Up and Down Up and Down

Yesterday was one of those days. It all started out that it was our 29th day at Pechanga RV Resort. They have a 29 day limit and we had to evacuate for 24 hours before we could come back in. It also turned out that we had to run the Aerbus back into the shop to get a few more things done so we coordinated the two. We really never have that feeling of being homeless until the house is in the shop and we don’t have access to it. It rained like heck so we used the time to spend some of the gift certificates we got for Christmas. They were done with the Motorhome by 2:00p and they did a good job with the repairs. We setup the motorhome in the overflow parking lot adjacent the RV Resort and settled in for the night. Since we didn’t have to pay Campground fees we decided to splurge and hit the buffet at the casino. After dinner I handed Susan $10.00 and told her to hit the slots while I wander and pull a few slots myself. Well I lost my money in no time and went to check on Susan. She was holding her own so I wandered a little more. Two hours later Susan was down to pennies when the wheels on the slot lined up 3 cherries. 2,600 credits! The bad thing, she was playing a penny slot. The good thing, she started with $10.00 and walked away with $26.00. We headed back to the Aerbus to get a good nights sleep while listing to the rain fall. RAIN!? Heck it was a torrential down poor with what felt like hurricane force winds. The motorhome was shaking all night. I think I got about 3 hours sleep.

Well we are back in the park safe and sound again. We will be keeping a close eye on the storms because we are leaving on Monday if the weather allows.

Notice:

Our last batch of business cards contained the wrong email address. The cards were distributed in the month of December. If you received a card from us in the month of December check the email address. The correct address should be dsfleming@access4free.com.

Christmas was good to us

We have enough gift cards to last us a while. You see, living in a motorhome, there is not a lot of room for “stuff” so we asked that everyone get us gift cards to nationwide retail stores and restaurants. That way when we are in need of something we can pick it up without a major deviation in our budget, and living space.



All is going well except I did a dumb thing and don’t know if I broke my finger or just sprained it extremely good. I thought I would give it some time to see if it gets better. Well, it’s been a week now and it is not improving as fast as I hoped. I will probably see a doctor sometime this week. We are leaving next week so if they have to cast it I will have to get instructions on how and when to de-cast it myself.



Wednesday we are packing up and heading for the Service Center. We have a few more repairs that need to be done before we leave here. We have to be out of here that night anyway since we have reached our 29 day limit here at The Pechanga RV Resort. After the repairs, we will spend the night in the parking lot adjacent to this PV park for the night and come back in the next morning for a few days until January 3rd when we head out. We have decided to spend a week in Palm Springs before we head over to the Indio Rally. There are a few friends we want to say hi to around the Palm Springs area.

Nana and Papa

We are new Grandparents for the second time. On December 13th our daughter gave birth to a healthy 8lb girl.





Mom and Alexa 1 hour old

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Nana, Big Brother Landen and Alexa 10 days old.

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Papa, Big Brother Landen and Alexa 10 days old.

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It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas

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It’s fun to see how people decorate their motorhomes and trailers. Here are some photos of ours.





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What a great weekend. The weather was the best. I told Susan we have to follow this weather all over the country. We did nothing but sit and enjoy. Well, we did have to run into Vista to take care of some bank needs. On the way back we stopped in the little town of Rainbow. This place consists of a small store with a couple of gas pumps and a restaurant/bar. We bought a couple of apples from the store and had a hamburger in the restaurant. The food was good but I was more impressed by the waitress. She did not stop the whole time we were there. She must have taken 25 orders, served 50 meals in the short time we were there, and seemed to really enjoy her job.



Surprisingly the RV Park was not very full this weekend. Jerry Seinfeld flow in in his helicopter for his show Saturday evening. He flew back out at 12:00 midnight, I know because he woke me while leaving. The shuttle driver said Jerry was rather snooty wanting a limo to pick him up at the helicopter and bring him to the hotel (It’s only across the parking lot). Where the helicopter was parked, they couldn’t get a limo down in there so they sent there limo shuttle bus. This did not please him. He also demanded security escort him everywhere so the public did not bother him.

We made it in Motorhome Magazine

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I was thumbing through the latest Motorhome Magazine and came across this ad. It was rather surprising because I took the same photo from the same location.

Party in the parking lot

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I completely forgot about the holiday weekend and failed to make reservations in time so we got ousted from the RV Park for tonight. We are not alone though, as you can see. There are over 15 rigs in this parking lot and probably just as many in the other, and it's still early. This is not the first and I am sure not the last.



We had Thanksgiving dinner at Susan's parents house with our Daughters and Grandson. It's nice to have the whole family together before we head out on the road. Hopefully we will be getting together one more time for Christmas also and this time we should have a new addition to the family, Our new Granddaughter Alexa.

Sometimes you have to be forced

The Aerbus went into the shop yesterday. We had nothing to do but go exploring. We ended up heading east to Hemet. I have been hearing about a new lake called Diamond Valley Lake somewhere around here but didn’t know exactly where is was. Now we do. We stumbled upon it on our way to Hemet. It was started back in the mid 1990s by damming up a valley between a couple of mountains. It took about 5 years to fill completely and is 265 feet at the deepest end. There were about 8 types of fish introduced and about 4 types that came in with the water. They have a visitor’s center, marina and a view point, what a nice view. I wish I brought my camera. We will have to take another cruise out there with the camera sometime.



Well, turns out that not much got done on the motorhome, Go Figure! They had to order parts so we have to go back. Since we have to find a place to hang out on December 28th we made an appointment for then. Since they got it done in a day we didn’t have to live at the service center. We brought the Aerbus back over to Pechanga and decided to just hang out in the parking lot for a night. Bright and early this morning I got us back in the RV Resort. They still have no spaces available for Friday so it looks like it’s going to be back out in the parking lot again. Some of you might say, “What a hassle”. Nah, It breaks up the routine. The Aerbus and Generator needed to be run anyway.

What the…?

I woke about 7:00 this morning, rolled over and took a peek out the window. Hey! Guess what? It’s snowing! I mean it was really coming down. The locals said they can’t remember it ever snowing here. The weather forecasted showers. I guess they didn’t count on it dropping to the low 30s over night. It barely got into the 60s today then dipped back down to the 40s. It is supposed to get warm for the rest of the week.



Tomorrow we are moving. We will be living at the repair center here in Temecula. It is so close by that I doubt the motorhome will even warm up by the time we get there. We are planning 2 nights but I suspect it will only be for 1 night. We were going to get the brake recall done but they have a parts shortage. They wanted to cancel the appointment but I reminded them that the original appointment was for the Ram Air Kit Workhorse wants to put on my motorhome in an attempt to cure the sparkplug burning issue. I also need the Emergency Flasher Switch replaced again and the horn fixed from a botched repair by Beaudry RV about a year ago. After that we will try to get back here at Pechange. If not then it’s Camp Wal-Mart.



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Lesson learned

OK,

Question…

How many of you have to put away all your knick-knacks, secure everything and move your home when your utilities run out???

Didn’t think so. I did. Suddenly I noticed my water heater was having troubles staying lit. First thing I checked was the propane tank. EMPTY!

We had to pack up our house and drive it over less than ¼ mile to fill the propane tank. I guess this was bad planning on my part. I knew we were going to be here for a month but I thought I could make it on around ½ tank. What I didn’t count on is the temperatures dipping into the low 40s to high 30s at night. The heater gets a good workout every morning to take the chill off.

Stuck in Phone Purgatory

One of the things a Fulltimer has to do is reduce the amount of junk mail they get. This is easier said then done. It all sound simple. Just call the number on the junk mail or magazine…Awe there is the first catch…if you can find the number. Some hide it in the fine print and some don’t even offer a phone number to call. If you are lucky, Ha!, very unlikely, you will get directly to a human that will assist you. On the other hand you get stuck in Phone Purgatory. You know the routine. Press 1 for this and 2 for that and worst of all para la prensa 1 del español. What country did I call?! If you are unfortunately enough to press the wrong number…Well, I’m sorry, You have to go back and start all over. All I want is to talk to a human! Most, after a bunch of number pressing, you finally get to talk to a human. Whether they can help you is another thing. Oh sure, they Say they will take you off their mail list. Some don’t even have the human option, or maybe I didn’t press the right number combination to get there. If you can’t get the job done by phone, your only recourse is to write “Take Me Off Your Mail List” on the mailer and send it back. Sometimes you even have to pay the postage for this. I am totally convinced that removing your name off one list causes it to pop up on several others. There seems to be no end. It’s also a shame that I have to be careful who I give my information to or the flood will start all over again.

Holidays, OH NO!

Holidays mean something different to a Fulltimer. It means we better get reservations or we will be spending the Holidays in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The campgrounds book up fast. We got lucky and there were a couple of cancellations here at Pechanga RV Resort or we would be out on the streets looking for a place to stay. It probably isn’t as bad as it seems but we didn’t want to wait until the last minute and find the only thing available is the spot in Sleazy Hollow Trailer Park next to Bubba and his howling hound dog. Well we are now set until the Indio Rally on the 12th of January. I am not too happy about staying here for 2 ½ months but at least it is a nice place to stay. We were going to break it up with a few days in the desert but we had the Grandson that we had to get back home. We were also talking about a couple of weeks at the Colorado River but we have a new Grand Daughter coming soon. Then there is the sparkplug wire repair coming up and Thanksgiving then Christmas and New Years. And somewhere in there I need to schedule a day at the Alison Transmission Shop for a transmission program update then over to the Workhorse Shop for an engine program update. There is good reason why they say you should never buy a first years production run, or even the second as in my case.

We’re back

25 days, 9 stops, and 770 miles later we are back in Temecula. We just arrived at Pechanga RV Resort about an hour ago. It was a nice driver over the hill from Lancaster where we just left the Rexhall International Homecoming Rally.



We had a blast. The food, entertainment and people were great. We now have more people to hookup with when we start to travel.



The weather is a lot nicer here than Lancaster. We are back in short and flip flops. We will be here until about the second week in January with a brief stay at the Temecula RV Service Center. I don’t know if I am going to be able to handle over 2 months in the same location. I may just have to move on the another location here close to family if I get antsy.



We are still running on the $5.00 spark plug wire with no problems. I talked to several others at the rally and it seem the guys that own RexAir’s don’t have the problem where us that own Aerbus’s do. The difference is the amount of grill space. Some had the Workhorse Ram Air Kit installed but said it is too soon to tell if it has fixed their problem yet. After what I found out about the grill space I’m betting it will fix the problem. I am also going to call Rexhall and give them my findings and ask them what they are going to do about it.



We both just can’t wait to see our Grandson Landen. It has been about a month since we have seen him although we have talked to him on the phone. I can’t imagine how it will be after January when we really start to travel. We got invited to a couple of post homecoming rallies but wanted to get back to see Landen.

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Another Travel Day

Today is the last day of the Rexhall International Homecoming Rally. We will be heading back to Temecula where we will be for 29 days then into the shop.

The rally has really been a blast. Lots of good people, food and seminars. I learned a couple of things at the rallies but learned even more from just sitting and talking to the other Rexhall owners.

Rexhall brought a number of new coaches out for us to tour. The general opinion was that they were total junk and no one would give up what they own now for one. Apparently Rexhall knows this and hired a new Engineer that came to the rally to gather input. Hopefully he will go back and start cleaning up there act.

The weather has been interesting. When we pulled in 5 days ago it was overcast, cold and windy. That night it rained, and it rained good. The next morning I got up and checked for leaks. NO LEAKS! The rest of the days were nice and today I was finally able to take off my jacket.



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They call us Wavers

We made it over the hill from Bakersfield to Lancaster to the Rexhall Rally this morning. The Aerbus is still running great on the $5.00 plug wire. Of course it was only about 55 degrees outside so things were running pretty cool. As soon as we checked in they were on us to go to work. We were not scheduled to do any volunteer work until tomorrow but they had some no shows and were short handed. We didn’t even have a chance to setup our house before we were on the street corner with signs in hand waving to the Rexhalls coming in. It was pretty cold and windy but at least it wasn’t raining. We only had to do 2 hours before we were relieved then it was back to the Aerbus to setup. Tomorrow at 9:30am we will be back on the street. Hope the rain gives us a break.

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Who’d-a-thunk

Out here in Bakersfield, in the middle of farm country, they are having an International Wake Board Championship. There are a series of about 7 man made lakes they call Ski West Village. It Looked like I was at Lake Havasu on the Colorado River or something. There were Vendor Booths, lots of nice ski boats and WATER. I mean this is a place that if your car sits for more than a couple of days, there is so much dust on it, you can’t tell what color it is. There are people from all over the US at the lakes. They have a row of Easy-Ups with a state labeled on each for the spectators. You just find the craziest things in the craziest places.

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They come and they go

where did they all go?



We have seen more Rvers in the 4 days here at the Orange Grove RV Park than we have seen in the last 3 months. Seem this is a transient park. They start coming in around 2 o’clock and don’t stop until about 6. There is everything from van conversions to Prevosts. And every motorhome has a car behind it. They are coming from every direction and going in every direction. I told Susan there is one good thing about it. If you don’t like your neighbor, they will be gone in the morning. We kind of feel like the oddballs since we are here for a week.



I got a kick out of one guy. He pulled in with a new trailer and had a heck of a time with it. The only tool I saw him with was a hammer, and he used it a lot. I think he had a new trailer because he beat the hell out of his last one.



We have met fulltimers that are loving it and fulltimers that can’t wait to get home and put the rig up for sale.



The only one we have seen with kids is a family from Kentucky that is out here for their son’s wake board competition. It’s Mom, Dad, Grandma and 3 kids in a 35 foot class A, and there having a ball. They came here the long way, zigging and zagging their way up and down the country on their way here.



It’s been getting hotter everyday. Today it got to 95. At least the evenings are cool. They say it should be cooling off by the weekend. I hope it cools down before we go to Lancaster.

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Are we there yet?

150 miles of nothing. We just moved from San Antonio Lake near Paso Robles, CA to Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield. It was about 150 miles of brown barren land across Highway 46. It took us a little over 3 hours with 1 lunch/gas stop to break it up. Since the dash air is not working right now it got pretty toasty inside the motorhome while traveling. I ended up firing up the generator and had Susan go back and switch on the front roof air.



I added to my bug collection, however I can’t tell what kind they are because they are splattered all over the front of the Aerbus. Well I got a week to clean them off since we don’t need to be anywhere until the 20th.



I have over 550 miles on the $5.00 spark wire and it hasn’t fried yet. I don’t think the $20 factory wire lasted me that long. Of course not that I said something it will fry on the next leg of our journey.



When we got here I was looking at the Campground map that they give you with all the local adds on it and there was a Oil Change Special from The RV Peddler. It stated $0.15 a quart for oil and $0.85 an hour for labor with a filter at regular price. It sure got me curious so I gave then a call. They didn’t have a clue what I was talking about but said they would honor it if I brought them the add. I asked how much the filter cost and was quoted $44.00 (for an oil filter for a Chevy gas engine). I chuckled and said No Thanks.

San Antonio Lake

We made it to the lake. It was a good easy drive until we turned onto G14. This is road had some pretty taxing hills on it. I thought if I was going to burn up another sparkplug wire that it will happen here. Well, we made it on all 8 plug wires. No burnt ones. We missed the turn going to the lake and I had to turn the rig around on a narrow 2 lane road. Of course this was impossible with the car in tow so we pulled over and unhooked the toad and turned everything in the other direction and hooked back up again. This was really no problem. We were heading in the other direction in minutes. As you can see this post is kind of late this evening. We were having such a good time with everyone we lost track on the time. This is a fun group of people, but what Rvers aren’t.

Travel Day

We are heading for San Antonio Lake today. It is in the foot hills near Paso Robles, ca. I am going to miss this Wireless Internet access we have here at Pismo. It will be back to using the Verizon phone only after 9:00a and on weekends. I will post an update about the lake later.

Pismo Beach

We made it to Pismo Coast Village RV Resort. We decided to take Highway 1 instead of 101 just for a change of pace. It was a good drive but a bit hilly. Nothing too interesting just a lot of farm land. They have free wireless internet here at Pismo so I can roam the internet as much as I want. The weather is great and we are a few steps from the beach. We will be here for 2 nights then we will continue on our trek north to San Antonio Lake. We plan to stay at the lake for a week it looks good..

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Danish Pancakes

We arrived at Flying Flags Campground in Buellton, CA today about noon. We did nothing but sit and relax. Tomorrow morning we are heading into Solvang for breakfast. For those that don't know about Solvang it is a small Danish town near the coast in California. After breakfast we are heading for Highway 1 for the trip to Pismo Beach where we will be spending 2 nights.

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Campingworld Overnight

Well, it was a really fun weekend. The Indy cars ran yesterday and we stayed one more night, leaving this morning. Tonight we are overnighting at Campingworld in Valencia, Ca. We are right next to the interstate and the traffic going by sounds like we are still at the California Speedway. We have stayed here before and remember it being crowded. This time it is very crowded also however it is because the RV dealer next door has taken up most of the parking spaces with there inventory. We will be pulling out first thing in the morning heading to Buellton, Ca.

NASCAR Truck Night Racing

These guys were moving. As you can see in the picture they are just a blur. We had the best seats in the race. We were perched above my Daughters Motorhome on a deck custom built by her husband just for the races. We all had our scanner radios tuned into the race frequencies to get the inside scoop. Susan was reluctant to get on top of the motorhome but her seat was no slouch. She was sitting in the driver seat of the Aerbus and had a excellent view out our front picture window. She also had the TV on so she could keep up on the commentaries and watch the replays of the wrecks.



Today is the Indy Cars. Should be fun!

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Good thing we have plenty of time.

We made it to California Speedway in Fontana today. We were wondering if we were going to make it though. I had mapped out a route that would get us here without taking any interstates but we didn’t even get out of town and we ran into a dead end road. The map said the road went through but I guess the road builders didn’t read the map. We ended up back on I-15 for the trip. Being it was 10:30 am on a Thursday, the traffic was not bad at all though. W couldn’t have got better spots. We are right on the front row coming out of turn 2.

Did we say something wrong?

No not really. It is Sunday so most people packed up to go home and back to their jobs. This leaves the park pretty much empty, and quiet. I suspect the rest of the week will be the same, then back to being full for the weekend. It was packed this weekend with only a few sites open. I would suspect that most of the empties were no shows because this is a popular place. We will be heading over to the casino a little later to see how much it slows down during the weekdays also.



It has been about 100 degrees here during the day and a good 35+ mph wind comes up about 1:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon. So far I have left the awnings out but keep a close eye on them. I may have to pull them in today since there are no motorhomes around us to slow the wind.



Evenings are so nice here. After dinner we take our walk around the park then light up our oil lanterns and our 'Halloween Light' and sit by the motorhome and enjoy the calm comfortable temperatures. I always wanted a set of those rope lights to attach to the underside of my awning but didn't want to spend the 20 something bucks that Campingworld wanted. So the other day while doing some shopping at Wal-Mart I took a cruise through the Halloween section and found an 18' 'Halloween Orange' rope light for $7.00. I thought orange might be kind of weird but it turned out to be nice, and doesn't attract the bugs.



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Sad then Happy

It was a sad day today. We left All Seasons after being there for 2 months. It's hard to stay in one place 2 months without making good friends. Last night we took our final walk around the lake to say goodbye to all the good people we have met.



Today is also a Happy day. We have moved to Pechanga RV Resort just 18 miles down the road. The Resort is adjacent to a nice Indian Casino. We have stayed here before and it is just as nice as before. We will be here for only about a week this time then we are off again. Some friends from All Seasons will be coming up on Monday to join us for the Buffet at the Casino.





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Looking forward to moving on

We have been here for about 8 weeks now and as far as I am concerned it is about 4 weeks too long. Don’t get me wrong, We have enjoyed out stay very much but it is time to move on. This Friday we will be moving just 18 miles down the road, but it is a change of scenery. We are ready for a change.

It’s All Ours

We paid off the Aerbus yesterday. We are now totally debt free. It just gets better and better everyday.

We must stay flexible

One important thing about fulltiming is you must be flexible. We made plans to house sit Susan’s parent’s house for a week while the Aerbus was in the shop. Well, the parts for the motorhome will not be available until the end of October so plans have changed. This is not a big problem for us. We can be flexible but it does pose a problem for Susan’s parents. I said right from the beginning we will not make plans. This is a good reason why. Fortunately we have no plans for the end of October…well, I guess now we do.

The owner stopped by to say hi

So I was sitting in the Aerbus minding my own business when I heard what sounded like a helicopter about to land on the roof. I leaped out in time to catch this chopper landing on the bridge over the lake. Turns out it was the owner just flying in to see how things are going. A really nice guy. He hung around for about an hour and off he went. He invited me up to check out one of his other parks on the Sacramento river. We will have to hunt it out someday

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Check out the hawk

This guy has been circling the lake for about a week now. I guess the term 'hawk eye' has some truth to it. This guy can spot a fish from high up and with one swift dive come up with a snack. He has learned that the fish hang out below our deck waiting for food and has made a meal of at least one that I saw.



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What happened

Our lake turned into Pea Soup today. It never was the clearest lake but today I sat and watched as a green cloud came over the entire lake in a matter of minutes. It was the strangest thing. I think it has something to do with the weather. It has been quite hot and humid here and I was told that a lake will 'turn over' with changes in temperature.



As you can see in the next photo, Susan's fish are barely visible in the muck. I hope we don't see them floating belly up tomorrow.





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Well, It’s over

The last long weekend of the summer has come and gone. I got admit, it's a good feeling to just sit back and watch everyone else packing to go home. It's really nice to already be home. I look at all the long faces from what were happy faces just yesterday and remember back when I was one of them. We will never travel during the weekends if we can help it. We will do our travels during the mid week when most are at work.



The site we have is a really nice site during most of the time but being right next to the tent sites it gets pretty wild during the holiday weekends. I thought it would be fun watching the crazies come and go but it gets pretty trying at times. Well it's all over now and we cane once again mellow out.



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My Mechanic

It's always a good feeling to have a good mechanic if things go wrong. My grandson can probably do as good as some of the guys I've used.



Labor day, the last big camping weekend. This place is PACKED. I have to keep going out and reminding people not to double park and block me in. They are 3 deep here. The tent area is a mess with trash and the lake is equally as bad. Can't wait until Tuesday so we can clean up this place and get back to normal.

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Retired!

Today’s the day! After 4:00p today, I am officially RETIRED.

It’s a done deal

I finally got the check for the house. Closing of escrow was 28 days late. But…Not only did I get the check, I got $100 a day for everyday it was late. It was in the contract that the buyers would pay me $100 for everyday Escrow was late. I was anxious to close but didn’t mind making $100 a day for nothing. Now I need to find another way to make $100 a day for nothing.

In Memory

Boy I tell you…There's times I just get hit in the face with reasons why I am doing the right thing by retiring early and hitting the road.



I just found out that a long time friend has passed away from Cancer at the age of 52. He was a hard worker sometimes putting in 14 hours a day leaving him little time for anything else.



I’m thinking about you David and good luck on your ultimate journey.

Getting the itch

We have been here too long. I am getting the itch to move on. Susan now has 5 Big cat fish she is feeding. We also got a humming bird feeder and now have a humming bird to feed. Then there is the squirrel that eats the bread used to feed the fish and ducks if we forget to bring it in.



I think I have figured out that 1 month is the max I want to stay in one place. September 17th is the day we leave. We have a house sitting job while the Aerbus is in the shop. This will only be a week then we can move on.



I got the electric bill yesterday. Yes we pay electricity on top of the rent here. $29 for 38 days. Running the air conditioners, convection oven and fans, I think this is very reasonable. Much less then it was living in the house.



I watched some poor lady struggling to take out the trash cans the other morning on my way to work. I remember that. Life is so much easier living in the Aerbus.



Escrow still hasn’t closed… Another day – Another $100. Not sure I told you but every day escrow is late the buyers have to pay me $100. However, I am anxious to close so I can cancel the utilities at the house. Also I need to get our finances in order and accounts setup for the road.



As of today I have 5 more working days left. Can you imagine not working? I still can’t. With all that time I will have the shiniest motorhome in the park.

Our Cat

This is a photo of the catfish that we feed everyday. Actually all you can see in this picture is its gaping mouth with a hunk of bread in it. I have never seen a catfish come to the surface to feed until now. I always though they were bottom feeders. This guy is so big that it can devour a whole slice of bread in one gulp. I reminded Susan that she is spending over $30 a month feeding the fish and ducks and that she is not allowed to feed the Bison when we get to Yellowstone. That would put a serious hurt on our budget.



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Working on the road

Last week I met one of our neighbors. He said they have been here and working since last November. I figured they were living here permanently. Then the night before last, suddenly he was out packing until the wee hours of the night. I got a chance to talk to him last night and he said he was heading for Florida. I asked, So your work is done here? He said, no there is more to do here but they need me in Florida. I asked, So what is it you do? He said he is a Disaster Insurance Adjuster.



You meet all kinds of people in this lifestyle. Some of the people I have met so far Have to work and some Choose to work to support this lifestyle. As of this writing I have only 16 more working days.

It just get's better everyday

OK. Didn’t think I needed it but I broke down this weekend and bought a satellite TV system. We went with DirecTV because they are giving away the hardware for free right now, I like free. They also looked like they offer more channels for the price. We got local programming so we can pick up our local (San Diego) news anywhere in the country.



Found out that escrow will not close on the house until this weekend. That’s almost 3 weeks late. The good thing about it is that the buyer has to pay $100 a day everyday they are late. Good thing too because I figured out that it’s costing us about $30 a month to feed the fish and ducks at our present location. Not that we have to, but they make you feel pretty guilty looking up at you every time you walk over to the rail on the deck. Yes even the fish are looking up at us…



Got my Verizon bill and found out that using the Verizon network as my ISP is not costing any extra. It is included in my plan. So Cool!



So what is it about living in an RV that is different than in the house? Let’s see, I got phone, TV, Internet, all the comforts and conveniences of a house…No difference there. Oh Yeah, We got no yard work, the freedom to roam, new friendly neighbors every week, inexpensive living, awe…that’s the difference. I think we can handle it.

Filling In The Rut

Funny how you don't realize the rut you are in until you make a change. My life used to be the same routine every day and every weekend. Now that I have abandoned the stick house and moved into our house with wheels. The routine will be changing quite often. So instead of ruts they will be mere surface scratches.



Click on photo to enlarge

WORK!?

It's getting harder and harder to go to work. I didn't think it would be any different as I got closer to retirement but it sure is. I have decided to take every Monday off (indefinitely) to spend time with my Grandson before we hit the road. He is 3 years old and I'm not sure he understands what we are doing, but he now refers to the motorhome as Nana and Papa's new house.

So far living in our 300 sq ft 1 bedroom motorhome after living in our 1500 sq ft 4 bedroom house is great! We DO NOT miss the house a bit.

We started feeding the Mud Hens that float around below our deck, then the Croppy started to feed, and now we have 2 giant Cat Fish that come up and eat. I don't know what they all are going to do when we leave. After dinner every night we take a walk around the lake to see who has pulled in and who has pulled out. It's a rough life but don't you worry, we will handle it for you all ;-)



Click on photo to enlarge

I'm online!

I finally got the data cable configured correctly. I am now on the internet via my cell phone. It is very sloooow, but at least I am there. I can at least check my e-mail and update my web site. At least I have free weekends and evenings so it won’t cost me a fortune.

We are paid up here at All Seasons through September 17th then the Aerbus goes into the shop to have another look at my burnt spark plug problem. I have a small hand full of other items for them to look at also before we hit the road. We have a house sitting job for that week so we won’t have to be living in the service center parking lot. If they happen to get it done before we are done house sitting I will just have them park it in their storage lot. If we are done before them then we will be living at the service center until their done. After that we will shoot up to Julian, CA for a while.

I talked with the office staff here at All Season to see if we could reserve this choice spot for December but they said they have someone that wants it as soon as we move out and will most likely become a permanent. We really lucked out to get it when we did. It is a well sought after site.

Our House

Have a look at our new back yard. Somehow we lucked out and got the best spot in the whole park. No one else has a deck over the water. It's going to be hard to leave this place when we are ready to travel.

Click on photo to enlarge

Sometimes things just work out right

I got a call today from the RV park where we will be staying through the month of August.  She said she was a bit confused because I requested a monthly rate but was scheduled to arrive on the 25th of July.  She asked if we were still going to stay through the month of August.  I said we will pay the weekly fee for the last week of July and a Monthly fee for the month of August.  She said good because she has a monthly site she wants to put us in.  She said it is the best site in the whole park.  Right on the lake on the end with a built in patio with patio cover.  SCORE!

Whew! The sale is over!

Today was the big Estate Sale.  We are REALLY glad that’s over.  We really unloaded a lot of stuff and made a few buck, of course not even what it was worth.  Well we are just glad to get rid of it.  The rest is going to a charity and what they don’t want is going into the dumpster we ordered.  Most of the furniture is sold and I will be calling a second hand store to see if I can get rid of the rest.  We are moving into the motorhome next weekend so the house has to be cleared out.

 A lot of people asked us where we were moving to and it was fun to just point to the motorhome that was parked out front.  We met a few X fulltimers during the garage sale and got some ideas on where to go and what to see.  None of them told us we were crazy and shouldn’t be doing this.  They all said they had a great time.  The ones that weren’t fulltimers were envious.  I know the feeling, I’ve been there.

No time to say Hello - Goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!

WOW! I didn’t realize how close we were. Last night I took a look at the calendar and found out that I better get on the ball here. Escrow is closing in 2.5 weeks and we have a lot to do still. The plan now is to be out of the house a week earlier on the 25th of July. We need to get out so it can be cleaned, repairs done and fumigated for termites. Fortunately I found an RV park near by to setup in for the month of August so I can finish up at work. I hope I can get in a week early or we will be living in front of the house for the last week of July.

OUCH!!

I have had it only 3 months and already put a new windshield in it. The Saturn got nailed by a rock off a truck. We were on our way back from taking the Aerbus in for warranty work and got whacked. Like I said before, I thought Warranty work was free. This one cost me $192.00. I guess you could say I got a bargain though. The glass shop looked up the cost of the glass and said there must be some mistake. It said $250.00 just for the glass. Then they looked up the labor and said, must be another mistake, it says 4 hours labor. Then they quoted me $192.00 complete materials labor and tax. Well I don’t know what the glass cost but the labor time was right on. It took the guy 3.5 hours to practically dismantle the whole car to get the windshield out. They had to have lost money on that deal. Come to think of it, so did I!

Hunting for a place to live

It’s looking like August is a bad time to be finding a place to live for a month. It is still summer and Southern California is a popular place. We check some of the nicer campgrounds near work since I plan to still be working for the month of August. They all said they may have an opening but I will have to check back as time gets closer. I would rather line something up now rather than wait until the last minute. One put me on a waiting list and said they have always got people in that was on the list. I am not too terribly concerned. It’s just nice to know ahead.

Another trip to Lancaster

We just got back from another trip to Lancaster, CA to get some more work done on the Aerbus. We ran into another fulltime couple that we met the last time we were there. I am sure that will happen once in a while. It has happened to us twice now. It’s a small country…



Yarman’s Driveshaft did an outstanding job of getting rid of my vibration at 60 miles per hour. The Aerbus is a pleasure to drive now. If you are near Lancaster, CA and in need of any driveline work, give Yarman a try.



The trip home was a bit easier this time. Usually we dread going home. This time is was different because we know it will only be one more month and we will become official Fulltimers and “Free To Roam About The Country”.

DON’T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS……….

Well it fell out of escrow. For some reason the buyers pulled out. The worst part is they pulled out within the time limit to get there $5000 deposit back. This seems to be just a minor setback though. We have already had two families look at it and are very interested. We will just have to see if they come up with an offer. We are still going ahead with out plans to move into the motorhome the first week of August.

I accept!

We have accepted an offer on the house. It is pretty much a done deal since it is a cash offer. It is not contingent on an appraisal or getting a loan. I cannot believe how much houses are selling for in Southern California. We have until the first of August to get rid of all the stuff that will not fit into the motorhome and move out of the house. It is going to be a hectic month but there is a rainbow at the other end.

Phone’s Ringing

We went looking at phones today. I have decided, after talking to other fulltimers that Verizon is the best choice for traveling. They seem to have the best coverage and have a really good customer service. The only decision was what phone and what plan. The plan is simple. You simply choose a plan that appears to be goods at the time and if it doesn’t work, you simply change plans at no charge. That’s another good thing about Verizon. The phone is somewhat simple for us also. Their 2 least expensive phones are both tri-mode which is what we need for the best coverage and internet use. We have decided on a flip phone because we want to put it in our pocket without punching buttons and calling 911 by mistake. Now that we have it pretty much figured it out we will pick it up when we need it.

Another piece in place

Another piece to the puzzle is in place. The 65 Mustang has just left with it’s new owner. A very nice Father just bought it for his 17 year old son. I wish I had a car that nice when I was 17. Wait, I did. I had a ’63 Ford Falcon Station Wagon, red with shag carpet and tie-die curtains all around. My girlfriend’s mother called it a Sex Wagon. Why? I don’t know…

It is very sad to see the ‘65 go since I have owned it for 27 years and put a lot of time and pride into it. But it just doesn’t fit into our new lifestyle. I know I will miss it but I will also enjoy the freedom of our new life.



Click on photo to enlarge

I love the beach

Doheny State Beach in California is a really nice place. If you get lucky enough to get a beach front site, you are literally on the beach. We were in for a Big surprise however. We reserved our sites, sight unseen. As you can see we barely got the Aerbus in there with enough room to put out the slides. We had just enough room to open the door and walk to the front. Fortunately we had a whole lot of beach to hang out on in front of the motorhome. The weather was great and we had a great time. I love to listen to the ocean while sleeping.

Well when we got back, we had an offer on the house. I am rather disappointed with my agent. She must have forgot how much she suggested and listed the house for because the offer was pretty low. I can’t believe she even came to us with an offer like that. Well it’s still early in the game and we have plenty of time.


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How can you just sell everything like that?

It’s funny how we keep getting the same question over and over. “How can you just sell everything.” People don’t realize that we are not merely selling everything and living out of the back of a car. It is more like selling a house and all the furniture and buying a new house and new furniture. Who wouldn’t want that? As a matter of fact, in some ways, our motorhome is better than our house. Our house doesn’t have Corian counter tops throughout, it doesn’t have air conditioning. But the best thing is our new house has wheels. We can change our view and neighbors when ever we want. We will be able to travel this country of ours and have our house and all our belongings with us. Besides, it’s not like we will never have a “stick” house again. When (If) we get tired of the road, we will buy it all back again.

Another Big Step

Well, the house is on the market. See it here. This is another big milestone in heading toward Fulltiming. The realtor says she already has a potential buyer and our Daughter has someone that is interested also. The average time a house has been on the market in this neighborhood has been 5 days. Some have sold in as little as 3. We had better be ready! I also had someone that looked at the Mustang this weekend that looks like a good possibility. I often wonder what I am going to do if we have to be out of the house before the Mustang sells.

As soon as we accept an offer we are going to jump into the motorhome and head for the hills, literally. We plan to spend a week in a nice little mountain community near here called Julian. We love it there and it will be a welcome getaway.

The trials and tribulations of Fulltiming

I have just added a new section under Interesting Writings titled Trials and Tribulations. It seems that everyone is under the impression that Fulltiming is all fun and games. I don’t know maybe it is. We will have to see.

It’s Baaaack…

Got the Aerbus back today. Just as I thought, it was a fairly minor problem. The number 1 and 5 spark plug wire was fried.

Although I highly recommend Temecula Valley RV in Temecula,CA, I am rather disappointed in them this time. I told them that I had already talked to Workhorse about this and was informed that there is a known problem with an exhaust manifold gasket leaking and blowing hot exhaust gasses on the wires. But they only replaced the wires and did nothing with the manifold. I mentioned that spark plug wires just don’t go bad in under 3000 miles and asked them what the root cause was. They said it could have just been a freak thing. I said, “or a Leakey exhaust gasket”. I told them I will be bringing it back after our next trip and we will call Workhorse and get the go-a-head to do the job right.

But I have it and it is running like new again. Just hope it will last until I get it back to them.

The internet is a great thing

I came across this on the RV.NET and just had to share it with you.



From Gunship Guy, as written on RV.NETs “The Open Road Forum”

Posted: 6/1/2004 6:14pm

I've been reading everyone's stories about their camping adventures this past Memorial Day weekend. I spent my weekend flying combat missions over Iraq and thoroughly missing my wife, sons, and camping.



I'm thankful that we are able to get internet access in this hell hole. I log on once in a while to read about anything related to RV'ing. Your stories have made me a bit jealous, but I appreciate those who've taken the time to share their experiences. If I can't be out there camping with my family it's still nice reading about others who are.



I'm halfway through my 6th deployment over here since 9/11. I'll be home for the last half of my sons' summer vacation. We'll catch up on the camping they've been missing these last few months. Please continue to share your camping stories. Some of us over here who are avid campers really enjoy your shared experiences.



Thanks!

Where is all my stuff?

Having the luxury of keeping the Aerbus at home while we get ready for our new lifestyle has it’s down side. We didn’t realize how much stuff we have moved to the Aerbus in preparation, until I left it at the shop. There are so many things I needed this weekend that are in there. Susan even made the comment that she was needing a lot of items that are in the motorhome.

It cost money to sell a house

It’s incredible how much it cost to sell a house. There is the commission to the realtors, the Escrow costs, repairs of the things that you have lived with all these years, ect. Today I had a termite inspection done. Living in Southern California it is giving that your house HAS termites. Along with the termites comes the termite damage. More things to repair.



Too bad I have to waist a holiday weekend working on the house. Might as well, the Aerbus is in the shop.



Oh yeah! I almost forgot to tell you. We have lined up a job as Camp Hosts at Carlsbad State Beach when we come back to Southern California for the Holidays in Nov and Dec of 2005. That’s two months of free living. Christmas will be good. If they like us, and how could they not, we will be in for every year. What a plan huh?

It's in the shop

Well I limped the Aerbus over the hill to the service center this afternoon to get the engine misfire fixed. I was pulling the toad so it was a struggle. There is a couple of hills between here and there and the Aerbus was like “The little Engine that could”. Fortunately there was a loaded car hauler ahead of me that could only do 35 mph up the worst hill so I hunkered down behind him. I felt better that I wasn’t the one holding up the parade. Can’t wait to get it back!




Pechanga Campground Resort in Temecula, CA
Click on photo to enlarge

OH NO, I got a miss!

We are back in our stick house. While traveling this weekend, the Aerbus engine developed a miss fire. It is not bad and I was able to drive it the rest of the way to the campground and back to our stick house. This is not supposed to happen. It is a new motorhome. Well I guess it is good to get these things worked out before we hit the road. I have read where some people have had some problems with the plug wires. I am considering replacing all the plug wires to see if this will fix he problem.



I got some email asking what type of prep I need(ed) to do to go fulltime. I will be writing a page on the logistics (as I know it) of become a fulltimer.



Stay tuned.

Temecula, CA

We are in Temecula California. We are staying at the Pechanga Indian Casino Campground Resort. This is a real nice place. It a clean well manicured resort style campground. We have full 50 amp hookups with satellite TV. The casino is within walking distance from our home. The trip out was quick but not without problems. The motorhome developed an engine miss just as we were approaching the campground. After a while it went away, but you know what that means. It will be back, and in the least convenient time. We need to take it in to have all the brakes replaced on a recall so I will mention it to them and see if they can find anything.

Hard to say goodbye

It is going to be hard to say goodbye to friends and family. Especially the grandson. It will be hard for him to understand where his Nana and Papa is. He is used to seeing us a couple of times a week and asks every time when he can go camping with us again. We have so much fun with him. He is not going to be old enough to fly out to spend time with us for a number of years. Fortunately we plan to head back to Southern California for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year so he can spend some time with us in the motorhome then. He will like that.


Click on photo to enlarge. 

The Toad

After all I have heard about Saturn from other fulltimers, I decided it might be a good car for us to tow behind the motorhome. See, Saturn is one of the few automatic transmission cars that can be towed with all 4 wheels on the ground.

We went to the Saturn dealer and requested a 2000 to 2003 Silver SC2 with an automatic transmission. We also gave them a max price. Richard said, we will find you one. About a month later he called and said he found one. I went to check it out and it was a beauty. Saturn does not just sell used cars. They sell reconditioned cars. It has new tires, brakes, battery and a complete turn up and fluid change. And then they detailed it. It is the next best thing to a new car. Everything we wanted. This car was about $1000 higher than our max but they agreed to sell it to us for our price. All I can say is, it was money well spent. We have towed it once so far for about 300 miles and it tows exceptional well.


Click on photo to enlarge 

Choosing the right realtor

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since I made an entry into this log. We have had a couple of realtors over to talk about selling the house. We made our decision and will be notifying the realtor next week. We want to get the house on the market by the first of June. I doubt it will last long but we are going to price it on the high side. We don’t have to be in a hurry so we will see what happens.

I took the Mustang to a rebuilder to see if I have it priced right. Turns out I have it listed for about $1,000 high so I reduced the price. I hope someone buys it soon. I really need to sell it before we have to be out of the house. Use the link to the left to see the Mustangs web page.

The emotions start

As the time gets closer and we get things in order the emotions start to come out. We can’t help but wonder if we are doing the right thing. We have owned our house for 20 years and it is paid off. Isn’t that the American dream? This makes it hard to give the realtor the go ahead.

Watching the Travel Channel makes it all go away however. After all, it’s not like we will never have it again. For what we can get for our house here in San Diego County, California we can pay cash for a nice place just about anywhere and have enough left over to live on for many years.

New addition to Random Thoughts

Vintage-Vacations

This, Vintage-Vacations, is a really cool site. It is full of vintage RVs. You really have to check it out if you get a chance.



A Realtor is coming by tomorrow to talk about selling the house. We may list it next month. I don't plan on being out before September so if it sells quickly I will have to adjust the escrow accordingly.



I called Alternative Resources , a mail forwarding service in So. Dakota today, to ask them about changing residency and registering the motorhome before I have to pay California's outrageous fees. They say I have to show up within 90 days to get my drivers license. Don't know if I can make it there by then.

New link, Random Thoughts

I just added a new link called Random Thoughts. This is a collection of things that go through my mind. I thought you might find it interesting.

Sure is Hot today

Ha! This heat is something. Blew the radiator hose on the 65 mustang today. At least it waited ‘till I got home and let go in the garage. I wouldn’t have noticed it except I was fixing the garage door opener that seized because of the heat. While that is cooling I replaced the belt in the vacuum that burned up. That’s one advantage of having wheels on your home. If ya can’t stand the heat, MOVE! Ha!

We have more room

Well I finally weighed the motorhome. I knew I was under weight but was surprised at how much under I was. The motorhome is rated for 22,000 lbs max and it weighed out at 20,500 lbs. That means we can cram another 1,500 lbs into it. We already have most of what we need. The one thing that came to light thought was that I am heavier on the driver side. This didn’t surprise me though because all the heavy stuff is on that side. The batteries, generator, kitchen, bathroom, and the large slide. It didn’t help that I put my tools and six junk drawers on that side also. I guess I will have to do some shifting of stuff around.

Marty has no arms

I cam across this on The Open Road Forum. It just made me say WOW...



A must Read! Very Inspirational and quite a Man!

I recently met a gentleman here in our campground. He camped in the space right across from me. He had a small pickup and travel trailer. The gentleman was outgoing and very friendly. He was the perfect neighbor and camper. His name was Marty. He's quite intelligent and a pleasure to converse with.



Marty has no arms. This gentleman drove in towing his trailer, parked it and unhitched it by himself. This is something you or I could probably not do with great amount of practice. I watched him in absolute amazement. Later the first evening I looked over and he had a campfire going! I walked over to visit and see if he needed anything. Hid rply was thanks but he was fine and thanked me for asking. After talking to Marty for some time I asked him right out. How do you drive with no arms? He quickly showed me how he drove with his left foot which sat in a cradle and was linked to the steering column with a chain mechanism. He had extensions on things like the turn signals and igniton etc he could activate/work with his mouth and a small (6-7" long) what he called his "little arm" on his right side. This man was amazing, full of wit and a very friendly person to be around. I enjoyed his company during his short stay. He cooked his nown dinner and quite frankly did everything you and I can do.



I tell this story because from now on everytime I think I'm having a rough day or having trouble backing or whatever it may be, I'll think of Marty. He made quite an impression on me. We take so many things for granted nowadays. There wasn't much he couldn't do. I don't think Marty is handicapped at all. I think the rest of us are. There are times where we complain or say "I just can't do it". Marty doesn't, he just goes on and does it and with a smile at that! We were talking and I had mentioned how my arm and shoulder was hurting after unloading the last load of firewood that was delivered here. He laughed at me and said next time call him and he's help or do it for me! Ya know what? I believe him. I had said to myself....... self now why did you go and say something like that!? He thought it was humerous.



I'm probably not telling this well but hopefully you get my drift. People like Marty are a rare breed and he left a lasting impression with me. His smile and laugh and ability to travel as he does is quite an inspiration. If you happen to run accross him, stop and say hi to one genuine happy, mart and capable person. You won't be sorry of the encounter.

The next time you have a hard time hooking up, backing, cooking, building a fire or just having a hard time smiling just think of Marty Quite that gentleman he is.



The day Marty left I walked over and offered to help him hookup. He looked at me with his smile and asked me.... what do you think I can't do it? (with a chuckle I might ad) I said no sir but just thought I'd offer. By the time I was done talking he was hooked up and ready to roll lmao!!!!! Like I said, I don't think Marty is handicapped. I think the rest of the world is Go Marty Go!



A Link to the firedude's adventures!





Retired Fire Captain.. Yessss!

2002 Chevy 2500HD 8.1, 4.10 w/ Allison 5 Spd,

Firestone 5,000 lb. Ride rite Air Bags

Keystone Challenger 31RLB - Prodigy BC

Reese 16K Quick slide

Verizon Wireless National Access - Air555 Card

Shorty & Little Ann - "Camp Host Dogs"

Full timing and loving it!

Selling the Classic

One of the hardest things to do when you are planning to go fulltime is to get rid of all your stuff. Especially if one of the items is my Classic 1965 Mustang. I have had the Mustang for over 27 years and fully restored it. I have already sold my 1994 Convertible GT Mustang. That was difficult but it will be tough to see the ’65 go. You can see my ad by clicking on the link to the left.

In the beginning

Greetings Family, Friends, and Visitors. Please bare with me, it will take me a while to get this journal organized. In the mean time it may seem chaos but I promise it will make sense as time goes on.



We are actually not fulltimers yet but I thought I would start this log now to let you all know what is involved in the preparation of going fulltime. The plan is to hit the road no later than January 2005. We will be leaving sooner if we can get everything in order early.