Doggie Diarrhea and Praying For Cold Beer

Cold local brew. One of favorite discoveries on our trip!

Day 15

We called the local Airstream dealer first thing in the morning, and explained to them our situation. Our situation being, that we couldn’t keep our beer cold. Fridge problems.

The service manager at Airstream Northwest Adventures, Zonia Allen, couldn’t have been nicer, and told us to come in at 10:00 am. We did. They looked at the fridge and determined the problem. Then they called the fridge manufacturer, Nova Kool, in Ontario, Canada, who told us they’d overnight ship the part we needed.

This whole thing took just long enough for me to write a blog post, and to eat some of the oatmeal cookies that one of their customers had brought in. To read about the cookies, check out my post on June 24th.

In the afternoon, we visited the World Center for Birds of Prey, and in the evening, we hit the Basque neighborhood for dinner, in downtown Boise.

Northern Aplomado Falcon @ the World Center for Birds of Prey

Nice view @ World Center for Birds of Prey

Mark, taking in the nice view @ World Center for Birds of Prey

Dinner time

Mark showing Dax his photos from the day

And Then, The Doggie Problems!!

Turned into a nice day. But, really, what day would be totally complete without one of our dogs coming down with a shack nasty case of diarrhea?

Yep, Trixie had the runs. It was so bad that I couldn’t even attempt to clean it up with a doggie bag, yet, not so bad that she couldn’t hold it until she got out of the RV. …THANK GOD!!! And believe me, when we saw how bad she had it, we were taking her outside all the time!

How Low Can We Go?

This was all making sense now too, ‘cause just the day before, one of the dogs had puked on the bed. It soaked all the way through the doggie bedspread, onto our sheets below. About a 6 on the “Scale of Disgusting.” We’d have to wash our sheets, and the doggie bedspread as soon as possible.

Somehow though, “as soon as possible” turned into “the next day.” The next day, however, our sheet was starting to dry out, so that turned into, “the day after the next day.” Well, by then, our sheet was dry. And by the next day, we were so over it, that we didn’t even care.

I’ll admit, I was bothered a bit by our acceptance of the situation. On the other hand, we are Glampers. And sometimes Glampers have to rough it. Yea, that pretty much explains it all away, right?

More Doggie Projectiles

Trixie had diarrhea for more than a week. Four days into her illness, Dax got it. Holy Crap, Batman! 

We had changed their food before leaving home, and it finally occurred to me that that was probably what was causing the problem. A visit to Petco was in order, where they graciously took back two bags of food, and we picked a different kind of food. 

Voila! Within two days of switching food, both doggies were having the most stellar poops. Like a couple of parents to a newborn human child, Mark and I were ecstatic. “Good poopies! Good poopies!” we both exclaimed! Proud parents…yep!

How Many Pairs of Underwear Will It Take?

 

We’re down to the wire. We leave on our big cross country trip in two days. And so, today we’re packing. Never have been the kind to prep and pack a week ahead of time. That would be less stressful, I think. But, here we are, doing it today.

And here you have it….four months worth of clothes and unders…all laid out on my bed. Doesn’t look too bad. I think it will all fit in the RV. I hope it will.

Only thing missing is my Patagonia nano puff jacket, which is currently in the washer. I know, won’t be needing that for a while. But, come the end of September and October, I’ll be happy I packed it.

And shoes. Add one pair of running shoes  (and the jacket) to that pile, and that’s my wardrobe for the next four months.

Most important thing is unders. Need to pack enough of them so that we don’t have to do laundry but every ten days or so.

Oops….I did forget to include something in that photo….my cycling gear. DAMN!!! That’s a whole pile of crap that needs to fit somewhere.

Allrighty then, back to square one to rethink everything! Lots to figure out!!! Will let you know how I do.

 

What Day Is It???? Losing Track of Time!

Is it a good thing or a bad thing, when you have absolutely no freakin’ clue what day of the week, or what time of day it is?! After reading this comment by full-time rv-er Martin Hrabe, I’ve decided it’s a good thing. You can draw your own conclusion, but as we head out on the road next week, I’m planning on taking this on and making it my own!!

It’s always Today. 

Daily schedule:

• Get up have coffee mocha
• Have breakfast
• Piddle fart around
• Decide on what to see and do
• When we get hungry, have lunch
• Afternoon nap
• More piddle farting
• Visit some neighbors
• Adult beverages
• Start grill
• Have dinner
• Visit around fire-pit
• Go back inside

It’s morning when the sun comes up. It’s around noon when the sun is close to straight overhead. And its evening when the sun goes down.

 

Martin Hrabe

Countdown To “Dog Days of Summer” 2014 Tour

In a simple twist of fate, our big cross country trip just got a wee bit closer! We had planned to leave towards the end of June, but, our property manager found a nice couple to rent our condo for a couple months while we’re gone, and they have to move in on June 11th. And that means we have to be gone, gone, gone, on the 10th! Whoaaaa…..that sucked up two whole weeks of prep time!!

I can roll with the punches, right? Yea baby! And so, I made myself a giant sized gin & tonic, and started freakin’ packin’! And I’ve paused just long enough to make a batch of Jell-O Shooters….and to blog!

So much to do in the house to make it “rent-worthy.” Not only have we been procrastinating on a few minor repairs, but we also have had to empty the bedroom and coat closets, lock up our business and personal files, empty a good portion of kitchen cabinets. Oh, and did I mention, I’m also having to write a somewhat long thesis on how everything operates in the house? Yea, we’ve got some fancy shmancy hi-tech window shades and ceiling fans, and some other weird peculiar thingies in our place that need explanations.

And then there’s Fiona. We’ve had to fast-track taking care of some items with her. We just removed the front TV (more headroom, less head-banging, easier access to the storage compartments that were behind the TV). We’re having our batteries checked on Tuesday (having some charge/voltage issues). I ordered a TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) that should arrive on Wednesday. We’ll be removing the second row seats today or tomorrow. We were hoping to have some bug screens made for the back doors and the sliding door, but we’ve run out of time for that. Maybe we’ll figure something out while we’re on the road, and preferably, before we get eaten alive when we get to “bug country.”

And then there’s us. And us packing. Mark and I are masters at packing lite. This trip is a little more tricky, ’cause we’re gonna hit a real variety of weather conditions. We need to pack for unbearable heat and humidity, for rain (foreign to us So-Cal folks), and for colder weather as we get into late September and October. We also need to pack stuff for swimming and cycling. Swimming’s easy (suit, cap, goggles). Cycling is not so easy when you consider our lack of space (shoes, helmets, three or so cycling outfits that get so sweaty you can only wear once before washing).

It’s all super exciting and fun. Could use those extra couple weeks we thought we had. But, then again, we’d probably have just procrastinated doing all this stuff until the last week anyway, so, it’s all the same!

Most Complicated Little Road-Trip

Been super busy lately. Too busy to blog. OK, I exaggerate, and I’ve probably used that excuse before. But here’s what’s goin’ on….

Our impending cross country RV trip is inching up closer and closer! In an attempt to not go into total panic mode in the middle of June, we’ve been trying to take care of stuff now. So freakin’ much to take care of!!

Just for starters, here’s a look at my little “To Do” list. Somehow, road-tripping has become quite complicated. And, notice how most things on the “to do” list involve money flying out of our pockets. What with that?!

1. Buy bug screens for the RV

2. Buy Tire Pressure Monitoring System for the RV

3. Remove one of the seats from the RV

4. Have more solar panels installed on the RV (looking like we’ll be driving 1150 miles out of our way to have this done, but hey, always wanted to visit Portland, OR)

5. Download apps to help us find campgrounds, dump stations, diesel fuel, and places to sleep for free (Walmart parking lots, etc.)

6. Put together an RV tool kit and roadside emergency kit

7. Buy rain ponchos (25 years in Southern California, so we’re ill-prepared for anything but sun & a few clouds)

8. Gather up important medical info for us and the dogs

and a biggie….#9….prep our house to rent it out while we’re gone…can’t begin to explain all the stuff that needs to be done to make this happen!!!

and the biggest biggie…#10…plan our basic route. This seems easy. It’s not. We’ve changed our route a bunch of times already. And today we decided that we will most likely drive up to Portland first to have a really top-notch job done on a solar panel upgrade. Besides this latest thing, some part of every day is spent trying to figure out what route to take. There’s so much to do and see across the USA and Canada, that it is sometimes overwhelming trying to pick what we think will be the most scenic and the most fun route.

So there you have just ten of the things on our “to do” list. The list is endless!! It’s all fun stuff, and much of it, once we hit the road, won’t even matter….figuring out which clothes to bring, which baseball hats to bring, how short to cut my hair before we leave….won’t matter at all. We’ll be road-tripping, and that is all that will matter!!

 

3 Perfect Days of Bikes, Fiddles & Wine….Part 1

This past weekend was a bit of a clusterf^%# as far as road trips go. We are the masters of poor planning, not planning at all, and of just being dumb sometimes.

In all honesty, I just love to say “clusterf^%#” and our weekend really wasn’t that bad. We did have some “issues” with our road trip that could have and should have been avoided.

Mark had to be in Murrieta, CA this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for bike races. The loosely laid Plan A was that we’d all go up there in the RV. That was as far as Plan A got, as far as details. And therein lie the problem.

We keep our RV in a storage facility about 20 minutes from our home in the city. The day prior to, or the morning of a trip, we drive out there and swap out our car for our RV. At the moment, we don’t have a bike rack on our little car (bike was on roof rack, car got driven into our parking garage, bike and roof rack got ripped off. oops), so for the time being, after we do the swap, we then have to drive the RV back downtown and load our bikes from there. Reverse the process at the end of a trip. A bit time consuming, but a temporary situation.

Because we failed to plan properly for this little road trip, we were unable to pick up the RV on Thursday evening or on Friday morning.  So there it was, Friday morning at 7:00 am and we really needed to get our butts on the road right away. Time for Plan B.

Plan B…We throw Mark’s bike in the back of the car, and drive the car up to Murrieta. The dogs would stay at home. After Mark’s race, we’d drive home, and then go pick up the RV, and drive back up to Murrieta early on Saturday morning. Not efficient, but it would work. Murrieta was only an hour drive away.

Off we went in the car. Me, Mark, Mark’s bike, and my fiddle. Glad I brought Gladys (my fiddle). I had a lot of time to kill as Mark warmed up on his bike trainer (photo up top), and did his race. I had a fun time hanging out and playing by myself. I think everyone else was pretty amused by me as well. I was probably the first fiddler they’d ever seen at a bike race!

After the race, we went to The Mill for lunch. Had one of the best pizzas ever! If you go there, get the “Veggie with a Different Opinion,” substitute red sauce for the white sauce, and add Chicken Apple Sausage (or not). Delicious!

And then we drove home. Actually, we headed right to the RV storage place to do the car/RV swap so that we could head back to Murrieta first thing the next morning. We got all the way to storage, when we realized that we didn’t have the keys for the RV on us. Aaarrggggg.

So we drove home, got the keys for the RV, drove back to storage, got the RV, and drove back home. Luckily we found a parking spot right outside our building…a minor miracle here in the city. Fiona would be safe there until we left again early Saturday morning.

As soon as we got home, Mark threw his cycling kit into the washing machine, to be worn again on Saturday (cycling kit = cool spandexy outfits that cyclists wear). We chowed down on our leftover pizza from lunch. Still delicious.

You’d think we’d be exhausted by all of this, but for some reason, we were both totally energized. This is when we made our next mistake. We both agreed that we may as well drive back up to Murrieta that night. We weren’t tired, and this would save us from having to drive up there really early on Saturday morning.

We gathered up all of our stuff, packed up the RV, and at about 11:00pm, we took off, again, for Murrieta.

All went well. We arrived just after midnight, and parked, for free, in a little parking lot right next to where the race would start in the morning. Can’t beat that! We did get a knock at our door at 6:00am to move our rig, but, we had to get up early anyway, so that was ok.

After we moved the rig, and as I was preparing coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, I heard it. “It” was every expletive known to mankind, coming out of Mark’s mouth (another exaggeration. it was just the F-bomb). Mark had just realized that he had left his cycling kit in the washing machine at home. Remember, he was laundering it because we hadn’t planned to drive back up to Murrieta until the morning. When we made that last minute decision to drive back up Friday night, we both completely forgot about his kit.

OMG….we were going to have to drive back home to get his kit, and then drive back to Murrieta for the third time! This can NOT be happening!!! And really, it could NOT be happening, because there wasn’t enough time.

Mark would have to find his teammates to see if any of them had an extra kit with them. It was a long shot, but was the only option. I’m happy to tell you that, thanks to his awesome teammate, Edwin, Mark was able to race. Not only is Edwin a super nice guy, but he’s also the same size as Mark. The day was saved!

Mark had a fun time racing. I had a fun time watching. The dogs had a fun time hanging out with me and meeting all the other cycling doggies.

After his race, we decided to take the rest of the afternoon to go exploring the Temecula area, just south of Murrieta. This tale is already long enough for one day (my most wordiest post to date, I’m quite sure), and so I’ll save the rest of the little road trip adventure story for manana.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of “3 Perfect Days of Bikes, Fiddles & Wine.”

Cross-Country, Concerts, College, & Cats!

We’re planning a big cross country RV trip for the summer. Our main destination is the Newport Folk Festival, in Newport, RI.

I’ve always been into music. When I was in college, it wasn’t unusual for my friends and I to drive three or four hours to see a concert…Bruce Springsteen, George Thorogood, The Grateful Dead. They were all worthy of road trips, even if some of them were during finals week. Fond memories, every single one of those rogue concerts with my college buddies!!

And so, it probably won’t surprise most of my old friends, that I bought tickets to the three-day Newport Folk Festival, a mere 3,500+ mile road trip, depending on what route we take.

Mark and I started planning our driving route, by agreeing on two things:

1. We want to avoid the southern parts of the country, where it will be the hottest in July and August.

2. We want to travel through as many areas and states as possible that we’ve never been to before.

With those two points settled, we began prioritizing the things we want to see and do along the way to Rhode Island. Zion and Bryce Canyon, in Utah, are top priorities, as is Mesa Verde in Colorado. After hitting those major sites, I’m referencing the book, “The Most Scenic Drives in America,” to try to link together some of the suggested drives along the way.

For a brief moment, Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky, was on our “to do” list, but really, why would I, a self-professed claustrophobic, drive a bunch of miles out of my way, to go to a bunch of caves that I would then refuse to go down into? We’ll see. Mark loves that s%#^, so, we might just make a last minute detour when we get over to that neck of the woods.

We’re also planning a different, distinct return route, by first, heading north to Acadia National Park, in Maine. While we’re up there, maybe we’ll just keep going to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Then we’re oh so close to getting to Newfoundland, but not really that close, but kind of close. Well, you can see what the problem is. There’s just so many places to visit!

We’re exploring heading back west through Canada, dropping down into North and South Dakota, across Wyoming and Idaho and into Oregon, then down through California until we’re back home in San diego. Simple! Approximately 4,400 miles…..each way!!!

This morning, while discussing our route, Mark asked,

“Are we gonna drive through the Catskills? ‘Cause I want to see what kind of skills the cats have.”

Wow. So, now you can see what I’m dealing with and why planning this trip may get a bit complicated!

And so, dear readers, I have to ask you, have you ever been to the Catskills? Do the cats there really have special skills? Are there other parts of the US and Canada that you’ve been to that you love and would like to share? Please drop me a comment. All suggestions are welcome!

Post-Vacation Stress Disorder Is Messing Me Up

Day #1 back home in San Diego, following a most amazing ski vacation. There’s dirty laundry (from our trip) piled up in the hallway. There’s not a speck of food in the house. There’s a stack of bills to pay on my desk. And I’m completely unmotivated to do anything about any of it. Mentally, I’m still back in Jackson Hole, which is why I’ve posted one last photo (above) of me just about to drop into a nice long bump run.

I’m suffering from a common, but often overlooked, disorder known as PVSD. Post-Vacation Stress Disorder. This is a crippling disorder that often follows the big freakin’ let down of going home after a killer vacation.

I’VE DONE FIVE THINGS TODAY

1. Walked my doggies

2. Looked for hotels for our next trip to Jackson Hole

3. Perused my new book, “The Most Scenic Drives In America” to prepare for our cross-country RV trip this summer.

4. Looked again for hotels for our next trip to Jackson Hole

5. Perused my new book again, “The Most Scenic Drives In America” to prepare for our cross-country RV trip this summer.

The only known cure for PVSD, is to go on another vacation. Therefore, I reckon’ it’s prudent of me to be planning another trip. I should be feeling much better by tomorrow!

Where are you planning to go on your next trip?!