Author: john

So after the extraction of the booth and sofa from the original floor plan, and the adding of the regular table and chairs, we decided that a complete re-painting would be in order before the wood floors were to be installed.

Jill started first in the bathroom just in case we didn’t like the choice of colors. She decided on a taupe for all the walls throughout, and a high gloss white oil base for all the wood. I think it’s going to be beautiful!! Here are the pictures so far. I will update as she moves through the entire home.

 

 

 

 

 

Now she is beginning on the bedroom because we liked the colors!! Notice the new curtains!!

 

Once the bedroom was completed, it was on to the living/dining room! We decided we really like the Taupe and high gloss white look so Jill continued with that same theme.

Next will be the kitchen slide!!

Jill and I have spent the last 2 weeks here in Bullard Texas, enjoying a beautiful park, full of wildlife, beautiful green grass, trees, a stocked lake and wonderful people. I think we have found our home base from now on.

Two more weeks here, and then we are off to Atlanta, Orlando, and then Destin, all in about 8 days. Possibly another week here in Bullard before we head back to Nevada and ultimately Phoenix for a month or so. Its going to be a busy 2-3 months!!

Anyway, I mentioned that the park where we are staying has a stocked lake. I am not a fresh water fish lover because I get a rush out of catching big fish. I enjoy throwing out a line, sitting back with a cold one and taking a nap. HOWEVER! In this particular catch and release FULLY stocked lake, there are some huge catfish, so while “Smokin Hot” does her thing casting and working the Bass, I put a big piece of catfish bait on my hook and sit back to relax. I can get used to fresh water fishing this way! 😉

Sunday night, we had the entire family over for Mothers day. Jill set up all of our fishing gear so everyone could fish after our cookout if they desired. It was quite funny as most of our gear is big salt water gear, so it looked like we were there to dominate this lake. LOL Nothing was biting. My parents had gone home, but the kids stayed and were enjoying fishing when all of a sudden, Johnny and Jackie both caught a really nice Catfish. I’m guessing they were around 10 pounds each. The excitement was short-lived, and it was around 9:00 pm so the kids decided to wrap it up and head home. My son Sam was busy helping everyone else and we were all saying good-bye, when all of a sudden, his pole flew up into the air and out into the lake. We all just looked at each other in amazement. That must have been a big fish!! Amazement shortly turned into disgust as I just lost a great rod and reel! Who would have thought there would be a fish big enough to take a salt water rig off the dock and carry it away??

Monday evening after work, Jill and I decided to go cast a few lines while looking for the lost rod. It’s not a huge lake, so it was possible that maybe, just maybe the fish had worn out and the rod would be floating somewhere in sight. No such luck. We couldn’t stop talking about that fish the night before.

It was beginning to get dark. We were discussing the evening before and how much fun we had with the family, when right in front of our eyes, it happened again!!! My pole flew straight out into the lake right in front of me???
I just stood there in amazement as I watched it continue out to the middle, disappear, bob back up, disappear again for a few minutes and come back up in a different location!

Ok, surely I can get my biggest casting rig which still had a saltwater weight on it and cast out there and try to hook the rod. Jill just laughed at me and said it’s gone John. You will never be able to cast that far, much less that accurately. Just forget it, it’s just a rod. Oh, that just made me more determined. LOL
I casted and reeled, casted and reeled, casted and reeled. My arm was about to fall off it was so tired. My aim started getting better and better though, and my weight was carrying the distance. Jill and I both though it was about 50 yards out. One last cast before I gave up and BAM I almost hit the handle of the rod as it had floated handle up. Jill pointed out that I should reel it back in to the right rather to the left because it appeared the handle was leaning he opposite direction. So I slowly began to reel. I felt some weight and then the pole disappeared. I HOOKED IT!!

I slowly reeled as the pole started coming towards us. It was evident that the fish was still on the line as it was running the opposite direction. Fortunately it was really tired. Anyway, it took probably 5 minutes to finally get the rod close enough to grab it. The lines had totally gotten tied up, so I held the rod up as Jill untangled everything. As soon as she finished, the fish ran, I set the hook better and proceeded to reel it in. I don’t have a scale, but we guessed between 12-15 pound catfish.

Jill and I high-fived, packed the gear and went to the MH for dinner. The night had been a huge success!!Now that is a fish story, complete with pictures that I can tell my grandkids one day. 😉

Once Jill and I decided that we were going to sell most everything and move into our Motorhome, we chose just a few items that we really loved or had some significance to it to keep in storage. We rented a 10 x 10 which at the time was almost too small, but since, as we have grown to love our decision, has become more and more empty as we have sold the remainder to finance ideas for the new home.

One item that I refused to sell is a red leather chair and ottoman that I paid an incredible amount of money for. We couldn’t sell it for even close to what we paid for it. Anyway, Jill loves that chair as do I. I’ll never forget her face when I took her to Haverty’s and bought it a couple of years ago.

Anyway, once she pulled the couch out of the MH, I told her that the red leather chair had to come with us and we both agreed it was a great idea.
One problem however was that when we made this decision, we also traded in our BMW and pickup truck for a new BMW so we couldn’t carry much of anything, anywhere.

Picture if you will my BMW X4 with the hatchback up and a red leather chair half hanging out the back as I traveled the 35 miles to our park. It was raining on and off, and I was incredibly worried about backsplash on the chair and in my car. I truly looked like that guy who didn’t have a truck trying to move a piece of furniture across town. ;)) Its not usually BMW’s though that you see doing this. I just smiled and waved at everyone!

Ok, so anyone who has an MH knows that the door is really narrow, right?
Its only about 24 inches wide. I got the chair to the front door, Jill came out and assisted me as we tried to get the 26 inch deep chair into a 24 inch opening.
I was about to have to take it back 35 miles to the storage if we didn’t figure out something quickly. It was about to rain, and I had nowhere to put it.

Jill flipped it over in the grass and immediately began to take the legs off. Ahhhh This would work!! She got 3 off, and there was a major problem with the 4th. Somehow, the bolt had been welded to the nut on the inside of the leg and we had no way to get it off. So there we were, in the grass outside the MH, sweat running down our faces, arms tired from trying to get this stupid bolt out, and rain was about to start. That beautiful leather chair was upside-down in the grass getting dirty and wet from all the sweat. 3 legs were off, and the 4th was literally by that time taking a beating. I was jumping up and down on it. Jill was trying to cut the bolt with a hack saw, I was beating it with a hammer, and the whole time I was just heartbroken that we were tearing this beautiful chair up. I could have at least gotten 800.00 for it. Now it’s not worth 300.00 It was trashed.

The leg finally came off. I was sick. It was now up to Jill to fix it, because not only is she Smokin Hot, but she is an incredible carpenter and yard guy. She has saved us THOUSANDS over the years taking care of stuff like this.

We got what was left of the chair into the door and up into the MH. It was beautiful!! It just didn’t have any legs and appeared to be a chair for a small family. Or Children. Of course, Jill went to The Walmarts!!

When she got home, she came in with a big smile on her face. She had found new legs for the chair, new bolts to install the legs, and stain to stain the new legs to make them match. I laughed and said, “Yup, if anyone can do it you
can!” Today, Tuesday, she turned the chair and ottoman over, put the new bolts in and the new legs on, having already stained them, and tightened them down and turned the chair over. ‘DONE” She proclaimed. What an amazing wife. She did it, and it looks wonderful!!

 

 

 

I want to make sure that everyone knows, living full-time in a motorhome does not mean you will have the same experiences as we do. We just happen to have some really exciting and sometimes scary times. We put ourselves into those situations, so that doesn’t mean full-time living in a motorhome means 24 hour excitement. I’m sure you can live worry free, as long as you don’t move. LOL

Anyway, we are loving our new location here in Bullard Texas. The park is high quality, and there are only high quality rigs here. Everyone is wonderfully nice and the facilities are first class. The only issue is, and It’s not really an issue, but wildlife is all around us. Woodpeckers wake us up, and raccoons love visiting and walking along the top of the rig early in the morning. Not to mention the cows in the pastures around us are always mooing. I guess it’s all really a positive, unless you want to sleep in. 😉

2 days ago, I started to get an infection in my right eye. I am notorious for not changing out my lenses as often as I should, so when my eyes start to get infected, I take my lenses out, add a drop or two of an antibiotic and I am good to go. Well…. Once I take the lenses out, I literally can’t see much not to mention I can’t read. There was a bottle of lens cleaner in the cabinet and I immediately filled my lens holders full of the cleaner, took my lenses out, put on my glasses and waited until morning to put my lenses in again.

Little did I know that the bottle of lens cleaner was for my glasses and the cleaner was essential hydrogen peroxide. The lenses soaked in Hydrogen peroxide for about 10 hours. As usual, I took the lenses out, washed them off, and placed them in my eyes. They stung pretty badly, but I figured it was because of the left over infection and they would stop burning soon and I would be fine.

5 hours later, everything began to get foggy. I had no idea why, but figured it would go away sooner than later. 10 hours into it and I was having a hard time reading from my computer. I was really frustrated. Jill convinced me to take the contacts out and relax my eyes again for the night. When I pulled the lenses out, evidently the hydrogen peroxide had burned my retina so badly that the skin came off with them. Immediately my eyes began to swell. Within 30 minutes my eyesight was gone and the pain was more than excruciating!

Jill was scheduled to leave the next morning at 3 am to go to Atlanta. What was I going to do? She needed a ride to the airport and I could not open my eyes, much less see anything! What was I going to do if I got her a ride to the airport? I was blind! 4 days without my sight and by myself was what was in front of me. I mean, I could do it, but it was really going to be a long 4 days.

Sammy, our 19-year-old son was to the rescue. He came to pick Jill up at 3am and took her to the airport. She kissed me and said she felt like she was abandoning me. I couldn’t let this keep her from going, so I kissed her back and said I’ll be fine. I have food, a bathroom, Fully functioning home, and I can get around without my sight if I have to. It’s just 4 days. I haven’t told her this, but I have never felt so alone. How the heck was I going to do this. I literally had no eyesight. Believe it or not, my biggest fear was taking our dog Lucy out to the bathroom. How would I know if she actually went? How would I be able to scoop the poop? LOL

Fortunately, the night before, Jill had contacted my old friend, who was an eye doctor. He immediately called in a prescription which Jill had picked up the evening all this started. I was praying that it would work and the issue would be a non issue within at least a day. Jill left at 3:00 am and it was time for another application of the antibiotic. I forced my eyes open and put the drops in. Stinging is not the best word for the pain. It was just plain bad!!

I was able to finally sleep and at 7:30 I woke up, peeled my eyes open and I was able to see a glimmer of light just for a second. I was excited!! Maybe they were getting better. I was determined to have a good day and get things accomplished, so I got up, took a shower, ate breakfast, got dressed and took Lucy out to go potty. I was able to see just enough to know that she went, but I was unable to find the poop to scoop. Sorry to anyone who might step in it. 😉

The day passed as I worked on the phone, I picked stuff up around the rig, I made lunch and I did it all blind. It was a good day. I was really tired around 1:00 so I decided to take a nap. But first my medicine. I woke up 2 hours later and without thinking I opened my right eye. It opened!!! I could see shapes!! I was elated!! Then I was able to open my left eye, it was really painful, but I could see shapes and light! Little by little, I was able to see more and more and by late afternoon, I could open both eyes at the same time, and I could see better than I ever expected. I went to bed around 8PM.

This morning I woke up with both eyes wide open!! I could see everything and without pain! My 4 day hell had only turned out to be a 2 day ordeal. However, I have a real understanding for those who do not have their sight. I know just a tad of what they have to go through on a daily basis, but hey, even they can live in a motorhome if they wish. It can be done, if only one day at a time.

We had an incredible dinner Tuesday evening with some really wonderful people. The push through the mountain pass was well worth it. We got a chance to relax, have a great meal, spend time with great friends and get our minds off of the trip and the final two days home.

Wednesday morning came quickly however and it was time to get back on the road. We still had 900 miles to go. We had a lunch appointment in Pueblo at 1:30, so we were able to at least take our time a bit, have an extra cup of coffee, catch up on the news etc, by 9:00 we were on our way.

By the time our lunch meeting was over is was about 4:00 pm. The question then was, do we push down into New Mexico before we stop for the night, or do we even push for the Texas line? So far we had only traveled about 150 miles. We really needed to make up some time. I told Jilly that we needed to at least get to the New Mexico border before we stopped. Otherwise it was going to be a long, long day on Thursday.

The plan was set. We were going to travel through Trinidad and then on to the pass to Raton New Mexico. We would stay the night there.
The last mountain climb of the trip! We were about to start traveling downhill to East Texas. Raton is about 8k’, East Texas is about 300′,. Gas mileage was about to get better. 😉 The RV park where we were going to stay the night was on top of the pass. Supposedly the view was spectacular, and it was only 27.00!

It’s a long story that I won’t get into here, but essentially I missed the exit. Totally my fault, but you can’t miss an exit on the top of a mountain and expect to turn around. Its downhill fast and anyone who tops the pass is going to go all the way down before they turn around. So…next plan. We made it to Raton in the valley and Jilly was feeling pretty good, so she said lets at least go to the next town before we stop. Well that was music to my ears, I could smell Texas and I was like a horse headed to the barn. I was ready to get to THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS!! Where it was warm. 😉

At was about 7:00 pm by this time, and I told Jilly that we would be running up on a nice rest area soon, and we would stop there for the night. She was happy with that, so it was probably 60 miles from the Texas border by the time we found that rest stop. It did not have any lights, it did not seem to have any over night parking. No one was parked there, so I had a bad feeling about it. I convinced her that this was not going to be a safe night. We moved on.

Nothing was panning out. Texline was coming up fast and it was now dark. Smokin Hot looks hot, but she can’t see worth a flip at night. LOL I am beginning to get a bit nervous because our 6:00 pm stay plan had now turned into 8:00 pm. Surely the Texas border would produce a beautiful Welcome to Texas center? Every other border crossing I had been to, has one, so Jill was convinced Texline would have one too. Thanks to me of course. We would stay there.

Texline came and went. Nothing, NADA!! Not even a truck stop?? It was now 8:30. I have to say, my wife at that point was a real trooper. “John it’s not your fault if there is nowhere to stay. I am fine, lets keep moving” That a girl!! I was impressed and very thankful. Next stop, Clayton! Clayton was only 50 miles away, and it appears that Clayton might have a Wal-Mart!! YAY!!

Nope. Clayton not only didn’t have a Wal-Mart, but every possible beside the road piece of real-estate had a truck resting for the night. It was a circus. Jill said, “Lets park between those two semi trucks”. Darlin, they are at that particular spot to have fun for the night. I don’t think you want to stop behind that building. LOL We were getting desperate.

OK baby, Its gonna be Dalhart Texas! Its 9:30 and we will be in Dalhart in 45 minutes. I know Dalhart is a big town, they must have a Wal-Mart or a truckstop. She said “ok! I can do this.” I felt so bad. She was tired, couldn’t see well, but was handling it. I didn’t have any choice. I did not know what to do. I was praying Dalhart was our answer.

WHY do people live out here???? There is nothing in any of these towns other than oil rigs, cotton gins, cow pies, and dirt. NOTHING else. No Wal-Mart, no nothing!! Also, nowhere to sleep. Thousands of trucks parked everywhere. It was like there is an attraction to truckers. Maybe there is??

Darlin, I can not justify staying anywhere in Dalhart. It’s just not safe. Not to mention I couldn’t find a place to park if I had to. It was 10:15. Almost 5 hours since our original time to stop for the night. By the way? Did I say it was dark? It wasn’t just dark, it was black out dark. Really dark!

There was silence on the other end of the Walkie Talkie. Baby?? You there? We have to go to Dumas. I checked and there is definitely a Wal-Mart in Dumas. Dumas is short for what I felt like at that point. My bride had been so strong all evening and now it was down to this. Was she going to make it? “OK baby, I can do this”! Music to my ears!! She is a tough lady!! Dumas was about 40 miles away. We could be there by 11:00 if we hurry. We will sleep in, in the morning. It will be ok.

10 miles into the darkness, headed to Dumas, I hear an “Ummmm” What? You need to stop to use the restroom? “No, I forgot to tell you I am almost out of gas”. I am sorry, can you repeat that? We have 30 miles to go into the darkness, without any buildings, stores, gas stations, anything for another 30 miles?? How many miles does your computer say you have? “22”. Silence on my end for a minute as I came to the realization that after all these years of cutting it close but never actually running out of fuel, the streak was about to be over.

20 miles to go. How many miles on your computer? “12”. 15 miles to go. How many now? “8” I began to see a glow in the distance. The glow of Dumas? 10 miles to go. How many? “3” I had resolved in my mind that we were not going to make it so I calmly told her to be prepared for when the fuel runs out, the steering might get very stiff as well as the brakes. She would need to ever so slowly move over to the side of the road. I would then stop and we would travel together to Dumas, get a gas can, fill it up and bring it out to the car.

“Ummm” what? “well it was 3 and it just jumped down to 0″.

5 miles, 4 miles, 3 miles, 2 miles, I could see a Phillips 66, 1 mile.

Wal-Mart was especially nice that night. Even though it was full of trucks, Jill got her chance to park between those 2 semi’s. It was around 11:30 pm. 6.5 hours after our original plan to stay the night. Welcome to Texas baby, We will get to see the kids early tomorrow. What a great time that will be.

I turned and looked at the clock. I didn’t know where I was, but for some reason I had this pit in my stomach. I was about to go up a very large Mountain range and it scared me to death. Of course I couldn’t tell Jilly, I just had to keep it to myself so as not to scare her. But I was literally scared to death. Would the rig make it? Will the pass be open? If it was open but still hazardous, could the love of my life drive the X4 in it? Could I drive the rig in snow and ice? I had once before, in East Texas, but that was flat ice and snow driving. This was going to be a very interesting day. I made Smokin Hots coffee, and took my shower. This was about to get very serious. This wasn’t a game. This is a very large vehicle, and I was about to take it over a very big snow capped Mountain.

Which direction? 40 or 70? I checked the road reports. Wait? 70 is open? Jim Girodo was right! We were going 70!! That was the only logical conclusion. Yes it would take an extra hour as we had to travel south a bit more, but 70 was open and there were still no reports on 40. We headed for Dinosaur Colorado where the road split, 40 or 70. We took the road to 70!!

We made it to 70 and I have to say I have never seen anything like it. If you ever have the chance to see this wonder of American ingenuity, Interstate 70 will make you proud. All I can say is wow!! And I didn’t get to see it all because my eyes were glued to the front, but its a wild piece of road, and it’s absolutely beautiful!

We got beyond the “beauty” of 70 as the elevation started to get serious. We were already at 6k feet or so once when we got there, so it didn’t take much to add to that “sucking wind” sensation. 😉 The tension was growing as the snow got deeper, were we going to be able to get through the pass?

Fuel is always an issue in situations like this. You need to make sure you have enough to get over and back down a mountain with contingencies. Well… I thought I had enough. I had no idea how much fuel is used when climbing a huge mountain range in a motorhome, but ours uses a bunch. Lots, copious amounts!!!! We were in trouble and I didn’t yet know it.

Jilly and I were discussing on the Walkie Talkies that it would really be nice to drive up into Vail. We had never been there. We evidently were going to be driving very close to it, so we were discussing how it would be cool to park the rig and drive up into Vail? Well, evidently I70 drives up into Vail because all of a sudden, there it was?? The infamous Vail that we have seen on TV for years was right there!! How cool is that??? It was beautiful!! However?? The rig was dangerously low on fuel. The fun of seeing Vail went out the window. Where was I going to find fuel in Vail? Due to expense of land, I’m assuming that the condo’s and hotels and individual homes there are so close together because there is only a limited amount of property available. That meant, Gas stations were very small and did not accommodate motorhomes. BTW, why weren’t we seeing other motorhomes? Were we in a no-mans land? Surely not?

I told Jill that I had to stop NOW. I had no idea what was in front of us, and I did not have enough fuel to make it down the mountain. Some of you might think, well its all down hill from there. NOT!! The rig has an incredible feature and it is called an engine brake. That engine brake uses fuel unlike normal brakes, so I needed fuel and fast!!

I had no choice. I had to make a decision. Pull in now!! I approached this small gas station in town. I assessed the situation. Could I get under the gas pump cover-awning, whatever you call it or not? I decided I could. Now, could I get between the pumps? Ummm…. No idea. I went for it anyway. I was not going to take a chance on running out of fuel with a big diesel engine. I proceeded forward.

I turned into the station. 20 feet to my right was the front of the building, 10 feet to my left were the pumps. I had to figure out how to traverse the pumps and the building while turning between two of them without hitting something.
Evidently, by the way people were looking at me, I was not supposed to be there. DUH!!! I swerved to the right as far as I could, held my breath and turned a hard left. I made it between the pumps, but I was angled between them, blocking both sides, So I pulled forward and began to then back up as I angled my way back towards the diesel pump. Fortunately I have a back up camera because I literally got within 5 feet of the window of the station.

I looked at Lucy and breathed a sigh of relief. “Lucy? Everything is going to be fine.” I got out of the rig and realized that I was a good 15 feet from the actual pump. My heart sank. “OK, I’m going to grab the pump handle and see how long it will stretch to my gas tank” If it didn’t stretch far enough, I was done. There was no room to move this rig. This was the absolute closest I could get without backing into the front window. I stretched it as far as possible, and if I arched the fuel flow and aimed well, I could get fuel into my tank. LOLOL

Before I was told to leave, I was able to arch about 10 gallons into my tank. I was thankful and happy and ready to get to the Vail Pass and begin our journey to Boulder. We were going to make our dinner that evening.

We decided on going south to Vernal. I got several texts that said noooo! 😉 I had made up my mind, and if it didn’t work out right, it was my decision and mine alone. We were headed to the snowy Rocky Mountains.

Of course if I got to Vernal, I had another decision to make. Go Hwy 40 or I 70. That morning, there were reports of I70 being closed because of snow. Hwy 40 didn’t even have a report. Are Hwy’s not reported like Interstates? I had no idea, but the likely decision was going to be the road with no reports of being covered in snow. I could just see us getting all the way to the summit but yet having to turn around and go all the way back down. You can’t just take a side road detour. Had I made the right decision to go to Vernal? Do I take Hwy 40 or I 70? Was I going to miss my dinner on Tuesday night and possibly have to go back to Wyoming or go south until the snow cleared and then over the pass? I had gotten yet another text from a trusted friend and business partner, Jim Girodo. Jim said whatever you do, get to 70. It’s the best chance you have. I argued with him because of the reports. It’s closed Jim? The only decision that was going to get us to our dinner was the correct one!

Jilly and I stopped at the Vernal exit. We had lunch and further discussed our decision to go south. “It will be an adventure!” she said. I know, I know, there is nothing really to worry about other than possibly taking an extra 3 days of wondering our way back out because we got stuck, or because we got turned around because of closure. Thats all. LOL

We headed towards Vernal. Our decision had been made and we felt like we were headed for trouble, but we made a decision and we were going to do it despite our fears. Not to mention the fear of whether this motorized home could make it through the strain of climbing 12k feet.

The drive started out with some fear, but it slowly started to change to, it doesn’t matter if we miss our dinner, this is the single most beautiful drive we have ever been on. I am not kidding, it was spectacular! The partially snowy mountain sides, the incredible valleys, the color was amazing! We were incredibly blessed to be there.

I must tell you all about Flaming George Dam. I’m not sure how they came up with that name, but when we descended to the Flaming George Damn Lake, we were in Awe. Out in the middle of nowhere is this Damn and the lake it had created. It’s hard to explain, and the pictures don’t do it justice, you just have to go.

Once we left the Damn, we immediately started ascending to the highest peaks yet. Vernal was close. The snow started getting deeper and oh, btw, its harder to breathe at 7k feet. We were both sucking air about that time. You know how sometimes you forget to breath and then may even yawn? Well, we were forgetting to breath and gasping. LOL

Vernal finally came into view and to our surprise was a nice size town. They actually have a Walmart where we parked for the night, and where we discussed the ever more important decision, Hwy 40 or Interstate 70. We slept lightly. The big day was coming. Tuesday morning was going to be make or break. Were we going to make our dinner in Boulder or were we going to be nomads on the West side of the Rocky Mountains?

Its going to be a different kind of trip for us this next week as Uhaul has decided that trailoring our BMW X4 was going to cost 4 times what it was coming up here. I refuse to pay that, especially since I can buy a new trailer for not much more! Sooo…. Smokin Hot is going to drive the car behind me as we travel the 1900 miles.

We are planning to go a different route this time which gives me some angst as the only real snowfall of the year has decided to show up in mid April. I don’t expect to have any issues, but it’s just the newness of it I guess. We have made the trip between Texas and the West coast many, many times over the years, but we have never been this route through Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado.

 

I’m up and writing this on Sunday morning at 3:30 am because my mind won’t stop working. We have been here in Nevada for almost 40 days and it’s all new all over again. Go through the checklist, make sure everything is done. We have over 50 items on our checklist that have to be addressed before wheels roll 12:30 pm today we will be on the road headed towards Salt Lake City.

Its Monday morning April 20th at 5:30 am. We finalized our check list before rolling yesterday and Jilly stopped to look under the rig on her way to the car just to check and make sure the jacks were up as the system said they were. (VERY IMPORTANT TO DO) And they were NOT up all the way. UGH! We had just had an issue with the hydraulic system a few weeks before and spent 200.00 to have them fixed. There goes that money. Anyway, they were up high enough for the trip and I asked Jill to keep an eye on them from behind just in case they decide to go crazy on us while driving down the road. We will have to take care of this issue once we get to Texas.

The day was fun actually. I was dreading driving with just Lucy beside me, and I was worried about Smokin Hot driving by herself, but our incredible friends the Johnson’s, gave us a pair of Walkie Talkies to use and it actually made the first day fun. We acted like truckers for the first few hours, 10/4 good buddy and hey baby, wanna meet me at the next exit? LOL I’m glad I am not using my laptop as I just spilled coffee all over my desk and key board.   My depth perception is not good this morning as I started to get an infection in one of my eyes due to not changing my contact often enough, and I am wearing two pair of glasses in order to see.

Anyway, ultimately we drove about 385 miles before stopping in Wells Nevada, just outside the Utah border. We only have 770 miles to go to get to our dinner in Boulder on Tuesday evening, so we have time to write blogs, have several cups of coffee, leisurely take Lucy potty etc etc etc.

We stopped at this quaint but very loud RV park just off the interstate called Angel Lake RV Park. Evidently this is a big fishing attraction. We will have to check it out next time through. As long as we had our fan on in the bedroom, we couldn’t hear the trucks or trains all night long. 😉 We slept well, and we will be on our way after we go through the 50 or so items on the check list.

We were about 180 miles from SaltLake city and our goal was to get at least half way to Cheyenne Wyoming which was another 400 miles . If we accomplished that, we would essentially only have 6 hours to Boulder. Anyway, that was the goal. 😉

As we got closer to SaltLake, the beautiful terrain began to become more and more flat and the roadside was changing to what appeared to be a dried up lake. Still muddy, but no standing water. And, it was white like snow? Jilly and I were going back and forth on the Walkie Talkie as to whether is was dried up like everything else had been on our trip or whether it was a salt flat. Then we came down off of this seeming plateau, and as far as we could see was flat white terrain. For miles and miles. The Great Salt Lake Desert.In many ways is was quite beautiful, but then, it’s just dead out there. Any water grew nothing, just flat white salt for 50 miles in every direction. I kept thinking what would have happened if we broke down. Long walk!! 😉

Next up was SaltLake City!! We decided just before town we would stop check the map and figure out our plan through town. Jill had asked me to put Boulder in her navigation in the car so  she could more easily follow the direction, but it was quite clear on the map, Interstate 80 straight through to Cheyenne! We jumped back out on the road and I got a phone call. Fortunately I had my blue tooth on so I didn’t have to pick it up. While I am talking, and within 3 minutes I hear this “WHERE ARE YOU?” on the Walkie Talkie. I said, no, where are you? “I was following the Nav and it said to take another direction so I did”. At this point, I was deep into traffic and there was no turning around, so we agreed to meet when the two routes came together on the other side of town. Smokin Hot was lost and on her own!! 😉

I was frustrated anyway because Lucy does not like to ride in any vehicle unless both of us are with her. Especially Jill. However the car is just not the best place for her to ride, so she gets to be with me. She was whining, pacing, jumping into her chair and back out, looking out the window for Jill etc and it was getting annoying. Second, the phone call that I had to take, was taking up some of my attention which was causing me more frustration, AND, nothing sits still in the home while driving, and notoriously my glasses, cell phone, keys, wallet, you name it is constantly sliding around or off the dash and onto the floor. Jill is always there to pick things up for me while I am driving, but if you can imagine in this instance, phone call, Lucy, traffic, no Jill, anything flying off the dashboard was useless and lost until I can pull over and pick it up.

I made it through town and for some reason didn’t think about the fact that the only way totally out was to climb a mountain pass. Motorhomes are not the best mountain pass driving machines. Especially when you are on the phone, dealing with a dog, losing your cell phone and Walkie Talkie. It’s just down right annoying! Switching back, speeding up, slowing down, sharp curves!! Then it happened, the sharpest curve of them all and I was coming in too hot, instantly using my air brake and applying the foot brake at the same time, I took the curve and felt the rig sway, everything not nailed down was in flight and crashing against the opposite wall. Lucy was not happy.

I made my way over to the side of the road, picked everything up, checked on Lucy, picked up all my “stuff”, arranged it properly, and then called Jill. “where are you?” Boy was I glad to hear she was just 5 exits ahead of me. We had successfully made it through SaltLake City.

I kept seeing signs saying Interstate 80 closed if lights are flashing. Well they weren’t flashing, so when Jill said to me there was no way to get to Cheyenne that 80 was closed ahead, it just didn’t compute. Why would they close the only route to Cheyenne? Why weren’t the lights flashing on the signs?

We were only 150 miles away. The weather where we were was beautiful, it was almost 70 degrees, no snow on the ground. Just 150 miles ahead…well the picture speaks for itself. We had a big decision to make. We were 400 miles from Denver. We could take the detour north and circle bag to Cheyenne on the other side, (about 3 hours), or we could head south towards Vernal Utah. I know we just left Utah and it seemed like we were going backwards, but we could possibly save that 3 hours if and ONLY if the roads were clear through the passes.

To be continued

 

Since Thanksgiving, life has really gotten more fun. I was offered a position with a new start-up company in Nevada, and it’s been fast and furious ever since – from marketing a weightless product, to cutting grass this last summer while assisting my son, to living full-time in a Motorhome and now helping to build an incredible company.  WHEW! what a whirlwind!

The only unfortunate thing about it is my mind turned from being healthy and fun, to work and fun and I started going back into my old ways. That being said, I haven’t been working out, I haven’t been cutting grass, I haven’t been moving like I was, not to mention I haven’t been eating properly and I have gotten way out of shape and have gained quite a bit of weight back over the last 6 months. I originally had lost over 100 pounds over the past 2 years. I’m getting back on my program after yesterday. UGH!

Anyway, I tell you all this so you will understand the story of my golf outing.

 

I have a new friend and business associate who lives in the foothills around Reno. This picture is a picture of the course on which he lives. Barry was very gracious when I asked him to coach me and help me get back into the game. You see, it has been almost 12 years since I played golf on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, I was a 3 times a week golfer and put the clubs away when I started a company 12 years ago, never to pick them up again. Before my serious outing yesterday, I have only played at it twice in the 12 year span.

Barry is a great golfer, and I hesitated because it was going to be really embarrassing, but Barry was more than enthusiastic about helping me, so I worked through that fear, borrowed a set of clubs from my partner and headed out from our RV spot at the Carson Valley Inn here in Minden, Nevada.

I arrived at Barry and Blondie’s beautiful Country Club home outside of Reno at exactly 10:30 Friday morning. Barry was ready, so immediately we headed out to the Country Club. I was in awe of the Course, it was just beautiful despite the fact winter is essentially still upon us and it was just beginning to turn green. We checked in and headed to the driving range where Barry was going to assess my situation, give me a few pointers, and if my swing was ok,  would then decide if it was going to be too embarrassing for me to play on the course. 😉

The Course is somewhere around 5500-6000 feet above sea level, the air is thinner of course than East Texas (300′ above sea level) so naturally its a bit more difficult to breathe. When you add exertion to that scenario, it becomes much more so. After every swing, I was realizing the elevation. Barry had me hitting several different clubs starting with the smallest and working my way up. Actually I was hitting the ball fairly well, and as usual for me, the better the shots got, the harder I would swing. The harder I would swing, the more oxygen I used. The more air I used the harder it was to breathe, and after 100 balls or so, I was tired. LOL No REALLY, I was tired!

Barry loves golf shoes, he has dozens of pairs and I as usual, for those of you who know me, essentially only wear flip flops. I haven’t owned a pair of Golf shoes for years. I know it took a lot for him to give me a beautiful pair of leather shoes, but he is a very giving person and again was incredibly gracious with the gift. They look great on me btw. haha! There is a reason for telling you about the shoes, so bear with me.

Barry announced that he thought we should go ahead and play. I had a lot of work to do, but I was going to be fine on the course. We stopped for a quick bite for lunch and then headed to the number 1 tee. I was feeling a bit weak at that point, but I was excited. Little did I know they were not allowing carts off the cart path.

For those of you who don’t understand what “cart paths only” means…well, it means that I was in trouble. LOL I was going to have to walk to EVERY ball that I hit. I couldn’t drive up to my ball, get out, hit the ball, get back in and drive on. I was in for a really tough day, with the elevation and being so out of shape. Not to mention I was already tired and I had already pulled every muscle in my body hitting the hundred balls on the range. Oh, and don’t forget the new golf shoes that I had never worn before. BTW, the course is a 6700 yard course. That meant if all I did was walk straight through the course, I was about to walk 3.8 miles up and down huge hills. When you add to that, criss crossing the course, swinging the club another …well a bunch of times, I was in for a really long day. IN SHOES THAT I HAVE NEVER WORN BEFORE!

The first tee was gorgeous!! I shanked my first shot over into the brush. My second shot was fair, and my third and 4th were fair as well. I bogied the hole. I was happy with that, but my breathing was getting a bit out of control. The second hole I actually parred, and I remember telling Barry that it was tough to breathe up here. 😉 On the back of my heal, I was beginning to feel some heat. Oh no, was I developing a blister? Already??

The 3rd hole things started to go down hill. I took an automatic 8. UGH! My heel was really starting to burn. My arms were starting to cramp and my ankles started to swell. Back in the army days, I hurt my ankles and shins on a 60 mile forced road march, and now, whenever I stand on concrete or wear new shoes and walk a lot, my ankles begin to swell and it takes a couple days before I can walk properly. In some instances, I can’t walk for hours after I get up in the morning depending on whether I took a half dozen ibuprofen the night before. I was going to be in a lot of pain this weekend, even if I stopped playing right then.

15 holes to go. 15 holes to go?

Barry was playing really well, and I learned a lot from listening and watching him. He helped me by reminding me of the things to do before I did them. I just always seemed to forget at least one of them. My shots were sporadic, a shank here, a push there. My score began to add up. Thankfully I had several great “comeback putts” as Barry put it and I saved a hole. I remember one 30 yard putt from off the green that dropped like a rock and he just shook his head.

About hole 8 I told Barry I was just going to be a fan and caddie for him. I was playing horribly and I was frustrated. My ankles and blister were killing me and I think I was just not breathing much. “OH NO”, Barry said, “you need to keep practicing.” Ok, Ok, I’ll keep practicing. If only I could control my shots enough to keep the ball near the cart paths. No such luck. As a matter of fact, every shot I made was as far from the cart as you could imagine. The 6700 yard course was turning into a 10 mile grudge match.

Normally in my past, there was a nice break for refreshments at the turn between the 9th and 10th hole. I was really looking forward to taking the shoes off and possibly wearing my flip flops for the remainder of the game. If nothing else a cold refreshing glass of beer and a rest. NOPE, #9 was over and we drove straight to #10. I couldn’t be a baby in front of Barry, I had to be a man and keep playing. The wind began to pick up.

When I left the Motorhome that morning it was 35 degrees, the sun was beautiful, with no wind. It felt great and the temp was supposed to get into the low 60’s. SHORTS and short sleeve shirt was my choice for the day and as I walked out the door, Jill yelled your gonna be cold!! Naaah, I’ll be fine.

I felt my body going through this push for a second wind. For some reason I felt stronger all of a sudden. I was listening more clearly to Barry and to his instructions and I started keeping my head down and slowing my swing. I parred the 10th hole.  I didn’t really notice it that much, but not only did I have a second wind, but the wind began to pick up and there was a definitive chill in the air.

I limped up to hole #11. PAR!! AGAIN?? another par? My body started to get cold.  I realized the reason I was hitting the ball so well, was because I was so tired and I couldn’t find the energy to lift up my head, and I was too tired to swing as hard as “normal”. LOL Anyway, it seemed that the temps dropped 10 degrees and the wind was probably around 20 mph. I was getting cold.

Getting chilled to the bone, blister had popped at this point, arms hard to lift, limping pretty badly, I advanced to hole #12. PAR!! What? I was really hitting the ball well. Barry just shook his head.

Confidence is a killer sometimes. Especially when you are playing golf. Confidence from a guy who doesn’t play golf, that is. Anyway I got up to hole #13 with visions of grandeur . I was envisioning my parring the back 9. If I could just slap this ball down the middle of this par 5, I might par another one. I rared back and swung with everything I had! Mandatory 8! Hole #14, mandatory 8. #15 double bogy.  I had just expended every last bit of energy with a 3 hole adrenalin rush and the realization that I just can’t play golf came on me like a rock. 3 holes to go.

I could feel the blood from my broken blister sticking to my sock. It felt like it was bigger than my foot. I kept looking down at my sock to make sure it wasn’t visible. At the same time, I had been gripping the club so tightly that I had also developed a huge blister on the palm of my hand. I was a hot mess!! LOL

I barely finished the last 3 holes. I stopped chasing my shots and dropped near Barry in order to participate, the wind was up even higher and I was freezing. I looked like an old man by the time we got to the car to go home.

I still had the gall to tell Barry, that before the year was out, my goal was to defeat him on his course. Barry was a bit shocked, as I am sure he was going easy on me all day and was kind and gracious and patient with me the entire time. He looked up at me and nicely said, “after watching you play today, I think that’s a rather lofty goal.” LOLOL

Thank you Barry for a tremendous learning experience. I hope you do have me back, but let’s make sure next time it’s not “cart paths only”, and I will wear the wonderful pair of shoes you gave me several times to get used to them beforehand, and I’ll be in better shape the next time we meet on that incredibly beautiful course of yours.

 

 

Upon returning from the trip of a lifetime. Smokin Hot and I completed our 10 day challenge and moved to a quaint RV park in Gladewater Texas. Shallow Creek RV Park and Resort. Voted number 1 in all of the East Texas area! Call Sammi and Tim and tell them we sent you. You will love them and the park.

We got settled and began our transformation of the rig. Unfortunately the rain from out West followed us. It rained, and rained, and rained! It wouldn’t stop! We finally started to dry out on the balance of our trip through Arizona and West Texas, but we hadn’t even had the chance to fix the hole in our roof. It began to pour in once again. We would go to sleep with the deafening sound of heavy rain on our rooftop and wake up to the deafening sound of heavy rain on our rooftop. Poor Lucy had to go potty every time in water above her feet and she was not happy. She would try to hold it, but finally just had to stand in the water. We tried to at least hold an umbrella over her, but she couldn’t seem to get the idea that it was drier under there. LOL

My daughter Keri and Son In-law Caleb had recently relocated to Destin Florida with the Airforce. (We are proud of him) 😉 Anyway, we have really been excited about heading down to visit with them and see their new apartment and of course go fishing, so in order to try and escape the rain and do a little fishing and most of all see our kids, we headed out on a Thursday evening. Our Son Sam decided to take off a few days and come with us, so we left around 7 pm Thursday night with hopes of getting several hours down the road in order to make Friday a less intensive trip. The evening was uneventful as was the day on Friday. The rig was perfect(a bit soggy still) but it drove perfectly and we had no issues. AND the rain finally stopped. It might turn out to be a pretty weekend!!

Actually, the weather was ok, it wasn’t fishing weather, but we went anyway. This is a picture of Caleb and Keri’s new adventure Jeep! We loaded it to the top with all our fishing gear and we were on our way!

Jill and I had never fished from a bridge before, but there is always a first time. The wind was only about 30 mph and the temp was only around 60. Smokin Hot does not do well in any temp under 80. What a beautiful view though huh? We had the best time despite not catching a thing. We can’t wait to go back when the temp reaches 80.

Sunday morning before Church I decided I had better check the weather for our trip home the next day. Just to make sure. WINTER STORM WATCH? Really?? It was supposed to begin Monday morning and last all day with sleet, snow and freezing rain. Our son Sam needed to be home in time for work on Tuesday morning, so I had a decision to make. I had never driven a 37 foot motor home in the ice and snow. Leave after church and beat the storm home, or enjoy the day and drive home during the storm. If it was too bad we could stop on the way. We didn’t want to cut our trip short, so we opted to wait and leave early Monday morning. We had a 14 hour drive ahead of us, so we left around 5 am.

I was really nervous that morning. I remember it well. I had the weather app up on my phone the entire day and fortunately the ice snow line was staying north all the way to Shreveport La. The question was, how bad was it from then on. We got within a hundred miles of Shreveport and we began to hear rumors that the city was shut down. We couldn’t get through, but Sammy had to be at work tomorrow morning? I came up with a plan. We would cut across the texas LA border south of Shreveport, then go north on the back roads. Surely it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t get home. The problem is that most of the interstates in Shreveport are elevated, If I could stay on the ground I could get there.

30 miles from Shreveport I had to stop for fuel. Smokin was not happy with me as she wanted me to stop now and then assess in the morning. Sammy’s boss would understand. I on the other hand felt that I was not putting us in danger, and if it got dangerous, I would stop. My idea of danger is a bit different than Smokin Hots, but then that’s why we get along so well. 😉 Sammy of course wasn’t helping. He loved the thought of driving through the ice and snow and felt we should continue. Again, his mom wasn’t happy with him either. I learned at the fuel station that there was 1 road that was open in Shreveport. The truckers were making their way through. That would really cut a lot of time off of my plan to go west early and then north on the back roads, so I opted to make a run for it. We were going to Shreveport!!

Barely doing 30 mph we got to the road block and detour. There was an open road after all. ONE! That was it. We proceeded with caution. The roads were icy and hazardous, however 20-30k pounds helps a lot. The key is to not begin sliding because once it starts, 20-30k pounds then isn’t a help at all but the opposite. Smokin Hot is getting increasingly upset with me. Its going to be fine baby!! I’ve got this. Sammy was like a puppy at Christmas, sitting in the cabin with me and had the biggest smile on his face.

We finally made it out of Shreveport. It took probably an hour and a half, but we made it out. Interstate 20 was wonderfully clear, the truckers were booking down the road and I immediately began to feel better. Unfortunately it was getting dark, and with dark came black ice!!

The scariest part on I 20, was the last 10 miles or so. It was dark, the temp had sunk well below freezing and cars and trucks were sliding off the road everywhere. Just 10 more miles and we will be there! We were almost home and just ahead was a car that had hit the median wall. It was positioned perfectly in the middle of the road, so I had to apply the breaks quickly and as easily as I could and carefully drive around the car off the side of the road. Jill wanted me to stop and help, but I just couldn’t. If I had stopped I would have endangered all around us by blocking the road. Cars were coming in fast and I just couldn’t take a chance. Police were everywhere, so I am sure those nice people were taken care of quickly.

Shallow Creek RV park has a steep entrance. I pulled up and into the center lane outside our home. Do I take the chance and attempt to make the hill? I sat there for 15 minutes calculating. Ultimately I decided not to try and we went down the road and spent the night in a parking lot not a mile from our destination. Sammy made it to work on time. 😉

Not only did we have that ice-snow storm, but we had two more that week. Would we ever have a nice dry day? We literally had only 4 days in 3 weeks living in our new home when the weather was dry. We can’t wait for summer!!

BTW, yes the weather has been rough on us since the beginning. Would we change anything about our new adventure? Absolutely not. We love our new life!