Last Storage Run … and an Emu Along the Way

Monday, 3 December
BULL RUN REGIONAL PARK — CENTREVILLE, VIRGINIA
TEMPS: LO 41F / HI 71F (5C / 22C)

Up early this morning (haven’t mastered sleeping in yet, but give us time), we finished off our bread pudding French toast breakfast treat (post here) and went to work.  Not the 9 to 5 kind of work, but household chores that one must take care of whether in a stix & brix or in a house on wheels.  The two biggies were shampooing what little carpet we have in the coach, and getting the trikes loaded back into the toad in preparation for tomorrow’s departure from BRRP.

(The photo to the right shows Mui’s creative solution for making sure neither of us accidentally went into the bedroom while the carpet was drying!)

In between the two chores, we made our last run up to Winchester to take the TV and a few other things to storage.  Despite the overcast that crept in soon after we left the Centreville area, it was a nice day for a drive, and with the morning rush over, there was no traffic to hamper us.  Instead of doing the usual I-66W to I-81N route, we detoured onto US-17N/US-50W for a shorter drive (by about 12 miles [19 km]) through the countryside.

I could not pass up the reflection photo op at the Paris Farm store & Sanctuary in the
Crooked Run Valley Rural Historic District.  In addition to ponies and llamas grazing
in the fields, there was an …

… emu of all things patrolling the fence line!

We arrived in Winchester shortly after 11:00a, giving us plenty of time to drop off the boxes at the storage unit before meeting up with friends, Jack and Jean, at the nearby Ruby Tuesday.  Jack was my boss at DCS until his retirement from the company four years ago.  You know how it is when you meet fellow RVers and bloggers — the camaraderie is instantaneous and there’s never a lull in the conversation.  Even though it’s been four years since we last saw them, it was the same when we got together with Jack and Jean today.

Thanks for the conversation, laughter, and treating us to lunch!

A quick stop at Lowe’s after lunch wrapped up our visit to Winchester.  We arrived back at BRRP around 3:30p and immediately went to work getting the toad ready for tomorrow.  With the unseasonably warm temps this afternoon, doing chores outside was actually fun.

Though this would have been a good night weather-wise to get out and photograph the holiday cheer of Bull Run’s Festival of Lights, after careful consideration, we decided to stay in.  There are way too many guide wires, electric cables, and whatnot lying in wait to trip the unwary visitor wandering around on foot in unlit areas.  But fear not ...

Bull Run Regional Park Festival of Lights 2012
[photos for the collage courtesy of the BRRP website]

We have a short run down to the Richmond area on the agenda for tomorrow.  Mui wants the Winegard people in Ashland to take a look at the satellite dish.  What we do afterwards will depend on what the tech needs to do to make sure the satellite locks on to signals without any manual adjustments by Mui.

Let the jello-plan days of our new lifestyle begin ;-)

Semi Homemade ... A Treat for Day 2

Sunday, 2 December
BULL RUN REGIONAL PARK — CENTREVILLE, VIRGINIA
TEMPS: LO 32F / HI 52F (0C / 11C)

After another good night’s rest, we woke up raring to go on this second day of fulltiming.  Somehow, though, we ended up taking it easy instead.

That’s not to say that we didn’t do anything … a little light cleaning of the interior … a bucket-wash of the exterior after the sun broke through the misty, cloudy skies … a bit of work on the household finances.

Chores done, Mui went to Lowe’s to pick up some carpet shampoo.  While he was gone, I took advantage of the reasonably warm afternoon temp to go for a quiet walk around the park.  Good thing I did; no sooner was I back home that it started raining.  Oh well, better than getting snow, but we’re going to have to shelve our plans to check out BRRP’s Festival of Lights until tomorrow night.

So, instead of regaling you with twinkling lights and holiday cheer, I’ll wrap up this post with the breakfast treat I alluded to in yesterday’s post.

We came back from Friday night’s celebratory dinner at the Copper Canyon Grill with a to-go order of bread pudding.  We did this because Mike, our server, tantalized us with the suggestion to use the yummy dessert to make French toast for breakfast

Mike’s directions were to freeze the bread pudding for about 20 minutes; slice and give it a light egg wash; place it on the griddle to cook; and serve it with a drizzle of the Grand Marnier sauce that came with the bread pudding.

Mike’s recommendation was spot on :-D

The oversized portion means that we still have two more slices of French toast to enjoy for breakfast tomorrow morning.  We’ll return to our more basic breakfast routine after we finish up this special treat!

Hard Work = A Miracle

Saturday, 1 December
Bull Run Regional Park — Centreville, Virginia
Temps: Lo 30F / Hi 48F (-1C / 9C)

After picking up the motorhome from storage yesterday afternoon, we drove the short distance to Bull Run Regional Park (BRRP) and got settled in site 109 (FHU for the jurisdiction rate of $41.50/night + tax).  That done, we went out to celebrate our retirement with dinner at Copper Canyon Grill, located not far from the park.

Mui ordered the wood-fired rotisserie chicken, which is CCG’s specialty — roasted throughout the day, the meat was literally falling off the bone.  I opted for the pan-seared crabcake sandwich, served with a rémoulade that had just enough zing to make it interesting.  Overhearing us toasting our newly-minted status as retirees, the manager comped us one of the two desserts we ordered.  We enjoyed half of the huge slice of key lime pie at the restaurant; the other half will be dessert tonight.  As for the second dessert; well that’s a treat for tomorrow morning and the subject of a post of its own ;-)

When we returned home, we decided to overlook the mess around us.  Instead, we watched the latest episode of Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century), a Turkish TV program that can best be described as a soap opera based on the life and times of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent.  With our recent switch from Millenicom’s aircard to its 4G/3G mi-fi, we had great signal strength to stream the show with no hiccups and use up at least some of our 20GB data allowance for November.

After a good night’s rest, we spent today tackling the mess of boxes and bags that were haphazardly piled on every available surface.  The task seemed quite daunting … until we took out the trikes, which we were temporarily storing under the dining table, and loaded the car with all the stuff designated for the storage unit.  That done, the job became more manageable.

It took a lot of hard work, but we went from this last night …

… to this by 4:30p today.  It’s a miracle what can be accomplished when one sets one’s mind to the task at hand.  A miracle indeed!

There’s still plenty of fine tuning to be done, but it feels good to know that we’ve been able to put everything we want to take on the road with us in the many nooks and crannies of the Phaeton.  And we still have room to spare ;-)

We’ll be at BRRP through Monday night.  Probably won’t have much of interest going on during the day; we’ll be busy working around the motorhome.  However, we plan to go out one night to enjoy the park’s annual Festival of Lights.  Those staying at the campground — and there is a surprising number of us — get a small taste of the holiday cheer for free as we come and go from the park after nightfall.  If I can unearth my tripod, I’ll take some photos to share.  (For those who are local, there’s a $3 off coupon here; it’s good for weeknight admission.)

[Banner image from the BRRP website]

The first day of fulltiming was a good one!

Camping at Bull Run

Thursday, 13 September — Monday, 17 September

Nothing like returning from a trip one night and going camping the next night.  Bad planning?  Not really; we had a raincheck for the campground at Bull Run Regional Park (BRRP) and wanted to use it before our next big non-Phaeton trip — a family visit in October.  So, we returned from our domiciling trip to Florida Wednesday night and headed over to BRRP after work the next day.

While we were busy the entire time we were camping, we didn’t do anything particularly exciting.  Nor did I take many photos.  So, I am going to do one combo-post to cover all four days.

Site 109 is a spacious 50A FHU site; it is one of the more level sites in the loop.

We left the house Thursday around 3:30p, picked up the motorhome, and drove to BRRP.  By 6:00p, we were settled in site 109 in the FHU loop ($41.50/night + tax) and off to dinner at Carrabba’s Italian Grill.

The company I work for gives each employee a $25 allowance at Christmas to purchase any gift card of our choice.  I had opted to get one for Carrabba’s, because there’s a restaurant on our way to and from Bull Run.  I figured we’d easily find occasion to use it.  Hah!  I never thought it would be nine months before the card finally saw the light of day.

We both wanted something light, so we ordered off the Cucina Casuale (casual kitchen) menu.  We were very pleased with our choices — a cup of sausage and lentil soup (spicy) and an Italian cobb salad with salmon instead of chicken for Mui; a caprese panini with chicken for me.  Delish!  We came home with a yummy tiramisu; portioned out, it took care of our dessert needs for a couple of nights ;-) … aren’t we being good!

The Cucina Casuale menu has some light fare that is quite tasty.
[photo snip courtesy of the carrabba’s website]

Friday was a work day for me; and a busy one at that with two proposals due in the afternoon.  Mui worked on projects around the motorhome; several of them blog worthy, so I will write about them separately as mods to our Phaeton.

He also took care of a section of the driver’s side window that has had a broken seal for a while.  Our plan was to get it replaced in Red Bay, but with several inches of water collected between the panes, and droplets of moisture obscuring his vision enough to create a hazard, he decided to take action now.  He managed to shatter the outer pane to bits and remove it without damaging the inner pane.  Don’t ask me how he did it; I was busy with a proposal at the time — which is probably why he did it when he did it … he knew what my reaction would be.  Anyway, the glass safely removed, he ran a bead of silicone around the rim, and used his glass scraper to eliminate the calcium buildup on the remaining pane.  Doesn’t look pretty perhaps, but at least he can see out the window now.  Sorry; no photos.

Saturday and Sunday found us doing things around the motorhome.  The weather was chilly enough to warrant sweatshirts and windbreaks when we went out to ride our trikes several times each day.  The mid-day temp both days warmed up nicely from the mid-50F (12-13C) range at 6:00a to about 71F (22C).  Although Saturday did eventually get up to 78F (26C) for a short while, Sunday’s high only reached around 73F (23C).  No complaints; we love these temps.

Mui set up the screen shelter and I spent most of both days out there, processing photos in order to publish the blog posts for our Florida trip.  I also found time to do a couple of loads of laundry and read a long-forgotten book that I had started when we went to the Smokies last April.

We each have our own workspaces; and they both allow us to enjoy being outside.

As for Mui … he continued his mod projects, and also installed front and rear lights on the trikes, and set up the bike stand he bought recently to be able to do maintenance on the trikes once we get on the road.

Mui just loves tinkering with the trikes!

It was a great weekend; our only complaint was the loud music filtering over to us from the KORUS (Korean-US) Festival at the Special Events Center Saturday night.  We ended up closing all the windows, but unfortunately that wasn’t sufficient to keep out the singing that often sounded like someone was strangling a cat!  Luckily, the performances ended by the time I went to bed at 10:00p.

Strapping on the trash and recycling bags, Mui goes for a combo trash run/trike ride.

At BRRP, check-out is at 11:00a, but $10 buys you time until 7:00p — what a deal!  This gave us another full day at the campground on Monday.  It was a work day for me, and though it wasn’t as busy as Friday, there was plenty to keep me at my computer inside the coach most of the day.  The temp was only 51F (11C) at the start of the day and barely got up to 65F (18C) by noon, so I didn’t mind being inside as much as I might have had the temps been conducive to sitting outside.

Mui bucket-washed both the toad and the coach before taking off to have lunch with his friend and former boss.  By the time he returned, it was quitting time for me.  Debating between just chilling or taking one last trike ride before packing up the coach, we opted for the latter.  It’s been nice not to have to unfold and set up the trikes every time we want to go for a ride.  Mui set them up on Saturday, and we’ve been leaving them out overnight, chained to the wheel of the Phaeton.  Each run we did this weekend was about 5 miles (8 km), so we put about 25-30 miles (40-48 km) on the trikes.  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

At just before 6:00p, we left the campground.  After putting the coach back in storage, we headed home.

The countdown to retirement is progressing at lightning speed.  There’s a lot to do between now and then, not to mention our upcoming trip to Turkey.  It’s doubtful that we will have an opportunity to take the Phaeton out camping again before we get on the road in December.  But that doesn’t necessarily mean no posts until then; I have all the mods Mui did this weekend to write about.  Stay tuned.

Evacuated to the Rolling Condo

Saturday, 30 June

We should be at home packing for our trip — we’re leaving on Tuesday for a non-Phaeton adventure.  Instead, we self-evacuated to Bull Run Regional Park (BRRP) this morning due to a power outage we’re experiencing — along with about a million other people in the DC area.

We’d normally stay home to ride out a power outage.  But with temps forecasted to reach into 100F (38C), being without A/C was not an option.  The funny thing is that Mui and I separately concluded that the Phaeton was the solution to our dilemma.  Great minds think alike!  So, bright and early, we called the BRRP campground office.  When they confirmed that the power was on, we reserved one of the 50A electric-only sites on the outer loop.

The wide-spread power outage that is plaguing the area is a result of a very scary storm that passed right over us around 11:00p last night.  We knew a severe storm was forecasted when we went to bed, so we weren’t surprised when the weather radio went off with an alert right on schedule.  Good thing that radio has battery back-up; the power was already out by then.

The storm was like nothing we’ve ever experienced before.  This article describes it as follows:

The severe storms, which began pushing through the area at about 10:30 p.m. Friday, is called a "derecho," which is a very strong, widespread and straight-line band of thunderstorms that mostly occur during the summer.

At the height of the storm, the rain was coming down in a thick sheet, driven and made worse by strong winds that shook the building.  Trees were swaying like crazy, making us glad that they were too far to cause damage to us should one — or more — topple.  To top it off, there was non-stop — and I mean non-stop — thunder and lightning for about 15-20 minutes.  The lightning was so strong, so constant, and so bright that one would have been excused for thinking it was mid-day instead of the middle of the night.

But that was last night; back to today.

We worked on chores at home until we could no longer stand the increasing temperature.  That was around 9:30a.  Throwing a few food items into one bag, and a toothbrush and comb into another, we headed out to BRRP around 10:00a.  Getting to the freeway was a bit of an adventure since there were no traffic lights operating, and people were driving like they’d never heard the rule about treating intersections as four-way stops under such circumstances.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Anyway, we made it to BRRP safe and sound and settled into Site 21 for a quiet afternoon, with a run into nearby Manassas — unaffected by the storm, by the way — to take care of our pre-trip grooming needs.  I’m not one to just walk into any old place to get my hair cut, but I figured I needed to start practicing since that’s exactly what’s going to happen when we start full-timing.  I’m happy to report that the hairdresser did not scalp me!

The news tonight is filled with stories of damage to life and limb and property.  Nine people have lost their lives.  In the end, we got off easy.  From what’s been reported, seven major transmission lines are down, and the power companies that service the area are all affected.  We finally managed to get through to Dominion Power to report our outage around 7:00p.  They are unable to provide a repair forecast at this time.  According to the talking heads on the news, it might take as long as 7 days to get everyone back on the grid.  I hope not, but so be it if that turns out to be the case.  We’ll just have to make sure everything is unplugged if we’re still powerless when we leave for our trip Tuesday morning.

In the meantime, we’re sitting pretty at BRRP.   There was the potential for some severe storms tonight, but the warnings have been lifted.  One good thing, the park volunteers came around to the sites this afternoon with a note warning campers about the potential for storms.  The note included radio stations and local news stations to tune into, and a reminder to evacuate to the bathhouses if necessary.  Good to know that the campground management has an eye on the weather ball.

Gone Triking Again

Saturday, 23 June

We should have been packing for our upcoming trip, but that’s not what we were doing this morning.  After consecutive days of ‘this is how it must be inside a furnace’ temps that felt like 105F (41C) thanks to the humidex, we could not resist going out for another trike ride.  We needed to pick up my CamelBak hydration pack from the Phaeton, so we headed to Bull Run Regional Park to kill two birds with one stone :-)

After parking near the entrance, unfolding our bikes, and gearing up, we had a bit of fun on the deserted side road before heading off for a longer ride on the main road.

A 43-second video of us goofing around.

A nice breeze and plenty of shade made for perfect trike riding conditions.  The flapping of our colorful ‘we’re here; don’t run us over’ flags was the only sound to break the morning’s silence until we came upon two hawks calling to each other.  We watched them for a while from our trike seats, our quiet approach allowing us to get surprisingly close to the base of the tree where one was perched.  No photos; I’m afraid — too many branches in the way.

Except for the occasional car heading out from the campground towards town, traffic was nil.  The campers were still fast asleep, and we were the only ones out and about to enjoy the sun streaming through the trees, burning off the light fog.

There’s a small pond not far from the campground store.  At first, we planned to stop there to eat our breakfast bars, but there were too many gnat-like bugs.  Pedaling back towards whence we came, we found another spot instead.  Bugs there, too.  So, we just munched away at our breakfast while sitting in our trikes and quickly high-tailed it out of there.

All in all, I did somewhere around 4-5 miles (6.5-8 km) on this run.  Mui wanted to do a high-speed pedal on our second time around the park, so he got in more mileage today than I did.  By 9:30a, with the temps starting to reach into the 80F (27C) range, we were ready to call it quits.  Not only was there work to do at home, but it also didn’t make sense to over-tire our muscles and pay the piper later!  (So far, no aches or pains — that’s a good thing!)

A bit of biking humor to end this post :-)))

Alert, Alert!  the aliens abducted a triker at bull run.  Only her shoes were left behind :-)

(For those who are not bikers: these shoes snap onto the pedals so that we can pedal at speed without worrying about our feet slipping off.  They also make for a smoother, more comfortable pedaling experience.  With the shoes on our feet, we sit down and snap the shoes onto the pedals.  A slight twist of the ankle frees the foot from the pedal — shoe and all.)

Wrapping Up Another Stay at BRRP

Monday, 9 April

After a day of tele-working from BRRP we’re back at the stix & brix home.

We had a quiet day at the campground.  Around 11:00a, a stream of campers passed by our site, ending their weekend stay and heading to destinations unknown — for the most part.  One class C was being towed out so we know they were headed for a repair shop somewhere; hope their problems aren’t too serious.  Couldn’t help but give thanks to the RV gods that we were able to resolve Friday’s leveler debacle with a simple ‘amputation’.  Otherwise, it could have been us being towed out of BRRP today.

Didn’t really do much more than work on company projects, but the workload was relatively light.  We managed to sneak out for a mid-morning campground walk.  It was breezy and cool, but with plenty of sunshine to keep us comfortable.  We even managed to have a picnic lunch, which we always prefer to eating inside.

Two laptops and a large external monitor … all to get my work done.

A simple al fresco meal is the highlight of our last day of camping at brrp.

We started packing up the coach when my workday ended at 3:00p.  Next, a quick stop to put the baby to sleep in storage — but not for long.  Next weekend, we head out on our annual spring outing.  Where?  Well, you’ll have to come back to find out :-)

The Potomac Heritage Trail at Elizabeth Mills Riverfront Park

Sunday, 8 April

We decided to seek out a change of venue from BRRP for at least part of today.  Having scouted out some parks last night after Mui went to bed, I presented him with several options this morning and let him decide where we would go for a walk and a picnic lunch.  I have to admit that I wasn’t surprised when he chose Elizabeth Mills Riverfront Park (EMRP).  After all, a trail overlooking the water would have been my first pick too.

Since the temperature was a mere 46F (8C) when we rose this morning, we dallied for a while to let the day warm up a bit before we set out on the 27-mile (43 km) drive to Lansdowne, a planned community near Leesburg in Loudoun County.  (Enough “L” words for you?)

Traffic was reasonable for a mid-morning drive on Easter Sunday and the GPS took us to the destination as programmed.  At first, we doubted we were in the right place as we looked to be in the midst of a residential neighborhood with nothing but palatial-sized single-family homes around us.  No sign of a park or the Potomac River anywhere.  Turning right on the last street at the end of the cul-de-sac, however, took us where we wanted to be.  At least the sign and map in the parking lot said we were at the park.  We had to walk a short distance through the manicured grounds of a golf course to get to the trailhead before we were sure we really were at EMRP.

From "You Are Here,” we follow the short trail through the golf course and take a
left at the river to walk the Potomac Heritage Trail to the ruins of the canal locks.

It felt odd to be walking through a golf course to get to the trail, but that’s what
the directions said, so that’s what we did.

Our plan was to walk a small portion of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail where it runs through this park.  (The trail is comprised of a network of trails that add up to hundreds of miles in length.)  At the trailhead, we stepped down to the edge of the Potomac, hoping to get out to a spit of rocks jutting into the river.  Alas, the ground was wet, making for slippery footing and it was very buggy, so we quickly continued on our way.

No way to get through the slippery mud to get out to the tip of the rocks.

The narrow, dirt path was shaded, but with plenty of light streaming through the trees, which weren’t so dense as to obscure the river view.  With the golf course on one side and the Potomac on the other side, we headed west, enjoying a quiet walk on the all-but deserted trail.  We came across a couple of runners and a few people walking their dogs, but otherwise had the trail to ourselves.  Though there were birds chirping in the tree canopy above, we saw none to photograph.  The waterfowl for which the trail is noted were noticeably missing in action; as were the damsel and dragon flies.  We did see a few butterflies, but they were quick to fly off no matter how quietly we tried to approach them.

On the trail ...

… We enjoyed views of the Potomac river and trees like this giant that was impossible to
photograph in its entirety.

Wild flowers on the trail; do leave a comment if you can help ID it.

These shelf mushrooms came as a set of three: saucer, dessert plate, and dinner plate.

We were both intrigued by the patterns and textures of the bark of this decaying
tree next to the trail.

No Virginia trail would be complete without bluebells at this time of the year.

At the confluence of Goose Creek (to the left) and the Potomac.

Remains of the double-locks on the canal system known as the Goose Creek and Little
River Navigation.  The canal, built in the 1850s, carried boats around the rapids on
Goose Creek.  It connected to the Potomac and the C&O Canal.

The ruins marked our turnaround point for today’s walk.  As usually happens with us, the walk in took longer because I was stopping frequently for photo ops.  On the way back, our tummies grumbling as the lunch hour had come and gone, we made fewer stops.

Had there been a cross-over spot to get to the kayak rental place on the other side of
Goose Creek, we might have joined these guys enjoying a quiet paddle on the Potomac.

dryad’s saddle (AKA pheasant’s back) mushroom
It must be our day to see fungi in groupings of three.

Our hope to eat lunch overlooking the Potomac was dashed by the lack of benches along the way.  In truth, even if there had been a place to sit, it was too buggy to eat near the river — especially when the breeze died down.  Instead, we took a seat at the golf course snack shop, which was not yet open for the season.  There, cooled by the gentle breezes, we enjoyed a quick meal in the shade — something that we welcomed since the temps were up into 71F (22C) and the sun was shining bright and strong.

Our return drive to BRRP was uneventful, but the mile or so through the park to the campground was nothing like it had been when we left mid-morning.  All of the picnic tables and shelters were filled with crowds of people playing, eating, and having a grand ole time on this Easter Sunday.  They sure had a beautiful day to enjoy the outdoors and it was nice to see so many people doing so.

As for us, we high-tailed it to our Phaeton, leaving the crowds behind for the quiet sanctuary of our campsite.  We settled into our chairs on the woodland side of the site, laptops at the ready, and set about planning for our spring outing.  It was a beautiful afternoon, with the awning and the coach providing shade and the sun keeping us comfortably warm.  I did remember to take pictures this time …

Looking out from the coach towards the rest of our campsite.
Somewhere out there, hidden behind all those trees, is another campground loop.

Yeah, that’s a posed photo, but we really did spend the afternoon checking out maps
and planning our spring outing.

A quiet night at home rounded out a great day.  The Potomac Heritage Trail at Elizabeth Mills Riverfront Park turned out to be a gem.  In 2009, we did another small portion of the trail that runs across the river from Georgetown (DC) — post and link to photos here.  If time permits before we leave the area, there are a few more segments of the trail network that look to be right up our alley.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see if we can squeeze them in.

R&R at BRRP

Saturday, April 7

Back to the BRRP Saturday post, which was pre-empted by the Easter bunny :-) … and also the fact that I had yet to process photos.

Woke up to 34F (1C) and a raging headache, which could have been the after effect of yesterday’s debacle with the levelers.  More likely, though, it was a light migraine, which I’m plagued with occasionally.  Once the meds kicked in, I was raring to go, but by then we were settled into our routine at BRRP, so we decided to spend the day at home instead.

Our mid-morning walk around the campground was surprisingly quiet.  In fact, I’m amazed at how many sites are still unoccupied this Easter weekend.  The FHU loop is reasonably well occupied, but the sites on the other loops are all but empty.  The cabins are all booked, though.  Perhaps it’s the cool temps that are keeping people away.  We reached 61F (16C) in the late afternoon.  However, the warmth of the sunshine was heavily tempered by the light, but near-constant breeze.

After our walk, we handled a few simple chores that took just minutes each to accomplish.  The replacement water pump Mui ordered arrived last week.  Since our existing pump has decided to come back to life, we’re going to keep the new one as a back up for now.  In the meantime, a lo-tech solution should keep the worst of any accidental spray/seepage from the water hose off the pump’s persnickety electrical connections.

A snip here and a snip there to fit it over the pipes, and we have an inexpensive pump cover.

A few weeks ago, we bought a table-top ironing board.  After looking around for a good place to store it, we decided the best solution would be to install a hook on the back wall of the closet where we have some dead space.

Now you see it; now you don’t!
When it’s not needed, the canvas shelves in the closet will hide the ironing board.

And finally, Mui installed one of those magnetic knife holders on the side wall next to the kitchen sink.  I’m not comfortable using the holder for its intended purpose — there’s just something about having knives on that thing while the motorhome is bouncing along the freeway that doesn’t sit well with me.  However, it will come in handy to hold less-lethal utensils.  We’ll bring the butcher block knife set we have at home when we move into the coach permanently.  It can be placed in the sink when we’re on the move.

Not for knives, but it will be good for ladles and serving spoons and whatnot.

With the chores for this week completed, we grabbed a bite to eat at the picnic table on our site.  The temps were a bit on the cool side, but we put on an extra layer for comfort and enjoyed eating under a blue canopy filled with sunshine.  Afterwards, we threw down the rug we bought to use under our tent shelter, unfurled the awning, and set out our comfy chairs.  Time for R&R.  The immediate area around the coach is covered by our CradlePoint wi-fi signal, so we soon had our laptops out to catch up on our web browsing.  In fact, it was a perfect set up for me to finish yesterday’s blog post and get a head start on today’s post.

Sorry, no photos of us sitting outside this afternoon — I was too deep into my R&R to even think about the camera, but here’s a scene from earlier in the day when I was contemplating retirement and what it has in store for us.

This was the scene overhead as I sat contemplating retirement.

Following an early evening ramble around the campground loops, we returned to the Phaeton and set about preparing dinner.  We had hoped to eat our grilled halibut dinner at the picnic table, but it was just too chilly to sit outside once the sun withdrew the warmth of its rays from our site.  That’s OK; we’ll see if we can find somewhere fun to have a picnic lunch Sunday to make up for having to eat inside this evening.  Speaking of which, I’d better scout out some trail/park suggestions to discuss with Mui at breakfast.