Checking in

Well, it looks like I post once every six or seven months. Too much? I hope I'm not overwhelming everyone with all this minutiae.

Made some improvements to Bliss over the summer. The biggest was outfitting her with 200 watts of solar. I bought all the components from Renogy (highly recommended) and went to work. Many of you know Sue Soaring Sun; her guy, Steve, helped me pinpoint the best location to drill a hole through the dash to run the wiring and he handed the panels up to me on the roof after helping put the mounting hardware on them. Here's the finished product.

2 12V AGMs are hiding in the box

I have 2 battery banks and so decided to keep it simple and keep them separated, so I have one solar panel going to each battery bank and each has its own charge controller. The bank in the engine compartment handles all 12v rig functions and the bank in the passenger foot well is connected to the inverter and charges all of my electronics. It all works just perfectly and I'm a happy camper.

Other improvements include a new kitchen faucet, and I removed the unused sink beside my bed and turned it into an actual bedside table.

But by far the biggest improvement is this guy! ...

Master Cuddler and Fetcher Extraordinaire

I welcomed Zip to the family early November and he is so awesome. He gets along great with Jake and Tucker, loves to cuddle, loves to play fetch, loves to love. A happy, happy boy.

Life is good!

Going retro!

In our last episode, Connie was living with me while hunting for a RV of her own and had made an offer on an older man's trailer. What a cliffhanger!

This week's episode has Connie having bought, remodeled and currently living in her very own RV. It's a 1972 Winnebago Brave, retro before retro was cool.

Cameo by Jake

Cameo by Connie

Cameo by toilet

These pics are all pre-improvement. She now has wood laminate flooring, new fridge, new toilet, and the couch is now a bed. She's loving it and I'm loving that she's loving it, and loving that I have my Bliss all to myself again.

In MY news, I've scored a cushy camphost position up at Storrie Lake State Park and will head that way as soon as I have some work done on Bliss. I have a lot of play in my steering wheel, and have since I bought her. A mechanic friend who adjusted my timing noticed the play and looked at the steering components and declared a new drag link is in order. The driver side connection is all loosey goosey and can't be tightened. I was thinking 'Heck, it's been this way forever. Whatever' until he said, "When it goes, you'll lose all steering" so I'll have it replaced. Safety. Whatever.

I had some residual water line issues from Bliss' time in wintry Wisconsin. A few trips to the hardware store, some impressive body contortions (who needs yoga when you own an RV) and voilá! Water comes from the taps again. Such decadence, life just keeps on getting better and better!

Booze, broads and birthdays

My sister arrived here on April 19th and we celebrated with (ahem) two bottles of wine. By midnight, my Check Liver light was illuminated and it was time to call it a night. Hangovers are fun! It's been just over three weeks since and neither one of us is much interested in more wine yet.

Here we are, happy to be sober

The hunt is on for a rig of her own. We looked at an old Suncrest RV that was in beautiful shape and drove like a dream but the guy handling the sale wouldn't budge on price and it was about $1k over her comfort limit so we moved on. Since then, she looked at and really liked a Fleetwood travel trailer that an older man had been living in before he became too frail and was moved to assisted living. She's made an offer and now we wait and think good thoughts that it will soon be hers. She's eager to begin nesting in her own place and I'm eager to have my home all to myself again. It's a really good thing we get along so well, even in such cramped quarters.

A super cool storm system moved through a few days ago. Here, let me show you!

Now that Ellen is no longer with us, Tucker is not as averse to playing with Jake. Beggars, choosers and all that. Tucker has been hiding in the bushes waiting for an unsuspecting Jake to trot by then leaps out at him. And hilarity ensues.

Tomorrow is my birthday and we're gonna hit up Denny's for my free Grand Slam breakfast and then Connie is going to cook dinner for me tomorrow night. I don't think we'll have wine, though.

Seven months later...

Well, that was a long blog hiatus! I hope no one was holding their breath waiting for an update.

Wisconsin was good ... and then winter came and hooboy, was I not prepared for that. I thought, Heck, I've done a ton of NY winters, HOW BAD COULD IT BE? Hahahahahaha! Turns out, I did not enjoy it. I enjoyed it like a giraffe enjoys a sore throat, like an elephant enjoys a stuffy nose, like an ant enjoys a child with a magnifying glass on a sunny day ... you get the idea.

I've been back in NM for about 6 weeks now and could not be more content. Sunshine, fabulous temps, finding my bliss again living in my Bliss.

Bliss

I'm grateful for the time I spent in Wisconsin because it gave me great clarity about what I want and do not want. I really do love living in my little home on wheels. The sticks and bricks life is not for me. I love being able to travel on a whim, going whenever and wherever I want, following the weather and, most of all, being back in the southwest where I belong. I am HOME and right now, home is near Truth or Consequences, NM. In fact, I just changed my official residency to NM and that too feels great.

So, that's a big change and there's soon to be another. My older sister, Connie, has decided that Indiana is not the place to be (amen). She's in the process now of getting rid of everything that won't fit into a suitcase and will be flying here on the 19th of this month to start anew. She wants to be a nomad like her little sister and will start looking for her home on wheels when she gets here. Until she finds THE ONE, she'll stay with me, either sleeping in Bliss or in a tent nearby. I could not be happier for her or more excited for her. This is gonna be grand and it'll be so good to see her and spend time with her again. We've kept in touch but haven't seen each other since, gosh, I think it was 2010. I have the celebratory wine chilling and have stocked up on kleenex, she's already warned me she'll probably cry when she sees me, and not just because I look so much older now.

Jake and Tucker are loving being able to roam and run outside again. Ellen, my most senior kitty, shook off her mortal coil in March. It was time, and as with the kitties that died last spring, I'm so grateful that she left on her own terms.

Here's to you, Ellen. Thanks for sharing your life with me.