Languishing in the heat

Sacramento summers have never appealed to me, although there are some advantages over other central CA cities, such as Stockton or Redding. For one thing, while the temps get very high during the day and don't really start going down until well after dark, there is almost always the Sacramento Delta breeze coming through overnight, so the mornings can be about 60. We nearly reached 100 today and tomorrow morning will be somewhere around 60. I leave my front door and windows open for most of the morning, and a couple of windows stay open all day. It has gotten a little stuffy at times, but I've never had to use the a/c. I should probably buy a small fan, but I don't usually need it.

I made an early morning trip to REI today to look at various camping items. I ended up buying a couple of books, two national park maps, and a 30' length of good rope so that I can give Lady some room to move about while still keeping her from roaming where she shouldn't. This is for when we are camping or otherwise outdoors on a trip, for instance.

I thank all who wrote comments about tents and such. I have looked at the Eureka Tetragon and even have them bookmarked. My first requirement for a tent is that the rainfly completely cover it all the way to the ground, including doors and windows. I don't believe the advertising about awnings over the windows keeping rain out while allowing ventilation. There are other ways to ventilate, but I'm adamant about wanting complete coverage from a rainfly.

In the mid 1990's a major hurricane (I forget which one) roared up through the Appalachian mountains (where I was backpacking on Grandfather Mtn in VA). It wreaked havoc in the Shenandoah, which had to be closed to traffic for at least a week in order to clear downed trees. I worked on the clearing of trees - didn't handle a chain saw but I was the carrier of the maintenance items for the chain saw for my team. During the night of this devastation I was snug and dry in my tent, although I thought it might get blown away to the Land of Oz! I hope to never experience another hurricane while tenting, but a heavy rain along with high winds can have a similar effect on a tent.

Another suggestion was to take my 5th wheel out of mothballs if it doesn't sell. If it doesn't sell it is going right back into consignment. I don't ever want to have to mess with a 5ver again, especially that one. The RV Dealer has cleaned it up, done some recaulking, and gotten rid of the doggie smell. I'm not going to take the dog right back into it, nor do I want to watch the caulking get dusty and dirty.

At least my 5ver didn't have electric jacks for me to have to worry about, and the manual jacks were the least of the problems I had. I no longer want slide-outs. I always had a fear of of them getting stuck halfway in or out, and it would have been a lot for me to try to crank it manually. I just don't intend to deal with that kind of thing anymore. So no electric jacks, no slides. The next thing I would prefer not to have, although it's not likely to happen, is a water pump. If I don't live in an RV or camper full time I think I could do just fine without a water connection, which requires hoses that have to be dealt with. This is one reason I've always been attracted to a teardrop camper, which wouldn't be the best choice for me for other reasons, but it is a minimalist way of living/camping. That appeals to me, because instead the time spent on all the chores that must be done to keep a big RV going can be substituted with outdoors time. I much prefer relaxing and looking up at the trees rather than down at a dirty hose.

Right now it's all speculation because I haven't sold the 5th wheel. I also need to see the eye doctor (this coming Wednesday) before making any concrete plans. I flip-flop from day to day on what I want to do and how to do it, but I trust the right thing for me will pop up when the time comes, so I'm trying to be content to wait it out. I do need to get on the road again!

Tomorrow will be a quick trip to the farmers' market. We are going early before the heat of the day sets in, and I'll be back home fairly early. It's ironic that someone who loves being outdoors is kept inside by this ungodly heat which shows no sign of abating any time soon. So I just think and plan for the time when I can take off and drive north and up to higher elevations.