Humpty Dumpty.....

7:36 am - Thursday - Sunny, 39 F degrees....order is restored....Wednesday had begun with overcast skies and then progressed to quite blustery wind out of the south which pushed the clouds away.

Around 11:30 we decided to ride back to Baldwin Beach with our beach chairs to spend a few hours enjoying the view and reading.....from our coach it's about 5.5 miles each way with about 4 miles each way being on the Camp Richardson bike path which wends its way through stands of ponderosa and lodgepole pines.

We found a spot on the beach in front of a large ponderosa pine giving us the requisite shady spot to pitch our beach chairs and towels......

.....there was no one within a 100 yards of us either direction.......

.....we caught a view of the Tahoe Queen paddle boat returning to SLT from Emerald Bay....

....other than the Tahoe Queen there were very few boats visible from our vantage point which added to the feeling of being on a deserted isle somewhere.  The wind continued to blow from the south (now at our backs) until just before we began our ride back to TVC around 2:15.

One of our customers, Elizabeth who is in her 90's, had a neighbor help stow her patio awning while we were gone due to the aforementioned wind.  She asked me, when we returned, if I would come and look at the awning to be sure it was stowed properly (as you might recall I helped her replace a broken support on the awning a couple of months ago).   I climbed up on a short ladder (about 4' tall) to examine the point where the right arm of the awning should have been latched in place for travel as it didn't seem to be latching.  In the process I did something I never do........I stood directly on the top of the ladder to get a better view of the awning arm.  The thing you always fear when you do this happened......the ladder began to wobble, I lost my balance and tumbled to the ground bruising my left heel to the point where it is now difficult to walk.  I don't think I've broken anything, but my heel is quite painful when I apply weight while standing.

In spite of my self inflicted injury I managed to grill up some great filets on the Sea-B-Que to which TLE added a bottle of Pinot Noir, corn/avocado salad and a baked potato.  We ate outside at the picnic table talking and enjoying the balmy early evening air.

Next up....we go back to work this afternoon at the beginning of the Labor Day Weekend.....by Saturday TVC will be about 70% full once again for a few days.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nephele's....

7:53 am - Wednesday - I am awake.....it is overcast.....different is good.  I am awake because I went to bed so early.  TLE even beat me out of bed this morning.

Another of our seasonal couples departed TVC yesterday (John and Deb) for a long planned trip to France and Italy.  We are down 5 employees over the past 10 days and within the next 10 days we'll be down some more as the season also winds down.  Section E's ghostown like appearance reminds me of early May.

We pretty much hung out at the coach all day Tuesday relaxing, and just enjoying the quiet of Section E.  I was pretty much a 'slug' all day long, but sometimes you need a day like that.  Since we worked Monday night (Monday, as you know was our 45th anniversary) we went to dinner Tuesday night.  Long time Newell friends Richard and Rhonda had eaten at Nephele's last summer and were quite enthusiastic about their experience.  We had wanted to have our 44th anniversary dinner there, but our plans to be on the road on our anniversay on our way to Cape Blanco interfered, so this year we made reservations several weeks in advance to be sure we got a good table.  Yelp, by the way, gives them 4 stars on 166 reviews......

.....we arrived about 5 minutes early for our 6 pm reservation and were seated immediately at our corner table near a large picture window.....

.....we immediately ordered their very popular 'Seafood Cheesecake'....I know, sounds kind of weird, but it is amazing......we would return just to order this appetizer with a good bottle of wine it was that good.

Seafood Cheesecake

......I ordered their Louisiana Roasted King Salmon for my entree, and TLE one of their specials....Almond Crusted Baked Grouper.....her side was the House Salad, and mine was the soup of the day, Shrimp Gazpacho, served cold.  Everything exceeded our expectations including this fabulous dessert TLE and I split.....

.....Chocolate Toffee Ice Cream Cake.......what a way to end our anniversary dinner!

We were home by 8 pm, changed clothes and began our walk around TVC....we had intended to walk all four sections to kind of work off a little of the stuffed feeling we both had, but stopped off in Section G to talk to customers and friends, Chuck and Kelly, who were outside watching a TV program.  Chuck and Kelly have been coming to TVC from Scottsdale, AZ for 20 summers now.  Chuck and Kelly were married here in SLT 30 years ago, and honeymooned here just like TLE and I did 45 years ago.  We were in bed a little after 10 pm.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Milestones......

9:06 am - Tuesday - Partly cloudy, 58 F degrees, light breeze, and a day off from work.  Today marks exactly 4 months since we arrived at TVC on April 30th......hard to believe a third of a year has passed.  Today also marks 4 years and 7 months since we began our fulltime life on the road.

I have written several times about our breakfasts at Bert's.....well, in the interests of symmetry we went to Ernie's late Monday morning for breakfast.  Ironically, Bert and Ernie used to own and run Bert's, but at some point in the past Ernie decided he wanted his own restaurant, so he built his two blocks away from Bert's on the opposite site of US-50.  Just as Bert's, Ernie's is also walking distance from TVC......

.....not a  surprise that the menus of the two restaurants are very similar, or that they both serve breakfast and lunch all day (6 am to 2 pm).  We had breakfast and referred to it as our 'Happy Anniversary Breakfast'.  Yelp gives Ernie's 4 stars on 245 reviews.  Oh, and by the way, thank you to all who congratulated us on our 45th anniversary both here, and on Facebook.  We were back home by noon and relaxing prior to the beginning of our afternoon shift. 

After 8 years of use we are retiring our 2.5 gallon ShopVac and replacing it with a more petite 1.5 gallon ShopVac courtesy of Amazon Prime.......

......plus we can hang it on the wall, getting it off the floor!  Just like our old 2.5 gallon ShopVac, this one is also wet and dry.

  

The park is down to 110 occupied sites, and gets quieter each and every day.  It was so quiet that I got out the pressure washer and spent several hours pressure washing the sidewalk which runs along the front of the office/store, as well as the parking spaces, and a few of the throw rugs.  It was actually something I had wanted to do for some time, but there were always too many cars, and pedestrians to make it practical.  I didn't get it all done, but will get back to it Thursday if the conditions allow.

The rest of the evening was very, very slow as one might expect with an occupancy rate of 27%.  No doubt by Thursday we will begin to see the park fill up for the last long weekend of the summer.....Labor Day weekend, but I do not think we will be more than 70% full by Saturday.

As I was driving around the park around 7 pm I realized how balmy the air felt, how happy I am, and how grateful I am to be in South Lake Tahoe the whole summer with my best friend....thanks for stopping by!

Forty-Five

9:21 am - Monday - My life began 45 years ago today when Elaine Frances Houghtaling said 'I do' and we began the life long adventure called marriage.  We were both just shy of our 22nd birthdays that day, and probably too young to be talking about 'forever', nevertheless, we committed to each other for the rest of our lives for 'better, or worse'.  My life before that day seems like a mere shadow compared to my life since.  Everything which has importance in my life has happened since that day.  I tell Elaine all the time "I'm a lucky boy!" to which she always replies "YES, you are!"........ HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TLE!

We have a slight variation in our weather today.......partly cloudy, slightly breezy, but also a little warmer.....57 F degrees as I write.  Today is also our 'Friday'.

Around 10 am we decided to ride our bikes up to Baldwin Beach to check it out.....we have been coming to SLT now for 3 years and have never been to this beach.  It is the last beach before you begin the climb up the switchbacks to the Emerald Bay Vista Point......

......now I'm wondering why we have never visited this wonderful deserted beach before.....you have to walk a dirt path about 1/8th of a mile from the parking lot to get to this beach, and that is probably why there are not many people.  We both agreed this will be our beach destination this week on one of our off days.

Just when I thought it could not get any quieter at TVC it did.....we are down to about 130 sites occupied after our departures and arrivals are added into the equation.  We reported for work at the usual 3:30 pm.  As I have been doing the past few days I got my trash bucket and 'picker' and began roaming sites over in Section E picking up the small trash....I call it deep cleaning.  The guys who go through these sites after they are vacated only have time to pick up the big stuff, and rake the site.  The small stuff begins to accumulate over time and its sheer volume becomes noticeable.  Most of what I pick up are bottle caps (metal and plastic), cigarette butts, dental floss, colored string, popsicle sticks, and small pieces of paper.  I did that for about an hour and then eventually walked down to the maintenance yard to pick up a cart to make my rounds of the park.

I did get a call to go check the electric at site 121, and found, once again, that they were running to many things causing the 30 amp breaker to pop.  This happens a lot with the 50 amp RV people......most of the time they are plugged into a 50 amp outlet, so they have no concept of how many amps each of their appliances draw.  One AC all by itself can draw 15-20 amps depending on its age, and BTU rating.  All you have to do is turn on the microwave, or hair dryer adding another 10+ amps to the load, and you're over 30 amps.  

Our shift was very slow, and we ultimately closed the store at 9 pm after we had not had a customer for almost an hour.  After doing our nightly cleaning, and then checking the 4 restrooms we clocked out around 10:25 pm.

Thanks for stopping by!

Closing circles.....

8:26 am - Sunday - Sunny, 41 F degrees, cloudless, windless, blue skies.....situation normal.  

We decided to drive over to the South Lake Tahoe Flea Market around 10 am......we haven't been for a few weeks, and we haven't been on a Saturday for a long time.  We drove because we both felt we would find something we couldn't live without, and if that something were big enough we would need more than our bikes.  I'm always looking for tools, and there is a guy there who always has good used tools he has cleaned up nicely.  I found a couple of impact driver sockets, a couple of files, a metric tap and die set, and a 'C' clamp.....

......the ironic part is in the picture below the top 'C' clamp I bought 45 years ago.....I only bought one then.....when I was going through this guy's tools Saturday I saw a couple of small 'C' clamps (both made by different manufacturers) and being the symmetrical kind of guy that I am I thought I should buy a second one to go with the one I already had.......the one I bought yesterday, just by coincidence, was manufactured by the same company!!  Another circle closed.......the total cost for everything was $15.50......

45 year old 'C' clamp on top......the one I bought Saturday below!

......while we were at the flea market I got a text advising my new Nixon Chronograph watch had been delivered to the office, so after making a stop at Raley's for some groceries we stopped off at the office to pick up my watch.....

.......I haven't bought an expensive watch in years.....in fact I have been divesting myself of my watch collection.  My inspiration for this purchase is my son-in-law, Rod......he has one similar to this one, which I have admired for a long time.  This is the biggest watch I have ever owned......it looks as big as the clock on the wall, right? I am a happy boy!

We reported for our shift at 3:30 pm, and could tell immediately Saturday was a much busier day than we have experienced for a fortnight.  I was called almost immediately out to a site with a bad 30 amp breaker, which I replaced, then out to two other sites with cable TV issues.  It turned out they both had bad cables, and once they were replaced reception was restored.....weird that two cables would go bad almost simultaneously.

Saturday night was 'Live Music' evening, and we had a gentleman playing the ukulele.......

.......he didn't have a big crowd, but they were enthusiastic.

After the initial flurry of activity things settled down and we were able to punch the clock by 11:06 pm bringing to an end another great SLT Saturday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Prevent defense....

8:01 am - Saturday - 38 F degrees as I type.....we have definitely turned a corner weather wise here in SLT.....six of the next 10 days will have lows in the 30's......we have three more days with highs in the low 80's then the temps drop into the 70's, with one day in the 60's.  Once again the sun is out, the sky is deep cobalt blue, and there is no wind....perfect is as perfect does.  The English Premier Soccer League is back in full swing and I have a game between Chelsea & Burnley playing in the background.....life is good.

Our VW has been at Higher Ground Autoworx all week getting the right front axle replaced, an exhaust leak fixed, and a new battery.  Every year we come to TVC we take the VW into John to get a 'State of the Beetle' report.  It has 137,000 miles on it, and we don't want any surprises when we travel during the winter.  Better to replace/repair things when it is your choice, and not when you are stranded on the side of the road 100 miles from anywhwere.  At any rate I got a call from John Thursday afternoon advising the Beetle was ready to be picked up so I rode my Bad Boy over Friday morning to pay my bill and bring her home.  It ended up costing under $700 for everything....I was expecting about double that.  As you know, in spite of anyone's best efforts to do preventative maintenance things still can break, such as our fuel pump going out two winters ago in Mexican Hat, UT.  In our 4.5 years on the road we have only been stranded that one time in either our car, or the Newell so I think it is safe to say our efforts at preventative maintenance have had good results so far.

After returning to TVC I drove the VW down to the maintenance yard to give her a much overdo bath.  Upon my return I set about assembling my new 'truing stand' for bicycle wheels.  In the past I trued my wheels on the bike, but you can only get the big 'wobbles' out that way.....the only way to really get a wheel straight again is to use a 'truing stand'......

......I've got a couple of friends who need their wheels trued, so I am looking forward to breaking in this new toy!

We reported for our shift at 3:30 pm to a slightly busier park....we had some 65 arrivals scheduled for the day bringing us close to 50% occupancy again.  With more people in the park I stayed much busier and the time passed much more quickly.  I helped a gentleman trying to get our cable TV to play on his TV, there were a few noise issues, and just generally a lot of running running errands for the office staff (TLE & Morgan).  I spent about an hour fixing the headlight on the ranger cart which has ceased working the night before.  I ended up running a new power wire from the battery to the light switch and there was light once again.

As a result of the busier nature of the park TLE and I did not clock out until 11:30 pm.  After 10 days of not enough to do it was nice to have a lot to do again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bugaboo.....

8:29 am - Friday - It is 38 degrees as I write....that is Fahrenheit, not Centigrade!  While the weather guessers are forecasting temps in the mid to high 70's for the next 10 days the overnight lows have been getting into the high 30's the past few days.  I'm rocking two electric heaters this morning to take the chill off the interior of the Newell.  Of course, part of the reason is it so cold inside is we leave windows open at night.

Thursday I spent the morning sweeping the awning mats, raking the artificial turf, and wiping off the tables and chairs in our site.  Then it was on to the trailer to vacuum, and reorganize.  It's time to begin getting rid of stuff I have no room for once we begin to move again.  I know, we're not leaving for weeks yet, but it's never to early to begin to thin out the herd.

We reported for work at 3:30 pm, and I spent about an hour 'cleaning' tent sites in Section E, as well as the grounds around the office/store/laundry before being called to site 147 to check out a potential electrical issue.  As it turned out power at the pedestal was fine, but the RV owner was having an issue with his transfer switch allowing power into the coach.  Whenever I come across this issue it makes me thankful I have a low tech RV......my 34 year old Newell has no automatic transfer switch.....I am the transfer switch.  To change my power source from the pedestal to either the generator, or inverter I simple unplug the coach from the pedestal and replug it into the generator/inverter outlet in my electrical bay.....takes less than 30 seconds.  It also reconfirms to me why I prefer to arrive at an RV park well before sundown. If something does go wrong I have plenty of daylight to troubleshoot, and solve the problem.  Once it gets dark troubleshooting becomes much more difficult.

The foregoing brings up one of my big bugaboos about RVers arriving at an RV park well after business hours, especially after 10 pm when many kids and/or their parents are in bed sleeping.  The last thing they want to hear at 1 am is your rumbling diesel pusher pulling, or backing into the site next to them.  Personally I would be embarrassed to do that.  People arrive here at TVC all the time at 11 pm, midnight, 1 am, 2 am, and even as late (early?) as 3 am and think nothing of the disturbance to their fellow RVers their late arrival is going to cause.  If I am around when these late arrivals arrive I suggest politely to them it would considerate of them if they just remained parked in the registration lane until after 8 am the next morning when the office opens.  Most agree and do just that, but there is a subset of people who really don't care about disturbing their neighbors and insist on going to their site.  I realize that sometimes circumstances such as a breakdown, or accident can upset a carefully planned schedule causing some to arrive later than they planned, but the majority of these late arrivals plan on arriving that late, or early as the case may be.  Please.....if you are reading this, and you do this on a regular basis.....don't arrive at an RV park after 10 pm and insist on going directly to your site.  Be considerate of your neighbors!  Better yet, plan on arriving hours before sunset.....you will be happier, your family will be happier, and most importantly your RV neighbors will be happier!

We were off, once again, by 11 pm, and home shortly thereafter.  Thanks for stopping by!