11-10-08 Monday (Where's Waldo?)

It's been a cold and rainy day here. We're been having oil pressure problems (per the gauge) in the Cherokee. We took a chance on replacing the oil sending unit since that seemed to have been the most popular explanation via Google. Jim replaced it; I did laundry. Sadly, that's about all we did today thus far.

Jim worked with Progressive and Bountiful RV through phone calls. The gutter can't be found to match, we'll have to get white ones. Progressive has agreed to replace both sides so they'll match. Jim overnighted the jack for $120 freight so we can get this done and move on.

If you had problems viewing the videos from yesterday's post, all 3 are finally working. With some research last night, I found out a lot of people were having the same issue.

Let's talk about Velvetta. We like Velvetta Cheese and Shells but tonight we went a different direction. We picked up some items at Wal-Mart (YES, AGAIN) for dinner. The whole meal was comical, really. Anyway, we selected Velvetta Rotini with Broccoli.

It's a visual.

You too can buy this at a Wal-Mart near you.

I thought it was oregano. Turns out, it's the broccoli in freeze dried form. Per the instructions, add to the boiling water with the pasta. I was hoping it would magically expand once water was added. Note the wasteful amount of packaging for a pinch of broccoli.

Who knows how much of it went through the colander.

Not much broccoli. It's like Kraft bought whatever Wal-Mart swept off the broccoli bin in produce.

The finished product. Can you find the broccoli? Did we pay extra for this crap?

The other part of the meal was sausage filled with mozzarella cheese and artichoke. I bit into it and the white cheese shot out onto Jim's arm, the wall, and 12 feet away, a mirrored closet door. Save the crude comments for email; they won't get published. Trust me, we've come up with many just by ourselves. As our parents read the blog we have to maintain the angel-like demeanor they've grown accustomed to from us.

11-9-08 Sunday (Dive On In)

Shortly after posting yesterday's blog entry, I ended up eating 2 bowls of cereal. They were small bowls with fat free milk so perhaps it wasn't too bad. I think I've mentioned this before but I've put back on most of the weight that I once lost. Jim is doing well at maintaining his weight and most often eats more than I do. I'm a child cereal type of guy. My favorite is Count Chocula. I've always loved sweetened marshmallow cereals. During my healthier eating days of not-too-long-ago, I switched to Special K Red Berry. I liked it and still do but crave that chocolate. Meanwhile, Jim picks out cardboard with fiber, fruit, oats, wheat, yogurt, granola, and a splash of soy. It's possible I might like the cardboard but my appetite prevents me from even trying it.

Late night snacking is going to be my downfall. Be it pretzels, cookies, cake or cereal, it's obvious it doesn't work for me. I'm at least getting fatter for cheaper. We both try to buy our cereals in the Malt-O-Meal variety. That's a huge price difference. My requirement was chocolate and marshmallows. One time Jim shopped on his own and picked me up some cereal without marshmallows. He took a bag of marshmallows and dumped some in. I had to explain the difference between fresh mini marshmallows and hard cereal marshmallows. Some people just don't understand.


Finally, we left the hotel to do some sightseeing. We took a drive to Brighton and Alta, located in Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon, respectively. Both cities seem to be ski resort communities with many ski lifts. There were quite a few people snowboarding and skiing. Large, beautiful homes speckle the mountain sides. I can only imagine how much those go for. I didn't snap a single photo. It was all nice but not camera worthy.

For dinner this evening, we're going to attempt The Mayan Adventure. I'm hoping Sundays, later evening will be ideal.

OK, we're back from the Mayan. Allow me to become critical of the place. We pulled up to the restaurant and were happy that the parking lot appeared somewhat empty. In front of the building stood a nice looking fountain. It would have been nicer if it actually had water in it. We entered the front doors and were promptly greeted. I gave my name, the wait was to be 5-15 minutes. The waiting area had lots of Mayan decor/artifacts. I spotted 3 animatronic parrots and the like and all were lifeless. 2 minutes from when I gave my name, we were called to be seated. We were seated to the side of the water fall stage area which was OK. The place was decorated very well and was similar to "The Rain Forest Cafe". The menu choices were sparse and disappointing. The chips at the table were warm but overly salted with chunks of sea salt. The salsa was lame. I had a shredded pork chimichanga which was dry and only contained pork inside. Accompanied by refried beans (I've had better out of a can), and yellow rice. Jim had a pork enchilada with the same dry stuff. The service was great. The show is done approximately every 10 minutes. Reviews for the restaurant say the show rotates so you won't keep seeing the same one. A male and female cliff dived several times each, while a "goddess" in costume banged a drum and pranced. We couldn't understand what was piped through the speakers because it was too low, or perhaps distorted. The prices were fair. That's my review.

Oh, and we went to Wal-Mart again...... oye vey.

11-8-08 Saturday (Wants - Money = Sad)

We just came back from Camping World. Jim had found they had the exact same RV as us for sale. Same year, same colors, same layout. This one had a little rougher looking wear and tear on it than ours. The exterior had a new paint job and looked good. We went there to test drive it and compare against our own. We told the salesman, Dale, most of the truth. We tweaked it a little stating that we were interested in the same coach we had with this better paint and hopefully a better interior. We figured we wouldn't be able to just walk in there without an intention to buy just to roadtest. After taking some time to appear like serious buyers, we asked for a roadtest. The battery was dead so we looked around while they were dealing with that.

We looked at a 98 diesel 40' Beaver (no jokes) coach. The interior was spectacular. The salesman figured the lowest he could take would be around $70,000. Of course we weren't there to buy anything but we were hooked. Jim and I thought of so many ways to try to come up with the money for it. Sell the Beamer? Use some of our savings? So many possibilities but they all left us broke. We finally had the smarts to walk away.

As we roadtested the twin to ours, I suggested maybe we trade the RV in on a 5th wheel. Trade the Cherokee on a 3500 pickup. We found that we'd get more bang for the buck with this method. We started looking at 5th wheels. I have to have one with a washer/dryer hookup or it's a deal breaker. We saw an immaculate 2004 5th wheel with all of our needs in it. This thing was spectacular and well cared for. The interior was modern, with silver accents, just stunning! If you want to see the slideshow of the RV, click here. The kitchen was HUGE. I love it. It has surround sound, high ceilings, ceiling fan, etc. A strange thing about a lot of 5th wheels is that the bathrooms are integrated with the bedrooms. The toilet is in a different room, but the rest is open. I guess it's not a big deal. There is a privacy accordion door to separate the 2 as needed.

The problem with this whole deal is the damn thing is $45,000. Sure they'd probably take less for it, with room to negotiate being it's used, but we'd have to buy a pickup truck to haul it for $15,000 or so. It's all depressing and I wish we hadn't looked......

Dinner out this evening was tasty. Dave mailed us 2 for 1 dinner coupons for TGI Fridays. Jim had French Onion soup and I had a very tasty Chicken Tortilla soup. My main entree was a pork chop while Jim enjoyed a Flat Iron Steak. All very good, and of course, thanks to Dave, the price was right. For desert, we were to stop at Smith's Supermarket and hit their bakery. As soon as we unlocked the hotel room door, Jim exclaimed with a rather whiny tone, "We forgot to stop at Smith's!" We didn't need the desert anyway. Sure, we could have went out again for it.

Prior to dinner we filled the Cherokee at Costco at $2.15 a gallon. I'm not sure what gas prices are where you live but this is the lowest thus far. After that, we went to a going-out-of-business sale at Mervyns. Mervyns is a Macy's type store. The store had 30-50% off. There's 2 things Jim can't resist, a sale and name brand clothing. Browsing lead to disappointment, naturally, everything was full suggested retail less 30%. The only 50% items were costume jewelry and the like. What a joke. We'll probably be stuck in Salt Lake long enough for 80% off..... let's hope not.

I had to go back and edit this entry. I forgot to tell you the outcome of the roadtest. The RV twin of ours did vibrate but not as bad. The steering was slightly loose compared to ours.

I'd like to get a little Sally Struther-ish with all of you. We need sponsors for our roadtrip. Did you know that for just the cost of a cup of coffee, you can help Jim and Garret explore our great country? Buy a cup, at only $1,000 a cup. It's good Folgers instant with FLAVOR CRYSTALS!

11-7-08 Friday (Hotelus Interruptus)

We stopped by the RV shop today.....

No, it's not ours. The shop had a fire about 6 weeks ago. They say it was from a Dometic refrigerator that was faulty. Believable since there is a recall on some of them. Their shop is burned up. There's 2 other burned RV's there as well. Thank goodness for insurance.....

Anyway, now that I scared ya, we went there to install the newly recovered cushions and trims. We chose neutral colors. We'd like to recover the window boxes at some point too. We'd like a lot of things actually, but who doesn't?

Here's the before and after shots:

The after photo may appear that the fabric is suede or something. It's just a little damp because I sprayed it with Scotchguard. Of course while doing so, I managed to set off the LP leak detector. Not a biggy this time; I just switched the damn thing off. The cushions are tan with tiny brown dots. The side moldings are brown. What do you think? The existing window boxes are pin-stripped with multiple colors. It's the same fabric as our couch (now slipcovered) and the captain's chairs. We want to eliminate as much of the colors as possible and then bring in one or two non-earthtones later.

By the way, we were going to do a little sightseeing today. The weather forecast was for sunny skies this afternoon. It's after 3 now and it's still cloudy. Aside from all the clouds, it just feels all around nasty. It's the perfect nap weather. No, not for me, for Jim. While he's napping, I'm kinda typing by the light of the screen which is kind of annoying. I'm lucky this blogger site comes with spellchecker.

I love to browse through other people's blogs. It's interesting to read another's thoughts into life in general. If I like it, I'll subscribe to the posts and when a new entry is made, it shows up for me to read. I added another to my list. I haven't read too deeply into it yet, but seems like it's adult content and about her (the author) life in the dating world.

We found out that 1 jack on the RV was able to be rebuilt with the seal kit we bought a few weeks ago. The other leaking jack is pitted and requires a new jack. Retail is $600, we found one for $200. The steering issue still has not been roadtested. They say it might be the steering gearbox and it might not be covered because it's worn. If it's not covered, I'll probably cancel the damn contract. That contract cost us a lot of money.

This hotel has become a pain in the ass. If you remember, last week it was an exterminator coming between 10 and noon. A few days ago, water was going to be turned off from 11-2, they called later in the day and said the repairs were going to take more time and it would be off 11-6. Today they call and said the exterminator is coming Wednesday. Jim told them they came last week. She tells him that they have to come again. Later today they call AGAIN and say they need access on Monday around 1ish to test the smoke alarms. Let's not forget the Cherokee break in. As I've put thought into all of this, it makes my blood boil. I told Jim (in the middle of typing this) that I'm going to the office to complain. He calmed me and said he'll discuss with them tomorrow.

I'll let ya know how that probable confrontation goes. Until tomorrow, see ya!

11-6-08 Thursday (Wal-Mart is Pretty)

Not really much of an exciting day again. Well, I guess to some it might be if you like Wal-Mart and Joann fabrics. We picked up some coordinating fabric for the dinette trims and then stopped at Wal-Mart for a few things. Once we got home, I did laundry (yes, again) and Jim worked on recovering the trims. As a matter of fact, he's working on the last one now.

View at the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Last it snowed was yesterday. For some reason, the fact that snow is still on the Cherokee roof is disturbing to Jim. He asks, "Why is it that if I strap something to the roof, it's sure to blow off, yet at highway speeds, this snow stays put?" Other than the Cherokee break-in, it's been a dull week, so I guess we need to have something to obsess about.

Another reason for the dull blog entries lately is that the TV has been on a lot. I get distracted as I think about blog entries and then often I get "hooked" on something that's on. Before I know it, hours have passed, the laptop is still showing the blog entry screen, and I'm ready for bed.

Truthfully, while the showers here are wonderful, I miss the RV. I'm very comfortable in it. It feels much more like home than this hotel. I suppose that's a strange statement. How does one feel comfortable having a steering wheel in their living room? I don't know, I just do.

Speaking of steering wheels in living rooms, a few weeks back I passed by a newer huge RV that had one of those small round table toppers with a lamp on it at the front window. I figured it was one of those cheap 3 legged round tables that you can add a table cloth and top it with glass. Not so odd, except on an RV, that's where the dashboard and steering wheel is. How did that fit there. My question was answered when I saw this at camping world. Don't they think of everything?

After we're done with Salt Lake City, we're going to venture to St. George, UT. It looks like a nice city. We'll have a chance to make sure everything was repaired properly before heading to Washington. Booking a campground in a National or State park is tough. Most often, they don't supply full hookups, usually omitting sewer connections. I guess they don't want our bodily wastes. The 2 we have stayed at were laid out extremely well. The campsites were so far away from one another, while in a private campground, the sites are so close you can barely extend your awning or slide. Jim found a state campground in St. George and if it's anything like Cheaha in Alabama or Cherry Creek in Colorado, I'll be thrilled.