We spend about $10/week washing and drying our clothes at a laundromat. So a little over $500/year.
However, probably more important than the money is hauling heaps of laundry around town — a drag especially when the temps rise.
The drag is on Jan because she does the laundry. She won’t let me do it because clothes suffer when I’m at the helm.
So . . . we’ve watched with envy as other park model owners acquired washer/dryers.
Long story short, I decided to build a shed (#2) to house a washer and dryer. I had helped our friends Jim & Marianne build their shed last year and picked up the basics of Shedology: pouring a concrete slab . . . framing the shed . . . plumbing water & sewer lines . . . running electrical lines . . . etc, etc.
Started on February 7th and finished on the 20th. It was fun most of the time.
The photo saga (missed the part where Jim put in the shingle roof — sorry, Jim) . . .
Jan & I have taken jobs as assistant park managers at Highland’s RV Park in Bishop, CA. These are seasonal positions from April through October, so we’ll be back at Crazy Horse Campground in November. If things work out, we may do it another year. We’ll see.
Anyway, it’s a great opportunity to pick up some extra money for a couple of things we’d like to buy (washer/dryer, kayak) + we’ll be able to explore the Sierras in our off time. The area around Bishop, CA is stunning! We thought the mountains surrounding Lake Havasu were great, but the Sierras are . . . well, take a look . . .
View from Highland’s RV Park
We’re both pretty excited about this. In early February Jan found an ad for the positions in the Lake Havasu City paper. She called the campground, talked to the full-time managers (a husband & wife), and we drove up to Bishop last Thursday (February 5th). We stayed at a Travel Lodge in Bishop (with our dogs too) overnight and spent Saturday morning meeting with Wendy & John, the managers. Nice folks who have been managing the park for over a decade.
The job consists of managing the front office (typically campground reservations), cutting the grass, cleaning the bathrooms, filling propane bottles, and general maintenance. Basically we’d be working weekends + managing the park when Wendy & John are on vacation.
Highland’s RV Park is about one-half mile outside of Bishop on Highway 395.
Bishop looks like a cool little town . . . Erick Schat’s is a neat bakery in town and Bishop is a fishing center for the local lakes, but the city’s claim to fame is the Mule Days.
So we’ll probably leave Crazy Horse the last week of March in order to get a week of training in before we start in April.
Here’s are some photos & a video from our 400-mile trip to Bishop . . .
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The Lone Pine skate park behind the McDonalds . . .
On Monday, about a dozen of us made a trip in seven Jeeps to a Talc mine about 25 miles north of Lake Havasu City.
Talc Mine Jeep Trip (click on map to enlarge)
We gathered in the Crazy Horse parking lot and set out about 9:30 am. After 8 hours of some pretty hard driving, we returned.
They say It’s the journey, not the destination, but in this case maybe not.
After a fairly leisurely ride, we arrived at the Talc mine about Noon. We had one hairy spot where part of the road had washed out, so we did some impromptu road repair and jeeped on. Check out these videos:
After investigating the Talc mine, it was lunch time, and one couple had the right idea:
Where’s the Portable Patio?
After lunch it was time to head back, but we decided to try a “road less traveled”.
“Road” may be overstating it. I think we went where astronauts practice for driving on Mars.
It was rare to get up to 5 mph.
Every hour or so of crawling across the moonscape, we would stop, get out our astrolabes, and try to figure out the fastest way back to civilization.
Not a chance. We were committed to crawling.
About 4 pm or so, I finally lost my mind, took the lead, and drove like a bat out of hell.
People actually followed me.
Anyway, I finally arrived at a crossroads — I went West and everyone else drove East. By the time I found out there was no one behind me, I drove on . . . to Topock. During that drive Jan & I sold the Jeep, got divorced, un-sold the Jeep, and remarried. Arghhhhhh!
Just a day later, we’re laughing about it, but, boy, are our bodies sore. It was crazy fun — would not have missed it.
Kudos to Jim Kasper for his planning & patience (especially the latter) & to Ken Littleford for preventing us from falling into holes and over cliffs.
From what we remember of last year’s fest, 2015’s was much bigger — more balloons, more RVs, more people. Lake Havasu was crowded. It was great fun.
Both Jan & I made attempts to see more of the festival this year. Jan checked out the action at Rotary Park Saturday morning, and both Jan & I got up early enough on Sunday to see the mass balloon ascension. However, getting breakfast in a local restaurant was waitful as everyone else thought it was a good idea too.
The Havasu fest is much smaller than Albuquerque’s (70 balloons compared to 700), but I think the scenery is better — balloons + mountains + water.
Here are some photos and video from the festival . . .
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