A descriptive look at traveling and full-timing with our second RV, a fifth wheel toyhauler.
Laura and Sasha started this adventure in April of 2005
for a two week vacation in a truck camper.
Full Time Workamping in July 2008!
July 2008 - Working in Winchester, VA
July 1st Tuesday: Temp: 76 high/57 low: Worked on July 1st in the evening. Now it is cool out, we had to run the ceramic heater. I got a dehydrator for food and I am trying it out with the blueberries we got. It makes a bit of noise, although not as much as the AC does, but it does generate a bit of heat. So we decided to do it outside rather than in the camper.
We had it going during the night and the next morning we had dried berries. They were really dried out, probably should have just done it for 12 hours rather than 16 hours. But you live and you learn, right? 
I have some pictures of the garden from the first. It is really interesting to see the changes (at least to me) from the first to the 15th, when I last took a couple of pictures. Now remember, this is my first year gardening, so I think I'm not doing too bad a job! The metal frame in the front box is for a trellis. Sasha helped me make this for the tomato plants.
July 2nd Wednesday: Temp 83 hi/61 low. Tried out some of the berries, most were really dried out, which is fine. Also, I changed around some of the storage containers so that we now have no plastic bag containers. I got rid of the pasta boxes and we now have everything in storage containers. I did that because I am worried about ants. We seem to get them at the drop of a hat, so the less that is lying about, the better. I worked today, but before I went to work, I played in the garden, getting the tomato plants to go up the trellis a bit more, plus I am getting good pickings of basil, chives, and the flowers of nasturtium. I am starting to see flowers for some of the other plants, like the zucchini and squash, and tomatoes. I will have pictures up in a couple of days so you can see what the garden is looking like now.
July 3rd Thursday: Temp 89 hi/562 low - my one day off this week. I used the time to go to the post office in Dumfries, go to the library there as well, and went to Aldi's. Whenever I go to Aldi's, it really is for "Provisions" to get stuff that we will use later, not right now.
Got a bunch of books, including a book club book that I had reserved: A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. See the right column. Plus a couple of environmental books including the Live Earth Global Warming Survival Book - a fun read especially in the back. I would recommend going to your library to get the book. I'm reading a couple of different books at the same time, The Short History, Three Cups of Tea, and The Hot Topic.
July 4th Friday: Temp 79 hi/68 low - Happy Independence Day! Unfortunately, the day turned out to be quite rainy. I do not think they did the fire works around town today because of the rain. I worked a slightly strange shift - from 10 am to 6 pm, part of the time was busy, part of the time not so busy because of the rain. Just found out they did do the fireworks as it was not raining when it was time to do them, but it was very foggy out.
I needed to get out, I think because of a few things, including the weather. And since we really could not cook up anything on the grill because of the rain, we went out to Applebee's restaurant. Had me a nice steak, Sasha had Oriental Chicken Salad, and we had appetizers and dessert.
July 5th Saturday: Temp 83 hi/68 low drizzle and rain - early day for me for work.
July 6th Sunday: Temp 81 hi/65 low, drizzle, rain, and fog - BUT we still went for a hike up to Mill Mountain and Wolk Gap area. It was only a 1.6 mile round trip hike but it really showed us how out of shape we had gotten. The elevation change was approximately 600 feet, which is not much, but we were slow, it took about 30 minutes to go 0.8 miles and 600 feet change in elevation.
July 7th Monday: hi 87/low 66 with some rain: But that did not stop me from putting up the trellis (a soft but durable string so that the tomato plants go up rather than spread out. I hope that we do get a bunch of tomatoes, that would be great, but I only got two plants. I was not sure if it would work. So I spent a bit of time in the garden and have pictures to prove it!
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July 16th Wednesday: hi 90/low
60: The website said only 87, but I know I saw 90 on the
gauge, so that's what I am putting down. Went to a new bank
(Wachovia) to open up a couple more CDs, got pretty good
rates (4%) for a 6 month CD. Sasha got a little worried
after reading some posts about Wachovia, but the biggest
thing we have to worry about is if the rates go down from
here. Wachovia is a big bank with lots of problems like
other big banks and we really do not have to worry, its not
like we have over $100K in that bank. I do not think we
would have over $100K in any bank if we could help it. It
would be nice to have lots and lots of money of course, but
just as you diversify your stocks/portfolio money, so too do
you diversify the different banks you belong to.
We have now six banks that we belong to, I am going to close out one of them, it is not necessary. I brought some money into a local bank, trying to get a great deal on a CD, but then they changed the CD rate (and did not change it on their website!) and I still opened the account. They have not had great rates for a while, and they only accrue interest every quarter. So out the money will go with them, and into Wachovia it goes. Besides, Wachovia is all over, and the closest one to us is very close.
Also: HAPPY Birthday to Johnny Batal, I know he is still at camp for a few days but he turned 15 today so Happy Birthday. He was the ring bearer at our wedding 11 years ago - such the cutie!
July 17th Thursday: Hi 91/low 65: It is going to be a hot day, my one day off this week and I have not done anything that I was supposed to do. Did not go picking as the blues are gone, it is now blackberry season, but not really, not quite yet. It is sort of peaches season, but again, not quite yet. So I work on the website and get this page fixed - for some reason was WAY too long. Plus I will have a new page. We are getting questions from the emails on how and why we are doing this, and so Sasha and I have answered them. Those will be located on the Question & Answers page.
July 18th Friday: Hi 93/Low 70: I know it is going to be a hot day when we had to run the AC the night before. I just don't know how hot it is going to be. I put in the pictures for this month, please check them out, I have a few for the garden and a bunch from our hike. I am going to the bank(s) now to close one account and put the money in another account. We opened a Wachovia account on Wednesday, as it is closer and easier to get to. Plus, they have some good rates on CDs. Of course those rates are ending today, who knows if they will be as good on Monday. But at least I got them. Yikes! today is supposed to be 92 and TOMORROW is supposed to be 95. I guess I better water the garden this morning.
Sasha told me that he is going to be working this weekend, so he will probably be staying at his parents house for the next couple of nights. He has a big project that he is working on, and is due on Monday. So he will not be around for the weekend.
I think that is was hotter than what was the official report. It sure seemed hotter.
July 19th Saturday: hi 92/low 68 - definitely was hotter - probably more like 95 degrees out. Once I got off of work, I went to the camper and stayed in the AC. I was planning to go picking - but with this hot weather, it just is not a good idea. Hopefully my plants are not dying in this heat. Sasha did come home this evening but it looks like he won't be home for the next couple of nights boo hoo.
July 20th Sunday: hi 96/low 69 - a hot day for sure! I went peach picking today, wanted to go blackberry picking but no blackberries yet, I guess that is more of an August event. So I did the peach picking. But picking peaches is pretty quick - I only got 4 lbs worth, because they are still hard. So I have a few on the counter - some in a brown paper bag and some just on the counter. I am experimenting which will ripen first.
When I went out to peach pick, I also headed over to West Virginia, just across the state line to Inwood. Beforehand, I went to the welcome center, picked up a WV map and asked about their sales tax. It seems WV has sales tax on food too, at 3% and their restaurant tax is 6%. Still, it is better restaurant tax than some places in Northern Virginia, where sales tax can run about 10%. Why oh Why do the counties make the tax so high - do people not pay attention to their food bills/take out bills and the counties are trying to get more revenue? Anyway, I got some tomatoes, onions and a taste of fudge, really good from www.rosascandies.com.
One other thing I have noticed, I guess people just pay and don't ask for receipts. Every store that I went to today, I had to ask for a receipt. With some, they had a devil of a time trying to get the receipt - what is up with that? Do people not ask for receipts at farmer's markets? I would think that the farmer's markets especially would have receipts with their name on it - a little more brand recognition would go a long way.
Anyway, Sasha stayed over his parent's house this evening so he could get an early start tomorrow.
July 21st Monday: Hot and strange weather: Got up to about 95 for a high (officially 92 but definitely more than that!) low 68 and thundershowers after 10 pm. And I know we had rain in the late evening last night. We had a power outage in the morning, all of a sudden the AC stopped working. I was like, oh, lovely, it is going to be hot out there, and no electricity. Kind of reminded me of the book we read in June. One of my co-workers came over and showed me where to turn off the power on the box outside. He stated that when it does turn back on there might be a surge.
It seems like the grid (of which we are on) was not upped in power when they added extra businesses to the grid. So some business (not ours) was pulling more power than they should have and it blew the transformer. So I unplugged everything that was connected and waited until I did not hear any generators going.
It seems that some people have generators here at the campground, and need electricity at all times. Thankfully, we do not. Although I was a little worried because the refrigerator switched to propane, and we are low on propane. but not too low, as within about an hour and a half, things turned back on.
July 22nd Tuesday AND Sasha's Birthday - Happy Birthday to Sasha! Again, crazy weather, we had a thundershower with big gusts of wind in the MORNING - I though thunder came in the evening after it got so hot during the day? Crazy weather again - it is supposed to be a high of 88 and a low of 70 today. I guess this means I do not have to water the garden?
July 23rd, Wednesday, (hi of 77 low of ?? and raining in the morning and evening) my day off and we are headed to Luray Caverns. My folks, my sister, and my niece and nephew are going with Sasha and I to Luray Caverns. We have never been there before so it should be cool. I will have pictures up once we come back.
Just got back from a fun-filled day. We had breakfast over at Courtyard by Marriott with the folks and sis and kiddies, had omelets and fruit, and then (because it was raining and kind of cool) went to Wally World (Wal-Mart) to get the kiddies & Karen sweatshirts. It was so warm in Richmond, that they just did not expect it to be cool. And the temp in the Caverns is a balmy 65 or so degrees. I would imagine that the closer you get to the top, the warmer it gets, but at the lowest part in the cavern, it is probably pretty cool. We shall see.
I decided, since we took a bunch of pictures, to make the part below into a table, with pictures on one side and explanations on the other. Hopefully it will read well, but especially will load quickly.
After the caverns, we went to eat at a nice restaurant in Old Town Luray, something having to do with Memories, but I can't remember the full name of the restaurant. Obviously my memory of the restaurant is only ok. But the food was great, it was in an old hardware store, so there was still some of the shelving in the store. They had organic food and to die for desserts. I had a Turtle Cheesecake - OMG - unbelievable - so tasty that Brenden and Karen got one too.
Then Karen and the kiddies had to get home, there was a pool party they had to get to (which we found out afterwards was cancelled because of the rain) and so they left and we (my parents and Sasha and I) went onto Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. We do not have pictures but I will get a map on here so you can see it soon.
OK, looks like I left the map in my parents' car, so no dice. I guess I will have to go back to Shenandoah some other time to get the map.
We took the drive with my parents - it was beautiful up there. What was so fabulous about it - my parents have a convertible, so there was a 360 degree view. And we actually touched the clouds a couple of times. Real sorry the camera was not working but it was a beautiful and fun day.
We did not want the day to end, and went out to dinner with the folks. That was fun too, had a great dinner and Mom and I split a bottle of wine. The food was good and the talk great. We enjoyed spending time together.
After dinner, my parents dropped us at their hotel, (our car was there) and we went back home. A fun packed day for everyone!
July 24th Thursday: hi 82/low 60 (or so) great weather - not a cloud in the sky and no humidity. A great day for driving which was good for my parents, as they were going up to NJ for a while. Sasha had to get back to work, and I was working in the afternoon. So after the morning, I played in the garden for a bit, got some veggies and had me a nice salad. It was great to have the day off the day before, totally fired up my energy levels.
July 25th Friday: hi 86/low 59: Worked today, lots of rigs supposed to come in, as the weekend is supposed to be great.
July 26th Saturday: hi 87/low 64 - getting warmer - Sasha spent the day at the pool. Always is nice to have a day off! After work, I spent some time at the pool too, but I am reading a great book, The Queens Gambit, and I can not put it down for being at the pool.
July 27th Sunday: hi 88/low 64 - hopefully will rain again soon, as it is hot and a bit humid. Actually, it rained in the morning, which put a damper on the people that were here, so they left, probably earlier than we thought. But the rain is making it better for the garden, so I can't complain. The only thing I am worried about , is that my peppers are starting to topple over. I am going to have to put in supports of some kind, but I am unsure of what to put in.
July 28th Monday: hi 84/low 59 - rained Sunday night into Monday morning - Sasha was not feeling well, so took a day off. It was probably a small cold, but I then found out the pollen count in this area is really high, so maybe that has something to do with it. I have to work at 2, so we had lunch and then he dragged himself to the pool. The sun is always a good way to go, helps you get better.
July 29th Tuesday: hi 88/low 67 - hot but cool-ish in the morning or cool enough so that I could go berry picking. As it was my day off, I went to get the mail and go berry picking. I got a pint of blackberries and 2 lbs of peaches. Plus I went to the Farmer's Market and picked up some cherries. A very berry berry day! I took some pictures of the landscape, I went by Sky Meadows State Park. Right now, everything is so lush and green. I hope we do not get a drought, as everything is so nice here now. This picture is the area that I went berrypicking. Plus the picture on the right is the area that I drove by:
July 30th Wednesday: hi 86/low 65: Another day off - mostly spent in the garden. I put up the stakes that I had gotten yesterday, to shore up the pepper plants. Unfortunately, one of the peppers on a plant fell off, so we are going to eat it tonight. But I managed to get all the plants looking good and happy - with a bit of water (I believe it might rain later on today.)
July 31st Thursday: hi 84/low 72: Working today.
Check out Expenses for July 2008 and August 2008 for info and expenses.