App-ly put

See-More at Livingston's Rainbows End RV park

The Smart Phones of today make it so much easier to be a full time RV’er.  Not only do they act as a telephone and instrument to text, but many of them have the best GPS available.

I’ve learned to use the speak command and say what I want or where I want to go by asking for a specific store or location.  It will find several options in seconds and then proceed to navigate me there with a touch of a button.

But the plethora of apps available is staggering; many of them are free and the price on the others is minimal.  The first one I loaded was the flashlight and I remember thinking it seemed pretty silly to have a flashlight on a phone, but it sure came in handy one night when I was locked outside of the park and couldn’t see the numeric pad to punch in the entry code.

When we had the problem with the jacks and had to manually level the RV with blocks, I downloaded the bubble level to the phone to make sure the kitchen countertop really was level.

It’s important when filling a huge thirsty gas tank to get the best price and this is where Gas Buddy comes in handy.  It uses the GPS to find your current location and then highlights the nearest gas stations and shows them by price.

Now that we have a DISH satellite it’s good to know which way you’re aligning it and this is where I downloaded the compass app to assist Left Brain in his duties.

When we needed to have internet service we activated the Sprint “hot spot”, another app on the phone.  This then acts as a wireless connection to our computers to surf the web.  Of course, this is only as good as the signal is.  There is another app called EasyTetherLite that acts as a conduit between the phone and the computer by use of a cable.  I still need to play with this one a bit more.

The only one I’ve had to pay for yet is called Allstays and is very handy for those traveling in an RV.  It gives access to campgrounds, RV parks, Wal-Mart parking lots, travel stops, dump stations, Corps of Engineer parks, city parks, and much more.  You can apply a filter to have it show only the amenities desired to narrow the search.  I like this one on the phone because we can’t always access the internet and it’s quick and easy to find on the phone.

Since it is dark down here and the stars show up nicely, I downloaded the sky map so I can identify the constellations.  I've always wanted to get better at those and the app will show them based on your current location.

Googles is one of the newer apps I added.  You point it at something and press the button as if on a camera - it then scans the item and tells you what it is.  If you have a foreign menu it will translate it for you.

The talking translator allows you to say what you want to ask and then have it translated into the other person's language.  Pretty cool.

There are unlimited games you can load and I have a few of them, but I try to avoid playing them to save the battery life, although I do like the pinball game.

I realize I’ve only scratched the surface on what’s out there, but I wanted to share a few of my favorite apps.  Hey, maybe that’d be a cool song …these are a few of my favorite apps.  I’ll have to work on that one, there’s probably an app to help me write the verses.

Long Live the App Queen

Book Review- Coast to Coast with a Cat and a Ghost



Shayna's lake with the addition
of filters and textures

I finished reading a book called “Coast to Coast with a Cat and a Ghost” by Judy Howard.  It was recommend by Nick Russell from the Gypsy Journal and I have not enjoyed myself this much in a long time.  The writing is refreshingly beautiful and I find myself rereading passages to enjoy them again.  It’s hard to curb my impulse to speed read as I often do, these descriptive passages need to read slowly and savored. 

The story is about a woman who has had a tumultuous life with the love of her life and after 25 years of marriage he has succumbed to cancer.  She is trying to find her feet again and embarks on a journey from California to Florida in a small RV with her cat and a life-sized doll created in the likeness of her deceased husband. 

Parts of the story are very poignant and bring a tear to your eye and others make you laugh out loud.  It’s a story of redemption and courage and is very inspirational to me.  Her journey ironically is similar to ours but in reverse.  She has stopped at all the places along the way that I want to see on our westward journey.  Plus I have now added some stops as a result of her descriptions. 

This will be the best part of our new nomadic life, having the time to thoroughly explore and enjoy an area until we get the itch to move on.  Some full-timers refer to this as having “hitch itch” but I like to call it “restless wheels syndrome”.  And unlike the author’s circumstances, I have Left Brain to share it with at the end of the day.  I appreciate more and more how special that is and give praise daily for this gift.  It’s easier to realize what you had after it’s gone, not so easy sometimes in the day to day living, but I will be mindful. 

Long Live the Queen

Several Shades of Gray

Our life has several shades of gray...not fifty, but several.

I have always loved the color of gray and the soft feeling of the sky on cloudy days.  Don't get me wrong, I embrace color in my life also but sometimes it's too over stimulating.

Black and white is always a striking combination with the highest contrast possible.  But people with opinions held in black and white makes for a tense conversation.  There need to be shades of gray to find some common ground.

This election year has been a very stressful one and so much seems to be riding on the outcome.  It's been very black and white and it has nothing to do with the color of the opponents skin.  I pray for who ever is determined to be the president to embrace the shades of gray needed for compromise and harmony.

In the spirit of all the political hoopla going on, I was reminded of one of my favorite scenes from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, so I thought I'd play it for you here.

Perhaps this is why we chose a motorhome that is in shades of gray.  The car is black, our furniture is white.  Maybe we're trying to find the perfect compromise of wants and needs in our current lives.

Photography can be like this also.  Sometimes there's just too much detail and color in the photo and it is more enjoyable when rendered into several shades of gray.  The lines are less harsh, melting into one another. 

There's a mystery and a softness in gray that is found no where else.

Long Live the Queen of Monotone

Food for thought

I used to love eating out.  Note the past tense.  It's not that Left Brain won't take me out to eat, we do a fair amount of this...it just doesn't seem satisfying any more.  Or maybe it's just been a bad run of food lately.

On our exodus out of Big Bend we were wanting to find some kind of fast food so we could be sure to arrive at The Ranch in New Mexico before 5:00 on Friday night.  Once the office closes we would have to dry camp until someone could park us.  Not that that's a big deal, but we really like to just set up once and be done with it.  I know...nothing to do but still harping about all there is to be done.

Well, there was no fast food to be had, nor many places to eat to begin with.  There are stretches of Texas where you don't see anything, no food, no services, no other cars.  It's a bit unsettling to me.

It's an odd feeling to tell friends that it had been days since we'd seen any golden arches and right now a burger from Mickey D's was just want I wanted.  But my phone app was showing a Sonic was coming up.  Figuring this was basically the same thing we found a spot to park See-More and walked back a block to the Sonic.

The weather had turned cold and windy and we really weren't dressed appropriately for it.  Oh well, we'd go inside and wait for our food and then go.  Oh.  There is no inside.  It's all car hop service.   So we shivered out way over to a car menu and pushed the button.  After telling the disembodied voice what we wanted to eat we stood in the cold and waited until she came out to deliver the food and take our money.

But, with hot food in a bag we gleefully ran back to the RV to munch on our supper as we drove northward.  Well, it really wasn't all that hot...I doubt it ever had been.  It's unusual for me to not finish my french fries and believe me it had nothing to do with will power.  I was hungry!  But it filled the belly and took away the hunger.  After chewing a sufficient quantity of gum to eradicate the taste from my mouth all was well again.

On our next outing we again were searching for something for lunch before doing our grocery shopping.  I wanted Chinese but we couldn't find the ones we thought we saw coming into Carlsbad.  So we pulled into Denny's.  We had heard that they were working hard to improve their image with better food and service.  This establishment apparently did not get that memo.

After giving our order to a young bimbo with pink streaks in her blond hair while chewing her gum we waited for the food to arrive.  And we waited.  And waited.  Oh why did I ask for something as complicated as a bowl of chicken noodle soup!  But alas, after 30 minutes our food arrived and was warm enough to eat.  The soup actually had a nice flavor but my impressions may have been blurred by severe hunger.  It was not crowded but those who occupied the place were some, shall we say "interesting" specimens of humanity.

Today we went out in search of the Chinese food I was craving before but had trouble finding the several buffets I thought I had seen.  Was I remembering a different town?  Oh no...there it is!  We pulled in.  The sign said they were closed on Sunday and Monday.  But Left Brain persevered and we found another that was open and seemed quit busy.

It was okay, but everything tasted the same to me, with the same heavy sauce.  Nothing felt fresh and crisp.  The wontons (my favorite part) were mediocre and lukewarm.  All I kept thinking was how much better I could have prepared that.

OMG!  It occurred to me that I am starting to prefer eating at home, cooking my own meals.  I know I was starting to enjoy food preparation but I thought it was just due to the lack of anything else to really do.  This was a revelation to me.  I LIKE the taste of my own food better than a restaurant.

This doesn't mean we'll never eat out again, I'll keep trying to find interesting places with good flavors.  I know they are out there!

Long Live the Culinary Queen

The dream

As you are probably aware now, I tend to take in the day's events and ruminate them during the night in my dreams.  Since we were tired when we arrived at The Ranch and I got the warnings of electric fences, bulls and rattlesnakes...this is the dream that followed.

I was tired and restless and as I often do when insomnia strikes I get up and read or look at the stars...anything to try to relax so I can tumble into sleep in another hour or two.  I have never sleepwalked in my life, at least that I know of, but apparently I did this night.  Or at least in this dream I did.

So, it's that freaky time of day when it's not nighttime but not yet day, with just a hint of dawn approaching.  I'm wandering about outside at The Ranch, but did not heed the warning about carrying a flashlight.  Apparently I don't listen any better in my dreams than I do during my waking hours.

I'm not sure what it was I was trying to see or where I was trying to go, but I wandered a little too far off the path and suddenly felt a zinging feeling.  Yeow!  That must have been the electric fence.  It was a hot sensation and a flash of light and I jolted backwards.  Yes, the pun was intentional.

I jerked backwards right into the face of a huge black bull with long horns.  It seems he was having trouble sleeping also and perhaps was also sleepwalking.  I'm not sure, we didn't really take time to discuss it as I startled him as much as he startled me.

My hands flew up in surprise from the fence when I went back and as I spurred him into action (yes, another rodeo pun) he snorted and flipped his head upwards in surprise.  I grabbed on to his horns as he did this and this caused me to be flipped upside down and over his head on to his back.  It was a move worthy of Nadia Comaneci on the uneven bars.

After nailing this perfect move and reveling in my gynmastic pride the bull became fully awake and started to buck.  Now I was Ty Murray of bullriding fame!  The bull pitched and bucked and twisted and turned and try as I might, I wasn't going to be able to complete the eight second ride to win the bull riding event. 

So through the air I flew and unable to control my landing was dumped unceremoniously on my butt in the middle of the road.  The part of the road that retains the heat and attracts....yup, snakes.

Well, the rattlesnake was having no trouble sleeping that night and I'm sure he was having lovely little snake dreams until I came crashing down.  I'm not sure he even meant to attack, he was just startled.  Either way you look at...I was bitten.

By now dawn had broken and people were out taking in their walk before the heat of the day, so I had help in getting up.  I explained what had happened.  Well, just the snake bite part since that seemed to be the most threatening.  A nice lady with an old one eyed poodle helped me into the car and drove me to the hospital.  Her husband, she explained, would go wake up Left Brain and ride with him so he could take me home afterwards.

We arrived in no time to the ER and she assisted me in going in and getting situated and then she sat down to wait for her husband to arrive with mine.  The hospital had a definite rodeo theme to it, as much of this area of the country seems to have.  I was a bit surprised to see it extend into the hospital, but hey...I was safe.

They ushered me into the examination room and I explained what had happened, again just the snakebite part.  Due to the location of my injury they explained that they would position a barrel on the exam table for me to lay over so they could assess the injury.  A barrel?  A bright red barrel?

As if that weren't shocking enough, I was stunned when out of the barrel popped up a rodeo clown...complete with a florescent green afro and bright red nose.  He smiled at me and said he was only moonlighting as a clown but was actually a nurse.  This place is strange.  What I would give for a familiar face during this stressful time.  But I was totally unprepared for who entered next.

In through the door strikes my very own doctor from back home - Dr J.  He nodded and smiled at me and asked what the problem was.  I explained about the rattlesnake bite, again leaving out preliminary events that took place prior to it.  The orderly in the room turned to him and said "A rattlesnake bite?  That could be serious."  To which Dr J just said "Ya think?"  Now that I notice it, the orderly looked a lot like Ty Murray.  But it might have just been the blue jeans and cowboy hat.

He then went to get the barrel on the table when the clown popped up again and squirted him in the face with his plastic flower.  Once they got the clown out of the barrel and on the table they wanted me to drop my drawers and get into position to treat my snake bite.  I asked about the ill fitting cotton gown that was usually provided and was told "Nah, this is the wild west, just drop 'em and crawl up here."  I swear Dr J was smirking at me.  But, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do, so I "assumed the position" as they say.

Now, I'd been having some bouts with gas lately and with all the stress of these events and being in a really odd and uncomfortable position I wasn't able to contain this basic function any more.  Out emerged the loudest fart I have ever let loose.  Talk about embarrassing!  But what are you gonna do?  I looked around at my motley crew, thought about how this must look and burst out laughing.  They also started to chuckle.  Well, this relaxation of my stomach muscles just caused another erruption and this time we all started to howl.  I mean, it really was funny when you thought about it.

It was in this state of events that the door opened and a nurse ushered Left Brain into the room.  The entire room went still as he took it in.  There I was, butt end up over a barrel on the exam table with my jeans pulled down to my knees.  Standing by my side is Dr J.  Next to him was Ty Murray, the famous bullrider/orderly.  On the other side was a rodeo clown in complete makeup, bit shoes, green afro, red nose swabbing my butt with antiseptic. 

The look on his face was priceless and it make me giggle and when I giggled the gas snuck out again and me and my posse all started to laugh.  Left Brain never said a word.  He nodded his head, stepped backwards and quietly closed the door.  He's a smart man and he could obviously see I was okay and in good hands.  But I knew when I got home I was gonna have some splaining to do!

Long Live the Queen of SnakeBites