Stuff....should it go, or should it stay?

We went back to work after what was essentially 4 days off......technically we had three days off (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), but if we get off at 1300 hours on Sunday, and don't go back to work until 1300 hours on Thursday that's four days no matter how you add it up.....frankly it felt like four days, too.  We had the 'bottom shift' and for a change we arrived at the Cape to light winds, partly cloudy skies and somewhat balmy temperatures.

In my blog the other day I posted a picture of a very old picture showing the layout of the lighthouse station, but taken from an angle I had not previously photographed.  In order to give proper perspective to the very old picture I took this panorama shot yesterday from the same vantage point......

.....we actually had over 160 visitors Wednesday which was to be expected with the more welcoming weather conditions.  And more visitors means time flies by because you are continually engaged in conversations with visitors.....that's how I like it.

Yesterday I left off our discussion about preparing for the full time RV life by posing the next question you should consider......."What do we do with all the 'stuff' we have accumulated over the decades?".....indeed, what do 'we' do?  Once we had decided we wanted to travel and live full time on the road in our RV the next logical step was to begin to reduce the amount of 'stuff' we had.  Most of the folks whose blogs I had been reading for a few years by this time had gone through this process, but after they became 'fulltimers'.  The process always seemed to take them 2-3 years, or more.  They would start out putting virtually all their 'stuff' into storage utilizing one to three storage units, and then each year when they would come back to visit their 'stuff' they would get rid of more and more until, ultimately, they had let go of everything.  Having the benefit of their experience to analyse I decided we should start to divest ourselves of our 'stuff' three years in advance of our moving into our RV.  By March of 2008 we had acquired our Newell, and knew what we had room for, and what we did not, so the process began with yard sales, and ended with giving away 'stuff ' as February 1st of 2011 came closer.   Even when we had moved into our Newell to spend a year at the county park I mentioned previously we still had a trailer full of 'stuff' for which we had not yet made decisions.  So, technically, it took us almost 4 years to make almost all the decisions about our 'stuff'.  The clear advantage for starting the process way before you hit the road is not spending money needlessly on storage units for years at a time after you hit the road.

As February 1st of 2012 drew closer I went to TLE and told her we had to deal with the trailer full of 'stuff' still left, or we would have to slide the car in sideways for it to fit.  We finally knuckled down to the task with about 10 days to go, and cleared the trailer out enough to insert the car (2002 T-Bird at the time).  At the time we had, in addition to the car, 2 road bikes, one mountain bike, one tandem bicycle, and two tadpole recumbent trikes.  We were also carrying a CampChef Tahoe 3 burner portable stove (with grill box), sleeping bags, and other things whose descriptions now elude me.  By the time we had been on the road for 5 months we removed the two tadpole trikes,the CampChef stove and grill box, the sleeping bags, and a few other things because we were not using them.  Since then we have divested ourselves of a few more things to the point now where we only carry the 'stuff' that gets used on a regular basis.

So, as you can see, in spite of our proactively beginning the winnowing process three years in advance it still took us 18 additional months after we moved into the Newell to finally get down to the essentials that work for our lifestyle.  Some might say we still have too much stuff, including the 26' enclosed car trailer that we pull thousands of miles per year.  Sure, for some, it is probably still too much, but what we have now is what makes us happy as we live our lives on the road in a 'tiny house'.

In my next installment we we'll talk about why we chose the type of RV we chose......thanks for stopping by!

Rainchecks and other stuff......

The rain continued on and off all day long and into the night Wednesday, and we were content to remain inside.  We haven't had a 'raincheck' kind of day in a long time.....a day where you just hang out doing essentially nothing.  No cleaning.....no fixing.....no organizing....no planning.....no running into town....no work......just stay inside, fix some popcorn and watch a few movies.....okay FIVE movies.  We're in kind of a 'slow broadband' zone here in Cape Blanco State Park so Netflix is out of the question, but we do have a DVD player, and recently whilst shopping at the Walmart in Grants Pass, OR I picked up a few DVD's out of their $5 bin......'Snow White and the Huntsman', 'Jack the Giant Slayer' and 'The Never Ending Story' part one and two.  Additionally our friends, Mike and Liz, loaned us a DVD called 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'.  So, that is how we spent our afternoon and early evening.....watching one movie after another.......just two good friends hanging out.  Would I watch any of those movies a second time....probably not.....that is, after all, why they were in the $5 bin at Walmart, right?

There is really nothing else to report about Wednesday so I'll continue with some of my thoughts from yesterday about living your life on the road, and how to figure out if it is for you.  I don't think I'm preaching exclusively to the choir here as I know a number of my readers are not yet fulltimers, but are planning to do just that in the future and probably would be interested in the process we went through to get where we are today.

The first thing I want to emphasize here is please do not rush into this lifestyle.  Take time to follow blogs of folks who have been living full time in an RV.....what kind of RV is not really important, but I would encourage you to follow blogs of people who live full time in all different kinds of RV's......5th wheels, Class B's, Class C's, Class A's, tent trailers, pop up trailers, travel trailers, truck campers, etc.  By doing this you will not only learn how they live their lives on the road, but you will also learn why they like the particular RV they have chosen.  The latter is one of the most oft asked questions by people who want to fulltime....what RV should I buy?  The first question you should be asking, and answering is "Can I live in a small space with myself, or can I live in a small space with another person day after day, week after week, month after month?".  Any personal, or inter personal issues you are having while living a 'sticks and bricks' life will not magically disappear when you move into a space 90% smaller.....in fact they will probably be exacerbated.  

TLE and I began talking about living full time in an RV at least 3 years before we actually did it.  We spent a couple of evenings a week sitting by our outdoor fireplace discussing every aspect of living full time in a smaller space. I followed a dozen blogs at the time and would share with her what I had learned each week.....blogs of single men, single women, married folks, unmarried couples, same sex couples, people living with and without pets.  Blogs of folks living full time in very small tear drop type trailers, large Class A's, truck campers, large 5th wheels, Class C's, travel trailers, etc. Blogs of folks living off the grid using solar power, or wind power to recharge their batteries.......of folks who moved from one RV park to another, folks living in one place for months at a time, folks who moved every few days, folks who only lived and traveled in an RV a few weeks, or months out of the year, folks who worked on the road, took part time jobs on the road, did volunteer work on the road.....in short every imaginable configuration.  

By the time we began living full time in our Newell back in February of 2011 we had looked at dozens of RV's, finally had purchased the RV we wanted, and had a very good idea of how our life on the road would look.....initially.  Even with all that preparation there were surprises that first few months, and there continues to be a gradual evolution in our lifestyle.  The only constant has been that we began as friends (and lovers) and are even better friends now.  For us the full time lifestyle has only benefited our relationship and broadened our worldview.

Once you have done your due diligence, and have decided this nomadic existence is for you the next question that comes up is 'How do we get rid of our stuff?', or 'Should we put our stuff in storage?', or 'What stuff do we take with us?'.  I'll write about our experience tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

The little things

Recently a nomad friend mentioned they were leaving the road to go back to their sticks and bricks home.  I asked reflexively "Why?"  The answer, which took me completely by surprise, was "Because I cannot stand being in a small space 24/7 with my spouse anymore".....the spouse was standing right there......awkward.  If I ever heard those words from TLE I would be pretty much devastated.  There is no doubt in my mind that these people love each other, but let's face it, this life style is not for everyone.  If you are both retired then you do pretty much spend 24/7 with each other, so that is something that must be seriously considered when contemplating a nomadic existence.  I have to say that when I first suggested we live full time in our Newell TLE intellectually thought it was a good idea, but something in her gut made her say "I need to find out if I can live with you in a small space"......after all, we were talking about transitioning from a 2,000 square foot home to a 200 square foot motorhome.  What I suggested as a way for her to find out is that we lease out our home for 1 year, and live in the coach at a local county park......if at the end of that year she did not think it would work for her we would move back into our home.....she agreed.  Within 6 months I had my answer, and the rest is history.......well, not so much history.....we are, obviously, still writing history day by day.

So, why does it work for us, and not for other couples?  Interpersonal relationships are quite complex, but frankly I think the most important reason it works for us is that we have always been friends......from the day we met......the romance came several years later.  By 'friends' I mean we like being with each other, and like doing things together.  All the years we were raising our five children I looked forward to the day when the kids would be grown and on to living their own lives so I could spend more time with my best friend.  Really, for us, that (friendship) is the key ingredient for why this life works for us.

More often than not when folks jump into this life too quickly without due consideration to all it entails the reality they run into clashes with the expectations they had......it is not one long vacation....it is simply living your life on the road.  In your sticks and bricks life you had larger living space, a stable community of family, friends, acquaintances, and work that kept you apart 5 days a week. When you hit the road you leave all that behind, and are pretty much starting over.  For us community is very important, and within just a few months on the road we connected with this amazing transient community making many new friends.  Don't misunderstand, the community does not come to you.......you have to go out and find it, and connect with it.  For some that is difficult, and I totally get that.

Ultimately it comes down to the little things that make this life work for us......get up each day wondering what you can do for your spouse/partner to make their life better.  Don't forget anniversaries, birthdays and other significant events in your life......one of those little things is going out on dates, just like you did in your sticks and bricks life.  Tuesday it was time for another date, this time to celebrate our just passed wedding anniversary (8/29), TLE's just passed birthday, and my upcoming birthday.  Our favorite fine dinning establishment here in the Cape Blanco area is Redfish in Port Orford (Yelp gives them 4 stars on 123 reviews).
  

 Redfish

 The view last night from Battle Rock Park

Before leaving for our date I spent the better part of the day finishing the cleaning of the coach exterior and finished.....get this.......about an hour before it began to rain.  The rain was a day early......when I woke up Tuesday the forecast was for a 90% chance of rain Wednesday, and only 20% Tuesday......by 1500 hours that had gone up to 90%.....for us it became 100%.

We left for Port Orford around 1700 hours and were dodging rain drops as we walked quickly form parking lot into the restaurant.  Redfish sits directly next to Battle Rock Park, and has a wonderful view of the ocean whether is is a clear day, or stormy.  There is something very cool about sitting in a warm, cozy restaurant watching a storm tossed sea out the window.

Battle Rock in the background

We both ordered the 'special'.......Albacore Tuna on a bed of Parmesan Rissotto......amazing!  For desert we split a Tiramisu.....OMG!  As we sat eating and talking about our life I couldn't help but think how cool is this life we have chosen, and we both get to do it with our best friend.

As we drove along the road back to Cape Blanco and were getting ready to turn into the park I noticed the lighting at the Cape looked interesting so we drove on out to take some pictures just before sunset......it was quite windy out there as it most always is, and was sprinkling, so we did not tarry too long......

......a great ending to another day lived well.......thank you for stopping by!

Spa Day

I slept in until almost 0800, which I have not done in a long time, and by the time I had written the next installment of my blog and had breakfast it was after 1000.  

We are in the middle of our first 3 consecutive days off stretch here in Cape Blanco, and other than the 4 days we took off to attend the wedding of my brother's daughter back in July, this is the first 3+ day stretch we have been off since early May.  For the first time in a long time it feels like I have time to take on a multi day project such as cleaning a few weeks of road, rain and sea salt grime off the exterior of the Newell, which I started.  First I cleaned all the windows, then I began at the right rear corner of the coach as I always do, and slowly applied the "Firecoat My Truck" waterless wash and wax solution, then wiped it off leaving a shinny, clean surface.  It is a slow process for me as I first have to do the lower 2/3's of the coach, then get on my telescoping ladder to get to the upper third up to, and including the roof line.  You could almost see the Newell break out in a smile as she enjoyed her first 'spa day' in a long time.

By the time I had worked my way around the front of the coach and had done about 5 feet of the driver's side it was closing in on 1500 hours, so I decided that was enough for one day, and on top of that it was time for a walk on 'south beach' with TLE.  As we rounded the coach to the beach road I noticed a new item on our 'host sign' that was not put their by either TLE, or myself.......it looks like what is left of an old propeller, but I don't know for sure.....what do you think?  Anyway, thank you to whoever added that little treasure to our collection!

Old boat propeller?

The 'beach road' that takes us down to 'south beach' passes right in front of the host sites, then takes a hard right turn as it quickly descends first toward the 'phone booth' and then through the enchanted forest to the beach.  Each time we round that first corner we are captivated by the view from the 'phone booth' and Monday's view was particularly captivating.

The wind has dropped down into the mid teens, which makes it more tolerable when walking on the beach......for example there is NO blowing sand......frankly, it makes it more tolerable to be outside.  We walked all the way up to the 'Cape' and back doing about 3 miles round trip.  No new treasures were acquired as not much new has washed up on the beach.  We are supposed to have a storm coming in Wednesday, so we'll see if the sea coughs up any new treasures then.

We were home by 1630......just in time for the first MNF (Monday Night Football) game of the season between the Eagles and Falcons.......the Eagles started out slowly, but by the end of the game it was 26-24 in favor of the home team Falcons.  The second game of the night pitting the Vikings at the 49er's was never close, and the final score of 20-3 did not adequately reflect how one sided the game really was.

We watched the finale of 'So You Think You Can Dance' in which Gabby (the tap dancer) won first place.  It was an interesting season, but in the end we both thought Gabby would win, and she did.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sweet, sweet, sweet.......

TLE and I had the 'top shift' Sunday, and what a different day it was compared to the past 4, or 5 days.....clear blue skies, and warm sun on my face.....don't get me wrong, it was still quite windy and very cold for most of our shift, and was destined to get windier after the end of our shift at 1300, and it did.  I had recorded 80 visitors by shift's end, which was up about 20 over the prior few days.  We had two couples from England who were on holiday driving down the Pacific Coast, and one couple from Austria doing the same.

I'm always a little bit amused when folks get confused about where things are here at the lighthouse station......the first sign you see is pretty straight forward, and yet people will stop and ask where the visitor parking is, or where the handicap parking is on a regular basis.

Sunday was also the last day of the annual Cranberry Festival up in 'Bandon By the Sea', so right after the end of our 'top shift' we headed into Bandon to walk around old town, just as we did last year.  Unfortunately since Sunday was the last day a lot of the festivities which we enjoyed last year were over, and everything was winding down when we arrived around 1400 hours.  That being the case we decided to head over to Foley's Irish Pub for some 'Fish 'n Chips' (for me) and a Traditional Rueben for TLE.  We chased the pub fare with some Black Porter.

Normally we would have headed directly for Tony's Crab Shack, but with the wind (yes it was also very windy in Bandon) it just didn't feel like a day to be sitting outside.  From Foley's we walked over to the weekly Farmer's Market to buy some more Cranberry Syrup....we ran out some time ago.....but the vendor was not there.  Ultimately we walked over to the Cranberry Sweets Company to buy a couple of bottles at $7.95 per bottle.....it's expensive, but it is so good on pancakes!

If you are ever in Bandon check this place out.....you can sample all of their confectionery much of which is amazing!

We were home by 1600 hours, and I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening watching NFL football......thanks for stopping by!

The View....

 TLE and I 'snuck' up to the 'lantern room' for our annual 'usie' 

We began Saturday hoping something would change with our current weather pattern......maybe less wind, or no fog....another day with both was not in our plans, and we finally got a change.  As we climbed the 64 stairs up to the 'lantern room' we could see the fog retreating and the coastline coming back into view.......

We had the 'middle shift' which means morning and afternoon shifts combined......additionally, our friends and fellow lighthouse hosts, Mike and Liz, had to drive into Eugene to pick up a relative at the airport so we covered their bottom shift.....just the two of us, and it went fine.  By 1300 hours we had 65 visitors, and by the end of the day we totaled 117 for the day.....very manageable to just the two of us.  The bonus of the day was the return of the amazing view to which we have become accustomed.

I don't think I have ever posted a picture of what the lighthouse configuration looked like when all the buildings were still here, but here is a photo of a very old picture of what it looked like sometime after 1909.  On the far right you can see the original 3 story triplex that originally housed all three lighthouse keepers and their families, and just to the left of the triplex you can see the recently built head lighthouse keeper home.  To the left of the two story home you can see the fuel oil storage building, and to its left the lighthouse.  Of these four structures only the lighthouse remains intact today.

This picture was taken looking westward.....here is what it looks like today from the opposite side looking westward......

While the fog retreated, the winds did not.  We continued to have winds from the NNW clocking in between 22 and 26 mph with gusts into the 30's on a regular basis....the following video will give you an idea of how fast the clouds were passing.....

We closed the gate at precisely 1515 hours, and were home warming up in our coach before 1600.  I spent the rest of the afternoon, and into the evening watching college football....a great way to end Saturday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dos Victorias!

For months I have been searching for a source of an intermittent water leak in the water bay. For a long time I thought it was coming from a gate valve that controls the flow of water into my 160 gallon fresh water tank when I am filling it, and initially it was.  I fixed that leak by tightening up the valve assembly that had loosened up over 33 years, and 154,000 miles.  I placed a large sponge under it to check for dampness periodically to be sure I had fixed it, and for months it remained dry, then a few weeks ago I began to find the sponge damp, and sometimes saturated with water.  I would recheck the gate valve and it was dry.....no evidence of any water coming out of it so I was baffled.

Then, a couple of days ago I noticed some dampness underneath my pressure regulator......when we are hooked up to 'city water' it keeps the coach pressure a constant 50 PSI regardless of how high the 'city water' PSI may be.....suddenly it was now leaking, but it was NOT the source of the other leak, so now I had two leaks.  At first, like I almost always do, I assumed the regulator was going bad, and that was certainly possible as it was 33 years old.  I began researching its replacement cost, and while it was not very high (about $100) I could no longer find that particular Watts Regulator being manufactured anymore.  Next I began it investigate rebuild kits, and could not find one for that discontinued model.  

Watts T-56 pressure regulator

Upon further examination of the leaking regulator I discovered the leak was at the very top where you can see the blue tag and threaded bolt that you can adjust to change the interior water pressure.  What I did, and what worked was turn off the 'city water', turn off the gate valve to the left of the regulator and then unscrewed the threaded bolt out of the regulator.  Then I wrapped the upper threads (near the head) with teflon tape, and screwed it back in......voila (wah lah)........no more leak!  One down one to go......

TLE had just taken a long shower before I turned off the water to put teflon tape on the threaded pressure adjustment bolt.  As I looked up from the regulator after determining it was no longer leaking I saw a drip of water coming from the bottom of the shower drain pipe.  At first I thought the leak was coming from the elbow fitting, but then looked higher to see water coming down the length of the pipe from the shower itself.  I figured the water was leaking around the shower drain flange, so went inside to closely examine the flange, and found some of the plumbers putty had come out and the water was getting under the lip of the flange, and, sure enough, that was it.  I got a putty knife, and dug out the old putty, then got out my marine grade clear caulk and re-caulked around the flange, let it dry for 4 hours, then tested it by running the shower........voila.....no more leak!  Now I know why the leak was intermittent......lol!  And to think  I fixed two leaks before lunch time without having to visit the hardware store, or spend any money......a great way to begin 5th Saturday!

Taken by my lighthouse host friend Angie near the end of our Friday shift.

We had the 'bottom shift' (1230 hours to 1530 hours) so we were off in the VW to drive over to the windy, foggy Cape by 1220.  While it was only slightly overcast at the Lighthouse Host sites, it was totally socked in with fog at the lighthouse with winds running into the high teens, low twenties all afternoon.  I spent my time with TLE in the ground floor 'workroom' of the lighthouse talking about the Fresnel 2nd order lens, and we had a pretty steady flow of visitors so the 3 hour shift passed quickly.  I did learn the reason from several of our visitors for the heavy fog these past 4, or 5 days.......it has been over 100 degrees along the I-5 corridor, and when it gets that hot we get a lot of fog and very cool temperatures on the coast.  Many of our Friday visitors were there to escape the triple digit heat in Medford, and Grants Pass.

At 1530 hours we locked up the lighthouse and were back to our coach before 1600 slipping into comfortable clothing and getting warm once again.  TLE cooked up a batch of popcorn in our new 'Whirly' popcorn maker that she bought on Amazon a few weeks ago.....I love that popcorn maker!  I wanted to get one of those hot air popcorn makers, but TLE, being the wise woman she is, said it made more sense to buy this stove top one so we could make popcorn even when we were boondocking.  Since we removed our microwave a few years ago I have missed two things.....being able to reheat my coffee, and making popcorn in 3 minutes.  Well, this new popcorn maker also makes popcorn in 3 minutes!

The 'Whirly'!

Another nice day in Cape Blanco.......thanks for stopping by!