09/24/07: Huntington Lake, Sierra NF, CA: We're counting down until we move to warmer weather. It's been getting below freezing each night and we've had a little snow. Although, 11" was predicted for a couple days ago, we only got a dusting.
We've moved our motor home to another host site. Yippee! This site is allowing us to have satellite Internet coverage. This means you can see our location on the map again, and the RVCam is changing photos every minute again. We also have a sewer connection here, but the electrical power is even WORSE than before! Just running the refrigerator on electric, the battery charger, and then turning on the electric heater brings us down to 98 volts! So we've started running the fridge on propane, which now gives us 105 volts. Looks like we're back to running a generator when we need to microwave. Having full time Internet coverage again also means I'll be updating these travel logs more frequently again (I hope).
I need to say a special "Thank You" to Steve and Joanie. This great couple camped in our campground for 2 weeks and had us over for dinner and a few "social hours". They showed a GREAT appreciation for Connie and I, as well as all other workers involved in running the campgrounds. As I mentioned before, feeling appreciated is a reward for this type of work. We've made other camper friends during this summer and we're looking forward to meeting them all again next year.
I've also mentioned many times before that one of the advantages of this mobile lifestyle is the freedom to change plans. We've done it again. Instead of heading directly to Arizona when we leave here, we've decided to head to the Sacramento and San Francisco areas for a month or more. We plan to have some minor work done on the motor home and decided there's much more to see and do in that area. We've never been there, so we'll have plenty to keep us busy while the rig is in the shop. Our only goal is to be back with our daughter's in Arizona for Christmas.
09/03/07: Huntington Lake, Sierra NF, CA: The end is near! Being Labor Day today, this is the last busy day of the camping season. Most of our campgrounds around the lake are closing tomorrow, with only 3 staying open. 1 closes in a couple weeks, another the beginning of October, and our campground will close near the end of October. But the next couple months will be slow and quiet. We're looking forward to relaxing until we leave here. We've decided, from now on whenever we stay at a public campground, we're going to make it a point to thank the camp hosts. I suggest you do the same. We now realize it's not as easy of a job as it appears, and it's rare that any camper shows any appreciation for all of the hard work the camp hosts do to provide a clean and safe campground. Have you thanked a camp host lately?
I've posted last month's expenses. We're thrilled how this summer has been a financial boost for us. In a few days will be our third anniversary of selling the "sticks and bricks" house and moving into our "wheel estate". During the first two years, the amount of traveling we did, our level of lifestyle comforts, and a daughter's wedding forced us to dip into our savings. However, this year we'll have replenished most of that savings withdrawal. This is one of the primary reasons we plan to stay with this company and return here next year. When we leave Huntington Lake the end of October, we'll have 6 months of freedom to relax, explore, travel, and goof-off before we return for next summer. Our tentative plans have us heading to Tucson, Arizona to have some minor work done on the motor home. Then we'll spend a couple weeks and Christmas with our daughters and granddaughter, spend a month with our Escapee Boomer friends near Quartzsite again. In early February we have a 3 day cruise to Mexico with many of our Boomer friends. Connie's always wanted to go on a cruise, but Larry gets motion sickness very easily. This is a "trial" to see how it goes. After the cruise, plans are in "Jello" and can change everyday. The idea is to head to the Sacramento and San Francisco areas and spend some time there. We've never been to this area. Finally, we'll end up back near Huntington Lake the end of April for the summer of 2008.