Readers Ask....summer 2008

I know I promised that I'd blog about Yellowstone next but I still have to choose & edit photos from the over 400 we took during two days. I spent a little time catching up on reader email & blog comments so thought I would do a Readers Ask blog to reply to those I couldn't (no email address) or those that were of general interest (I think). LOL! So here goes!

Comment on "A full day....":
"In reading today's blog....I knew Escapees was a tremendous group, but how did they convince those deer to help with the parking......LOL It would be worth the trip to see that!"
~ Paul Weaver (long time reader)
and
" I agree with weaverworks that the deer might be helpful on the parking crew. Just have them lead the RVs to their proper place."
~ Dick

Have to admit it took me reading & re-reading what I wrote that figure out where these comments came from. As many of you have noticed, I don't proof edit my blogs. LOL! I spent too many years doing professional writing that required that as well as proofing others work. Well, in this case I should have.....see if you can find the problem.

More from the same blog:
"As I was driving north toward Gillette this morning (Wednesday) I saw a the RV in your picture being towed south toward Cheyenne. Apparently it wasn't driveable, and the whole front was criss crossed with tape. Maybe to keep the front windows in one piece. I feel for the owner of that rig, hope I'm never in that position."
~ Brenda

I never heard anything more on that accident or what caused it. It was not a pretty sight. But did hear about another VERY bad accident in Buffalo that killed a man and seriously injured his wife. Seems they lost their brakes coming through the mountains, couldn't stop when they hit town and ran into a building at a T intersection. A strong reminder to not overtax your brakes in the mountains....AND if towing a trailer or fifth wheel, be sure your truck is equipped to handle stopping the combined weight of your rig and all your stuff.

"What king of gas miles are you getting while towing your toad??"
~Whitey

That's an easy one....I get between 7 & 8 mpg regardless of what I'm towing or how much my rig weighs. Just seems to be the set point for it....unless I put my foot in it. LOL!

Comment on "Summer in Montana":
"We think you will like White Sulphur Springs--we live about 70 miles from there--we will have to take a motorcycle ride one day and come visit you."
~Mike & Janna

Love to meet you...I'm off on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays!


"We'd be *most* interested in hearing all about your workamping experiences. Anything you are willing to share about it would be appreciated. We are still thinking about doing some workamping, but being stuck in one place for a season doesn't sound that appealing. Tell us all about it!"
~jc&bev
and
"OK, Donna, you owe me one. I want to hear about your workcamping. Do you have Internet there? What are your tasks? Is it too hot to do them?"
~Linda

I hadn't seriously looked at Workamping even though I had subscribed to Workamper News for almost 2 years (if anyone joins, please use me as your reference - #48536). I had gone as far as making my application on their website and there had been a few "look-sees" by employers. Since many employers are looking for couples (one inside, one outside), I knew my chances were slim.

Since I didn't want a 5-6 month committment, I figured my best chance was a late season replacement opening and planned to look for one after the Escapade. Before I could do that, I was contacted by the owners of the Conestoga Campground and offered a position for two months (till after Labor Day). We agreed that I would only work inside (not into doing yard work and not capable of mechanical/repair work). This was a first solo experience for them as well as for me. Turns out there were two other workamp couples - one a replacement for a couple leaving and the other here for the season.

It's been wonderful....I would come back here in a heartbeat. I work four half days a week - Monday & Friday I work from 2:30-7pm and Tuesday and Saturday I work from 10am-2:30. The two morning shifts include cleaning the bathrooms but so far that has never been bad.

I answer the phone, enter reservations, check campers in and out, ring up items from the store and if there is an ice cream social on my late day, then I stay to ring up those sales. The owners are great...while there are a few things to do to fill time (vacuuming, dusting, checking stock), for the most part if I'm not busy I can read, work on the computer, play games, do puzzles, etc.

The weather here is wonderful....most days are in the upper 70's to upper 80's. There have been very few in the 90's. The nights range from 40's-50's with a few up into the 60's. Nice sleeping weather. There are winds....haven't put my big awning out at all. Many afternoons there is a big wind followed by a little rain. Nothing overly severe.

The town is cute, enough supplies to take care of basic needs but within 1.5-2 hrs there are several major cities for sightseeing and big shopping. The sunsets are glorious....here are a few more samples of post storm & sunset pics.



Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna

White Sulphur Springs, MT

Just a quick note....still working against the deadline but a good friend of mine posted a nice blog with some great photos of the Conestoga Campground (where I'm workamping) and the town itself. Thought I would pass it along so you can see the area... "Home is Where I Park It"

Speaking of which....if there is anyone reading this that has office/computer experience and might like to workamp 8/15 to 9/15 in my place...PLEASE contact me. Thanks! ;-)

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna

Deadlines....

Yes, I know I promised to update you on the month of July and so far have only made it through the first week. But I currently have another priority in my life. Losing weight. LOTS of weight.

It all started a year ago when I bought this cute little Class C motorhome. Fell in love with her and she became my Lily Pad. She was SO spacious inside...lots of room to move around. When I got home I loaded up what I THOUGHT was 80% of my stuff (turned out to be more like 40%) and headed to the Escapade in Goshen, IN. While there, I got her weighed. Good to go...little heavy on the right side & the rear but not overweight at all.

I spent the next month moving the last items into the rig and took off, fat - dumb - happy. I added an auto-satellite dish to the roof, airbags, changed out the TV, got a new microwave, toilet & tires and added a full solar setup with SIX 12 volt batteries. Still fat, dumb & happy.

In March I attended the Tuscon RV Life on Wheels and opted to get weighed again. Truth be told, I DIDN'T want to get weighed but Rick Lang from RVSEF convinced me that even though I knew I was fat, dumb & happy, I needed to find out by how much. LOL! Oh boy, what a shocker. My right side was still heavy but not as much as I expected since I had done a little work in moving weight to the left side after the initial weighing. My overall weight was about 700# over but the scary thing was the rear was about 1200# over while the front was light.

So, a lot of the month I spent in Tucson was occupied with getting rid of STUFF. At least three totes of clothes were cleaned out, lots of miscellaneous stuff, and I was feeling good. I felt I had made great strides towards losing weight in the rear and smaller strides towards moving the weight to the front (hey, I DID move my firesafe to the passenger area...it's heavy!). Once again, fat - dumb - happy.

Fast forward to July and the Escapade and I once again get weighted. I knew I had way too much paperwork in totes so I moved all that to the car. I already had my lounger in the car as well as the duffels with all my motorcycle gear. I thought I was good to go! (Needless to say I hadn't factored in the new spare propane tank and gas grill stored in the back of the rig....gulp!)

I was still fat but not dumb and NOT happy. I had only managed to lose 100# overall. That seemed impossible but the scales don't lie. My rear was still over and the front under but the ratio was better....a little. This meant I really needed to buckle down and tackle all my STUFF.

Because there isn't a thrift shop in the small town of White Sulphur Springs, I wasn't sure what I would do with it all. Several things have happened as I have tackled the de-stuffing of the Lily Pad. First, my middle daughter called and proudly told me she had lost weight...okay, goodly portion of clothing clean out goes to her.

Then the campground owner told me the local high school was doing a garage sale fund raiser the middle of August. Phew! So whatever the other workampers don't' nab (and they have been VERY helpful in reducing the pile outside my RV) will go to the high school kids. (Well, except for a few things listed on eBay.... )

THAT is where the deadline comes in....I need to be done before this week is out. Thus every spare minute has been taken up with sorting out STUFF. I still have several areas to tackle but the storage bins are done as well as the kitchen, bathroom and 85% of the bedroom.

Just so you know I am still taking time to ENJOY....here is a progression of the sunset view we had last night after some major storms in the area. It finally got too dark for a good photo (my best camera is in for warranty repairs) but believe me, the sky looked like it was on fire. Gorgeous!



Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna

Where, oh where, has my little frog gone...

Phew! What a month this has been....I will never get completely caught up but will try to give you a flavor of all that's gone on. I have over 800 photos taken (most by me but many by my temporary traveling partner, Stu). I still have to go through them, choose the best for uploading, resize & optimize them, upload to SmugMug, then decide which of those I will post in the blog...

So, first I will post a synopsis of the last month. Then as time allows this week I will work on the photos and upload backdated blogs with more detail. Hang in there....I'll get back on schedule soon! LOL!!

As to the workamping, I have survived my first week and am on my own now (although there is always someone to call if I need to). I work in the office four half days a week, two mornings (10-2:30) and two afternoons (2:30-7). When on the morning shift I have bathroom duty but so far it hasn't been all that bad. This is a small campground, 41 sites, and while the first few days were really busy it's slowed down. When there are kids and smaller campers, the bathrooms get used more often. We have procedures to help determine which showers & stalls have been used. If they're clean, we leave them alone.

The computer stuff is easy but was confusing initially. There is a new workamper couple that started the day before I did and between us and the gal that is staying, we have worked up some procedure pages to help us newbies. The owners are wonderful and worry that I'll be bored. They have no problem if I read, play on the computer, sew or whatever when things are slow. What more could you ask for? My schedule stays the same every week...off on Sun, Wed & Thur. Great for planning although my sightseeing will be limited while I catch up on real life stuff. LOL!

Okay, here is a synopsis of what has gone on for the last month:

1. As you already know, I attended the Escapee Escapade in Gillette, WY. I did the Devils Tower HOP, joined the Gillette Elks, attended social hours for the SOLOS, ELKS, DOVES & Full-time Class of 2007. I made friends with a new SOLO, Stu, who was widowed in March. He rides a Harley-Davidson trike so we had that in common as well.
   
2. We took a day trip of riding with a local rider we met on July 4th at the SOLOS Hot Dog Picnic. He was accompanied by a local lady rider and the four of us on three bikes rode from Gillette up to Sheridan, through the Big Horn Mountains, down to Worland and Ten Sleep before hitting Buffalo and going back to Gillette. All day ride - over 400 miles with temps from 50 to over 90. Some great photos of amazing scenery...we even saw MOOSE!
   
3. From Gillette we headed to Reed Point, MT before I took my RV into Pierce RV in Billings, MT for service. From there Stu planned on doing Yellowstone for a couple of days. Rather than my sitting at Pierce waiting for my rig, we decided to leave it there and travel together.
4. Moved Stu's rig to just south of Cameron, WY where we were about 35 miles north of West Yellowstone. Spend two amazing days riding through Yellowstone. It has always been my favorite National Park and it lived up it once again. Such a wide variety of scenery - we rode several loops that I had missed in 2005. We saw eagles, buffalo, elk, coyote, brown bear (assume it was a grizzly according to what I've read) and black bear. Never did see a deer or antelope inside the park but they were outside it on the ride to & from.
5. From Cameron we headed to Anaconda, MT for a couple of days while we attended the 70th National Folk Festival in Butte. A friend that worked for Stu back in Maryland and his wife live in Helena and they brought their camper to the same park. Another friend who had worked for Stu was in one of the featured groups, The Seldom Scene. (They are all retired paramedics/fire fighters). What an unbelievably great time we had...can't wait to blog about it. Plan to attend next year if at all possible.
6. From Anaconda we headed back to Reed Point, MT for the night before picking up my RV at Pierce in Billings. Then we headed north to White Sulphur Springs for my workamp assignment. The park is a Coast to Coast membership park (as well as RPI, AOR, CampClub USA and Passport America) and since Stu was a C2C member, it made sense for him to spend a couple of days before heading east.
7. After we arrived at Conestoga Campground, we had two days before my first shift so we did a little more sightseeing as well as seeing the local area.
   
8. The first trip was to Great Falls where we visited the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center as well as Great Springs State Park and Fish Hatchery. We ate our picnic lunch at the state park....nice shaded picnic area. Nice ride both ways and we got to visit the Harley dealer as well (we had previously visited the one in Billings).
   
9. The second trip was to Bozeman where we visited the Museum of the Rockies. What a treat that was....so much to see, we couldn't do it all. Amazing ride, open range with cattle all over the road and a ton of deer including some well antlered bucks.
10. Stu arranged to stay on a bit more and we took my next two days off to ride over to Helena to visit his friends again. They have a gorgeous house on 20 acres about 15 miles out of town. Great views, wildlife everywhere....had a great time and a nice ride both ways.
11. On Friday Stu left and headed east where his youngest daughter is expecting granddaughter #2. She is due in 2-4 weeks and he hopes to be there.
    
12. I'm busy in my off time reorganizing my storage bins again...moving more weight to the front and starting to clean out more stuff. Yup, was still overweight when I got weighed in Gillette. Once the outside is done I'll tackle the inside once again. I'm hoping to scan a ton of paperwork, back it up on CD/DVD and stop carrying so much of it around.
    

So that's it in a nut shell.....here's a sunset photo I took last week here at the campground.



Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna

Yes I'm alive....

What a whirlwind the last couple of weeks have been....I will post more next week but for now I wanted to at least report in. Gillette was great, had a blast, amazing July 4th fireworks, got in some motorcycle riding as a trike passenger, talked to a gazillion people (old & new friends), attended a few sessions, bought a few things (love my new outdoor mat).

When it was over I took my rig into Pierce RV in Billings, MT to get a few things adjusted, tweaked, maintained....etc. Since it was going to take several days, I left it there and did Yellowstone with my trike riding friend. WOW!!!! We rode it two days straight - deer, buffalo, eagles, brown bear, black bear, elk, coyote, ground squirrels, chipmunks....and scenery to die for. What a blast!! My neck is sunburned and sore...you'd think I would know better by now. LOL! I promise to upload photos later...today we are moving up to Anaconda and will attend the Butte International Folk Music Festival. Then on Monday we will go back to Billings so I can pick up my rig and head up to Conestoga RV Park in White Sulphur Springs for my summer workamping assignment.

More later....and some AWESOME photos coming!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna