I haven't completely made my peace with Pancho but some days go without an "issue." Part of it is the result of the incredibly complicated systems and electronic controls in modern RV's. A $2500 inverter??? If I had an electrical engineering degree I might understand it and know why the fan comes on at odd times and stays on. I think it is for cooling but it is 45 degrees out and we have been stationary. There are times I long for the simplicity of our early RV's.
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| A new version of our first camper |
Over the last 10+ years we have slowly added size and creature comforts. The feature that seemed ok but not really necessary, was an on board washer and dryer. Now we both really like the freedom to put in a quick load of laundry whenever we are in a campground with utilities. Even drying towels after a shower in damp cold weather is a nice feature. This is a purple job.
As to the pink, blue and purple jobs (forgive me any feminists). I had never heard of this but learned when we were in Fredericksburg early on. When we first discovered that gray water wouldn't drain, I went to the park office to get names of mobile RV technicians and some men were also there. They began to question me in an attempt to help diagnose the problem. Fellow campers are almost always nice and willing to share their knowledge. As I described the trouble we were having, I had to confess, in answer to a question about the configuration of the discharge mechanism, that I didn't actually handle this chore. They laughed and said, ..."oh there are blue jobs and pink jobs and that is a blue job. The pink person gets to say which jobs are blue and which are pink." I really liked this concept and have been having fun with it ever since. There are some purple jobs, again the pink person can so designate.
One of the challenges of travel is handling mail and bills. Nearly everything is on autopay but non repetitive matters like medical bills cannot be arranged that way. We use a very good RV mail forwarding service, located in Florida. They log your mail which you can see on line, you can call and have them read your mail to you and you can pay a bit more and have it scanned. You notify them when you want a package of mail sent to somewhere you will be for a few days. This system works well.
The challenge, year after year, is the Vashon Post Office. I have been on a first name basis with at least 5 postmasters and acting postmaster over the last 6-8 years. In the last month there have been two "acting Postmasters." I am sad to say that under none of their management has the mail forwarding been handled with any reliability. It is truly frustrating and worrisome because you never know what has gone into the black hole of the Vashon Post Office. In contrast, the Seal Beach Post Office, in the middle of big, impersonal LA, is pretty much spot on with their service. I had to take note of the following exhibit in the Cody museum.
Note that it took 10 days for mail to get to California. Now, IF mail sent to Vashon gets forwarded to Florida, it takes 21 days or more. Is the same writing on the wall for the USPS?
Yesterday was Memorial Day. This article brought tears to my eyes and was in vivid contrast to some who refuse to fly our flag or argue that it is divisive.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/americans-gave-their-lives-to-defeat-the-nazis-the-dutch-have-never-forgotten/2015/05/24/92dddab4-fa79-11e4-9ef4-1bb7ce3b3fb7_story.html
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