Commentary on Taking A shower

What does it mean to take a shower anyway?   Take a shower is a weird thing to say because where does one take it and from whom is it taken?   The word take suggests that a shower can be possessed by someone or something, as in the weird concept of ownership.  “I will take a shower” is a strange thing to say, but we all know what is meant by those five words.  We all say it all the time.

When I think of taking a shower in my own house (which I don’t have any more,) I never think of taking it, but when I take a shower in the bodacious showers of a modern, upscale RV Park, that is exactly the right word.  I have taken the best showers since becoming an RVer.

Let me elucidate.  The showers I am talking about are king size and I always choose the handicapped one if it is available.  It has a chair, handy for leg shaving, and adjustable up and down shower head, and unlimited hot water.  The stall itself is usually taller, bigger, and wider, with plenty of leg and elbow room, and impeccably clean. 

Needless to say, showering at the RV Parks is a wonderful experience and definitely a highlight of our experience.

Surprise AZ, - Too many Lights

We left Las Vegas around noon and headed for Phoenix.  Joshua trees and prickly pears all the way.  We drove to Surprise, AZ and noticed the little towns start running together and looking alike.  We were tired and wanted to hole up.  We found a great parking lot, near a Shell gas station, with a few trucks parked and running their motors.  Oh oh, bad sign, especially after the Worst Night of My Life, (the first night in Vegas at the truck stop from Hell.)  But this wasn't a real truck stop, just a huge lot, with few trucks parked behind; but on the Subway side, there was a couple of acres of cement and nobody around.  After a bit of maneuvering practice (me, not Lance) I fixed some dinner and then we took a nice walk on a mile of cement that looked to be a road that leads to nowhere and no cars on it.  All the stars were out by this time, and the planet, Venus, was putting on a show!  It was lovely and quiet!  We hunkered down for the night.

The only blight on this spot was that it was too well lighted.   We erroneously thought it would be smart to park under lights, because I fear for our bicycles mounted on the back of the LH.  The parking lot lights make it impossible to tell if it is night or day from inside the LH, even when it is dark in the LH, it is light outside.  For me, I would prefer it to be dark outside.  We are learning these little preferences as we go!

Las Vegas

The Hitching Post RV Resort – Las Vegas Nevada

This RV Resort was a joy!  There was not a speck of grass anywhere but it was groomed gravel and sand.  Our space had two trees and was very close to the showers/laundry area.  The entire lot was enclosed with a wall and/or fence and was gated with a garage opener, tire puncture strips, and key entry for the shower rooms.  In other words, the security of the place was excellent.  Everyone was so friendly and accommodating.  Folks like to know what we paid….32.00 per night, not bad for Vegas.  We don’t do the casino scene and the Strip gets old after a few hours so we stayed close by and enjoyed the resort.  

We met a Canadian couple, Georgina and Larry, who we like very much and we spent the mornings visiting with them.  It seems that RVers have many things in common and lots to talk about; therefore, we goofed off for both days.  The swimming pool was salt water and sparkling clean,my first experience with a pool without chlorine! It was very comfortable to swim in because no chlorine to hurt your eyes!  You know, they used chlorine gas in WWI to gas people to death!  Why swim in it? The down side is that you need to shower all the salt water off when you are through because it feels weird on your skin and makes your swim wear stiff when dry.

Also, while in Vegas we saw the Jersey Boys. We were celebrating our 25^th wedding anniversary and thought it would be a good to take in a show.    It is our best show experience yet, and we recommend it, if you love singing, and Frankie Valli.

We have stayed in two parks now and both were terrific! The Hitching Post would be a good choice if one were to stay long term.    I wonder if we are having exceptionally good luck,  or if it is the  RVing  lifestyle? The jury is still out on this question, and it is a little soon to tell, but Lance and I are having a ball!

After living in our LH for several weeks now, we are still paring down our necessities and taking things to Goodwill.  We find we don’t need so many clothes, and cooking accouterments.  We eat in the LH twice and day and grab something light “out there”, to cut our cost and to eat less crap at restaurants.  It also saves time.  I am getting good at fixing food in the mini kitchen of the LH.  A typical day of eating (yesterday in fact) would be to get out of bed and make a mini pot of real perked coffee, one cup each.  Then, cottage cheese with pineapple chunks.   For lunch we did the Del Taco tacos and Bean Cup, because it was handy, (see next post) and then sausages, with perogies and  onions, garlic and sauteed in butter.  We split a box of Good and Plenty.  MMMmmmm!

St, George, UT to Las Vegas, NV - The Desert

Last week we drove from St. George UT., to where we are now in Las Vegas.  In the past week, I didn’t have internet time to blog about a few of the events on the way to Vegas.  So, first of all, I have to say that the landscape out of St. George just gets better and more picturesque with each mile.  The Virgin River Gorge is 20 or so miles of extremely rugged terrain sporting an impossibly curvy piece of I-15 connecting Utah and Arizona.  It was carved out of straight up volcanic rock.  This few miles of highway represent the best of engineering, blasting, and bridge building, and took more than ten years to complete.  It is the most expensive road project in history according to the locals. I think I heard somewhere that this bit of road was the last and toughest stretch building a road through the deep, undulating gorge.   The cliffs are craggy with ramparts as tall as the Empire State Building on all sides. It needs to be seen, because I can’t do it justice. Virgin River Gorge   The cliffs are so near you can almost reach out the car window and tough it…at 70 miles per hour.  The color of the rock makes an instant switch from terra cotta to a dark and colorless gray at the gorge and is a treat for the geologist/traveler in every one of us.  It is slap your face gorgeous!

The road soon straightens out like an arrow and lays leaden on the sand all the way to sin city.  There is little to see until a few Joshua trees begin to speckle the wide alluvial plains the make up the high desert.  The desert has its own brand of beauty this time of year when everything that can turns a fleeting greenish and then the sun soon bakes it the more usual hue of dust.  However, for now, in late March it is pretty.  I saw two (only) prickly pears in bloom in two hours of drive time.  The blossoms were the color of – I don’t know what – the most vivid shade of eye aching fuchsia that can only be imagined. I couldn’t stop driving to photograph it.

Speaking of driving, Lance and I have stumbled on an arrangement about who does the driving.  Between the two of us we destroy every rule of polite driving etiquette, by back seat driving, road rage, hectoring and nagging; all the things that ruin an otherwise good trip.  What we have done to protect our good marriage and what works for us, thus far, is I drive, Lance navigates. He is really good at reading the GPS and maps, and two people watching the highway signs is better than one.   Also, I have a very light brake foot and so the contents of the Little House (LH) remain in place better when it is my foot on the pedals.  Lance, however, is masterful at parking the LH.  He can back it into small spaces and remove us from a tight pinch like a pro.  So, I take us down the road, and Lance does all the parking and maneuvering.

St. George, UT - A Spontaneous Gift

St. George is a place we used to live in the mid "90's.  We loved it then for many reasons, and find we love it still.  We dry camped in a nice quiet parking lot, went for a long walk in the dark, along a silent, residential street, in the warm air! It was great after the chill of the Northwest.

An interesting thing happened at the laundromat.  WE went to the first one we came to because it is a cumbersome operation to maneuver the little House (LH) around parking lots made for vehicles half our size, and because all our clothes were dirty.  This laundromat was a trip.  It looked good, was in a good part of town, but on closer look we found some it was less than cool.

Here are some pictures.

What we found was this place could use a good employee, to was the floors daily, clean behind the machines, and get the hair off the rolling cart wheels!  We thought it was incongruous that a spendy laundromat would be in such need of spiffing up!  At least their charges were top floor... Now, if it was just as clean as it was expensive, theyd have a going concern!  This could be a job opportunity for an enterprising job seeker in one of the greatest places in Utah!

While at this laundromat I met this lady with the red legs.

She and her husband were doggedly doing their laundry and having a crummy time of it.  He was short-tempered and  obviously would rather be doing anything else than sorting laundry.

An unrelated patron in this busy washateria extended me a kindness by offering her dryer with 4 remaining minutes, and so I thought if I had any remaining minutes that I would do the same.  I did, and I did.  I gave my remaining time to this couple.  That started an extended conversation about the husbands travels in Ecuador!  Fancy that!  We were immensely interested in his experiences and the wife very generously insisted on giving me her jade bracelet off er own arm!  

Every bit of this encounter was a gift, of the info, the spontaneous friendship and the offer of the bracelet.  She was profoundly insistent that I accept this token of generosity.  When a gift is offered, out of the blue, from a stranger, that is a rare gift.  I will cherish this bracelet, not because it is valuable,(it is quite ordinary and the finish is loved off,) but because it represents an honest gift, between strangers.  It is a wonderful manifestation of the goodness of people.

For great pictures of St. George, better than what I can take, check out http://www.sgcity.org/galleries/landscape/

  

Finally Off!

After Horn Rapids in Richland, WA., we returned to Walla Walla, to say one last angolizing goodbye to everybody, and to see our tax man.  It is not that we love the guy so much (we do kind of like him,) but we get to pay our final taxes, ONE MORE TIME,  and become tax free for the rest of our lives! That is a great feeling!  Of course it also means we are poor as church mice.  Not to worry; we are filthy rich in time and good looks and we don't owe a sous to a living soul......Ahhhhhhh!

As of today we are in Salt Lake City, UT in a Dunkin' Donuts, using their WiFi!  Good WiFi is hard to find and do I appreciate it!  We spent a great evening, parked in a gigantic, flat and silent parking lot about 200 yards from a bountiful gettin' place; a Winco grocery store.  It fit our requirements well as it is free, quiet, and virtually devoid of people and traffic, and we Lance and I slept like two trees in a petrified forest.

The morning brought a glorious array of sunshine, and springtime is everywhere, with a blossoming tree 10 feet from my window, and across the valley, a spectacular view of the snow covered Wasatch Mountains.  Breakfast was crunchy granola with an  addition of sunflower seeds, cranberries, and chopped apple pieces.   It was heaven!

In the last couple of days I learned that one can drive across three states, Washington, Idaho, and Utah and the Little House will stay quite orderly, but if you veer from the highway and pull into Woods Cross, UT., to go to the bank, you will trash your home!  The roads are so bumpy, and fraught with washtub sized potholes  that we bounced  the Little House (LH)  to shambles!  Every cupboard door opened and all our stuff went everywhere.  This upheaval of the LH is fodder for a future blog post all in one major topic, but for now, trust me when I say, I was dismayed to the max.

We have taken a leisurely day to reassemble our home and blog a bit, but now Lance is tapping his foot in eagerness to get going, or to get lunch, it could be either, but I will cut short and try to find internet down the road.    We are enjoying our trip.