What a Day (also re:camera and screen room)

First, thank you all for your comments when I haven’t been commenting back.  I just hate not having the internet on demand.  Guess you might say I’m addicted, or at least dependant on instant communications.  I love where we are staying, I love the area we are in and the feeling of “camping out”, but I just hate being without internet and phone service.  Although I don’t talk on the phone much, I like knowing it’s there when I want it.  I also use 3G service on my Kindle so I cannot shop for or download books.  When I get a Wi Fi connection at Starbucks or McDonald's, we are usually in a hurry to get somewhere so I quickly upload my blog from Live Writer and get going.  I read what I can of your blogs and am anxious to get caught up with what everyone is up to.  By then my battery is usually running low so I don’t leave comments.  I think I am going to bite the bullet and get the Verizon air card.  I am definitely going to at least check it out when we get home.

Several folks have asked about my new little point and shoot camera.  It’s a Panasonic, model DMZ-ZS10.  It is a full HD with 16X optical zoom.  I forget what the megapixel rating is but it’s pretty good.  The digital zoom goes out even farther than 16X optical zoom.  I got this camera at Costco for under $300.  It is our third Panasonic and I have loved each one.  I have a Nikon D300 SLR and several lens to go with it.  The problem is, I don’t use it!  It is heavy and cumbersome to carry around and although it takes great pictures, it is probably more camera than I need.  I think it was Al who said, the best camera is the one you have with you.  This camera is one that I can carry anywhere and barely know it’s along for the ride.  I am very happy with it.'

I also had a few inquiries about my screen room.  It is 96” square and has a flexible frame built in.  You just flip it out and put in the stakes and guy wires and it’s ready to go.  I bought it at Fred Meyer on clearance a couple of years ago so don’t know if it is still available.  It is a nice, easy to setup room but it is on the smallish side and it can be challenging to fold up.  It does however fold up to a nice compact circle and goes in its own carrying case.

So, on to today’s post. (By the way, I am writing all my posts with Live Writer and uploading when I get the chance.  The posts may be several days old by the time I get them uploaded and some of the details may appear out of order.  If I make a mistake in the order in which things happened, that’s why.)

This was a strange day.  We arrived at Fort Stevens and Russ went inside to check in.  I wasn’t feeling well and so stayed in the motor home.  He came back with our hang tags for the vehicles.  These are a necessity in showing that you are a registered guest and must have your license plate number and the date of departure on the tag.

I took one look at the hang tag for the Fit and said, “That’s not our license plate number.”

Remember from yesterday we had lunch with Alice and Elmer at the casino.  Russ was joking about all the 7s we have in our license plate numbers.  Therapy is 27577 – so that’s three sevens and the 2 and the 5 also add up to seven.  On the Fit the numbers are 675, another 7 plus the 6 and the 5 add up to 11 – another good gambling number.  Well all of that did not help either of the guys win any money at the casino but it played into the check-in at Fort Stevens.  Russ had told the fella at the desk that our plate number on the Fit was DZY 711!  I had to go back in and make our excuses and get it all corrected on the tag and in the computer.  Good thing I didn’t give Russ too much grief about it…you’ll see why!

We decided to unhitch the toad there in the parking lot... makes it easier than trying to do it at the campsite.  We have a Road Master set-up and it works really slick.  Just unplug the lights, undo the safety chains and the breakaway cable and pull the pins on the tow bar.  Takes maybe five minutes tops.  I saw some people a few places over having all kinds of trouble with their toad and heard hammering and banging, as they tried to get it released.  I almost made a snide comment to Russ about how much better our system was.  Good thing I didn’t!!  I pulled the lock on my side of the tow assembly and normally I could just pull the pin and lift the tow bar right out of the hitch.  Not this time.  We were parked straight but I thought maybe we were unlevel and that was creating some pressure on the hitch.  So I had Russ release the parking brake and I pushed back on the car and he reset the brake.  No help!  Anyway, to make a long story short, Russ inspected my side of the hitch and found I had inserted the dohickey into whatchamacallit upside down.  It was jammed good and proper!  Now we were the ones hammering and pounding trying to get the darn thing loose.  Russ finally hammered the pin out and I slowly back the car up to get the hitch assembly out of the bracket.  What a mess!  I was very embarrassed to say the least.  GEEZ!  How dumb can you get?  We are lucky there was no apparent damage and I’m hoping I didn’t cause some damage that will show up down the road when the Fit comes loose and rolls over the edge of a cliff.

So we are unhitched, our hang tags are corrected and we are ready to find our site.  I took the lead with Russ close behind and located our spot.  Imagine my surprise to find it already occupied.  I looked at my tag to make sure I had the right space and went over to talk to the folks.  I thought maybe they were just getting a late start but they assured me they were paid through that day and were leaving in the morning.  Okay…they had their hang tag and that is what it said so back to the office to see what we could do to solve the problem.  I knew we had a reservation and the nice man had checked us in okay so I had no idea what the problem was.

Back at the office, I told the ranger what I had found at our campsite.  He looked puzzled and then I asked him to double check the date on our reservation.  Wouldn’t you know it?  I got us there a day early!!!  And he didn’t catch it!  This retirement takes some getting used to.  One day is just like any other and it seems I am loosing track of time.  Thank goodness the ranger was able to get us into another spot for the night and we moved in the morning.  We were right next door to the spot I thought we had reserved so I had to go back to the folks in that spot and explain that it was all my fault and I was sorry to have bothered them.  I was sure glad I had been nice when I first approached them and not demanded that they vacate “MY” spot!!  Man, that would have been BAD!

So, it was just one of those days, plenty of senior moments to go around, (and we won’t even talk about the seal on the toilet bowl!) but it all worked out in the end…as it most often does.