Frustration and Overwhelmedness

Well, Folks, our target date for departure for points west has been set back so you'll just have to put up with me for a couple more days. You know, things just never go according to plan, so I've decided it's probably just best not to make any definite plans. It's a good thing we're not on a tight schedule - one advantage of Ole being retired.

Ole brought the motor home up to the house so he could start loading and I could start cleaning. THAT's when we discovered several problems. After we returned from our trip to the U.P. of Michigan last fall, we brought the RV into the Freightliner dealer in town to have a couple of things taken care of. Of course they didn't get to it right away and it had to sit outside. It got to be into November before they got around to it and by this time the temps were quite cold. Cold enough to freeze one of the water lines and crack it. Well, now, normally fixing a cracked water line wouldn't be a big deal for Ole, but when you look at how things are put together in an RV - so compact and tight and covered up with umpty-two layers of something else - it became quite a feat to accomplish. First it took him a day to take things apart and just find it. Then he had to play contortionist to get into the small space to put in a new line, then another whole day (almost) to put all the parts and pieces back together that he had taken apart to get at the leak. NOTHING is ever easy. And just imagine - he didn't end up with any pieces left over! That's a major accomplishment.

THEN he discovered that Freightliner had broken a key off in one of the door locks. And they never even told us about it. Fortunately there are two locks on the door, but still!!! Because we never keep anything locked around here we didn't discover the broken key until now when Ole was checking things out. So that's ANOTHER thing that has to be fixed before we leave.

Today he's up on the roof fixing the satellite dish so we can have television. Some of the gears stripped off the thingie that operates the up and down part of it, so THAT's got to be fixed. And things always take longer than what you initially think they will.

Now me? I've got my own share of problems. One of the things I have done in the past is to hook my laptop up to the internet through my cell phone when we're on the road. Because I had to reformat the hard drive here a couple of months ago, I lost all those cell phone setting and the appropriate software. I've got the software installed, etc., but had trouble getting the computer to recognize the cell phone. After several hours of putzing around I finally got that figured out, but it still won't make a call. So I've done something else wrong. Guess I'll have to give Big Brother a call this afternoon and hopefully he can walk me through what's going on. He's got the same cell phone, same mobile office software and same laptop I do, so I'll just have him look at his settings and we'll go from there.

One feather in my cap though - because I'm just not the brightest light bulb in the box when it comes to computer hardware - I did manage to get the GPS hooked up and operating. That's a fun thing to do - I've got some software on my computer called Streets and Trips. It's just like having a very detailed topographical/highway map on your computer. When the GPS is hooked up to the computer you can track your location and elevation on the computer screen. The software has this little red car that drives along the road, up and down the hills/mountains etc., by receiving a signal from a satellite. That way you always know where you're at - well, in OUR case, that's ALMOST ALWAYS!!

It really works better when I'm navigating and Ole is driving. Somehow I manage to give him directions well before he has to make a turn. We tried it once with me driving and him reading the map/computer. He gave me notice to turn when we were about 100 feet beyond the corner. After all, Ole says I've been telling him where to go for the last 40 years - why should it change now?? (that's a joke, People, laugh, okay?)

So today I have to make a Wally World run and lay in supplies, you know, snacks, coke, toilet paper - all those essentials. Yeah, I know, there's Wally Worlds all over and I could stop at one of them, but it's so much easier to do it at home and be done.

Yesterday I took Senior Citizen Simon to the vet to get his shots updated and get a health certificate for him so he can travel with us. This will definitely be a new experience for him because he's been a real homebody all his life with the exception of going to the vet. He was such a good boy - squawked a bit on the way into town because he doesn't like to be confined in a crate. But once I got him to the vet, up on the table and let him out of the crate he sat there like a prince during the entire exam and shots. He's a svelt 14.5 pounds. The vet took one look at him and said, "Even though he's getting old I guess you don't have any trouble getting him to eat?" Nope - he wakes me regularly every morning about six and wants to be fed his canned cat food even though he's got a whole feeder of dry stuff sitting there. No lack of nutrition for that boy!!

I've had him out in the RV a number of times, sprinkled catnip all over and let him explore. He's quite a nosy old guy, busy opening cupboard doors and exploring the nether worlds of all the nooks and crannies. So we'll see what kind of a hiding place he'll find when we start moving. Petunia, the kitty that I lost last summer, always settled down under the davenport in a little hidey-hole when the RV would start moving. Then when we stopped she'd come out squawking for something to eat.

She was a real trooper and traveled with us for a number of years before we lost her last summer at Sturgis. You all remember Jane in some of my previous writing. Well, even though I had a sign posted on the door of the RV that there was a cat inside and please keep the door closed, Jane thought she had to stand in a half open door and talk to me and of course Petunia took that opportunity to slip through and escape. Everybody at our campsite grabbed their flashlights and started searching - everybody with the exception of Jane, of course. She wanted to go to the Full Throttle Saloon and sat in a chair and pouted because Dick and everybody else was busy helping me try to find Petunia. Oh well, maybe I'll be lucky and see her sitting in the window of another RV this time around. Wouldn't that be something? I just want to know what happened to her. Not knowing is so awful.

Well, I guess I better move my body and make that trip to town (groan).