Our RV Adventures

This is Annisten Robinson, Jan’s great-niece and granddaughter to Jan’s sister, Debbie. She’s really growing up fast.

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And this red-haired beauty is Zoe Nadeau, two days old and Landon’s new 2nd cousin.

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Nick and Terry left Patio Gardens and moved the 6 miles over here to Countryside around 11am . . . and moved . . . and moved.

The first site they were given had a power problem, and the second site they were given had a power problem, and the third site they were given had a problem . . . I think I’m sensing a pattern here.

On the first and second sites, Nick’s Progressive Electrical Management System (EMS) said that one leg of the power was only 80 volts or so. The third site had an open ground, but after a quick repair by the park maintenance guy, the circuit tested fine, and they put down roots. Or the levelers, anyway.

Then about 4pm Nick and Terry came by and we all headed out for dinner at Organ Stop Pizza. And it turned out to be a real experience.

What you’ve got is a pizza place, putting out very good pizza, and, oh by the way, they’ve also got the world’s largest Wurlitzer Pipe Organ.

Originally built for the Denver Theater in 1927, and used into the 1930’s, talkies and the Great Depression lead to its silencing. Then it was purchased by Organ Stop Pizza in the early 70’s and installed in their restaurant. Since then, parts from other ill-fated Wurlitzers have been added on, making this almost 6000 pipe organ, the largest in the world.

In 1997 the restaurant commissioned the building of a new console to better support the many controls, keys and pedals.

The console resides on a 8000 pound hydraulic elevator that raises, lowers, and rotates the console, allowing it to appear and disappear from the stage.

The organ also has a lot of lightning effects, and other things like bubble machines.

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This final photo shows how the pipes and other instruments cover the entire rear wall. It also shows the stage with the console retracted.

Oh, and the pizza was pretty good, too. A crispy, thin crust pizza, it wasn’t doughy or crunchy. Very good, especially for a place that you also go for the entertainment.

Well worth a second visit.

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Thought for the Day:

There are no armed slaves, and only the unarmed can be enslaved.

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Jan’s been wanting to have breakfast some morning, and today was the day. We decided to give Over Easy a try. A new entry in the “breakfast and lunch only” field, along with places like The Egg & I, Jimmy’s Egg, Le Peep, and others,

and it turns out, a pretty good entry, at that.

Jan went old-school with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, but went a little wild with brioche toast, which she said was delicious.

I, on the other hand, went with the Caramelized Banana and Pecan Brioche French Toast, and WOW, was it good. Hopefully we’ll go back.

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Now that’s just pitiful!

I’ve mentioned before how much Mister likes boxes, especially Amazon boxes like this one. He likes to curl up in them, and he likes to snack on them. But sometimes it’s a futile attempt.

He did try though, a valiant effort, but he just won’t fit. He’d sit in it, get out, turn around, look at it, then try it again from the other direction. Finally he just gave up and started chewing on it.

Whatever works, I guess.

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It seems like every time I talk to Thousand Trails, I get more confused. I called today to first book the rest of our time here at Countryside and then book our two week stay at Tahoe Valley RV Park in South Lake Tahoe from 5/16 to 5/30.

I had been told last week that I could stay two weeks here at Countryside at $3 a night and then I would have to be out of the park for a week before I could come back in.

As it turned out, being ‘out the park’, just meant paying the $140 a week Passport America for one week, and then I could come back in for $3 a night until we leave the first of May.

Even though this was supposedly all set up it still took about 15 minutes to get it finalized, and they still got me booked into the wrong park to start with.

Then I tried to book the two weeks at Tahoe Valley and ran into another problem. Although I could see Tahoe Valley in my TT park list online, I couldn’t access it or book it myself.

When this happened when I tried to book our stay here at Countryside, I was once again told that we could use any park that was on our list, but if I couldn’t do it online, just call TT and they would take care of it.

But when I tried today, I was told that I couldn’t stay at that park. When I said I had repeatedly been told by them that if I could see a park I could stay there, the lady went off for about 10 minutes, before coming back and saying, well, I COULD stay there, but only in a tent. WTH?

When I asked her her what good was the list if it wasn’t correct, and how we could plan our travels under those circumstances, she didn’t really have an answer.

Finally I gave up, and figured I’d try again tomorrow and hopefully get someone else who could be more helpful.

A little later I started going through the online list, trying to determine what parks I could and could not visit.

I played around for a while, checking out different areas of the Thousand Trails site. And then all of a sudden I could access the Tahoe Village park. And the other ‘forbidden’ parks too.

But I thought I’d made a mistake when I started trying other things, going in and out of the program, and then suddenly it didn’t work anymore. And I hadn’t taken time to go ahead and book Tahoe Village while I could. But I keep on trying things and discovered the secret.

When you log into TT, you first see your profile page with your name, address, etc. A little further down the page, you find a drop-down box saying Select From Your Preserves. And note it says “Your” preserves.

When you select a regular TT park, you are taken to another page telling you about that particular park. Then up on the top left is a box that says Make A Reservation where you can do just that.

But if you first select a ‘forbidden’ park from the initial profile page, it doesn’t go anywhere. It merely refreshes the page and puts you right back where you started.

However on that same profile page, up on the left side, under the heading Quick Links, there is a Book A Reservation link at the very top. If you go here, you can select one of the ‘forbidden’ parks and book it. And I did.

And it’s not a Tent site either.

With that done, I went down to the office to pick up our Amazon package, and also be sure that when we change sites next Sunday, we go right back next door to #441 from #440. I’m glad I did because the computer had us moving to 507.

That taken care of,  I dropped off a stack of Gypsy Journal newspapers at the park laundry, a bag of garbage at the dumpster, and some mail, including the taxes, at the PO.

On the way home I stopped off to fill up the truck and discovered that overnight, unleaded had jumped 10 cents gallon. It was $3.49 yesterday and $3.59 everywhere today.

But diesel stayed the same. ???

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6000 Miles to Go:

This map diagrams our travels for pretty much the rest of the year. Leaving here at Apache Junction on May 1st, this 6000 miles gets us back to Houston on August 16th, just in time for Landon’s 3rd birthday.

After that we may gate guard for a few months before coming back to Houston right before Thanksgiving where we’ll spend the winter.

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About 4:45 Nick and Terry showed up at our door, ready to go to supper. They had come by to check out their new site. They’re moving over here to Countryside to take advantage of the $3 a night cost.

We ended up at their favorite local Chinese Buffet, #1 Eastern Super Buffet. And it’s their favorite for a good reason. A really, really good reason, especially for the Hot & Sour Soup and the ribs.

Getting back to the rig, Jan and I headed out for our 1 mile+ walk before calling it a night.

It’ll be nice to have Nick and Terry closer to us starting tomorrow.

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Thought for the Day:

"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American…[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people." -  Tench Coxe, Economist, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Commissioner of Revenue of the United States.

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