Plans change for the Holidays...

Well, instead of being mobile by December 1, we have decided to stick it out here in California 'til XMAS, despite the ongoing high cost of everything.  We were kinda surprised when we returned to the Petaluma KOA for an additional 2 week stay and found their price for 2 weeks was basically the same as for an entire month, no breaks! Like I said before, it IS a nice RV park, especially family oriented, but it definitely fits into the California Lifestyle with its high prices. We came back just in time for the nice weather, too (sarcasm inserted here)!  I learned another lesson in a long list of ongoing lessons learned as well. For instance, patience is one of the most important virtues.  On our prior trip through the northern states, I lost all semblance of sanity at a stop in Idaho. Normally, it does not take more than 30-60 seconds to bleed the gas lines for the kitchen range.  At this particular stop, for some reason it took what seemed to be an eternity.  I was jumping in and out of the trailer, checking valves and gas lines, switching back and forth between tanks, and in general going crazy since the 5th wheel is only a year old.  It eventually got the lines bled, but took a bit longer than usual, a nice stress inducer...So, being as sharp as a marble that I am, this trip the weather was so cold we had to run the heater. I have 2 gas tanks with a manual valve to switch between the two.  Well, we eventually ran the current tank out of gas while the heater was in use. After switching tanks, no light bulb went on over my head to tell me, "Don't forget, stupid, you gotta bleed the gas lines for the heater now!" So, patience being one of my top virtues, NOT, I again went goofy trying to get heat going.  Cold air kept blasting through the vents, fans turned off for unknown reasons, and I just plopped and scratched my head.  The "Smart One" (don't tell her that, it will only incite incessant bragging) then sat down and read through the installation/user manual for the heater and suggested I follow the 8-step start up instructions.  As a side note, gotta love the manuals that come with these trailers. They are difficult to comprehend for technologically and mechanically challenged folks such as myself, and this particular one had no mention of having to or how to bleed the gas lines for the heater.  Nevertheless, following the advice of the "Smart One"(aka: Jeanne, my lovely and wise wife) I got heat up and running in no time.

But the bright spots of our stay here...

Maximus the Fire Chief!

"Get out of my way, I'm goin' to a fire here!"

"C'mon, you want a piece of this?!"

"I think I'll like this following in my Uncle Chad's footsteps!"

"Heck, I can drive better than some of these crazy Californians!"

"Where's the beach, dude? I'm looking for some beach babes!"

"You can never be too young to read!"

"Eat dirt", in its literal sense! "Yummmm"

"I can dig it, Man! Bring back the 60's!"

Blast Off Getting Nigh...

Well, we're getting closer to our escape from California. This past month at the Petaluma KOA has been hectic to say the least. This park has been PACKED every weekend, Halloween activities on all of them. The Gladiator came out and had some Halloween fun himself...

Yeah, Giants! Sweep, Baby!

We have been busy during the weekdays as well.  Madison the Wonder Cocker has been battling an ear infection for the last 6 months and we have made several trips into her Vet's office I think for the sole purpose of draining my wallet.  It is getting REAL frustrating with all the meds and treatments she has been put on, getting no results from any of it.  But we still plug away, the Princess demands it.

And the big kicker was finding out I blew another disc, this time C6/C7 in my neck.  Spent many days running back to Santa Rosa Kaiser trying to "beat the clock" as it were (Kaiser insurance ceases at the first of next month). Got an MRI which showed only a herniated disc, not ruptured.  Got a couple of rounds of oral prednisone trying to reduce the inflammation (not a lot of luck, but some), then got an epidural cortisone injection.  Not an earth shattering experience, not even close to my previous foray into the darkest realm of exquisite pain for which I got fused. So far it has been a week since the injection and the pain is way less now, but not altogether absent.  I'm hoping I don't have to visit the knife again...

Thursday we are heading up to Redding to visit Jeanne's mom and brothers for a couple of weeks.  We'll then return here for the Gladiator's First Birthday at the end of November before we really load up to head out of California.  The prices for everything here are just wayyyyyyy out of control high.  I'll be ecstatic to see California shrinking out of view in my rearview mirrors...

Fun Times in Petaluma!

So here we are, livin' the dream, full timing at the Petaluma KOA for a month. Our first weekend just happened to coincide with a TCT rally (Tin Can Tourists) at the park.  It was packed with vintage trailers with lots of folks talking trailer talk and selling odds and ends a lot of which were old antiquish knick knacks.  There were some pretty cool trailers from years gone past and one stretch limo cruised through (I heard someone mention it was a '56 Chevy) piloted by a fellow co-worker of mine, Ken Williamson, who has a talent for restoring old cars.

Nice ride, Ken!

Bring back the 60's?

These are just a very few of what was on display, there were probably 100 +/- vintage trailers showing off their stuff, many were rescued from dump sites and trailer graveyards.  These folks are definitely talented restorers.  All in all it was a fun weekend.

Next up was a visit to the local pumpkin patch, Adobe Pumpkin Farm on E. Washington St. @ Adobe Rd. in Petaluma.  Jenn and Gustavo brought our grandbaby,  Maximus the Gladiator, for a visit and we all went to the farm.  Max is 10 months old and on the brink of walking, so he had a blast with his "assisted-walking" around the hay stacks, pumpkins, and animals at the petting zoo area.

Maximus on the move with Mom and O-Ma.

I know Max is thinking, "Just how am I going to get this pumpkin into my mouth, it sure looks tasty!?"

Riding in style!

O-Pa, O-Ma, and the little eating machine.

A family Jack-O-Lantern!

And now, for the latest installment of fun. We decided to go ahead and get a satellite dish system for those out-in-no-man's-land places we may encounter.  And I preface this with I am THE MOST incompetent fix-it person to walk the face of the earth (wiring: is that connection a 110 V or 111 V?)  The install is for a 2012 Cougar 5th Wheel.  We chose the Dish network service, a Dish  receiver, and the Winegard Carryout satellite antenna.  We purchased all through the Camping World dealer over in Vacaville.  We then embarked on a nightmare of a journey trying to get the whole system set up and operable.  Once we got back and opened the receiver box, we found it was a re-stock from a prior purchase (plastic bags opened, batteries other than the stock batteries were set in the remote). We chose to continue with the attempt at setting the system up.  In our research on-line, reading comments from numerous other RVers regarding satellite systems, and reading the enclosed manuals that came with the equipment, I did not know if connecting thru the trailer cable system was going to work.  So priority #1 was to see if we could set it up and receive signals.  I direct cabled the antenna to the receiver to the TV and HDMI'd the receiver to the TV.  We followed the instructions for set up but when we fired up the receiver, it was in the middle of a six step set-up, stuck on step 5 some sort of check for ethernet connection. Oh boy.  2 FULL days of burning minutes on our cell phones with tech support for both the receiver and Winegard, transfers from one level of tech support to second and third levels of tech support, we got NOTHING.  We took the receiver back to Camping World and swapped it with one that we confirmed was NEW-in-the-box.  We then returned and started over. Once we fired up the receiver, again we had issues with acquiring signal, after following the instructions and going through the 38 tests.  Jeanne, the brains of this outfit, got frustrated and followed the instructions to re-set the factory settings on the receiver.  Once done, after a couple of phone calls to Dish to get the box activated, we finally were able to get signal.  Our next chore was to try to figure out how to wire the system through the trailer's existing wiring.  Jeanne contacted Keystone (manufacturer of the Cougar) and got the satellite wiring diagram e-mailed to her.  This illustrated the method of hooking the satellite antenna to the exterior cable connection (which is actually labelled "satellite prep") and then removing the short "jumper" coax cable from the wall behind the TV and connecting coax cable from the top of the jump to the "satellite in" jack of the receiver and another cable from the bottom of the jump to the "out to TV" jack of the receiver.  Holy Smokes! Success!  We have Satellite TV!  HD no less!  There were a couple of related minor issues in this 3-day fiasco.  We were telling the salesman at Camping World about our issues with the first receiver and he told us that being able to set up the receiver on our own was not possible, that "a lot of people" have had the same issues as us.  He said the receiver "HAD" to be set up to one's home satellite system to get programmed properly, or brought into the store and programmed there.  How wrong he was.  And we had an issue with the HDMI cable jack in the back of the TV.  The TV is mounted on a steel bracket inside the entertainment cabinet at the back of the trailer.  There is a small, about 5" circular hole in the center of the bracket through which all the cables pass through from the TV to the DVD/stereo/power plugs.  Unfortunately, the 2 HDMI jacks are about 1" wider than the circular opening and there is less than 1" of space between the bracket and the HDMI jacks on the back of the TV.  The HDMI cord that came with the receiver has standard fittings that are in-line with the cable which is fairly thick.  These fittings do not fit between the TV and the bracket.  We went to Best Buy and picked up a "Rocketfish" HDMI cable which had a thinner cord, one standard sized fitting and the other end a shorter fitting that would fit where the standard one would not.  the standard fitting was labelled "TV" and the short one labelled "Source".  The salesman at Best Buy assured us that we could use that cable reversed, the short fitting for the TV.  How wrong he was.
So, back to Best Buy to swap out that cable for one we found that had both fittings in the small version. So much for trusting sales people, EVER AGAIN!  I think they are all conspiring to mess with my head! Now where'd I put my Thorazine?

Now that we were successful with the satellite, it is a big "thumb's up" for satellite vs. park cable service.  The picture is incomparable and being able to choose your own entertainment package is the only way to go.  Too bad a tech challenged person such as myself had to suffer that torture, reminded me of rooting for the Giants in this past NLDS.  Life goes on, and GO GIANTS!

Let the Good Times Roll !

Whhhhhhhhewwwwwwwww! It's a done deal. We threw the dice, we are now all in, high stakes, no limit fun seekers.  The stick house is SOLD, check in hand, and we are officially full time RVers.  It was an interesting transition, about a year's process, with all the included intrigue, nervous apprehension, headaches, and fun in preparation.  We've been staying at the Petaluma KOA for about a week now, and will remain here for the rest of the month, then head up to Redding to visit Jeanne's mom and brothers before we head back here for the big First Birthday for the Gladiator.

Max, aka: The Gladiator

We are officially South Dakota residents, thanks to the assistance of Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls.  We already find it mind boggling as to how we survived paying high prices for everything in California.  We had to adjust our health care because the county wanted some $800 extra per month out of us to keep Jeanne covered by their PPO plan.  We found a Coventry policy (the old Mutual of Omaha) out of the SD area to cover her for a bit over $200 per month.  And my coverage dropped since it was just on me, so we now pay less than what we were before.  Don't even talk about car and trailer registrations, California is certainly sticking it to their residents.  And truck/trailer insurance? Holy smokes, doubled the coverage for less than what we were paying to Allstate in CA.  Jeanne has gone all out, reading NUMEROUS blogs by other full time RVers, comparing living styles and posted information regarding budgets, and she has devised our tentative budget.  We are excited to see what the budget has in store for us with regards to how far the money will go and how much we will be able to save now that the stick house bills are gone.

As far as KOA's go, Petaluma KOA is one of the nicest KOA's we have stayed at, coast to coast.  Yes, it is on the high end $$$ wise, but they have a lot of activities for young and old alike.  They run tour buses down to The City (San Francisco) where folks can check out the bridge (Golden Gate, that is), Pier 39, Chinatown, ride a cable car, and other points of interest there.  The kids can check out the KOA petting zoo, climb the rock wall, swim, ride the banana bikes, and the park tends to have many special weekends throughout the year.  We are here in October, and they have trick-or-treating every weekend and two potlucks later in the month.  Never a dull moment here.  But we are looking forward to heading down to the Gulf coast this December for the winter.  Gee, I hope it does not snow there...So long for now...

Winding down...

OK. So we've decided we are not real fond of the northern I-90 states. We did manage to take some of the back roads on our way back and discovered they can be a better way to go than the main highways.  The only drawback to these is that signs of civilization (i.e. GAS STATIONS!) are few and far between.  And not being familiar with the smaller roads, I found myself feeling like Steve Martin's character in "The Jerk"(the scene where he goes crazy because "The new phone book is here! The new phone book is here!") every time I passed a big rig going the opposite way. I'd get so excited knowing the road ahead was suitable for big rigs. What a dweeb I am...  The other thing we had issues with was the AT&T phone service and wi-fi at various parks/locations.  Now we know why a lot of the full timers go with Verizon for phones.

From Arco, ID, we headed into a tiny town called Vale, OR. We stayed at the Vale Trails RV Park for one night.  It was OK for a one-nighter, there is not much to do or see in Vale, OR.  From the signs everywhere it appeared that hunting season was about to begin in the area. Uh-oh, a bunch of yahoos with high powered rifles, we better continue westward-ho in a hurry!

Goose Lake State Park became our next stop.  It is an Oregon state park on the border with California.  Only had 20A service, but hey, at least we could make coffee without having to fire up a generator.  There were TONS of deer wandering around and through the park and lots of random gunshots in the distance.  Oops, hunting season here as well.

On the road to Goose Lake...



Goose Lake State Park. Not real green...


We found another Passport America RV park in Redding, appropriately named Redding RV Park.  The sites were a bit smothery but it was a clean, well kept park with easy freeway access.  For $18 you can't go wrong...We had a nice visit with family here. 

No wonder we're leaving California.  It is terrible to have to look out one's backyard and see this peeking over your fence...

Well, next stop Santa Rosa to wrap things up.  Looking forward to a continuing roadtrip with a very much slower pace.  There are sooooooo many places to visit and see, ocean to ocean.  So long for now...

Ever-so-closer to THE DREAM!

So, one thing I have noticed in our trek across the north states, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, there seems to be a lot of "NO" spread out.  Signs everywhere, rest stops, RV parks, freeway exits, all with an abundance of "NO" information (no pets, no services, no overnight parking, no excessive drinking, etc.).  It seems there were more attempts at over-regulation than we get in California.  There was even a placemat in a restaurant in Montana that had "Little known facts about Montana" that stated it was illegal for a married woman to fish alone on Sundays.  I find that one really hard to believe...One other thing I found a little strange. I know my diesel truck does not get the best of mileage, but because of the massive expanses here in the northern parts, I found diesel gas stations few and faaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr between.  So much so that it is really weird to start worrying about the next fuel station when you are at 3/4 of a tank, FULL!  But, push on, we must.

We did an overnighter in Miles City, MT, at a place called Meadow RV Park.  It looked to be a new upstart park in the middle of town, some of the sites did not appear to be finished. It was OK for an overnight stop, albeit a little pricey for the bare bones that it was ($31/night).

The next stop was Lewis and Clark Caverns Nat'l Park, near Trident MT.  This was a secluded park with limited electrical hookups and no water hookups. We never made it to the Caverns hike/tour and only stayed overnight here.  It was also a bit pricey for the bare bones that it was ($28/night).

The next two days we stayed in bustling Arco, ID (insert sarcasm here).  We found a nice RV park, Mountain View RV Park which had full drive thru hookups, clean showers/bathrooms, and free real breakfast for RVers.  They also ran a cafe for dinner out of the park as well.  Sites had some shading and fair spacing between them.  While here we visited the Craters of the Moon Nat'l Monument.  It was a nice park with great walking paths and lots to see. Lots to learn about volcanic activity.

Inside Indian Cave, one of the large lava tubes in the park.

Some of the local terrain...eerie!

Our front yard at Mountain View RV Park.

Peace and quiet!

Unfortunately, we have stumbled back into fire zones.  Local fires created a thick smoky haze that just didn't go away.  Oh well...

The final frontier...

Well, it's time to head back to California.  Gotta get the house packed up, looks like escrow will be done October 2nd.  South Dakota is OK scenery-wise, as long as you stay at the west end (Mt. Rushmore area) or east end (Sioux Falls area).  There is a WHOLE LOTTA nothin' in between.  Our whole run thru Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, saw a lot of dirt and sky, not much civilization.  Sioux Falls was kinda cool, 160K people scattered over a large patch of dirt.  It looked a lot larger than Santa Rosa which has 200K+.

Sioux Falls Park

A bird's eye view...

We stayed at a place called Tower RV Park. Convenient off and on the freeway and they give discount to customers of Alternative Resources.  It was an OK basic park, no pool or store, but the spaces were not crammed together and they had a new shower/restroom facility that was spacious and clean.  And their squirrels are of the red variety, not like the gray squirrels in CA.

On our way out of town, I had to stop and get our rear bumper repaired, one of the welds had broken and the bumper seemed to have gotten mangled somewhere along our travels, for the life of me I cannot figure out where I might have done it.  I know I bottomed out on a driveway during last year's trip south, which I guess could have weakened the weld enough to postpone its eventual breakage.  Nevertheless, I found a place in Worthing, SD, called Great Plains RV's.  They sell used RV's and trailers and service/repair them.  They also "rescue" RV'ers who need repairs while travelling away from home.  Scott at Great Plains RV's treated us very well, got us in promptly, they worked on the bumper for 3 1/2 hours but only charged me for 2 hours labor, and I would strongly recommend them if you are on the road and find yourself "in need".

Ouch!

I still can't figure out how the hole got punched in there?!

So we moved onward.  Tried out our first State Park campground.  Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is in the Bismarck/Mandan area of North Dakota.  This was a very nice area right on the Missouri River where the Heart River joins it.  The campground was more like a real campground, lots of trees and grass, nice "comfort stations", with water & electric sites and a central dump station.  Our first night there we got treated to an 85 degree thunderstorm accompanied by elephant tears for rain.  Jeanne made good use of her new toy, an emergency weather radio, and I got to hear a ringing phone ALL NIGHT LONG!  Gotta love it...

Camping, Fort Lincoln style...

View of Big Muddy, aka: the Missouri River, from the walking trail.

Well, time to inch back toward the left coast again. Onward ho!

Bye-bye, Montana...

Well, now we can say we stayed at the very first KOA, in Billings, MT. It's a nice RV park, but wayyyyyy overpriced at its normal nitely rate of 60-some dollars.  It was nice to get out of the smoky haze.  While in Billings, they had their Montana Fair going (I don't think it was THE state fair, but Billings version of our county fair).  We went to the fair, expecting some monstrously huge rural extravaganza, since of course we ARE in Montana. Sad to say, our little city slicker version of a fair, the Sonoma County Fair, puts this one to shame! Instead of horse races, this fair had a rodeo, which we also attended.  Now, in the future, Jeanne can actually use the phrase, "This ain't my 1st rodeo!". And prices at fairs don't seem to vary much, state by state, overpriced food and such.  Sonoma County Fair food is MUCH better!

The drive across Montana was pretty unremarkable.  But you could definitely tell the difference once we got into northeastern Wyoming and then South Dakota.  South Dakota in the summertime is very scenic and pleasant.  We stayed in Sturgis a week after the Rally finished. Extremely small town, we could only imagine what Main St. looked like a week ago.

Where's all the bikers?!?!

Main St., Sturgis, SD after the bikes have gone...

A biker ghost town...

Well, whilst we were in Sturgis, we accepted an offer on the house, so it looks like the clock may start on us here shortly.  Whoooooooopppppyyyyyy.

Took a day trip to Mt. Rushmore.  Awe inspiring to say the least.  I was surprised at how close you can get to the actual carved mountain, we walked the trail right up to the bottom of the carvings. We also walked around downtown Keystone as well, had a nice lunch.  All in all a very relaxing day.

Hello, Mr. Presidents!

The Boardwalk along downtown Keystone, SD.

We should find out tomorrow if the clock starts ticking on the house escrow. Time to hit the big city of Sioux Falls and probably establish a residency there.  Hopefully South Dakota remains scenic for the final leg of the trip...



Yep, 'dems some big skies...

Well, big sky MEANS big sky I guess.  Heading up I-15 thru Idaho to Montana the scenery gets increasingly better and bigger, meaning one had better pay attention to the gas gauge because gas stops are very few and faaaaaarrrrrrrr between.  This is the literal definition of "no man's land" up here. Luckily we found a little pit stop in Lima, Montana. Ever since we entered Nevada and up to now the smoke and haze from all the fires has been pretty thick, not a lot of clear blue sky.

We stayed at the Butte KOA for a couple of days.  Not one of the better KOA's I'd have to say.  Spaces were too crowded and not much shade over the gravel spaces.  We did take the Trolley Tour of the area.  It was an interesting historical adventure sightseeing this area that was initially a gold mining establishment, then silver, then copper which ended up being it's big draw in the early 20th century. The dogs enjoyed the lengthy paved nature trail that ran along the creek here at the KOA.  From camp we could see the large statue, Our Lady of the Rockies, standing on the Continental Divide 8,510 feet above sea level.  It is a 90 foot statue similar in nature to the Christ of the Ozarks we saw in Arkansas.  The historical nature of this town aside, I don't think I could live in a town built around a very large pit of toxic, contaminated mining water which has an acidic level similar to battery acid.  Yuk...

The lovely Berkley Pit in Butte, MT. Anybody for skinny dipping?

You know an area is in sad shape when all the locals you talk to tell you there is nothing to do and that you do not want to visit or be here during the winter.  Oh well, live and learn.  We already got 3 offers on the house, so our full time trekking ways are getting closer. And we are slowly carving up the country into parts we want to see, parts we want to see again, and parts we never want to return to or through. Our journey continued E/B I-90 across Montana and following the Yellowstone River.  We finally got rid of the smoky haze but traded it for some clouds and rain.  Still, a pleasant change for a while.  Next stop, Billings MT and the very first KOA campground, established 50 years ago.

You can have Nevada...

So, the Fernley RV park was not so bad.  But our next stop was scenic Wells, Nevada.  We found a Passport America RV park called Crossroads RV Park. We never even pulled in.  It was almost not large enough to pull into! I even think I heard banjo music. The few trailers present in the gravel "wide spot in the road" were not well maintained and the whole area I would designate as an American eyesore!  We toured the "downtown" area and found the Mountain Shadows RV Park.  It was actually a well maintained park for its size and had very nice shower/bathrooms.  The only issue I actually had with this park was I could detect a faint to moderate odor similar to a meth cook from somewhere in the area.  Oh joy! This would be another overnight stop for us. The I-80 freeway through Nevada has been terrible with all the construction zones and crazy driving truckers (I got seriously cut off by a driver of a triple rig).  Jeanne actually got feeling a little frisky (no, not THAT way!) and wanted to try driving the rig.  So I got a big break after lunch and got to be obnoxious as she sweated through the ins and outs of driving an oversized beast on a highway.

Such a serious face!



Oh, OK, NOW we are having fun!

But her fun quickly came to a crashing halt when we needed to stop for gas.  We pulled up almost all the way to the TRUCK STOP pumps (you know, the place where they drive extremely hugely large semi-tractors with multiple trailers into for fuel) when she jumped out of the driver's seat and declared she was done.  OK dear, I'll take over.

We got to a small town area called Declo, Idaho where we stayed at another Passport America place called the Village of Trees RV Resort.  This was not a bad stop.  Lots of spacious sites and shade trees that have large canopy but nothing so low as to scrape the trailers.  We were right on the Snake River.

Hey, I did not sign up for this!

Cool shade!

We went for a run along the river path. This was through a horse pasture and it turned out to be a good run.  Now, I'm no runner by any stretch of the imagination, but Jeanne is even less than me.  As we poked along at her pace, we came across a "mini herd" of horses, some with foals.  Jeanne was traumatized as a young'un when she got chased by a horse.  This was all it took for the pace to quicken to a comfortable speed as she tried to put as much distance between her and the evil equine beasts.

Here is the small fishin' pond inside the park.

There's already been quite a bit of action on the pending home sale.  Several showings even before the open house and looks like there will be lots of activity and interest in it. It's good to be on the road...

On the road to Fernley, NV

Oh boy, on the road again, FINALLY! It was quite hectic trying to escape town while getting house repairs done to prep it for selling and getting the 5th wheel prepped for the road. In my conversations with fellow workers who are also RVers I found several who we're unaware of the need to change the anode rod in the water heater. I just changed mine ( I'm going to do it once a year, the trailer manufacturer recommends once the rod is about 75% eaten up). After one year, you can see that mine was not even close to 75% chewed up.  Changing it will help prolong the life of your water heater.


That stuff can eat the water heater!

Wouldn't you know it, there has always got to be some testing of one's intestinal fortitude (or should I say one's common sense quotient?) when hitting the road.  While driving along fat, dumb, and happy as we approached the mountains into Truckee, reading the "miles to E" gauge on the truck and monitoring the mileage on Agnes (the GPS built into the truck) it appeared we were going to have plenty of petrol to get us to Reno and beyond. But NOOOOOOOO, hold on there, not so fast buster, all that technology fails to take into account a lengthy pull to over 5,000 feet altitude-wise.  As we traversed that incline I could watch the gas gauge race over closer and closer to the "E" and no petrol stations with diesel in sight. Having no alternative but to chug along, I watched as, I swear, the "miles to E" gauge went from 50 to 25 to 10 in about a 3 mile stretch.  It would be great if sweat were a good substitute for diesel because I produced a few tankfuls of that.  But, the man upstairs must have been smiling down on me and wanted to show He too  has a sense of humor.  As I am getting seconds away from going dry, one of the Truckee Chevron stations popped up, with diesel!  As I pulled in I was thanking that man upstairs and then I caught on to His humor.  He gave me diesel, but did not give me a high enough clearance under the roof, so I had to gas up by hand, one 5 gallon gas can at a time.  I'll take it anyway I can.

We got to our destination for the day without further drama.  The Fernley RV Park is in a little hole-in-the-wall town east of Reno.  It was 90's, but not unbearable.  The RV Park was actually very nice-paved driveways, concrete pads for the trailer and the picnic/front door patio area, and actually green grass well maintained.  This was a Passport America member site, so the $16 fee was a nice change of pace as far as pay sites go.  Full hook-ups, 50 amp, cable, wifi, it was a good stop.

Concrete, level pads. Yeah, we're roughin' it!

What's that, a few clouds on the horizon? In August?

The only bummer parts of the trip will be these one night stopovers.  Looking forward to lengthier stays and enjoying the areas and visiting the "neighbors" more.  Stay tuned for more...