GO! Moved In, Finally

Our site looking from the N.W. towards the S.E.  — notice we have two small trees to give a little bit of shade on the Car. Also — sitting in this orientation we will have shade on this side of the coach for most of the afternoon — meaning we don’t have to put out an awning in the wind in order to have a cool afternoon.

This is our site seen from the SW, looking Northeast. WE have our own light post.

Today was the day! Moving Day couldn’t have come soon enough.  We have more rain in the forecast for tonight/tomorrow and then again on Thursday, followed by even more during next week.  If we didn’t get moved today, chances were good we would have been here beyond Christmas.  Had that been the case we stood to run-amok by the arrival of the renter who has our temporary site for the duration.

So, We got moved and I beat my arbitrary projected deadline of December 18th.  Good for us on all accounts!

Edgar, the tractor driver from Niagara ONT, delivered a few buckets full of caliche before we moved.  The intent was protection from sinking just in case there was still too much water in the soil.  But we backed in without problem on the first shot — between the light post and the tree.  Our rear wheels (the heaviest ones) extended beyond  the caliche but we were fine.  I laid down our tire pads and backed far enough so all four wheels is resting on a 2’x2′ sheet of 3/4″ plywood.  I laid down our leveling jack pads and I thought we’d be set on the first try, but the driver’s side rear pad sunk right down into the ground until all three inches of the pads were level with the ground or below.  Hmmmm….. time to pull back and re-think this program.

I had four pieces of 1’x1′ left over.  So, being the maven of innovation that I am, we put a couple buckets of caliche into the hole to add some solidity and then spread out 2 – 1’x1’s and topped them with 2 more 1’x1’s on top of each other and this time the leveling jacks held — at least for now.  We may need to buy some more wood before the winter is out but I’m confident that we can pull out of the site when needed.

The new site has an 8′ x 20′ concrete pad alongside the coach — as much concrete as we need here.  We moved our picnic table over from the other site and put our lawn chairs out and sat down to enjoy life for  a few minutes before heading off to Vicky’s in San Benito for a celebratory lunch.

Now Peg can put out the rest of her knickknacks, maybe we’ll even get our screened-in-room out.  We can put our our indoor-outdoor rug if we choose; we’ve been debating about that — if the wet season continues we don’t want to be getting mold on the bottom side after rain — but we’ll see.  Normally there isn’t anything like a real ‘rainy season.’  So we’re waiting to see what the future forecasts have in store for us.

The ERCOT forecast for the winter indicates that we will have more rain than usual. ERCOT is the Electric Reliability Council of Texas the primary scheduler of electric power to 24 million Texas customers.  They say we’re looking at 2-3º colder than normal and that we’ll have 150%-200% of their normal rainfall this winter.

No matter what we get — we’ll be drier on average and warmer on average than Oregon where we spent last winter!

But, the most important factor — for us — is that we are here for the winter, in our spot, and we’re done waiting — for a while.

The only big set-up detail still needing to be taken care of is the purchase of plastic gutter and then wrapping the drain hose inside the gutter so we have a nice solid downhill flow for our wastewater drainage.

This is the first time we’ve camped on turf.  And it will also be the longest time.  I have been concerned about the whole turf idea, particularly after seeing one coach who pulled in shortly before us, and right after the rain — who is currently sunk so far into the ground that they may need a tow truck to get out in the spring.  I truly believe that is the case because they didn’t wait for dry ground — so it’s their own fault — but seeing a heavy coach sunk down in the ground like that is enough to prick up my ears and say…. “Let’s not do that, shall we? ” But… we’re here and we’re in our place without any major complications — so maybe I can forget about it for a while.

Thanks for stopping by and I’ll talk with you tomorrow.