3 Mechanics: 2 Babes: 1 Rig

Woke up this morning to a big Hallelujah!! The torsion bar is in. Everybody scream....ahhhhhh!!!!! Very excited, J' was off to get it before I even had the bed made. It's going to be a big day! J' walked down to Wayne's to chatty Cathy it up before going to the mail place. The two boys went down to get the part but it wasn't in yet, so they came back to our rig for a bit, taking parts of the van off to get it ready for the big day.

[caption id="attachment_1912" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Getting Joon ready[/caption]

Since it is Saturday, we only had about an hour and a half window before they closed, so we had all our fingers & toes crossed hoping it would get there before that happened. About 25 minutes later, the boys were back in Gigi (Wayne's truck) to get the torsion bar...it will be there this time!

And...it was!

[caption id="attachment_1913" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Longer & Better than the old one![/caption]

J' had a lot of work cut out for him for the day...I try to help but always just end up getting in the way so he lets me sit and take pictures and keep an eye on the 'Bug! Hooray, haha.

[caption id="attachment_1915" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Working Hard & Hardly Working...what a pair![/caption]

J' decided to put the shackles on today too, since we had the rig pulled apart. Also very helpful, was Wayne with his 20 different kinds of jacks...it would have been hell trying to do all of this without those things.

[caption id="attachment_1914" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Jacked up![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1916" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rusty Shackleford[/caption]

Around 3 p.m. or so, J' started back working on the torsion bar...the shackles took a bit of time, just then we had another visitor approach camp! Looked like we were having a Pit Crew Party! haha Our newest friend, Jim, was coming to say good-bye....little did he know he was about to get down, dirty and closer to the action than he probably wanted!

[caption id="attachment_1917" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pit Crew Partay[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1918" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Next time, he'll call before coming over, haha[/caption]

Jim was pretty handy with giving J' a big hand under and on top of the van, along with having some wooden boards for the jacks. We were very fortunate today...not only for the part coming in on time, but for good friends that stop everything they are doing to help a couple of "crazy kids" out, like ourselves! A HUGE THANK YOU TO WAYNE & JIM for being selfless, thoughtful and so very helpful today. We really couldn't have done half of what we did today without you.

[caption id="attachment_1926" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Daddy's little helper[/caption]

 We finished up with everything right around sunset! Woo Hoo!! After everyone left, we loaded everything up into Joon...only took an astonishing 20 minutes, instead of the hours and days in Shaver Lake, and headed out to see how she rolled and get a bite to eat...for celebration of course! You really don't know how great it feels to have wheels rolling underneath you until you're immobile for 10 days...it's quite the feeling! We went straight to Little Caesar's Pizza for a $5.00 Pepperoni Pizza and chowed down right there in the parking lot. It was definitely the best pizza we had all day! What a great day, a great feeling and great friends! Our bellies are full now and we can go anywhere we want...it feels good to be free again!

Have you freed yourself today?

PEACE

All the livelong day

J' still had some grinding to do to get the rest of the torsion bar parts off and he just went to town on it until it was done...took him a good part of the morning. Now everything is completely off and ready for the new part, whenever it comes in.

[caption id="attachment_1687" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Big Bitch[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1689" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Right side= where it broke[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1686" align="aligncenter" width="225"] The man of the hour[/caption]

 I still wasn't feeling well today but I was feeling the joy of not having to be anywhere else to deal with it. So that was a plus on the day! I made us some burgers for lunch to get rid of the last of the meat before our ice was completely gone. I then made sure to dump my entire plate flat upside down onto the rocks...making Savannah a very happy dog! I was lucky enough to be able to save the burger somewhat so at least I got some food out of it. Like my friend Jim would say, "Those chips would just go straight to your hips anyway!" haha

[caption id="attachment_1690" align="aligncenter" width="300"] You're welcome Nana![/caption]

So you know how, back in Shaver Lake, we were having all of those problems with Yellow Jackets? (Well, if you're not caught up... we were having major problems with them...c'mon catch up!) We were so happy to not have one single Yellow Jacket around us out here. We did have a couple of flies here and there but nothing to bother you too much. All of a sudden in the past few days, these flies have been just as bad if not worse than the Yellow Jackets. See the Y.J's only came out when you were cooking, then they would leave. The flies....they are around all day long. Sure, they don't bite you but they sure do bug the hell out of ya! At this point in the afternoon, it got to be too much to take. After doing some research on easy ways to get rid of them, J' took a walk to the store to get some peroxide. Savannah & I hung out, I pulled the bed down...just not feeling well at all. She watched out the window for her daddy the entire time he was gone and I went back and forth watching for him as well as The Beverly Hillbillies...such a funny show! J' told me I'm a lot like Granny...she's funny as hell so I'll take that as a compliment, haha!

[caption id="attachment_1692" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I love our bed![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1691" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Such a stalker[/caption]

 J' was gone for a couple of hours. It actually started getting dark and he wasn't back yet, so I walked outside to see if I could see him...haha no luck! I can't even see him when it's bright outside, the desert just swallows you up! I went back in to get the flashlight and waved the light around hoping he would see his beacon of light! A couple of minutes went by, I turned it off...took a couple of pictures of the very cool moon and then tried again.

I waved the light back and forth, up and down and waited again. This time I heard my babaa' whistle at me, he sounded close but still pretty far away, I couldn't see him at all! I stood there with the light until he came into camp...all is better now. I can relax, Savannah can relax, he can sit down and relax and tomorrow (please forgive us) we're gonna get those flies!

Mwah-ha-ha

PEACE

Cleaning, Grinding & Digging

I know you are just dying for an update and I apologize for being a few days behind. First things first, the torsion bar... J' ended up walking over to Home Depot a couple of days ago and got an angle grinder to take it out. The darn thing just would not come out or off any way ya sliced it...so he sliced it in half and finally got the darn thing off!

[caption id="attachment_1674" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Grinding away[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1675" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Only half of it![/caption]

Our new friend, Wayne, offered us a couple of jack stands that he isn't using.  He came to check in on us after reading about the torsion bar problems from the blog, how cool is that!? He then whisked J' away to get some fresh water...FREE Water!! He's a super nice guy with a heart of gold.

Thanks Wayne! 

During the day, while J' was walking, grinding, refreshing, grinding, etc. I started feeling not so well throughout the day but figured J' already had a lot on his plate for the day, so I thought I would help with some things. I did my first potty dump ever, probably not the cleanest of all things I could have done but it needed to be done. ..so now it's done! I spent a good hour or so spraying, wiping, rinsing, filling...all of the fun stuff! 

[caption id="attachment_1676" align="aligncenter" width="225"] So fresh & so clean, clean[/caption]

The next morning I would find out that I did a few things wrong:

1&2- I twisted off the wrong cap to pour deodorizer & water into the wrong area! 3- When I twisted the cap back on, it actually didn't twist back on but crossed the threads, so it leaked a little (good thing we have the mats like we do, they got taken out and washed). 4- I didn't put any water into the top of it. Well, all I can say is, at least I tried to help. It did get a very thorough cleaning AND all the gummed up T.P. was taken out, so I did do some good! I also cleaned the inside of the van up, it looks so purty!

 I hung curtains on the outside of Joon to make it cooler on the inside...it sure heats up in here during the day. A big thank you out to SoulRaven for the curtains!

The rest of the day, when J' wasn't gone or grinding, he was working or reading on the torsion bar. I moved from one spot to another moanin' & groanin' and Savannah dug herself into a frenzy trying to get a hold of one of those Kangaroo Mice...poor things! She sure is a good digger though...she's bound to strike oil out here!

[caption id="attachment_1679" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Digging to China[/caption]

 We all know what she would do with those little mice too...exactly what she does with everything of hers... saves it for later!

[caption id="attachment_1683" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sha-Sha's all locked up![/caption]

Let's just hope for everyone's sake she never catches up with those scared little mice but it is good exercise for her! haha

PEACE

 

We've got Bush!

There are times when even us vandwellers get a little stressed out...well I do anyway. J' always seems to handle himself pretty well in flustering moments...the same things send me into a catastrophic whirlwind of emotions and anxiety. Thank goodness we tend to balance each other out, haha! I think it may have been a handful of things that made me feel the way I felt today; being a dirty girl (no shower going on seven full stinky days), being at our destination but not knowing (quite yet) where we would be camping, things that happened to us once we found a spot and then having to deal with the rest of the day from then on. It started out a nice morning, we slept at Wal-mart last night. It wasn't too bad except I forgot how extremely bright those parking lot lights are...whoa! It's like someone shining a flashlight in your face all night...and the trucks coming in and out, but for some reason the noise didn't bother me. We got up, I walked the Bug and we got online trying to find where the B.L.M. land was that we had talked about a few times with Bob. We weren't really finding anything so we just hit the road and started watching paved to unpaved roads that went into the mountains and turned off on one and drove. After a few miles of driving on a not so great for your vehicle rocky, gravel road, we came to a conclusion this was not the road that Bob had been talking about.

This road would be way too rough to come in and out on a daily basis, so we turned around and went back toward the Albertsons. Since we were in town again, we figured we would look for water. We stopped at a couple of gas stations and saw they have air and water but for a fee. We thought we might as well get some here just in case we can't find a spicket or anywhere else to get it. It cost us .75 cents for 3 gallons of water. I guess we're not in California anymore Toto...we started looking for a better solution.

[caption id="attachment_1250" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cheap Gas, Expensive Water[/caption]

We drove back over to the grocery store and as we drove by the front of Albertsons we saw three Glacier water stands...perfect. The cost of the water there was .20 cents for 1 gallon and $1.00 for 5 gallons, much better. After we filled up our empties, we drove around the side of CVS where all the shade was and got on the computers to try to find where "this place" was. We searched and searched, I sent an email out to a friend and we found a place that we were going to go but it was still a good 28 miles away. Everyone that has been to Pahrump and stayed on public land said that it's only about 4 miles to the Wal-mart..we were missing something. My friend, twoknives, got back to me almost instantly and told us from memory where to go. Thank you girl!! We followed her directions and within minutes we were on B.L.M. land. When we were driving on that rocky road, we were about two miles away from the main road into the desert...only we were parallel to it. Finally we were in the land of the free! There looks like there's only one other person/group here (so far) but they are outfitted more with tents and forts, looks like they've been here for a while. We drove in off of the main road into the desert a few miles and found a great pull-off spot. To be further off of the road we pulled more into the desert then just the clearing that we pulled into. To get to where we were we had to drive over a couple of pretty small bushes...we thought we had done this so many times in Shaver with bigger bushes, it wouldn't be any problem. We parked and got out to take in our new view. As I got out, I heard a noise kind of like hot air releasing, so I listened at the hood of the van...nope not there. I walked to the back of the van and heard it even louder, looked down at the tire spitting out all of its air. We learned at that point that these "small, innocent" bushes were nothing to be messed with.

[caption id="attachment_1251" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mean little bush[/caption]

We were both glad that before we left 'home' we spent the money on a new pump, due to our older other one not really working that well anymore...good thing we were thinking with our noggins back then! This van and her tires, I tell you what!!

[caption id="attachment_1252" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Pump, pump, pump it up![/caption]

 We thought we would try to drive on the regular tire to the tire place that was only 2.1 miles away but by the time we got back on the main dirt road it had already spewed all the air back out. That's when J' realized that we had not only one, but two splits in the sidewall, so he put the spare on...and off we go to the tire store.

[caption id="attachment_1253" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cheap tires, cheap water next door![/caption]

We already knew the answer but asked them if they would patch the holes (most places will not patch sidewalls). We didn't want to pay for a "new" used tire so he pointed us down the road to another tire place...they were pretty much the same thing so we bit the bullet and drove over to Wal-mart for a brand new tire. We discussed that it would be better off down the road (literally) if we just got a new tire, with all of the driving we do or would be doing. We treat the van how any other 'normal' person would treat something breaking in their home. This is our home so we have to treat her with the respect she deserves, she takes real good care of us and keeps us safe. Cringing, we got a new tire and road hazard for it...wasn't expecting that $100 bill, but since we budget on the things we spend...we had it!

[caption id="attachment_1254" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ...meh[/caption]

 I think at this point the two of us just want to take showers and call it a day! We drove back to the same spot...only stopping in the clearing instead of driving back off the road more, a much better idea! The good thing is...now we know not to trust the flora! We were finally able to take our very much overdue showers and it was a perfect day for it: No wind, sunny & warm, and no one is around...and if they were (with 'nocs) they got themselves a nudey show! haha

[caption id="attachment_1255" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Just call me Mentos[/caption]

 Now it's time to just sit back, eat something and for me, update my posts I've been slacking on due to travel and the chill the F* out already! I know Savannah won't have a problem with that... lazy girl!

[caption id="attachment_1256" align="aligncenter" width="225"] The definition of not a care in the world[/caption]

 Our new spot in the desert sure is different than anywhere else we've been or camped as of yet, but it's different in the most beautiful ways. It's a tad scary to me as well due to these holes in the ground...don't know if they are from rattlesnakes or chipmunks or both???

[caption id="attachment_1257" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Tons of them, everywhere[/caption]

We took a very small walk but with the sun setting and not really being able to see where I was stepping I wasn't really into it...maybe tomorrow. And let me tell you about the sky tonight.....Holy Sunset Batman!!! I think it was Pahrumps' way of welcoming us because whoa, it was amazing!

And remember that one "red night sky" that I was showing you a couple of weeks ago??? That was child's play compared to tonight. Look at this true Sailor's Red Sky...

[caption id="attachment_1262" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Where are the Sailors?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1263" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Amazing[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1264" align="aligncenter" width="300"] It's all good[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1265" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Crazy clouds[/caption]

I could add about 20 more pictures but I'm sure you get the point, haha. Isn't that the most incredible thing? Well it was amazing to us and I can't wait to see what the sky will hold for us tomorrow...as well as the rest of the day. I have a feeling Pahrump will be a nice home to us for however long we decide to stay here. I hope your day was not as eventful as ours but your night was just as beautiful.

PEACE

Staying Alive in Sarasota

[caption id="attachment_2095" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Breakfast of Champions… Homemade Oatmeal!
@ Sun’n'Fun[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2097" align="aligncenter" width="300"] My lil’ begger, but she’s a good girl![/caption]

After we had a nice relaxing morning of breakfast, coffee, showers and laundry…~> DETOUR: oh, and we met a super cool couple across the way. They were in their mid 60′s maybe 70′s, I can’t remember now. Jim started to talking to J’ as he was coming back from a tennis match & we were packing up. After about 15 minutes of talking, Jim invited us to come and talk in the “cabin” of their RV. They had a pretty C’ class, with a nifty layout. His wife Denita came in right behind us. We probably talked over an hour about different campgrounds, RV’s and places around the U.S. to travel. It was really nice of them to invite us into their ‘home’. We’ll never forget Jim saying that he sings with a quartet and that they sing Baptist Hymns…but they supe ‘em up a bit!
After saying our good-byes we headed out and turned right onto the highway. While accelerating, we both heard a big sound, like a scream almost and J’ pulled off to the side and said, “That sounded like our belt!” Good thing my hubby is quite the man and unfortunately it was our belt. We tried to back down the exit ramp (for about 10 minutes at turtle speed because the Advance Auto Parts was exactly where we got on the ramp), and there was no way in hell that was going to work with the cars hopping on the Interstate at 65 mph. So, we bit down and prayed real hard that we could make it the mile and a half that we had to go (we had to go to the next exit, get off, get back on the highway and end up where we started). With J’ driving only about 35-40 mph we made it to the car place. And once again I am a lucky girl to have a handy hubby that knows how to change it. He did it himself and it was a bitch. He said I couldn’t really him so, I kept him hydrated!

[caption id="attachment_2098" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our belt! I’m glad we were where we were and J’ knows what he’s doing.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2099" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Joon Van looks all tore up due to J’ having to get his tools out of the back. (It normally doesn’t look like this!)[/caption]

The belt took about two hours to change out and then we were back on the road. We ventured over to Turtle Beach today. It was very different from Siesta Key, very low key, not a lot of people and not a lot of sand space. We walked the beach, there were tons of shells there. I found a huge Abalone, it was beautiful. I wanted to keep it but knew that it would probably only get broken in the van so I put it back in the sand, maybe an animal can make a home from it. We walked until right up to Sunset, another beautiful one at that.

[caption id="attachment_2100" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Turtle Beach[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2101" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Self-po[/caption]

When you travel as a couple sometimes you have to find a good place to put your camera to take a self-po! With better lighting by the sun, this wouldn't have been that bad of a pic! Oh well, next time.
PEACE

46- Waking up in Sun'n'Fun by Ayevangabond

Keep on Truckin': Sarasota to Fort Myers

As we started out today J' really felt the need to stop at a Pep Boys and look at our brakes. Good thing he did, too! It turned out we needed new brakes and new rotors, they were nice enough to let us do the job ourselves in their parking lot. Yay for safety!!

[caption id="attachment_2080" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Brake & Rotor change in Fort Myers[/caption]

Since it was a little chilly, we decided to do our daily stop and reorganize! haha  But, we got smart this time and decided since we had a home to send stuff back to, that we would send back things that we weren't using or taking up too much space. So we found a back-side private parking area in the very back of Home Depot and just gutted Joon Van and packed up two boxes to send home for more space! And wow, what a difference that made for the rest of the trip!

[caption id="attachment_2081" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Whoa![/caption]

After the repacking, organizing, and shipping packages we decided to head to the beach, even though it was chilly. When we arrived in San Carlos it looked anything except a beach town! It looked like a beachy ghost town! It was sooooo cold and windy there wasn't a soul anywhere. We ended up getting out and walking around anyway just because this was the first beach we had hit on our trip thus far. I figured since there wasn't anybody around that I could get away with "showering" in the bathroom...and I did, well washed my hair at least!



After washing my hair and feeling a bit fresher (and colder) we walked the town a bit, walked the beach a bit, took some pictures and walked back to Joon. It was ridiculously windy and cold, not a day to be at the beach, but we tried!

PEACE

14- Crescent Beach in San Carlos by Ayevangabond