The Sandcastle

2010 is a Census year. This year the U.S. Government is required to count everyone living in this country. The U.S. Constitution requires this be done to determine how many U.S. Representatives should be elected from each state. That means people must be counted where they live.

Where do we live?

Funding for a lot of programs is also dependent on the number of residents who will be affected by those programs.

Where do we reside?

We live everywhere. We live wherever our motorhome is parked.

Today is Census Day. We are in California. Should California get the benefit of our presence today? Benefits that will last for the next ten years? Even though we will leave here tomorrow?

We are legal residents of South Dakota. We spend a few nights there every year. Less than a week. Should South Dakota get the benefits of us being legal residents there?

We do vote in South Dakota. We only vote for people running for national offices, though. It doesn’t seem right for us to vote for local people when we know so little about local issues. So we only vote for those who would afect what happens wherever we happen to be parked at any one time.

So do we refuse to be counted? That’s illegal. Everyone is required to be counted.

So when the Census Enumerator knocked on our door here in California we asked for a Be Counted form that let’s us decide what address to use.

Because the address is important. It determines who gets what for the next ten years.

But the form says we have to be counted at the residence where we were actually living on April 1, 2010. You may not use a P.O. Box since that is not a residence.

Our residence moves. Frequently. Our permanent address is a business address not a residence. Our mail goes to a PMB there. That’s a Personal Mail Box. Not a P.O. Box but not really different.

So, I have the form for us to be counted but I still don’t know what to do with it? What do you recommend?

TTYL,

Linda

Dave is trying to fix the comment section. Since he added the word test thing all your comments have been declared spam and sent to the spam file along with all the real spam I am getting. I can go there and mark them not spam causing them to go to the pending file. Then I can go there and mark them approved and they finally show up on my blog. This is a lousy system! In the meantime your comments are not being forwarded to my email as they have been in the past so I don’t know anyone has commented unless I go look at the files or you send me a separate email to let me know I still need to work on this. Hopefully, Dave will find the glitch and fix it soon but in the meantime, please be patient. Your comments are important to me so we will fix this.

TTYL,

Linda

We are at Redlands RV to get our front wheels balanced and an alignment done.  Their overnight parking is on the street with electrical hookup and water available. So we spent the night before our appointment here with the jacks down to level us but only the curbside slide opened.

Morning came and we checked in to see what the schedule looked like. They have lots of customers right now so they wouldn’t have a bay for us for an hour or two which was fine with us. They said they’d give us 15 minutes notice of our turn. So we stayed home and started our daily computer stuff.

When our turn came, we quickly packed up the few things we had out, pulled in the slide, and turned on the system that retracts the jacks. Usually. The left rear one has always been slow to retract but the dealer had assured us that was normal since it was the one furthest from the system so it took longer for it to work.

Today it didn’t. Work. At all. It only got off the ground a little and that was due to the air bags not the jack.

So a tech came out of the shop and slid around on his creeper under our rig trying to figure out why the jack wouldn’t go up. It obviously was something he couldn’t fix from that position because he removed the jack completely. That let them drive the RV into the shop to do the scheduled work while another guy tried to do something about the malfunctioning jack.

Winnebago said the jack should be repairable but Redlands RV is not an authorized repair shop for this type of jack. Winnebago wanted us to take the RV to a nearby shop for repairs. But, that shop said they had the part but no one available to work on our RV for a week! So, after much back and forth discussion among the shop here, Winnebago and the jack’s manufacturer Winnebago decided Redlands RV could replace the jack. They weren’t an authorized repair shop but they were an authorized installation shop. So we are getting a new jack. The new one will be shipped here and be installed on Friday, which is two days from now.

In the meantime we are living in half our house on a city street with our RV up on blocks because the jacks can’t be lowered. Life sure does like to keep you flexible, doesn’t it?

TTYL,

Linda

Yesterday we drove from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Redland, California, to get more work done on our new RV and my mind went wandering along the signs again. Here for your enjoyment is what I saw.

“Watch downhill speed.” Why? How fast can a hill go down?

There was a loveseat recliner sitting on the shoulder. Does that make it a roadside rest area?

We went through Primm again, going the other directions this time–from Nevada back to California. A big billboard suggested we “Get even before leavin'” But, we’re only down $2 so we aren’t likely to get closer to even than that.

“Autos towing trailers / Trucks/ 55 mph” We’re not either. We’re a motorhome towing a car. Next sign said “All vehicles / 55mph / when towing.” Think they read my mind?

A billboard advertising Calico Ghost Town listed three current restaurants plus campgrounds. What do you suppose ghosts eat and what type of campers do they use?

McDonald’s is advertising Mini Meals. They look like kids’ Happy Meals except without the toy. If I’m going to eat a Happy Meal, I want the toy!

“Outlet Center Drive / Right Lane Only.” immediately followed by “Right Lane / Only Slow Vehicles.” So no hurrying to the outlet mall.

In Victorville, California, there’s a Dale Evans Parkway and a Roy Rogers Drive. Everyone knows those two were married to one another way back when I was a kid. So why wasn’t her name Dale Rodgers? I know not all women take their husbands names now but way back then?

That’s enough of that! For now, anyway.

TTYL,

Linda

We are in Las Vegas to have some work done at a Freightliner dealer on the chassis of our RV. Freightliner assured us they had a place for us to park overnight at their facility. And they do. But, we would be the only RV parked in an industrial area which didn’t feel safe to us. The guy there told Dave other customers had parked at a nearby casino.

So we called The Cannery, the closest casino to Freightliner, and asked if they allow overnight RV parking there. They said, yes.

So, we drove to the casino, parked in their oversized vehicle lot, put down our levelers and ran out the one slide we need to get to the bed. Then we went into the casino and talked to security. The guy at the security desk turned his camera around until he found our RV and said we’d be fine there as long as we didn’t set out chairs or a BBQ and he’d tell the patrols not to bother us. So we put some money in their machines, ate in their restaurant, and retired to the RV for the night.

About 10 p.m. the security patrol came banging on our door. He said we couldn’t stay there. We assured him we’d received permission by phone before we came and we’d checked in with the security desk and been told we were fine. He didn’t like it. He said we’d have to pull in our slide so it wouldn’t look like we were camping there. We told him the desk guy had checked us out and said we were fine.

So, we stayed the rest of the night but don’t try this at home. And don’t believe everything you are told.

TTYL,

Linda

By the way, we were not the only RV in the lot that night.