Endless Fall.....

As I ponder about what to convey about Friday I can't help but reflect on my life in general these past few years and the origination of the inspiration to become nomadic.  There was a movie released in 1966 called "Endless Summer" written and directed by Bruce Brown.  Bruce followed two young surfers around the world for a year in search of the perfect wave, and this movie was about that experience.  The title captivated me from the very beginning.  In the summer of 1966 I was fast approaching my 17th birthday, and the thought of living a life where you chased summer around the world for a year so intrigued me.  Back then summer stood for freedom from schedules....school was out, and you had three months of sleeping in, staying up late, going to the beach, the mountains, the desert (I lived in Southern California), swimming in someone's pool, working on the perfect tan.  The idea that you could do that all year long seemed so unreal, but so alluring at the same time.  

1966 was the summer I spent the entire summer in a small, out of the way town in northern Minnesota called Orr.  Our church had a summer camp there.....I have written about SEP before (Summer Educational Program).  Orr was about an hour's drive from International Falls (the Canadian border).  The daylight portion of each day went from about 4:30 am to after 11 pm.....that's how far north we were.  I worked in the student dinning hall that summer as a 'bus boy'.....my best friend, Tom Carrozzo, and I had that job, and we were inseparable that summer.  We worked the breakfast shift from 6 am to 9 am every day, and then spent the next 3 hours down at the swimming docks working on the perfect tan.  Next we worked the lunch shift from Noon to 3 pm, and then spent the afternoon water skiing on Pelican Lake.  At 6 pm we would return to the kitchen for the dinner shift which ended at 9 pm.....we didn't go back to the dorm to go to bed.....we went fishing pretty much every night until after 11 pm....we caught and ate a lot of Northern Pike that summer.  Tom and I got by on about 5 hours of sleep a night the whole summer.....and it was the best summer of my life.  That was the last carefree summer for many years......

The next summer I graduated from high school and was going off to college in September so I spent the entire summer working as a plumber's assistant digging ditches, bending pipe, cutting pipe, threading pipe in order to stockpile a little extra money for my first year in college.  Once again Tom and I worked together that summer......it was some of the hardest work I have ever done and would hold that distinction until TLE and I worked at the sugar beet harvest in October of 2013.

All during college, all through the time we were raising 5 children I continued to think about living the kind of 'nomadic' life those two young surfers lived, only by the time I was in my late 50's I had decided that I would prefer seeking out the 'Endless Fall'......living in SoCal I had had my fill of hot summers, and really preferred the climate and temperatures of the Fall.  It was then that the dream was reborn, only now it would involve living in an RV and traveling here and there seeking Fall like weather and 70 degree temps.

Obviously, if you have read my blog for any period of time you know that we do not always achieve our goal of Fall weather and temps, but that is by choice.  Sometimes the temp jobs we take on keep us in an area longer than we would normally wish, and we end up with some cold temps.

So, Friday, March 20th we find ourselves living in Fall like weather with clear blue skies, big horizons, long views.....sure it gets down into the low 40's at night, but during the day it is in the 70's.  We run the heater a little bit first thing in the morning, but there is no A/C in use here....in fact we have not run the A/C  in our coach since early September.

Friday looked a lot like Thursday, Wednesday, and Tuesday......we took a hike up in the bluffs overlooking Lake Powell logging a little over 3 miles, then spent the rest of the day watching more March Madness games using our inverter, and reading.

I utilized the 'outdoor' TV to watch my games so I could enjoy the weather and views at the same time......while I was sitting there I noticed a roadrunner sitting in the nearby firepit......

 Our visitor

The outdoor TV....life is good.

Around 5:30 I started up another fire in our portable fireplace, and TLE provided the Margaritas while we watched the evening shadows lengthen, and the distant rock formations change colors for a little over an hour.....then it was time to fire up the BBQ again to grill some pollo asado for our pollo fajitas....they were sooooo scrumptious! 

After dinner we watched a recorded 'Blacklist', then the finish of a couple of 'March Madness' games before heading off to bed about 10 (TLE was in bed by 9 pm).......ah yes....the 'Endless Fall'!

Thanks for stopping by!

It's Madness!

We managed to get back to 97% of full charge Wednesday, and overnight the batteries only lost 7% of their charge, so we began Thursday morning at 90% of full charge.....it was a little overcast so I turned on the Honda genset for an hour boosting the batteries quickly back to 93%, then shut her down.  

Around 10 the batteries were getting sufficient sunlight to put us into positive range (charging) so I turned on the inverter, and then the TV so I could begin my day of watching 'March Madness'.  How much cooler can life get?  Here I am watching game after game off the inverter while the batteries continue to charge....in fact, over the course of the day they got back to 100%!  All the while I am watching one amazing finish after another, which is what 'March Madness' is all about.  The most memorable finish for me was the UCLA vs. SMU.....UCLA was firmly in control about 5 minutes into the 2nd half with a 10 point lead, and then stopped scoring....SMU scored 19 unanswered points over the next 10-12 minutes and were suddenly up by 9 points with just 5 minutes to go.  UCLA began scoring again, but were still down by 2 points with under 20 seconds to go.  One of their guards (Alford) launched a long desperation 3 point shot that appeared to miss, but the referee called goal tending and awarded the 3 points giving UCLA a one point lead with just over 2 seconds to play.....that goal tended shot ended up being the winning basket.  There were several top seeded teams that bit the dust, which I am sure has thrown a lot of brackets into disarray. 

The weather guessers gave us a 20% chance of rain Thursday, but as you can see from the following pictures it was about as far from rainfall Thursday as you can get.  Meanwhile, our friends down south in Wittmann, AZ had two days of rain while we were high and dry.  

TLE and I decided to take another walk about 11 am so we could be back in time for the aforementioned UCLA game.  We, once again, walked out to HWY 89 and back totaling 3.4 miles and averaging 3.7 mph in just 55 minutes, and in time to watch the UCLA game.

Upon return we discovered our two neighbors had moved on, and we were all alone in our spot once again.  I watched a couple more NCAA games before retiring outside to read, enjoy the view, the balmy air, and take the requisite nap.....I know, life is tough.

Around 5:45 I started a fire in our outdoor fireplace so we could sit and watch the setting sun hitting the beautiful rock formations off to the east.  We went through one bundle of wood enjoying the approaching eventide, a cigar, and some adult beverages.

 The lengthening shadows

Around 7 I lit the BBQ so I could grill up some carne asada for taco Thursday all the while listening to Classic Rock on XM's Classic Vinyl (channel 26).  Doesn't really get too much better.

Thanks for stopping by!

Boondocker's Delight!

 Lone Rock has been one of my favorite boondocking sites since were arrived here just under a year ago (early April 2014).  One of the things I love about the American Southwest are the long views, and giant horizons, and Lone Rock has it all.  When we boondock our site must have the 'it factor', and Lone Rock has the 'it factor' in spades.  The only sound you hear is that of the light wind as it softly flaps the window awnings.  The over night temps only get into the high 40's with the highs in the 60's and 70's, which reduces the loss of amp hours from our house batteries.  Overnight down in Cottonwood where it got into the low 30's, and high 20's overnight we would lose 10-12 percentage points on our charge, but here we are losing just 7-8 overnight.  On top of all that we are getting 3 bars of blazing fast 4G!  In fact, this is the best broadband we have had in a long while, which just makes this site off the charts at $5/day.

Around 9 I decided to finish 'glamming' up our site by putting out the awning mat, lounge chairs, the outdoor fireplace, and Malibu lights.

Around 10 am we decided to take a walk out to HWY 89 and back, which is about 3.2 miles round trip......

Walkin' the access road back from HWY 89

In order to get our total up to 4 miles we continued on past our site down to the bathhouse nearer the to the lake.....in all we covered 4.2 miles.

TLE needed to pick up some bottled water for the next two weeks so we drove into Page around 11 am.  First we stopped at the local visitors center to pick up a few brochures, then it was off to lunch at Big John's Texas BBQ.  We have some friends coming through Page around the first of April and we needed to check out a restaurant for lunch.  There are not a lot of 'knock your socks' off restaurants in page, but Big John's gets 4 solid stars from Yelp on 98 reviews, so we decided that might be the place.

The cool smoker with the double semi 'stacks'....very cool.

Al Fresco dining with buckets of peanuts.....our kind of place

We ordered their sampler plate and a couple of Grand Canyon Amber Ales to chase the great BBQ, and was it ever good.....we sat outside (see above) and enjoyed the ambiance.........Forest and Cindy, if you read the blog, this is where we will meet you on April 1st!

After a quick stop at Walmart we were back home by 2 pm to enjoy the afternoon breezes and views.  There was a message posted on my blog yesterday about how low the water level is getting here at Lake Powell, and it is way down, but after comparing a picture I took of Lone Rock a year ago with one taken this morning I think the lake is up slightly over last year at this time.....what is your opinion?

Taken in early April, 2014...note the exposed 'beach' on the right of the rock

Taken this morning, March 18th. 2015....the 'beach' on the right side is gone...the water is definitely a little higher than last year

Around 5 pm we decided to go outside with a bottle of wine to watch the colors change in the distance as the sun began its daily descent to the western horizon......like I said.....long view, big horizon!

We turned on the TV long enough to watch a two hour episode of Survivor, and were in bed by 10:30....at least I was.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Jello is jiggling

When last we left off I entitled yesterday's post "No Jello Here.....so far".......well, that's what I get for even jesting just a tad.....

I mentioned at least twice before that I noticed a couple of weeks ago that one of the lugs on the right rear dually was missing.  I did my due diligence to find a 'good' tire store to remove the broken lug, and then to replace all 20 of them.....Interstate Tires and Auto in Camp Verde was recommended to me by several local folks.

Our appointment was for Tuesday morning at 8 am, and so, being the mostly punctual person that I am, was up by 5:30 to type the blog, and then disconnect the water, sewer and electric and roll.  We were at Interstate by 7:50 am.......I had previously dealt with Jocelyn, the front desk person, both in person and on the phone to be sure they had everything they needed when I arrived so we could be in and out by 9.....I wanted to make the climb up to Flagstaff (3,500' elevation gain) in the cool of the morning.  When I walked in the door Jocelyn was not there.....instead I saw Mr. Jello behind the counter (his name tag says Mike, but I know better).  

Mr. Jello wasn't expecting me, and even better yet, he had no new lugs to install.....hmmm.  TLE is standing there beside me, and I feel her touch my arm.....that's her non-verbal signal to be calm.  Mr. Jello tells me he'll look into it and if the lugs really aren't there he'll get them in quickly.  In a few minutes he emerges from the office and walks over to where the coach is parked, and where I am standing.....mostly calm.....he says he'll get to work on removing the broken stud while we wait for the new studs to arrive.....they have another shop up in Cottonwood where they have a full set on the shelf.......'supposedly'.

I've seen truck tire guys remove broken lugs before, and with the right tools it take less than 5 minutes.  Well, Mr. Jello didn't have the right tools, as it turns out, and it took him over an hour.  I'm not sure how many foot pounds of torque they put on those lugs when they tighten them down, but I'm sure it is well over 100 pounds, if not closer to 200, and there is Mr. Jello trying to take off what is left of the broken lug with a regular sized pair of channelocks......even I know that has no chance on God's green earth of working, and I suddenly hear those exact words escape the confines of my mouth......then I start repeating silently to myself......"serenity now....serenity NOW!"

I decide it is better if I go inside and try to occupy my mind with something else......about 30 minutes later I cannot resist going outside to see if any progress is being made, and arrive just in time to see Mr. Jello just finish unscrewing the broken lug......once again I find myself saying outloud what I was thinking......."I have to say, Mike (I used the name on his tag), I am impressed....I really didn't think you were going to get it off before Noon"......Mr. Jello looked up and smiled that kind of smile that you know means way more than it should.  He then says.....yep, got 'er off....I just wish we had the new lugs so I could finish the job....of course, I'm thinking the same thing......."please, just finish the job", but I manage to keep that thought inside my head..

We are advised it will be another 30 minutes before the lugs arrive from Cottonwood, which is only 15 miles way.....I'm thinking I could have driven there and back 3 times by now (it is now 9:30 am), but I don't say that.....instead I say, "well 'Mike', my wife and I are going to walk up to Starbucks for breakfast, and, hopefully, they will arrive while we are gone, and we will return to find you all done"......well, not so much.

We returned about 10:30 to find nothing more had been done since we left....NOTHING.  I walk into the office to ask Mr. Jello what is going on, and he says something odd, at least to me....."I am not 100% sure why they are not here yet", and then turns away and walks into the shop leaving me just standing there.

I walk slowly back to the coach and am almost there when I hear a truck drive up, and see one of the shop guys get out, so I walk back over to see if he has the lugs....you know, the plural of 'lug'.  As I walk up I see the guy holding 'one' lug and explaining something to 'Magic Mike'....he hands him the 'lug' and walks away.  'Mike' turns to me and says....."they really didn't have a full set of lugs up at the Cottonwood store.....they only had one".....he extends his arm fully to show me the one lug.

By this time I am happy it is only one lug......I tell him to just get that installed and put back on the other lugs because we need to get going (it is fast closing in on 11 am, and we still need to top off our diesel tank......my plan to make the climb up to Flagstaff in the cool of the morning has crumbled into a thousand pieces).

At any rate, 'Mike' re-installed the wheels and the lugs, and even though it took him three hours to do a 40 minute job, only charged me for 1/2 hour of labor plus $10 for the lug, or $56, if you will.

We headed over to the local Chevron station where diesel could be had for $2.59 per gallon and topped off our tank with 36 gallons.....wow, we have only used 36 gallons of diesel since January 20th.......finally some good news!

We were northbound on I-17 by 11:20 am with 200 miles to Lone Rock National Park on the shores of Lake Powell.  Once we had the 'lug' fiasco behind us our drive to Lone Rock was completely uneventful......I took a break just shy of Cameron, AZ, and then finished the drive up to Lone Rock (just barely over the border into Utah), which is about 7 miles north of Glen Canyon Dam.  We were parked in our spot by 3:30, and set up by 5.

On the shores of Lake Powell

Just after we finished setting up I walked back up to the kiosk to pay for our stay.  Since this is a National Park we pay 1/2 the normal fee ($10), so our stay here for two weeks will cost us exactly $70, or $5/day.  I paid for one week, because you never know what the Jello will do to your plans.  They have a computerized kiosk, which is very easy to use.....you just select 'Camping' and then it asks if you are a senior, and when answered 'yes' prompts you to enter your Golden Age card number.  With 3 minutes I was walking back to the coach and snapped the picture above.

Right now there is one other RV near us on the upper level.....we prefer it there because it is easy to get stuck in the sand down near the shoreline, which we did in the VW when we were here last year about the same time.

Life is good even if you get an unexpected dose of Jello on the menu....thanks for stopping by!

No Jello here....so far....

First Saturday felt more like Real Monday to me.......there was way too much "toing and froing" as TLE would say...........

Our sole reason for remaining 3 more days in Camp Verde (other than the fact we like it here) was to wait for the arrival of TLE's new iPad Mini, which we decided to have delivered to the Verizon store in Prescott as they pretty much guaranteed they would have it by Monday, whereas not so much to Krazy K RV Park.  As it turns out they were correct.....we got a call from Jacquelan just after 10 am saying her iPad was there!

We were in the car on our way to Prescott by 10:15, and at the Verizon store by 11 am where Jacquelan helped TLE get the iPad activated, and set up with her basic programs.  TLE had backed up her old iPad to the 'iCloud' Monday morning so it was just a matter of her downloading her stuff when we got home, which she did.

Then it was up to Costco to buy some essentials, continuing on to Trader Joe's for some more essentials, and then back down to the Fry's fuel station to fill up with premium unleaded at $2.25/gallon, which included a .30 cent discount per gallon based on earned fuel points......we were back home just before 2 pm and I was ready for a nap!

While TLE went up to the laundry to do another load of wash I continued on my quest to get ready for 'lift off' Tuesday morning.  First I filled up the fresh water tank to the full mark, and then dumped the black tank once again......our next two week stint will be dry camping up near Page, AZ so she needs to be as empty as possible when we arrive.  While I was filling and flushing the black tank a couple of times I took time to wipe off the lower half of the coach with a micro fiber towel being sure to not get too distracted and have the black tank overflow......that has happened to us all at least once, right?

Next I set up the HP Netbook because I wanted to run the 'optimization' software I downloaded the last time I used it and, hopefully, speed up the operation a tad.  The original AVG software I downloaded had a glitch in it so I was not able to complete the optimization then.  As it turned out I needed to update the software and that took over an hour, but eventually it finished and I was able to run the optimization program without any hitches.  I found out that part of my problem is I need at least 2 gigs of RAM to run Windows 7, and I only have 1 gig, so that will be something I will look into at a later date.  Nevertheless, it now runs a little faster.  Then I got a message advising I needed to update my anti-virus files and that took a long, long time......I have a theory......I believe all machines come equipped with a 'critical detector sensor'.......the built in sensor 'senses' when you need to get something done fast and it automatically kicks the machine into 'slow gear'.....it is almost as if it can detect the smell of anxiety in the air......:-).....I'm kidding, of course, but sometimes it seems so real.

Next up was TLE's need to download her 'stuff' from the 'iCloud' to her new iPad, and that took quite a while, too.  Even though we are getting 2-3 bars of 4G here we are kind of in a bowl which partially blocks the broadband signal.....at least that is my 'unproven theory'.  When we were up on the NFS land we got the same signal, but had no geographical obstructions........the signal was very consistent, and speeds were too.  

I finished putting away the final things in the trailer, dropped it back on to the hitch (I disconnect the trailer when we stay in one place for an extended time as when I walk around in the trailer you can feel it in the coach when it is hooked up, and visa versa.....gets a little irritating to TLE, or even me after a while) so we are officially ready to ROLL!

The 'March Madness' teams have been selected, and the four brackets filled, so let the madness begin!

Thanks for stopping by!

Getting 'Loopy'

We were determined to hike the 'Airport Mesa Loop' after we had been thwarted on Friday so we decided almost immediately to return on Sunday, but much earlier.....of course 'earlier' is a relatively subjective term when one is no longer part of the workaday world.  For us departing at 9 am to drive into Sedona is early.  I decided to drive I-17 north to Arizona 179 and it probably took us 10 minutes less going that way mainly because we were following cars occupied by drivers who understood how to drive through the numerous roundabouts without coming to a complete stop.  We arrived at the trailhead around 9:45 am snagging the last parking spot.....I love it when a plan comes together!

Most hikers seem to hike this trail in a clockwise fashion, but the book we have recommends hiking it counter-clockwise, so that is what we did.  Depending on how ambitious you may feel on a particular day you can make this a 3 mile loop, or a 4.5 mile loop.  The great thing is you can make your final decision just before you arrive back at the parking lot to add the extra 1.5 miles, or just be satisfied with having hiked 3 miles on this advanced-intermediate trail.  It is quite rocky, and in some places quite narrow with big drops so you must pay attention.  Nevertheless, it is well worth the time and energy as the views are amazing.......

Still adjusting our hiking poles for the hike

As you work your way around the mesa, which does, by the way, have an airport on top with a landing strip long enough for business jets to land.....we know because we saw one coming in for a landing as we round the southern end of the mesa.....the view continually changes, which is why this trail is a local favorite, and is referred to as having '360 degree views'.

Bell Rock in the center, and Courthouse Rock on the left

 Taking in the 'Sedona View' , which is also a popular 'vortex', at the end of the hike

We finished the 3 mile portion of the 'loop' in about 2 hours having stopped frequently along the way to just take in the views.  As you come within view of the small parking lot you have the option of continuing on past the parking lot on the trail that loops around the north end of the mesa to add the additional 1.5 miles to your hike.  As always, TLE has the final say as to how far we will hike, or bike and she decided 3 miles was good on this day, especially as it was coming into the heat of the day, and this day the high was forecast to be in the mid 80's.....a little warmer than we have been used to for a while.

Since we weren't done enjoying the view we opted to visit the local Starbucks which offers more of the views for which people journey to Sedona to enjoy.....a Moca Frappuccino for moi, and a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino for TLE.

TLE had picked up a few grocery items at the local Bashas' in Camp Verde the day before, but she needed to do a 'big' shopping, and her store of preference locally is Fry's in Cottonwood.....mostly because we get points towards fuel discounts at Fry's.  We reached Fry's in Cottonwood by 1:30, and were home by 2:30 airing out the coach which had gotten warm while we were gone in spite of us leaving most of the windows open.  We actually opened the coach door, dropped the screen down, and then turned on the 'attic' fan for the rest of the afternoon.  This kept the inside comfortable without the need for air conditioning.

I spent the rest of the afternoon slowly putting more stuff away in the trailer....stopping occasionally to watch basketball, or golf on the trailer TV........by the way I want to put this 'putting stuff away' into some context here.  Some might believe it takes me way too much time to organize the trailer so we can re-insert the VW when we get ready to re-position.  The truth is in order to keep the process from becoming too onerous I spread out this task over several days doing a few things each day leading up to our departure.  Of course, the amount of stuff I need to put away is directly proportionate to the length of time we have been sitting in one place. By spreading out the housekeeping over several days it never becomes burdensome, or overwhelming.

Thanks for stopping by!

More projection

One thing many men do is collect stuff, but that does not translate very well to the nomadic life.  I used to collect watches, the 'self-winding' type, but that takes up too much room.  I had to find something to collect that would fit my lifestyle and not take up any additional space.  First I began to collect license plates from each state we visited (I am only missing Maryland and Washington D.C. now) and fastened them to the drivers side wall inside the trailer as I have written about previously.  I started collecting coasters from the various micro breweries and brew pubs we have visited, but only recently decided how to display them.  If you have been reading my  blog for any period of time and see the number of coasters in the picture above, you know I have not always remembered to get a coaster from every brewhouse of which we have darkened the doors.  I did, however, have a sizable collection accruing in a cupboard inside the coach until TLE called me on it and suggested I needed to find a better place for them, so I did, and the picture above is the result.......I stick them to the wall over the workbench in the trailer!

Wear and tear occurs in an RV just like it does in a 'sticks and bricks' home, and when I turned on the fluorescent lights in the trailer on Real Saturday to put up my most recent 'coaster acquisition' I noticed the middle fixture was not lighting up.  I was pretty sure the tubes had not gone bad, so it had to be the ballast, which was over 4 years old.......so, just when I was wondering what I was going to do to keep myself busy a new project lay right before my eyes.  To be sure it was the ballast I removed one of the fluorescent tubes from the non-functioning fixture and installed it in the fixture over the workbench, and discovered it worked fine, so it had to be the ballast.  I removed the faulty ballast so I could take it with me to ACE hardware to get the right one.

TLE decided to come with me because she wanted to stop off at Bashas' to pick up a few things in preparation for our departure on Tuesday.  Naturally, just as we arrived at ACE I realized I had left the ballast sitting on the steps of the trailer......just as I was setting it down I had this momentary thought.....".....you should just put it right in the car, so you won't forget it....", but I didn't.....I love how optimistic I am after 65 years of forgetting one thing after another.....:-)

As it turned out ACE did not have the one I needed in stock anyway, so after we finished at Bashas' I drove TLE back to the coach, got the ballast, and then drove solo up to the Home Depot in Cottonwood where I did find the correct one.  The one thing I did remember about the ballast I had removed is that it was for T8 fixtures, and all ACE had were T4 and T5 ballasts.  I was pretty sure Home Depot would have T8's, and they did......having the failed ballast with me helped me narrow down the correct T8 ballast and I was on my way back home within minutes.  

I did stop off at the weekly flea market in Camp Verde on the way home, and managed to find a couple of tools I could not live without.....yep there is still room in the tool bag!

While I was working on installing the new ballast, and straightening up the trailer I had a couple of NCAA basketball games playing in the background......March Madness begins next week, so many teams are jockeying for position by doing well in their end of season conference tournaments, and the result is a lot of good games.

After fixing the light fixture I continued putting things away in the trailer in preparation for lift off Tuesday morning......oh, by the way, I did re-schedule our 'lug replacement' at Interstate for first thing Tuesday morning so that will be done before we head north.  Additionally, I found out the local Chevron station has their diesel at $2.59/gallon so we will top off the tank before jumping on the Interstate.

TLE had me BBQ two skinless chicken breasts she had acquired at Bashas' for dinner for which she prepared two sides of yellow rice and corn (off the cob).  Following dinner I watched the SEC conference final between Notre Dame and North Carolina, which was one by Notre Dame.

Thanks for stopping by!