OMG, the 2022 Manning RV Road Trip is complete!
On Wednesday, October 6th, we drove the final couple hundred miles from Barstow/Calico KOA to Mesquite, Nevada.,completing our 2,000-mile journey. There was virtually no traffic on I-15, which is rare.
We were due a break, as our sewer hook-up at Space 28 (Barstow) was evidently clogged up and I had to pull our connection and let all of the black and gray poopy water disperse onto the ground before we hastily left. It was a shitty mess, to be frank, but not my business at that point.
We got into Mesquite at around 2 p.m. and were greeted by my best buddy Lloyd, who helped me unload the rig. That was especially helpful, as Charlie couldn’t do much on her broken left foot. The house was in good shape, as it had been cleaned on Tuesday.
The dogs ran around excitedly, enjoying all 2,500’ square foot of the interior and the spacious backyard. Hound dog heaven it was.
Shortly after our arrival, Charlie took it upon herself to check her weight on the scale in our bathroom. Kaboom… she’d gained around 22 pounds on the 3-month trip. Oooooooh, was she upset! So, I got on the scale… and I’d gained 23 pounds! WTF, I was amazed and upset. Dammit, back on the Nutrisystem diet for us. We were in the dumps.
On Thursday, as we were settling in, Charlie turned on her office and quickly found that her business computer wasn’t working. I took a look, called our tech guru out in California, described the screen message, and he said, “Your hard drive crashed”. We talked over our options a bit and came to the conclusion tat the 5-year-old Dell desktop tower needed to be replaced.
Damn, there goes $1,000… at least.
On Friday, Charlie and I drove up to St. George, Utah to get the verdict on her bum left foot from Dr. O’Brien, the orthopedist surgeon/podiatrist. He very carefully examined her and the CT scan that we had made in Southern California, and ordered up a weight-bearing X-ray. Once that his tech had completed that, he decided that the 3-month-old break of the proximal end of the 2nd metatarsal bone had begun to heal and that surgery probably wasn’t necessary at this time. He put Charlie in a post-op boot and scheduled a follow-up in two months, trusting that Mother Nature will work some magic.
GREAT NEWS for my long-suffering wife!!!!!
BTW, the nursing tech in the doctor’s office weighed Charlie as they always do on their digital scale. Instead of a 22-pound weight gain, she was only 3 pounds more than when we started the RV vacation. I quickly hopped on the scale and, to my delight, was about 4 pounds to the bad… in street clothes and shoes. So, we left the doc’s office in a VERY GOOD MOOD.
We then headed over to Best Buy for the bad news… the cost of the replacement computer. It turned out that they didn’t have any desktop computer towers available (the guy said, “No one buys them anymore”), so we ended up purchasing a beefed-up laptop with all the bells and whistles for $1,500.
Luckily, Charlie had a stash of money set-aside for eventual replacement of RV tires which we won’t need for awhile, as our Paradise By The Sea neighbor/friend Reid Parker (ex-long-haul trucker) examined our tires in Oceanside and said that they were good for several more years.
Now we have two new laptops (remember that my old laptop, back in August, decided that it no longer wanted to support two monitors) to load up with software and stored data files. Another chore for the October to-do list!
We also got some good news from our son Jeff and wife Carol, who had actually taken my advice for once. They are trying to go full-time RV in an old Damon Daybreak motorhome and want to tow a Jeep while doing so. They asked about one of those “brake assist” thingys that supposedly helps the RV slow down without burning up its brake pads. I used to have one, it sucked, and my Monaco diesel pusher monstrosity didn’t need the help, so I tossed mine. However, in Jeff and Carol’s case, with the old, lightweight Daybreak RV, discretion would be advised, as who knows what that rig’s brake pads can handle. They decided to purchase the brake assist technology for $1,500.
I will sleep better by knowing that they are just a bit safer when they head off into their great adventure in November. They are going to reconnoiter potential “wintering” locations in Arizona first, and then head up into Nevada, visit us for a while, and check out some possibilities there. They are super-excited about their new life out in…
Our property in Mesquite seems to have weathered the monsoon season in pretty good shape. A few plants croaked, but the rest of them seemed to enjoy the wonderful extra dose of moisture. I can hardly wait until I have some free time to do some landscaping work in my yard… I love that.
I have a consultation this week with my orthopedic surgeon regarding my bum right shoulder. I think surgery will be necessary, probably just after New Year’s Day. I’m putting it off until then so I can golf with my buddy Dan Quinn when we visit Yuma, Arizona at Christmastime. Luckily, the left shoulder does most of the work for a right-handed golfer. I haven’t played golf since April, I think, so I’ll have to hit the range a few times before Christmas.
Other than Charlie’s broken foot, our 2022 Road Trip was one of the nicest ever. The RV had zero issues once we replaced the Norcold cooling unit in Coos Bay, Charlie read a lot and did very little bookkeeping stuff (thanks to business partner/son Jonathan in Kentucky), and new dog Vinnie adjusted well to RV life.
It’s good to be back in the desert.
