Hanging out.....

 7:09 am - Tuesday - April 3oth - LPG&RVR - 29° F (brrrr!!!), humidity 69%, wind 2 mph out of the north by northwest.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 58° F....when is spring coming?  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were touring the Library of Congress.....what a beautiful interior!....

We slept in until after 7 am Monday morning, and that was nice since it was way too cold outside, and even inside, to rise any earlier.  I usually get up about 30 minutes before I know we'll be getting up to turn on the electric heaters, and then get back in bed until the Newell interior is more hospitable to hosting human life, and that has worked well over the years, especially for TLE....lol!

For the first time in four days TLE and I took another 2 mile out and back walk bringing our season total to just 8 miles so far....

....I think the temperature at 10 am, when we took our walk, was just under 50° F, and we were both bundled up against the chill.  We managed to average 3.2 mph once again, burning around 350 caloric units.  Winter continues to have a tight grip on the Pitt River Valley, and from all appearances we are in for even more chilly weather with daily lows plunging to the low 20's, and another threat of rain, snow and sleet this weekend.  On this date last year the low was 47° F, and the high was 75° F, so it is definitely way colder this time around than last. TLE commented the other day that with our current north/south itinerary we are getting two winters, and two springs every year.  

When we first began our full time journey back in 2012 my desire was to chase 70° 12 months out of the year.  In hindsight that was a bit too ambitious, and certainly 12+ years later we are failing miserably in the attainment of that goal. The past 10 days certainly tends to add credence to that conclusion.

After we returned from our walk we spent the balance of the morning hanging out with Claude, and enjoying the partially cloudy day, even though it was barely 50°.  We didn't reach the forecast 54° F high of the day until 4 pm.  On top of that frigid temperature add a brisk breeze most the day, and it felt mor like 44° F.  If it weren't for the occasional sun breaking through the clouds I would have been inside most of the day.

Around 5 pm I lit the Sea-B-Que in preparation for the grilling of 3 top sirloin steaks.  It took about 10-11 minutes to get them to medium rare at which time we retired to the Newell interior to have a rare dinner at our formal dining table, which I failed to record for posterity's sake. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner, and great conversation until after 7:30 pm before broke up the party.  We were in bed a little after 10 pm with our electric blankets set to #2 for moi, and #4 for TLE....it was going to be a chilly night!

For us Monday was a typical first day of our four day weekend.  TLE did a couple loads of laundry, and we mostly just rested.  I caught up on a few of my YouTube channels, and took a nice one hour nap.  Other than our two mile walk, I didn't leave site #55 the rest of the day...perfect!

Thanks for stopping by!

Here's to friendship.....

7:11 am - Monday - April 29th - LPG&RVR - 36° F, humidity 70%, wind 3 mph out of the north by northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 54° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were touring Mt. Vernon, home of George and Martha Washington.....

 Finally....a clear, blue sky day here at LPG&RVR.  While it was extremely cold all day long, it was a beautiful diversion from the dreary, rainy weather we've had the past week.  I only took off my jacket twice Sunday.....once when I gave TLE her lunch break, and once while I was cleaning a golf cart.  Winter continues to have a grip over the Pitt River Valley in which LPG&RVR resides.  Over the next 3 days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) the overnight lows will dip into the 20's.  So happy we have our heated hose funneling water into our Newell.

I neglected to mention in yesterday's post that our long time friend, who also happens to be our ex brother-in-law (he was married to one of my sisters for a few years back in the 80's) Claude Banker, arrived here Saturday evening to spend a few days before he continues his journey to visit his 104 year old mother in Oregon.  Even though he and my sister have been divorced for a long time we have remained friends since 1978, when we first met.  Over the decades we have embarked on many adventures of the outdoor variety, including a summit of Mt. Whitney with my oldest son Chris, and too many long range bicycle trips to count.  When I say long range I mean up to 500 miles in length.  You can find a journal I kept of our longest trip taken on two Recumbent Tadpole Trikes back in 2008 here.

Claude and I had breakfast at 'The Grill' at the Clubhouse around 9 am, and then I took him with me on my first round of the golf course.  As many others who have preceded him have found, this is a beautiful place, with an extremely beautiful, well maintained 18 hole golf course.  We haven't seen Claude in  a year, so we had a lot of catching up to do, and the round of the course took about an hour.  Upon our return to the RV park I dropped Claude at the Newell, and went back to work.

The RV park, and cart paths have suffered with all the rain we've had, and there were a lot of tire ruts all over the park, so I spent several hours dragging a screen over all the roads, pull through sites, and carts paths to smooth them out.  I even hauled some gravel in the small dump trailer we have to cover areas on one cart path that had turned to mud, and no longer had any gravel.

In all we rented 10 golf carts on Sunday, and none of them came back with mud encrusted tires and under carriages as was the case on Saturday.  We expect the golf course to remain pretty busy this week as we have a large group (10 RVs) up at the large pavilion who are all avid golfers, which means they will probably play most every day since this week there will be no rain....just the ever present cold.

The last cart returned right at 5 pm, and then it was time to begin our 4 day  weekend.  TLE had ordered two BBQ beef sandwich plates from the restaurant, and Claude had some left over Mexican food from his trip here, which TLE heated up, so we ate our meals on the 'dining/gaming deck', and talked until it got too cold, at which time we retreated to the warm interior of the Newell for another couple of hours sipping whiskey, and revisiting some of our past adventures before Claude bid us adieu for the evening.

I have been negligent in taking pictures Sunday, but I promise to do better Monday....thanks for stopping by!

Blue everywhere.....

 6:07 am - Sunday - April 28th - LPG&RVR - 32° F, humidity 95%, wind 2 mph out of the southeast......partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 62° F.  On this date in 2016 we took a break at the Crowley Lake Vista Point on our way to Lake Tahoe.....

It didn't get to 40° F until after 10 am Saturday, and even though there was no breeze, or wind it was bitter cold outside.  On a positive note, there was also NO rain forecast for Saturday and there was a pent up demand for golf, which had been mostly rained out the past two days, so we expected a lot of golfers, and that is what we got.  Over the course of the day we rented 10 golf carts in all.  About half of them came back with extremely muddy tires, and under carriages, which was no surprise.  The mud, however, adds to the cleaning difficulty.  I can usually clean, and dry a cart in about 5 minutes, but these were taking upwards of 10 minutes.

Each spring Dennis asks me to treat the two ponds which border the #3 tee boxes on each side with blue dye.  The dye in the water helps to slow down the plant growth in these two relatively shallow ponds.  Each time I perform this task I end up with blue dye on my hands, and clothes, and it takes a week to get it off my hands.  No matter how careful I have been the past two years I still get blue dye everywhere.  This year I decided to get serious.  I have these overalls that I used when I installed the new shocks and air bags on our Newell a few years ago so I put them on, and then wore two pairs of gloves......

.....the overalls did keep the blue dye off my clothes, but my Keen hiking shoes, which already have blue accents, got a little bluer.  My clothes were fine, but I still had traces of blue on my hands.....lol!  The end result is the ponds are once again blue, and the annual task is complete without a lot of damage.

The goose/duck leavings are rapidly increasing to epidemic proportions, and it took me a the better part of 20 minutes to clear the avian effluent from the tee boxes at #3, which I did before I dispersed the blue dye.  The blue dye comes in packets about the size of one's hand, and you throw them into the pond.  They burst immediately upon contact with the water, and within minutes the entire pond is blue.

I could see a dusting of snow on the local peaks (Tule and Likely), and once the clouds began to clear the view to the north (Eagle Peak) was spectacular....

....as you know when I work Saturdays and Sundays I do mostly marshalling on the golf course, so I made numerous passes throughout the day to find all the golfers spread out, and behaving themselves.  I gave TLE her lunch break around 11:45 am, then went back to work, and cleaned a couple of golf carts.

As the day dried out I was able to finish mowing the employee sites, then rode the mower down to tent sites 1-3 to mow them, and finished by mowing the grass in sites 11 and 12 before heading back to the Clubhouse around 3 pm.  By 3:45 pm (quitting time) I had all but one cart cleaned, and parked in the cart shack. Then it was time for the weekly putting contest.  

I managed to last 4 rounds this time, and saw definite improvements in my putting.  Since there were only 20 putters on this day we had double elimination.  At the end of the first 5 holes in round one I was tied with John, so we had a one hole putt off....closest to the hole after one putt.  It was so close that Mike Bratzler (runs the putting contest each week) had to bring out the tape measure....John beat me by 1/4 inch....doh!  I won my next two rounds pretty easily, but was matched with Kathy Smith (shares TLE's job in the office) who was hot.  She won the first two holes, and I was never able to get back into the match.  At any rate I was much happier with my putting, overall, than the prior week.

The 10th cart returned during the putting contest, so I cleaned it, and put it away while TLE was closing down the office for the night, and we were home by 5:10 pm. It is supposed to get into the 60's Sunday, so I'm hoping it will be warmer, and dryer overall.

Thanks for stopping by!

It's cold.....

 6:07 am - Saturday - April 27th - LPG&RVR - 33° F, humidity 90%, wind 1 mph out of the north by northwest.....continued heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 58° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were in Sioux Falls, SD installing a new old stock (NOS) rear bumper, and installing the aluminum diamond plate squares over each corner in order to hide the damage to the right rear corner from two years earlier....

.....2 years previously I had pinched the trailer when backing up, and it tore a hole in the aluminum, and made a big dent.  I pounded out the dent, covered the tear with aluminum tape, and then installed the aforementioned diamond plate aluminum squares on the right and left corners, even though the damage was to the right rear corner, to give the rear end symmetry....

....a friend of mine (fellow Newell owner at the time) found the NOS bumper on eBay, and went down to Nebraska to pick it up for me.  He lives in Sioux Falls, so we made a stop there to pick it up and install it.....

The NOS bumper

The forecast rain fell all night long Thursday night, and was still falling Friday morning.  TLE and I reported for work just before 8 am knowing there would probably be no golfers due to the rain, but golfers are a crazy lot, and you just never know....lol.  I staged two golf carts, and during a break in the rain drove out to the tee boxes at hole #3 to remove any goose/duck leavings from same.  The 'leavings' on this day were not too bad, and I had barely finished clearing them when it began to rain once again. Saw this giant sandhill crane near hole #4....I think he/she was about 4 feet tall....

......with it raining, and nothing with which I could occupy myself outdoors I headed home around 10 am, only to return at 12 pm to give TLE her lunch break, then home again for the next four hours.  It rained hard at times, and on occasion, when the clouds would clear briefly, I could see snow way down low on the local mountain slopes.  It never snowed at LPG&RVR, but it felt cold enough to do so.

I spent the afternoon napping, and catching up on more YouTube channels I follow, but that was the extent of my activity.  Around 4:40 pm I headed back to the Clubhouse to pickup TLE, and found one cart had been rented....lol...however, they only played two holes before the rain convinced them to call it a day.  Anyway, I cleaned the cart, put it away, then gave TLE a ride home.

We are in a real cold streak right, and there are no forecast days in the 70's through the 11th of May.....

....in fact, there are way too many days in the 50's for my liking....lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

A 'grab bag'....

 6:13 am - Friday - April 26th - LPG&RVR - 38° F, humidity 97% (raining), wind 3 mph out of the northwest.....raining with a forecast high of 49° F.  On this date in 2021 I was spreading gravel with a small Kubota loader/backhoe at Sear Rocks RV Cove to level this site....

...I did a lot of that the year we were there, and it was one of my favorite jobs.

Thursday began with a threat of rain, and it did rain for about an hour, but the main threat would come later in the day.  At first I wasn't sure I was going to be able to work at all as it was wet from the rain we had all night, but it eventually dried out and I was able to do my first string trimming of the season (around the small pavilion), and was able to mow around the putting green, plus two the employee sites, and finally the tee boxes at 15 and 16.  

I made a comment to Dennis, my boss, that the goose and duck leavings haven't been too bad this Spring, and he agreed, but suggested I 'knock on wood', which I should have done, but didn't.  When I went out to check the tee boxes at hole #3 I was dismayed to find it as bad as I have ever seen it.....lol!  I'm not really a superstitious guy, but maybe there is something to that 'knocking on wood' fable.

I gave TLE her lunch break at 12 pm thinking I would just head home after that, but the rains had not yet come by the time she returned so I kept busy washing a few carts left over from Wednesday, and with the aforementioned mowing.  I worked through lunch as I often do, and especially on this day as I wanted to get in my 8 hours before the rains came.  By 3:45 pm I had reached my goal and headed for the Newell for a hour before returning to retrieve TLE at 5 pm.

Upon my return she was still about 10 minutes away from closing down the office for the night, so I grabbed a few golf balls and my putter and spent some time on the putting green.  It was obvious Jose had mowed it since last Saturday as I didn't have to strike the all quite as hard to get it to the hole.  The greens are always slow in early spring as they are still recovering from being 'punched' the prior October.  By the time I had putted around the 5 hole course twice TLE was ready to go home.

The forecast rain did not arrive until after 11 pm, but once it began it has not quit.  As I write, it is still raining, and should be raining until late afternoon.  The temps today (Friday) will only get to 49° F, so the 'grab bag' of weather in April continues. Just a few days ago it got up to 77° F, and now we're back in the 40's again.  Thankfully, no snow is forecast, so we've got that going for us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Guessing the weather.....

6:10 am - Thursday - April 25th - LPG&RVR - 41° F, humidity 80%, wind 2 mph out of the north by northeast.....heavy cloud cover today with rain forecast later this afternoon, and a high of 55° F.  On this date in 2019 TLE and I arrived at Romona Oaks RV Resort where we would spend the next 9 months working.....

After the rain Tuesday afternoon, and evening it took a while for things to dry out Wednesday morning, but by 10:30 am it was dry enough to take our 2 mile out and back walk....

....we managed to up our 'game' by averaging 3.3 mph this time.  To be sure, it was a cold blustery day with the portent of more rain in our future, but by the time we returned to the Newell we were both up to 'operating temperature'....lol!

I puttered around our site, and in the trailer most of the day, and some of that puttering involved dumping 10 days of accumulated effluent from our black tank.  The water pressure here is wonderful, and it only takes me about 10 minutes beginning to end to do the deed as opposed to the 20+ it took me at GNHS.

The park continues to be relatively empty, no doubt due to the forecast inclement weather, and we've still got more of that coming.  According to the weather guessers it it supposed to begin raining again Thursday afternoon, and continue through the night and into Friday afternoon, but the sun will reappear Saturday and Sunday, so it should be a good weekend customer, and weather wise.  It wasn't supposed to rain Wednesday evening, but rain it did for about 4 hours.

Thanks for stopping by!

Over 14 years now.....

7:25 am - Wednesday - April 24th - LPG&RVR - 44° F, humidity 82%, wind 1 mph out of the northwest....heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 62° F, and rain again later this afternoon.  On this date in 2022 I played my first 9 holes of golf at LPG&RVR.....

After a leisurely early morning which consisted of a great cup of coffee, and the composing of my latest missive TLE and I took another of our 2 mile out and back walks.  I talk about how we love the scenery, but rarely ever post pictures about that of which I am speaking....here are a few....

Outbound

Inbound

.....we continue to average around 3.2 mph.  Surprisingly, there is about 80 feet of elevation gain from the entrance to the park to the Newell....I would not have thought that....

....rain was forecast for sometime early evening, but it actually came around 12 pm, not too long after we returned from our walk.  I had planned to play 9 holes of golf early Tuesday afternoon, but with the rain also came the death of that vision.  We spent the balance of the day indoors enjoying the pitter patter of rain on our riveted aircraft aluminum roof.  While TLE read, I caught up on some of my YouTube channels.  There was also a unexpectedly long nap during the afternoon...probably over an hour...at least that's what TLE says....lol!

Soon it was time for dinner.  We had planned to grill a salmon steak early Tuesday evening, but the rain put the kibosh on that idea, so TLE baked the salmon steak, adding a lemon caper butter sauce over the steak, which was placed upon a bed on saffron rice, plus avocado slices on the side with a touch of lime juice, and salt....it was such a pretty plate I had to memorialize it....

.....not to mention how delicious it was....the salmon just melted in our mouths.  And with that another LPG&RVR day came to a delightful end.

TLE and I both continue to be in good health.  It has been years since either of us had more than a head cold.  We are sleeping well at night, and sometimes during the day.....lol!  Living in rural America seems to have the benefit of not being exposed to colds and/or flu on a regular basis, and even when we have been around folks who have been sick, we never caught what they had.  We both have to acknowledge that we are almost 75 now, and we have slowed down somewhat, but we are trying to remain as active as possible with daily 1-2 mile walks combined with stretching and strengthening exercises, plus still working a few days a week.  When we first began our nomadic life back in 2011 we never expected to still be nomads 13+ years later, but here we are in our 13th year of traveling full time, and 14th year of living full time in the Newell, with no thought of settling down in once place, or moving back into a sticks and bricks home in the near future.  Our 1982 Newell Classic, 36' diesel pusher continues to stand up well to full time occupancy.  Our 2001 VW Beetle's odometer just registered 190,000 miles while we were on our way into Alturas on Monday.  We bought her with just 124,000 miles on her odometer back in March of 2014, and she continues to serve us faithfully.  This is the longest we have ever owned any car.  For that matter, we have now owned the Newell for 16+ years.

On the technology front our Starlink, generation 2 continues to perform flawlessly, day after day.  We continue to stream over 90% of our TV programming making our Winegard satellite dish more and more irrelevant.  I haven't cut the proverbial cord to DirecTV yet, but we are getting close.  We will probably just switch over to the DirecTV Streaming service in the near future, which is way less expensive.  Having dependable internet technology is such a blessing, but we know that can all disappear in an instant, and then we will be back to needing books to get vital information.  To prepare for that possibility we have been acquiring books on many relevant survival topics such as growing and preserving our own food, etc.  Right now you can just do an internet search (we use DuckDuckGo) and have the information at your finger tips, but if the electrical grid goes down you need an alternative way to obtain this valuable information, and books and/or local knowledge will be the only sources left.

Thanks for stopping by!

Finishing touches....

 8:12 am - Tuesday - April 23rd - LPG&RVR - 47° F, humidity 46%, wind 1 mph out of the south.....partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 69° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I had just arrived at Tahoe Valley Campground for our fourth summer....a lot of snow still on the ground.....

For the first time since we were at the Quechan Casino, a few weeks ago now, we took a walk.  Our favorite 2 mile out and back walk to the entrance of the park.  As we strolled along, all bundled up against the cold, we talked about how much we love it here, and how beautiful the scenery is.  In spite of the strolling we managed to average 3.2 mph for the 2 miles, and the time we returned it was beginning to get warm on the 'lido deck', so we sat for a while and talked some more....

.....after we returned I drove the car over to the Club House to give it a good wash, and upon return to the Newell TLE and I removed the bike rack for the first time in a few weeks....

....and and then headed into Alturas to shop for the first time in a week.  We made stops at all of our favorite haunts, Ace Hardware being the first.  We bought a 2' x 4' piece of plywood for the table upon which the Sea-B-Que sits, to protect the table from the heat of the said BBQ....

....it will protect the plastic table from the heat of the Sea-B-Que, which can become intense when it heats up to 500° F whilst grilling a steak.  We also bought a new nozzle for our garden hose as the old gone (about 2 years old) suddenly gave up the ghost the other day (that's why I had to go over to the Club House to wash the car).  Next up was Rite Aid, then Grocery Outlet, and finally Holiday Market.  By the time we were on our way home it was after 1 pm, and the day was fast getting away from us.  We were home around 1:40 pm, and while TLE got busy putting away our purchases I headed out to the 'lido deck', which needs more attention if we are to begin to enjoy it to its fullest. 

Over the course of the day I managed to get the Flag Pole Buddy set up again with our current version of a pirate flag.....

.....and install the 'red wall' on the 'dining/gaming deck'.....

....TLE spent time deploying her substantial collection of cacti and other related succulents around the 'lido deck'....

We've added a corner plant stand for  some of TLE's cacti

.....I also managed to deploy the Edison lights in the dining canopy ceiling.....I'm sure there will be games being played all too soon.  Soon it was going on 5 pm, and time to get dinner going.  For the first time since arriving back at LPG&RVR we lit the Sea-B-Que and grilled a top sirloin to a perfect 125° F (aka: medium rare).  TLE added broccoli, roasted potatoes/sweet potatoes, and hollandaise sauce to smother them all.....it was a perfect evening to eat dinner alfresco, so we did......

....we sipped some wonderful Malbec, and just enjoyed each other and the early evening views.  After dinner I was not ready to go inside yet, so I pulled out my anti gravity chair, turned on some tunes (Etta James Channel - Pandora), and watched the sun continue its inevitable slide to the western horizon.....love how that sun shade mutes the intensity of the sun.....

....I'm pretty sure I dozed off for a few minutes, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to the 'lido deck'.....

6:53 am - Monday - April 22nd - LPG&RVR - 34° F, humidity 81%, wind 1 mph out of the east by southeast....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F.  On this date in 2020 I was helping Glenn and Laureen (brother and sister-in-law) install their new solar panels on the roof of their 1984 Newell Classic.....

At last......a nice, sunny day to continue working on the trailer interior, and the 'lido deck' setup.  TLE had a full laundry hamper of soiled clothing to wash, so to get it done quickly she used our onboard Splendide washer/dryer, plus two machines down at the RV park laundry.  While she was shuttling back and forth I worked on getting our three bikes put together, and out of the way so I could set up my Black & Decker Workmate workbench, and my 'back machine', and well as deploy the balance of my tools.  After completing those tasks I moved the two camp chairs out to the 'dining/gaming deck', and deployed one of the anti gravity chairs so I could take breaks on the 'lido deck' throughout the day to watch the RBC Heritage Championship golf tournament.  I don't normally get too excited about the RBC, as it is the week after The Masters, and kind of anti-climatic, but Scottie Scheffler was going for his 4th win in the past 5 tournaments, and we wanted to see if he would succeed.  The only tournament he lost in the past 5 he came in 2nd place, so he's on quite a run.

Next I deployed both of our market umbrellas, and affixed the suction cup flagpole holders to the rear of the trailer.  It takes a day or so for me to get them to stay affixed to the ramp door at the rear of the trailer before I actually set up the flag pole (Flag Pole Buddy).  I don't do that until I'm sure the suction cups will remain in place....

Putting greens are deployed

Getting there!

Trailer is now converted over to a work shop once again

.....we set up the outdoor TV on the Rubber Maid storage unit, which is now over by the electrical pedestal, and it worked great.  The sun screens we deployed reduced the glare from the sun completely!  I ended up taking an hour nap in the anti gravity chair during the rain delay at the golf tournament....perfect!

By the end of the day all of our laundry had been washed, and was sitting on the foot of the bed neatly folded by the loving hands of TLE, and ready to be put away one more time.  We sat outside for about an hour watching the sun slide to the western horizon, and then headed indoors around 6 pm for Shrimp Alfredo....that woman can cook!

As it turned out, the rain delay at the RBC was so long that it got too dark to continue play, so with Scottie having just finished the 15th hole (sinking a long par putt), and with three holes to go for him, they suspended play until 8 am (eastern time) Monday morning (5 am PDST), so I set the DVR to record the final three holes, and TLE watched them this morning (Monday) whilst still in bed....Scottie ended up winning by 3 strokes...a nice way to begin any day.

Thanks for stopping by!