Short timer....

Less than 48 hours until I hit the road!   Today I took Waddles for a little spin... ran errands in town to get more comfortable driving in traffic and on city streets.  All went well.   Took some photos on the way home, although Mt Hood didn't completely cooperate.

One of the items I went to town for was a memory foam mattress cover.  I've been sleeping in Waddles for the last week, and the bed is not the most comfortable.   I put a smaller foam pad on it, but that wasn't doing it, and my back was starting to react.  So I sprung for a bad boy, 4" pad.    In order to put the foam in, I had to completely clear the bed of bedding, so took advantage and vacuumed and emptied the area under the bed platform (there is about a 3" deep space, good for storing extra things I don't need to get at every day). I stripped off the bedding and threw it in the laundry.   Replaced the things I had stashed under the bed, and added a few more things like extra towels and bedding (no sense is wasting empty space). Then replaced the mattress, put the foam on, and re-made the bed with FLANNEL sheets because the first part of my journey is going to be in Wyoming and Colorado where it is still QUITE cold.

While all this was going on I was testing the battery.  Waddles seems to have some phantom battery drains, so when I'm running nothing except the display on the radio/DVD player, the battery runs down pretty quickly.  I have unplugged the TV (which I may eventually take out), and turned the display brightness down to nothing on the radio.  Still draining.   So it was recommended to me (by the collective T@g on-line brain trust) that I remove the fuse from the battery when I'm not using it.  The phantom drain is normal it seems.  I monitored it all day, and that seems to fix the problem.   I've been charging with the solar panel, and that is working quite well.

Waddles does not have a heater, so I have a very small electric heater that plugs into the wall for when I am somewhere with 'shore power'.   For the times I'm not, I have a 'Heater Buddy' propane heater.  I've been trying both of these and they are working perfectly.   I always have the vent open when I'm in Waddles and she came with not only a smoke detecter but a CO2 detector.   I DO NOT go to sleep with the heater running.  Just use it to take the chill off before going to sleep, and in the morning.

I also have decided to not use the battery powered cooler/refrigerator because when I'm not plugged into shore power it seriously sucks the battery.   Instead I'm just going to use it like an ice chest.  I'm not going to be that far from civilization for any length of time that I can't just buy fresh fruits and veggies when I need them.   Because the cooler doesn't have a drain hole (it is not designed to put ice in), I now have a syphon hose to suck the water out of the bottom.  The cooler has a motor in it, so lifting it out of its spot, with water in it, would be really heavy.   Hoping this works!  I'll let you know.

I am doing the final car packing.   I think I'll have lots of room.  I'm trying to not store things in the sleeping space of Waddles, but in the car.  And I'm trying to keep the things I don't need every day stashed in the middle and have easy access to the daily use stuff.  I imagine I'll be moving things around a lot as my journey progresses.  It won't be this messy when I'm done... this was mid packing! Blue bin is kitchen stuff, black case in the middle is the solar panel.  Striped bag is the electric cords, yellow box has bungie cords and tie-downs.  Sleeping bag is for extra warmth if I need it.  Red thing on the bottom is the wheel lock.   Black bag next to the striped bag is all the trailer security and parking gear.   There is a small folding table, a bag of tools, lawn chair, a door mat (because that is important!) and oh so much more!

Oil is changed in the car.  New windshield wipers installed.  Propane is full, battery is charged.  Tires are good. I replaced a bunch of the trailer locking things (tongue lock, hitch socket lock) and now ALL 5 keys for the trailer and it's associated security locks are different.  Before I had a terrible time telling them apart.   Small things make me happy!

So tomorrow is my final day to prepare!   I'll be planting tomatoes in the garden and hoping it doesn't freeze, doing final laundry, packing and loading of the car.   I have to go into town to buy cat food so they don't run out while I'm away.    I think I'm just about ready!~

Final Tweeking

Today my trailer guru and I took Waddles up to a local campground and drove around to get comfortable manuvering.  Then we found a large, empty, gravel parking lot and he confirmed his suspicion that the car would hit the spare tire if I made a tight turn😳.   So the spare has been put back under the trailer tongue where is was from the factory...and unfortunately that cool purple cover had to go away.  So sad.   I practiced backing in the parking lot and when we got home I backed the trailer all the way from the road to the garage.  If you've seen my driveway, you know that is a pretty good distance and there are a few things to manuver around.   I did it very slowly, and in fits and starts, but I didn't hit anything, didn't drive off the driveway, and Waddles is now in the garage.

I've been sleeping in her, and tomorrow I'm going to cook breakfast using only things I'll have on the trip with me.

And the new blog header photo was taken on today's outing.  Nine days and counting😍
One of my band mates gave me this for my birthday😍.  

Obsessive knitting?

OK, be honest here... have I gone too far?

And look what I got for my birthday from my favorite sister!

I spent today shopping in Portland with my brother for a new, proper-height trailer stinger, a battery gauge, a propane gauge, a surge protector/outlet tester, trailer hitch lock, and a few other things.  These were the last big things to check off my list!   Less than 2 weeks before our adventure begins.

Still getting to know her.

Counting down to my road trip I am working on getting familiar with all the things I'll be using.   Today I pulled Waddles out of the garage by hand!   It was frighteningly easy.

Then I set up my new table.  It's a bit tricky, but it works.  Then I set up my new stove, filled it with fuel and fired it up.  It works! Then I set up the solar panel.  It works.

I plan to sleep and cook in it for the next few days, and see what I need to survive.   I'll be testing to see what runs the battery down, what I can run off the battery, how well the solar panel charges the battery.  Things like that.  It should be interesting.

Less than 3 weeks to get this all figured out.😳

I also mowed the lawn for the first time this season.   Seems like warp speed from 3-feet of snow to mowing!

Look What I Did!

Today was the first nice day we've had in a while so I decided to spend some time with Waddles.  I'd not cleaned her since our little trip so I stripped the bed and threw the bedding into the washer.  Then I completely emptied her out.

One of the lessons from my trip was I have very limited space inside Waddles and I need to have only what I need while I'm in there. So I sorted through all the stuff and thought a lot about exactly what I want around me in the evening and morning, and while sleeping.   There wasn't a lot I'd put in for the last trip, but I eliminated some things and started a list of what I was missing.

Then I cleaned up the kitchen, and re packed things I wanted easily accessible into the cabinets, and the rest goes in the kitchen bin that will be carried in the car.

When the laundry was done I remade the bed and did a little decorating.   If I were to choose, I would not have the TV or air conditioner, so I chose to cover them with something pretty.

I then added some more personal touches to the outside.... because it makes me smile.

Then I hooked her up to the car and pulled her out and gave her a bath.  I think she liked it!😉

She has been living next to the garage since I pulled her out about a month ago.   I got really brave today and did THIS!!!!!

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself!

Maiden Voyage

Waddles and I are back home.   We drove close to 300 miles round trip, spent 3 nights and 4 days away from home.    I was attending a retirement party in Prineville Oregon, so opted to stay in an RV park on the edge of town.  This would normally not be my first choice, but for convenience to town, and for our first outing it seemed like a good choice.

It was an easy, though rainy, drive down.   I found my spot among the BIG BOYS, and got set up without any trouble.    It was quite windy, and I cooked up some hot coffee and went for a walk before connecting with friends for the evening.   Grabbed a couple geocaches, because they were close!

Had dinner with my friend who just retired and other retired FS folks.  It was great fun, and we had a good visit,

Waddles was tail to the wind and rain all night, so the vent on the roof (opened a crack to keep the air circulating) was banging all night, and poor Waddles was getting a bit battered around!   I'd left the door mats outside and they were quite wet in the morning, but hadn't blown completely away.   It was impossible to heat water for coffee because the biting wind was still blowing quite hard, so I skipped the coffee and had breakfast of yogurt and cheese and crackers in the the comfort of the trailer.

At 9am friends picked me up for a windy, but LOVELY hike up to Chimney Rock.   The lichen on the rocks was beautiful and there were wildflowers starting to bloom.   The view from Chimney Rock was spectacular.

We then met up with a whole gang of friends for lunch and then a little tour of Waddles.  While I had a number of people there, we took the opportunity to swing Waddles 180 degrees so if there was more wind, it would not be blowing right into the ceiling vent and the kitchen!  It was VERY easy to just roll her around by hand.  We then dispersed to get ready for the big retirement party that evening which was absolutely wonderful, and perfect and I saw many people I'd not seen in years and years.

That night it was MUCH MUCH calmer, no wind, no rain and I was cozy and slept well.   In the morning I woke to a skiff of snow on the ground!   That was a surprise.    I brewed up some hot coffee and crawled back into the coziness of Waddles.

I was picked up by friends to drive to Redmond for Brunch to celebrate a birthday, another fun gathering of laughing and visiting and exchanging presents.

That afternoon there was a bonfire gathering up on the Forest so we headed up for more fun and visiting.   When it started spitting snow we gave up and went back into town.    Spent more 'friend' time visiting, knitting, opening retirement gifts and cards, and then went to dinner.

I wandered back to Waddles after dark and got settled in.  No wind, no rain, mostly clear skies with an almost full moon and it was CHILLY outside.    It was a bit cold sleeping because I had the roof vent cracked open, but not too bad.

Got up in the morning to 28 degrees, packed up the car, hooked up Waddles and hit the road toward home.    I took a different route home, and had great views from Mt Adams south to the 3 Sisters and Mt Bachelor.    It was kind of sad to pack up and head home....  Waddles and I were having a lot of fun!

Lessons learned:

• Don't park tail to the wind
• Don't have extraneous stuff inside the trailer, there is not a lot of room in there
• Need to find a smaller, safer heater (I was using a space heater because Waddles has A/C but no heat)  I only turn it on for a very short time, but it is not the safest option.
• Need to have gloves to wear when it is cold, that I can maneuver keys and locks with (my fingers get cold and numb really quickly which makes for bad dexterity!).
• Bring a garbage bucket of some sort
• I don't particularly care for RV parks, although having electricity was nice
• Only about 4 people from the RV park came and told me how cute Waddles is (I expected more, but the weather was pretty bad, and I was not there much)   She was very cute surrounded by BIG RVs
• I felt pretty darn comfortable driving with Waddles behind me
• I was scoping out possible places to stop, before I had to stop ... fear of getting into someplace I can't get out of
• I was pretty organized, but could do a lot better
• She is REALLY easy to move around by hand

All in all I'm feeling really good about our first adventure together and can't wait for the next one.

Travelin'

Well, we made it to our destination.  Driving was easy, we stopped a few times along the way, I backed her up a few times.  Now we are comfortably settled in to an RV park.   A midget among giants!

It is rainy and cold and a bit windy, so I'm hanging out inside waiting to catch up with friends.  I would love to have the screen tent up, but the wind would likely blow it away in short order.

I've brewed a cup of coffee and made some lunch, gone for a walk and found a couple geocaches.  Now I'm just knitting and enjoying Waddles time!