Month: April 2013

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Touching Base

I just got off the phone with L in Wichita to confirm that I will be arriving tomorrow. He would like me to arrive mid-afternoon so that I can join him for his dinner plans, so that means I’ll pull out of here around 9:00 or 10:00.

The gas here is super cheap ($3.19) so I’m going to fill up before I leave. The gas station is awkward to get around, so I’ll do that before hooking up. Then, it’s off to a Flying J north of OK City that has propane. I checked it out with Google Streetview (what did we ever do before that?) and it looks like a good in and out even with a long rig. I’d also like to find a place to have air added to my tires. I checked the pressure in Dallas and it was on the low side of okay. I’m hoping that adding a little will help with the gas mileage a bit.

The big question mark tomorrow is the Kansas Turnpike. I checked out their toll calculator and as long as Miranda is a class 2 vehicle (ie. two-axle vehicle) despite her size and that combined with Moya the rig is class 4, I’m all set and will have my $4.25 in cash ready. That amount is not worth trying to detour around the turnpike!

I’ll be parked on the street in Wichita, hence why I want to arrive on a Friday as I’m less likely to be disturbed by The Law over a weekend. L says that there is at least one more rig parked on the street and that he gets along with his neighbors, so I should be fine. I am going to go into more of a stealth mode than I did in Dallas, leaving the curtains down to hopefully mask the fact that I am residing in the RV. I checked the Wichita ordinances and it looks like street parking an RV is okay, but living in one on the street is not okay, so stealth mode is definitely in order.

There are a number of good overnighting options north of Wichita, so I should be able do the ‘spend the day at a rest area, drive a short distance to an overnighting place’ routine for the rest of April until my budget resets itself. I’ve already borrowed way too much into May’s budget, so I really don’t want to put any more gas in the rig until the calendar changes. And with the weather being what it is, it’s good to have a reason to take it slow. May 7th is when I’ll put the pedal to the metal and drive decisively to the border.

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The Longest Month Ever

Yay, it was quiet last night! It’s a little cold this morning, but definitely warmer than yesterday.

I feel like April has been interminable. No matter what way I do the math, I have more month than I do money, especially with having to adjust the gas budget upwards. It’s going to cost me almost double what I had calculated to get from Dallas to Wichita (the first time in five years that my estimates are wildly off). That combined with the vet visit has made me feel like I’m swimming in a rip tide.

I don’t know how many nights I’ll be able to stay at L’s, but I won’t be able to leave the Wichita area until a couple of days into May, when some money will be coming in.

April has been really brutal. I’ve had a number of unexpected expenses that have thrown me completely off kilter even though I had low expenses in Dallas. That’s the way it’s been all winter: I started off in great shape and was able to handle the  the unexpected expenses at first, but then they snowballed into each other and have been way more than I would have estimated.

Moreover, I’m going to be going through more propane on this last leg of the journey and I won’t be able to land in Canada the way I had expected because of this interminable winter so I suspected my May expenses are going to be much higher than anticipated.

Does anyone have a money tree seed, by any chance? 🙂

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I Have Failed Once Again…

… to pay a casino for its hospitality. Not as dramatically as in Alabama, but definitely humourously.

I went in around 6:00 to play my free game of Keno. That won me $1. I then put that $1 in a slot machine and that won me $10. I played that $10 down to absolutely $0, and that won me $10 in match play for signing up for the player’s club, plus another bonus $10 (please don’t ask me to explain why, these machines mystify me).

To be able to cash out, I had to play the free $20 completely and by the time I did, I was $8.63 up. I cashed that out, went to the buffet, and discovered that the price on the website was wrong and the real price, less the Wednesday night female discount was… $8.63.

Not being a cheapskate, I left a $1 tip to the lady who brought my lemonade and cleared my plates. 😀 So that was my grand expense for the night, a whole dollar!

The buffet was meh. I over estimated how busy it would be on a Wednesday night, so when I got there, a lot of the food had been sitting for a while. I grabbed what looked fresh, which did not involve many vegetables. 🙁

Everything was quite tasty, though. I liked their pork sticky buns and BBQ pork ribs the best. The mashed potatoes were tasty and so was the white gravy to put on them. Yes, white gravy. I had no idea what it was the first time I tried it, so on the next round, I asked a man pouring it all over his plate what it was. I even tried their sushi and it was surprisingly palatable. Oh, and I can’t forget their potato soup. Now that was really yummy!

There was a bunch of other tasty goodies, too, but nothing that totaled up to the $15 they were asking full price (my discount was definitely more than the $5 state on the website!) since the steak and baked potatoes didn’t appeal to me. But I’m not going to complain about a free meal!

The desserts were good; high quality ice cream and assorted pastries. I got one bite each of two kinds of ice cream and one bite of a surprisingly fabulous caramel cheesecake. There was also a guy impressively setting rum-soaked bananas on fire (bananas Foster, I imagine).

I’m off to Google white gravy. My mine is blown by the deliciousness of it. I can just imagine crumbled sausage swimming in it and soaking into my fabulous biscuits.

Post edited to add: white gravy is just a really thick béchamel sauce using pan drippings instead of butter!

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Loss

This has been the first day that I’ve really had a chance to realise how huge is the hole in my life now that my precious girl is gone. I’ve caught myself calling for her many times, from waking up alone to inviting her to join Neelix and me in a sunbeam. I keenly miss her comforting presence on my lap when I type. Neelix asked for my lap once today, but when he does that, he wants petting and is not content to lie still.

My sweet boy is such a comfort. He’s been increasingly affectionate in this past week. My favourite new thing he does is that he doesn’t just show me his belly to rub it, but rather puts both paws around my arm to hold it in place until he’s had enough! Too cute!

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I’ve been taking it easy today and working on some projects. The day started off cool, so I wrapped my electric blanket around me in the morning, but I’m now in full sun and enjoying the contrast to yesterday’s gloomy tone. Later this evening, after the dinner rush passes, I will go try the buffet, which is $5 off for ladies on Wednesdays (so $7.95), and also play the free keno. I don’t intend to give them the $10 to get the free slot play, however.

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Good Thing This Place Is Free

Well, it was another crappy night since the RV area is right next to the truck area and it was cold, so rather than a quiet night next to a creek, I got serenaded by reefers up until about 8:30 this morning. I am cranky.

I have no intention of staying beyond my two other free nights, but if a reason to do so came up, I would definitely argue for another freebie. This place is NOT worth $25, especially not to a customer!