Kansas

April 26th, 2015.  Did Kansas.

I took my high school bestie with me, Leah.   We hit the road about 9am.  We aimed north.

Wanted to try to find St. Jacob's Well south of Dodge City, but no dice.  I took the exit like I read, went down a dirt single road for miles, we never found it.  Decided, screw it, off we went.

And dammed if Dodge City didn't mess us up with it's signs, we took about 4 wrong turns, lol.  It was all cool, there was no schedule or agenda.  Found a Wendy's for lunch, finally found Boot Hill.

Here is a pic..    I left a Hula John under the 'Unknown'..   I hope that it is okay.

 

We were aiming to see The Big Well in Greensburg, Kansas, but a detour told us to just say fuck it.  Off we went to Boiling Springs.  Here is a HulaJohn pic at Boiling Springs.  :)

 



C101 and Dad's Harley

I had spent the night at my friend Peggy's house.  My dad was going to come pick me up the next day.

Dad had a Harley.  He was always tinkering on motors.  This Harely, though, he brought back to life.  He even hand sewed the leather seat himself.

So that Saturday, my dad was to come pick me up from Peggy's house.   There I was...   watching as this loud ass C101 channel, hard rock station from out of Corpus Christi, Tx, came driving around the corner, and this Harley Davidson roared into the driveway.

My friend, standing next to me, said...  'WHO is that?!!'...    I said, my dad.    haha.    I didn't realize until that day that my dad was most freaking cool!!!!     I hopped onto the back of his bike, jamming the most awesome music and put my helmet on.  Freaking awesome!

The Mustang and Music

I spent many a day hanging out in the Mustang my dad did so much body work on.  

Not to knock them, but my sisters listened to crap music.  Country crap.  I hated every second of that shit.   Reba McIntyre and George Strait..  they are good singers, but I just couldn't freaking tolerate it. 

So, being my rebel self, I would sneak off and get into the Mustang and listen to Twisted Sister and AC/DC until the battery died. 

Sorry for the dead batteries Mom 'n Dad...  was just trying to keep my sanity.  :)

The Beau James

My dad gave me a truck.   I wasn't even of driving age, but whatever.  It was a Beau James.

This truck was completely awesome!!!  It came equipped with an indian blanket type of bench seat cover.  It was a step side, complete with wood paneling on the outside.  But it was mine. 

I spent a lot of time hanging out in it.  It was mine.  I couldn't drive it.  So what.  I hung out in it.  Listening to Boston on it's 8 track.   Yep, you heard me right..  it had an 8 track player.  I killed the battery a lot listening to Boston, Don't Look Back.  :)

Added Some Fun Graphics

Yep, to go with my Hula Doll on the dash, here is some fun things I've added to the outside to go with it. :)

 

 

*Edited to add..  the white flowers looked tacky while viewing it from afar the next day.  They have since been removed.  The dancing chick remains. :)  *

Inside Van Tweaking

Needed to do a little tweaking on the inside of the van.  Today I will hit the road a while in it to check and see how it all rides.

Got an added layer for the bed.  Before, it was two full size 3" ventilated foam toppers cut to fit.   Since my bed sits crosswise at the back, I had to cut the length to fit the space between the windows to 66", making it shorter.  But it's okay, the height of the topper put it right to where the ledges are below the windows on both sides, adding an additional 6" (12" total) on both ends for more head room and feet room . 

Added the new topper, a 2" memory foam with the cooling bead things, and it was able to go over the useless ledges that sit at the base of the windows, utilizing all 74" of mattress topper across big window to big window.  I only had to cut a bit around the molding towards the rear by the back doors where the windows were.  I guess if there will be two people sleeping there, the shorter one gets to sleep near the back doors, haha.  Least, that's how me and Kiddo did it on our Texas trip.  Her shorty self got to sleep by the back doors, worked pretty good.  :)  And when you sit on 8" total of memory foam.. it really sucks you in, ahhhh!!!!

Also wanted to redo the drawers.  Was not fond of having to fish clothing out from under the bed.  Needed to have better storage solutions.  Was also not fond of the cheaply made bigger plastic bin I had found previously.  So I went to work on those issues.  I removed the food items from the cheapy plastic bin I was removing and put them in a large plastic tub that slid under one side of the bed, accessible from the inside.  There's still plenty of room above the bin and around it's side for more food for later on.  Can just slide out bin when I need to get to food.

I know, I know, I know what you're thinking..   I would need to access food more times than I would clothing throughout the day.  Hear me out:  I HATE trying to figure out what to wear.  Like, every day.  So much I've threatened to buy the same outfit in multiples so I can just throw it on, like I used to do with scrubs when I did xray for 10 years.  So on the trip, I pretty much had to pull out all of my clothing and go through them all to figure out what to wear.  PITA.  With food, I know it's either breakfast, lunch or dinner, and I already have an idea of what I'm going to eat.  Just a matter of sliding out the bin, grabbing it, and sliding it back.  With the clothing in the drawers in the living space it will just work much better for me.  I tried it the other way, this way will work better, for me.

Found some better made plastic bins, bought two. They each have two big deep bins to them.  The bigger one I had in there before was pretty flimsy.  When trying to move it about or such the top would pop off.  And when you sat anything of any weight on it, like the jumper pack for instance, the top would dip down inside the front of the top bin.  If you had anything of substance in the bins, like when I had water bottles in the bottom one, you couldn't hardly shut it completely without some real effort, opening it wasn't so easy, either.  Was just a pain.   So, I bought two better made ones, made of thicker plastic, sturdier frame, enclosing drawers that slide in and out easily.  Out went the bigger plastic bin (the smaller one stayed), in went the two new ones.  I managed to arrange them around to fit them easily enough, and now have more storage.

Trying to figure out how to keep them closed while driving was perplexing.  Enter Mr. Super Duper Smart Old Man.  :)  He figured out to put a single bolt in the plastic between the two drawers.  The head of the bolt, when in place, keeps the top bin from sliding out, and the bolt goes through to keep the second bin in place.  Just pick up the top bin a bit to slide it out for use, and remove the bolt to open the bottom bin.  Easy peasy!!  He's a genius!!    (Thank you Timmy!)

On to the desk.   I had previously had a long bungeed strap going from behind the desk, across the top diagonally, hooked around one of the drawer handles, and down to the front bottom under the drawers on the side.  It worked.  Just move the strap over to access any drawer, it stayed in place, and the drawers didn't come out.  But, boy, it was kinda ugly.  And, every time you opened the side door, it was the first thing you saw.  There had to be a better way!

The other day me and the kid were at the hardware store.  I was just looking around hoping to get an idea on what would be a better solution, without it looking hideous.  I had bought a few things before that didn't pan out..  hook and eye's, a steel dowel thinking to run a hole, etc.  That day I found some latches for baby proofing that goes inside the drawers, thinking they might work.  Heck, it was $4 to find out.  Yeah, that one won't work, either, without being a major pain in the rear, and issues with the wood being too thin in some places.   There's got to be a better way!

Enter Mr. Super Duper Smart Old Man again.  He took the hook and eyes, and on the side of the drawers, so it's out of the way, attached the hooks, then screwed in on the side of the desk the eyes.  So I can latch the drawers, separately, it's not sticking out where my leg and such would catch it, they will stay closed on the road, unlock em as needed, and it's not hideous, woot!!!  (Thank you again, Timmy!! :)  )

Found a cute basket with painted flowers at the thrift store a few days ago for fifty cents, trying to spruce up the place.  So far I've got two wooden baskets, I strapped them on top of the plastic bins. In part to make the inside more cozy. and the other part, they catch the more useable items that I access a lot.  Things like doggy leash, small battery powered fan, wash cloths, bandanas, air freshner, sunglasses, emergency alarm/whistle, etc.  The wooden baskets look way better than the cheapy blue plastic ones I originally was using.  I think some greenery, somewhere, would help it look more cheerful in there.  Will keep eyes open.

Next thing I'd like to do is get a shoe organizer, cut and sew to size, and hang over the window behind the desk.  Would be for cooking utensils and spices.  Handy, organized, and neat.  Need to also get to work on re-doing the screens on the sliding doors on the back windows.  Will be using them a lot for ventilation, and don't want to be ate up by mosquitos.  Never done them before, should be fun. :)

Other bone of contention, the portable dvd player.  I can not figure out the best placement for it.  Have a hanging behind the seat organizer thing that it can set on, it has sleeves and stuff I keep my movies in, making it all handy.  Problem is, it is only useable with the 12v plug, of which I only have one at the moment.  Plus, the cord to the dvd player isn't all that long.  So I must keep the two pretty close together.  Bah, I will figure it out..   that's the fun part, right?  Maybe once I get the house battery thing done I can find the best solution.  Not that I watch movies in there all that much, preferring to read, but you never know. 

Will update this post to include pictures of the above once I get some today.  :)

The Hair Thing

When I lived down in south Texas those five years between 2007-2012, my hair did awesome!!  It was fuller, shiny, full of life, was able to grow it pretty long, and had curls I never knew existed, they were beautiful!

Since moving back in 2012 to dry western Oklahoma, though, ugh!!  It's dry, frizzy, my curls won't show their beautiful self, I can't hardly 'fix' it anymore, straight doesn't work, and it's all just very frustrating because I know what my hair can do.

So I've been trying ever since I moved back to figure out the best combo for my hair..  different products, more/less product, washing more (bad!! move on my hair), washing less, etc.   My ways of doing my hair down south just does not work up here..  really, nothing works.

In saying such, I've decided to try going with the 'no 'poo' method, and have made it a few weeks before going insane and washing it.  I know, supposed to get past that to see the real benefit, but it seemed something would come up and the need to look presentable was a must (ie. no greasy head). 

In my shower, though, I've had at the ready in clear bottles some pre-mixed baking soda and water and a bottle of pre-mixed apple cider vinegar and water.  I've also got another bottle of baby oil I like to sometimes put on after the shower, sure helps put some moisture back into the skin in this dry butt Oklahoma weather.

Let me just say...     be SURE that the bottle you are squeezing all over your wet hair is the right bottle..   because, folks,  baby oil is a !@*!*@!!!! pain to get out!!!!     Yes..  I sure did...   doused my wet hair good with greasy baby oil.  *sigh*    Baking soda x2, shampoo x4, bar soap even...  We will see how this turns out.  I'm being nice to it after that massacre of chemicals and letting it air dry right now.   If you happen to see me out and about and I'm bald, No, I do not have cancer.  I had Baby Oil.  :(

Month of The Taurus



Yes folks..   I'm Taurus.  Not a big surprise to those who know me, hehe.

 

Was poking around on Pintrest (a time suck argh!) and followed one thing that went to something else..  well, you know how that goes.  So found some of these that have to do with my Taurus butt self.  So now I'm wondering, if I'm introvert after all, or just going with what I've been born in to.  Interesting, interesting.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charging the A/C

There's not much you can't learn off Youtube and Google these days.

Hit a few places to comparison shop, and settled on buying stuff at Atwoods.  Picked up the connector hose and 5 cans of the R134a refrigerant and a sealant.

Figured, since I did get it fixed right before we left on our Texas trip on a Monday, March 23rd and the dash ran cold until April 1st, it had a slow leak, but works.  Why not just learn to charge it yourself, then pick up some cans along the different trips when it starts to not run as cold.  Better than having to keep taking it to a $$$ mechanic.

Recharged it in the parking lot there at Atwoods and drove it some after to enjoy the coolness.  That was last Friday, didn't drive her again til yesterday, Monday.  Me and the kid and doggies decided to drive around for a while and she was still blowing cold.  :)   The dash fan in her isn't the greatest, but hey...   compared to having no A/C, works just great for me!!

Objective: House Battery

So here is my quandary..  I'd like a house battery.  I'd like to set it up to be charging from the alternator while driving, but then be isolated when the ignition is off so as to not draw juice from the starting battery.  A continuous duty solenoid would accomplish that.

Now, here is my comparisons.  I have my Van Halen..  which is a 1996 Ford E150.  Here is a front view of the motor:

Here is a view to the left of the motor, and the space that is there:

Have been told that space is there for an extra battery for if this was a diesel motor.   Why couldn't a deep cycle house battery be put there?

It should.  Here's why I think it should...    Right now, my RV that is up for sale is a 1995 Ford E350.  I took comparison pictures, here they are:

Same placement.. starting battery on right and the house battery is in the same spot my empty space is on the van, here is the comparing shots showing the house battery:

Tell me why that wouldn't work?    It should!   Now..   just to find out who could wire such a thing...   Suggestions anyone?

Second Trip Planned!!

The State:   Kansas.   Why?  To get it out of the way, haha.  And it's close.
The Places:  Aiming to hit Boot Hill, and The Big Well, then Boiling Springs in Oklahoma on the way back.
The Companions:  My bestest friend from highschool, Leah, her doggy Mini LaRue, and my doggy Chevy.
The HulaJohn Goal:  Hope to leave it near the Boot Hill Cemetery or near the OK Corral area.  Think John would be cool with hanging out in a place other not-as-famous-as-him people were in history.
The Miles: about 400 total round trip.
The Duration: just a day trip.


Not sure what day we are leaving yet, I am coordinating with her schedule.  Will be sure to take lots more pictures this time, and on something that will upload onto my computer, haha.  

I Nearly Killed a Classic Mustang

This was when I was younger, stupider, and I nearly killed a classic.

It was a 1965 Mustang, my dad had painstakingly spent many hours working on the body, and then painted it himself.  The color he chose was a metallic blue-green color, which went with the interior. 

This particular day he was going to the local store.  This store was at the other end of our block.  Us girls were there a lot!!   Not sure how many 3 cent gum we stole.  What is the statute of limitations on that, anyways?

So dad was going to the store and I got to go with him.  It wasn't a big trip or anything, I just felt lucky for being able to ride in the 'Tang.

This store was situated on the corner on a short hill.  (Okay, it seemed like a huge hill when I was little).  Dad hopped out to go into the store...    I hopped over to the front seat.  Yeah..  you can see where this is headed.

So I'm pretend driving, moving the wheel, making 'Vroom!!' noices, shifting the gears.  Only, I sorta put it in neutral and it started moving.  Crap!!!!  

My dad, who was at the checkout counter, could see all of this unfold out the window.  His daughter, who couldn't even see over the dash, eyes huge in fear, heading down the hill for the ditch in the car he had just spent so many hours over.  He stood there, unable to move, watching as I somehow managed to steer the backward moving 'Tang to perfectly turn at the street and miss the ditch and get it stopped.

He told me, when getting out to the car and to his scared to death daughter, that he didn't know whether to spank me or hug me, haha.    

I've had great respect for standards and hills ever since.

This is pretty similar to that car:

Big RV Got Listed

Yep, put Mr. Big RV up for sale on Craigslist last night.  Again.  I tried in January, no dice.  Oh well.  Took better pics and reduced the price.  Still not what I have in it, but the transmission was on me, apparently, since everyone can look up the value online.

It was posted for an hour an half before I got two calls on it.  Both asked me what kind of gas mileage it got..  haha!!  The time I checked I had been going between 60-70 mph over Texas Hill Country gunning the engine in the heat of July using the dash A/C...   it had gotten 8mpg.  The thing is awesome, so otherwise I'd keep it.  :)  

But really, it's just too darn big.  Camping should be about adventure, roughing it, and getting outside more.  Not having a nice apartment on wheels that you have to park in a crowded, loud, expensive RV park where you stay inside most of the time.

I do admit, though, I used to hang out in there constantly!  It was like my own little get-a-way cottage.  :)   Guess I'll just do that in the van.  :D

Anyways..   This is the RV I have that I'm selling.  Going from this:

....  to be using this...    Van Halen

 

 

 

 

Comparisons:

 

Class C RV: 

 

PROS:                                 CONS:

Shower                                8mpg

233ft of living space           29' long

Sleeps 8                              Sleeps 8 (and everyone wants to stay with you)

Full kitchen                        Hard to maneuver, can't drive everywhere

Generator                           Best plugged in (ie. RV parks or generator)

Nice                                    Expensive to buy, maintain, repair

Full queen bed                    Limited where you can go, and park

Conveniences of home       Dumping the tanks

More storage                       More crap to break on you

Roomier                              Constantly stressed while driving

 

VAN RV:

 

PROS:                                CONS:

15.7mpg                            15.7mpg (better, but still not great)

Can park anywhere           66ft of living space

Sleeps 2                             Sleeps 2 (less people wanting to stay with you)

Can stealth park (free)       No A/C at night

Self contained                    No tanks to dump

Cheap to buy & convert     No plumbing (carry own water)

Easy to maneuver               No full kitchen

Less crap you don't use       Less storage

 

 

So there ya have it. :)

 

 

 

 

 



Hula John Got to See Stuff

A few random pictures with the Hula John.

Lots of back roads in Texas.

Lots of pretty roads.  And some scary roads.  Some were steep grade and 20 mph.  Yeah..  I admit it..  I had white knuckles and my butt hole was clenching.

My dad was driving here.  We had just made it to Rockport, Texas to check out a prospective house of theirs and have lunch by the water with my Aunt Maxine.

Dyscalculia with the Map

This is what we did:

That is my kid with her groovy glassed self.  That is the map.  And she is my co-pilot.

What is dyscalculia, you ask?   It's like dyslexic, where you get letters mixed up..  just it's with numbers. 

The result?   Four wrong turns and some extra mileage driven.  haha     Oh well..  we had no schedule and saw some new places.  No big deal.  In Uvalde, for instance, when told I needed to find 140 and go right..what happens?  I get told "There's 90, go left!!!", so I did.   Errr..  umm... yeah..  wrong way, lol!

Yes..  we had GPS on the phone.  Yes..  we also had a Garmin.  BUT..  Yes..  we also had fun this way.  :)

Walmart Stealth Parking

First experience sleeping in a Walmart parking lot.

We had made it to Ballinger, Tx before it started getting dark, so we found a Walmart and decided to try it out. 

I went in to check it out, it wasn't a Supercenter, just a regular one.  We walked the doggies, then went in and asked the times they were open, 7am-10pm.  Oh well, we went for it.  Here is our spot:

We parked far away from the door and next to a street light.  There was a fairly busy highway next to the store.  We just walked our doggies again, locked our doors, pulled across the privacy curtains and sunshades on the front, and settled in for the night. 

It was fairly cold that night, enough we brought out the wool blanket my sis got me to put over the comforter.  My doggy barely got under the covers before she went all limp noodle on us and didn't move another muscle til the next morning.  She made a good little foot warmer.  ;)   The kiddo's puppy wasn't sure about the whole thing and paced around quite a bit before finally settling in between our pillows by our heads.  It's a good thing we love our doggies.  We slept really good.

The next day we did our routine..  walked the doggies, went in Walmart for their bathrooms, made some Earl Grey tea in travel mugs, grabbed some granola bars from the plastic bins and hit the road.  We were on the road again about 8:30am.  No one bothered us, and we never felt scared there.

First Walmart Stealth Camp = Success!!!

First Trip Experience: Texas!!

Well, we made it down there and back in one piece.  :)

The driving was tiring.  Expected that, not used to long stretches of nothing but road.  The seat, though, it gonna have to get some lumbar support for future travels.  Is cool, I have one in my car that I can try out. 

We got into Texas and stopped at the first Dairy Queen we could find, I finally got my tacos, lol.  The sauce wasn't the same, but it was still dang good and I devoured them. 

The puppies didn't know what to expect for a while.  The daughter's doggy sure gave my doggy some crap for a while, but then got bored yelping and settled down.  They both did really good, considering.  We kept water and food available, and they got regular potty breaks.  They were happy doggies for the most part.  Chevy, my doggy, did come down with double ear infections later on though. :(

Since we didn't leave til after 1pm on Monday the 23rd of March, we didn't make it too far south before it got dark enough for us to pull over.  We stopped in Ballinger, Texas to try out our first night at their Walmart there.  The place was only open from 7am to 10pm, but I thought we would just stay there instead of finding a 24 hour parking place.  For a full size bed...  me, the daughter and two little puppies managed to sleep pretty darn good.  After that many days, though, have figured out it does need an added layer of foam, denser on the bottom, possibly.  Bed was super comfy, but laying on my side I could feel the plywood on my hip a little.

There were two instances that were semi car trouble, but we still kept the van on the road.  The first instance was when I pulled over to get some gas.  Pulled up next to the station and it died there.  Ugh!!!   Absolutely hate that feeling, pulling up to stop and hoping your vehicle doesn't die.  I've had vehicles do that to me in the past and have pretty much been always dreading that feeling since then.   But anyways, it took off just fine and didn't die again on me, even with the millions of stop and goes we had over the next 9 days of the trip.

The second instance was when I stopped for gas to fill up.  Never did it before, but it had a little bit leak out after it was filled up all the way.  A nice older man at another pump noticed it at the same time I did.  Asked 'Is that you?', lol.  He got down on the ground with me even to help locate where it was coming from, then advised us which shop to take it to to fix it.  When I got there, the mechanic said he could order parts to fix it, but it wouldn't be in til the next day.  With two doggies in an unknown town, wasn't sure what to do.  Guess he took pity on me, told me if I just don't fill it all the way up, it can be driven and just fixed later.  I asked him if he would drive it like that, he said he would.  Decided to just keep going.  I put only a half tank of gas in the van when it got down to a fourth a tank, didn't have a problem again.

We made it down to near where mom and dad's turn off that leads to their place and let them know how close we were.  They were to meet us near the highway and show us the way.  It was really cute, we got near where they were and all of the sudden there they both were on side of the road, with flowers they had picked.  How cute was that?!

So we made it to mom n dad's place.  Spent five days there, checking out their place, driving around at the multitude of houses there, having some wonderful barbeque, visiting with the nephew and his girlfriend, walking doggies around the lake, it was really nice.   Even though they offered to put us up there, we opted to sleep in the van in the driveway. 

One of the days there we went to a town they are considering moving to, Rockport, Texas.  And I wanted dad to drive the van to give his opinion on the issues.  Rockport was nice, got to see the house they are considering buying, ate dockside and watch the seagulls, then drove to Ingleside, TX.  Ingleside is where we lived prior to moving to Corpus Christi.  There was a specific thing I wanted to do, spread some ashes near the canal John used to drive his little boat down from our house to go fishing.  It was pretty hard to do, but I think he would have liked it.  Here is a pic of him driving down the canal.

 

Here he was fishing in that bay. 

 

 

We left for lil sis's place on North Padre on Saturday, March 28th.  Corpus Christi drivers on a Saturday was more nerve wracking than I remembered.  Needless to say, once we made it in one piece to sis's town I was pretty much wore out.  It was cool, though.  Lil nephew had a ball game and so we had time to kill, went to the beach.  We hit the sand, the doggies liked sniffing everything.  Boy it was packed.  But yeah, it was a Saturday with gorgeous weather, of course it would be,  haha.    So we decided to hang out in the van for a while after walking the beach to kill time til the ballgame was over.  Had the front windows cracked, one of the back side windows open, a small fan blowing that ocean breeze through, snacks out, and a movie going, it was awesome!  Somehow mom n dad found us there, mom decided to hang out with us while dad went fishing.  She got a nap in.  ;)

Stayed at sis's place, parked right on the street in front of her house.  Never got bothered.  Was there from Saturday til Wednesday.  Ride on the golf cart, hanging by the pool, a hibachi grill with awesome food, good times!  I did take a bit of 'me' time off hanging out in the van, much to their dismay.  Sometimes an introvert must recharge.  That's me.  *shrugs* 

My daughter decided to leave a Hula John at the beach that she and John used to go to a lot when I was working.  I'm glad someone found it.  And it's kinda wild that I used to work with someone that knows the person that found it!!  (Thank you Johanna!!)   Here is a picture of my daughter leaving the doll.

Since we were leaving April 1st and sis's birthday was the 2nd, I did manage to sneak off and find her some goodies, I hope she liked them.  :)  The onery girl... on our way out, she managed to somehow snag a picture of me and kiddo driving down SPID, while she was driving, like right beside our window, lol.  I'll post that pic later.

Actually, will have to make a separate post of lots more pics.  This post is too long already.  :)  That and for some reason I can't get my pics to download off my phone..  aggravating, lol.

We left out April 1st about 1pm.  Lemme just say...  San Antonio traffic can kiss my ass!!   Bumper to bumper for more than an hour, ugh!!!   At one point I was so stressed out I had to pull off and just sit in the grass a bit.  haha!   Kiddo thought I was bonkers.  After that crap the kid took over driving.  It was awesome to have someone take over the wheel a while, I must admit.  She did admit the drivers seat sucked and hurt her back, too.  And also discovered how hard it was to keep the wheels straight with the play in the steering.  Total focus at all times gets tiring after a while, let me tell ya.  

We made it in after 2am April 2nd having driven straight through from North Padre Island, TX to Elk City, OK.  Doggies were wore out.  Bigger people were wore out.  I'm still recuperating.  Seriously!  lol

Will post some pics laters.  :)