Writing on the Journal is Tough

Let me be straight up and say that no matter the audience, I enjoy the process of writing. And that goes for anything I might write about. The mindless drool I write here is not without its level of pleasure and enjoyment.

As I often say about writing, the general thought is to just keep the pen moving. And while The Journal here may not have a strong audience, and for whatever reason Google has decided not to let me monetize it like my other blogs on the Blogspot platform, it is—for all intents and purposes—not a waste of time for me.

But it's tough. 

It's tough because fewer eyes land here. It's tough because—well, let's face it, I want to be able to monetize it. It's tough because it doesn't really advance my other, more serious writing. It's tough because I prefer to share that other writing on my Facebook page devoted to sharing the things I write about.

At the same time, I still don't mind doing it. In fact, there are times when the well runs just a little bit dry. It happens! And just being able to write about anything and nothing at all helps to spark something that maybe leads to something else that is more productive.

And can be monetized.

Just because it is tough does not mean I won't still spend time here, doing what I do. As I have said here and in other places, I almost have to write just as much as I have to breathe. It's a part of me and an extension of me.

It's what I am and what I do.

And ultimately, for whatever it is worth, people actually do still land here from time to time, and I suppose that helps to make it worth it on some level. It's not like it is totally dead here. The Journal simply doesn't get the same fanfare that my other blogs and writing do.

It's tough, but I will continue to do it, for whatever that's worth, and for whatever prying eyes land here to see what I have to say.

And now for something completely different, check out one of my song releases on Spotfiy, "Where Do I Go." https://open.spotify.com/track/7At3eSWGYR47va1nbwDx6m?si=08e896555c124cdc

Where Was I, and How the Hell Did I Get There?

Am I a dummy? Or is idiot perhaps a better word? I mean, at the end of the day the simplest answer is that sometimes I just have no idea—or only a modicum of an idea—of what I am doing. Whether or not that makes me dumb I guess you could say is up for debate.

I will let you be the judge of that.

I had to get my camper de-winterized finally for a trip I will take for the first camp of the season at the end of the week and into the weekend. I have never done this before, mind you. After all, I just bought the camper last year around October or November. I forget exactly when, but it was definitely before Thanksgiving, let's put it that way.

In case you were wondering, I bought a 2019 39' Keystone Passport Elite MB34. It's actually a very nice camper and I have no complaints so far.

I could have taken it back to Camping World where I bought it and had them winterize it. But my entire experience with Camping World has been interesting enough to say, at least, for the time being I am not all that impressed with their service AT ALL.

But I am also cheap. Okay, frugal. Isn't that a much nicer word. Sort of like how I twisted up the word dummy or idiot at the beginning of this worthless post. So, I decided to take on the task myself. After all, YouTube has turned more than one dummy into a virtual expert and of course there are plenty of dewinterizing videos to get me on my way—and if I screwed it up, oh well. It would just make for a more interesting story-filled camp until I could get the job done properly.

I got the information I mostly needed. The most important of which was to open the panel to the water heater and make sure the valve was turned the right way to let water into the heater. Seemed easy enough, and in fact the whole process didn't seem to be all that complicated.

And really it wasn't.

I set out to remove the panel and took a quick peek at how to tackle it. Four Phillips head screws, two on each side. I got out my screwdriver and manuevered myself into position to remove the screws and was immediately dumfounded.

Holy crap! Why are they so tight? It's like they'd never come out before? But surely the damn camper has been winterized many times before I had it done. I struggled through the first screw and with some effort it did come out. On to the next one. It was at an awkward angle and just wasn't wanting to budge. It came out part way, but I was making no real progress and now the screw was beginning to strip out.

Perfect. Just my sort of luck and completely expected.

I was already forming an idea in my head, once I'd get that panel off, to concoct a new way of holding it in place that would be much easier to gain access to it the next time.

I went back and got a longer screwdriver and tried that. Nope. Wasn't helping. And that angle. It was ridiculous and very quickly I was spouting off words that would have horrified most people. 

Then suddenly something dawned on me. "Where am I?" 

For orientation purposes I was at the back end of the camper on the left side if you were looking at my behind. Well, the camper's behind. But if I am outside monkeying with the outside access to the water heater, I'd be on the right.

I'd be on the right side of the camper. Or the left side from the inside!

I looked over and sure enough there was a lighter panel on that side with two short screws and I was able to get that off in no time flat. And sure enough, inside was exactly what I was looking for. The hot water heater and the lever I needed to turn.

Call me what you want, but if nothing else matters, a complete idiot would never have had the brain cells fire at all to make the revelation I was able to make.

Just one more camping experience story to add to the annals of history. For whatever that's worth.

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