Saturday, June 23, 2007

Random thoughts

Leaving Elko Nevada you see a lot of agricultural land with cows, goats and a few horses.

Some lovely mountains in the distance and some with a bit of snow dotted here and there on the tops frame this.

We decided at the beginning of this trip we would not be mileage crazy but due to the 4th of July holiday and going to Yellowstone as well as meeting friends in Denver we must keep to a pretty tight schedule. What is good is that we do not normally drive more than 300 miles in a day. I know that doesn’t sound like much but it is tiring and we are pulling a fifth wheel trailer I commonly refer to as Grace.


We do stop at rest areas to stretch the legs and maybe walk a bit depending on the area. And I must say how surprised I am at how clean all the rest areas are, including the restrooms. The amount of people that use theses rest ares is a lot so keeping them clean is an admirable chore. However don’t ask me about adults picking up after their dogs, grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

On a side note when approaching the area of Mt Whitney in California, we hear Buddy, the cat, howling. Not a lot but enough to wonder what’s up. We pulled over at the next rest area so Buddy could use his box, makes sense maybe that was his way of informing us of his needs. I might also add that he had not done this before now. So a couple a days later Buddy is howling again. I think I might have figured out what was wrong with him. His poor little ears were popping with the altitude. I tried to get him to chew some gum, nope no interest.

We have been cruising in approximately five – six thousand feet and Buddy hasn’t been howling, so maybe his ears cleared and he has adjusted to the altitude. I know weird huh!!

I must also say that I have surprised myself. I have adjusted to this kind
of living quite well. I can be a bit of a brat when it comes to my space and the space around me. I’m used to having room. When we pull into an RV park and after the chores of un-hooking and putting the slides out I will usually go for a walk. When we are at a spot longer than one nite I go off for me time. After all Mr Doodles needs me time also and it works for both of us.

Have you ever had a car have a vapor lock? Well we did and we learned something very valuable. We have an extra large fuel tank on the truck as well as the main fuel tank. We were on our way to Mt Witney and Mr
Doodles switched over the fuel tank from the large installed to the main tank in the truck. He had let the large tank run almost dry when switching. Bad move we discovered and learned a valuable lesson. Stranded in the middle of NOWHERE I called Auto Club cause we weren’t that far from a small town. Come to find out our truck is considered commercial because of the danged size and they won’t tow. The man that was going to come out called and said to call Ford Road Service since it’s a new truck. Long story short I did and the conversation with the fema\le went something like this…..”Mam I think we have a vapor lock. Mam says oh OK easy to fix, do this….remove the gas cap. HUH??? OH OK I removed the gas cap. Now she says put it back on when I tell you. OK put it back on and start the truck. Mr Doodles did as he was told and low and holy crap it started. So lesson learned if you ever have a vapor lock, follow those instructions before calling AAA. Life is good


a lovely little trout stream beside our RV.

3 comments:

Deborah Eley De Bono said...

Did any trout come out of thata stream? That is a real nice shot.

barb said...

Yes there was a 2 lb. trout come outta that stream BUT not caught by Mr Doodles. Our RV neighbor caught it. I wish I would have got a snap of him cause they had been there a week and had not caught a thing. He was soooo excited.

Jill said...

I am picturing that cat chewing gum and laughing... that would so not work! Loving keeping up with your travels since our summer is booked with "kid stuff" - practices and what not. We live vicariously through you and the Mister!

Jill(Nanny J's daughter)