Thursday, September 10, 2015

Black Flag and Socializing

It's  107* in September. The "big voice" has been alerting us all day to weather conditions - because your melting limbs may not be enough for you to realize it's  HOT out there.  We have a new Air Conditioner in our 31 FT Keystone Outback 31RQS....but it simply doesn't cool down as far as we'd like in this type of heat.

How DO you deal with the heat when you live in a sardine can?

We met up with some of the kids' friends at the bowling alley - Air Conditioned fun.
Sydney, (ana)Stacia, Ana(stacia)

Jay and Alex

Xavier

Group

I cooked dinner in the lounge at the campground rather than turning on the oven in The Caboose. We grilled one night but it was BLAZING OUT there at grilling time.  

It only took 3 days for our site to become the "trailerhood" place for kids....and Stacia was thrilled. It reminded me a bit of our neighborhood in Misawa. 

 
Our camp host, Mike, loves to reminisce about his time in the special forces. I love to listen.
I spent some time visiting with a 65 yo couple who went on the road a week ago. He told me he wished they'd done it 10 years ago - "like I think you all are doing." Hmmm....we must have the "look."  I told him we'd been full-timing 11 days. We've both joined the same RV club - Escapees - a fun connection.  We also talked about the kids, how they felt, how we handled alone time, what they thought of homeschooling and such.

This evening I reconnected with Amy and Tegan. She showed me her beautifully redecorated 5er (Fifth Wheel) . I'm content. The Caboose is starting to feel like home. We are fitting everything in just fine and being "only 31 ft" long allows us to fit into state campgrounds and BLM slots....but WHOEEEE  those new rigs are BIG, SHINY and FANCY. I AM interested in her INTEX inflatable hot tub. Who knew? One CAN have an onsen on the road....and if we boondock on some BLM secluded land I may be able to do it right. ::wink::
 
I FINALLY noticed Michael was packing things up in preparation for our leaving in the morning (11 Sept). I left off the socializing and joined him. We let the kids keep playing. They've missed having a neighborhood of kids to play with since we left Japan. It's ironic we'd find community while being transient.  Many seem more open to chat on the road.  This is a good time to note we are exploring state campgrounds up in the mountains for a couple of days - expect internet silence.
Load master
 
Check out the wild sky caused by smoke from the Butte fire.
 
We will LEAVE this weather as soon as Michael is finished with his doctor's appointment tomorrow. We're heading north for a while and I'm not sure where we're going from there.

Other than trying to stay cool and socializing, we also washed our sheets and another load of laundry, and Michael finished our first knocking-things-out project today - the TV is set in place.
 
 
Nolan and I tried to stock up on a week's worth of food. We still can't get meat for a week in the freezer - but once I eat down some vegan stuff we should be fine. I am learning to shop and think in a new way in the kitchen. I'll have to share some cooking adventures when we are settled with more time to blog.