My mother turned 96 in August. Two months before her birthday she broke her hip and had surgery. My angel of a daughter has lovingly nursed her back to health. I cannot begin to describe how much compassion and love she shows every single day as a caretaker with oodles of patience. Now it's time I gave her a break and gave my mother an adventure!
My daughter helped with getting my mother into the motorhome last Friday. I don't know what I'd do without her. She got a month's worth of her meds organized in a dispenser for me. We have the walker, the portapotty (for night), the shower chair, extra boxes of tissues, diapers, tp, and various wipes. We each have a small closet with a few clothes. We have a couple pots/pans and some plastic bowls. I already broke one of the only two coffee cups we had. I'll be looking for a thrift shop soon.
My daughter was multitasking as she walked beside my mother, because just as she was saying goodbye to us, her phone rang and it was the delivery of her new refrigerator. She had the delivery guys wait at her house while she finished "spot" walking my mother to the motorhome. (That's what the black belt around her waist is.)
That same week, my son and a co-worker, got all six of my solar panels attached to the top of the motorhome, and my son wired in the system. I'm so grateful my son is ever ready and lovingly helps me with these big projects.
I finished taping down the last of the cords to the solar panels. Pictured is the last piece of special bond tape to get sealed. My system has 3 deep cell batteries. I rarely need to use the generator.
My daughter was multitasking as she walked beside my mother, because just as she was saying goodbye to us, her phone rang and it was the delivery of her new refrigerator. She had the delivery guys wait at her house while she finished "spot" walking my mother to the motorhome. (That's what the black belt around her waist is.)
That same week, my son and a co-worker, got all six of my solar panels attached to the top of the motorhome, and my son wired in the system. I'm so grateful my son is ever ready and lovingly helps me with these big projects.
I finished taping down the last of the cords to the solar panels. Pictured is the last piece of special bond tape to get sealed. My system has 3 deep cell batteries. I rarely need to use the generator.
Most of the first week was spent traveling through half of western Colorado, all of Utah and through Nevada into California where we reached the ocean yesterday. A phone ap led me to what was to be an overnight parking spot on the beach yesterday, but we were quickly ushered away by the San Francisco Zoo who own the land. It was not posted. Luckily, the parking patrol person gave us a suggestion for a good day parking spot nearby. It worked well. We then found an overnight spot at a rest area overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and bay. It had spectacular views. What a great find that was!
Other "free" parking spots included truck stops in small towns where no one else was parked near us and via a phone ap that led us to a residential street off of a street called 37 & 3/10 road. One night we had to pay a $15 fee to park at a very busy truck stop. Campgrounds are booked, so they aren't an option. In California, campgrounds are booked for months in advance or they're closed due to COVID.
Other "free" parking spots included truck stops in small towns where no one else was parked near us and via a phone ap that led us to a residential street off of a street called 37 & 3/10 road. One night we had to pay a $15 fee to park at a very busy truck stop. Campgrounds are booked, so they aren't an option. In California, campgrounds are booked for months in advance or they're closed due to COVID.
The travels through Nevada and Utah looked a lot like this for hours on end. We took Highway 50 known as the Loneliest Highway in America. It was great. I would take it again in a heartbeat. It had very little traffic and it was easy to pull off and on the highway on a whim. I highly recommend this route versus the Interstate.
In a little, off beat area called Thompson Springs, in Utah, I stopped to see my first petroglyphs. The "art" is found at Sego Canyon down a dirt road about 3 miles past the boarded up town. Sego was once a thriving coal mining camp. Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of graffiti and damage to the art. I found the experience disappointing.
The front seat the motorhome doesn't rotate and it's hard for my mother to get comfortably in and out of the seat, but she loves the seat behind it and we found a footstool where she can comfortably keep up her feet.
Coop is my reluctant co-captain. It's taking time for him to adjust to all the new sounds that motorhomes make. Sometimes I think earplugs would do us both some good. My mother listens to her books on audio between our chats.
Coop is my reluctant co-captain. It's taking time for him to adjust to all the new sounds that motorhomes make. Sometimes I think earplugs would do us both some good. My mother listens to her books on audio between our chats.
Much of small town America has a lot of old buildings either shut down or shuttered. The roads are in great need of repair across this country.
I was hoping to see some caves in the Great River Basin in Nevada, but the day we arrived the caves were closed due to COVID with no schedule to reopen. I happened upon a sign that pointed to an archaeological site. Not much to see, but it sounded interesting.
 | The Baker Archaeological Site, also known as Baker Village, contains the remains of a Fremont Indian village. It was occupied from approximately 1220 to 1295 AD. The Fremont lived in this well planned community of several small pit houses and granaries, surrounding a main big house, and practiced a form of agriculture. |  |
"After the excavations, the site was backfilled (reburied with the dirt that was removed during excavation), a necessary step in protecting the cultural features that remain. As a result, the foundations of the village can no longer be seen on the surface. The walls visible today are modern walls, built in 2002. Artifacts found on the ground may be observed, but not removed, from the site."
Below is from the rest stop in Sausalito where we stayed the night of November 4th.
Morning view November 5th from the H Dana Bower Rest Area overlooking San Francisco.
More views from the rest stop in Sausalito. It feels wonderful to be near water again.
How I've missed it. And how I love the extra bit of humidity.
How I've missed it. And how I love the extra bit of humidity.
The first beach stop November 4, 2020.
As soon as we got to sea level, my mother's oxygen level sored into the 90's without needing supplemental oxygen. That was one of my number one goals!
The first week has been many things. Exhausting is number one. There is no auto pilot while driving a motorhome. It takes constant focus to keep it between the lines and navigate busy roads, roads undergoing construction, making tight turns, and switching lanes with big blind spots, and getting down narrow roads without scraping someone or knocking off my mirrors.
I already clipped the long bar of my awning on a light post at a grocery parking lot and broke it off the base by pulling out from a curb too quickly. I used the special bond tape (like duct tape to the 100th power) to reattach it, and fortunately it's holding.
I changed the route on my directions to what I thought was a more scenic route this morning after leaving the rest stop to get to a small grocery market in Sausalito. Big mistake. Turned out to be a very tiny road. There wasn't room for two normal size vehicles to pass each other, much less a motorhome. The road wound up and down through quiet neighborhoods with sharp turns and switchbacks.
Last night's drive through San Francisco to Sausalito took me through the most bizarre construction area with narrow lanes and abrupt closures. Hard to describe, but it was nightmarish. I kept missing my turns and needed to be rerouted.
Quite the steep learning curve going on here. More on that another time. And finding places to park for the day or night is a constant challenge. COVID has really complicated things. But I could be stuck in a house in the city with snow coming while doing and seeing very little. So there's that. I'll take these experiences even if they come with exhaustion. For now. More pics to come and more stuff to tell, but it'll keep for another post.
I already clipped the long bar of my awning on a light post at a grocery parking lot and broke it off the base by pulling out from a curb too quickly. I used the special bond tape (like duct tape to the 100th power) to reattach it, and fortunately it's holding.
I changed the route on my directions to what I thought was a more scenic route this morning after leaving the rest stop to get to a small grocery market in Sausalito. Big mistake. Turned out to be a very tiny road. There wasn't room for two normal size vehicles to pass each other, much less a motorhome. The road wound up and down through quiet neighborhoods with sharp turns and switchbacks.
Last night's drive through San Francisco to Sausalito took me through the most bizarre construction area with narrow lanes and abrupt closures. Hard to describe, but it was nightmarish. I kept missing my turns and needed to be rerouted.
Quite the steep learning curve going on here. More on that another time. And finding places to park for the day or night is a constant challenge. COVID has really complicated things. But I could be stuck in a house in the city with snow coming while doing and seeing very little. So there's that. I'll take these experiences even if they come with exhaustion. For now. More pics to come and more stuff to tell, but it'll keep for another post.
On my to do list: wash the back window.
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