A day in the life
Red Bluff, California: I figured since we
weren't doing a thing today - except drive - maybe a few readers may be
interested in what a day on the road in a motorhome entails. If you are already
a RVer... you will be mostly bored with this post.
On a day planned to include 8 hours of driving, we tend to wake a little early
and get in our exercise and showers before most people in the campground are
stirring. Our RV is a little messy inside most mornings.
DT has his laptop on the dining table. My business
consumes the desk behind the dining table. Every morning, I
process
Camping Journal orders, print invoices, shipping labels and package
orders for my customers. Customer Service is #1 with The Camping
Journal. Always has been. Always will be.
But soon, everything is put away and we begin our departure procedure.
Though complicated, we can exit any campsite in the world in ten
minutes, because we use teamwork and have a system that works for us.
Neat and tidy - and everything stowed for travel - DT
pushes the buttons that bring our three (two in the bedroom and one in
the living area) slide-rooms in.
Above - our bus, ready for travel. (Compare the two
above photos to see the difference a massive slide-room makes.)
At this point, I go outside and visually check that our two roof-top satellite
dishes - internet and HDTV - have been stowed. I then go through the tow
car procedure... which is basically ensuring the car is warmed-up, put
through all the gears and has been shifted from DRIVE to NEUTRAL. To say
I am obsessive/compulsive about this procedure is a huge understatement.
Eleven years of motorhoming with a tow car, and three different Honda
CRV's, I have yet to make a fatal error. If my little ritual isn't
carried out exactly, we risk ruining the Honda transmission or brakes. I
also double-check the tires, tow-bar connection and give the entire
exterior of the Magna Peregrinus a once-over.
Inside, DT has started the Cummins 650hp engine and is examining the
dashboard situation. While the engine warms, Dave double-checks my interior
obligations. Our duties are divided - I prepare the interior and the tow
car for departure, DT prepares the exterior and slide rooms - and we then re-check each
other. It works for us. Before we drive away, we test that the turn
signals, brakes and headlights are operating.
Safety first!
We headed north on I-5. We had terrible fog all morning.
Really. This photo does not do justice to the view. Or lack thereof.
We saw way too much of this today. I have said it one
hundred times - Arnie: Fix Your Roads!
We saw 3,452,972 WalMart trucks today.
Remember my billboard column from
yesterday? Some billboards are actually a little entertaining!
Rolling
Hills Casino has a nice RV park and they also have doggie day care!
Who knew? Love it.
But we saw too much of this little knucklehead.
I never get tired of looking at this knucklehead handsome guy.
Look at him - he drives a 45-foot bus (towing a car) like he is driving
a VW bug! What a mensch!
We saw a Red Tail Hawk about every mile on I-5 today. We
also saw two bald eagles. Amazingly enough, the eagles were standing on
the edge of a pond at a goat dairy!
We saw many beautiful white cranes.
And, north of Sacramento, thousands of Snow Geese.
We only stopped three times all day. Once for a coffee-making break. Once for a
longer lunch break (I made sandwiches and we put the internet dish up to
check email, etc.) and then again for fuel.
We fuel the Magna Peregrinus at truck stops. Truck stops have high-speed
fuel pumps capable of pumping gallons and gallons of
diesel into our 150-gallon tank very quickly. (Think
about how long it takes to fill your 20-ish gallon
car tank at a gas station and multiple that by 6...
that would be quite a while... so we like the
professional pumps.)
I
saw this today too. Ouch. This is the third time we
have fueled on this trip, and our RV had traveled
800 miles since our last fill-up. You do the math.
We pulled into the same RV Resort we stayed in on
our way south -
Durango RV Resort in Red Bluff, California - so
late we barely had time to light Shabbat candles. All the procedures we went through this morning were
set into reverse and within moments we were relaxing
and enjoying a gourmet meal - chicken parmesan on on
a bed of arugula with grape tomatoes. A
cork was pulled. How is it possible to be so tired
after sitting all day? I will never understand this
mystery of travel.
Another early night, because
tomorrow we get to do it all again. Wasn't this
information absolutely thrilling?
I knew you would enjoy my dull day.
Until my next update, I remain, your I-5
correspondent.
RV Park:
Durango RV Resort. Again, we were given a massive pull-through
full-service site with 50-amp service. Paved site.
Free wifi, cable, pool, hot tub, (I was wrong, they
DO have a fitness center), great gathering room with
a massive fireplace. Durango is a great RV Resort
and we highly recommend you stop here. On-site
garbage and recycling pick-up. Prices went up a few
dollars since we were last here (less than 3-weeks
ago!). We paid $36.90 with a senior citizen
discount.