11-21-08 Friday (The Bottom of my Shoe)

Our itinerary has been updated. If you are playing "Where's Waldo", please click on the Calendar/Itinerary link on the left sidebar. Once again, we'll be braving freezing temperatures. This should be interesting. Why not go where it's warm? We want to finish the Northwestern states so that we can go through California, and hang out in the Southwest for the bulk of the cold months. Sometime in March, we'll make our way to Florida, visit family and friends and then climb the East coast toward Niagara Falls (if we have money). Here's a map for you geographically impaired people. (I have to look at it all the time. I take after my mother.)

I now remember why I don't like this RV park. It's not just the reserving a tent site instead of an RV site error, it's about the poop. The first time we stayed here, Jim stepped in shit twice and me once. As I walk Dasher, there are piles everywhere. Sure, there's signs about picking up after your dog and there's even a giant litter box area for dogs. It just doesn't help. This morning as I walked the dog on our campsite, there sits a fresh looking pile. While it's not within our sitting area, it is on the path to our Cherokee which is parked behind the RV.

Dasher hides in embarrassment for his fellow canines.

If you hadn't already noticed, I tend to type the blog in throughout the day. Many times, the blog is typed in real time as things have happened. I do that because:

1- I can. (Temporary retirement perk),

2- I have a terrible memory, and will forget,

3- sometimes the entries are so long, it would take me forever to type it all at once.



I have a designated memo pad in the Cherokee I use to jot down thoughts for the blog. As Jim and I are on a day trip and we think of something "blogable", I'll say, "Oooo, I gotta write that down". Yeah, I say it just like that. Sometimes the "Oooo" is 3 o's longer, it just depends on my mood. I like to mix it up from time to time. I'm so wild (see).

We had some shopping to do for our projects. While out and about we saw Linen 'N Things (LNT) at 25-50% off for their "Going out of Business Sale". I hate to think we'll be stuck with Bed, Bath and Beyond. LNT was our favorite. Being in the RV, there's not much we'd need to buy anyway. I did need to use the restroom while there and spotted an outlet next to the urinal. As I peed, I pondered life, well, OK, there wasn't enough time for that, so I pondered why an outlet is next to the urinal. Can I shave and pee at the same time? Perhaps blowing drying my hair as I urinate? Oh, and yes, I took a picture of the urinal!




After some shopping we came home to Jim's crockpot chili, which I love. It's the perfect weather for it, being 34 degrees right now. Jim's not into spicy so I add hot sauce to mine. Oh and cheese too. Yummy.
Speaking of cheese, for those that don't know me, I have a food motto. Everything tastes better with cheese or chocolate. Some things like pretzels can take either. What does this have to do with RVing? Nothing, but you're my captive audience, prisoners of sorts. -evil laugh- Besides, if you won't listen to me rant about nothing, who will?
Most of the offbeat stuff I come up while I'm around Jim, gets me a "Where do you come up with this stuff?" reply.
Tomorrow is a long driving day. It's a 5 hour drive which add doggy pee-pee breaks plus cigarette breaks plus a lunch stop plus any uphill 20mph driving will extend that to about 8 hours.
We're looking forward to seeing how the RV performs since Bountiful RV replaced the fuel filter. They say it has more power and Jim noticed it. Maybe that will be enough to go faster than a marathon runner.
One of the items for Bountiful to fix was the shower drip. They made adjustments to the faucet ($57.00) and said it was fixed. It still drips. Jim is going to replace the guts himself and Bountiful has agreed to reimburse for the parts which will probably be at about $45.00.
Another thing that Bountiful did was allow us to supply our own parts. The rebuild kit for the jacks and then getting a brand new jack off the Internet for much less than they could get it for. In the automotive business, we'd never allow that. Number 1, that's why we were there and number 2, it can open a can of worms. Years ago, as Mitsubishi service manager, unknowingly one of my employees allowed a customer to supply their own junkyard transmission. The transmission didn't fix the problem (misdiagnosis) and the customer couldn't return it (final sale). The customer went above my head and spoke with the Director of Parts & Service (Jim Weems). Myself and the service advisor got our asses chewed. I'll never forget the analogy Jim Weems gave: "What do you think would happen if you walked into Longhorn steak house with your own steak, and ask them to cook it up for you?" So REALLY long story short, I was thankful and surprised Bountiful let us do that.
I bring up Bountiful a lot with mixed opinions. What can I say... I'm an emotional, indecisive roller coaster.
This entry has proven to be long enough. AND please, by all means, rate the entries after you read them. I hope the blog hasn't become boring or too long. Feel free to privately comment on my writing skills or lack off.