Tues 27 Jan Day 17

The day is starting out sunny, so hopefully we have our good weather back. Today Sheila has a class planned for this morning, Water Zumba.  She went up to the pool to find it was cancelled. So she swam lengths, did some water exercises and hot tubbed.  In the meantime I took the RV over to the dump station to empty & refill various tanks as needed, I lasted 1 week between dumps..  Then I took it down to the propane station by the office to get refilled.  What with waiting for access to dump & refill propane this all took quite a while.  I met Sheila down by the tank filling station to find out that her class had been cancelled.  We came back up & put the RV back in its spot & then headed out in the car to the nearest town with a gas station, Niland, a 13 min. drive.  We shopped in their grocery store as well, then drove home.  We got back at 5 to 4:00 so I dropped Sheila to go into the 4 PM water volley ball game while I drove the supplies home, stored everything and then made us a hamburger helper supper. I had decided that I wasn’t going to play in the 4 o’clock game because the east/west orientation of the pool meant that one side was looking directly into the setting sun. Sheila’s timing was impeccable, she came in the door of the RV just as I was taking the big Teflon frying pan with supper in it off the stove.  After supper I went down to the TNT, (Tuesday Night Talent), show in Hays Hall.  The performers are all park residents, some are good some not so, but it is usually an enjoyable evening.  I got home just before 9:00, Sheila had stayed in the RV to catch up on cards & letters that she had wanted to send to people back around Christmas. 

Guess what? I kept hitting the undo button under EDIT and Sunday finally reappeared so here it is out of order

Sun Jan 25 Day 15

Clear & sunny, little to no wind this morning.  We stayed around the RV till mid afternoon, visited & chatted with Les, Dorothy, Kevin & Leslie and then headed down to the pool to see if anyone was playing Water Volleyball.  No one was, so  we hot tubbed then came back for supper before tonight’s show – ‘Laughing Bird’.  Tupelo, (it’s a nick name), & Janey Kenyon are a couple who play, sing, joke and were really entertaining. They write their own stuff so all their music is original.  You can get a sample of their music at LaughingBirdMusic.com and/or MusicToFeelBetter.com.  They play multiple instruments and they really put on a good show. Janey is an amazing spoon player and the most flamboyant one we’ve ever seen!  Sheila bought a DVD of them telling stories from their travels going back 30 years.

So far my portable solar panel seems to be working fine.  We use the gen to run the Microwave and once in a while the TV for a DVD. It seems to, so far, be keeping the battery charged enough to keep things going all night and during the day as well as run lights for Sheila to use to stay up late.

Mon Jan 26 Day 16 - - Note I accidentally deleted Sunday also I posted Sat & Mon today

We awoke to cloud and some light sprinkles, still warm though. Our outside thermometer was reading 65 this morning around 9:30. There is no wind at alI, just periodic light sprinkles. I went down to the pay phone to call the 800 numbers for ICBC & Aviva & GVP (to make reservations for Feb 10 arrival). The ICBC agent I had an extension # for isn’t in today.  The Aviva went through OK and that’s settled, they have cancelled my claim number, they figured that my agent called them to say I might need repairs. Back at the RV, we made up an omelette for breakfast/lunch about 11:30 and then went down for the volleyball.  They had a full pool there despite the sprinkles of periodic rain.  It has stopped by 1 PM.  The clouds don’t even look like rain clouds, they are thin and a light grey.  After the game we sat in the mineral pool and then I changed and went to Freddy’s Café to work on the computer.  It said I had internet and I connected but it wouldn’t bring up my email, then after a while it went to “no internet access”.  I’ll be glad to get to GVP!  I went over to the computer room where Sheila had a computer & was busy connecting.  She was able to stay on for half an hour as no one was waiting.  (The limit is 15 min. if someone’s waiting.)  There are 4 computers available. We headed back to the RV as a few sprinkles came & went.  We had afternoon tea in the RV and then prepped for a nice supper.  I did discover one thing about this RV that I will have to get changed – if possible.  When I went to fire the engine up to check gas tank levels & mileage the battery was dead.  It’s a new battery! Then I remembered that in the Jayco back in 2001 when we picked it up I ran the engine battery dead while parked on PEI and plugged in.  It turned out that the radio ran off the engine battery.  I am going to have that changed over as I did on the Jayco.  Fortunately I have the auxiliary start button that connects the coach batteries to the engine, so no real problem.  We can use the generator here until 9 PM so no problem keeping warm & cosy and we can still run the furnace on the batteries as well. So, after supper we got out another Carol Burnett Show DVD, fired up the Gen & watched it till a bit before 9:00.  I headed to bed about an hour later; Sheila as usual stayed up to do her “jobs” & read.

Sat Jan 24 Day 14

Windy at night & in morning, it got down to mid 60’s at night and was sunny & clear in the morning with the temp climbing to high 70’s, (25 C++).  Puttered around RV for the morning and Sheila went to some garage sale thing with Dorothy Bullis.  Sheila came back having spent about $15 on some CD’s, DVD’s, a game, Battle of the Sexes and some assorted small stuff.  We had a nice salad for lunch, then Sheila went down to do some lengths in the pool while I stayed to conserve my energy for tonight’s Dance.  After a cpl of minor jobs I wandered next door to visit Les.  Les & I talked about the traffic on hwy 215 leading into Hwy 10 across the north east end of LA and how busy it is – up to 6 lanes at times.  He said he stays of hwy 58 instead of turning down Hwy 395 and continues to Barstow before turning south and that way he misses all the traffic.  I will look it up for next year. Eventually Sheila & Dorothy came back and Kevin & Leslie showed up so we chit chatted ’till suppertime and the light started to fade. After supper we went down to the “Classical Concert” in “Sunrise Hall”.  It was pianists alternating with singers and more show tune & pop numbers than classical music.  It was mostly good.  That ended about 8:30 and we walked next door to “Hays Hall” for the Sat dance.  The music was by Chris Hemstead who played guitar and two pianos which were also synthesizers.  He was really good and did lots of actions such as playing the piano, (briefly) with his feet, so he was very entertaining.  He took requests, so the music was a very danceable mix of mostly 50’s & 60’s music.  Finally at 10 pm we came home.  I was exhausted & went straight to bed.  Sheila wasn’t far behind. Another great thing about this dance was the cost.  Only $5.00 each & that included punch & all the cookies you could eat!  The classical concert was an even better deal—free & they also provided lemonade & cookies!

Fri Jan 23 Day 13

We awoke to an overcast day but it was a thin cloud.  It was cooler maybe around 67 F I made my coffee and wandered over to Les’ rig, (next door), and chit chatted for a while.  Sheila showed up around 10 and we started to plot the day.  The veggie man is here today, (9 to noon), so we have to get down to get some fresh supplies before volley ball at noon. We also had to get some supplies from their general store on site in the RV Park. It was cloudy during the volley ball game but still fun, though not as much as yesterday when there were fewer people.  I sat in the mineral springs pool after. I think the warm weather and hot tubs are curing my back, I don’t have any backaches now. Sheila is hoping her morning & evening aches & pains will go away too, but it hasn’t happened yet.  Sheila went to Freddy’s for their Tuna melt sandwich for lunch which we split, it was good, lots of tuna. Then Sheila went to finish her ironing & I sat in the sun wrinkling shirts for her to iron. . We got back to 70 ++ temps by 2 PM.  I then walked back uphill to the RV to work on the levelling jacks using the silicon spray Les picked up.  Fortunately the RV being an RV it is easy to get under. I extended all the jacks to max, (which really increased the crawl space underneath), and crawled under where I wiped the shafts off & sprayed on silicon spray.  When I retracted them they all came fully up so that problem is solved.  The sun was fully out by mid afternoon.  We had supper in the rig and spent a quiet evening catching up on the daily journal.  

Thurs Jan 22 Day 12

Today we are moving down the line to a bigger spot.  I pulled in the slides and pushed the button to retract the levelling legs but they didn’t come fully up.  They were high enough to drive the hundred feet to our new spot and park.  In talking to Les & Kevin, (Les’s friend from Aldergrove), they said that some silicon spray on the legs would help. They just happened to be going to Wal-Mart down in Brawley, (about 40 minutes away), so I asked them to see if they could get a can of silicon spray.  Once settled in our new spot we had breakfast & then went down for the noon volleyball.  The “hot shots” were away playing in a tournament somewhere so it was a much smaller crowd, only 5 & 6 a side.  Both Sheila & I much preferred it to the usual 12 a side as you get more opportunities to hit the ball.  Despite the fact it was windy again today—it was great fun!    Afterwards, we sat in the hot tub and checked out the second pool which is a salt water pool.  Sheila said it was really easy to float in.  After sunning a bit I went into the RV Parks internet room and got one of their computers.  I was able to get onto gmail after a lot of fiddling around and got onto Sheila’s email but without my computer to load Sheila’s letter to Adeline, (from my Word file), I couldn’t send anything.  I was also able, (surprise to me), to get onto Mbanx so I could check my accounts. Then about 4 PM I went over to Freddy’s Café to save a table for Pizza & Karaoke Night and to try to get on the internet with my computer – no luck.  The pizza was an 8 inch 4 topping one, and really, really good, plus you got a salad & refillable drinks for $7.50.  It was a fun evening that went from 4:30ish to 7PM.  A lot of the singers were really good, better than the ones at TNT. (Tuesday Night Talent) and seemed to have professional or music backgrounds. Back at the RV we started the Gen & watched a Carol Burnett show from our CD collection. Before beginning out usual ‘chores’—blog, expenses, activity records, & the day’s dishes, if we left any.

PS I've been trying for days to load some more pictures but it just won't happen.  It takes so long the WiFi just closes itself out.It does say in the WIFi instructions that the system is not meant for downloading movies  and large picture files, the file I was trying to upload of our rig at Orange Grove RV Park says it is 5.24 MB,is that a large file? It's only one picture.  You may have to wait until we are at GVP before I can send pictures on the blog.

trying with a cpl pictures - - again This one is of my pax side mirror that contacted something on a semi

this is where i hit the semi or he hit me - You have to move the picture over  to the right to get the mark on the mirror visible

explanation for screwups

I was supposed to have some pictures up but they seem to have dissapeared from my picture file.  I messed up on a date and haven't been able to fix it.

Wed Jan 21 Day 11

Wed Jan 21 Day 11

We got quite a wind during the night and it is still a bit windy this morning.  I phoned ICBC to report the “incident”.  So far so good.  They did say that with my driving history I will not have any change in premium next year.  I’m down near the pool plugged in and am going to try to get internet, it is unbelievably slow and most people can’t get on at all after waiting & waiting.  Played volley ball in the pool, the wind cause some problems but the wind is not a cold wind and the pool is well heated so no problem other than the ball getting blown off course.  We had lunch at the Café here and Sheila is off to various classes & info meetings etc.  I have been at the computer trying to get on the internet and when I did it was very very slow and wouldn’t open some things at all.  We can’t operate like this, we have bills to pay at month end and I can’t get onto the net to see when & how much so we may cut our time short here.

Tues Jan 20 Day 10

Tues Jan 20 Day 10

We’re up and off to water volley ball from noon to 1 PM.  Back to the RV for a stir fry lunch and then we went down to Les Bullis’ rig to socialize.  Friends of theirs from Aldergrove were parked next doo, (Leslie & Kevin),  after a bit Leon & Mercy, (from Seattle area), dropped by.  As the Sun started to set we headed back to the RV for supper.  There was some cloud & we got a great sunset.  After supper it’s down to the main hall for TNT night which is a talent night put on by esidents on the park. The show is usually reasonably good.  It starts at 7 PM and goes to between 8 & 9.  Then back to the RV.

Mon Jan 19 Day 9

Mon Jan 19 Day 9  Woke to 58 F at 8:30, it rapidly rose higher and got to 75+ by mid-day.

Up and had my coffee.  Then took the RV out to the dump station to dump tanks

& top up with water.  Back at our site I worked on extending the solar panel lead

by attaching a set of jumper cables to the battery clips.  Seems to work and we

can get the panel out into the sun so now we will see how our batteries hold up, a

week should show results.  If they are still showing a full or almost full charge,

 then all is well.  Then we both went down for the noon water volleyball

game, (they play noon to 1 PM & 4 to 5 PM, Mon to Fri).  It was fun to be playing

 again. After that, a sit in the sun and hot tub & we came back for lunch in

 the rig. Sheila went for a nap and I did various little jobs & read.  We went down

 to Freddy’s Café on site here for their  “All you can Eat” soup & salad, incl. a

dessert for $7.50.  They offered 3 different kinds of soup, and a mini salad bar

One bowl of soup & 2 bowls of salad & I was full.  Sheila had two bowls of soup

& one bowl of salad.  Then, Sheila  went to do laundry while I went on rest

of the computer to try to get on the internet.  Their Wi Fi system is ridiculously

slow and sometimes I just can’t get on. Sheila started one load, but then realized

the rest of the quarters were in the RV so she drove up to get them. and then

realized she didn’t have her set of RV keys so, she drove back down, borrowed

 mine, got the quarters & returned to  the Laundry room!   She finally

got everything done an hour later than planned.. So went today.

Sun Jan 18 Day 8

Sun Jan 18 Day 8

The weather here is nice and warm in the daytime – mid 70’s & up, (that’s 25 C plus for you youngens).  Night time it drops to a bit below 60 so it’s nice for sleeping.

Today is the NFL final for one of the Superbowl participants.  Green Bay Packers VS Seattle Seahawks. Winner goes to the Superbowl.  Everyone was rooting for Seattle who won last years Superbowl.  Well, Seattle couldn’t do anything right the whole first half and it was 19 nothing for Green Bay at half time.  Seattle came out & pulled the rabbit out of the hat and the game ended in a tie and went to overtime. Then in the first play of overtime after Seattle won the coin toss and got the ball they went down the field for a touchdown to win the game. (NFL overtime is different from CFL overtime, basically they play a whole quarter & the first team to get a touchdown wins – sort of like NHL overtime, oh, and field goals don’t count to win).  During the game, we had a BBQ of hotdogs, and salads, snacks etc. There were about 8 or 9 people watching the game on a TV set up outside and hooked to CTV by satellite dish.  After the game we came back to the rig.  A bit later Les Bullis came by to ask if we were going to the entertainment. We went to Hayes Hall with him & Dorothy The entertainer was Sarah Getto, a blind singer/muscian who had been born with a cleft pallet and had taught herself to play piano by 3 and violin by 7. She had been travelling & entertaining for 7 or so years and is just 30 years old.  She has a university degree in musicology. She had a real nice voice too, Sheila got one of her CD’s..  After the show we returned to rig, picked up our dirty dishes from the last 2 meals and took them to a wash station the resort set up last year.  It has two huge sinks with side counters and lots of hot water.  After that it was home for the night.

Sat Jan 17

Sat Jan 17 Day 7 @ Fountain of Youth on the Salton Sea

We went into Spotlight 29 Casino for their breakfast special only to discover it only applies Mon-Fri.  However, on the regular menu they have a breakfast of 2 eggs any style, your choice of 2 bacon or 2 sausage, plus hash browns & 2 slices toast.  That sounds a lot like the seniors special at IHOP which is $7 or $8, here it is 4.79,  the special was 3 something).  We both ordered it and the deal got even better, when it came mine was correct but Sheila’s had scrambled not easy over & sausage not bacon.  We said that’s OK but the waiter brought 2 more easy over eggs & the bacon.  We were stuffed!  We then unhooked the car & went to Food 4 Less for groceries.  Then back to the RV, hooked up and away at 39433 @ 11:45.  We arrived at Fountain of Youth RV Park at 39476 @ 12:45. Got a spot for 1 week to see how the batteries hold out & the solar panel works. I tried setting it up ands discovered what I thought was a long cable able to reach from the battery area to the back and around, turns out it just barely goes from the battery area, (under the entrance stairs), to the front bumper.  Sheila went down for a swim & hot tub & checked out a few things. I vegged out in the chair until Ken’s call.  Sheila back after dark which is around 6 PM down here.  We started the gen for the microwave so I checked the hour meter – it’s at 112 hrs, the tech at Camping World said they should have a general servicing at 300 hours.  I’m still tired so we had a late supper & stayed in tonight. 

Fri Day 6

Fri Jan 16 Day 6 @ Orange Grove RV Park, Bakersfield

No hot water at all in the AM so called a mobile repair service who will be here about 10 AM.  Of course, then Sheila turns on the water and it comes out – what’s going on?  I went over to the office for coffee & donuts and we have a hold on our spot and now time will tell. …………. Time past and all’s well that ends well.  The water heater is operational and we are ready to roll by 1 PM.  We actually pulled out with Sheila driving at 1:20.  She quit driving at 2:45.  We did a gas stop at a Pilot station on hwy 395 just near the junction with Hwy 215. Even though we are in California gas is still just 2.25 a gallon, (actual pump price is 2.299 but I get 5 cents off with my Pilot/Flying J charge card).  We pulled in at 4:00 at 39328 miles & out at 4:20 – gassing up took 10 or so minutes, the rest of the time I am usually waiting to get at a pump, I need the full 2 pump island with my length. Traffic was thick on hwy 10 but it kept moving – slowly but moving. We pulled into the Spotlight 29 Casino at 39433 at 6:30.  With the traffic it took 2 hrs & 10 minutes to go 105 miles and that’s on California high speed multi-lane freeways non-stop. We went into the Casino for a nice supper. Sheila stayed to gamble with the usual results—she lost most of her gambling money.

Distance – 233 miles, on road time 3 hrs 50 minutes  

Thurs Day 5

Thurs Jan 15 Day 5  Still lots of fog or mist all the way to Bakersfield

Temp went down to 39 F last night but was up to 43 by 9:30 AM and doesn’t feel as cold as at home.  We have a long way to go so I wanted an early start today. Finally got away out Willows Walmart at  9:45.  Down I-5 to Lodi, (south of Sacramento), where we pulled into a Flying J for gas & lunch at their Subway.  Off hwy at 38945 @ 11:45, gas finished at 12:00 (48 gallons) & away at 12:20 and on over to Hwy 99 to Bakersfield.  The hwy is in terrible shape with lots of construction road narrowing.  On one such narrowing I was beside a semi rig and the road suddenly had cement barriers right up to & on the side lines making it really narrow.  Of course there was a bang as my passenger side mirror connected with something on the truck.  It didn’t break the glass or anything, just pushed it in so I couldn’t see out of it and Sheila couldn’t straighten it from inside.  It was a while before we found a wide spot to pull over so I could go outside & straighten the mirror out.  There was a mark on the outside of the mirror frame but other wise no damage.  So far the score is: me 2, Sheila 0. (Sheila says she’s not going to drive anymore so we can keep it that way!)  We arrived Orange Grove RV and are parked in the orange trees, I already picked a half dozen from the tree beside us. In at 39200 miles @ 4:50 PM. 

The latest “problem” to surface is our hot water heater, again, It started to make a clunking noise if the hot tap was turned on full.  OK if you turn it on slowly but then it decided to not give me any hot water at all, turn on the tap & nothing comes out.  The cold works just fine. I will have to have it looked at tomorrow.

Distance -  374 miles, on road time 5 hrs 30 mins

Wed Jan 14 Day 4 lots of fog around, more than on all previous trips down I 5

Out 7 Feathers @38533 miles @ 10:55 and arrived at the Fred Meyer and Home Town Buffet area off I 5 exit 27 at 12:20 @38606 miles.  I got a 1 year Tracphon card with 400 minutes as well for $99.00 (and no tax in Oregon).  Plus buying it at Fred Meyer gave me a bunch of points on my Fred Meyer card which I could use on gas, then over to Home Town Buffet for lunch after which I filled up with gas at the Fred Meyer station & got 20 cents a gallon off so my gas was $1.90 a US gallon. Good Deal all round.  We headed out at 1:50 to I 5 & up the Siskiyou pass to the summit at 4310 ft at 2:20 then down the 7 mile 6% grade hill entering CA at 2:25. We pulled into a rest area at 3:10 to change to Sheila driving !!!!!!   On the road at 3:15 and finally stopped to change back to me driving at just after 5.  Sheila drove for 1hr. 45 mins, she didn’t hit anything and did a great job.  We finally pulled into the Walmart near Willows CA at 38826 miles at 6:10. We went across the road to Nancy’s Airport Café for one of their great meals.  We had enough leftovers for another small meal, (mine was a senior special).  

Distance – 293 miles, on road time 5 hrs 40mins.

Here is where I connected with the other car's rear fender.  The sun was coming directly from that corner and my sun visor didn't cover the area. Just surface damage to me, it will probably wash or wax out.

DAY 3

Tues Jan 13 Day 3

Up Up & Away - - almost.  We pulled out of Camping World Burlington at 38095 miles at 0920.  At 1:55 we stopped at the Flying J in northern Oregon @ 38354 & filled up for $2.009 a gallon. The instruments said it would be 580 miles to empty.  We stopped at their Subway & split a foot long and a drink, plus we got 60 cents off with my Flying J charge card and didn’t even have to charge it, we paid cash. We left the station at 2:50 the straight down I 5 to Seven Feathers Casino RV Park.  We arrived at 5:35 @ 38533 miles. We covered 179 miles in 2 hrs 45 minutes that’s an ave speed of 65 mph, no bad for a giant brick wall going up & down hills and passing trucks like crazy.

I suppose I have to mention one minor incident while going through Seattle.  I was approaching the express lane entrance driving into the bright sun which came between the sun visors and was hitting the mirrors and the window.  I started to move over and there was a minor bump and I barley touched a car in the lane beside me.  We pulled over & exchanged insurance details Very minimal damage, mostly some minor paint scrapes on her car on the rear fender. I haven’t had time in daylight to check out the RV. It was on the hwy side in Seattle and I forgot at the gas station and it was dark when we got camped again.  

Day 2

Mon Jan 12 Day 2

Had RV in for the water heater check at 8 AM.  They finished and I am waiting for Sheila to call to say she is on route and for Ken to call re meeting for lunch.  In RV I went down to Fred Meyer 10:20 to 11:20. Sheila phoned about 11:30 to say she still had lots to do and might be on route by 2 PM.  Ken phoned to say he was an hour & a half away.  Ken arrived about 1:00 & we went to lunch.  Sheila phoned about 3:30 to say she was almost ready to go.  Ken left for Trader Joes in Bellingham to get Kerrygold butter and Sheila arrived just around 6 PM.  Needless to say we are at Camping World for one more night.

Day 1 - I head for Campingworld

Sun Jan 11 Day 1

Away from home @ 1:55 @ 38023.  Bren only as Sheila is staying to  finish up some stuff, letters, watch TV etc.  I arrive bdr 2:40 @ 38046, but got sent to Agi inspection for my declared eggs.  When the inspectors returned they said they couldn’t find the eggs, I thought I had forgotten to put them in. So finally clear bdr at 3:15, so a 35 min crossing.  Arrived Camping World 4 PM @ 38091. Set up in back lot on power. 

Distance covered 68 miles.

Jan 11, ready to head south

Here we are Jan 11 ready to go.  Bren, at least, Sheila will stay one more night at home & meet me at Camping World where I am getting a minor job done early Monday morning.  Ken will be on route back from his gaming in Seattle and will hopefully meet me for lunch, Sheila too if she gets there in time. We are only about an hour south of the boarder so it's not that far to drive. Then it's off southbound.