This is one of those boring day-in-the-life posts. :)
Well, we knew were were going to be busy this morning, but everything took longer than we planned.
It was in the upper 30s when we woke up this morning, but it warmed up to the 60s fairly quickly.
I set out for my 8:30 a.m. appointment to get my every-six-weeks INR blood test. Quest Diagnostics is my lab of choice whenever possible. They are just friendlier, faster, and cheaper than pretty much anywhere else I've been.
As soon as I got back to the rig at Walmart, Linda took the Jeep to get her nails done at Luxury Nails, where they do the dipped powder nails she raves about. She was very happy with the results. I told her she should write a Journal entry about the whole nails thing, but she scoffed at me.
She then went to Walgreens to pick up her prescription, but they only partially filled it. They were waiting on a delivery, and she could check back later if we were still in town.
When she returned, she did the grocery shopping at Wally World.
I searched for a place to get propane. A couple places would fill cylinders only, and other places never answered their phones (perhaps it was because of Veterans Day). We would have to go to a Shell station down the road. The whole propane thing is a bit more challenging in the motorhome that it was with the fifth wheel, especially in the more remote areas we like to frequent.
I also called Clark's RV Repair to see if they could squeeze us in today. We check our lights and turn signals on the Jeep every time we hitch up, and recently the right lights weren't working. Sometimes they would and sometimes they wouldn't. Bill, the proprietor, said we could drop in and he'd "take care of us".
As soon as Linda returned from the grocery, we packed up and pulled out. It was already after noon.
We went to the Shell station and filled up the motorhome and the Jeep - $3.99/gallon. Sheesh. We waited to hitch so Linda could angle the Aspect in enough to get propane. With some cold night boondocking coming up, we wanted to make sure we had a full tank.
We finally pulled into Clark's RV Repair a little after 1:00, and Bill was out getting a part for another job. He was back soon enough, and I explained the problem.
He had me pull the Jeep into a bay and started testing the 6-point connection on the Jeep and our Blue Ox electrical cable. Since we bought the Jeep with an Invisibrake and the base plate already installed, and we bought a used Blue Ox tow bar and parts, we had no idea where to start testing. But Bill quickly determined it was an electrical cable issue (as we suspected).
Two wires were loose and a screw was missing on the Jeep end of the cable. He had that fixed within minutes and we were ready to go. He charged us only $27.50.
We hitched up the Jeep, tested the lights, and the brakes and everything was working perfectly.
There aren't many reviews of Clark's RV Repair online, but the few that are there are very good, and we can see why. He knows what he's doing, and he's very, very fair on pricing. That was quite a pleasant experience, and we'll remember him anytime we pass through this area.
Before heading out of town, we checked with Walgreens one more time, and they did, in fact, have the rest of Linda's prescription. They were quite busy and it took almost a half an hour just to pick it up, but at least we got it. We finally left Ridgecrest at 2:30, and had an 80-mile drive to Lone Pine.
The plan was to camp at Tuttle Creek BLM Campground for at least a couple of nights. They have water and a dump station, but as I got to thinking about it, I wondered if they had cut off services for the winter since it's at 5,000 feet elevation. Researching while Linda drove, I found that yes, the dump station closed Nov 1 and the water had been cut off.
Our tanks weren't that full, but we needed water. I read on another blog, that the Eastern Sierra InterAgency Visitor Center in Lone Pine has a big parking lot and a water spigot out front. Ah, but their website says "No RV Filling". I was in the middle of discussing this with an agent, when my phone call dropped.
She said it's a mixed bag and that some RVers have been out there filling up for a half hour or more. I got the impression their policy against RV filling was "flexible" but just as I was about to get her to say "okay", the phone went silent and they were about to close.
Ultimately, we decided to stop at the Boulder Creek RV Resort in Lone Pine. They were listed on the Sanidumps.com website as a place to dump tanks for $10. The nice young man there said their main dump station was closed, but he drew us a map and directed us to a pull-through site where we could dump and take on water.
We felt better having a full tank of propane, a full tank of water, and empty wastewater tanks, but it was getting dark fast. We made our way to Tuttle Creek Campground, literally in the shadow of the Sierras and Lone Pine Peak which is just under 13,000 feet. And just behind Lone Pine Peak is Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous 48 states at just under 14,500 feet.
We unhitched and I found us a site, Site 42, though several were empty and it was a bit difficult to choose in the twilight.
We got Linda backed in, and we got the rig level just as it got dark. We paid the $8/night fee for three nights. In a few days, we may move to dispersed camping in the Alabama Hills, but I like this campground and we have great Verizon data service.
Anyway, we've been looking forward to camping in this area for a long time. It's a bit later in the year and colder than we hoped, but we're here and happy and looking forward to exploring over the next few days. Until next time.
We are going full time next year but my wife is concerned about keeping her hair and nails up to par while on the road. Linda should write about how she is able to keep them up. Looking forward to attending your spring conference in Pahrump NV. Keep up the great info. Thanks
Posted by: Brent Bushman | Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 11:22 AM