wood Chuck.
ReplyDeleteOur Chase card allows me to indicate online that I'm traveling. I can update it for up to 12 months of future travel at a time. This prevents the "Oh sh!t" moments when the card is declined.
I've been following your blog for a while but don't often take the time to comment.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering, with the firewood, why not leave the extra firewood in the campsite for the next campers? If we have leftover firewood I often leave it assuming the next camper will be able to use it. It didn't occur to me that someone that works there might we collecting it for their use.
Not that it wouldn't still be used, I just though of it as a nice gesture in a pay it forward kind of way for the next camper taking my spot.
The campground policy is that all sites are 'cleaned' after each customer departs, and that includes removing any firewood left behind. When asked by customers what they should do with their unused wood we encourage them to give it directly to another customer, and not leave it in the site.
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