We’re in Palm Desert

 

January 12, 2013                                                                                                                Lorraine’s report

Hello again, this time from 1000 trails, Palm Springs.  We are here, having left my daughter and granddaughter in Sunnyvale, CA.  We spent the Christmas holidays with them.  What a joy to see an 8 year old celebrate the Christmas holidays!!!  Thanks again, Susy, we loved being there.

Well if you recall, we had to be with Susy longer than we had planned because the freezer on our 15 month old fridge broke, and it took them 3 weeks to get the warranty worked out.  The  repairman came on Tuesday.  We waited all day. Chuck called the place, around 3pm, and they said he would come later. We finally heard from the repairman about 6:00 pm, when he called and said he would show up 20 minutes later.  He worked on the refrigerator until about 10:15 that evening, a very long day.  We had invited Susy and Kaitlyn to go to eat, but ended up ordering pizza.  But, at least the freezer is working again.

So then my computer was broken, a couple of months out of warranty, and the Geek Squad were forever getting a test on it to see what was wrong with it.  It came from Best Buy, so we took it to the Geek Squad, but after Mark worked on it.  Thanks, Mark.  It was what he thought it was, a bad hard drive.  But, the guy at BB took forever to diagnosis it; we decided that once again I needed a new computer.  We opened up the new computer a short time before we heard what was wrong,  the guys at Fry's would charge a 15 percent charge IF I open it and returned it, unused.   We found a new computer at Fry's. a whole lot cheaper than trying to fix my old one. 

And my whip lash.  One of my friends, Judy J in WA, (I went to school with her, she graduated with me, and we are getting to know each other again) wrote and told me about Arnica Montana.  It took a bit to find it, but we found it.  This tiny, tiny pill-I take 5, 3 times a day, and use the gel that is  for bruises and such, has worked well for me.  Just taking the medicine, over the counter by the way, has worked wonders.  The fist day after I took it felt like I might actually survive the pain. Thank, Judy, I appreciate the heads up!!!

Being back in Palm Springs found Chuck and I enjoying the drier weather.  It is cool, down to the upper 30's at night, but in the upper 60's to 70's during the day, absolutely wonderful for this time of the year. 

We are looking forward to seeing friends in Quartzsite this next week.  And from there, who knows.  Until next time....Hugs to all...

Lorraine

 

1/12/14                                                                                                                                   Chuck’s report

Yea, we are back on the road again, back here in 1000 Trails Palm Springs enjoying the great weather.  Even though we really like being near Susy and Katie, we know they want to get their lives back to normal and not feel the need to spend so much of their time with us.  But when I last asked Katie when we should return, she said Feb. 1 and to stay until her birthday in April, ha.  But I did tell her we would be there for her birthday. 

Last Sunday we went over to Susy’s place and watched the San Francisco/Green Bay game.  I guess I was rooting for Green Bay as I hope Seattle doesn’t have to play San Francisco one more time this season, they are too closely matched.  But San Francisco ended up winning, Lorraine was rooting for them so she was happy with the outcome, me, not so much.  Lorraine and Susy put together a good pork roast dinner for us for after the game, at least everyone enjoyed that. 

While we were watching the game, Mark completed the set-up on Lorraine’s new computer.  Her old one was at Busy Buy since Friday and they were supposed to have set it up to run a diagnosis and let us know what repairs were needed.  When Lorraine and Susy went by on Saturday, they told them the diagnosis wasn’t complete yet but they would call when it was done.  I called them  Sunday morning and the tech checked and reported that no one had started the diagnosis yet but he would get it going and call when it was done later that afternoon.  So we decided to set up the one we had bought at Frys in case the repairs were too expensive.  Mark loaded up an older version of Windows so it needed to run overnight to add all the updates, no problem, we left it there until he finished. 

Morning morning we headed over to Best Buy and picked up Lorraine’s old computer, it can still be used but the hard drive has some bad sectors and they said it probably will just get worse.  I may look into replacing the hard drive but will worry about that at a later date.  Lorraine ran a couple of loads of laundry too, wanted to get caught up before we hit the road. 

Later we headed over to Susy’s place and watched the  college football championship game between Florida State and Auburn.  I think there were 4 lead changes in the final two minutes with Florida State coming up the winner in that one.  Mark fixed up taco makings for dinner for everyone and explained about the changes/updates he had made to Lorraine's computer for her.  Thanks for fixing that for us, it’s a bit over my pay grade.

I have been in correspondence with our insurance company about repairing our car after the accident.  They have a different way of doing things in California than I’m used to dealing with.  They sent an app to Lorraine’s phone and had us enter some information, take some pictures and send it to them.  They would then look things over and make an estimate for repairs.  I’m used to going to three repair shops for estimates and sending that to the insurance company.  So this time I did both, sent the info and pictures to them and went to a local repair shop for their estimate.  Of course, the shop was higher and now I’m working with the insurance company to revise their estimate but so far no luck. 

I went to the repair place on Tuesday morning and was on the phone for a bit in the afternoon.  Later we went by and picked up Katie from school, their Christmas vacation is over.  Then we sort of hung around waiting for the fridge repair guy to show up.  They told me he would show up between 1:00 and 5:00 but I wanted to be ready in case he came by early.  I called at 3:00 to check on his schedule and was told he was going to be late, maybe as late at 5:30.  I said that was fine by us, we wanted it fixed so we could get on the road.  He called about 6 and said he would be there in 20 minutes or so and I told him to come on in.  I figured he would find an excuse to look at it and say he needed to come back the next day. 

But when he showed up, he was ready and willing to work on it until it was done.  He figured it would be about three hours and with my “help” he was done a little after 10.  He had to recover the Freon, flush the system to get all the oil out of the coils, refill the system with Freon and solder the holes he had made in the tubes where he hooked up some temporary fitting for recovering/refilling the system.  He actually was able to do the repairs from the access door behind the fridge, said it was nice that he didn’t have to work on his knees as was usual when the work was done in a house.  He had some specialized tools, gauges and tanks so this type repair isn’t something just anyone could accomplish. 

By the time he was finished, the freezer was starting to cool off but more importantly, the coils that were not getting cold before were now cold.  By the time he was finished with the paperwork, the temperature had already dropped about 25 degrees and he was confident it would work just fine.  And he was correct, during the night, I heard the ice maker dump and refill with water at least twice, proving the temperature was cold enough for that, yea. 

We had to say bye to Susy, Katie and Mark that evening as we planned on leaving on Wednesday morning, if the freezer in fact was cold enough.  When I got up, I put a thermometer in the freezer and it was reading 0F, much better than the 25F it had been showing before the repairs. 

So Wednesday morning we got ready for travel, pulled over to the dump station to empty our gray and black tanks and headed out.  There hadn’t been any rain the whole time were had been there, about three weeks, but sure enough, it was raining when we got up.  But by the time we were on the road, the sun was out and everything had dried out so we had a good travel day. 

Once again we stopped overnight at the Bakersfield Orange Grove RV park.  Compared to the last time we were there, three weeks ago, the trees had been picked over a lot.  The park was offering the use of a picker on a pole if we wanted to pick a bag full.  I did walk over to the tangerine grove to see if there happened to be any of them left on the trees.  I managed to get a bag full of them too, Lorraine really likes these.  While we were there, I transferred the stuff from the basement freezer to the fridge/freezer inside the coach and unplugged the basement one.  We didn’t use it since we had the residential type fridge installed but it did come in handy when we had problems.  We have had it for sale but may just keep it, we haven’t decided yet. 

Thursday morning we got on the road and headed on to here.  It was another good travel day, sunny and warm and we took a route to keep us out of San Bernardino and the traffic around that area.  We got here just a bit after 2, found a good site and got set up.  Later we went over to see some friends of ours, Mike and Linda who are in charge of the group we stay with at Quartzsite.  They will be leaving Quartzsite a bit earlier this year than normal, Linda wants to go to her latest grand daughter’s first birthday but they will be a Q as usual up until then. 

Friday morning we drove over to Indio to attend the FMCA rally, at least for one day as a walk-in vs camping there with our coach.  We walked through the vendor area but didn’t find too much we had to have.  I did get some quotes on changing out the shocks on the coach but will do that at a later date.  Lorraine did find a couple of shirts and had an applique put on them.  We made a quick run to Wal-Mart to drop off her prescriptions then returned to our place for a dinner of left overs. 

Saturday morning we returned to Wal-Mart to pick up her prescriptions and few other items.  I wanted to be sure we were back in time to watch the Seahawk/Saint game, it started at 1:30 so that was no problem.  And the Seahawks won, even though their offensive team didn’t play that well but the defense was sure good, especially in the first half.  We also watched part of the AFC playoff game between New England and Indianapolis but didn’t care as much about the outcome of that game. 

We have been spending some time working on our travel/hotel/car rental plans for our trip to Alaska in July for Lorraine’s high school reunion.  We are planning on flying to Ketchikan for awhile then fly on up to Anchorage where our son will pick us up and we will stay at his place for two weeks.  He needs to find out about his work schedule while we are there so the dates we’ve chosen may have to be modified/changed but at least we have something to start with. 

While we are here, Lorraine is trying to stock up on our needs for when we leave here and go to Quartzsite.  There will be hundreds of thousands of people in and around the area so the two small grocery stores as well as every other place will be packed and pretty well picked over. 

Like I said, the weather has been really nice this past week.  We really feel for those who were caught in the extreme cold in the rest of the country.  It was even freezing in the middle of Florida, they sure aren’t used to that.  Sure glad we have wheels under our home. 

We will be traveling on to Quartzsite, leaving here on Thursday.  We plan on meeting up with a group of Tiffin motorhome owners, we’ve been with them a couple of year previous and had a good time.  Then we’ll move over and join the group we met the first time we stayed at Quartzsite, the RV America group.  We’ve stayed with this group every year we’ve been down here and by now are considered “old timer”, ha.  We have fun with both groups, like to go to all the vendors and displays but usually only hang around for a week as it’s dry camping, i.e., no electric, water or sewer hookups.  It’s not that bad as we head in with full fresh water tank, empty holding tanks and use our generator as needed to keep our batteries charged and run any electrical items we need. 

So with that, I’ll add a few pictures and get this posted. 

A quart freezer bag with the oil that was flushed out of our freezer coils.  It’s hard to tell but there’s a bit over a tablespoon full. 

  

With so little rain in Northern California, the water reservoir is really low.

  

This is the second time we’ve seen this herd of elk just after the reservoir on Pacheco Pass. 

  

 

More of our travel thru California. 

  

  

  

Ok, that’s it for me, hope you had a good week. 

 

Thanks   Chuck

 

 

158

Still in Santa Clara, California

 

January 5, 2013                                                                                                                    Lorraine’s report

Hello once more from sunny, nice California, specifically the Elks Lodge in Santa Clara, CA.  It has been nice here, cool, down to freezing a day or so in the nighttime, but otherwise, N I C E.  So this week has been okay.

Forgot to tell Joe of Joe & Alice, “Happy Birthday” and “Happy Anniversary”.  It was their anniversary last week.  May they have many, many more!!! 

So this week we just enjoyed the time we have had with Susy, Kaitlyn, Mark, etc.  It was nice to be able to spend some quality time with Susy and Kaitlyn.  This area is just so busy!  Everyone here is in a hurry.  It was nice just to kick back, and enjoy our time together.  Thank you Susy, I enjoyed our time together. 

Well, I’m still waiting on my computer.  Chuck got me a couple of slot games for Christmas, and after he loaded them on my computer, it crashed.  Mark worked on it, but thinks there is a hard drive issue.  So it is in the shop, Geek squad, and with it being after the holiday, it is taking forever.  Hopefully, they will call today. 

My neck is still giving me a bit of problems, still sore, my doctor said it would take six months for it to heal, and he is right.  Will be glad to have it quit hurting. 

So we are still waiting for the freezer, hopefully this week, and maybe we will continue “On the Road” again.  Looking forward to seeing some friends from all over the USA.  

I guess I can’t think of much else, so, I hope everyone has a great week.  Till next time…

Hugs,

Lorraine

1/5/13                                                                                                                                  Chuck’s report

Hope everyone had a great start to their New Year!  Ours has been good, just had to make some changes to our travel plans but we are used to doing that.  We had a good time this week with Susy and Katie, even got some “down” time too. 

We are still here, waiting for our fridge/freezer repair.  The thought now is the coils for the freezer are plugged, possibly with oil but anyway they want to remove/flush/reinstall the coils the re-fill them with Freon.  Of course the guy who came by on Thursday didn’t have the ability to do this type job so we are now waiting for the next round.  The parts are ordered, to be delivered on Monday afternoon and they will come by on Tuesday to do the repair.  Sure hope it works out right this time, it’s getting old.  At least Samsung has offered to do this repair, both parts and labor, on an extension to our one year warranty. 

Susy took time off from work on Monday and Tuesday so we managed to work in some daylight time with her during weekdays, usually not able to do that when she works. 

Tuesday morning we got up and couldn't get connected to the internet using our new tablet as a hot spot.  Only had it for three days and already it’s acting up, shoot.  Anyway, I boxed it up and we took it back to Verizon for them to look it over.  Seems they had sent out a new release overnight and all it needed was to be reset, I didn’t know that.  I had tried turning it off/on a couple of time, to rest this one, I needed to remove/replace the SIM card too.  Anyway, back in service now and working great. 

The Verizon store is in a strip mall with Costco so we headed over there to get some items for a New Years Eve party at Susy’s place.  After leaving Costco, we headed over to Susy’s where Lorraine and Susy got all the snacks and such set up.  We had also brought some steaks for dinner and they cooked them in broiler along with salads and baked potatoes, a good meal for our last meal of the year. 

We hung around Susy’ place until the ball dropped in New York, 9:00 our time, then headed to our place.  Susy was having some friends over for snacks and games and they were going to see the New Year in.  After we got back, I headed to bed but Lorraine stayed up and saw the New Year in too. 

Wednesday morning we watched the Rose Bowl Parade on TV.  Lorraine commented a couple of time that we could have been there in person, but with the fridge issues we would have had to drive there, then back here anyway.  But she enjoyed the parade. 

Later we headed over to Susy’s place, we were to watch the Rose Bowl game there.  Stanford was playing Wisconsin and everyone here was rooting for Stanford, of course.  But the game didn’t turn out the way we all hoped, Wisconsin won the game.  So all it all, we were glad we didn’t go to the game, we would have had to come right back and Stanford lost too; not counting it would have been pretty expensive to purchase the tickets. 

Thursday we went by Costco to gas up the car, what a zoo that was.  Then we stopped by a Safeway grocery store and Lorraine picked up the makings for a stew.  She put the stew in the slow cooker where the smell made us hungry all afternoon. 

The fridge repair guy called and came by earlier than they thought but like I said, he couldn’t fix it.  He is sure of the repairs needed, he even had lots of parts to repair other issues but couldn’t find any other problem, guess that’s good.  We still have a freezer in the basement and the fridge portion still works so at least we didn’t lose our food like we did with the Norcold fridge died last fall.  So guess it could have been worse and we could have been in an area where there were no repairman around. 

Friday morning I headed over to the VA, I was going to start the process of getting new hearing aids.  I got my hearing checked, it’s gotten a bit worse but still have one more appointment before they will order new ones for me.  We are going to be gone until April so I need to make that appointment in late February as they can’t make appointments that far in advance for some reason. 

Last week I talked about Lorraine’s computer having issues.  Mark has tried to get it to work, it’s lots better but still not working right.  Because of the extra time here due to the fridge repair, we took it to Best Buy  after my appointment at the VA to see what they can do with it. 

They still have it, running some tests to see if they can repair it.  We think it may be the hard drive and if that is the case, maybe we will get the hard drive replaced or maybe get a new laptop, depends on the cost of the repair.  We were supposed to hear something yesterday but no word as yet. 

After we dropped it off, we looked over their new ones, mostly to see what was available and what the price range would be.  Because we had some time, we went by Fry’s Electronics store to check them out too.  They had a small laptop, new, on sale for just about what it would cost to put a new drive in Lorraine’s old one.  So we bought bought one and will not open it until we find out for sure about her old one.  We can always return the new one if the old one is able to be repaired for less than expected. 

The Elks lodge we are staying at has electric power and water at each site and a dump station available.  I can dump our gray water tank using the hose they have here for that purpose.  I usually only have to dump the gray water every other day unless Lorraine wants to do some laundry then I just leave the hose hooked up while she does laundry. 

Saturday morning I hooked up the hose and drained the gray water tank.  I wanted to watch the NFL playoff games, they are starting the Wild Card games this weekend.  So Susy came by and picked up Lorraine and they headed out for a shopping trip.  Later Mark and Katie came by and spent some time here with me until the gals got back from shopping.  They did run by Best But to see if they could find out anything in person about her computer but no luck on that front either.  Later we had BBQ for dinner and they played board and card games with Katie until it was time for them to leave. 

The weather has been just about outstanding this week.  The highs have been in the 60 – 70s with no sign of rain or even many clouds.  We haven’t had any winds either, it’s just been nice.  We did have two nights where the night time temps got right at freezing but as soon as the sun came up, it started warming up.  No complaints about the weather, for sure. 

Our travel plans have been put on hold, as I said earlier.  We had reservations at 1000 Trails in Palm Springs starting on the 2nd, of course I’ve had to change them.  We have reservations there until the 16th so it’s a day-to-day thing now as to when we get there.  Our plans for after that is to make our annual pilgrimage to Quartzsite for a week or so.  We are planning on going with a group of Tiffin owners the first few day then go over to the group we’ve been with every year we’ve gone there.  We are sure looking forward to seeing some of our friends there, in both groups. 

Guess I’ll add a few pictures now and get this posted. 

Lorraine working in Susy’s kitchen. 

  

Katie show off her Littlest pony pieces. 

  

Katie dressed up for New Years Eve.  She really loves to dress up for any occasion. 

  

At Susy’s getting ready for New Years Eve.  Some of her friends who came. 

  

Getting ready for some snacks before playing games.  We left soon afterwards, didn’t stay until midnight. 

Katie and her friend at our place. 

  

Thanks   Chuck

 

 

 

016

We’re in Santa Clara, California

 

December 29, 2013                                                                                                            Lorraine’s report

Hello again from the Elk's parking lot in Sunnyvale, CA.  What a week it has been. To be here with Susy and Kaitlyn for Christmas has been a lot of fun.  You can  bet we had an amazing time with them.  Thank you Susy for letting us come and be with you!!!

Well, the freezer has kept us here until later on this week.  That new refrigerator with the bottom freezer was 2 months past the warranty period of 12 months.  In other words, it was no longer under warranty.  Chuck called the Samsung factory and worked out some kind of deal, just with the factory to fix the broken freezer one time.  Now we are still waiting for a repair man to come and fix the thing.  I saw that Bob & Linda got the same refrigerator we did, sure hope you don't have the same kinda problems we are having.  We were not offered any other warranty than the one that came with it.  And 14 months was only two months past the warranty.  Our kinda luck!

Then being run into by an unlicensed driver with no insurance was another problem for us.  I think Chuck saw the gal not slowing down and must have braced for the collusion, but I didn't, so I hit pretty good; my head went all the way forward, then snapped back hitting my pony tail holder really hard.  I have had a really stiff neck from the whip lash.  We were on our way to my doctor's office for the results of my tests and a physical.  I had to cancel and make my appointment on Friday at 7:30 am.  Way too early for me, but we made it. 

That was a long day for us, we left at 6:45, Chuck had his appointment with his doctor, then we went by Costco, then the Verizon store.  Chuck found his phone and we ended up with a tablet to be used as a router for the rig.  We didn't get home until 4:30 to 4:45 that afternoon.  A very long day for Misty. 

But the good news is that we are still both healthy.  Knock on wood, this life style has been good for us.  Just don't know when it will change for us; or where we will end when it is time to come off the road. 

On that note I will end this blog.  We would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year.  May you all have enough!! 

Hugs ,

Lorraine

12/2913                                                                                                                                    Chuck’s report

First, we wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year!  Once again, we are working on our long range plans for the year, more on that as we firm them up next month. 

Yea, we made it through Christmas but it’s been a rough week anyway, I’ll discuss that later. 

Let’s see, last Sunday after we wrote the blog, we headed over to Susy’s place.  Lorraine made up a nice pot roast for dinner, sort of like before we went on the road, a roast for Sunday dinner.  Lorraine and Susy managed to finish up wrapping the rest of the Christmas presents and we watched the Seahawks loose their first home game this season, to Arizona.  That leaves the door open for them to possibly loose home field advantage through the playoff, sure hope not. 

Monday morning we headed over to the VA for them to check out my CPAP machine.  The gal was pleased to see I have been using it and we ordered some new masks and stuff too.  I do believe it helps and the memory in the machine shows I only wake up an average of 5 or 6 times an hour vs 35 times before the machine.  We then made run to the store for a couple of last minute items for Christmas.  We also stopped at a Safeway to pick up some groceries on the way home. 

Lorraine had a physical scheduled at her doctor’s at 4:00 so we headed there next.  But traffic was really stop/go even on the freeway we were on.  One exit before we wanted to get off we saw lots of traffic getting off the road, headed towards one of the big malls.  Just a bit further on, as traffic started moving again, we got rear ended by some gal.  We were in the 2nd lane from the right so I pulled over to the shoulder, she just stopped and waited.  Finally I walked back and stopped traffic in the right lane so she could/would move to the side of the road.

I walked back to exchange information with her and the first words out of her mouth were “no speak English”, oh great.  Both cars appeared to be drivable, her car had more visible damage than ours.  Lorraine called 911 and of course the cops were busy but would get to us when they could.  I continued trying to get some info from the driver of the other car and finally got a California ID card, no driver’s license however. 

Finally a highway service attendant came by and told us the Highway Patrol were in route and should be there in 5 minutes or so.   By now it was apparent that we couldn’t get to Lorraine’s doctor in time for her appointment but she was able to convince them she really needed to get this done as we were leaving on Monday.  They made an appointment for her on Friday at 7:30, way early for us but at least she could get in.

Finally the patrolman got there and got info from both of us.  The gal who hit us had no driver’s license, no insurance and who knows if she was even legal.  After he got all the info he needed, he informed us that she was getting cited for causing the accident, no license and no insurance.  He also said we could drive away.  I asked him if he was letting her drive away even though she didn’t have an license and he sort of shrugged his shoulder and said “YES”.  I was surprised but didn’t go any further with that as we wanted to get out of there.   Anyway, we have some heavy scratches and dings on the back of our car and Lorraine has a sore neck but otherwise we were ok. 

Next morning, Lorraine was still a bit sore but not enough to see the walk in doctor.  She had been icing it a bit and took some aspirin for the pain.  Susy had the day off from work so we picked up Susy and Katie and went to see the movie Walking with Dinosaurs.  I can’t believe it, three times to the movie house for me this year, WOW.    Not a bad movie and the computer animation was good too. 

We have sort of set a tradition that on Christmas Eve we go out to dinner at Outback and continued doing it again this year.  Not sure what/where or when I lost it but when I went to pay for dinner, I couldn’t find my credit card.  The last place I used it was at the movie house earlier that day but they didn’t have it nor had anyone turned one in.  I, of course, called the credit card company to cancel it before anyone could use it and set up to have a new one delivered to us on Friday evening at our coach.  We did have a good dinner though even though they didn’t bring me the one I had ordered. 

Next morning we headed over to Susy place for Christmas day.  Of course, Katie was very anxious for us to get there so she (we) could start opening presents.  Mark had stopped by McDonalds for breakfast for everyone and after eating we got started opening presents.  After unwrapping the presents, we all started opening the packages.  Boy do they have lots of hard to open packages, especially some of the kids ones.  Lots of plastic and tie wraps, must keep lots of Chinese people in jobs putting it all together. 

Later Lorraine and Susy cooked a ham dinner for us, yum.  After dinner they played a new to me board game, Millionaire Monopoly.  Almost the same rules as regular Monopoly but all the prices are inflated.  By the time the game was over, it was time for us to head home.  We certainly had a very nice day. 

Thursday Lorraine wanted to do some laundry; wash up some of the things we got for Christmas.  She got a migraine headache however and had to lay down for awhile until the medicine took effect.  Later Katie came by and she and Lorraine played for the afternoon.  We went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, another good one.  No wonder I’m not loosing any weight!

Friday morning we got going early and got to Lorraine’s doctor for her physical.  Other than a couple of times when he was unable to answer some questions for us, she had all good reports.  Her blood tests, blood pressure and such were all in the good range.  So good news on that front. 

We returned back to our place for an hour before we had to head to the VA for me to see my doctor for my physical.  I also had a good report from her, blood work and blood pressure were all good too.  Both of our doctors said this lifestyle must be a good one for us and we agreed. 

We stopped by Costco on the way back and I went by to look at their smart phones.  I had almost decided that I was going to get a HTC One phone but found Costco had just pulled them from their stores.  She said there was an issue with the phone and they didn’t want to sell it anymore.  That pretty much changed my opinion and decision of buying that type. 

But there happened to be a Verizon store in the same mall so we went there next, I wanted to see what they had to say about the HTC One.  They didn’t have an issue with this phone and I checked out a couple of others while we were there.  Long story but we left there with me getting a new phone, a Moto X and we also got a new tablet to replace the Mi-Fi we had been using.  The reason we went with the tablet was two fold, it was free and only $10/month vs $20/month for the Mi-Fi.  With the Verizon plan we have, it was $10/month extra to go with a smart phone but that was offset with the reduction in monthly fee for the tablet.  And if we ever want,we could use the tablet for more than just a hot spot, bonus. 

When we got back to our place, Lorraine found her computer was not working.  She and Susy were going to see a movie so I tried to work on it.  I’m not a computer expert by any means but finally managed to get it to turn on but it had to reset itself.  It took about 4 hours before it finally came back to life and it was reset back to almost the same as when it came out of the store, meaning it lost all the favorites and all the computer games Lorraine had on it.  But at least it was working. 

Lorraine and Susy came back from the movie, they had seen the Hobbit Smaug.  They both said it was a good movie, glad I didn’t go as I don’t much care for science fiction type movies.  When they got back, I managed to get another couple of programs working on her computer, enough so that she had email and facebook anyway. 

Yesterday Lorraine finished up on laundry at our place and we got the new, freshly washed sheets on our bed too.  Later we went over to Susy’s place for the afternoon.  Shortly after, Lorraine, Susy and Katie went out to get pedicures while I stayed back and played with my new smart phone. 

This morning we got up and sort of just took life easy, I worked on her computer once again but didn’t have a lot of luck.  But we loaded up the computer and headed over to Susy’s place where Mark was today.  He had been thinking about going to the Rose Bowl parade and game with the Stanford band but decided not to go as he wasn’t feeling too well and didn’t want to get sick.  He has taught computers for years and managed to get lots more of Lorraine’s computer back and loaded some of the programs that had disappeared, yea.  Thanks a bunch Mark, sure appreciate your help. 

So we set there watching the San Francisco game and worked on the computer.  I started writing this blog then too and will be finishing it up soon as the game is now over. 

The weather has been nice for the past week, no rain even though they sure could use some here.  It is the driest year on record I heard, less than 8” this year.  The temperatures have been really nice too, high 60s and low 70s with a bit of cooling spell coming but still no rain in sight.  The lows have been in the lower 40s and a couple of times even to the mid 30s, getting there. 

As far as our travel plans go, they are up in the air.  Our freezer has not been cooling and the repair guy said it  probably needed to have the Freon system recharged and possibly fix a hole somewhere in the coils, to the tune of over $600, bummer.  I called Samsung to see what they could do to help us out, knowing it was 14 month old and we only had a one year warranty.   They originally offered us the opportunity to purchase a warranty but retracted that offer when the realized it was in a motorhome, go figure.  But they did give us a good will, one time repair to fix the problem we have been having, labor and parts, yea.  They also have their own repair shop to work on it so I’ve been working with them on the phone. 

The repair shop has ordered parts based on our conversation but they will not be here until Tuesday and with New Years being a holiday, they can’t work on it until Thursday.  So assuming they manage to find and fix the problem on Thursday, we will probably leave here next Friday.  We were planning on leaving tomorrow so that’s five days later than planned.  But we will get going as soon as we get our fridge fixed. 

So this week we had a car accident, Lorraine’s computer crashed, (mine also lost a couple of programs but not as bad as Lorraine’s) and we are still having fridge problems.  On the plus side, we’ve managed to spend Christmas with our daughter and grand daughter once again plus spend some good time with them too.  The car can be fixed, the fridge is being repaired this week and with Mark’s help, the computer problems are getting resolved too.  So all in all, a good week, I’d say.  Too bad our son was unable to be with us this Christmas though. 

Christmas morning at Susy’s place.  That’s Lorraine, Susy and Katie on the right. 

  

 

Opening the stockings.  A bouquet of flowers from our son is displayed. 

  

Opening presents. 

  

Almost need to stop and pick up even though we attempted to put stuff away as we opened. 

 

Susy on the left, Mark on the right. 

  

Lorraine modeling her new coat. 

  

We waited so Katie could put the state stickers on our coach.  Only one left is North Dakota (and Hawaii where we will not be driving).

  

Some sunset pictures from our place. 

  

  

The gals had a pedicure yesterday. 

  

Katie and her friend Celeste playing in her bedroom. 

And that was our week, sure hope you had a Merry Christmas and a good week. 

 

Thanks   Chuck

 

 

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We’re in Santa Clara, California

 

December 22, 2013                                                                                                                Lorraine’s report

Chuck & I would like to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas…May Christ fill you with His love..

I would like to wish Dorothy W a very Happy Birthday on the 23rd of December..She is going to be 75!!  Dorothy, you are such a nice person, so thoughtful and kind!!!  We are so glad we got to meet such a great person…Happy Birthday…Hugs,  C & L

12/22/13                                                                                                                                     Chuck’s report

We are here until sometime after Christmas, having fun being with Susy and Katie.  We’ve been able to pick up Katie after school and Susy comes over after work everyday too. 

First, we wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  We are lucky enough to be with our daughter and grand daughter, too bad our son can’t be with us however.  I hope you are able to enjoy the time with whomever you are with and enjoy the season.  But remember the reason for the season, as my sister says, it is CHRISTmas and for sure not Xmas. 

Last Sunday we went to a local casino with Joe and Alice to watch the Seahawks football game.  They had two big screens there, one was showing the San Francisco and the other was showing the Seahawks.  I think the Seahawk crowd was over 50 folks and there were only 6 watching the 49ers.  Not sure what that means but I was surprised because we are much closer to San Francisco than Seattle.  But anyway, we were able to see another good, winning effort by the Seahawks over the Giants. 

We headed home, had to walk Misty, then later we decided to have In N Out burgers four our dinner.  We called Joe and Alice but found they had already stopped there for their dinner earlier, missed seeing them by that much again. 

We left Palm Springs on Monday morning and got to Bakersfield Orange Grove RV park with no issues.  Lorraine made a good chicken noodle soup for dinner, really good stuff on a travel day.  Next morning I picked a few oranges, I was able to fill a grocery bag from just one spot, some of the trees are still pretty loaded with oranges. 

We left Bakersfield on Tuesday and continued our trip to here in the Bay area.  We got set up then drove over to pick Katie up from school.  Later Susy came by and brought BBQ from place North of here, good stuff.

Wednesday Lorraine went to the lab for some needed blood work before her physical next week.  Because it was a fasting blood test, we found a place to eat soon after.  After a couple of shopping stops we went by to pick up Katie from school again. 

Thursday it was my turn for a fasting blood draw before my physical next week.  Then I had an appointment to get a steroid injection in my shoulder and hip.  I wasn’t looking forward to that too much but sure hoped it would help me move a bit easier after the injections.  I had a good visit with the doctor, he talked about all kinds of things for over an hour.  Finally I went out to tell Lorraine everything was ok, just visiting with the doc, ha.  Anyway, he recommended that I not get an injection in my shoulder, I’ve had 6 or 7 already and he doesn’t like to give that many, says it could cause some problems.  But he did shoot me in my hip and it seems to be helping although I probably won’t see full benefit for another two days or so. 

Before we left for the VA, Lorraine had put pork steak in the slow cooker for our dinner that evening, yum.  There sure wasn’t too much left over. 

Friday Lorraine wanted to pick up a couple items from the mall.  I agreed to go along and walked the mall while she was shopping then met her and we continued walking the rest of the mall.  I was pleasantly surprised to see it wasn’t a mad house with too many people but it was full.  At least this time we found a parking spot without having to park in the bank’s lot like last time. 

Once again, Lorraine put the slow cooker to use, this time she made a good beef stew for our dinner.  I like her slow cooker or at least the food she takes out of it!!

Yesterday Susy and Lorraine headed out to do some last minute Christmas shopping.  Katie stayed with me and we played a few games and some make believe with her Little Pony stuff.  We also made a quick trip to the park where she played on the swings and such for awhile too. 

Lorraine has noticed for the last 4 or 5 days that the ice maker wasn’t producing as much ice as normal, always something.  I read up on it and found a test button on it.  When I pushed the test button, the ice maker would dump a load of ice cubes then return to normal position and refill with water.  So it seemed that everything mechanical worked fine except it didn’t dump after the water froze.  The information I found suggested maybe a low temperature in the freezer was the cause but everything seemed to be still frozen and the indication showed it was at –2F.

Friday evening Susy and Katie wanted ice cream after dinner and when I took out the ice cream carton, we found the ice cream was almost the consistency of a shake, not frozen.  I put a thermometer in the fridge and freezer and found the freezer temperature was just 31F, barely freezing.  But the display still showed the temperature was at –2F like normal.  Once again, back to the internet for more research on issues.  I was unable to find anything to help me so I called Samsung’s help line.  They were able to help me ---NOT, only they would set me up for a repair man to call on Monday and maybe come out to see us after Christmas. 

I called around to a couple of local appliance repair places, finally found one that was able to come out and check it on Saturday.  Just before Lorraine and Susy headed out, here comes the repair guy.  I was almost able to understand him, he was Russian I think.  He checked out a few things then said the coils inside the back wall were frozen and I needed to unload the fridge and freezer and leave the doors opened to allow warmer air into the fridge to melt the ice in the coils.  He showed me where we had a small patch of ice built up on the back wall of the freezer, that was the first indication for him of the problem. 

I was a bit unsure about his “repair” but agreed to give it a try.  Actually, I emptied the freezer and put all the stuff in our unused freezer in the basement, good thing we haven’t sold it yet.  Then I put Lorraine’s hair dryer in the freezer compartment while Katie and I were at the playground.   I never did unload the fridge portion, just left the doors closed while it was unplugged and the freezer compartment opened. 

After I figured the ice had melted from the coils inside the wall, I put a thermometer in the fridge and freezer to keep track of the temperature and the freezer didn’t cool to less than 80F.  Shoot, now what.  I unplugged the fridge, opened the freezer compartment for awhile to let it cool to room temperature then tried it again.  Finally I saw the temperature in the freezer start dropping, slowly, a degree at a time.  When we went to bed last night, the fridge was at 36F but the freezer still was at 45F but dropping. 

When I got up this morning, first thing I did was check the temperature in the freezer, it was at 0F and the indication showed the normal –2F again.  Maybe there was something to what the repair guy said after all.  He did say that Samsung has an issue with the drain lines from the coil area plugging off and not allowing any water to drain when it self defrosts causing the exact issue we were experiencing. 

I just had to bring in some stuff from the basement freezer for Lorraine so I went ahead and brought up all the freezer stuff and loaded the freezer.  Now I’ll keep an good eye on it for the next few days, hope everything is good now.  If so, lesson learned, defrost the freezer before calling in a repairman.  If that is the “repair”, I’m glad it wasn’t more of an issue.  And now to wait for the next thing to get my attention, its always something. 

The temperature has been pretty nice here for our stay this time.  We’ve been getting into the 60s, almost 70 yesterday and maybe a couple of degrees warmer today they say.  And no rain in sight for the next 10 days, even though they could sure use some rain around here.  We do get a heavy dew every night and it gets cool enough that Lorraine likes to have the space heater going towards her feet along with the heat pumps keeping the temperature up in the rest of the coach.  But with the sun shining on our dark colored rig during the day, we have the air conditioners running during the afternoon.  Perfect, need something to take the cool off at night and need the air conditioners during the day.  Sorry about that to anyone who reads this and is in the hold of old man winter, its bad some places.  I heard there have already been 8 winter storms across the nation already this winter, global warming my a$$.

We will stay here until after Christmas then head back to Palm Springs for two weeks.  We are still working on our traveling plans from there but are really leaning towards going to Yuma once again this winter.  At the very least, we will probably go to Yuma for a couple of weeks before moving on to wherever we land for the rest of the winter.  Tough life, huh?

Now to add a few pictures. 

 

On the road from Palm Springs.  That’s a Joshua Tree on the right. 

  

  

  

Lots of open spaces in the West. 

 

 

Orange trees at the Orange Grove RV park in Bakersfield. 

 

We can always tell when we are near the stockyards in Coalinga, Ca. 

 

Sunset from our site here at the Elks Lodge. 

  

  

Our Grand Daughter, Katie.  She sure is glad to see Nana!!

  

 

Thanks   Chuck

 

 

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