A longish day.....

7:47 am - Monday - October 14th - LPG&RVR - 38° F, humidity 66%, wind 2 mph out of the southeast....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 78° F.  Today is departure day, and the park is empty except for some guys who are laying fiber optic cables along US-395, and they will be here for a couple more months.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were on the Clinton-Mukilteo Ferry headed to Seattle......

Sunday was a longish day.  It was too cold to do anything outside until after 10 am so we got dressed and headed over to the Clubhouse to have a rare breakfast.  We have done so each October before departing LPG&RVR, to enjoy the ambiance of the deck, while saying our 'until next times' to all our friends.  Since Sunday was 'closing day' the restaurant would only be open until noon time.  The park was quickly emptying as we made the drive over, and by the time we returned an hour later there were only 2 RVs left in the upper section, and that was it.

I had an ambitious game plan for Sunday, which mostly included washing the Newell from top to bottom, literally.  I haven't cleaned the roof in a long time, and after sitting for 6 months I fully expected it to be quite dirty, but it wasn't that bad.  My main concern was being sure the solar panels are clean to maximize their charging capabilities as we motor southward. Once the roof was clean I proceeded to wash all four sides of the Newell, something I have not done in one day, let alone doing it in just a few hours, in years.  I began washing around 12 pm, and finished around 3 pm, and was ready to be done, but there was more to do before the sun set for our final night at LPG&RVR until next May.

I had to dump the black tank, and disconnect the sewer hose, then disconnect the water, and electrical in order to back up the Newell, with TLE's help, to the trailer, so we could drop it on the hitch.  I wanted to plug the trailer into the Newell in order to check the brake, and turn signals on the trailer to be sure they are working before we leave on Monday.  In the past we haven't done this until it was time to leave, and found there were issues which had to be dealt with before we left.  Of course, when you do it ahead of time like we did Sunday, everything works!

All the time I was working outside, with occasional assistance from TLE, she was inside preparing the Newell for travel, and also doing several loads of wash.  There is a lot of work to do inside after being stationary for 6 months, but she does a great job of securing everything so there are no flying projectiles whilst underway.  By the time I finished outside I was beat, but got everything done which needed doing on Sunday.

We'll not be hauling anchor until the afternoon on Monday, so that gives us time to finish putting the final touches on the trailer before VW insertion around 1 pm.  We'll be the last seasonal workers to leave LPG&RVR.  Monday we will have  been here 6 months, and 4 days....time for a new view!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Migration......

7:58 am - Sunday - October 13th - LPG&RVR - 38° F, humidity 87%, wind ZERO mph out of the east by southeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 73° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I stayed overnight at Ririe Reservoir east of Idaho Falls.  The afternoon looked like this.....↴

....when we awoke the next morning it looked like this....↴

 ....we had no idea it was going to snow overnight.....what a surprise!

And so it began, the final work day of the LPG&RVR 2024 season, and a beautiful sunrise.....

.....it was cold!  I wore pants, two long sleeve shirts, my LPG&RVR winter jacket, watch cap and gloves to begin the day.  The forecast high was 66° F, but it barely got to 60° F.  There was a chance of rain, and we got that, too, for a short period of time.  We rented just 12 golf carts, and many of our customers got a little damp during their rounds. As might be expected with rain, the golf carts came back filthy, but is was what it was....lol.

I spent most of my day marshaling, and enjoying the big views....

There's that forecast rain

.....there is a reason why we have decent cell phone coverage.....cell towers on top of Likely Mountain....about 8 miles away.....

....the day passed quickly, and soon it was time for TLE's lunch break.  I decided to take a one hour lunch for the first time in months, because I wanted to work to 5 pm to be sure I could wash, and stow as many carts as possible.  As it turned out, in spite of my best intentions, the final three carts did not return until after 5:20 pm, so they will be washed and stowed by Lynn, who is working the final Sunday of the season.

We began saying our 'until next times' Saturday morning, and continued doing so late into the day.  I'm sure there will be more on Sunday as we take down the rest of our site in preparation for lift off Monday.  It has been a great summer, and now as Fall tightens its grip on the Pitt River Valley it is time to migrate southward for another winter.  Have we become snowbirds?  Perhaps.  But, we are still nomads, and look forward to changing our view without going through escrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

One of those days.....

5:38 am - Saturday - October 12th - LPG&RVR - 50° F, humidity 44%, wind 5 mph out of the south by southeast.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 65° F.  On this date in 2019 TLE and I were working at Ramona Oaks RV Resort.....our campsite....

Friday was hump day in our abbreviated 3 day work week, and it went quickly.  In all we rented 17 golf carts....not bad for the final Friday of the 2024 season.  I mowed the large Night Office grass area for the final time this season, spent time in the woods on either side of the driving range looking for errant golf balls for the final time this season, and made numerous marshaling rounds of the course to find everyone staying on the green grass as they should.  It was just a very nice normal day at LPG&RVR.

After sitting in for TLE during her lunch break I headed out for one more marshaling round of the course.  About half way around I decided I was going to play 9 holes after my shift ended at 3:30 pm, and that is exactly what I did.  I haven't played a round for about 5 weeks.  No particular reason, just didn't feel like it, but now that my time is short I wanted at least one more round.

However, before 3:30 pm arrived I had a few golf carts to wash, and stow.  There were still 7 carts outstanding when I loaded my golf bag onto my cart, and headed to the 10th hole.  If you are going to play just 9 you want to play the back 9.  I took no warm up shots on the driving range prior to hitting my first driver in 5 weeks.  Understandably, my first shot was a grounder to the right, which went about 40 yards.  I teed up a second ball and hit a nice fade landing around 180 yards out, but in the middle of the fairway.  My second shot was a 5 wood which I hit to within 50 yards of the green.  I then hit a wedge, which came up short, but managed to get a 6 on the par 4 hole.  Next up was the par 3 eleventh hole.  I hit a really nice 7 iron to within 8 feet of the hole, then sank my putt for birdie...that's more like it!

From that point on I was on fire.  I hit a nice drive on the 12th hole to within 80 yards of the hole.  I then hit a 9 iron which just rolled of the green, but made a nice chip, and two putted for a bogey.  On the 13th par 4 hole I hit the longest drive I've ever hit on that hole to within 70 yards of the hole.  I hit a nice wedge, and one putted for another birdie.  Two birdies in the first four holes.

Next up was the long par 5.  I hit a long drive, then a beautiful 5 wood to within 120 yards of the hole.  Kind of muffed my second shot, but then got on the green, and one putted for a bogey.  One of my favorite holes is the 15th, hard dog leg right.  I hit driver off the tee, cutting the corner with a perfect fade. When I drove around the dog leg  to find my ball I saw that it was just 5 feet off the green....I almost drove the green!  I chipped, and two putted for my par.  Next was my favorite hole on the course....#16.....an elevated tee box to a small par three green.  My 6 iron landed just off the green on the right side about pin high.  I chipped onto the green, and one putted for my par.

I rarely hit a great tee shot on #17, par 5, but on this day I hit a boomer....about 225 yards out.....long for me....and in the fairway.  I then hit another beautiful 5 wood which landed to the left of the green.  I then chipped the ball onto the green to within 10 feet of the hole, then 2 putted for my par.  Finally, the short par 4, 18th green.  I hit a pretty long drive which landed just off the fairway on the left side, then pitched the ball onto the green, and two putted for par.  

Sometimes all the stars just align, and you have one of those golfing days you will not soon forget, and Friday was one of those days.  I had no three putts, and only one double bogey.  All but one of my wedge shots landed on the green.  As I write I am still smiling about many of those shots I made.  Frankly, I've had a few of those days this year where I could do little wrong.  I'm playing golf as well, if not better than I did when I was in my 30's, and it doesn't cost me a dime.....love it!  That I could lay off for 5 weeks, and play this well just blows my mind, but laying off that long is not a formula for long term success....lol.

Thanks for stopping by!

And then there were four.....

 5:45 am - Friday - October 11th - LPG&RVR - 42° F, humidity 57%, wind 3 mph out of the south by southeast.....partially cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 79° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I successfully brought our friend's John Deer 830 backhoe back to life after sitting lifeless for 18 months....

....we discovered the trigger wire to the fuel solenoid had shorted out.  Once that was replaced she started right up....it's almost always something simple.

And then there were just four days until we haul anchor.....three work days, then Sunday to finish packing up, and then haul the anchor on Monday.  It was bitter cold as we headed down to the Clubhouse for the first of just 3 work days this week.  The park is not super busy right now, so there were not many people who had reserved tee times for Thursday.  I initially staged 6 golf carts, and we ended up renting 12, or 13.

I had just three things to do Thursday....1) clear the driving range for its weekly mowing, 2) mow, and 3) marshal.  I didn't leave on first first round of the course until after 9 am it was so cold.  You know, that kind of deep, penetrating cold that easily pierces your hoodie sweatshirt, and pants....yes, I wore pants Thursday for the first time in a few weeks.  It was so cold that before I made my first round I stopped off at the Newell to add a vest, and gloves to my wardrobe, and I wore them until lunch time.

I was back from my first round of the course around 10 am, and promptly transferred my old body to the 2 bag Husqvarna to get in an hour of mowing before I needed to close the driving range to clear the balls.  I managed to get the parking lot grass, the small pavilion grass, the large grass area by site #30, and the group fire pit grass mowed before 11 am.

It only took me 45 minutes to clear the balls using a single 'shag bag'....I managed to fill two 5 gallon buckets with range balls.  Once I had them soaking in water to clean them, I headed into the office to give TLE her lunch break.  The rest of the day went by pretty quickly.  I made another marshaling round of the course around 1:15 pm, then returned to my mowing duties.  I mowed the three large grass areas up the hill in the residential area, then all four employee sites before heading back to the Clubhouse to begin washing and stowing golf carts.  By the time I headed home at 3:30 pm all but two golf carts had been washed and stowed....I get those two Friday morning.

Thanks for stopping by!

Finished!

5:42 am - Thursday - October 10th - LPG&RVR - 46° F, humidity 49%, wind 2 mph out of the south by southeast.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 79° F.  On this date in 2010 TLE and I were in Santa Fe, NM with friends doing the tourist thing.....what a cool place......

......this was the first trip pulling our 2007 American Trailer with the T-Bird inside.

Before we could finish organizing the trailer Wednesday TLE and I both had hair appointments in Alturas at Kaleidescope Hair Salon at 9 am so we were out the door and on our way by 8:30 am.  We were done with our hair styling by 9:30 am, and then headed to Dollar General to pick up a few things, then over to Holiday Market for our final grocery acquisitions, then back to ACE Hardware where I picked up some window washing fluid for the VW, and a new DeWalt tool bag.  We were back home before 11 am.

Wednesday was also day four of the great 'site takedown'.....at the beginning of the day the inside of the trailer looked like this ↴...still a lot of stuff to organize....lol.....

.....by the end of the day it looked like this ↴......

....there was a lot of work done Wednesday, but it went quickly, and now the trailer is ready for VW Beetle insertion on Monday.  As you can see, there are a few things left, such as the black trash bag on the right side of the picture....that bag contains clothing donations we will drop off at the Goodwill donation center in Carson City.....to the left you see a trash can, which will be emptied, and collapsed.....

....behind the trash can is our Starlink storage box, which will be moved into the Newell, and our 3 Bluetti portable solar panels, which will also be moved into the Newell for our trip south.  The black bag is my former computer which will be donated to an E recycling center.  

As I wrote yesterday, we moved all of my tools into the right rear storage bay.....

....as I wrote above, I had to buy one more DeWalt tool bag at ACE Hardware in which to put more tools, but they all fit perfectly!  They used to take up a lot of room by the trailer door, and were hard to access, as well as step over, but now they are all in one place, out of the way, and very easy to access should I need them for any reason....

.....to make room for all the stuff that was moved to the front of the trailer we set up one of the folding tables on which to place the 'light' stuff....small boxes, our two suitcases, ice chest, etc.  I cut up a large cardboard box to form a wall around that stuff and then secured everything with a ratcheting cargo strap.  The heavy stuff is on the floor under the table.

After finishing the trailer I hauled a cart load of junk to the trash can, and some stuff down to the Night Registration office to store over the winter.  By 4 pm were were done, and I was relaxing in my recliner.  I went with TLE over to the Clubhouse around 4:45 pm so TLE could pick up the cash drawer, and while she did that I putted for about 15 minutes....a nice ending to a hectic four days.

Thanks for stopping by!

Just 5 days until lift off....

7:22 am - Wednesday - October 9th - LPG&RVR - 42° F, humidity 49%, wind 3 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 80° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I arrived in Delaware, the 48th state we have visited in the Newell since 2012.....

....we stayed at the Elks Lodge (#2281) in New Castle, DE and then did day trips around the area, and down to the sea.

Tuesday was our 3rd day of 'taking down' site #55.  As you know, big progress was made Monday, so Tuesday would be even better, but first we decided to head over to the Clubhouse to have a late breakfast around 11 am.....

.....we haven't done that for a long time, and it was such a great way to begin day three of 'taking down' our site.  We were back at the Newell around 12 pm.

To begin  the work TLE and I moved the two heavy (AC200P & AC200MAX - about 70 pounds each) Bluetti® solar batteries into the through bay to occupy the space previously occupied by our two travel suitcases, which we moved into the trailer.  We then moved all four of my tool bags into the right rear storage bay where we keep our telescoping ladder.  We previously stored all of our sun shades in there, which are legion.  The sun shades will go into the large Rubbermaid storage box we used as a TV stand this summer, and that will sit on top of the tool box on the trailer tongue, as it did when drove north from SoCal last April.  Once again less weight in the trailer, and more weight in the Newell.  Finally, we took down the BBQ station, and umbrellas....

No more BBQ station, or umbrellas

The Rubbermaid storage box

The stuff in the middle will be moved up front, but the 3 Bluetti® solar panels will go into the Newell.  The table with tools to the left will be taken down, and the tools will go into a new tool bag I'm buying as ACE Hardware today.

.....by the time we were done with all of that it was after 3 pm, and time for a shower.  We'll finish the rest Wednesday, and if we still have some work to do we'll do that this Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Creating order out of chaos.....

 7:11 am - Tuesday - October 8th - LPG&RVR - 45° F, humidity 50%, wind 2 mph out of the south by southeast....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 83° F....it is 7:13 am, and the sun has not peaked over the Warner Mountains yet.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were at Katz's Delicatessen in Manhattan (NYC)  where the famous "When Harry met Sally" seen was shot.....by the way, the Hot Pastrami on Marble Rye was amazing....

The first day of organizing the trailer for VW insertion is always chaotic, and at the end of that first day it appears things are worse then when I began.  A lot of stuff needs to be moved and stowed before I can even think about stowing our three bicycles.  Once the bikes get stowed, then things go pretty rapidly from there.  The thing is, it takes most of the 2nd day just to get to that point, and for most of that day it does not look like much has been done, but at the end of that 2nd day the bikes can be stowed....

The bicycles are stowed

....now I can take down the second tool table, and begin to move the rest of our stuff forward, making room for the Beetle....

My back machine is stowed

The Black & Decker Workmate is stowed

The bench grinder is stowed

I think I've written before about buying a BLUETTI® solar charger for when we are living off the grid, which we will be doing all winter.  My initial need for the BLUETTI® AC200P was to power the trailer, while we are boondocking, to avoid having to use a noisy generator.  The original unit was their AC200P with 2,000 watt hours of power, to which I added two 2,048 watt hour B230 expansion batteries for a total of 6,096 watt hours.  The AC200P was not really made to work with the B230 expansion batteries, but it worked okay.  What I really needed was their AC2000MAX, which does work perfectly with the two B230 expansion batteries, and also has a 30 amp RV outlet.....

The AC200P is on the left, and the AC200MAX is on the right

The RV 30 amp outlet

One of two B230 expansion batteries

.....the new BLUETTI® arrived Monday.  Combined with the AC200MAX which provides 2048 watt hours of power, I now have a total of 6,144 watt hours, and I can now just use the AC200P to power the trailer, which it does well all by itself.  I also have three 100 watt portable solar panels to recharge the AC200MAX each day, so we can live off the grid comfortably for a number of months.  Our total investment for everything (AC200P, AC200MAX, two B230's, and three solar panels) was around $4,000.

So, you're wondering, "Clarke you already have 620 watts of solar panels on the roof of the Newell, why do you need more?", and that would be a good question.  During the day the rooftop panels run everything in the coach, including many of our appliances, but overnight the two 8d batteries continue to discharge until the sun rises again.  We always turn off the 2,000 watt inverter overnight to reduce the amount of power loss in those 8d batteries, but would like to be able to leave it on 24 hours a day.  We will use the AC200MAX + two B230 batteries to power our Intelli Power charger/converter, which charges those two 8d batteries, thereby keeping them at 100% all night long, which will enable us to use our electric heaters first thing in the morning to warm the coach, thereby saving propane.  In the past when we have boondocked it is for a month, or two, and using our propane heaters is fine, because our time is limited, and we are not that far from town where we can get more propane if needed. This winter we will be living in a VERY remote area, 30+ miles from town, and 6 miles from a paved road, and we don't want to have to worry about getting propane delivered.  

So, where are we going for the winter?  We'll be spending a little over 6 months on 40 acres of land in the southwest helping the owners upgrade their property.  Right now there is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home equipped with full solar power (12,000 watt inverter, and a full solar array).  There is a large 2 car garage, and large shop, a green house, and chicken coop.  The property has a septic system, and a 5,000 gallon water tower.  We will have access to water, and a cleanout where we can macerate our black tank effluent as needed.  Eventually we will be hooked up to their electric system, but that will take a while, hence the need for a more robust off grid electrical system for the Newell.

By the end of Monday I was one tired puppy, but I got done what I needed to get done.  around 6 pm I grilled a large filet mignon on the Sea-B-Que for our dinner, to which TLE added a side salad.  The weather was perfect all day, and at 6 pm it was idyllic.  I should mention that TLE spent all day in the Newell defrosting the fridge, doing a couple loads of wash, and deep cleaning the Newell from bow to stern.  She occasionally joined me in the trailer when I needed help lifting, or moving something heavy and awkward.  We are about to begin day three of our take down of our site, so time to get dressed, and do just that! 

Thanks for stopping by!