Enjoying family friends and WARM weather

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Jim Melvin

Back in Southern California and loving it

This year I decided to drive to So CAL for the holidays. I used to fly in from Reno, NV after working for Amazon, but this year after rescuing Chica from the depths of Mesa, AZ I decided that driving would be much better.

I stopped in at the Beatty RV Park in Beatty, NV for the first night and then drove the next night to O’Neill Park in Orange County. Then called my sister Bev and Chica and I spent the next few nights with Bev and Bob. They were thrilled to see Chica and she got along well with their dog Lando.

The next day Bev had invited a bunch of old friends over to have a party. It was great fun seeing everyone and catching up with all they and I have done.

It was a blast seeing everyone. Then we headed inside to exchange presents.

Jimmy’s Famous American Tavern

The next day it was off to see my famous tavern in Dan Point, CA. What a neat place! I wish it was named after me. That Jimmy must be rich.

Here I am having a glass of wine. Jimmy’s had a beautiful view of the ocean.

Here I am having a great time with Bev.

Great to see Mom!

The following day we stopped in to visit my Mom. I took Chica with us and as you can see she made herself at home on my mother’s lap. It was sure great seeing her and we had a good conversation.

Christmas Day

Then Bev and Bob had my niece’s Dani and Megan over with Todd and Chris. It was also a good time. I got to meet Harper who is Megan and Chris’s new baby daughter. She was such a dear.

Bev and Harper on Harper’s first Christmas.

Chris and Chica sure had fun together.

After all the company had gone home Chica and I had a nice afternoon enjoying the beautiful warm temps and blue sky.

It sure was a great couple of days. Then I went back to O’Neill Park and my RV and Chica and I are just relaxing and enjoying this great weather. I will be seeing more friends before I leave on the 4th. I will then be headed for Quartzsite, AZ to meet up with more friends in the desert for our 4th annual GTG.

Lazy Daze are one TOUGH rig!!

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Jim Melvin

After spending the holidays with my family, I flew back to Reno on 1/2. I had left my rig at the airport just like I did last year. Only problem was that the weather this year was much harsher then last year. When I got to the rig I noticed that the heater was not running. I had set it on a low temp (about 55) to keep the rig warm inside. I checked the lights and none of them worked as well. My house batteries were completely dead. BUMMER!!!

The truck battery was OK so I started it and drove the 2 miles to the Reno RV Park where I was able to hook up to their electricity. I also noticed that my propane tank was empty so I had that filled up. Now I had both electricity and heat. I turned on the water pump for just a second to see if it was working but heard nothing so switched it off immediately.

None of my SeaLevel gauges worked so I couldn’t check any levels. I basically had to thaw out everything to get it working. The problem was it was late in the day and I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning. So I turned on the heater to 70 and left it running all night. By the way the temperature got down to 6 degrees in Reno that night.

In the morning, the gauges were still not working. I headed out to the doctor and took care of that and then stopped by Jiffy Lube and had the truck serviced before I left Reno. Then I was on the road to warmer temperatures. I made it to Beatty, NV which is about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. The camp host said it was only going down to 20 degrees. Much warmer then Reno, but still not warm enough for me.

When I got up the following day I checked the gauges and sure enough everything was working as it should. My levels even read the same as they did when I left Fernley way back on 12/24. I couldn’t believe it. I turned on the water pump and it even worked as it should. AMAZING!!!!

My Lazy Daze is one tough rig to have survived that cold. I had been following the weather in Reno while I was in Southern CA and I noticed that it snowed and the temps never got above 30. I think two things happened while I was away. The first was that I ran out of propane. My tank only holds 7 gallons and I had it filled before I left. Because it was so cold it used it all up. Second, it snowed and the snow covered my solar panels. It was so cold that even during the day the snow would not melt so the panels could not recharge the house batteries . Since the heater was running to try and keep the temp at 55 it ran down the batteries.

I left Beatty, NV and headed 211 miles to Bullhead City, AZ where I will stay a couple of days with my brother-in-laws brother. It will give me a chance to get organized and stocked up for my trip to Quartzsite. It only got down to 30 here so it feels warm compared to Reno. I can’t wait to get to Quartzsite.

Holidays in California

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Jim Melvin

I flew out of Reno, NV on Christmas Eve and landed in Southern California where I stayed with by sister and brother-in-law for the holidays. It was a very busy time trying to meet up with all my friends and family. It seemed like I had something going every day.

Christmas day we picked up our mother and brought her to my sister’s house to spend Christmas with us. It has gotten harder and harder to get her out, but she was a real trooper. This is a pic of family.

Here is another pic where she has a Mitt Romney mask on and my sister is Barrack Obama. HA!!!

This was the beautiful sunset taken from their backyard. It was just as you see it and the pic was not enhanced.

One Day my sister and I went to the home where my mother is living and took part in their music therapy. It was fun and we had a great time.

Bev, Bob and I went out to lunch down at the Dana Point Harbor. It was a fun time.

Bev and Bob also invited our good friends over one day for dinner and celebrating the Holidays. We all had a super time.

After all the Christmas gatherings we went out to lunch again down at the Dana Point Harbor. It was a spectacular day.

I had a great time visiting family and friends over the holidays. Now I am ready to fly back to Reno and hit the road for more new adventures.

Summer in Oregon

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Jim Melvin

Orientation Day

I had to drive down to Prineville for an all day orientation. I met Loren and his wife Sue. He was the guy who originally called me back in February regarding the job. There was also the camp hosts from the neighboring campsites that work for the same concessionaire. It was really nice as they had a nice selection of food for breakfast and they also bought our lunch. We went over all our duties and everyone had lots of questions. It was also nice to be able to talk to other hosts about what to expect.

Weatherman was this in your prediction?

After the orientation I stopped off at the grocery store for a few items and then headed back to camp. I was surfing the net when I happened to look up and this is what I saw.

It is not the best picture as I was taking it out of my windows. This is a better pic of what was happening.

Start of my summer job – HA!

IT WAS SNOWING! I thought this was going to be my summer job. I saw more snow now then I did last winter while working for Amazon.

It didn’t get real deep but it was pretty amazing to see. I think the last time I saw snow falling was on one of my ski trips to Mammoth Lakes back in 2010. It was really neat.

Brrrrr!! Very cold!!!

Of course with the snow comes the COLD! The day I arrived at this campground it was a beautiful day with a temperature of 86 degrees. I guess it just shows how unpredictable the weather can be here in Central Oregon.

Memorial Weekend went off well

All this took place on the 24th just before the Memorial Day holiday weekend. I was figuring I was going to be bombarded with campers. Friday it rained and melted much of the snow away. But the cold decided to stay on for a few extra days. My first holiday weekend turned out to be pretty good. I was very busy selling firewood and collecting camping fees but it wasn’t bad at all. The campground was over 1/2 full and most of the campers were signed up to stay the whole weekend. It is just a bummer that it happened to be soooooo cooold!!!