Odds and Ends: Pedicures, Outside TVs, And Other Random Thoughts

I've read a number of blogs where people new to the RV lifestyle ask about how their lives will be different.  Part of it always seems to be wishful thinking (i.e. I'll be able to do this and this and this) and part of it is fear based thinking (the dreaded what-ifs).  While I still consider myself a virgin in the world of RVing, I do have some experience.  This is our second long trip (greater than 7 weeks) and we did live full time in our rig (for 15 months) while it was parked in our driveway and later at a local park, because our daughter and her family were renting our home.  The thing I have learned is that what you do in your own home, you will do in your RV.  You might be just a tad bit more adventurous; you might be a little more lax in your housekeeping; you might sleep in a bit or stay up later than usual; however, if you are a couch potato, you will stay a couch potato; if you are someone who loves to be out doing things, you will find things to be out doing.

I'm a couch potato.  I love to read, watch TV, watch movies.  I sketch and I paint, not well, mind you, but I enjoy doing it.  I don't hike. I don't ride bikes. I don't go sightseeing (I probably would but this is one of the things my husband HATES to do, so I have let it slide and realized I will most likely never been one of those that window shops, visits little boutiques or art galleries.  I can occasionally squeeze in a Visitors Center somewhere, or maybe one little shop but it will be the kind of store that will have at least one thing my husband will find somewhat interesting.

Under the heading of wishful thinking:  I always intend to head off on these road trips planning to find "the place" where I will be inspired to write.  I have been working on a mystery novel for years.  I don't find time to write at home, why do I think I will find time or inspiration to write on the road?  I read all the blogs that show great photographs of very cool looking hikes that I make note of, but honestly, if I could find my way to a paved half-mile trail with a view of something, I'd be in 7th heaven.  More than a half mile on flat pavement, and I'm probably not going to do that.  I don't do it in Washington (and I have the book on easy hikes in my area), why do I think I will do it anywhere else?  Riding bikes at a leisurely pace always looks so much but I have never found a bicycle seat that was anywhere close to comfortable.  I do manage to meet up with long time friends who are spread out around the country, and we do manage to eat some great food and laugh up a storm, but that is something I would do at home.  One of my goals at some point is to attempt to boondock.  I'm working my way up to it.  So far I've experienced a few nights without a sewer hook up.  That's as far as I've gotten.  I know the next step will be to do without electricity and water.

Which brings us to fear based thinking.  What, no TV, no internet?  My husband assures me that I can learn to go without a shower every day.  He's pretty sure we can plan meals that will not require using every pot and pan we own (which would then require washing).  He even says our generator will provide enough electricity to run the TV and the computers.  I think he is lying.  Eventually, I will have to give it a try.  How can I know I won't like it, if I don't try it.  I never thought I'd like living in an RV or staying in RV Parks, etc., but here we are.  And trust me, if I didn't like it, I would not be doing it.

And speaking of TVs, I always thought those rigs that had the TVs outside were so cool.  In my mind, I pictured watching football or baseball games while sitting outside....like tailgate party with all the comforts of home.  I didn't think about people sitting outside watching TV at night, with the volume turned up pretty loud.  Yes, we are parked next to someone who does that.  If I had not experienced this, I would not have known how annoying it is.  I could easily see myself doing the same thing.  And I'm a TV addict.  I watch all sorts of crap along with the good stuff.  OMG, how awful it would be to be camped next to me, if I had an outside TV.  No fears, dear readers, the outside TV is now off my wish-list for our next rig.  I am holding out for one with two toilets though.....and wouldn't a dishwasher be nice?  I have one with two legs, and he does a very nice job, but for him, I'd wish for an automatic one.  So much for boondocking......it was a nice thought.

And pedicures - are you wondering what I have to share about those?  I saw a sign in the window of a rig a few weeks ago advertising pedicures for $10 and manicures for $15.  The manicures I can understand, but pedicures?  I'm wondering if this gal (and I just assumed it was a gal) had one of those vibrating massage chairs with the foot basins in her rig, or if it was just a rubbermaid bucket of warm soapy water?  The price was right, that's for sure.  I think if we go back to that park, I will check it out.

We are off to the in-laws for some extended visiting.  Thank God my DirecTV DVR will be doing it's thing, recording all those wonderful shows for me to watch when we get back.  Lord I love FHUs!

Thousand Trails Wilderness Lake Park in Menifee, CA

Such a long day on Wednesday!  We left Champagne Lakes in Escondido about 11:15 am.  By 12:15 pm, we were backed into Space #560 here at Wilderness Lakes, hooked up to electric, slides out, furnitures arranged, dishes unpacked, when we realized we were hungry.

We scored on finding this site, as I think it was the last site that backed onto an open field where I have a view south to some hills and a pasture of horses.  We haven't walked the park yet so I don't know what other options there might have been, but I'm thrilled about where we are!

Okay, I have to admit, one of the first things I decided I liked about this park was it's proximity to services.  Within 10 minutes, we were able to find a Super Target, Kohls, Lowes, Michaels, and every kind of restaurant you could imagine.  We opted for Panera Bread as I had never eaten at one, and everyone I know who has, loves them.  I've been missing my normal amount of veggies that I enjoy at home where my kitchen is big enough to have 2-3 servings with dinner plus salad.  Therefore, my choice was a shrimp salad with mixed greens, gorgonzola, almonds, and garlic infused chickpeas and butter beans, plus a cup of pesto and veggies soup.   Yum!

Kim opted for an oriental chicken salad and half of a turkey bacon sandwich, with a smoothie.

The rest of Wednesday was spent finishing getting set up, getting the water hooked up and the sewer connected.  For whatever reason, our DirecTV dish has been giving us a challenge.  It seems to take a few hours to get the adjustments right.  I say it is operator error; Kim insists it is the dish itself.  Either way, it finally locked on the signal and I was able to watch most of Survivor.  I was a happy camper, although (spoiler alert) I missed what happened when one person quit.

Tomorrow may be a lazy day.  I always say that and then we end up going off to do something, so we will see.

Santa Maria to Escondido, CA

I'm pleased to say I set a record for myself for on time departure on Tuesday.  We usually try to be ready to hit the road by 9am.  We pulled out of the Santa Maria Pines RV Park at 9:02pm.  Most of our drive down Hwy 101 was very nice and relaxing......Most of it, that is.  Somewhere about 20 miles north of Santa Barbara, as we were cresting a hill, we hear a loud noise, somewhere between a pop and a boom.  I thought we had blown a tire.  And of course, we were on a section of highway with a sign that said "No Stopping".  Well, sorry, we had to pull over.  It turns out it was just the turbo hose that had popped off.  Kim was able to reattach the clamp .... or whatever the problem was.  I stayed in the comfort of the truck while he did something under the hood.  Ten minutes later, we were on our way.  Now, it is interesting to note that I come from a family with little mechanical knowledge, but we are excellent worriers, and always jump to the worst case scenarios.   To combat this (the worrying part, not the mechanical part which is a lost cause for me), I've studied New Thought metaphysics and the power of positive thinking for years.  I spent most of the rest of the trip down to Escondido muttering, "I strive for serenity in all situations" and surprisingly to Kim, I did manage to stay relatively calm throughout the worst driving day yet.  It rivaled my driving down I-5, towing a small U-Haul trailer and having to change lanes during rush hour in the middle of Los Angeles, but I digress as that was years ago.

Luckily we had no more problem with the hose, but the cooling system in the truck continues to be acting up.  We did have to pull off at the weigh station just south of Camarillo to let the engine cool.  Then it was on to more stressful traffic.  Now let me preface this with the fact that if we were driving a car, it would have been intense, but not particularly stressful.  I find that when you are pulling a 5th wheel that the average driver has no clue about what it takes to maneuver it, including that you can't stop on a dime when they cut you off trying to get on to or off the highway.  The route we ended up taking was from the 101 (which really was the worst of it) to the 134 to the 210 to the 57 to the 71 to the 91 and finally to the 15.  Yikes.  Now that we've driven it, it wouldn't be that bad to do it again.  Not sure that we will, but my stress level as the navigator would be significantly lower.

We arrived at Champagne Lakes RV Park about 2:45pm.   A nice park, about a mile off I-15, and about 10 miles north of Escondido, off old Hwy 395.  It's a nice park, with plenty of green.  Fairly large sites. Large cement pads.  There are what I would call big ponds (they call them lakes) with creeks running between them.   They do have catch and release fishing in the lakes.  It's pretty quiet, with very faint highway noises if you listen for them. Lots of birds chirping, along with a  fair number of ducks and geese.   I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I will today or tomorrow.

A few things came up.  First and most devastating to me, the TV addict, is that we have been unable to get our DirecTV dish to pick up a signal.  I pay for DNS (distant network services) so that I can receive both the East and West Coast feeds.  That way I can watch and record multiple programs and get them early enough to enjoy them before I fall asleep in my chair at 9pm.  I'm glad the park has at least minimal cable channels, so I was able to watch Criminal Minds and CSI Wednesday night, but I did miss American Idol.  If we can't find a signal today, I will resort to watching what I can on-line, and we may have to consider that the dish itself needs replacing.  It was working when we were up in San Juan Bautista, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will find the signal today.

The other things that came up were the water heater drain plug was leaking (Kim wasn't sure he would be able to get a tight fit with the replacement plug as he didn't have the right sized socket).  It appears that problem has been resolved.  Then even with our extra sewer hose extension, we were short.  I am very blessed to have a friend in the area who chauffeured us around to Camping World, US Bank, the grocery store, and Fry's Electronics to pick up various and sundry items, the most important of which was more sewer hose so we could dump our now full gray water tanks.

We are here for two weeks.  I hope to finally kick back and relax.  One of these days, we will finally put out our new awning, get out the chairs, and go "Ahhhhhh."

Kim and The Satellite TV Dish - Who Will Win?

Not a 'Complete Idiot' yet - but I'm working on it.

So as you know, if you've been following Betsy's posts, we've been traveling from Snohomish, WA to Phoenix, AZ. So far we've gotten by with hooking up to the various camp ground's tv cable outlet. Well, now that we've gotten to the Phoenix area and are stayin in one spot for the next week it was time to drag out and set up the satellite tv dish. The satellite receiver has a built in application with two bar graphs and an audible signal that runs on the tv screen to help you aim the dish for maximum signal strength. So I'm all set up, the tripod is leveled and locked in place,the dish is aimed in the general direction (145 deg south) and I'm slowly moving the dish right to left trying to locate the signal. After several attempts with no luck I remember we are now much further south and the dish probably has to be re-aimed higher. I fired up the old computer and Googled 'directv aiming dish' and found a web site were you can enter your zip code and get the proper coordinates for that area. Sure enough, I need to aim about 10 deg higher. I make that
adjustment and...what!! still not a hint of a signal.

As I'm sitting at my computer, scratching myhead, I look up and notice that although I had run the dish cables through the window I neglected to connect them to the dish receiver. Once I had the cables connected it only took another minute to tune in the dish and, voila! tv!

I'm not sure if continuing to work at becoming a 'complete idiot' is better than finally becoming one and not have to keep making dumb mistakes. I'm sure I'll never know.

Satellite TV Installation

On Friday, we got satellite TV installed in the 5th wheel. We decided to go with Directv. The technician showed up this morning about 9am. First he set up the dish and tripod and using his expensive satellite finder homed it in on the proper satellite. Next he installed the cables and ran them into the trailer using flat wire adapters. The adapters go through a window opening and then you can close (almost) the window. Next we went inside to set up the satellite receiver/DVR box. Again, this only took a few minutes to make up the inside satellite cables to the receiver box, plug in the video and audio cables to the TV and plug in the box. After turning everything on it went through a self-initialization process and downloaded a system upgrade and, Ta da, we now have satellite TV. We got the DVR option so we can pre-record our favorite programs. We had this option when we had Comcast cable and really liked being able to record and then watch programs at a more convenient time. Plus you can record one program while watching another.