Thursday, August 25, 2016

Goodbye to the fur, feathers and frustrations at Bluewater Lake

I always enjoy myself at Bluewater Lake State Park.  This time was a little stressful.  The first 14 days were really nice, then we had to leave for 6 days out of the park, so we drove to Grants where there's a Walmart and some truck stop gas stations, all of which I use to overnight while in town.

There's a nice park in Grants with a lake running through it that has some cool metal sculptures and beautiful ducks and geese.









I had an odor coming from my fresh water and my whole house water filter was filthy (I must have gotten some bad water somewhere - Storrie Lake, I guess).  So I had to sanitize my fresh water tank when I returned to the park, and when that was done, had to switch out the whole house water filter.

I put the correct amount of bleach into the tank the night before returning Bluewater to let it do it's cleaning magic.

It was really hot, of course, and while I was doing all the filling, driving around the campground to slosh the bleach around in the tank, then dump it out, fill with fresh water and dump again - over and over until the bleach odor was gone.  Actually I couldn't get it gone, and ended up the last time filling/dumping adding some baking soda to get rid of the bleach smell.  Then a final dump and all was well, bleach odor gone, and I filled up with clean water to keep and use.

With all the fresh water fill-ups and dumping, I left my sewer outlet cover at the dump station and when I went back it was gone, so I lost it.  Bummer.

When I finally had clean water again in the tank, I needed to switch out the whole house water filter - it was FILTHY!  While doing that I got water on my solar inverter that was near it in the same area, which wrecked the inverter.

That meant we had no solar power.  (I couldn't turn on the TV and when the charge was gone from my phone and computer, I had to run the generator to charge them up.  The only good thing about that is that I could run the air conditioner, too while the generator was running.  I tried that for one day, but luckily the next day found a non-reservable electric site that had just become available and moved there for the duration.) Whew, that was a long, hot, frustrating day.  I felt like I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

I talked to my daughter afterward and told her all the stupid things I was doing - all the running around, leaving things, losing things, breaking things, forgetting things, etc., I didn't put it all down here, there was more. 😟 She's a therapist and said I was acting like I had ADHD.  That I needed to settle down and concentrate on one thing at a time.  Boy, I sure feel for people who have ADHD - it must be hard.

Anyway, I ordered a new inverter and made an appointment to have it installed the following Friday in Flagstaff, AZ.  Then a couple of days later I got the call from my brother about my mom.

The day my mom died, after hanging up the phone I got out of bed and saw a dozen or so horses around The Palms.  It was so calming.  Usually they stay a while and move on to graze in other places, but that day they stayed all day, in front of The Palms, across the street in the field, alongside the rig, it felt spiritual, somehow.  I've never had a full day's visit from the horses before.  I like to find meaning when strange or different things happen and thought there was some meaning to their all-day visit.




Hey, No Parking!  I guess these colts can't read:






Lots of sleeping going on during the day, the colts would play, nurse and sleep.  So cute.  I'm glad I got to see so much of them this year.

And there were some squirrels, too:



We had a couple of Hairy Woodpeckers and I got a few photos - here's one pecking away at the tree:


Some of the prettiest sunsets I've seen while full-timing have been at Bluewater Lake.  Here's the last one from our visit there this season:






We left on Thursday and headed to Flagstaff, where we over-nighted at one of the local Walmarts.  Then up early Friday morning to head into the repair shop, where we had excellent service by a crew of very nice people.

I would highly recommend this shop, they squeezed us into their busy, full schedule since we had no electricity, got to us quickly, took the inverter that we brought with us, and charged us one hour service charge to install it.

We were soon on our way to the next gorgeous camping spot.  I think we're up to date now, and the next post I'll be sharing where we are and show you some beautiful photos.

From me and Katie, have a great Thursday, everyone! 

16 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your run of bad luck! And yes, for me too, it's usually a sign I need to slow down. I find horses very relaxing too. They help slow me down - their pace is generally just about right.

    Hope your next camping spot comes with good views, relaxing days and lots of photo ops!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW you had a pile of "special experiences" happen in a hurry. I am sorry to hear of the loss of your mom. I looked at heading up to Bluewater my last move but decided the altitude would just cause me trouble, so I stayed lower.
    For my rig I just carry the 400 watt model inverter Walmart sells. It has taken care of me well but I am not a heavy user like a microwave. The latest truck also has an inverter outlet in it rated at 150 watts.
    Good luck with your travels wherever you head to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So sorry for all your troubles and the passing of your Mom. The animals came to help ease your pain.

    ReplyDelete
  4. With all that's been going on with you it's no wonder you got stressed out. Glad everything is fixed with the RV. I definitely believe the horses came to calm you down and comfort you. What a beautiful thing to experience!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This morning I was heating water to make bird food, making coffee and cleaning the stove top. When I went to pour a cup of coffee there was only hot water in the pot. I had sat the pot in the coffee maker instead of pouring the water through the coffee maker. Then I couldn't remember if I had put the sugar in the humming bird water. I think I need to limit myself to one thing at a time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Crikey ... What a time you've been having. Those horses arrived just at the right time, aye? You sure needed something to help calm you down.. Bet your Mom sent them! Mom's always look out for us no matter what. I'm sorry you lost your Mom but she's still taking care of you.. Those photos are truly beautiful. Thankyou! Licky kisses to Katie!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks like you have been having issues, at least you have them now resolved and life is good again. Enjoy more trouble free travels.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The horses must have known you needed some extra support, so they showed you how to stay calm.

    Virtual hugs,

    Judie

    ReplyDelete
  9. Stress is really hard on us and when one thing goes wrong it just goes down hill from there. The horses knew you needed their serenity. I love the colts.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow. You really took on a lot but you handled it like a champ even if it didn't feel like it at the time. I'm glad Mother Nature sent her flock to calm things down and bring some comfort.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Frustrations are no fun but watching all the little critters help make it better.

    ReplyDelete
  12. sorry about your Mom. I'm glad you found peace seeing the horses around you. the bad water? It happens to me s all from time to time, you just have to deal with it, as you did.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Water on your inverter, ugg. My inverter compartment door is open right now and it is starting to rain, think I'll go close it before that happens to me too. Very sorry about your mom. ;( Glad you had some good horse energy around you.

    ReplyDelete
  14. So sorry for your loss. I know Katie brings you much comfort in times of trouble and sorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Barbara, Just found your blog and so glad I did. Thanks for posting all of your great pictures etc. My dream is to someday go fulltime or at least part time with my dogs. I love to see and hear about solo women RVer's and their travels.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments - we LOVE them!