The Groundhog Lied!

It has been officially Spring for two days now.  The warmer weather we had last week departed and left us with SNOW!  Not a lot, but steady 31 degree temps, snow and windy conditions.  I drove the toad into town today to get a haircut and it looks like Christmas time in downtown SLC.  Its supposed to last for a few more days, then warm up.

We are starting to route the trip to Alaska.  A lot depends on the weather so we will be flexible.  Looks like stops in Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier will be on the itinerary.  It will be good to get on the road!

Next week is Spring Break so the plan is to visit family in the area.  I have two aunts and uncles and my Grandmother nearby.  It has been so busy being retired that we have not yet had time to just goof off.  ;).   A couple of days ago daughter picked me up and we went to the Utah Animals Adoption Center.  They have lots of sweet little dogs that ware waiting for there forever home.  We walked a beautiful boxer, a little sweet mutt, and a yorkie.  I'm sure they'll be adopted soon.  They have a cat room with tons of cats.  My favorite was Heffner, a cross eyed siamese mix.  Saturday we will go volunteer at the cat adoption event at Petsmart.

The shakedown is going well.  We found a few more little issues, but that is why we are staying here for a month where we can get things fixed and fully operational.  Next week looks like we'll get all new hydraulic lines for the slide outs.   Oh what fun!!

Safe Journeys Everyone!

A little Jaunt on a cold windy day

This morning we departed the Pony Express in Salt Lake City for a quick trip to Wyoming to take care of business.

It was cold and windy with temps in the low thirties.  The winds were expected to pick up so we wanted to get everything done and back by 1.  We got our licenses, the beast registered and new plates, and the two papillons licensed for a lifetime.  Small towns are awesome compared to Las Vegas.  The Drivers Licenses took about 1/2 hour, Vegas would be a 1/2 day ordeal.  The city just can't keep up.  With all business taken care of, including 17 gallons of Diesel at $3.86 and 15 gallons of Propane at $2.39, the Beast was happy.  Topped of the TOAD with unleaded and away we went.  The winds were really picking up and we were happy to be back in our spot by 1PM.

The view along the way was pretty with red sandstone and rivers.  I'll bet this is beautiful in the Spring and Summer!

This week is filling up fast with Dental Appointments, Vet Appointments and Haircuts.  How did we ever find time to work full time?

Many thanks to E Squared of Two To Travel Phaeton for help on the blog!

Gidget enjoys a lap nap on the way back

Mowgli enjoys the ride back all snuggly on his quilt

Gremlins

The ShakeDown Continues!

(Or The Gremlins have snuck in)

The first week has been an adventure and exercise in patience.  How can the TV be fine when we go to bed and the next morning the screen be purple?  The solution? Rerun all the HDMI cable and redo all the connections.  Did it work?  So far so good!

For all the little things, I am not going to miss this......

On Friday we drove the toad to Wyoming to see what we needed to do to become citizens of WY.  We are now registered voters and the toad is registered with Wyoming Plates.  So long Nevada!  

 Next week we will drive the Beast for a VIN inspection and get plates for it and hopefully get our new Driver's Licenses.

Today we participated in the St Patricks Day Parade with the Utah Animal Adoption group.  Lots of really good dogs that need a forever home.  DimSum afterwards at the HoHoGourmet was interesting with lots of different dishes.  A little bit of this and a little bit of that and next thing you know, you're full and need a nap.  And nap we did!  It's finally getting relaxing and realizing I don't need to rush to fit everything in.  

Tomorrow is St Patrick's Day!

So here is an early toast to all!

First days on the road and lessons learned.   

1.  If  something works today, it may not tomorrow.
2.  If something is tight and difficult to move, don't force it.
3.  Don't use the washer and take a shower at same time with the tank valves closed.
4.  Just because a park has wi-fi, it may not be enough to download photos and post to your blog.

We left Las Vegas at 4:45 Sunday morning.  We had to leave early because there was a NASCAR race that day and we needed to drive right by the Speedway. We headed North and the sun came up just across the Utah state line. It was a drive of over 450 miles. I don't think we will drive such long distances on future jaunts. We were tired when we checked in since we stayed out late on Saturday night with old dear friends.  We had a great time, gonna miss them!   As we were setting up, the levelers wouldn't go down.  The slide out hydraulics were leaking.  Too tired to do anything more than settle in, we decided we had all week to get to repairs. The satellite was working, then it stopped in the middle of Walking Dead.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
On Monday, we called a couple of repairmen and I was shocked they were able to come that day, we're on time, professional and did all the repairs.  I was amazed. Customer service is alive and well in Salt Lake City.  Tuesday I discovered that just because you think the tank valves are open, it may not be so.  The shower stopped draining and the washer backed up. Easy fixes both,  whew this may be getting easier.  Wednesday morning we awake to the tv not working. This time it was the splitter box. Trying to get it separated from the DVD player it was attached to, the hdmi cable broke off.  Not the one that goes to the front tv, but the one that runs to the back. The day was spent repairing that problem.
The wi fi at the park is not not strong enough for anything other than a quick check of email. I'm posting with the iPad. I think I'll check with Verizon to see if there is something that will get us a better signal where ever we are.  I'm not very good with the iPad yet and don't know how to transfer pictures from my phone to the iPad. It's all a learning process!
Today is Thursday and fingers crossed, all is well!  I spent the morning making "adopt me" harnesses for the local no kill shelters dogs who are walking in the St Patricks day parade on Saturday. Hubby spent  the day at our daughters school celebrating 'pi day'.  This retirement stuff is pretty good!