It's good to be back on the WWW

May 31 - Jun 13, 2013 (2 weeks) - Diamond Lake RV Park, Diamond Lake, OR

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RV LIFE:
Oh, it's good to be back connected to the Web! We are still in the middle of "nowhere"! Even more so than we were on the Coast in Port Orford.  There are no convenience stores close by. The only close restaurant is at the Lodge and they just sell pricey sandwiches. The nearest grocery store in 45 miles away and the nearest Walmart is 85 miles away. But who cares? I've got WiFi internet!
Since we are not near a grocery store, this is a good opportunity to clean out items in our freezer. Since Scott does the majority of the cooking, he gets the majority space in the freezer. So my little section has 2 boneless chicken breast, 2 bubba burgers, and 3 pieces of salmon. I cooked Black Bean Chicken (from a sauce packet) & over beet pasta that I purchased back in Mammoth Lakes. Last night was a Bubba Burger...yum. I've still got 4 meals in the freezer.
I always have broccoli in the fridge. I love to steam it in the microwave and add it to salads. Only one more meal of broccoli left. Then on to canned veggies. We'll head out to the grocery store when we visit Crater Lake, since that will put us almost half way there. I could last quite a while with just items on hand. I can just pick through things and that's dinner. Scott likes DINNER, meaning sit down to a meal with protein, veggie, starch. But I've got internet!
This morning I was trying to catch up on blogs I follow, I find I'm starting to comment more on blogs. I like getting comments, so I assume others like it also.
Merikay of Merikay's Dream blog is just about ready to start Full timing. She asked for opinions about memberships. So I guess that's an opportunity for me to let you know about what groups we belong to.
Good Sam: Only $25./yr
This is our most important membership (besides Escapees). Cheap membership, many benefits. 10% off park fees & we find the majority of parks accepts Good Sam, up to 30% off Camping World and many times free shipping! But our best part is the RV Plus card! Read my review and description on my 2/15/13 post.
Harvest Hosts: Only $25./yr.
Free overnights at approved wineries & farms. Some have basic hook ups and others are boondocking. I love visiting wineries and farm markets and this is a great opportunity for a free overnight. I'm no longer a member, because hubby prefers campgrounds. Sigh.
Passport America: $44./yr
50% discount at parks, but usually many restrictions such as discount only weekdays, or discount only good for 2 nights, etc. Many parks accept Passport America, even if they don't advertise it. Best to check Passport America website. PA website can show participating parks along your route also.
Nat'l Forest Annual Pass: $80./yr , $10./yr if over 62, Free for military and disabled.
Whether you camp or just visit Nat'l parks, this comes in handy. To enter Grand Canyon is $25. Many other parks are $10-$15. It all adds up.
Escapees: $70./yr  But until July 31 the membership is 1/2 price to celebrate their 35 yr. anniversary. You can also receive a discounted rate if you are a member of GS, PA, or Woodalls.
We domicile in TX and use their mail forwarding. If you are joining just for the camping discount, probably not worth it. There are quite a few campgrounds that discount 15% for Escapees. Escapees also have a few of their own parks with a deeper discount, but I haven't been impressed by them so far. Have only been to a couple. And another reason we are Escapees members is because they have lobbyist fighting to keep our lifestyle legal. Meaning, with Homeland Security, our nomadic lifestyle is at risk because we don't have a physical address.The Dahl's (RV Sanity) commented,  "I feel I need to add to their numbers for their legislative efforts on behalf of fulltime RVers." Escapees has fought the gov't to enable certain addresses be acceptable as a "physical address".
CCRVOC (Cedar Creek RV Owners Club): $25./yr.
If you own a Cedar Creek brand RV, this is a great club to join. The members are friendly without being pushy. They are very helpful! They have great rallies. Shout out to Ray, Lee & Lee, and AG & Maryanne.
Whatever brand you own, it's a good idea to join their owner's club. Wealth of information, good contacts, and usually fun times.
BROWSING THE WWW://
Brad & Suzanne of RVing & Travels blog, are exploring NC and mentioned fog on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is a beautiful area of the country and well worth a trip out there if you have plans to head East.
This brought back memories for Scott & I. I guess fond memories now that it is so long ago.  We drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway for our Honeymoon in 1994. We rode our motorcycles and tent camped. Ahh, to be young...well, we weren't that young. We married when we were 38 years old. We had a small tent, sleeping bags, tarp, one burner stove. It rained a few of the days and we hit some terrible, terrible fog. When riding, Scott would lead and I would follow. I couldn't even see Scott's rear light, so just imagine trying to ride a motorcycle on winding and sometimes hairpin turns along the ridge and not being able to see what's ahead of you. We stayed at a different campsite every night, so that meant unpacking, setting up camp, sleeping on 1" foam mattresses, then breaking down camp and packing it all back on our Suzuki 800 Intruders with canvas saddle bags and lots of bungee cords.

On my bike I painted a flag saying "Just Married" and Scott had a sign saying the same thing bungeed on his packs. We did stay one night at a hotel on the Parkway. That was for our official Honeymoon Night. We splurged and got a room with a fireplace. The next day, back on the bikes and tenting.
On the way home to NJ, I had had enough of bad weather and constant packing and unpacking. The riding on nice days was great though. Sure enough, our ride to NJ was in a Nor'Easter! Lots of heavy rain, high winds. I told Scott that we WILL make it to NJ tonight. He knew what Debbie said goes! Up Route 81 we travel. This is a multi lane highway, but an easy ride, well not in a Nor'Easter. And not once you hit the Washington, DC beltway. We hit that at rush hour. Bumper to bumper in this miserable weather. Very nerve wracking with good reason. That was a very dangerous ride. Our motorcycles only had that one small rear light. We were not very visible to other cars. So even being the experienced riders we were, we had to worry about cars and trucks not seeing us.

So even though we had rain suits and waterproof boots and gloves, the chill still got to us, especially me. But I can be one tough Bi...oops, I mean one tough Lady! We stopped for gas and Scott asked if I still wanted to get to NJ. I said y y y y yes. Scott thought that was a very bad idea and finally started to disagree with me. He said, "Talk to me without chattering".
"I I I  c c c c caaaan't." That was it. He was ready to defy my wishes! Horrors! He's in trouble now! Scott told me I was showing signs of hypothermia. I had a cup of hot coffee, but still couldn't stop ch ch ch chatterrrrring.
There was a motel next to the gas station and we checked in. We had planned to take an alternate bridge other than the Delaware Memorial. We knew on that large of a bridge, our bikes would be blown around. When we turned on the news, we heard our alternate bridge was closed because of the storm. So even if I somehow had persuaded or badgered him enough to drive on, we still wouldn't have made it to NJ that night.
But wait! There's more!
After this stressful, strenuous, miserable day of riding motorcycles, we were famished. Hey, look, there's a Chinese Restaurant next door! I LOVE Chinese food. Now I'm starting to be glad we stopped. We ordered our Chinese food and were told the typical "ten minute". Now remember, we are 38 yrs. old. There is a bar in the restaurant. WE NEED A DRINK!!!! We're not driving tonight, just walking to the motel. Let's both get a shot of something STRONG! We order two Grand Maniers.
"Can I see I.D. please?" Huh????? We are 38 years old. I don't need this "compliment" right now. Scott had his since he needed his wallet to pay. I left all that at the motel. No I.D., no service. That was the end of my rope. I turned to Scott, looked up into his loving face and said, "This has been a shitty honeymoon." Poor Scott, he felt so bad. It was definitely an experience.
But wait! There's more!
Scott just reminded me that through all this, I was suffering from a massive toothache. When we got home, I needed a root canal!
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TELEVISION:
Have you seen, Rock My RV on the Travel Channel? If you're into RV'ing whether big fancy rigs, or smaller used rigs, this is an interesting show.
Scott and I are always imagining a nicer rig, but in reality, we have done so many mods to make it ours, I wouldn't want to start all over again.
This show basically guts your RV and installs your wish list items. They even paint or wrap the outside.
One episode, the RV was used for Charity. They didn't need a bed, so they changed the bedroom into a lounge area. They take out the bed and uh oh, problems. The slide mechanism is in the way. They acted like this was unexpected, which drove me nuts. If you work on RV's you KNOW there is a slide mechanism under the bed slide. I guess they needed drama for the show.
I couldn't watch when our bedroom was gutted to install flooring. It stressed me so bad. Will he know how to put everything back? in WORKING order? Yes, he did and all was well.
Anyway, check the show out.
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PETS:
Devin is again going nuts, NUTS, NUTS, here at Diamond Lake. There are critters all over the place!
1. There are cute little squirrels running all around. The other morning a squirrel was trying to take our cotton tablecloth. He was tugging and tugging. I finally had to shoo him away. But that little adorable critter was determined. I had put the tablecloth away, so the critter decided to try to drag Devin's "dead dog" toy away. This toy was 2-3 times bigger than the squirrel. Scat! Now the dog is put away.
2. There's also Belding's Ground Squirrels, or as one local called them "Go Unders".

They look like squirrels with very short, non fluffy tails. I thought they were Prairie dogs, but nope, Ground Squirrels. They are really driving him nutso. They dig holes all over.






3. Sightings of what I thought were chipmunks, I've now learned are Gold-Mantled Ground Squirrels.

4. I even saw some kind of Weasel/Ferret!
Then add to all this cuteness, there are the pests.
5. Huge ants
6. Yellow jacket type bees
7. Flies
8. Midges, known as the "blind mosquito" because they do not bite.
Excerpt from: Crater Lake Institute 
"It's early evening, the wind dies, and near the edge of the marsh a few small flying insects rise. Soon joined by others, the swarm increases and increases and increases until the mass of insects forms a long symmetrical top-shaped mass that swirls about emanating a strong, screaming hum audible at a distance of 100 yards. Cows refuse to eat. Automobile radiators clog. People become nauseated and have trouble breathing.
Where could this happen? Belize, the Mosquito Coast? The swamps of the Congo? The banks of the great gray-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees? Give up? It's the Klamath marsh!"
Devin certainly crashes at night. Normally the dogs nap during the day except when we take them for walks or hikes. But Devin is on the look out for critters, and then he's trying to catch bugs in flight, or he's swatting them away with his paw or twitch of an ear. No napping for this guard dog!

While walking the dogs, I have to have a really strong hold on Devin. He will suddenly pull to get to a cute little critter. This is a beautiful area and I've enjoyed walking the dogs on the shore of Diamond Lake. Yesterday, I let them do some wading. I love seeing them so happy in the water. Huh?
Deeeeeeviiiiiiiin! COME! Who would have thought he would have left the fun of the water to chase a critter? I did not have a good handle on him and off he went. Lyla is in the water and being the senior girl she is, she was having a difficult time getting out of the water. I'm pulling on her collar. No luck. I may have to jump in a pick her up and out of the water. I finally guide her over to a lower drop and she barely jumps back on land. Now where did that SOB go?!!! There he is about 150' to my left. He sees me and crosses the street. This road is not well traveled, but when there is traffic, it is 50mph traffic. A car is coming. I'm dragging Lyla behind and in the middle of the street, I'm motioning for the car to slow and pointing to Devin. Thankfully, they car did slow and thankfully, Devin did not go back into the street. There he goes, up over the levee towards the campground and also out of sight.  I call him again and say "Come". He pokes his head over and looks down at me. I say "Good Boy" in a happy voice and come, again. Miracles never cease! He came to within 5' of me. But 5' is just as bad as 50' if he dashes away when I get closer. I stayed very calm, and kept telling him he's a good boy and to stay. He laid down!!! Oh my Gosh! I think he sort of came back to me! I'm so excited. It's a slow progress but it is progress.
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BOOK REVIEW:
Play Dead by Harlan Coben
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my gosh! What a great book! I could not put it down. I read all day and the next! I have read 12 of Harlan Coben's books. I have rated all 4 or 5 stars. Nice to have an author whose books are consistently great.
This is a murder mystery, love story, and family saga. The Author knows just when to switch back to another character's story. The book is one cliffhanger after another cliffhanger. I NEEDED to continue to read, so I could return back to the previous storyline with the cliffhanger to find out what happens, only to have the current storyline leaving another cliffhanger returning to resolve the other cliffhanger. His writing is constantly keeping you excited and wanting for more. He then reveals only enough to start all over again and keep you on the edge. Just call me Horse and "Play Dead" the carrot.

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June 14 -23, 2013 Armitage County Park, Eugene, OR

WA, ID, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/214

Snug as a bug

It's been stormy the last two days. Heavy rains, some lightning, etc. The weather spoiled our plans of going to see another plantation & running errands.

NJ: Speaking of errands, we were supposed to go to the Post Office on Sat. to send the title for Scott's Yamaha Venture motorcycle to NJ. We've sold it. No more paying storage fees.
But with the heavy rain, we decided to just stay snug as a bug in a rug, inside our RV. The Post Office will have to wait until Monday.

RV: We got a knock on our door yesterday afternoon.  It was the park ranger letting us know that their is an electrical problem with the pump that regulates the park water pressure. May not be fixed for a week! Scott had noticed the drop in pressure when taking a shower last night. We were offered a site at the other loop of the campground, a refund, or the option to stay put and just fill up our tanks. Scott was napping at the time, so I didn't want to wake him to make the decision quite yet. Really no big deal for us.  We had water in our fresh tank to last a few days, or since we don't have reservations for our next stop, we could just move early. What a great life, freedom to just move when needed.  Before Scott even woke from his nap, the ranger was back saying they will have it worked on in the a.m.  Sure enough, by 9a.m. the next morning, the pressure was great again.

With Scott being the cook in the family, I tend to let him get what appliances he wants. While purging our home, that was difficult to purge pots, pan, grills, etc. But if is amazing, our much excess you have that are just used occasionally.

We had a small Foreman Grill which I liked, except for cleaning. Scott bought a "better" Foreman Grill which I hate. It is large, & bulky. The only improvement was the heat plates come off for easy cleaning. So we pack this grill in the RV. It takes up a whole cabinet space, so I resent that. To take it down to use is awkward, so I resent that.  Scott decides maybe an electric griddle might be more user friendly.

Scott also uses a toaster oven quite often, even when we lived in a house. We have a nice Black & Decker toaster oven that can fit a pizza in to cook.  Very nice oven, but again bulky and has only one use.

Off to Walmart we go.  We pick up a RIVAL ELECTRIC GRIDDLE & a OSTER CONVECTION TOASTER OVEN. Scott has used both a couple of times, and so far he is very happy with them.
But now, what do we do with the Foreman Grill & the old toaster oven?? Scott had the great idea of offering them to the park ranger for their lunch room. Even though we are both retired, we well remember how important having those conveniences in our lunch rooms were. The park ranger happily took them off our hands. Two new items in, two old items out.

Now to the present time: It's been raining for two days. We don't mind much. It gives us an excuse to sit around and be lazy. Wait...we're retired! We don't need an excuse! I have to be living in a dream. This life is too good to be true! Scott stayed in the bedroom most of the day, watching TV.  He does miss having a couch, so the bed is his couch. Doesn't bother me because I get the rest of the RV to myself. While watching TV, Scott is also reading the 2nd part of the Hunger Games, "Catching Fire", on his kindle. I spent the day scanning more craft books into the computer, finding more knitting & crocheting projects to do. I also worked on A&B ES RESCUE applications & home visits, which is part of my daily routine. Also sat in my comfy chair and read. In between all this activity, I did have to don my crocs, raincoat, & umbrella to take the dogs out for walks. The weather was very very rainy, with lots of puddles, but at least it wasn't cold & windy also.

DOGS: This is the 3rd or 4th day, that Devin is moving forward to the kind of dog we want. He's still not a cuddler, but will come over for a good massage...who wouldn't? Just think of how often dogs & cats get massages from their humans. If only Scott would massage my skull & back 1/2 as much....sigh. Lucky dogs! We're still half-heartedly working on  recall. But the step forward I'm talking about, it that he is not constantly wanting to go out or pacing the RV, or bothering Lyla.  I'm sure part of it is because all our blinds are down, but for the most part, he has found my comfy chair & the bed as his place to relax.  Makes for a much nicer, quieter day. This change in his behavior came right in the nick of time, since it's been raining for two days. The less we all have to go out the better.

BOOKS:

Fiction:

Side by Side by John Ramsey Miller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Suspense/Mystery. Mother & child kidnapped. Story of their rescue & what was behind it.
I may be able to rate this a "4", but I gave it a lower rating, because I didn't look forward to reading it.  It held my interest, enough to keep reading, but wasn't a book that I wanted to sit for a couple of hours & read. The final 50 pages, were exciting and that's when I didn't want to put the book down.


View all my reviews

Start "Chesapeake Blue" by Nora Roberts
I've read 5 books by Nora Roberts and all I rated between 4 to 5 out of 5. So I'm looking forward to reading this one. Below are previous books I've read by Nora Roberts.
"Carnal Innocence" My rating 4 out of 5
"Genuine Lies" My rating 5 out of 5
"Sacred Sins" My rating 4 out of 5
"The Search" My rating 4 out of 5
"Tribute: My rating 4 out of 5

LONGS, SC 29568 (Near Myrtle Beach)

Location: WILLOW TREE RV RESORT, Longs, SC 29568 (Day 3)
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Get thee behind me satan aka NJ!!!!

I swear, NJ is following us...at least the weather! We arrived at beautiful WILLOW TREE RV RESORT on Wednesday, Nov. 2. And yes, THIS IS A RESORT! How Pine Cone RV "Resort" in NJ can call itself a resort is a sin. Pine Cone has a great swimming pool, & a couple of weathered tennis courts. That's as much of resort as there is there.  The roads are sandy dirt, you have to take your trash to the dumpster. Many of the sites don't have sewer. (The have a "honey pot" truck (as Scott calls it) that comes to your site to dump your tank.  Their electric absolutely sucks. They won't spend the $ to fix/upgrade.  30amp is fine for us, but we need it to WORK! Pine Cone should be called a campground, not an RV resort.  This is a very nice place to camp with a pop up or tent.  Fairly private sites with lots of trees around.

Nov. 2-Nov 16, 2011
WILLOW TREE RV RESORT  Longs, SC 29568
$28./day (group rate) Site #99
Our Rating 4.5 out of 5 Would revisit.
Cedar Creek RV Owners Club are having a Rally here. We met quite a few people at the 2011 Nat'l Rally earlier this year. Great group of people

Willow Tree is a joy (at least for an RV'r). All paved (clean) roads. No tracking sand continually into the RV. Beautiful lake with a 1 mile paved walk/bike/dog walk path around it. You can rent boats to use on the lake.  Large laundry room. Gym, banquet hall, huge store. Golf carts & bike to rent also.
Our evolution of camping:

Funny, how our tastes in "campgrounds" have changed.  

We started out motorcycle camping, with each of our bikes packed and bungeed high.  For our honeymoon, we slept in a 2 person tent, with a 1" foam roll up pad for comfort (not much comfort). We cooked on a single propane stove. We did not require electric. We rode in rain (Nor'easter in Oct), fog (on the Blue Ridge Pkwy) and sun.
We then graduated to a motorcycle pop-up camper. We did not use it much, but when we did, it was enjoyable. Our 800 Suzuki Intruder could pull it. When we would set up camp, this pop up would not only pop up, but also, fold out and out and out.  It opened high enough to stand up in and when open, the length was 14' long! We had a queen sized (off the floor) air mattress and were able to fit a table, chair and 2 dog crates in there! Ahhh, the dog crates...that was our motorcycle demise.
Once we started bringing the dogs camping with us, we decided to purchase a large tent. Many years camping  in a large tent.  Now that we were camping with a tent and a van, we packed it to the brim. We now required electric for our electric cooker and crock pot. We camped many years at Nickerson Family Campground in CT. They had a nice huge site near the creek that we had all to ourselves. Unfortunately, there was no grass, so it was very dirty. I tired of all the dirt and our tent camping subsided.
Retirement and 5th Wheel is not camping. This is our home and totally different attitude.  I was a clean, grassy or paved site. We still like trees but need to get satellite line of sky, and no branches in the way of roof or slide outs.  We may stay in the RV all day. So what? This is our home. We are not on vacation, we are not trying to cram the tourist attractions in.  We are finally relaxing and really enjoying life, free of a full time job (that was like a 32 yr prison sentence).

Weather:
What a pleasure arriving here near Myrtle Beach, with temps in the high 60's. Cooled to high 40's the first night, then...NJ FOUND US! Damn! Double Damn! The clouds smirked at us overhead, the temp dropped to 50, then 40 and hit a low during the night of 38! It was raining all day yesterday and chilly. Today, has been a NJ bitter cold wind. I have no desire to set foot outside. But the pups gotta "go", so I layer myself up and put on my knitted by me "howl" (a cowl & hat combo), and try to not let our setters know how much I'm hating walking them in this weather.  They still need their play time and sniffing all the visitors' spots around.
PETS: Who knew? Part of our travels is learning about the wildlife, plant life, and pests that are foreign to us being from NJ.
Poor Lyla, laying comfortably on the grass, moves her leg near a dirt pile and FIRE ANTS! We had no idea. We thought they were just ants (like in NJ), so we just casually brushed some off of her. Well if you read the link about fire ants, they swarm and sting. Unfortunately Lyla paid the price for our ignorance.

**Update: It took about THREE WEEKS for this to clear up.  She was licking and pulling out her hair there. We had to keep a close watch on it to keep from becoming raw and/or infected. She's all better now.