Next Address will be Idaho....in about 3 weeks!

Well, I will be headed for Sunny Gulch Campground, Stanley, ID in about a week...and when I get there I will be there until the end of September!! And I just can't wait!!

www.google.com/maps/place/Sunny+Gulch+Campground/@44.174664,-114.908325,1325m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x54a8f9d21ffd1539:0xc46e3e4e389e81b1

That is the link for Google Maps for the campground....and you need to take a look at it!  It is just down right gorgeous! The views are fabulous, I think my spot is next to the large building right inside the entrance...and I will be about 80 yards from the river....I can't wait!

In the meantime, I have been getting Bertha ready for the long haul up there. From here in NRH it is about 1,562 miles to the campground. And I plan on taking about 10 days getting there! I am going to just chill out and ease down (up) the road to ID....and if I make it 250 miles in a day or just 50....oh well!!...when I find a spot that I want to stop at for the night, I shall stop! Can't wait!

In the past two weeks I have been able to get the generator out of Bertha, sorted thru more of the stuff that I don't need and removed it from the house....and after my run to Alabama, I had even more stuff to sort thru and decide what to keep....and I have a ton of pictures to go thru to sort out for me and the kids.  

I've remounted the TV so that it is solidly in place and at the correct angle to view it well. 

Re-worked my storage area over the front of the house so that I have almost got all my things stored and in a place...now to just get used to always putting things back up where they belong every time I use them!!  LOL

The "storage area" where the old generator was is now a storage area...and one that has been sorely needed!  I'm going to get a lock hasp for it and close it up completely and that is where my jack, crate of oil/coolant/grease, couple of tool boxes, etc will be put.  Hopefully I will get that done tomorrow, because when that is done, I will be able to move Snickers' liter box up to the front, and it will be hidden except when I'm driving. It will them leave the entire floor of the house open for travel....and the toilet area will be completely available for me to get in and out of without having to move the box around!  OH...how the little things can be so great!!


The kitchen area has come right along also. I actually have counter space now and can use both sinks!  Everything "does" have a home....more or less!  Their homes keep changing at times. I am working on getting my groceries and supplies set up and "counted" out so that I will have food and needs to cover 4+ months on site! The closest real towns will be 95+ miles away and over at least one mountain in each direction...so I will not be making any runs into town for supplies once I get set up there! So I am having to think in 4 months of meals instead of 2 weeks of meals, which is what I am used to, so planning out what I will need has been an interesting task!  

AND.....as I have gotten more and more settled into Bertha, and it has become more and more "home"....I am finally getting around to "decorating" her up like the apartment that she has become! And it is really starting to feel like home!

 

   I do like having pictures up on the walls...and little "trinkets" on the wall that keep my favorite people in the front of my mind and thoughts! 

  There are still some areas of 

the house that need to have a "little" more work on them!  LOL  As in I still have to finish getting my files and paperwork things sorted and filed, but this too shall be taken care of before much longer!

  But I also have taken care of some of the necessities of life! As in the tv for entertainment, drawers and file boxes for storage...look closely in the right corner and you can see Snickers' little corner hiding place (and she actually spends quite a bit of time in & on it), and there is also storage directly behind the television. So I am getting things straightened out....just takes time to rearrange your life to live in a small space like this...and I love it!!!

I guess that pretty well catches things up...8 more days (plus or minus) and I will be headed north for the summer! And nightly temps there are still dropping below 32*, and daily temps are hitting mid-40's to high 50's....I can't wait!!

Stay tuned for more of the continuing saga of "Navigating towards Retirement"!!

Back in Texas! And storms rolling through!

Made it back to Texas with no problems!  And believe it or not, I actually accomplished everything that I had on my list to get done!! I was shocked!  Maybe I'm getting a little better with age of accomplishing tasks!!  It's only taken about 50 years to get there!!  LOL

I got my driver's license renewed (so I'm legal again!), the tags for Bertha updated, ordered a duplicate title for the rPod, spent time with the grandkids almost every evening (and got up and did the morning routine with them!!), and got at least 90-95% of the front room done at the E.G. house!!

Thanks to Tera for letting me use her little roller skate for the trip! It did great and the ride over and back was uneventful....and it has made me consider a Mazada2 for a vehicle! It really handled the run well. And I was comfortable during the drive. Of course...the only drawback is that as with all little cars....I get to "fall in" and have to "climb up & out" of it each time!  I still prefer climbing into and falling out of a vehicle!!  LOL!

Right now I'm watching a very strong line of storms pass thru the area...high wind, heavy rain, some hail in spots, possible hook signals on radar (tornado possibles)....and the winds are hitting up to 50mph!  And lots of lightening and thunder!!!  Fabulous weather!!!  Heheheh!

I have put up about half of the stuff that I brought back from AL. And almost have Bertha straightened up and cleaned up again!  Doing clothes tonight and tomorrow, cleaning up and putting up things. I have gotten rid of a ton of stuff...and I actually have storage room left over in Bertha. Still have to get my curtains done for the living room windows, and build my curtain rod setup for the overhead storage area. Trying to decide on just how/what I will use for curtains up there. 

I'm "house sitting" this weekend for the kids....which means....I'm watching over the pooches, cat, chickens....and thanks to the rains....I don't have a lot to worry about with the plants!!!  YES!!!  I do not have much of a green thumb!!  LOL!

I still have a few things to work on with Bertha....checking out the waste dump lines, checking out the propane issue (seeing if it holds well and hopefully my stove top/oven will be working. I still have not really decided if I want to try to use the water heater or furnace....just not too sure that I want to trust 38+ year old items like that! But we shall see.

That about brings us up to date and current with the continuing saga of The Frog and my "Navigating Towards Retirement"!

Have a good rest of the weekend and more to come next week!  :-)

Back in Bama!!

Abbie and I have made it to Alabama for a few days. Needed to get out here and renew my tags. And visit the grandkids....and see just what has and hasn't changed in a year here!  And there has not been much changed in the past year!

The drive out was uneventful. In fact, it was just a very pleasant drive. We ran into rain in Meridian, MS....but that was all. And I now know that I can't run like it used to. Stopped about 4 times after midnight....took a nap each time!!  Just can't run like I used to....too many miles on this old body!!  LOL

Got here about 0320 on Monday morning...caught a few hours sleep.  Then up and at'em!!!  Didn't get anything done at the Courthouse today, that will come in the morning after a good nights sleep!  

I spent about 3.5 hours starting going thru stuff at the EG house....this will be a project.  I will be there most of tomorrow and Wednesday....and there will still be a bunch of stuff to go thru even after that!

And I'm finding stuff that I didn't even realize that I still had! But the majority of the stuff is going out the door - for the trash or Goodwill types!!!

More on this continuing saga in coming days!!!

On The Road Again.....Kinda!! LOL

We (Abbie, Snickers & myself) are at Tiffany & Cary's. Had a pleasant drive up here from San Antonio, got settled in here and here we sit!  LOL  Waiting on another job to come open....or something to do. But it is nice to be able to sleep nights and relax.



It has been nice to just not really have any particular schedule. And the timing for my time off has been very good!  Because just a couple of days after I got here Tabitha and the kids were able to come out and visit for a few days. And it was so good to get to see them...and the newest addition to the herd!! Olivia! It was the first time that I had gotten to see my newest grandchild. And it was good!


Cary has been a big help with Bertha. While he was home of his off time he helped me to get a couple of things done on Bertha....we (he!) fixed my step that had almost been ripped off at the San Antonio site. 

Got it bent back into position/shape and he rewelded it to the frame....and now I have my step back without having to hang on to the house or put a wood block under it to keep it up. :-)  AND...then he was a major help in getting the air conditioner working again!  I believe it is the original unit...and it hadn't worked since I got Bertha, and it had never worked for the previous owner....and Cary was able to get the fan motor realigned and believe it or not,it is blowing COLD air!  YES!!!  I will survive August much better this year!  It is a closed system, meaning it can't be recharged with coolant, but it is still cooling just fine! Not bad for about a 37 year old unit!!

The girls and I made a run to Vale, AZ to pick up a Suzuki Samari for Cary. Had a chance to make a few stops...one of which was at the Rest Area outside Las Cruces, NM.  And there is a nice Rest Area outside Monahans, TX.  Cary found the truck on Craig's List, and it is in amazing condition. He had one as his first vehicle and when this one was found, it needed to be gotten for the price. It will be a great toy, and it will give him something that he can drive 

to the oil fields and back without

having to worry about whether he will get out there on time and not have to rely on someone else to get to the job. We loaded it up on the dolly and dragged it back. And it went real well!









I will be headed out to Alabama on Sunday to get some vehicle tags taken care of and go thru stuff that I have at the house to see what I want to keep and what needs to go away!  Some stuff will come back with me to keep with me in Bertha, some will go into storage....and the vast majority will be going away!!