Heading South!! :-)

I have headed south for the winter! And things are going pretty well. Bertha is still not charging like she should, but that is why I carry a generator with me...for backup for whatever doesn't work right!  LOL!

I'm about 9 miles west of Laramie, WY tonight...and I got here and parked just in time to fire up the TV, scan for channels....and catch the Thursday Night Football game! There are good points to getting back to some segments of society! Not many at times....but there are high points!  ;-)

Today was a good driving day. I actually covered a little over 200 miles today. More than I planned on doing each day, but trying to find a decent spot to park in WY is almost  a lost cause. They just don't give many spots for parking...I now remember why I didn't like driving thru here when in a truck.

But the one thing that has made me quite happy is that Bertha, overall is averaging a little over 7.4mpg! That is great for my budget and my upcoming winter!  And it makes me rest a little easier that as I get things fixed/updated on her, it will continue to get better.

It was a gorgeous evening. The sunset was just beautiful!  Sat here and watched the football game....the Ravens won over the Steelers in OT....and then I started shuting down for the evening. A very relaxing evening! Just a little while ago, I realized that I was rocking from side to side in the house...and the wind has picked up a lot....a steady 12-15mph gusting to 25+mph. And it is trying to rain!  It made me think about what it must have been like for the homesteaders and miners that came out here over a hundred years ago. What it must have been like to be in wagons, on horseback and walking in a land where the weather changes in a matter of hours!  It makes me appreciate Bertha, even with all the little issues she still has....but I am sitting here with lights, out of the wind/rain, warm....and comfortable! :-)  And with a nice warm cup of coffee!!

Guess I had better get to sleep so that I can roll in the morning...sometime!!  I have gotten used to not having to worry about a schedule too much...just go with the flow of the day!

More to come later as the trip south continues!!  :-D

Closing Down & Locking Up!

Getting closer yet to leaving. Sunny Gulch closed it gates at noon yesterday...and I have the campground to myself once again!  And boy is it quiet here....after setting occupancy records for the  majority of the summer it is almost surreal the quiet here!  It is so quiet that I haven't seen any deer the last couple of days!  LOL!

I've been cleaning up, locking up and getting ready to roll out of here this coming weekend. I'm waiting for my solar panels to arrive on Thursday, "play" with them for a couple of days and then hit the road for Texas.

But I just had to give you an update on my last "die-hard" campers that I had here.......

This is Tom, Marsha & Barney! They are Idahoians and were out for one more trip before the summer totally ended....and to try to escape the smoke back home! They live near some of the fires that are still going on in Idaho. Tom said that when they pulled out of home that you were doing good to see more than a few hundred yards due to the smoke!

This is Richard & Rebecca, from Oregon. Just making one of their annual trips around the country and trying to stay out of the smoke and away from the fires. They said that it had seemed that the smoke had been following them around.

And this is Lisa from Montana....and she is a "traveling nurse"...which I had never heard of a traveling nurse!  She moves around the country filling in where there are short-term shortages in the nursing field! I thought that was quite cool!  She had been in Boise for a few months and is now headed south to the AZ area for part or a lot of the winter!

While I was cleaning firepits, I noticed a little eyeball looking at me thru one of the vent holes in a pit....and look what I found!!

I think I had interrupted his winter stocking activities! He stayed in the side until I was done, then hopped up on the side and gave me the evil eye for a couple of minutes before heading off to his "home"!  LOL!

I keep taking picture of "my mountains" because I just truly love this area! They look different every day in some way due to the light, clouds and angles.  I already can't wait to get back to Sunny next year!

And I have been determined to have some "good" fires before I leave, and I have succeeded on having some really good ones!  In fact they have been so good that I have burned up about 75% of the wood that I had stacked up on my pad in about 4 nights!!!  I'm gonna miss my fires!!

So as the season closes out the skies here still give me a show each evening that is worth taking pictures of and I will probably be taking pictures of the evenings for quite a few more years....and I just can't wait!!

Time to get the day on the road, get a little more put up, my pad cleaned and Bertha ready for the run south!!  See you again in a couple of days!

The End is Near...And I have "New" wheels!!

It has been chilling down here for the past week and it is now warming back up again! Last weekend, Labor Day, I only had about 16 campsites occupied. Why? Because it dropped down to the low 20's all weekend, even had some sleet here. So needless to say, a lot of the potential campers stayed home! But this weekend is looking at low 80's and I'm already having folks roll in to get at least one last good weekend on the lake and in the woods for the year! I'm guessing that I will be busy for the next 3-4 days.

I have also, this week, become the proud owner of a 1997 Suzuki Sidekick that is in extremely good condition...almost pristine! Found it by total accident...totally unexpected...was not looking for a vehicle yet...and it fell into my lap! My thanks go out to Mike & Julee for working with me on holding the car for me until I was able to get my financial update taken care and for hanging in there with me! They were good enough to let me put a "downpayment" on it so that I would have time to get the monies in for it.

I haven't given her a name yet, but that will come with time! There are almost no blemishes except for the normal road chips that you get over the years. Just a couple of minor dings on the body...barely noticeable. Gave it a good bath (that was fun...using buckets for the water...very invigorating when you toss the water and forget about the fact that it will "bounce" back at you!!  LOL! and yesterday I actually waxed her! It has been MANY years since I was excited enough with a vehicle to wax it! LOL!  And between digging out fire pits AND waxing the car....my foot is killing me! Time to take a couple of days break from walking on it!

These pics are of the interior...and it is like new! It even has the original carpet in it and it is in excellent condition! I'm so pleased!

Meet (L-R) Hans, Dorette, Teo & Eric...a really great family from Switzerland. These two boys are the grandsons and the last time they were here they were about knee high!  LOL!  They were a great family and I enjoyed having the here. 

This is Tim & Tonya...they have been here a couple of times and have been a joy.  Always a smile and pleasant conversation. They are camping in a (I think I remember correctly) a restored 1960 Airstream Bambi...a really sweet little trailer!

I would like you to meet Alessia & Ilaria....from Italy! My first Mediterranian travelers!

This is Biswa & Manisha from India. They were a very pleasant couple and were just a great pair to have in Sunny!!

This is James...he has been here a couple of times. He is a "local" and just enjoys getting out! He has been a great camper and I have really enjoyed getting to know him.

This is (L-R) Celeste, Ken & Mark. They were fantastic folks...always smiling and great to talk with!  They were even smiling even when they had vehicle issues, and when they went to put the boat in for one last time ended up having to be towed back to the dock! When you can keep smiling and have a positive attitude....you can get thru anything!! I look forward to seeing them next year!

Scott & Candace dropped in just to have a couple of quiet days in the mountains! It got cold while here...but they seemed to have enjoyed the time in the woods and I hope to see them again next year!

And as usual....my campers have still been creating havoac with my diet and keep me having to "re-time" my eating schedule! This was some fabulous lasagna and salad!  It's tough being a camphost with campers like I have here at Sunny!!  Heheheheh!

And it is really nice to come down the road entering into Sunny and seeing a second vehicle in the #1 site!  It is amazing how good it feels to have your own wheels again and being able to drive yourself to do the things you need to get to!  :-)

This update was started about 5 days ago...in that time I have been closing down some and also trying to get myself a little bit recharged after a long, busy summer of getting broke in as a camphost!  And I got broken in right!!  It has been a full summer and the campgrounds here have set records in occupancy for all of July and most of June and August!  But I have enjoyed this summer more than any I can remember!

Today I spent most of it in Challis, ID getting a towbar mounted on the Sidekick. My garbage man, Earnie, brought me a towbar and handed it to me & told me to make use of it if I could! And boy am I going to make use of it!  Thanks to Earnie I have found a shop in Challis that is not only a fantastic welding shop, but they specialize in Mopar engines!  The mount that they built for my towbar is about 200% better/stronger than the one that I could order from the company that made the towbar and for about half the cost! I am very comfortable with the fact that if this towbar falls off...the front of the car will be falling off also!!

The shop is a father/son operation and they do great work...and were a blast to watch and listen to!  Above pic they started work on the mount. Below was what we thought was it!  Then Cody (the son) realized that this put the towbar too low to work, so he added angles up of metal that put it at top bumper level....I'll put on a pic of that later (I forgot to take a pic before it got to late today!! ).

Meet Kevin Turner, a fellow camphost (at Mormon Bend campground)...he and I are almost kindred spirits! I have been very happy to have met and gotten to know him and we will be keeping up with each other. Kevin is a great guy and seems to always have a happy outlook on things...no matter what!

Tom and John came by while I was gone today and took my solar panels & batteries!!!  Sorry guys!  LOL!  That just means the end is near. The lower loop of the campground was closed today when they left, and Monday the 21st I will be closing the upper loop also. So I will probably be headed out of here by the 27th at the latest, apparently! And from the  looks of the mountains around here, it is definitely time for his boy to be heading south for the winter!!

I'll try to do an update this weekend to let you know the end is really near!

C'ya latr!!  :-D

Still Have Good Campers!

The season is closing down slowly... but the temperatures are coming down a whole lot faster! It clouded up last night, so it only dropped down to 44 last night, instead of 34! But the next few days are supposed to be cooler...with lows in the very low 20's. I only have 11 campsites occupied as of right now. But it is Labor Day weekend, so we shall see if there are any real die hards out there for camping for the last time in the season!

Had a foursome in here last night from IN. They have been making a summer road trip since they graduated from High School...this was the 10th trip for the group! They will be running about 3,500-4,000 miles on this run by the time they get back home. Really nice guys!

(From l - r)

Andrew - HD V-Rod

Austin - Buell

Anthony - HD Night Train

Tyler - Kawasaki Ninja

 

And Sunny Gulch is still one of the best places that I have spent a summer in many, many years! You can never be sure just what you will see each day...and there always seems to be a surprise around the corner! This is what I saw the other afternoon when I looked east towards Red Fish Lake area. And the pic does not do it service!!!  It was awesomely bright! But it is just the icing on the cake for a long summer in the high plains desert mountains of Idaho!!

That about covers it for now from Sunny Gulch!  I'm about to crank my "quiet" generator before it gets too late and cook up a batch of cornbread muffins to go with the rice & chili I made yesterday. And it will be nice to have the warm of the cornbread on a chilly night that is so good for hot chili!!!  Heheheh!

Take care and more to come!!!  C'ya!

A Quick Update! :-)

A Gorgeous Sunday Morning!

Just a very quick "Good Morning" from my little slice of heaven!  LOL!  We had rain last night, apparently a pretty good rain! A couple of my campers have already stopped by this morning to let me know they were going to stay another night....because they love the area/campground.....AND....to dry out today!  LOL!  I woke up once and heard it raining on the vents, and shut my door (which I had left open when I fell alseep last night!)....but I had no idea how hard it had rained until I stepped out this morning!  It was a good soaking....and we needed it here. There are several fires 15+ miles north of us, but with this rain it should have knocked them down some and it pretty well assures us that it shouldn't be any issue at all here!

I was almost full last night, but the next 3 days should be VERY quiet! No reservations coming in, which also means probably not many FCFS spots will fill either.  And seeing as I am in the ease out from camphost mode, I should be able to get quite a bit done on/in Bertha this week, getting ready for the run out of here. Will probably be headed out sometime between the 19th and 27th of Sept. I should have my little "new" Sidekick by next Wed or Thurs....can't wait!

Meet Tom, Connie & Oscar from Oregon.  Nice couple and Oscar really knows how to relax...for a dog that is!!

And this is Dawn & Jack from ID...and can you guess....they are VW lovers!  Jack had a body shop and they have this "Thing", Dawn has a Beetle....and they also have one of the old vans that has the split windows and the panorama windows!  A good camping couple. They've been here a couple of times this summer.

And this is Gino, Sarah (in pink) and Chelsea from CO. They were a fun family and looking forward to seeing them next year. Gino hadn't been camping in a couple of decades...and Sarah & Chelsea got him out in the mountains for a trial run at it again....and things seemed to have gone well!!  LOL!  So he is up to giving it another shot! Once out in the woods, it is hard to not come back! I am looking forward to seeing them again!

I guess I had better get out of the house and get started on my morning run thru the campground! I have delayed long enough this morning!  Greg just pulled out, might see him again before I shut down for the winter, but if not....he'll be back next summer!!

Have a great day.....and more to come later!!!

C'ya!!

I might get to leave early!

It has been DEAD this week for campers here! Even Redfish campgrounds have not been full. So we are looking to see what happens this weekend, and also what happens Labor Day weekend.  Starting Sunday the highs are only looking like they are going to be in the low 70's and the nightly lows are headed for the upper 20's to lower 30's.  Those types of temps pretty well drive off the "weekend warriors", and there is also rain popping up in the forcast off and on....that will drive off the "real campers" also....so it could be very quiet after Labor Day, which means I just might be headed south earlier than I had expected.  But I do think that I am about ready to head south for the winter!!  LOL!   :-D

DUH!!!!

I believe that truckers have been saying this for 20 years!     http://nr.news-republic.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=1&articleid=46788994&source=blogger

Season Slowing Down.....A Little!!

After about 7 weeks of going at full speed here in Sunny Gulch, in the Sawtooth Mountains of ID....it has actually slowed down just a bit!!  I actually only had about 16 campers here last night, and tonight about the same!  It is SO peaceful!! And I can actually take a few minutes to do a quick update of "the life of a camphost"!!

But it has been a blast and have met some very cool folks!  And it has made the days pass much faster than I expected...have just a little over a month to go and I will be headed south for the winter!  In fact, I just might spend this winter just visiting the kids and checking out some of the places that I have been driving past over the years!  

It has finally sunk in that about 10 days after Father's Day last year I became a full-time RVer! I had/have been purging stuff out of my life for most of this time, but making the final mental jump took about 11 months!  BUT....I have climbed that mental mountain and I am NOW full-time RVing! And it a very "liberating" feeling...quite a free spirit feeling....and totally relaxing!! I have gotten down to 241 lbs and holding (but still getting smaller because I am still throwing away clothes!) and my BP is averaging 131/62!  I can honestly say that gettng hurt probably saved my life and added untold years to it!

We have had a bunch of fires out here, in case you haven't seen the news. And in the past 3-5 days the smoke has moved into out little piece of heaven....and it is unbelievably hazy. Little Stanley here was actually under an "Air Quality Alert" today!  And when I came out of the house this morning I could smell the smoke!

Moving along now....news from the campground!!!!

Meet Rup & Karen, from Nevada. A cute couple and great campers! Rup classifies himself as a "Billy the Kid" kind of guy....and he is a character! Enjoyed them and their stay. And I figure it was Karen that had the small tree next to the front of the Class A lit up with white lights for the night!! It was great!!

Meet Ruth....my bird lady!!!  She is a bird watcher, big time!!! And had a lot of very interesting info for me. She even did up a list of the birds that she saw in the campground and then outside the campground locally. Got the names/pics of several good books and I just might turn into a bird watcher also!  Thanks, Ruth!

This is Niklaus, my third camper from Switzerland! Bubbly personality, passing thru for the night.

And thanks to one of my camping couples, I was introduced to "Little Kings Cream Ale"....and I like!! It is a really good drink. I'm going to have to try to find some and bring it along with me for you guys to try when I get to TX & AL.....I might even let you guys in WI & MI give it a try!  Heheheh!  :P

On the 18th I "celebrated" the 22nd aniversary of my 39th birthday!!  And it was John & Rosanna's 3rd (I think) annivesary!  So John & I went out to dinner at "The Bridge Street Cafe" (poor Rosanna was in Boise....working!) :-(  But we had a good dinner and this was part of the view from the "roof-top" dining area! Was very pleasant.

This is Lenny & Sherri...a really fun couple! Sherri ALWAYS has a smile on her face....even when it is 34 outside and she's making the morning bathroom run! And Lenny always has a remark that will either make you smile or think!! They were a great couple while here!

Tom & Patty...another couple that were great!  Patty is like Sherri....always smiling! Tom...the quiet type, until he talks...and then he will get you going! 

OH!  And meet the new addition to the Trucking Frog Motorpool!  Haven't named her yet...maybe because she is not totally mine yet...but in about 14 days she will be a part of our little traveling full-time RVer caravan!!! A 1997 Suzuki Sidekick....automatic, 4WD (w/locking hubs!) and only a 2 owner! The couple that own her now and her uncle!!! (I think that is the right relationship!) As you can imagine....I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas to get here!!

This has really been a good summer for me! I have learned quite a bit about myself! And now know that Abbie, Snickers & I can live quite comfortably (as far as food/drink/daily needs) on about $350/mo.....possibly even less!  My main expense will be fuel for the motorpool & maintenance! But that makes me much more at ease with this whole retirement thing!  The one thing that I didn't have any trouble doing was getting rid of the "DayTimer" mentality!  Slowing down my pace has actually come quite easily!

I believe that about covers this update...there is probably more, but it is almost dark and I'm going to enjoy my fire for a little while before I head in for the night.  Hope this finds all well and happy and enjoying life!  

Take care and God Bless....til later!!  :-)