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Borrego Springs, CA
Showing posts with label license plates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label license plates. Show all posts

Friday, August 20, 2010

A day in the life…

Some readers of this blog may think that everyday for me is exciting.  Well, I’m here to tell you it’s not!  When I’m not traveling, or volunteering, or sight seeing, it’s usually pretty mundane.  Although, I must admit that there is generally something everyday to raise my eyebrows or make me wonder about this world.  The last 24 hours is a good example.  I’ll start with the time right after I published last night’s post.  (by the way, all of tonight’s photos are from last October’s visit to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge)
IMG_4352               (The dawn take off of sandhill cranes from their overnight roost in the lake)

As the post was published, there was a knock at my door.  Outside stood my next door (construction worker) neighbor.  He said he just wanted to check on me and see how the awning was working that he said he could fix (NOT!)  I’m sure you’ve all heard the terms sloshed, drunk, three sheets to the wind, in his cups!  Well that’s just what he was, and he wanted to get a little more familiar than I was interested in.  Disgusting!!  If you want hugs, go see your wife!  Ugh!
IMG_4547                                                    (Snow geese, en mass.)
Then I listened to a phone message that said to call the Sioux Falls Treasurer’s office, once again.  When I did that this morning, I found out that Universal Marine and RV had taken over 60 days to send the check for the title registration and plates for the RV, so I now had to pay a late fee fine to the tune of $228.04 before they would give me the plates.  And I only had one day to do it, or the whole process would have to be started all over again.  GRRRR!!  Color me really mad at Universal.  :(  So, of course, I paid the fine, and then shot off an email to Universal letting them know I expected full reimbursement for this late fee.  Some times it’s difficult to let the negativity roll off your back, and maintain a cool calm demeanor.  Deep breathing exercises help.  :)
IMG_4621                                             (A northern harrier hunting the fields)

After taking care of a glitch in my Auto/MH insurance over the phone, I headed 15 miles to Nampa, ID, to take care of a few errands.  Then I fixed an early dinner and headed out the door with Emma, and that’s when the eyebrow raising event occurred.
IMG_4644                       (When one of a pair of sandhills eats, the other keeps watch.)

As we walked along the perimeter, three big diesel pushers came in, each with a toad.  I’ll probably take a hit for my next statement, but here goes.  :)  You know folks who drive those diesel pushers never turn off their noisy fuming engines until they absolutely have to!  So, we got the noise pollution and smell for a good 45 minutes.  Is there some reason you can’t shut the engine down while you unhook your toad??  I always do.  Anyway, rig number two proceeded to unhook his toad, and as he did so, the motorhome took off on it’s own with no driver!  The campground manager was screaming bloody murder, and the husband began running after his rig.  Luckily he was able to jump inside and slam on the brakes before it careened into anything.  Here’s my two questions: wouldn’t it have been prevented if you turned off your motor and put the rig in park? and where was his wife at this time? busy painting her nails?  Egad!  I’m sure glad I was parked in the other row of rigs.

It appears that my souse of a neighbor has gone home for the weekend, thank goodness, and I’ll finish my ho-hum day with a little blog reading and some TV.  Sometimes it just makes you wonder about this world.  :)

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

Thursday, August 12, 2010

License Plates, the continuing saga

So, here it is, getting close to three months since I bought my new to me rig, and still no license plates.  Since I have cell phone service now that I left Red Rock, I did have a message from the Minnehaha Treasurer’s office that there was a problem with sending my plates.  Okay, so this morning I gave them a call.  They told me that I needed to have a notarized affidavit  of non-residency sent to them, and also a weight ticket.  After asking what a weight ticket was, I figured out I could do that.  Seems to me Universal RV in Minnesota could have provided that!  After telling the woman that I am a South Dakota resident, and have a SD driver’s license, she told me I still had to have the affidavit, and that I should just go to their website, print one off, and take care of it.  She also told me I was lucky she still had my paperwork on her desk.  Normally, she would have already returned it to I don’t know where.  Ugh!

I went to the website and viewed the form.  What jumped out at me was that it said if you had a SD driver’s license, you didn’t have to do this form!  It also made you swear before a notary that you didn’t have a SD driver’s license or a license anywhere in the US.  OMG!  So, I called the lady back in  Minnehaha County, and told her what I found out about the form.  She said, “oh, I thought you didn’t have a SD driver’s license.”   Duh!!  Didn’t you listen to what I said???  I must say that she was not the most friendly person to work with.  She also made some disparaging remarks about folks that register their rigs in SD, but don’t actually live there.  Get over it lady!  Anyway, I sent her the weight ticket today via snail mail, so I’m hopeful that I’ll finally have plates by the time I make it to Malheur NWR.  We’ll see.  :(

On a more positive note, when I visit a National Park or Refuge, I usually buy a tee shirt to commemorate my visit.  Well, I think the folks at Craters of the Moon National Monument need a new tee shirt designer.  :)   So, instead I bought this book…
IMG_3735Luckily, I’ve been to quite a few of the places listed, so I won’t have 1000 of them to try to squeeze in!  :)  It’s fun choosing a state, and seeing what this author thinks is worthwhile to see.  She also suggests the best time to be at each place.  Malheur NWR is listed with September and October being among the best months to visit.  Alrighty then, I guess I’ll be checking that one off!  I got the maps and campground guides out again this evening, and I think when I leave here I’ll spend a week in the Boise, ID, area to see some things and take care of getting a tall enough ladder at Camping World.

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy