An Early End to Summer Travels and a New Home Base

 Welcome back to our story. Our last chapter concluded on Sunday, August 23^rd when we left Oregon after a month of touring and came back into California and the Redding Elks Lodge. Monday was a stay at home day. The smoke is so bad outside that you can taste it. We did some chores, played cards, watched TV and just relaxed all day. I did go out in the late afternoon and drive to the KFC up the road to get dinner. It is also very hot and we didn't want to have to run the oven. Peggy did come over to visit for an hour or so in the late afternoon. We had cocktails, then KFC, then watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, August 25^th, we left the coach about 10:40 and went out to do some errands. The first stop was a nail salon so Jackie could get her toes done. When she was done with that we did a Costco run. We then stopped at In N Out and picked up some burgers for lunch. We took them home to eat. California is still shut down for dine in service at restaurants. Peggy, who was down in the valley staying at her son Matt's place for a couple of days, came over and we all had lunch. The girls spent the afternoon playing cards and talking while I did a few chores. We had dinner with Peggy, eating the Costco chicken we bought earlier today. After Peggy left we watched TV and went to bed.

Wednesday, August 26^th, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road by 10:00, continuing south 200 miles to Lodi, California. It was a pretty uneventful trip, pretty flat and not too much traffic until we got into the Sacramento area. We arrived at the Flag City RV park in Lodi about 2:00 and got parked and set up for our two night stay. We expected there to be a lot of smoke here too as there are some really big fires around San Francisco, but we actually saw blue sky and sun, with just a little smoke haze. We spent the rest of the day inside. Thursday we did laundry after lunch at the RV park's laundromat. After we got the clothes done and put away we just relaxed for the rest of the day.

Friday, August 28^th, another travel day. We were hooked up and pretty much ready to travel by 10:00, but a strange thing happened to the car. After I got it hooked up I tried to hookup the auxiliary brake box and the car was dead, no power at all. Nothing worked, locks, seats, nothing. This has never happened before. The car has a regular 12 volt battery in addition to the large, high voltage hybrid battery, and my guess was that it went dead. I plugged the high voltage charger in and the car came back to life. We went ahead and started our trip for the day. We are going about 167 miles south to Coalinga, California. We arrived at the Almond Tree Oasis RV park about 2:00. As I was checking the car I found that the car was dead again. After we got set up for our one night stay I put the 12 volt battery charger on the car and watched it for the next five hours. By about 7:00 it showed a full charge and the car was working OK again. We had cocktails and dinner, watched some TV and went to bed.

Saturday, August 29^th, another travel day, this time about 100 miles south to Bakersfield. When I checked the car while getting ready to travel it was still working OK, although since it was still hooked up I couldn't drive it. We got on the road about 10:30 and arrived at the Shady Haven RV park by about 12:30. We are here for two days, so I checked the car and it was still working OK. I unhooked it and before we decided to go to the store I put the battery charger on it again and it indicated that the battery was nearly dead again. I guess we have a bad battery. I left the charger on it for a while but it didn't show any change. I disconnected the charger and checked the voltage of the battery and it was 13.7 volts, about what a charged battery should be. We decided to take a chance and drove to the nearby Walmart for some supplies. The car worked fine with no issues. We spent the rest of the very hot day inside.

Sunday, August 30^th, we had a free day in Bakersfield. We went out after lunch to do some caching, getting one find and one DNF, but we quit because it was really hot. We spent the rest of the day inside. Monday was another travel day. We got an early start, around 9:30, and headed east from Bakersfield to Daggett, a small town just outside of Barstow. We arrived at the Desert Springs RV park around 1:30 after making a fuel stop, and got parked for our one night stay. We didn't unhook the car, so we didn't go anywhere. Tuesday was another travel day, the last for a few months. We left Daggett around 10:00 heading on our last leg towards home, Pahrump, Nevada. It was only 146 miles and we arrived at the Escapee's RV Park, Pair-a-dice, around 1:30. This is our first visit to our new lot, which we have seen in pictures but are now getting to see in person. The staff parked us, which is standard for the first timers, and we proceeded to get set up. We did the basics today because it was hot and we had been on the road. We are going to be here for at least three months, so there is no hurry.

We are really happy with our new personal lot. We are just two spaces down from the clubhouse, which also houses the laundry. We have a nice neighbor, whom we already know from our friend Millie Duffin's parties. The lot is very basc still, no additional concrete beyond the patio that comes with the storage room. However, the storage room is semi-finished with wallboard, numerous electric outlets, lots of built in wooden shelves, a large cedar lined closet, outside and inside lights, and a window, which is an add-on feature. The small, 10X12 patio is also semi-enclosed and covered. The water pressure and electric both seem to be good, so we are happy. After we got set up we relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, September 2^nd, the temps are still in the triple digits for the desert. I spent an hour or so outside setting up some of the decorations for our stay. About 12:30 we left and went to lunch at Mom's Diner, one of our local favorites, then picked up mail at the UPS store and did a Walmart run. We will have to go to another store tomorrow as the Walmart is so low on inventory that they almost look like they are going out of business. After we got back to the coach we relaxed and did a few inside chores. We had cocktails but no dinner as we were full from lunch. We watched some TV and went to bed.

Thursday, September 3^rd, another hot day. I spent another hour and half or so finishing up the decorations and lights around our lot. After lunch we went out to run some errands. We went to home depot to pick up a few things. We needed some stuff for around the lot, to make repairs and to get some weed killer since we have to take care of our own weeds on the lot. We then made a stop at Smith's grocery store to get some of the things we couldn't find at Walmart yesterday. Friday, an even hotter day. They are predicting 111 for over the holiday weekend. Yikes, like being back in Phoenix in my younger days. We did a pork loin for dinner, watched some TV and went to bed. Friday we left the coach about noon and went to Desert View Hospital so Jackie could get her annual mammogram. After she was done we went to Johnny's Mexican restaurant for lunch. We actually both had breakfast, they make a great machaca con huevos there. After lunch we stopped at the Dollar Tree for a few things, mostly Fall/Halloween decorations, then headed back to the coach. I did a few chores outside, but mostly we relaxed inside out of the heat.

Saturday, September 5^th, the scorching Labor Day weekend continues. It is supposed to be 111 today, record setting temperatures for this time of year. We didn't go anywhere today except that in the afternoon I made a run to the UPS store to pick up a couple of Amazon packages. Nothing major, just a bunch of little stuff we needed and/or wanted. We had pork green chili for dinner from the left over pork loin, then watched TV until bedtime. Sunday I went out first thing in the morning and got a paper, and other than that we didn't leave the house. Did some corn and steaks on the BBQ for dinner, watched some TV and went to bed. One more hot day predicted, let's hope.

Monday, September 7^th, Happy Labor Day. Still hot and now we have smoke from the California wildfires blanking out the sky as well. The sun was just an orange circle in the sky. At least the smoke kept the heat down a little, only getting to 105 instead of the 112 predicted. We didn't go anywhere or do anything outside. Did a few chores, mostly relaxed. Had chicken on the BBQ for dinner. Watched TV and went to bed. Tuesday we woke up to high winds and cooler temperatures. The wind was blowing so hard in the morning that I lowered the flag pole and windsock and put up the window awning. We stayed in for most of the day but did go out after lunch and do a Walmart run. By late afternoon the winds had at least blown most of the California smoke out and we had pretty clear skies.

Wednesday the winds died down and the temps stayed in the low 80's. We went to the dermatologist in the late morning, both of us for our annual skin checks. I had my usual half dozen places sprayed with liquid nitrogen and he also cut out three small lesions that he had some concerns about. One of them was what was left of the big thing I had on my ear up in Oregon. After the doctor we went back home and I did a little work outside and Jackie did some chores. Thursday was another doctor day for us. We left the coach about 10:00 and drove over the pass into Las Vegas so Jackie could see another neurologist about her frequent headaches, still leftovers I believe from the fall she took nearly two years ago. She was not happy with the specialist she saw here in Pahrump last fall. We got into Vegas and stopped at a place for lunch before her appointment. It was the Omelet House and it was just a few blocks from the University Hospital complex where the Neurologist's office is. The food was excellent, as was the service. We will definitely go back there if we are in the area again. After lunch we picked up a nearby geocache, then went to the doctor. Jackie got in to see the doctor and he told her that she seemed to be making progress and was happy that Jackie was reporting that the headaches were not as frequent or as strong. I repeated what all the other doctors have said, that after a bad head bang these headaches can hang around for a very long time before they clear up. After she saw the doctor she had an EEG which took almost an hour, just so it would be in her record. After the doctor we headed back to Pahrump, getting home around 4:00. We spent the rest of the day in the coach.

Friday, September 11^th, Remembrance Day. I still remember 2001 like it was last week. Waking up to get ready to go to work just as the second plane hit in New York. Then watching TV at work when the towers fell. We left the coach about 10:30 and drove to China Wok for a free lunch put on by Medical Air Services Association (MASA). MASA is a program we joined in 2007 which pays for any kind of necessary medical transport, ground ambulance, medical helicopter or fixed wing medical transport. We paid a one time fee of around $3,700 at that time for the program. We haven't had to use it, thank God, but it is nice to know we have it. The sales representatives travel around the country, mostly to retirement areas, selling the program and almost always provide free food. They also encourage current members to come to the presentations, and they do, usually outnumbering those who don't already have the coverage. The buffet was open, a little more limited than normal, but they required masks and gloves when getting food and the plates and bowls were disposable. We had a great lunch, after which we went to pick up our mail and then do a quick Walmart run for a couple things. We then spent the rest of the afternoon at home. It is still in the low 90's, but the California smoke is back a little bit. After our cocktail time we watched some TV and went to bed.

Saturday, September 12^th, was a stay at home day. We did laundry after lunch here at the park. They have a small laundry room in the clubhouse building, only six washers and six dryers, but it is clean and well maintained. They are also very inexpensive with each machine being only a dollar to run a cycle. When we went in there was no one there and our lot is only a hundred yards or so from the clubhouse, so we were able to walk back and forth to the coach while the machines ran. By 2:30 we were finished with the laundry for another couple of weeks. Other than that, we were at home for the entire day. Sunday we went out after lunch to do some geocaching. There are not a lot of geocaches in the Pahrump area that we have not already gotten, at least not caches that require a four wheel drive vehicle to get to. However, over the last year there have been a handful of new caches put out, so we went to pick up a couple. We got two new finds and one DNF for our efforts. We also have about 14 of our own caches hidden in and around Pahrump and we need to check on those from time to time to be sure they are still in good shape and the logs are not full. We were able to check on six of those caches as well. A couple needed new containers and a couple needed new logs. After our caching adventures we did a Walmart run, then went back to the coach. We stayed in for the rest of the day and evening.

Monday, September 14^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and drove to the nearby Mountain Falls Country Club for lunch with the Lucky Rollers Chapter of the Escapees. The Lucky Rollers are a social chapter of Escapees made up primarily of people who have lots at the Escapees Pair A Dice Co-op here in Pahrump. We joined the chapter when we got here a couple weeks ago for the first time. There were about 20 people, mostly from the park, at the lunch and we had a nice time visiting with our new neighbors. After lunch we went back to the park and went to the clubhouse for a business meeting of the same chapter. It was mostly the same people and the meeting lasted about 45 minutes. After the meeting we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the day around the coach, relaxing and doing chores.

It has now been a little over three weeks since we published, so this is a good time to close this episode and get it online. Until next time, remember that every time you find some humor in a difficult situation, you win. See ya soon.