October 21, 2001
Well, there's little you can do but imagine the pleasure I get in posting these next two pictures.
Yep, that's 16 degrees F (the 36 is the relative humidity inside the Road Abode) and then that's us in our shorts and tank tops. Barb has her boots on because we're in the middle of finally being able to wash the road scum off everything. We got up on Thursday morning expecting to go visit Marc and Claudia again. The night before we'd been treated to a wonderful trout dinner at their place in Bend, OR, after giving the truck a quick washing, and I had some things I was hoping to be able to use Marc's considerable talents on while having access to his well equipped shop. But when I got up and could hardly move because of the cold, and then I saw the outside temperature, that did it. I bundled all up and went outside to plug in the block heater for Moby Dick, called Claudia and gave her some lame excuse about being a wimp, and we were outta there by 10 AM. It had warmed up to 30 degrees by then. Brrrrrrrr!!!! We spent that night at the Wal-Mart in Red Bluff (sitting outside in our shirt sleeves eating frozen yogurt) and then made the short 130-mile run into Lake Minden Thousand Trails preserve at Nicolaus, CA.
On the left is a spectacular sunset that Barb shot for us (you have to imagine the colors, photo doesn't do it justice), and on the right is something we'd never seen before. When we were checking into the preserve, we noticed a sign announcing something about a "float & fly" session going on in the north part of the lake that was closed to swimming and fishing. Turns out there is a local Radio Control club that is invited to come use the lake for flying their model planes one Saturday each month, and we happened to be here for it. The preserve (RV park) was nearly full, and we expected a big time turnout for the little planes, but it turned out that most all the RVs are snowbirds heading south for the winter. I talked to several who are heading to southern CA and one to AZ. Barb's busily putting together some kind of a trip plan so we can make reservations in advance. It'll be interesting to see just how necessary this is. We suspect the "prime" parks to be full by now, but we have lots of options and no commitments (as of today anyway) and will just work around whatever is available. We do want to at least spend some time at "the slabs" or "Slab City" as it's called in so. CA, and then Quartzsite, AZ, for the big (huge!) rock and gem show and RV show. We hope to include the Grand Canyon in there someplace, but likely in the spring; nothing is firm (no surprise there, eh). That's either the joy or headache of fulltiming, depending on your attitude and internal makeup. Barb usually likes to have things pretty well lined out as to where we're going and where we'll be spending time, and I on the other hand would be just as happy wandering aimlessly around. In several areas of our life, we "complement" each other like that. I'd be happy eating the same food every day of my life and she likes variety. I like it hot (the weather that is) and she likes it mild. She likes hot peppers and I can't do them. I think it's more fun this way, because I'm sure we'd get bored if we always liked the same things. We both enjoy sightseeing, tours, bird watching, and wildlife. We both get a thrill out of volunteering our limited talents and are looking forward to doing some more of that early next year, hopefully in Arizona. As so many before us have said, this lifestyle demands that spouses be good friends. Works for us (most of the time :-)).
Like life, things don't always work as planned, and in this case the engine of the little plane quit and the pilot had to take the boat out to retrieve it. Sadly, before we arrived to watch, one pilot had made a mistake and his plane went down in the walnut orchard and was considerably damaged. Apparently that's part of the hobby. On the right is a plane that is both a float plane and a regular tail-dragger. The owner and his friends are part of the same club, and since in a previous life I'd enjoyed flying model planes, they were most willing to explain everything to me. I'll admit it stirred some urges that are far beyond our budget and lifestyle.
Some of the more noticeable changes that have occurred in the past 40 years is the requirement for mufflers, and they're quite effective and apparently don't degrade the performance either. Another major change is in the quality of the radios. These have controls that are much like the throttle in any vehicle. The more you push (or pull) the more action you get--a rheostat if you will. The old radios were more like a toggle switch, and each time you hit it the control would advance a little and several "hits" were required to get full action. I liked the action of these radios much better, as the big red plane's owner let me play with it while the plane was on its stand. Another innovation that was new to me was the "starters" these fellows all used. Small fast power screwdriver type gadget that fit on the prop's spinner. No whacking the fingers anymore. And rather than mess with the two wires and clamps to get the glow plug started, they have a small device that holds a battery and fit right on the plug head. And I'm sure there were more things that I either didn't notice or wasn't told about. A little frightening to know that it's been 40 years since I've flown model planes.
The "starter" is right by the fellow's knee, and that thing for the glow plug is the yellow and red gizmo coming out of the side of the engine. The bottle in the background is full of fuel, and he'd rigged a pump to it so he didn't have to use the old turkey baster (or eye dropper) routine to get fuel all over the nose of the plane and himself.
And that's about it for this update. The thrill a day continues!