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I am so ready to go home and see Dave and cook in a full kitchen again with an automatic dishwasher. But there’s still snow on the ground there and it’s not warming up enough for it to melt away. I don’t want to have to winterize my RV but I also don’t want to freeze my holding tanks so I am TRYING to be patient. The RV parks in the Minneapolis area don’t turn on their water until April 15th so I’m sort of using that as my guideline as to when it is safe for me to go home. Although we have had snow as late as the week after that it was just a few flurries one day several years ago.

My current time at Emerald Cove ends Thursday and I have to decide what to do about that. I want to stay at least through Thursday evening to play bingo. It is the last game of the season so they will be awarding the rolling jackpots even if no one actually wins them. There are two of them that are up over $100 each in addition to the regular winnings of each game. Of course, I haven’t won anything yet this year. 🙂

I’m supposed to check out by 11 am on Thursday or pay $95 to stay another week. What I’m thinking about doing is moving my van over to park by the fence across from the bingo hall Thursday morning then checking out. After the games I’ll drive into town and spend the night at Walmart. That will put me in a good place to buy groceries Friday morning before I begin my trek east then north.

I don’t have an actual route home yet. I don’t seem to want to plan one. I’ll head east first but whether that’s along I-10 or I-20 or I-40 depends on what the weather is doing then. I prefer to use my furnace at night more than my A/C during the day but, again, I don’t want to freeze my tanks going through the Arizona mountains. I also don’t know if I want to drive the freeways or the US highways. I drive faster on the freeways but I don’t want to get home too soon anyway. Also the freeways are boring so I have to stop and nap a lot. But there are good places to do that on the freeways and they can be a little harder to find along the US highways. And my favorite overnight stopping place is Cracker Barrel and they tend to be close to freeways. But my second favorite place is Walmart and they are everywhere nowadays. I’ll have to stop a couple times to dump my tanks so I’ll probably go into regular RV parks those nights which will let me charge all my electronics as well. Although driving charges my batteries enough to do that. It only gets to be a problem if I sit still without hookups too many overcast days.

So many choices; so few decisions.

TTYL,

Linda

I need to go to Phoenix again. I need to refill prescriptions that are going to run out before I reach home. Our prescriptions are currently at Target and the nearest one to Emerald Cove is in Phoenix. And my electronic gadgets are all nagging at me to do updates again and we all know what happened last time I tried to do them anywhere besides an Apple store. Plus, I could go to Trader Joe’s and buy some good quality foods. And I could go to Blue Beacon and get my RV washed. And depending on the timing, I might actually get to visit with my brothers this trip. So I decided to take another week out of my home park.

Day one of that week was a busy one. First I went to Walmart to buy the much needed food. As I was pulling into the lot I saw a pickup pulling out of my parking spot. So I quickly turned down that aisle. Another pickup beat me to the spot! So I pulled around again and parked in a double spot further up the row to decide what I wanted to do. As I sat there someone knocked on my door. It was a woman with fliers wanting to get credit for sending buyers to her membership park–my membership park. We agreed it is a good park.

I felt tired so decided I’d take a nap then see what the status was on my parking spot. But I couldn’t settle down. So I got up and looked down the row. My spot looked empty! So I hurried down there. Nope, just a short car in it.

So I decided to go to lunch. The Pizza Hut in Parker serves slowly but I like their pizza so I go there. I’ve been such a regular there this winter they know my order when I walk in the door. I always get a large pizza so as to have leftovers. I like cold pizza as much as I like not having to cook every meal.

When I got back to Walmart my parking spot was available so I went shopping.

One of the things I bought is new jeans. Yup, I’ve gained back just enough weight to make mine uncomfortable so here I am buying a bigger size once again. At least Walmart carries a brand that is the right length for me so I don’t have to do a major hunt for them.

So now I have new jeans that I need to wash before wearing. That mean a laundromat is my next stop. I drive to one in Parker but its lot contains several RVs and semi trucks so I decide not to try to squeeze in there. I drive on towards Quartzsite.

By the time I get to Plamosa Road, which is the northern most of Quartzsite’s BLM lands, I really need that nap. So I pull in and sleep for about an hour. Then I head on down to the laundromat where there is plenty of parking for a rig my size. When I come out I see a RoadTrek.

Looks a lot like my RV, doesn’t it? That’s because it is also built into a Sprinter van although this one is shorter than mine.

Now the clothes are clean and it’s supper time. I have plenty of food on hand now so I should just go park, right? But I don’t. I decide to take this one more chance to go eat at Sweet Darlene’s. I really like their chicken tenders. And if I order the chicken tenders and ribs combo I can take the ribs home for another meal I won’t have to cook. I like cold ribs, too.

I go in and use their restroom to save capacity in mine then head up front to sit. As I’m pulling out a chair the owners of the RoadTrek come in. I call out to ask them if they followed me. So they join me for supper and we talk all through the meal. They are from Wisconsin. Ignore the Tennesee plates on their vehicle; that’s just where their mail box is because that’s where they lived when they retired. But they have family and land in Wisconsin–with water and electric hookups so they give me a card with their phone number on it in case I ever want to come visit if they happen to be there.

Oh, and that RoadTrek? It’s their toad. They pull it behind their Class A motothome to Arizona each year then use it to take short trips around the place. Tomorrow they will be going to Florence, Arizona, to visit family.

By the time we finish eating it is dark outside and I still need to find a place to park. I don’t like pulling into BLM lands after dark because you can’t see beyond your headlights. So I just pull into an early spot and set up camp.

Day two starts with the winds rocking my rig and a forecast of rain with possible hail. After all the activity yesterday I am ready to sit tight for a day anyway. My ankles hurt.

Day three starts bright and sunny but I have trouble getting up because I stayed up too late the night before. By the time I dump my trash and fill my fuel tank the day is well along but I head for Phoenix anyway.

I eat lunch at one rest area and take a nap at another one. Not exactly making good time but I have all week to drive to Phoenix and back, right?

Finally in the west suburbs I see a Target store. So I get off at the next exit and head there. There is handicapped parking big enough for my RV right outside the door. But I don’t want to walk any further than I need to so I call the pharmacy from my van. It takes a while for them to figure out how to transfer my prescriptions to their store and process my insurance but they finally succeed. The pharmacist is concerned about me wanting to pick them up today because they close in an hour. I tell her I am calling from their parking lot and she is much relieved. And she assures me they have electric carts I can use parked right inside the door. One task done.

Next is the Apple Store to do more updates using their wifi. Fortunately they are open until 9 pm on Saturdays so I can still go there today. I dig my Scoot out of the back of my RV to get me to and from the store. But, iTunes won’t update. A tech comes to help but can’t make it work. He says I’ll need to make an appointment at the Genius Bar and the next opening is Monday evening. I pass. It’s just iTunes; it can wait until I get back to Minnesota.

I have other errands I can do but I decide not to do so. It’s interesting to me that I don’t mind driving to Phoenix but I don’t like to stay there and it is already dark outside. And my ankles hurt. So I head west again making it to the furthest west suburb before I decide I really do need to eat. I pull into Cracker Barrel. And eat a very late supper. And spend the night.

In the morning, day four, my ankles hurt too badly to be willing to walk back into Cracker Barrel for breakfast. So, I head out. Good thing I decided not to stay in town to do the rest of my errands and visiting as I am in too much pain to do them anyway.

I just barely get onto the freeway when traffic becomes stop and go. We occasionally get all the way up to five miles per hour. Not far ahead of us is a place where four lanes transition down to two lanes but I have never seen it move this slowly. I had planned to stop about a half hour down the road for breakfast. That’s not going to be very far away at this rate. We finally pass the reason for the slow down; there’s a semi sitting off the left lane facing the wrong way. No idea how it got like that. But traffic speeds pick up very quickly the other side of it.

Finally I pull off for breakfast. Guess where? Cracker Barrel. Sort of. Across the street from one anyway. At Denny’s. I can park much closer to the door at Denny’s and I don’t have to walk through a store to get to the hostess station. I’m pleased by that and breakfast is tasty.

Getting back outside again I decide to stay in this fairly out-of-the-way parking spot for a while. I have not done my morning computer stuff yet and I decide it would be good to do it before driving all the way back to Quartzsite so my alternator can refill my batteries after I recharge all my electronics. That worked well.

Finally back to Q late afternoon. Back to Sweet Darlene’s to eat once again. Back to the gas station to fuel up once again. Back to the BLM lands to park once again. I figure another two nights here then drive to Parker to recharge my batteries and spend another two nights boondocking there, then I can go back to my membership park for another two weeks free.

If I’m very lucky, it will then be warm enough to head home. I’m ready.

TTYL,

Linda

I’ve had company three times at Emerald Cove. Somehow I don’t seem to remember to take photos and blog about it most of the time. So I tried harder to remember this time.

I think Terry & Jeri came here mostly because I said I was trying to make four days worth of food last seven days. Being good friends they came to take me grocery shopping. In the meantime, I did an actual inventory of my food and discovered I had more than I realized. Apparently I buy tuna and salmon every time I go grocery shopping. So as long as I’m willing to eat that or go to the bar here for lunch I’m fine.

But, I’m not sorry they came. Nor are they. They like this park enough to be considering extending their time here. And I’m sure they will come here again next winter when we are all in Arizona again.

Yesterday we went out for dinner and I remembered to take a few pictures. We went to Pirate’s Den just up the river on the other side.

Where Jeri chose a table right on the riverside so we could watch the traffic out there.

And I chose to sit with my back to the sun and put on my hat in hopes of not burning. Which put Terry and Jeri facing the sun and the water.

That cup sitting on the table has the Den’s slogan on it, “A sunny place for shady people.” Jeri had a margarita that came in that cup. Since it was happy hour and she said the cup was only half-sized she had a second one. 🙂

By the time I thought to take a picture of our food it was no longer pretty so I didn’t. We all had their Hawaiian Burger. If you’ve ever had the Bonsai Burger at Red Robin you know how much we enjoyed these.

And the view.

And the company.

It’s good to have friends.

TTYL,

Linda

Every now and then someone asks for more information on how I live in my RV such as what I have and where I stash it. So today’s blog is about cooking and eating gear.

My upper right cupboard in my galley looks like this:

On the right is my stack of Tupperware mixing bowls with their lids. Inside that stack are also some silicone muffin cups I can use for baking but mostly use to serve nuts. Next are two Corning baking dishes with glass lids. I bought these specifically to use in my RV so I kept the inserts that let the lids nest inside the bowls without rattling around. On top of that is my beverage carry-out tray for the rare occasion I go to Wendy’s and fetch both a soft drink and a Frosty Junior. Left of that are two Corning Grab-it bowls that I microwave single serving things in and in front of them are two small serving bowls I use mostly for measuring my detergent into when going to the laundry so I don’t have to carry the whole bottle. I may move them to the cleaning cupboard.

The upper left galley cupboard looks like this:

Messy, huh? But since most things in that cupboard are not breakable I just let them find their own places. That green thing in the lower left is the handle of the silicone vegetable steamer I’m still promising to use one of these days. The two red things above it are silicone baking pans–one 8×8 and one loaf. Inside them is some storage containers and a glass jar I’m keeping to put used grease in if I ever cook anything that requires that. The white thing on the bottom in the middle is my food scale which is protected by a clear plastic bowl that fits over it. Then there’s three red silicone lids which can go on most anything needing a lid at anytime. Then my microwave bacon tray–2 slices at 2 minutes is just right. The green thing is my collapsible strainer used mostly for washing grapes. The white pan on top is a tray leftover from some food I bought which I kept because I thought might be handy for taking to a potluck where I didn’t want to have to remember to bring my dish home. And on the right are two glass measuring cups separated by a washcloth to protect them while traveling. Behind all that where you can’t see them are some Tupperware iced tea glasses and some tiny Tupper cups just the right size for measuring out cold medicine to take during the night when you don’t want to wake up enough to measure more. Fortunately, I haven’t had to do that on this trip yet.

Under my counter I have two drawers. Well, there are three but the third one is my junk drawer so is not part of this post. The far most right drawer looks like this:

In the back left is my stack of Corning dishes. I have two each of dinner, luncheon, and salad plates, and cereal bowls. Next to them where you can’t really see them are my Tupperware cereal bowls that I use for occasional storage. In front of them are some storage containers that came in handy when Toni did all that cooking for me. And in the front left is my bin of everyday grooming tools since I do my grooming at the kitchen sink. The bathroom sink is too small to be of much use.

The drawer to the left of that one looks like this:

The small bin on the right holds my scissors, potato peeler, meat thermometer, twist ties, and serving utensils. The one next to it holds my two sets of silverware, and the final one my two sets of measuring spoons one set of which is shaped to go into spice containers. The rest of the drawer holds my cooking utensils including an extendable wiener fork, pancake turner, hot pad that opens like a star, a can opener, silicone spatula I use as a cooking spoon, sharp knives in blade safes (the one you can actually see is empty because that knife is awaiting washing), dry goods measuring cups hiding under a jar gripper, chip clip, and a pastry blender that I use for chopping things like eggs for egg salad or deviled eggs.

Under the drawers is a double door cabinet only the top shelf of which stores kitchen stuff.

On the right you see the back of my toaster oven. The red slice next to it is the edge of my cutting board. Then we have my one pot with its lid sitting on a pizza pan, which is the biggest baking sheet that fits in my microwave/convection oven, then my induction burner with my tiny dish drainer sitting on top of it.

Across the aisle from all this is a tall cupboard that holds a few more kitchen tools as well as some groceries and paper goods.

On the top shelf is the rack from my oven holding two Corning pie plates with plastic lids. I use these mostly as dinner plates for reheating leftovers. Next to it is a MicroHearth–my new favorite appliance since it lets me grill meats in my microwave faster and with a lot less hassle than a real grill does. On the next shelf down is my big skillet and its lid with some non-slip mat keeping the lid in place. Down one more is my blender and my food processor and some beverage containers.

There you have it. Other than some paper plates and bowls and plastic silverware stashed elsewhere, these are the items I use for cooking and eating.

It’s not a lot but it is more than I need since I have not yet used everything in this inventory in the four months I’ve been living in this RV. How much kitchen gear do you use?

TTYL,

Linda

No, that is not a real word. It just popped into my head as I was sitting folding laundry and thinking I would need to open some windows soon. Suddenly I was having a smell memory of hot cotton.

When I was a girl, we were taught to iron by doing cotton handkerchiefs. I no longer iron my handkerchiefs but I was folding them in a hot RV when this memory hit me. I’ve always wondered about the advisability of starting your ironing lesson by doing handkerchiefs because they aren’t very big. But, I suppose you learn to be careful very quickly. Was that my first lesson in mindfulness?

Anyway, that smemory quickly led to others. The smell of hot cornbread and beans brought a picture of Grandma cooking. Which led to seeing her spreading her homemade noodles out on the table to dry although I don’t remember those having a smell other than flour.

But pumpkin pie! Suddenly a movie of nearly every holiday dinner  was playing in my mind. Which led to the cinnamon smell of Snickerdoodles, a cookie our daughter and I loved to make so much we didn’t always wait for a holiday as an excuse to make them. Then the sweetness of divinity which I never did learn to make but remember Mom and Grandma waiting for conditions to be just right to make it. And the slightly spicy smell of Arabian Date Nut Roll which was another treat we only got to have at Christmas time.

I spent a bunch of time lost on memory lane as smell pictures just kept coming back to me.

What smells trigger memories for you?

TTYL,

Linda