The night before last, we kept hearing a tapping on the side of the van. It was windy and thought maybe it was the cord to the antennae, after checking everything the only thing we could come up with was maybe it was the trash hanging from the shovel. We took the trash, only two small bags, off the shovel and put it on the ground. We didn't really think anything would happen with the trash, because we hadn't seen or heard any animals, so we went to bed that night with the trash on the ground. When I woke up this morning to go potty, I was just happy that it was two small bags and not a lot more...the trash was totally torn apart and running all the way down the hill we were on. Guess I'm getting up earlier than expected...to pick up trash! Lesson learned: Even if you don't see the animals, they are there...and if you don't think there's anything around, just wait! I got Savannah out of her crate and we went for an early walk and trash pick-up.
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Good Morning![/caption]Whatever got into our trash also got into the cookware that was left outside and carried our spatula down into the sand at the bottom of the hill...so I had some cleaning to do! After clean-up, we got daddy up and headed out to the store to get just a couple of things and maybe find a nice spot to chill for the day. The other day when we were out driving, J' had seen a park and we thought, why sit up here when we might get better signal in town and we can have different scenery!? The road we drove down dumped us into the State Park, but they wanted $15...just to park! We turned around and drove down the road. About three miles down the road, we came across another park. We pulled in and parked right in front of the water on the Bridgewater Channel for FREE! We were pretty happy of our decision to move on, this place was beautiful!
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Free never looked so good![/caption]We parked and had our early lunch of Rotiserrie Chicken. J' tried to put one of our water jugs on top but with the weight and awkwardness of it, it slipped and fell and busted the top of it off so bye-bye 5 gallon jug.
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We didn't want that anyway![/caption]After lunch and clean-up, we went for a nice stroll down the awesome path they have on the Channel. Lake Havasu knows how to do it right! On this path they have benches, all kinds of trees, a playground, even a dog park! The path walks you all the way down to the London Bridge...I was super stoked!
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Babes @ the Bridge[/caption]We walked around the stores taking in the view of the Channel...super clear water and The London Bridge. There were even hundreds of those Mudhens aka Coots aka Black Ducks! We walked all the way up to the top of the bridge, it was chilly up there but very beautiful.
After walking around on the bridge and over the bridge and back down we mozied on back down the trail to the dog park...gotta get The Bug some exercise!
We spent more time running around with the other dogs because we all know Savannah just hides behind us the whole time! She's funny, we let her in the gate and she takes off running and barking after the biggest dog...that dog turns around and barks and runs after her and she cowards the rest of the time. She's not the boss anymore! haha The remainder of the time is spent running around like a crazy person trying to get her to run after us, but really it just gets the rest of the dogs all riled up! What I would like to be a good hour at the park always turns out to be only about 10-15 minutes. Oh well, at least she gets that. We walked back to the van ...work time.
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Great view[/caption]
We all know Savannah was hard at work. Someone has to perfect that sleep thing! I wrapped some presents so we could get them out to our baby Owl and then I took Savannah over to the ole' 'ship wreck' for a photo shoot.
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Camera Shy[/caption][caption id="attachment_2887" align="alignright" width="150"]
Captain Nana[/caption]It was a great day. I'm so happy we did something different today. We had pretty good signal in town...still 3g but better, we didn't get kicked off as much! I was able to put my tootsies in the sand again, almost making me feel like we were at the beach and Savannah got some good exercise. I would love to come out here in the Summer time and get the real feel of what Lake Havasu is like when the sun is giving you heat stroke and you just can't get enough of it!! It doesn't get much better than this in December. Another good day in the books...no complaints here!
Oh, I almost forgot....I got pie today! And not just pie...Pumpkin Pie WITH Pumpkin Spice creamer. I told you it's been a great day!
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Got Pumpkin?[/caption]Spice up your day with whatever makes you smile!
PEACE
Hey Kalani! I'm still following your travels, living vicariously! Here in NH we have to bungee cord our trash barrels closed......big persistent critters around here! I can soooo relate to the trash pick up you had to do! Funny but not funny!
ReplyDeleteWhat type of coffee maker is that on the ground in the photo? Do you just use a regular household one or is that battery operated? Good coffee is our quest when camping. We can't stand instant unless we're backpacking overnight. I recently tried a coffee press......not working for me. Percolator on the stove takes soooo long in the morning. Any ideas?
Hope you guys continue to have a great time!
~Cheryl
Hey girl, so nice to hear from ya! With the critters, I guess you never know they're around because they come out at dark and leave a big mess. I learned my lesson...almost did it the other day because I got lazy but then thought about that post and put it back up on the shovel...I'll take the tapping (but I figured out how to keep it from doing that!) The coffee.... we were doing instant as well for the first three-four months and finally broke down and bought a regular coffee machine. It plugs in and everything, just a regular kitchen coffee maker WITH coffee bean grinder! We don't mess around. It does take a lot of power but it's very worth it to us. I just started drinking coffee again actually when we bought it, I did decaf for about a year due to stomach issues...even though I still have them I just don't drink as much! I just like it too much! We are always looking for different options but for now it works for us. Oh I saw another cool thing today, it was kind of like an oven but not really, it was a revolving baker, you plug it in and it cooks frozen things like pizza, wings, etc but also heats things up like a microwave and can also bake cookies. We don't have any room for it but it looked cool! I miss making stuff like that! I hope you guys are staying warm, it's cooling off down here, rained last night but supposed to get back into low to mid 70's early next week! Hooray!!!!
ReplyDeleteMuch love to you, keep in touch!
Kalani
You never see the critters but they're always lurking out there just waiting for you to slip up! Lol! We were supposed to head to Florida after the holidays, but the oil leak has led to needing some engine work or a whole new engine, so we're on hold until we see what its gonna cost us. my hubby is almost 61 years old and he isn't able to make major repairs on the van, so we have to find a good reliable mechanic and see where we're at. I'm going to list the house with a realtor in January so hopefully the house will sell fast. The weather here is just cold.....but, the storms going through Nevada right now (the rain you got) are coming across the country and will be giving us some snow......3 storms are due between now and Christmas. Maybe we'll have a white Christmas this year! Regarding the coffee, we can't survive without it! When we first start out we won't have solar so not sure where we can charge an auxiliary battery, but we'll figure it out. I think a regular coffee maker is the only way to go! Lol! I can live without a daily shower but need good coffee! What are your plans for the holidays? I'm sure the stress level for you guys is less than in the past. This is the first year I've been almost done about 2 weeks ahead of time. I can't put myself in stressful situations anymore. I hope life continues to bring you joy and peace. Catch up soon!
ReplyDeleteLove to you and your tribe, and give that little pup a big hug for me!
~Cheryl
If/when you get to Yuma, I will tell you where to swim in the river. We have camped along it from Q to Yuma. It doesn't warm up enough for me to swim in until Yuma. It's also calm enough there that you can wade across it without getting swept away. Not so in Blythe.
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to mark it on a map for us, when we see you in Q!!!!! Yippee!
ReplyDeleteI'll trade you some good coffee for a hot shower! haha Just a thought so you can look into it, but when we first started out we didn't have solar either. The whole month of January as well as the first two months we started full time. We started off with one GoalZero battery, it's like a house battery 30 amp. You would have to charge it fully when you get it from a plug somewhere. We ended up getting two more and a fold up solar panel but when the power would drain out fully out of the batteries, we would charge them from our 1000 watt inverter that is hooked up to our engine and just run the engine to do that. Hence after going through all of that for a couple of months, we decided to go with solar, but it did get us through for that time. They have a lot of different options (GoalZero) they have smaller and bigger batteries along with bigger and smaller solar panels, but at least it's something to start with...!??? Just thought I'd mention it, if you are going to go full-time, it definitely wouldn't be an end all be all, but something to start off with for sure. We still have two of them, one got 'run-over' in Shaver Lake...oops and were going to get rid them but have decided to keep them. They are nice for hair cuts, we can take it outside and plug in the clippers and I can sit outside and charge my computer if I don't want to be in the van. It's nice to have back-up too. So just a thought! And yes, this Christmas we did some cards and a gift for our lil' Owl! That's it. It will just be another day for us in our lil fort and that's just fine with us...although I do go through missing some things like, decorating the house, baking with the kids and having everyone together but all in due time! I hope you guys have a great holiday and keep the stress level down as well!
ReplyDeleteMuch love and light to you and yours! Stay Warm!
Love, Kalani
Thanks so much for the info on the power situation before you got solar. I can't wait until everything comes together for us. I have to remind myself to be patient.
ReplyDeleteTalk to you soon!
Love, Cheryl
It's an ongoing thing. We learn new things all the time, especially with the seasons changing, everything is different in Winter than in Summer, etc. Just be patient and let it come to you, it'll be great!
ReplyDeleteLove ya