Settling in....Packing up

Monday was a blur....I had trouble sleeping Sunday night (Monday morning) and finally crashed at around 4 am. This happens every once in a while...part of having fibromyalgia is dealing with sleep disturbances which for me pop us as insomnia every once in a while. I woke to a drizzly, cool day which became a total veg day for me. Spent several hours researching parks in the Casa Grande - Ajo - Gila Bend area of Arizona for February. Watched Christmas romance movies that I'd taped, read and relaxed.

Last night I watched the end of a movie in the bedroom....fell asleep and turned the TV off at some point. Twice I woke to pounding rain, my first thought was - what would I do in a flash flood situation here. My second thought was - did I ever turn the weather radio back on. The rain passed and even though I woke a couple of times, I slept until well after 9 before finally rolling out of bed. It was already up to 72 outside..what a change from yesterday when we stayed in the mid-40's all day!

Today was a productive day, I finished adding the pages for all the states in my Campground Review section of the website. I know...slim pickings in there since I've only stayed in four campgrounds so far (IN, MO & TX)...but it's a start! I love reading the reviews on other folks sites so figured I might be able to help someone else make up there mind someday.

When I took the trash out this morning I saw my two neighbors across the way sitting outside and stopped to meet them. Two very nice gentlemen, Mark and Darrell (Daryl?), who summer in Minnesota, their home state, and winter in the south. We sat and chatted for several hours before I excused myself to get back to things in the rig. I did explain my trailer situation to them and they both offered help anytime....just give them a shout.

I answered some emails, read some blogs, watched another movie while the weather got drizzly for a bit (lost the satellite signal) and finally called Bluebonnet Ford in New Braunfels to see about getting in for my cruise control recall as well as getting my O2 sensor issue checked out. I'm hoping it's not an expensive repair and also hoping that my gas mileage will improve a bit when done. I got voicemail and left a message...in less than 5 minutes I got a call back. Not a problem to bring it in tomorrow and if it turns into an overnight issue, they have power plugins. Nice!

So I started putting things away in the RV, took off my Christmas decorations, stored the folding chair back in the storage bay and realized I needed to get the trailer issue resolved. Since Mark & Darrell were sitting outside with a third gentleman that I hadn't met yet, I headed over to see if they could come help.

Well, within 15 minutes we had the shaft back in place so we could lower the front of the trailer and then got the rear stabilizer arms lowered. I opened it up so they could see the bike and we all chatted a bit before they headed back to their picnic table. They assured me they would keep an eye on the trailer while I was gone. I do have a lock on the coupler combined with a plug that should keep it secure.

Now, back to the flash floods and other natural disasters. I have a lot of friends who have been really nailed by the ice storms in the mid-west. Toss in the heavy rains in the northwest, droughts in the southeast and weather has definitely been on my mind. Over a year ago I bought a small Midland Weather Alert Radio, knowing it would be a good thing to have in the RV since I wouldn't have any TV access to local weather conditions. I remember setting it up to find the local weather and all was well and good as it sat on my kitchen counter in the house.

Fast forward and here I sit with the radio, plugged in with fresh batteries for backup, and no idea how to program it for the local weather. I have the book....somewhere....but rather than spend hours trying to find it, I opted to do an Internet search. I knew it was a popular brand, Midland, but I wasn't sure what model it was and couldn't find that printed on the radio anywhere.

So I used Google's image search and entered "Midland weather alert radio" and quickly found a photo that I could identify as the one I have. Then I went to regular Google and searched "Midland WR-100 manual" and the first link was to Midland's site where I found manuals for all their radios. I saved the manual for mine radio, opened the PDF file and very quickly got it working. So now I can look forward to being jolted out of a sound sleep when there is a severe weather alert for this area....and I have the instructions so I can set it up quickly the next time I move.

So, tomorrow I'll be on the road, without the trailer, and will hopefully be back tomorrow night - Thursday at the latest. Rain in the forecast again, cooler temps but looks to be a nice weekend. Maybe some riding?

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna