El gato GRANDE......

8:34 am - Sunday - October 22nd - GNHS - 73° F, humidity 50%, wind 6 mph out of the south.....crystal clear, blue, sunny, HOT skies today with a forecast high of 94° F.....ahhhh....a break in the heatwave.   Tomorrows high will be just 82° F!  Yay for our team!  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were having lunch at a local Louisville, KY micro brewery.....↴

Saturday's weather forecast indicated another high of 101° F.  I figured I would work 3-4 hours before it got too hot for me.  Around 7:30 am I began my work by building a wooden platform for TLE's office chair, which happens to be her old Ekhornes recliner.  Without the box the chair sits too low behind the office desk.  Last year it sat upon two, unconnected 4" x 4" x 18" pieces of wood, but she wanted something more permanent....something professionally cut, built, and screwed together.  I took me about an hour, but the result was, I thought, quite professional.....

The box

The Ekhornes chair upon the box

.....I was able to use scrap 2" x 4" boards, which were left over from last season (and left on site for the past 6 months), plus a piece of 3/8" plywood I've carried around in the trailer for a couple of years.  After finishing that small project I spent the rest of my time working with Hunter to put together another RZR.  You will recall the picture I took of the unfinished RZR yesterday.....

.....well, here is the finished product.....

....I ended up working with Hunter until almost 1 pm....way longer than I had planned, and by the time I called it I was really getting overheated.  I drank a lot of ice tea, and water all morning, and took several breaks in the cool confines of the Newell.  When I called it quits at 1 pm we had finished installing the roll cage, the four seats, the sound system, and were just beginning to install the three piece roof.  Hunter wanted to keep going until it was finished, so I bid him adieu and headed inside where it was 75° F, not 98° F.  I took a long, cool shower and then spent the balance of the afternoon staying cool.

When we left GNHS last April I intentionally left one of the solar rope light strings on the palm tree in front of the office just to see if they would still be working when we returned, and much to my surprise they survived the drenching monsoons, and intense GNHS summer temps......

....additionally, the GNHS owners have erected (for Halloween), with our permission, a giant, inflatable cat right behind our trailer....

......we remain quite thankful for our wonderful, working A/C.  We've been able to get by with just one of them running at a time, and keep the interior around 75° F.  We make sure and run each of them for a few hours each day, so they are both getting exercised on a regular basis, just like we did when it was hot at LPG&RVR last summer, and like we have attempted to do since we bought the Newell back in 2008, and perhaps that is one of the reasons why they still work very well at almost 42 years of age.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall/winter? I think not......

 6:23 am - Saturday - October 21st - GNHS - 70° F, humidity 54%, wind 3 mph out of the west.....crystal clear, blue, sunny, HOT skies today with a forecast high of 101° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were attending the wedding of our son, Tim, to the love of his life, Laila, in Riverside, CA at the Mission Inn.....I really like this candid photo of TLE and I......↴ 

Friday, our first day of work here at GNHS this 'fall/winter', and I use the term 'fall/winter' advisedly as the temperature topped out at 101° F.  Summer lingers long at 140' below sea level.  It is not far from where we are that the highest recorded air temperature in recorded world history was recorded....Furnace Creek, Death Valley, CA......134° F.....July 10, 1913.

We reported for work at 7:30 am thinking there was a rental, or two going out at 8 am, but we all got it wrong....the rentals are scheduled for next Friday.....lol.  Actually that was good news as the COA (Colorado Outback Adventures) office was total chaos, and the area outside was not much better, so a day without rentals was just what we needed.  We met Hunter, a 20 something young man, who has been assembling the RZR's.  He works for COA up in Durango, CO during summer where the temperatures rarely exceed 90° F.

While he continued the work on the RZR assembly I got out my ladder and moved the Starlink 'dishy' from the ground in front of the office to the top of the office roof to get it out of the way, and give it a better view of the northern sky.  While I was thus occupied TLE was inside the air conditioned office with Bob (owner) setting up the computers, printers, scanners, etc.....

The next RZR to be built by Hunter

The office is looking much better now

....we worked until it got close to 100° F, which was around 11:15 am.  We took a 1/2 hour break, then took three of the new RZRs out for a break in drive....

We took these 3 on the break in drive out to the Bat Caves

....even though it was over 100° F by the time we headed out the breeze at 50 mph does not feel as hot....lol......

.....we drove, first, to the Bat Caves, then to the 'Oasis', then up to the 'Canal' trail doing a nice 30 mile loop in less than 2 hours, arriving back at the office a little before 2 pm.  By the time we returned it was, indeed, 101° F, and we were done for the day.....all of us....lol!  We took cool showers, and spent the afternoon inside the cool confines of the air conditioned Newell.  By the way, both of our A/C's continue to perform flawlessly at almost 42 years of age.

We had a typical GNHS sunset, and then it was time for me to move a couple of RZRs into position to prevent campers from taking a short cut through our parking lot at all hours of the night.  Since it is so hot right now most of the campers are riding at night, and some don't return until the wee hours of the morning....some as late as 3 am.....

RZRs blocking the short cut

....when I went to bed around 9:30 pm the outside temp was still 90° F, so we turned off the bedroom A/C, and turned on the salon A/C to keep it as comfortable as possible while we slept.

Thanks for stopping by!

A new 'situation'......

 6:09 am - Friday - October 20th - Glamis North Hot Springs, CA -   70° F, humidity 50%, wind 1 mph out of the north......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies in the forecast today with a high of 100° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were touring Bryce Canyon NP.....↴

Just when you think getting up at 5 am is finished, another need to be awake at that ungodly hour arises.  We wanted to be sure to be exiting the Elks Lodge before the street work began again Thursday morning, and we wanted, very much, to be able to arrive at Glamis North Hot Springs well before the heat of the day in order to get our coach and trailer situated into our site for the next sixth months.  The forecast high at GNHS was to be 100° F....our first triple digit day since our last stay at GNHS.

By 5:50 am I was firing up the big Detroit Diesel 6v92, and within seconds (I don't sit there idling for 20 minutes like many folks tend to do with their diesels) we were moving.  As long as I have enough air pressure I'm moving.  As I edged slowly forward TLE was outside making sure I didn't hit anything in the still dark morning.  She suddenly ran to the driving side window waving for me to STOP, to which command I immediately complied.  Usually, after I fire up the Detroit I walk outside to disconnect the electrical umbilical cord, but for some inexplicable reason, this time, I did not.  Thank God I was moving quite slowly, and my egregious error was caught in time to avoid any damage!

Once the cord was stowed we began our exit from the Elks Lodge again, and by 6:15 am we were merging onto the 210 west bound headed for Redlands, and parts beyond.  We haven't driven outside of daylight hours for several years now, and this is really the first time I've driven with our new LED headlights in the dark.  I'm happy to say they worked wonderfully, and although we rarely, if ever, drive at night, it is good to know what a vast improvement they are over the old ones.

By 7 am the sun had risen, and we were nearing the summit of Banning Pass, and the end of a long 15 mile uphill grade.  Once over the summit it was basically all downhill to the Salton Sea, where we arrived at GNHS around 8:50 am without further incident.  One of our bosses, Bob Matthews, was there awaiting our arrival while working on the assembly of the new RZR's which have been delivered over the past two weeks.  Along with him is one of his employees, Hunter, from the Durango operation who will working with TLE and I in the rental operation for the next 6 months, thereby making it possible for us not to be on call 5-6 days a week.

While Bob and Hunter continued working on the RZR assembly, I got our our Toro blower out to clear the site of sand, gravel and other debris left over from the winter.....

....in all it took me around 30 minutes to clear the site, and then it was time to situate the Newell and trailer in our site.  You will recall that last winter we parked the Newell next to the office, and the trailer perpendicular to the office to kind of create our own little space, and it worked well.  The only issue we had was the sun was shinning through the front windshield of the Newell continuously during daylight hours, which tends to make it a little warmer than we like it in the salon, especially during the winter.  At any rate, we decided to reverse things, and park the trailer parallel to the office, and the Newell perpendicular to the office, thereby creating a continuously shaded area on the passenger side of the Newell with no need to even deploy our patio awning.  I think it turned out well.....

....as you can see from the pictures above, there is shade on the passenger side of the Newell equivalent to any shade that would be cast by the patio awning, and we have a slightly larger patio area.  By the time we got our rolling gear situated, and the utilities connected it was getting quite warm, so we called an end to the creation of our 'lido deck' for the day, and headed into the cool confines of the air conditioned Newell for the balance of the day.

Another bonus to our new arrangement is we are much, much closer to the utilities enabling me to hook up our regular sewer hose full time.  Last year we had to run it across our 'lido deck' to dump each time, and then unhook it until the next dump, or we'd be tripping over it all winter.  I think we will follow a similar setup plan next year at LPG&RVR.

As the afternoon progressed, we saw that by the time the sun reach the point in the sky where it could shine into the front windshield, the tree in front of the Newell was casting shade over it....perfect.  It never got warm in the salon all day, and the temp hit 100° F.  As the sun continues to get lower in the sky the shadow cast over the 'lido deck' will increase in size making it even nicer.  We've still got a lot to do over the next few days setting up our 'lido deck', plus there are a number of rentals this weekend beginning in about an hour from now (Friday), so time to get moving!

Thanks for stopping by!

Family time, Part 2

12:25 pm - Thursday - October 19th - GNHS - 91° F, 20% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the west by southwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny, HOT skies today with a forecast high of 100° F.  We arrived at GNHS just before 9 am, and 3 hours later we are partially set up, but we have a long way to go.  For right now we are inside with both A/C's running.  On this date in Panguitch, UT on our way to Bryce Canyon.....↴

.....the view right now......↴

Our arrangement this time around....a work in progress

We began Wednesday with another 'loop' walk, and ended up covering around 2.56 miles, averaging around 3.4 mph.....

.....after that, and a short cooling down period we jumped in the VW and headed first to COSTCO, then Ralph's (grocery store) to replenish our pantry stores.  We were home before 1 pm, and after unloading our purchases from the Beetle, we spent the balance of the afternoon in the cool confines of the air conditioned Newell.

Around 5 pm we were back in the car heading to the home of my daughter Kate, and her husband Nick where our youngest daughter, Sharon, Rod (husband) and Brayden (son) joined us for dinner.....

Moi, TLE, Nick and Kate

Left to right: Brayden, Kate, Sharon, Nick, TLE and Jolene

Levy, Kate and Nick's youngest

Kate, Sharon and TLE

Brayden, moi and Levy....he let me hold him 

the first time I asked....COOL!

....it was a school/work night, so by 7:30 pm we were bidding our adieus until next time, and on our way home.  We had a wonderful time, but it was not nearly long enough!

Shortly after arriving home TLE and I stowed all the window awnings, and the patio awning.  I then disconnected the water, and gray water hoses, and then stowed the Starlink dishy.  Why?  Well, we wanted to be able to roll our wheels at 6 am Thursday morning, so we could arrive at GNHS before the heat of the day.  By 9:30 pm we were both in bed.  It was a jam packed three days, but now it's time to report for work, and get settled in for the next 6 months.

Thanks for stopping by!

Family time.......

7:44 am - Wednesday - October 18th - Elks Lodge, Fontana, CA - 63° F, humidity 42%, wind 4 mph out of the north by northeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 97° F....yup, it's going to be a warm one!  On this date in 2022 (just one year ago) we were settling into our first site at Glamis North Hot Springs after almost a week on the job.  It was still hot there, and we were spending a lot of time indoors in the cool confines of our air conditioned Newell.  Little did we know that within a week we would be leaving the direct employment of GNHS, and going to work for Colorado Outback Adventures, plus moving to a new site......↴

I also installed the new Starlink pole for 

our 'dishy' on the front of the trailer

By this time last year we had already been at Glamis North Hot Springs for over a week, and were just getting settled into our initial campsite.  Just as last year, it is still hot down there, but not much hotter than it will be here in Fontana today.  California is going through its usual 'Indian Summer' in late October right now where even the temps in Likely will be in the 80's for the next few days, then back into the 50's after the weekend. 

After typing my blog TLE and I took an almost 3 mile walk on the Pacific Electric Trail before it got hot, then spent the better part of an hour cooling down again.  We'll have to get acclimated quickly to the warmer temps of SoCal because tomorrow we drive the final 125 miles to GNHS to begin our winter jobs, where it will be over 100° F for the next few days.  

We had a lunch date at 12 pm with Chris and Rochelle at King's Fish House in Rancho Cucamonga located in the large Victoria Gardens outdoor mall. So we cooled down, dressed, and were on our way to the restaurant by 11:30 am, arriving just before noon time.  I was remiss about taking an 'usie', or two.....sorry Rochelle!

We sat talking and eating for almost 90 minutes before it was time for them to get back to work.  Chris has been an insurance broker since he was 18, or 19, and has a very successful insurance agency in Rancho Cucamonga called Deer Creek Insurance Service.  He and I shared office space for the final 10 years of my workaday life.  I really miss being able to see, and talk with him on a daily basis.  By the way, the food was extraordinary!  Rochelle and I had their Grilled Wild Chilean Sea Bass taco plate, TLE their Sautéed N'awlins BBQ Shrimp, and Chris their World Class Tuna Melt.  All I can say is the tacos were that for which to die.

After bidding adieu to Chris and Rochelle TLE and I headed directly to the local Trader Joe's to stock up on items we only buy there before jumping on the 201 Freeway back to the Elks Lodge.  We arrived there around 2:30 pm, just as the heat of the day was arriving.  Thankfully, we left the A/C running whilst we were gone, so it was nice and cool inside.

Of course, after a big lunch it is almost always time for a big nap.  Both TLE and I were not real hungry when dinner time rolled around, so she just made us small grill cheese sandwiches for dinner.  We finally got the chance to watch 'The Equalizer: 3' on Amazon Prime Video Tuesday night, and it was worth the wait.  I believe this is the final installment of this movie franchise, and they did a pretty good job of tying up all the loose ends.

Just one more day in town, and we will be visiting our daughters Kate, Sharon and their families tonight at Kate's home.  Tomorrow morning, EARLY, we will cover the final 125 miles to GNHS, and begin our winter jobs renting RZR's the next day.  It shouldn't take more than 2 hours, and we should arrive around mid morning before it gets real hot! Stayed tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

The last 253 miles...

7:09 am - Tuesday - October 17th - Elks Lodge, Fontana, CA - 61° F, humidity 47%, wind 2 mph out of the north by northeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2015 our middle daughter, Kate, married Nick.  Cannot believe it has been 8 years already!.....↴ 

Over the past almost 12 years of traveling full time in our Newell our travel style has changed significantly.  If you have been following our story for that entire time you know to what I am referring.  Our first year we traveled all the way to Florida, then back to Washington, then back to Campbellsville, KY, where we worked our first workamper job at Amazon, then back to Florida just before New Years .  I think we covered 12,445 miles from February 1st to December 31st of 2012.  To contrast that with the present, we will have only traveled 1,468 miles (when we reach GNHS) this calendar year.....724 miles north to Likely Place Golf & RV Resort, and by the time we get to Glamis North Hot Springs on Thursday, another 724 miles. I know that when we are moving consistently every few days our readership goes up, and when we sit in one place for months at a time it goes down, but there is a core group of you that read my missives most every day, and for that we are grateful.  I say that to say this.....after this winter we will not be taking anymore winter jobs.  We miss the travel, and changing our view on a regular basis.  These past few days of travel from LPG&RVR to the Elks Lodge here in Fontana reminded me of how much I love sitting behind the steering wheel of the Newell and watching the big views coming at me mile after mile. Usually, as you know, we are not inclined to travel more than 150-175 per day, but on Saturday we covered 277 miles, and then on Monday another 254 miles, and frankly I could have gone another 100 miles each of those days I was enjoying it so much.....

....let's face it, I/we have 'hitch-itch' bad, and next winter we are going to do something about it, but that is a year away, so what is going on now, today?

We knew it was going to be a hot day in Fontana Monday afternoon, so we were determined to be on US-395 heading south by 8 am in order to arrive in Fontana early afternoon, before he heat of the day hit. As we saw Bishop receding in our rear view mirrors I looked at the clock on the dash, and saw it was 8:11 m.....not too bad.  

Within an hour we had passed through Big Pine, Independence and Lone Pine and had just 196 miles to go.  In another 40 miles we arrived at the Coso Junction Rest Area where we took a break.  Many, many years ago, back in the 50's, 60's and 70's this place was called Gil's Oasis, and consisted of a two pump Union 76 fuel station.  My dad would always stop there to fuel up what ever transportation we were using at the time, and TLE and I have continued to stop there for a rest break for over 50 years as we have traveled north and south too many times to count....

....the Union 76 station is no longer there, but the memories linger to this day....

This is not Gil's Oasis, but this is exactly as I remember it (internet picture)

.....as we continued southward we left the Sierra Nevada mountain range behind, leaving just 156 miles between us and our destination for the day.  Once we hit Kramer Junction, with 81 miles to go, we took another break.  The balance of the drive I have never liked.  The traffic picks up exponentially, the quality of the road diminishes, and for the last 10 miles to I-15 there are like 15 signals that are quite poorly timed.  I think we hit every single red light Monday.  Nothing like civilization to spoil a wonderful drive....lol!

As we merged onto I-15 southbound only one obstacle remained....the 12 mile, 6% grade from Cajon Summit to Fontana.  Once we got over the summit I put the Newell into 2nd gear and let the Jacobs (Jake) Brake do its job.  The 'Jake' kept our speed down to 37 mph for the first 8 miles, and then I shifted to 3rd gear for the balance of the grade.  I-15 in this section is around 5 lanes wide each direction, and the traffic noise is overwhelming to one who has spent the last 6 months driving US-395 between LPG&RVR and Alturas (one lane each way) where three vehicles in a row is considered a traffic jam.

We reached the Elks Lodge driveway around 2 pm to find street construction partially blocking the entrance....we managed to squeeze through the orange cones, and within 20 minutes we had unloaded the VW, and backed into our spot for the next three days...

.....it costs us $25/night here for 50 amp, and water.  There is a dump station around 60 feet from the front of the Newell....when we stay here longer than a few days I can just hook up my macerator pump to our black tank and dump without moving, so it is almost like a full hookup site!  It is a good deal, and it is close to our kids.  We managed to snag site #3, which gets the shade for a few hours longer in the morning than the other sites, plus all we have to do when departing is drive straight down the driveway to the street.

The next few days will be a whirlwind of activity visiting with kids and grandkids.  I'm sure we'll be ready to head back to rural America by the time Thursday arrives.....lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

The interlude....

6:45 am - Monday - October 16th - Bishop, CA - 44° F, humidity 72%, wind 5 mph out of the northwest....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 85° F.  The forecast high in Fontana, where we are headed today, will be 92° F.  Yup, back into the heat!  On this date in 2015 TLE I were in Riverside, CA at the rehearsal dinner for our daughter Kate's wedding.....↴ 

Kate and Nick practicing their vows

.....the view this morning.....the Sunday 'vacuum' did its job......↴

Today (Monday)

Yesterday (Sunday)

We slept with the windows open Saturday night, something we haven't done for quite a while, and it got down to 50° F in the bedroom by 6 am Sunday morning....nice!  We're glad we decided to take a two night interlude here in Bishop before driving the final 255 miles to the Elks Lodge in Fontana, CA Monday.   

Around 10 am we decided to make our semi annual trek over to Erick Schat's Bakery on Main Street.  It takes about 10 minutes to walk the 4 blocks.  For the first time in a couple of weeks we had crystal clear, blue, sunny skies.  We are usually here mid week, and Schat's is usually not extremely busy then, but on a Sunday it was packed!  The line to order pastries and coffee was out the door, but who is in a hurry, right?  We slowly inched our way around to the pastries enjoying the amazing aromas permeating every square inch of the establishment.  TLE ordered a Cheese Danish, and I an Apple Fritter.  Their coffee is always exceptional, and Sunday was no exception.  By the time we got back outside to the alfresco dining area several tables had cleared, and we managed to snag one with a tad of shade being cast by a traffic signal pole.....

.....this store in Bishop was the original Schat's Bakery, and then there was one in Mammoth Lakes, CA.  I believe there are also, now, locations in Torrance, CA and Escondido, CA.  We've only been to the ones in Bishop and Mammoth Lakes.  Anyway, TLE always buys a couple of loaves of bread, and this day was also no exception.

After our pastries and coffee we walked back up Main Street to Smart & Final to buy a few things before making our way back to Bishop RV Park, and our home on wheels.    I was almost noon time when we returned, and time for a nap....lol.  We lazed around all afternoon, and had intended to walk to one of the local eateries for dinner, but neither of us was hungry enough to have a big dinner, or even split one, so TLE made a few snacks, and we stayed home.  

We are at the beginning of a brief warming trend in SoCal lasting through the weekend, but then getting back into the 80's next week.  We'll spend a few nights in Fontana before driving the final 126 miles to Glamis North Hot Springs where we'll spend the next 6 months.  Here are the weather forecasts for Fontana and Glamis (Niland, CA).....

....it is going to be quite warm in Glamis over the weekend, but by Monday it will be back into the 80's.  We're hoping this is summer's last gasp.....we'll see.  Time to get ready to roll our wheels!

Thanks for stopping by!