Oct. to late Nov. 2024

October was a bit boring…I used the newest heat pump extensively to good effect with both heating and cooling working fine. Made sure the venting that exits the output tunnel and heads up the rear than inside of the RV was well sealed without any air leaks. Then I hired some handymen to help move the two salvage heat pumps onto a pallet on the cement pad directly behind my RV. Got permission from the park manager to leave them there until spring when I should be able to part them out and sell the parts online. Winter is when most RVers ‘park’ their RVs at home for the season so I’d not expect to get any buyers. I didn’t do much of anything this month but stay home and watch the start up of the football season.

I did get a potential buyer that saw my ad on Facebook Marketplace and it turned out he only lived a couple blocks from me. Turned out he had a 6537 model, which is an odd duck but he couldn’t buy my 6535 (same as a 46515 model that the salvage units are) because it won’t fit. He did hire me to help get it working properly, which I did and made a bit of pocket money.

November became a travel month…Since I had the heat pump working, installed and buttoned up, had the salvage heat pumps put to bed with a nice blue tarp covering them, it was time to think about heading south for the winter. But first, Ms. Kitty…we had a wind storm come through around 2 weeks before I was planning on heading out and to protect my LR slide awning…which was flapping way too much…I pulled in the LR slide. This is often a warning to Ms. Kitty that we’re going to be traveling. She hates travel in the RV. Or car. So she hid in the BR and didn’t come out until the next day when the weather was sunny and warm. I left the door open for her like I do and she heard that and came zooming out of the BR like a shot and zipped out of the door. She did NOT return for 26 hours! I feared she was gone forever but did the normal posting to social media about her with a picture. Here she is lounging in the BR…when she senses we’re going to be driving, she hides under the bedspread on the floor and then acts freaky whenever I stop, trying her damnedest to escape out of the door when I open it, or sitting in the stairwell yowling at the closed door. Very often on the route I can let her out, but other times, it’s just not allowed or appropriate.

Anyway, when she did come back she would run to the door if she had any thought I was preparing to leave, which since I was preparing, means a lot of times.

Finally, I gave it some thought, and decided that she wanted a divorce from driving in the RV with me and asked my daughter if she would adopter her. Nope. Than I asked my son and he said sure. Which was a relief as after 5 years of dealing with a cat who hated travel I was getting tired of it myself. There were many times when she’d sneak outside when I stopped for fuel and then I’d have to chase her down while in some town I was only passing through. Never took longer than an hour to get her back inside as she’d stay near the RV but…

She’s a good cat, I had her trained well so not a bother really, and I enjoyed her company…but like her, I needed a break from her escape attempts and the litter box messes. She’ll be fine with my apartment dwelling son and he took right to her.

My son picked up Ms. Kitty the day I left, Nov. 12th, and I headed straight south to John Day, Oregon. Outside of John Day it looks like this:

The closer I get, the more forest.

Only takes 3.5 hours and once I get there, I disconnect the car and drive over to Outpost Pizza & Pub for their meatloaf dinner that I’ve gotten very fond of over the years. Always stop there when I’m in John Day. The soup was chicken corn chowder with a hot spicy flavor that was just delicious. So was everything else for that matter. I get two meals out of this but I’d finished the soup so I got another serving to take home.

Next morning, I’m heading up into the mountains outside of John Day and we have snow! None on the roads thankfully.

Eventually I’m back down in the valleys and no worries about slipping on snow.

I stopped the 2nd night at the Model T RV park in Winnemucca. I’d stopped to fuel up before getting to the RV park at around 4:20 PM. Had the left over soup plus a home made toasted cheese sandwich for dinner. Yum.

Next morning in the chill, had to worry the LR slide in as it was hesitant about retracting, I could hear the pump motor running but the slide wouldn’t budge. But after lowering the passenger side of the RV with the jacks, that gave enough gravity assist that I could get it in. That RV park still has the Veterans discount that I took advantage of but it’s still more expensive than last May when I paid $27/nite. This time it’s $32/nite. Stayed one night and didn’t gamble or eat out. And this leg of the trip I researched the shortcut through Austin, Nevada which is very steep and hilly into and out of town, so cold weather and snow possibility is a factor. The road report showed it was clear, and the weather report showed sunshine all day and a high of 50 F. But that afternoon around 4:30 PM, Nov. 13th, the temps were to plunge and Austin was to get heavy snow. I snuck through at 11 AM and it was clear sailing. Got lucky there as that shortcut trims an hour off of the trip saving time and fuel. My backup plan is to head to Fallon instead which isn’t such a mountainous route.

Here’s the historical Austin, NV.

Once past Austin it’s a steep and windy road for several miles, two lane, with no guard rails and very sharp turns. The route is just so convenient though so I grip the steering wheel and pay attention to my driving.

Many hours later, with long straight stretches in warm valleys, I pass through Goldfield, than Beatty, then it’s just an hour to Pahrump…arriving around 5 PM local Mountain time. Still had some daylight so no problems hooking up the RV.

Pahrump would be my first long term stop as I’m a member (time share purchase of 1/2538th of the property) which from my yearly fee guarantees a parking spot at a nice reduced rate of $6.50 per nite. After I’ve used up that portion, then I can stay as long as I want for $15/nite. That along with the $310/year maintenance fee.

Sunday the 17th of November, at the Seahawks halftime, I ran over to the Bounty Hunter Bar & Grill only to find that sometime in Sept. someone had crashed their car right through the exterior wall so it was closed. Back home, did enjoy watching the ‘Hawks win one finally.

So that’s the trip down to the warmer climes of Nevada for a few weeks. Then I’m not sure, maybe over to Tucson to visit my friend John, then down to Mazatlan, or down to Yuma for some medical tourism and then to San Felipe, Baja for the winter. Haven’t decided yet.

Thanks for reading!

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