Moving Day...

It doesn't matter if you are moving 600 miles or 6 blocks - if you are moving the motorhome, there is a lot of prep work to do when you have been in one place for a while.  When you are moving every day, there is "a rhythm" to the set up and tear down procedure.

Today, we are moving about 6 blocks.  As I have mentioned before, Hart Ranch has a 21 day use per month policy.  It is a good policy - it keeps it an RV Resort as opposed to a trailer park with a bunch of permanent residents.  Oh, there are people who are staying their 21 days, then buying in the next 9, then getting another 21 days... but, they aren't going to be on the same site all that time.  You tend to "spread out" more when staying in one place for an extended time.

Rufus could tell something was up, just by all the scurrying around we were doing...

He isn't allowed on counter-tops or the dining table, and he is good about obeying that (yes, cats can obey... if they want to).  We do let him on the bathroom counter because he loves to look at himself in the mirror.  I think he is amazed at how handsome he has turned out, too!  ;-)

This is what the site we are vacating looks like...

Some folks don't think of this as "camping."  We aren't campers, we are RVers.  I really appreciate the nice long, double-width, level, nicely manicured sites.  Full hookups: water, sewer, electricity, and cable TV.

For our "9 days out," we are in the Meadowlands.  The sites are more "primative": gravel instead of that lovely concrete.  They are closer together.  No sewer at the sites, so you have to go to a nearby dump station to dump the holding tanks.  We should only have to do that once during our Meadowlands stay.  Don't get me wrong: this beats the heck out of going to a commercial campground, where the sites won't be as long or level, and it will cost twice as much.  Or, going to a Forest Service campground where they won't have any hookups.  Any new memberships here aren't allowed to "buy in" their 9 days - they have to go elsewhere.  So, all things considered, we are still living pretty large.

Check out time on the sites is 11:00am.  We are efficient: we checked to make sure our site in the Meadowlands was vacant and started getting ready for our move well ahead of time.  We had a plan: put the coach on the new site, come back with the car and get the cargo trailer, then come back to get the scoots.  (We had the scoots outside the cargo trailer so we wouldn't have to go through the work of strapping them down, since this is such a short move.)

It was a good plan.  At 10:00, we moved the coach onto our site...

You can see it isn't as "upscale" as where we were.  No matter; we put our jacks down to level the coach, plugged it in, left Rufus in air conditioned comfort and took the CR-V back to our site to get the cargo trailer.

Another service that Hart Ranch offers is a huge storage lot where you can store your RV, AND they will move it onto or off of a site for you (for a small fee).  So, if you aren't going to use your RV anywhere but here, you don't have to own a big truck - they will put your 5th wheel or travel trailer on a site for you, block it, and all you have to do is show up in your car and plug it in.

You have to schedule a "storage move," and most people do that when they make an RV site reservation.

In the short time that it took us to move the coach and get back to our site, that was still ours for the next 45 minutes, the storage mover guys were just pulling away after dropping off a travel trailer IN that site... effectively blocking us from being able to get the Honda to the front of the cargo trailer!  I pulled up in front of them (so they couldn't just drive away) and explained that we still needed to get our cargo trailer and scoots.

The driver said, "We thought this site was empty."

"Did you NOT see the cargo trailer and bikes?? I asked.  "We don't have to be off this site until 11:00."

"Well, we thought that maybe they were for the people with this trailer."

"Didja think they pulled the cargo trailer on here with those scooters?"

They offered to move the cargo trailer for us... "How are you going to do that without driving on the grass?" I asked.

"Ohhhh..."

"Move this travel trailer and we'll get our stuff off here," I told them firmly.

Their truck is set up for quickly attaching to and moving RVs - they had the travel trailer off that site in less than a minute.  Then, they parked out on the street, waiting for us to hook up and move the cargo trailer...

Kinda wasting everyone's time.  I told them, "I WILL be back for that other scooter -please don't block it in."

When I got back, I had to ride the scooter off through the grass.  Not following the rules, but they didn't give me an easy way off the site.  And, it was still only 10:30.  No doubt they have a VERY busy moving schedule on weekends.

Back at our site, we got our selves settled in...

The patio furniture is out (on a patio mat), the scoots are back in their "portable garage," and all in time for Rufus to have his normal lunch schedule.  He is happy now that he has been fed and has all his toys and stuff back out.

Me, too.

:-)