It has been a very busy year

It finally cooled down enough to turn the AC off about 10:30 last night, but it is only 7:30 a.m. and it is going to get turned on real soon. At least everything is drying up in here and the musty smell is going away. For the last couple of weeks everything continually felt damp.

The RV park is only about 1/3 rd full. Not too many people want to spend summer in an RV in Las Vegas.

So today starts a new chapter in our life. We have to go to the mobile home park this morning to discuss the house. More needs doing on it then we were led to believe. So we’ll see how that goes. The main thing is the flooring – it is only a year old BUT – for some reason they had a real spongy pad put under a wood look vinyl flooring. So it isn’t flat and most of the pieces are separating at the seams???? Needs to be replaced and that might be a deal breaker. So that will occupy us for a good part of the day. As will looking for new furniture.

I was looking back at the past year. We’ve done so much.

Last summer I spent most of the summer glued to my computer working on the book.

For any new readers the book is about a trip Bill and I took in 1978. We sold our home bought a 24 foot Pace Arrow motorhome, loaded five kids in it and drove the Pan American Highway from Los Angeles to Argentina. We were gone for over a year before we returned to the U.S.  Just an excerpt from the book when we arrived at the border of Chile.

 By now we were almost to the border with Chile. We arrived there around noon.

Chile

This was the most through border crossing we experienced. The guards were very well turned-out they were all dressed in sharply pressed uniforms with caps. And they were extremely polite and efficient.

But we did have a few small problems.

During the inspection of the interior of the motorhome our refrigerator was opened and in it were lettuce, tomatoes and green peppers. Well we couldn’t bring any fresh fruit or vegetables into Chile so we were told we would have to throw them away or eat them. So I fixed a big delicious salad for lunch.

Also while searching the one of the younger guards found one of the realistic looking black plastic BB guns (I mentioned them earlier – while we were in Mexico City). It looked pretty real so the guard was a taken aback. “What is that?” he demanded.

Making sure he did not get near the gun Bill said, “It is just a toy. A BB gun.”

The guard asked to see it. Bill handed it to him. While turning it over and over in his hands he asked if we had any real guns.

Bill said, “No – just the BB guns.  That one and one other.”

“It is very real looking,” replied the guard. “I would like to see the other one too.”

Bill went to the closet and dug it out from under the linens. When the guard saw it his eyes widened – he was amazed.

“Are you sure it isn’t real?” he asked as he took a step backward. “How does it work? Show me please.”

They went outside and Bill took it and shot it off out into the desert. Brrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttt! Brrrrrrrrrttttttttttt. It was an automatic so 50 or so BBs shot harmlessly into the empty landscape.

The guard went over to the building and called his lieutenant to come and look. 

The lieutenant, a rather rugged looking man, hurried out. He conversed with the guard and put out his hand for the gun. “I would like to see how it works.”  He then shot a few rounds into the desert. Brrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttt

“I have to show this thing to the Captain” he said as he turned towards the building.  “It is incredible; I’ve never seen anything like it.”

As they all entered the building, a 15 x 15 room with concrete block walls, the lieutenant called for the captain to come and look at the gun.

“Look at this, look – it looks so real,” the excited lieutenant said as the captain rose from his metal desk. His hands were outstretched reaching for the gun. As he took hold of the gun Bill started to warn him that it was cocked as they had been shooting it off outside. He didn’t get the words out soon enough. 

As he took it the Captain put his finger on the trigger - Brrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttt Brrrrrrrrrrttttttttttt the BBs shot out– INSIDE A CONCRETE ROOM. They flew around the room ricocheting off one wall then the other. Everyone dove for cover under anything they could find. Bill and Randy ended up under the desk. When the BBs ultimately hit the floor pandemonium broke lose. The Captain yelled at the lieutenant and threw the gun on the desk. Then he turned on Bill who was crawling out from under the desk. Why had he given it to the lieutenant? Why did he have it? Was everyone crazy?

Things finally settled down and the Captain took the gun outside to play with it.  Eventually the gun was given back, the salad was eaten and we were given our Tourist Cards. The Tourist Cards were post cards of Chilean scenery. Really nice.

It is available in hard copy and ebook. 
But back to today. It just finished RAINING here. Yes in Vegas, a short but heavy downpour with more to come.
We met with the company we are buying the house from and went over what needed to be done. Seems we're all on the same page. Will know more tomorrow. Then we took Bill's PC in to the Geek squad to get treatment. And to Barnes and Nobel so I could buy a new Nook to replace my broken one. and then to a couple of furniture stores to check things out. Going to be hard to select something we agree on.