Geocaching seems to be the latest craze. Or as one friend has described it "I've never spent so much time or money to search in the woods for a tupperware container full of junk"...or had so much fun.
The seminar on Geocaching 101 gave a brief overview and there was a lot of discussion on the subject. I do believe this is something Left Brain and I will enjoy doing. I'll be checking out the website more tomorrow and setting up our account and we'll do an entry level into this sport using our smart phones at first. Then if we absolutely love it we'll look into the other equipment needed for it. Just what we needed...another place to dump money!
In a nut shell you are using GPS coordinates to locate a hidden stash that could be fairly large like an ammo box or as tiny as a metal tag. The metal tags are called "bugs" and have an etched image of a bug on them. These you take with you to be hidden in a new location for the next person to find. One lady has one of these currently moving around in Paris as they can easily be worldwide.
We've just begun to scratch the surface of this fast growing sport and can't wait to get started. But first we need to take care of several "household" things.
Left Brain installed the vent pipe over the tank outlets to help with the odor problem and I learned in my class about other ways to deal with this. One thing that seemed crucial was to use plenty of water when flushing. It's sad to say that neither of us realized you could ADD water by using your toe to lift up the foot lever first and then step on it to flush. I was seriously looking into replacing the toilet because this one just didn't seem to be flushing properly. Sheesh!
It's a good thing I learned this today because he had been back at the RV trying to clean out a nasty clogged toilet. I'll do my part of the project tomorrow now that I'm armed with new knowledge and equipment.
I ran into Walmart for groceries and found an item called "zippit" that works for pulling gunk and stuff out of the drains as well as a small, flat drain snake. I've never been so excited to clean the toilet in my life. I also picked up a box of surgical gloves to aid in this production.
I also bought a thing to clean out the hot water tank and a new zinc rod to replace the other one that's probably getting pretty cruddy.
Due to the nature of the tires in the RV world they have a much shorter life span, five to seven years at the most. We were taught how to read the code on the tires to know what week of what year they were made in and ours were in 2006. The RV is a 2007 model but the tires were already aging before it rolled off the showroom floor for the previous owners. So we are probably looking at new tires by next year also. These are specialty tires and more expensive than on a car...plus there are six of them. We'll have to work that into the 2013 budget.
He also installed the motion detector light over the front door that will come on when there's movement. This is nice because we never seem to remember to leave the light on for our return.
Thanks again to his efforts the car now has new wiring that should assist in not running down the battery each time we haul it. That will certainly make life much nicer!
AND, he managed to find a service dealer in Arkansas that already has the parts we need to fix the jacks and we have an appointment for Monday morning. It will be really nice to have those working again.
Tomorrow he'll go talk to the WiFi Ranger people again about how to install the router we purchased. Right now we have decent internet, but when the rally is over we'll lose all that capability. I sure hope this is a good solution to the internet problem. It is supposed to be able to find free hot spots up to three miles away and boost the signal into the RV.
The fire extinguishers we bought should be charged up and ready for pick up tomorrow as well. Left Brain put up the new one in the "great room" area (aka most of the RV) and moved the other one to the bedroom. Plus he opened the emergency window in the bedroom to be sure that was operational.
Each day we are making more and more progress into this new life of ours. I feel like a modern day pioneer getting ready to start on our westward journey in the wagon train.
Long Live the Queen
The seminar on Geocaching 101 gave a brief overview and there was a lot of discussion on the subject. I do believe this is something Left Brain and I will enjoy doing. I'll be checking out the website more tomorrow and setting up our account and we'll do an entry level into this sport using our smart phones at first. Then if we absolutely love it we'll look into the other equipment needed for it. Just what we needed...another place to dump money!
In a nut shell you are using GPS coordinates to locate a hidden stash that could be fairly large like an ammo box or as tiny as a metal tag. The metal tags are called "bugs" and have an etched image of a bug on them. These you take with you to be hidden in a new location for the next person to find. One lady has one of these currently moving around in Paris as they can easily be worldwide.
We've just begun to scratch the surface of this fast growing sport and can't wait to get started. But first we need to take care of several "household" things.
Left Brain installed the vent pipe over the tank outlets to help with the odor problem and I learned in my class about other ways to deal with this. One thing that seemed crucial was to use plenty of water when flushing. It's sad to say that neither of us realized you could ADD water by using your toe to lift up the foot lever first and then step on it to flush. I was seriously looking into replacing the toilet because this one just didn't seem to be flushing properly. Sheesh!
It's a good thing I learned this today because he had been back at the RV trying to clean out a nasty clogged toilet. I'll do my part of the project tomorrow now that I'm armed with new knowledge and equipment.
I ran into Walmart for groceries and found an item called "zippit" that works for pulling gunk and stuff out of the drains as well as a small, flat drain snake. I've never been so excited to clean the toilet in my life. I also picked up a box of surgical gloves to aid in this production.
I also bought a thing to clean out the hot water tank and a new zinc rod to replace the other one that's probably getting pretty cruddy.
Due to the nature of the tires in the RV world they have a much shorter life span, five to seven years at the most. We were taught how to read the code on the tires to know what week of what year they were made in and ours were in 2006. The RV is a 2007 model but the tires were already aging before it rolled off the showroom floor for the previous owners. So we are probably looking at new tires by next year also. These are specialty tires and more expensive than on a car...plus there are six of them. We'll have to work that into the 2013 budget.
He also installed the motion detector light over the front door that will come on when there's movement. This is nice because we never seem to remember to leave the light on for our return.
Thanks again to his efforts the car now has new wiring that should assist in not running down the battery each time we haul it. That will certainly make life much nicer!
AND, he managed to find a service dealer in Arkansas that already has the parts we need to fix the jacks and we have an appointment for Monday morning. It will be really nice to have those working again.
Tomorrow he'll go talk to the WiFi Ranger people again about how to install the router we purchased. Right now we have decent internet, but when the rally is over we'll lose all that capability. I sure hope this is a good solution to the internet problem. It is supposed to be able to find free hot spots up to three miles away and boost the signal into the RV.
The fire extinguishers we bought should be charged up and ready for pick up tomorrow as well. Left Brain put up the new one in the "great room" area (aka most of the RV) and moved the other one to the bedroom. Plus he opened the emergency window in the bedroom to be sure that was operational.
Each day we are making more and more progress into this new life of ours. I feel like a modern day pioneer getting ready to start on our westward journey in the wagon train.
Long Live the Queen
It shouldn't surprise you that in my endless wandering: horseback, biking, hiking, I've come across several geocaches. Alsways interesting to read the little notes left, and see the exchangable trinkets. I added a new empty notebook to geocache discovered in Door County. Of course left original one for all to read. Under a rock near lake shoreline, it's a tricky one to find.
ReplyDeleteWishing you many happy flushes. pond lois
The geocaching sounds interesting. I've never heard of it before. I'm at work, so gotta go. Happy toilet cleaning! Hugs, Edna B.
ReplyDelete