Steve Wraights 70th birthday - July 20th, 2019

On Saturday July 20th, Eric made a speed trip down to Long Beach for Steve Wraight's 70th birthday party. The summer has a forecast of being a very busy one, so with some Southwest miles available, Eric decided to make the quick trip down to help Steve celebrate his special day. The Brothers Wraight are all very tight, so they always relish getting together, especially as they get older. Mike was on a Safari with Karen in Africa, but Chuck and Teri stopped by in Long Beach as they made their way home from visiting Scott and Anne in Georgia. As a result, Chuck and Eric got to help Steve Celebrate his special day.

Everyone at the party had an amazing time. The caterer served up some amazing BBQ, the DJ's kept the grove going on, and the magician had everyone guessing. Here are some pictures and video from the event.

Safe Travels everyone! 

Eric and Carol Anderson

Healdsburg in June 2019

Eric continues to be involved in the CDCR Drone task force which is investigating the use of Drones at California state prisons. Eric is juggling his Drone task force duties with that of Salesforce and GIS. Of the 5 members of the Task force, four of them, including Eric were able to attend a free drone conference put on in Healdsburg California just a couple of hours from Sacramento. 

The conference was scheduled to be taking place on a Wednesday and Thursday in the community north of the San Francisco Bay area. Since the conference spanned 2 days, lodging would be required, so in combination with taking some time off from work, we took the motorhome out to a Thousand Trails Camp Ground just north of Healdsburg. We arrived on Tuesday evening and set up camp. We were disappointed to find that the site only had 30 Amp service and there was no sewer. This make things a little uncomfortable the first day because the temperatures were well into the 90's and there was little shade offered to our rig from the sun. But, Carol and the dogs made the best of it and as the week progressed, the temperatures cooled and the one air conditioner was able to keep the motorhome comfortable. Since either air conditioner pumps cold air to the entire rig, either one could be used for temperature control. 

On Wednesday and Thursday, Eric attended the conference which was well attended by public safety agencies from all over northern California. For a free conference which was put on by a local Drone distributor, all of the members of the task force were favorably impressed at the content provided at the conference which was held at a Christian college preparatory school.  

On Friday and Saturday, after the conference was over, we explored the Healdsburg area including a local lake and sampled some of the wonderful food at the local eateries in the area. This is a beautiful area to come visit, especially in the fall, winter and early spring when temperatures are maybe not quite so warm as it is hard to come by RV parks in the area that do not have breed restrictions and have 50 amp sites.

On Sunday, it was Fathers day and Carol made Eric blue berry pancakes for the special occasion. Eric also received a Fathers day call from Katie to wish him a wonderful day as well which really made Eric's day! Eric had not wanted any gifts for fathers day, but it turned out that when we were ready to head home that the Motorhome would not start. As a result, Carol ended up buying Eric two starter batteries for the Motorhome as an impromptu fathers day gift. Though our departure was a little later than normal, the rest of our ride home was un-eventful. :-)

Safe Travels everyone!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Karen and Mikes new place in Phoenix Oregon in May 2019

When Eric sister Karen and brother-in-law Mike sold the house on Clay street that they had occupied since the 1980's, they sold the Clay street house with the expectation that in the long run, they would be changing their living situation to maybe living in a mobile home. However, they found locating a new home tough sledding because of the fact that they had two large dogs. Those dogs, Guinness and Corona are part of their family and a home had to be found where the entire family was welcome. You see retirement communities that are also mobile home parks usually don't allow large dogs the size of Guinness and Corona.

In the short term, they would be house sitting for a friend of theirs that was out of the country for a couple of years after selling the house on Clay street. A complexity arose when the friend who's house they were watching, decided to return to her home about a year and a half early. So, this meant that Karen and Mike needed to expedite their search for a new place to live. Since they still enjoy RV'ing, they wanted a place where they could also park the motorhome. After doing a bit of searching, they found this wonderful home that seemed to fit the bill, a place not far from a High School Mike use to teach at.

The new house has a large back yard and rooms large enough to allow for guests, but still a smaller house that would make upkeep easier to stay on top of. Karen and Mike knew the house had been flipped but they didn't know just how bad the house had been before it was flipped. It turns out, the house was used at one time for making drugs. And, while moving their belongings into the house, Karen and Mike had an un-expected visit from the previous resident who use to live in the house when it was used for the drug trade. The female visitor implied that the house still belonged to her. Karen and Mike contacted local law enforcement, and that was the last time the lady ever visited the house.

Karen and Mike are very comfortable in their new home, and Eric had a chance to go up to visit them in early May to help them get some chores done in order to wrap up getting the home set up. Eric made the trip in the Chevy Volt with all of the tools he had available to him. One of their biggest accomplishments was getting a doggie door put in for Guinness and Corona. With the help of gardeners and an occasional visit of a house keeper, Karen and Mike are settling into their new home very nicely. 

The trip wasn't all work and no play however, just before heading home, Eric got to watch Mike perform in his German band which he has participated in for a number of years.

Safe travels all! 

Eric and Carol Anderson 

Rosie's melt down in April 2019

We are not quite sure what the cause was, but in April of 2019, shortly after Carol returned to work at Cal-Fire, Rosie started to have melt downs when we would leave for work. We don't know if it was separation anxiety brought on by Carol being home for a long amount of time and then eventually returning to work, or if it was something else. Her melt downs took the form of trying to escape out of the motorhome, any way possible, her favorite approach was trying to tear the front door open.

Her little melt downs resulted in the screen door that is inside from the front door, being subjected to the majority of the on-slaught. We tried CBD products but that did nothing for her anxiety. Eric tried taking time off from work and watching Rosie through a baby camera and found that the cause was more than likely related to delivery trucks and drivers coming into the cul-de-sac during the day. This process resulted in the front screen door being destroyed a number of times, and Eric having to make repairs each time.

Since we knew we could not ask the neighbors to have all of their deliveries made else where, we tried getting a extra tough kennel for Rosie to stay in.

Unfortunately, Rosie is terrified of being in a kennel and as a result busted off 6 teeth trying to get out of the kennel when Eric and Carol were at work. The last result was drugs. So, now Rosie is on Prozac once a day to help her manage her anxiety and it seems to be working so far. We eventually took Rosie in to have the 6 teeth removed, and while at the veterinarian she had a huge anxiety attack in the kennel at the vet and so they tried keeping her on a slip lead and attached to an exam table. Well Rosie slipped her leash and almost escaped out of the clinic, but due to the fast actions of the staff, Rosie was kept safe and sound until her surgery was complete and we could come pick her up.

We love our dogs, and though Rosie may be a challenge at times, we try to do what ever we can to keep her safe.

Safe travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Carols shoulder surgery March 2019

Over the last several years, Carol has been having problems with pain in her right shoulder. After pursuing physical therapy and massage, it was determined that the only way to resolve Carol's shoulder pain issue was by having the problem surgically repaired. The problem it turned out was a torn rotator cuff. Fortunately, Kaiser has one of the premier Orthopedic surgeons on staff in the Sacramento area that among other patients, works on Sacramento Kings Players.

Of course, one of the problems with having such a renowned surgeon on the case, means that the doctor has many clients who are waiting for the kind of relief he can provide. After many months of waiting, in March of this year, it was Carol's turn to have the surgery done. Carol was in and out of the surgical center the same day, but then the long rehab process was to begin. For over a month, Carol recuperated at home with the aid of flowers from many well wishers as well as her new found friend the 'Ice man' a machine that pumps super chilled water through a wrap that goes around her shoulder. Most importantly Carol had the love and care of her two four legged nurse maids, Charlie and Rosie.

Even after a couple weeks, Carol was willing to venture out of the house to see what she had been missing in the outside world. One of our visits was to check out a typewriter exhibit just across Mather field road MACC (Mather Arts Counsel Center).

After about 5 weeks Carol was back to work at Cal-Fire on limited duty and loving the pain relief she had after recovering from the surgery.

Safe Travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Cleaning up the roof of the rig

Ever since we bought our 2003 Allegro Bus in September of 2010, there was a King Dome Satellite system. We were hoping that this satellite would be wonderful in providing our entertainment needs.

We quickly found out that the unit no longer worked and we were informed this was because the world had moved on from Analog to digital transmission signals. We left the unit in place because the unit other wise did not impact the comfortable living within our rig. We had considered at one point removing the unit, but time and opportunity had not really presented it self. That whole situation changed when we had a number of windy storms come through the winter of 2018-2019. During this winters windy storms, there were a number of branches that came down from the trees above and damaged the covers of the air conditioner units and the Satellite dome.

Knowing that we would go forward in our full timing adventure with the air conditioners, we knew we needed to replace the air conditioner covers. However the King satellite system was no longer usable, probably not worth spending the money on to replace the cover. So, we decided to remove the satellite system all together. So, with a removing all of the hardware, including nuts and bolts, left us with a system base, that was bolted and silicon sealed to a mounting plate on the roof. So, with removing everything but the base it's self, Eric slowly worked a 2" Spatula between the mounting plate and base, and within an hour or so, Eric had removed the Satellite base from the mounting plate.

The mounting plate will be left in place because once some lap sealant was placed over a couple of place on the mounting plate, it is still a water proof attachment to the roof. So now, the roof is all ready for the next adventures in our future!


Safe travels everyone!

Eric and Carol Anderson

Celebrating our girl Rosie and advocating for older dogs in your home

While living in Amador county, Eric got involved in walking dogs at the Amador county animal shelter every Sunday. As Carol and Eric started their full time living in an RV at 49er RV park in Plymouth, Eric was walking one scared little girl Rosie.

Eric and Carol adopted Rosie and over the first 8 years of her living in our home, she has grown more and more comfortable in our home. Eric just put together a little video celebrating our girl Rosie who we adopted from the Amador county animal shelter in early 2011. Hopefully this video shows that there are wonderful dogs out there who deserve rescuing and that even an 11 year old dog can lead a very full life.


Safe travels all!

Eric and Carol Anderson