On the road again...!

STAGE FOUR: Leave - Done!

So, at last, on Sunday Jan. 31st, we left for Tucson. We'd planned for mid-Jan. but weren't quite ready, and the big El Nino storms delayed us even more. Getting a new RV outfitted for full-time living is not a casual packing job!! It took a good, solid week. Some stuff came from the yurt. Some stuff went back to the yurt. Some stuff even made it back to the shed in Encinitas!

We spent several nights in our RV before we took off. We found that while parts of the RV were quite nice and even plush, others were very unhandy and still others were broken or non-functional! For instance, there are rubber seal/weather-stripping all along the edges of the slide-outs. On a particularly dewy morning, I found water dripping onto our leather couch. Apparently the seal is not doing its job!!! There are one or two other equally large problems and a smattering of smaller ones. It strikes us that there is quite a bit of very poor design involved in the manufacture of RVs in general and it's a sad statement on their quality control as well!

And that's only the half of it. The other half is the terrible servicing one receives after buying an RV. We'd heard that when you buy a new RV, you have to just plan on stopping by their manufacturing base sometime in your first year as there will be so much that needs fixing or replacing. On the other hand, if you buy a good used RV, those problems have probably already been attended to. That seemed to have been the case with our BRAVE. It really didn't give us any problems. And unfortunately, the TOUR has lived up to its reputation as well, that of a new RV. So, here we are in Tucson, and short story, the dealerships are not exactly bending over backwards to help us out...! So, for now, we will be doing our best to deal with the problems ourselves. Wish us luck because it's supposed to rain here Wed. I hope we get all this stuff sorted - I hate to see the wind get taken out of Bill's sails, and so early on too!!

I have to conclude that the RV industry's general demise is not due solely to a bad economy and high gas prices but also because of its own ineptitude and "whatever" attitude!

On the upside, we are in a great RV park here in southwestern Tucson, and the other campers are all really friendly, and most have dogs! The park is several miles from the city and surrounded by cacti and hills. Most of the spaces are roomy and lined with bushes. NOT the parking lot/RV city that many other parks are here in Tucson! AND it's cheaper! Phew!!

After a long day's drive, we got here after dark and couldn't find the park owners. I was afraid we wouldn't find a spot! But they found us and got us set up. There was a slight kerfuffle in the morning, involving a dispute with other recent arrivals over the spot we were supposed to move to. After having moved to the spot, we ended up having to move back! But it was not a huge deal, and maybe our paved spot will prove to be better!

Come Take a Tour!

A Tour of our TOUR!

So we FINALLY got the second big sorting done!

STAGE ONE: Sorting, packing, moving out, renting - Done!

STAGE TWO: Living in yurt - Done!

STAGE THREE: Sorting, packing, moving out - Done!

As the saying goes, things always get worse before they get better, and such was the case with both of our moving projects! The RV looked a chaotic mess inside, right up until it was finally finished. But here are photos after the stuff was organized and put away, things wedged or stuck in place with velcro, putty, or sticky tape, and dog hair and dirt vacuumed up with the central vac.

This is looking from the front of the RV towards the back. You can see the great desk set-up Bill installed, both of our computers and all! He first had to remove the second couch - good for entertaining, I guess, but overkill for us. We needed a computer place that could accomodate us both! The remaining couch is now ready for dog/cat inhabitants (and hey, even us!) with very soft, comfy, pre-dirt-color pet throws (thanks to friends M&M!!).

This is looking towards the front, from the kitchen area, which is about halfway down the RV.

Bill demo-ing the computer stations.

One of the reasons for the larger RV...
It may seem like plenty of floor space...till you add animals! They have a way of taking up all available room and are especially keen on reclining in walkways.

I've come to accept the ugly sink in the bathroom - my little ivy plant has worked wonders for that space! However, I had been looking forward to the larger shower - tired of having to sit on the shower floor at the yurt in order to shave my legs! Well, too bad. This shower's not much bigger AND there's no way anyone can sit on this floor! If you're able to crinkle your body up enough, you can put a foot on the bench, but then you also find out how cold the shower walls are!! Maybe if I lose enough weight... (ha-ha!)

Ouray and Scratty model the bedroom.
I started off sleeping on the closest side, but Bill and I have switched now because, while you can walk on the other side of the bed, the floor is raised there. Much easier for a shrimpier person to get around...! Ouray still occupies his usual spot - the middle.

From Where We've Come

Here's a photo of our friends' place in Ramona. This is where we stored our Brave (in Karl's workshop) and now our Tour. You can see our Tour if you follow the fenceline all the way to the back (the tiny black and white dot), but trust me, it's much larger than it looks here! Karl & Peggy have a really nice place, especially when it rains enough to create this lovely pond in front! Many thanks to our buddies - their generosity made our endeavors soooo much easier!!!!

We all loved using their old electric golf cart to haul our stuff (stored in the workshop) to the RV!

And yes. EVERYBODY got their turn riding in the cart!

When you're rich...

Certain things have always made me feel rich. A full tank of gas. A full pantry. And a full woodbox. Like a squirrel hoarding acorns, it makes me feel prepared, ready.

I used to cut wood with Grandpa - quakies in Colorado. I can still smell the wood. Oak smells very different but wonderful and burns really well. Good clean-burning, dense wood. High BTUs and all that. On our famously warm and sunny winter days here in So. Cal., like the ones we've enjoyed recently, firewood isn't always needed. But lower temps and an entire WEEK of rain are in our long range forecast (believe it or not! yeah, we'll believe it when we see it!), so it'll soon be time to go out and cut and collect yet again.

Yurt Days

Things you see up at our yurt:

Cat in Window

Oaks and clouds.

Does a tree...??

OK, yes, it does.

I was there. And the tree did fall. Right in front of me!

Take a dead tree and wet ground - add some good winds.

Ideally, you should be in your robe and slippers, then go out to make sure the dogs "get the job done," and wa-la! Instant "tree falls in the forest" kind of thing!

Right at your feet!

But maybe if I hadn't been there to witness it,

it would still be standing...?!?

A Good Start on A New Year...!

Recipe for a most excellent 2010:

1 awesome husband

1 not-so-bad wife

1 best-dog-in-the-world dog

1 OK dog

1 Dad-thinks-he's-perfect cat

1 Mom-likes-her-real-well, softest cat

1 really cool yurt in a pretty place

1 RV waiting in the wings...

And yes, the cat on her catfish...