HIATUS IS OVER… WE’RE BACK ON THE ROAD!

Hello, all – family, friends and followers. The hiatus is over: we’re back on the road and back on the blog, settled in at the Sands RV and Golf Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California (readers of Rick & Paulette’s RV Travels know the Sands as Rick and Paulette’s winter home base) until Christmas. (Click here to read our review and view photos.)

We left Sacramento last Saturday with a mission in mind: a thorough washing, waxing, and detailing at VIP Enterprises in San Bernardino, California. This is the company that renovated the outside of Scoopy two years ago with new stripes – the shine they put on Scoopy has not been duplicated since and we wanted it back.

Rather than spending three noisy nights sleeping in Scoopy in VIP’s lot adjacent to the 215, we rented a “beach cottage” on the California coast for an out-of-the-motorhome “vacation”. This is something we rarely did (only once, in fact) during our first seven years of travel, mostly because of Luna. We pictured this 3-day stay as a fun holiday, a time to regroup after our busy stay in Sacramento.

Another learning experience for Odel and Laurie!

Our vacation rental was a cute, four room cottage – a living room with huge HD TV, bedroom with queen bed, small bathroom, and small, well equipped kitchen with a dining nook. Very roomy compared to Scoopy.

Though our rental had plenty of square footage and a lovely front yard, it lacked several of the things we value most: a flat, firm mattress; a well-lit, cozy reading spot; a comfortable seat for the TV watcher (though we both enjoyed the huge HD TV). How I missed my window right next the bed, with its cooling breath of fresh air. And why didn’t I bring a nightlight?

When I whispered to Odel, laying on the too-soft mattress on our first night in the rental, that I was rather disappointed with the experience of “vacationing” from Scoopy, he agreed, and added that we would just have to “endure” it. We started laughing so hard, and loudly, that we were afraid we would wake up the neighbors (yes, another thing: the cottage turned out to be a duplex, so we shared a wall!).

I’m not complaining about the cottage – it was a cute little rental, no less than what we had expected. What I learned is that, in the eight years we have owned Scoopy, we have tweaked our little space to meet our needs better than I realized (or perhaps appreciated). Scoopy fits us like a glove.

And now, here we are, back home. Odel is clicking through the satellite TV channels on his “favorites” list (another thing we missed), reclining on his sofa after a dinner cooked in our efficient little kitchen. I’m lounging in the bedroom on our nice firm mattress, vanilla-scented, battery-powered “candles” flickering, the switches for my reading lights within reach and my current book beside the bed. Gosh, it’s so good to be home!