David's Blog

I made my way to an RV campground this weekend to practice setting up my rig. I reserved three days at Admiral Baker Field whic
h has a golf course right arround the corner. I was late and ended up pulling in for the last day only. The whole point of me stopping here for the weekend (besides playing golf) was to learn how to “hook-up” the RV to a site. This particular site had cable, electricity, water, and sewage. The electricity and water were easy, just plug it in. The sewage on the other hand was a little more difficult, I pulled my hose out and suck it in the hole in the ground, then hooked it up to the RV, seems simple enough. The problem came when I pulled the release valve to set the tank water free. (I should note at this time; I have not used the toilet in the RV yet, instead I am taking showers in the gym close to work.) When I pulled the valve, the water came out of the tank with such force that it launched the hose right out of the little whole in the ground and started spraying water everywhere! My neighboring RVers were VERY angry, and started yelling and cursing. It took me some time to calm them down and explain that it was only fresh water in the tank and we didnt have to call a HAZMAT team to clean it up. Leason learned, I went to walmart that night and picked up a new hose with a conection that anchors it to the ground. This could have been a nasty mess!

I am now out of my appartment. And off to check into an RV park this weekend.

Moving all my stuff into the RV has been a huge hassle, there’s just to much of it! The limited space in the RV is filled to the brim and I am srounging to find a place for it all. The biggest trouble is the little stuff, because it can easily move arround while the Rv is in motion. I came to an abrupt stop at a stop light and a fork I had left on the counter went flying into the front seat narrowly missing my leg. In the navy we “secure for sea” or tie down any loose objects before leaving port, the same principal is also necessary in an RV.

Of all the things I am selling or giving away there is a special item that I want to keep; my chest, which opens up into an armoire. I have strapped it to the top of the RV adding about 3 feet to the hight. I am very nervous going under bridges, I can only imagine the amount of damage a low bridge could do!
I dont think the entire RV+chest is over 12′ high, but I could be wrong. Ill have to get out there with a measuring tape and a spotter to make sure.

I have finally gathered all the ingredients to begin making test samples of BioDiesel.

• vegetable oil
• methanol – found in gasoline addatives
• lye – found in drain clearing products

A big thank you to Journeytoforever.org for their step by step process.

With less than a month left in the Navy, life is starting to fly very fast. I’ve only had a couple of hours of sleep, and am actively moving out of my apartment.
These Days there are alot of lasts, and many firsts. Today begins the last week I have an apartment in San Diego, and I made my first meal in my RV; ricotta and spinach rigatoni, with a tomato and portabella sauce! not bad.
I will be temporaily bringing down this site at some point this week, probably Friday. Ferrell Hudgins, a marine I met on my first and last deployment, will also be traveling after he ends his time in the military and we will both be blogging our experience.

I often find myself subject to answer a common question “Are you religious?” I don’t like questions like this; you might as well ask “Could you please describe your personal beliefs on God; in two or three letters?” Lets face it, know one understands God, it is simply beyond our sensory threshold and cognitive ability to comprehend something we can best describe as ‘infiniate,’ and ‘omniscient’ to name a few. We can understand god as much as your dog understands the global economic situation, it is unfathomable. Yet just as your dog can pick up on your stress level, with out understanding the cause; we can perceive the idea of God.
So what does religion have to do with it? Nothing. Religion in its vastness is much like government. Each establishment has its hierarchy and its institutions, rituals, rights, ceremonies, laws, bylaws, ext. They all have a common ground, and that is God. Spirituality is the personal tie to God, that we have as individuals, which in my eyes is much more important than religion.
So the answer is: ‘No.’
Im not religions, and to often people assume that I am an athiest, or worse; a diest. Yet my beliefs are strongly tied with specific religious text. I am not religious because I choose not to regularly meet with large groups of people who share the same beliefs as me. That practice can become a dangerous cyclone of like minded thought that often turns to fanaticism, destroying the purpose of the group in the first place as they seek to delve into countless minutiae on irrelevant subjects.
I try to live a moral and spiritual life, I want little to do with religion.

-David