Perfect in every way.....

7:22 am - Wednesday - February 21st - GNHS - 56° F, humidity 84%, wind 4 mph out of the west by southwest.....cloudy, and rainy right now....didn't see that coming....forecast high today is 70° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were at a shooting range with good friend Ernie Prociw at Stuart Shooting range in Stuart, FL....TLE getting ready to shoot a Taurus Judge.....

I really meant to write about our Monday when we returned from Poway yesterday afternoon, but I really needed a nap, and then I forgot until it was too late in the evening, but, first of all I need to update you on the trailer roof leak repair I did the other day.  I rained pretty hard for about an hour this morning, unexpectedly.  I just went out to the trailer to check, and found NO water on the floor!!!!  Success!  My patch job using the Flex Seal tape, and paste worked!

Now, back to Monday.  My dermatological appointment was not until 8:30 am Tuesday morning, so we decided not to leave for the 3 hour drive until around 9:30 am Monday.  We had made reservations at the Best Western in Poway for Monday evening, so we had the whole day to get there.

As we passed through Ocotillo Wells (Salton City) at 10:30 am it was around 73° F.  By the time we passed through Borrego Springs, and had climbed the Montezuma grade up to over 4,000' elevation it had become cloudy, and the temp dropped to 53° F.  We got a little rain for about 10 minutes, but then it stopped.  The cloud cover as we descended back down to Poway was very heavy, and rain was forecast for Tuesday morning.

We couldn't check into our hotel until 3 pm, so we decided to head over to Escondido to have lunch at Stone Brewing Company.  We've eaten there numerous times in the past 5 years, so whenever we are in town, and have time we head over for some brews, and great food.  We arrived there around 1 pm without incident....

.....while it was heavily overcast it was not windy, and the temp was in the mid 60's so alfresco dining was in order......

....within minutes our draft brew orders (a Chocolate Pomegranate Porter for me, and an Imperial Stout for TLE.....she loves those Imperial Stouts!) had arrived, and we had settled in for a nice, long, leisurely lunch....the alfresco dining area at Stone Brewing is enormous....the seating capacity is probably close to 200, not to mention their quite large indoor dining area....

.....I ordered their Prime Rib Beef Dip with fries, and TLE their Pulled Pork sandwich with fries.....

....as has always been the case, the brews were wonderful, and the food spectacular.  The ambiance, and service at an eatery this size is without parallel.  You never wonder when your brews, or food orders are going to arrive...they always arrive just when you expect they should, and your server, or someone from the front deck is always checking in with you every 10 minutes, or so, to be sure all is well.  The perfect way, and place to spend an afternoon in Escondido, CA....

....we ordered an Encrusted Seared Ahi Tuna salad to go for our dinner later at the hotel, and were out the door by 2:30 pm on our way beck to Poway.  After a quick stop at the local Walmart Supercenter, we arrived at the Best Western just after 3 pm.

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading, and around 7 pm decided to have our salad.  To chase the salad we had purchased a couple of 22 oz IPAs from the gift shop on our way out of the brewery.....everything was delicious!  

We were in bed around 10 pm intending to be on our way over to the Dermatology clinic by 8 am Tuesday morning.  It is rare when a day goes exactly as you see it in your mind, but Monday was such a day for us....perfect in every way.

Thanks for stopping by!

Later today....

 6:49 am - Tuesday - February 20th Poway, CA 

TLE and I are in Poway, CA for my final dermatological appointment today.  I will pay my latest blog post this afternoon after we return to GNHS.

Thank you for your patience, and for stopping by!

Minor stuff...

7:17 am - Presidents Day - February 19th - GNHS - 52° F, humidity 69%, wind 4 mph out of the southeast......partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F. On this date in 2015 TLE and I were boondocking at a National Forest site overlooking the Verde Valley....you can see the Mogollon Rim in the distance.....

Hot air balloons flying over our site

In yesterdays post I said we had 7 rentals going out Sunday, but I was wrong....we had 8 all day rentals!  We ended up with two issues during the day.  A few minutes after one rental left they returned with a check engine light, so we traded that RZR for our backup RZR, and sent them on their way. Just like last year, the check engine light was caused by a drive belt going bad.  That's the first drive belt we've had to change this winter.  The second issue was at the very end of the day.....our last all day rental to return had a low speed, partial rollover (onto the right side only), which broke the right side view mirror, and minor damage to the right rear fender....why is it always the right side? Anyway, we think the damage is under $1,000, so just minor stuff.  Otherwise everyone returned with smiles upon their faces.....

Every available machine is out!

....in between the beginning of the day, and the end of the day there was a lot of waiting around, and book reading, but TLE and I did take one out and back walk of the 1 mile variety averaging 3.4 mph.....

Made sure I smiled this time....lol.

....our first all day rentals began to return between 3 and 4 pm, and over that hour I refueled, and washed three Generals, and then one RZR around 4:30 pm.  Between Hunter and I we got 6 refueled, and 5 washed by 5 pm, leaving 2 to refuel, and 3 to wash sometime this week.  As of right now there are no bookings for Thursday through Sunday (next weekend), which is typical for a weekend following a long weekend.  The park was sold out this weekend, so we don't expect much next weekend.

It appears temp wise we have left the 60's behind, and are seeing forecasts for temps in the mid to high 70's for the next two weeks, but nothing in the 80's yet, but know they are coming.  In a few weeks we will look back fondly on the long run of 60's and 70's temps for the last month.  By the time we leave April 1st we'll probably be seeing temps in the low 90's....it warms up fast here in March.

By the time I parked the last RZR and bid Hunter adieu until next weekend it was around 5:15 pm, and close to sunset.  I took a long, hot shower, and then settled into my recliner to do a little reading.  TLE served me a dirty Martini....what a woman!

Thanks for stopping by!

Busy? Sort of....

 6:46 am - Sunday - February 18th - GNHS - 54° F, humidity 72%, wind 5 mph out of the north by northwest......partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were watching the sun set in the Anza Borrego Desert......

Saturday was a busy day for COA....we had 5 all day rentals.  TLE, Hunter and I were on the job by 8 am.  There is always quite a flurry of activity between 8 am and 9:15 am when we have a lot of all day rentals, but we got them all on their way without too much confusion. Whenever we have multiple all day rentals we hope they don't all show up at 8:30 am, and they didn't.  Each group slowly trickled in over 30 minutes which made it easy for us to process them, and their 'paper work'.  It appears we'll have 7 all day rentals on Sunday, so that will be our biggest day since New Years weekend.

Once our customers were out in the field we all settled in to await their return.  Theoretically, they can keep the RZRs out until 5 pm, but they typically will begin to return sometime after 3 pm, which allows us time to fuel, and wash each one, and still clock out by 5 pm.

TLE and I took a 1 mile out and back walk around 2:30 pm averaging 3.4 mph.....

Hmmmm....I thought I was smiling....lol!

....when we weren't walking we were sitting on the 'lido deck' reading....like I've said before, this is a very easy job.  There's a flurry of activity between 8 and 9 am, then a lot of time in between sitting, hoping there are no accidents, and no rescues, then it gets busy again around 3 pm as the customers begin to return.

True to form our first customer returned around 3:15 pm, and by 3:30 pm I had fueled and washed that RZR.  I ended up washing 3 of the 5, and Hunter the other two, but we got them all done, and put away by 5 pm....not bad.  Another day without incident....just happy, smiling customers.

By the time I got out of the shower, and dressed the sun set had passed, but I captured some of the afterglow around 5:30 pm.....

.....so, we've got about 40 days remaining in our winter job, then it's time to begin the trek north to LPG&RVR.  This year we'll be able to take more time to drive the 800+ miles, so that will be nice.

Thanks for stopping by!

Drama free.....

6:40 am - Saturday - February 17th - GNHS - 50° F, humidity 80%, wind 2 mph out of the east by northeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 72° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I finally made it to Key West, FL, the southern most point in the U.S.A..... 

For the first time in 10 days TLE and I worked.  It felt somewhat weird to be getting dressed in work clothes, and greeting customers after another long hiatus.  We had just two rentals Friday.....a multi day (3 to be exact) all day rental, and a 1/2 day rental to some folks from Palm Desert.  We got both of them out at their scheduled times (9 am and 10 am), and then it was time to relax....lol!  Hard work, right?

While our customers were out Hunter and I began to get our rentals for Saturday ready by checking oil levels, adding oil, blowing dust out of air filters, checking tire pressures, and wiping them down after 10 days of sitting.  We actually have 6 rentals going out Saturday, and 5 of them are multi day rentals, with one single all day rental, so we'll be busy both Saturday and Sunday.

Once the prep work for Saturday was finished I took off on a 1 mile out and back walk.....TLE decided to take a day off....I managed to up my average speed to 3.6 mph walking solo....

.....our 4 hour rental returned on time at 2 pm.  Once they were checked back in I took the 4 seat General down to the fuel station to top off her tank, and then to the wash station to wash her, and get her ready for Saturday.  Once again our multi day, all day rental returned on time, and by 5 pm I had that RZR fueled and washed for Saturday.

As I wrote yesterday, we are entering the President's Day long weekend, and the park is sold out.  The RVers began streaming into the park around 8 am, and the onslaught continued well into the early evening. Along with being sold out comes the attendant rise in noise level, but we are used to that.  We know that by Monday things will be back to normal when the weekenders return to their workaday lives.

When I wasn't working I was reading my current post apocalyptic series 'Bunker', and still enjoying it.  Nothing else to report on for Friday.  It was just one of those routine, drama free days we love here at Colorado Outback Adventures.

Thanks for stopping by!

Intrusion.....

 6:53 am - Friday - February 16th - GNHS - 52° F, humidity 89%, wind 4 mph out o fthe northeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 70° F.....first time we'll hit 70 in a long time!  On this date in 2015 TLE and I spent the day in and around Sedona, AZ....what a magical place....

Found a restaurant with a view

Alas, another day off work was had Thursday.  We're coming up on President's Day long weekend, and the park will be full, plus we will be busy Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a lot of advance bookings, but Thursday was our 9th, or 10th consecutive day without working.  I'm pretty sure one here is complaining.

TLE and I took two more of our 1 mile out and back walks averaging 3.4 mph both times.....

⇧ First and second ⇩ post walk pictures 

....we both managed to get in our toning exercises after the first walk. With the completion of our second 1 mile walk we have now hit 80 miles of walking this winter, with most of it happening since Christmas.

I then spent time trying to figure out where the water leak in our trailer roof is originating.  It is not a major leak, but I've been finding water on the floor near the front, drivers side of the trailer interior when it rains.  I bought some Flex Seal tape, and paste quite a while ago, but have never taken the time to install either of them as I was not sure where the is actually intruding.  Water always seems to migrate from the actual intrusion area to to where you finally find it, so I didn't want to waste the resources until I was more certain where to place them.  After the last rain storm I believe I was able to narrow down the point of the water ingress, so I cleaned off the roof area where I believed it was intruding and used a combination of the tape (4" x 5'), and paste to, hopefully, stop the leak.  I won't know if I was successful until the next storm, but at least the tape and paste will have sufficient time to cure.  If I've missed the mark there is always more tape and paste....lol.

Once the roof work was done I headed down to the hot pools/tubs for another delightful soak.  Once again I had the place all to myself....

....we didn't take or second walk until around 3:30 pm, and then I sat on the 'firepit deck' reading my book fully intending to take the usual sunset pictures, but lost track of time, and did not take those pictures.  They would have been lovely, I'm sure.

After dinner TLE and I spent the rest of the evening reading.  The new post apocalyptic series I'm reading is called 'Bunker' (the name of the main character, not a place), and has five books in the series.  I'm almost done with book three, and and liking it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Provisioning.....

 7:15 am - Thursday - February 15th - GNHS - 46° F, humidity 87%, wind 3 mph out of the southeast....partially cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 68° F.  On this date in 2010 TLE and I camped at Rancho Jurupa Regional Park for the first time.....almost one year later to the day we leased out our home, and became camp hosts there for one year, beginning our full time life living and traveling in our 1982 Newell Classic.....

Another day off work, what to do?  Oh yeah, need to do our weekly shopping in La Quinta!  As soon as I finished posting my latest missive around 9:30 am we were in the VW headed into the heart of the Coachella Valley arriving there without incident around 10:30 am.  We made stops at Walmart, COSTCO, the COSTCO fuel station, and Ralph's garnering another week's worth of produce, protein, and sundries to reprovision our pantry, and fridge before beginning the return trip to GNHS around 12:30 pm.  We were home before 1:30 pm, and putting away our purchases. The drive in revealed a lot of snow on Mounts San Jacinto and San Gorgonio.....

Mount San Jacinto standing sentinel over Palm Springs

.....by the way, our geraniums are flourishing here at GNHS.....

....you might recall that when we first arrived back at LPG&RVR last April they got frost bitten and almost died, but TLE has nursed them back to health.

Due to our early departure for La Quinta we postponed our daily walking until 4 pm when we took a 2 mile out and back walk averaging around 3.3 mph.  By 4:50 pm I was on the 'viewing deck' watching the Chocolates light up, and the sun set.  TLE was busy, at the time,  marinating a salmon filet we had purchased at COSTCO so we could grill it for dinner.....

.....I grilled the salmon for about 10 minutes until it reached 145° F, and it turned out great!

Thanks for stopping by!