Converters & my Dogged RV

Today's post will contain a video of my RV that I took a few years ago. I thought I'd share my RV with ya'll. Since I show dogs, it's set up a bit differently than most RVer's choose to set up their living spaces. This is more typical of how a dog show person sets up their rigs though. We set up our rigs more for the safety & comfort of our dogs than we do for our luxury needs. Now I'm not saying that all dog show folks that have RV's set theirs up in this manner. Some have toy haulers with their garage area set up as a kennel type of area. Some take out furniture, such as I did with my dinette. Some get clever with the smaller dogs & actually build kennels & places you'd never think of doing. Some don't set their rigs up at all, but let the dogs ride loose with them. Some buy big buses, some actually even drive Prevosts. Some use travel trailers, some custom vans that are designed for showing dogs out of that still leaves a space for their caretaker to sleep in. Some even have used horse trailers that have the living areas built into them. It is all personal choice on how one wants to travel with their pets. The ultimate goal is that we take care of & love our little friends that we share our lives with.

Here is a photo of my set up in good weather. I do not set up like this when I stay at a state camp campgrounds though. I just take my dogs for a lot of walks when I stay at campgrounds, but at dog shows & campgrounds that are joined into the dog show event, then it's perfectly ok to set them up like this. I also NEVER EVER leave them out unattended!

My RV is a 1996 Coachmen Catalina Sport 22RK (which means rear kitchen) ClassC.

I bought it in 2006, everything was in good working order. Over the past two years though, I've had to start replacing & maintaining things. One being the fridge that died in 2010. It started leaking the ammonia. I was checking into having it rebuilt, until I found out that it cost nearly as much as a new fridge would cost & the service could run about as much as a new installation if not more. So thought it best to just get a new fridge instead, so a few months back, I got a new fridge & had it installed.

I am also on my 4th coach battery since 2006! The first one may have been original to the unit, so no surprise on it. The 2nd one only lasted about 13 months. Replaced it, that one only lasted about 9 months...ok, we have a problem. When I had the new fridge installed, they suggested my converter may be going bad. So I bought another battery & installed it. Now the fridge panel is flashing low DC, so I ordered a new converter, which should be in on Friday or Monday. I'll go pick it up when it comes in & install it in the old converters place. PPL motorhomes had it on sale till the 30th, so if you need one too, act quickly & order it. Good price, sale $141.07, regular price, $219.99. I also ordered the battery wizard & the voltage meter as I'm curious over how stable my voltage is. Here is the link to PPL's catalog page:

http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-converters/ac-to-dc-power-converter.htm

I will let you know how it all works out once I get it & install it. Installation doesn't appear to be too hard, so we'll see.

Back to the fridge, I considered having a regular small house size fridge put in, but since I do a lot of boondocking, I would have needed to run some kind of electrical power source, so I opted to just keep it simple & get another gas absorption fridge instead. I wasn't in favor of running the generator 24/7 while boondocking!  Plus it was on sale at PPL as well! They can buy in bulk & pass the savings onto us, which is great! I am not affiliated with them in any way.

I hope ya'll are having a great day! And as always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor.

Shiny things! & Cat VS Tree

Hi all, welcome & I hope everyone is having a good day! Welcome to new followers, MariKay & Longdog2! Of course, they are new followers to me, but not new to blogger.  They both have fascinating blogs here, I'm glad to be their follower as well. This is so much fun.

Today's posting is about reflectix & dead trees. No, I don't mean about wrapping dead trees in reflectix! Two different subjects...

When I added the portable a/c to the RV, it does the job. Not quite as well as the roof air, which I mentioned earlier in my blog pages why I can't use the roof air while I'm at my current location. Sooo, the other problem to the use of the portable a/c is the overhead cab bed area. It became a huge hot spot! Even with the curtains closed over that area, you could feel the heat drafting around. So I got Reflectix. I've heard about it from several different RV forums. So I went out to find some. Home Depot has it on their website, but none of our local stores carried it on their shelves. I could not waste the time to order & wait for this product. We were in the triple digits & I needed to resolve the issue asap. So I went to different stores & found it at Lowes - thank goodness!! I think I paid around $15 for a good sized roll & btw, it's the smallest roll that they make. Brought it back to the RV, made templates to the 3 windows & cut the reflectix with regular scissors. Works great! And it also blocks out any sunlight or lights at night, so you do get a better sleep if your morning light comes too early for you. I plan on cutting more for my vents to so I can use it for vent covers. I have winter type of vent covers, but want to use something lighter for summer usage.

Inside of the drivers side cab over window. I put this in all 3 windows, the side windows & the front window. It sure has made a difference. PS, I took my curtains down to sew new backs on. They were wearing out due to sun rot.

Exterior view of  cab over window. I was afraid it would look awful, like when people use foil, but it really doesn't look bad.

Exterior view of one of the small side cab over windows.

This stuff is great, you just cut a little bigger than the window opening on the inside of your window frame & pop in. It stays put if you cut it a tad larger. With all the talk of reflectix, yet no photos to go by, I wasn't sure what it really looked like. So I was pleased when I bought it & took it out of the package. It has silver type of stuff on both sides & an interior that resembles bubble wrap. Below are a couple of pics  of samples so you can see what it really looks like.

**Click on the photos for larger images. **

My old vent cover that I bought at an RV place. I have this one & two heavy padded ones. This one installs with velcro strips that you have to use on the cover & around the vent frame. I'm going to cut vent covers with the reflectix that I have, a little larger than the hole & see if it stays in. I'd prefer not to have to put velcro on all my vents.

And now to the next subject. We've been in a record breaking drought in Texas. We've not had any real rain since February. The two rains we've had since then didn't add up to much & didn't last long. The empty lot beside us was lined with pines. So many of them died during this period. My friends lost a gorgeous pine on their property as well. We've been watering the trees here like mad. So far, we've managed to save the magnolias, I sure wish the drought would end though. It's been in the triple digits, which seems to have finally left us, but today, the temp is still high at 98 degrees & the feels like temp is 101 degrees. No one stays outside for long here! I am glad we've been safe from any of the wildfires so far. None have been close enough to be a threat as of yet.

In this photo, 4 trees were removed. They removed two of the stumps & will come back to remove the other two in about 3 weeks. They bulldozed down the trees! They just snapped like toothpicks & these were big trees!

Here is a video clip that I put on youtube of them bulldozing. It's rather long & I thought it best to just share the link rather than put the video up on this page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp25YgfS1A

Then the utility company came through & removed the dead trees away from the power lines. Some of the wildfires here have happened to the dry trees breaking & hitting the power lines. Some of them have happened to the wood poles of the power lines snapping because of the drought & causing sparks.

Landscape across the lot of a before photo.

Same location of the area without the trees.

Here are the tree trucks contracted by the utility company.

I put the camera in auto shoot & got several pics of the tree while it was falling. I only chose 3 to share here though. The utility company of course, has them cut down, not bulldozed. The bulldozed trees were contracted by the owner of the lot to be removed, not by the utility company. The utility company only removed the trees that were a treat to the power lines.

Another shot of the tree while it falls. 

Tree down! Note the rising dust when it hit the ground. That is how dry it is here!

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed today's blog. I hope everyone is having a great day!

And as always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor.

Scary man! Remote controlled & handy hand

WHO IS THAT SCARY OLD MAN IN MY RV???

What is he doing there? What should I do? This is what I saw through my curtain one night!!!

OK, don't be alarmed, it turned out to be a coat! '-D

And Good Morning everyone!

Today's post contains a solution for my remote control issues. Since I don't use my dinette area & use the sofa instead, I was tired of sitting by/on top of/ picking up off floor/ or digging out of places to find the remotes. I have too many remotes! One for the TV, one for the DVD, one for the A/C, one for a fan, then there's the cell phone I keep losing too. Sooo, I found this lovely (ok, not really pretty, but functional) canvas office pocket at WalMart in the office supply section. This works! They come in teal, dark blue, olive green, black & hot pink. I chose the olive because it matches my decor (not, far from matching). I almost took it back because I don't know what I was thinking (?) buying olive? But I did & I think my first thought was because it would not stand out as much as the other colors would as I really don't want it to be the first thing I see coming in through the door as in an ugh reaction. Oh who knows, I would have bought a red one had they had red. I have a ClassC, so had the advantage of finding some kind of hook/hanger type of things to hook over the wall of the ClassC bunk. WM didn't have what I needed, so I went to the Dollar General Store & found what I needed in their ironing board section. They had metal hooks that I could bend the hook over part to fit over the wall of the bunk area. Yes, it's a padded wall...would you expect less of me? 

Straight jackets fit perfectly inside of the canvas pocket too.

And the best thing is this thing is right beside me on the sofa!

And now I have a place to hang my hat. I wear this hat when I ride my bicycle because I have long hair & will get blinded if I don't wear a hat, even when I tie my hair back. And it keeps the sun out of me eyeballs.

***Click on photos to view larger for details***

So note the hooks that the bag hangs on. The remotes fit well in the smaller pockets. DVD's fit inside of the pocket. I get DVD's from the library to watch, so those do not go into my media cabinet. Now I can keep them there till I return them & I no longer sit on them either! Click on the photo to get a bigger view of the details. I left the tag on the bag so one could see what to look for if they want one too.

OK, so in this photo, you get a small view of the sofa. Isn't the cover lovely? I keep the sofa covered, but need a prettier cover! I had a nice faux suede cover that I used to use, but it was a daily fight with it, so I switched to the mexican throw till I can come up with a better cover. Suggestions anyone? If I could, I'd have the sofa restuffed & covered with leather! If I don't cover the sofa, then stuff likes to venture into the opened section of the jacknife part & drop down onto the water tank, the water heater, the water pump & it's not much fun digging items out from under there. I don't like scary places. Then I'd have to go find that scary old man to dig that stuff out for me. Plus I lost the DVD remote for a year back there...

Click on the photo, the pillows are actually blankets that are cleverly folded & zipped into a pillow form. The fan is under my memory foam mattress pad, I have mine hooked up with a grooming arm because I'm goofy that way. But one could use an old broom handle that has a hook on the end to hook a fan onto. It's a great little fan! It's an O2Cool fan that runs on power or battery. It gets a lot of use in that area. My other fan is a tower fan that blows cool air that I set on the other side of the sofa when I'm not using the a/c. But it's electrical, so can only be used when plugged into power or using the genny.

Above the sofa is a lovely power outlet. Such a nice location don't you think? I have a power surge strip protector thingy plugged into that. But the cord loved bopping me on the head, strangling my neck...etc. so after a few months of that (sometimes I'm a bit slow) I decided to put that strip in an area that actually has a little space between my mattress & wall...er, padded wall. So now I won't get killed by the cord.

My Sprint aircard hangs from that area as well, connected to a usb cord. I get better reception if it's located in that area, but I found the laptop a bit hard to suspend from the ceiling, so a longer cord was necessary.

OK, now onto another tip! This one I am proud of. This one is a great idea. This one doesn't involve having to open a drawer that only opens a little but, is deep & digging is involved finding items. Even with little baskets in that drawer to contain items.

I have my pot holders hanging by the stove, but not close enough to flame up because they are already hot! OK, chili pepper hot. Anyhow, the glove one has the kitchen shears, a regular set of shears AND a butane lighter for lighting the stove with! Clever huh? I kind of pushed the shears upwards so you could see how it works. But they fit snugly & deeper inside the oven glove.

Also, did you know that you can actually start your stove with an empty lighter? All it takes is a spark! Probably won't work for the oven though that way. It's just not a good idea to stick your head in a gas oven (or so I've been told)...So keep a full lighter anyhow.

OK, have a great day everyone! I will also post the humming bird photos...can you find him?

As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor. 

Toodles

RV cutting board/stove topper, flat cable & helping a dog in need

Hi all, I hope everyone is having a good day. I've had a low key type of day, which sometimes we all need. A friend came over early this morning to get some items. I'm dog sitting this weekend & then got a call to help someone with a Rhodesian Ridgeback that gained an eye infection while in boarding. She was not able to adminsiter his eye ointment, so I drove over there to help her. His eye looks bad, she will be taking him to an eye specialist tomorrow. I hope his eye will be treatable & ok. Needless to say, she's very upset over her baby! Too bad while in boarding, the necessary attention was not given there & then.
I also got pics of the little hummingbird sitting on a tree branch! Will have to edit that later & get pics up if they turned out. He was so tiny & it was hard to find in the viewfinder of my camera as he was the same size & color of the tree leaves.

I also wanted to share my RV cutting board that I got for my stove top a few years back. When I went to an RV place to get one, I was astonished how expensive they are & the ones I saw had the rubber back matting glued down to them. So I went to WalMart & bought a nice sized cutting board & bought the non slip matting & I just put that under the board, then I place the board on the stove top. It has never shifted off during my travels! I really do not use it for a cutting board though as I want it to always look nice. I could use it if I baked to roll cookie dough or something like that though...that's an "if" mind you ;-)

My RV does not have a stove top cover, so most folks that don't have one of those use the cutting boards for extra counter space. My lamp & items look nice sitting on it.

Another thing that some may not know about is a flat cable that you can use in a window if you use satellite. When DirectTV installed my satellite a few years back (I no longer have cable, but still kept the cables & flat cable), I was concerned about them cutting a hole in the RV to add a cable connection as mine does not have one! I was really worried about that! So I googled & learned about flat cables that could be ran through windows. I was set out to buy one, but the cable folks showed up early. Fortunately, they already knew how to work with RV's & they had flat cables! BUT they were going to cut a small hole in my screen to run it through! I stopped them & told them my screens move like my sliding windows do, so they did not have to do any cutting - whew! Where I am parked now, satellite can't reach me due to too many trees. But that's really ok because I don't need that much tv anyhow right now. Lifes been too busy for that.

Oh & I watched a movie this after noon. The Green Mile with Tom Hanks. Wow, what a movie & what a tear jerker it was. Good movie, but a little tough to get through...

Have a good evening everyone & as always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor.  Toodles! 

 

RV window shopping

Hi all, hope everyone is having a great day! Thought I'd share this gorgeous photo with ya'll of a magnolia bloom that I took from last year.

Today, I met my friends, Terri & her husband David at PPL motorhomes. They want to eventually get a motorhome & I love looking at them! it was Taco day at PPL, vendors from different campgrounds were there, you took a card around, got it stamped by each vendor, then put it in a tub for door prize drawings. None of us got a door prize, but we still had fun. I probably won't be camping at any of the campgrounds that I picked brochures from either as they are more resort type of places & I like state campground type of places better. So their tacos actually ended up being nachos instead as that was much easier for them to deal with. But of course, I dropped a chip on my t'shirt that was covered in chili..the chip that is, but then, after I dropped it, I was covered in chili too! So I went to the bathroom & spot washed my t'shirt. When I came out, I met Terri & David while they were looking at ClassA's. David asked me what happened to my shirt, so I said I entered the wet t'shirt contest! He asked if I won & I said yes, I was the only entry! Then he called me the PPL Hoochie! Um...yikes!  But it was funny. So we looked at ClassA's, then a couple of TT's, then moved onto the ClassC's, which is what Terri really wants. She's fascinated with Airstreams too, but the only one on the lot had a jammed door & we could not open it. Oh & saw a Hi-Lo with a slide AND a generator - really cool! So we were looking at the ClassC's & got a little ride in one as one of the employees jumped in, started it up & moved it while we were in there! Terri & David loved it. It was one that Terri put on her wish list anyhow. But when we got out, I noticed some delaminating on the exterior & pointed that out to her to beware of that. The ClassC that I really wanted to see was locked. It was probably sold since it was locked? Oh well. I wanted them to see that floorplan, but we could not.

After a few hours of looking around, we left & had lunch at Gringo's, a mexican place. Food was good, but the frozen rita was better! Then we seperated ways, I went grocery shopping, then came home to tend to the dogs.

It was a nice day out & I enjoyed looking a the different RV's & floorplans. I always like doing that!

As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor.

Hummingbird video, sunrise, planes & Salukis!

It's another new day, although I'm posting later today. Had chores & such this morning, then a video to create & photos to edit. These are things of interest to me & perhaps to others as well. Yesterday evening, I kept hearing planes flying over head, so had to get out to see why so much noise & what was going on. Apparantely, they were army planes flying over, probaby a practice run. But fascinating to watch! Then after that, I noticed activity at the hummingbird feeder. There were actually two hummingbirds having a spat! They kept zooming over my head & it's amazing how much noise they can create when zooming about! The chatter is pretty cute too. So I had to run inside the RV & grab my camera. One day, I will get a better camera. Mine had trouble zooming in with clarity. I could not get it clear. Then this morning, one of the dogs woke me up at sunrise, I had to tend to her, then was able to catch the beautiful pink hues of today's sunrise.
I also need to note that Teri, that I introduced yesterday, does indeed have a blog page --  Http://TerisTravelWorld.blogspot.com/

I also promised to put some photos of my dogs up today, so will do that as well.

So to begin with, here is my hummingbird video:

I hope you enjoyed the bird!

Now to move onto this mornings beautiful sunrise. We get many sunrises like this here. Sunsets are quite lovely here as well.

Lovely isn't it?

And now for the plane photos. My camera did a splendid job of capturing them. It's not the same camera that does the video taping though.

Approaching overhead

Flying overhead

Flying off in an over exposed shot - bye bye planes

Then as the planes flew away, I was able to capture this shot!

Now for the Salukis, feel free to ask any questions you may have about them. They are show dogs, but not only show dogs, but my best friends & companions, which comes first!

This is Feather, my Saluki Club of American National winner in the year of 2006. She won the entire specialty, shown & bred by me! I am very proud of this special girl!SBIS  Ch ReignBeaus Feather In Her Cap, JC   Feather is now 9 years old.

This is Bravo - SBIS Ch Hajji-ReignBeau Int'l Reign, JC

Bravo is a very fun loving dog! He lives life to it's fullest, loves people, loves travel, loves the show ring! He is also a specialty winner & has aquired a merit award at the SCOA Nationals as well.

He is now retired from the show ring at the age of 12 years old.

This is Bandera, aka Bad Dawg. Ch ReignBeaus Texas Pride. Bandera finished his Championship in only 7 shows! He is a litter mate to Feather.

This is Zeus. Not a really great photo of him though. Ch ReignBeau Shahtani TexBless'd, JC

Zeus also has a SCOA national merit award! He is Bravo's buddy, they play & run together.

Zeus is now 7 years old.

This is Houston pretending to be snooty, but he is anything but snooty!

Ch Z'Bee Reignbeau True To Texas, JC. Houston finished his Championship very early on at the age of 13 months. Winning WD at specialties & best puppy at the SCOA nationals over 100 puppies!

He is the sire to Feather & Bandera bred to Ch ReignBeaus Texas MiVida Loca, JC

Houston is now 11 years old.

This is Birdie. ReignBeaus Bird of a Feather. Birdie is the daughter of Bravo & Feather. She is halfway through her championship. I've not shown her much the past two years due to my injury & lifes circumstances. She will gain her Ch once I get her back out into the ring again though.

Birdie is now 3 years old, so we have lots of time still.

This is Roper, ReignBeaus Rope The Moon. Roper has only been shown once, I quickly realized he needed a lot of time to grow up & mature. So he's not been in the show ring since then. Perhaps once I finish Birdie, I'll start to show Roper. He is a littermate to Birdie & a big goofy, happy dog!

Now that my blog reads like a webpage instead of a blog, I will say buh bye for the day!

Happy RVing to all!

And as always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels, respect your neighbor!

A couple of RV improvements & my dogs

Another beautiful morning! Btw, my font always looks big when drafting, but it never looks that big once posted, so if it's too small, please let me know & I'll upsize it in future posts. I now have 6 followers :-)  Welcome all! This is fun!
So welcome personally to Carolyn who has a blog & has helped me out with mine, thanks Carolyn! To Teri who I can't find a blog on, if you have a blog, please let me know; To Me & My Dog who has a blog & is a fulltimer with her cute little dog, Katie (btw Katie, scroll down to my dogs & you'll find our little foster, Carlos); To The Good Luck Duck,  another fulltimer couple whos blog is a hoot!...wait, make that a quack because otherwise, then they'd be the good luck owl; To Sunny who seems to be a nice warm person with some beautiful paintings on her blog site that she does, she's inspiring; and To Kimbopolo who's blogs I've just started to follow and am enjoying.

~Life is grand, live it to it's fullest & enjoy what's around you~

Mexican petunias growing out of a opening of concrete

So before I start on the dogs, I want to show you a couple of improvements on Ellie, my RV. Why did I name her Ellie? Because a friend asked me what I bought, a white elephant? My answer was, well yes & now I know what to name her!

My entry step area had to be rebuilt, so while a friend was over working on it, he had to take the steps off. I took that as an opportunity to repaint them. I chose a gray color & I think they turned out great!

I could have sworn I had a photo of the steps installed, but can't find it. Anyhow, this is what they looked like finished - use your imagination on how they look installed. They look really great! But I still found them a little difficult to use, so I have a metal one step, step stool that I use instead. It's pretty sturdy & easier for me to step up onto. The old color of the steps was your basic flat matt black color.

Now for my door catchers, which had rusted. I went out to buy new ones, but could not find the elbow kind that my RV has. So I took the old ones off & spray painted them! The same paint I used on the steps. Looks way better than the old rusted ones did! And this will preserve them, plus saved them from potential land fills. Recycyling is good.

 Top door holder.

Bottom door holder.

I did alot of restoration work on my RV while it's been sitting. I'll show you more of what I've done in future posts. I also have a bunch of video to edit of the restoration process too. And a few maintenance vids I'll share once done as well.

And now for my kids - the dogs! I also have some kitties too, but currently, no one is living in the RV till I get "both" feet back on the ground. My friends have graciously created quarters for my kids to live in for now. It's been good for us all. We all should be so lucky to have great friends like this! Again, I'm extremely grateful for my little RV that gave us housing after Hurricane Ike's damages.

So I'll start with the rescues. I'm currently fostering a little Chi-weenie (chihuahua X doxie cross). His name is Carlos, he's full of energy! Very much like a Jack Russell Terrier in temperament! Life is a party to this little dude. I'm fostering him for BCB Animal Rescue, Inc. They can be found on Facebook. We work by all fosters in the program.

Carlos trying to look sexy.

Carlos was found running on the streets with a new collar on, a chewed through rope tied onto it by myself. So I rescued him & have been fostering him since. There's more to the story, if anyone wants to know his story, just ask.

And here is my other rescue, which I decided to keep years ago as many folks were scared of her. She's gentle, soft & sweet in temperament. But her looks scare people. To me, she looks cartoonish though. I will say, I love taking her for walks! Very few people will approach me - much easier to walk then the pretty dogs. When I walk the salukis, everyone wants to pet the pretty dog, but when I walk Wrinkles, we get the real benefit of the exercise.

Wrinkles happened upon me when I was loading my van up for a dog show. I looked down & there she was, in my driveway, asking for help. She was about 5 months old, full of scars, collar that had grown into her neck. The collar was cut off, scars treated & healed, shots given, etc. I think she was being used for pit bull bait at the time. So I became very protective of her & went out looking for a good home for her. But she became a family member instead. She became a playmate for some of the salukis, who she didn't want to play with anymore because they played too rough with her! Currently, she's a playmate to Carlos. They play rough, but get along great! She has never had puppies, of course, she was never bred! But she had a false pregnancy (a hormone thing some female dogs go through) & she grew the dingles after that...oh well. No one is perfect!

OK, I really don't want this to be an extremely long post, so I'll share the salukis with you tomorrow. For now, here's a sneak preview of them:

Zeus on top, Bravo on bottom. Taken in my previous house.

As always, be kind to your pets, please clean up after them on your travels, respect your neighbors. 



 

Mornings & a couple of RV ideas

I love mornings, there's such a beauty of nature around them if you open yourself to it. The birds, the sunshine on the grasses, trees, nature. The coolness, it's just nice to wake up to morning! But then, I also love the late shades of the day's end as well. This is the view I wake up with each morning.

A mockingbird sitting on a wild berry bush.

Same mockingbird

One day, I was feeling rather disconnected from friends & family. Everyone I called upon were not available. One friend wanted to watch her favorite tv program when I called her. I was just needing someone to talk to that day, so I sat down & wrote my first poem instead. Just a reminder to keep this in mind when a loved one needs to reach out to you..

OK, now for a more upbeat, not so serious note. I was traveling to our breed's national, which is about 1100 miles away. There was a very long stretch of road, with no where to stop. I missed the rest area as was cut off by big trucks & could not get into the lane. So I went on, the next stop was an adult entertainment center...um, no thanks. I didn't realize it till I pulled off the highway, then looked up! Oops! Got out of there asap! Definitely not my kinda hangout! So I find a pretty decent rest area about 60 miles up the road, I'm too tired to care if it's even decent or not at this point. It's a place to pull over & grab a few hours of sleep! But in the morn, it was not a bad place...however, I never noticed this sign when I pulled in! ;-)





Hee hee, that's me along the curb there!

Now for another RV resolution of needing space. If your RV can handle the weight, which mine can, an idea would be to get a cargo carrier to carry things that would take up too much space inside of your rig. Or things you'd not want to carry inside. I carry my expens, a plastic bin for extra dog blankets & a bin for my little bbq grill. I also have a bike carrier rack that attaches to my ladder.

I usually have my pens covered with a tarp that is secured down. Also make sure each time you stop to check on your straps to be sure that they are still tight. The bouncing on the road can make them loose. I use two kinds, the regular pull kind & ratchet kind. I just want to be extra secure!

OK & now one of the things I love in my RV. I love quiet lighting in the evenings. I find the 12 volt lights to be a bit harsh unless you need them for better sight as for reading & such. But if watching TV or movies, I prefer the quiet lighting instead. So I bought two inexpensive lamps, found these two at the Family Dollar Store. They are made of basket materials, so can't be broken. I keep one in the kitchen, the other I had in the front of my living space, but had to take it down while the portable a/c is there. The lamp is too tall so set up top of the a/c unit. Otherwise, it would still be located there. Oh & I also have the luxury of being about to turn my drivers & passenger seats around. When the weather gets better & I can take the a/c unit out of it, then I'll turn the seat around again & use the space between for my computer station again.

OK, that's enough for today. I hope that ya'll are enjoying my posts :-)  Maybe tomorrow, I will add some photos of my dogs on my blog. Some folks have asked about them but so far, I've pretty much wanted to keep it all RV related. Course, they are RV related too as they are also my travel companions! Once again, be kind to your pets, pick up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor...toodles for now!