Raven’s RV
The ongoing education and adventures of two rank newbie RVers

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It’s not boring around here.

I started this post by writing “for the last twenty or so minutes, a little computerized voice has been monotously repeating 15… 15… 15… and driving me slightly nuts.”

Then the breaker outside tripped. This is the second time today. The pedestal is right there in the sun, we’re having a heatwave, and it’s just not happy. Don flipped the switch back and the transfer switch–the one that’s been sick for months and is supposed to automagically switch between shore, battery and generator power–started buzzing angrily and refused to switch back to shore power after we turned the breaker back. (more…)

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So my kitchen/office window blind is about to die. The fabric is parting from the bar on which you yank to pull the blind down, and there are numerous little rips and holes now. Alas! I fear it is not long for the world.

But that’s okay. I an always pick out some Aluminum Mini Blinds from Select Blinds: those are nice and lightweight. These ones would do the trick: simple, functional and the all-important on sale. ;) They come in lots of different colors; I’d need something blue, or neutral, to go with the rest of the interior.

This sponsored post was brought to you by SelectBlinds.com, who provide the blinds for Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

It’s only mid-May, and the temperature outside is 97 degrees! 97!!!! Blimey!

I gather we can expect more of this over the next few days.

Guess what? I’m going to stay indoors. ;)

This post was sponsored by IZEA/Social Spark.

Gotta pay for the gas somehow, and paid-posting has been picking up after somewhat of a hiatus. Anyway, the long-awaited SocialSpark has opened, and I’ve been exploring it for a couple of weeks now.

The site has got potential, though it has a long way to go before old fogeys like me can use it intuitively. There’s just something about the typical social media site format that I find difficult, and the arrangement is sufficiently different from ol’ PPP to make for a learning curve. I’ve found the development team very responsive to feedback–they said they wanted it, they got it, and they actually fixed stuff.

The idea is that you set up a profile (here’s mine), make friends and contacts, grow your blogs and pick opportunities off a central “job” board. Presumably, the more you put into this site the more you’ll be noticed and the better chances you have of making money. It ties in with RealRank and I gather that in future advertisers will be able to look for the top travel sites, etc., even seeking out specialized blogs that suit their message better. I check back every day or so to see what’s new.

I’ve yet to get a job directly–I’ve always needed to go on the waiting list–but as the sites grow I hope there’ll be enough work to go around. So far I’ve only done one job through Social Spark, and I had trouble submitting it.

I love the way the site looks, even if they insist on using Flash for some functions (I don’t use Flash because of its inherent security issues). And I applaud the requirement that all links are nofollow and require disclosure. I get so narked at advertisers on PPP who refuse to let you disclose in-post.

I will be watching this site with interest.

It’s just gone eight in the morning, and already I have a light sweat and turned the air conditioning on. (When we go full-time RVing on the road, as opposed to out of a base camp, we’re going to need to travel in circles where it never gets above 80 degrees…that is, if we do our preferred method of dry camping with no hookups!)

I hear that exceptionally hot weather is coming in from the Bay Area and that there will be record-breaking temperatures.

I’m melting at the prospect.

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We’re doing our post-trip supplies run. The rig needs gas and we need to pick up my bike from storage, so we’re combining that into a dual little-and-large gas station visit, as well as Target, Food 4 Less, Staples and Safeway. We got a roast chicken and nommed happily on that in the parking lot.

It’s a hot, steamy day! I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that there’s thunder a-brewing.

Last week, Don and I made the trek up to the Redding area. Here are some of the things we learned.

With tongue firmly in cheek:

1. If you don’t properly secure your tote full of small, loose items, it will fall over and the lid will fall off. All the small, loose items will fall out and the cats will be very entertained. You will create new and interesting ways of tying stuff down.

   The plastic, open-topped bucket that typically sits on your seat is no match for a winding mountain pass. It can handle going straight up a freeway, but not endless S-curves. You will be picking up maps and other junk for some while.

   If you do not lock the fridge, the first time you might get lucky. The second, time, however, the door will swing open in transit, spilling soda cans and sauce bottles across the aisle, there to roll around merrily. (Are we detecting a theme here?)

   This is actually quite exciting. (more…)