Saturday, November 27, 2004
Thanksgiving
Sometimes it’s hard to be thankful for your circumstances. The week before Thanksgiving we had the RV and the Honda in different shops simultaneously. I was also experiencing the strongest fibro flare-up since Florida. But, the breakdowns led us here and forced us to stop long enough to have a wonderful Thanksgiving pot-luck dinner with a very nice bunch of folks at RV Docs in Las Cruces, New Mexico. A nice, outgoing lady named Eileen brought us all together. It was a very enjoyable way to spend Thanksgiving since we couldn’t be back east with our families. Ed even got to meet and play with another home-schooled boy who’s traveling full-time with his family. So, I’m thankful for the hassles and headaches we faced earlier because we had some great experiences and seem to have finally worked out the latest bugs in the two vehicles.
Spending a week in Las Cruces, I got to know the area well enough to do my annual Black Friday shopping run here. You have to know the locations of the stores or it throws your timing off. Fortunately, the crowds were nothing like back in Florida and so far removed from what we used to face in the Delaware Valley that it’s hard to believe what we used to endure. There were no shoving/yelling matches, line jumpers or injuries – a pleasant change of pace! I stayed up through the night plotting my mission. I got a relatively late start though (didn’t leave until 5:30 am) because I was attempting to avoid the stores by shopping online. The only store that had what I wanted online was Staples but their site slowed to a crawl as soon as 6 am Eastern arrived. I finally gave up and headed for Target. Even though I only arrived 15 minutes prior to their opening at 6 am, I got in and out of the store with everything on my list by 6:14! Then I hit Staples and managed to snag the two most important items I had intended to order from their website. The plus to shopping in-store was an additional $20 off coupon the website wouldn’t accept (assuming it ever got around to actually taking the order). I had a very successful run that culminated in a trip to Pep Boys, snagging a really sweet electric scooter for Ed. Normally, I wouldn’t be putting that up on the blog but we faced two problems with this gift – 1) it’s far too big and heavy to ship to Philly and back for Christmas, 2) there’s no place to hide it on the RV. So, we gave it to Ed as an early present. His old scooter broke back in Mississippi so he was really happy with the upgrade! I was really happy with the Black Friday price. The electric scooter actually cost less than what his manual scooter cost a few years ago! I was back at the RV by 10:30 am with everything except a couple items KB Toys ran out of before I could get there. I took a four hour nap in the afternoon then we got some dinner and went back to the mall. I read EB Games was clearing out used PC games for 75% off this weekend and we got three decent older games for about seven bucks. We stopped back into KB Toys to see if I had missed anything in the early rush. Amazingly, they had restocked the shelves with a key sale item for one of the cousins and there were two left at 5 minutes until closing. We quickly checked the ad and it didn’t say the sale ended at 11 am or Noon (like most). So, we ended up buying our last Black Friday doorbuster item right at 9 pm. Definitely a first!
Tomorrow we’re off to Tucson for a couple days before we work our way up to Las Vegas. There’s only a little more than two weeks left before we see everyone back east and we’re very excited about that!
Spending a week in Las Cruces, I got to know the area well enough to do my annual Black Friday shopping run here. You have to know the locations of the stores or it throws your timing off. Fortunately, the crowds were nothing like back in Florida and so far removed from what we used to face in the Delaware Valley that it’s hard to believe what we used to endure. There were no shoving/yelling matches, line jumpers or injuries – a pleasant change of pace! I stayed up through the night plotting my mission. I got a relatively late start though (didn’t leave until 5:30 am) because I was attempting to avoid the stores by shopping online. The only store that had what I wanted online was Staples but their site slowed to a crawl as soon as 6 am Eastern arrived. I finally gave up and headed for Target. Even though I only arrived 15 minutes prior to their opening at 6 am, I got in and out of the store with everything on my list by 6:14! Then I hit Staples and managed to snag the two most important items I had intended to order from their website. The plus to shopping in-store was an additional $20 off coupon the website wouldn’t accept (assuming it ever got around to actually taking the order). I had a very successful run that culminated in a trip to Pep Boys, snagging a really sweet electric scooter for Ed. Normally, I wouldn’t be putting that up on the blog but we faced two problems with this gift – 1) it’s far too big and heavy to ship to Philly and back for Christmas, 2) there’s no place to hide it on the RV. So, we gave it to Ed as an early present. His old scooter broke back in Mississippi so he was really happy with the upgrade! I was really happy with the Black Friday price. The electric scooter actually cost less than what his manual scooter cost a few years ago! I was back at the RV by 10:30 am with everything except a couple items KB Toys ran out of before I could get there. I took a four hour nap in the afternoon then we got some dinner and went back to the mall. I read EB Games was clearing out used PC games for 75% off this weekend and we got three decent older games for about seven bucks. We stopped back into KB Toys to see if I had missed anything in the early rush. Amazingly, they had restocked the shelves with a key sale item for one of the cousins and there were two left at 5 minutes until closing. We quickly checked the ad and it didn’t say the sale ended at 11 am or Noon (like most). So, we ended up buying our last Black Friday doorbuster item right at 9 pm. Definitely a first!
Tomorrow we’re off to Tucson for a couple days before we work our way up to Las Vegas. There’s only a little more than two weeks left before we see everyone back east and we’re very excited about that!
Monday, November 15, 2004
Rain in my Petri dish
So much for the dry desert southwest! It’s raining here in Carlsbad, New Mexico and has been since Saturday. In a town designed for dry conditions, we ran through several deep puddles in the Honda Saturday night and soaked the electricals causing us to breakdown about 5 miles from the RV park. Good Sam sent a flatbed and the three of us crammed into its cab with the driver for a ride back to our RV. There’s no Honda dealership in Carlsbad so the car was taken to Hobbs about 75 miles away. Fortunately, their repair shop seems to have fair pricing, so we’re having several minor issues fixed while it’s there. Since it was Gera’s idea to visit the caverns here, I “let” her unhook the RV connections yesterday and we drove it up the mountain for the tour. We took the elevator down 750 feet from the surface and walked the 2.6 mile loop. Pictures don’t do justice to the amazing natural formations in there.
All the rain is making it very difficult for me to know if the way I feel is a result of environment, weather or something else. Humidity plays some factor in my fatigue flare-ups. It’s why I left Florida for the “dry” West in the first place. But, it’s actually colder here today than it is in Fargo, North Dakota and snow is falling in the higher elevations just north of here. I guess El Nino has returned.
All the rain is making it very difficult for me to know if the way I feel is a result of environment, weather or something else. Humidity plays some factor in my fatigue flare-ups. It’s why I left Florida for the “dry” West in the first place. But, it’s actually colder here today than it is in Fargo, North Dakota and snow is falling in the higher elevations just north of here. I guess El Nino has returned.
Friday, November 12, 2004
You know you’ve been in Roswell too long when…
Yesterday, I woke up at 4 am and saw an alien standing in the front of the RV. It didn’t frighten me though because it looked like one of those plastic inflatable models they sell at the tourist shops here. The weird thing is we didn’t buy one of those. After using the bathroom, I saw the reflection of an alien head in the closet mirror. Again, it looked like a blow-up type. I went back to bed, pulled the covers up high and figured I have aliens on the brain from our week in Roswell.
Our time here has been fun and relaxing. The UFO Museum and Research Center is a fascinating place. The displays are interesting but the library is the most amazing part. They have walls of books, videos, magazines and newspaper clippings that cover nothing but the unusual. In the research room, I got to meet a nice gentleman from Norway named Hawkin (I hope I spelled that right; he might read the blog – just comment if I got it wrong Hawkin). He’s traveling the country building a photographic portfolio and took a picture of Eddy and me.
We cleaned out the basement storage areas on the RV. It’s hard to believe we can drive a 30 foot home down the road for 2 months and still find stuff aboard we didn’t know was there, but it’s true. I cleaned out some old wood levelers the previous owner had and found a 6 ton jack. The thing is smaller than my shoe but could lift “The Road Hog” if needed. What a site that would be though! Hopefully, with Good Sam’s Emergency Roadside Assistance, I’ll never have to see it first hand.
I tossed those wood levelers because they were heavy and in bad shape. I couldn’t reach them all thanks to a deep and narrow storage section that doesn’t open to the other side. My big gut stopped me from getting very far into the area, so Gera – the trooper – climbed back in there to reach the farthest pieces. She could only get in as far as her butt would allow. While she was in there, I had her rolling by saying I’d take pictures for the blog. Even though she thought it would be really funny to have video, I was kind and left the camera in the car. Just picture Winnie The Pooh in Rabbit’s doorway and you get the idea.
Gera’s parents are flying us back to Philly for Christmas and my parents offered to help out with the rental car, so we’re going to have a nice 3-week visit with everyone over the holidays! My only regret regarding the time of year we chose for our journey was losing the holidays with the families. Thanks to them though, we get to have it all! What a great Christmas present for the three of us; thanks moms and dads!
Since we’re flying out of Las Vegas on December 14th, we’ll be making our way there. We leave Roswell today for Carlsbad – about 78 miles south of here. We’re going to spend a few days underground in the caves. After that, we’ll probably visit El Paso, Texas for a day then head to Tucson for a few nights. We’re shooting for Thanksgiving in Phoenix so I can do my annual Black Friday Christmas shopping someplace that has all the best retail stores. After that, we’ll head for the Grand Canyon then on into Vegas where we’ll put the RV in storage for our trip back East. This is the most planning I’ve done for the entire journey! Of course, everything is subject to change.
Our time here has been fun and relaxing. The UFO Museum and Research Center is a fascinating place. The displays are interesting but the library is the most amazing part. They have walls of books, videos, magazines and newspaper clippings that cover nothing but the unusual. In the research room, I got to meet a nice gentleman from Norway named Hawkin (I hope I spelled that right; he might read the blog – just comment if I got it wrong Hawkin). He’s traveling the country building a photographic portfolio and took a picture of Eddy and me.
We cleaned out the basement storage areas on the RV. It’s hard to believe we can drive a 30 foot home down the road for 2 months and still find stuff aboard we didn’t know was there, but it’s true. I cleaned out some old wood levelers the previous owner had and found a 6 ton jack. The thing is smaller than my shoe but could lift “The Road Hog” if needed. What a site that would be though! Hopefully, with Good Sam’s Emergency Roadside Assistance, I’ll never have to see it first hand.
I tossed those wood levelers because they were heavy and in bad shape. I couldn’t reach them all thanks to a deep and narrow storage section that doesn’t open to the other side. My big gut stopped me from getting very far into the area, so Gera – the trooper – climbed back in there to reach the farthest pieces. She could only get in as far as her butt would allow. While she was in there, I had her rolling by saying I’d take pictures for the blog. Even though she thought it would be really funny to have video, I was kind and left the camera in the car. Just picture Winnie The Pooh in Rabbit’s doorway and you get the idea.
Gera’s parents are flying us back to Philly for Christmas and my parents offered to help out with the rental car, so we’re going to have a nice 3-week visit with everyone over the holidays! My only regret regarding the time of year we chose for our journey was losing the holidays with the families. Thanks to them though, we get to have it all! What a great Christmas present for the three of us; thanks moms and dads!
Since we’re flying out of Las Vegas on December 14th, we’ll be making our way there. We leave Roswell today for Carlsbad – about 78 miles south of here. We’re going to spend a few days underground in the caves. After that, we’ll probably visit El Paso, Texas for a day then head to Tucson for a few nights. We’re shooting for Thanksgiving in Phoenix so I can do my annual Black Friday Christmas shopping someplace that has all the best retail stores. After that, we’ll head for the Grand Canyon then on into Vegas where we’ll put the RV in storage for our trip back East. This is the most planning I’ve done for the entire journey! Of course, everything is subject to change.
Monday, November 08, 2004
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
We’re on the road again, about 200 miles from Denton at a Flying J (we have WiFi here; the cell phone internet connection still isn’t working). The regulator repair stopped the gas leak but now we’re getting some sputtering again going uphill and last night when I restarted the engine we got a really loud bang up front that I can only assume was a manifold backfire. Needless to say, I shut the engine right off. Today it’s running fine though. Perhaps the regulator needs some minor adjustment. It’ll take us a couple days to get to Roswell, New Mexico and the nights are cold! Fortunately, it’s warm during the day. We may have to stick with audio blog messages after this unless we find an alternate method of connecting to the internet (or Sprint gets its act together).
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Cell phone blues
Our usually reliable Sprint cell phone is not letting us connect to the internet. So, I'm at a library in Denton, TX posting. We're waiting for repair to the RV by Danny's RV Service. We smelled gas on the walk-around yesterday after overnighting at Camping World. The fuel regulator back by the gas tank is leaking. The part has been difficult for Danny's to locate, but we're hoping it'll be fixed today.
Seeing that John Kerry has conceeded the election, I wish President Bush luck over the next four years. He's going to need it.
Seeing that John Kerry has conceeded the election, I wish President Bush luck over the next four years. He's going to need it.
Monday, November 01, 2004
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