Captain’s Log - Stardate: 20-16-07-09 – Mission Day 4

First Officer’s Entry:

The captain made an interesting observation today.  She said, “America is on the move!”

She was observing all the campers and RV’s on the highways.  Once she said that I started really observing and realized, “Yeah, there’s a bunch of us!”

The RV/Camper spectrum is wide and varied.  Everything from Mom and Pop and the kiddles in an SUV with a cargo pod on top, to tear-drops, to pop-ups, to little trailers, to big trailers, to toy haulers, to 5^th wheelers, to Class C’s, to Class B’s, to the gasser Class A’s, and on to the monster diesel pusher class A’s.  The biggest difference in the rigs is the number of occupants.  It seems the smaller the rig the more campers (eg:  Mom and Pop and the Kiddles) and the larger the rig the more likely it will only house the retired Gran-Moms and Pop-Pops.

In addition to being wide and varied, the RV/Camper spectrum is very ecumenical.  For the most part RV parks put folks wherever they can fit.  True that the big rigs need 50 amp electrical along with water and electric, and the smaller rigs are happy with 30 amp service, and the little rigs need only 120 ac/20amps, but usually all of these voltages are on the power pedestals anyway, so other than the length of the rig vs. the length of the spot, all rigs are treated equally.

The cross-spectrum interaction continues into the camp sites.  Once you are out of the rig and walking around no one knows what your camping “status” is.  So social interaction is simply a matter of how social you want to be.  Surprisingly I am (usually) more social than the captain.  Yeah, mean old, grumpy, pessimistic me.  I don’t know what happens, but get me out in the RV camp environment and I turn into Johnny Glad Hander.  It’s a mystery!

OK.  Now let’s go back to grumpy me.  Today I re-learned that important life lesson that one should NEVER fully trust the sweet tones of the woman in the GPS who my brother loving refers to as the BIB.  (B**** in the box.)  I first learned this lesson way back in I don’t remember when, when the BIB took us into the heart of Philadelphia City (the Tioga District) rather than to the town of Tioga, Pennsylvania.  

Today, when we were about 70 miles from Quincy, she tried to take us a hundred miles into California and up and down some dirt roads.  Fortunately I had really remembered the last part of this trip’s route, and I stopped at a rest area and examined what she was trying to do.  For some reason she was fixated on phantom “RV Length Restrictions” that she swore were on the way to Quincy at distances that ranged from four-tenths of a mile to 520 miles ahead of us.  We tried putting in false way-points in order to trick her into letting us use the direct route, but to no avail.  So we went back 30 years in technology and used a PAPER MAP! 

  

Let me tell you that was a very trying experience!  Imagine Cheryl reading the map and giving me directions and me not believing what she was saying.  Too much of that could seriously damage a marriage. But everything worked out OK, and we are safely in Quincy, all set up in our 60-foot, pull-thru with 230 volts, 50 amps, water, sewer, and cable TV, roughing it in the style to which we have become accustomed.  Life is good.

Just FYI, here’s a link to some really cute “retro” campers.

https://www.outdoorsy.co/neveridle/retro-campers-that-are-actually-new/

End First Officer’s Entry

Captain’s Entry:

It’s wonderfully cool and breezy here at the excellent Pioneer Campground. We’re camped under a big old cottonwood tree where we’ve spread our outdoor carpet and set up our comfy chairs next to the picnic table. I guess I won’t be flying home with the Lindbergh’s after all. 

Our campground is close enough to the fairgrounds where most of the Norton Rally events will take place that we’ll walk a path through the sunny woods to get there. I really love being among all these old cottonwood trees and tall pines! It’s a different world up here. Both of us are enjoying a lazy afternoon and evening, knowing we won’t have to pull up stakes again until the 19^th.  It’s like breathing a big sigh and feeling as if we’re “home” at last.

I took a look over some of our past blogs this afternoon, and I’m amazed at all the travel we’ve done since we started out with our trailer in 2008. That year we emailed our adventures to friends, so we have no record of that trip to the Pennsylvania Norton Rally. In 2009 we began our “Trailer Spam” blog to cover the Colorado Norton Rally. In 2010 it was Lumby, British Columbia and then the Catskills in New York in 2011. That’s as far as I went, but I know we changed the name of our blog to “Arrowstarship” in 2015 a ways into our first trip in the Newmar coach when we suddenly realized, “We aren’t in the trailer anymore, Toto.” 

The ride over here took us on some winding mountain roads, while gusty winds tried to move us over a lane or two more than once. We passed a group of six or eight wild horses on the far side of the river next to the highway and just beyond saw a sign for California in a town called, what else, Bordertown. Soon thereafter we pulled into the state inspection station and declared our ½ watermelon. The agent let us keep it, and Frank joked with her that we promised to eat the rest of it today. 

We kept our promise . . . 

End Captain’s Entry

Captain’s Log - Stardate: 20-16-07-08 – Mission Day 3

First Officer’s Entry:

Hawthorn Nevada is an interesting place.  Home of the US Army Ordinance Depot.  It’s the largest depot in the USA, and perhaps the world.  It was built to make, store and supply ordinance (things that go “Boom”) to the troops. It served WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, and is presently storing and demilitarizing bombs and bullets.

It has thousands of storage bunkers and hundreds of them are visible from the road.  Unfortunately they are low to the ground, sloped to ward off (accidental) explosive shocks, and covered in dirt, so they are not very photogenic.

Just north of Hawthorn is Walker Lake and it is Beautiful!  It is the bluest lake I’ve ever seen.  Sorry, no photos to show you.  I was driving and the captain was looking.  

Other than this enjoyable bit of Hawthorn, Nevada is Nevada.  Flat with long straight roads.  Considering that the Norton Rally is being held in Quincy, CALIFORNIA, we could have made the trip by going into California and then gone north.  However three things stopped me.  1) I HATE California, and 2) I HATE California, and 3) I really Hate California.

End First Officer’s Entry

Captain’s Entry:

Okay, so maybe I don’t hate ALL of Nevada. Today the scenery took a turn for the better with mountainous horizons and fertile valleys. We saw corn and other crops growing and the desert areas looked healthy and green. In several places the road stretched out in front of us like a never-ending ribbon pulled taught at both ends. Breezes picked up along with a cloudy sky tonight at the Fallon RV Park. I actually walked the dogs after dinner this evening without sweat pouring down my face. I hope this means cooler temps are awaiting us in Quincy tomorrow!

Last night in Beatty we watched the burros across the way playing and braying, while sunshine played across the mountains. I took a picture of tumbleweed that will eventually turn brown, break off at the stem and go tumbling across the road. We used to see tumbleweeds blowing across our paths quite frequently in Phoenix and soon learned that when hit by a vehicle; the things instantly disintegrate into a harmless pile of sticks. 

We noticed that plenty of jackrabbits inhabited last night’s campground, and we also watched the birds sitting on the split rail fence taking showers in the sprinklers. You can tell our evening passed in considerable excitement. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and as we resumed our trip this morning, we noticed a sign reading, “Will Rogers never met Harry Reid.” Some of you will pick up on the humor quickly, but some of us don’t get it right away. Harry Reid is Nevada’s United States Senator and Will Rogers is quoted as saying, “I never met a man I didn’t like.” Get it?

When we stopped for gas in Hawthorne, Nevada I noticed a guy with an impressive beard come out the back door of a Chinese Restaurant across the street from a tire store. He walked toward our rig and then took a turn into the bay door of the little tire store. When he started walking back to the restaurant, I noticed a large gun in a holster on his left hip. He had made sure his un-tucked tee shirt allowed for full access to his weapon by stuffing the tail of it behind the holster. I guess the Wild West still lives in Nevada. About the time the guy disappeared back into the Chinese place, a honkin’ big Dodge pick-up squealed out of the gas station with a very large Stars and Stripes whipping in the wind. The flag was mounted on a pole in the center of the truck’s bed! You might be a redneck if . . .

Think on it.

End Captain’s Log

Captain’s Log - Stardate: 20-16-07-07 – Mission Day 2

Thursday

 

First Officer’s Entry:

Boring day.  Kingman to Las Vegas and onto Beatty.  Booooooriiiiing.

In the Beatty RV Park.  Small, clean enough.  Easy in.  Pull thru with full hookups.  $25.00.  OK for overnight.

I did get up on the roof of the RV this morning and set the satellite dish dip switches.  That was exciting.  The rig is 13 feet tall and that’s 12 feet higher than I like to go.  The switches were set for Direct TV.  Now I have them set for Dish TV.  Seems like a dumb way to build a system, doesn’t it?  You’d think the dish would be a slave to the receiver and would do whatever the receiver tells it to do.  If there are settings to be set they should be set in or by the receiver.  Or at least put the dips on a cable and mount them in the receiver’s cabinet inside the rig.

I’m bored, tired, and a little pissed.  I will now let the captain cheer you up.

End First Officer’s Entry

Captain’s Entry:

It was such a boring day that I fell asleep in the passenger seat and soon woke long enough to crash on the couch, while my first officer drove on through miles and miles of flat desolate desert. I hate Nevada!!!!! It’s a planet that needs more water, plants and far less sunshine. We’ve more miles to go in Nevada tomorrow, but the next day we’ll reach our mission destination, Quincy, California. If it’s not cool up there, I’m flying home with the Lindbergh’s!

Anne and Charles even stowed stuff inside the pontoons!

Anne Lindbergh talked about having piles of items spread on the floor when they packed for their trip to China. The pile of things that couldn’t go because of weight restrictions for the airplane kept getting bigger than all the rest. I can’t say we’ve had any problem with weight restrictions considering the refrigerator in the RV holds more stuff than our full-sized fridge at the house! We do have our piles though. Several plastic bins staged around the house in strategic areas like the bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen fill up quickly as items to take come to mind. The bins save many steps back and forth to the RV and provide a convenient place to stow things over the several days we’re packing. We even have empty bays under the rig where we could stow more stuff!

End Captain’s Log

Ship’s Log - Stardate: 20-16-07-06. Mission Day 01

Captain’s Entry: 

Starship Arrowstar once again is on the move. We left Starbase Del Monte at a leisurely 9:30 a.m., a full two hours earlier than we had planned. Making our way to the outskirts of Kingman, we landed at Blake Ranch RV Park and Horse Motel in the early afternoon.

The First Officer has been installing our new Dish Network TV set-up, while I’ve been reading North to the Orient by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I read it the first time several years ago, and today I read once again about the Lindbergh’s preparations to fly to China in their small Sirius airplane during the summer of 1931. Loading the RV doesn’t even come close to what Anne and Charles went through to ready their “rig” for flight.

I had to chuckle when I read a quote in Lindbergh’s preface because it somehow fits into our space-traveling theme we’ve adopted, dubbing the RV “Starship Arrowstar.” Written in the Victorian era by Master George Best in Hakluyt’s Voyages, he ruminates on the dangers of exploration:

“How dangerous it is to attempt new Discoveries, either for the length of the voyage, or the ignorance of the language, the want of Interpretors, new and unaccustomed Elements and ayres, strange and unsavoury meates, danger of theves and robbers, fiercenesse of wilde beastes and fishes, hugeness of woods, dangerousnesse of Seas, dread of tempests, feare of hidden rockes, steepnesse of mountains, darkenesse of sudden falling fogges, continuall paines taking without any rest, and infinite others.”

Best’s description of Martin Frobisher’s 1576 search for a Northwest Passage very handily puts our RV misadventures into the proper perspective. While we hardly consider ourselves explorers, we intend to regale you with stories of our travels and discoveries until you tell us to “Stop It!”

End Captain’s Entry

First Officer’s Entry:

So here we are on the outskirts of Kingman, AZ.  Our next stop is Beatty, NV, then Fallon, NV, and then to the rally site in Quincy, CA for a week.  After that we are going to explore Northern California for a while or possibly Oregon.  We plan to be out for another three or four weeks one way or another.

As the captain said, we are in the Blake RV Park and Horse Motel.  I never realized, until a horsey friend of ours told me, that folks who travel with horses stay at horse motels so the horses can move around, exercise, and frankly, take a comfortable poop.  I had just never thought about it!  But it does make a lot of sense.  Another whole industry I knew nothing about!

Wow!  A horse trailer/RV combo just drove past us heading down to the horse area.  That rig must be 60 feet long!  Our rig is 40 feet and he dwarfed us!

Anyway, our coach has an antenna in a dome on the roof capable of locking on to the appropriate satellite even while we in motion.  The Dish receiver/DVD can even record while we are traveling.  (Once I get it all set up, of course.)

I spent some time on the phone with Dish Tech Support and it seems that there are dip switches in the dome that have to be set in a specific code for the antenna to work.  So I get to climb up on the roof tomorrow morning to check and/or set the dips.

One last note for those of you who know about the 20’ by 20’ sun shade I built to protect the front of the coach.  I built it with the center support removable so the Smart car trailer would fit under it when taking it in or out of the back yard.  Well, IT WORKED PERFECTLY!  I took out the center support and the trailer just slipped right under the sunshade.  Gee, it’s neat when plans work as planned!

Just for fun from recent Tombstone trip

 End of First Officer’s Entry.