The Cruisin' Crew

Earlier this month Chris and I went to the Joshua Tree National Park Xscapers (the younger generation of the Escapees RV club) Convergence, and both of us found it to be unique, rewarding, and fun experience!  It was our first time doing something like this, and wow, was it welcome.  This past year we’ve been too busy (on all levels) to form many connections with new people around our own age.  Instead, we’ve been learning the ropes and riding out the ‘speedbumps’ of this ongoing adventure of full-time RV’ing…at times breathless from the whirlwind of it all.

Melanie and Travis Carr hosted this event at Joshua Tree National Park, and it lasted for 5 days.  There were educational and interesting things scheduled to do each day (informational presentations/ round-tables, hikes, etc.), as well as a social gathering around a (safe) campfire at night.  It was a good environment to have some laughs and great conversations!

Of course, it takes the right people to make up a good environment, and that’s the RV’er qualities come in.  Open, helpful, authentic.  These are some of the great traits you’ll find among us, and it’s what’s helps to make us a community.

One interesting thing that happened–a bunch of fellow Xscapers saw this meteor and strange lights that appeared in the sky on April 10th ( http://www.amsmeteors.org/2017/04/bright-fireball-over-san-diego-ca/ ).  Chris and I were in the motorhome at that time, and missed it!  And the Full Moon made for some great ambiance–check out this starry night video of our motorhome, done by the talented Roger Williams (who did photos and video for the event)!

We also met Sonja & Tim, an RV couple who run a successful internet marketing business right from their motorhome, and we filmed their awesome setup.

We’ll be on the lookout for more Xscapers gatherings in the future!  Thanks again, Travis & Melanie!

What can I say about Sedona that hasn’t been said before?  

I’ve had a fairly long long affair with this town, as I lived there for a bit in ‘93, and have gone back on-and-off through the years, living there for another 1 ½ years in 2005.  I quit drinking while living there that last time.  I wasn’t an alcoholic, but I was a problem drinker facing a slippery slope into alcoholism (as both of my parents were alcoholics).  While in Sedona I was able to finally quit it in a way that sticks (11 years), and I’m forever grateful for that.

Sedona has a magic to it.  I reckon it to Burning Man, actually.  If you go with an intention and respect, there is a sacred abundance that will spring forth and bless you and your life.  You can change your life.

And just like Burning Man this past year, when I got to Sedona I felt disappointed.  It looked old, weary, with a ‘dead’ energy.  I didn’t feel the tickle in my stomach; the awe in my mind.  It was crowded, and the people–blah.

But then, at the top of Airport Road, the sun came out, and beams of light hit the mountains.  I fell in love again (just like at Burning Man).  My body tingled.  I felt the magic.

And I was re-born.

While we were in the area, I was able to visit with an old friend named Vusi.  He was part of an African band named Azumah (which I helped manage) back in ‘93 when I lived in Sedona.  He is one of the most talented musicians I know, and it’s a privilege to know him!  We played some djembe, Chris played the piano, and Vusi’s partner Connie played a tambourine/accompaniment instruments.  It was so much fun!!  Check out his music for more amazing rhythms!

“Running Into”:

Tracy: It’s been an interesting couple of weeks here at The Cruisin’ Crew. Yes, we had a great visit with family in CO, but while leaving Standley Lake RV Park we ‘brushed’ against one of the boulders bordering the spaces (RV’er, beware!). Fortunately, it’s relatively small, but it still huuuuuuuurt; Mel (our motorhome) is essentially part of our crew!

Chris: I think over the last few months I had gotten a bit too comfortable maneuvering our massive motorhome around smallish campground roads, but I was ill-prepared for Standley Lake’s low boulders, which just did not show up in my mirrors. I also didn’t even feel anything, because of the engine noise and because the bay door that met the boulder was just no match in terms of weight of material and the power of our 300 horsepower high torque diesel engine. Still, it could have been worse… the door is pretty banged up, but still closes and the damage is only on that one door (a few inches over and 2 doors would have been toast!;). We’ll get it fixed eventually.

“Running Out Of”:

Tracy: So then, when traveling to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, we had a scary situation on the highway. Our motorhome wouldn’t respond to the accelerator, and the engine died (we later learned that we ran out of diesel on the side of the highway–such a rookie mistake, right? But it didn’t happen because we were stupid, we were just operating under incorrect assumptions).

Chris: I would say this could be embarrassing, but there are good reasons why it happened. We knew that the fuel gauge was not working correctly when we bought the motorhome, which is difficult to fix on a 19+ year old motorhome whose manufacturer is no longer in business. So we decided early on to always fill up to full and calculate our mileage and fuel consumption to know roughly how much fuel is left. However, after the breakdown I realized that I had worked with the wrong numbers for a while. The tank according to the manual has 105 gallons capacity, but after the breakdown (when we knew the tank was totally empty) we were only able to fill in about 88 gallons! So my original calculation had 17 more gallons reserve (a good 100+ miles range in my mind) than the actual usable fuel.

(Crazy fact: We actually ran out about 8 miles from the truck stop where I had planned to fill up, which amounts to just over 1 gallon of diesel! At least now we know better how to calculate our range with the correct numbers and we also fill up even earlier, just to be sure.)

Now the other problem with a big diesel engine is that you can’t just fill in some fuel and get it going again.  It needs to be primed and all the fuel lines air free, which can be tricky. On top of it (even though we had a hunch that it could have been fuel starvation) we didn’t know at the time if there wasn’t something else seriously wrong with the engine, so we realized that we needed to be towed off the freeway to a diesel mechanic.

Lucky us, I had actually gotten a breakdown insurance (Coach-Net) that covered our tow, which otherwise would have cost us a small fortune on a Sunday afternoon with a 25000 pound motorhome. We had to wait 2 days for an appointment, but fortunately there was actually a Caterpillar (our engine manufacturer) service station right in Pueblo (the awesome staff at Wagner Equipment got us moving again in no time). Back on the road, we made up the time by only staying overnight and moving on instead of our usual 2-3 night stops and still made it to the last 3 days of the famous Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!

Tracy: The Fiesta was very cool (literally and figuratively!), and I’m glad we went. Unfortunately, the weather turned rainy—we only got to see about 1/3 of the balloons launch on Saturday morning.  Because we spontaneously decided to go, we were only able to attend the tail-end of it–next time, we want to be sure to book a spot at one of the RV lots located right at the festival!

Chris: I learned about this event from another couple of full-time RV’ers who go by the name of “Less Junk, More Journey” and since it was on the way to our winter destination in Arizona, I thought it would be nice to check it out and possibly meet (which did work out, it was great meeting them!).

And now “Running Into Something Again” – Ouch! 😉

Tracy:  Yes, this time it was Chris, and not the coach!  As we were traveling in our toad (towed) vehicle to explore a local site (an ‘Ice Cave’-this collapsed lava tube/ground hole that maintains at 31 degrees year-round), we stopped at a Native American trading post.  We parked on the back side of the store, and as we walked around the building, Chris smacked his head right into one of their hanging signs…on the corner of it, too!  It left him quite dazed.

Chris: That was painful and I was immediately worried that it would start to bleed, but instead there was strong swelling around the site of impact. I had hit exactly the pointy edge of the wooden sign with the left side of my forehead. Otherwise I felt fine, but the swelling concerned me. Luckily one of the store owners brought us some ice in a ziploc bag to cool the bump which helped, but we decided to have it checked out at the local hospital just in case. The doctor there also erred on the side of caution and ordered a CT scan of my head, just to be sure. Turns out my noggin is fine, just a bit bruised and painful on the outside… 😉

Tracy:  So no “Ice Cave” for us!  Instead, Chris experienced an ice bag and a cool Star-Trek like experience getting his brain scanned.  Hopefully, that is it for now, as these things tend to run in threes!!

Chris: This is an amazing park, not to be missed! We had been there once before while visiting with Tracy’s family, but the time was short and we vowed to be back for more exploration. Our second visit was different because it was overcast and slightly rainy, but it still was very beautiful! I put a video together to capture some of the breathtaking sights of the park (btw: for those who do not know the music; it’s my composition from one of my game projects).

Tracy: I loved Chris’ pick of music for the video, as the song was for an underwater scene in an aquarium.  Peaceful and soothing, while still invigorating.  Which, to me, describes the park exactly!

I think that one of the most striking things about The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs is the symbolic accuracy of the name. These enormous rock formations tower over you, and it really allows a feeling of awe to come over a person. There aren’t many places in which you stand at the foot of something that emanates great majestic energy, and here you get that experience over and over, because it’s ALL magically majestic and awesome.  Just.  Go.  You’re welcome.

Another thing: apparently, that land was privately owned back in the day, and the family donated it to the city to be forever free to the public.  Yes, yes, and more yes! Thank you Charles Elliot Perkins and family!

Side note:  when looking up the park’s history on Wikipedia, I was amused by the following description of events that led to the name “Garden of the Gods”:  “The area was first called Red Rock Corral.[2] Then, in August 1859, two surveyors who helped to set up Colorado City explored the site. One of the surveyors, M. S. Beach, suggested that it would be a “capital place for a beer garden“. His companion, the young Rufus Cable, awestruck by the impressive rock formations, exclaimed, “Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods.”

While reading it, I could just hear the voices in my head, Mr. Beach’s casual arrogance and the awed young Rufus.  The expression “capital place for a beer garden” just made me crack up.  I mean, what rock stars!  Surrounded by this almost indescribable beauty, and there’s a desire  to build a place to party.

We did it–another Burning Man has passed and we had a blast. At times, a blast of dust, that is! 😉

But the magic of Black Rock City and the playa has again left its mark in our memories.

Before we could even drive out to the desert, we had some serious business to attend to and that was boarding part of our crew (the cats) and our plants. They’re not allowed at Burning Man and they would also not have enjoyed the experience as we did. We found a great place for them.

Tracy:  It was the Cozy Cattery, located outside Reno.  Totally cute and well-run.  We rented them a room that had large windows for them to look out, and Susan (the owner) took a lot of care in hearing our concerns about Booie (our senior cat–16 yrs. old is his estimated age), and it showed–the cats returned pretty well-adjusted, which speaks for itself.  And we left our house plants with a pet-sitter we found on craigslist.org, and she did a very good job, too–even giving them extra plant nutrients!

And so we were able to focus on getting there, which required forethought and research (Thanks, hon!).

Chris: The dust was a major challenge and we were lucky to have the motorhome as a shelter when it got really bad. But first we had to drive in, which was for the most part stress-free, since we decided to go on Tuesday, after the rush of early arrivals had passed. But then we got stuck on gate road for hours because of white-out conditions.

Tracy:  In line, we saw a guy climb on top of his car and practice spinning a fire twirl-thing (though it wasn’t lit; it still looked pretty cool).  Another guy joined him, and then someone with a drum, and before you know it, it was a happening gathering.  I broke out my djembe and joined in the fun, ‘cause, y’know, Burning Man!

Chris: When the gates finally reopened it was close to nighttime and finding a spot in near darkness was another challenge, particularly with an almost 40 feet long vehicle. But after a short search, we did find a suitable spot, with the help of our new neighbors of the next few days. They pointed out that another group had abandoned the spot after trying to set up a badly designed shade structure (leaving it there) and helped to move the large mess aside to make room for our rig. We actually ultimately did cut some of this trash (Burners refer to it as “moop” or matter out of place) into smaller pieces and took with us as much as possible, as good Black Rock City citizens often do. Nevertheless it’s shameful that this unknown group left this mess for others to clean up.

Even with all the challenges, this year at Burning man turned out to be another magical experience, in many ways different than the other years but also familiar at times. It’s hard to describe if you have not been there yourself yet.

Taking our “home on wheels” to Burning Man required special preparation because of the dust out there, which is a fine alkaline sand, as the playa is essentially a salt flat of an old dried out lake. We already had experience with the dust from previous visits, but that was only tent camping and the vehicles (car and bicycles).
Taking the RV would be a totally different challenge: not only did we need to go in and out often, but a lot of our gear was packed inside the underbelly bays or basement. I had read that it’s a good idea to tape up any opening that is not used and we tried our best, but certain doors needed to stay accessible and thus could not be taped shut.
The second concern was the heat of the desert sun, which in my mind could cook us pretty well if we didn’t have a good plan on hand!  Our motorhome has 2 air condition units, but running them requires a lot of electricity and there’s no place to “plug into” out there. Of course for that reason the RV also has a generator build in, which is able to produce the needed juice to run the AC, but it runs on propane and I calculated that we had about 18 hours of fuel to run the generator. That meant about 3 hours daily for our stay.

I was still worried that there could be many more hours of uncomfortable heat, but we also figured we would not constantly stay in the RV. And I also researched passive cooling options: first of all, parking in the right direction–facing north, so that  the sun is not hitting that huge windshield. Another one was Aluminet, which I tied to the east side of the motorhome to shade the wall from the morning sun. That wall also has the refrigerator and keeping it shaded means it does not have to work so hard.

I was very impressed by the performance of the aluminet, which has a 70% shade rating, is light and wind resistant and caused the wall to be easily 10 degrees cooler than the parts of the wall that were directly exposed to the sun! I had thought about also installing more aluminet on the other side, but I could not find a good way to secure it (I have to figure that out in the future) and resorted to just cover the windows. For that I used Reflectix, which is another cheap and lightweight insulation material, that can be cut to whatever size is needed.

We taped everything with extra wide painters tape, which was adequate and easy to remove after the event (and without leaving any adhesive residue). Overall, these measures helped a lot to stay cool enough and we were also lucky that it wasn’t as hot weather as it could have been!. The dust was relentless though and we sat through quite a few drastic white outs where you could barely see the hand in front of you.

Tracy:  Another thing that we did was we washed and waxed the motorhome beforehand, and rinsed it afterward again.  This helped a lot with the overall cleaning process and protection on our outside.

Chris:  We’re still cleaning to this day and probably for a while… every time we think an area is fairly clean, we find another hidden spot that still has Playa dust. But overall the rig is looking and working well after the ordeal!

Tracy:  Stay tuned for more posts about Burning Man and our ongoing adventures!

Why I Respect Burning Man

My husband Chris and I are in the process of heading to that impossible-to-describe annual ‘festival’ in the desert, Burning Man–though it’s really not a festival so much as a community, social experiment, and once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Chris and I are full-time RV’ers, and I must admit I’m a bit nervous in taking our motorhome to Burning Man—I don’t want it to get negatively affected by anything—like the weather, for instance. We’ve always tented in the past, and I know how fierce the conditions can be out there. I’ve attended 5 times before, and there’s always something to contend with, whether it’s the oppresive heat, the torturous cold, the rain and its immobilizing mud, the wind and its whiteout dust, etc. Chris has done a lot of research to protect our motorhome from the elements, but even so, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

We’re currently at an RV park outside Reno (with a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains), preparing for our BM experience. We met our temporary neighbors earlier this evening, a lovely senior couple. We met the husband first. Upon hearing that we were going to Burning Man, I could read the look on his face. It’s easy for me to tell if people are immediately ‘for’ or ‘against’ it—and, usually, I see some sort of smirk on many faces.

So I immediately launch into its defense—how it can’t be described, only experienced; how the people there are really much more intelligent than some may think (after all, some of the greatest minds in the nation go there for ‘thinktanks’), but Bob was pretty steadfast in his opinion that it was really a gathering of people getting really covered in dust and doing drugs.

And, admittedly, everyone gets really dusty, it’s true. In order to maintain a sense of sanity at Burning Man, you kinda have to just throw your normal hygiene routine out the window. Wash and/or disinfect your hands frequently, yes, and do your best to keep your ‘nethers’ clean, but you. Will. Get. Dirty.

But I told him that the drug thing is not in your face. I really believe that a person can go to Burning Man and have an experience in which you’re not overly affected by partying people. Sure, there are lots of people who are drinking and drugging, and parties happening (HUGE parties, if you want ’em), but it’s definitely possible for one to consciously construct an experience to avoid any vibe that you don’t want to be around. I don’t actually see people openly doing drugs, unless you count drinking alcohol, and that’s at their camps, or established parties and ‘bar/tavern’ camps.

I explained that Burning Man really is like an experience of a ‘normal’ city, in that you get all types of people, including people who party. For instance, in traveling from one place to another, you’ll likely pass the local tavern with its partakers, and in traveling through different neighborhoods see all sorts of people, even the occasional passed-out drunk against a wall. But, like modern urban life, you also have your art galleries, coffee shops, live music, and cultural happenings.

I further explained that it seems to me that Burning Man is like a big mirror, reflecting back stuff you need to work on, or other truths. But some can’t handle it, and hate the experience so much that they leave Burning Man as soon as possible; incredulous that so many would find the experience worthwhile. Others, like myself, see the blessings and the teachings that are found there (it can be an incredibly spiritual experience), and are somewhat able to stay conscious of any triggers that occur, and work on releasing them in the moment.

I don’t think I changed my neighbor’s opinion of the event (not that I was trying to). I still believe that he thinks it’s a bunch of drugged-up jerks in the desert, and it’s this thought that keeps me from being truly excited about going.

Because I know—perhaps more than anybody—that this could be the year in which it’s ‘jumped the shark’ for me. The year that I encounter more assholes than angels; that I could be the one to hate the experience and want to leave early.

All I can do is in endeavor to let go of expectation, and hope for the best…

Tracy: When talking to friends about our experience so far being full-time RV’ers, Chris and I invariably at some point talk about our dramas thus far (thankfully few).

Like what we experienced traffic-wise when traveling on 4th of July weekend: boy, what you read about it being the #1 most dangerous weekend to drive is the truth!

Intuitively, I received the suggestion to stay away from I5, and even told Chris “I don’t know why; maybe they’ll be a bad accident and we’ll be stuck in traffic?”, and sure enough! We were in bumper-to-bumper traffic climbing the grapevine mountain (heading North from L.A.), and once we reached the very top we could see several police cars, motorcycles, ambulances and a helicopter. Yes, you read that right. A seriously big helicopter, because someone had clearly gone over the cliff.

Chris: When we later looked it up in the news, we could almost not believe the bizarre story that had unfolded: apparently a domestic dispute caused a man to threaten family members with a machete, kidnapped his father and a woman who was kicked out of the family truck just before he drove it over the cliff, some 500 feet down an embankment. But not only did both men survive, the son also eluded the authorities for over an hour before being arrested and treated for his injuries. You can read more about it here: http://www.signalscv.com/section/36/article/154113/

Tracy: The next day added to the stress. Continuing to drive up the I5 was O.K.; things were at times crowded, but at least moving. The speeds fluctuated a bit.

We were cruising along at a reasonable speed. A big pickup truck towing a boat passed us (I remember thinking to myself that he was going fairly fast). I could see the traffic up ahead getting congested, and slowing down to a near stop. The truck with the boat didn’t see it however.

It was only in the last few seconds before a possible impact that the driver noticed the lane of traffic stopped in front of him, and s/he swerved into the other lane to avoid a crash. It was the sort of swerve that was pure instinct; there was no convenience of checking for clearance in the right lane.

Once he reached that lane, he spun out. All the cars around scattered off of the highway. Even we swerved to the right then the left, in anticipation of avoiding the chaos in front of us. The truck and boat were writhing on the road like a live wire, or a snake, until both truck and boat slid off of the highway to rest in the dirt, with the boat sliding into the back of the truck.

That was the only damage. Amazing! It was a seriously dangerous life-threatening situation, and all that came from it was some property damage.

Chris: This could have ended much more badly not just for them but also for us, because if we had just been a little bit closer, we would have had no time to react and brake. We were lucky that it didn’t result in something much more serious, but I also wished our camera would have been recording to capture the event – time to invest in a DVR style dashcam! 😉

Tracy: So, those are a couple of driving dramas that we’ve encountered thus far; hopefully we’ll continue to stay safe on the roads in the event of dangerous situations!

Safe driving, everyone!