Quick Down And Up

We've become settled into our spot here in Dutch Flat since our arrival in August.  It's too long since we've been out.  We're feeling the itch to hitch!

Garden Grove needs us to repair a broken slide.  We'd rather not make the long drive to southern California for one repair.  When we get approval for a repair at E & J Gallo Winery, we decide to make a quick trip down and back up.

Unfortunately, the city where the winery is located doesn't have any RV parks.  We decide instead to stay a little further away and drive to the repair site.

Arriving at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds after dark had us a little confused.  The park is a small triangular shaped lawn area with hookups along the perimeter.  Two sides of the triangle have campers parked perpendicular so we opt to fill in the third side of the triangle.  We had FHU for just $25/night.

The next day we went to the winery to make the repair.  One of their 15K gallon water tanks had a leak at the bottom.

We were greeted at the locked gate and shown to the tank at the rear of the facility.  There is a row of five 15K gallon tanks used for their reverse osmosis process.  The tank outlet at the bottom of Tank #4 had a small crack which caused it to leak.

I don't even know just how tall these tanks are!

We unloaded our tools and got to work right away.  After a test weld we knew it could be successfully repaired.  Tim was pleased to see the final results of our work!

One more night at the fairgrounds and then it's off to So-Cal.  The Garmin says it'll take about six hours to get to our destination.  Boy was it WRONG!!  We didn't arrive until after 8:00pm...  The traffic was terrible!  It seems everyone was out on the freeway this Monday evening.

We had called ahead knowing the office would be closed before our arrival to get our site number.  I had reserved a pull through at Orangeland RV Park.  This is our second time staying there.  As usual, it was clean and welcoming.  The staff member I saw the following morning encouraged me to pick some of the fresh citrus fruit growing abundantly throughout the park.  As promised, the grapefruit were amazing!  Before leaving we picked a bag full to take back with us.  They're much better than the grocery store variety.

Tuesday was the day to make the necessary repairs to the very damaged slide at Garden Grove Park.  We had received photos and already knew what to expect.  Two city employees were at the site to greet us.  We don't require assistance but it's always nice to meet our customers in person.

This is our second time repairing the same slide.  We've been able to acquire some orange material recently so we were able to replace the newly damaged area with a more closely matched color.  The tan patch is still in excellent condition, even after over two years of use, so we decided it would be best to leave it alone.  Another very successful repair by PolyMenders!

Raven has an appointment on Thursday back in northern California.  She's getting measurements taken and a repair estimate written up for warranty work.  Hopefully the tire blowout damage will also be covered.  *fingers crossed*

no unhitching necessary :-)

Wednesday we start the long journey back up central California.  We had decided that we would stop at Flag City RV Resort in Lodi for one night.  That way we would already be hitched up Thursday to arrive at the RV shop on our way back to Dutch Flat.  We used the Passport America 50% discount making our stay $32.50 plus tax.


The following Saturday, December 8th, we have an RVillage end of the year gathering.  We get to see our friends Steve and Debbie again and meet some new friends.  One of the couples mentioned to us how they found a private property owner who is renting them an RV spot on their land.  It got us thinking about our situation.  We have a long one hour drive each direction to work.  That's a lot of diesel for Rainier, gas for the Camry and time for each of us.

Ron found us a new place to park Raven!  Sunday's Craigslist ad was up for just two days.  A full hook up RV site was available in Roseville :-)  It's minutes from our shop so we'll be saving money on fuel and saving time with our commute.  It appears we'll be in the area for a little while so this is perfect for us at the moment.  One more week in Dutch Flat and then it's moving day for Raven.

Fast Forward to Today, December 20th

Raven was winterized last Saturday for her move down the hill.  The main reason is because she'll be at her new spot without us for a few weeks.  You can never predict the weather so we wanted her pipes safe while we're away.

We've been on the road since dropping her off.  We're currently staying at an Airbnb home in Oklahoma City.  We're 15 minutes away from Alex, Kana and our second grandson Benjamin Octavius! :-)  Jessica and Emmett are staying at Alex's house so we get to see them again.  Plus, Ron's folks are flying in tomorrow from North Carolina.  It'll be a fantastic Christmas!!

Next post I'll be sharing photos of our journey along the way and of course photos of our two beautiful grandsons!!
       

We're Not Bored

Owning and operating two businesses, working out, household chores, rig maintenance, dog walking, dog entertainment and so much more is enough to keep most anyone from getting bored.  But we're not just anyone...  We're DIY people :-)

How can you be bored when there's DIY projects to be done?

The past several weeks have kept Ron very busy with three projects.  And he accomplished them simultaneously to boot!   

PROJECT #1

The first one involved moving an electrical outlet, adding another outlet, stabilizing drawers, making a drawer and making a cutting board.  It's really a benefit for us that we have our shop where he can fabricate his designs.  I couldn't imagine paying someone else to make these for us.  *Ron isn't an electrician, but he knows what he's doing.  Don't try this unless you are certain you're capable.

For the longest time, well ever since owning Raven, we wondered why the GFCI in the kitchen was put where it was.  Located above the drawers but still under the counter top.  It rarely got used.  The space could be much better utilized with an added cutting board.  But not just any regular cutting board.  Oh no...  How about also adding a 'hidden' drawer to hold pens and the like?  Time to make some changes.

not in the most useful location

much better

The first step was to relocate this GFCI outlet that was hardly used.  It was in such a poor spot.  But it is a necessary outlet.  Ron had first wanted to locate it next to the one above it on the wall.  However, the wall is too thin to accommodate the housing.  It instead got moved to under the sink where it is more useful.  I plug my Instant Pot under there so it can vent under the stove instead of under the cabinets.  So much better :-)

Now that he's got that cleared out of the way, 

Ron had an open canvas to create something useful.

it's a tight squeeze back there

The frame used to support the three original drawers wasn't enough to hold what Ron was creating.  Additional internal support was fabricated using both plywood and plastic.  The drawer bottom will slide on the plastic rails which are screwed onto wooden posts.  Ron also fabricated a wooden front piece so that the green plastic won't be visible.

Here you can see the wooden pieces that Ron made to hide the green plastic slide rails.  You can also see the beginnings of the drawer which is 2" tall.  It's the perfect height to accept pens, a tape measure and other small items.  The cutting board will sit atop the drawer.  Access to the drawer will be simple: lift the cutting board :-)

the drawer face and handle are on, tools inside, yippee :-)

the bottom has legs to keep it in place when we're in motion

 Ron does awesome work!!  Thank you honey :-))

PROJECT #2




This one was actually very simple.  The two of us changed out the window in about an hour.

Raven has a second door in the bedroom.  It's great when we want to get more fresh air inside.  It's not so great when we want to sleep and there's light flooding the room from a nearby lamp post.

Our makeshift aluminum foil window cover wasn't quite so attractive when the door was open.

The window that we bought is CloZures Shade made by Zarcor.  We ordered the room darkening option for obvious reasons :-)  It comes complete and ready to install.  It fits any window that measures 12" x 21" with 16 mounting screws.  The only tool required was a screwdriver.  We have an electric drill so we used that too.  This is a two person project.  If you're a solo RV'er grab a friend or neighbor to help.

Once we removed the interior window frame, the exterior frame and glass came out easily.  The kit comes with everything including two lengths of adhesive sealant for the window and exterior frame.   We ordered our kit from Amazon and it didn't have a tinted glass option.  If you prefer a darker glass then order it direct.  The price is the same for either seller.

in the open position

We're quite happy with how it turned out.  It does work very well at keeping the light out when it's closed!  However, I wasn't expecting the view out the window to be somewhat blocked when it's open.  This is the bedroom after all so the door is rarely used for access.  Guests come to the front door.  Plus, we rarely slide the control handle so it works out fine for us.  The supplied handle is a bit short for our particular screen door opening.  Eventually I'll contact Zarcor to get an appropriately sized handle.  If asked, I would give the window replacement 4 out of 5 stars.




PROJECT #3

Roamin was sold with one of the day/night accordion style shades broken.  It had been that way for a long time.  We had planned to fix it eventually.  I even bought a re-string kit to do it.  But, we never did bother.  Instead we just left the window shade down.

When we bought Raven, it came with the same accordion shades.  We knew they weren't optimal but we figured it would be okay.  That wasn't quite accurate.  The front shade strings broke within the first six or seven months.  Luckily we were able to have a repair shop restring them for no charge under warranty.













Then shortly after, the string of the one next to the recliners broke.  We again kept the shade down and closed most of the time.  On the few occasions we wanted it open, we would jam a piece of anti-slip mat up in the cavity between the shade and the valance.  It wasn't very pretty though...  

When a third string on a third shade broke we had just about had enough!!

I had been researching MCD shades for quite awhile already and knew that's the way we wanted to go.  There are other options, but these are the ones we felt would hold up best for us.  We did our measurements according to the website, double checked with their installer and placed our order for the front six shades.  We went with the duo shades which have a day time privacy shade plus a night time light blocking shade.  They arrived at our door step about three weeks later.

 
Ron removed the valances and the string shades from the wall.  We were kind of surprised that the valance behind the recliners was secured to the window frame with "L" brackets.

day shade pulled down

We had hoped that we wouldn't need to keep the brown side pieces.  One thing we weren't sure about was whether or not the edges of the vinyl MCD shades would warp.  Unfortunately they do warp ever so slightly meaning that the brown pieces would have to stay.

A few of the valances mount on the wall as opposed to the underside of a cabinet.  The mounting screws to hold the blocks of wood securing the shade hardware would be seen.  We bought some brown screw caps at Home Depot to beautify them a bit.

simply no comparison-these MCD shades are outstanding!

It took us three days to install all six shades.  It's been about two weeks that we've had them in use.  We had to make some minor adjustments to two of the six.  One was too close to the window frame making it difficult to move the shade up or down.  The other was positioned wrong to begin with so it just needed some tweaking.

Overall, we love these shades!  The bedroom still has the original accordion style shades.  We wanted to replace the living room shades first to see how we like them.  In time, the bedroom ones will get replaced too.

Glimpses Of Fall

Fall comes just a little later than most of the country here in California.  But when it's in full swing, the colors are gorgeous!  I just wanted to share the reds, yellows and oranges with you as they make me smile :-)

Ron's been doing some modifications to the interior again.  I'm working on that post and will put it up soon.  In the meantime, enjoy the colors and Happy Thanksgiving to You All!!

Border Crossings and Home For A Few Months

16 states so far

We've camped in 16 of the lower 48 states so far.  For our state map we add a state's sticker if we have camped in it.  Although we have driven through more than the ones on the map simply because that's where the road leads us.  It's been a fun journey (most of the time) so far!

We arrived back to the Sacramento area in mid August.  PolyMenders had repairs on the road in several California locations prior to our arrival.  Plastic Pros, however, has contracts that we need to get wrapped up so we can get back out on the road.  During the weeks before our expected arrival to the area we had made about a dozen phone calls to various RV parks looking for a spot to park for awhile.  Most had no availability :-(  However, we got a return call from Laurie at Dutch Flat RV Resort.  Yippee, she has a site for us!

our spot in the forest

Dutch Flat RV Resort is located just off Interstate 80 in the Sierra mountains.  Ron and I have an hour drive down the hill to the shop.  We are still quite happy with the park, even with the long distance commute.  It's just off of the freeway but down a small grade so the freeway noise doesn't bother us at all.  We hear freight trains go past as they blow their horns.  Plenty of trees to keep us shaded too.  The park has mostly seasonal campers although a few have told us they've been here for more than a year.  We had originally planned to be here for two months but we seem to keep getting more work in the area so we'll be here until we feel the need to move on.

On weekends we like to take day trips to nearby places.  One fun outing was actually on a walking trail here in the park.  There is a small creek about half a mile away.  It was nice and easy to get there.  The park put a couple of chairs, some lounges and a picnic table by the side of the creek making it great to stay there a bit.  Rufus isn't a swimmer so we were glad that there was an area where he could do some wadding.  He found a stick to play with .  We tricked him (shh, don't tell him) and threw it into water that was slightly deeper than his comfort level and he was actually swimming.  Barely swimming, but it still counts.  Hahaha

Since we're so close to the wonderful beauty of the mountains we looked up another hiking area within an hour's drive of the park.  Years ago I bought a paperback titled Easy Hiking in Northern California by Ann Marie Brown.  It's contents are in chapters separated by area.  I've used this book many times for many hikes from the time I was a girl scout leader to the present.  When we downsized our house I knew it was coming along too.

One sunny afternoon we packed up the truck and headed just up the freeway to Fuller Lake.  The parking area was full but we managed to find a spot to fit us near the entrance.  We walked to the water's edge where families donned in swimming suits with picnics were enjoying the afternoon's warm water.  Their laughter soon became non existent as we left the shoreline and headed into the forest on the other side of the dam.

The trail pretty much runs along the shore of the small lake.  We went off trail just a little and ended up in a lush meadow.  When we once again found the lake shore Rufus happily played in the water with a stick he found.  The only negative part of the day was the continual tree sap that ended up getting on Rufus' pads.  Next time we may have to put his booties on first.

nice lake for fishing, you can see the dam we crossed in the far distance

      
On our drive between Sacramento and our RV park we pass through the small town of Colfax.  The main exit hides a secret likely known only to the locals.  We didn't know about this trail until I found it in the same book referenced above.  Just ten minutes from home, we had to walk it.

    
The trailhead is at a dead end street with a parking area for about a dozen or so cars.  It starts downhill for quite awhile.  Your return trip to the car is going to be primarily uphill so be sure to turn around when you feel the need.  The noise from the freeway is with you for maybe the first ten to fifteen minutes of your walk.  The trail is well identified with a clear walking area and signage.  We walked for maybe two miles before taking a break and heading back uphill and back to civilization.  My old knees were having a hard time with the rough downhills.  They're much more accepting of level trails :-)

Ron and I are quite happy when we can take Rufus for a walk away from the crowds and he's able to run ahead (or behind) and sniff to his content.  He shows his appreciation to us by giving us plenty of kisses :-)

can I have some jerky Mom??

While we were taking our snack break four firemen came up the hill.  That's when we remembered seeing their truck at the trailhead...  They were there to put out a small campfire (highly stupid at this time of the year to start one!!) and also helping a woman who had hurt her ankle and needed to be taken out via helicopter.  As we came upon them on our way out they were helping another hiker who likely had heat stroke.  What a busy day for them!

We've had a few other adventures during our time here.  For now we are on standby for repairs at a local RV repair shop for the damage from our tire blowout back in July.  We took Raven to the repair shop last week so that they could take measurements and make a quote for the warranty work.  Hopefully we'll hear back from Forest River soon and that we'll get the work approved.


Ron and I have plans to be in Oklahoma City for Christmas at our son Alex's new home.  Their first born, Benjamin, is due early December.  Grand baby #2 for us!