Back in the saddle

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Sparky

I am back at work again. It was a busy week in many ways. I went into the office – a room in a suite of accountants – on Monday without being certain that I had an office. I had a verbal agreement but no lease. It turns out that I did, in fact, have an office, but no lease, just a handshake. Fine with me. I paid a month’s rent ($350) and settled in to try to start working remotely.

Getting connected to the Oracle VPN was easy once I used the right software (which was NOT the software recommended by Oracle IT). Getting into the Windows servers was easy, so long as I logged in as a generic user rather than myself (more on that in a minute). Getting into the Linux servers was a little harder as I had to download another piece of software. But I got that figured out by late Tuesday.

I was able to use the generic accounts to do some useful work, but the inability to log in as myself became an increasingly more serious problem as the week progressed. I got an IT guy in Cambridge to look at the problem and he determined that it was a password synchronization issue that had to be solved at the Oracle end. So Oracle IT is on it now, but the week ended without me being able to be myself.

Very annoying.

At the end of the week my new computer arrived, so on Monday I can do the computer setup stuff all over again. Fun.

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GTW Hop 37: Gilroy, CA, to San Jose, CA

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Sparky

19 miles via US 101 and local streets.  Cumulative distance: 6,184 miles.

GTW Hop 37: Gilroy CA to San Jose CA

This last hop of the GTW was less than 20 miles and was made simply to move Patience to her winter resting place: the Coyote Valley RV Resort which sits on the border between San Jose and Morgan Hill. I will describe the park in more detail later, but will say now that the back-in site we were given was a BITCH. Between the steel post guarding the electrical panel, the curb at the office and the bushes lining the site, it was damn near impossible navigating into the space. It took about 6 tries. But we made it.

Our home for the past 4 nights was the Gilroy Garlic USA RV Park in Gilroy (“Garlic City”), CA. No, it did not smell like garlic, thank God. It was a nice park with a lot of long-term residents, including one family with four home-schooled kids who didn’t seem to get a lot of schooling – they were out riding their scooters pretty much all day long. Living in a trailer with 4 children? Sounds like a little corner of hell to me.

We used the four days to, as Jett says, “put pins back in the box.” In other words, recuperate. The last 3 weeks have been grueling and we needed some R&R. However, we did go out to dinner one night at the Claddagh Pub and Restaurant in Gilroy, which turned out to be one of the best Irish restaurants we have ever experienced. It is family-operated, so our server was the son of the owner. Very nice, friendly place. They were sponsoring a “Secret Santa” benefit for some local disadvantaged kids, so naturally Jett signed us up. We went shopping the next day for Steve, a 16-year-old boy who wanted pajamas, socks and chocolate. What? No videogames or CDs?

Anyway, if we like Coyote Valley (a big if… Jett already dislikes the staff) we will be here for 6 months. So if you want to write us, out address is:

Coyote Valley RV Resort
9750 Monterey Rd, #68
San Jose, CA 95103

Watch for changes, though, as I can’t be sure yet that we will be here for the entire 6 months.

Thus ends the GTW. I will do a post-mortem later, I think. I hope you have enjoyed the trip.

Categories: CA, GTW, Places, Routes, RV Parks | 1 Comment

Budget review

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Sparky

We have now completed two months of our semi-retirement and it is time once again to see how we are doing on sticking to the budget.

Not well.

The bottom line is that we have exceeded our budget by almost $6,000 – almost 38% more than we planned to spend. The largest component is in the “D” (Diesel and Rig) category, due to the well-documented problems we have had with the rig, plus the slightly higher-than-expected diesel costs, lower-than-expected gas mileage and greater-than-expected distances traveled. Other significant overages were in “H” (Health Care) due to higher-than-expected COBRA costs and unplanned dental expenses, “M” (Miscellaneous) due to clothes and debt service costs, “X” (Extras) due mostly to visiting Las Vegas and “E” (Entertainment) due largely to our splurge on the first-class train tickets to the Grand Canyon.

But the big surprise was “F” (Food) where we exceeded our budget by more than 100%. I think we spent more on food while traveling than we ever did in Medford. I will have to adjust this budget item for next quarter as it is obvious that this one was just not estimated well.

And maybe we are eating too much or too well.

Here is the breakdown of overages for the first two months:

  • D – Diesel and Rig …………………………. $2,100
  • F – Food ……………………………………….. $1,400
  • H – Health Care ……………………………..    $950
  • M – Miscellaneous ………………………….    $550
  • X – Extras ……………………………………..    $370
  • E – Entertainment …………………………     $330
  • C – Campground ……………………………     $220

The good news in this list is that campground fees, entertainment and, most importantly, rig expenses, should be substantially reduced once we stop traveling.  The health care expenses should also be low for the next six month while I return to my job with benefits.  But food?  Gotta eat.

The bottom line is that we haven’t done very well at sticking to the budget.  I am going to have to take a close look at the budget again before we can say with certainty that it is feasible to continue this lifestyle.

Categories: GTW, Preparation/Planning | 2 Comments

Winning the spam war

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Sparky

The deluge of spam (2,200 per day at its peak) has been reduced to a trickle (less than 200 yesterday). I accomplished this by blocking just 18 IP addresses. That mean that a very small number of purveyors of spam accounted for about 90% of the messages.

Jerks.

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GTW Hop 36: San Jose, CA, to Gilroy, CA

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Sparky

31 miles via US 101 and local streets. Cumulative distance: 6,165 miles.

GTW Hop 36: San Jose CA to Gilroy CA

I think this dance is called the “South Bay Shuffle:” up to San Jose, down to Gilroy, then, on Sunday, back up to San Jose to complete the GTW. This hop was to retrieve Patience from the RV repair place (after paying a $960 ransom – all labor) and put it in a place where we can all rest for a few days before I return to the workaday world.

We stayed at the Hotel Elan which was adequate at best. The dogs loved it, but Jett didn’t much care for the loose toilet seat and the mysterious stains on the walls. A little Luminol spray probably would have lit the room up like a Christmas tree. It is no accident that the second offering that comes up when you Google “hotel elan san jose” is “hotel elan prostitution.”

But it’s all part of the adventure, right?

The dogs enjoying the king-size bed

Crappy crapper seat, Hotel Elan

I settled on the office space that is in San Jose, 14 miles from “home.” It isn’t ideal, but is the best choice as it provides furniture and internet, which gives me two less things to worry about. I also ordered a new (refurbished, actually) computer that will be delivered next Tuesday, so I should have the basics to get me working again.

One thing that has surprised me while traveling the San Jose freeways is the lack of congestion. We were able to deliver Patience to the RV repair place at 9am on a weekday morning by traveling 20 miles up US 101 – a major commuting route – and never once dropping below 55mph. That, to me, is simply amazing.

It rained yesterday (what else is new?), but the forecast is for sunshine for the next week or more, with high temperatures in the mid- to upper 60’s. We are very much looking forward to a little sunshine.

Next up: finding transportation for Jett. We will probably buy a cheap car, but not until the new year. In the meantime, we may rent for a few days, to give her wheels during the week.

4 days and one more hop to finish the GTW.

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GTW Hop 35: Morgan Hill, CA, to San Jose, CA

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Sparky

28 miles via US 101 and local streets. Cumulative distance: 6,134 miles.

GTW Hop 35: Morgan Hill CA to San Jose CA

The declaration of the “penultimate” hop turned out to be premature. The park where we spent Sunday and Monday nights – the Uvas Pines RV Park – was unpleasant enough that we decided to return to a different RV park after getting the slide cables fixed. However, even that plan had to be changed as the RV shop was unable to get the work done on Tuesday (something about the frayed cable getting tangled in the pulleys). So we spent the night at Hotel Elan in San Jose. The dogs love it – they can sleep on the king-size bed – but I spent the night thinking about the “labor rate: $120/hr” sign on the wall of the shop and calculating just how much these broken cables were going to cost us.

I am thinking now that “cables” should have been a line-item in the budget.

I inspected all the slide cables yesterday before we left for the repair shop. In addition to the broken and frayed cables on the #2 slide there is also a broken cable on the #3 slide and a frayed cable on the #4 slide. That is four failed cables in just 35 slide cycles – more that one failure for every 10 out/in slide cycles. That could place the cost of a single cycle at more than $20. Unbelievable.

Crippled Patience at Uvas Pines

Uvas Pines in the morning fog

We took advantage of our “free” day in San Jose to look for office space. The leading candidate right now is a furnished office that I would share with two accountants in San Jose, about 14 miles from our winter RV park. Not ideal, but there were only two closer options, one of which did not respond to my calls and the other which is expensive and is insisting on a 6-month lease.

With any luck – and assuming that my credit line can handle the bill – we will pick up Patience today and head back to Morgan Hill to wait out the 4 days until we get into our winter home.

Categories: CA, GTW, Places, Routes, RV Parks | Leave a comment

GTW Hop 34: Redding, CA, to Morgan Hill, CA

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Sparky

282 miles via I-5, I-505, I-80, I-680 and US 101. Cumulative distance: 6,106 miles.

GTW Hop 34: Redding CA to Morgan Hill CA

The penultimate hop on the GTW was difficult, but not for the expected reason: the weather. Against all odds and despite the prognostications of the US Weather Service (which predicted a rainy day), the clouds broke shortly before our 10am departure and we drove the entire way to San Jose (yes, we know how to get there now) in brilliant sunshine and mid-60s temperatures. It was breezy in spots, but never more than moderately so. It was a very pleasant and easy drive along interstate highways. Until we got to Morgan Hill.

For reasons still unknown to me, my Google map and the GPS both directed me off the interstate and onto local roads about 10 miles shy of our destination. I sensed trouble as I recalled that when I looked at the map, inspecting it for low bridges and tight turns, as I always do, that the RV park was no more than 4 miles from US 101. I pulled Patience over to the side of the very narrow road that we were on and got the laptop out to check on the route. No Verizon reception. But a friendly passer-by assured us that we could, indeed, get to our destination going the way we were headed.

She was right. What she didn’t mention was that we would have to travel the entire 10 miles on narrow, twisty roads with low overhanging branches and numerous scary 1-lane bridges. It was harrowing, reminiscent of Hop 1 when we encountered the low bridge and dinged the bunkhouse topper. It seemed all too likely that we were going to have bookend dings on the GTW.

But we made it.

I got Patience backed into a spacious site with only one small adjustment. We then settled down in our crippled crib. We did not put out either of the two damaged slides, which reduced our effective living space to about 100 square feet. We have no use of the living room/dining room space and have to exit the vehicle and re-enter at the rear to access the bunkhouse. I am in the bunkhouse now, writing this, bundled up against the cold because, with the slides in, we can’t use the propane heat. Nor can we watch the main television. But that really isn’t a great loss because there is no cable TV in this campground and the antenna pulls in just 5 stations: 2 Spanish, 1 Japanese and 2 English, one of which is HSN. We have a grand total of one usable TV channel. That is the worst TV reception we have gotten anywhere, including Boron, CA, in the middle of the desert.

I would consider going elsewhere, but there really aren’t a lot of options until we get access to our home base next Sunday. And I need to get Patience repaired first, so until that happens I can’t make any other arrangements.

It could be a long week.

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Slogging to a finish

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Sparky

It rained over 3″ last night in Redding. It was relentless. At times it sounded like Patience was being run through a car wash, complete with rotating brushes that rocked it from side to side. Today we will try to limp/slog/float our way 280 miles south to San Jose, to sit and lick our wounds for a week before making the last 8-mile hop to our winter campground. We will try to get the ailing slide repaired sometime during the week.

We did laundry yesterday, which is never fun, but was less fun than usual because the only laundromat we could find outside the park (the RV park’s laundry was too small) was dirty, crowded and expensive. After laundry we used the GPS to find a restaurant. We would have taken any option above the level of Burger King, but after finding one place with “rotisserie” in the name that was defunct and another with a promising name (“Country Kitchen”) that was part of a dark convention center, we got a base hit with our third swing of the bat: the Old School Restaurant in downtown Redding. It was housed in a beautifully renovated 19th century school building and was populated by the most attentive and courteous staff that we have experienced in a long time. The food was terrific, too. I had the spaghetti and meatballs, which doesn’t sound special until you taste it. Jett had a succulent burger that she said was to die for. We met the chef/owner while he was making his rounds among the patrons and gave him our compliments.

California weather has been a disappointment so far, to say the least. It has been nothing but rain, rain and more rain, interrupted only by wind. Not exactly what I envisioned when I thought of “sunny” California.

We have weathered the last two stormy days at the Mountain Gate RV Parkon the northern edge of Redding. It is a very nice park (a “Good Sam Top 100” park, in fact, which is a lofty accolade) but hard to appreciate in a driving rain. The office staff has been very nice and I took the opportunity to replenish our propane supply. So we were warm and cozy in our dry cocoon. Too bad I had to take the dogs out for periodic walks, because I got drenched then.

Patience at Mountain Gate

I hear it snowed a bit yesterday in Massachusetts. That, at least, made us smile. Not much, though.

Categories: CA, GTW, Places, RV Parks | 1 Comment

GTW Hop 33: Canyonville, OR, to Redding, CA

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Sparky

211 miles via I-5. Cumulative distance: 5,824 miles.

GTW Hop 33: Canyonville OR to Redding CA

This was the reverse of Hop 29, except that we used a different RV park in Redding as a destination. The weather was bad, as usual, but not as bad as I expected. There were some sunny breaks and the wind was tolerable. But once we got to Redding we encountered a problem with slide #2 – the big slide that already has one broken cable. A second cable started to fray and snapping is probably imminent. As a result, we spent the night with a half-deployed living room and considered our options. We have concluded that we need to get the slide repaired ASAP and because it could mean more time in a hotel we would rather do it in the San Francisco area than in Redding. So our current plan is to skip Napa and head straight to San Jose. We will spend the last week of the GTW there, with a final short hop to our winter campground.

So we hope to leave tomorrow (Sunday) and perhaps get Patience in for repair on Monday. However, the weather is a problem, as it has been everywhere we have gone in California and Oregon. The forecast for Sunday is once again for heavy rain and high winds. It is likely that we will be forced to wait out the storm in our crippled RV.

The final leg of the GTW – the trip from Tillamook to San Jose – is turning into a nightmare.

On the trip to Redding we passed by Mount Shasta during one of the sunny breaks. It is a beautiful snow-capped volcano. The top was encased in clouds, but it was a surprise to see it at all as it is on track to break the record for most snowfall from a single storm. I am not talking a Mount Shasta record or even a US record; I am talking about a possible world record. The total snowfall from this current storm is expected to exceed 15 feet, which puts it in world record territory, and may exceed 20 feet, which would shatter the existing record.

Epically bad weather.

Mt Shasta during a brief break in the weather

Just to twist the knife, the person at the counter of the RV park told me that this weather is very unusual. To quote her: “We are usually still in T-shirts and shorts in early December.”

Lucky us.

Categories: CA, GTW, OR, Places, Routes | Leave a comment

A winning day at the casino

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Sparky

Yes, it’s true: I won money yesterday at Seven Feathers! Nine cents. I was up by more than $70 at one point, but I got greedy and kept playing the slots. I love those penny games (which cost much more than a penny – don’t be fooled). I did have the good sense to quit before going negative.

We have to decide shortly whether to travel today. It looks like the heavy rain has subsided, so we will probably try to make it to Redding today.

What was supposed to be a leisurely trip down the coast has become a test of survival.

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