Wednesday, July 29, 2015

RV Musings

Living in a small space means constantly reorganizing things for maximum space and efficiency.  Everything that needs to be out when we stop, like laundry basket, printer, air purifier, coffee maker, toaster, cutting board, Soda Stream, and so on, needs to have an official place to live.  We've been full-timing since April and have more or less gotten things sorted.

Behold our vast floor space.


My mother is constantly reorganizing her bedroom because she loves stuff and has a lot of it.  She also has trouble getting to the storage under her bed, so she likes to have everything out.  There is barely space for a water bottle on her two night stands, but it's ordered chaos.  I think she's pretty comfortable.

Meanwhile the amount of stuff in the rest of the trailer has gotten less and less.  I used to keep my tools under the couch in the drawer that pulls out.  But a pull out drawer was too convenient a spot to keep stuff that I will *maybe* need to use once a year.  So I moved the tools and tool like things (zip ties, tape gun, rubber bands, etc.) under the dinette and put my canned goods under the couch.  The canned goods used to be in the middle shelf of the pantry.  Now that large shelf is empty.  It seems weird to have an empty shelf.  The storage under the dinette with the tools is only half full.  We have nothing else we want to put there.

Over the sink cupboard


Our U shaped dinette has storage in the back lengthwise area too.  We went through that today.  There's not much we want to put there.  My inflatable boat (which I've yet to open) and winter clothes.  That's it.  It had so much empty space that I also dug out the pots and pans I don't use much but don't want to get rid of and put them there.  My paella pan, the magic bullet and its accessories, and my mom's double boiler for flan.  While we were at it we got rid of a few sauce pans that I never use.  Now there's a lot of extra space under the sink where I keep the pans.

Under the sink. The cast iron thing with the handle is my weight to use when cooking beef heart.


I guess the theme of this post is that most every place where we have storage has lots of empty room.  Here we are living in 250 square feet and we've got storage room to spare.  Rving teaches you that you really don't need that much stuff.  I mean, I won't be trimming down my wardrobe any time soon, but there's space in my tiny closet for more clothes if I really wanted.  I'm not inclined to buy more stuff when all I do is wear the same six or so pieces anyway.
The shallow storage under our TV, left side.  (I guess it's meant to be the entertainment center).
Entertainment Center, right side.

Here's the bucket of stuff we've decided we don't need anymore and will give to Goodwill next time we're in Hollister, the town 15 miles away.



Monday, July 27, 2015

Breaking Up is Probably Going to Be Harder Than This To Do...

I don't know exactly what the cancellation process is to end my Thousand Trails membership, but I set this email to see if it gets the desired results:

Hello,

We do not wish to renew our Thousand Trails membership when it expires on September 12th, 2015.  We were told we needed to give 30 days notice to cancel our membership. 

Can you please cancel our membership on September 12, 2015? We do not wish to renew.

Yamila Abraham
XXXX XXXXXX-Abraham
Member #: _________

We will be using it in August with our last camping date being August 29th.  If I don't hear a confirmation from you by Tuesday I will proceed with a certified letter, return receipt required. 

We are cancelling for the following reasons:

1.  The Menifee California campground is in a remote area where there is little to do.  It's a long drive to get decent shopping.  We really didn't like Temecula.

2.  The nice Palm Springs campground is not usable for half the year, and it's not actually convenient to Palm Springs.  (But we did like the area).

3.  Many of the bathrooms in the Acton CA campground are locked up.  (Otherwise, we liked it here a lot).

4.  The road in to the Santa Barbara campground is horrifying, particularly when towing a 32' trailer.  Santa Barbara was back-in only, which I'm not capable of doing.  The gate has a single lane, and you must wait behind any incoming reservations to be processed in order to finally get in.  There was no Internet, cell, or TV reception there outside the adult lodge.  It's 15 miles in expensive gasoline country to get to any shopping.

5.  San Benito has a major electrical problem.  We were in a 30amp spot designated as functional and lost power 4 times the first 7 days, once for 5 hours in 90 degree heat.  Once again, the campground is extremely remote.  The only way we were able to get Internet here is by using the booster I was forced to buy for the Santa Barbara campground.  Cell and TV reception is spotty.

6.  We did not get to try out any other Northern California campgrounds in our membership zones because they do not provide sewer connections.  Then the campgrounds have the unmitigated gall to charge campers $25 for a truck to pump out rigs.  I'm just disgusted by this.  I wouldn't have signed up if I knew so many California campgrounds would not be usable.

As you can see, we gave Thousand Trails a very exhaustive trail as full-timers.  We have decided we need to pay for camping in urban areas to get everything we really want out of this lifestyle.  I'm sure a lot of people like remote camping, and I'm not saying that it's bad to have campgrounds like this, but as full-timers who are still working full-time we need access to shopping and Internet/Cell connections.  Also the lack of sewer connections in Northern California.  I can't put up with that bull.
 
Sincerely, etc.
 
Well, I haven't heard anything back today yet, so I'm probably going to send that letter.  Hopefully this won't turn into a fiasco. 

Incidentally, this is the first campground where we're having a minor problem with ants.  There's a great deal of wildlife and bug life.  Last night I battled a giant ugly bug who was trying to shimmy itself under my window screen to get in.  Every time I tried to knock it off the thing would HISS at me.  Ugh.  My friend insisted that it was buzzing, not hissing, so I recorded it.  You can hear the hiss at the 8 second mark:



Saturday, July 25, 2015

Two more Weeks in Paicines

I went this morning and renewed us for the next two weeks at the Thousand Trails San Benito.  When I first got here the head ranger said, "I don't think you can do that." Meaning, buy my out week and then stay my next two in weeks.  (My Thousand Trails membership requires me to leave the system for seven days every fourteen days.  Two weeks in.  One week out.)  However, when I went to do this this morning he was on the phone and distracted and just let it slide.  So this is home until August 8th.

This park isn't perfect.  We've lost power four times during a seven day stay, and most times it's gone for several hours.  This is a mild inconvenience for me and my mom, because we have solar panels and four big honking batteries.  The only thing we need shore power for is the A/C and microwave.  The first time we lost power for four hours it was in the 90s and we had to take out our minifans.  At that time we were adamant that we'd leave after our seven day reservation.

But they came and fixed it, so I didn't jump to cancel our two 'in' weeks right away.  The guy next to us got the worst of this outage.  At Thousand Trails there are many permanent residents who live here and work in the neighboring towns.  They get what's called a 'Leased Spot.'  They're easy to spot since they often have built on porches, gardens, fences, and so forth.  It would be hard for them to pick up and move.

The guy next to me (who's name I've forgotten) had his 5th Wheels fridge break some years ago and opted to buy a $400 residential fridge and keep it outside rather than pay the $1200 to $1500 to get a new RV fridge installed.  He lost all his food in the four hours we were without power.  Our RV fridge still works, of course, since this is a new rig.  When we lost shore power it just switched to propane.  As a woman I would not put up with having a fridge outside and having my inside fridge useless.  I would fork over the money for the repair.  But, bachelors, you know.  They don't put as much importance on a functional kitchen.

I'm always grateful that I'm able to make my living off my writing.  Not blog writing, of course, but the fiction I write.  I'm finding it hard to get writing done in the RV.  It's difficult to write sultry sex scenes with your mother sitting across the table from you.  :/  For those of you interested I do write very smutty fiction, but its also very story intensive and somewhat high-concept.  If you are so inclined (and not easily offended) you can peruse all my work here: 

http://astore.amazon.com/alimationcom

My author Facebook is here:

http://www.facebook.com/yaoimila

Monday, July 20, 2015

Thousand Trails San Benito

So we're in Paicines California at the Thousand Trails San Benito park.  This is getting somewhat North in California, near San Jose.  We felt we should go north during the summer so that we have cooler climates.  That's not really working out, though.  It's sweltering here.



It seems that every California Thousand Trails park north of Santa Barbara has issues.  The majorly off-putting one for me is the lack of sewer connections at most of the parks.  We need to dump every seven days.  I've measured this.  Other people may need to dump less, but this is what we need for our situation.  That means I can't go two weeks at a park without sewer.  I'd have to move the rig to the dump station every seven days.  What a pain in the butt!  Seriously, forget it.

I was warned not to go to San Benito by a camp host who was trying to sell me an upgraded membership.  He said there are a lot of tent campers here and I may not like that.  Huh?  Um...who cares?  Incidentally, I haven't seen any tent campers (but as I said, it's sweltering).  I think he was trying to come up with a not so negative reason why we should avoid this place rather than stating the truth:  There is a major electrical problem at this camp.

A lot of reviews online mentioned this.  Most of the unoccupied 30amp spaces have red dots painted on them, indicating that they are broken.  -_-  We did find a spot that didn't have a dot, or shade, and was mostly grown over.  But I pulled in anyway and set us up here.

One of the red dots.


I've had electrical problems from the get-go.  My converter is struggling to draw amperage, making the cooling fan run on high constantly.  Then around 11am we lost power.  -_-  It was 85 degrees and very humid.  The thought of moving the RV just made me sick.  It was so hard to find even this spot, and this supposedly functional electric pedestal didn't even last a day.  How long would the next one last if we did move?

Ugh.  Well I wandered around with my surge guard testing it on other spots.  Some long-term residents saw me and gave me advice.  They seemed to think I could tell someone here that my electric went and it would be addressed.  I assumed the opposite, since the park allowed so many spots to just break and stay broken.  However, they hailed a golf-cart riding camp host and within an hour we had electric again.

@_@  Gosh.  That was good.  Maybe this place isn't so bad?  Sure my converter fan is running non-stop, but at least I have Air Conditioning and a sewer connection.



There's lots of amazing wildlife here, also.  We have big flocks of quail running around with their silly hats and red-headed woodpeckers.  As we came in late last night after driving to Stockton to finally sell the tow dolly (yee-haw!) we saw deer and two little foals sipping a puddle made by a leaking spigot.  That was breath-taking.  We saw several more deer as we drove around for 20 minutes like morons trying to find where the hell our RV was in this massive maze-like park.  The wild-life is neato.  Deers and bunnies everywhere!

I've gone ahead and changed our reservation so that we stay here for three weeks.  I've exhausted our gasoline budget.  Since the park is working reasonably for us we may as well stay until I get my next infusion of royalties from Amazon.  (That's my monthly pay, what I life on).

There's fruit stands all over the place. Some are major tourist attractions like Casa de Fruta. Not cheap, but we bought fruit anyway.  This haul was from a smaller stand between Stockton and Hollister.  The apricots seem huge to me.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Boondock Boondoggle PART TWO!!!!

Oh my God...where do I even begin?  The last three days have been a horrifying adventure which my poor mother should never have to endure.

First, if you recall, back on July 3rd we did a one night boondock on a deadend road next to a Walmart in Lompoc California.  We needed some place for one night since the Santa Barbara RV park did not have space for us that day.  So I went to Walmart with permission for one night in their lot, but the lot was crowded, and I have a 32' rig with an SUV attached.  I didn't see the space for us. 

However, next to the Walmart was a deadend road with an open field on one side leading to an airport where people did skydiving (hence the need for the open field).  On the other side of the road was a factory parking lot, fenced off with barbwire from the road, and a bus station for the Chumash Casino where employees and the odd Lompoc local or two could hitch a ride to the casino.

On this street there was a class A with a toad and a travel trailer, unhitched, with it's slide out.  Both looked like long-term residents.

Also in Lompoc were streets that allowed overnight truck parking with signs that said, 'Overnight Trucks Park between signs' and the like.

So the town of Lompoc seemed to me to be tolerant over overnight camping on the streets.  (Remember, I have no idea what I'm talking about).  And this out of the way street seemed to have some long term residents with plenty of room for the low flow of traffic and a few more occupants.

Lompoc is 70 degrees in July which makes it a perfect boondocking place.  It also has great reception for cell, Internet, and TV.  And then, everything you need is in walking distance, with a Walmart, grocery store, and Chinese massage (I love chair massages) next door.

We were miserable in Santa Barbara so we decided to leave two days early and go straight back to our boondock.  Well...we actually thought we were leaving only one day early, but I screwed up.

When we got there the unhitched trailer was gone, but there was a 5th Wheel without a truck attached and the Class A with the toad was still there.  I felt confident that we could boondock here the seven out days I required.  It was also going to be a much better location for us than Santa Barbara--a lot cooler too~!  And with plenty of shopping to give us exercise.  Yay!

So we spent the night without incident.  The next morning we went shopping and I got a chair massage.  Then we came back and enjoyed the TV and Internet we were now getting without a problem.  The breeze through the windows were cool.  We were happy campers.

UNTIL THE SHERIFF ROLLED BY!!!

AHHHH!  I immediately panicked and started tearing down.  But then he left the street without doing anything.  I went out to survey the situation and realized that the 5th Wheel now had a truck attached and a person inside it.

I was still ready to give up on this boondock.  I started researching for a campground somewhere between there and San Benito, where we'd spend our next two 'in weeks' with Thousand Trails.  Before I can reserve us anything the Sheriff is back!!

AHHHHH!

Now we're in uber-panick mode, expecting the fist-banging at our door at any moment.  Fortunately, he starts with the truck and fifth-wheel behind us.  While he's berating and giving a ticket to that poor guy, we put in the slide and GO!!  We got out of there before he could ticket us.  HALLELUJAH!

I went into the Walmart parking lot and resumed a frantic search for a campground.  But it was 6pm. All the numbers I called were going to voicemail and there was no online booking for most of the places.  We seriously needed another boondock for the night so I could get us settled some place the next morning.

So we start on a two hour drive to the Bakersfield Camping World.  It was all I could think of in a pinch.  I knew we could park overnight there and figure things out the next morning.

As we're headed there, with our jangled nerves settling, and many prayers of thanks to have escaped without being harassed or ticketed, I realize I'm starving.  A place appears that looks perfect for a travel trailer to drive into.  It's the tiny town of Cayuma, with it's Post Office / Market / Restaurant / Bar...a strip going parallel to the highway.

This picture is from Miraclerooters.com since I don't remember to take pictures when I'm stressed.
As you can see from this old picture, the parking is on-street on either side.  Easy on, easy off.  Perfect for those who are towing and big trucks.  The highway is on the other side of that palm tree on the right. 

We went into the less bar looking restaurant (I think there was a burger place too) and ordered schwarma and shish, which was delicious.   While I'm eating there I have my mom ask one of the workers in Spanish if we can just stay here overnight.  It's 8pm by now and it's cooled down.  The answer was yes, but we checked with the manager too.  "Park anywhere you want."

Picture of Cayuma Deli from Richard S., Posted to Yelp.com
I'm glad, because it was a really nice little road side town with friendly people and a super cool little market.  We were exhausted, mentally and emotionally.  We were glad to have a place to stay the night.

As it got later big rigs parked around us (there was still room for more, so we weren't putting anyone out) and also bedded for the night.

Then at 7am my mom told me to get up and move us so we weren't against traffic.  I had parked against traffic so we could open the slide over the curb and not block the road.  She saw construction people setting up cones and got spooked that there would be more cops and more risk of harassment.  I just wanted to go back to sleep, but I grudingly decided to get us going.

We booked our out week in San Benito, the park we'd be headed to anyway.  So maybe we'd spend three weeks here?  It was a five hour drive and I swear I fell full asleep twice.  Fortunately my sleep-driving is excellent.

We heard loads of bad reviews of this place.  I still booked it because it's the only park up this way that has sewer connections at every site.  Seriously...what the heck Thousand Trails?  Sewer connections are mandatory at RV parks.  I literally insist on them.  And if you don't provide them, how DARE you charge people $25 per pump out?  This sort of stuff reinforces my decision not to renew this September.

Anyway, the big beef with San Benito everyone has is the broken electric.  Half or so of the 30 amp spaces have red dots spray-painted on the meter boxes, meaning they're broken.  I drove over a dirt mound to turn a 'not really a pull-thru' into a pull-thru at a spot that didn't have a red dot. 

Now...I don't know.  I have our electric off right now because when it's on the fan runs continuously.  This didn't happen in Santa Barbara.  The converter hums when we use the power and not with that much noise.  Here the converter hums and hums like it's straining and the breakers inside felt warm. 

I want to assume that it's got something to do with the electricity here being bad.  I *have* to assume that for now because, as usual, we're in the middle of no where and can't get a repair guy up here (or will pay a mint to get one).  I'm also not going to call a repairman unless I go to a NORMAL camp without rampant electrical problems and see the same problem.  I fully realize something could have gotten bumped or broken during the long drive.  I just think it's the shit electric here.  I'm hoping it is anyway.

So for now we turned off the 'main' breaker and are using our inverter for power.  The night has cooled down an we don't need A/C or microwave.  When it heats up tomorrow I will flip the switch and run it just as much as I need to.  I'm worried about frying my system.  If anyone has experience with this sort of thing I'd greatly appreciate some advice.

Beside the electric, San Benito seems to be a reasonable park with cute quail flocks running by and big spaces with few neighbors due to all the broken electrical boxes.  I have booked us into a different park after our 7 out days are done...but I may just stay here.  I'm not sure yet.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

"Who Needs Internet?"

Me.  I need Internet.  ME.



The quote that is the title of this post was from a young woman I met in the lodge when I was mooching for bandwidth.  Her point was that she came out here for vacation, to be outdoors and enjoy the trails and scenery.


Not.  Me.

I'm still working, and I require Internet.  But to say that's all I need Internet for would be a lie.  I socialize and entertain myself through the Interwebs.  I spend far more time online recreationally than I do outside.  The same is true for my mother.  Her excuse is limited mobility. 

I have no excuse.

I like beautiful scenery.  When I'm driving around here and a lovely vista opens before me it takes my breath away, and I enjoy it.  However, I don't enjoy it so much that I want to get out of the car and climb up a trail to get a better look.



I found out some years ago that I don't like hiking.  This was during the throes of my depression when I was trying to do anything to get out and be around more people.  I went to Meetup.com and looked for activities that would let me be with others while also getting me some exercise.  Hiking was a natural fit.  Or so I thought.  Here is what I posted on Facebook that day about my hike:

Today I learned I don't like hiking. Shocking, right? I mean you look at my profile picture with the pink frillies and hair extensions and think: total grapenut. No. Srsly, my profile pic matches me perfectly: PRINCESS. Hiking is dangerous, dusty, and there are bugs. WTF was I thinking?

After that I searched for 'walks' instead of hikes, and was much happier walking with senior citizens from the M Resort to the Starbucks down a large paved biking path.  Sidewalks, people.  They're awesome.

I'm probably alienating a lot of readers who love the outdoors.  I'm not trying to.  This post is more about some soul-searching.  That's what this blog is all about, isn't it?  'Searching Fulltime.'  I'm still searching to find places and activities that will fulfill me.

Well...Thousand Trails is OUT.  I don't want remote mountains anymore.  I don't want hiking trails.  I don't want 20 mile drives to reach stores.  This is not what I want out of my RVing experience.  It's dumb, I know, because having a camper means camping, but camping is not for me, and certainly not for my mom.

I will be done with Thousand Trails soon and that means a chance to chart my course without the burden of taking advantage of a membership we paid $545 for. 

First stop:  A month in Reno, Nevada.  That's where we're going to spend our September.  Cringe if you wish, but large, climate controlled casinos are a great place to walk around.  My mom loves slot machines and I love playing craps.  We'll have to pace ourselves, but we'll have a great time exploring this city.

Cities.  That's my new theme.

After Reno we're going to boondock our way down back to Pahrump Nevada to stay at the Treasure Resort there.  This is where our journey began last April and we really like the place.  It's remote, but has a full gym and bowling alley.  My mom will also get to reconvene with the church she was a part of.  That will be our October.

November will mean it's too cold to stay in Pahrump so to the south we go.  One month in Laughlin.  Another gambling town we enjoyed on a short visit last year.  We feel it's worth hanging out there for a month.

December will bring us souther still, to Yuma Arizona.  That will put us on the border of Mexico, particularly Dental City.  My mom can finally get her teeth taken care of.  We'll spend December enjoying both countries.  I've never been to Mexico and really look forward to it.

I'd like to get to San Diego after that.  I was there briefly for a convention some years back, but never got to explore.  I'd like to spend a month enjoying that city.  That's January.

And then...I don't know.  We'll play it by ear.  I'm just telling you, I'm done with remote, dirt, bugs, and varmints.  I want urban and convenient, with plenty of things like zoos and museums. 

So begins our next journey....well, in September anyway.




Sunday, July 12, 2015

Life Without Internet

I fell off the face of the planet for a while because the Thousand Trails in Santa Barbara (actually 20 miles away from anywhere in the San Padre National Forest) does not get Verizon or even a single television channel.  BOO. 

We tried to climb to the highest (back-in only...so annoying) row here, but no good.  I got one measly  bar that I can't do anything with.  I have to go to the lodge to get connected.  There I get annoyingly slow 2 to 3 bars.  I got an antenna booster from the Verizon in Santa Barbara, but the numbskull employee failed to have me order the adapter wire required by everyone who purchases that item (as it states in the description).  Ugh.  I'm still fighting to get what I need.

This park has nice ambiance, with mountains in spitting distance on all sides, but crap for amenities.  They charge for a lot of things that were complimentary in Acton.  The road in is also treacherous for a car, much less an RV.  Mostly though, I'm annoyed that I can't get online in my rig.

Well, no Internet means being productive in other ways.  I cleaned up the shelf above my bed and nailed some stuff down so that I don't have to drag everything down when we move.  I velcroed down the toaster and coffee-maker so they can live in their spots permanently.  I also moved our tools (which I rarely need to access) from the drawer under the couch to the storage under the dinnette.  Then I moved my canned goods (which I access frequently) to the easier to get to drawer under the couch.  This will make life a bit easier.

Santa Barbara is a very gentrified area, far too crowded and expensive for my tastes.  We saw that gentrification right in front of us as two Albertsons (where I'd planned to shop) turned to some other fancy-schmancy grocery that was far more expensive.  x_x  Ugh. 

I went to the Goleta Pier to fish.  This was a great out of the way beach and a wonderful pier.  Unfortunately I didn't catch anything.  I have a feeling the oil spill is still messing the area up.

Our boondock location in Lompoc was a better camp that this place.  Since there seemed to be some long-term rigs in that out of  way street beside Walmart we're thinking of staying there for our out days.  We'll see how that goes...

In September our Thousand Trails is up and we've decided not to renew.  There's issues at every campground.  At least if we can chose the location of our campgrounds we might feel better about putting up with minor bullshit.  As it is...ugh.  We don't want any more stays at places convenient to nowhere, and deceptively named.

We think it's better to stay at monthlys whereever we have to be for the winter and look into workkamping during our summer seasons.



Friday, July 3, 2015

So Far So Good!

Greetings from Lompoc California!  We escaped the craptastic Thousand Trails Encore resort in Oceano ('Pismo Beach').  We made it to the boondock! 



Originally the plan was to park in the Walmart lot, but the holiday weekend is coming up and there is no where to fit 40 feet of suv and rv.  That's fine because while I was Google snooping I saw a road beside Walmart where campers seemed to be boondocking.  This is next to a shuttle service to the Chumash Casino and beside an airport where people are skydiving.  Apparently overnighters are tolerated here.  We saw another travel trailer unhitched and with their slide out.  If they can do it so can we!


As you can see there are two other RVs down this road.  This is Aviation Street.  The road ends in a nice round turn around area.  Totally perfect for boondocking!!  We're much more level here than we were at the horrible Pismo Beach park. 

Also, the amenities at this RV resort can't be beat!  We have internet and power.  It's 70 degrees out with awesome breezes.  There's a Walmart nearby with a McDonalds in it (those guacamole chicken burgers with the potato buns are the CATS ASS [that means they're good]).  I got a chair massage at a little massage place, and some shorts for $8!  Woot!

It seems safe-ish here.  I'm not as scared at the last time we boondocked.  I think we'll be fine!



Thursday, July 2, 2015

TOMORROW WE BOONDOCK!!!

OMG!!  Eeee~!  That's right.  We're boondocking again.  If you read my last post where we attempted to do this you'd know why the all caps title is appropriate.

This is a little easier, though.  I just need a place to park for one day and night.  I'm not trying to find BLM land or some other legal boondock to spend my 7 'out days' at.  I just couldn't get an RV reservation for July 3rd.  July 4th--no problem!  But the 3rd was fully booked in the Thousand Trails Pismo Beach camp.  So I knew I would need to find a one nighter somewhere.

I called a bunch of Walmarts between Oceano (where I am now) and Santa Barbara (where I'm going next).  I asked if it would be okay to park my RV overnight in their lot. 

Santa Maria:  No. 

Arroyo Grande:  Nope. 

Pasco Robles:  Sure.  But I can't tell you yes, so if anyone asks I never did because of official policies and blah blah blah.

Great!  A SOLID YES!  Pasco Robles it is.  I'm so proud to have found a place for the rig and...

GAH!!  I can't boondock in 90 degree weather!  I don't have AC when I'm on solar power!  Even if I stuff my mom in Walmart all day what about my furry babies!

So I researched Walmarts where it's not too hot and came up with one in Lompoc, which said:  "Yes you can park overnight, but we ask that you leave early in the morning."  CAN DO!!!

Here's the game plan:




So, I'll come in on No street (or...um...maybe it's North O Street?) and pull into that little hidden cluster of parking spaces.  Um...actually I have to come in the other direction.  I want the slide (which is on the driver's side) to be facing the building so I can open it without out street traffic seeing.

And there's a redbox!  @-@  Yay!  We'll spend the day renting movies. 

Hopefully this boondock won't be a boondoggle.  Stay tuned!!!



Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Pier Fishing in Pismo Beach!

Well, I'm happy to say things perked up a little from my recent 'Dismal Beach' post.  I went fishing on the pier and caught some yummy smelts!





This was on Monday and we actually got lucky with parking.  It was still a long walk to a good fishing spot on the pier, though.  I like California pier fishing because it doesn't require a license.  For an out of state fishing license it would cost me something like $140.  I'm WAAAAY too cheap for that.

I don't care if they're small.  I'm still eating them!

 My handicapped mother, who has no interest in fishing besides eating the fish, could get a license for free.  She's not going to bother.  She knows I'll force her to do shore fishing to at least catch me bait...



I can't set up my pole to save my life.  There seems to be a drunk gentleman on every pier who will do this for me.  No.  Seriously.  Every time I've ever pier fished some guy drinking from a flash or small bottle in their pocket gets my rod sorted for me.  They do the fancy double loop knots that I would need a diagram in front of me to figure out.  I guess these are beach bums?  I really appreciate their help!

Smelts were running...but not fast enough!!!  Cleaning the fish was fun, despite the warnings not to feed the birds.  I mean...how can I not throw a fish head or two to a hungry pelican?  ;_;  So cruel.  I got my arm chomped twice by a pelican when I got to close by accident.  It was kind of cute.  It might have gotten a piece of my bait by way of an apology, but I can neither confirm or deny this.

Wutta haul!

Look at all the fishies I ended up with by the end of the day!  It was the first time I actually had a catch I could turn into a meal.  :D  This was our lunch today!





Om nom nom!  The littlelest ones were great because the bones fried up and you could eat them, bones and all.  The biggest ones were great because the bones separated with relative ease.  The in-between ones were a pain in the butt...BUT WE ATE THEM ANYWAY!

Smelt is so tender!  Not fishy at all.  Very delicious meat.  It just melts in your mouth!

So things were a lot better Monday.  :)