Feb. 22, 2012 Playing in Pleasanton, CA.

We left Quartzsite, AZ just ahead of a storm on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012.  We drove through some heavy winds and a bit of rain to arrive at Barstow, CA, Flying J about mid-afternoon.  After fighting the wind and rain, I was glad we weren’t  going to press on to Bakersfield like we usually do.  We had an appointment with Camping World to have air bags installed on the truck on Friday.

We got up and headed for Tehachapi Pass.  Wait, what is that white stuff on the hills??

Why it is snow, fresh snow.  Good thing we stopped in Barstow!

I had called Camping World on Monday and Tracy ordered the air bags with an estimated delivery date of Thursday.  Yeah, right!  We pulled into the Bakersfield Elk’s Club and called Camping World.  Whoops, the company didn’t ship until Tuesday and had an estimated delivery date of the 20th instead of the 17th.  Tracy agreed to call us on Friday with an updated delivery date—as Monday was also President’s Day and they weren’t sure FedEx would deliver on the holiday.  She called us Friday morning to let us know there was no hope for the Friday delivery so that the air bags could NOT be installed on Saturday.  We decided we needed to pull the plug on the transaction; it was going to drag on much longer than promised.  We needed to be in the SF Bay Area instead of stuck in Bakersfield, CA.

I am not happy--Camping World charged us for the shipping on a product they promised by Friday.  Had they told us it would take a week or longer, we would have waited until we were done in Antioch.  We ended up paying $49 to get out of the order—and almost a week later, we are still waiting for the refund of $251 from the rest of the deposit.  Camping World, we are disappointed in you charging us for your mistake!

We spent two nights at the Tracy, CA, Elk’s Club.  Once you find the way in, it is a peaceful spot for a few nights.  I  wanted to continue over to the Alameda Country Fairground, Pleasanton, CA, to see my sister, Diane.  We are here for 7 nights.

Welcome to the Alameda Country Fairground.  Campers register here for one of the 200-plus sites in the RV Campground

 

This is my sisters RV.  In addition to being very pretty, she had a bigger RV, smile. (And a prettier car too.)

And of course, us:

The sites are quite narrow.  It’s a challenge to get one of the bigger rigs into the site and even more of a challenge to find a spot to park your tow car.  We can live with this for a week.  And then on to beautiful Sugar Barge Resort for a month or two.  Larry will do lab work next Monday and by Wednesday, we will have some idea of what our near future holds.

In closing, here are two unusual RVs parked here:

They have their own patio.  And the next one has a loft:

Want to sleep up there?  Nah, me neither!  Bet it is cold during the winter months!  And so much for this week’s ramblings.  Next stop, Sugar Barge in the beautiful California Delta region.

Feb. 11, 2012 Back in Gila Bend, again.

Our life is two steps forward, one back. After leaving Gila Bend last Tuesday morning, we pulled into Dream Catcher RV Park in Deming, NM at 3 pm. that afternoon. It was a long day!

The main reason we stopped there was to visit with Jim and Penny Scott, Rainbow Parks directors and long-time friends. Penny and I chat on the phone often but we our paths only cross occasionally. They train the park managers and hosts and have been spending most of their time in Branson, MO. We were delighted to be able to meet up in Deming.

We planned on Wednesday and Thursday nights before pushing on toward Livingston, TX. Thursday is the park “dine-in night.” Jim and his helper Ralph prepared a delicious meat- loaf dinner.

Yum, Yyum. Meatloaf coming out of the oven headed for our plates.

Whoops, Penny’s salad and her plate are naked. No salad toppings or gravy. Poor Penny. Here is what the rest of our salads looked like. Aren't they pretty?

Some local musicians came and played for us after dinner. It was a grand finale to our two-day Deming, NM visit, or so we thought.

We went to bed with full stomachs and happy thoughts of the great music and fun time in Deming, NM. However, we were anxious to head east in the morning.

Larry woke up about 4 a.m. with a bloody nose. I got up with him and after a few minutes, we thought it had stopped. And then the bleeding started again. Whoops, this is too much for us to handle.

Luckily I had read the park brochure produced by A.G.S. . that we received when we checked in. I knew there was a very important ad on the back of the brochure:

It says:

In an emergency, these three words could save your life: the nearest hospital—Mimbres Memorial Hospital.

In a panic, I called to make sure they had a doctor on call—and for driving instructions. I had forgotten there was a map in the brochure. I knew I needed to get dressed, get Larry dressed, as he only had one arm available with one holding his nose, get him down the steps without his leg brace, and drive him to the Emergency Room.

We forgot his wallet and had to turn around at the park exit and go back and grab his wallet with his Medicare card and insurance information. I said: We need to practice emergency routines to get this down better for the next emergency!!!!

Larry is on Coumadin, a blood thinner so it just wouldn’t stop bleeding. The doctor sprayed a nasal decongestant three times before the bleeding stopped--taking about 45 minutes. If it hadn't stopped, the next step was to pack his nose with guaze and then stay in Deming longer to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist in Los Cruses.

The Mimbres Memorial Hospital did an excellent job. We were pleased with the service and the doctor’s help. We would not have been able to stop the bleeding at home. It was definitely an E.R. room visit emergency.

The doctor suggested staying another 24 hours and getting a humidifier and saline nasal sprays to keep his nasal passages damp. Larry’s nose bleed was probably caused by the dry air cracking the blood vessels in his nasal passage. Once it started, the Coumadin kept the blood from clotting. Meet our new best friend from Wal-Mart:

In Texas, we use a de-humidifier to keep the house comfortable, but out in the desert air, we have to moisten the air. I guess we are never satisfied, smile.

While that episode was scary, very scary, it wouldn’t have changed our travel plans. Seeing the blood work lab results did. The kidney function results have declined since the lab work on the first of February.

We are returning to Antioch, CA, for his March lab work to be near his nephrologist in case things really are on a slippery slope. Larry feels good and has a healthy appetite, however, it would have been fool-hardy to Texas. We turned around this morning and re-traced Wednesday's travels. We are parked back in Gila Bend, AZ, for tonight. We will continue on to Quartzsite, AZ for a night or two before heading up to Antioch.

We love traveling around in the truck and camper. We know medical issues are going to come up, either from our ages or Larry’s chronic kidney disease. What we won’t do is sit around the house waiting for something to go wrong. Things will go wrong--whether we sit at home—or on the road enjoying life. Even though it is scary, like yesterday needing an ER in a strange town, the people we meet who help us make up the sweetener for the bowl of lemons. Life is good!

(And special thanks to the AGS representatives who got the Mimbres Hospital ad. Bless you! It was a life-saver for us!)

Be sure to read those brochures you receive at RV parks; you never know when you will need to drive through a strange town in the dark middle of the night.

Feb. 2, 2012 On the move again……

It’s time to move. We just completed 66 days living “off the electrical grid.” We have enjoyed our time in Quartzsite, AZ,--the peace and quiet in December and the super-activity in January. Now we are ready for a change of scenery.

I started this post last night. However, I have to interrupt the post to post what is really important! Showers! We are hooked up to water, electric and sewer at Holts Shell RV Park, Gila Bend, AZ, We stop here coming and going to clean the rig and do laundry. After two months of “Navy-style showers,” tonight we enjoyed long, hot, quiet showers. It was so heavenly. I just stood under the hot water—feeling blissful. No “eh eh eh” of the water pump nagging me to hurry up to save water for Larry. Friends, tonight’s long shower was heavenly! Far more enjoyable than even a big chocolate bar!

Meanwhile, back at the blog: The statistics of being off the grid for 66 days.

We kept our set of two batteries charged with the two solar panels and did computer/phone charging and limited TV watching with our Honda 2000i generator. Larry filled the 1.5 gallon red gas can three times and poured half of the last fill into our neighbor’s generator this morning, therefore using about 4 gallons. We filled one of the two 5-gallon propane tanks every two weeks—for a total of about 20 gallons of propane for cooking and heating shower water.

We use a Heater Buddy portable propane heater. We went through a canister a day (2.60 each) in December, but one canister lasted about 3 days in February because milder weather. I over bought this year and had to return some to W-M in mid-February.

Every week we drove 3 miles down to the BLM sewer dump the holding tanks and fill up about 40 gallons of fresh water. The sewer dump and fresh water services are covered with the BLM annual permit for $180. (Or, with the $40 14-day permit.)

This handy $180 permit also entitled us to see and enjoy some of the world’s most beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

The daily colorful shows are spectacular—and free to visitors—no extra charge!

Of course, to Rvers, January in Quartzsite, AZ, means the Big Tent RV and Vacation show—and lots and lots of traffic and visitors.

The crowds were heavy this year. I ventured into the tent once and it was a claustrophobic experience. Wall to wall people—inching along the aisles. I visited the Escapees booth for some hugs and the Good Sam booth to renew our towing insurance and buy this year’s issue of the Good Sam Campground Guide. I use it as my third resource for campgrounds--after the Escapees Travel Guide and Passport America’s book.

Some folks come for RV stuff and others come for rocks. Yes, that little crystal is $335!

My beautiful sister Diane looking at some of the crystal rocks on display for sale. (She is much prettier than the rocks, smile.)

And then there are flea market booths everywhere with tons of “collectibles. They count on you collecting what they are selling. I chuckled over this sign—yes, it says open. Need junk?

It was fun and and for us, it is over for this year. Enough dust, wind, flea markets, and RV shows. We are headed back to Texas. First day’s travel—145 miles to electricity, water and sewer. Only 1200 miles to go—so I will post as we have time and electricity at night.