Potters rescue - Dec. 21st, 2018

On November 8th, 2018, a wildland fire broke out near the town of Paradise in Northern California. It turned out to be the most deadly and devastating wildland fires in California history. The effects of the smoke could be felt as far south as Sacramento and even Stockton. 

Over 15,000 homes, and 5,000 businesses were destroyed. One family of 5 who lost everything reached out to Chako Pit Bull Rescue and advocacy for help. There was a pit bull that the mother had rescued from a closed KMart parking lot in Oroville in August of 2018 at the age of about 3 months. The puppy, now 6 months old was part of a family who had lost their home, their business and were about to start living out of their car. The mom and the four kids did not want to give up the dog, but they needed to do something to try to make life work again. So they had to give up this puppy that they had rescued and called Malta. Eric and Charlie left Sacramento at 4:30 AM on a Saturday morning to drive up to Redding to see if Malta might be a suitable dog to enter the Chako Foster program.

After doing the Chako behavior evaluation, Eric decided that Malta could become a foster dog of Chako's and start his search for his new forever home. 

The following is a little video that Eric put together about the adventure of going to pick up Malta, who would later be named Potter once he entered the Chako Foster program.  

Sadly, when Potter went into get neutered at the Chako veterinarian, he must have come across some parvo virus, because 5 days after his surgery, Potter developed the Parvo virus. Potter has been treated and released from the veterinary hospital and is on crate rest while he recovers from his bout with the Parvo virus. Though he is not out of the woods yet, the entire Chako team is hoping he will make a full recovery.

Safe travels!

Carol and Eric Anderson 

Drone Task force - Dec. 15th, 2018

Eric has been working for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; the state prison system. For the last year working for CDCR, Eric has been a member of their Drone Task force which is investigating how drones can be used in the state prisons, and also what equipment can be employed at state prisons to detect drones that are being flown by criminal elements to deliver contraband to inmates at the prisons.

Eric is really enjoying the team members that he is working for and all that he has learned over the last year. Additionally, that after more than 30 years, Eric is thrilled to start using so much information and principles that he learned when he was studying for his Aeronautics major.

Everyone who works as part of the Drone Task force are enjoying not only the mission, but the others that are involved in the team. Even the holiday spirit is being embraced by the drone task force.

Safe travels all!

Carol and Eric Anderson

Refrigerator replacement, Dec. 12, 2018

The day after thanksgiving this year, we had our typical left overs and then topped that off with our small ice-cream treat for our late night snack. On this day, we found that our ice cream was a little softer than normal. So, we checked the refrigerator and found that the Freezer was only at 30 degrees. We placed a thermometer in the refrigerator portion and found it was running at 50 degrees. This was not a good sign. Since it was late in the evening, there wasn't much we could do about it, but the next morning, Eric had to hop on getting to the bottom of what the problem was. A quick inspection on the back side of the refrigerator, Eric found that the control board (which had failed in the past) was not the problem. So, next, he checked the insulation around the burner that heats the Ammonia to cause the cooling process that takes place that allows RV refrigerators work even with burning propane. Eric found a yellow deposit the key indicator of a coolant leak on a RV refrigerator.

The refrigerant on RV Refrigerators can not be refilled except when done at the factory, so Carol and Eric had to decide if they wanted to have a new coolant unit installed, replace the refrigerator, and if that was done, would we go with a new RV refrigerator or a residential one. We decided that we wanted an RV refrigerator so that we can still easily boon-dock, so we either had to replace the coolant unit or the whole refrigerator. Well, we knew the seals on the existing doors were shot as well and that the only way to replace the seals is to replace the doors. So, now it seems like we are replacing most portions of the refrigerator, we might as well replace the entire unit.

So, we had a couple options to consider. We could get a new Norcold, or a Dometic unit. We found by looking at the specs that the Dometic unit was two inches deeper and would not fit through the doorway. And we were told that if we they had to take the refrigerator in and out of the window, we would need to leave the rig for 3 days. Well, we didn't want to live in temporary housing for two nights so we decided to go with the Norcold unit which is over $1,000 more than the Dometic unit. After much thinking about the issue, we decided to go with the Norcold unit to simplify the process.

Well, we are very happy with he outcome of having the new unit, because additionally, the existing wood panels from the old refrigerator fits in the doors of the new one. The funny thing we found out is that the technicians were not able to get the old refrigerator out through the door, they had to use the window. Well, they removed the window anyway, so we could have gotten the Dometic if we had known that in the first place. Oh well, we are very happy with the new unit.

Safe travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Pitty Puddle - Nov, 16th 2018

Most nights when we get home from work, after dinner and doing the dishes, we enjoy watching TV in the company of our dogs who had been waiting patiently all day in the motorhome for us to return after a hard day of work. The couch can get a little cozy with all five of us sitting on it. We definitely make the couch work most nights, but occasionally we like to have what we call 'Family Bed Night' where we watch TV in the bedroom.

Sadly on the night this picture was taken, Carol was out having dinner with some friends, so it was just me and the three dogs, but rest assured, she has been in this picture many evenings as you can see below! :-)

The dogs don't care where we are, as long as they get to be with us.

Safe travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Our Fall of 2018 - Oct. 31st, 2018

As in years past we always enjoy the fall time of year. We love how the trees change color, and we also enjoy being able to decorate our site around the rig.

We had a inflatable Micky Mouse in years past to help add color to our yard, but last year, the fan inside of it died and so we said good by to Micky. Fortunately, we found this cool inflatable carriage at our local Lowes to help brighten up our yard during this time of year.

We don't normally get too carried away on decorations, but we always like to have something to put us in the mood for the season. Our neighbors Paul and Linda always have some great decorations like the Pack of Pumpkins and the dragon to help make the surrounding area that much more festive.  We also had a bonus this year, we had what we think is our first 'Trick-or-treater' ever while living in our fenced site here at Aspen Grove RV park.

On the topic of Aspen grove, they have recently replaced some of the lighting around the park, and it is nice in that it is much easier to see when out walking the dogs in the early morning!

Safe travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderson.

Proud to be a pit bull - Oct, 27th, 2018

Every year, in the month of October, Chako Pit Bull Rescue and Advocacy holds their annual 'Proud to be a Pit Bull owner walk around old town Sacramento. It's a great opportunity to get our dogs out and socialized and also to give the public a chance to see that Pit Bulls are not as scary as some aspects of the media may make them out to be.

As always, Charlie joined me on the walk as the best example of what a wonderful dog Pit bulls can be. The walk takes us through Old Sacramento, but at it's farthest point, takes us to the Golden 1 center which was completed a little over a year ago. The shopping center that was completely redesigned as part of the inclusion of the Golden 1 center is starting to come back to life with new stores and time goes on.

Safe travels everyone,

Eric and Carol Anderson

Rex is Official - Oct. 14th, 2018

Though we adopted over a year ago, and we have always promised that every dog we bring into our home would be with us until the end of their days, he has now become official, he has his own shingle at the bear.

Uncle Mike was kind enough to make a sign for Rex that now hangs proudly on our bear.

We love you Rex, you are such a wonderful loving boy! :-)

Safe travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderon

The annual Waite family reunion - Oct. 12th, 2018

Once again we had the annual Waite family reunion in Pine Grove at the Gold Country Campground. The event was well attended by many members of the family. Since the change in location, the reunion has taken on a little different flavor to it. Though we don't play all of the games that have been played in the past, we still have the horse shoe tournament.

We stopped going to the Tower park in Lodi due to the cost of the cabins getting out of reach and because they just did not have enough cabins that allowed dogs. So, we started a search for a new park. We came to Gold Country Camp Ground last year, but were less than impressed with the cabins as they were pretty run down. This last off season though, they did a lot of work recondition the cabins and now they are truly enjoyable.

Eric had anxiety in the past of driving the motorhome up to Pine grove because it couldn't make the grade without overheating, but since the Radiator has been serviced 6 months ago, its just humming along on the roads of any incline! :-)

It appeared that everyone that attended was having a great time! We will be returning to Pine Grove again next year as long as the rules or costs don't get too out of hand.

Safe travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Listening to a Dauchau Survivor - Oct, 11th, 2018

Carol and I were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to hear live and in person the personal experience of one of the Nazi World War II Concentration camps; that camps name was Dauchau Germany. The gentleman we were listening to was Bernard Mark's. This Dachau survivor spoke at the Mather community center. He talked about making ME262's at the age of 13. One of the encouraging things about an event like this, is 1/3 of the room is filled with kids of all ethnic backgrounds that though they may have been to young to vote, but not to young to learn, learn about the mistakes of human kinds  past.

Clearly the room was standing room only. As you can see, we got there so late that we had to stand during the 1 and a half hour talk (Carol was next to the TV across the room), but we would not have missed this talk for anything. We are looking forward to next weeks talk by a lady who is a survivor from a US interment camp in world war II.

It is so important to attend events like these and they are right in our own back yard. Also, these events are free and held at a wonderful and rejuvenated former train station that we are truly lucky to have here in the city of Rancho Cordova.

Safe travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Chako Dog videos - Oct. 6th, 2018

As always we live mixed life style. One where we get out and about in the community, but also where we enjoy just relaxing at home with our dogs when we get the chance. Eric still makes it out to the Front Street shelter on occasion to get pictures and video stock of dogs that are at the shelter and being worked with by Chako Pit Bull University volunteers. Eric makes it out to the shelter at least once a month and this year was no different.

The night before Eric was supposed to go to the Shelter, he got a call from Dawn Capp the head of Chako and responded to her request with help with a couple of rescue dogs that she found wandering her street. Dawn was headed out of town, but could not leave the dogs to fend for them selves. So, early Saturday morning met up with a couple of other Chako volunteers at Dawns house to place the dogs in the Jeep and take the dogs to the shelter before he was to meet up with the Chako PBU volunteers to work with Chako Dogs.

One of the dogs was a German shepherd the other was a little black dog that looked like a miniature Black lab. A day or so later, the dogs owner was located and the dogs were returned to their home. 

Eric got pictures and video of the two dogs currently in the PBU program and produced the video to help them get adopted. 

The videos worked! Within a week both Titan and Doug were adopted from the shelter. Doug had been in the shelter for 62 days, and it did everyone's heart good to see him get adopted. 

Safe Travels everyone! 

Eric and Carol Anderon

Oil, Tranny, Axle - Oct. 1st, 2018

We have both been mindful of the fact that the motorhome needed to stay up to date on its service. We knew she was due for an oil change as well as a Transmission oil service. So, we took the rig in to get those two maintenance items taken care of. We were told this would be about a 3 hour service and that we should be able to pick it up around noon.

Well, Noon time came and we called to find out the status. It turned out that one of the rear axle seals was leaking and there was a broken weld on the landing gear used to stabilize the rig when it is parked. Though it meant we would spend money we had not planned on, they said they could get the work done by close of business and we decided to have it done. We were not terribly surprised at this development given the fact that we had the axle seal replaced just a few years earlier. The bonus to having this done is that now the breaks on the motorhome are both current on the rear of the rig.

Going to Sacramento Truck center has never been a cheap venture, but we never feel like they do anything but a quality job for us. As always, our three dogs are the best, they just hang out with us in the Jeep all day long until it is time to pick up the rig. :-)

Safe Travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Juvenal Detention Guest speaking - Sept 29th, 2018

Earlier in 2018, Eric had reached out to a fellow volunteer at the Front Street animal shelter to attend CDCR's annual 'Take your child to work day'. This volunteer, a lady by the name of Barbara Vik helps out at the County of Sacramento's Youth Detention facility as part of a program to help Juvenal offenders to learn compassion as well as skills  where they can hopefully move in a direction that will be more productive to their long term success in society.

Barbara was more than happy to come and talk to son's and daughters of CDCR staff about programs involving animals and offenders in detention environments. She did a wonderful job and even brought a four legged furry friend with her.

A few months later, Barbara reached out to Eric and asked if he would be interested in bringing a dog in to be part of a 'Guest Speaker' series at the counties youth detention facility and talk about how volunteering has impacted his life.

Eric was only happy to oblige and he and Charlie Ventured into the youth detention facility and spoke to 8 young ladies about his involvement with Chako and other shelter/rescue operations.

Safe travels all!

Carol and Eric Anderson

Drone Task force - Sept 21st, /2018

For the last couple of years, the California Department of Corrections has had a Drone Task force who's purpose is to identify uses for drones within Corrections. There are a number of aspects of Drones that the Task force is looking at that include the use by flying drones as well as detecting drones that are used for contraband delivery in prisons. All members of the task force participated in this years California Capital Air show as well as worked to test Drone Detection options available for deployment at state facilities.

Due to his aviation background, Eric was asked to become part of the Task Force and get his part 107 license. Eric was infact the first to get his license and encouraged others that the process was not as difficult as others may have feared. Soon after. Two other members of the task force obtained their Part 107 certificate from the FAA. As a result, the task force now has three FAA licensed Part 107 Pilots and three different levels of drones.

The pride and joy of this budding fleet is a drone with a Forward Looking InfraRed (FLIR) camera that can be used to see those who may be trying to evade law enforcement during among other times, including High risk arrests of parolees who may have had a warrant issued for their arrest due to probation violations.

Safe Travels all!

Carol and Eric Anderson.

Chako at work - Sept, 19th 2018

Every year, the state of California has the 'California Giving Campaign'. This is an event where non-profits have the opportunity to come out and explain their organizations and what they do in hopes that state employees will donate funds to the organization through pay-roll deductions.

For about the 5th year Eric has done this booth for Chako. He did it three years while working for the California Department of Social Services, and then subsequently has done it twice now at California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. 

As you can see the booth has pictures of chako volunteers and dogs available for adoption. No only is Chako eager to have donations, but they are also looking for new volunteers and Eric is eager to tell those interested about all of the volunteer options that Chako has available. This is a great opportunity to tell people about Chako is about but also to learn about other organizations as well. 

Safe Travels 

Eric and Carol Anderson

New Sun Shade - Sept. 20th 2018

A couple years ago, we had asked the RV park management to repair the cracked concrete at our site. Admittedly, it was a trip hazard, but we were not prepared for the eventual chain of events that would take place.

The cause for the concrete cracks was the fact that the root structures from one of the large trees in our yard had caused the concrete to heave and crack. When they removed the old concrete, they hacked up the roots to lower them and then poured the concrete. Well, the Lye in the concrete mix was absorbed by the roots of the tree and started to kill the tree. With the tree gone however, we lost a lot of shade on the front of the motorhome.

So, Eric built a sun shade to help keep some of the early morning sun off the front of the motorhome. No, it's not near as nice as a tree, but it does help. And also, Eric was able to re-purpose the 'Mining' lights that we had purchased a few years back to help illuminate the area at night.



We sure miss our tree, but this solution sure does help!

Safe Travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Firefighter Career Expo - Sept, 8th, 2018

On September 8th Carol worked a booth at a Firefighter Career expo here in Sacramento. It was great to see so many agencies out at this event recruiting those interested in becoming firefighters. Every candidate there was interested in becoming a firefighter. Some were definitely more prepared than others. There were a number of candidates there who were former military, some with Medic training and ready to jump in at the first opportunity.

There were hundreds of candidates at the event. At times when Carol and her co-worker looked up, the lines to talk to a Cal-Fire representative would be 10 people deep.

Though Cal-fire didn't have any equipment at the event, there were a number of agencies who had their fire fighting equipment on hand at the event. Sac-Metro fire even had their helicopter do a fly-by twice past the event.

Eric came along to help with carrying equipment to and from the event. As always, the team did a great job representing Cal-Fire.

Safe Travels everyone,

Eric and Carol Anderson

Trying a new dog bed - Sept. 5th, 2018

As with any new dog that joins the pack, there are always adjustments that must be made. Frequently you find a dog will be destructive due to separation anxiety. Sometimes, as is our case, the destructiveness comes as a result of a puppy growing up and finding out what they can and can not chew. Sometimes, it takes a while to get that behavior corrected. And sometimes dad is tired of breaking out the needle and thread every night to sew up the damage done to the dog bed, from the night before. So, we have invested in our first dog bed by K9 Ballistics.

The dog bed got 12 paws up from our pack in the rig. Rex has only tried to chew on it once, but didn't go very far before giving up on it. So, next time we get paid, we will be ordering another of these dog beds.

Safe travels everyone!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Anniversary at Cler Lake - Sept, 2nd thru the 4th, 2018

For our 19th wedding anniversary, we decided to venture out to Clearlake California. Eric had met a gentleman at Sacramento International Airport one time when he was waiting to pick up Carol from a trip with Cal-fire. The Man told had a Aurora RV Park T-shirt on and told Eric how he was helping to turn this park around. 

So, a couple months or so before their anniversary (which also usually falls on Labor day weekend) Eric made a reservation at the park. What was not happening at the time of the reservation was wildland fires that would cause the park and the surrounding town to be evacuated. We kept tabs on the status of the fire the couple of weeks before our trip and though the fire raged on, the town of Nice and the surrounding area was given the 'All clear' and we thought it only appropriate that we stay with our plan and help out the community by coming and spending some dollars their to help their economy. 

One of the first investments that we made while here in town was to replace the electrical plug on the motorhome. We had one contact that had gone bad. Eric was able to get it functional to get us through the first night, but come the next morning, we set out to find a replacement. Though we didn't find any in the town of Nice, we did find a RV supply and rental equipment place that did have a plug that we needed.

Though there were times that it got smoky here, we did enjoy our visit. We did some investigating of the area and could see where flame retardant had been dropped just below the ridge line that was to protect the town of Nice and other communities below.

As always, our wedding anniversary was memorable and we love each other as much as the day we got married.

Safe Travels everyone.