Author: Lee and Tracy

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March 2019 Budget

Sorry this has taken me so long to get completed, but as you all know there has been a ton going on.  Because of Lee’s heart attack we only made about $1100 in the month of March, but thankfully we got a $1700 Income Tax return that really helped. Lee also made $2800 for working in March but we still haven’t gotten paid for that. We had also socked some money away in January and February so we think we are going to squeak by without tapping our savings.  Still not 100% sure on that, it depends on when the summer job checks start rolling in.  We ended up spending $4311 in March which was $825 over budget.  These costs do NOT include any medical expenses.  Those bills are still coming in and I will report out on them separately. Please see below for more detailed information.

 

Campground Fees – We haven’t spent over $500 on campground fees in a couple of years.  We had other choices, but I wanted to be with friends, and since Lee was working I didn’t really want to boondock alone.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to take advantage of lower monthly rates at the Arizonian because we only stayed 10 days.  The positive part was I spent lots of time socializing Jack, and I got to see Guy and Sue.

Groceries – We went over a little bit, but are staying pretty close to the newly adjusted budget.  I added $100 a month this year after 3 years of hardly ever making budget in this category.

Dining Out – Between the two categories we were $15 under.

Entertainment – We went over by $50.  This was mostly books as we took advantage of the Half Priced Bookstores in San Antonio and stocked up for this summer.

Truck Fuel – This was high this month because of the trips back and forth to the hospital and making our way to Phoenix.

Truck Maintenance – This was $441 because we had our 100,000 mile service done and spent $100 on a deductible to get the transmission pan replaced.

Mail and Postage – We have to keep $100 on account with them at all times and from time to time they do an automatic charge to keep that level.

Gifts – I bought the stuff for Kyrston’s baby onesies.

Not our best month for sure, but considering what happened I was glad to see we didn’t go crazy in a couple of the categories.  Again, no medical expenses are in this month because we haven’t started paying those bills yet.  Once we get into all that I will let you know.

(And here’s my goodies. So sorry I didn’t have this last month, I was busy having a heart attack and stuff. – Lee)

Here’s the year by year month comparison:

And here’s the more expanded graph that shows all of the months

 

 

And here’s the breakdown of the month. RV and Truck insurance and a few others are 1% or less, so aren’t shown. 

 

Here’s the “travel map” for the month. 


There’s no weather data unfortunately, because we moved around so much, and I didn’t always remember to set up the station. So there are so many gaps I just left it off. 

 

And finally, here’s some more detail numbers…

14 days at campgrounds, fees are reflected in the expenses for the month ($563)
13 days “moochdocking” at the Center For Mental Wellness™, also known as Greg & Cori’s place e while I recovered from my heart attack. Thanks again, guys!
4 days at a work location, so no campground fees

Total pictures taken: 893

Total data used across all devices: 298 GB

Total truck miles:  2,102.8
Non-Towing Truck Miles: 915.3
Total trailer miles:  1,187.5
Total Engine Hours: 47
Fuel Used: 183.8 gallons
Avg. MPG: 11.4

and here’s Jack trying to get Hobie to play…..

 

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.

 

First Snowy Hike

You never know what will happen when you venture out with Deb and Steve, but we have learned from past experience to be prepared for anything!  We started out the day with an idea of taking a 1.7 mile hike along the rim trail.  A portion of it was closed, so we thought we would do what we could.  Before we got started though Lee wanted a cup of coffee, and we went into the General Store near Sunrise Point.  Steve and Lee got into a conversation with the employee there who told them that one of the trails to the bottom of the canyon was passable.  Since Steve really wanted to go to the bottom, Lee was willing to give it a try.

I was pretty nervous because although the hike was only 1.5 miles it had an elevation change of 850 feet.  Not only had we never done a hike with that much elevation change, Lee hadn’t hiked that far since the heart attack.  He was adamant he wanted to go though, and since we had packed lots of water and food, I said I was willing to give it a try.  If nothing else I thought we could always turn back, and I would like to see more of the canyon.

We had to hike through the snow to get to the trail head.

 

Here’s Lee with his cup of coffee!

 

The fairyland trail was an additional 4.4 miles but was closed.

 

The path was part mud and part snow, but didn’t look that bad in the beginning.

 

And the views right around the corner were outstanding.

 

 

Closeup with the long lens.

 

The path soon became more snow than mud though and we needed to pay close attention. This tree was the only obstacle in the path.

 

But we didn’t let that stop us

 

The path kept changing and we really had to watch our feet. Small steps were definitely called for and I really wished I would have brought my poles!

 

There were places to stop for rock hugs though

 

And some beautiful trees.

 

Lee’s pic…looks like a painting.

 

Eventually we turned a corner and saw the wall!

 

It was huge and really amazing and stayed in view for a large section of the hike.

 

I loved this section that looked like a mask.

Our favorite section of the hike was when we got really close to a section of wall. It was so tall and majestic it was hard to know where to look.

 

The path was totally dry on this side. See that tiny hole up in the middle left of the wall?

 

You could walk up to it on the path before coming down

 

This “little” section of wall was directly across from the large section.

 

Steve and Deb.

 

We all had a great time taking turns getting our picture taken.  So much to look at.

 

Gives you some perspective.

 

Someone is happy 🙂

 

Directly across was this rock formation that I thought looked like a huge poodle.

 

And I loved this tree

 

After that section the path was in much better shape, but it started to get really hot.  We had to start shedding layers as we walked and by the time we got down to the river, it was definitely warm.

The river

 

Deb heard water flowing and walked off the path to find this charming little waterfall. I have never seen a pink waterfall before.

Lee felt the waterfall deserved it’s own short video…..

 

Finally we made it to the Tower Bridge sign which was the end of the trail.

 

Steve and Deb were glad to see this. Three of these and you are considered a Hoodoo hiker.

 

The tower bridge itself was a bit anti-climatic, but did provide a shaded area to eat lunch

 

Here’s a short video Lee made of the hike….

Now it was time to hike back up and I was really dreading it.  It wasn’t great, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, mainly because we took multiple breaks along the way.  Plus it was much warmer going up and we stayed in our T shirts all the way.  I am really happy that we hiked all the way to the bottom and felt a sense of accomplishment from doing it.  It definitely wasn’t easy, but we saw people older than us doing it, and even one family carrying babies on their backs.  That will make you feel like a sissy pretty quickly!  I am especially glad that Lee had no trouble whatsoever, despite the cardio workout on the way back up.  That was wonderful, and I conquered my fears about doing a hike with significant elevation change, which was nice to do.  All in all really glad we got to experience it and especially with Steve and Deb.  We frequently stretch ourselves when we are with them and I am always grateful for it.

(Here’s a bonus video of some of the vistas from Bryce! Always best in fullscreen, at 1080 resolution. – Lee)

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.
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First Hike to Mossy Cave

Because this was our first trip to Bryce, Lee and I were open to just about anything. Deb and Steve had been there 20 years before with their kids and had a list of things they would like to do to “fill in the gaps.”  Unfortunately, many of the tougher trails were closed due to snow, but we discovered that a trail off the beaten track was open.

In order to get to the Mossy cave trail, we needed to leave the park, get back on twelve, and then reenter the park.  One of the nicest features of this hike is you don’t have to pay the entrance fee to get to it, and because it is out of the way it was less crowded the day we were there. It is also an easy trail with a round trip distance of 1 mile and a payoff of the cavern and a waterfall at the end.

Despite how easy it was, there is a lot packed into it, but let me just show you.

Pretty small parking lot at entrance, but off season we had no trouble finding parking.

 

Stunning start.

 

One of the first things we learned was that the Mormon pioneers had built the Tropic ditch we were walking along to help irrigate their field.  The scope of that is mind boggling and really enhanced the experience.  Not only was it beautiful it was also historical.

Great bridge.

 

The rocks with the irrigation “ditch”. Stunning.

 

It was kiss inspiring!

 

And not just for us. Deb noticed the rocks behind them looked like they were kissing so they wanted to also…it was that kind of day!

It didn’t take long to get to the trail split and we headed left up into the mossy cave. This is the only place the trail gets a little steep but it was definitely worth it.  In the summer, the cave has moss, but we got something better.  Ice!!

As we hiked up we could see the water flowing and I was glad of the railing.

 

This sign explained the cave.

 

But the coolest part was the ice formations. Really pretty and interesting,

 

It was hard to top the ice crystals but we decided we wanted to see the larger waterfall and walked the other way.  The nicest part of that was we could get up close with the water and Lee had a really good time.  I was getting a little hot though because the canyon was in full sun.  That’s been pretty common in our time up here and it’s important to layer up and bring plenty of water, because it might be cold at the start of the hike, but the canyon floors are often VERY hot.

There was a small arch across from the waterfall.

 

Deb really liked the colors in the rocks. They were an interesting shade of pinks and orange.

 

Lee was making me super nervous, although at this point I should be used to it.

 

Lee’s picture.

 

The trail up to the arch was closed, which would have added to the difficulty.

 

Nice little formation.

 

(Here’s a little video of the hike! Looks best in full screen, 1080p!- Lee)

 

 

 

Me and Deb!

It was a really nice hike and it was early enough in the day that you can do something else.  Another day we drove right by it and decided we wanted to try and see Cedar Breaks which was only 74 miles away. Unfortunately we could only get so far because the route was still closed to snow.  It’s surprising how quickly the geography can change at these higher elevations and important to never take for granted that roads can be closed. This year in particular was unique because we learned they received 200% of the snowfall they usually get.  Thus many road/trail closures.

Scenic road 14 is amazing but even in a truck it’s kind of scary.

 

Strange to go from desert warmth to snow covered hills.

 

Beautiful though.

 

The snow drifts were crazy high which we learned when we got to the Cedar Break entrance!

 

No wonder they haven’t opened it yet!!!

So what do you do when you can’t get into a National Monument because of snow??  Well Cowboy buffet of course, at the Ruby Inn.  Don’t get me wrong the buffet was way over priced, but the food was decent and sometimes it’s fun to do the touristy thing.

Ruby Inn

 

Cool lobby.

 

Had a great gift shop

 

I almost bought this for myself.

 

And this for Steve LOL!!

 

It was a large buffet.

 

With lots of variety. The pot roast was great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not all days turn out the way you expect them.  It’s important to be philosophical when that happens, and remind yourself you are not on vacation.  We may only have 4 days to see Bryce BUT unlike our old life, this isn’t a “one and done” visit.  We can and should come back later.  Being with friends who also take the long view helps with that.  Sure it’s disappointing when a day doesn’t go exactly as planned, but rolling with the unexpected is part of successfully living this life.

Next up the most challenging hike we have done to date!

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.
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First Time Seeing Bryce Canyon

When we first visit a new national park we generally start with the visitors center and then take the scenic drive.  The drive helps orient us in the park and also gives us a feel for which trail heads are the busiest.  These scenic drives can take hours, and often turn into short walks which can lead to a mini hike.  Even though we knew the Bryce scenic road was open 11 miles we wanted to take advantage of the beautiful day.

Let me just say the views were absolutely stunning.  Everyone should visit this park at least once, but don’t take my word for it check out the pictures.  And yes the sky was really that blue.

Yes just wow.  Aptly named Inspiration Point.

 

From Left: Lee, me, Deb, and Steve

 

Some of the trails/viewpoints were closed, but we saw what we could.

 

You can see how high the snow was in some spots.

 

I loved the snow with the green and the red rocks.

 

 

Bryce Point was really cool, we walked all the way out to the end.

 

The rule in the national parks is “paws on pavement” but we left them in the car because of the snow.

 

 

The hoodoos eventually collapse under their weight and look like this picture. In 3 million years scientists estimate Bryce Canyon will be totally flat.

 

The shades from the sun and the clouds were really pretty.

 

Here’s one without us kissing 🙂

 

 

You seriously cannot take a bad picture here.

 

The guys doing a little posing.

 

 

One of the coolest spots is the Natural Bridge where we let the dogs out a bit.

 

Deb taught us how to do this cool panoramic affect. Basically I started the picture then I run behind the person taking it when they move the camera past me, then switch my position and their I am at the end. Very fun.

It was a really cool day and we decided that we would definitely try and do a hike next.  The warm weather encouraged us all that it might be possible and we had other parts of the park we wanted to explore.

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.
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Driving to Bryce

Sometimes on short mileage days, it actually takes us longer to get to a place than on a regular day.  That’s because you know you have time and we tend to dawdle in the morning.  Lee decided he wanted to go to the store and do some laundry so we didn’t get moving until close to noon.  Deb and Steve also had to go to the store, plus she wanted to wash her rig and Steve had a conference call, so they had a late start as well.

None of us were worried because Deb had called Bryce and was told the campground was first come first serve, and we should have no problem getting in.  What they didn’t tell her was all but one loop was closed, and by the time we got there around 5pm there were only two spots left!  We were extremely lucky that those two spots were large enough for us and next to each other…but I am jumping ahead.  First, the drive.

It was strange to go from desert to higher elevations with snow.

Deb took this picture of us in the rear view window. Normally we wouldn’t have gone together but since it was first come first serve we wanted to make sure we both got a place.

We knew we were getting close when we hit Red Rock Canyon. This isn’t a part of Bryce but super cool in and of itself and we want to go back and spend more time there.

Glad Deb and Steve went through first! The sign said 13’6″ clearance, but we think it was a bit taller than that.

The red rocks with the snow covered hills nearby was really beautiful.

When we arrived at the campground, as I said only loop A was open, and only two spots left, but they were good ones.  Unfortunately they weren’t totally cleared of snow and no picnic table or campfire.  The dump station was also closed, but we had dumped and filled before leaving Lone Rock, because Deb had found out it wasn’t open.

We were backed right up to the snow in our site.

Steve’s grill lol and as you can see no way we were getting to the picnic area.

Our site

Steve and Deb’s was right behind us.

The park was full and mostly it was tent campers and small RV’s which I thought was crazy. It wasn’t that cold during the day but night was below freezing.

For Jack it was a HUGE adjustment. He had just come from sand and now it was his first time seeing snow. He was a bit tentative at first.

But soon he was climbing the snow banks like a champ.

The only downside was a wet and dirty belly when he came back in from playing in the snow.

That night I’ll be honest I was a little disappointed.  The campground was $30 a night (pretty steep for what we were getting) and it was overcast.  The last part is what really bothered me because you simply can’t take great pictures on overcast days.  We were unsure on whether or not we wanted to stay, but by the time we got settled it was 6pm and too late to move.  The full hookup campground in town was $49 a night and the boondocking spot was a no go because the ground was too wet. All in all it had been a long day and not how I wanted my Bryce experience to start.  Consequently we decided to just get a good nights sleep and see what tomorrow brought us.

Thankfully when we woke up the next day the sun was shining.  It was a beautiful day and despite the snow on the ground, not cold at all.  Lee and I were up and ready to go really early, so we decided to pop up to the visitors center and get some information on the park.

Really nice visitors center.

This solar array was as large as a drive through movie theater screen

Basically only 11 miles of the scenic drive was open and most of the trails to the bottom of the canyon.

We learned that Bryce was part of the same geography that the Grand Canyon was.

Mt first hoodoos were inside but nice replicas.

We learned Bryce was one of the darkest places in the US.

And I got up close and personal with this prairie dog exhibit.

And as a special treat we saw some real prairie dogs on the ride back to the campground.

Things were definitely looking up and the four of us decided to take advantage of the sun and start with the scenic drive.  That turned out to be an amazing experience but I am going to save that for my next post.  Too many good pictures to fit into this one.

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.

 

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Jack’s New Favorite Place

After we picked up our rig we finally headed north, happy that we were on the road again.  We had plans to meet up with Deb and Steve in Bryce Canyon but had a couple of days to kill.  The great thing about Northern Arizona is there are lot of places to boondock, and we briefly discussed stopping in Flagstaff, but the ground was still a bit snowy and wet, and we were worried about how firm the spots would be.  We also discussed going to Winslow, AZ but that was a bit out of the way.  Ultimately we decided to drive through to Lone Rock Beach in Page where Deb and Steve were.

Desert in bloom as we made our way north.

We have stayed here before and it is a really nice spot.  They have spots right down near the water and trash, water, and a dump station on site.  If you have an America the Beautiful pass it is $15 a night and well worth it for the services and the view, as well as the close proximity to the town of Page.  The only downside we discovered when we arrived is the area is Off Network for us.  Last year we had no idea we were off network but as I mentioned this year AT&T is cracking down on that.  Basically that meant we could make phone calls and text, but no data usage. It was still worth it though because of Jack’s reaction.  Let me just show you.

Jack got out at the dumpstation and was looking around while we filled up with water.

The view is pretty spectacular

There is space up top for people who don’t want to risk the sand down below but Steve came up and we followed him down

We have to be extra careful not to get into soft sand with the 4×2.

They had saved us a spot with some chairs

Deb and Hurley came our to say hi.

And Hurley and Jack spent some time getting acquainted.

Hurley was super patient with the puppy antics.

After we got settled in, I decided to take Jack for a walk and that’s where the fun came in.  We were parked on the edge of a HUGE sand dune and I was able to take Jack off leash.  After all the days of being cooped up he went crazy and then we went down and saw his first ever lake, although he was a bit more tentative there.  I shot lots of video and pictures and Lee made a little movie.  Jack was pure joy to watch and did more than anything else in helping me shake off the stress from the previous couple of weeks.

Zooming

He was going so fast it was hard to get the shot. Got lucky on this one.

Checking out the lake.

Chasing some ducks.

He kept going until it started to get dark.

Nice sunset.

And we all settled in and had a lovely campfire.

The next morning Hurley and Jack ran down to the shore.

More zoomies.

Deb was throwing sticks in the water for Hurley but Jack wouldn’t get in.

He waited at the shore and as soon as Hurley hit the ground would try and get the stick. Was really funny.

Deb finally gave Jack his own little stick.

Jack stayed with me the entire time except once when he started chasing some crows. Then I had to chase him until they finally landed on the restroom and taunted him.

We all had a great day and were a little sad to head towards Bryce.  Jack went from sand to snow in just one day so stay tuned to see how that went.  And if you want to see Jack in action here is a video.  It’s a little long at 3 minutes but it was so much fun to watch.

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.

 

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First Time Getting the RV Welded

Last year when we were in Utah, Lee noticed a little separation in a seam of one of our side panels in the front right of our RV.  The separation was only noticeable when we were hitched, and since we were in the middle of our time off we had an important decision to make.  Do we stop everything and have it looked at or continue on and monitor the problem?  We chose to continue on, but that separation really bothered Lee.

During the next five months we were stationary at Timothy Lake, and when we eventually did move the RV, it was only down to Texas where we only moved a couple of times in a four month period.  The separation continued to widen, and by March it was wide enough you could stick your fingers in it. It also appeared that a weld was broken, although this was quite a bit harder to see.

At this point we knew we needed to do something, so when Lee picked up some work in Phoenix near the end of March we thought it would be the perfect opportunity.  Originally I thought about dropping it off myself and staying with Lee in the hotel, but I really wanted him to be available for all of the conversations.  We knew this could be a huge job, because we had seen the work that our friends Howard and Linda had done on their fifth wheel.  Ultimately their entire front slide had to be taken apart and all of the metal reinforced.  We even went back and reread their blog posts to have a firm handle on what we could be getting into.

The problem is you can’t really tell without taking apart the skin.  In our case we wanted to be sure that we were already at a reputable company before tearing it apart.  Lee did a ton of research and ultimately settled on Premiere Coachworks and Autobody Shop. He spoke to Carl at length about our particular situation.  Unlike other RV repair work we knew we would not be able to stay in our rig.  At the time we were assuming an expensive hotel stay and obviously wanted to keep the repair time frame very short.  Ultimately a friend made a generous offer and we had a free place to stay for up to two weeks, which gave us some more breathing room. Carl told us over the phone he could not give any kind of an estimate until they could see inside and was even honest about the fact there was a small chance the rig might need to be totaled. Lee liked what he heard and made an appointment for Monday at noon.

One of the most stressful parts of the whole thing was figuring out what to pack. We needed to pack in advance and had no idea how long we would be gone.

When arrived at the location we were a little early, and unfortunately we were blocking the entrance when we pulled in.  We went inside to the office and they got us sorted out pretty quickly and Lee pulled up the RV so they could take a look.  The technician had the same problem we had, and although he knew something was wrong they couldn’t be specific as to what without doing some tearing down to get a look.  It could be anything from the frame just flexing to a broken frame, and the only way to know was to open it up.  At that point I wanted to talk to our warranty company and Carl wisely suggested we all have a call with them together.

Jack and I went inside the office to tell them we were there.

 

Lee and Carl looking at the rig

The company works pretty frequently with insurance companies, but warranty companies will rarely pay for walls. I had my contract in hand though that stated, “metal frame, brackets, and weld” was covered.  There was also a section that stated, “a covered wear and tear breakdown will be deemed to occur when a component fails to perform its function as it was originally designed to work..”  In my mind it was clearly the metal frame and clearly wear and tear as I knew we had never had an accident.

When we got the claims adjuster on the phone, he had a different idea.  He referred me to the section of exclusions that states and exclusion for,”body structure…delamination…fiberglass panels..”  At this point I pushed back.  I specifically remember asking the salesman who sold me this $4K Platinum coverage warranty if the metal frame was included and being told yes.  Turns out the metal frame is the base only and does not refer to the aluminum frames in the wall.

This is a basic RV frame, or chassis. The vertical pieces (like studs in a house) are not part of the frame, and while the frame is steel, the “studs” are aluminum.

 

This is the construction cutaway from the factory for our model. As you can see they specific the base frame as being made of steel they say nothing at all about the aluminum walls, which is weird right?

The warranty person wasn’t budging and refused to open a claim until he had proof that the base metal frame was cracked.  That didn’t mean they would pay the claim, just that they would open one.  Since the only way to find out was to peel back the skin, Lee and I authorized four hours of work at $110 an hour to diagnose the problem  We had talked about money before ever pulling into the lot and knew what our top end dollar amount was.

Since Carl and his tech spent time walking us through what could be wrong and what their process was to diagnose, we both felt comfortable.  I especially liked the fact that Carl repeatedly said they would not be able to tell if anything was wrong in areas they could not see.  We did ask to be brought back as soon as they diagnosed the problem so we could talk about next steps in person.  If it was going to cost $500 to see the problem I wanted to see it with my own eyes.  Around 4pm we called and they said we could come in and take a look.  The good news was the metal frame that they could see looked fine.  The bad news was the aluminum wall piece had separated from the frame.  When we asked what could cause it he said any number of things including opening and shutting the slide, rattling from the road, or just normal stresses on the rig.  They are designed to flex with stress and Carl really emphasized how common these type of incidents were.

They had to pull off the bulkhead off to see what was going on.

 

Lee looking at the break between aluminum and metal frame.

 

This was the best picture I could get of it. I circled the separation. It doesn’t look like much but when it pushed out it caused the separation in the wall panel. The vertical piece if the “stud” and you can see where it’s only spot welded and has come away from the larger horizontal piece below.

 

Thankfully the metal frame looked really good.

 

They were particularly concerned about around the hitch but that looked fine.

At that point they were able to talk through our options.  They could leave the break, and just fix the outer “skin”.  They could weld the break and use industrial strength glue on it and fix the skin.  Or they could start replacing pieces.  That would of course be the most costly option, because they would need to “rebuild the rig.”  Unfortunately to replace the aluminum pieces they would need to gut the interior, which is why that option is so time consuming and costly. And even if they did that they couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t happen again. The middle option of a weld and glue would take about three days and cost $1700 (this price included the original $500 we spent) so we decided to go with that one.

Personally I breathed a huge sigh of relief that it was not catastrophic failure. It was clear to both of us that these stress fractures were going to be an ongoing issue, and this was made even more clear when he showed us some other RV’s on the lot.  There were a couple that were torn apart and we could clearly see the aluminum frames.  Most RV’s simply aren’t built for what we put them through, and seeing several that were being rebuilt really drove that home.  Carl also spent quite a bit of time talking us through how to keep up on the cracks in the skin.  It was very important that we consistently inspected them and kept them caulked to keep water from getting in to the frame. We are certainly not alone in having some cracks in the outer skin, but as long as we treat them and make sure we keep an eye on them it shouldn’t be a major issue. The number one focus is keeping any water incursion out.

His honesty really was refreshing and like I said I felt better.  It’s a home on wheels and this is a natural consequence of traveling with it, which is what we intend to do.  I didn’t even bother with going back to the insurance company at that point, because I didn’t want the delay.  From my earlier conversation I knew they would fight the repair, so we just went ahead and signed for it.  They promised to take some pictures of the repair and call us when it was done.

Unfortunately the pictures we received aren’t that good.  They were unable to get any good pictures of the inside work, but did show and exterior shot of when the work was being done.

Exterior when they were holding it together after the weld and glue.

 

The finished product looked good as new, which is the white trim piece. the grey trim piece needs to be replaced, and Lee’s summer project is resealing every seal on the rig.

 

I don’t really know what else to say.  On the one hand, it wasn’t the catastrophic failure I was so worried about.  On the other hand, I have no confidence that something similar wont happen again, eventually.  I will say that I was very pleased with how we were treated at Premiere Coachworks and would absolutely recommend them.  They obviously knew what they were doing and I REALLY appreciated their honesty.  Would it have been nice to be told that the problem was fixed and would never happen again?…sure. But that isn’t realistic, and if there is one thing we have learned in this lifestyle is it is better to face its challenges head on.

 

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.

 

 

 

by

Apartment Living

Let me start by saying that we have spotty cell coverage in Utah, so these posts may end up being a bit delayed.  Last year AT&T unlimited let us use Verizon, but this year they are cracking down on out of network data usage, so we need to be careful with what we do and where.  I am also going to do a completely separate post on the repair work that we had done in Phoenix.  I am waiting on additional pictures from the repair shop in order to complete that.  Obviously it wasn’t a complete disaster as we are already back on the road, but I want to walk you through all of that separately.  That leaves explaining why the post is titled “apartment living”, which is a pretty interesting story in and of itself.

Right after Lee had his heart attack, I was contacted by Kathy who is a long time blog reader.  She and I had never met, but she has followed our travels since the beginning and wanted to help.  She is a regional manager for a property management company and they have facilities in the Phoenix area.  She talked to her boss, explained our situation, and received permission for us to stay in one of their model apartments.  Initially when she sent the email I was confused.  Not because she was unclear, it was a succinct and professional email, but because my brain couldn’t register the fact that someone had made this offer.  At the time we had no idea how long the repair would take and knew that at $100+ a day our bank account was going to take a major hit.  Not to mention the fact that we needed someplace dog friendly.

Out of nowhere a stranger stepped in with a solution to all of my problems, and it goes without saying that sort of thing doesn’t happen every day.  We exchanged emails and then phone calls and I realized she was completely sincere. When I realized the offer was real, I actually burst into tears.  I was overwhelmed by their kindness.  I learned later that they felt as if they knew us through the blog and because our budgets and honest posts had been so helpful to them when they were making the decision to start full timing they wanted to help.

So we had a destination when we rolled out of the Arizonian on Monday morning and Lee and I said goodbye to Sue and Guy knowing we might see them later in April. We had a noon appointment at Premier Coachworks which was across town.

Jack taking one last walk with Lee. I knew Jack would miss his puppy friends.

Because traffic was lighter than expected we ended up getting there around 10:30am.  It is a busy place, and when we pulled in we found that we were blocking their driveway.  That was OK and they welcomed us and eventually had us pull up close to their office.  Although we had sent pictures, it is next to impossible to diagnose what was happening over the phone, and we knew the problem could be anything from a minor skin issue to a complete frame repair.  I am going to write about this visit in detail in my next post, but for now will say we felt comfortable enough with the service manager and repair tech to leave our RV and authorize up to $500 worth of work to diagnose the problem.

That was not a foregone conclusion by the way. A couple of times we have dropped off our rig for service and felt like it was being held hostage.  That’s a huge deal when you full-time RV and we both agreed that if we weren’t “feeling it” we would go to a plan B.  As soon as I was sure we would be dropping it off, I called Ann, the property manager.  She knew there was a chance we wouldn’t need the apartment at all, but they had gotten it ready anyway.

We headed that way, which was luckily only 20 minutes from the repair shop, and stopped at Chipotle for a quick lunch. Once we had our food and were sitting down, we took a moment to talk.  We both agreed that we should proceed cautiously, but were optimistic.  The possibility of catastrophic rig failure was still in the back of our minds, bu we felt that was pretty unlikely.  We were both looking forward to being able to just sit for a minute and headed to the apartment complex.

Redhawk rentals owns several different apartment complexes, but we were staying at Sheely Farms.  The website had a nice video with the model walk through which turned out to be the same unit we were staying in.  When we arrived we introduced ourselves to Ann and she took us on a tour of the facility.  I was really impressed by how nice it was and we toured the pool, workout facility, business centers and then the apartment itself.  Maintenance had done a checkout on the apartment and was very sorry that the dishwasher wasn’t working, but they had the part on order.  I just laughed and explained we hadn’t had a dishwasher in four years, so I wouldn’t mind doing dishes by hand.

Master bedroom

 

Loved loved the huge tub,

 

Spare bathroom.

 

The walk in closest were crazy huge. Bigger than my kitchen

 

Living room

 

Great inner courtyard patio with a beautiful view

After the tour was done and we had the keys, we drove the truck around and brought Jack inside.  This was his first experience with apartment living and seemed a little overwhelmed by all the space.  He followed me from room to room not letting me out of his sight, which was a bit of a pain as we tried to unpack.  It was hard knowing what to bring since we didn’t know how long we were staying, so we had several suitcases. Eventually Jack settled down and started making himself at home.

Jack hopped right on the bed.

 

And got comfortable on the couch.

 

Eventually he and Lee took a nap.

We finally received the call around 4pm that the problem had been diagnosed.  W drove back up, so we could see the damage in person, received our quote and approved the work.  The estimate was roughly 3 days work, so I grabbed some snacks out of the fridge and we headed back to the apartment.  By this time it was late and it was either peanut butter sandwiches or take out so we decided on Pizza.  I went and picked it up, but unfortunately the order was wrong, so I had to wait while another pizza was made.  They did give me the mistake though and finally we were eating dinner around 7:15pm.

Amazing to have a full size refrigerator again. Three pizza boxes fit inside, which is crazy to me.

In anticipation of cooking some meals, I had brought some canned items with me, but we discovered at this point there were no pots and pans.  We could certainly go back up and get ours from the RV, but Lee said since it was only a few days we should try to not make ourselves crazy.  Actually that was his common theme throughout the three days.  He had completely quit smoking the Thursday before and was super zen about the whole thing.  The last thing I wanted to do was make his life more difficult but I was definitely struggling more.  I was still stuck on 10 cigarettes a day and having a hard time getting over the hump.  I was seriously thinking about going to e-cigarettes at that point and really just trying to work it all out.

The next morning we woke up and headed to our drug test/physicals.  We had scheduled these for our summer job weeks before and again were thrilled that the location was so close to the apartment.  Unfortunately despite our having appointments, it took two hours to complete and I was really annoyed by the whole thing.  Popping in to do a quick drug test is one thing, but losing two hours of my life, unpaid, really ticked me off.  Afterwards I was looking for a place for us to eat lunch and stumbled across the fact that there was a Sweet Tomatoes nearby.  This was one of my favorite places in Oregon and I had no idea they were in Phoenix.  Best of all I knew everything was pretty healthy in that restaurant and I didn’t need to worry about taking Lee there.

Every menu item has nutrition information. The only thing I was missing was sodium. I actually called the company headquarters, thanked them for their restaurant, but requested that additional info after we had lunch.

That lunch really cheered me up, especially since we were on our way to see Bill and Nancy.  We met them at our very first RV-Dreams rally and had been lucky enough to see them a few times since.  We had always really liked them and since they had been on the road a long time really looked up to them.  When we heard they were coming out west wanted to meet up.  Once again the timing was perfect and our paths crossed while we were in Phoenix.  Plus they were staying at Lost Dutchman State Park, which has a beautiful view of the Superstition Mountains.  We happily paid our $7 day use fee and headed to their site.

The beautiful Superstition Mountains were right across from their site

 

From Left: Lee, Nancy, me, and Bill

 

We talked for hours.

 

And Jack sat in his pen until…

 

He decided to try to find a way out

 

And eventually actually put his feet in the bars and climbed right out. Escape dog!!

 

It was sad saying goodbye but we know we will see them again!

Seeing them was exactly what we both needed and really helped reconnect us to why we had started his lifestyle to begin with.  We both decided we needed to just rest the next day and ended up hanging out at the apartment.  This gave me the time to really reflect on the differences between apartment and RV living and I was surprised by how many there were.  We often tell non-rvers we live in an apartment on wheels, but in retrospect that isn’t really the case.  Since we haven’t actually lived in an apartment since 1990, I suppose its understandable that we forgot what it is like. When I realized how many differences there were, I started to make a list.  Big shock right?

  1.  An apartment is solid.  You can move from room to room without shaking anything.  Consequently I didn’t always know where Lee was.  I can feel him moving around the RV but at one point I actually “lost him” when he was in the spare bedroom and that never happens in the Open Range.
  2. Along the same lines, an apartment is more sound proof.  Lee could be in the bedroom reading with the door open and not hear the TV.  Thick walls made this possible, which was again very different.
  3. As I mentioned earlier the closet space was HUGE.  That being said there was limited storage for “outside stuff” which we have in abundance in the belly of our RV.
  4. There were two bathrooms.  I know many RV’s have 1-1/2 baths but two full bathrooms and two tubs was nice for the early mornings.  Those of you who share a bathroom know what I mean :).
  5. Speaking of bathtubs, I thought I had gotten over missing one, but apparently not.  I took 5 baths in three days in the apartment and it was lovely being able to just go soak and read a book.  This was a major stress reliever for me back in the day, and was a nice alternative to smoking a cigarette.
  6. Although we weren’t out in the open spaces, having a fenced in patio for the puppy was great.  I still had to walk him though, and I will say that wasn’t nearly as fun.  There were lots of distractions in the apartment complex and getting him to focus was tough.
  7. Speaking of which it was weird having people coming and going at all hours.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a very quiet complex, but some people worked nights and cars were coming and going at all hours, which is pretty rare in campgrounds.
  8. It was also different that in general people couldn’t have cared less who we were.  In RV parks, folks are always curious when new people come and go, and even if they don’t talk to you they check our your rig, your dog, etc.  Apartment living is much more anonymous.  That might be different in a 55 plus community, but these were working folks and in general there was a lack of interest.  That’t not necessarily a bad thing, but I was really struck by the difference.  I have grown so used to the subtle interactions in the RVing community I was largely oblivious to them.

Really the entire experience was very interesting.  Neither Lee or I are particularly interested in owning another sticks and bricks house so when we get off the road we will probably end up in an apartment, condo, or manufactured home.  It’s nice to know there are some fundamental trade-off advantages, since we will be giving up so much when the time comes. I really appreciated the opportunity, not only because it was free, but also because it gave us a small window into what that would look like.

Thankfully that evening I was able to express my gratitude in person because Kathy and her husband Jim were back in town.  They both work remotely and are able to travel, and we were all happy to be able to meet them in person.  I wanted to buy them dinner as a thank you, but she absolutely insisted and since they were still making “corporate money” I reluctantly agreed. She did have me pick the place though and I ultimately settled on Claim Jumper.

Finding a place with healthy menu options, reasonable prices, and a nice ambiance was pretty challenging.  I spent a ton of time googling and looking on Yelp until I stumbled across a free app called Healthy Out. This app shows all restaurants in your area and then gives the healthy menu choices.  Some restaurants may only have a couple of salads, but others, including Claim Jumper have many more.  Unfortunately the specifics are not included, but I was able to use my Calorie King App to get the specifics for the menu items.

Really, I am spending way to much time obsessing about all of this.  Even Bill and Nancy said they eat healthy at home and let it go when dining out, but the lack of readily available information is driving me nuts.  It’s hard to make good choices without the data and since the info exists and is intentionally being suppressed I find that very annoying. Taking Nancy’s advice, I was able to let that go once we got to the restaurant.

First of all, Kathy and Jim are just lovely people.  We instantly connected and could have stayed talking for hours.  We also really liked the ambiance in the restaurant. The booths were large and the high ceilings meant the noise level wasn’t too high.  Most importantly the service was excellent.  It has been a long time since we have had service that good in a restaurant and it really added to the experience.  We spent the time getting to know each other and learning their story and walked away feeling as if we had made friends for life.  It wasn’t just the generosity of their offer, it was the fact that we all just clicked.  It’s always special when that happens.

The restaurant was really nice on the inside

 

I am trying not to get involved in Lee’s food choices, but I definitely vetoed this burger.

 

I ended up getting small portions which were both cheaper and better in calories.

 

From Left: Jim, Kathy, me and Lee

Kathy, since I know you are reading this, once again I wanted to say THANK YOU!  It really was one of the nicest things that has happened to us since we have been on the road, and I am humbled (in a good way) by the entire experience.  We really did walk away feeling as if we have known you guys forever, and hope to see you this summer in Oregon. Next time dinner is on us!!!

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.
by

First Time Decorating Onesies

I am not a particularly crafty person, but when I realized I would miss the baby shower for my first grandchild, I knew I wanted to do something special. I started with a basic DIY (Do It Yourself) Baby Boy search on Pinterest and was soon flooded with ideas.  Most of them I would never have been able to pull off, but I kept coming back to some pictures of decorated onesies.  This was a popular activity at some baby showers and seemed simple enough that I could do it myself.  Plus since I was traveling I knew I could visit several Goodwill stores and see if I could pick up some onesie bargains.  I absolutely did, finding several onesies under $2 and I also bough some brand new ones at Target that were reasonably priced.

Armed with the onesies, I next needed to buy some supplies and visited Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann’s Fabric, and Michael’s.  I ended up getting supplies from every store and used 40% – 50% coupons that I found online at every one.  All in I think I spent less than $75, which was pretty reasonable considering how many onesies I made.  Once the supplies were gathered I decided to wait until I saw a friend of mine.  Sue is an experienced quilter and has a high-end sewing machine.  I also knew she would be  supportive as I stumbled my way through the activity and could jump in if I had any major issues.  I had decided to try multiple techniques all in one go, to see which were the easiest and which kept the cloth feeling soft.

Since Sue had lots of equipment, I brought my supplies to her place and we laid the onesies out and paired them with the designs I wanted to do. Then we started with the simplest techniques, the first of which was iron on patches.  I had looked for on sale or clearance patches in every store and ended up finding some really cute ones, all under $3.

Thrift store special that we added a little bug patch on the pocket of.

Another bug iron on . This time on a brand new onesie.

Thrift Store Find.

this thrift store find had an elephant on the front already.

So I added a sunshine patch on the butt.

Another butt iron on.

The iron ons were great and probably my favorite thing, but unfortunately I accidentally bought two patches that were sew on.  Sue suggested that instead of sewing them we use Lite Steam -A- Steam2 dual stick paper.  The only tough thing about this paper is you need to cut out the paper to match your patch and the tent in particular was difficult.  Luckily Sue had a rotary knife along with a great cutting board with ruler.

 

The tent was particularly tough because of the top.

Terrific cutting board with ruler

Sue did a great job and showed me how it worked, but my big takeaway was to make sure I bought iron patches.  It was way more work than the other patches had been and I would only do that for something really special.

Tent on a brand new long sleeve onesie.

The guitar needed the same sticky put on it. This I really liked because it will be level with his hands.

Sue and I took turns ironing. I had serious iron envy because when you stopped moving it little legs automatically pushed the iron up so you couldn’t accidentally burn anything.

Next we decide to try transfers.  I had purchased both Fusible Cotton Fabric Sheets and Inkjet Transfer Magic paper because I wanted to try both and see how they impacted the clothes.  I went online and searched for free patterns and after some digging I found several.  Unfortunately I didn’t understand that the cotton fabric sheets are ironed right side up on the shirt and wasted a sheet by printing them in reverse.  The Transfer paper has to be a reverse image, but this was very easy to do by selecting the Mirror Image box under advanced printer settings.

 

 

The other downside of the fabric image was I had to do a big square or be forced to cut out the shape. It worked in this case with a new onesie, but I can see that being limited.

The bumble bee was done on the magic paper and Sue was able to cut it out.

The only downside was the pink cheeks turned light blue but I think it turned out really cute.

The biggest difference between the two was how stiff they felt.  The iron on paper you could barely feel the difference but the iron on fabric was pretty stiff.  This may change with additional washings, but overall I think I prefer the paper better.

Next I wanted to try to use Hodge Podge, which is a fabric glue.  I had read that I could take material and cut out parts of it and glue them onto onesies.  I had never done this before, but found some fabric at Hobby Lobby I liked.  I learned I could get as much or as little as I wanted so my piece of fabric only cost $2.50.  Then I cut out the parts I wanted and glued them on a used onesie.  The Hodge Podge worked very well, but it was messy.  Not sure how these will hold up after washing, but it is very solid now.

The front turned out about how I wanted, which was nice.

And I added this one on the butt as a joke!!

After finishing the patches we decided to tackle two more difficult designs that required sewing.  I saw these really cute pictures of onesies, but I didn’t think I could do it alone  First I went online and found templates, and then printed them and cut them out.  Sue cut the fabric to match the template and we used steam a seam to hold it down.

Template of a vest and tie. find this and other great templates for free at this link.

The template and the fabric I picked out. It was a 99 cent square.

Sue drew an outline with a fabric pen.

Then cut it out.

Next we tested some stitches. She had a ton of choices and its all computerized now. Amazing.

And she sewed it one.

 

Thrilled with the final result.

I absolutely loved this one, but think it was a little outside of my ability.  Of course I could have hand sewed it, but it never would have looked this nice.  Finally we decided to do the vest and I wanted to add a bandanna so it looked like a cowboy outfit.  I used brown swatches and a cheap bandanna and it turned out really great.  Sue thought this would be too hard to sew, and we just used the Steam paper.  It seemed to be just fine, and the only really tough part was figuring out exactly how the bandanna should go. So happy with the final result.

It was a really fun day and not only did I make inexpensive presents for my daughter I learned some things and have lots of materials to make more.  Sue thank you very much for holding my hand through the experience and sharing the time with me.  It was really special.

 

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.
by

How the Solo Week Went

As much as I enjoyed seeing Guy and Sue all week, I have to say being solo wasn’t that much fun for me.  It came as a bit of a surprise, because usually I relish my alone time, but this week there was a lot going on.  Turns out it was harder to watch my diet and smoking when Lee wasn’t around and although I kept plugging away at it, it was actually more of a struggle.  One positive thing I was able to do was delay the gratification.  When I wanted to smoke, I took Jack for a walk first and although I am still stuck on about 8 cigarettes a day I do feel like I made progress.  Jack of course really enjoyed the walks and we ended up going to the puppy park 4-5 times a day.  One unintended consequence of that was he started to get a little entitled.  He has a ton of energy to work off and wasn’t shy about letting me know he wanted to go to the park.

Jack passed out after a long session at the puppy park. Laying on the center console is new!

I also was able to put the time to good use and write some long blog posts.  I enjoy writing, but often feel I am squeezing in the time, so it was nice to be able to write for as long as I wanted.  I also worked on a baby blanket, watched some TV, and read a little.  All of which I could do on my own terms and in my own time.  Unfortunately I didn’t feel up to doing much else.  Sue and Guy offered several activities, but I really wasn’t feeling up to it.  I also didn’t take advantage of the many amenities the resort offers.  I just wasn’t up for meeting new people and the conversations at the dog park were about all I could handle.

It took me a while to figure it out, but eventually I recognized that I was depressed.  As anxious as I can be on occasion, depression is thankfully not something I deal with very often and at first it was hard to recognize.  Everything that happened in the last couple of weeks, and would be happening in the future just came crashing down on me. Since Lee wasn’t with me I didn’t need to put on a brave face.  I talked to my friend Kelly one night and she was really helpful.  She told me to allow myself to feel what I was feeling and take the time to process everything. Since there was a fair amount of anger wrapped up in those feelings, I thought it was good to take her advice.  I have an entire week, to get my head on straight and I needed to take advantage of it.

Jack was actually a huge help in this respect because he kept me going.  I had to get up early to take him to the park or I probably would have just stayed in bed.  The constant walks also had me socializing a little and kept me from getting too much into my head.  Sue was great about this as well.  She encouraged me to take nightly walks with her and throughout the day checked in via text or in person.  I felt bad that I wasn’t my normal self, but realized all I could do was be honest with her.  Since she had gone through something similar with Guy, she understood and just kept telling me it would pass with time.

What complicates things though is I am not sure how much of this is the Chantix and how much is me.  Depression is a common side effect, and although the first few weeks were fine who knows at this point.  I am not feeling suicidal or anything, which I know is a rare side effect, but I do feel depressed and not myself.  And it’s really not just about what happened, but also about what is to come.  The repair work, future hospital bills, and our upcoming summer job are all rattling around in my head and it has been hard to sort it all out.  One thing that has helped is I have had several errands that needed to be done.  Focusing on the now, really helps and I accomplished several things this week.

First, I had to take the truck into the dealer because of a minor transmission leak.  Although I made an appointment, it wasn’t on the books and initially I thought I wouldn’t be able to get the truck in.  Thankfully I had an excellent service coordinator and she took awesome care of me.  Not only did she squeeze me in, but when they didn’t have any loaners rented me a truck from enterprise for free.  I really didn’t want to be stuck with no transportation and was glad they had something available.  The only downside was I really wanted to drive something small, but all they had was a brand new Ford F150.  Don’t get me wrong it was a really nice truck, but I would have been happy with a focus!  Thankfully the leaks were minor, but they did require a new transmission pan but my warranty covered it and I only had to pay the $100 deductible.

Super comfortable Ford F150 with less than 1,000 miles

Another task I wanted to get completed was to go through our cupboards.  Even though we were trying to eat what we had, there were several items that were way too high in sodium content.  These were mostly seasonings, canned goods, and packaged foods, so I wanted to take them to a food pantry.  I found out there was a drop off box for food at the local Goodwill and spent several hours going through all of our cupboards.  This turned out to be a huge job and I ended up with 6 grocery bags worth of food to donate and 1-1/2 trash bags of food to throw away. It really needed done anyway because I found some food tucked into corners that had expired. I also spent some time looking through the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Diabetic Recipes which I picked up at Goodwill.  They had some really terrific low salt/low-fat recipes in there and all seemed to have lots of flavor.  Can’t wait to try some of them.

Although I don’t want food to be my substitute for smoking I did treat myself a couple of times this week.  I got some Chinese food, which was pretty good, and bought a bucket of KFC.  Turns out the lower sodium in our diet is taking effect, because I found the chicken to be VERY salty.  Don’t get me wrong, I ate it…but don’t think I will be in a hurry to get it again.  Other than that I mostly ate whatever I had lying around, and consequently haven’t lost any weight this week at all.  I haven’t gained any either, but nothing positive in that direction which was surprising because I have been taking so many walks.  Sue and Guy were eating leftovers as well, but one night she invited me over for a great flank steak and pasta salad dinner.  I appreciated the company and eating healthy.

Yummy steak and cooked perfectly.

She marinated the steak in this Better Way sauce which has amazing stats and still is tasty. Turns out they sell it at HEB so I sent Cori a text and asked her to pick some up if she saw some. Unfortunately they don’t sell it on Amazon.

This is whole wheat pasta. I really couldn’t tell the difference.

The absolute best part of the week was I had the opportunity to hang out with friends.  Harry and Vicky were in the area and came over one afternoon and it was lovely to see them again.  Jack really took to both of them and hopped right up into Harry’s lap.  I know I need to work on his manners, but everyone really seems to enjoy him and Sue has taken to calling him Happy Jack because he’s always frisky and wagging his tail.

Jack and Harry

We also all got together for dinner when Deb and Steve were passing through.  Deb found a restaurant with a parking lot big enough for them and we drove up to meet them.  It was great getting to see everyone although everyone really missed Lee.  As they asked questions about how Lee was doing I found myself getting very emotional.  Deb and Steve have been with us from the beginning, and it was hard talking to them about what had happened.  No way I was keeping it superficial talking to them and the emotions were somewhat overwhelming.  Thankfully I kept it somewhat together and then we moved onto other subjects.  Public displays of emotion are really not my thing and crying in a restaurant is really not something I wanted to do.  I am really glad that we had a chance to visit though, because it’s possible we won’t see them for a while.  Our plan is to meet them in Utah, but that is 100% dependent on how long the repair takes.  If the repair drags on we may need to go straight to Oregon with only one stop on the way.  When Harry and Vicky heard this was a possibility, they shared their route to Washington State, which was incredibly sweet of them.

From left” Deb, me, Steve, Guy, Sue, Harry, and Vicky

I had an Italian Panini which tasted great but the bread all fell apart. I ended up taking most of it home.

And using the leftover meat and cheese for salads the next day.

Deb texted Lee to say she missed him and he sent her this pic. He looks tired but happy and I was glad he was enjoying his show.

Deb is so sweet. She stopped at an olive oil store and bought me a couple of flavored bottles and then talked me through how to easily use them in recipes. Incredibly generous and thoughtful of them. This company is supplied by Veronica Foods which Deb says is the very best.

The parking lot was packed by the time we were done eating, but Steve had positioned himself so he could get out ok.

I finally started feeling better by the end of the week and on Saturday Sue and I took an ATV ride.  We wanted to check out the boondocking spots up by Peralta road and she let me drive home.  The ATV handled great and I really enjoyed that and then we went and visited the pool and hot tub after a pizza dinner. They’ve been really great all week, but I miss my husband and am glad I get to pick him up tomorrow.  The show is finished at 1am Saturday night, so we both thought Sunday morning was a better choice.  Excited to see him and hear all about how things went and at least I have a few interesting things to tell him.

Sue was a great driver

Gorgeous day

It’s amazing to me how many Saguaro’s can be on one hill.

And the flowers were in full bloom

Some of the cacti started to bloom as well, which was different from a week ago when Lee and I went.

 

We found a couple of amazing boondocking spots

And drove into the Tonto National Forest to see some trail heads.  The boondocking is on Arizona State Trust land and you can get a permit to camp online.

Lots of great info at the trail head, plus clean bathrooms and a park ranger was answering questions.

Gorgeous rock formations

And I got to drive on the way back!! Felt totally comfortable, it drives like a small car.

 

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