Altoona, IA - Where Are We?

Ok, ok, here we are in Altoona, IA for one whole month. That’s sounding pretty long compared to the shorter stays we’ve been making for the last 7 months, ever since we left San Diego in Feb. We have been so looking forward to staying in one place for one month. Hitch itch is great and we’ve enjoyed the travels but, ah, the relaxation of staying in one place for 30 whole days is delightful to contemplate. Last year we were here in Altoona, a bit NE of Des Moines for 3 months while we sold our home and got ready to head out as full-timers. We know Altoona, we know where the grocery stores are, we know where to get a haircut, we know where the library is. Every town we’ve been in since Feb has been a new adventure: where is the grocery store, where can I get a haircut, where is the donut shop? Where to go? How to get there?

Adventure is fun but sometimes same old, same old is pretty comforting. I like the mix.

There have been times I’ve awakened in the middle of the night and tried to think of where I was, not often, mind you, and I always knew before I was completely awake. But there was always that unsettling feeling of - oh, my gosh, I’ve forgotten where I am.

Actually, if I think we’re going to have a relaxing time, I must not have looked at the calendar, which I took pains to fill back in February when we had settled on our route and schedule. Then I made calls: to the doctor to make two appointments, preferably back to back, 2 dental appointments and 2 optical appointments. Gary has two other appointments and I’ve got to make a mammogram appointment and - then there’s the pesky little hernia I noticed in February. No pain, no problems but I’ve got to take care of it. Shucks. So, I’m not sure that we will have a relaxing time in Altoona but, at least, we don’t have to move for a while.

I went grocery shopping today and Gary had put on the grocery list that we needed laundry detergent. But, he didn’t put down just laundry detergent: he told me that we needed no more than a 100 fl. oz bottle of HE cold water laundry soap with a little bit of fragrance. ‘No more than 100 fl oz’ I understand - any larger and it won’t fit on our laundry detergent shelf in the closet. ‘Cold water’ I understand - we’ve used that for ages. But ‘HE’? What in the world is that? Does that mean that it’s only for guys? It’s been a long time since you’ve done laundry,’ my sweet honey bunch said to me. ‘That means High Efficiency.’ Well, I’ll have to admit, it’s not often that I do laundry. He did it for the 10 years that I worked while he was retired and he just kept on doing it. But I’ll buy it for him - anything to keep him interested in the washing machine.

I’ve mentioned that we’ve been saving up some problems to work on in Altoona. Not big problems and certainly not show stoppers - we traveled as we had planned - but big enough that we need some time to work on them. And, now is the time. Let’s tackle the slide leak and the shower leak.

I’m sure that I’ve mentioned that we had some slide issues: that our slide leaked when we had rain. Gary has spent lots of time trying to figure out why and where and finally, after removing the interior trim around the slide, realized that he could see outside. Oops. Just a small slit of light coming through but it is outside none-the-less. If we can see outside, no wonder rain can get in. But just in the middle of the slide and only 1/8”. Looks like a gasket is not touching the inside of the slide. Hmmm.

And, he makes phone calls and goes online to find out what the solution is. Meanwhile for 6 months we kept the slide in and did not roll it out (of course, we’re traveling through Oregon and Washington where it can rain at any time.) Made the bedroom a bit smaller but, better a small bedroom than a wet bedroom. Here you can see above our slide and look out (the blue strip) and below you can see our bedroom cabinets above the bed and over the slide to the white line which is a sunny day outside. A small opening but water can pour in anywhere.

He heard that slides can be adjusted and decided to try to adjust ours. Long story short: there are some bolts that can be raised but to screw them up, he had to use a car jack to hold the slide up while he screwed them higher. Here he is working on one of the bolts in the slide. I wish I had a picture of the car jack holding up the slide but he did it while I wasn't looking. I wonder why. However, the leak in our bedroom slide is fixed and we haven’t see water for several rain storms.

Hey, what’s this? Why are the shower doors on our bed? Oh, yeah, that little leak in the shower our second little problem. We’ve lived with this leak for about 5 months now - it’s not big and we just put a towel over it to keep it from getting out onto the floor. But, now is the time to fix it.

Gary took off the shower doors, raised the framework around the shower, put caulking all along the edge and put the framework back down. Tightly. Took 2 days and we got to try out the campground showers.

And, our shower is perfect now. No leaks. Gary’s been working hard. Again, I just feed him donuts and tell him what a wonderful repairman he is. Works for me.

How about a beautiful sunset?