Washing machine

December 4th, 2025

One of the things that is annoying about living nomad is doing laundry. I have enough clothes that I can go a couple weeks before I have to find a washer, but after that it means that what I’m wearing is dirty. I’ve always said that living alone is not as important for pristine hygiene, and I have to admit that wearing the same clothes for many consecutive days on an AT thruhike taught me some bad habits. Now,  my lifestyle of not doing anything doesn’t get my clothes as dirty as it did when I was working or hiking, but I usually want to keep clean enough so that I don’t disgust myself. 

Going to the laundromat is now more expensive than it used to be. Washers can be upwards of $5 and dryers usually about half that. Take into consideration driving to the laundromat and spending hours waiting for machines to finish, adds a lot of cost in time and money. 

My first attempt at home laundry was with a bucket and plunger. I would wash out a few small garments, wring them out by hand, and hang them out on a line to dry. This worked ok but I found I didn’t have strength in my hands anymore to wring the soapy water out of the heavy clothes. I eventually added a crank-roller wringer and that system has worked well the last few years. 

I started looking at these portable washing machines I had seen on YouTube and decided to try one. I usually have unlimited water in the winter and ways to get a good supply in the summer. I have plenty of electricity to power a washer and I figured I could keep it in my shower stall so it wouldn’t take up extra space. It’s light enough to pick up and move out of the way when I take a shower. 

Ive used it several times to wash my clothes and it seems to be easy and quite efficient. It has two tubs, one for washing and rinsing, and one for spinning the clothes dry. You have to transfer the clothes from one tub to the other and you have to monitor the fill of water. It gets the clothes super clean and the spin cycle gets the clothes super dry. It only takes a short time for the yellow ball in the sky to dry them the rest of the way. 

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What’s New

December 4th, 2025

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I have a couple more upgrades to talk about. Maybe they are not so much upgrades as luxury items or fun things to me. I have been spending money like a drunken sailor and I don’t think Santa will like me buying myself these presents!😉 But let me explain how I rationalize getting them. 

Donna gave me one of her rocking/easy chairs last year and it has been comfortable for many days of lounging. I have sat in it so many hours that the fabric is starting to wear through. And the most annoying thing is that it picks up all my sweaty odors and was beginning to smell like me. Even after Febreze and fabric cleaner, it still had that locker room air. I try to keep clean and I’m constantly cleaning my rig, but living cooped up in the desert or on dusty, forest roads, doesn’t help either. 

I started looking at office chairs as an alternative to a recliner and found some that are leather, will recline, and even have foot rests. They like to call these chairs executive chairs. I decided to order one to try as my main potato, considering I no longer had a couch anymore. 

A while ago I couldn’t even spell executive and now I are one! Amazon advertised a plush leather chair that met all my criteria so I ordered it, and then a week later, assembled it where my other chair lived. I was hoping by being leather it would have that new car smell, but it has a strange odor I’m hoping goes away soon. It is quite comfortable, however, and I will give it some time to bond with me. 

Moving on from the chair, the next item I bought should save me some money in the long run. 

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New Generator

November 14th, 2025

A few weeks ago I bought a portable generator to replace the on-board unit in my motorhome. The Onan generator that was installed in my rig was on its last leg. It still started fine and powered everything in the coach but it burned oil and I could always smell the exhaust. And the main thing I didn’t like was that it weighed 400 pounds for something I used only once or twice a year. That’s a lot of weight to carry around for a backup. 

Donnas mechanic agreed to remove the generator from Minnie in trade for the parts he could use from it. I thought that was a good deal so he and his son removed it one day when I was in town. 

The portable generator that I bought is called Pulsar 2200. It’s dual fuel meaning it can run on gas or propane.  I like the idea of a generator that runs on propane because propane is easier to carry than gasoline, burns cleaner than the noxious fumes from gas, never goes bad, and propane doesn’t gum up a carburetor like old gas does. 

When I connected up the generator at camp, try as I might, I couldn’t get it to run from propane bottle. I final realized it wasn’t letting any propane to the generator and figured out the regulator was faulty. I called the company and they agreed to send another regulator out to me. I was leaving town the next day so I knew it would be some time before I received the replacement part. In the meantime I put gasoline in it and ran it for an hour or so. Even though I didn’t want to put gas in it, I wanted to make sure the generator would operate okay. 

I used it a couple times on gasoline and waited for the part to come. Yesterday my batteries got down to 40% and the weather forecast was for  clouds and rain for the next few days. My solar was struggling to keep up and the temperature went to 90° yesterday, forcing me to run my AC all afternoon. I started the generator, but when it quit a few minutes later, I realized I was out of gas. The nearest gas station is 25 miles away so I thought I would be in conservation mode for a couple days. 

After examining the propane regulator that came with the generator, I decided to take it apart and see what was wrong. I figured it couldn’t hurt to take a look inside. When I broke apart the two halves of the primer regulator I found out that a pin had slipped out of the inlet mechanism. I replaced the pin and reassembled the part. 

The generator started on the second pull and has been working fine for about an hour now! With the solar and generator, I’m putting in 100 amps to my batteries.

Posted in Adventure, The Great Outdoors | 4 Comments »

Always Something

November 10th, 2025

It has not been as fun here at the LTVA this year. I think because of the  government shutdown it has attracted more sketchy campers. The utilities of water, dump and trash are still available here but there is no one collecting any money to stay here. I went online to buy the pass, but with no one checking, many are using the amenities for free. There are signs by the water and trash saying you must have a pass to use them, but it’s kind of like the speed limit signs on the 202 – no one pays much attention. 

I have a spot I like to camp at every year. It’s out of the way, not very dusty, and close to the water station. This is the first year I’ve been dissatisfied with my chosen site. No one is running a generator, but next door there is a dog that barks day and night. When the coyotes get going at night it really sets him off. 

The most troublesome situation happened a week ago. A group of party warriors moved in one wash over and they love their music. I’m just far enough away that I can’t hear the music but the constant boom of the base drum rattles my windows and walls. They usually start in the afternoon and thankfully quiet down after 10 pm. I’m very glad I will be moving in a few days.  

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The Main Thing

November 9th, 2025

The main purpose of my blog is so that I will have a record of my retirement years. When my mind starts to forget, I can look back at my blog and remember: Oh I hiked the Appalachian Trail, or that’s right I drove to Alaska! It’s my form of a rudimentary diary of sorts.  

It’s hard to think about and even harder to realize I haven’t added an entry in over a year. I think there are two reasons why I don’t write much anymore – let alone I procrastinate everything and I’m lazy – but when I’m not traveling much, I find it harder to think of anything interesting to talk about. The second reason I don’t blog much is because the family keeps close contact with each other through text apps, and a blog post is old news. It’s the main reason most of the family has given up blogging. And we are not writing for the world to read anyway. Our blogs have always been generally read by family and close friends. 

As I get older, I find that I travel less than I did a few years ago. And not only am I getting older but my vehicles are getting older too! Ever since Covid, I have stayed in Arizona, traveling up into the high country in the summer and scooting down to the desert in the winter. I like to think of myself not so much as a snowbird but as a migrating nomad. I don’t ever want to live where it snows again!

I usually live alone but Donna spends a few weeks camping with me up in the national forests in the summer, and Karen and Damon spend a month camping with me in the winter. Everyone is planning to meet up again this January in Yuma.  I still have friends I have met over the years that I will camp with once in a while, but things are always changing and friends come and go. 

I’ve made some changes to my motorhome this year. The mini split, 12 volt fridge, and Starlink have all improved my lifestyle. I have enough solar and batteries that I can survive on total electric. I even removed my onboard generator and bought a small dual fuel portable just for emergencies. I was carrying around a 400 pound generator I only used once a year, if that. 

I found out my mini split worked better on heat mode if I placed a fan by the ceiling to move the heat down.  The built in fan doesn’t circulate the warm air down to the floor without a little help. I solved the problem when I purchased a small ceiling fan that fits perfectly in front of the mini split. 

I got rid of the old broken-down, ragged couch that I didn’t have any use for, and replaced it with an 8” twin mattress. I built a platform out of plywood and framing lumber, and left the plywood so I could slide it out  to the full twin size. Then I cut 8” off one edge of the mattress and made sections that I could drop behind the bed to sleep, and remove them and slide the frame back to the wall to convert it into a couch. I still like my over-cab bed, but there will be a day when climbing up and down in the middle of the night might become a problem. 😂

I think I’ll stop here. I’m thinking not many have made it this far anyway. I’m staying in Quartzsite at the present but heading down to Yuma in another week. I have to have a clutch put into my Jeep – $1700! Ouch!  

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