Camping, Princess Style

[rotuts]

@Smithy

 

thank you for the pictures of the stores shelves.

 

I enjoy seeing how various stores stock this and that .

 

esp in other locales , and countries .

Edited yesterday at 02:14 AM by rotuts (log)

[blue_dolphin]

On 2/4/2026 at 7:35 PM, blue_dolphin said:

A jury-rigged repair?  That sounds kinda scary to me!

Replying to myself to say that I’m sure you are confident that the repair will do the job and get you where you need to go and I don’t doubt that one bit!
It reminds me of an incident that happened years ago when I’d recently moved to California. My parents came to visit from NY and I took them on my tour of the state. On the way from San Francisco to Yosemite, a rather winding route, up, down and side to side. After a long uphill, my gas pedal stayed stuck to the floor even when I took my foot off entirely. I tried to pry it up with my toe and the pedal came free but the engine was still at full throttle.  It was a manual transmission so I could down shift to slow down until we came to a turn out but it backfired like the 4th of July when I shut it off. I called AAA from a pay phone. The guy they sent showed me how the accelerator cable was catching on a crack in its sleeve.  He said it would take about a week to get a replacement shipped to them. Then he used his pen knife to trim the sleeve where it was catching and said if I’d handled that situation, I should be fine.   I was entirely confident in that jury-rigged repair, though I believe my mom was saying the rosary the whole way home!
To make this somewhat food related, I’ll add that I’d made reservations at the grand old Ahwahnee Hotel for both our night’s stay and a lovely dinner but with all the waiting for the AAA guy, we were running late.  My pleas to extend the check-in times were denied so we dined in the cafeteria and stayed in a tent cabin! 
Looking forward to your travels and hope they go smoothly!

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:03 AM by blue_dolphin
Missing word (log)

[Smithy]

@blue_dolphin, that story took me through chills and shivers (I grew up near the Sierras and know those roads) and laughs and admiration! Too bad about the Awahnee, but good on you for the entire adventure!

 

My "jury rigged" system wasn't as dire. For reasons that I don't fully understand, and need to call about, the mobile repair folks "fixed" the problem, temporarily at least, by switching the "in" and "out" wires for the glide. So far it seems to be working, instead of jamming cockamamie in the frame as it had been. I've been able to move on.

 

The Greek Chicken salad in a "shakeable bowl" turns out to be exactly as @chromedome described.

 

 

After shaking the mixture (without explosions, splashing or other culinary disasters) it looked like this:

 

 

If I'd made this salad I think I'd have torn, chopped or cut the greens finer, but the flavors were excellent and the salad was a fine dinner. More than one type of lettuce and olives; pepperoncini; chicken breast that wasn't dried out; tomatoes; cucumbers; shredded cabbage; feta cheese. No doubt I've forgotten a few things. There was a gracious plenty of dressing. All told, I'm pleased with this dinner.

[Smithy]

Well, Dorothy -- we're in Kansas. I'd hoped to make it most of the way through the state, but I pooped out after 6 hours of driving and found a truck stop with electrical power and hot showers. Enough driving for one day!

 

I've mentioned before that when I'm driving I can't take photos. You'll just have to use your minds' eyes. I've been driving through rolling prairie, watching the Minnesota snow give way to Iowa's stubble fields with occasional snow, and now Nebraska's and Kansas' obviously soft ice on rivers and ponds. Don't go out there now. There were snowmobile tracks on the rivers in Minnesota. I've been fascinated with hawks perched atop power lines, maybe one per mile, each one watching quietly for field prey as intently as a fisherman watching a bobber and hoping for a bite. I giggled yesterday a bit, when I passed a sign in Iowa pointing off to "Hawkeye Point -- the high part of the state -- 1,670 feet"! I realize that may sound pretty high if you live in Florida or Louisiana, but folks from the western part of this continent will likely be as amused as I was. (Why, Minnesota goes all the way up to 2,301 feet!)

 

I'm happy to report that it's warmed up as I'd hoped. I'm done with long underwear for the trip! I'll be able to put water in the trailer tank soon! I think I can switch from boots to sneakers! And things seem to be working commensurately better in the Princessmobile. I discovered this morning that the inverter I had installed last summer actually has enough oomph to run the microwave. I'm thrilled. Now I hope I can find decent truck stop coffee before I get around to brewing my own! The chains around here offer multiple bean varieties and brews, but even the "strong" and "rich" stuff from this truck stop chain seems insipid.

 

As for food: this morning I made a peanut butter sandwich -- whoopee -- and didn't bother taking a photo. A little after noon I was decidedly peckish and realized I've been jonesing for pizza for a while. 

 

 

 

One and a half slices were lunch. Gooey, fatty, but pretty good. Two slices were dinner, after I was mostly set up and incredibly hungry. 

 

If you're horrified at the idea of salad from a paper plate, then look away now. This was the rest of dinner.

 

 

Why dirty a paper plate when there's just enough greenery left from a salad mix in one of those ready-to-eat plastic bins? It's headed for the trash anyway.

Edited 1 hour ago by Smithy
Changed "year" to "trip" re long underwear, in a fit of sensibility (log)

[C. sapidus]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

. . . I giggled yesterday a bit, when I passed a sign in Iowa pointing off to "Hawkeye Point -- the high part of the state -- 1,670 feet"! I realize that may sound pretty high if you live in Florida or Louisiana, but folks from the western part of this continent will likely be as amused as I was. (Why, Minnesota goes all the way up to 2,301 feet!)

 

 

And Maryland goes all the way up to 3,360 feet!

 

But hey, those punk kid mountains out west haven't been around since before trees existed . . .

 

Edited 1 hour ago by C. sapidus
Clarity (log)