Saturday, Again???

How could another week go by so fast! It seems like last weekend just ended and here it is time for another.

My next door neighbors moved out this morning, and the empty space next to me looks kinda sad. Four Mexicans had a fairly large trailer and I'm sure they were working in the area as they were gone all day. They were some of the few people I've seen here who were friendly - always had a smile and a wave. They never made any noise, but about two evenings ago I could tell they were doing some deep cleaning in their rig, so I knew they would be pulling out soon, and they were up at dawn getting ready to leave. If it didn't look so cold outside I would have gone out to wish them "suerte!"

I will go to the office today and pay for another month's stay, and then it will be my turn to pack up and leave Cal Expo. I'm still not sure where I will go, but I'll never find as convenient a spot as this, although it will be time to move on to someplace new. I will need to figure out how to pad my computer for travel, and I will just put the monitor on the bed and surround it with pillows. That's usually what I do with my laptop. I could put the desktop back in the original box with the styrofoam packing, but I really don't want to disconnect all those wires. I guess i will have to do that when I make the move to Lassen.

Steve is going to come over today and replaced a damaged fenderskirt with the new one that finally arrived. Every time I look at the broken one I am reminded of my first day on the road and cutting a corner too close. I was turning the corner around a gas island and forgot to look at the 5ver in the side mirror, and scraped a bollard on the island. Dang, was I mad at myself!

I will try to sneak in a few other quick jobs as long as he's here. I know I should be checking the water level in the batteries but haven't done so yet. I remember when you had to do that with the car batteries, but I think they were easier to access under the hood of an automobile. I need to buy some distilled water but forget whenever I'm at the grocery.

I made a delicious chicken & corn chowder for my supper last night. Everything I've cooked so far has been on top of the stove or in the slow cooker, and I've never even tried to light the oven. I think this is where I need to use the lighter that was in the kitchen drawer. The seller told me I had to use it to get a spark to the burners, but I discovered a dial on the stove that sends a spark to the burner. Why couldn't they have done that for the oven?

I can't believe how cozy it is with my little electric heater! It's easy to move around so that I am just warming the area I'm in and not the entire RV. I'll admit I've had to reset the circuit breaker a few times - I must not be thinking straight in the morning when I turn the heater on before the coffee has finished dripping. The warmer doesn't seem to take much power at all, and once the coffee is made then I can turn on the heater. I now have the heat directed towards my legs as I sit here at the computer, and have the shirt that I want to wear spread over my knees to catch the heat so it will be nice and warm when I put it on.

The sun is shining so I can easily see the dust & clutter that I need to clean up this morning. Maybe I'll be back to add to this post later today.

The Ring of Fire

What is happening on the West Coast? I have always had a fear of earthquakes and don't think I would ever live permanently near the coast, anywhere on the Pacific Rim. I figured I would be ok for a few months this year, but this morning I read that a 4.6 quake was recorded in the vicinity of Seattle, and there are fears that Mt. Redoubt near Anchorage is going to erupt again. And to think I will be working this summer at the site of some weird stuff going on - fumaroles, hot springs, steamy bubbling mud pots, some even along the road and some you view from a boardwalk. (The sulphur smell can be overwhelming at times.) It is described as one of only two active volcanos in the continental US. While I knew it had been a volcano, thus the name of the park, I didn't know the active part of it. I will be in sight of Mt. Shasta, the second highest volcano in the US and the 2nd highest peak in the Cascades. Now I'm wondering why I've been so hot to buy an emergency weather radio!

Wikipedia describes Mt. Lassen as the largest plug dome volcano in the world. Something about the word "plug" makes me a bit uneasy. After all, we know what happens when we pull the plug out of a bottle of champagne!

Thankfully I am due at Fort Pulaski (coastal Georgia) after the hurricane season is officially over, but then I will have to dodge tornados as I make my way back across the country next year. No use staying in the Midwest - ice storms & snow in winter, and floods in spring.

Seriously though, I'm not afraid of anything or any place. Mother Nature moves much more slowly than we do - we are just a speck in time - but I'd rather my speck not be around when the "big one" hits.

UPDATE: A couple of hours after I wrote this post I learned that both Chile and Colombia have evacuated people from the imminent eruption of volcanos in those countries, both on the Pacific Rim and the "ring of Fire".

A morning spent running errands

My first stop this morning was to a nearby computer repair store. The tech told me he thought it would only be the keyboard that needs replacing, as the keypad seems to work. Having diagnostics run and installing a new keyboard will cost somewhere around $128. I know I could replace the keyboard myself for much less, but it is difficult to find one. There are keyboards advertised that will fit the Dell Inspiron 1501, but the part numbers don't match. I'm not going to fool with it. I would scrap the laptop since my desktop works just fine, but if I get to where I can access the internet while I'm at Lassen this summer, it will be with the laptop.

I went to Costco but only bought a couple of items, then on to Petsmart where I spent a bundle on food for my two mangy mutts, returned the Emerson weather radio to Walmart, stopped at a grocery for a couple of items I couldn't get at the food co-op, and finally to Walgreens for prescriptions. There are two I need for my eye surgery, plus a couple I had transferred from NC, and I couldn't believe the cost. One thing on my list that I still need to do is to get a haircut, but I'm back home now and plumb wore out!

I got a call earlier from the gentleman at the park office telling me that the manager approved an additional month's stay, but "there won't be any extensions after that". I'm sure he is relaying the manager's words and tone of voice, but I feel like a child being "let off just this once" for not doing my homework or talking in class or something. This manager is the same person who kept saying "Someone locked the door from the inside", when I couldn't get my key out of the shower door and it got pushed shut. Oh well, her attitude to life is her problem and nothing to do with me personally, so I shouldn't take it personally.

I'm so tired that I think I'll take a nap!

More about the radio

Earlier today I wrote that I bought an Eton Emergency Crank Radio. I just tried it out and am very pleased with the sound quality, especially that of the NOAA weather radio channel. I also mentioned that you need an adaptor for plugging into an electric socket, as well as for charging the phone. In reading the instructions I found that I only had to register the product, which I did very quickly on their website, and they will send me the adaptors. I'm not sure why they don't just go ahead and include them with the radio, but I guess it gets more people to submit registration information.

Going around in circles today

It seems I've driven a lot today but didn't end up doing much. I picked up a book I had ordered "the Next Exit" that I had mailed to Jeannie's address. I looked at two different Cost Plus stores where they had advertised rectangular dog beds for $10 ea. I've been wanting to buy two of them to put in the truck, as there really isn't enough room for those 42" round beds that I currently have. I'd like to get something smaller for both truck and RV, although the big round ones must be comfortable to their old bones! The regular price on the rectangular beds is about $20 each, way too much as I see it.

I've been getting prescriptions transferred to Walgreen's, since they tell me that I can refill at any Walgreen's pharmacy in the US. I also dropped off new prescriptions for eye drops that I will need to use before & after surgery. I'll go back tomorrow to pick it all up as I didn't feel like waiting around. They have to call back to the pharmacy I used in Asheville for a couple of them.

I stopped at a Radio Shack to look at emergency radios - I already bought a radio with weather channel at Walmarts, but there really aren't any emergency features to it and I don't need a radio. I ended up with an Eton Red Cross Emergency Crank Radio. It has AM/FM plus NOAA weather, flashlight, siren and cell phone charger, and runs on 3 AA batteries. There is an input for AC adaptor if I want to go out and buy yet another cord. Same thing for the cell phone - my Motorola didn't come with a car charger and I just don't think I need one since I travel with my house along for the ride, and there is no reason why at least one of my 2 cellphones run out of charge. Now I need to return the Emerson. I hope I never need the emergency radio, but I'm ready in the event I do. The real test will be when I get to Lassen and try it out there.

I'm getting fairly comfortable with driving in Sacramento, even on the dreadful Capital City Freeway, which I have always avoided like the plague. For years I've been spending a month or more here, usually at Christmas time. I always drove my ex husband to his chemo appointments and other places he needed to go, and I always complained about the traffic. I wish now I had been more gracious about it, but you sure can't go back to the past and make up for lost opportunities.

Ready for the doctor's appointment

Well I've gotten myself ready to make the short trip to Mercy Medical Center, where I hope the doctor will be to my liking. All I want is my prescriptions refilled, but I'm sure I will have to fill out a dozen pages with my life history. I really don't know why I should have to fill out anything, since they took the info down over the phone, twice, before they would give me an appointment. I got my Verizon phone bill which went over my limit this month, due for the most part to the time I've spent on Hold with the Medical Center!

I washed my hair this morning and looking in the mirror, it is apparent that I am past the point where I need a haircut. I dropped into the salon at Walmart for the last one and wasn't all that happy with it, although it did get to a point for a couple of weeks where it didn't look too bad. This is one of the few downsides of not staying in one place. Actually two downsides - doctors and a hairdresser.

Monday & Tues of this week are the last opportunities to get the special 40th anniversary prices at Old Spaghetti Factory, so Jeannie, Donald, Autumn, and Donald's mother (Martha), Steve & Megan and I met there for dinner. Someone brought a big old T-shirt for Autumn to wear as she gets spaghetti sauce all over herself. For being such a little kid she can put away an amazing amount of food. She started with a bowl of soup and ate most of the regular size plate of spaghetti, plus some of the wonderful Italian bread. It was almost too much for me, and I had to leave a bit of my salad and a small amount of spaghetti. Megan and I enjoyed a glass of chianti, but Jeannie, being pregnant, had to forgo the pleasure. I really cherish the opportunities to be together. We missed Joe, Sarah & Alyssa, but Joe is back to school for the spring term and he has such a condensed schedule he can't give up the study time.

I have decided to return the Emerson weather radio I bought. The quality of sound isn't all that good, and if I'm going to use a weather radio at all I want something that I can tune in to and understand what is being said. Now I need to decide if I want to pay 3 or 4 times what the Emerson costs to get a good radio. Do I even need one?

Another job

Anyone who reads my blog once in a while, or who has met me in the rv-dreams chat room, knows that I am going to work at Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California this summer. When I'm finished there I am going to make my way through Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North & South Dakota and eventually wind up in New York where I will visit with my oldest son & family. From there I will travel south and visit family along the way, and then go to Savannah GA and to my next workamping position at Fort Pulaski National Monument from Dec. 1 through Feb 28. 2010. Then I'll travel across to California and start it all over again. I'm sure I can line up a couple of workamping jobs next year interspersed with visiting and exploring time. It hasn't been difficult to find job opportunities, nor to land the jobs. Now I just have to dazzle them with my work efforts!

I am so fortunate getting these two jobs--one will be a wilderness experience and provide opportunities to hike the back country on my days off, and the other will be in more of a day use type of park. From what I've been able to gather online the park at Ft Pulaski has tidal marshes, mud flats, and an abundance of wildlife including alligators (look out, dogs), blue herons, and many others. As a lover of history I will be able to get a good dose of military history at the fort.

I went on a little shopping trip yesterday with Jeannie and Autumn, and we ended up at a small family run ice cream parlor. I rarely eat ice cream except when the weather is hot, but surprisingly I can eat it any time of year when I'm in California. It tasted so good and I know that I will be stopping by often to get more. I bought a small weather radio - nothing as fancy as I thought I wanted - just AM, FM & Weather. I put four AA batteries in it and tried it out. (There is also a power cord that tucks away into its own storage compartment.) The FM stations come in fine but I didn't have much luck with the weather part of it. I'll try again today and if I can't it to work I will read the instructions. If that fails I'll return it.

Another thing I really need until I can get service on my rig is a desk lamp. Steve looked at the dining light fixture that doesn't work, and couldn't tell what's wrong with it. Nor could he follow the electric line beyond the fixture as it's encased in the ceiling of the slide-out. In the meantime, this is where I have my "desk" (dining table) where I set my computer monitor, keyboard and printer. (The computer is on the floor between the entertainment center and the chairs.) So yesterday I bought a flexible gooseneck lamp--and, it's a miracle--but the 40watt bulb only uses 7watts! How is that for being energy conscious? Where in the world am I going to put all these little appliances when I pack for traveling? They will probably be safest in their original boxes, but in the meantime where do I store all the boxes. The under-bed-storage compartment is rapidly filling up with empty boxes!

While I was gone Steve came by and replaced the glide pin assembly on my 5th wheel hitch. It has been under recall and I had the parts sent to me thinking I would have to take it to an authorized Nu Wa repair shop to get it installed. Steve said it was quick and easy, and it does look good. He has already saved me lots of $ in diagnostics & repairs, narrowing down the items that I will need to pay for.