Two Penny Travels

Visited Wilderness Lakes TTN; Added a Dog

After returning from Yuma, we spent two and a half weeks seeing doctors, optomitrists, dentists, RV repair, and truck mechanics. It was good planning on our part to get so much scheduled in such a short time.

The doctor agreed Alice had a sound heart and could go off aspirin for her basil-cell operation. The optomistrist agreed Alice did not need a new set of glasses what with the implants that replaced her cataracts. The dentists agreed Alice and I both had been doing a fine job keeping our teeth clean. The RV repair mechanic said our problem was not a dying motor on our slide, but was poor wiring, and he replaced it. The truck mechanic said our problem was not the air conditioner, but a stopped-up radiator that kept the AC from cooling on hot days, and he cleaned it.

After so much success we agreed we should get out of town and rest a while. We drove all of 35 miles north to the Wilderness Lake TTN Park and found how loud six geese could be 24 hours a day. But it was restful and we found a couple of great places to eat in Menifee.

The morning of the second day I was taking the trash to the trash bin when a lady came out of her door yelling for her dog to come back. It was a pretty sable and blond pomeranian running around chasing the geese. It looked almost like Wolf did when he was younger, except a little darker. I came over as she reached the dog and attached the leash.

We talked a bit and I told how we had a pom that was 15 years old. She said she was looking for a new home for the dog in her arms. He belonged to her sister who had to give him up. Her sister would have to put Teddy down if a new home could not be found.

I went back to our trailer and told Alice what I had seen. I said she and Wolf needed to see the other dog. We walked over, and the lady brought out Teddy. He and Wolf got to know each other as we talked about the dog situation. I looked at Alice and asked if she thought we could take him. She said yes. It was one of our quickest decisions.

For the next couple of days, Teddy got used to living in our rig, and we got used to having another dog around. All in all it went very well.

We have now returned to Jojoba Hills, and have been introducing Teddy to our neighbors and neighborhood. In some cases it was a matter of retrieving him from a different site and showing him the boundaries of our operation. I have been taking much longer and faster walks with Teddy like I should have been doing, and Teddy has been settling in. Wolf is even more frisky. And Alice lets Teddy sleep on her lap far more than I would.

We made a quick decision, and it looks to be one of our better ones. The dogs are happy, and we are happy. That is the way it should be.

sam, the Prudent RVer

Win a few, lose a few

Over a year ago I developed atrial fibrillation. The doctors and I tried to control it with medication, but we finally agreed a more assertive approach would be advisable. So the first week of last December, Dr. Lo did a heart ablation, a matter of cauterizing some of the nerve endings inside my heart to stop them from messing up the rythm of my heartbeat. It was supposed to get me back to regular sinus rythm.

A week ago I went back for a checkup with Dr. Lo, and he said my heart was still exhibiting afib. He changed the medication and said I should plan on a different procedure called cardioversion. The doctor will put a couple of plates on my chest and hit me with a big electrical shock to stop it. Then it is supposed to restart in sinus rythm. Maybe so, maybe not. We will find out in a few weeks.

So life has been pretty good and the doctors are watching after me. That is a win. But it is not over yet. That is a lose.

sam

Have a Happy 2012 New Year

To all our friends and readers, have a good 2012, even if the news seems it could be somewhat sour. Keep a healthy spirit and go with the flow. Be prepared and keep you fuel and water tanks full, your waste tanks empty.

The price of fuel may rise during the year, but get out and do some exploring while you still can. Maybe we will meet you on the road.

While you are out, visit our booth at the Arizona Market Place in Yuma, or just come by www.prudentrver.com and get your LEDs. Oh yes, also visit www.WasATimeWhen.com to keep up on my new book. The kindle version is available; the paper version will be ready later this month.

Hugs, Sam and Alice and Wolf

Prudent RVer Back in Yuma at the Arizona Market Place

We finished up our doctor visits in Temecula and headed off to Yuma for Christmas. Nancy has been taking care of our booth at the Arizona Market Place (4th and 32nd in Yuma), and we will be spending Christmas here to help and celebrate. We will be back at Jojoba Hills for the New Year's party.

On the health front, I underwent heart ablation that so far is successful. It knocked my heart back into sinus rhythm like it was supposed to, and I feel better than before. Alice has one good eye from her cataract surgery of four weeks ago, and she is schedule for the next eye on Jan 9. When you reach our age, repair jobs become the standard.

Hugs to everyone,

Sam and Alice and Wolf

Getting the Truck Ready

We have spent the summer here at Jojoba Hills. It is now getting hotter, and there is family to see back up in northern CA. So it is time to get the truck ready to pull the rig out and travel.

Our first effort this summer was when we had to rebuild the tranny. We had a check engine light that kept us from passing a smog check, and when we took it in to clear the check light, they found the tranny needed a rebuild! It was not what I expected.

The check light is now off. But when we take a trip into town the Air Conditioning blows warm air. So we took the truck in to get the AC working. They found that the O-rings were probably the originals and were flat, so there were leaks that drained the fluid from the compessor. Then when they took the tube off to fix the O-rings, they found three pin-holes that were very near leaking. So it is a matter of replacing the whole tube. We pick the truck up today.

When we get the truck I am taking it up to Maximum Diesel in San Jacinto to get a new set of batteries and wiring harness. Russ said I had the original 10-year-old batteries still in the truck, and they were shrinking from old age. Time to rejuvinate them.

We do expect to have the truck in good working order in time for our departure on 9/13 for our trip north. It will be good to see some of the family again.

In the meantime, I am still working on the website www.prudentrver.com, so go by and see what is new.

sam

Travel Control

We did pretty well over the past week. I am on a "project" to limit our driving, and therefore, our consumption of diesel fuel. Since we are not traveling on long trips soon, there is already a good reduction in the miles driven, but I found it sort of amazing just how many local miles we were putting on the truck.

We must drive 14 miles from Jojoba Hills to the first group of stores in Temecula. If we want to go to Costco, it is another 6 miles, and if we need to go to our doctors, it is 4 miles beyond that. Driving around within Temecula between businesses will generally take another 5 to 10 miles, so any trip to town will be a minimum of 28 miles, and if we shop around we can expect to drive 45 to 50 miles. Doctor visits are usually combined with shopping, so those trips run about 60 miles. At an average of 18mpg from the truck and an typical cost of $4.45 per gallon for diesel, trips cost from $7 to $15 per trip.

There are two ways to approach this problem: 1) try to optimize the driving on each trip, and 2) limiting the number of trips. Limiting the number of trips is much more profitable.

One technique we find most useful works with both approaches. We maintain detailed lists of what we want to purchase and where we want to go to purchase those items. Until there are enough items to warrant the cost of the trip, we just do without. In some cases, we teach ourselves the need to plan ahead and be sure we have required supplies in stock.

Another approach we are starting to use is to purchase quantities of staples so we do not have to shop for those items so often. We don't buy 4 roll packages of toilet paper anymore, we buy 24 roll packages. It is good that we have a lot of storage space in the basement of our rig.

So to keep within our fuel budget, we are starting to exert travel control. We are limiting the number of trips we make to purchase those things we need. In the long run, we will save a lot of money this way.

Looking ahead, we need to start working on a cooperative plan with our neighbors so those who are going into town can make purchases for us. More on that later.

sam, the Prudent RVer

 

Down to one Dr appointment a week - are we getting well?

One of the reasons for hanging around Jojoba Hills this spring has been to get the Doctor visits out of the way. Alice is done, and I am finally down to only two appointments in the next two weeks: first a review with my cardiologist on what the recent test results might show, and second to test my eye pressure.

Alice had a visit to ER, followed by a battery of tests, following some high chest pains. The conclusion was that her heart is fine, but she was taking the wrong medicine for her blood pressure. She is now on lisinopril and that seems to be helping hold her blood pressure in check. However, she has experienced some withdrawal pains coming off 10 years of atenolol. In addition, her GI is now back in working order, but!!

The but!! is because the gastroenterologist wants to do another colonoscopy, even though they found nothing strange a year ago. She was diagnosed with SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) after their procedure, and its treatment with antibiotics had her guts churning for weeks. And now they want to do it again. I am arguing against it. Seems like over-diagnosis and treatment is one of their problems.

However, Dr. Ebersole, our family physician does want me to go for a colonoscopy -- a standard prescription for someone my age. Best to be checked and verified as okay than be surprised down the road. So, I guess I will be the next volunteer there.

My Afib is still about the same: not bad enough to warrant doing something invasive to try to stop it, and the pills keep things in synch most of the time. Dr. Wood will tell me more next week.

Wolf if getting old as well. He has a cough at night and likes to sleep a lot during the day. But when he is awake and running around, he is getting along very well. I don't really want to make an appointment with the vet for him unless he really starts to go downhill.

So I judge that we must be getting well. Maybe not as well as we could be, but well enough to let well enough alone.

sam

Back at Home Base

Friday afternoon, and we are back at Jojoba Hills. This is our Home Base. This is where we always come back to in time, though it may take a while.

The weather here today is cloudy and rainy. Down in Palm Desert where we were it was warm and broken clouds. I guess we are going to have to get used to the cool climates again, after six weeks in Yuma and the Sonoran desert.

While in Palm Desert we went up on the Palm Springs Tram to the 8,000 foot level on San Jacinto Mountain. It was cold and snowy there, but at least we could come back down. The view was great and we had a good time with our friends Jessie Herr and John Berry. Had a great dinner that evening at the Daily Grill. Then last night we visited with my sister Janet and her husband Michael. Good Spaghetti a al Michael.

But now we are back home. The dog came in and immediately went to sleep. He is enjoying the peace and quiet. I expect I will enjoy NOT hearing a train or diesel truck drive by at all hours of the night tonight.

It is good to be back at Home Base.

sam and alice

 

 

 

Business in Yuma

We left Jojoba Hills mid-February to travel to Yuma where we prepared to show our LED wares at the Yuma HamFest. This served as an extension of www.PrudentRVer.com and our kiosk at the Arizona Market Place at 4E Ave and 32nd Street. We had a single table with no back-drapes, so it was a different sort of feeling.

The show was not exceptional for us though many of the attendees stopped by. They had already purchased their LEDs and were looking for what was new. I renewed several friendships and showed off the coming technology, the lumidisk -- a solid panel of LED light.

We were going to move north to Cottonwood and the Verdi Valley TTN, but the weather turned cold, rainy, and snowy in the higher elevations, so we decided to just hunker down here in Yuma. Our next commitment is the Gypsy Journal Rally at the Yuma Fairgrounds a week from today. I will also being doing a seminar there on "Understanding LEDs in RVs" on Wednesday. I need to get my slides back in order!

In the meantime, we are working some with Nancy on kiosk business. There has been a rash of new orders over the Internet, and we are trying to get our accounting worked out. It is peaceful sitting here without interruption to get things in order.

I got a phone call from our friend Jessie Herr. We will be meeting her and her guy in Palm Desert on 3/22. She said they were interested in knowing more about living the RV lifestyle. It should be a good conversation.

So, there is not much to report -- it is just a few more old retired life moments.  sjp

 

 

Amazing What Getting Rid of Obligations Will Do for an Old Man

When we got back to Jojoba Hills after our last trip, I attended a Board meeting then went to periodontal surgery the next day. The two events were equally distressing.

However, in the surgery they gave me some sedatives that were supposed to make me sleep off the pains of a couple of hours of scrapping and gouging. I remember some of the events, though the pain was not a big matter, but when I got back to Jojoba I met some compadres on the Board and discussed what was happening. I remember very little of what followed, but others told me I went ballistic. Guess I am allergic to that sedative -- it is now on my list of bad drugs.

A couple of days later (long enough to make a real recovery) we traveled over to Quartzsite to meet with the manufacturer of the the LED products I market (Kelly), some of his staff, and my partner in Yuma (Nancy). We had a good discussion, and the net result was that I told Kelly if he would stay out of my way, Nancy and I would become the sole stocking distributor of his RV LED products. He agreed, and a new adventure in my life started.

We returned to Jojoba Hills and I had my last Board meeting at the Annual Meeting. I was off the Board and "free" to go do my thing.

Even though I have made a big committment on the LEDs, the pressure is much less than when I had the obligations of the Board. I am somewhat revived.

So next Wednesday we start on our next short trip: to Yuma for a week to work with Nancy and take care of the Yuma HamFest, then to Cottonwood for a week+ at the Verdi Valley TTN Resort, then back to Yuma for the Gypsy Journal Rally, and finally back to Jojoba Hills. The LED business is picking up very nicely, and it should be a fun month.

And next month I will be 74.

sam