You can not park overnight at Camping World in Rocklin California, and if you dare to ask if it's okay they will be very douchy about it and inform you that they are not an RV park and they don't need more thieves in their lots overnight.
What is this myth about being able to stay overnight at Camping Worlds? So far I'm batting zero. It was annoying.
We are at a rest area on the 80 between Sacramento and Reno spending the night instead. It's 4am and I'm up because the trucks are loud and the RV stinks of exhaust fumes. -_-
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Friday, August 28, 2015
Freedom is Nigh!!
I have no one to blame but my cheap self for staying in Thousand Trails San Benito so long. I despise this campground for the following reasons:
I toughed it out because I didn't want to blow money on another campground and my main priority was finishing my latest novel. Here it is if you're interested (and yes, I know you're not).
Anyway, tomorrow we have to be OUTTA HERE. But I don't have an RV park booked in Reno until September 1st. So we're going to the Camping World in Rocklin California for a one night boondock, or a TA in Sparks, or Baldini Casino in Sparks NV. We'll see. For now my plan is the Camping World for the 29th. The TA for the 30th. And Baldini Casino for the 31st. So if you never hear from me again have the police investigate these locations to discover the mystery of the missing author and her mom.
(Which I hope will never happen, cuz seriously no one knows where we are or where we're supposed to be. We could fall off the face of the planet it it would take a year for my two siblings to ever wonder what happened to us).
I can't tell you how happy I am to get away from this depressing dump. The new era of RVing happiness begins tomorrow!!
- If you find a 'working' 30 amp spot you still will not have enough power to run the air conditioner or microwave. AND IT WAS HOT! My poor cats...
- ANTS. ANTS EVERYWHERE!!! AHHHHHHH!
- The water smelled funny when I first got here but I drank it anyway. Then there were notices explaining a cracked pipe caused contamination. Okay. Fine. The water was okay for a few weeks but now it smells like rotten eggs. This time I ain't drinking it. Suffice to say, San Benito has a water problem.
- Convenient to no where, as per usual. I'm so glad we're done with Thousand Trails!!
- Cottontail bunnies are EVERYWHERE and when our screen door is open they come over to talk smack to my cats.
I toughed it out because I didn't want to blow money on another campground and my main priority was finishing my latest novel. Here it is if you're interested (and yes, I know you're not).
Anyway, tomorrow we have to be OUTTA HERE. But I don't have an RV park booked in Reno until September 1st. So we're going to the Camping World in Rocklin California for a one night boondock, or a TA in Sparks, or Baldini Casino in Sparks NV. We'll see. For now my plan is the Camping World for the 29th. The TA for the 30th. And Baldini Casino for the 31st. So if you never hear from me again have the police investigate these locations to discover the mystery of the missing author and her mom.
(Which I hope will never happen, cuz seriously no one knows where we are or where we're supposed to be. We could fall off the face of the planet it it would take a year for my two siblings to ever wonder what happened to us).
I can't tell you how happy I am to get away from this depressing dump. The new era of RVing happiness begins tomorrow!!
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Ants.
There is not much to post about of late, because we're staying in San Benito to run out the Thousand Trails clock. I'm looking forward to Reno next month...for now we're in stasis mode. I admit I've suffered a little of my old depression, but it's temporary. We'll be moving on soon.
When we first got here our greatest annoyance were the electricity issues. We couldn't run the A/C without tripping the breaker or causing our whole section of the park to lose power. Some days were HOT.
The weather has cooled lately, and a few days we've been able to get the A/C to work without issue. The heat isn't what's annoying anymore. It's ants.
I've never seen such dimwitted ants before in my life. These are not normal ants. With normal ants some scouts wander into your domain and find some bounty, be it a bowl of cat food or a cough drop who's wrapper isn't all the way closed, then the scout goes home to his ant hill while leaving a chemical trail and other ants follow it back. You have a line of ants with a pile of them working the cat kibble or whatever. You freak out. You throw away the cat food, follow the trail to where they're getting in, and block it off with poison or by smooshing a tissue into the hole. Then your ant problem is over until another scout gets in another way and finds another bounty to lead his army to.
This is how I'm accustomed to dealing with ants. In my experience, they're usually small and red. I've encountered those big black ones now and again, but they have more trouble squeezing through sealed doors. The little red ones get in everywhere.
The ants in this campground are the usual size for red ants, but they have black heads and red bodies. So, they're not the usual ant I've dealt with, and they make that all too clear.
These ants are morons. COMPLETE MORONS. All they do is scout. Scout, scout, scout. Hundreds of scouts. On your counter. On your bed. On your table. On your walls. On your ceiling. I know some of them find stuff because before I squish them I sometimes see them carrying a breadcrumb or something. And I know there are food stuffs available, like this rebellious blueberry I'm looking at under the table, where they can send for reinforcements to clear it out.
That never happens, though. I can't find a normal ant trail to destroy. They're just every where. I mean, seriously. I sprayed all the RV's points of contact with the ground so I'm not seeing too many right now, but for a while you just had to look around for a little bit and you'd spot one. Just one. By itself. WANDERING AROUND LIKE A MORON.
No organization here. Just chaotic searching. Why don't you idiots get it together?!
Well, anyway, the good thing is that they don't seem to bite. My mother and I have found so many crawling on us that if they bit we'd know it by now. They're easily squished, and not swarming like the ants we usually deal with. I'm especially allergic to ant bites. I scratched the top layer of skin off my foot after an attack. Fortunately, these are peaceful idiots.
When we first got here our greatest annoyance were the electricity issues. We couldn't run the A/C without tripping the breaker or causing our whole section of the park to lose power. Some days were HOT.
The weather has cooled lately, and a few days we've been able to get the A/C to work without issue. The heat isn't what's annoying anymore. It's ants.
I've never seen such dimwitted ants before in my life. These are not normal ants. With normal ants some scouts wander into your domain and find some bounty, be it a bowl of cat food or a cough drop who's wrapper isn't all the way closed, then the scout goes home to his ant hill while leaving a chemical trail and other ants follow it back. You have a line of ants with a pile of them working the cat kibble or whatever. You freak out. You throw away the cat food, follow the trail to where they're getting in, and block it off with poison or by smooshing a tissue into the hole. Then your ant problem is over until another scout gets in another way and finds another bounty to lead his army to.
This is how I'm accustomed to dealing with ants. In my experience, they're usually small and red. I've encountered those big black ones now and again, but they have more trouble squeezing through sealed doors. The little red ones get in everywhere.
The ants in this campground are the usual size for red ants, but they have black heads and red bodies. So, they're not the usual ant I've dealt with, and they make that all too clear.
These ants are morons. COMPLETE MORONS. All they do is scout. Scout, scout, scout. Hundreds of scouts. On your counter. On your bed. On your table. On your walls. On your ceiling. I know some of them find stuff because before I squish them I sometimes see them carrying a breadcrumb or something. And I know there are food stuffs available, like this rebellious blueberry I'm looking at under the table, where they can send for reinforcements to clear it out.
That never happens, though. I can't find a normal ant trail to destroy. They're just every where. I mean, seriously. I sprayed all the RV's points of contact with the ground so I'm not seeing too many right now, but for a while you just had to look around for a little bit and you'd spot one. Just one. By itself. WANDERING AROUND LIKE A MORON.
No organization here. Just chaotic searching. Why don't you idiots get it together?!
Well, anyway, the good thing is that they don't seem to bite. My mother and I have found so many crawling on us that if they bit we'd know it by now. They're easily squished, and not swarming like the ants we usually deal with. I'm especially allergic to ant bites. I scratched the top layer of skin off my foot after an attack. Fortunately, these are peaceful idiots.
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.
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.
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.
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.
 |
| 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:
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