The first day of summer

Hi there everyone, well, this was a very busy weekend which included some special events. We expereienced the annual coming of the first day of summer as well as fathers day. Though we are officially in summer, by this time of the year, we normally would have had a number of sweltering days by now. Now, we have had a few warm days this year, but, all in all, it has been a very mild and enjoyable 'Spring'. Yesterday for instance, Fathers day, we had a high of about 82 degrees which was comfortably warm, but it was accompanied with a cool breeze. It was basically wonderful! :-)

My fathers day started as most Sundays do, with an early rise at 6:30 am to be down to the Amador county Animal Control department to walk dogs. The population at the shelter is back up to about 12 dogs, but we have an Adoption Outreach this next weekend at our local Petco, so hopefully, we'll find some pooches some new 'forever' homes! It is so rewarding to go down there every week and walk and work with the dogs. There is one down there named 'Ellie' that is a pit bull. She is an absolute love. She is big and strong, but if we didn't already have 3 dogs in the RV, I'd would have brought her home. Not a mean bone in her body!

We have been living in the RV for 5 months now. Carol and I could not be happier. The original plan was to put everything in storage for a year and if after a year, we were still happy with living in the trailer then we would sell the remainder of our worldly belongings and get out of the storage unit. Well, 5 months into this adventure, we are absolutly in love with the life style. As a result, we're going to start getting rid of things well before the year is out. Katie wants some of the stuff, but the rest will be sold to raise a little cash and lighten our load of 'Stuff'.

We have found our 2006 Keystone Cougar to be a very comfortable home. Even though the service to the trailer is only 30 amps and the Cougar would be considered a mid level RV, we are very comfortable and really in want for nothing. The Cougar only has a single air conditioner, which is not the norm for a rig used for 'Full timing', but so far, with the additional 'weatherizing' of the rig, has managed to keep us comfortable.

We still have our three pooches and the two kitties living with us. Spotty our orange and white kitty has been around since before Carol and I met. I Shortly after Carol and I got togther, Carol bought a house and moved out of her dads place which was about 1.5 miles away as the crow flies. Well, a couple days after Carol moved into the new place, Spotty found his way back to Calvins home, which is what he knew as home. So, he is a quite the surviver. You see him in one of the attached pictures next to Bruce our traveling moose.

Our 32 Inch Television that Carol and I normaly watch, has developed a blue line in the screen. So, we have sent it in to have it repaired. We moved the TV from the bedroom back out to the living room. It's hard to believe that we use to watch this TV in the living room all of the time for a while. The screen is so much smaller than what we have gotten use to.

Well, I guess that is about all for now. Take care and Happy Camping! - Eric -

Redding 2009

Hi there everyone,

We have come to the JGW RV park in Redding for a weekend. It hasn't been since we hooked up with Karen and Mike in Chico that we have been able to get away from it all. Well, with relatively short notice, we decided to get away for the weekend.

If you have been following the weather at all over the last couple weeks, you know we've been experiencing an un-seasonably rainy and stormy spring. There have been a number of thunder storms moving through the north state lately. Last night was no different. We had a lot of lightning and thunder rolling through during the evening. Carol and I tried to take the dogs for a walk last night before the storm moved through our area, but it became obvious to us shortly after we started that we were surrounded by the storms and that we were best off being in the trailer to ride out the storm. We had been in the trailer for a while, Carol peered outside and made the observation that we might be accumulating some water on the awning which is attached to the passengers side of the trailer. I had placed the awning at a slight angle so that rain would run off if any came, but I have to be honest we got more rain than I expected. So, with it raining quite a bit, I ventured outside and increased the tilt of the awning so that the rain would run off better. I didn't want to be outside any more than necessary, cause it was coming down HARD.

Well, if you take a look at the pictures included in this blog, you can see what happens when you don't listen to your wife or at least the voice of experience. There was a couple with a Keystone Cougar similar to ours. They didn't have enough of a tilt to their awning, and as you can see, it collapsed under the weight of the accumulated water. Ours, fared the storm very well, thanks no doubt to me listening to my wife. How else do I stay happily married for 10 years! :-)

While we were out and about on Friday, we came across one of Reddings land marks, a huge American flag off of the I-5 free way. This is a project of the local Lyons club. They were holding a fund raiser so that they can keep the flag that is on display in good shape at all times.

Our campsite as you can see backed up to the Sacramento River. This is why this RV park is one of our favorite destinations!

Well, I better stop being so lazy and get going. I hope you have a great day! - Take care! Happy camping! - Eric and Carol Anderson

A couple ladies I'm proud of..

Hi there everyone,

Well, as you probably know, it is 'Graduation Season' and our families are no different. Carol has been working for the last year on her Medical Transcription schooling. She graduated yesterday with a GPA of 3.8 so we are all very proud of her.

Steve and Lena's daughter Marina is graduating from high school tomorrow. We so wish we could be there for her graduation, but alas, life sometimes has other plans for us all.

Happy graduation to all those graduates out there!!!

We are doing great full timing in our fifth wheel. Our original plan was to live in the RV for a year and place all of our worldly belongings in a storage unit for a year. Well, we are 6 months into living in the RV and we are more convinced than ever that this is the life for us. So, we are going to start selling our furniture before the year was up. It will save us over $100.00 a month. Also, we continue to be very happy with our selection of Far Horizons 49er RV resort. We just love this place. It's clean and well maintained. The pool area is wonderful as is the laundry mat. Additionally, the folks here have been very helpful in supporting me to try to get my computer seminars started.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Take care! Happy Camping! - Eric -

Wow, we have been so busy!

Hi there,

I'm sorry it has taken so long to get a update to the log out there. I've tried a couple of times lateley, but the internet connection has been a little faulty lately here at the old RV park. None the less, the update you have been waiting for has arrived.

This weekend has been a busy one. Saturday we went to see off Carols nephew Kacey who is preparing to relocate to Maryland after a recent promotion. We also went to an RV show in Pleasanton. We wanted to look at new RV's and I also wanted to get some feed back on my new book from those that are out there in the RV industry.

Speaking of my book, my book is now out there for you all to purchase. You can find my book on 'Amazon.com' or you can click on the following link. https://www.createspace.com/3378075

I have so many different aspects of my new business going on right now. I've been working on sign design for the side of the truck. I've been working on a banner design. I've also been trying to figure out how to market my book most effectively. My most recent attempt was to get it carried at a local RV store. They informed me that it was too much about computers and not enough about RVing. However, on the positive side, I spoke to the owner of the store here at the RV park we are living at and they have opted to try to sell a few copies of the book. So, I'm going to try to hit some of the local RV parks and see if I can get exposure there too.

Carol is doing great. She is almost done with her Medical Transcription training. She is scheduled to take her RMT (Registered Medical Transcriptionist) certification test next week and to graduate shortly after that. I am so proud of her, she has done such a wonderful job! :-)

The dogs are doing great. Tyson hurt his neck back in April. He's doing pretty well, but we think he has some nerve damage 'cause he is now dragging his feet a little bit. :-( None the less, he seems very happy and is still as full of love as ever.

We've been in living in the Fifth wheel for over 4 months now, and everything is going great. We still find that we really are in want for nothing. About the only thing we want to do now is unload all of the stuff in the storage unit and get rid of it.

My sister Karen and her husband Mike are getting ready to leave for a trip to Hawaii to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary!

Well, I guess that is about all for now.

Take care! Happy camping! - Eric-

We're into our 3rd month

Hi there everyone,

Sorry it has been so long since I last updated the blog. There has been a lot going on recently. I've been working diligently on my book 'Campin and Computin'. Well, this first book is finished. I'm hoping to have my proof copy sent to me later next week so that I can review it. That is the primary reason it has been so long since I last updated the blog.

A week ago, Carol attended a conference on Medical Transcription. The market for transcriptionists is not as good as we would have hoped. It sounds like voice recognition is starting to be looked at more seriously by medical providers. But, we are still hopeful Carol will be able to find a job once she is done with her training. If nothing else, she has helped her 'Office skills' immensely. She is a much faster typist than she has been prior to her training starting.

A month or so ago, we attended a surprise 50th birthday party for Loretta, Billies wife. It was a great evening. Most of you know how concerned Loretta is about the appearance of her home. It looked great while everyone was their awaiting for the guest of honor to arrive.

This weekend, we attended a 65th Birthday party for Carols sister Sandy. It too was a surprise to the celebrant. There was a huge turn out for Sandy's birthday dinner at the St. George hotel in Volcano. Everyone would love to send their sincerest thanks to Bill Ealy and Patty Amoral for treating everyone to an excellent dinner.

Carol and I are hoping to get together with Karen and Mike for the Easter weekend.

We are doing great living in the 5th wheel. We have been living in it for 2 and a half months. The dogs, cats and our selves are getting along as well if not better than we did when we lived in the 'Stick and Brick' house. Roxy, our Austrailian shepperd was diagnosed with an in-operable tumor at the base of her stomach where it empties into the Large intestine back in September of 2008. We continue to blend her food to help in the digestion process and she seems to be doing great. She still is very active and likes to do her 'Twist and Shout' every morning when I get up. In actualily, since we have started to blend her food, she hasn't shown any signs of discomfort asside from her arthritic knees. All in all, she is doing great and seems very happy! :-)

Well, I guess that is about all for now. Take care! Happy Camping! - Eric-

Some Daily chores

Hi there everyone,

Well, this has been one of the wettest February's in my memory and we have been fairing just fine in the RV. Despite the rain today, we took care of several chores today. The vent over the stove in the RV has a flapper in it to keep bugs out of the exhaust hood. I had removed the vent cover a year ago and painted it to match the trailer. Well, when I reinstalled it, I heard a crack of some plastic, but I couldn't figure out what it was. A month or so ago however, the flapper came loose. So, that must have been the plastic that cracked and it finally gave up the ghost and fell out. So, I went to our local RV dealer and picked up a new cover for the exhaust hood. I extended the awning from the trailer which happens to be over the vent hood which provided me with a dry work area. I removed the old vent cover and installed a new one, all in a driving rain storm.

I also vacuumed the carpets in the trailer and took out the trash and flushed out the black water tank in the trailer. Carol helped me to remove the screens and clean the vent fans today. A little bit of spring cleaning if you will. This is the first time that we have cleaned these out since we bought this trailer 3 years ago. They were pretty yucky!

We are all enjoying our new life style a great deal. The cats seem to be doing just fine, the dog have always been great RV'ing companions and Carol and I are have not missed a beat at all in our new environment. There really hasn't been any sort of adjustment that has had to take place in moving from a stick and brick to the Trailer.

I've been fighting a cold the last couple of days, but despite that, yesterday, we went to Sacramento for a very busy day. First we went so I could get blood drawn at Kaiser Hospital. We joined the Kaiser network this year and have found it to save us a great deal of money over our HMO that we use to have. After I had my blood drawn (which came out great by the way) we went down and dropped off the Honda at Elk Grove Honda to get an oil change done on it. While they did the oil change on our Honda, Carol and I went to Katies work and I figured out the problem with her headlights was the fact that both bulbs were burned out. After a few minutes at Kragen, we had her back up and running with head lights.

Well, I guess that is about all for now. We hope you all are doing great. Happy Camping! Eric And Carol!

One Month and we have snow!

Well, Carol and I have been living in the RV for a month now with our three dogs and two cats. Everything has been going very well. We are very happy in our new digs in the RV in Plymouth. There have been a few challenges here and there, but nothing differnt from living in a 'Stick and Brick' house.

We did have something happen today that we didn't ever expect. We had snow on the ground this morning! A series of storms moving through the central California region have brought a lot of water and wind our way. We were surprised that the storms brought about two inches of snow on the ground here in Plymouth.

We are expecting more storms through the weekend. We may even get more snow before all is said and done.

Also this last week or so we've been able to enjoy a couple of special events. We attended a Super bowl party at Hoot 'N Annies resturaunt which is run by our nephew Kevin McCann.

We then got to enjoy my birthday dinner at the Lone Wolf Cafe at the Jackson Rancheria. All in all, 2009 has been a good year for us and we are enjoying it to the best of our ability.

Stay posted for more developments as the Presidents day weekend proceeds.

Happy camping! - Eric and Carol -