Gold Country, Lake Tahoe, a custom shade, and cutting the final AT&T string

I couldn't believe it when I opened my cellular bill - another rate bump. Calling them rewarded me with a long wait and then with the usual run-around "we changed the plan structure and the plan you had now no longer exists so we put you in this new more expensive plan, tough cookies if you don't like it, blah blah blah". Ah, AT&T's well-earned reputation rears its ugly head yet again, no surprises there. Lance had been bugging me for some time to switch to Google Fi so we'd be global internet access-ready but I'd been resisting because AT&T's coverage in the US is fairly reliable, because I'm somewhat reluctant to accept change, and most of all because I had concerns that Google's coverage wouldn't be as good. Well, there's nothing like a little righteous anger to force me into change, so a few keystrokes later my Google Fi Pixel phone was winging its way to me. 

For about three weeks I had AT&T coverage on the iPad and coverage from Google Fi on the new phone and so I did daily speed comparisons while we moved around the Delta Loop and Gold Country of California, and was shocked to find that in EVERY single comparison the Google Fi internet was faster. So I let the iPad subscription expire too - goodbye and good riddance AT&T, you've darkened my door for the very last time. Best of all I'm spending almost $50/month less for superior speeds, even including the financed cost (at 0% interest) of the new phone. The phone they provided is a world-wide internet ready Pixel 3, and a happy surprise was the quality of the phone's camera.

Chloe at Nevada Beach (South Lake Tahoe), shot with Pixel phone on "portrait" setting.
This is a  fairly technical shot because she is in the shade on a very bright beach, and fading out the sunbathers in the background requires an aperture adjustment; I'm impressed this phone camera pulled it off so nicely.

We put the Subaru on Craigslist and within a couple of days it sold to a young lady from the foothills near Lincoln, another adventure girl who was looking for a car with AWD for skiing, a rack for her surfboard, and back seats that lay all the way flat so she can camp in the car on the coast. Perfect. I expect they will have many years of adventures together. We used some of the cash to make additional improvements to Mr. Toad, pickled the bikes and the trailer and headed off to Lake Tahoe, the next stop in our clockwise lap of America.

Kayakers on Lake Tahoe, it's 80 degrees today but was snowing just last weekend.
The skiing at Lake Tahoe is top-notch, both on the mountain and on the lake.

We're settling back into our roaming groove. 
Lance found some time to relax and catch up on some reading,
as usual Chloe is within arm's reach.

Our last sunset in the Gold Country, shot from Loretta's settee window at the Elks Lodge in Jackson, CA.
This lodge is a happenin' place, with food/drink events nearly every night we were there.
The Jackson Elks made us feel like part of the family and so we jumped right into the activities.

RhumbLine readers may recall about a year ago we were eyeballing some cool window shades covering a neighboring Class A in Massachusetts, back when we were in a center-of-the-park fishbowl site. The summer sun beating onto my desk last week reminded me it was time to finally finish that project, so we broke out the sewing machine and measurements and finished it up. The original quote to buy a finished one was $350 show special (usually $550), we bought the materials for about $90 and built it in a few hours. If this is a project you're interested in, it's an easy win if you have a sewing machine handy; we bought the rare earth magnets from Amazon and the shade material, edge binding, and UV resistant thread from SailRite. SailRite has a cool tutorial to make them for catamarans with twist connections. We didn't want to drill holes in the RV so the deviation I made was to sew pockets under the shade for magnets, and stick corresponding magnets to the inside of the window of the RV. The difference this shade has made in terms of heat and privacy is monumental, this has been our favorite RV improvement so far.

The first draft fit well but was difficult to deploy wrinkle-free without a ladder

Adding loops over each magnet pocket means we can install the shade flat-footed with a stick,
and poke at the corners until the shade is wrinkle-free

The view from the inside out, showing the magnets on the interior of the window, the magnet pockets sewn into the shade, and the difference in glare coming in through the shaded and unshaded windows

From here we are heading West and North through Shasta to the Oregon Coast and up to Vancouver BC. It will definitely be a different journey with both of us riding together, I expect we'll be able to cover a lot more ground by sharing the driving responsibilities on those days when we really, really want to be somewhere way over there. For now we're planning the jumps at 200-300 miles apart like usual but I expect big jumps are coming. (Texas we're looking at you!)

Livin' in a bus... down by the river...

Our home base near the Kaiser Vacaville for all this foot drama has been on the Delta Loop across from Rio Vista on the Sacramento River. The closest little levee town is Isleton.

Pete's Steakhouse in Isleton has been around since the late 1800s.

The region was largely settled by Chinese migrants in the 1920s, and the beautiful stained glass artwork at Pete's Steakhouse tells the story

More stained glass at Pete's Steakhouse telling the story of the fish and crawdad history of the Delta Loop

Less than a generation ago this little town was known for biker bars and crawdad festivals. Nowadays it's mostly vineyards, almond orchards, wedding venues, grazing cattle, cute little restaurants and bars, and here and there some apparently abandoned half-baked development projects. It's an easy commute from here to some good-paying jobs in the East Bay (like Antioch and Walnut Creek) and the prices are surprisingly low by California standards for waterfront property; we considered ourselves lucky to be here in this little overlooked spot of California close to everything and yet tucked away and forgotten, and we tolerated the wind which can be quite extreme (no surprises there - the windmills just west of the river are plentiful and nearly always spinning).

Lance fishing on the Sacramento River at Rio Vista

There's some world class fishing less than 20 feet from our rig and the chatter around the park is mostly fishing-related. Lance has had some pretty good luck when he goes out, fortunately fishing from a lawn chair with cast foot elevated fit right in with doctor's orders.

The view from our campsite at the windmills of Rio Vista across the Sacramento River on the Delta Loop

Tony's is a biker bar on the levee in Walnut Grove and serves the BEST steak sandwiches on rolls of garlic bread.
But they only accept cash so plan accordingly.

Foster's Longhorn restaurant in Rio Vista is adorned with a world-wide collection of dead things on the wall.
I ordered the salad because I couldn't stand the idea of them watching me eating meat.

We finally got the green light to roam again. While discussing our next steps, we were both surprised to admit how much we have enjoyed riding in the bus together on these short-leash adventures. After much consideration we decided to put the Subaru up for sale and tow the Mini when the motorcycle trailer is not with us. We're planning a clockwise route for this next loop, up through Oregon and Washington to Vancouver and Victoria, then East to Glacier, Yellowstone, the Tetons, and then continuing East to the Great Lakes, destination Florida Keys by December. That's the rough sketch for now anyways.

The Ghost in the Laundry Machine

The Northbound 405 at 10am on a Monday, we're averaging 20 mph and so it's a good day leaving L.A. 

"The ghost's name is Charlotte" the bartender told me while sliding my drink across the bartop on Sunday afternoon. Her face was totally deadpan. "I have felt her presence before but this time I saw her in the corner, over there behind the pool table."

I sipped my rum & diet coke and considered her statement. She believed it to be true.

Moments before I had placed our three loads of laundry in at the laundromat next door; one coldwater wash, two warm water washes, three identical machines.  I put the quarters in at roughly the same time, the digital timer on the coldwater load read 29 minutes to go, the other two 32 each.

29  32  32

I sipped my rum & diet and glanced at the timer on my phone, set to countdown with the first load @ 29 minutes. When it read less than a minute to go, I left my drink with Lance and went to check on them. Now the loads read:

14  14  1

My first thought was... someone here is messing with me. I looked around the room; there was a lady in the corner playing some game on her phone, a scrawny young nearly-naked man sucking on a beer in some truly ratty shorts (someone waited until ALL the good stuff was dirty before going to the laundromat), and a young mother wrangling her two littles with non-stop commentary in both Spanish and English. Nobody looking shady in the corner. Hmmm. Charlotte? Now that the third load was finished spinning I loaded it onto the dryer and reset my phone timer. The remaining two washers were reading identical timers.

12 12

I wandered back to the bar next door, to Lance and a new rum & diet. The bartender was telling folks how things had been moved around behind the counter, and how her boyfriend missed an important shot at the pool table once, all attributed to the ghost Charlotte.

When my phone timer went off, I went next door. The washers now read

2  6

Totally bizarre. Charlotte has a sense of humor. Or she hates  the idea of me finishing my laundry. Or she likes to see me wearing a path between the laundromat and the bar. Or she is getting a kick out of sending me back to the bar because every time I settle back into my barstool the bartender slides a brand new tall rum & diet at me. All this laundry is making me drunk.

One thing's definitely for sure.  From here on out I am picking laundromats with bars next door. This was the absolute best time I've had doing laundry ever.

Short-Leash Outing to Monterey

The day's fresh offerings at Phil's Fish Market

For our next short-leash outing we selected Monterey, California and we stayed with the Elks. The Lodge clings to the mountain between Monterey and Carmel, and my daily walks with Chloe included some breathtaking views of the beach. Of course each time the view revealed itself through the fog I was without my camera or phone so there are no pictures; but the image is seared into my soul all the same.

A long-time family favorite here was Phil's Fish market, and we mistakenly arrived on a Saturday. Ever since Phil beat Bobby Flay in the cioppino throwdown my family's favorite restaurant secret is out, and now the space we used to share with a few bikers and locals is overrun by tourists from far and wide, on a weekend the lines can be over an hour long. Next time we'll plan better to arrive on a Monday and enjoy the live music and a more local crowd.

As seen on my daily walks with Chloe

Try NOT taking a seagull picture in Monterey. They're quite insistent.

The Old Fisherman's Grotto, another family favorite on the Monterey Wharf

A nod to the sardine history of Cannery Row

The Monterey Customhouse is the oldest government building in California and was the first designated historical landmark in California

Gramma and Lance making clam chowder

Of course the best part about this trip was getting to spend lots of time with Gramma. That might be my favorite part of this mobile lifestyle, there's time to spend where you want to spend it, and at 93 Gramma still whoops us all at dice games.

The Salt and Fog Fish Festival - Eureka CA

Our first Short Leash Outing was to Eureka, California in Humboldt County. Land of fog, Roosevelt elk and very, very large trees. I love this part of the world.

This redwood tree was cut in the late 1800's. The lateral scar you see towards the top would have been carved into it first so two men could balance on a board on each side, then they pulled a really long saw through it back and forth to each other. A tree this size would have taken about a week to cut through.

The Samoa Cookhouse

No trip to the region is complete without a visit to the last remaining historical cookhouse in the west - the Samoa Cookhouse - where the loggers of days gone by used to take their daily meals. The cooks decide what to prepare each day, and you sit at a long bench and they keep bringing food until you beg for mercy. The meals always start off with biscuits and gravy and this weekend's selection was french toast and sausage. The old lumber mill is long gone but the Samoa Cookhouse remains as do quite a few of the loggers' descendants who settled in the area. Many have clung to their traditional garb and it's not unusual to see extended families in matching lavalava (Samoan skirts) relaxing or playing games together in Eureka's parks on Sundays after church.

This picture hangs on the wall at the Samoa Cookhouse and is a good indicator of the massive width of the logs cut down at the time. Huge... yeah, that doesn't even begin to describe these trees.

Beautiful farmlands just inland from the beach along the Elk River.
The fog is trying to creep in from the ocean just a few miles away.

Wood burl laying along the beach on Samoa Island. It's surely been rolled around in the surf, probably down the river before that, hundreds of years old.

Chloe running wild on Samoa Island

It's generally pretty cold here, this weekend it was about 60 degrees and that's generally what it's like all year around. In the summertime it's a welcome escape from the valley heat. Not many restaurants have outside dining because of the cold, though, and we struggled to find things to do with the dog. She did enjoy running on the beach at Samoa Island, all of which is dog-off-leash and also OHV friendly. We even saw one dude in a large pickup driving around on the sand with his dog running along beside. At first we thought the dog was being punished but before long we realized this was their regular exercise routine. After a few laps he was welcomed back into the pickup and hung his happy and tired head out the passenger window, tongue flapping in the breeze.

Azaleas in bloom at the Eureka Elks lodge, Loretta in the background on the cliff's edge

Yes you read that right. Cutten School.
*cue the puns

The local pizza specialty is Hawaiian with cashews.
Seriously good. Cashews... this might be a new permanent thing for me.

In years gone by we came to this area for the scuba diving and to freedive for abalone. This time we came here for the party; the Salt and Fog Fish Festival of course. The citizens of Eureka arrived too, decked out in their signature wild-hair, puffy coat and hemp-wearing finery to celebrate this moment of sunshine and to welcome Spring with us.

Eureka local enjoying the sunshine at the Salt and Fog Fish Festival

Typical architecture in Eureka, love these old Victorians

Mr. Toad's inaugural trip was successful; he followed along behind Loretta perfectly, although he's a bit heavier than the motorcycle trailer. The Blue Ox system is easy to work with and we are getting quicker with the connect/disconnect process.

It was Mr. Toad's first adventure and he did great

Our next Short Leash Outing will be Monterey, another California favorite.

Two years of Loretta

It's been two years since we bought Loretta, our 1996 Tiffin Allegro Bus. She's a 34 ft diesel pusher on an Oshkosh chassis with a Cummins 5.9 liter turbo diesel and an Allison 6 speed transmission. When we bought her we bought new tires (Michelin XRVs), installed a tire pressure monitoring system, new shocks (Konis), did a front-end alignment with new kingpins and bushings, engine oil change, had the leveling jacks rebuilt with a new control board and a return spring, new fusible link on the water heater, replaced the starting battery, replaced all the lift struts on the basement compartments, and replaced the water pump. On our second day of full-timing we broke a piece of the throttle linkage. What followed was a year of absolutely no problems aside from a broken connector on the leveling jacks and some bad connections on the generator. Since October of last year we have:

S= shop LS= Lance and Shawna 

• replaced exhaust manifold S
• replaced cylinder head (cracked by Albuquerque Cummins shop while repairing the exhaust manifold) S
• replaced cool air plumbing on turbo S
• replaced oil pan (damaged before we owned Loretta) S
• replaced brake light switch LS
• replaced plugged fuel filter S
• replaced house batteries LS
• oil change and transmission service S
• replaced roof vent LS
• re-caulked roof LS
• repaired damage to bus and trailer from jackknife S
• replaced rear ladder 2X S LS
• had passenger side windshield rebedded S
• replaced batteries on tire pressure monitoring system LS
• replaced antenna on Wifi booster 2X LS
• replaced shut-off valve on water tank intake LS
• replaced numerous interior light bulbs (with LED where possible) LS
• repaired ice maker LS
• replaced air conditioner covers LS
• replaced aft heater LS 
• repaired day/night shades (blinds) LS
• replaced tires and rims on motorcycle trailer LS
• replaced galley and bathroom faucets LS

If you are thinking about full-timing in a bus this is an idea of what to expect. Not to mention carpet and upholstery cleaning, washing, waxing care and maintenance of your towed vehicle, and other incidentals. We're lucky to be able to do much of the work ourselves. Keep in mind no matter how handy you are, there aren't many RV parks that are happy with you working on your rig onsite. It's even hard to find one that will let you wash your rig much less change your oil. We keep about 10k in our repair kitty for contingencies and we've probably spent twice that on repairs. That being said I won't be trading what I have for a house any time soon. This is a unique and rewarding lifestyle that gives me perspective on how people around the country live. When I see news from around the country I can relate, having been to some of the places they are talking about. As always, I'm enjoying where I am and looking forward to the next stop.

Shaka Mahalo

A Toad is Born

It seemed so simple - get a car and make into a toad.

We decided on a Mini Cooper, they're all over the internet, and are flat-towable.

We picked the best one we could find on Craigslist, looked it over carefully, and a fistful of cash later we brought it back to the RV park. The tires were brand new (a big selling point) and other than a few minor cosmetic scuffs we were good to go. It had just passed smog, we had a copy of the certificate.

First, check and change all the fluids. Come to find out the oil plug was stripped. Repair that.

Second, register the car to us. They won't accept the smog pass from last month, we must get a new smog certificate. Ugh California whatareyagonnado. Done.

Third, the car only came with one key and the fob wasn't working.  Come to find out it's not a simple replace-the-fob-battery thing, it requires a whole new key to be ordered from the factory. Oh well, probably a good idea to have a second one on hand anyways, especially since a key needs to remain in the ignition while being flat-towed. Ordered that.

Fourth, the tow package needs to be installed.  After much discussion, research and shopping we settled on a Blue Ox tow system. Ordered that.

We arrived at Dad's house to install the tow package.  He had all the tools laid out like a pit stop.  We pulled in and thought to ourselves "perfect - this will go super quickly and then we can hang out with family". Lance and Dad and had the front fascia off the car in minutes... only to discover that the support holding the radiator in place was broken. At some point the car must have hit a curb or perhaps a small speed bump and broke this important part. This is a common problem with these little cars because they're so low to the ground - it's a miracle the radiator hadn't fallen right out and taken the air conditioning unit with it. Why BMW chose to make this critical part out of plastic mystifies us. Especially since it's so exposed.

While we were standing around cursing our misfortune I kicked the tire and then discover a giant wart on the outside of the front driver's side tire. (Whaaaat!!!!???), further inspection revealed a gash in the back passenger's side tire too, only visible when viewed from an inch away but easily peeled back to a scary depth.

I quit. Time for a beer. 
This was clearly beyond us. Enter the family mechanic.

The findings on the tires were what we expected - new but still faulty, best to replace all 4 (my first experience with Continental Tires is not going well). Repairing the radiator support bracket meant removing/replacing the toxic radiator and air conditioning fluids - a tedious hazmat job - and since he was there we asked him to just finish up by attaching the d^#& tow bracket so we could just move on with our original plan. I once heard a sailor say "success! I got the project before the project done so now I can finally get to the project." yep, that's about right.

Well, freedom isn't free, nothing worth having comes easy and all that. So here we are.

Loretta's got some haphazard brake lights/tail lights which are also being addressed, then we'll be good to hit the road again.

Eureka is having a Salt & Fog Fish Fest on the 24th and it's a manageable goal so we aim to be rolling there in 3 weeks. Surgery #13 will be behind us by then, the toad will be attached and all lights will be functional, one family of 5 back on the road with one driver.

Which reminds me... the new toad has a name.
Taken from my favorite childhood book A Wind in the Willows, a wild and impetuous character who loves to drive fast and live carefree.

Welcome to the family
Mr. Toad.