Those Embarrassing RV Moments

I know we've probably all had them ... those moments when we forget to check something.  I try very hard to be exacting in everything I do, but alas, tiredness and brain fade set in.

I wasn't the only one however.  As I was parked in Williams minding my own business, I spotted a Luxury Van Rental slowly driving past my front window with two women inside.  The word RENTAL on the van said it all.

They had not put the cap on their sewer connection correctly and were dumping "stuff" all along the road as they drove to the garbage cans.  There they deposited dozens of bags of junk, making me wonder where all that came from, along with even MORE sewage.  

I said something to the lady, who just gave me a weird look.  She had no idea what I was talking about.   Luckily the second lady came out and solved the problem ... sort of.  I hesitated, but called the office to report the damage so cleanup could commence.  I felt bad for the maintenance guy.

 So here I am parked at Newberry Springs.  With no power and my generator running loudly, I finally shut it off, turned on the inverter and stowed the dish satellite. 

I said my goodbyes to the ducks and headed out at 6:00 in the morning.  I literally did not sleep a wink.  Being 50 yards from the freeway full of trucks probably had something to do with that, not to mention it was HOT!!  In the mid 90's.

 I did my normal checks, but didn't bother with the dish since I knew it had stowed the night before.  ALWAYS CHECK AGAIN AND AGAIN!!  In 25 short miles, I was at Flying J to get fuel.  It's a good thing their ceilings are high.  

Yup ... there was that embarrassment BIG TIME.  The darn dish did not stow like it told me it did.  I quickly went inside and hit the button to wake it up, then again to STOW.  This time it worked.  It's bad enough to not check, but to have all those truckers snickering ..... oh yeah!

Back on the road, I made it through the new Barstow Hwy 58 beautiful freeway, down into Bakersfield.  I just don't get it.  That section has been under construction for what ... 5 years now?  And it's worse than it has ever been.  Not only that, but now the entire town of Bakersfield is having repairs on Hwy 99 from one end to the other.  It's a horrible mess, rough as all get out and hard to navigate.  Just for your info, Madera is now exactly the same.

It was so rough driving that the entire Dish satellite box fell out of the cabinet and onto the passenger seat.  When I was finally able to stop, I stuffed it all back in the cupboard.  Hopefully it still works.

Finally home, I unloaded the puppies, myself and some important things like food and camera, then headed off to the Pumpkin Patch.  I'm official this year since I have a Hunter Farms shirt instead of the new (but very awesome) red white and blue flag tee the kids wear.  

In two seconds I was hard at it getting the snack bar organized.  With all the new Covid crap, I mean regulations, things have changed considerably.  I restocked everything they were out of and proceeded to sweat up a storm.  It was over 90 degrees with humidity I'm sure in the 90's.  Wow it was HOT!!  

Five hours later I was home, collapsed on the couch.  This was my parting shot of the patch.

 That's not a light pole, that's the sun.  Although not smoky, it's pretty hazy.  The new schedule has us closed Monday and Tuesday except for pumpkin purchases.  I'll be going in for a short time, but don't expect to stay.  I've got lots of unpacking to do and pictures of the train ride to process for you.