2 Days, Nearly Ready…Alaska Here We Come

Packing is SO MUCH FUN!!!!

I packed up the car over the weekend...the scooter, ladder and generator exhaust extension pipe all fit in the back, along with a few smaller things.  The middle area has the RV levelers, some dog treats and medicines, and eventually a small suitcase of extra clothes.  Today we packed much of the kitchen stuff into the RV, tomorrow it is clothing and bathroom stuff.  Wednesday it is the Refrigerator and anything else we need to take.

So much to take, so little room…but this year will be better than last year.  After owning our motorhome for two seasons, about 18 months by the time we got back home, we knew what we did not have to take, and added just a few items that we wanted to take.  

We have been working on our check list for a few weeks now.  Cleaned the carpet (well, got it as clean as it is going to get at this point…), cleaned the vents (don’t they always seem dirty?), and got rid of some of the unneeded “stuff”.

Changed the Oil in the HHR

Changed the Oil in the Motorhome

Changed the fuel filter in Motorhome

Checked all other fluids

Checked tire pressure, and tire pressure system.



My doctor appointment was in Arkansas back in
December.  Just got a refill on medications, and my next refill will be in Anchorage.

Marcia saw all of her doctors, I think it was five of them.  Today we fought with getting a drug filled which we last filled in December…and low and behold, Medicare decided not to include this drug anymore.  So we have a substitute, which is never fun to have to test to see if there will be side affects while you travel.

And yes, even got our taxes done … perfect quarterly payments this time because we over by only $22. 

As we loaded up some stuff today, and Marcia put her final touches on cleaning counter tops, drawers, sinks, etc., it really sank in that we leave in just two days.  We both are ready to go…but we both will miss our friends and family here in the Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs area of Florida.  Family and friends await our visit ahead of us, thousands of pictures to take, much to see.  And yes, we do plan to be back in seven months.

First, we have a few miles to travel …

PS: Got the dogs new collars…Alaska, here comes Bubba and Skruffy!!!!

Happy New Year

For us (and many of our RV Friends), another year equals more travel plans.

For us, we hope to be in Sacramento area by end of March, and in May start off on our third try for the far north…but we all know how plans change.   So this year our plan includes “Jello”.  Which means we will build in many choices from just into Canada, or Canada and Hyder Alaska, or to the full dream trip of Fairbanks, Anchorage, Homer, Valdez, Skagway, Stewart, Hyder, etc.  We sure hope to do it all, the entire 20,000 mile trip which has been mapped out over and over again.

We have been home now for 19 days, Marcia has one of three doctor appointments out of the way.  We went over to see her brother Dean and his wife Caryl in Lake Mary for a few days, and we are both officially over our colds.  Bubba went to the groomer today, and I will groom Skruffy next week.

And if you have not gotten the message by now … we hope EVERYONE has a WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!

Alaska Ready? Almost….

Our tire pressure monitoring system arrived last week.  Decided I needed to have some tire valve extenders which came in on Tuesday.  As Arny and I were looking things over, we discovered that the driver-side back duels had both the inside and outside tire stem too close together.  They should be opposite each other like the “1” and the “7” are on a clock.  If I added the tire sensor, that would put too much weight on one area of the tire and effect the drive and the life of the tire.  A call to America’s Tire, which is what Discount Tire is called in California, and they will quickly fix it on Friday.  (As most of you know, we just got these tires due to a blowout and recall back in El Paso in early April)  Friday afternoon or Saturday morning will be monitor installation day.

Anytime you park for so many weeks, you always have things out in the kitchen…and our kitchen is small.  Before we left Florida I redid the pantry, and we both like the results of that. 

This latest fix was much easier.  I got this paper towel holder from Amazon, and installed it on the valance over the sink.  Previous to that we had stored it where the Kleenex box is above the valance….now we have a safe place (away from stove flames) for both of these paper products.

This is our bathroom sink area.  To the left would be the pantry, to the right is the bedroom.

    

I got these stainless cups to hold our toothbrushes, and during travel can easily fit in the medicine cabinet above.  And I got this corner shelf to hold other items to keep the counter top free of clutter, and they can ride along like they are without falling out.  Those lights above the sink, by-the-way, are LED lights.

Also installed these stainless drink holders next to each chair.  There were plastic ones there when we bought the motorhome last year, and one was already broken and I removed them months ago.  They fold up along the wall very easily, and if only the bottom one is out, a coffee mug will sit on it (nor recommended while driving of course).

So our little “living area” is now complete…solid floor below us, comfortable chairs, portable folding tables to hold our computers, a place to put our coffee mugs in the morning (you can see mine along the wall to the right of the empty chair), and a bashful wife (actually she was trying to catch a few Zzzzzz’s) to go with it all.  So the answer is….we are “NEARLY” ready for our trip to Alaska…and we are headed out from here on Sunday evening, planning to travel a whole 14 miles to the Thunder Valley Casino for the night, and then three days of long miles to get into Canada Thursday morning.

Had lunch with my girl today who came over to visit us all last night, and will leave tomorrow.  This was at Panera Breads after we ran a few late morning errands.

We picked up a pack of four Tri-tips from Raley’s Grocery Store on Sunday, and Arny barbecued them all up this evening.  I made my favorite salad (if you want to call Cool Whip, Pimento Cheese, Mandarin Oranges, Crushed Pineapple, Maraschino Cherries, and Marshmallows a salad), Marcia made a Green Salad, Arny also cooked up some corn-on-the-cobb, and also some chicken breasts for Stephanie who shies away from red meat. One of the tri-tips went right into our freezer, cut and put into baggies, which should provide five meals for us.  Friday we plan on left overs, where Arny will convert some of the tri-tips into fajitas, or some other main dish, and there is enough for a few other meals for them and for mom and dad next door.  Oh, and that lovely 92+ year old is taking everyone out to dinner on Saturday…her back is doing so much better, it is nice to have her be able to sit at the table with us all again.

So is everyone excited about heading out to Alaska????  By the looks of it, yes.  But looks can be deceiving…Bubba is jumping for joy and Skruffy is barking her little head off not because I said “Alaska”, but because I said “Peanut Butter Time”. 

You see…every night they both take a Glucosamine-Chondroitin-MSM pill for hip and joint health.  I use to have to crush it up in Peanut Butter for Bubba to take, now I can just put a good dab of Peanut Butter on the pill and give it to them, and they think it is a treat.  After that, they also get a DentaStix, and then it is night night time for both.  Unfortunately, Bubba will go though major withdrawal when we leave because he hates to leave his buddy Uncle Arny.  (He is not so happy about leaving his Uncle Mike’s house in Florida when we head out either…but with Uncle Arny there is no competition from other dogs and grandchildren, so Arny has the edge as “Uncles Go”.)   And this is a secret now…..I think both Uncles (Arny and Mike) and both Aunt Sandy’s (they both married a Sandy to make it easy on Bubba’s memory) go through Bubba Withdrawals too.  As for Skruffy…well everyone knows she is a Daddy’s Dog, turning into a Mama’s dog now and then, but definitely a Daddy’s Dog.

Gone for 8+ Months Starting Today, Sewer Problems

No pictures in this brief post, just a quick recap.

Trip back to the condo from Lake Mary went real well.  Had a great visit with Dean and Caryl (and Hattie).  It included a great meal at a real good Greek Restaurant in neighboring DeLand, Florida called Santorini Greek Cuisine.  I had the Pastitsio / Moussaka Combo dinner with a cup of Avgolemono Soup.  This soup was the second best Avgolemono that I have had, only slightly behind Mama Maria's in Tarpon Springs.  The Pastitsio and Moussaka were very good. The only thing about this restaurant is the size....very small.  We did not have to wait, but we sat at a table for four which touched a table for four on each side.  Overall, it probably seats around 45 people total inside, and another dozen or so outside on the sidewalk.  But the Yelp and Trip Advisor ratings are exellent, and the food lived up to the ratings in our opinions.  (links to Pastitsio, Moussaka and Avgolemono Soup are to Wikipedia sites to explain/show what it is.)

Tuesday after we got home I loaded a few more things into the motorhome and squeezed it back out of the condo area onto the street where they had shut down the main entrance again because, and some of you will die when you hear this, the new sewer lines were leaking!!!!!  Yep, maybe they will have it all done by the time we get back in December!  I then gave Bubba an overdue clipping job, and he once again looks good.  I hope to give them both another clipping when we get to Sacramento area, and again right before we leave to head north.

Wednesday I took Bubba and went and got the motorhome and parked it in a neighboring Grocery Store lot.  I then made a few trips back and forth to get the few things we still needed into it, and also did a grocery run.  By 2 pm we were ready for our showers, and by 3:15 we officially locked up the condo, after turning off the water, covering the toilets, up-plugging many items, turning the A/C up to 80, and turning the Hot Water Heater off.  After a quick run to the eyeglasses place where Marcia is still trying to get a pair of eyeglasses to work right that she bought in January, which we hope are fixed for good now, we went and sat in the church parking lot until an hour before the service started, went and got dinner and enjoyed our last service “in person” until December.  Of course, we will watch services online, which to us is a huge blessing because it is like being home away from home.

Tonight we are sitting in another wonderful Florida Rest Area, secured by a guard, and with how tired we are (Marcia is already asleep) I am sure it will be a wonderful nights rest regardless of the noise of traffic going by.  Our first scheduled items is breakfast with my oldest brother Jim and his wife Carol in San Antonio on Saturday morning.

25 Days, Less an Hour, to Alaska Trip

You either Love it, or Hate it…..I hate it.  I would like the time to just stay on one or the other, this twice a year change is really, uhhhh, (watch how you put this Dave), uhhh, ok, revert to Greek,  SKATA!

I’ll just have to keep focused on our Trip to Alaska…..leaving these lower 48 states, 47 of which I have been to before, and head up through two Canadian Provinces (neither of which either of us have been to before), and into Alaska which will be my 48th state.

 

But first we need to get out to California for my son’s graduation from Cal where he will have earned a Masters in Public Policy, and, crossing our fingers, he might have a job lined up with the City of San Francisco, AND, we will get to meet his girl friend….another first because I have not met her before.

Before that we will be going through Yuma because I need new glasses, and we have a few people to visit along the way too.  By May 20th, give or take a few days, we will leave the Sacramento area and head up I-5.

      

It took me a year to decide how I wanted to store things in the one storage space we have underneath that isn’t dedicated to sewer or to utilities hookups.  I got these blue sorting boxes in a few weeks ago and sorted nearly everything out.  In that green/black bag is my tools, so I still am looking for a tool bag (not box).

Skruffy was looking, how do you say it, oh ya….looking Scruffy.

Now that’s better….but I don’t know why I got that giraffe in such a position, it was not planned that way…..

  

Above left is how she looked when I first got her in 2009, and above right is how she looked when we left Pine Bluff back in 2012.

Much, much better…..but it doesn’t last long, so I guess keeping the name the guys at the construction company gave her when she was “rescued” so many years ago hasn’t been so bad after all.

So besides doing a few other fixes, and buying essentials from Amazon (Wounded Warrior must love us since they benefit from our purchases), we have another 25 days before we leave our Condo.  Marcia wanted to pack last week, but I have put that off until we are within two weeks of leaving.  So far, so Good. 

Bubba Visits for Hair Cut

Oh look at that boy…he needed a hair cut real bad.  Last time I gave him one near the doggy park using an inverter in the car, with him in the back of the HHR while I sat on Marcia’s GoGo, but the inverter was not strong enough to use the high setting on the clippers.  So we decided that a quick visit for a haircut and a bath (well, shower with dad) was in order, so after church tonight that is what we did.

Now that is so much better. Unlike Skruffy who seems to enjoy the haircuts, Bubba is a bit indifferent about it….more of a “When is this going to be over?” attitude.  But after about 90 minutes, it was over, he was clean, and the one thing he really enjoys is being rubbed dry with the towel.

I cut Skruffy at the end of last week, and it is nice having them together, clean and groomed, and we can’t wait until winter is over and we can all be together traveling again. (Of course, they are sitting awaiting their "treat" which I held over the camera.)  And yes, that is Marcia looking on in the upper left corner of this picture above.

As you can see, one of them (Bubba) was like, "I ain't going to wait for this treat, I am going for it!"  (I know you are laughing Arny.....)

I have been refining our Alaska trip, bookmarking possible RV parks, checking other people’s blogs to see how early we can head up there and not hit too cold of weather, and refining the route a bit as to where we take he motorhome with the HHR in tow, and where do we just do day trips in the HHR.  Dogs have had their shots, although Skruffy still needs her county license which is due in March, and Marcia is nearly done with her Doctor appointments…just three more to go, mainly for authorizing refills of her drugs which are basically due to the MS.

And I have just a few more minor items to deal with before we have the motorhome ready to hit the road …. along with one major repair which we plan to have done in Sacramento (we hope...still need to make that appointment).  On our way home from California we lost the outside door light cover, and found that the light just needed to be replaced.  Unfortunately, the way the wiring was set up, I had to put the light on upside down, which cuts down on the amount of light available. I had no ladder, and no wire, so that was something we were taking care of here in Florida.  (We are taking the ladder this time, which will be carried in the car when we travel, and stored under the motorhome when we are parked for extended time periods.)  I also want to clean out our exterior storage areas and figure out a better way to store a few items down there.  There are a few other things too…probably should write these things down.   (LOL)