Author Archives: Pauline

Today marks 1 full week.

Things could have gone better, but things could have been a lot worse as well.

We took Ackbar out to dump the tanks and top off the propane. We went to a local propane place for the propane and at a I5 Rest Stop to dump the tank’s. The black still say’s 2/3 full but we know we have a empty tank and will give it until our next dump before we start to worry about the sensor’s.

We think using more water during toilet use is the answer but we will not know for sure until we the next time we empty the tanks.

While we are learning, we still have so much more to learn.

Lucky for us Allen really know’s his shit. This guy has been a tremendous asset to us this past week. Now I am starting to understand why Daphna married him.

Proud to have friends like Daphna and Allen. We will be eternally grateful for the advice and support and of course for the FOOD, the DRINK, and the SMOKE and most importunely, the GREAT LAUGHS!

Having funny friends who know how/love to cook is a must have in life I think.

Allen took us to a local place that is a must stop.

Barney’s Pastrami Dip in Everett, WA. Not the best looking place, but GREAT food.

And now for something completely different…

Yesterday we started noticing a “car exhaust” smell inside, and black soot from the furnace outside and decided we better have it checked out and took it to a local RV Dealer.

It turns out someone in the past tried to work on the furnace and either forgot to put it back together or walked away from it, but it was missing screws and such, which was causing the exhaust to leak into the heated air.

It took the mechanic some extra work to remove the exhaust pipe so he could put everything back together properly, and shared the wonderful news of “If I cant get this off, you will have to get a new $755 furnace”.

Lucky for us, he got the exhaust pipe off.

whew…

The burner needs replaced, but the rest of it is in good solid condition. So I will be taking Ackbar back tomorrow at noon to get everything taken care of. I should only be gone a hour or so, then we can park in the RV lot off the alley. Tonight we are parked out front in the street.

The cat’s are not too pleased, but since when are they ever?

We still have a lot of work to do, I have all the Ikea furniture assembled and latches attached to drawers. Once we are parked back in the RV lot, we will arrange them as we planned and put the desk tops on and work with that for a few days before I secure everything to the floor.

Pro’s of the week, we learned a lot. Learned about the leveling, getting in/out/parking in very tight spots  that we just made it by a few inches. While stressful we proved to ourselves we can do it.

Con’s of the week of course is the stress not just from the unknown of living full time in a RV, but enhanced by some “fires” work related. Somewhat of a perfect storm lately.

Oh, the time its taking and $225 that it will cost us that the warranty will not cover are both total con’s.

I took Monday off and went to the Southern part of Whidbey Island to visit a close friend of mine. We took a small hike on the beach, and took a unforgettable Jeep ride that had it’s shares of thrills, and just had a great time.

We stopped at a diner in Freeland, WA for lunch and later that night we was so hungry from our strenuous physical activity all day, we just had to get some food NOW and we was just too tired to look for anything else, so we went back to the same diner.

We both had two completely different meals, 6 hours apart, and both bill’s were exactly the same, $26.68.

Just odd, we added sides randomly, had a few things substituted out or removed from the plate, so the odds of that happening is just weird.

Paula wondered if it was due to a full moon…?

I saw a huge Bald Eagle landing, it had a 6’+ wingspan, it was just AMAZING! And I saw a Golden Eagle sitting on a fence post, he looked as good as it can get to be a bird, very defined.

I also saw many other bird’s but I have no idea what kind they were (Red Winged Blackbird was one) since I suck at remembering names of bird’s but it is something I am working on.

Anyway, I am tired, and I need a shower.

We have known Paula and her wife for over 13 years and we consider them very close and dear friend’s. Unfortunately as with most friends, we do not get to see them as often as we would like so when Paula and I have the opportunity to meet 1/2 way between Port Townsend, WA and Everett, WA we took it.

I drove to the Pt Townsend/Keystone ferry terminal near Coupeville, WA with about 15 minutes to spare before the ferry arrived. Unfortunately they had strong cross wind’s and the ferry was spinning 360 degree’s multiple times until they had to sail much farther South so they could use the coastline of the island as protection. It was only 45 minutes late, but not a big deal, we had plenty of time.

Needless to say Paula was very excited to get off when they finally docked!

We drove around the Southern part of the island just site seeing different area’s and taking walks along the coast line as we talked and caught up each other with recent event’s.

We ate lunch and dinner at the same diner in Freeland, WA and oddly enough, we both had different items both times and yet, the check was exactly the same to the penny. What are the odds of that? Paula wanted to blame the full moon we had.

I had been station at NAS Whidbey Island from Nov 1990 to April 1993 but I never took advantage of the location for site seeing which is something I regret. I missed some golden opportunities.

Anyway, here are some pics of the area as well as Paula and I being dorks.

Anything for a laugh.

We are here in Everett, WA….living in our home on wheels in our friend’s RV lot in their alley way.  Which was a very tight fit….doesn’t help that Ackbar is low and we had to worry about bottoming out trying to get into the alley.  It was not an easy park job at all….icks….but ToRn got it with Allen’s help.

Everything is all over the place, we are slowly getting things situated….just not fast enough for me.  We had to pretty much unload stuff into their garage so we can do the office area and bring it back in next week.

We couldn’t put the cat litter where we wanted due to a support beam.  Then things don’t come apart as easy as we thought.  So just going to get office set up, put things away there and move on from that.  We’ll worry about painting and such next year.

Hubby took a chill out day today after a very stressful day yesterday.  Me, I want to get things done, just don’t know where to start and it is stressing me out.  Then trying to get work done on top of it….icks….

I keep telling myself we got time, that is why we are here….have time and space to get set up.  But until everything is in it’s place….ggrrr  Right now it feels as if we are fighting Ackbar…everything is so small, that things don’t seem to fit…..

I’m stressing the holding tanks…we were at 1/3 when we got here and now 2/3rds???  How the hell did we do 14gals of each of the tanks….since Wed when we haven’t even taken showers in it yet?  Do have to be fair, it has been at 1/3 since we got it in Dec and it may have been half way between 1/3 and 2/3….so we may have had only 7 gals.  But how the hell we did 7 gals??  Haven’t it used it that much.

Don’t want to have to move it to find a dump station and then repark….did find a service that will come out and dump for us.  So going to have that done this Thurs…that is going to make me feel better, so we are starting fresh and now we can figure out how long it’ll last.

We got a WiFiRanger Mobile, seems to catch other networks, but we can’t always able stay on.  Our own 2 networks of AT&T & Millenicom….even our friends….and they are less then a 100yds away.  So another new frustration, that we knew we were going to deal with that….but with everything else…not helpful.

So when I have issues, I head down to our friend’s house and steal their internet for work.  =)

Our friends have been so, so helpful.  We are trying to visit without imposing on them.  You know what they say about fish and visitors after 3 days……so hopefully with having our own home, that won’t happen.  =)

Right now watching a Ron White, getting some needed laughter….