NOVEMBER 2010

Finally our last week arrived! We had a little farewell party in the RV during which we showed off our hard work and said goodbye to the neighbourhood.

We left very early on Sunday morning the 21st, in order to not hold anybody up while we crawled down the hill at a snail’s pace.  I had been quite nervous about this part of the trip but the newly installed Pac Breaks did exactly what they promised us they would do and we made it safely down the hill.

To install the breaks had not been that easy to say the least! The Banks breaks we choose to use at first turned out to be not compatible with the truck’s model so we had to look into something else and that while we almost had no time left before we had to leave! It involved some frustrating trips up and down the hill and than when they installed the current ones it took them several attempts to get them to work properly.

                                                                    

It took us a day to get to Vallecito, we took it slow and took breaks often to walk the dog and re-assure the cats that they were going to survive this ordeal. I was driving behind James because we had decided to keep our faithful Subaru since James needed a car to commute to Lake Arrowhead where he was still finishing up some big projects that would provide us income over the winter. 
Everything went pretty smoothly except for the fact that we took the road up and through Julian which in hindsight was not a smart thing to do since we had to climb 4000 feet and the road was very narrow and insanely windy! It took us forever since we had to go slow but we made it to the other site, down into the desert and arrived around 4.30 pm at Agua Calliente from where the rangers accompanied us to our host spot at Vallecito a couple of miles down the road.

It wasn’t the easiest spot to move into and James had to unhook and re-hook again a couple of times to make the turn, during which he bend the landing legs (minor detail), but we finally got it done. The spot is beautiful, under a great roof structure which keeps us out of the worst of the wind, rain and sunshine, all of which conditions we encounter rather forcefully during our stay. We also have a good view of the entrance which makes it easy to spot new arrivals.

                                                                  

We met our neighbors and co-hosts, Joe and Deanna, who turn out to be the nicest people we could ever have wished for to have as our first co-workers.
We had a couple of days to settle in before we had to start working so we slowly set up ‘camp’.

                                                                    

We tried to set up the screen room too but gave up on it after 2 days because the winds turned out to be way too much and it kept blowing away and rattled the awning in a way that I was afraid it would rip off. The cats seem to feel right at home, they take the desert as one huge litter box and kept themselves busy hunting all the little critters that hide in it.

                                                                       

Sadie loves to chase the jackrabbits during the day and the little bunnies that show up in the evening. She never got one but enjoyed trying. We keep her on a long line most of the time but if we have no guests she can roam around free and for her walks I walk her off-leash outside the campground.

Our job here consists of meeting and greeting the campers that come in and check that they have payed, although we have nothing to do with the financial site of it, they have to deposit there fees in the ‘iron ranger’, a pole with a slit in it through which they have to slide the envelop with money.

                                                                       

We also have to keep the bathrooms clean and the grounds looking tidy but however we want to do that was left to us. As long as we make 20 hrs between the 2 of us and were a ‘presence’ for a couple of hrs during the 3 days we have to work each week, it's fine.
James is also drafted to work on a couple of projects during the time we will be here and I am asked to give tours of the historical Stage Coach building on site for 2 hrs. on Sundays and maybe upon request during the week.
Quite a challenge for me because I was never too comfortable talking to a group but after the first couple of times I found I was actually enjoying myself and started to look into the history of the place in order to be able to tell people more. I also met a lot of people that knew much more about it than I did and that was fun too; I learn something new every time!

                                                                       

Not too long after we arrived we had our first potluck dinner at Thanksgiving, the first of many to come, at Agua Caliente which was a bigger campsite down the road from us. We got to meet most workampers and rangers and had a great time and great food!

                                                                       

It was truly special to be with such a great group of people during the Holidays, being used to only the 2 of us most of the previous years.  It turns out to be an unexpected benefit of this ‘lifestyle’. We gain a whole group of family and friends and when we got ‘enough’ of each other we each go our own way! I like it!  I made James' Mam's layered ‘overnight salad’.

                                                                 

SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER 2010

Help arrived in the form of my Mom, who came to visit me from Holland for 3 weeks! She loves to have something ‘to do’ and especially to decorate so while she was here we managed to paint the inside of the RV.
I always painted my walls in all the houses I’ve lived in, I just don’t like the white so we painted some of the RV’s walls an ochre-ish yellow and some of them a nice mossy green. It came out beautiful with the carpet and tiles being a chocolate brown. 

I had read about an interesting moderation to give the cats access to the down'stairs' basement where we could place their litterboxes and food dishes so they'll be out of sight and 'smell'.

James cut a hole for a cat door at the side of the steps to the bedroom, into the pantry of which he closed of part of the bottom area. He than cut a hole through the back of the pantry into the basement and built a ramp to get down to it. He even installed a little light that comes on with the same switch as for our night/foot light in the bedroom so they have a light there at night.

 

The ramp going down in the 'basement'

During the day we leave the door to the basement on a crack so they can come and go as they please and we don't have to open and close the front door all the time. The litterboxes and food dishes are easily accessible through the basement doors.

I think it's absolutely ingenious!

We did some shopping for new linens and stuff to go with the new color scheme and picked up a lot of other items that I had on my list. It was nice to have somebody there to help me choose since I’m hopeless in that department. Off course we took some time off to do some fun things too!

At the Country Club



Lake Arrowhead

At the 'Getty'.

                                                                       

After she left we planned a couple of garage-sales and sold our bigger stuff like chairs, tables, the bed etc. and everything else we didn’t sell on Craigslist. We ended with an ‘open house’ weekend after which we put the rest out on the street marked ‘free’ and gave some away to the neighbors.
I must say, I never felt better in my life! It felt…free, free from all clutter, from all ….stuff. Not that I am a pack rat to begin with but to not have to fuss or worry about anything is just great, let alone not have to clean it anymore!

We bought some new chairs on Ebay and the cutest electric heater in the shape of a wood burning stove at Wal-Mart.
Since the oven/stove was beyond cleaning we took the whole thing out and installed in its place a small dishwasher that I found on Craigslist and an induction cooking plate for on top.
We bought a (very) flat screen TV (3/4 inch) and somehow installed it on the pull-out shelve of the entertainment area and also got a new surround system since both were taken out.
We needed a new mattress and got ourselves a nice memory foam one with a seperate plush pillowtop cover.

The 'splash tiles are vinyl self-sticking floor tiles!

We also worked on the truck. James, together with his friend Joey, cut off part of the overhead rack and turned it around,  put in a dividing panel behind the hitch so we could lock up the truck bed again, repaired some damage on the left back storage door and patched up the paint. 
I cleaned the inside of the cabin and all storage compartments, painted the inside of the truck bed and we put rubber on all floors so the tools wouldn’t rattle around.
We also had all the upholstery of the car, the truck and the ceiling of the RV, professionally cleaned.

                                                                       

In the meantime I had stumbled upon something that changed the nature of our ‘adventure’ in a big way. I read in the ‘blogs’ about Workamping, a way of ‘paying’ for your RV site, including hook-ups, by ‘volunteering’ as park hosts for a season.
Since that sounded very attractive we wrote up a resume and got ourselves ‘out there’, on the web, that is. Lo and behold, we were contacted by San Diego County for a park host job at Vallecito Stage Coach park, east of San Diego close to the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. They'd like us to start somewhere about mid-November.
We were ‘pre-approved’ in a telephone conference call and after sending back the paperwork and going through a mandatory medical and background check-up and fingerprinting we were ‘cleared’ and asked to report for ‘duty’ on the 10th of November.

AUGUST 2010

Now we finally had the RV at our fingertips we could start ‘working’ on it when we had some time on our hands.

James took all plates off the underbelly and inspected and repaired when necessary all tanks, pipes and cables. I cleaned the disgustingly greasy plates.
He took out the bedroom slide, put it on stilts next to the camper (now that was a sight!), replaced the dry-rotted inside panel of the wall, improved the slide-out framing and put together the mirrored sliding doors and shelves of the clothes cabinet again. I cleaned the outside.

James installed the air-conditioners that were taken off when they put on a brand new roof (!) and which they never had put back on again (or yet). I cleaned the roof.

He spray-painted the front door and several panels that had yellowed from age. I cleaned the outside compartments.

James custom build a beautiful king size bed with a storage area underneath, an office desk with table that doubles as a dining room table, a couch, again with storage underneath and lots of shelves in various cabinets. I cleaned the whole inside

                           

 

In the meantime we started selling everything we couldn’t get or use in the RV on Craig's list. In reading the RV-blogs I learned to do only one thing……downsize, downsize, downsize… And so we did. We didn’t want to end up with ‘stuff’ in storage since you end up paying rent for years for stuff you never miss. We sold practically everything! Which was a lot! Especially the stuff in James’ office and the garage and the 500 something books I collected over the years. Two hundred of which were in Dutch, not the easiest too sell in America so I ended up giving them away to a Dutch elderly home somewhere down the hill. They sure loved them!
I think those were the hardest to give up for me, for James I guess it were the bigger tools he had to get rid of. Although he could take some he couldn’t possibly take them all, they just wouldn’t fit.

We also spent some time looking around for places to stay this winter and checked out some campsites around Lake Gregory. 
We tentatively set the starting date for our ‘new life’ for November 15.

JULY 2010

TEXAS

July 2nd we left to pick up the RV. We had about 10 days to get there, prepare the RV for towing and get back to Lake Arrowhead.
And that is exactly what we did. It took us 3 days to follow the 10 through Phoenix, El Paso and finally Forth Worth, Texas.
The weather was sunny but actually on the cool side since there had been a big storm in the south which made it perfect for traveling. Traffic was mostly light since we somehow managed to avoid most rush hours.
There wasn’t much time for site-seeing and the view from our truck was mainly one of endless desert, scraggly vegetation and the dusty outskirts and shopping malls of unattractive looking towns. We did see some nice cloud formations tough.

                                                                       

At arrival in Fort Worth the temperature had risen to around 100 degrees and daily thundershowers made for 80-90% humidity! Boy, were we miserable! We were very happy with our air conditioned hotel not too far from where our RV was stored. After a true Mexican BBQ at a restaurant and a good night rest we thought we were ready for everything and headed to the RV.

Well, to say it nicely, it was a little bit of a shock! James thought it looked fine right away but I only saw a very dirty 5th wheeler, looking old and tired and did I say dirty? And that was actually before we opened her up because the inside was an even worse disaster!


There was stuff laying everywhere, wooden and aluminum trim in different lengths, drawers on the floor, cabinets half open and trash everywhere, the fridge was so dirty it was black and full of mold and the bedroom….. mirrored doors on the floor, a ripped of panel that showed the dry rot underneath and …….WHERE was the bed?
It looked like someone had started to work on it after it had water leaks and was in the process of dismantling in order to reach everything when something happened that made him quit. Either the money ran out or it turned out to be more then he could or wanted to do or the insurance considered it a total loss or whatever.
I was beginning to think we bought a lemon! How could our appraiser have said it was in fine condition? 

                                              

            

James got me to calm down, the poor guy, and while he assessed the outside I brought out some garbage bags and started picking up the trash. I think I ended up with at least 10 or 15 of them!
I also made one neat pile of all the trim and doors in the bedroom and set it upright against the back so you could see the space.
After shutting all the cabinets and replacing the drawers (they were all there!) the place looked so different I actually was able to sit down, enjoy a cup of coffee and started to feel slightly better!
I could see that at least the wood was all undamaged and the carpet was brand new, still covered with protective plastic wrap!
I filled up some buckets with soap and water and proceeded to wipe down the counters and sinks and started to clean some of the cabinets in the kitchen.
After gathering up all my courage I opened the fridge and freezer again and attacked the awful sticky and stinking mess! I got most of it but it certainly needed lots more tender loving care to be back to being clean again.
What was encouraging though was that it all DID clean up!

 

After some tries we got the slides to work (needed new batteries!) and boy, did that make a difference! This thing was huge inside, so much space!
We returned to the hotel that evening in great spirits, knowing we had a lot of work ahead of us but convinced we could do it. We were incredible dirty though!
All the grime and dust that had been on the RV was now on us, add to that the stickiness of lots of sweat and the overall humidity and you will look something like this…

                                                                 

                                                             

James managed to raise the springs with the brackets  6” over the next days by putting the RV on blocks one site at a time and than proceed to weld on the raisers while it was leaning over precariously.

                                                                    

I did a lot more cleaning and on Friday we hooked up and drove to a nearby garage to have the electricity checked out and tested.
We also had the whole shebang weighed!

                                               
In the afternoon we had it inspected by the State of Texas and the next day we were on our way to the Dallas County Tax Assessor to get it registered after which we would start to head home! At least, that’s what we thought!

Much to our dismay we were told we had to register in the county were we were residents, in our case this meant Polk County since we had our mailing address at Escapees in Livingstone, TX. This meant a detour that would cost us at least a day and many more miles. Not something we liked to have to do in this heat and humidity! 
This came on top of another very frustrating problem we’d encountered a couple of days earlier. For some reason I had forgotten to bring James’ social security card and DMV wouldn’t give him a Texas driver’s license because of that. We tried some different DMV’s on the way south, even went into a Soc. Sec. Office somewhere and obtained a signed copy, but none of the DMVs wanted to do it. Turned out they had changed that policy only a couple of months ago, you now have to bring the original. Just our luck!

The journey home went smoothly, the truck did great in pulling and stopping the RV and James did an awesome job driving the whole 65’ ‘train’ safely and without damage to California and all the way up the mountain to Lake Arrowhead at 5700 feet over a narrow 2-lane road! I contributed by worrying the whole way so we each did our share. I was soooooo happy to be home!