The Sandcastle

Our permit to camp in the BLM’s Long Term Visitor Area expires today so we used that to get us moving. It has become very easy to just stay in camp visiting with neighbors and hanging out in our RV. But errands need to be run sometimes. For us that’s at least once every five days because that’s as long as we can make our 32 gallons of water last for the two of us.

I find that last number interesting. The Department of Homeland Security says each adult needs to be storing three gallons of water per day. I always wondered if that could possibly be enough. Apparently it is if you use ALL our water conserving techniques. That includes drinking diet soda instead of water. If we drank water we’d have to give up our showers to make it on three gallons a day.

Now back to our regularly scheduled topic of the day.

Our first stop once we left camp was the dumpsters here in the LTVA to drop off today’s garbage. Most days Dave walks the half mile to the dumpster with one WalMart bag of trash. Some days that bag is more full than others depending mostly on what type of packaging our food came in the previous day. Today we also had a large kitchen garbage bag of pop cans to recycle. When we got to the dumpsters three young adults were dumpster diving for recyclables. I disapprove of dumpster diving but I also know how it is to need money. So we gave them our bag of cans instead of taking it to a recycling center as planned.

Then we stopped at the LTVA office to buy a new permit. We bought a 28 day one for $80 instead of the 14 day one for $40 we had before. We probably won’t stay here the entire 28 days but we don’t want to have to buy another one in 14 days when many, many people will be arriving here just in time for the big show. We’ve been told the lines to do anything here become horrendous when 40 to 50 thousand people come for the main two weeks.

Then we went into Quartzsite to buy propane. The Pit Stop had been recommended to us as the place to do that and it was great. You drive up onto a indoor/outdoor carpet and they use a hose to fill your propane tank much like buying gas or diesel. You go in to pay and they give you a couple of hard candies as a thank you. You don’t even get your shoes dirty since you walk on the red carpet. We were down to two gallons of propane. Since we typically burn two gallons a day here heating our RV during the cold desert nights, it was surely time to fill. I hate running out during the night.

Going west on I-10 we came to another of those California Agricultural Inspection Stations. This one waved us right though. Maybe the Sunday morning staff really doesn’t care what you are bringing in?

In Blythe, California, our first stop was for lunch. We went to the Cakes ‘N Steaks restaurant. We picked it because signs out front said the Lions, Kiwanis, and Rotary all meet there. We like to go where the locals go because you usually get good food for good prices. This place was no exception to that rule. Dave’s pancakes were light and fluffy and still hot enough to melt the butter. I had a hot beef sandwich piled with so much meat I couldn’t eat it all. And I really tried to do so.

On the way to the restaurant we made note of the location of a laundromat we planned to go to after lunch. But while we were eating, its parking lot filled up. So we went to the grocery store instead.

We sat in the parking lot of Albertson’s working on our grocery list. It’s had to make a list for unknowns. How many potlucks do we need to prepare for? How do we plan meals scheduled around campfires when we never know when there’s going to be a fire? So we made a massive list and Dave managed to buy most of the things on it. Of course, not being able to buy one ingredient of a recipe pretty much makes the rest of the ingredients irrelevant. Maybe next time we’ll be able to get the rest of them.

By the time we did all that the laundromat’s parking wasn’t so full so we did two loads of laundry. Mostly because we don’t have very many long sleeve shirts and we need them here. I still can’t believe how cold the nights get. I wear more layers to the campfires than I wore most of the time in Minnesota.

Then back to the LTVA where we did the dump and fill routine on our way back to camp. Thus ends another day of running around.

TTYL,

Linda

I started this list for a friend who is new to RVing then decided maybe you’d all like to read it as well.

Water:

Put a bowl in the bathroom sink to catch rinse water.  Use that water to wet your hands for washing.  When the bowl gets too full, use it to flush the toilet

Put your toilet flushing water into a spray bottle for cleaning your toilet.  Adding the spray power to the soapy water increases it effectiveness.

When brushing your teeth, first remove the bowl from the sink.  Fill a coffee cup with water.  Use that to brush your teeth.  You can wet your brush in it.  Rinse your mouth from it.  Rinse your brush in it.  Splash it over the edge of the cup to rinse the cup.  Then swirl it down the sink to rinse the sink.  Remember to put the bowl back.

If you brush your teeth before taking a shower you won’t need to run the shower as long for the water to get hot.

When taking a shower, use a washcloth.  Put your sink bowl in the shower before you begin.  Wet the washcloth in that saved water, soap it well and use it to wash with.  You won’t need to turn on the shower until you are ready to rinse.  Again save the cold water in the bowl and use it to flush the toilet.

If you keep a separate washcloth for your face, you won’t need to rinse the soap out of the one you use for your shower.

Use hand sanitizer and moist towelettes instead of water when appropriate.

Anytime you need to run water in your kitchen sink for it to get hot, catch the cold water while you are waiting in a clean bowl or bottle.  If you can put that water back into your fresh water system do so.  If not, use that water for cooking or washing.

If you can burn or compost trash, you might want to use paper plates when water is at a premium.

 

Electricity:

Use daylight as much as possible.

Figure out which lights to use for what.  LEDs take less energy than halogens.  Halogens takes less than incancesdents.  Halogens produce a lot of heat; think about that when deciding where to use them.

WalMart sells LED lights that look like UFOs and run off small batteries.  You can hang those under your cabinets and have lights that don’t use your house electric.

Turn off lights when you finish the task you turned them on for.

Only turn on your TV when you plan to watch a specific program.

Turn off as many things as you can so as not to drain your batteries.  Any appliance that has a clock is using energy.  Anything that is checking to see if you want it yet is using electricity.  Anything that has a standby mode is using electricity.

If you have solar panels, clean them with something that leaves no residue.

When running off 12 volt use 12 volt appliances rather than convert to 110.

 

Propane:

Plan meals for minimal cooking time:

     Eat cereal for breakfast and salads/sandwiches for lunch.

     Eat fresh fruits and vegetables for side dishes instead of ones that need to be cooked.

     When you cook, cook extra of things that the leftovers can be eaten cold.  Like meatloaf.

     Cook over a campfire.  A pie iron can be used to make egg sandwiches for breakfast.

Your furnace is the biggest user of propane.  Put on more clothes and turn down the thermostat.

Do your generator and/or furnace maintenance to maximize efficiency.

Put a fan in your RV refrigerator to maximize its efficiency.

A full refrigerator/freezer is more efficient than an empty one as long as the air can circulate.

Find out if a space heater would be best for you.

 

TTYL,

Linda