If it's not one thing...

It's another!

Okay, we are STILL in the U.S. ... but TOMORROW is D-Day! Departure Day...

We had to delay a day because the "check engine" light came on in our new Jeep. Pretty much something you want to check out before driving the Baja and exploring some of the backroads of the Vizcaino Penninsula and other places we've been reading about.

It was an error, according to the Jeep Dealer in La Mesa, so no worries. We thought it could have been a stuck thermostat because we bought one of those OBDCII readers that hook up to the on board computer and tell you what the problem is. Nice to have! The code was something about the cooling system, and it came on when the car was cold, but went off when it was warmed up. Of course, it went off before we got it to the dealer, and hasn't been back on since!

This is a lovely campground (Potrero) - it's too bad that although this will be our third night, we haven't really had a chance to enjoy it much. Folks here are very friendly, and pretty much everyone is either going to or coming back from Baja. We had a good test of the new Banks exhaust system in the moho just getting to Potrero - some steep grades towing the Jeep! It did great. We are really glad we got it.

We had planned to go to Tecate yesterday in the Jeep and head over with the moho today, but when the check engine light came on, we went to La Mesa instead - the Jeep dealer couldn't see us then, but said come back in the morning, so we went back up to Camping World in San Marcos and bought a spare water pump... we've been a bit worried that ours is about to konk out, so we figured we'd buy it now and then if ours doesn't die, we'll have an upgrade (we got one that is variable speed, and more powerful yet more quiet - so higher water pressure for showers, and quiet for midnight bathroom breaks).

That was a long day, and today was another - we got up early (for us) and went back to La Mesa and the Jeep dealer, got a rental car from them, went to Sport Chalet to get some "cheap" snorkel gear (at the recommendation of friends Tonya and Rich Mandl, who gave us a great list of Baja people and places we look forward to getting acquainted with!). Of course, we had a guy helping us who was a dive instructor and was super helpful and funny - and he showed me the mask HE uses, after which all of the other masks were just not good enough!! So I got a really nice mask. And a cheap snorkel and fins. I'll probably want a better snorkel... but the fins should be fine. Devin found a nice set he liked with short flippers, which work better for him, and he bought some webbed gloves, since most of his power is in his arms. I look forward to trying them out in the water!! (I tried them out in the RV when we got home - ha).

After we got the Jeep back, we went to Tecate and got our FMTs (tourist cards) and some pesos, and scouted the road through town we'll take with the RV tomorrow. Tecate is Mexico. I mean, it's really Mexico. I was expecting a border town to be a little more, I don't know - Americanized... but it feels like a small town in central Mexico - you cross that border and you are immersed in a completely different culture!!! No one speaks English, all the signs are in Spanish, everything is different. From the colors of paint on the buildings, to the music pouring out of the buildings, to the street signs and stores... although there was a McDonald's! That was the ONLY sign of Americanization I saw. Oh, and drivers are much nicer there! Twice in a short period people stopped and let us into traffic. I didn't like the traffic circles - I've never liked those. Too many variables! But I made it through twice, though I freaked out a bit the second time because a truck went through with us and the lanes are NOT well-defined. I'm okay now, though. Yay beer!

Speaking of beer, we decided not to go to the brewery - too long of a day already. It smelled just like the Miller Brewery up off the 210, by Irwindale. Our friend Graci would have liked it!! We'll drink plenty of Tecates, I suspect. Maybe we'll take a brewery tour on the way home.

So tomorrow, we go through the border and head to Ensenada. We are staying at the high end Estero Beach Resort there, which will be a nice way to start - we will have plenty of time for boondocking on beaches farther south, but up in this region, a high end RV park is more appealing.

After Ensenada, we will head to San Quintin to camp on the beach, then El Rosario for lunch at Mama Espinoza's (where we will say hi to Roly from Rich and Tonya, and be sure to try the spicy lobster soup!) and Catavina area may be a camping spot - beautiful cacti and rocks, an old onyx mine (El Marmol) which our rockhound friend Greg Arnold would surely love, may be some side trips we'll take, or perhaps we'll save them for the way back so we can get to see the whales in Scammons and San Ignacio Lagoons before they migrate back north.

Bahia de los Angeles is one of the areas I know we'll want to spend some time, but maybe we'll go there on the way back north so we don't feel rushed to leave to catch the "tail of the whales." So after San Quintin, we may power through to Guerrero Negro and camp right on the Lagoon (called Ojo de Liebre in Spanish - Scammons is the same place). So we are about 3-4 days from whales, and after than, whatever we feel like!

The water situation will be interesting. We are going to fill our water tank at RV parks, and chlorinate it ourselves for washing, but buy bottled water for drinking and maybe for cooking. I wish they made "Potable Aqua" in large quantities for 75 gallon tanks, so we could use the neutralizer tablets like I do for backpacking - no bad taste! And the Iodine tablets kill even viruses. We have some good filters that we use to fill our tanks - some people add Chlorine before filtering, some after. I like the "pour the bleach into the hose before connecting and filling" technique, since it sterilizes the hose, and some of the bad Chlorine taste should get filtered out that way.

Well, I'm going to get back to my duty as trip photographer tomorrow! And I'd better get to bed soon, since it will be an exciting day and our first day in Mexico in the Moho.

Wish us Bien Viajes!!

Still in Southern California...

But not for long!!!

Okay, the whole month of February is missing - I realize that and have a draft started, but so much happened!! I have photos and lots of stories to tell - moving out of our apartment and into the tiny storage with the big old truck, working on the Jeep installing base plate for towing and wiring braking system, redecorating the interior of the moho, errands and more errands, visiting family and friends - it's been very busy!! But we are ~almost~ finally ready to head over the border, so I thought I should do a quick update to the blog before we do.

First, one more excuse besides the busy one - my laptop died and we've sent it off to the Apple Mothership for a new hard drive, so updating the blog depends on when I can wrench Devin's laptop from him - ha. We'll pick mine up after Baja, so updates should start being more frequent. We'll at least attempt to post photos on Picasa or other photo sites and link to them from here!

Right now we are in San Diego at Campland on the Bay, trying to wrap everything up! The RV was in the shop at Camping World most of the day Saturday getting the SmartTire monitoring system fixed, and yesterday we ran more errands. Today we got new off-road tires for the Jeep and will take care of other items we forgot or were thinking of not doing - like putting together a camping kit for Baja in the Jeep. I just found out the 5th tire (spare) for the Jeep won't be ready till around 4pm, so it looks like we may stay here one more night, then head over to Tecate in the morning.

We plan to camp at Potrero County Park which is right across the border from Tecate, and head over to Tecate in the Jeep to explore and get our FMTs and visit the Tecate Brewery, scout the route through town, etc. Then the next day we'll cross in the moho with the Jeep in tow, and head straight down to Ensenada. A night or two in Ensenada, then on to points south - we look forward to exploring the Catavina area, Vizcaino Penninsula, Bahia de los Angeles, Scammons Lagoon, San Ignacio, Mulege, Bahia de Concepcion, and on down to Cabo and Land's End. Hope to find places to kayak and snorkel, side trips in the Jeep, take lots of photos, improve our Spanish, and just relax!!

More updates on the lost month, and on the coming weeks in Baja, as time and internet connections allow!

Oh, email if you'd like to hear from us in person - a lot of my contacts are on my laptop and not in online address books! And our phones may work in Baja - we updated to the North America's Choice plan which includes international roaming and long distance, so you can call either of us, too!

Why we are really taking this trip

Our friend Ushruf sent us the link to this comic, and it's so us, it's scary!! It comes from here: www.xkcd.com

Since I'm on here - here are some quick updates:

• Wednesday 1/31: We got our Jeep!!!! We love it!!!! Pics soon!
• Thursday 2/1: Devin's last day of work!!! Yay!!! (*gulp*)
• Move out: Next weekend!!!
• Last day in apartment: 2/13/07
• First day of the rest of our lives: Valentine's Day... awwww....

More to come when we actually hit the road!

STUFF!!!

How did I get so much stuff?

Mainly, papers... ugh. Someday, they will find me, buried under a fallen pile of "important" papers that I wasn't sure where to file. So sad - suffocation by paperwork. I HATE paperwork. Hate it. We've tried to get everything online - e-bills, e-newsletters, e-magazines - yet we still get too much paper mail. We've opted out of mailing lists and catalogs over and over, and yet they keep finding us!

Is the "Closet Maximizer" the answer?

Once, on Riders Radio Theatre, I heard a great fake commercial about the "Closet Maximizer" and the idea has stuck with me for years... a simple device, really - a large carboard box, lighter fluid, and a box of matches. "Not Recommended for Indoor Use"!

Well, lacking the backyard bonfire to try the Closet Maximizer, we are maxing out our apartment's recycling bins! I had 3 boxes full of files from AEOE, my organization where I've been newsletter editor, webmaster, and president, among other things... I had meeting minutes, old newsletters, and all kinds of stuff that is going straight into the recycling bin - I have pretty much all of it online now! So much information - conference workshop presenter contacts from 7 years ago, ideas for keynote speakers, workshops, etc. Now that there's Google, who needs files?

Information ages and ages...

I have these crates (yes, milk crates) of files I've carried with me for years - lesson plans from my student teaching days, notes and papers from trainings I attended as a US Forest Service Botanist, such as how to recognize ozone injury damage to pines, writing NEPA documents, habitat maps - how many trees were cut down so that they could give all their employees all that information? Tossing it forces me to admit I will either never be a Forest Service Botanist again, or if I am, all that information will be outdated anyway. At least I know that I left accessible information behind in those past positions. I hate it when someone leaves and takes all their knowledge with them. I've tried to avoid that, so I can recycle all that useful (or once useful) information guilt-free.

The boxes of files I have not yet been able to let go are my Park Service files. - at least one file box which represents hours and hours of research for all of my programs. I ~would~ like to be a Park Ranger again. I loved giving campfire talks, and most especially leading the 7-day High Sierra Camp Loop Trips in Yosemite. That is the best job I've ever had the honor of doing. So those files get stored.

Thank goodness for Freecycle and Craigslist!

I've been putting together collections of items to give away on Freecycle and Craigslist, things thrift stores would not want, but with the wider audience of the web, someone will not only want, but come to my door to pick it up! A box of old postcards and notecards, for example, and collections of phone cords, old tech books, out of date software, even pencils. No need to toss anything, practically!

I've also been selling items on Craigslist - household items we don't really want to pay to store for the next year, like our couch, coffee table, 36" TV, among other things. Found a college student with a new apartment that wants lots of it - cool way to help someone get set up and get rid of excess stuff, and make a little cash and save some money on storage and moving all at the same time!

The battle continues...
So I continue to get off mailing lists, with the help of groups like the Center for a New American Dream which has Junk Mail "Get off the Lists" resources, and by calling individual catalog companies to opt out, and by looking for opt out options (say that five times fast) on every form I fill out, every online purchase I make... it's a cause that requires constant vigilance! Freedom from junk mail!

The hardest battle, though, is the battle with myself. I am a packrat. I am a procrastinator. I dislike waste and if something is still "good" or could be used by someone, somewhere, I can't toss it. This is a good quality that comes from good values, but the effect, combined with procrastination, particularly, is not good!

Lessons: Don't let it into your life unless you love it or need it (preferably both); Don't keep it in your life unless you need it or love it; Take care of it right away if you neither need nor love it!

These are seemingly simple lessons, yet SO difficult in reality to stick with. Hmmm, ~maybe~ we could use that... someday... somewhere... Sigh. My parents survived the great depression and their garage was a monument to not wasting anything. My dad was a dumpster diver - he'd go for walks and bring back "this perfectly good doohickey" the neighbors were throwing away! Our garage was full of them. Whenever anyone needed anything or something needed repair, he had something in his garage for the job. So perhaps some of it is in my genes, and in my upbringing. Nature and Nurture are both working against me. But I am agonizing over getting rid of SO much history that I've dragged with me for the past 15 years at least, that I am hopeful I will not let it build up to that extreme again. Hope springs eternal!

Too much stuff is a symptom of the modern condition - we are victims of comfort, as Keb Mo said, and in our greed, we hang onto belongings we no longer need - the whole storage industry is a racket! If I don't need it or can't fit or use it in my house, I don't need it, period! Stuff should get recirculated back into the system, back into society, to be used and enjoyed by someone else, if I'm not using it! I always loved that quote in "Hello Dolly" about money:

I never did like the idea of all that money of yours lying around in piles in the bank, so useless and motionless. As my late husband, Ephraim Levi, used to say: "Money should circulate like rainwater. It should flow down among the people, through little dressmakers and restaurants, setting up a business here, furnishing a good time there."

Stuff is like that - it should circulate, furnishing poor college students' dorm rooms, keeping kids entertained, becoming someone else's collectible!

Ah, enough. Yes. Enough!

Quick Update

Okay, okay! I've been told by a few friends that we need to update the blog! That is SO cool that you are reading it! :-)

It's getting down to the wire on departure, and we've just been really busy, with getting ready and the holidays and all - and trying to fit in doing fun things with friends and family before we leave as well. And both Devin and I have been sick recently, too, on top of that - ick. So that's the official excuse.

Here's some of the fun stuff we've been up to, just since Christmas:

Last Saturday we went to Supercross Race "Anaheim 1" with friend Ushruf - his first race - my second. My favorite, James Stewart, won! It was a very exciting race for the first few laps, as Chad Reed started in first, and Ricky Carmichael got tangled up in the start, and both James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael fell, making it anybody's race for a while, but Stewart pulled ahead, and Carmichael took second, with Reed, racing with a fractured shoulder blade and chipped collar bone, in third. These guys are gladiators! Yet such cute nice guys, too!

Last night, I went to a Dead Cookie Party with friend Jenny Dodge. The idea is to create a gingerbread cookie of someone who died in the previous year.

People take this very seriously! Jenny sketches out her cookie design in advance, and most people research their person and bring notes! After baking and icing, we each did a short presentation on our cookie. Jenny did Steve Irwin, and I did Buck Owens. Crikey! Hee Haw!

On New Year's Day, we watched the Rose Parade from our apartment building balcony - since this is the last time we'll be living on the parade route, we figured we'd better do this! This year, George Lucas was the Grand Marshall, so it had some special effects... I liked the Star Wars band - a marching band (from Louisiana, I think?) that really rocked! The storm troopers were a little disappointing. I told Devin, "they weren't real storm troopers, just some guys in storm trooper outfits..." Ha. What I meant was, they were just fans and not trained and didn't march in step, even, so they weren't very imposing, as one would expect. But the floats were neat from our fourth floor balcony viewpoint! And the Stealth Bomber and Stealth Fighters that do a fly over at the beginning of the parade each year were truly awesome! Seeing it on TV cannot compare to the overwhelming feeling of having it fly directly over your head - low, loud, and fast! If I hadn't been at the start of a bad cold, I could have enjoyed the parade more, but after a while, I had to go inside and watch it on TV - funny - you could hear outside what I was watching inside.

Between Christmas and New Year's, we went camping with friends Anita and Greg and family out near Blythe at Coon Hollow campground. I went with everyone out to the Hauser Beds and the boys dug for geodes while Anita and I played with our cameras. Devin stayed at the Moho and did some repairs while I was out playing - he fixed two drawers and worked on a broken awning latch. Go Devin! That evening, I made my first soon-to-be-famous "Holy Shit Margaritas" while we grilled steak and veggies and mashed potatoes (well, Anita made the mashed potatoes - we didn't grill them - ha!). The boys each brought a friend and they spent a lot of time on their bikes making jumps and just exploring, when they weren't digging or climbing.

We really like having our solar panels! We can camp with friends in tents and not be obnoxious. Now if we could just keep our water pump and furnace quiet... well, we can - there are fixes for both, but we've spent enough money at this point that if it works, we'll probably just keep it as is, at least for now. We've considered getting catalytic heaters installed, which, along with the SHURflo Comfort Air fans that can work like a ceiling fan to help circulate the heat, would make a very quiet heater alternative, but our built in forced air furnace works fine to keep us warm, so we are holding off on that. And there are quiet water pumps and special accesories to make it quiet, but again, ours works okay, so we're holding off.

Well, that's an update of some of the fun stuff we've been doing - before Christmas we have had a few family get-togethers and camping in the desert over Thanksgiving with friends. The rest of what we are doing isn't so fun - sorting, cleaning, packing, storing... and getting the MoHo set up for our trip with all the details, and getting our business taken care of here - bills, and taxes, and mail and such. Once we hit the road I will update more often!!

We'll keep everyone posted on a Bon Voyage Party/Moho Open House - possibly in early February.

PS - our Jeep went to D1 status!! (That means it's scheduled to be built, so we'll probably get it later this month - yay!!!

Jeepers...

We ordered a new 2007 Jeep Wrangler 4 door!!

We are getting 4wd (of course - it's just ~wrong~ that they even make Jeeps in 2wd now!), with an anti-slip rear differential, 17" wheels, a dual top (it's the indecisiveness tax... we couldn't decide between the "Freedom" 3 piece hard top and "Sunrider" soft top, so we are getting both), side steps, side air bags, automatic, power windows and doors (on a Jeep! Weird, but in a good way), tow package and Sirius Satellite radio...

We've changed our mind on the color several times, but are now ordering "Greystone" with a khaki interior. Light colors don't show dirt as much, and are cooler out in the desert. But I like "Rescue Green" like in the commercial at right (and after all - toads are supposed to be green!)

We are getting all the amenities and a new Jeep instead of an old beater for our toad because we decided it will also be our main multi-purpose vehicle, most likely for a while. We are selling our Toyota Sequoia to pay for the Jeep, so it needs to replace the Sequoia as a camping vehicle for long trips, not just off-road adventures. And also the new four door Jeep has actual cargo space, so we can carry Devin's Segway in the back, and all our camping gear. It does drive more like an SUV than a Jeep, which is nice for those longer trips.

Now we just have to get the kayaks to go on top so we look like "a new species"!

Life in the Trailer Park

So, we tried out trailer park life this last weekend, and, not surprisingly, found it wasn't exactly to our liking. I mean, it was a nice park and all - very clean, landscaped, by a lake... but it was a trailer park! Excuse me, an RV Park. But there were a lot of people obviously living there full time - Christmas decorations competing in the Trailer Trash Christmas Spirit Beauty Contest (not really, but I did find the award winner if they were!) and, even though it was clean and well-manicured... it was just... odd.

So to back up - why were we in a trailer park? Well, we are moving out of our apartment at the end of January to move into the MoHo and get ready to hit the road as soon as all the arrangements have been made, and we thought maybe it would be nice to have a local place to "hover" for a while during that transition period. So we booked a weekend at the East Shore RV Park in San Dimas to try it out. They only had spaces available in their "lower" section, where the sites are closer together and it's more dense. We may have felt a bit differently if we had a spot up on the hill, with views of the Puddingstone Reservoir and city lights, and lots of space between us and our neighbors. But down in the low rent district, we kept our shades pulled all weekend, didn't leave any camping chairs out... listened to redneck conversations of some of our "neighbors" that obviously lived there full time... and pretty much decided that is NOT what we got the RV for!

So, if we need to hover around southern California for a while, it will likely be out in the desert, or up in the eastern Sierra region, or maybe at the beach. We don't need hook-ups, cable TV, and a paved pad to park on.

Devin was the wisest when he said this:

Instead of staying someplace like East Shore RV Park for a 2-4 weeks, why don't we just go to some nice location and camp for free or for a very low fee. We could spend 2-4 weeks exploring semi-local areas of California. Instead of listening to the redneck neighbors in San Dimas, we could be exploring Death Valley or other areas we like. Being a local in some area other than the LA basin. We could live in Bishop for a month and see how we like it. There would be lots to do, unlike in San Dimas. Why waste the beginning of our trip in San Dimas? There is no real reason to have to "kill time" in redneck land.

If we do spend some time in the Desert or other local area, we will have a car to come back to deal with other things if need be.

I think the San Dimas experience really made me have some doubts because of the neighbors. I do not want to become those people and being there made me question if that is what we were doing. It is not though. We are going on a trip to explore new places, see new areas to live etc. San Dimas is not on the list of places that I intended to go :)

This is why I love him. He has the ability to put things into perspective nicely, when I sometimes lose that perspective.

The RV is kind of like real estate - it's all about Location, Location, Location! The same RV out in the desert, at the beach, in the mountains, is worth SO much more to us than in an RV park. I'm really glad we have our solar panels now so we can stay pretty much wherever we want!

More about our solar panels soon!

I'm Blogging from the Freeway!!

Thanksgiving Day - and here we are, ambling down the freeway at 55 (or less when the traffic slows), and I'm on the internet, updating our blog!!

We got our Wireless Broadband Card, a Kyocera KPC650 PC Card, and life on the road will never be the same! We don't have the external antenna and amplifier yet, but when we do, we should get cellular service up to 50 miles farther than normal from a tower, and when we aren't getting broadband (EVDO - "Evolution Data Only"), we will get National (1xrtt) service, which is like an old dial up connection speed-wise, but it's still a connection! All over southern California so far it has been broadband, which is pretty darn fast!

This weekend, if we get service, we will experiment with the wireless router, to see if we can both be on at the same time with our laptops. Of course, not while driving... he he.

I like being able to check email, blog, and surf while driving (well, passengering, anyway)! Need a map? Oh, let me just get a Google map of the area... Find a campground? Let me check one of the many online directories! Oh it's so useful, and much more fun than I usually am in the car - head nodding, drooling, snoring loudly... ha.

Learning as we go

We had our first "Real" camping trip with the Moho weekend before last in Joshua Tree. By real, I mean, we went mainly to camp, rather than for another purpose, and came prepared! Our maiden voyage was to Wrightwood and our friends' driveway to have a yard sale, and the second time we spent the night in it was when we camped at El Capitan State Beach in Santa Barbara, but we went up there to do some work on it out of the heat. This time, we went to camp.

We had a great weekend in Joshua Tree, with some good learning experiences. These "practice trips" are very important to figuring out our systems and what we need and don't need, so we will be doing more of them! The learning started before we even left, as you will see...

Our First Learning Experience: Trusting the Ford Dealership Service Manager
We took the Moho into Keystone Ford the previous Friday for a "regular checkup" - that is service, lube/oil/filter, checking systems. They didn’t drop our RV off the lifts, like happened to these poor folks in the photo, and as far as we can tell, the mechanics did a good job. Our brakes didn’t fail as we drove off the lot, our battery seems to be charging now, the power steering no longer groans like a dinosaur dying in agony... but we probably won’t take the Moho there again.

First the guy told us it would probably be done on Tuesday. Then Wednesday afternoon. So Devin took Thursday off so we could go pick it up and have a long camping weekend. Then they told us Thursday morning. And each time, we had to call ~them~ even though they had told us they would call.

We headed out there to do some errands before picking it up, go to REI and Camping World (aka "The $100 Store") to shop for some comfy patio chairs and lounges to make our camping experience complete, and when we called to see if it was ready, they said Thursday afternoon. After some more shopping, they finally told us it wouldn't be ready till Friday. So we went home with a car full of camping gear.

Then on Friday, we got up early and loaded the car with an ice chest full of food for the weekend, clothes, and everything we'd need, and headed out to pick it up. Okay, not ready till early afternoon. So we went back to Camping World and bought that Weber Baby Q we'd been ogling the day before! We planned to finish up registration at the DMV when we picked it up, so we scoped out a nearby DMV, went in to see if we could take care of anything ahead of time, found out where we needed to pull in for the inspection.

We ran out of things to do, so we went to the Ford Dealership and sat in their waiting room for about 45 minutes watching bad cartoons until they *finally* got it done! We got out of there around 4:45pm. A little too late for the DMV! So we went to Devin's dad's house in Whittier to fill it up with water and load it up with camping gear, change the tow bar to Devin's Segway Hauler, leave the car and head out to Joshua Tree, late on a Friday with the rest of the traffic.

So, I guess Lesson 1 is, it's not ready till it's ready, or the fat lady sings, or something like that. Just because they give you an optimistic time estimate, don't count on it. The work they did seemed to be satisfactory, but by telling us it would be ready much sooner than it was, Devin took a day off work unnecessarily, we missed a day of camping, missed the DMV, and ended up in traffic, driving the Moho late into the night to get to a campsite.

Our second learning experience: Unlocking the Towbar
A great Blue Ox Towbar came with the RV, which is the kind we planned to buy for our "toad." It had a locking stainless steel bar to attach it to the hitch, to which we thought we had a key. Devin had a key that fit the lock on his keychain, but the key was cracked, and when he tried to turn it, it broke off. So I started looking for other keys that looked like the one that fit, and found one and promptly brought it to him. That one wouldn't turn either, so after quite some time of messing with it, he decided to just crank on it with some pliers, and risk breaking it because we needed to get the towbar off!

Well, the second key broke off, right about at the same time that I realized what key it was... it was the last key to our slide out! Lesson 2: just because the key fits into the lock does not mean it's the right key!!

So now we were stuck without a slide out for the weekend, which is okay, because at least our slide out room does not block anything when it is in. Some models block cabinets and even the kitchen sink! For us, it's just a little narrower, but still perfectly liveable for a weekend. At least we chose our RV wisely, even if we broke keys foolishly!

We wanted to get the towbar off, by the way, so we could put Devin's Segway Hauler on, to take his Segway out to Joshua Tree, which would give Devin some mobility in the campground and make us able to take walks together. Since we don't have a toad yet, we didn't need the tow bar.

So Devin's dad brought out his Sawsall, and they proceeded to try to CUT off the locking mechanism to the tow bar so Devin could bring his Segway. Lesson 3: Stainless Steel is Really Hard! (The Sawsall didn't work, so we couldn't get the towbar off.)

So we were without a slide out room and without the Segway. Frustrating, but not the end of the world, so we gave up and went camping! On the way out of town, we stopped by Pep Boys with the broken key fragments, to see if they could make a key, but they couldn't A regular locksmith possibly could have, but it was late on a Friday night by this time. We gave up after making one phone call to a 24 hour service - left a message and never got a response.

So we hit the road - finally!

Ahhh, Joshua Tree!
We finally got to J-Tree at around midnight. I dozed a good portion of the trip out there - past my bedtime! We went to Cottonwood Springs campground at the southern end of J-Tree, which is not too far from I-10, and has an RV dump station and sites large enough for RVs. We found a nice spot with great views, parked, leveled, and...

OMG the stars!! The stars were incredible! SO many stars, I had a hard time picking out constellations! The Milky Way was vibrant - and we had such a wide view of the sky, we could see the Summer Triangle AND the Winter Hexagon (almost all of it) both at the same time!! Orion was rising in the east as the Corona Borealis set in the west - Lyra, Cygnus, Aquila, Delphinus, Cassiopeia, Ursa Minor, The Pleaides, Taurus, Gemini, Orion - ahh, my old friends!! So nice to see you! A shooting star! Greenish and bright, streaking across the sky - one of the Orionid meteors - tiny bits left in Earth's path from Haley's Comet. There is a meteor shower tonight!

Suddenly I was wide awake - desert stars are a wonder to behold.

“All men have the stars, but they do not mean the same things for different people. For some they are guides, for others, no more than little lights in the sky. But all these are silent. You--you alone have the stars as no one else has them.
...The stars, the desert, what gives them their beauty is invisible...
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.
What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
~ The Little Prince

My heart was full of both the visible and invisible essence of desert beauty - the gentle breezes and silence, stars, the darkened landscape of yuccas and rock formations by starlight. Magic.

Shade to go
The next morning, after sleeping with the window open to see stars and meteors during wakeful moments, and the Tibetan prayer flags our friend Leaf gave us fluttering in the desert breeze all night, we settled in to our campsite a little more.

We had leveled "good enough" the night before, but we weren't really level, and one of the jacks was actually off the ground, so we retracted them and drove up onto blocks on the right side before leveling to stabilize and finish the job. Worked great - we want 3 more of the leveling blocks we bought at Camping World. Lesson 4: we need blocks AND jacks to keep the RV both level and stable in sloping sites.

Then we pulled out our awning. An awning on an RV is a wonderful thing - it not only creates a shaded "patio" area for outdoor living, and shades the side of the RV making it cooler inside, but it creates a personal space that disappears when it is rolled up. It makes that part of the campsite "ours" for the time we are there - creates a sense of home. I think it has to do with the bulk of the RV - sitting next to it without the awning feels like sitting next to a wall, but under the awning you are on your patio. In a tent you don't really need this because you don't have the wall effect. But shade is a nice thing to have with you in the desert, no matter how you are camping.

We finally figured out how to properly set it up - it had been hard before because one of the latches was broken, but now it was fixed, and so once we got it set up, we decided to do it again for practice. Lesson 5: We found that we needed a stepladder to tighten the arms properly once it was set up - maybe we should have set up the awning before leveling so the RV would be lower. Next we put on the "de-flappers" which hold the awning in the center to keep it from flapping in the wind. It all worked great and we had a solid awning all set up!

Lesson 6: watch out for the awning arms!
We proceeded to organize the "basement" storage bins, getting out our chairs and small astroturf mat (those really help keep dirt outside the RV, and also help define that space nicely). I managed to bend over into the awning bar - I hit my head so hard I literally fell over backwards! Ouch! I sort of wish someone could have seen it - it was like in the cartoons! I was laying there on the sand saying "ouch ouch ouch ouch!" with little stars and birds circling my head, and Devin didn't even rush to my rescue. He didn't even get up to look at me lying there, or take a picture (which is probably what I would have done - document the indignity!) I guess he figured if I was talking, I was okay. Next time I want sympathy, I guess I'll shut up! Ha.

We found out after we did some organizing and repacking, that we have more storage available than we thought, which is great! Devin keeps saying we're going to run out, though, gloomy pessimist that he is. He wasn't pessimistic when we were out there and found out we had free space, but everytime I talk about buying something for the trip, he starts in on how we are going to run out of room! He's funny. Lesson 7: Space may (or may not) be an issue!

This isn't really a lesson, but we learned that we chose well in our cookware! We bought a Fagor nesting cookset from Camping World and I love it! The heavy bottoms disperse heat so well and evenly, you can cook at much lower temperatures, and not worry about buring stuff on the bottom. Yay!

Devin set up the Baby Q just to get it working, and it seems to work great, but as we didn't bring anything to grill this time, true testing will have to wait until next trip.

We pretty much relaxed and worked on the RV all day Saturday - we were pretty tired from not enough sleep, so not too ambitious. But on Sunday...

Maggie Conquers Mastodon Peak by accident
We decided we needed to come back a day later so we could go to the DMV on Monday, and hopefully take care of our broken slide out keys as well. So I walked down to the pay station with the site fee for one more day, and told Devin I would walk to Cottonwood Springs on the road and loop back on the Nature trail which came out right near our campsite.

Four hours later... Devin was ready to call search and rescue and was so worried that if I was alive he was going to kill me!

Lesson 8: We need two-way radios
I wasn't sure we really needed the radios, but this was a situation where if I had one, I would have called him and he would know where I was an not worry - he could have even gotten out the binoculars and seen me on top of Mastodon peak, where I could see the Moho in the distance! (see the photo - ours is the one on the far left - what, can't see it? Okay, try the next photo, which uses 10x zoom - click the photo to enlarge - you really can see it!)

It was a great little hike that just about killed me because I am SO out of shape. But I had "next bend syndrome" and just kept going to see what was around the next bend, because it didn't seem that far, because the view was so great, because it was such a lovely day, because I could. I wasn't going to do the scramble to the top of the little peak, but there were some other folks ahead of me on the trail, so I went for it. My heart rate got up to about 240 going up the steep narrow ledge, but it wasn't really hard. It was coming down, and the sandy washes that they called the trail on the way down that made it take so much longer than I thought. I took lots of photos of the trail, views, birds, rocks, old mines, etc, and you can click here to see them!

Lesson 9: We need to get our checklists for breaking camp, etc, set up and use them! Lots of stuff to remember when "battening down the hatches" for travel in a rolling home. securing doors and drawers, putting stuff where it won't fall/roll around, closing windows and vents, making sure all outside compartments are closed and locked and everything is put away, jacks retracted, leveling blocks stowed, awning secured, nothing behind us, no overhead branches, etc, etc. This time I only forgot to latch a couple of drawers which came open, so not a big deal, but with so much to remember, we need checklists!!

The Mothership and the DMV
On the way home, we went by National RV in Perris, where the Moho was born. One of the reasons we stayed an extra night is so we could take care of the slide out key issue, and since "the Mothership" was on our way home, we stopped there. Sure enough, they had the keys, no problem! So we "win" again - we didn't really need the slide out room this weekend, and even if we did, we couldn't have used it because our campsite didn't have enough clearance (it would have stuck out into the road!) AND we made a very convenient stop at National headquarters and were able to pick up extra keys quite painlessly on our way home. Yay us!! Even when we are unlucky, we are lucky.

We were lucky with the DMV, too - we stopped at the one in Banning, and had no wait to get the RV inspected and get our official registration finalized. We ordered handicapped plates, so we will get them in the mail soon and be set to go!

Lesson 10: Devin's Dad is Wonderful
(But we knew that)
When we got back into cell range on the way home we got a phone call from Devin's dad, checking on us (since we'd stayed an extra night leaving our car there), and he told us he had bought a special blade for his Sawsall that would cut stainless steel! So when we got back to Whittier, he and Devin cut off the lock and we removed the tow bar. Success!

Then we went to put on the Segway Hauler for our next trip, and guess what? Devin's key wouldn't work!!! Deja vu... No broken keys this time, but we wouldn't have been able to get the Seg Hauler on the RV even if we had been successful the first time getting the tow bar off! We still haven't found a second key to try in the Seg Hauler, and are thinking we'll get Devin's Dad to cut that one off, too, since now we know he can.

We filled up our water and put it back into storage, and now we are ready for the next trip (where, no doubt, we will learn some more)!

Exiting the Information Highway... or not

So what are a couple of computer geeks like Devin and I going to do on the road for a year? I mean, seriously - we IM each other from across the room! Our idea of a nice evening at home involves parallel play surfing the net on our laptops and emailing links to each other! (not to mention updating the blog!) Are we going to be going through major internet withdrawals?

Maybe. But we're taking the internet with us, too!

You see, the internet is really just a bunch of tubes... wait, no - that's not what I wanted to say!

We have a couple of options for internet access on the road:

• Find Wi-Fi Hotspots everywhere we go. This is not that out of the question, but the problem is, more and more people have figured out they need to secure their wireless, so we can't just catch a free wave. Starbuck's, Borders, and other businesses use providers like T-Mobile or Boingo and charge per minute or a monthly fee for access. But we hope to be a little more out of the way in campgrounds and on public land, where there may not be Starbuck's around every corner (gasp!!) Lots of RV Parks now have WiFi - many use Tengo Internet, LinkSpot, Link-N-Go, and The Wireless Web, companies that serve mainly RV parks, and there is also RoadConnect that serves many rest stops on highways.
  
  Devices like this one sniff out any hotspots within range and let you know if they are secure or not. MacStumbler, a Freeware/Donationware program for my Mac works much the same, but this way I don't have to use my laptop's batteries to go "wardriving" in the RV! Of course, there are directories , like JiWire, WiFinder, and WiFiFREEspot, and HotSpotHaven, available for public hotspots, but it's so much fun to cruise through a neighborhood looking for a network named "Linksys" or "Belkin"!
  
  
• Use our cell phones as modems. This would work, but is like dial up - you use your cell phone to dial up an ISP, and it uses your phone's minutes and is slow like dial-up, so screw that! Newer cell phones with a data plan would work similarly to the EVDO card described under the last bullet point, but using that with a data plan equipped phone would be somewhat like using a modem, and not as flexible as we would like, for sharing a connection, for example.
  
  
• Get a satellite internet system. This is what a lot of full time RVers who depend on internet access for their livelihoods, or the education of their children, for example, use. You can get internet virtually anywhere with these - unless you are in a cave or a steep canyon with no view of the sky where the satellite is in geosynchronous orbit. MotoSAT DataStorm mobile satellite internet systems even have a service where you can look at a map and find out where the user is! The DataStorm and Magellan dishes have motorized mounts and use GPS to find your assigned satellite, and you are connected through the HughesNet (formerly DirecWay) or Gallileo satellite networks. You could be in the middle of a disaster area, and still be able to connect to the internet with these satellite systems. They work all over the world - we'd probably have no problem getting internet access from Baja to Alaska (with a big enough dish).
  
  So what's the catch? Oh, yeah, they cost several thousand dollars. And you have to be stationary to use them (so your dish can be pointed at your satellite). The systems that automatically locate and focus on your chosen satellite are easiest to use, but also most expensive. There is the option of using a tripod and pointing it to the satellite manually, but this requires certification and is pretty technical, with consequences (like having your service shut off) if you mis-aim. And they are about $80/month for service, once you've installed your system.
  
  But they are SO cool!! "This is Ground Control to Major Tom..."
  
  
• Get Broadband Wireless (EV-DO or Evolution-Data Optimized) access through Verizon or Sprint. This involves getting a PC card, like the Verizon Wireless v740 EVDO Rev A ExpressCard, which would work in either my Mac or Devin's PC, but only one at a time. Add a wireless router for the card, like the Kyocera KR1 Mobile Wireless Router, and we could both surf using either wireless, or if we wanted to conserve our laptop batteries, connect via ethernet to the router.
  
  This depends on being in range of broadband wireless, which is mostly around larger cities now, but "National Access" or 1xRTT, while slower than Broadband or EV-DO, is available in a much wider area. Since we are already Verizon Wireless customers, we will likely go with Verizon's unlimited broadband plan which will use EVDO when available and 1xRTT when not. To increase our chances of being able to access it, we can also get a New Wilson Dual-Band RV Cell Phone Antenna and a Signal Amplifier (824-894 MHz 1850-1990 MHz) In-building and/or mobile use with soft carrying case.
  
  After the initial investment of a few hundred dollars, it is $59.99/month for the Verizon service with a 2 year contract. This seems like the best option for us, because it is available when in transit (if I need to look up something or make a reservation while Devin is driving), and it is the least expensive for decent internet on the road. The only problem is it won't be available in Mexico. But I've heard a few RV parks there have wireless now...

So we'll probably go with the last option, as it seems most reasonable for us, and just live without internet while in remote areas of Baja, Canada and Alaska. Okay, so we MAY go through withdrawals, but it will be good for us! And we'll have other things to do, like reading, birding, kayaking, writing, drawing, practicing guitar, hiking and exploring, and most importantly, napping!

Oh.... Mexico!

Photo of Bahia de Concepcion from OnTheRoadIn.com

So, as I said before, we are now thinking of traveling to Mexico for the first part of our adventure, since we are leaving 3 months earlier than originally planned.

Here's a trip in Mexico we probably won't do, but wow - check it out! People take their RVs ON the Copper Canyon train!

There are some great websites and resources for traveling by RV in Mexico, and I speak Spanish and have had wonderful experiences in Mexico in the past, so I am excited about the possibility of traveling there in a whole new way.

Here is some info about Mexico by RV:

• RVing in Mexico
• On the Road in Mexico Comprehensive guide with RV parks and so much more
• Rolling Homes Mexico Travel Buddy Search page
• Rolling Homes Mexico Book
• Virtual Mexico
• Med to go Travel Health and Safety Guide
• Vagabundos del Mar Baja RV, Boat and Travel Club
• RVing in Mexico on the RV.net forum
• RVing in Mexico DVD Made by the same folks ("tahoenow") with the forum topic below - with live updates of their trips!
• RV.net Forum - live travel in Mexico

We will, of course, keep you posted on our itinerary - who knows where we'll end up going? We are like willows in the wind... :-)

ETD Update - T minus 4 months and counting!

We upped the departure date to early February, in case you hadn't heard. Devin gave advance notice at work already that he would work through January. We'll be moving out of our apartment and making all our final arrangements (mail forwarding, storage, etc) - and we may just stay nearby for a little while, but by the end of February, we should be on the road!

We are also thinking of heading down into Mexico first, then heading up toward Alaska a little later in the spring.

More on that in the next post!

A Funny Thing Happened at the RV Show

I was worried that looking at new RVs would make us feel less satisfied with our 1999 used model, but the opposite happened! Ours has many features newer RVs, even from the same brand, don't seem to have, for about a quarter of the price. Such as excellent counter space, good amount of storage, gas oven, and nice storage drawers under the dinette benches. Also the outside storage space underneath with the pass-through that goes all the way under the MoHo.

Things they did have that ours doesn't: some models have better can pantries in the kitchen areas, but we may be able to replace ours. The outside storage doors that open out instead of up are really nice, and would be especially nice for the storage under the slide-out room. Some have bigger refrigerators, but we could probably get a bigger one installed if it's a problem. I think it will be fine. That's about it...

Ideas we got looking at them - put a snap-on map pocket on the sides next to the front seats (aka, "captain's chairs"), add a screw-on cup holder that folds flat up there, too. Our console on the "doghouse" (hump over the engine) is not very functional, but it could be easily replaced. Maybe we could even install a sliding laptop / dining tray on the passenger side, like some have.

It Slices, It Dices...!
We mostly cruised around the tent that had various products and services for RVers - one of the coolest things we saw was the Soda Club soda-making machine! We tested some sodas they made, quite easily, with no power needed, and they were quite good. Devin could save a lot of money on Diet Coke using that!! I'm not much of a soda drinker, but you can make sparkling water, add just about any flavoring, or maybe just lemon or lime juice. The young man from Kentucky that demonstrated it was so cute with his sales pitch, it made me want to buy it right there - but I have this weird love of infomercials and demonstrations.

In fact, Devin recently bought me a product I first saw at a county fair probably 20 years ago and have wanted ever since - a Bamix Hand Blender. It is every bit as good as I remember! I have been making smoothies right in the glass, filling it up to the top with fresh and frozen fruit, yogurt, juice, protein powder, and then just blending it right up in the glass with the Bamix. Easy clean up! I also have made frothy milk that makes coffee like an instant latte! You can make whipped topping from non-fat milk with it - it rocks!

Like I said, I have a soft-spot for infomercials and fair demos and gadgets, but I usually just enjoy watching them and rarely buy. The Bamix is an exception and I waited 20 years - ha! the cool thing is it costs about the same as it did 20 years ago.

Other Highlights
Devin's highlight of the RV Show, besides feeling even better about our own RV, was the great deal on the Banks Power system they are offering - 20% off on both parts and labor, which is a significant savings, so we are considering doing this. It would be about $3200, including TransCommand . But would give it more power, save wear and tear on the engine and transmission, and improve gas mileage by 7%. He also liked seeing what the Autoformer and other Voltage conditioners looked like. The one we would need (30 amp) is fairly small - and for around $300, could save us a lot of trouble if we are hooked up to power that isn't steady. It is not only a surge protector, but protects against low power as well. They are highly recommended for travel in Mexico, too.

We also enrolled in Passport America, a 50% off camping club, which we had already determined was a good deal and planned to enroll. The good thing is that normally it's $44 for a year, and at the Show it was $39 for a year and 3 months (with even better deals for longer memberships). The first time or two we use it, it will pay for itself. There are Passport America parks all over the US, Canada and even Mexico!

Show Me the Money!
Of course, we entered contests that will likely have us getting junk mail for a while, but you never know... I got to go into a glass booth and stuff fake $100 bills into a slot - the person that had the most at the end of the day would win $100. I got $2300, so pretty good, but I probably won't win - but it was fun, anyway! Like being on one of those crazy game shows. I can't say I have always wanted to go into a booth with money blowing all around and try to catch as much as I could, but I was grinning pretty big when I was in there!

RV work - getting closer all the time!

Today we got all new tires (6 of them) and our new Koni shocks installed, and dropped off the RV at a Ford dealership recommended by other RVers for service on the engine - just regular service like lube/oil/filters, plus checking transmission, brakes, and battery charging system. We got a new battery and now it is dead already. We think the engine may not be charging the battery properly. For the last couple of weeks we had it in a shop (J&L RV Repair) getting some interior work done. When the current work is done, our only major expense left will be getting the solar panel set-up we want.

Regret: We paid over $600(!) to have the carpets, upholstery, trim and ceiling steam cleaned, and can't really tell much difference. If I had it to do over again, I'd just replace the carpet!!! Or at least just do it ourselves. The carpet does not have that "new carpet feel" I had hoped for - I wonder if just shampooing it would be better? I may actually try that, hoping that the steam cleaning got out deep dirt. I think new carpeting throughout really would not have cost that much more and would have made a real difference. Sigh.

The only other major expense we are considering is a Banks PowerPack exhaust system. They are very expensive, but improve gas mileage (by 7%) AND power, so may be worth it.

Of course, we still have the TOAD to buy, and the braking system for the toad, and the kayaks, perhaps, and maybe a bike for me... and I still want to reupholster the furniture (but can do inexpensive slipcovers), and then there is also polishing and waxing the exterior...

We decided we definitely need to start taking it out and using it soon! It needs to earn its keep, so to speak, and tip the balance of expense and enjoyment back toward enjoyment. A weekend in the desert soon!

Kayak Demo Day

Well, it was a fun day, but we are not too much closer to figuring out what we want in a kayak. We did figure out that we still enjoy getting out on the water, though! I always worry about my shoulder with tendonitis, but if I am careful and paddle correctly, it isn't too bad, surprisingly.

We tried several single kayaks and one tandem today - all hard sided, two sit-on-tops, and a few more traditional styles. I was happy to find I felt comfortable in all of them and did fine. The hardest one to paddle was the tandem! Maybe we should rethink getting a tandem and get two singles... the sit-on-top with the most comfortable seat was a little too high and seemed to be affected by wind more. The easiest to paddle and maneuver were the lower centered sit-in kayaks. Now I'm just more confused!!

The owner of Southwind was there and very helpful - he suggested we might like the Advanced Frame Convertible model. It is a hybrid inflatable-folding kayak, with a frame in the front to help it slice through the water better, and can be converted from a single to a double. Adjustable comfy seats, too. But they didn't have one there.

We went by REI on the way home to look at their kayaks, but they weren't too helpful - the kayaks are all hanging from the cieling and they didn't want to blow up their inflatables because they said they kept losing parts each time they did that (specifically for that Advanced Frame model) which didn't sound too good.

So we will likely go back to Southwind and take a class or two - their "First Strokes" class would be good, and then they have the "Sea Legs" class. And we will go to their store in Irvine and see their kayaks - they are all out and available for sitting in, so a much nicer place to compare boats!

RV Show

The RV Show in Pomona at the LA County Fairgrounds is next weekend, and we are going to go so we can find all kinds of goodies for our RV. It will be hard not to look at the new RVs, but that can be depressing, as there is always a better design than the one you have.

For a 1999, ours is a pretty good design - with a U-shaped kitchen counter and lots of cabinet and counter space, a regular gas oven as well as a microwave, that is a sweet set-up. The only thing I might want different in a kitchen is a window (it's right next to the dinette/couch area with two large windows on either side, though), and a bigger fridge. Our fridge is a pretty standard RV size fridge and it may be just fine, but some newer ones have "huge" side-by-side models that are very nice.

My biggest complaint about the design of our RV is the bathroom/hall set up. It's a narrow bottleneck. And although there is a TUB, which is nice, and makes the shower big enough to actually use, it's a bit cramped in the bathroom. Some different floor plans have a more open feel with the shower in a corner of the bedroom and only the toilet in it's own small room. Makes it easier to get into and out of the shower, use the sink, and not be in anyone's way. I'm sure I would see lots of those types of floorplans, but usually in much longer RV's and we didn't want that.

Our Ideal RV would be 28' long, have two or three slide-out rooms, an open plan bathroom, kitchen storage and countertop space, a queen bed with lots of bedroom storage and room to walk around the bed, a dining table (either table and chairs or dinette) and either a couch or two comfy chairs (recliners would be nice!). In other words, it's probably physically impossible and doesn't exist!!

Oh, and it would be a bio-diesel-ready diesel engine that gets 30mpg, fully solar equipped, with double-paned windows, sun-blocking shades, well-insulated, well-ventilated with lots of opening windows and vents... yeah, I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist!

Wherever shall we go? Whatever shall we do?

Okay, I never saw "Gone with the Wind" where that quote is from, but I always thought it was kind of funny, said with exaggerated southern drawl, back of hand dramatically pressed to forehead...

It sure is fun, trying to figure it out, though! I mean, we don't want to "figure it all out" ahead of time, because part of the idea of a long trip is to not have an agenda - be truly "On the Loose." But then again, there are certain things we'd like to experience, certain places we'd like to be sure to go... there are priorities, in other words. And millions of ideas.

Ideas to help shape our journey:

• Seeing parts of the country we either haven't seen or have only been to briefly
• Visit all the National and State Parks, Monuments, Forests, Preserves, etc, we can find
• Birding - go to places specifically to see elusive species, like Aransas Wildlife Refuge for the Whooping Cranes, Southern Arizona for Trogons,
• History - visit historical sites, museums, etc
• Watershed(s) - follow a river or two from birth to delta
• Baseball - visit all the famous ball parks and compare their cuisine - Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, etc.
• Kitsch - search for the odd, strange, truly weird, like the human hair socks from Scandinavia that are apparently languishing in a museum in Brookings, Oregon...
• Finding Places to Kayak
• City and Town tour - finding our next home!
• Regions - focusing on one or two regions to get to know them well
• Seasons - the most obvious is becoming "Leaf Peepers" in New England

But the biggest and best theme for our trip, I think, will be Learning, learning, learning! We will have our own version of the Road School, and our curriculum will include:

• Music (syllabus - learn to play / practice and get better at guitar, play harmonica, penny whistle, attend live music when possible, especially regional styles and festivals, invite musicians over to the campfire and jam and learn!)


• Art (syllabus - draw and sketch interesting things, wildlife, scenery, people, maybe try watercolor or oils, take a weekend seminar somewhere on plein air painting or something wonderful like that, take thousands of photographs, create albums, calendars, postcards, use in blog and books)


• Creative Writing (syllabus - Write! Write, write, write! Write some more! :) Write essays, articles, blogs, chapters in a book, poems, and letters. Try to get some of it published as we travel - articles for magazines and newsletters and newspapers on events, places, people, natural history, travelogues, stories, etc. Final Exam: Write a book.)


• Literature (syllabus - Read! Read, read, read!! :) Always have books to read - choose some great books of literature, some fiction and non-fiction, essays, whatever interests us at the time! Enjoy!


• History (syllabus - visit museums and landmarks and monuments and historical markers - follow in the footsteps of historical people - Lewis and Clark, Natchez Trace, Civil War Battles, Civil Rights Marches, etc. See famous icons of the country, such as the Lincoln Memorial and the Viet Nam Memorial, among others. Read books about the history of areas we travel through.)


• Science Always - being a science geek, I almost didn't put this on the syllabus, since it is like breathing for me. But there are some things we could do (syllabus - See the Space Shuttle launch, visit planetaria and observatories, visit museums and exhibits, and Parks)


• Natural History as a branch of science, and THE branch of science that I DO, this will be built into the trip everywhere we go. We'll do more of this than all the rest, because we can't help it! (Syllabus - watch birds, wildlife, keep a field journal, photograph, sketch and describe species and ecosystems, go on naturalist walks and talks, keep life lists of species, key out plants, visit preserves and parks and refuges - OBSERVE!)


• Technology This is Devin's "like breathing" subject, and is second nature in many ways to me as well. The effort to learn something new in it does not come as naturally to me, however - unless it is something I want to use immediately. First, I'd like to learn to use the software I already have more effectively, including my iLife apps, Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, etc. I always just figure out enough to make them work, then don't get much further. (Syllabus - Web Design/development, Databases, SQL, PHP, CGI, e-commerce set ups, and for Devin, Linux, Sharepoint, Exchange, PHP, SQL, MOM, more Citrix, ITIL, MCSE stuff - work on becoming an MVP, Cisco (but probably not on the road), and more...)


• Hmmm... no Math. Well, considering I taught Algebra all last year, I think I'm good on that. We'll be keeping a budget, figuring out gas mileage, writing a business plan (maybe), and just generally using math the way everyone does all the time without realizing it. What else are we missing? Ah!


• PE and Health :) I think this will also come naturally - hopefully we'll be kayaking a lot, I'll be walking and hiking and Devin will be gliding along with me on the Segway. We may get a dog, but that's a whole other story!! The dog, of course, will take us for walks. And CURVES! I just joined Curves, and they are EVERYwhere, so I'll make Devin stop when we see one and I'll jump out for a 30 minute workout! Devin's bringing weights, bands, and maybe the ball... and I definitely want to get a good mask and snorkel and fins - I want to snorkel not only the ocean, but lakes and rivers! I love seeing the fish. I'm also bringing my Yoga and Pilates DVDs! I look forward to remembering how to cook on the road!! I like to cook, but just don't anymore. I've been looking at recipes and thinking about meals I could make, looking at maybe getting a slow cooker (so dinner's ready when we get there!) I'd like to visit Farmer's Markets where we travel for the best fresh produce - I think that will be fun.

So, however the trip ends up, it will be great. I guess I could go back to the starting quote for the answer, and summing up figuring out where to go comes to this:

Frankly, my dear, we don't give a damn!

It's Curtains For You!

He he... well, I tried to wash the front RV curtains that cover the windshield. They had a rubber backing to block out light and helped to keep the inside of the RV cooler in the hot sun, besides providing privacy at night. "Had" being the operative word, there... they came out of the washer (on delicate, cold water, Woolite) looking like they had some horrible skin disease - rubber backing peeled off in great holey patches, other parts sticking together like the convolutions of a brain... it wasn't pretty.

So we are getting new curtains! Yay! The old ones were water stained and beige and smelled of cigarettes, so I'm not exactly heartbroken. AND, the nice people at J&L RV Repair told us about Dan-Mar Drapes in Monrovia, who will custom make curtains for us in ANY color or fabric we want! And much cheaper than the ones through Camping World, especially if we use remnant fabrics.

Now I just have to pick.

What goes with denim, paisley, peace signs, flowers and prayer flags?

Okay, I'm exaggerating quite a bit - the MoHo still looks pretty conventional, but if I had my way, we'd be leaving a trail of incense instead of exhaust as we waddle down the road! Ha. (Sort of kidding.) I DO have a denim slipcover for the couch - it remains to be seen if it will fit. We pick it up from J&L RV Repair tomorrow. And we will work on it this weekend, doing some more cleaning, etc. Maybe then I'll be able to choose a color for the front drapes!!

How fun!

TOADS!

For those of you who don't speak RV, a "Toad" is actually a vehicle that is towed. Get it? Towed - toad?

So we are looking for a toad for our MoHo! If we don't get one, we'll have to either not go anywhere from our campsites, or we'll have to drive the whole RV, and that just seems like a pain either way. If we were just planning for weekend camping, no toad necessary, but a year-long sojourn on the road? Well that's different. Most "full-timers" wouldn't be without one.

This is one of the places where the choice between Vehicle + Trailer and Motorhome + Toad came into play - both probably use as much gas and space driving down the highway, but the vehicle that tows a trailer gets much worse gas mileage than a small toad that is pulled behind a MotorHome.

And parking - backing a trailer into a campsite isn't appealing at all. The MoHo has a rear view camera with sound that makes it SO easy - it's great! I get out to spot, and can just talk to Devin as he maneuvers in. And the MoHo has a really surprisingly good turning radius! Parking just has NOT been a problem for us. But we've watched Fifth Wheels with trailers really struggle with it quite a few times already.

When we get the toad, I'll just jump out, unhook and drive it to park in front of the MoHo or wherever. We have a good tow bar that came with the RV, a Blue Ox, that is supposed to be very easy to hook up and unhook. And hopefully the gear disconnect will be easy to deal with, too, and the braking system we choose (oh, there is a lot to think about with setting up our toad safely and conveniently!)

The other factor for Motorhome vs. Trailer is just the convenience of the bathroom and kitchen on the road - when we were in Alaska, if one of us had to go, we could just pull over and walk back there. Or when we got hungry, we'd find a scenic turn-out and go back and eat. It was all so easy - no set up required.

Back to the Toad.

We want an automatic - Devin can drive a manual, but it's not easy for him, so an automatic is best. We would love a 4wd vehicle, with a transfer case and REAL 4WD, so we can go exploring in those remote areas we love, like the Colorado Rockies or the Panamint Mountains, to name two places we've already explored a bit.

Those two choices together, along with the capability of being towed on it's own with 4 wheels down (no tow dolly), really limit our options. One of the only choices we have is a Jeep!

Now, I have to admit, I'm kind of excited about this!! I like the idea of driving a Jeep anywhere! We rented a car when we went to Hawaii last Christmas, and at first we had a convertible - a Chrysler Sebring: It was comfortable, top opened and closed at the touch of a button... but it just wasn't us! We felt like we should be wearing Izod Shirts and be on our way to the country club and call each other Biff and Muffy... SO not us. Ha! So we traded it in on this funky green Jeep convertible! It was loud and rattled and had plastic windows that flapped, and when we first got it, we went to take the top down and it's a complicated process!! Some wonderful local came to our rescue, saying he had one just like it once. He explained it and helped us make it work - that was really nice. Later that day, it started to rain, and it was quite a challenge getting it back up! Did we regret it or wish we had kept the Sebring? NO WAY. We loved it. And we didn't even use it off road - we looked at the map and thought about exploring the back side of Haleakala with it, but we weren't there very long, and so we spent most of our time snorkeling instead.

So I think a Jeep is for us. And I still want a convertible. And when we get where we are going, it will end up being MY car! YAY!! I will just feel cool driving a Jeep. Yep - Ms. Practical car has fallen for an image... :-)


So we think we want a Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited. Rubicon because it is the "real" 4wd - can go anywhere - model. Did you know that they are starting to make Jeeps in 2WD?? Isn't that weird?? It's just wrong, IMHO! We want the Unlimited because it has more room for all our camping gear. I kind of like the green one in the photo!

Devin really likes the new 2007 model that has 4 doors and a hard top that can come off in sections:

I've never had a new car of any kind before and my tendency is to want to save money and buy a used one that we can beat up. Devin is a new car kind of guy, and thinks of resale value and that it will be our main car and should be nice...

I wonder who will win? :-)

Solar Dreams

We've done quite a bit of research on putting a full solar charging system on our MoHo. It will allow us to stay in out-of-the-way places, dry camp and "boon-dock" without needing to hook up or run our generator, pretty much ever. This appeals to us, as we never liked being near RVs with generators ourselves, and those RV parks with hook-ups are generally pretty fancy, crowded and expensive - not the kind of experience we are really looking for.

So we've been doing lots of research and think we've figured out what we need in order to live off the sun. Here are some great websites that helped us figure it out, and three companies we are considering for the work (who also had lots of help and information about solar on their websites):

• Phred's Poop Sheets,
• Electricity from the Sun - Is it for You?
• The 12 Volt side of Life, and
• 12 Volt Side of Life, part 2
• RV Solar [NOTE: RV Solar has since gone out of business and taken down their website, but if you want to use their information sheets, you can use The Wayback Machine to view archived pages],
• RV Solar Electric,
• Discount Solar

With all these great resources, and the fact that our RV already came with an inverter and 4 house batteries, we are ready to go solar!

Now, where to get it done? We had pretty much decided on RV Solar who are located in Bend, Oregon. We didn't necessarily want to make a trip to Bend, but on their website they say they go to Quartzite every winter!

Now, Quartzite is an RV Mecca. It has a population of about 5,000 in the summer, which swells to around 500,000 (omg!) in the winter - all from RVs!!! And of course, the businesses that follow them, like RV Solar. There is apparently a lot of BLM land designated as Long Term Visitor Use Areas there. You can buy a permit for staying the whole winter for $140!

Wall-to-wall RVs is something we would have avoided like the plague before... but now, it seems kind of interesting to just check out. Most of the people there are full-timers, or at least "snowbirds" - people who "fly south" for the winters and stay long term in warm, sunny climates, like Quartzite. But the thing that is interesting is the community - all that knowledge of long-time RVers - there are seminars and classes, workshops, and all sorts of services aimed directly at RVers, and especially long term RVers. So there are lots of solar installation companies there, and other types of businesses.

So we were planning to go to Quartzite to have RV Solar do our system, but they aren't going to Quartzite this year!! I liked them best because of their website - excellent information, fun, and when you click on the about us page, they look like a bunch of hippie outdoor types - my kind of people!! Sigh. Either we will have to make a trip to Bend (where we can visit my ex - how convenient!) or settle for another installer in Quartzite.

RV Solar mentioned Discount Solar, and also said there are an awful lot of installers down there every year that are pretty fly-by-night, so to be careful. We may go with Discount Solar - they spoke highly of the owner, which is nice.

We also have the option of having our local RV Service/Repair company, J&L do the solar - and they get their supplies from RV Solar Electric, which is in Scottsdale, but doesn't do their own installation. But we like the idea of having it done AT the company that specializes in solar, so they can give us a more thorough orientation and we can be sure we are getting the best setup for us.

So now it's down to a trip to Bend and RV Solar, or a trip to Quartzite and Discount Solar.

Decisions, decisions!!