You know you’re a fulltime RV’er when…….. Fill
in the blank, there are hundreds of answers that would apply. I had one of
these moments the other day and had to laugh at myself. I was at our daughter’s
house using the bathroom. Instead of reaching for the flusher on the side of
the toilet, my right foot automatically went for the foot flush on the bottom
of the stool! Luckily there was no one around to witness this stupidity (that
would have been awkward)!
Returning to Salt Lake we were filled with
anticipation. Not only do we get to see our daughter and son-in-law, our son and daughter in-law
and our grandkids, we also start our great Alaska adventure from here in less
than month! With less than 4 weeks here we had a long list of things to do and
get done.
The main item on Barb’s itinerary is to take
care of our daughter, Jessica, who is having minor surgery. As a result she has
restrictions on what she can do and how much she can lift for 4 weeks or so. Not
an easy task with a 6 and 2 year old! In additional to tending to Jessica, Barb
will be cooking, cleaning, laundry, taking Dylan to and from school and
watching baby Kendall…… you know all those things it takes to keep a household
in order.
Luckily Jessica’s husband Shane
will be there to help out as well.
The surgery went well and although sore, Jessica
was recovering comfortably at home while Barb tended to her every need. However,
a day after Jessica’s surgery Shane came home from work doubled over in pain.
An ultrasound later that day resulted in Shane having his gallbladder removed!
Now Barb had two invalids to care for!
Where was I you ask? As far away from there as I
could get! See ya later Barbie, I am outta here! Actually, I was a mere 30
miles south at our son Forrest’s house helping him getting ready to list it. We
installed baseboards and trim in the new bathroom downstairs as well as cleaned
and organized the garage for a yard sale that coming weekend. They listed their
house on Tuesday and immediately had showings scheduled. The first day they had
5 showings and by the 4
th day they had not one but two full price
offers!
In the meantime we moved our rig to the marina
just south of the city on Utah Lake. Daisy and I settled in there while Barb
continued to spend her days and nights up at Jessica’s.
Next on our list was getting the camper ready
for our Alaska adventure! Before we headed south to Quartzsite in December we
had put the camper in the storage area here at the marina and filled it with
the totes we did not want with us down in Quartzsite (all our warm clothing,
hunting/fishing equipment….) Needless to say we were a little overwhelmed when
we opened it up to see it stuffed full of totes!
But before we get to cleaning it out and stocking
it for the Alaska adventure, we need to see if it even fits on the truck! If
you recall, when Barb bought it last fall she had it delivered here to the
storage area at the marina so it has not even been on the truck yet. So after
Barb dropped Dylan off at kindergarten, she came down to the marina and we got
busy; remove the 5th wheel hitch from the truck, empty tool chest
from back of truck, remove tool chest, disconnect backup camera from tailgate,
remove tailgate from truck…….now you can see why Barb did not test it when she
bought it!
Truck ready, we headed over to the camper for
the test fitting….remove the cover, lift the camper remove 55 gallon drums it
was resting on and slip the truck under the camper. Although tight on the
sides, it fit like a glove! After testing all the lights and measuring the
tie-downs so we could buy chains we reversed the entire process getting the
truck back in order. Several hours later we had crossed that off our list!
 |
| Ready........ |
 |
| Easy does it! |
 |
| Success! |
Over the next couple of weeks we slowly went
through every tote, drawer, nook and cranny in the rig to determine if we
were moving it into the camper or storing it in the rig for the next 6 months.
One thing we discovered….we still have too much stuff! There are items that we
have not touched in two years. We listed and sold some of these items while
others we still just cannot part with. In the end we are all packed and ready
for our adventure!
Of all the places we visit,
Salt Lake is by far the one we look forward to the most. We spent Easter at
Jessica’s (Forrest, Somer and Lily went snowboarding). We had several garage
sales at Forrest’s on the weekends to help him get rid of stuff, helped him
with a few items on his inspection checklist, we went out for sushi, BBQ, a
brewery and even went to a movie!
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| Kendall found an egg! |
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| And her basket! |
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| Dylan found his basket! |
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| Meanwhile.....Forrest, Somer and Lily were skiing! |
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| Sampling a few brews at Epic Brewing Co. |
This last week here we are putting the 5
th
wheel in storage and have started living in the camper! We wanted to have a few
days in the camper while still in town just in case.
 |
| Goodbye home, see you in 5 or 6 months! |
You think 400 square feet
is tight, how about 100?!?! Besides the size difference the next biggest change
for us (well me) is no TV. My brother Rod did send us a lot of movies so we
will have some entertainment for those rainy days.
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| Good thing we all like each other! |
We leave in less than a week
for this adventure within an adventure, it is going to be an interesting five
months to say the least……stay tuned!
