Tag Archives: traveling

Back in the swing of things…

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After about 3 weeks off, visiting family and getting things done on the camper, we are back in Texas and back to our normal routines. Allen is back at work (his body definitely knows this!) and me and Charlie are back to killing time together. 

I feel like I’m getting a lot done, even if it’s little things… 

  • I fixed our pantry drawer that was acting up (the middle one) and now all three of them open further than they did before – definitely a plus!   
  • I reorganized the pantry and everything fits a lot better now. I posted a while back about my favorite “camper-sized” things… Well, my mom is awesome and got us the Magma nesting pots I was dying to have! So I was able to get rid of all our old mismatched pots and pans that were crammed into one drawer and make room for the k-cup brewer she also got me (Allen isn’t grown up enough to drink coffee yet, I’m still working on that!).    

    “the hot mess before”

     
  • Allen picked up some LED lights for the pantry also so we put those in and now I can actually see what’s in there!   
  • I liked those so much that we got another pack for the bathroom closet. Once I put them in there I saw how much of a hot mess that area really is so I had to reorganize that. I only tossed about 3 bottles of stuff but I somehow have way more room!  
  • Since we put the toolbox in the cubby, our garage is a whole lot bigger! So we got that cleaned out when we got down here and set it up.     
  • Now I’m in the process of trying to get this hideous sticker off the front of our washer/dryer. We didn’t take it off when it was brand new so I feel like it got baked on with use. Goo Gone isn’t working so it’s just the sticker vs my fingernails… I. Will. Win.     

We are also trying to eat healthy, and very inexpensively… Which is a little difficult to plan out, but I’m trying. See: Cheap, Easy, Healthy, Delicious Black Bean Soup. I’ve also kept us stocked with a wannabe 7-layer salad (wannabe because it doesn’t have nearly 7 layers but it’s still delicious).

I also started keeping a written budget. I had one going for the last couple months of 2015 but kind of let it slip in December. It’s difficult to do while traveling and expenses and income changes dramatically depending on what part of the country we are in at the moment. So we are starting fresh. So far we are most definitely in the red! But I’m hoping to get a better idea of where our money goes and trim it back here and there wherever we can. After all, we have a Smart Car goal to get to in a little over a year! 

Cheap, Easy, Healthy, Delicious Black Bean Soup

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Yes, this soup is all of those things. It’s so good. I made it last night for dinner and just had the rest (a 1/2 bowl) for lunch. Yum! FullSizeRender-20.jpg

I’ve been wanting to make black bean soup for a couple months now and I’ve had 2 cans of black beans in my pantry just waiting to be used. I don’t know what happened or why I didn’t make it, but I’m fairly sure I bought these cans of beans the LAST TIME we were here at the RV Ranch in Keene… That means they’ve been out to San Francisco, over to Winnemucca, NV; Rawlins, WY; Hermosa & Salem, SD; up to Hillsboro, ND; down to Council Bluffs, IA; through Oklahoma City; back to Keene, TX; up to Sparta, KY via West Memphis, AR; and back down here via Dickson, TN and Texarkana. These are, were, some travelin’ beans!

Allen and I both put on a little teensy tiny bit of hibernation weight in North Dakota so I’m all about trying to make healthy meals for us this year!  Not to mention, as I’m sure a lot of folks are right now, we are just hanging on until tax return time! The holidays combined with three weeks off work are fun and all, but we are definitely feeling that now!

Anyway, I try to save these recipes I find as bookmarks on my phone or write them down somewhere but this one just disappeared… So I went searching via Google yesterday and found recipes from the Pioneer Woman (I love most of her recipes for just about everything), Epicurious (Jennifer from Tyler, TX specifically-I did write that down!), and Food Network…

I didn’t have all the ingredients for any of them so I mixed and matched and used what I had… Here’s my version:

Cheap, Easy, Healthy, Delicious Black Bean Soup

  • 1-2 tbs bacon grease
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 jalapeno, some of the ribs and seeds removed, diced
  • dash of oregano
  • dash of cayenne pepper
  • dash of ancho chili pepper
  • dash of chili powder
  • a large dash of cumin
  • 2 cups of beef broth
  • 2 cans low sodium black beans, undrained
  • 1 roma tomato, diced
  • 1-2 tbs jarred salsa
  • about a 1/2 cup frozen corn, maybe more
  • salt to your liking
  • palmful of chopped cilantro

Saute onion and jalapeño in bacon grease over medium heat until just getting soft. Then add garlic. Add all the spices. Once the garlic begins to get fragrant, give it about 30 more seconds and add the broth. Stir to combine, bring to a boil. Add your beans and give those a stir. Then add corn, as much as you prefer really. Once the corn warms up, give it a taste. I probably added about a teaspoon of salt, maybe a tad more, but I didn’t measure. Let that simmer for about 20 minutes to bring the flavors together then stir in your cilantro. I topped mine with a dollop of sour cream and more cilantro, with a little bit of green onion last night. Today for lunch I topped it with a diced avocado and that was absolutely scrumptious! 

 

If it moves, it shakes….

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And if it shakes it loosens… Such is life in our home on wheels…

  
Since we left North Dakota on Saturday we’ve discovered: 

  • The low-point drain is busted. Broken. Stuck open. 
  • Our bedroom slide is in need of service. It won’t close all the way. 
  • Our gray and black tanks don’t close all the way, so when Allen (not me) removes the cap to hook the sewer hose up, all kinds of nastiness spills out. Every time. 
  • The tank for the half bath in the garage won’t open to drain. It’s full. The handle pulls out. Nothing happens. 

When we got to Abe’s RV Park last night, we parked and attempted to plug the busted water valve with no luck. So then we went out with Karen and Bob for some food, drinks, relaxing and catching up. Love them! Then today we got the truck tires balanced and rotated first thing this morning. I called 3 different McClain’s RV Superstores to try and get the camper in for lots of service but none could do anything until at least January.  I called Grand Design and spoke with “Jerry” yet again. He was not even remotely helpful. 

We also want to have some other little things fixed while it’s still under our 1 year manufacturer warranty. But taking it to Grand Design is out of the question as “Jerry” told me today they aren’t scheduling any more service appointments and are backed up into February. Nice.  

 Allen was able to get the low point drain off and replace it with and elbow and more pex and a plug held together with lots of hose clamps. (All found at Lowe’s for a few bucks) So we at least have water. I did the manual override for the bedroom slide and got it in. 

Now we’re on our way to Dallas and nothing is really fixed, just patched for now. No clue what we are going to do or when we can do it. I love traveling. I love living in a camper. I love the spontaneity of Allen’s job.  But when it comes to this kind of crap, it’s frustrating to say the least! But, we have each other, and Charlie, so we will deal with whatever is thrown at us and try and make the most of it!

P.S. I love Abe’s RV Park. It’s one of my favorite places, mostly because Karen & Bob are so nice and so helpful. I was a little sad to leave… On a good note: it’s in the 60s and feels like SUMMERTIME to us! I can’t wait to open the back and have a porch again! 

 

On The Road Again

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This is where I belong… On the road again.   

Charlie is SO over the snow!

  We pulled out of Hillsboro a few minutes ago, headed south on I-29, the direction we SHOULD be going for sure! It was actually hovering around 32 this morning and not too windy, so it almost felt like spring!  

 We are going to have to get our bedroom slide checked out soon. We are pretty sure the motor must be bad on it. Since we left San Francisco it’s been really slow coming in and out. We have to usually try it a few times with Allen pushing on the outside to help it. But this time it’s still out about a 1/2″ too far. Good enough to drive as long as we don’t hit a downpour. But, good thing it’s still under warranty with Grand Design!

 Anyhow, we are headed for Council Bluffs, Iowa tonight. There’s a Horseshoe Casino with an RV park, and a bar with live music, so it should be fun! Tomorrow we are stopping in Oklahoma City at Abe’s RV Park to see our friends Karen and Bob – yay! Apparently a tower had some ice damage there so I’m hoping we can stay a few days… But either way, after that it’s on to the Dallas area to take down the tower at Fair Park that Allen worked on back in June.  

Allen’s view from the tower

  

My view from the ground

 
I think Allen won the photo contest…

Are we becoming “NoDaks”???

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Lyle, the engineer on the tallest broadcast tower in America told Allen and the guys yesterday that they were going to turn into true NoDaks before we get out of here. Yikes! I think he means that they are going to somehow adapt to the crazy cold and windy weather that all the locals keep describing as “nice”.  That’s not the term I would use!! 480px-KVLY-TV_Mast_Tower_Wide

Yesterday I met the maintenance man for Hillsboro Campground and Motel. He moved his camper down to the insulated water spicket section. Everyone is kind of huddling together now the temps are dropping below freezing. I didn’t catch this gentleman’s name so I’ll just refer to him as Lyle #2 for now. Lyle #2 works on the beet farm then does maintenance type things for the motel and campground. He’s done this for 5 years. He’s 71. He got his first motorcycle in 2010 (a Harley that he quickly swapped for a Honda that wants to be a crotch rocket that he now loves, even has the jacket to prove it.) He had a travel trailer for thirty years until recently he traded that for a 27′ fifth wheel. He misses the travel trailer.

Lyle #2 said that he put all the “new” spots in back in September and did them all in less than 2 weeks because they had 71 campers here for the beet farm!  I can’t imagine that many campers in this park! But I could see it being nice in the summer. 
But the rush to get the spots built explains the super soft gravel and mud.  (And also the catty-wompus way the electric and water hookups are in the middle of the yards)  Lyle #2 said these 71 units were mostly class A’s with retired folks, this group is called a “Camp Force”, and they left here October 15 to head to Amazon to work for Christmas. Then they go out to California to work another farm, come back this way for potatoes then the beets again. But Lyle #2 isn’t sure if they will all be back next year because the beet farm didn’t pay the premium price and some of them didn’t even make their expenses.

I found my conversation with Lyle #2 to be very interesting. I’d never heard of a “Camp Force” before. I’ve heard of full time RVers going to work for Amazon but not necessarily traveling as a group and going from farm to farm for the different harvests. Anyhow, Lyle #2 was on his way to shut the water off in the “old” section of the park so I headed back inside with Charlie to thaw out our hands and paws! We have not become No-Daks quite yet!

 I AM really starting to like this town. I had a feeling I would before we got here. Wednesday, Allen got off early because of nasty weather, so we went over to Granny’s (the local watering hole) to see if we could find somewhere to watch the Thursday Night Football game. We wanted to avoid driving all the way to Grand Forks (35miles) in snowy weather if at all possible. Jackie is the bartender at Granny’s most of the time and she was very friendly. They have free popcorn too! But their TV’s are kind of small so we wanted to check out Reno’s also (the local sports bar). Jackie described it as a little more modern.

Reno’s was a lot newer yet not as cozy. But still, Reno was very friendly and said he would definitely have the game on for us. They also have a full menu (mostly fried appetizers and burgers) and we need to eat when we drink!

 So we headed back to Reno’s Thursday night and watched the Bengals go 8-0 for the first time in history!

 A local guy bought us some shots. Jackie showed up to chat a bit. I made a plan to take Charlie to Granny’s for the 8am Happy Hour Saturday morning (didn’t happen!) (and yes, 8-9am is Happy Hour for all the guys that work at the beet plant) and I also got the OKAY to have mail sent to Reno’s. (The campground is kind of weird for mail and they just have a box on the street that nobody checks regularly). So it turned out to be a great night. Allen was sufficiently late to work Friday while re-evaluating his life choices and Charlie woke up with her Bengals shirt half on/half off… Just goes to show our first major outing in town was a fun one!

We also stopped by Olsen Hardware, NAPA, and the lumber store looking for one of those boot brush cleaner thingies that you put outside… No luck… Our garage is seriously a mud room now! I got to run into Uniquely Yours Craft Boutique while Allen picked up an adapter for our air pump. We couldn’t reach the dually tire valves without it. I found some wooded salt and pepper shakers that I think are super cute! I was looking for metal ones, but no luck there.

 Allen is working today (Sunday) as well as yesterday since they had that weather day. But the next day off we are going to go into Grand Forks to Walmart and stock up on some food. Dale’s Food Pride (local grocery) is almost as expensive as San Francisco and I’m over that! But I guess they can charge whatever they want since they are the only place around.

Yesterday I made my first loaf of Pumpernickel Rye Bread and I think it came out really good. I do want to get some caraway though to add and I think that would boost the flavor a bit more.  I’ll wait to get Allen’s opinion before I post the recipe. But if I do it will be here, along with the Hillbilly Chili and Chili Bread I’m making today! Perfect for a chilly football Sunday… Cheers!

***Pumpernickel Rye Bread recipe

Mount Rushmore and Adam’s Birthday

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We got lucky enough to have time to stop at Mount Rushmore on the way from San Francisco to North Dakota.   
 It seems like so far, every time we see a national landmark it’s in inclement weather! When we saw the Grand Canyon it was snowing all blizzard-like, and it was chilly drizzly for Mount Rushmore. But it was still very neat. I’m pretty sure we were the first visitors that morning, we woke up early so we could have time to see it and then get on the road. I sprinkled some of my brother’s ashes there.   

It smelled SO good here to me after all those months in the city!

 

Today would’ve been his 32nd birthday. 

I also spread some ashes at the Salt Flats in Utah.  
 And in wide open Wyoming.  
I think he would like that. Happy Birthday Adam. I miss you so much. 

On more recent things, Charlie and I have been taking walks through Hillsboro. I’m so proud of her for being well-behaved in public! Usually we just take walks in the campground and she occasionally goes to the pet store to get her nails done, but we rarely walk through actual neighborhoods with sidewalks and what not. I felt like a mom taking her baby to a restaurant for the first time. I was so scared she was going to act like a wild banshee! But she acted like a lady and had some manners so I’m very proud! 

Little Charlie all tuckered out

 
Last night’s dinner was DIY shake n bake chicken with roasted carrots and potatoes. Yum!

Here’s the shake n bake concoction I used:

  • 1 cup Italian bread crumbs, 
  • 1/2 cup panko, 
  • 1/2 tbs salt, 
  • 1/2 tbs onion powder, 
  • 1 1/2 tsp paprika, 
  • 1 tsp sugar, 
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper, 
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne, 
  • 1/4 tsp basil, 
  • 1/4 tsp oregano, 
  • 1/4 tsp parsley, 
  • 1/8 cup vegetable oil. 

Just shake. Then bake! This makes enough to coat more than 4 chicken breasts cut into  smaller pieces. (I did 375 in my convection oven for about 35 minutes for two breasts and they came out juicy and delicious!)

Utah the Beautiful! 

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The Bonneville Salt Flats are the first indication you’ve gotten out of Nevada and into Utah. You crest a hill, or mountain, and all of a sudden the landscape looks way different. There’s a bunch of water reflecting the sky and it flattens out a ton. At first it made me think of Louisiana, how it’s AT sea level so you drive through areas that are swampy and wet right next to the highway. Only this isn’t swampy. It’s more like dried salty sand so it’s hard and not squishy. We stopped at the first rest stop and took some pictures.   
 The Bonneville Salt Flats are where the land speed records have been set. From what I read, it’s ten miles long and you can’t see the other end because of the curvature of the earth. It’s really something to see.  
I also read that the whole thing used to be a lake. Lake Bonneville. It was a mostly freshwater lake and it eventually got so high that it all started to drain out, ending with only what is now the Great Salt Lake. The water evaporated and left the little bits of salt behind and now every year lots of salt flows into the Great Salt Lake from the soil and what not. The lake is 12% salinity, much saltier than the ocean and fish can’t live in it. There are brine shrimp that are harvested for fish food and brine flies that are obnoxious to people. Also because of the high salinity, people float really easily.  
After the salt flats and the lake we went through or around Salt Lake City. Once we passed that we came into this huge valley with farms and ranches and a couple towns. It was the most beautiful part of the country I’ve seen yet. I kinda want to trade my Texas ranch idea for a Utah ranch!  
Shortly after that we came upon a “viewing area” and I convinced Allen to stop. We took a couple of pictures and let Charlie out. While we were there the camper and truck got full of those brine flies I mentioned earlier! It was entertainment for Charlie at least! She’s a fly catcher.   
 Have you heard that commercial, “happy cows live in California” or something like that?? Lies I tell you! Happy cows live in Wyoming! This state is just wide open, unincorporated, natural goodness. Wikipedia says it’s the least populated state in the country and the government owns almost half of the land. We kept seeing these weird looking fences along the highway. I always expect Allen to know the answer to all my wonderings, but he told me to google it after about the third time I asked what they could be for. They’re snow fences. They keep the snow from drifting onto the highway. Good to know!  
We stopped in Rock Springs, Wyoming at a KOA for the night. I reheated some gumbo and made some rice while we swatted a ton of brine flies then we hit the sack.  
  
Friday when we got on the road the truck said we had 40% oil life and 40% oil filter life left. Then yesterday the filter all of a sudden dropped to zero and we were getting messages on the dash. So once we get to South Dakota we will have to get it in the shop and checked out. We are aiming for Hermosa, South Dakota today. It’s close to Mount Rushmore so I’m
excited to see that! 

And, Allen made us bacon and eggs for breakfast AND did the dishes! I love him!

Winnemucca = #winning!

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Winnemucca, Nevada. Who woulda thunk it’d be a booming little town?? We were definitely surprised.  
We pulled into the I-80 Winnemucca KOA Friday afternoon, checked in, got hooked up and walked Charlie. It was my first time staying at a KOA and it was pretty nice. We were excited to put our awnings out for the first time in about 4 months!  I’ll add a review in the next week or so. I should mention that there are a bunch of RV parks in this town. There was a brand new one across the street and one about a block down, so the KOA definitely isn’t your only option.  

Once we got little Charles settled in we headed to Walmart for some RV toilet paper (we ran out in San Francisco-crappy! *pun intended*) Then we went to Winger’s for food and drinks. It was almost right across the street from the campground. I think it’s a chain restaurant but we’d never been to one. We had some beers and some wings then headed home and called it a night. 

Charlie is climatized and used to mild San Francisco weather so we had to bundle her up!

 

Saturday morning we went to this 24/7 cafe for breakfast that Allen was seeing signs for on the highway. It was inside a casino. Love it. On the way there we passed a huge lot with buses pulling in and a whole bunch of parked pickups. We knew there had to be something going on in this little town down in a valley in the middle of the desert. We noticed Friday night that there seemed to be a lot of younger guys and Allen said there’s a lot of good looking girls for it being out in the middle of nowhere. Turns out there’s a big gold mining company in Winnemucca and they bus everyone to the mines. Pretty interesting…  

  

  

  

Anyhow, after breakfast we stopped at O’Reilly’s Auto Parts and got a new air pump.  

 We burnt our old one up on the fourth camper tire in San Francisco. (A Cobalt) This one is a little more powerful. It’s an MV-50 and it has little jumper cable prongs on it instead of a plug. We still have to find an attachment thingy to fill the dually tires but the camper is good to go!   

 While Allen was filling up the tires I spread some of my brother’s ashes. I just wish he could actually see some of this with me.  

  
But, we are on the road again, heading for Wyoming by this evening! (Even though Allen wanted to stay another night just to have another breakfast at the casino!) Moving on!

Goodbye and Good Riddance!

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We wiggled (kinda literally) out of spot #117 at Candlestick RV Park at 8:33AM on Friday morning. (Thanks to Marcus and Brad for their spotting help!)   
   
It took us a half hour to get past Oakland headed east on I-80. Not too shabby… I managed to narrowly avoid a panic attack crossing the Bay Bridge. (That thing just makes me nauseous!) But Allen is a fairly good driver (just kidding, he’s a beast) so when I get too scared I just close my eyes and get all religious and know that everything will be alright! 

my shaky panoramic picture taking skills

 
We are past Sacramento now and haven’t hit much traffic. (Knock on wood…) Our plan right now is to stop at a KOA in Winnemucca, Nevada. We have a while before we need to be in North Dakota so we may as well take our time! 

Happy Friday! 

Quake Hold!

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We are just about ready to go! Mentally we’ve been ready for over a month! (Being out here just wears on everyone and we start longing for wide open spaces – cue the Dixie Chicks!)

I should mention here that I had a mini melt down yesterday. I was gathering up everything we need to register the vehicles and get our drivers licenses in South Dakota and I couldn’t find my social security card! I was all worried that Allen was going to have to “move” without me! But, not five minutes after he walked in the door, he found it for me, right where it was supposed to be, somehow I missed it. Thanks babe! (By “move” I mean change our domicile.)

We are putting the bike in the garage this evening (probably until next year!) and strapping everything down (bike, toolbox, file cabinet).  I have all of my sewing stuff put away and the pink flamingo is safely in the cubby! Now we only have little things left…

Our neighbor in Lantana, Florida told me about hurricane putty (or earthquake putty). She used it for little knickknack-y things in their camper when they hit the road. It’s supposed to keep things secure even in an earthquake.

So last week we stopped at Lowe’s and I finally picked some up. It was right around $4. I’ve used it on our pictures we have sitting on the shelves on the island so far. I hope it works! If so then I can leave them out and that’ll be one less thing to put away when we travel.

The frame on the middle shelf holds a drawing I did of the 26′ Wildwood by Forest River we had.

I’m wondering if they make a black or dark brown colored putty. That would look better… I’m also hoping it holds because when we bought the camper we had them Xzilon everything, inside and out. (Inside it’s supposed to protect against stains and what not and it’s almost like a waterproofness on everything-carpet, floor, walls, shelves… Outside it keeps it fresh so we don’t have to wax it for at least 5 years-guaranteed! I think that made it worth it right there!)

One thing I should mention… Traveling with our new fifth wheel vs. traveling in our travel trailer is SUCH a big difference! Everything got jostled around in the travel trailer so that’s what we were expecting when we got this one. I was even worried about the marble sink and stove covers getting broken, wondering if we should tape them down. The first stop we made after traveling the first time with all our stuff in it, we ever so slowly opened the medicine cabinet in the bathroom expecting everything to come flying out like it used to in the old camper. But everything stayed pretty much where we put it! It just seems so calm in comparison. Now, that said, I still wouldn’t trust picture frames with glass to stay put!