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alisasings

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Blog Entries posted by alisasings

  1. alisasings
    Boy, I tell ya, this camping stuff ain't for sissies! We've been at our campsite in Thompson Creek, Washington, where we have been Gate Attendants, since May 19.
    This is our first time full-timing and mostly it's been okay ... if you consider that literally half the time we've been here it's rained! Man! We left the high desert of northern Nevada and will be boondocking in the mountains in Washington for the next five months and this rain is something else! I guess folks around here are used to it raining for three or four days and nights straight, but I'm not! LOL! It's beautiful and green here, though.
    We had a deer grazing right across the creek the other morning, not 30 feet from the RV. I tried to take a picture of it through the window but just got a reflection of the flash LOL! When the weather's nicer, maybe I'll sit outside and wait for it. I DID get a pic of bear poop, though! LOL! LOL! We went exploring up to the top of the mountain on our day off and found it. It was pretty fresh looking (and hairy) probably from the last camper it ate, ha ha! The ride was nice until I realized that what goes up must come down .. eeek! I'm definitely a "flatlander"! LOL!
    Hubby saw either an elk or small moose by the gate about 5 a.m. the other morning. He didn't have his glasses on and about the time he reached for his binoculars, I flopped over in bed, causing the windchimes to ring and scared it off (sad face).
    We also have a little squirrel that comes bopping down the dirt road in front of us every day about 10 a.m. I don't know where it's going, but it doesn't pay attention to us at all, just goes on it's merry way.
    The local folk keep telling us that we'll have moose walking right into our camp. Apparently, moose are pretty thick around here. We've also had some folks tell us that when hunting season starts, they'll be giving us some meat. You can bet I'm excited about that! I LOVE deer and elk. I'm thinking I'll probably like moose, too!
    We had a few issues when first we got here. For starters there was a propane leak. Hubby kept arguing with me that nothing could be leaking, but I didn't give up until I found it and got it taken care of four days later (thank You, Jesus)! Turns out it was in the hose that connects the 100-gallon tank to our RV. (Hmmph! I KNEW I was right!!)
    We also had an issue with the generator. We'd bought a brand-new gen as a backup, just in case, and sure enough, we got up here and the onboard gennie wouldn't power the coach for some reason. It worked fine before we came up here. Hubby flipped switches and breakers and messed with wires ... couldn't find ANYthing wrong. It would start fine, but just wouldn't power the coach or charge the batteries. Finally Tim opened up the new generator, put gas and oil in it and fired it up. Plugged the coach in and had the same problem; not getting any power! So he unplugged the coach and plugged in a power drill. The gennie would barely run it ... ugh! Something was wrong with the brand-new backup!! (are you kidding me???!!!).
    Tim was at his wits end, had no idea what to do because he had no idea what the problem was. So, being Christians, we decided to pray about it. We know that with God all things are possible ... and I want you to know that the onboard generator worked just like it should the next time Tim tried it!! We were preparing to return the new gennie to the store and hubby decided to try it one more time. Well, guess what? Yep! It works fine too! God is good!
    Come to find out, Tim had promised God that if he would give us a generator miracle, he would not hook up the TV. It would appear that the Lord didn't want us sitting in front of the TV watching movies while we are here. Instead, we spend most of our time reading the bible and other Christian books, studying, and learning to play guitar. I've learned about five songs that we can play in church when we get back to civilization at the end of October.
    The Lord knew that He had to take us away from all the distractions of work, television, computers, etc. and bring us to a place of peace and quiet where we can spend time with Him and learn. I don't know what His plans are for us, but I know He has something!
  2. alisasings
    Visit with the inlaws is coming to a close; we're heading out to our final destination at Newman Lake, Washingtion, some 400 plus miles away, at 8 a.m. in the morning!
    I am still shocked at how much the initial cost is to move from a stick house into an RV! Wow! One purchase I'm excited about it is the camp stove we bought. I don't plan on doing a lot of (if any) cooking in the coach unless it's bad weather so we wanted a little 2 burner propane stove to cook on outside along with our grills. We went to Costco to shop and they had a 2 burner camp stove, with a griddle AND a two rack oven!! It's the cutest little thing I've ever seen! Like an Easy Bake Oven for adults . I know we'll be using it a lot after we hook it up to our 5 gallon propane tank. Can't beat the price either, only $129!
    We have GOT to stop adding to our inventory though. I'm sure that once we're settled up there at the campsite, We'll see that there are things we don't really need and will lighten our load.
    One bit of advice I just figured out & want to share for those who haven't thought of it: When putting away groceries and other items, remove them from the outer packaging, if at all possible. It sure takes up a lot less space that way. with some items it's just not feasible, but others won't be hurt to do so. Now that I wrote that, I cannot think of one item I did that to today to use as an example! LOL!
    Time to get off here and eat supper. Big day tomorrow. We're probably going to go 250-300 miles & then stop for the night, then finish the following day.
    Be Blessed everyone & keep it between the lines
  3. alisasings
    We lived through our 1st day on the road with out any major issues!! Hallelujah! I have to tell ya'll I prayed & talked to the Lord for the whole 250 miles!
    The day didn't start out very good, Hubby is driving the Bounder & I'm following behind in a Dodge 1500. (We'll find a nice toad later). ANYway, we learned something right off the bat.... We stopped to fill up on the way out of town, I put $40 in the truck & hubby was filling the beast when all at once, at $121 the gas shut off and the pump said 'authorization limit reached'....with a 100 gallon gas tank we need about $400 in gas...... now I don't carry cash & we don't have credit cards, we just use a visa check card with my bank....Needless to say, Hubby had a mini-melt down because he thought there was a limit on how much I could use my card per day.
    My bank is just down the road so I went to see if I could get the limit raised and I pulled out a wad of cash to use while traveling. Come to find out that it wasn't my card at all, but the gas pump itself!
    We had no idea that you can only authorize so much at a time & if we'd swiped the card again we could have got more gas!! Apparently, it says so right on the pump but really, WHO reads that stuff?? Okay, I admit it, WE don't read it LOL! But we will from now on. Ended up going back to the bank and putting half the $$ back in (blush).
    Finally, an hour & a half later than planned, we got on the road. I have to say I was very proud of hubby; he managed to keep it between the lines instead of riding the line on one side or the other. If you knew ANYTHING about my hubby's driving, you'd understand why I was proud & he didn't try to pass ONE person vehicle! Normally he has to be first in line when driving.
    People were passing us left & right though & I got on the CB and congratulated him saying that we were now officially the people he hated to see on the road...slow drivers! LOL! That's okay though, going 55 will save on gas (I hope!!)
    As we came up to Wildhorse resoviour (where is the spell check on here??) with lots of sharp corners & twisty turny roads I radioed him and reminded him that I could still 'back seat drive' from where I was at, to which he replied he could just turn off his CB if I did. LOL! Gotta love those CB's!
    All in all it was a good maiden voyage. Things went smoothly, no tires flew off or anything, & I must say, it was nice having a toilet right there when I needed to go! LOL!
    We'll be here at the inlaws for a few days so I won't have anything to write about until the next leg of our trip.
    P.S
    The only issue we had was that the battery started smelling right before we got here. Dad said that the alternator was charging it too much & making it boil & that if we run with the lights on it would stop doing that.... I'll be posting on the forum about it but if you have any insight I'd love to hear it!
  4. alisasings
    Well here we go.... we leave in the morning after the grandkids go to school on the first leg of our maiden voyage. I am excited, somewhat scared, and beyond nervous! We're going about 250 miles where we'll stop and visit my hubby's parents for a few days before continuing on another 400 miles to Newman Lake, Washington where we will be 'gate attendants' for 5 months.
    We'll be working in a day use area so that means it will be just the two of us at night...in the boonies...with no electricity... (insert nervous laugh here) The thought of serial killers & bears actually crossed my mind! In my imagination I can hear claws dragging down the side of the coach (or Freddy Kruger's metal hand) EEEeeep! LOL! I told hubby if I hear anything like that or if something starts rocking the RV, we're going to crank it up & speed away!! Hubby was nice enough to remind me that we'll be hooked up to sewer, and a 100 gallon propane tank, not to mention the blocks against the tires and the levelers. LOL! Doesn't sound like a quick getaway will be possible after all LOL! I know that everything will be fine though, & if push comes to shove, we do have protection.
    There is so much to know & I've done a lot of reading and asking questions on various forums and am still very much in the dark about a lot of things. I love how helpful RVers are! They readily share their knowledge and experiences, and some are even kind enough to ask out right," do you have ANY idea what you're doing?" LOL! I love that because I would (and probably will) do the same thing once I am a seasoned fulltimer. I like the fact that they care enough to ask & don't want us going off complete novices.
    We've had the coach checked out, replaced hoses, bled the breaks, etc & the Car Dr's pronounced us road worthy. I don't know how much I trust them, but what can you do? Everything seems to work like it should except for the squirrel cage on the furnace. Definitely going to need to get that fixed soon. I'm thinking it's going to be purty nippy up there the last month we're there. We don't seem to have outside access to the furnace... go figure... so it probably won't be simple.
    Gassing up is going to be a real treat. We're hoping for 5 miles to the gallon on this trip. We were told it get's about 9, but I'm thinking that's going downhill with a strong tail wind and empty! LOL! All I know is that it's going to cost a chunk of $$ to fill that 100 gallon tank. The good news is that we should be able to go at leaast 500 miles. At least I hope so!
    We still have a long list of stuff we need to get before we go set up. It's not cheap moving into an RV; a fact that I wasn't aware of when we had this idea. It's just a lot of initial stuff though, kind of like setting up a kitchen for the first time, you need the 'staples'.
    I'll be posting again later, going to be without internet for a few days. Wish us luck and sending a few prayers for road mercies will be appreciated! I'll be posting pictures along with my blogs once we're situated.

  5. alisasings
    We've sold what we could and donated the rest. Our life now fits into a 31-foot motorhome and the 6-foot bed of a pickup truck.
    I already know that soon we will be paring down our belongings even more. I've told hubby that he has to quit adding "stuff"! "A place for everything, and everything in it's place" is my new motto LOL!
    We've been sleeping in our 1987 Bounder for almost a week. Tonight will be the sixth night. It's been pretty comfortable, but then again we are parked in our daughter's driveway, plugged in to electricity, and have full access to her home for kitchen, bathroom and television. We haven't cooked, eaten or showered in the coach yet, although we do dress in there. It's a bit tight, to say the least, as we are both big people.
    I've realized in this short time how convenient electricity is, and I am getting a tad bit antsy about being without it for five months. We have two generators, but somehow it's just not as comforting as that little plug.
    I think my little old dog is having the hardest time with the change. She does not realize that this is our new home. She prefers the comforts of a "house." Every night when I tell her "let's go to bed," she runs to my daughter or into the guest bedroom wanting up on the bed. When we get up in the morning and take her out to potty she runs to the front door as soon as she's done.
    We'll be leaving next weekend for Washington state, where we will be gatekeepers in a day use area from May to October. No house for her to run to then! It'll be an adjustment, but I'm sure she'll be fine. Hopefully we will, too.
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