Changing Seasons, Shifting Gears

 I have been mentally writing a post for a couple of weeks.  Time to get it posted.

I spent most of the end of September and beginning of October in Southern Utah.  I spent 10 days in Escalante camping in a campground with one set of friends, and 6 days camping in a campground in Moab with another set of friends.  I slept in the car.  Lessons learned are that I sleep very well with my setup in the Mazda 3.  Also, as the temperature drops I tend to stop any and all cooking and turn to restaurants for meals instead.

By the end of the month I need to have moved everything I need for winter from up here at 5K' down to Quartzsite where it will hopefully be warmer for the winter.  I already moved the '95 motor home and put it in the RV park.  I made the first of a few trips with the car to take liquids (mostly cleaning supplies) that shouldn't freeze.  Unfortunately, I neglected to grab the keys for that motor home so ended up putting what would fit into the unlocked side bins.  Tomorrow I will go  again, this time with what didn't get left before, some clothes, some food, and the keys.  The plan is to make a couple more trips, then on the 30th move the pets, come back on the 31st and winterize this '98 motor home and move it to the (cheaper) storage spot, and spend a few weeks settling into the winter home.

At first I was annoyed by having 2 'homes' as it seemed like whatever I needed was in the other place.  After the difficulties I had on moving day taking the winter home from my previous spot in Apache Junction to the new Quartzsite spot I was counting my blessings that I no longer have to drive between spots twice a year.  More specifically, I don't have to put the car on the tow dolly and take it off, which I never have managed to do by myself.  The on-going plan is to outfit both places with the necessary things so I mostly just move clothes, food and pets.

And, with less than 2 weeks left here I think I just ran out of propane.  I need propane to have hot water.  I will ask my propane guy to just sell me a 7lb bottle to get through.  Maybe.  I also have to find propane in Quartzsite as I want to use a 100# tank instead of driving over every couple of weeks to fill the 18 gal onboard tank.  My understanding is that the gas company isn't allowed to fill onboard tanks inside the park.  Guess I'll look into that next time I'm down there.

That's what has been going on.