Frontier RV Park – Canned Comfort

Homeward bound from Idaho, open vistas and cold

We wake up to a sunnyish hazy day. We hope the frozen outlets are going to thaw and we will no longer be a “poopscicle”. The temperature is 13 going up to 23. So no thaw.

We went to Home Depot and purchased a warmer thingy that was attached to a propane tank, a little one, and my hubby spent three hours trying to encourage the goo to melt. The goo won! After freezing and chattering teeth he gave up and joined me and the family for a toasty, cozy day long visit. A quiet day, away from the cold, cold weather allowed for a family time without time restraints. The dogs loved being out of the truck, in a house, all the attention and scraps from some of the most delicious barbecue in Eagle Idaho.

After a wonderful quiet, restful visit, laughs and hugs we went back to our cozy cottage on wheels. Tomorrow we start back home to warm California. It is surprising how this little silver bullet is our quiet place at the end of the day and lazy breakfast mornings.

Sunshine greats us and again we are on California time not Idaho time. It evens out eventually. Our Nesspresso gives forth the comforting aroma of coffee and a new adventure. Yes, the poopscicle lives. It has had no relief from the freezing temps. We know the further west we go the warmer it will be!

Packing up and securing for the drive home is easy. Airstream designs storage in logical ways for ease of use and travel. Fold and stow, clean and go. This smooth process puts a smile on our faces. We both have allergies an bad snuffy colds so we use the “lady bug” lint remover from H2O at Home. It has a two-fold use. We take the doggie hairs off both furniture and doggies! Helps keep potential allergens down in small spaces. We use the Handbroom for the floor. It looks little but it calls all the dirt to gather and we have clean floors. Wiping the counters clean with the chiffonetes takes minutes, even the mirrors shine. Looks great! We feel great and ready for our travel home!

We stop by our daughter’s house to say another goodbye, the sun is shinning and it is 23 degrees outside! The roads should be clear no weather insight. We have reservations set for Frontier RV in Winnamucca, Nevada, book plugged in, doggies secure, kleenex, cough drops, snacks and water.

After leaving the city limits the highway opens with very few vehicles in sight. . . Humming along! How different the landscape looks with early daylight versus setting sun and darkness. Again no wildlife. Must mean they are smart enough to stay warm and not challenge Mother Nature. After a couple of hours we stop at the same vacant gas station, let the doggies run a bit, go to the coach for a wonderful lunch of left overs.

We are making great time, we are going mostly downhill! We reach Winnamucca before nightfall and guess what it is above freezing! We finally get rid of the poopscicle. We are feeling so good we park and start to reheat our New Years Eve dinner. We are now feeling better, our taste buds are working and the lamb is sooooo good, a little champagne, homemade cookies, Martini Radio and we are good!

The morning dawns and we do our “pre-flight”, doggies running and chasing, we are good to go. This morning we try coffee at a truck stop where we gas up. Coffee is hot, not Peet’s, but the morning is chilly. My special, double layered lap blanket, hand knit by my daughter keeping my legs toasty so the coffee is a little plus. The highway is still a bit quiet, few rigs, cars or trucks. We smile and listen to our second book, Killing Patton!

By Reno, it is still cool, 27 degrees, but not 7! We find an In-N-Out burger in Sparks, Nevada and we are in heaven. Never knew it was there, just near the Nugget. We again set the table in the coach, doggies have water and a stretch, onward we go. After getting gas near Cabella’s west of Reno we chug up to thru the Sierra’s and find a view we have probably driven past a zillion times in our travels. I don’t even know the name of the rest stop but it is gorgeous. When we get out of the truck and doggies are out we notice that at the edge of the fence has an even more breathtaking view of a little valley and different hills and mountains. This is where we realize that stopping just because has many special surprises.

All alone with beauty and a valley down below!

We are almost home. It is always bittersweet. No longer as cold nor windy as our road out, just traffic. Home is now only 3 hours away. We have finished two audio books and feel quite accomplished. I am writing notes about our trip, putting down our thoughts and memories. Of course of places we may want to revisit again or explore are written in large bold letters.

We arrive home, unload a few things, park our silver castle in the drive way and then lock the door. Doggies are happy to be out of the truck, we kinda are too. It is almost the enjoyment of less that makes the trip more, and home is our base camp to prepare for the next adventure. Oh the fun of picking and planning another untraveled road.

Day 2 – Oh the beauty of morning . . .

We awaken and know we are so toasty warm and now we need COFFEE! But not to worry we have our Pixie and Frother, english muffins and butter! We look out the window and see sunshine and snow on the mountains. Nice way to open our eyeballs. What we see is so clear and beautiful but only 13 degrees! We are now officially a poopscicle! Our outlets are frozen but we have room and fresh water. Thank God! The Frontier RV Park is fairly new and has very clean, WARM, showers and bathrooms. So we can shower in comfort before we hit the road. It truly is the little things that make us smile. The doggies loved all the room to run around in before hoping back into the truck AGAIN!

They are so cute and patient. They get their food, water and running around about every two hours. We are uphill again! Hwy 95 up to Boise. It is about a short 5 hour jog for us.

The air is fresh and it really is a beautiful view. We are feeling better and hoping we get to our destination before nightfall. The clean up for travel is so easy. Everything has a place, easy stowing and access even better. My orange chiffonete from H2O at Home just swiped the dirt away.

We know that we can still use our bathroom but we thought the heat of the road and sunshine would melt our poopscicle plug. So, merrily we rolled along. Our first stop was in Oregon just before an Indian Reservation. The dogs are getting used to the snow but our plug did not thaw. We had cheese sandwiches, more water, more cold medicine and nose spray, replenished our kleenex stash. Onward we went listening to our audio book Killing Lincoln!

Poor little truck pulled and pulled and I could hear it saying, “I think I can, I think I can” as we went north nearing the 200,000 mile mark on our 6 cylinder Ford Sportrac! Boy she has worked so gallantly through all our adventures!

We are enjoying our audio book, we keep hoping no more upward hills and hope the plug will thaw! Ok, Boise is north, we are 4500 ft and no thaw. We pass through Jordan Valley and see a sleepy snow-covered town and wonder where the inhabitants are. I know, they are smarter than us, they are in their homes warm and toasty. It gets higher and colder the farther north we go….brrrr

We then realize how lucky we are to see all these wonders of our great country. We live our lives in our own local beauty but then we need to take the road less traveled to experience unexpected wonders. The snow-covered country side appears as a never-ending vastness of color, land morphs, animals venture out and we see a great big sky. We are also free to travel as we want. We are comfy in our truck, the doggies are sleeping and we just enjoy with smiles and kleenex.

we arrive in Eagle, Idaho as the sun is setting and it is a balmy 22 degrees, still freezing! We get a great pull through spot at the High Valley RV park. There is snow on the ground without wind. There are full hookups but the hoses will freeze if left outside and the poopscicle is frozen. Thank God Airstream has generous holding tanks with warming blankets to keep the fresh water flowing.

We get settled and have dinner with my daughter and grandchildren. What a great night except for the cold, cough and sneezes. But family makes everything so much better.

Back to the RV park we settle again for a cozy night in our coach! Hot tea, cookies, cough medicine and kleenex! Oh we can sleep in and not worry about being on the road just yet. Achoo!

Brrrrrr Happy New Year. . . . Or every road is a different adventure

Such excitement! We are winter (snow) traveling for the first time on purpose! We received a new Nesspresso Pixie and Nesspresso frother as Christmas presents and of course just right for our trip. We planned our New Years Eve dinner and began to prepare for the road. My spirits lifted and a happy calm prevailed. Hmmm that is until the sniffles crept upon us. Oh how we fought our symptoms and denied the same. I worked my regular two days before we left, all the while happy for the opportunity to hit the road again and see my little girl.

The coach is winterized per the owner’s manual and I cleaned every nook and cranny, cleared away any dust that may have accumulated, washed all the linens, pillow shams and bed linens. I was using cleaning tools and products from H2O, that are green and Eco friendly just like our Airstream. These chiffonettes, as they are called, do not use cleansers or soaps. Water is the vehicle, the towels are the dust and dirt cleanser picker uppers. I really enjoyed the ease of use, gleaming results and no annoying fragrances. Makes the aluminum walls shine brightly without a lot of work either. I felt like a queen in fresh, bright like new, Flying Cloud. Then I started with a little cough. But that was nothing just annoying. I mean, I emptied the cabinets, wiped them clean inside and out, throughout items that in five years we have NEVER used and restocked and planned for our new ways of movement and traveling. Ahh start the New Year clear of the old, in with the new and open for joy.

Wednesday morning dawned, we both had snuffles, dogs and truck cleaned, packed with travel necessities, ie., cough drops, audio books, water, maps and stuffy heads. We left one hour later than we had planned but we knew no snow on Donner Summit! All seemed well, weather nice, just a little cool but comfy. Stopped for gas, sure enjoy the lower prices, dogs pooped and piddled and on we go.

As we approached Donner Summit we noticed the wind picked up and the temperature drooped way cold! We stopped at a rest stop and the wind picked up enough to grab doors to open or slam them. The doggies did not even want to do their business but did a abbreviated relief. The chill went right thru us all and made our snuffles worse. All of a sudden the feeling of the trip seemed to get just plain COLD. It was early afternoon as we drove through Reno and thought in no time we will be at the new Frontier RV park in Winnanucca, Nevada, then we turn on our heater, oven, pop in our dinner and get cozy in the freezing cold.

Freezing then became the operative word for our adventure! It got darker and darker, we forgot time change and shorter days too. It seemed as though we were blowing our noses at more frequent intervels and the trash bag was getting full of kleenex, cough drop wrappers, and empty water bottles. The day really really seemed to not end and the lanscape was the same brown grass and sand with an occasional antelope and then darkness! Cold still got colder and we got sicker. My sis kindly informed me the whole family was sick with colds all acquired during our Christmas Day celebrations! Oh boy what a New Year’s Eve. We just wanted to get to Winnamucca and rest!

We arrived at our destintion and found we were the only overnight guest in this brand spanking new, clean, modern, RV Park. We were so happy we hurridly set up to find the temp was 25 degress F. Below freezing. No fresh water hook up through the night as it would freeze. We trid to empty the waste water but it was frozen already! Well not the actual grey/black tank or water tanks, only the outlets! We happily just wanted to get to bed and get warm. We did roast the herb crusted lamb chops from Six Sigma Ranch and prepped the mashed potates and green beans for our celebratory evening. Well ok we were very much frozen from settling the Airstream for the night, exercising the doggies and getting our trailer warm and cozy. We also had colds and stuffiness and really could not taste our dinner, just a hint. We finally got warmer, preppared for bed and called it a night it was 9:30 pm! Happy New Year!