May 31, 2010

May 31, 2010

Today is memorial day. Our wind sock from Playcation is hung outside. It is a variation of the American flag. We decided to stay one more day here in Hurricane to let the traffic subside before we head up to Bryce. We have to be in Farmington on 6/8 so we will be scheduling around that.

I slept in again this morning. I don’t know what is going on by I didn’t get out of bed til almost 8AM. Had some coffee, read a magazine, then readied myself for my powerwalk. Will my IPOD work today???? Could it be??? YES!

Off into the local neighborhood. I love the area around here. There is a mixture of newer homes and old homes, all on big lots. Some have horses, lots of cats and dogs. I befriended a little Sylvester kitty, probably about 6 months old and affectionate as all get out. It was hard to put him down and continue. He started to follow me and I had to work to get him to stay put, but he finally did. The landscaping is varied. Some homes have the easy desert landscaping. The picture at the top is a desert bird of paradise. The flowers are stunning. I have to admit… I have a couple of pods from the flower wrapped in a napkin to see if I can root it at home. My criminal activities now span several states! And now, one of my usual partners in crime wants some… Hollyhocks grow wild along the street. I could probably nurture some back home and would not get them as beautiful as they are here! Some of the plants grow wild in California, yet here, they are used as landscape plants.

We are learning more about Hannah every day. Our neighbor Allen is in RV repairs. He has given us a lot of information on what to do and how to do it. He showed us how to stabilize Hannah some. It has helped, but Spouse still makes it feel like an elephant is walking through Hannah! I wonder if our neighbors would know if we were having sex! I hate to limit it to dark hours… We have been making a few improvements here and there. My favorite is the fan Spouse put in our bedroom. Now that it is warming up a bit, I would love to sleep outside, but you can only pack so much stuff, and that didn’t work.

We checked out the Sand Hollow golf course. There are 27 holes and I did not see one tree. The course looked beautiful, and I understand it is a challenging course to play, but the scenery did not seem as beautiful as Sky Mountain. Then we stopped at Wal-Mart. Spouse wanted a table for outside use. He carefully measured Hannah for dimensions, then the back of the truck and determined which table to buy. He brought it back, and outside of it coming up to my neck, it fits perfectly!

Then I came back to do some serious stuff… I completed my absentee ballot. I put it in the mailbox and now I am good for my vodka tonic. It seems that I must have a VT when I do these journals. It just seems to fit. I must admit, the scenery is not as nice as Playcation, but I do have a baseball game on TV, which I couldn’t do with Playcation. Always a tradeoff…
Shhh… we have been here 3 days and I think Spouse has only been to the Dairy Queen down the street one time… He has been doing most of the cooking so that he can thoroughly know how to do things. I don’t have that same urge… I have cooked… once! I will do more, I promise! Spouse is absolutely loving this. I like it, but I need to do it more to determine if I love it!

You might be asking how Bart is doing. Outside of sitting on the sofa while we are gone… he doesn’t like climbing the stairs to get inside. Lately, we have him on a long leash while we sit outside to read. He lays on the grass, but I don’t think he likes being treated like a common dog! But as long as he is with us, he seems to be happy.

Sky Mountain Golf Course

The girl in the white shirt broke 100... and I think I labeled a roadrunner as a woodpecker. Sue me! This last picture is the view from the 18th tee.

May 30, 2010

May 30, 2010

Days like this ought to be bottled so that you can pour some of it on you every day!

Although I didn’t sleep the best (a combination of my restlessness and Spouse’s snoring), I woke with the excitement of playing golf at Sky Mountain. I didn’t have much time for a power walk, but I did about 15 minutes, with my IPOD playing. We ate a quick breakfast and gave Bart a biscuit as we locked him inside while we went outside to play.

Sky Mountain is located in a phenomenal setting, with mountains, valleys and buttes lending themselves for optimal visual and spiritual enlightenment. The course has lush grass – which we came to hate, vistas that can stop your heart and wildlife galore. We saw coyotes, jack rabbits, bunnies, and the resident woodpecker that hangs out on the 18th tee box. It is his picture at the top.

I walked the course, and Spouse rode. It is a hilly course with lots of challenges, but I am proud to say that I SHOT A 99!!!!! That means I BROKE 100 on a course other than Los Robles! Spouse shot 125. He really did not like the taller grass. It looked so benign but was wicked beyond belief. And when you were close to the green – like one of the greens perched on a plateau where you have zero margin of error, it was scary to swing like a madman to get out of the grass! Although I will post a few pictures, they do not capture the magnificence and depth of the beauty.
We decided to stay another day here before heading to Bryce. It is just so nice here, we didn’t feel the urge to leave quite yet.

We are starting to get used to Hannah. Although Spouse sounds like an elephant as he walks in and out, he says I sound like one too. We can probably do a better job of doing something to stabilize things, but that is Spouse’s job. I am just fluff! But I do know where my liquor cabinet is, where my vodka lives comfortably next to a bottle of wine, that I might need. We also have figured out where to put this, that and the other.

Spouse is grilling salmon, with brown rice and some cole slaw. MMMM… And the Dodgers won… life is grand!

May 29, 2010

May 29, 2010
Today, the RV light bulb went on! I kind of get what people see in towing a big box around! You just kind of hang, and it is fun!

It was a quiet night and even though I napped like I was in a coma for hours, I still slept well through the night. Did I mention it was quiet? No trash trucks this morning! We awoke around 7, and I dozed til about 8! Me! I never sleep that late! I finally dragged my behind out of bed, poured a cup of coffee then started working on one of my crossword puzzles.

It was windy, which seems to be the thing in these here parts, and kind of cool. I did not get myself in gear for my powerwalk til almost 10am. With my IPOD battery appearing to be permanently dead, I ventured into the neighborhood for my exercise. What a beautiful area this is. The homes have a little land, the mountains and buttes are the backdrop, and the air is crisp and clean. We were thinking of leaving Monday for one of the national parks, but now we are not so sure. This is kind of fun!

Many of the people in this park are here for months at a time. They do all sorts of things to personalize their spaces. They plant gardens, arrange potted plants, create pet areas and all sorts of creative things. We rode our bikes around last night checking things out.

Tomorrow, we will be playing golf at the Sky Mountain golf course, so today we went and found it. OH MY GOD! IT is absolutely breathtaking! Sky Mountain is the perfect name for it. Set high on a hill with the mountains and rock formations creating a backdrop beyond belief, if feels like you are flying. And the winds will be dying so we ought to have a memorable time.

After getting some groceries, we decided to come back and be lazy sloths. Since the wifi signal is weak in Hannah’s spot, I decided to come to the office to get the blog going. I really don’t want to futz with it too much. I can’t get the pictures where I want them, it is pissing me off.

We had our neighbor Allen over for dinner. Then our other neighbors Tim and Tina from Tennessee (say that real fast) came over and we played dominoes into the night. I am the reigning queen of dominoes… at least til the next time. And I must admit, I loved having the Dodger game on TV in the background so I could keep tabs on them, even though they lost!

The picture at the top is the kitty condo our neighbors have so their cat can go 'outside' safely!

May 28, 2010

May 28, 2010

Slept in this morning. The trash truck did not come until 5:26! Between the winds and the cigarette smoke, my sinuses are trashed. I drugged up in the night, but that did not seem to help. I finally dragged my butt out of bed by about 6:30, had some coffee, then went on my power walk. I feel bad for Spouse with his plantar fasciitis, but I have to walk… every day. With the IPOD charged, I did my walk, which for me is kind of like a meditation. While I was gone, Spouse is busy chatting with everybody in the park.

We had a coupon for breakfast at the Virgin River casino, so off we went. We are the type of people they do not like… We rushed thru the smoky casino to the feeding troughs, ate, then rushed thru the smoky casino to the exits without spending a penny!

We readied Hannah, catching ourselves doing this when we should have done that, and hit the road. Destination is Hurricane, Utah, about an hour away. We actually made a reservation at an RV park here since today begins the memorial day holiday. We will lie low here for the weekend heading to national parks Monday, when the crowds go home. My sinuses complained all the way here. I dozed all the way up through this beautiful country side where the high desert turns into canyons, then into the dazzling buttes for which Utah is known.

We are in a beautiful park with mature trees and grassy areas. The wind is still blowing and it is a little on the cool side. As Spouse set Hannah up, I went to sleep for a couple of hours. I am not much of a napper, so this made me into a bit of a zombie. Our WIFI is weak. Tomorrow, I will go into the office and set up my blog. For now, it is vodka tonic time! And the Dodger/Colorado game will be on TV, so I will be in heaven.

I pretty much remained a zombie for the rest of the day. As usual, Spouse has made friends with all sorts of people in the park.

May 27, 2010

May 27, 2010
This morning, I woke up to a trash truck at 5:22AM. Ugh. Then, it was ‘gentlemen, start your engines’ as some of our neighbors took to the road. In all the camping we have done, there have always been noisy early birds. Fishermen want to be in place before the sun is up whether they are in a campground or a boat. As a waterskiier, I wanted to be on the lake as soon as it was safe to see so that I could have the glassiest water of the day. A different set of noises for a different mode of camping.

Couldn’t go back to sleep so I got up and grabbed my IPOD for a powerwalk. Crap, the battery in the IPOD was dead. Took that back and had to walk without my tunes. Mesquite has been hit hard by the economic downturn. Model homes with only a couple of the homes in the tract actually standing. Closed restaurants here and there.

We played the Palms golf course today in gale force wind. I was hitting the ball very well, shooting a 101. The only drive I screwed up while using my driver happened because the wind blew the ball off the tee as I was swinging! The other hole I screwed up was a par 3 that out to be outlawed! Spouse shot 128, but the ladies tees had some awesome advantages on a few holes. The wind did a few numbers on both Spouse and me. Pretty hard to figure out which club to use and where to hit it, but it is a beautiful course and we enjoyed it nonetheless. But, they would not let me take a pull cart. I had to put my clubs in a cart with Spouse essentially acting as my caddy. Walked the entire front nine. But the back nine had so many hills and blind spots, I had no idea where we were going, so I had to ride between the holes some times. Once we found the hole, I was able to walk again. With nobody in front of us and nobody behind us, we finished the course in less than 4hours.

Bart was happy to see us return. I did a little gambling before we went for Spouse’s $4.99 prime rib dinner. Gambled more after dinner and I am happy to say we left about $400 richer than when we went in!

I love gambling, but I hate smelling like cigarette smoke when I leave! But Hannah has a shower so I completed the fumigation process and relaxed.

May 26, 2010

May 26, 2010
Getting back into the travel routine, I got up and took a power walk. Las Vegas is such a sleazy town in spots, and this is one of those spots. Don’t think we will stay here again.

This morning, my friend Deloris Ginocchio came for breakfast. Kind of. She said she would come for breakfast, but we hadn’t counted on her eating before she came. We still shoved some food down her! She lost her husband of 31 years to cancer last month. It was good to see that she is thinking soundly, and that she looked great. But she wouldn’t let us take a picture. She hates the paparazzi!

After breakfast, we packed up Hannah and headed for Mesquite, about 70 miles up I15. We are in the Casablanca’s RV park, where they made a tee time tomorrow at the Palms golf course. There are wind warnings for tomorrow… this ought to be fun! We checked out some of the other courses around. Wolf Creek looks IMPOSSIBLE! It is quite expensive from what we hear.
The RV park here is small, and non-descript. The few trees provide little shade. But people do not come here to hang out in their RVs. And it only cost $19. We barely fit, and there is a small ridge in the road right where we are going to need to hook the truck to Hannah, so this will be a challenge.

Now, we are relaxing: me with my vodka tonic; Spouse with some apple cider. Then off to the smoky casino we will go. When boating, my drink of choice had become a rum punch. But for some reason, it has lost its appeal in favor of vodka tonics. I had never really been a vodka drinker, but after a round of golf one day, it sounded so appealing and it has stuck with me since. Do you think it is less fattening? How about lower in carbs?

May 25, 2010

May 25, 2010

Hannah is loaded and ready to go. I think… Our plan is not much of a plan. Let’s head to Las Vegas and see what happens from there. There is a KOA Kampground at Circus Circus, so we will go there.

But wait, let’s do a quickie clean of the house before we leave. What is this? Water under the kitchen sink? OY! Spouse to the rescue, rightfully bitching all the way! I guess it was a good thing to find it before we left. Dr. Spouse makes the fix, and off we go.

Why is it that whenever I close my eyes, Spouse starts to talk? He could be as quiet as a churchmouse until I close my eyes. Maybe I can sleep when it is my turn to drive!

First stop is Barstow for a quick bit at Baja Fresh. Hmm, it isn’t Baja Fresh anymore. It looks the same, and acts the same though. Who cares that it has a different name. Think I will take some of these limes with me for my vodka tonics!

Leaving Barstow is the first time I towed Hannah. She is easy behind the truck since she is hooked inside the bed as opposed to on the back trailer hitch. But she is boxy, which makes it difficult to see behind the truck. I am going to have to behave since I can’t do my routine highway patrol search.

We get to the RV park. It is big, and not the most slightly, but we are only doing one night (it would have been far less expensive to spend the night at Bally’s, and we would have had cable TV too!). But we can go gamble and walk around.

After setting up, it was already almost 7pm, we were hungry and on the prowl. Nothing looked good at Circus Circus. The last time I ate there, I was about 18 and the food was awful, so we went outside in search of nourishment. And we walked. And walked. And walked. Poor Spouse has plantar’s fasciitis, and his foot was starting to hurt. We went inside a Korean BBQ restaurant. Spouse almost passed out when he saw a bowl of soup for $41. So out we went. There was a Thai place (MY FAVORITE) right next door. For $10, we split a Pad Thai and we were happy!

We headed back, donating a few bucks to the gaming establishments and were happily welcomed by Bart.

Hannah Pix

Meet Hannah

I thought it was time that you all met Hannah, our Montana 5th Wheel. You may think she was named after the cable program Hannah Montana. Being that I have never seen that program, nor am I any great fan of Miley Cyrus, I can only say I loved the way the name flowed, so that was good enough for me.

Hannah is 31’3” long. This is only about one foot longer than Playcation but, oh what a difference in usable space! I will describe Hannah as she is with both of her sliders extended.

Walk up the 3 steps into the entry. On our left are 2 swiveling, recliner chairs and a little table with a lamp. A big picture window sits behind the chairs, and two small windows on either side. Above the window are 4 cabinets.

Take 3 steps, then turn right. On the left is a sofa, about the size of a love seat. It folds out into a queen sized bed. A window is over the sofa, and another on the side. Just past the sofa is a sconce with a light.

Take 2 steps forward. On the left is a dining room table with 4 chairs, with a window above and on the side. Above the sofa and chairs are 7 cabinets. On the right is the galley, which includes a microwave, 3 burner range, an oven, a sink, a bank of 4 drawers, another drawer below the sink as well as 4 more cabinets, and a couple of shelves. There is a window over the counter.

Take 2 more steps and lets complete the galley. On our right is a refrigerator, a freezer, and 3 more large cabinets.

In front of us are 2 more large cabinets and a 32” flat screen TV.

Take another step, then go up 3 steps. To the right is the toilet closet. To the left is the shower. Another step inside and you see the queen sized bed on the left with a window on both sides. To the right is a bathroom sink with a cabinet above and below the sink. To the right is a 3 drawer dresser with a window above. Looking ahead, there are 2 large cabinets. One is designed to have another TV, the other is designed for an RV sized washer/dryer. We use them both for storage. Also in front of you is a full sized mirrored closet. And being the fashion maven that I am, you all know I need closet space!

There are fans, and vents and air conditioning and things yet to be discovered, no doubt. When she is hooked up to services, we can use all the electronics, unlimited water, etc. But we can also live several days without being hooked up to anything. We hope to do some of both.

For her maiden voyage, we took her to Palm Springs. We learned that hooking her up to the truck is a bit of a hemorrhoid. I am sure we will get better with experience. At least I hope so! We learned how to use stabilizers, and how important being level is, how NOT to open the awning outside, as well has how TO open the awning! I have learned that I probably should not be naked while I have the window shades up. I think I scared some folks away!

We have also learned that we have no idea how to use all of this space! We are used to being so cramped on Playcation, that we have yet to figure out how to organize ourselves! At least we are not tripping over Bart! Although we have had to adjust his attitude. He associated Hannah with Playcation by thinking he could get on the furniture… We have let him know that the furniture in Hannah is NOT the same as the captain’s helm on Playcation, which was the only place he could be where he would be out of the way. But I know he blows us off as we have caught him on the sofa looking out the window!
We have done tons of camping throughout the years, some of it quite primitive where we had to bring EVERYTHING – bathroom, living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc. Traveling this way will definitely be different. Will we ever tent camp again? I have always thought of RVs as boxes that stay in crowded parking lots. Will my mind enjoy the benefits enough to override the drawbacks?
As we bond with Hannah over the North American roadways, I will certainly take you along for the ride via a blog. There will be challenges as being a mariner is a lot different than being a land lubber. For instance, as mariners, we never had to make reservations for a spot… will our spontaneity be lost? Only time will tell.

Stay tuned as we find out… will the Browns learn to live without an automatic dishwasher? And a garbage disposal?