Off like a Herd of Turtles

We've been boppin' around so much lately that I don't even have time to keep up with myself these days! I'm going to have one heck of a time backtracking sooo I'll do a quick "Wedgie" to catch everyone up so I can write some posts about other things...other than our dailies!

One morning, I was sitting in our camp gazing at our awesome view, looked over and I saw the cactus next to me had a perfect heart "paddle". It indeed made my day and made me realize you can find love anywhere...even in some "dangerous" places...i.e. my cactus!

[caption id="attachment_4886" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Perfect.[/caption]

We (my tribe and Camp Mellow, Bryce) left Sedona and headed toward the Flagstaff area. It had just turned too hot all of a sudden, sitting anywhere but in A.C. was exhausting...and that rarely happens. We had heard that Bob and some others were out toward Williams so we headed that direction.

We ended up on some really nice, quiet public land and only about 3 miles from town. Williams has Historic Route 66 going through it so there's tons of cute shops, restaurants and things to look at!

While we were so close to town, Bryce was a sweetheart and let me borrow his bike so J' & I could ride into town together...but not before J' tried it on his own...and then made a basket for the Nana Bug to come too! Did I mention our dog is spoiled rotten?

J' took one of our milk crates with some nuts & bolts and bolted down the milk crate onto the bike rack, then Savannah has a carabiner connecting to her harness to keep her inside the crate. The first attempt was a little wobbly because she didn't know what was going on and she wasn't locked in tight enough, but after getting used to the bumpy roads, she rode like a champ! Now we all get to ride into town as a family.....awwwwwwww.

[caption id="attachment_4896" align="aligncenter" width="350"] The beautiful town[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4893" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Savannah is so chill...think she likes bike rides?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4894" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Making History![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4895" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Riding home...such a good girl![/caption]

We had a ton of fun riding in and around town together. It was nice doing something like that with all of us...one bike doesn't do much for a family of three! Thanks to the B-man for letting me take his cool new bike, it was hella fun...I felt like a kid again!

Weeeeeeeeeeeee......

When was your last play date?

PEACE

 

Learning is Fun! How we Watch TV. Plus, the Goods on our Antennae

This type of post is a little different for me due to more specifics than creative writing but I guess some of you out there would really like to know about how we do some things. So, I'm expanding my writing repertoire for those curious folks out there.

And of course I have to make it mine, so I am calling this the...

Learning is Fun! Series

The first topic on our list...

T.V., television, the boob tube, the tele

Here, I try to answer some of your questions and satisfy the curiosity that some might have...

Can YOU have t.v. in your home on wheels? 

If you want t.v. bad enough, you'll have it! When we first started out we bought a Phillips portable 9 inch digital HD TV with FM tuner that we paid $111.00. We actually bought it on the road in January 2012, due to football season! It came with a cute little antennae that looked like a metal stick but in no time at all...it got broken so, we bought a rabbit ears antennae for $30.00 at a  Flying J.

Even though the screen was small, we were still entertained, in the van, when the sun went down. The antennae tried to bring in channels but at the most we would only get 2-4 and 3 of them would be Spanish channels...no habla espanol, no bueno! 

Time went on and in July we bought ourselves an Anniversary/Birthday present...a new T.V.!!

We gifted ourselves a Sansui 19 inch super slim LED-LCD HDTV. What a difference the extra inches make!!

[caption id="attachment_4844" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Hellllooooo....[/caption]

At that point (July 2012) we were still using our rabbit ears to bring in the channels. Right around the Winter R.T.R. (January 2013), in Quartzsite, is when the biggest change in our T.V. reception changed drastically. We bought a new antennae, that we now call The Black Ops Antennae...it looks like we're honing in the Mother Ship! haha

"The Black Ops" is a ClearStream4 HDTV Antennae. We receive over the air digital and HD programming with no fees. We bought our antennae off of Amazon for about $75.00 in January, they are on sale now at Amazon for around $90.00. The dimensions are: 9.1 x 28.2 x 20.1 inches and weighs roughly 7.4 pounds. The antennae has a range of about 65 miles...the main reason for getting it!!

In Quartzsite this Winter...and again football season at its peak, we had no reception...one channel if we tried really really really hard. We actually drove into Ehrenberg for the weekends, roughly 20 miles away, to catch the games! Plus, I missed the whole entire season of MY favorite show, The Biggest Loser... it just wasn't cuttin' it for us.

[caption id="attachment_4850" align="alignleft" width="150"] Install[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4849" align="alignright" width="150"] Hi-5[/caption]

We bought this new antennae, while at the R.T.R., and became the talk of the camp! It was a definite conversation starter for t.v. goers and all of the men, whether they like t.v. or not!!

Here is how we've hooked ourselves up with some tele:

A quick peek at our set-up before getting into the details.

[caption id="attachment_4853" align="aligncenter" width="224"] The Black Ops[/caption]

(Image Ant. 2) The antennae comes in a box with all of the pieces that you need to put it together, it took about 15 minutes for my handy man. Out of the box the antennae (the black circles) are black but the "grill" and the metal pieces that connect together are silver, we have spray painted all of the silver pieces a flat black. The antenna is placed on a regular one inch piece of PVC pipe that we have also spray painted flat black...(.97 cents at Walmart). We purchased a cute little solar light at the Dollar Store and placed it at the very top of the PVC, ya know...for low flying planes!

[caption id="attachment_4855" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Ant. 2[/caption]

(Image Ant. 3) In this picture you can see where J' has fit the PVC pipe into the 90* elbow. There are 2 rebar rods, about a foot long, inside of the PVC to reinforce it during hard winds. The PVC is held onto our cargo basket with 2 U-bolts that we picked up at Radio Shack for about $3.00 a piece. In this picture you can aslo see the RG6 rated coax cable running down the length of the PVC into the roof of the van...the next picture is better for the cable.

[caption id="attachment_4854" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Ant. 3[/caption]

(Image Ant. 4) J' drilled a hole through the roof with his 18 volt Dewalt drill and a Titanium bit to feed the RG6 rated coax cable through to the inside of the van. The hole was filled with silicone caulk...and seems to be holding up pretty good!

[caption id="attachment_4857" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Ant. 4[/caption]

(Image Cab.5) The coax cable being run through the ceiling of the van, down along our interior trim to the T.V.

[caption id="attachment_4856" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Cab. 5[/caption]

(Image TV 6) Our glorious 19 inch nightly entertainment!

[caption id="attachment_4860" align="aligncenter" width="350"] TV 6[/caption]

(Image Back 7) J' drilled a couple of holes in the back of the t.v., at the top and fed a small piece of rope through the holes of the t.v. We use the rope to hold the t.v. in place instead of a mounting bracket...too many crashes onto our heads while getting water! We also installed a pigtail (the black cord taped to the back of the t.v.), so as not to pull on the fitting on the t.v. Believe us, you do not want a bad fitting when you're trying to watch the rose ceremony of The Bacherlorette and the cord accidentally gets moved!

[caption id="attachment_4859" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Back 7[/caption]

(Image Stg.8) Showing how the rope acts as a mounting bracket.

[caption id="attachment_4861" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Stg. 8[/caption]

 Hopefully those images will help clear up any questions about how our antennae is set-up, when we put it up outside...which is most of the time. However, there are times when we don't want to put it up, can't put it up or are just not sure if we can or if we should. For those times, we will take The Black Ops off of the PVC pipe and place it on the front dash. I do not have pictures of this, because we've only had to really do this a time or two in a casino parking lot, but I'll run down how we do it.

We have pretty big sun shades up in our windows at all times, when we are parked. We also have two separate black pieces of fabric we put on the sun visors and push them to the side windows so the side windows are blacked out too. The antennae fits right on the dash board and is balanced by the steering wheel. I am accident prone so I make sure to wrap the corners in a towel before doing this so 1- the antennae doesn't rip the sun shade (yes, I learned the hard way) and 2- so the other edges don't poke ME in the eye ball...or Savannah (yes, I learned the hard way!). Even with the antennae up there, Savannah can usually still sleep on her bed that sits in the drivers chair. Doing it this way, the antennae is out of the way, it can't get broken and isn't outside bringing peeping eyes onto the scene.

All in all, we love our Black Ops and our t.v., we don't wish for satellite although it would be nice to get the History channel and TLC and some others, we love the ongoing cost....FREE!

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and if I don't know them J' will!

I hope everyone had fun learning today. You can catch us back here...some day...some time!

PEACE

 

 

My horoscope is right on!

Daily Horoscope for Friday May 31, 2013

A creative outlet is just what you need right now, so make sure that you have a way to release that pent-up energy. It could be writing, taking pictures or even acting out your own one-person improv show.

...

Or, in my case, the guitar! Our friend Bryce is back in camp with us for a couple of weeks and he has been going nuts on his new guitar over the past few months. He has been very motivating for me to get on mine and actually spend more than 10 minutes every two weeks practicing! So far, for the past two days he comes over around 2 p.m. and we sit, learn and play together for at least an hour. It is way more fun to play, er... practice with someone rather than doing it by yourself, with yourself....booorrrring! haha One of the things I really like about Bryce is that nothing really phases him, so when I get frustrated he laughs along with me and we just start over...perfect! My fingers are holding up pretty well so far...we'll see how long that lasts until they need a little break. Let's see, so far we are learning: Little Pink Houses by John Cougar Mellencamp, Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, Wild Thing by The Troggs, and the song I bought my guitar for (and a bugger to learn) Best for Last by Adele...we'll see how that goes. Most of these songs I would not have even thought about taking on but it doesn't seem too complicated with someone else learning beside you. All in all, it's hella fun and I'm actually digging my guitar now! This whole time all I needed was another player to strum with...who would've thunk!

Have you tapped into your creative side today?

PEACE

...with a light lull in between...

The last two days have been a little different for us. Mikey left. Coffee in the morning just isn't the same without you...come back to us safe and soon brotha'!

We are expecting Bryce to pop in any day now, though. That will be fun to see him...we haven't seen him since March, when we all went totally separate ways. I'm sure there will be lots of guitar practice in my near future! It'll be fun to play with someone and actually learn some stuff!

[caption id="attachment_4830" align="aligncenter" width="224"] What a Beauty![/caption]

There's been more down time around here now that Mikey is gone, so not too much to blab about. However, I did get some new diggs! A groovy new shirt and some new (Bass) shoes...for FREE! Pretty cute too!

[caption id="attachment_4831" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Groovin' in my new diggs[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4832" align="aligncenter" width="224"] I'm the Groovy Giant![/caption]

That about wraps it up for today!

Just chillin' and waiting for B-ryce to get here...

PEACE

 

A Little "Help" Goes a Long Way

J' got some super good shots of the "hotties" this morning...I guess I'm getting used to the sounds they make, I didn't even budge when he got up.

[gallery ids="4815,4816,4817"]

Over the last couple of days we have acquired some good stuff. Our friend, Mikey, did some spring cleaning in his rig and asked us if we wanted his cooler...reflectix and all! He will be leaving us and going East for about a month and during that time will buy himself an actual fridge, he will not have room for both and rarely uses the cooler for cooling, more so for storage, so we happily accepted the offer and now have a sweet set-up for cooling. The cooler we were using and this cooler are actually the same size (50 Quart), but the new cooler is an extreme 6 day, it locks down, it's thicker and with the already fitted reflectix it's like another barrier, the ice actually does stay ice much longer. We've had to get used to the length of it just a bit: we have to use a long funnel now to put water into our water bottles and it sticks out a little bit more to use the potty in the middle of the night...but nothing we can't get used to and overcome. There are some advantages as well. The top of it is all flat, it doesn't dip in the middle so I can use it as a table now...couldn't do that before. The outside also has two handles so it's easier to get it out of its hole, PLUS, the wheels are in the back...easier for sliding it out and in (yep, that's what she said). It's made a huge difference and we are very happy with the decision. The other cooler, for now, is storage...great more stuff! haha

[gallery ids="4805,4804,4801,4803,4802"]

Remember when J' got me those awesome clips at O'Reilly? We were there getting leaf spring helpers for Joon. In case some of you don't know what leaf spring helpers are, (I didn't), here's a little run down...**copied right out of Wikipedia:

**Leaf springs are a simple form of spring, commonly used for suspension. The leaf spring acts as a linkage for holding the axle in position and thus separate linkage are not necessary. It makes the construction of the suspension simple and strong.** The leaf spring helper attaches to the bottom of the leaf spring providing more support. Our helpers will provide 1,500+ lbs. of support to the back leaf springs.

It was great to find some wood in the cactus and bushes around here when we set-up camp because they were a great help to the jack stands, keeping them on more firm ground than the soft sand here. J' got under the van and put the leaf spring helpers on by himself...how handy is he!!?

Now we have more support in the back! Woo hoo...we've wanted and needed that for a 'minute'. Also, having the tires off and being able to see underneath Joon was a good thing due to us being able to see our muffler hanger had broken. A quick trip into a good auto body shop in town, ABC Auto Body, to weld it back together was all we needed and we were back in business. We may have a few tweaks here and there with the helpers but, so far, so good!

We've been busy little bees, haven't we?

Not as busy as this little guy though...he was partying hard in the pollen!

[caption id="attachment_4820" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Bee Butt[/caption]

PEACE

The Weekend Wedge

Here's a little wedge of our weekend for ya...

Just about every morning, especially on the weekends, we get woken up by the "ssshhhhhhhhhhhhh" of hot air balloons over the van. I think we may be part of their fly over tour now!

Savannah is finally chewing on the bone we bought for her almost a year ago! Well, she carries it around more than she chews on it but she's paying attention to it and that makes me happy. See, I found it in the depths of her crate the other day and saw it had not even one single bite mark on it, so I put it in a ziploc bag, poured a little bit of bbq sauce, some bacon molasses seasoning and a few squirts of water in and let it marinade for two days. Needless to say, she carries it everywhere with her now...silly girl...but it does make me happy!

Miss Cheri popped in for a little lunch date. It was a nice surprise...and she brought these amazing rolls from Fry's. Oh.My.Goodness...these rolls (or whatever they were). They are considered gourmet bread, J' calls them bagels, I call them rolls, Miss Cheri calls them amazing bread...and we all call them scrumpdiddlyumptious! The bread almost looks like a big croissant and has cheese and green chiles baked into it. They are to die for, we are definitely going to have to throw these into the mix!

It was nice to see her and she was able to see Mikey again as well.

Even though most of our weekends are just like any other part of the week, it's always nice to be able to take a load off, sit down, enjoy good food, good conversation, have a few laughs and bask in the ambiance of knowing how good we have it out here. Some people think we are just wandering aimlessly through the desert and for those people, I feel sad that they don't get to experience the amazing life we have made for ourselves out here or get to meet the totally awesome people that have become like family to us. If this is wandering aimlessly through, well...anywhere...We'll take it!

PEACE

Logged. Another Great Day in the Books!

Woke up this morning to Savannah going a little buck wild looking out of my side window, when I finally saw what she had 'window hunted' all I could do was giggle and get my camera!

[caption id="attachment_4756" align="aligncenter" width="221"] Be careful![/caption]

What started out as two little mice at the top of this bush ended up with one in the bush and one on the ground. We watched & giggled in amazement that one- the bush could hold the fat lil thing and two- he/she was putting themselves in an open invitation position (not hiding from predators). We were also surprised the food we did have outside had not been gone through or chewed through by the little critters. They were so stinkin' cute! A good way to start this busy busy day of ours...today would be laundry day, among other things. Now, for the average Joe, or Josephine, this would not really be a daunting task and usually, even for me, it is something I thrive on and like to do...but today...oh today would be so different! With the weather always changing, meaning not having to wear the same Summer/Winter clothes, and now having an extra set of sheets and pillow cases there hasn't been a major need to go to the laundromat...so we haven't... for two months! We have been soaking and washing the essentials in the 3 1/2 gallon bucket and line drying them to get us by until "The Big Wash". I definitely had my work cut out for me today, BUT we found a great, very clean laundromat right next to Safeway and there was only one other person there...score! J' helped pull all of our stuff out, bags inside, bags up-top, every single little thing was going to get washed today, even our canvas tarp was going to get a full cycle! I started sorting and mushing clothes into the front load dryers, which are really great because they hold way more and use less soap. The front loaders are a little bit more expensive but they do a really nice job and get everything really clean. As I did all of the inside work on the laundry, J' started the stuff in the van: fresh water, fresh ice, empty the cooler, clean the cooler (another one of those pizza crusts exploded in the cooler and was stopping up the plug, ewww), refill the cooler...lots of cooler time! Even though there was a ton of stuff to wash, dry and then fold and put away it went pretty fast, I'd say the whole process took us a little over two hours. Team work at its best baby! J' brought in our duffle bags, as well as our backpacks, so the clothes would be put away on site, (he knows me too well, I do not like doing this later). Everything smells so good and feels so soft....awww, the little things!! The other great thing about this place and the front loaders is, with all of our laundry we only spent about 17-18 bucks! Just to give you an idea, I did roughly 6 small loads of laundry in Lake Havasu for $35.00...not a ganga! Today I did, (hard to say with the front loaders but...) anywhere from 10-13 loads. I had 6 machines to wash and about the same to dry all for about $18.00...now that's a ganga!!

[caption id="attachment_4761" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Laundry is done man[/caption]

All wrapped up at the laundromat and Safeway we hit up a couple more places: Dollar Tree, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Wal-mart, gas station, and Little Caesars. 

We feel like millionaires of life right now! Everything got done in one day, everything went super smooth and it was still light when we got home to re-set camp. What a great day! My babaa' even got me a surprise...this is how you know your hubby really listens and that I'm not like every other girl...

[caption id="attachment_4760" align="aligncenter" width="303"] Er.mer.gaw..YESSSS!![/caption]

 I'm always clipping things and trying to tack down stuff... and I make a lot of forts but never have the "clip power" to keep what I make together, especially in this wind. When he came out of O'Reilly he said, "I got you a surprise." I said, "From the automotive store...stickers??" He handed me a bag and as I peeked inside I shrieked with excitement and tons and tons of giggles. What a sweetie! And now what do I yearn for...yep, MORE clips! haha

It's great being so close to town because even though it took most of our day, we didn't have to stay overnight in a Wal-mart parking lot to finish up our stuff the next day (like we did going to Fresno from Shaver Lake). We got everything done and now back at camp and ready to take on whatever comes our way. Even Savannah is completely satisfied, her bedding (from her gifted bed from Mikey), her blankies and her "babies" all got washed AND we found her favorite food at the store...spoiled yes, but oh so content!!

[caption id="attachment_4762" align="aligncenter" width="350"] C'mon everyone
.....awwww![/caption]

 PEACE