And here’s another round of things we’ve been learning on this journey.
1) Clean is a relative term. It’s relative to just how dirty it was to start with.
2) If a bee gets in your RV and you are wondering a humane way to remove them; pick up a stick, lick it and stick it in their face. They’ll crawl onto the stick to lick your spit and while they are busy you can walk them outside.
3) Fire is kind of obvious. Carbon Monoxide is not. So, when your detector goes off all of a sudden it can cause quite a panic. Especially when it breaks the complete silence of the night by screaming, ‘Warning! Warning! Carbon Monoxide! Warning! Warning! Carbon Monoxide!’ By the way, these detectors should be replaced every 3-5 years and / or don’t charge your electric toothbrush on top of one because apparently it emits a substance that mimics CO.
4) You can buy one yellow bell pepper from Wal-Mart for $1.78 or you can buy three of the same brand from the trunk of a car for $1.00.
5) If you set your cans outside at night the ants just might have them clean by morning. Hmmm… this has got us thinking regarding our dinner plates.
6) When you drive your new-to-you, steeply discounted motor home on the rims because the tires are falling apart or all together missing you are doing the Slab City Shuffle. - Sandi: Slab City Art
7) You really don’t need a lot to be happy. You just have to live your life the way that you want to and choose happiness. It’s an attitude.
8) If you open your fridge at night, it will be cool by morning and hold a good temp the rest of the day - Robb: Quartzite Camphost. Pre-emptive NOTE: This won’t work if you run a heat source in your rig at night.
9) The desert is dusty.
10) Burning your trash is fun and it is also a great way to get rid of your trash.
11) That very big flat rock that you have been crushing your cans on for three days is actually a more efficient can crusher than your little hammer. We’re pretty sure this one needs a photo series. Here you go.
STEP THREE: Release rock and scream whatever words of excitement you choose.
STEP FOUR: Observe. The can is gone.
STEP FIVE: Reveal and marvel at ‘the crush’.
STEP SIX: Remove can and return to Step One until the fun is over.
Speaking of the fun being over, it’s back to the lessons part of this post now.
Things we’ve learned, continued…
12) The black wire in a 110 system is positive but in the 12 volt system it is negative. (Thanks, Uncle Al!)
13) It took two months but we’ve finally figured out how to humanely remove flies from the van. Let them land on your hand, slowly move it toward a window, open the screen and BLOW! The blow is the key. It takes them by surprise and they take flight out the window pretty much without a choice.
14) Solar power is really cool!
15) Cacti come in all different shapes and sizes.
16) Don’t shuffle your feet while wearing sandals in the desert. (See #15)
17) Want to get the best tan of your life without even trying? Spend winter in the desert.
18) The Teddy Bear Cactus may be sort of cute as cacti go but it is not really all that huggable.
19) The location that you choose for a fire alarm in a small vehicle should ironically be the one area you don’t expect a fire to start in.
20) “There are no mistakes… It’s ART!”- Sherry, RTR 2012
21) “If you don’t ask for help, you deny the other person the opportunity to be a blessing.”- Bob, RTR 2012
22) The average person uses 10 gallons of water to brush their teeth by not turning off the faucet. We use 12 oz of water to wash our hair by living in a van.