The Condotron Chronicles: 2016

On to the next adventure!

9:03 PM
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Grayson & Alleigh visit Disneyland!

Pure
Disney
MAGIC!!!!!!

I just HAVE to start with that, as yet another phrase in my myriad of catch-phrases consists of always referring to common-place places and things as “pure Disney magic.” Welp, now I’ve actually visited the Magic Kingdom, and my sappy inner-child has rendered my jargon nonsensical.

Prior to this SoCal season I’d NEVER been to Disneyland (a phrase which has triggered many-a gasps, being such a whimsical Disney-lover and all). The closest I’ve ever come before would be my brief visit to the Animal Kingdom at the Disneyworld park when I was really little. I remember seeing Rafiki’s tree and some show where they electrocuted your butt to make it feel like bugs were crawling under you, but that’s about it. I’ve wanted to visit Disney properly for years but have never had the right opportunity until now.

Being Rennies, its hard to justify spending $300 on admission alone. Luckily, there is an obscenely large overlap between castmembers at Disney and at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, so our wonderful friend Crystal works for Disney and was able to sign us in under her employee pass. That way we received free admission and 30% off merchandise. Grayson had visited Disney a number of times in the past using this same method, and he was eager to share the experience with me this year.

Since I’d never been to Disneyland, I didn’t set a lot of hefty goals for what I wanted to do during the visit. I wanted to get an R2D2 Mickey hat and wear it gleefully as I followed veteran season-passholders, around the park like a hungry puppy.

Crystal brought the group first to the Star Tours area. Partially because she worked the opening crew for it and wanted the share the memories with all of us, and partly because I really wanted that R2D2 hat. It’s more of a virtual rollercoaster type of ride, and it features C3P0 accidentally stealing a ship with a rebel spy aboard from the Empire. Apparently they select a random person to be the rebel spy, take his/her photo and project it onto the screen. I was selected to be the spy, so a wanted poster picture of me with a big, stupid grin appeared. I was convinced that somehow everyone saw themselves on the screen, so I spent the entire ride trying to figure out how that was even accomplished. It wasn’t until after the ride that I realized that everyone saw me cheesing like a doofus.

The ride brilliantly let us out into the gift shop (thanks, Capitalism) where I promptly hunted for my R2D2 mickey hat and touched everything R2D2 related… further refueling my obsessive collection.

After that we met up with the rest of our group and went on a bunch of little rides, like Mr. Toad’s and the Hundred Acre Wood honey ride. I noticed that the characters Tigger, Eeyore and Pooh were doing pictures outside the ride, and like the giant sap I am, I couldn’t resist meeting them. The actor playing Pooh was clearly at the end of his/her shift and ended up reacting to my excitement with a Duggar side-hug. I feel kinda pathetic in saying so, but I felt like a kicked puppy for a little while after, and then got over it when we made it to the Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror.

The worst part is that later we saw Pooh giving everyone enthusiastic hugs and I got butthurt all over again

Tower of Terror!

I don’t even know how to describe the production value of the final parade or fireworks accurately. They were just insanely well-done and pristine. Hell, I don’t even know how to describe the production value of the entire PARK. Down to every last detail it’s absolutely incredible and immaculate.

Grayson and I went looking at the windows at Macy's after Christmas, and we both agreed these were a lot cooler

I had a magical day at the park my first time, but obviously I couldn’t see everything. So, I had my “second first trip” the following Tuesday.

Our second trip included a slightly different group of friends, and the priority of the day was rides in a specific order. We started with the Indiana Jones ride because our friend Mark and his daughter Lilia weren’t able to ride it on their last visit. After doing so many gentle rides on the first trip (and being a huge fan of thrill rides) I was completely blown away, it was probably the most fun I’ve ever had on a ride. The other two that blew my little thrill-seeking mind were the Hyperspace Mountain ride and the rollercoaster in the California Adventures park. The cool thing about that rollercoaster is that instead of creeping up slowly for the buildup, it just shoots off from 0 to 60mph in just a few seconds and it went on for a long time (compared to a lot of Six Flags rides I’m used to). We also did Splash Mountain, which ya know, for someone who hates getting wet… it was actually pretty fun and I dried off quickly. Lilia was right in the front and she got completely soaked, but was thrilled regardless.

We stayed for the fireworks again and they were just as breathtaking the second time. There was so much stuffed into these two trips that I don't know if I can even remember it all to write about it. You get the point though. Our trips to Disney this year were absolutely magical.

Grayson and Eeyore are sad that the Disney magic had to end for us for this season

8:39 PM
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Fun in the Sun!

As SoCal continues, we are finding more and more fun things to do here in California!

First off, we discovered that California is a bit more livable than we were initially led to believe. We've heard how "expensive" it is in Cali. However, after a while here, we realized that a lot of it has to do with rent, taxes, expenses and all those other things. It's very possible to VISIT California on a budget, living here just takes a lot of patience and willingness to get charged more taxes for random stuff.

It's also great to have family out here. Every Wednesday, Alleigh and I have dinner with my Nana and her boyfriend Bernie. We even bring Finnegan along and he behaves himself (mostly...)

Visiting Nana!

We also went to my Aunt Marcy's new house for a 20-person Passover dinner! It was one of Alleigh's first experiencing with Jewish holidays and the mishegas that goes along with it. There was talking over each other, one upping of stories, cursing, clumsily stumbling our way through the prayers and traditional observations (pausing to explain significance to the goy in our midst) and all the other delightful little slices of family Jewish ceremonies (where most of the attendees are not Jewish...)

At Passover!

Another fun gathering we went to was a annual Beltane party hosted by Danielle of the Washing Well Wenches in SoCal. Set up in their AMAZING log cabin style mansion nestled in the mountains of Idyllwild, CA, we were treated to killer food, awesome friends and roughly 30 degree weather! I played a bit of music, accompanying Ian of VanaMazi on a solo gig. There was even Whipped Cream Shots dispensed by the talented Kaitlin Chin suspended from silks attached to the ceiling. Knowing so many talented people and getting to celebrate both our talents and the emergence of spring was a ton of fun and we can't wait to do it again sometime :)


Apologies for the shiny flash but hey, I'm in one of the pictures!!

Now we are looking at friends coming to visit, work to be done around the house and a possible upcoming Disney trip! Meanwhile, we continue strong with our gym routine, pet care regimen and planning new, exciting adventures ahead.

Oh! I also made a fun new personal website to act as an online business card or basic profile for booking music gigs (which I decided I am going to do more of). I used Wix.com and didn't add too many frills. I hope to get some good video examples of my playing soon so I can add those to the site.

It's at http://gideon019.wix.com/gmcs

More to come as SoCal adventures continue!

8:12 AM
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Settling into California!

So here we are in California!

Since the festival here is one of the most expensive to work in the country (the festival has said that it is allowing absolutely no camping this year no matter what), we have worked a lot to try and find some affordable living accomodations.

Fortunately, faire friends come through! Hanna put us in touch with a lovely family living in Riverside, CA, about an hour's drive from the festival. The married couple along with one sister and their SIX BOYS graciously have allowed us to park in their driveway on their 2.5 acre ranch house. We ran an extension cord to an outlet, hooked up our hoses to a spigot on the outside and BAM! Condotron is ready to deploy!

All set up in Riverside, CA!

We even bought a few extra sewer hoses to connect to each other and can reach the septic tank on the property, meaning that water disposal is not only possible, but terribly convenient! I can't tell you how happy we are to have found such a great setup, surely the Rennie Deities are looking out for us.

In addition to their many kids, they also have 11 dogs, 13 cats, goats, chickens and pigs! Needless to say, Finnegan is having the time of his life here. He loves all of the boys and they love him. He even is having a great time meeting the other animals. He chases around the pens of the goats and pigs; he even bumps heads with the goats and sniffs noses with the pigs, what a brave boy!

Days have settled down a bit now that we are leveled out (thanks to a lot of scrapwood) and the RV is cleaned up. The property is about a 15-20 min drive from everything, including the gym! Once again, lucky us.

We have a fairly regular schedule here at home. We exercise Finn as much as we can, go to the gym, cook at home and most days around 5pm, I go inside to play Halo with the boys. My randomly assigned profile name the very first time was Pickles and it's kind of stuck. I now have my own profile under Pickles and enjoy getting regularly pwned by children a fraction of my age.

The trip isn't without its bumps however! Within a couple days of us arriving, my phone developed a crack from the INSIDE of the screen and ceased to function and my computer's logic board failed. Both were repaired, although I'm still waiting on the computer to return.

In the meantime, we are enjoying our California setup and are using the extra time to ourselves to continue to work on the Rennie-vation of Condotron. More updates on that in a future post.

The Rennie-vation is coming along nicely!

Pictures will be added to this post as soon as my computer gets fixed. In the meantime, time to soak in a bit of this California beauty and play with the animals (and maybe some Halo too....)

6:42 PM
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Winding down the faire.....

11:42 AM
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A Day in the Life so far...

Life out here at the faire has begun to settle into a bit of a rhythm:

Most mornings we will get up about 8am or so; Finn is getting better about letting us sleep in a bit more. We will then take him out briefly, enjoying the fact that we can usually go out in pajamas, sandals, shorts or whatever (the weather in the mornings here is beautiful!)

Behind our RV there is a little trail that runs for a bit of the perimeter of the festival grounds. Making the full loop at an average walking pace is about 15 minutes and leads us right back to the giant parking lot we are camping in. Having this lot to ourselves during the week is great because it gives Finn a lot of room to run and play free of cacti, cholla and all of those other natural hazards the desert offers.

Everything the light touches....is ours!!

We will make breakfast (Alleigh has gotten really good with her smoothie blender and I’m a whiz with my cast iron skillet) and usually just sit and take stock of our day at that point. Of course, it is assumed that coffee has been flowing plentifully up to this point (usually the only reason Alleigh gets out of bed most mornings…)

We make the most of our limited kitchen space!

Fortunately, we are both planning types so we will sit and figure out everything we want to do. Often times we’ll run errands, find internet somewhere (Starbucks, etc.), hit the grocery stores or the gym. Our Planet Fitness Black Card memberships have already paid for themselves in free WiFi, tons of workout equipment, showers, massage chairs AND unlimited tanning.

As for the RV itself, there are a few maintenance duties we have to be diligent about. I try to run the engine at least once a week and we are always cleaning. Be it vacuuming, doing dishes, cleaning cat boxes and so forth, there is constantly something in need of tidying up. That’s one of the inherent responsibilities of living in an RV; since it is a smaller living area, it gets messier much more easily. On the flip side, that means that cleaning it up is no huge task either!

Towards the end of the day, we usually curl up with our entertainment system (Bluetooth Bose speakers, laptop or PS3 DVD player) and relax with our menagerie. I have been really enjoying using all of the many spices I’ve been getting and will often use our oven to make slow cooked dinners. Access to fresh produce here is better than any other festival in the country! We often can fill a cart with amazing fruits and vegetables for less than $20. So while in AZ, I frequently cook very healthy and fresh dinners.

Finn loves his new house!

Now that we have a bit of a rhythm established, we are naturally looking for ways to interrupt that rhythm. We are wanting to take Finn on more hikes, go visit exciting landmarks in AZ (Grand Canyon, etc.) and take mini vacations. We have to plan these things out well in advance because our social calendar is already filing up with music jams, poker nights, pot lucks, gaming nights and just friendly gatherings.

So that is life in AZ so far. Now to spend some more internet time researching some new adventure for us to set out on!

9:33 AM
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Finnegan's First Hike

Prior to arriving in Arizona, one of the activities we were most excited about was all the fabulous hiking ventures that awaited us. We're hoping to go on overnight camping excursions with Finnegan while we're out west, but need to ensure he can handle it before attempting such a trip.

Today, we embarked on our first hike of the season and Finnegan's first hike ever: Silly Mountain!

The name sums it up perfectly--the mountain is very silly. The hike was child's play, lasting barely 30 minutes before we reached the top. The brevity of the trip played to Finnegan's favor, especially since he wouldn't drink any water prior to the hike and exhausted himself easily in the desert heat. The group of us (myself, Grayson, and our buddies Kendra & Alexis) giggled the whole time at our eager pup's need to rush ahead one moment, then running back to mommy and dramatically wallowing in his self-inflicted panting sprees. He'd snap out of his self-pity the moment we gave him water or right as he saw something interesting down the path he hasn't investigated yet. Finn perked up when we reached the top of the mountain too, just sitting with a stupid grin and enjoying the view.

The way up the mountain I kept him on a leash. Partly out of respect to the park's suggestion, and largely from my fear of him frolicking off the path and getting stabbed by the cholla. I mean, overall he's been great at avoiding cactus... it's just this one particular bush of jumping cholla near our campground that he seems to get in trouble with every time he passes it (once in the paw, then in the leg, next his lip and nose, oy vey!)

Anyway, on the way down the mountain we let him off leash because we were worried he'd tug and accidentally pull us down the mountain. There was also just the sense of trust that Finnegan would stay near us (as he always does) and on this off-leash period not only was he perfectly-behaved, but he didn't get stuck on any cholla (or anything else, huzzah!)

One thing I haven't mentioned on here yet is that we can no longer crate him because (despite our constant and MANY efforts) we can't stop him from breaking out of his crate. I swear he has thumbs.... next we're gonna try to utilize reusable zip ties to encapsulate the crate doors. Since we can't crate him at night these days, we're looking forward to our exhausted puppy sleeping through the night now after his exercise today.

8:18 PM
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Coming Together!

The organization of the RV is coming together slowly but surely! Being busy with rehearsals, helping paint friend's booths and assembling jewelry for the weekend, we didn't have too much time to get the RV as squared away as we had initially hoped. In the meantime, as we make progress, here are updates about innovations in organization we are making and ways to turn unused areas into functional storage.

Probably our biggest challenge was organizing where all the pet stuff would go. With 3 cats, we knew we would need 2 litterboxes. Fortunately, there's 2 seats up front that, when we aren't driving, the footspace is totally unused. The chairs themselves swivel around and thus can be used for sitting, as a surface, or just a kitty nap locale...

We even added a coat hook rack to maximize this area's use!

We set up the HEPA filter (Alleigh has some allergies to the animals and it's good to try and just keep dander and dust down anyway) and I purchased a Wallflower from Bath and Body Works to keep the RV smelling clean and fresh. It's doing a great job!

There's even room for the crate...

Alleigh had a fantastic idea for a storage solution. We took an over-the-door shoe organizing rack ($8 at Menards), cut it below the seam of each level, and ended up with about 8 4-pocket organizers! We then used either zip ties or Command strips to affix them to unused towel racks and the paneling at the foot of the bed. Boom, instant multiplication of storage!

Handy storage solution

We did something similar in the bathroom. Using a craft organizer from Jo-Ann's, we hooked that onto a single over-the-door coat hook I already owned. This added a whole of of storage in an unused place.

These are a lifesaver

By using these different storage methods, we are really making huge progress in getting everything stored away and in a permanent location. Sometimes it gets stressful, it seems like everything isn't going to fit. We usually just take a break and come back to it later. With fresh eyes, we are then able to use space creatively and find new and useful locations for everything!

More to come as it continues to come together!

8:05 AM
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On the Road Pt 2: Changing Scenery

Driving across the country is an awesome experience, albeit strenuous. Actually sitting and wrestling the RV for hours on end can be incredibly tiring and almost headache-inducing.

However, if you power through and settle into the drive, you get to see some really great sites. It's fascinating to watch the miles tick on by. First you're 300 miles from your destination and then suddenly, there you are! It seems like forever and instantaneous all at the same time.

Mostly pictures in this post, interspersed with some notes from the road...

One of the first pics on the trip!

A lot of our driving happened at night. With Alexis trailing us, we made sure to try and keep a steady pace. The poor girl had to deal with our inability to exceed 40-50 mph on many of the mountainous inclines.

Dirty windshield, pretty sunset

We ate at a LOT of truck stop food. Usually about 2 meals a day with snacks in between. Driving and not physically moving around a lot meant that we weren't awfully hungry during the bulk of the trip but little things like beef jerky, pretzels and cookies/brownies made by Alleigh's mom sustained us!

The wind was certainly sweepin' down the plain!

Texas! Whole lotta nuthin'

Yup, Texas....

Once we hit the Southwest, the sun came shearing through the sky. Suddenly, 40 degree weather was tempered by a beaming light that warmed us up from the inside. The kitties even noticed it immediately, coming out to lay in the sun on the dashboard even as we were traveling!

Oatmeal enjoying the newfound sun

Winter across the country comes in many forms. As we would change elevation, we would see little bits of snow flecking the mountains or hills we were driving through. Then we would descend towards a lower elevation and watch as strong winds and warmer weather melted the snow and turned it into rain.

Snow in the mountains!

Overall, even though it was incredibly grueling, the gradually changing scenery, the good company and the improving weather helped us greet each day with a newfound excitement. It's refreshing to do something like this from time to time. It reminds about the impermanence and changing nature of the world. While something may be one way in one place, it is a very different way in another place.

It's a great exercise in broadening one's scope and perspective. To see the world as the ever-changing, always-adapting and ever-new place that it is.

Another day, another sunset

9:17 AM
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The Great Condotron-Camping-Clusterf***

9:14 AM
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On the Road Pt 1: Setting out

road trip

We set out from Chicago to begin the long trek to Arizona. Overall, we were looking at 26 hours or so of driving. This was, of course, at a "normal car" pace and not that of the lumbering Condotron.

Here's our route:

(To answer what you're already thinking, yes Alleigh has been singing Route 66 the whole drive, and yes I do want to strangle her for it)

We actually left Chicago on January 28th, but it was so hectic that there simply wasn't time to post about it.

With a Ford 460 engine, several tons of vehicle, two passengers, 4 pets, all of our crap AND Optimus Prius being pulled behind, it's understandable that we top out around 60 mph. The mantra is "well, we get there when we get there" and it sure is nice to have a portable apartment being pulled along with your vehicle. With adjusted time, it was safe to assume we'd be driving closer to 30+ hours...

Thankfully, we have a decent entertainment setup. I have a wonderful set of small Bose speakers that I plug into my computer so I can hear things over the cacophonous engine. All of this plugs into a power converter I got from a Skywalker kid I beat up a while back. It's been a lifesaver, having my cigarette adapter convert into 300 watts of 120v power (that's the 3-prong thingy for the rest of us). With two plugs, I can charge any combination of phone/computer/speaker as necessary.

We brought a lot of things to entertain ourselves of course. When I'm driving, I leave Alleigh in charge of hospitality. Things like "throw a podcast on please!" or "water please" or "coffee!!" (the "please" being dependent on my having had some of said coffee already).

Driving a 35ft RV with a Prius behind (totaling about 45 total feet) is no easy task. It's a considerable isometric workout to simply keep Condotron in line with the road. Wrestling the wheel back into alignment proves challenging when trucks come whizzing past or the RV gets buffeted with wind, which happens quite frequently. I find it helps in the long run to have a small back support insert on my seat to keep my back from sagging over the hours of driving. My "captain's chair" is really just a plushy armchair that swivels.

It's a wonderful stroke of luck that Condotron has functioning CRUISE CONTROL! I don't know how many RVs in 1994 had this feature, but I'm damn glad mine does. Being able to just set the speed and then focus on the wheel lets me drive a lot longer and not have my foot or leg cramp up.

A lot of our driving time is spent in conversation, listening to podcasts (I prefer This American Life or The Adventure Zone, where three brothers and their dad play D&D for the first time and record their antics), tending to pets and napping. For active lifestylers like ourselves, it's incredibly rough to be sitting in one place for such a long time. After driving, I want to just jump on a bike or run around a lot or do a ton of ballistic stretching.

Provided that our 70-gallon gas tank matches up with our roughly 7.8 mpg, we can go quite a while between gas breaks. Fortunately this year, gas has been very inexpensive. This trip looks like an average gas cost of $1.40/gallon, which I can totally deal with! Add to that my proclivity for fueling up at Flying J's using my "RV Rewards" card (an older card they don't offer anymore), I am usually taking an additional 3 cents per gallon off. It's not a ton but it adds up over time.

We also use these truck stops to fill up on tire air and propane! This essential lifeblood of Condotron provides heat through my furnace as well as cooking gas. I have a 30ish gallon onboard tank that can't be removed, I have to fill up at a station. Fortunately, my RV card gives me 5 cents off per gallon of propane at Pilots and Flying J's and I only need 1 fill-up a year usually.

Overall, we find ourselves with a lot of time as we mosey our way across this great country. The huge windshields and high seats give us a panoramic, king-of-the-world view of our surroundings. We bring lots of things to entertain ourselves and keep plenty of snacks/water on hand. There's plenty more technical details I'll get into on other posts but this seems like a good intro to the experience of our travel.

More posts to come about the trip and travel to come!