Yes, You Can Take It With You When You Go!

If you live in an RV that is! For me, one of the best aspects of living in our motorhome is we can take almost everything we have with us when we go, on a short or long trip. Our bed, our clothes, our kitchen, my craft materials, and our computers. I don't have to pack or make decisions about what to bring and what to leave behind. 

We were up early, but we took our time getting on the road Monday morning. The 275 mile drive to Lake Havasu City for the Winter Blast Pyrotechnic Festival, was uneventful. We were parked and set up at the rodeo grounds by 4 PM. 

Although this was not an official Alfa rally event, one of the Alfa owners, Dave Volker, worked with the lady who set up the parking, so that the Alfas were parked together. We also had a space for a campfire location. On Monday it was fairly cold and windy and most of us had just arrived so we didn't gather, but as the week progressed, the weather got better and the group grew. We always enjoy sharing technical information and stories with other Alfa owners, and it is fun to have faces to go with Facebook and Yahoo Group names.

Tuesday, Craig and I went over to see London Bridge. We have been through this part of Arizona several times, but have never stopped.

We both remember when in the 60's, Robert Paxton McCulloch who seemed like a crazy man, bought the bridge from the city of London, and had it reassembled in a desert town that had only a few residents.  He also moved his chain saw and outboard motor manufacturing plant to the town.

A dam was built, and he had a channel dredged to divert water from the Colorado River. After a few years, Lake Havasu City became a recreational destination.

What kind of bird is this?
 It was sitting on a post at the bridge.

I am going to have to ask my friend Judy Bell to identify this bird for me. I looked at pictures in my Audubon Field Guide and he looks like a Rusty Blackbird. But the guide shows its range does not include Arizona.  Does anyone know what it is?

On Wednesday we took a hike along some of the many trails in Sara Park. 

From the parking area where we started, there were about five fairly easy trails that seemed to be intertwined. Some had tracks from ATVs.

After about a mile, the trail led into a creek bed wash that was pretty easy to walk.

Craig sat down to rest while he waited for me. I kept stopping to take pictures of all the neat rock formations.

About a mile and a half in,  the trail got a little harder as it went through a slot canyon. Unfortunately by this point my shoulder was beginning to ache and I was reluctant to  go down a steeper place, lest I slip and have to steady myself with the pole in my left hand.

All in all we hiked more than three miles. The weather was beautiful. The rocks were interesting,

but the best sight was the Jeep at the end.  I was really tired when we got back to the rig. But after a little rest, I was ready to enjoy the company around the campfire once again.

RV friends are good.

Thursday Departure!

It has been a very busy week here. We both finished our Christmas shopping, Craig got the drywall repair done, and I got the hall painted before he installed the framing and two new pre-hung doors.

Sanding

Checking and wiping after first coat of stain
The color will be darker after a second coat of stain and two coats of Polyurethane

He is replacing several older white doors with new stained birch doors.  All of the other doors in the house are stained wood.  After we get back he will be finish installing the two for a sliding door closet downstairs and then stain some new framing and baseboard wood.  Everything seems to take so long!

Today (Wednesday) Craig did all the pre-trip stuff like checking tire pressure and water in the batteries while I hauled our stuff from the house to the Alfa in our DR Power Wagon. 

 I have been going all out for several days getting everything packed and loaded.   We do not leave much of anything in her between trips, so it is a complete repack each time.  I figure if we need it in the Alfa, we probably need it in the house too and I don't want to start buying duplicate stuff!  

It is now slightly after nine in the evening.  We are relaxing in front of a cozy fire and will probably get to bed fairly early.  There is still lots to do in the morning. After bringing the Alfa down to the front drive we will put in some fresh water (we drained it this afternoon) and load the refrigerator.  I still have some clothes to put in along with all the bathroom stuff.  

In the morning, Craig has to see to the house, turning off the water, draining the irrigation system, setting the furnace thermostat down to 50*, and turning off the automatic back up generator. Because we live in the mountains, a winter storm can knock out our power for days.  If we were here we would run the generator, but that gets expensive. The only thing that needs power when we are gone is the garage refrigerator. We emptied the kitchen fridge, except for the orange juice and things I need to make travel sandwiches.  We will shut it off and prop open the door before we leave. What we are not taking along has been shifted to the garage fridge. I put some ice cubes in a bag in the freezer and will see if they have melted and refroze while we were gone.  If they do I will know that we have had a long power outage and will dump the few things from the freezer. 

[From Craig] As part of cleaning out the refrigerator before leaving, Merikay and I each ate a large bowl of ice cream Wednesday night. I got the Tillamook Marion berry Pie while she had their Caramel Butter Pecan. I must say that MB Pie is among the finest tastes produced by mankind, right up with Floating Island desserts at certain Parisian restaurants.

(From Merikay)  I must have walked up and down the back hill a dozen times today and didn't have any lunch.  I'm sure I burned off the calories from the ice cream in advance!

Some RVers like to pull out very early in the morning when leaving on a long trip.  We like to take our time, get everything in order and miss the morning rush hour traffic. If we are on the road by 10:30 we will be doing fine.  We have a long day of driving ahead of us, but we are both looking forward to it!

See Ya!

Speaking of Food and Stuff

Jessica wrote about planning on eating more healthy meals in the future today.


For us, food has been a really interesting hodgepodge this month. At the house, we have two refrigerators, with two good size freezers.  I only use the garage refrigerator for holidays,  but the freezer is usually pretty full.  Same for the freezer in the kitchen.  


Craig does most of our food shopping on the way home from work.  Most of the time he shops every day.  Whenever he stops at Trader Joe's he comes home with numerous frozen items.  Same for when he visits the interesting Asian grocery, Berkeley Bowl, or Costco. I too have a liking for Costco size bags of chicken tenders and such.


I do try to keep things turning over, but sometimes that's hard.


Just before Thanksgiving I declared a moratorium on buying new things for the freezers. On the first of December I declared we were going to try to use up as much as possible before we leave for Christmas.  And we have.  


Tomorrow I will be moving the few things left into the garage freezer, plus moving anything from the kitchen refrigerator that I want to keep, and turning off the kitchen fridge.


We will not be taking any refrigerated foods along on our trip because we will not be turning on the fridge in the Alfa for a week. We will be parking it at our daughters home, and I really can't see running the fridge on propane or batteries all of that time if it isn't necessary.  We plan on shopping in San Diego, on the morning of the 30th., before we drive  to L.A. with our grandsons.


Today I packed more things into the Alfa.  I'm looking at this trip as more of a trial for what we might need when we are full timers that our weekend trips have been.  As I evaluate things in my kitchen, I find that there is so much I will not need.  


I'm trying to create a "master list"on my laptop. EVERYTHING I could possibly pack is going on it.  As I load for a trip, more and more is added.  
Many are things I might not want to take on a short trip, but if they are on the list I can check them off after I have decided I don't need them. 
As things are finding permanent places in the Alfa, I am putting that next to the item on the list, so I can put them there again in the future. 
Eventually the list will be an "index" of where everything might be located.  I say "might", because I'm a realist and know that just because something has a place it doesn't mean it will be in that place when I'm looking for it.  It seems I am always the one who has to find things. One thing I have noticed about myself recently is that my memory for where I have put things is getting much worse.  I hope it's just stress, and not age! I put a couple of things away today that I know if I don't note their locations I might never find them again! 


We have so many places and so many tools around our house that neither Craig nor I have been good at putting things away.  In fact most tools don't really have a specific place.  Craig is constantly asking "where is my xxx?" and I am constantly either going to get it, or saying I don't know, or asking him where was the last place he used it."  
Recently I have been jokingly saying "You must have left it in Topeka."  Reminding us both that when we are on the road we will have to pick up our tools and put them away or they will be left behind! I actually think Craig is starting to put more things away than in the past.


Do you have a system?