April 2024

Total camping trips in the motorhome: 145

Total solo camping trips: 82

It's funny, every time that I come towards the end of a month, and download the stuff from my phone for the month, I always think, there isn't much to write about, but then when I start to review the video footage from my phone I think "Wow, look at all this stuff I did this last month..." and the month of April is no different. I really do live a full life. I admit, being single again, in some ways gets harder and harder each month since my divorce, but I through the good fortune of a couple of friends of mine, I do manage to keep my spirits up most of the time. If it were not for some of the friends that I have met through rescue, I would be facing a much deeper challenge than I do.

One of the first things I did this month, was I met up with my stepdaughter Katie who I occupied 20 years of her life as her stepdad. Many of her years were her teenage years, but once she moved out on her own and spent a little time facing them with her guy Russell, she came to appreciate how I tried to be a good stepfather for her, and that is all that I can ask for. I drove up to Pine Grove and met up with Katie, Russell and their son Jack. It was a beautiful drive up. This time of year in Amador county is simply amazing with the green rolling hills, which will eventually turn an amber brown. We had a really nice visit for a couple of hours. I truly miss them, but I am glad that she responds when I reach out to her and that we have the positive relationship that we do. Jack their son is just a amazing and happy little guy. I'm glad that he is healthy and growing and learning so well. I wanted to get Jack a little something, and I asked Katie if he had any Tonka toys. She told me about the one I had, so I got him another one to compliment his first one. 

One of my co-workers at the California Department of Technology bought herself a 3-D printer. She found the plans online for making a classic Willies Jeep snap together model. She mentioned at work how she made a model kit for someone else she knew and I said, I'd love to pay her for a copy if she is ever so inclined. Well, she made me a model, but she wouldn't take any money. So, I got her a gift car and thank you card and dropped it off with her. Over the next few evenings, I painted the model pieces while they were still in the frame, and then assembled the jeep. Though the tolerances are pretty tight on some of the parts, I got it painted and all together. I love it! 

This month has been an emotional one for me. I admit, I'm a bleeding heart liberal. I didn't start out that way, but with each passing year, I definitely lean more and more liberal. I think a lot of it has to do with the political changes our country is going through. I've really started taking an interest in those that are truly homeless and especially though that have pets. The last thing our shelters need, is more dogs being brought in, so if I can help a homeless person keep their dog I want to. So, now, I'm carrying care packages for homeless people with dogs that I run into. I gave one to a lady in Rancho Cordova who was going through the trash at a gas station so that she could feed her dog. 

This month of April, May and to some degree June, are going to be busy with a lot of NVADG training. I'm looking forward to getting into the training this year because last year, I was so busy with work, that I just couldn't break away for some of the training. Thank goodness we didn't really have any incidents where I had to decline deployment requests because of work. I attended a great training on power and gas line safety given by PG&E and also a great joint exercise between NVADG and Nevada Counties Humane Emergency Animal Response Team on handling of livestock. both of these classes were great and I learned a lot. 

This month, because of NVADG training, and also because of some SNAFU's of my own doing, we moved the motorhome a bunch of times. We spent time at Lake Minden of course, our Defacto home base, Lake of the Springs in Oregon House, Oroville at River Reflections RV park, and in Lodi at Flag City RV Resort. one of the wonderful things about living full time in an RV is the change of scenery, and this time especially we get to see some amazing sunrises, sunsets and we even get some great rainbows too! 

Because of the budget shortfall for the state of California, we are doing a lot of work to see where we can save money with the Middle Mile Broadband Initiative network. There have been lots of meetings between the project leadership and the Governors office, but I was asked to come in on a Wednesday to the office and be prepared to be present at at the Governors office. Though this is quite an honor, I wasn't sure if I had the correct clothing ready for such a meeting. Fortunately, I did with some fashion advise from my friend Ally, I had my outfit ready to go. Though I didn't meet with Governor Gavin Newsom directly, I and some of the project leadership did meet with the Governors staff, and it was really interesting to see how the process works in making decisions. 

One of the dogs that Ally and I worked with at the Stockton Animal shelter is a guy named Thomas. Well, the poor guy was starting to show kennel stress and was close to being put down because his condition was deteriorating. Thankfully, one of my previous video assistants, Tarrah who I worked with for a couple years at Front Street, stepped up and was willing to foster Thomas until he got adopted. Well, she and her husband Cisco had Thomas for about a week, when Thomas's owner showed up at the shelter to claim him. So, Thomas is back with his owner, and I am super thankful to have been able to reconnect with Tarrah. 

As you know, Remi has been my constant companion for more than 3 years now. She is 8 and I adopted her from Rescue Ranch. She still loves to go and do everything that she can with me, and always does so with gusto. Sadly though, even though she is 8 years old, she is slowing down. I took her into the vet this month and had them check her out. She has hip dysplasia as well as arthritis. I'm pretty sad about this development, because she is such a lover, and loves to be with me, and loves to go for hikes. The vet suggested some medication to put her on, and see how it goes. Prior to this diagnosis, we had done some blood work, so I'll be taking her in again the first week in June to make sure her liver is handling the meds ok. I'm gonna do everything I can to keep her happy and comfortable for as long as possible. I love this baby girl. <3

Like I said though, Remi wants to do everything with me, and I so appreciate that. As you know, I have a good friend by the name of Ally and she and I do the Pit Saver Productions videos and posts together. Well, Ally bought her self a service van which was converted into a camper van and it is just the coolest. She could not have found a better van that fits her energy level. There are a few things that needed to be done on the van, and it has been fun to help her out getting them set up in the van like, installing the rear bumper, fixing the floor, putting in a backup camera and other odds and ends. Its like her little mobile yoga den. In fact she has a sign in there called the Zen den. :-) Ally being the dog lover that she is, more than welcomed Remi into her Zen Den. <3

Please check out our VLOG video below. 

Safe travels everyone... 

Remi and Eric too! 

March, 2024

Total camping trips in the motorhome: 141

Total solo camping trips: 78

Well, with this blog entry, I wanted to go back to tracking the number of different times I've move the motorhome to a new campground, and I gotta admit the numbers are a little surprising. Since buying this motorhome in 2009, this motorhome has rolled to 141 different destinations. And since the divorce, the motorhome has moved to a different destination, 78 times. The last time that I logged the numbers on my blog was May of 2022. At that time, I was kind of stationary in Yreka, and I wasn't moving all that much. But, since moving back down to Sacramento, and becoming a member of Thousand trails where I have to move every three weeks, I'm moving the motorhome much more frequently, and its good for keeping my large vehicle skills up to snuff, and its good for the motorhome as well. 

When I got ready to sit down and write the blog for this month, I didn't really think all that much had happened, and my shorter VLOG might tend to support that theory, but as I was looking at some of the pictures that I took this month, I realize that I really did a lot. 

This month started out with us being parked at the Thousand trails RV park in Ponderosa. Like many Thousand trails RV parks, it is near a body of water. In this case, it is near the south fork of the American River. This is one of my favorite parks for a number of reasons. The water access is definitely one of them. Also, it's pretty convenient to my office. Though one of my complaints about Thousand Trails parks is the fact that they have not stood up any charging stations at their facilities, this one happes to be pretty close the Lotus Community park. The park, does have charging stations, and I take advantage of those charging stations any chance that I get. 

Every year about this time, the North Valley Animal Disaster Group starts their large number of training sessions to get volunteers ready for working community outreach events and more importantly, getting skills refreshed in preparation for responding to disasters sucn as wildfires and floods. This month, I participated in the Community outreach training where we learned to set up the community outreach booth for events. Though I don't really live close enough to come up to work community outreach events, especially given my involvement at the Stockton shelter doing Dog socialization and videos, it was great to get the opportunity to learn more about the organization and also how to set up the booth, if and when I have time to do it. 

The main reason I moved back to Sacramento is because they changed their policy and started to require us to return to the office twice a week. If you have read my blog in the past, you know I wasn't thrilled about this change, but it is what it is. Though I see no benefit to myself to come into the office, at least the campus is very pretty, and they offer free electric vehicle charging in the parking lot. So, I take the good with the bad. LOL 

I must admit, I love just about every season for different reasons, except for fire season. But, winter and spring are probably my two favorites. I love it when I have an opportunity to come across a rainbow. This year has had two of the most vibrant rainbows that I've ever seen. This one happened to occur on the way home one Sunday from volunteering at the City of Stockton's animal shelter. In fact, this one happened to be a double rainbow. One of the pictures is taken from inside the Jeep when I first spotted the rainbow and if you look at the roof of the car Infront and one lane to the right of the jeep, you will see the left-hand base of the outer rainbow. This was truly magical for me. Definitely a bucket list item. 

No living situation is without its issues, and living full time in an RV is no different. Though I do find living in an RV much less labor intensive, sometimes things do come up. This month I found that the 50 amp plug has been getting hot and the plastic on the plug got brittle. Though I'm pretty careful about keeping the electrical load in check and keeping my consumption well below 30 amps, there are times that things get hot. I replaced the plug about 10 years ago, so I'm not sure when the plastic started to break down, but it finally gave up the ghost on me this month. Also, Remi and I took the motorhome up to Yreka for a long weekend for a visit, and the muffler pipe on the generator slipped off the muffler and was dangling under the front of the bus. Fortunately, before anything bad happened, I had pulled over and got it reattached with a crescent wrench before things completely fell apart. 

As I alluded to earlier, Remi and I made a trip up to Siskiyou County for a visit. The main purpose to the visit was to visit Kat Denniman. Kat learned about me when I lived in Siskiyou County and started posting lots of stuff on a Facebook group trying to help shelter dogs get adopted. She worked for Yreka PD in running the animal shelter and she also did some work at Rescue Ranch. It didn't take long for Kat and I to become close friends. Kat recently adopted a horse that use to belong to her late sister and was being housed by someone in the community who was not taking very good care of the horse. The horse's name is Sparky and Kat wanted me to meet Sparky and though I was a little trepidation, I was up for the task. Needless to say, I fell hard for Sparky and I think he likes me too. Kind of a bromance going on between the two of us. Kat taught me how to clean his feet, brush him and even lunge him as well as of course, how to put a bridal on him. I so enjoy Kat's company and we even took a couple hours for an ill-fated trip to try to get to goose nest. LOL

Sometime before I took Terrence to Canada in February, I took a rock strike to the windshield on the jeep. Sadly, while in Canada, the crack ran like a crazy person and I had to replace the windshield. It actually turned out the rock hit one of the letters on the "Adopt don't shop" on the windshield and I could never find the chip and crack until it ran. Well, once I got the windshield replaced, I ordered replacement letters for the new glass and got those installed this month. 

Though volunteering has always been important to me, since my divorce, I've needed to find a purpose to life. Honestly, I had the purpose when I was married and losing my purpose during my divorce was probably the hardest blow that I had. I've really embraced Dog rescue as a result of this search for a purpose for being, and have tried to hone the image of "Pit Saver Productions" to be a bit more professional. You may have noticed the spare tire cover on the Jeep sporting the logo. Well, this month, I ordered some embroidered apparel for Ally and I so we could better represent what we do. I'm so glad the product came in and Ally and I both love it ALOT! 

Speaking of Ally, during the holidays Ally started a supplies drive for a senior dog rescue/sanctuary in San Francisco run by the SPCA. I contributed some items to the cause and Ally asked me to tag along on the trip to San Francisco to drop off the supplies.. I'm so thankful to have joined her on this adventure. It felt good. 

Well, you get lucky this month... There is not a long 40 minute video, there are just a couple of videos that are less than 15 minutes each. One is the standard VLOG video for the month. The other is a video of me spending time with Sparky. 

Enjoy! 

Safe travels 

Eric and Remi too!