How to stop the merry-go-round!

Our life seems to never stop! We have to make a concerted effort to have a day or evening with no plans...seems eXceSs didn't get his hash name for nothing! Yesterday was the big day to pack up Bebe and take her down the hill to have the fridge recall done. I have been really concerned about this "fix"- from everything I have read the company responsible is not really fixing the problem (bad cooling units) but inserting a part that will shut down your fridge before it gets too hot & burns your rig down. This actually just happened to a friend of ours last month in the middle of the night. Luckily his smoke alarm worked & he got out with his life. This spurred all of his friends to promptly follow up on the recall notices we were just receiving. The other problem with this "fix" is that the part they put in is super sensitive & I have heard many complaints about it malfunctioning & then having to replace the fridge on your own dime! Eeeks I say! Oh well, we don't have much choice.

We picked Friday to do this in Carson City, NV because we had scheduled dermotology appointments in Minden, which is close by. And while in the area we thought we could go visit our storage unit & see about downsizing. In our most ambitious dreams we saw us spending a few hours moving the garage sale stuff into the new smaller unit to start organizing ourselves. Ha ha ha!! We took a look at the 5x5, which is 1/4 of the unit we have & looked at each other & laughed...we went into the office to talk to them about a 10x5 & they offered us our current 10x10 unit at the 10x5 price - we don't have to move anything!! BUT we still want to get rid of most of the stuff so we are starting tomorrow with our first charity pick-up from the storage unit & trying to give away as much as we can to our friends, as this is the "good stuff" we couldn't part with!

Had room for 6 to crash if they "spooned"!

After getting burned, spliced & stitched @ the dermatologists we made our way to our fav Mexican cantina in Carson City - El Charro Avita where we drowned our wounds in margaritas...back up the hill to prepare for the RTO'ers (that's Reno Tahoe Odyssey) 36 hr relay race our hash friends were in - we've hosted the last 2 years and just cuz we weren't in our big house that was no reason to stop us! Bill & I hosted 2 groups of 6 at 8pm & midnight - they came to shower, eat, sit by our campfire & take a nap. We had a fun time trying to figure out how to make our dining table into a bed...after much experimenting I went online to my fav RV tips site - rv.net forums, posted my problem & within 5 minutes had the answer!
Saturday we had a tough time getting going...but we did end up at our fav little place for happy hour, Blue Water Bistro, then off to hang out at our old digs with friend, Daniel.
I didn't leave my bed on Sunday!

It's still snowing!!

It's June 1st & it's still snowing - JUNEuary!! This is not exactly what I signed up for!  Look at this pic, do you see something missing??  Like a whole lot of other RV's?!  The campground is pretty deserted right now, we had a few folks here over Memorial Day & there are actually tent campers out there in the snow, craziness!

Update on the workamping gig - met with the asst manager, Lori, who is a doll & she is going to try her best to work me into the schedule, I am low-man on the totem pole as the newest employee but I have skills she WANTS! So training starts next Wednesday...


My daughter, Lauryn, who is 27 and a new hair stylist (September 2010), has a pinched nerve in her right hand. No feeling or movement at all. She is supposed to start work at a new salon next week, and with no workers comp or unemployment to fall back on it's a scary time for her.  I drove down to the bay area, where she lives, on Tuesday and took her to a chiropractor. I am not a believer, but Kaiser gave her a splint, told her to soak it and sent her home...just not good enough for me. This Dr. took full x-rays, found her scoliosis that was treated as a teen -that along with the accident she had 6 months ago when she was rear-ended while stopped & her car totaled are the culprits that have left her in this situation. He spent a lot of time with her and she went back again yesterday. She now has some small movement if she holds her hand up, so we have hope!!  She's overcome a lot of adversity to be where she is today, roadblocks keep getting thrown in her path...but she perseveres!

Bill, Eric, Daniel, Karla & Jen

happy with his strikes!

First strike of the night!

Last night our friend Daniel decided we should all go bowling, I mean what else does one do in the middle of a winter storm, right?! His girlfriend Jen & our RV friends Eric & Karla joined us & we had a blast...several hours of beer drinking, whooping it up & silly frolicking got us all out of our funk, and it was fun to watch Bill using a "house ball" and still striking gold! He sold all of his bowling balls & bag for our move into Bebe, but I stashed his beautiful white bowling shoes deep in the basement of the RV, so at least he had something & it was obviously all he needed as he bowled "180" with none of his "stuff"! 

We got home to frozen water pipes to Bill's amazement "it was supposed to freeze tomorrow night, not tonight!" So out he went to see what could be done & we didn't even need the hairdryer to defreeze, he got us disconnected & onto our house water & we were good to go.  Awoke this morning to Daniel's motorcycle with a frozen windshield & XS' mark!

South Lake Tahoe & workamping initiation

 Sooo happy to be back in South Lake Tahoe....as we drove into town my heart was full of joy, how I have missed this magical place! We had a whirlwind first week here with Bill's birthday celebration at the Mt. Tallac brewery and a couple of other friend's b-day celebrations as well.  The 2nd day here we had snow, which melted pretty quickly, but the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend it started early in the day & just kept on coming! We had planned to go to Sierra Hot Springs for a few nights over the holiday weekend but traipsing around nekkid in the mud & snow somehow just didn't appeal to us, so our good friend Becca (aka masseuse extraodinaire) drove up from Sacramento & we all hung out at our old house 
enjoying her "handy-work", the hot tub & Jen's yummy stir-fry. We ended the night with huge bowls of buttered popcorn, The Producers on the tube & a great dance-along!


Last night, as the snow was starting to accumulate, our good friend, Daniel (who now rents the home we used to here in Tahoe), showed up on our "doorstep" covered in snow & chilled to the bone. He had just ridden his motorcycle through the storm over Echo Summit. He disrobed in our "mud-room" which is the first step into Bebe & stood in front of our amazing heater for an hour! His girlfriend, Jen & doggie, Socs showed up a while later & an impromptu, totally Tahoe evening ensued!


Workamping 1A - being the anal person that I am, while in Tahoe a few weeks ago, I went to the campground & completed all of my paperwork so I would be ready to go when we got up here. After checking in last week I was told they had forgotten one form so after that was completed it would be 3-4 days before I could start training...ok, no biggee, just give me the 1/2 rate on my campsite rental, I don't care! 


Unfortunately though, it seems as if the manager who I've been dealing with up until now has not shared any of the details we have talked about with the asst manager who does all of the scheduling. The manager had told me I would have a "clerk" position, checking people in at the counter, 3 days a week -8 hr days. I wasn't too thrilled about this as I had told him I was an accountant & could really help them out in the office, but I was happy to help out wherever they needed me. I had also told him that I could only work Mon-Thurs as I wanted to have the same days off as Bill did. He said it wouldn't be a problem, unless it was an "all hands on deck" time, & that they would either schedule me Mon-Wed or Tues-Thurs. I guess once the asst mgr got a hold of my application she saw my skills & had altogether other ideas for me...which I found out yesterday. Now I have to wait until Wednesday afternoon to find out more...oy vey!  I am not so sure this is going to work out...stay posted!

the California foothills....

We love the foothills! Grass Valley really spoke to us and we have now been on the east side for a few weeks in Jackson & loving it here too. Not overwhelmed with the Jackson Rancheria campground...but it is convenient, clean, & they have free laundry & 2 hot tubs! Neither of our internet connections worked & the park's wifi was really awful the first 10 days we were here & really stressing us out but the last couple of days it's been great. The campground has a parking lot set up on a cement slab with a picnic table & full hook ups, including cable TV (which I haven't had in about 6 weeks)!  There is some nice spacing between the rigs BUT we have had a few issues with our neighbors...the "LOUD" family & people that leave their dogs tied up outside to bark at every passerby...I think this is the hardest thing about RVing...inconsiderate neighbors, but we always have the ability to move, so it's really not soooo bad! 


We worked a lot the first week we were here, and had to be in Tahoe for a few days, and Sacramento another day.  The main reason for our Tahoe visit was the Slow Rollers Bike Parade to kick off the Amgen Bike Tour starting in South Lake Tahoe.  We were lucky that the snow finally stopped & we had a sunny day. We met at the brewery to gussy up our bikes & hook up with friends - Gary, Steve, Robert, Carol, Richard, Matt, Daniel & Virginia. 

While in Sacramento we finally made it out to the Lockdown Brewery, which has become a Sacramento Hash favorite - we have been hearing & reading about this place for a long time & it was fun that our friend Matt was working behind the bar!.

Finally made it to Lockdown Brewery!

This last weekend Bill got to really experience his 3 day work week, with 4 real days off! We lounged at the pool on the first nice day we've had, went wine tasting in Plymouth, spent the day in Volcano & just took it easy. Loved wine tasting over here...it's free, just like the good ol days in Napa & everything is super close, with friendly people & good wine! My favorite was our day in Volcano...a sleepy little town of about 100 residents. They boast two "hotels" which house 2 of the highlights we had read about - the Whiskey Flats Saloon & the Union Pub. We had drinks at the former & lunch at the latter...we also ended up back at the Pub later in the afternoon when we heard good music playing on the patio & enjoyed some fabulous tempura. The surprise was a little wine bar owned by a wine maker...we stopped by early in the afternoon & were told they were going to have a latin jazz band playing later. By the time we left the Pub the 2nd time, I was pretty tanked & ready to head home but Bill (aka eXceSs) shouted "I'm not done yet!" So off we went to the wine bar in search of more fun! We sauntered in to be met with music that was anything BUT latin jazz ...seems they didn't show up so one of the employees got together with another guy & the two of them, one on guitar & one on harmonica, were the entertainment! And they were pretty darn good...Bill ordered a beer & we sat down by the pot belly stove. We noticed a group gathering out in front on the patio so we went outside to hang out & met the friendliest folks - we sat down at one of the comfy seats & just hung out there with all the locals who were wandering by & stopping to chat. The owner brought me a full glass of his port, on the house, which was so delish I had to have another! We had such a great time, I can see us settling down in a place like this, somewhere down the road...

Interesting People...

I am quite curious about all of the campers I see around me. I wonder, constantly, what their stories are; if they are on vacation, if they are full-timing by choice or circumstance; this keeps me endlessly entertained but surprisingly empty of satisfaction.  I spend hours looking out my windows or sitting outside looking at RV's with their doors and windows all closed and wonder what is happening inside.  At the hash last night I was mentioning this to Poker, a Harriette (female hash  house harrier) I've spent little time with, but enjoy and she suggested that to quench my thirst for information I should start a blog on just that topic - people's stories, and use that blog to knock on doors and actually interview those that will allow me some insight into their lives. People do like to talk about themselves and are often flattered that someone else would actually be interested in them.  Then there are always those that are private and sometimes suspicious of ulterior motives.  My first thought was that I can hardly keep up with the one blog I am writing right here, but blogging has provided me with an unexpected outlet I enjoyed in my youth that I have neglected for 30 years - writing.  It's something to think about...

traveling around at the end of tax season......

is NOT a good idea!  What was I thinking leaving our snug little nest in AZ at the end of March??!! Well, we did have a wedding to attend in northern Ca on April 10th and Bill had 2 meetings in Tahoe right after that, soooo we decided to start our travels north, visiting along the way.

First stop was to visit Will, the youngest child who had just celebrated his 22nd birthday - after a little celebrating....we made our way up to Mercey Hot Springs.  Our friends Pix & Mrs. G mentioned this little spot as a great place on our way up to the Santa Cruz area - and we are soooo glad she did! Off of interstate 5 a little before the Los Banos exit you head west on a little windy road. There is NOTHING around but a few cows grazing and Mercey Hot Springs! They have little cabins for rent, campsites & full-hook up RV spots. You must bring all of your own food and drinking water as there are no stores and nothing available at the springs. They have two areas - one for clothed bathers and one for clothing optional. Lots of individual tubs where you can regulate your own water

temperature. It was beautiful and serene here, we stayed 2 nights and did a little hiking and a lot of soaking!  Definitely worth a return visit or two...

Next stop was to Casey & Betsy's (hash friends) home on Skyline Blvd in the mountains high atop Saratoga, again, what were we thinking??! Round and round we went, up and up, oops - we went the wrong way!! Maybe time to unhook the car...after some amazing driving by Mr. Bill we managed to get ourselves up to their home with a beautiful view.

We got settled in and we all headed down the hill to Santa Cruz for drinks and appies with more hash friends, Pix & Duhh (aka Patty & Judy) - so good to see them, it had been a really long time! But we've all kept in touch on Facebook which has been our lifeline during our travels. We spent a few nights up here wine crawling Saratoga and new friends from Quartzsite, Tom & Schelby, made the trek up to BBQ with us on a stormy night too. We had a great time here and look forward to seeing most of these folks at Burning Man this summer.

Lauryn at work!

On out to Marin to park in front of, yet another hasher's home - Tongueless & Fits In...much more level here and just in time to head out to the Gypsies Hash in SF. Had so much fun meeting up with hashers we had not seen in a long time like GAS, BJ & Lois Lame & &... did I mention it is TAX SEASON and now April??!!  We celebrated the 5th anniversary of Bill & I meeting at my first hash on April 9th at Dr.K's home, who made us a fabulous dinner.
Also got to see the eldest child, Lauryn, in the East Bay.  She did my hair at her salon in Concord & we got to check out her new digs! We had dinner with my best friends in Walnut Creek - Joanne & Gary, Beth & Aaron, Susan & Ron, Marie & Jon and Judy - again, it had been way too long and it was great seeing everyone - should have taken a picture!!

Now finally we were heading out to Livermore for the wedding. I was excited to see my son and a bunch of my old Sacramento best friends. We spent a night in the hotel parking lot & took the shuttle to and from the Ruby Hill Winery for the wedding. It was now April 11th & I was starting to panic...

We made reservations to stay at the Beale Air Force Base FamCamp rv campground because we still had to head up to Tahoe for Bill's meetings and a few of my own. This was a safe place to leave Bebe for a week and cheap too! I was so surprised at how beautiful this military base was. Very quiet and pastoral, cows grazing everywhere and the most space we've ever had - all at $14/night. Not much to do here, though, they do have a gym with some yoga classes & a golf course where we both can play for $20, a bowling alley and lakes to fish in.

Snowbirding in AZ 2011

We spent our first winter at a "55+ senior rv park" in Mesa Arizona.  In December while we were in Tucson we drove up to Phoenix to check out a few of these parks.  They are EVERYWHERE and all look pretty much the same.  The first one we looked at kind of freaked us out...it had about 65% "park models" which look like a double-wide trailer, activity rooms for everything imaginable, pools, jacuzzis, concerts, you name it - sounds good, right? Well, not to me - it just looked SCARY! I said to Bill, I'm just not sure I can do this! I'm not a "joiner", and am just a bit eccentric. And not only that, the majority of the people here were not even close to 55 - they were more like 70+. I turned 53 this February, but Bill's senior status of 60 could get us both in.  So off we went to see 5 more of these parks all within several miles of each other.  At our last park we were going to meet a couple I had connected with on the NuRVer's site. I had been following Karla and Eric's blog for a few months and they sounded like a fun couple who shared a lot of our interests.  They were retired and in their late 50's.  We ended up there late in the afternoon and were  greeted with cocktails and appies to our delight and much excitement from their adorable dog, Cora.  By this time we had gotten a little used to the senior parks and hanging out at Karla and Eric's rig, they actually started to seem palatable.  Eric took us on a little tour and told us that they had applied to workamp at the first park we had looked at. They were hoping to get a job bartending at the pool tiki bar two days a week.  I was just a bit bummed because I really didn't like that park & I was kind of hoping we could hang out with these folks this winter.  But then I started wondering if I didn't like that first park because it was just the first one I had seen and hadn't quite "bought into" the whole idea or if it really wasn't as good as some of the others we saw.  Anyway, neither of us us were ready to commit to a long-term stay at this point, so off we went to play in Quartzsite with our other NuRVer friends (see previous blog).


Because I am an accountant and work quite a bit during tax season I did want to find a place to stay for February and March and not be moving around. As we got closer and closer to February I was in a bit of a panic because there was no rv park that was calling my name.  We had put down a deposit on a place in Yuma for 2 months as a back-up but we really wanted to be in the Phoenix area.  Bill had lived there for 7 years and had a lot of friends he hadn't seen in about 10 years and they also have a hash there, so we would have lots of social opportunities.  One day we took a drive down to Yuma to check out the park there and it was nice but under a lot of construction with loud power tools, so not conducive to either of us working. During this time I had been chatting back and forth with Eric & Karla. They had gotten the tiki bar job at Valle del Oro (that first park) & another full-timing couple they knew was going to join them there.  I called the park and all they could give me was 2 weeks, they were that popular! Eric had assured me that once we were there it wasn't going to be a problem extending our stay as their friends had done just that. So with great trepidation we left Quartzsite and headed into the seniorville abiss........


AND.....we had a great time! Parked in a primo spot steps from the mailboxes, laundry room & great bathrooms. Daily floats in the 95 degree pool & hanging in the jacuzzi.

Bill's usual position at the end of a long hard day of work!

We didn't take advantage of most of the amenities, except for the gym, the driving range and the tiki bar, of course.

Bill hitting some balls

But it was fun hanging out with Eric & Karla & our new friends Sherry and Sharon from Maui. We hashed, introduced our friends Maria & Brian (from Quartzsite) to hashing and hit the golf course with them too - we had both been carrying around our golf clubs for 7 months - that's a lot of valuable space!

In Bill's spare time he made us a great bike rack, he later painted it navy to match Bebe

And we met up with quite a few of Bill's old friends - had so much fun we booked 3 months for next winter, officially becoming snowbirds.  Although secretly I am hoping to be in Mexico for the winter ;) - just not sure that is going to happen, as it depends on what is going on with our work and if we can find a caravan down there to travel with.