Habits good or bad they are mine!

We have been chasing an electrical problem on our RV for almost two years...when we would cycle the power source to 12V on the refrigerator after about 10 minutes it would start the most irritating beeping you could ever imagine.  It started when the dealer installed a new refrigerator.  Today we finally solved the problem, under the drivers seat there are 3 rows of slots for fuses, not every slot is filled on any particular model, nor are they addressed on the schematic and trust me no that I spoke to in these two years had any idea what went where!  I opened my box of fuses and started putting a fuse in very open slot....then switched the source to twelve volts and not a peep out of the refrigerator! While this is not the most elegant solution, it works! 

I have said all of that to say all of this:  I freely admit that I have had an addiction for over thirty years and admit that I have enjoyed it almost every single day of those thirty years... while I truly enjoy Highland Scotch Whisky, IPA's chocolate, great foods from all over the world, etc....NOTHING TOPS good coffee first thing in the morning! I am a morning person only after coffee!  I use a french press, grind the coffee fresh every morning in small mill by hand and it makes three large cups of coffee and and use fresh whole milk from a local dairy. Nothing was going to stop me from having my coffee today, including a malfunctioning refrigerator! 

Coffee and me...

Well, yes, Bryant left his tablet at home where he had figured out how to post on the blog.  He wanted to blog on his lack of coffee for two days (while I went without tea...but nevermind that...this blog is about him)...and how cranky he got without his coffee...and how little sleep he got (for reasons he can explain later...I slept great)...and the beautiful pictures he got while I was driving south on I5 through the Mt Shasta area.  So he texted me the pictures...

The sun rising was beautiful through the clouds...

And as much as I wanted to pull over and get some pictures too (it was beautiful).

..the VIA just would not stop (my kids will remember that their grandmother told them something like this once when she was driving them somewhere)...the thoughts of a warmer south just kept the engine roaring...and Bryant was getting some good shots through the windshield!

Going through LA was a bit stressful...oh, I was driving...but I'll bet Bryant would say the same thing.  We finally got to use our new navigation system...well...until I pushed the wrong button during an important exit!  The good news, after we got through LA I figured out how to get it back to the right setting!  Also a bit of good news...there are some VERY courteous California drivers.  And I digress...this blog is about Bryant...

We decided since the battery was still an issue and the fridge was still continuing not to work while we were driving that plugging the RV in for a couple of days would be a good idea...or perhaps it was that Bryant would be able to have his coffee in the morning and be closer to being a sane individual.  So he googled one and we arrived at this wonderful RV park yesterday in Indio, California.

We went to a prime rib dinner with my sister Anne, brother in law Bram and two of their friends at the Polo Club after some wonderful hot showers. And...now to today...Bryant had a great meal last night, has had his coffee this morning ( and I have had my tea...oops forgot this blog was supposed to be all about Bryant).

Bottom line... Bryant is happy...he has his coffee, he is checking fuses...(you can see his legs with the driver door open) and we are BOTH WARM and in flip flops!  Wooohooo!

The beginning...

I guess the post title is not altogether accurate.  Both Bryant and I have traveled widely...him with the Navy for 30 years...and me by choice on a sailboat in the Caribbean for 5 years and on destination dive vacations.  Together we have traveled to California, Florida, Omaha, Idaho, (a lot since we have two grandkids that live there), and most recently to Fiji.  It certainly is not "the beginning" of our travels.

So, I'll start at the beginning of our newest adventure.  After being delayed for "this, that, and the other thing" we finally left home Monday around 12:30 in the afternoon with the "toad" (Bryants Jeep), the bikes and our favorite chairs.  Without, however, the double kayak and our larger grill that we had thought of taking.  Just not enough room for the grill or the ladders it would have taken for us to get the kayak on and off the roof rack safely!  Then because of timing the rush began to get through Portland before rush hour.  It was darn close!  Highway 205 facilitated greatly not being stuck in too much traffic!  We have been talking and planning for quite some time now our escape south in the Via...and we have always talked about not driving in the dark...taking our time and enjoying. 

I bring that up as, yes, the sunset was beautiful through the Via windows as our first evening out we drove past dusk!  We finally pulled over at an Oregon rest stop outside of Eugene, Oregon.  We were both tired even though it was not even 7:00pm. We opted not to put the slide out in case we needed to make a quick get-away!  I was worried that the road noise (we were a grassy median away from the freeway) would keep me up...I didn't worry long...I slept great!  Bryant on the other hand, not so much as before we went to bed he found out that he had not hooked up one of the house batteries correctly and there would be no c-pap for sleeping and probably worse than that no coffee for him in the morning.  Since I went to sleep so early
I woke refreshed a little after 2:30.  Bryant was awake and couldn't get back to sleep...so by 3:30 or so we decided just to drive!  My turn to drive...and in the dark!  Oh well...it got light later and I missed a deer by THAT much...most important word there was missed!!  Bryant got some great pictures as we were driving through the Mt Shasta area.  I'll show him how to put them up when he blogs.  We switched driving and continued our rush to get through Sacramento before rush hour.  And now that we are through that, next on the agenda is to find a Walmart close to the freeway so Bryant can get what he needs to fix the battery connection and maybe have coffee in the morning (which also means I'll get to have my tea)! 

So, while not the beginning of our travels...it is the beginning of our blog.  A way to share with you where we go...what we see...experiences we have...and maybe even a little bit of who we are.  We hope you will enjoy our current  lifestyle through the sharing of our stories and our pictures..