I have recently returned from spending this winter on the road in my motor home. If you haven't read about my travels and adventures this past winter, you can read them at: http://mytripjournal.com/albert

This blog will begin upon returning to Helena and my beloved cabin on May 28, 2009.

Thursday, May 28, 2009 - Helena, Lincoln RV Park
Although it looked like the possibility of a thundershower yesterday, and National Weather predicted a 30% chance, it didn’t materialize, and today is clear and sunny.
I spent the morning organizing my receipts and mileage records from the trip south for the winter and here are the results.
Number of days gone (10-28 to 5-25) = 199 days
Number of miles traveled = 5,866 miles
Gallons of gas consumed (RV only) = 1,023.4 Gallons
Cost of gas (RV Only) = $2179.48

Well, I certainly didn’t get as much accomplished as I had planned on for today, as a neighbor, that I met two days ago, asked if I would help him move a small chest freezer into his trailer, which I did, and then we sat around and told our life stories to each other. By the time we finished and I got into town to see about the water pump housing, it was 4:30. By the time we got back to the motor home, it was 7 PM and too late to go to the cabin.
Lee, the neighbor, was a Postmaster for the U.S. Postal Service. He was born in southern California and after college he went to work for the postal service. He became Postmaster in Eureka, CA and was moved to Ennis, MT, where he finished his career and retired. He and his second wife now live in Eureka but purchased a mining claim north of Missoula, MT and plan to build a summer cabin. They both enjoy hunting and will use the cabin as their hunting lodge. They are currently in Helena so the wife can complete a taxidermy course and she plans on doing it as a hobby (interesting hobby, especially for a woman). I haven’t met her yet, but she sounds like an interesting person.
Besides hunting, his hobby is collecting and restoring old cars from the 1920s and 30s, and he currently has a 1932 Cadillac and a 1930 Packard. Each of the cars cost him close to $80,000.00 and he stores them in a barn on his property in California. He also loves sailing and was going to buy a sailboat, but doesn’t think he will since he turned 71 this year. I found our conversation interesting and thought his life had been interesting but he can’t belief my life and all I have done. He wants to pick my brain on things he’d like to do when building his cabin and we have exchanged contact information. They are leaving on Saturday, as she finishes her course work tomorrow. I hope I’ll get a change to meet her before they leave.
While I was in town, I stopped at Murdoch’s and bought a 5.5 hp gas water pump that will serve and add to my fire protection as well as pump water from the creek to a holding pond, which I will build to feed my hydro generator. It was on sale for $149.00, which is the cheapest I have even seen one. I stopped and got my mail, which wasn’t much, went to Real Food and got Zack’s food supplements, stopped at Lowes and Home Depot to see if they might have a replacement part for the pump, and called R & R Pump to see if they carried replacement housing. They don’t and both Lowes and Home Depot would call the 800 number to order the part from the company, but I can do that, so declined.
Tomorrow, I will go to the cabin, install my backup pump, and try to restore water. If I am successful, I will move back in and put my motor home in storage here at the RV Park until I can move it to Peggy’s for storage. That is the woman that built the resort closest to my cabin, and where I stored it last year. I can then move items back to the cabin in a more leisurely fashion.
I have arranged to stay another night here at the RV Park and will hopefully be able to make it my last. I won’t feel the actual excitement of being home until I wake up in my own bed at the cabin.
Zack and I played hard and then I fed him and myself, taking a shower while he napped. I have been watching a couple of prerecorded television shows, but now that the season is over and the stations are making a transition to summer programming, there really isn’t much on television to watch.
I have done research, while watching my programs, looking for the pump housing online at a better price than the $50.00 I paid for the last one, but I have only found one for $69.00, and that may be the new price I’ll have to pay. While I was at Home Depot, I priced a new pump and they have gone up from the $180.00 I paid in 2007, to $238.00 now. I guess that $69.00 replacement is just the sign of inflation.
I will call and order the part at the best price I can find and hope that I can put this pump back in action soon. I also need to call my doctor and make an appointment. I have an appointment on Monday to have my dentist do an annual cleaning and check up, and will have an appointment for my cardiologist in July for the stress treadmill test to check my pump.
It is now 11 PM, and I think I’ll let Zack out one more time and then join him in a nights rest.