repair

Elephant Butte Lake State Park, Water Pump Mysteries, Trip Planning Tools

/ Suzanne Hight / 3 Comments

From Elephant Butte Lake State Park near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico:

We pulled out of Storrie Lake State Park near Las Vegas, New Mexico a week ago today and made the 278-mile drive to Elephant Butte Lake State Park. We arrived here without a reservation and found that all the first-come first-serve sites were occupied. However, there was a reservation site that was available for one night only in the same area with a great view of the lake, so we took that one for the first night. The next morning, as expected, one of the first-come first-serve sites opened up, so we moved just up the hill. The new site actually overlooks our original site, so it has the same great view of the lake. We went ahead and paid for an additional 8 nights at only $4/night for electricity since we have the annual pass.

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Changed campsites this morning. Last night we were in site #91. It’s a reservation site but since no one had it reserved we were allowed to stay there for one night. This morning it was my duty to go out scouting for a first-come first-serve site, and it just happened that site #76 had opened up this morning. In fact the camp host was in the process of tidying it up, and he held it long enough for me to go get the truck and drive it to the site. We’re moved in, and since we’re actually situated just up the hillside from the previous site, we have the same view of the lake, only now it’s in our back window. 😊 We plan to be here for 8 more nights, at least. . . . #rvlife #fulltimerv #lifeisgood #homeiswhereyouparkit

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Speaking of the lake, we were so pleased to see that the water level is up considerably since we were here a year ago. I checked online and found that the reservoir is currently at 21.6% full, which doesn’t sound that great, but when we were here a year ago, it was only 3.1% full (you can see all the stats here). The landscape looks so different this year with more of it under water. Many of the places I had hiked and photographed are no longer visible, and areas where RVers were boondocking last year are not accessible this year. That said, there are still a lot of RVs camped along the water’s edge on the new beaches, which is an awesome way to camp out here.

Last year the road went all the way to that island where I hiked and RVers boondocked. Not this year!

The area where we are camped is called Lion’s Beach. The sites have electricity and water, a covered picnic table and a fire ring. The sites are fairly close together in almost a parking lot arrangement, so there’s not a lot of privacy. It’s not our favorite camping situation, especially after spending so much time boondocking at a remote site in the forest all summer. But our neighbors have been pretty chill so it hasn’t been that bad, and we’re enjoying having access to electricity, water and a convenient dump station for a change.

We’re not doing a lot of sight-seeing around here, we’re just enjoying the view of the lake and doing some geocaching and people-watching. We did make a return visit to the Passion Pie Cafe, a local establishment that we discovered when we were here last year. In addition to being a top-notch bakery, they also serve breakfast and lunch, and their menu includes a lot of vegan and vegetarian options. The owner is the head chef, and she is generous with the samples of the baked goods. If you’re ever driving up I-25 through Truth or Consequences, it’s definitely worth your time to pop in here for lunch, but fair warning–they do close early sometimes when they have a large catering order, so you might want to call ahead.

Veggie croissant sandwich with side of pickled veggies at Passion Pie Cafe

It wouldn’t be RV life without some maintenance issues. On the Saturday night before we left Storrie Lake, we were getting ready to do the dishes when the water pump quit working. One minute there was water flowing, the next minute there wasn’t. It was 8:15 at night, not the best time for something like that to fail. Fortunately, we had an old water pump on board from when we replaced it back in January (read about it here), so Andy put the older pump (Pump #1) back online, and stuck the dead one (Pump #2) in a box and put it in the basement. Pump #1 seemed to be working fine when we left Storrie Lake, but we knew there was a pressure leak somewhere because every few minutes we would hear it activate for just a second (for those who aren’t familiar with RV water pumps, you should only hear the pump running when water is flowing through a faucet).

Since we’ve been hooked up to city water while here at Elephant Butte, we hadn’t thought much about the water pump until today because we weren’t using it. Andy was in the process of unhooking the electricity and water lines so he could drive over to the dump station when he noticed that we had water trickling out of the overflow valve on the side of the RV, meaning that our onboard water tanks were full. They weren’t full when we arrived, so the only thing we could deduce was that the city water coming in from the faucet was flowing back through the old water pump and filling the tanks. So that meant we had both a dead water pump and a leaky water pump on board and needed to get the problem resolved, most likely with a new pump.

I checked around and found an RV parts supplier here in Elephant Butte, so Andy grabbed the dead pump (pump #2) out of the basement and we drove over to O’Neill’s RV Supply, where we met Rick. Andy showed him the old pump and told him what had happened. Rick had the exact same model available for $110, but first he said he wanted to check our old one because he had never heard of one just quitting like that. He took it back to his shop and hooked it up to electricity, and immediately it came to life and spit out the water that was trapped inside it. So obviously, the pump wasn’t dead after all. After some discussion, we decided not to buy a new pump, but to try re-installing Pump #2 to replace the leaky Pump #1 (confused yet??).

So that’s what we did. Andy put Pump #2 back online, and after a couple of times flicking the switch on and off, the pump pressurized and started working again. So now, we have two things to keep an eye on: (1) Will Pump #2 stop the problem of the city water flow seeping into our onboard tanks and causing them to overflow, and (2) Will Pump #2 suddenly stop working again, and if so, is it a pump problem or an electrical switch problem?

Life is never boring in an RV.

Full moon rising over Elephant Butte Lake as seen from our campsite

We only have two more nights here in Elephant Butte, and then we’re going to head further south to Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, New Mexico, where we’ll close out the month of October. This is also a return visit as we were camped there last year over the Thanksgiving holidays. We’re really looking forward to walking across the border into Mexico on Thursday to celebrate my birthday at the Pink Store in Puerto Palomas, and also picking up some delicious Mexican pastries at the nearby panadería (bakery). Our New Mexico State Parks annual pass expires the end of October, and that will be our signal to start heading east to Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi for Thanksgiving.

We’ll have seventeen days of travel before we reach Tombigbee State Park in Tupelo, Mississippi where we’ll be staying over the Thanksgiving holiday. We have reservations that start on November 17, and this is the first time in over a year that we’ve had to plan our travels in order to be at a certain place on a certain date. I started looking around for some online tools to help plan the trip and settled on one called RV Trip Wizard.

RV Trip Wizard is a web-based application that lets you plan a route with a starting point, end point and stops in between. Some of the features that I really like are:

  • You can specify how far you want to drive each day (minimum, maximum and target), and the app will mark that distance on your route so you can see what city you’ll be near when you reach that limit.
  • You can specify what types of parks or campsites you want to see, based on what memberships you own (i.e. Passport America, Good Sam’s, state parks, etc), and exclude those you aren’t interested in (i.e. Thousand Trails, local parks). Then those parks show up along your route, and you can click on them to get all the details.
  • You can specify points of interest that you want to see along your route, such as museums, hospitals, hardware stores, beauty salons–you name it.
  • You can see fuel stops, dump stations, rest stops and overnight parking options along your route.
  • You enter the height and weight of your rig, and the application will show you any hazards along your route, such as low clearances or rickety bridges.
  • After you plan all the stops on your trip, you can export the trip to Google Maps, print out the step-by-step directions, or send the trip details to someone via email.

So, for instance, here’s a screenshot of the beginning stages of my trip plan for our Thanksgiving trip. I specified a target distance of 300 miles per driving day, with a minimum of 250 and a maximum of 350, so those are the circles on the map showing the mileage radius from a state park in Texas that I selected as one of our stops. By looking at the yellow circle, I can see that our target mileage would get us almost to Fort Worth on the next leg of our journey, so I can search that particular area for a campground for our next stop.

The beginnings of our trip plan for Thanksgiving

RV Trip Wizard offers a free demo of the software on their website. The annual subscription is $39 and it works on a laptop, smart phone or tablet, although it will look a little different on each device. So, for instance, you can create your trip plan on your computer and then log in on your smart phone to view it.

By the way, I’m not sponsored in any way by this company, I just think it’s a really cool tool to use. I’m a real geek, so I know I’m going to enjoy playing with this application as we plan our travels both to and from Mississippi for the holidays. I’ll be sure to check back with you in a later post to let you know how it worked out in “real life”. 🙂

So that’s life for us at the moment–all is well, everyone’s healthy and happy and looking forward to more adventures ahead.

Thanks for taking time to read our blog! Feel free to share it with family and friends who might be interested in full-time RV living. If you want to keep up with our adventures, please subscribe. You can also find us on Instagram at Instagram.com/JustCallUsNomads if you want to keep up with us between blog posts. And we do occasionally post videos to YouTube–if you would like to subscribe to our channel, check it out here.

Safe travels!!

 

Cows Come Calling, Milestone Birthday, Generator Conks Out

/ Suzanne Hight / 6 Comments

From the Coconino National Forest near Flagstaff, Arizona:

Summer is definitely showing signs of winding down here in the mountains. The angle of the sun is noticeably different than it was when we arrived here back in late May, making the shadows longer and darker. The temperatures have continued to be mostly very pleasant with highs in the upper 70s, with just a few days climbing into the low 80s. However, with the exception of about a week of rain last month, the monsoon failed to really develop in this area so the humidity levels have been very low, making the temperatures even more pleasant.

Summertime in the Coconino National Forest

Of course, our campsite and the nearby road are very dusty, so it’s a constant battle trying to keep the rig and the truck somewhat clean. I’ve already told Andy that our next stop needs to be a place with water hookups so I can spend a day or two deep-cleaning the inside of the RV to get rid of all the dirt and dust we’ve accumulated. But every boondocker worth their salt knows that a little dirt never hurt anyone, and we’ve learned to just do the best we can with a whisk broom and a hand-vacuum.

Over the summer, the grass around here has grown tall and thick, thanks to so much winter and spring moisture. Starting in early August, when we would drive into Flagstaff, we noticed that there were cows grazing in the forest lands on the other side of Highway 180 from where we are located. We thought that was unusual, but then again there are plenty of old dried-out cow patties scattered around our campsite that would indicate that cows have been here in the past.

Then last Friday, we both started noticing these weird sounds coming from off in the distance, down the mountain. They got louder and louder as the day went on, until we recognized them as cows bellowing. And finally, around 2:30 PM, cows started appearing out of the trees, wandering through our campsite, headed further up the mountain toward the nearby pond (Hart Prairie Tank).

The cow parade lasted for a couple of hours. They were mostly females with their calves, but there were a few bulls in the mix as well. They were pretty noisy, calling out to each other as they were being herded into their new grazing area. By nightfall they had pretty much congregated near the pond, and we could here them  throughout the night.

Since then, the cows have spread out over the area, and they wander from spot to spot, grazing on the tall grass. I see them scattered out all along my usual hiking routes, sometimes in large clusters, but often in small groups of four or five. We still get regular visits several times a day from four to six at a time coming through our camp, especially in the early morning or late afternoon. One day Andy was sitting outside in his chair reading, and I looked out the window and saw four cows right behind him. He had no idea they were there, they had walked up so quietly. 🙂

I did a little research and found that some of the local ranchers lease the grazing rights from the National Forest in order to meet the local demand for grass-fed beef in stores and restaurants. As a vegetarian, it’s sad to me to think that these intelligent, social and docile animals will wind up being butchered, but I’m glad that they at least didn’t have to spend their short lives on some factory farm being fed grains that they are not designed to eat.

Yesterday was a big day in our household. It was Andy’s birthday–he finally reached the Big 7-0! He said he doesn’t feel any older, and he certainly doesn’t look any older, so I guess it’s true that 70 is just a number. Happy Birthday, Andy!!

My plan was to bake some cinnamon rolls for his birthday breakfast, so as soon as he rolled out bed, I went to start the generator so I could use the convection oven. Of all days, on Andy’s birthday the generator refused to run. It started a time or two, but would immediately shut down. We had been having some intermittent issues with it, and Andy had been nursing it along with Seafoam fuel treatments and checking the oil, but yesterday, nothing he tried would work to keep the genny running.

The generator decided to crap out on Andy’s birthday, so no cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

It was time to call in the professionals.

So we headed to Starbucks. 🙂

Although Starbucks didn’t have cinnamon rolls, they do have some decent pastries, so we had coffee and sugar for breakfast while I did a little research on Google to look for a generator service shop. I found a place in Flagstaff that works on Onan generators (ours is the RV QC 4000) and who have excellent reviews, so after we left Starbucks, Andy called them while I went inside the post office to pick up our mail, and he made a service appointment for 8:00 AM this morning. (If you know Andy, you know he’s NOT a morning person, so that’s how seriously important it was to get the generator fixed.)

We went back to the rig for the afternoon to make sure that the kitties were comfortable since it was a little on the warm side. We leave the windows open and the fans on while we’re away, so we don’t like to leave the rig unattended for too long. Once things started to cool off later in the afternoon, we drove back into Flagstaff and I took Andy out for an early-bird birthday dinner at the top-rated (per Yelp!) Mexican restaurant in town, MartAnne’s. I chose this place because, in addition to their rave reviews, they also have several great vegan/vegetarian options on their menu. They actually have crispy seitan tacos, served with rice and beans, which we both had to try. The server gave us complementary chips and salsa (they’re not usually free there), since we ordered guacamole and it was Andy’s birthday. Their salsa is excellent, very smoky and a little spicy. We each had a margarita, and thoroughly enjoyed our meal there.

Delicious seitan crispy tacos at MartAnne’s Mexican restaurant in Flagstaff

Afterwards we walked around the historic downtown area, checking out some of the shops, and picked up a bottle of hard cherry cider for later. Then we drove to Baskin-Robbins where we could enjoy some dairy-free dessert. We made it back to the rig before sundown so we could make some preparations for taking the rig in for the generator service this morning.

We had no way of knowing how long the rig would be in the repair shop, and were a little worried about the kitties being in the rig for very long while it was parked in the direct sun while they worked on the generator. We talked about me following Andy into town in the truck in case we needed to rescue the kitties and take them someplace cool. But, in that scenario, the campsite would be unattended, and we didn’t want to lose our solar panels, so after we got back from Baskin-Robbins last night, Andy went ahead and loaded the solar panels in the back of the truck, and we decided that I would stay in camp unless he called me to come rescue him and the fur-babies.

We got up very early this morning so that Andy could leave with the rig around 7:15 AM for our 8:00 appointment. He texted me around 8:30 to let me know they had already diagnosed the problem and were getting it taken care of. First of all, for some reason the oil dipstick did not fit correctly and we were getting an oil leak. Secondly, the carburetor was dirty and needed cleaning. They replaced the dipstick, removed and cleaned the carburetor, and then did an oil change on the generator. The total charge was $160 for parts and labor, and they were done by  about 9:15. The morning was cool enough that the kitties were fine, so it was a very successful visit to the repair shop. A big shout-out to Flag Tool & Engine Repair–if you’re ever in the Flagstaff area and need generator work done, be sure to look them up!

While Andy had the rig in town, he went ahead and dumped the tanks, refilled the water and propane, and topped off the gas tank, so we’re good to go for another week of awesome boondocking!!

Cloudy or sunny, full-time RV life is awesome!

Living in an RV means you have to be able to roll with the punches and go with the flow. We’ve actually been very pleased so far with how this RV has performed in our first year of full-timing. This RV was never designed for full-time living, but it’s held up pretty darn well. I think it helps that we don’t move around as much as a lot of other full-timers do, so we don’t put as much stress on the rig. Over the summer, we’ve driven her about 30 miles per week, just to go into town to dump the tanks and get water/propane. We’ll do more driving this fall, but even then, we tend to get where we’re going and then stay there for at least a couple of weeks before moving on. That’s just the way we roll, and I think it’s good for us AND the rig.

Hard to believe that Monday will be our one-year anniversary of living full-time in Lizzy. We just got our new 2020 Texas registration stickers in the mail to go on the windshields of both vehicles. Texas is kind of weird–instead of a yearly sticker to go on the plate, it goes on the windshield. Texas does require a yearly vehicle inspection to complete the registration, but when you renew on-line as we did, you can self-certify that the vehicle is currently out-of-state, and they will send you the sticker anyway. Then, once you drive back into Texas, you have three days to find an inspection station and get the inspection done–until then, there will be a note on your file with the DMV stating that your registration is incomplete. We’ll be heading heading through Texas in late October or early November on our way back to Mississippi for Thanksgiving, and will get the inspection done then.

We have legal vehicles for another year!

So that’s all the excitement around camp for now. We’re all doing well, enjoying life with the deer and the cows, listening to the wind in the pines and the aspens, hiking through the mountains, reading good books, and generally feeling blessed to be where we are.

Thanks for taking time to read our blog! Feel free to share it with family and friends who might be interested in full-time RV living. If you want to keep up with our adventures, please subscribe. And you can also find us on Instagram at Instagram.com/JustCallUsNomads if you want to keep up with us between blog posts.

Safe travels!

Visiting the Center of the World, Plumbing Mystery Solved, Mountain Hiking, New RV Meal

/ Suzanne Hight / 1 Comment

We had a fun and productive weekend, enjoying some beautiful weather and exploring more of our surroundings. The only blight on an otherwise perfect three days was the inexplicable no-call on an obvious defensive pass interference in the NFC playoff game between the Saints and the Rams, which led to the Saints missing a trip to the Super Bowl. What is wrong with those officials???

Oh, well, now that I have that off my chest….

On Friday, we visited the “official” Center of the World, which just happens to be located just across I-8 from where we are camped, in a “town” called Felicity, California. From where we are parked, we can see a small white church perched on a hill overlooking some tan buildings and it looked interesting so we decided to check it out. I’m not sure I can even describe this place–it’s a little bit P. T. Barnum with just enough patriotism and religion thrown in to keep the donations coming (just my opinion).

Pyramid structure over the “official” Center of the World

The site was purchased and developed by a French immigrant, Jacques-Andres Istel, who was a U.S. Marine in the Korean War. With proceeds from his parachuting school business, he purchased the land and decided to develop it into something “entertaining”. He and his wife Felicia, who is Chinese-American, settled on the land and named it Felicity after his wife. He was elected mayor by a vote of 3-0 (not sure who the third person was).

He wrote a children’s book called “Coe The Good Dragon at the Center of the World”, and somehow he used that book to convince the Supervisors of Imperial County, California to pass a law officially designating Felicity, California as the Center of the World. Even more amazingly, he managed to get France to also recognize the geographical distinction….really, it’s so bizarre you need to just read about it here and here.

The “official” Center of the World inside the pyramid at Felicity, CA

Even with the strange back-story, it’s still an interesting place to visit. There’s a $3 entry fee which will let you see everything except for the inside of the pyramid, which is where the official Center of the World marker is located–you have to pay an extra $2 for that. Well, why not? We paid $5 each for the full experience which includes getting to stand inside the pyramid with both feet on the marker, look toward the church, make a wish, and have it recorded on an official numbered certificate showing that you were actually at the center of the world.

I kid you not.

Andy stands at the Center of the World and makes his wish.

North of the pyramid are large granite slates which are being etched with information along different themes. One section is a memorial to Korean War veterans. Once section is about animals. One section is U.S. History. One section has the history of Arizona on one side and California on the other. One section is the History of the World. The panels are actually quite interesting and nicely done, but many of them are still blank, to be completed as funds become available.

Granite slabs record major events in history.

To the north of the granite slates is the small church that Mr. Istel had built on top of the hill that he also had created just for the church. It’s a nice peaceful place, with pre-recorded instrumental hymns playing in the background, and it’s currently used for special events like weddings.

Church on the Hill at Felicity, CA

The newest structure in the complex is the “Maze of Honor” where you can pay to have an etched granite tile installed in the maze to commemorate a special occasion or a loved one, or yourself if you’re so inclined. Prices vary.

The Maze of Honor has a lot of empty space to be filled.

There is also a good-sized gift shop, as well as a small cafe that is open several hours a day. Oh, and lest I forget, there is also a section of spiral staircase that came from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It’s a section that was deemed too dangerous for the public, so it was removed and auctioned off, and Mr. Istel bought it and installed it here on the property–a stairway to nowhere.

Giant checkerboard with the stairway to nowhere in the background

I admit, I’m a little cynical about the place, but you have to admit, it’s pure old American capitalism at work. Build it and they will come. It’s definitely worth a stop if you’re driving by and have some time, just for the quirkiness of it.

On Saturday morning we took another crack at trying to resolve the issue with our plumbing–even after installing the new pump, it was still making a very loud vibrating noise and there was air in the line. We checked all the connections and found a couple that were slightly loose, and we could see some tiny droplets of water on the floor under the inlet side of the pump. It wasn’t until I got a makeup mirror and a flashlight so I could see the backside of the fittings that I saw the problem. The strainer on the inlet line had a crack in it on the side that faced the wall. When Andy turned off the water, as soon as everything stopped vibrating I saw a small drop of water ooze through the crack.

Crack in the back side of the strainer was allowing air to enter the plumbing lines

Fortunately we had a spare strainer that came with the new pump that we installed last week. Andy swapped out the bad one for the new one and we ran the water long enough to clear the air from the line, and it appears that everything is as it should be now. Everyone knows that RV water pumps make a little bit of noise, and ours seems to be back in the normal range now.

Saturday afternoon we decided to do some mountain hiking around Pilot Knob, the mountain feature that’s right next to our campground. We saw a trail that winds around the flank of the mountain so it’s more horizontal than vertical, and it was perfect for our fitness and skill levels. We gained about 100-150′ in altitude so we got a good view of the area in the distance, including Mexico. As we were climbing up and down the rocky slopes, Andy noted that this time two years ago he was still using a cane after fracturing his leg and having surgery to repair it. We’re thankful that he’s recovered completely and can still hike with me!

Hiking on the flank of Pilot Knob, getting a good view of the area

Yesterday (Sunday) was pretty much a lazy day, although we did take a 45-minute walk around the perimeter of the campground in the morning. After lunch we watched both of the NFL playoff games in the RV, then after dinner we sat outside and watched the lunar eclipse until the moon was completely in shadow. I couldn’t stay awake long enough to watch it come back out the other side.

Speaking of dinner, we added another new dish to our RV cooking repertoire. We’ve used soy chorizo before when we could find it in Walmart (Frieda’s Soyrizo), where it runs between $3-$4. Recently we found another brand of soy chorizo, Raynaldo’s, at the Mexican market Cardenas in El Centro, where it was $1.79 so we decided to try it. I sauteed it with some onion and some green and red bell peppers, and served it over spaghetti squash (cooked in the Instant Pot), and it was delicious! We will definitely be looking for this brand of soyrizo in other Mexican grocery stores in the Yuma area.

Raynaldo’s Soy Chorizo sauteed with onions and peppers, served over steamed spaghetti squash with a side of broccoli

Today (Monday) is a clear day but it’s very windy so there’s a lot of dust in the air. Not the best day for hiking or sitting outside. We’ll probably do a little grocery shopping this afternoon to replenish our fresh produce. We’re having to leave the solar panels lying flat on the ground to keep them from blowing over and getting damaged. There are a couple of rigs parked close to us that have wind turbines on their roofs to generate electricity–we’re a little envious on days like this!! Winds are supposed to be even higher tomorrow, so we’ll have to see what we can do to entertain ourselves.

Thanks for reading our blog, and be sure to share it with friends and family members who might be interested in full-time RVing. You can also follow us on Instagram at Instagram.com/JustCallUsNomads to keep up with us between blog posts.

Safe travels!

Shopping in El Centro, Lunch With Friends, New Water Pump, Hiking On the Border

/ Suzanne Hight / 1 Comment

Wow, it’s been ten days since I last posted an update, but it’s been pretty quiet around here. Right now we’re just enjoying living our lives where the weather is mild and the neighbors aren’t crazy.

We are still trying to closely monitor our expenditures this month to offset the money we spent on the new solar system, batteries and toilet in November and December. So far we’re keeping our expenses low (knock on wood), thanks to our annual pass to the BLM LTVA and not moving the RV from spot to spot.

We’ve been doing our grocery shopping at Walmart in Yuma which is about seven miles east of us. Unfortunately we cannot bring oranges or other citrus fruit back into California from Arizona (there’s an agricultural inspection station on the way back to camp), and Andy eats an orange every morning for breakfast.

We checked the map for grocery stores west of us, and since there is nothing really close by, we decided to go to El Centro, California to get oranges. Based on Yelp! reviews of grocery stores in El Centro, we decided to go to Cardenas Mexican market, and it was a winner! They have amazing produce, baked goods, fresh tamales, a food court….just an awesome store. Of course we wound up buying more than just oranges. We each got a huge slice of their flan for $2.50 each, which gave us dessert for three meals. The flan was absolutely heavenly, some of the best we’ve ever had. We also bought almost two pounds of their flavored pistachios, some vegetable tamales and some assorted pastries. So even though we had to drive for almost an hour to get oranges, we considered it worth the trip.

Andy selecting oranges in the produce section of Cardenas in El Centro

We made a return trip to El Centro yesterday, thanks to an invitation from one of Andy’s Facebook friends, Grant Jones and his wife Cindy. Grant, like Andy, does lapidary work and makes beautiful handmade jewelry, and the two of them have been connected on Facebook for several years. They invited us to meet them in El Centro for lunch as they were on their way from San Diego to Quartzsite, and they let us pick the restaurant.

Since we aren’t that familiar with El Centro, once again I turned to Yelp! for reviews and found Antojitos  Como en Casa (“like at home”) Mexican restaurant. It’s a small place on the edge of a residential neighborhood, and when we pulled up, it was obvious that the food must be good because of the number of cars parked in the small lot and along the street. We enjoyed finally getting to meet Grant and Cindy, who treated us to some delicious traditional Mexican food and some great conversation. Thanks, you guys!

Lunch with Grant and Cindy in El Centro at Antojito Como en Casa

Of course, after we left the restaurant we made a return visit to Cardenas to get more oranges….and flan….and pistachios….and pastries. 🙂

One fact of life that all RVers have to accept is that there will always be some sort of repair or maintenance that needs to be done. This week it was the water pump. We were still getting water from the faucets, but ever since we’ve been in this campground, the pump had been making a really loud vibrating noise every time we ran the water. We noticed it after the first two times we dumped the tanks and refilled the fresh water tank. The noise would last for about 24 hours and then it would go back to normal (never silent, but a much quieter vibration when the water runs). But after the third time we dumped and refilled, the vibrations were loud again and stayed that way.

The water pump is located under the dinette seat. We pulled everything out of the dinette (table and cushions) and checked all the plumbing. We could see that there was a very small leak from the pump, and we could also see that when the pump vibrated, the vibration was carried along all the plumbing lines, in some cases causing them to vibrate against the wooden structure as well as the water tank itself, sort of like beating a drum.

Water pump located under the dinette, right next to the fresh water tank

Since there was a leak we decided to go ahead and replace the pump, so we called around Yuma and sourced a replacement unit for just under $100. We also wound up buying some foam rubber pipe insulation to wrap around the plumbing lines to help dampen the vibration. Handy Andy did a great job of installing the new pump, and although we still get a growling noise when the pump runs, it’s much quieter now. There does still seem to be some air in the lines that we can’t get rid of (possibly getting drawn into the line from a hairline crack in the input line?), but for the time being we’re living with it.

We’re still enjoying our hikes around the area. Last Sunday I took a look at Google satellite view of the area and noticed what looked like another quarry on the south side of the mountain we’re camped next to. I saw that the road that goes by our LTVA leads to a canal that runs along the US/Mexico border. The area looked interesting so we decided to hike it.

Satellite view of the area around Pilot Knob LTVA. The US/Mexico border is just to the south of the canal.

It was about a mile and a half from our RV to the canal, and then we hiked another half mile or so to the east along the canal. The area is beautiful in a rugged way with canyons and washes at the base of the mountain, and lush greenery and flocks of ducks along the irrigation canal. On the other side of the canal stands the steel-slat border fence, and on the other side of the fence is densely-populated Los Algodones and Pedregal. We could hear the sound of Spanish-language radio, roosters crowing, dogs barking, and people carrying on their day-to-day conversations. It was totally peaceful and serene.

Hiking along the All-American irrigation canal, beyond which is the border fence and then Mexico

The area that had looked like a quarry in the Google satellite view was actually an area on top of a mesa that had been scraped by something like a bulldozer. The dark areas in the picture are covered with rocks that most likely came to the surface from ancient volcanic activity (Pilot Knob is geologically a volcanic “plug”). We found all kinds of agate, jasper, quartz, and even a large chunk of petrified wood. Andy was drooling over all these amazing stone specimens, but of course he doesn’t have the lapidary equipment to make cabochons any more, so we left the rocks in place.

This is what we thought was a quarry, but turned out to be bulldozed areas on a mesa.

By the time we got back to camp we had covered a little over four miles on our very enjoyable hike.

Otherwise, we’ve just been living life. On Saturday and Sunday we watched some football (Go Saints!! Who-Dat!!). We had a good bit of rain on Monday night and Tuesday morning and things got pretty muddy, but by the next day it was almost all dried up. We took advantage of the rainy day to get the laundry done and do some grocery shopping, and treated ourselves to lunch at Olive Garden in Yuma. I’m also continuing to do some geocaching in the area, although I’ve found almost all the ones that are within hiking distance except for the ones that are at the top of the mountain–I’m not crazy enough to risk a fall to log a geocache.

So that’s what we’re up to! We’ve been here for three weeks now, and haven’t yet even considered where we might go next. For the moment we are happy right where we are. There’s still some sight-seeing that we want to do in the area, so we’re not bored yet!

Rainy days often result in gorgeous sunsets

Thanks for taking time to read our blog, and be sure to share it with others who might be interested in full-time RV life. You can also follow us on Instagram at Instagram.com/JustCallUsNomads to keep up with us between blog posts.

Safe travels, and GO SAINTS!! WHO DAT!! 🙂

Settling In to Full Time RV Life

/ Suzanne Hight / 4 Comments

It’s been just over six weeks since we moved into our RV, Lizzy, full time after selling our house and almost all our possessions. Those six weeks have not been without challenges, but we’re starting to get into a groove now as we settle into our new lifestyle.

The weather here in New Mexico has been interesting. We arrived just at the tail end of a warm spell, so the first few days we used the air conditioner. Then on Sunday we had a severe thunderstorm roll through with high winds and heavy rain. We got an emergency alert on our phones that indicated we could also see hail, but fortunately we were spared from that. And after the storm ended, we were treated to a beautiful double rainbow!

Double rainbow after the storm

Yesterday was overcast and drizzly, and this morning we woke to a dense fog. But by 10:00, the fog lifted and the beautiful blue skies have returned. With the rainy front that moved through, the temperatures have cooled considerably, and we haven’t used the air conditioner in several days, relying on the breeze only.

Here’s a little timelapse that I shot from the roof of Lizzy this morning as the fog lifted.

Speaking of breeze, Andy was able to install two vent covers on the roof just before the storm hit on Sunday. The covers allow us to keep the vents open and the fan running even when it’s raining so we don’t have to close everything up and run the air conditioner. The vents do have original covers that tilt up, but those can get damaged or even ripped off in a high wind, so these new covers that we installed will protect the original tilted cover from the wind. Confusing, I know….

Installing covers over our vents and fan

On Saturday we did some hiking on some of the trails here in the park that meander down along the Rio Grande River and over to the Leasburg Dam. The trail along the river was nice and serene, but the dam was a bit of a disappointment. There really isn’t any water to speak of behind the dam, at least on the day we were there. The dam was built in 1908 to divert water from the Rio Grande into the surrounding agricultural fields of the Upper Masilla Valley. It’s just over 11 feet high, and was the first dam completed on the Rio Grande Project by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (it was originally 10 feet high but was raised by 1.25 feet in 1919).

Hiking along the Rio Grande river on the Mogollon Trail

Rio Grande River below Leasburg Dam

Yesterday (Monday) was an errands day. The first order of business was to locate some repair parts for the toilet, which appears to have a slow leak. Andy tried for over an hour to talk to someone by telephone in the parts department at Camping World in Anthony, Texas to see if they had the parts in stock. They took his number and said they would call back, but after waiting for a half hour we decided to just make the 45 minute drive and ask them in person.

When we got there, they only had one guy working in the parts department, and he was slammed. When we finally got to the front of the line, he was able to identify the parts we needed, but then told us they were out of stock. He was kind enough to call another RV dealer just across the freeway, and they said they could have the part by the next day. But since we didn’t want to make another trip to Anthony, we just decided to order it from Amazon and have it shipped to us here in Radium Springs. Free shipping, and it will be here tomorrow (Wednesday).

Retailers, this is why Amazon is winning.

After we left Camping World, we headed back north to Las Cruces for the rest of our errands. First we had lunch at Chipotle (our original plan was to eat at a local Mexican restaurant that was supposed to be really good, but they were closed for some reason). Then we tried to go by the bank, but they were closed for Columbus Day.

Next stop was Home Depot so we could pick up some plumber’s grease for the toilet repair. From there we went to Walmart for groceries and supplies (cat treats!!). And our last stop was Sprouts for some good fresh greens, since Walmart didn’t have any decent romaine or kale. After all that, we headed home to the RV, put up the groceries and enjoyed the rest of our evening. Oh, have I mentioned that we have developed a serious addiction to those 50¢ pies at Walmart??

Most of our grocery haul.

Today we’ll need to unhook Lizzy and drive her over to the dump station here in the park to dump the tanks. We’re using the campground showers instead of the one in the RV so we can go longer between dumping, and there are also vault toilets close by that we can use to extend the time between dumps. It’s a bit of a hassle to have to unhook and move Lizzy, but it’s worth it to have our own kitchen and bathroom facilities available.

So I know it sounds kind of boring, but we are not on vacation. We are just living our normal everyday lives, just like people in sticks and bricks houses. But our view from our windows is amazing, and when we get tired of it, we’ll just move. We just paid for five more nights here at $4/night, and will probably tack on a few more days after that.

Plans for the next few days include toilet repairs and some sightseeing, so stay tuned! Be sure to follow us on Instagram as well for more of a real-time look at what we’re up to!

More Home Maintenance and Furniture Sales

/ Suzanne Hight / Leave a comment

Only three more days before our house goes on the market, so we’re scrambling to complete our “homework” list of repairs and maintenance items that the Realtors assigned us.

Last week Andy spent several hours painting the baseboards in the kitchen and breakfast room, after they had been scraped up pretty badly from the recent tile installation. The hardest part was getting to the baseboards in the kitchen counter toe-kick space, but he got it done.

Andy painting the baseboards in the kitchen

On Friday we had Todd Jordan come by to clean the roofs on both the house and the workshop. He advised against pressure washing because of the damage that the high pressure can do to the shingles, and instead he used a bleach solution to kill the mildew, mold and moss that had accumulated on the roofs. The workshop was especially gnarly since it had big clumps of green moss growing on it. Todd bleached it good on Friday and let it soak up the sun for the rest of the day, and then he came back on Saturday and applied another soaking of the bleach solution.

Todd applying bleach solution to roof to kill mold and mildew

The roofs were already looking much better, but he said that the next good rainstorm would wash all the dead moss and mildew away. Well, we certainly got that rainstorm this afternoon, and the roof does look much better! Another task completed!

Next item on the list was to continue cleaning up the shrubbery beds and putting out fresh pine straw. Both Andy and I worked our butts off in the heat and humidity on Saturday morning, pulling weeds, mowing, weed-eating and sweeping. This morning, Andy was back out there, distributing pine straw in the beds. It was so miserably hot and humid that I talked him into stopping at lunchtime even though he still had one more bale of straw to go. He will complete the job tomorrow, since he had to go get more pine straw anyway. I also bought some new flowering plants to put in the pots under the crape myrtle tree.

Andy adding fresh pine straw to the rose beds

Next on the list were a couple of spots on the ceiling where old leaks had left brown patches. The first one was in the kitchen, and it had been there since before we moved into the house in 2011. The Realtors had suggested we try dabbing it with bleach, so I mixed up a half-bleach-half-water solution and gave it a shot. And it worked! You can hardly tell there was ever a spot there. They said it might take a couple of applications, and to just let it dry in between, but I don’t think a second application will be necessary.

The other spot was in the garage, and was a result of the leak that we just had repaired last week. This spot was much bigger and needed more drastic measures. So we had our old contractor, Ben Jackson, do the work for us (he did our bathroom remodel for us last year). He came over today and replaced the section of the ceiling that was damaged, and got it mudded. He’ll come back tomorrow to texturize and paint it.

Ben working on ceiling repairs in the garage

In addition to getting all these repairs done, I listed a couple more pieces of furniture on Facebook Marketplace this weekend, and both are already sold!

SOLD – Antique armoire converted to entertainment center

SOLD – Desk chair I’ve owned since about 1992

So things are continuing to move quickly toward getting the house put on the market this week. I have just two weeks of employment left before I retire, but they are loading me up with work to do until the very last minute. I have a lot of company-owned equipment that will have to be shipped back to Baton Rouge, but they are sending me all the boxes and packing materials, and will have UPS come by the house to pick everything up on the Tuesday after I’m cut loose.

So that’s all the news for the moment. Andy and I need to sit down tonight and fill out all the paperwork to complete the listing agreement on Tuesday evening. It’s going to be an exciting week!

Home Repairs and Good News!

/ Suzanne Hight / Leave a comment

Handy Andy has been a busy bee this week, lining up contractors and repairmen to handle our punch list of items that need to be addressed before we list the house.

On Monday, we had Keith Martin come over to repair the leak in the roof around the chimney. While he was on the roof, he also cleaned out the gutters. He charged us $125 for the work, but Andy gave him a $25 tip for being punctual and a good conversationalist.

Over the weekend while we were in Lowe’s, we ran into the contractor who remodeled our bathroom for us last year. We told him we needed to have a portion of the ceiling sheetrock replaced where it had been stained by the roof leak. He came over on Sunday evening to check it out, and said he would be back later this week to take care of it.

Yesterday, we had the electricians come in to install GFCI outlets where needed. We had to have three installed on the counter near the kitchen sink. Fortunately, they found that the outlets in the two bathrooms were already GFCI at the breaker box, so they did not need to be replaced.

New GFCI outlets in the kitchen

While the electricians were here, they also took care of some light switches that didn’t work, and made sure that all the breakers in the breaker box were properly labeled (something that was noted on the 2011 inspection report when we bought the house but we had never taken the time to address).

Total cost for Tuesday’s electrical work – $305.66.

After the electricians left, Andy started working on installing the new ceiling fan in the master bedroom. However, when he removed the old fan, he found that all the wires coming out of the ceiling were white, so he had no idea which one was hot. Since wiring is not his forte, he did the wise thing and called the electrician that had just left to get some advice. In the end, the electrician came back this morning and did the fan installation for us for $50.

New ceiling fan in the master bedroom.

We have someone coming over on Friday to pressure wash the roofs of the house and the workshop, and we’re waiting to hear back from the fence company about getting the chain link fence repaired where a huge branch fell on it last week.

This huge branch took out part of our chain link fence on July 1.

So things are progressing nicely on the repairs!

And then this afternoon, I got some GREAT news!!

I just found out that the neighbors on our east side are moving in two weeks. I was told that they are selling the house and moving to Plantersville. I have no idea what will happen to the house after they move out–if it will just sit empty, or if it’s been foreclosed–but at least we won’t have to listen to the fighting and yelling all the time. The property is in pretty bad shape, so it still concerns us as we’re getting ready to go on the market, but we’ll see what happens.

I have twelve more working days until I retire, but who’s counting?

And I miss Lizzy!! It kinda sucks that we can’t actually enjoy our time RVing while we’re getting ready to become fulltime RVers, but the sacrifice will be worth it!!

 

 

Prepping Our House for Sale

/ Suzanne Hight / 1 Comment

We had our first meeting with our Realtors on Thursday evening, and they have given us some homework to do.

On the positive side, they said the house, workshop and property were in very good condition, and they feel confident that we should be able to sell fairly quickly, possibly even get into a multiple offer situation. The inventory of houses in our price range here in the Tupelo area is very tight, which works in our favor.

Of course, there are always things that need attention and repair, and so the things that they pointed out to us did not come as a surprise. Most are minor things, but we’re going to try to hit them all if possible.

The list includes:

  • Spot on the kitchen ceiling – it was there when we moved in, probably from an earlier leak that had been repaired. They gave us some tips on how to remove the stain from the popcorn ceiling.
  • Roof leak over the garage ceiling – Andy has tried to fix this a couple of times with no success, so it’s time to call in the professionals.
  • Power wash the roof on both the house and the workshop.
  • Clean up the shrubbery beds and put in fresh pine straw.
  • Replace mini-blinds in the garage windows.
  • Replace the ceiling fan in the master bedroom (it died a few weeks ago).
  • Repaint the baseboards in the kitchen/breakfast/laundry room area which were scuffed up when the new tile was put in.
  • Have GFCI outlets installed in the bathroom and kitchen to bring them up to current code (these were called out in the home inspection when we purchased the house, but we went ahead with the purchase without the previous owner doing the update).

Our Realtors also left us some paperwork to fill out (i.e. disclosure form, etc.). They will be back to visit with us on July 17 when they will take photos for the listing, and then the sign will go in the yard on July 18 when we officially go on the market. At that time, we’ll nail down the asking price that we want to go on the listing.

They gave us a list of local contractors and repair guys, and Andy has started calling them up to get on their schedules. We can take care of a lot of things on the list ourselves, but roofing and electrical work are better left to the pros.

This morning we had the roofer come by to see if he could find the leak that’s causing the spot on the garage ceiling. He thinks he found the problem around the chimney, and will be coming back on Monday morning to do the repair. Andy will pick up the materials at Lowe’s for him this weekend so we’ll be ready.

Having the roof inspected to figure out where it’s leaking

I spent several hours this morning pulling weeds in the shrubbery beds and dead-heading the rose bushes. Fortunately it was overcast so the temperatures were bearable, but it was still very humid and miserable to be doing that kind of activity. Can’t wait until we can walk away from all this yard work!

We have a “challenging” situation with the neighbors on our east side. We may have to resort to some creative solutions to lessen the negative impact on our curb appeal, but we’ll see how that goes. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

So, we’re starting to move forward very quickly now, as the pace accelerates. I still have three more weeks to work before I’m officially retired. It’s going to be the longest three weeks of my life, I think! But when we think about everything that needs to be done to free ourselves of the house, our stuff and our responsibilities, it doesn’t seem like there’s nearly enough time to do everything that needs to be done.

But no worries, it will all work out just fine, I’m sure! Keeping our fingers crossed that the house sells quickly for a fair price!