Young Snowbirds » snowbirds

New Orleans Café du Monde and French Market

Darlene — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:48:26 +0000

Day two in “The Big Easy” (one of New Orleans other names) started off by actually getting on the shuttle bus from the RV park this time relatively early in the morning. I think we got on the 9:30am, first one out. We headed straight for Café du Monde’s famous coffee stand at 800 Decatur Street.

Sidebar anecdote: funny thing, on my first trip here I was expecting to hear French spoken quite commonly. Many of the street have French names and of course there’s the French Quarter. Nope – not even a little bit. In fact, names I’d expect to be pronounced in a more French way were completely murdered, in my opinion. Decatur is one of those. I expected it to sound more like “deck-a-tour” and when I said it that way they looked at me like I had two heads. They said it “dee-katter”. One of the odd things I noticed anyway. So don’t try and use your French here, it’s long gone.

Café au lait and Beignet

Anyway, established some time in 1862 Café du Monde has been serving café au lait and their famous beignet donuts for 150 years. Taken right from their site, here is the history of this coffee stand:

The Original Cafe Du Monde Coffee Stand was established in 1862 in the New Orleans French Market. The Cafe is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It closes only on Dec 25th and on the day an occasional Hurricane passes too close to New Orleans.

The Original Cafe du Monde is a traditional coffee shop. Its menu consists of dark roasted Coffee and Chicory, Beignets, White and Chocolate Milk, and fresh squeezed Orange Juice. The coffee is served Black or Au Lait. Au Lait means that it is mixed half and half with hot milk. Beignets are square French -style doughnuts, lavishly covered with powdered sugar. In 1988 Iced Coffee was introduced to the cafe. Soft drinks also made their debut that year.

This is the sight you’ll see as you approach the sidewalk café. What appears to be a long line up gets quickly cleared by an anxious server yelling “No line, no line! Find a table and sit down!” So you do and often it’s to share with another couple, which we did, or join a partly empty table. No space is wasted here and quick turn over is their goal – get you in, get you served, get you out – so they can serve more people I’m guessing and make more tips.

I’m sure I saw the lady in the photo below 5 years ago too, and in the TV show The Treme which we actually stepped into the set of by accident one other day (more on that later). She’s the one that ushered us in hurriedly. I learned later that they take the customer’s order, go to the back to get it, and PAY for it themselves. Then they have to collect from the customer to cover what they paid and hopefully get a tip. I hope they pay less than we would if we walked up to the window, but it makes sense then why they want you in and out so fast. The more served per hour, the more tips they can make.

Cafe Du Monde Beignets

Here we see people of all ages and backgrounds enjoying their beignets. I have to admit I did have some, while Rob abstained. But the Cafe Du Monde chicory coffee is out of this world! I love the little girl with powdered sugar all over her face. She was watching me take her photo, but didn’t seem to mind.

In the photos below you can see the staff, busily serving their tables. After they collected a plate of beignets and poured the coffees, they’d go pay the cashier waiting for them at the end of the line. I watched for a while and it’s a steady stream of coffee and donuts coming out. You’ll also notice the staff counting their money, I saw that quite often too. I’m sure they wanna make sure they are making more than they’re paying for the coffee.

Then of course there’s Cafe Du Monde take out, so here are three tips on taking stuff home with you.

order any canned coffee and/or souvenirs from your server when you order your coffee and beignets.
do NOT buy the canned coffee from any of the stores down the street or in the French Market. A can of coffee is $5.45 in the café and you’ll find it as high as $9 a few steps away. We ended up paying about $8 a can just because we didn’t want to get back in the take out line at the café.
go to the Café du Monde gift shop at 813 Decatur Street literally across the street. They have the same prices as the café and can ship stuff if you need that service. See photo of the sign below so you know what to look for.

New Orleans French Market

A short stroll north up Decatur street and you get to the French Market. As the sign below indicates it was here well before the café, and is the oldest city market in America. It has changed quite a bit since my fist visit in January 2005. The junk and tent stalls have been replaced with permanent stalls with secure windows and doors and the vendors have gone from dollar store nick nacks to really nice hand made crafts, food items, art, produce and more. A place locals and tourists alike visit.

This happy guy’s name is Oscar. He makes resin jewelry that is very colorful, just like him. I talked to him for a while and listened to his story of Katrina and how his life has been different since that day. He talked about how hard it was to come back and for him there were no customers, no tourists, so his market had disappeared here. He told me he lived in another city, I can’t remember where now, and started coming back on weekends once the market reopened and finally moved back home. But it was a tough go for him and many other locals.

I talked to two other ladies as we ate lunch and they live in East New Orleans and said many things are still not opened like stores, schools, clinics. They have to travel farther now to find those things. All of the people I talked to were super nice and seemed eager to talk about their experience to someone that was really listening. I feel for the people of New Orleans who, in many ways, have been treated like second class citizens in their country. I bought a couple books on the disaster, one on a group that rescued stranded pets after they had been left behind by their owners. The sad thing was the city told the people to leave them behind, that they’d only be gone a day or two at most. 2-3 weeks later many of those pets were still tied up to leashes, left in homes with 8′ of water, or left to wander the streets to find food. Some were found still treading water as they were tied to something and couldn’t get away. I don’t want to get on a rant, but this was a disaster of mammoth proportions that was utterly and completely preventable and it’s shameful how the government on all levels (municipal, state and federal) responded. (stepping off my soap box now).

Anyhow, continuing on - we had what was probably our best meal in New Orleans at a place in the French Market that I’d found out about on the internet (what a great resource hey?!).

Meals From The Heart

Meals from the Heart advertises low sodium, low fat and no transfat – fabulous! In a city full of rich, heavy foods this was a great find! We totally loved the food and have recommended it to others already, and they loved it too. If you are looking for a nice light, clean meal – this is the place to go. They also do catering and bulk orders – take home a couple dozen crab cakes today!

Rob's grilled salmon, brown rice and veggies

I had the crab cakes with lemon remoulade sauce, and fresh organic greens - yummy!

Chef Averill Lazard who created our fabulous meals at Meals from the Heart

Days 12-18 – Destiny RV Park Phoenix

Darlene — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:04:11 +0000

It’s been a while since our last blog update but there hasn’t been much to update day by day. So here it is, in a nutshell, what’s been happening with us here in Goodyear, AZ in the last week.

After xmas we met up with my cousin, Barbilee, and her family (Dywayne, Rydel, and Taylor Rae) as they were here for the holidays too. The ladies went shopping while Rob did some errands and found a Whole Foods. That evening we all went for Indian food, which was very tasty.

Over the week we figured out where the gym is that we have affiliation with through Club Fit, found a Safeway, Blockbuster and some basic necessities in our area. Rob finally got the parts he needed to get the BBQ working and we used it for the first time. He said it was quite efficient, being small it circulates the heat and the food cooks quickly.

We signed up to get internet connections on both our laptops which set us back another $30 each, on top of the RV park fees. We were NOT expecting it to be extra for what we paid here. Rob went and looked into getting the Verizon wireless internet stick and network hub, but they wanted his SIN number or a $400 deposit, so he declined and we bit the bullet and paid the $60 for the month.

New Years came and went without much fanfare for us. We just had dinner in, and watched a movie ourselves. We actually even missed midnight by 3 minutes by the time we looked at a clock.

Destiny RV park itself is quite nice, but quite honestly the one in Pahrump was just as nice and was less costly. Lesson learned to shop around and ask questions before booking. The park is situated in a citrus grove and it is full of orange, grapefruit, and lemon trees. We have an orange tree 5 feet from our door, and grapefruit one site behind us. I took a walk one day and found lemons not too far away too.

They have a community recreation room for get togethers and group functions. It has a big screen TV and satellite channels. They also have books and puzzles, which I have already done one of, even though it was missing one piece at the end. There is also a pool and hot tub, the latter which we’ve been visiting quite frequently in the evenings. The temperature drops quite quickly here after the sun has gone down, and inside the RV can get chilly. A quick dip in the hot tub is great to take the chill out of the old bones before bed.

I took an hour long walk one day and saw horses, a road runner (inside the RV park) and 4 hummingbirds fighting in a tree. Seems they are quite territorial, or so it seems. I watched the first one chase away the new comer three or four times. They make little clicks and tiny chirps and are quite often seen in the early morning and just before dusk. I will try and capture them on camera soon.

Lessons learned: always ask the RV park if internet or WIFI is included in the price when their listing says “wifi available”.

Day 8 – Death Valley California Part Two

Darlene — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:01:35 +0000

This morning we took our time getting up and doing some email, as we had to stick around until 10am to get propane. The little space heater did the job nicely last night and we were quite toasty warm, but we still need propane to cook.

This park doesn’t offer delivery of the gas to your site, and we learned the most of the full timers or experienced RVers have an extra smaller tank they take up to get filled so they don’t have to break down camp and bring their whole rig. Unfortunately that was NOT the case for us! We did have to break it all down, unplug all the hook-ups, put away stuff that was on counters, etc and go to the front gate where the big tank is, and get in line to get gas. We were the only RV in line.

The guys filling the tanks were very nice and gave us some tips on things. He was surprised that I was concerned about adding extra weight to the rig. He said most of the women don’t seem to take notice of weight issues. Well, I’M different!

Oh yeah, it was also pouring rain by the time we got filled up. Remember, we are in the desert, and it’s quite unusual here to get any rain, never mind a downpour. I think one guy said it was the second time it has rained since October.

Back on the road by 11am, we stopped at the little café in Death Valley Junction again to get hot drinks and use the bathrooms. We’re getting to know the waitress there, Lisa and said we’d be back for dinner too.

Our first stop inside the Death Valley park was to climb up the winding road, with a 15% grade at the top, to Dante’s viewpoint. It was well worth it for the view, but it was hailing a little and very windy at the top so we didn’t stay long. The height of the viewpoint was over 5600 feet, down to the floor of the valley to Bad Water (-284 feet) – is apparently 3 times the depth of the Grand Canyon.

Does it look cold? It was! Below 0 for sure, and wickedly windy, even hailed a little.

The day before the ranger had recommended if we were going to the ghost town that we also stop in Beatty to get gas, as it is much cheaper there than in the park. It was 3 cents less than in Pahrump there so we didn’t think much of it at the time. Today we needed to just get a little gas to make sure we’d get back to Pahrump (there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING in between the two places) so we paid $3.96 a gallon, a full $1.31/gallon more than in town! Holy crap! We only got two gallons and paid almost $3 more.

Next stop was to be the Artist’s Pallet drive, but Dar opted to go to the farthest point on our list today and work our way back – so straight to the Bad Water we headed. We could see the rain and bad weather coming across the valley towards us. So in a place that only gets 2 inches of rain a year, sometimes none – we had to be there on a day it was raining, go figure.

an actual holly plant, how festive!

Death Valley, or the moon?

impending rain storm in Death Valley

This is where Rob and Dar seem to have differing opinions and experiences. Rob was excited to be part of a noteworthy event like rain in the driest place in North America. Dar, who wanted to take photos, did not see the opportunity and did not share in his jubilation. By the time we got to Bad Water (the lowest point in the valley, 282 feet below sea level) it was blowing and raining. It wasn’t what Dar expected and she was not the least inspired to take any photos there, other than a few just to document we were there.

salt flats, 282 feet below sea level

see the little white sign up near the top of the hill? THAT is sea level to put it in perspective

Dar was expected miles upon miles of dried cracked earth and salt flats, what we saw looked like a plowed mud field with a dusting of snow on top (which was actually salt). So, Rob got to choose the next activity, which would likely be our last before sunset. He chose to go the Natural Bridge.

Getting there took almost as long on the road out there, as the hike up to it did. The road had more holes and ruts than I could count and if you wanted a vibrating massage you were in luck. Don’t drink anything before venturing down it as you’ll end up with a slightly shaken smoothie by the end.

The hike in to the bridge was a wide gravel path, all uphill, about a mile or so. We got to it and weren’t sure that was it, so we kept going a ways more. Alas though, the one arch across the canyon was the landmark we were seeking. It wasn’t what we expected either, seemed less grand than we’d hoped maybe. But we did get a couple minutes right at the site with no other people there, and did our own self-portrait and had time there alone. Not a minute after we starting walking down again, did people appear from both directions.

looks like a very old dried up waterfall area

did this with camera balanced on a rock with self-timer, not bad eh!?

This guy along the trail took this for us, think he had camera envy as he took 5 or 6 shots before handing it back.

As we returned from the bumpy road back to the main one, Dar spotted more salt flats off to the left side. She requested a stop and hopped out, almost to be blown away. The winds have significantly picked up to what could be called strong gusts. She finally got a few quick shots of the cracked dirt she was seeking, and just prior to her taking off in the wind, or her fingertips freezing off – she bolted back to the car.

salt flats that haven't been all trampled by people

As promised we made our way back to the café at Death Valley Junction. We had her special and mostly just wanted to talk and meet people. We learned more about Marta, and ended up buying the little booklet of her story, which was quite fascinating to us. We were sitting there reading the whole thing, so we thought for $10 we could support her, the community and the staff there. Dinner with the booklet was all of $39 including tax and tip.

3 minutes down the road after we’d left, Dar thought out loud “I should have taken her photo”, so we turned around and went back and did just that. We want to document the people we meet along the way, so might as well start here.

Death Valley Junction, Amargosa cafe - Lisa and Ruthie

Return drive was uneventful except for the wicked wind. We had to finish setting up the RV for the night, as we’d left in a hurry before without redoing the leveling, water, etc. Got that all done, Rob started on the blog installation and Dar was writing the text.

*** Things seen today: two humming birds right at camp, a sign that said “radiator water 1 mile”, rain, hail and sunshine (all within 60 miles of each other in 8 hours) and several people who are missing teeth.

Lessons learned:

how much our propane tanks holds and weighs, 15 gallons, 120 lbs full
that most other RVers have smaller tanks and just bring those over to get filled
that some RV parks bring the gas to you, and we’ll be looking for those ones in future
that when we think we’re almost out of gas, get some more
Rob learned where the empty line is on the tank

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.

Day 7 – Death Valley California Part One

Darlene — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:01:06 +0000

The day started early at 7:30am and it was a little nippy in the RV to say the least. It was about 66f when we went to bed, and prayed we’d have enough propane to last the night – NOT! It was a balmy 46f in the morning and Dar was only saved from freezing to death due to the unselfish act of Boo sleeping on her pillow pressed up against her cheek all night to help keep her warm. That, and the electric blanket.

A quick pack up and we were able to hit the road and actually be driving down the highway by 9am, after finding out the deal with getting more propane on Tuesday morning.

As we had gassed up the car the night before, we headed straight towards Death Valley Junction. A “town” if you can call it that, with a population of a grand total of 3! We drove right past the famous Amargosa Opera House Rob wanted to see, so we had to stop. Dar took a few photos and a bathroom break was in order, as well as a stop in the café to see what they offered. The lady told us we could get a tour inside the Opera House for $5 each, check with the hotel staff – so we did!

Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction

Well worth the $10 it cost to see Marta Beckett’s 40+ year labor of love. Marta was a dancer who had fate drop her into this location by way of a flat tire. She bought the old Corkhill Hall and made it her own, performing there herself. When audiences dwindled to none, she painted her own audience onto the walls of the hall, all of them wearing formal Victorian attire. A quick search for her name will tell you more of this amazing woman who still lives there, now well into her 80’s. There is a book about her story, and apparently soon to be a movie as well. We didn’t get to meet her but she still lives on the property and is recovery, we’re told from hip surgery.

After our stop in Death Valley Junction to see the Opera House, we traveled into Death Valley to see more. Our first stop was Zabriskie Point.

Page 2 – Zabriskie Point

Day 6 – Two Days in Pahrump Nevada

Darlene — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:56:09 +0000

Drive time today was short and sweet. Left Mesquite without paying (because their system was dumb says Dar, no one in the office and to pay by visa required searching the grounds of their closed hotel/resort to find the open office of the casino) and drove the 2.5 hours to Pahrump, home of Art Bell. We stopped in Vegas to visit the Whole Foods Market and had lunch before continuing up one of the longest and steepest hills Rob has seen so far. He said that the engine temperature reached the hottest he’d ever seen it. What goes up must come down as the saying goes, and it was true here as well.

When driving up hills of this grade, an RV of this weight slows down considerably, not to mention pulling a car as well. Even with the engine gearing down, speeds still slow down to 60 km/h and lower. Once reaching the top and heading back down the other side, it’s important to disengage the overdrive and keep the vehicle below 80 km/h. This is best done by using the engine to slow it down, and using the brakes as little as possible.

We had NO pre-arranged plans in Pahrump, so flying by the seat of our pants, found an RV park called Preferred RV Resort right behind Terribles Casino. Very nice place actually. Fully fenced and secured boasting 3 Laundromats, a pool, hot tub and the cheapest propane in the city!

Pahrump Nevada - Home of Art Bell

Speaking of propane, we decide to take stock of our resources.

As it turns out, our propane tank was sitting at about 1/8^th full. Just enough to get through the night, and hopefully (for Rob’s sake) a 2^nd night as propane fills are limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays for one hour on each of those days.

We found that our black water tanks were full too and needed emptying.

Alas, our sewer hose was too short to reach the hookup. We needed to make a trip to an RV supply store or find another place.

We left the cats alone and took off in search of a propane station that had booster tanks (kind of like a Jerry can for propane) and a new sewer hose.

After getting directions and then driving around “most” of Pahrump to talk to various service stations that had propane, survey results showed that they had no idea what a propane booster tank was. Any taxi driver who drove in the 80’s and 90’s knows what I’m talking about, but here in Pahrump…. Nada.

So, we headed to our RV supply store for the next items on our list.

Closed. (it is Sunday after all)

Obviously, the next logical stop was the local winery for a tasting.

Nevada Wine

The Pahrump Valley Winery located just off the freeway on Winery road, of course, (at the intersection with Rainbow road), boasts a wonderful variety of flavors. Only 2 are made with grapes grown locally while the rest are made with grapes grown in California.

After tasting, and buying 2 bottles of their Burgundy, one of their Symphony and some mulled wine spices, we headed for Walmart.

Walmart in this town, or so we’re told, has a large supply of RV accessories. We found a 20’ sewer hose we were looking for decided to leave. Before doing so, Dar found a compact RV type vacuum she liked and so for $35 we bought it too.

Supper was next on the list and after stopping to look at the Chinese Buffet with the “Make it yourself stir fry station” at the Terrible Casino, we opted for another location.

Mexican again it was, el Cancun.

Dar loves Mexican food as it’s a great vegetarian option. She was really low blood sugar and would agree to anything at this point, but Rob made a decision and Mexican it was.

Turns out that it was a wonderful place and the food was great. Rob noted that the bathrooms were the cleanest he’d seen in the US so far, and that’s GOT to be good.

Food was fantastic. Highly recommend them.

Upon returning to the house, laundry and sewage was first on the list.

Well, remember the cats that had been locked up all day?

Someone, and it wasn’t Rob, had closed both doors to the bathroom where the cat litter box was. Dar wondered “do you think they may have peed somewhere in the RV again?” (just for the record Dar says, “technically they aren’t my cats so ROB needs to make sure they’re taken care of)

Rob began work on the sewage system and the emptying of the tanks while Dar got started on the laundry.

After throwing in a load of laundry and emptying the tanks of human waste, we settled in for the night.

We decided to conserve fuel and not run the propane heating system until we headed for bed, so even though we were in the desert, temps began to fall. Dar decided to layer her clothing.

“Why are my clothes wet?”

Oh ya, the cats, locked out of their cat litter box. Not their fault this time.

Back to the laundry again.

***Things we saw: tumbleweeds, a license plate that said “WAY HOT” and clothes littering the highway at one point. An angry spouse perhaps?

Lessons learned:

that there is a fine line between filling up the propane and carrying too much weight, and running it too close to empty.
That the RV park we are staying at only pumps it 2 days a week and only for one hour, and you have to take your RV to the filling station
That Dar gets really cranky when she’s cold, and is really tired of dealing with cat urine
That a black cat out at night is hard to find, and she was scared that nothing was the same, sounds, smells, etc. the flashlight in her face didn’t help, only the sound of Rob’s voice brought her out of hiding under the RV.

Day 5 – 20% Fuel Efficiency Improvement

Darlene — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:52:34 +0000

After being up so late dealing with cat pee the night earlier, we slept in a bit and then went to Walmart first thing in the morning to get cat supplies. The cats have been great in that they could have been scratching a lot more then they have been but have been controlling themselves. Knowing cats very well, Rob could sense the tension building and wanted to give them an outlet. 3 scratching devices were purchased, filled with catnip and laid out in the motorhome. They went at them immediately!

The car was loaded back onto the dolly, tightened down, power unhooked from it’s supply and the RV legs stored away for travel.

For the second time of our journey so far, we left at 11:11.

It’s been a blessing that we travel with our toilet facilities and do not have to stop every few minutes for Dar to relieve herself, but as convenient as it has been, Rob still has to find a place to pull out of the way before he can do HIS business.

Today was to be a 5 and a half hour drive from SLC to Mesquite Nevada according to google maps and traveling the speed limit of 75 mph. However, for the motorhome to achieve a speed of 75 mph, it would have to be a BIG downhill grade and even at that, would not be safe. With our reasonable 55 to 60 mph, we are more fuel efficient but a bunch slower. The 5.5 hour trip will take closer to 7.5 hours.

On one of Rob’s pee breaks, Scipio Utah was chosen, as it was recommended by a photographer friend, Adrienne. She told us at our going away party that there was a set of unique antique gas pumps in front of a gas station there. Scipio is a VERY small town and the pumps referenced were easy to find.

As Rob stretched his legs, Dar took photos.

After a short 3 minute jaunt, Rob discovered a very interesting antique shop down the road. His attention was immediately drawn to a compound bow and arrow displayed outside on the front steps.

Rob once owned a compound bow when he was growing up and for the past few weeks had been imagining owning one again. He visualized the bow and the razor tipped arrows he wanted. Alas, his powers of manifestation were working quite well and the Universe provided. Tagged at an already fair price of $35, a talk with the owner provided a 20% discount for a new low price of $28. Rob asked the gentlemen, “Do you take Visa?” to which he replied, “No, but I’ll take a cheque check!”.

Rob got his bow for $25 cash and stored it away in the RV basement.

Mexican Food In Beaver Utah

We got back on the road heading south trying to make up as much mileage as possible before stopping for lunch.

After seeing all the Mexican restaurant signs in SLC, we wanted some. Signs on the highway indicated Kan Kun Mexican Restaurant in Beaver Utah, so we slowed down and exited the freeway.

After a wonderful vegetarian Mexican meal, Rob got in 20 minutes of walking while Dar took more photos.

Quantum Energy Magnets

We decided to gas up before leaving.

This was our first tank of gas after putting the quantum magnets into play. After testing the quantum energy patches on his Jeep over the past few years and the magnets on the Topaz, we were expecting great results on the RV.

We were right.

20% Increase In Fuel Efficiency on Our Motorhome

Calculations showed that the RV had a 20% increase in fuel efficiency. We were able to travel farther and use less gas.

We got back onto the freeway and headed for Nevada.

As we left Utah, we had to cut through the corner of Arizona before entering Utah. The signs indicated over 12 miles of downhill grade sporting a healthy 5 to 6% grade.

Rob’s short 5 day experience with hills has shown him that the RV is basically made out of lead and proven Galileos theory that an object in motion tends to stay in motion quite dramatically. The best way to tackle a steep grade is to slow down to 80 Kph, disengage the overdrive and let the engine do most of the work slowing down.

We pulled into the Oasis RV park in Mesquite at about 7 pm Nevada time. After putting the legs down and plugging into power, Dar’s initial scouting trip discovered that there were no services here. What do you expect for $16? She was keen to spend the evening washing cat pee items, but there were no laundry facilities working at this park. No key to the bathrooms either, so we packed up to head a little further down the road.

After checking in at the Casablanca Resort and RV park for $21, we found our pull through location around back of the casino. There was NO way in hell that our motorhome, tow dolly and car would fit in that space, let alone make the corner needed to pull in. We would have been 10 feet over the length of the slot.

We talked it over and decided that the hour it would take to unhook the toad and tow dolly, then rehook in the am would not be worth the convenience of the laundry. We drove out and headed back to the lobby. Dar went back to get a refund while Rob drove back to the original RV park a block down the road, and Dar walked back to meet him there.

That single block turned into 15 blocks as there was no left turn and no place to turn around until he found a school with bus access. It’s not easy turning a 34 foot rig towing a 20 foot trailer and car.

All leveled and hooked to power with the car attached, Dar arrived after her 9 minute walk from Casablanca. We settled in and watched the Thursday night episode of Survivor Rob saved 2 days ago.

***Things we saw: llamas, old gas pumps, fog.***

Lessons learned:

get a Trailer Light directory (put out by Good Sam Club) that lists and rates all RV parks.
call ahead to find out about spots, sizes, and parking for the dolly and car

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.

Day 4 – Mormon Temple Square

Darlene — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:47:54 +0000

Got up fairly early and paid for our night at the camp. Actually pulled out of the park just after 10am, got gas and were on our way. Getting gas can take up to 20 minutes just to fill the tank of over 280 liters (75 gallons). Getting into and out of gas stations can be tricky too with the car attached to the back end – we are a long unit with a large turning radius.

After running a couple of tanks of gas through the RV, we had a good benchmark for our initial mileage. We decided that now would be a good time to move the quantum energy magnets from the toad to the actual RV and test the improvement. Rob placed the magnets on various parts of the RV engine and drive train under the “hood” and looked forward to the results.

Back onto Interstate 15 (I-15) which pretty much runs from the border all the way to Vegas and on to Los Angeles.

***Things we’ve seen: outside Idaho Falls was the potato museum. Saw potato cookbooks in the RV office too, they grow a lot of them in Idaho apparently.***

Short drive today, we decided to take a break from driving and stop overnight in Salt Lake City (SLC), Utah. We wanted to get scratching posts for the cats who are starting to claw at the furniture, go to Camping World, and see the Temple. We found a KOA opened in the middle of the city and got there by about 1:30pm. Was a little more expensive at $37 a night but had really nice facilities and a big bay car wash so Rob hosed off both vehicles while Dar registered.

Turns out that the KOA campground was a short mile from the temple square, so very easy access to the sights we wanted to see.

After parking and getting anchored we headed off for lunch at a nearby Whole Foods. We hadn’t had much in the way of veggies in 3 days and were craving some good food. Dar had salmon sushi with brown rice and a spiced pumpkin soup, Rob had a big-ass salad that ended up being $14 (pay by weight). Dar also had quinoa juice which apparently has the same energy boost abilities as caffeine. $45 later, and after filling up our big water jug we popped in to Verizon.

We will likely pick up a wireless internet hug in Phoenix once we get there, will cost us about $60 a month, but at many of the RV parks the wifi connection is sketchy at best. But we got the info and moved on to Camping World.

It wasn’t as big as we thought it would be actually. But they sure have a lot of camping stuff and do dads. We spent $199 on a BBQ that hooks onto the outside of the RV or sits on a table and taps directly into the onboard liquid propane (LP) gas. We also purchased outdoor carpet for the step, towel hangers, RV TP, wheel chocks, and a little step ladder for Dar so she can reach the top shelves. The GPS unit said it would take us over 45 minutes to get there, and they guy that sold it to us said he’s never beaten it. We got there in 25 or less – maybe it was taking into account rush hour traffic at 4:30pm when we headed there?

Driving back into the city center, we got to Temple Square and searched for parking. There were people everywhere – apparently this was the place to be at this time of year. It was gorgeous with all the xmas lights. Two missionaries greeted us in the North visitor’s center and gave us the low down on events of the evening. It was a bit disappointing that we couldn’t actually go inside the Temple itself (which was built in 1853 and took 40 years to complete) but we did get to go inside the Tabernacle and take some photos there.

mormon tabernacle

Around the square were horse buggy rides and inside the south visitor center and assembly halls there were high school choirs singing holiday tunes. Dar met two more missionaries, one from France and one from Uganda. She recognized the little flags on their name tags and the Ugandan girl was very surprised and impressed. She talked a little French with the other girl and wished them Joyeux Noel.

***Things we’ve seen/noticed – there is a LOT of Mexican restaurants in SLC! Like one on every block, just like sushi places in Vancouver.***

Back to the RV about 8pm, Rob went in search of a bottle of wine and dropped Dar off to have a shower. It was only 42f (about 5c) inside as we hadn’t left the furnace on when we went out – note to selves to leave it on low. Dar cranked it up to 73f and waited for Rob and heat. After almost an hour and he wasn’t back, she was panicking. He didn’t answer his phone, or text or Facebook. Luckily Melanie was on skype to talk and distract her until he showed up. Seems there is only one liquor store open in the whole city after 8pm and it was the busiest one he’d ever seen with bottles flying off the shelves faster than staff could put them back.

Crawling into bed and putting on her pajama bottoms, Dar found that yet again they were wet. Yup, you guessed it –cat pee! At 1am in the morning, after a long day, one really does NOT want to deal with cat pee in their bed! You cats, seriously, we need to talk! They are likely just marking their territory in a new environment – but does it have to be in the bed?!

Lessons learned:

put the furnace on, even on low, before you leave for the day so that when you get back it’s not almost freezing in the rig
put the stairs up when you leave so people don’t have to flag you down on the interstate to tell you
get something for cats to mark as their own so they aren’t doing it on the bed

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.

Day 3 – Cattle Country (leaving Montana to Idaho)

Darlene — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:43:41 +0000

We left Montana, had clear weather most of the way. Dar slept through the only rough bit where is snowed and was foggy, good timing on her part, Rob was thankful.

We stopped for lunch in Butte, MT at a mall and had Chinese food. We’ve decided to eat mostly vegetarian or Oceanarian (only veggies and seafood) while in the US unless we buy the meat ourselves from a local farmer or market and know it’s organic with no hormones, antibiotics, etc.

Not much to note, stopped in a little town called Clancy to stretch our legs and take a 10 minute walk. Things we’ve noticed along the trail were that we’ve seen a lot of cattle outdoors actually eating grass, and we’re quite happy about that.

Got to Idaho Falls about 7:30pm and picked a stall at Snake River RV ($30/night). Dar had called ahead and they had lots of spots. The offices of most parks close at 4pm or 5pm so after that you just self-park and check out and pay in the morning, or put it in a night drop box. Rob was getting set up and putting the leveling legs down on the RV, Dar was inside setting up. As the legs for leveling the unit were coming down, they slipped on snow and ice underneath the RV and the rig fell back onto the tires and the legs bent backwards. Dar screamed and freaked out, thinking they were now broken and we’d be stuck in Idaho for an infinite number of days getting it fixed, need to stay in hotel, etc, etc. Rob just put the legs back up (they went inside fine) and we slept in the unit on the wheels, just a little wobblier than usual.

Then Dar was sitting on the couch doing email in her PJs when she discovered her butt and back were all wet. Cat pee!!! She had another breakdown, couldn’t find any other PJs and went to bed without eating anything. This is the third incident of cat pee, they also peed on the cat bed we bought for them at home – and the first day when Rob was covered in it.

Lessons, things learned this day:

that the washer fluid for the windshield wipers takes a really long time to get up to the window and it isn’t broken
that when putting up the leveling legs you need to start the engine and wait for the rear air suspension to fully inflate, otherwise you end up with the rear legs stuck down.
that when putting the legs down, always check underneath for unlevel surface and ice that may cause a problem, and if in doubt put down the metal plates for them to sit on.
Rob also learned that when you sneeze while driving, the sneeze will not hit the windshield as it is too far away.
Dar is constantly learning that Rob is much calmer at handling any issues that arise and to trust him to do it, and not so quick to jump to the “it’s a disaster” conclusion

Day 2 – Border Crossing

Darlene — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:40:02 +0000

First order of business, smuggle the cats out of the hotel, even though the clerk looked the other way when we checked in – we still had to get past the day shift staff. No problems, only a cleaning lady giving a strange look when she saw the litter box. Boo ended up in the RV by herself for 30 minutes and she wind up hiding in the closet all day and being mad and scared, poor thing.

We got our hot showers and hit the road by 10:30am. Behind schedule again but clean and warm this time.

We found a 12 volt plug in the RV bedroom to charge up the GPS unit, so that was good go to but Dar had to keep going to the back to check it. We stopped in Lethbridge for $100 worth of gas cause we wanted to wait to fill up on the US where it’s cheaper.

***Things we’ve seen: just north of Lethbridge, the wind turbines that generate wind energy. Could be used by Enmax which provides clean, green energy to Alberta***

Got to the US border crossing about 3:30, and noticed we had no radio and cellular signals within 500 meters of the port of entry. Rob’s theory is they jam it there on purpose. The border guard didn’t think twice about any of our answers to his questions, even about what we did for a living and how can we afford to go away for 6 months like this, until he asked about foods. He asked if we had any meat, eggs, vegetables or fruit and Rob said “yeah all the above”. Upon closer examination their concerns were over the bison and ostrich meat and oranges. We got sent inside to wait for an agent. An hour later we were on our way after having to eat the oranges and hand over the Asian apple pear to the agent, and she checked that our bison and ostrich had commercial labels on them. We were able to keep all our meat and didn’t have to show papers for the cats after spending $150 to get them up to date on shots, but you just never know what they’ll ask so you gotta be ready.

The rest of the way to Great Falls was uneventful except for it was really windy. Dar and Pumpkin slept on the couch for an hour and after gassing up at a small town we checked into Dicks RV Park in Great Falls ($24/night), Montana at around 7:30pm. We were going to take a taxi to a nearby restaurant for dinner (we still can’t cook as we haven’t unwinterized yet and have no water) but it was going to cost us $22 (set rate) so we bit the bullet and unhooked the mud soaked car and cleared the windows and headlights with some snow the best we could.

As we took time to get the furnace running (okay it was Dar’s request and Rob did it) we didn’t get going until after 9 and found all the restaurants closed at 9pm. Apparently they roll up the streets here early. We managed to find a hotel/casino that had a restaurant and found something decent to eat. Rob even got a beer bought for him by two local guys after we had an odd interchange with them. Waitress was really nice and interested in our trip and even asked for Dar’s web site to check out her photography.

So first night to sleep in the RV, furnace runs, have electricity – all should be good. Stay tuned. . .

Lessons or things learned:

Always have commercial labels on any meat when crossing the border.

Hills and wind affect a 17,000 lb, 34’ vehicle towing a 10’ car – just as you would expect.

Also learned we don’t have a coaxial cable to plug in to get TV reception.

Day 1 – Hell day!

Darlene — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:38:01 +0000

So today we learned a lot of things, like for one – leaving in an RV in -25c is not optimal! The day unfolded and things didn’t go so smoothly as we’d hoped. Packing the rest of our stuff in it took longer. Cleaning the fridge (which was a disaster) took forever since we had packed all our cleaning supplies. Hooking up the car to be towed took longer. Then our front tires were 20 lbs low on air but our little air pump wasn’t doing the job and after 20 minutes had only put in 5. It may have been frozen, or the directions that say only run it for 10 minutes, then rest for 10 would have been good to read first. Or better yet had we thought about it earlier gotten it started while packing/cleaning was going on. We were both freezing already, and hungry, Darlene was cranky and miserable.

RV loaded up and ready to go

Putting the cats into the RV, Pumpkin did NOT like the cold and peed on Rob on the way outside. One more thing to deal with and we were still in the driveway.

Next stop was to get weighed. It’s self-serve, you just drive over it – take your ticket in and they give you the info. Took us two tries to get it and then it said we were about 250 lbs overweight for the RV’s capabilities. Wes our RV expert said not to worry about it and just go, so we took his word and headed out.

Then we had to stop at a Fountain Tire to get our new tires torqued, the best one to stop was now Leduc as it was already 3pm and we weren’t even going to make it to Red Deer by 5pm when they closed. So 4-5pm was spent at the Leduc tire place, finding it, waiting to get it done – but at least we had some time to thaw out a bit. Darlene traveled most of the way in the -10c rated sleeping bag with it up over her head, and Pumpkin crawled in with her for a while too.

So off we left Leduc at about 5pm already (we were hoping to be long past Calgary by that point) stopped in Red Deer for a bathroom break at 6:30 and pushed on. It was after 9pm when we pulled into Calgary and as we couldn’t get our generator going and couldn’t find an open RV park in the city, we stopped at a Super 8 motel to defrost and get hot showers and dinner. A little side adventure was when Rob took the right fork instead of the left and ended up in the Walmart stock area out back. He had to get out and make sure we could get through and out the other side – Darlene had visions of having to unhook the car and back it all out of there, but Rob safely navigated through the maze with inches on either side.

The really nice man at the front desk of the Super 8 let us bring our cats in and he actually said, “I didn’t see any cats” with a wink. He even gave us a bigger King suite (such as it was) for the same price. So $120 later we were off for dinner at 10pm at Boston Pizza, the only place within walking distance, as we didn’t want to unhook the car. $50 there and it made for quite an expensive day.

Lessons or things learned for the day

Darlene’s: trust the universe – we should have left Nov 30^th as planned, and trust that the renter would just show up. Then the snow and cold weather could have been missed altogether.

Rob’s: put a cat in a cat carrier and wrap her in a blanket BEFORE taking her outside into -25c weather