Weight

I too have gained a little weight in my upper torso since Carol has been gone.  Must be those little pills I thought were for a headache.  

We had a little get together.  Mark cooked up something I can’t spell or pronounce other than Mexican. He brought his sister Gail (no pic) and Neil and Pat came and Denny & Susie of course.

We all are pro’s at having a get together.

Just friends sharing a good time - - again.

And then everyone departed.  It was perfect weather and not one bug.  Maybe they didn’t like the alcohol or Mark’s food.

We will get together again this Wednesday with a few more additional people for smoked pulled pork butt. Say that three times fast.  Did you really try to say that three times?

We don’t say good bye but rather say - - -

See Ya

Busy Doing Little Things

Wed, Thur, Fri, & Sat – sorry just doing little things to include having fun and just ran out of time.  In other words – just kinda of tired.  The four chapter Escapees rally in Montgomery, TX was really a success. There were 70 rigs in that KOA which was nice and the facilities were very nice.  Normal price was $44 but we paid $27 which was OK for this event.  Joe & Kay Petersen and Bud & Cathie Carr even showed up for a day. Bud and Cathie took the stage and received some questions.  They got beat up more than anything with questions about Rainbow’s End mainly. It seemed like the members focused on the things that were only important to them and not the club. 

The datastorm (internet) got fixed with Steve O’Bosky’s help via phone of course.  It was a computer thing – theirs.  Denny & I fixed the slide topper awning – a bolt had backed out. I fixed the MCD front electric shades with MCD’s help over the phone.  It was a computer hick up or something but there back working again. The chipped windshield was fixed by a windshield repair guy while at the rally. Then the rally was over. Saturday morning I departed at 7AM.  I got fuel at the nearby Walmart for $2.81 (diesel).  It’s about $2.89 in most the areas I seen getting back to Livingston.  As I arrived at Rainbow’s End their were Mark and his troops waiting to weigh me.  Escapee’s are in the test mode of weighing.  They had a cement slab poured and got scales to do this with.  Well, I’m over weight on both axles and my gross. That’s with the appropriate tanks filled or empty.  In the past I have talked to Freightliner about axles and their gross carrying capacities.  I was told that the tires are the weakest link on an axle for a motorhome and that it becomes more of a liability than a safety issue.  Also federal laws concerning weights come into play such as bridges, roads, etc.  I have Load range H tires (275X80X22.5) which means I’m well within the tire capacities by 5K in the rear and 2K in the front. I always carry 10 lbs more than the weight charts say to carry for my weight. These tires can go to 120 lbs which is high.  It’s hard to find a place that would pump them that high even at a truck stop.  I run 95 lbs PSI and that gives me an extra 500 lbs to 1K lbs higher carrying capacity than the rating.  53.6K miles and the tires are looking good – sidewalls and tread.  The dates on the tires are Mar 08 if anybody cares besides me.

Dealers…At the Pomona Show I got the feeling that things are turning back to normal. Dealers wanted to give low trade in values and sell high. The ones I were trying to deal with wanted to steal our coach and we pay high for their coach.  Last year they were a lot more generous and wanted to make a little money on each.  Now they want to make a killing on each.  Thus, things are returning back the way it was before the big RV slump.  They called our coach high mileage so they couldn’t give much on trade in.  Now when they sell it they say, “Hey, it’s in real nice condition, kept up very well and it’s a diesel anyways and don’t matter.” What a friggin racket, same ole same ole.  Screw them because we don’t have to sell our coach and won’t. Besides, we just about got every bug out of this Farton and then some.  Plus, what would I have to complain about? It really is a nice coach.

Tomorrow, Sunday, I will start getting back into the picture taking business.  We are having a Cajun party – I think.

See Ya……………….

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

Sunday went pretty well.  I tried to pull out of our site at the KOA after the show was over.  It was tight but I went S L O W.  Had to back up three/four times but made it.  I left Pomona a little after 6 PM and got to Quartzsite later that evening(225 miles). I wanted to get away from LA. The next day was an adventure.  The datastorm (my internet) couldn’t find the sat thus no blog. Then I put in the slideouts. One of the toppers wouldn’t roll up.  So I jerry rigged it so it would stay rolled up but lost the future use of the slide out – no bigee. Then the front MCD front solar shade wouldn’t roll up (electric).  So I rolled it up and tied it up and it’s hanging from the fans. Then I was able to leave Quartzsite about 7 AM damaged some but rolling.  Going down the road I got a chip in the window.  I still managed to get 750 miles in and arrive at a hidden rest area at Balmorhea, TX. Monday was an adventure like I said.  The next day, Tuesday was great.  Drove about 525 miles and arrive at Montgomery, Texas for the Escapees all Texas Rally (4 Chapters).  It’s great.  Gotta go have fun and do a few repairs.

See Ya…………..

Friday/Saturday

Not much happening the last two days besides the rain. Everyday it has drizzle and no sun.  Is this southern California or what? Been busy doing a lot of little things trying to keep ahead above water.  I think we have all been there. Tomorrow (Sunday) is the last day of the show and it will be very busy towards the last few hours.  Not with attendees but doing the seminars, taking the the booth apart and getting go to the RV and loading it into the bays, etc. Hopefully I will be able to pull out on the road by 7PM.  I will have problems getting out of my site.  I will ask the neighbor if he can help.  this is one of those sites it almost takes three people to get out – it’s tight and I have to go forward.  So, that’s about it in a nut shell.

See Ya…..

Animals

Carol’s at her Mom’s in Maryland.  Her Mom ended up having pneumonia but is home and doing OK.

I’m feeding the animals.  I put dog food in the dog’s dish and I noticed the cats were setting around watching.  Very, very unusual. 

Then Rainbow went over and started to eat the dog food.  She had never done this before – weird.  I double checked and realized that I fed the dog the cat food. duhhhh – no wonder why the cats wanted some.

 

Does it ever stop raining here?  Seven days now. It wasn’t suppose to rain starting today but it started raining again anyhow.  Who’s in charge of this.

It’s getting a little hectic but it won’t get too bad until Sunday.  It’s going to be a fast acting day from about 9:30 AM until about midnight.  Hopefully I will be able to pull out of here about 7 PM and make it to Quartzsite for the night.  I’m gonna try and meet up with Bill & Joyce in Las Cruces Monday evening.  They are computer geeks and I need one bad.

See ya.

Where Are Thou?

I tried backing up my main computer late last night. I’m not sure if it did or not.  I tried several times and it may or may not have backed it up.  I don’t know how to tell.  It asked me questions that I did not understand so I guessed.  Bill Joyce or somebody where are thou when I need you.  I have the Acronis True Image Home 2010 backup program with a external plug in hard drive.  These computers are so above me I can’t even start to explain it.  My memory does not retain this “stuff” so I guess I need a back up system too.  I have a very hard time remembering normal “stuff” much less computer/programs that are suppose to do it for you.  I guess that’s why I like photography so much. I can take a picture and it’s the story.  Now I just have to figure out how to use the computer in the camera.  Thank goodness for the “A” (automatic) setting. I’ve learned to put the pictures in the computer and then even put them in this blog.  It took months and a lot of help.  People say go to Apple computers.  No thanks. I don’t want to go thru this learning process no matter how simple the geeks say it is.

Well, this morning at 8AM it was decided that Carol needed to return to Maryland to be with her 82 year old Mom who was in the hospital.  At 11:30 AM she was air born from LA International to BWI in Baltimore.

Traffic was something else.  Even airplanes had to wait

Now this is sky high roads – four high.

Now I have to take care of two cats, one dog and myself.  I do not do very well with any of those animals but we all will survive.

Ooooops There Goes Another One

There goes another one.  Computer.  I did one PowerPoint presentation today and was trying to set up for my second.  The computer just wouldn’t respond.  It got worse from there.  Now it won’t boot up.  I did the seminar without the PowerPoint.  Back at the coach I had the original start up disc – it still wouldn’t boot up.  I guess I will have to wait tell I run across Jon or Larry to check it out.  Then I have my little Acer. The problem with it is that it don’t hook up to the projector. The projector searches but can’t find the Acer.  I still have my work computer so I will use it.  I will have to spend an hour or so to change/update the two PowerPoint's that I changed for here at Pomona. Tomorrow AM I will back up my work computer because I will use it with the projector – just in case.

Meanwhile…here’s what some vendors did today about 4:30 PM.  Hey, when there are no attendees around we try out each other’s products first hand.  This vendor tried out the electric bike.  He enjoyed it a lot but $1K was too much.  

As much rain as we have been having we might try out the fold up boats before this is all over.

Carol’s brother called.  Their Mom (82 yrs old) is in the hospital in Maryland having emergency tests ran.  We are in the ready mode if need be.  We have a plan A,B,C and D ready to put in action depending on test results. Right now we are just waiting doing the “what if”  which can be nerve racking in itself.  This is all part of being a full timer and being a modern age gypsy.  The good part is that you can be any place in the U.S. with today’s airlines. If Carol needs/wants to fly back to Maryland she goes that’s all there is to it. Everything else is secondary and can be worked out.

See ya……………..

Rain Again

It rained last night and it started off with it this AM. I forget to mention yesterday I was trying to see Bob Tiffin while he was here.  Between him being surrounded by people and me doing my seminars I never got to catch up with him.  I guess I will call him later this month.  We are already scheduled to go back to Red Bay (Tiffin) in December.  All I have to do is call them on Friday to go in the following Monday.  We need to get some work done and they are covering it still under warranty even though the coach is 2 1/2 years old.  NO other manufacture does that.  This is what Tiffin’s are known for – they take care of their owners – in and out of warranty.

OK..Somebody asked me how much this KOA was a night and it’s $66 a night during the show.  I don’t pay for it and never would. I know – never say never.

Hey, Harrell Hicks fell off a ladder and broke his left wrist pretty good.  I thought he was tall enough that he didn’t need a ladder.  What’s with these people falling off things and breaking their wrists like Susie, Don and now Harrell.  Is this a club or something that I don’t know about.  Well, being a Marine, when I fall I make sure to fall on my head.  It’s the hardest thing I got anymore  -- smile…

The show closes at 6 PM.  This was at 5 PM.

Salesmen…..

Our little set up…

Free advertising for Boot Camp/Escapees.

This Vancouver Is. brother/sister came down and are en route to Bakersfield for an antique auto show.  The car is 1947 Austin with a Chevy V6 with a cam and a two four barrel ram air set up. I was so focused on the car I forgot to ask about the old trailer.

Cats love playing in this type of stuff.  They wait (kinda) their turn to get in.

The RV salesman are a little bored during the week.  One approached Carol while she was looking at the 2011 Monaco’s.  Yes, 2011 Monaco’s. They’re rolling off the assembly line and up for business. Go Navistar – new owners.  Anyhow, this salesman remembered Carol from last year. We look every year. He showed us a coach last year but Carol didn’t like it – it was a 42 footer but she liked it otherwise.  Well, he said he would look around and see if he could find us another upper coach – slightly used and all that.  It’s a buyer market.  Somebody has to tell these dealers that because they seem not to know that.  They appear to be selling the heck out of travel trailers and 5th wheels but slow in the big class A’s.  Tiffin and Winnebago both have come out with a jazzy looking new class A.  Low profile about 30 foot or so and diesel.  Pretty good looking coaches.

Anyhow, the weather is suppose to be the same tomorrow – wet……..

Harrell, I got some duck tape and ice cream sticks and I can fix that wrist of yours.  Do what the doc says and get better soon.

See ya………….

And the Rain Starts

It wasn’t suppose to rain tell Monday but it started last night and did all day today (Sunday).  The people still came out.  It was a hard drizzle most of the time.  We had to load the car up with our “stuff” to take over in the morning.  I’ve been told that electronics and water don’t mix well.  It’s about a 10 minute walk with a wagon and that’s too long in the hard drizzle.  I got a special park pass to park nearby.  I also was able to drive right up to the seminar tent and our booth before the gates opened.  So, it wasn’t that bad.  The attendance at my two seminars during the day wasn’t that bad, just a little down. Activity at our booth was a little slow but again not bad all things considered.  We have had people come by from previous years and say HI.  I have some followers for my seminars each year.  They said they enjoy the “fun” they have listening/watching me.  I guess that’s pretty cool.  We also had a few people that have attended our Quartzsite gatherings show up here and say HI.  They wanted to know if we are doing it again this January and of course the answer is yes.  If any reader wants to attend send me an email for details.  Basically it will be held 28-29 January (Friday/Saturday) and the same spot for the last three years hopefully.

I didn’t take any pictures of the rain.  I figured you all know what it looks like.  We have a creek running thru our booth and I will take some tomorrow.  The running water keeps our shoes clean.  We don’t have any inventory in boxes like a lot of the other vendors do so it’s no big deal for us.

See Ya…………..

Criminal

When an RVer does this it’s criminal that’s all there is to it.  Maybe that’s one reason why it costs $66 a night here.  Sights are very tight, turns are tight and it’s understandable about having to cut corners but this was NO accident – idiot!

Here’s our sight.  One sight next to us has been empty so far.

Here’s our booth.  That’s our new yellow wagon.  We really need it because of the sound and projector, etc. that I have to use each day for the seminars.

The vendor tent.

The seminar tent.

So, that’s about it for a Saturday at the RVIA Pomona Show.  We went out to a local small restaurant for dinner.  It’s a little Ma Pa place that we go to several times each year we have been here. I tried to talk to Bob Tiffin today but he had a bunch of people around him.  Tomorrow I will try to catch him before the show opens up.

See Ya…………….

Show’s First Day

Today was RVIA’s opening day.  It was OK and not a door smasher by any means.  I did my two seminars and had about 25 plus people at each one.  It was pretty good.  We are getting to meet new vendors which is pretty cool along with the old crowd.  The vendor count appears to a be a little less than last year.  I forgot my camera and didn’t realize it till we got back to coach. 

The RV salesman caught me as the show was ending today.  He said that we weren’t close on our offer on the used rig.  I just said “oh well!” He immediately responded with that they would work on the price some more.  I reminded him of our price so forth and so on……hey, we don’t have to buy – it’s a buyer market and we know it…

The temps are OK and they are suppose to drop down to the 70s next week.

see ya…………..

Looooong Day

We went 225 miles today for a starter. When we arrived at Pomona we had to do some RV site rearranging so we could get our datastorm up.  It’s been giving me trouble the past few days.  It finds the satellite quick but won’t let me get connected for anywhere from 6 to 12 hours.  Yes, that’s right.  What’s up with that Steve?  Then we had to unload our show “stuff” and take it over to the vendor tent – two trips, set up our vendor boot, set and test our equipment at the seminar tent and then it happened.  We had parked across from an RV that we booth liked and it had dealer tags.  About that time a salesman came out and we asked about it. Yep it’s for sale.  It’s a little longer than our 40 footer and the color is right on – tan with orange – yes orange! He did some number crunching with the figures we gave him.  He said it would probably work but had to get an OK with his boss.  I know the “game”. The numbers won’t work but it was a nice coach.

Anyhow, tonight (early tomorrow) I will have to trim/adjust my powerpoints (Driving & Alaska) to fit the way I want to do them here. Then I will put them on my extra computer that has nothing really on it.  It’s the one the cat broke and I fixed with a new hard drive earlier this year.  It’s the same computer that I use now but it has Vista and this one has Windows seven.  I can’t tell the systems apart. 

Anyhow, here are some pictures from today.

These palm trees didn’t make it.

I always wonder about these places like this.  What’s the story?

All rest areas that we came upon today in California were closed.  I guess people in cars pee in bottles like the truckers do.  Oh no – more yellow bottles along the road.

This is coming out of the mountains into the Palm Springs area.

 

This is way to busy for us.

 

The wind wasn’t blowing today.  Some times these babies are cranking.

See the layer of smog?  These people call it everything except smog.  I call it smog.  We drove down into it and you could still see it.  My eyes started to burn and probably will for most of the 10 days we are in Pomona.  No thank you…….

We arrived at Pomona at lunch time and went did our preparation for tomorrow’s opening.  Pictures will follow tomorrow. 

See Ya….

Denny’s en route

We got up and decided to go to Denny’s for breakfast on the way out.  Breakfast was $17 what a rip.  We’re not use to paying that for two small meals. I had the small slam and Carol had her waffle.  Their prices have gone up so we just won’t go anymore.  We got out of there about 7:30 AM with 480 miles to go to Quartzsite our next stop.  We had a tail wind that lasted ALL DAY.  This is rare.  Usually the wind is blowing from the west – a head wind.

AZ retirement home.

I guess you noticed the RVer is not driving on the road.

These flowers were growing next to the interstate.  I think they want someone to pick them up and take them out of the desert.

 

These people know how to make an Apple pie that is almost unbelievable.              

 

How would like to meet this guy coming down the road in the middle of the night.  ouch……

Sandstorm.  If it was California they just call it normal smog.

Before Quartzsite exit 45 I-10 is a ZIP Travel Center.  Diesel was $2.97.  I filled that sucker all the way up the neck.  With the tail wind I got 9.6 MPG…honest…

Carol took the pciture of the book store for the girls.  Nope he wasn’t around wearing his what ever you call it.

  

Where’s the Big RV Tent? It will be here in December.

Mile marker 98.5 off route 95 south - our spot for tonight.  It got to 93 degrees insdie the rig and we finally turned on the generator and got it back down into the 70s.  That night the wind died and it stayed in the low 70s.

See Ya……….