A Minor Update

Our roof got cleaned today. Here is the before and after:

Back in our Home!

Started to write this last night but got sidetracked, so sorry about that.

We did wind up renting a room, not for one night but for two. All the places we called would not allow pets, even those 30 miles away. The Red Bay Hotel closed it's doors the end of last year, and the places in town that rented rooms were all booked.

We mentioned our problem during a conversation with a woman at Jack's, the chicken and burger chain store. She mentioned that her sister had a room for rent so we called her. It was available and we took it for one night as we were told the painting would be done the next day.

Were we pleasantly surprised! This nice person had converted her detached garage to a two queen bed, dinette, kitchen, bathroom and living room. We couldn't tell her enough how nice it was. It was nicer than any motel/hotel room we've ever been in.

So yesterday we left there around noon and hung out in the car til the shop closed. The doors had been painted, but they still needed to cut and buff them. The entire side of the RV was covered in plastic. We didn't want to take it and bring it back this morning. We didn't want any sort of moisture to get on it and create a problem, so we left it in the shop so they could finish it today. The was a problem however. Because we wouldn't get our RV back this morning we had to cancel another appointment we had for today and reschedule. The earliest we could be rescheduled for is next Friday, April 5th. So we are here for another week at least.

We called the lady with the room and she welcomed us back right away. So we hung out there til 3pm today and went to the shop. They had another two hours of work so we waited and now we are back in our rig.

Tonight the campground had some RVers who set up an electric piano and two local guitarists and they held a mini revival of church songs. It was an enjoyable interlude.

Sometime this weekend a guy is coming to clean and polish our roof. Aside from that it will just be hanging out at home and waiting till our next appointment.

Doors Are On

Friday afternoon all the parts we needed were finally here. They were 3 basement compartment doors. We were up at 6:30 this morning and at the shop before 8.

The doors are now on, and a fourth door had to be bondexed as it's surface was not level. All are now ready for painting, which will start tomorrow at 8, and won't be done until Wednesday. 

Which means we are renting a room tomorrow night, as the RV has to stay inside at the shop. Since there will be nothing to report, next post will be Wednesday night.

Progress in Limbo for the Weekend

Some, but not all, of the necessary parts came in today. So nothing will happen until Monday morning at 8am. Tomorrow we will drive to Russellville, about 30 miles away to look at the shops. I might fly the drone a little in the morning, and Sunday Nancy plans to do laundry. So our next post will probably be Monday evening. Till then, have a great weekend!

Making Progress

Got up at 6am this morning and had the RV at the shop by 7:15 am. They took us right in and started work. We went to breakfast and then sat in the car the rest of the day while they worked. While replacing the slide toppers they showed us the slide out seals on the two large slides were rusty and damaged so we had them replace both seals.

Part of the border trim on one rug was ripped so they repaired it. Our wheel well cover problem, which was mentioned in an earlier post, was repaired and we are sitting in our new heated Captain chairs with the heat turned on. How comfortable! 

The parts for the body repairs haven't arrived yet, maybe tomorrow. So we'll go to dinner and wait for a call for us to come in. 

Repair updates

We have been told for two days now that we would be going in to get our new Captain chairs installed, but never got the call with a time. So today we stopped in to put pressure on them. Tomorrow morning at 7:30 we go in, get our new chairs and slide toppers, then go to our next place for repairs to start. We set up an appointment for next Thursday to have our dash a/c looked at/repaired, which was damaged by Freightliner when they repaired our lights. When that is completed, we will begin our journey home.

After lunch, we stopped in at Sunshine Mills, a large factory here in town which manufactures grain free dog foods. I mean it is large! Anyway, stopped in to see if they had samples of their food. They don't have a store but the manager gave us two 15 pound bags of food to see if our dogs liked it. How nice!

So we have at least another week or so here. In the meanwhile, the temperature has finally warmed up. Gorgeous weather! It should continue for a few days. If only there was a pool! 

Some progress, but not much!

This morning we took our rig for the first of many repairs. Dropped it off, and went to our RV manufacturer to see if they knew anyone who could look at our leveler. It gets frustrating crawling under the rig to manually lower or raise the leveler every time we move or park. Got the name of a guy, went to see him, but he needed to have the RV to check it out and it was at the other repair shop. 

We then drove 58 miles to Florence for a scheduled blood test. On the way back, called for a status and found out parts needed to be ordered and couldn't get here before Thursday. So we took the RV to the second guy and he had his repair guy check it out. The levelers in the rear are 10K pound levelers (the engine is back there). They can't be found for replacement as the company that made them went bankrupt several years ago.

So he tested the leveler, and thought a gear had broken. He removed it from the chassis and together we took it apart. That amounts to removing it's motor from the leg itself to get to the gears. But none of the gears were broken. 

Remember last week I mentioned how bad that one campground was and how uneven the site was? Well, there are two lifting rods in the leveler leg, one of which was bent from the pressure on the leg from the uneven site. They can't be replaced because the leg is welded together. So we had a good motor but a bad leg.

Fortunately he had in his inventory the same leg we needed, but with a motor with a bad bearing. After talking to the owner, they agreed to sell us the leg to use with our good motor. Long story short, we put them together and it works. We now have fully functioning levelers.

As to our satellite, we had the receiver tested and it works fine. Put a new module on the roof as we were told that would fix the problem, as we had the HDMI cable replaced last night. Nope, it doesn't work. That repairman is on his way here now. 

Status update: he came, he fixed, he conquered. We now have satellite TV, at least from 2 of 3 satellites. Will find out more tomorrow or Wednesday with a little more testing.

and the fun continues!

Yesterday we got further settled in. We reconfirmed out appointment for Monday with a repairman, then bought a gray water valve, removed the old one and with Nancy's help installed the new one. It was sprinkling outside at the time and very windy. Then the news interrupted the radio.

A tornado watch was indicated for Tishomingo county in Mississippi. That's only a 1/2 mile up the road. The sky was very dark. I called the RV park office and asked for the location of the tornado shelter. She confirmed it was in the basement of the Methodist Church but had to call someone and see if it was locked or unlocked. I went up and checked it's location and that it was unlocked if we needed it. I then informed some of the neighbors of the situation.

Less than 1/2 an hour later the siren in town started wailing. One long continuous sound. We weren't sure if that was the tornado warning but we hastened out to the car. As we got outside a voice blared from the speakers at the police station "Seek shelter immediately! Get to a shelter ASAP!" 

Well, that confirmed it! We had the dogs and hightailed it to the shelter where we were soon joined by others. Sure enough there was a tornado watch for Franklin county, where we are located. We were there for 45 minutes until the warning from the National Weather Service expired. Apparently a tornado was sighted but 30 miles east of our location.

Today we took the RV to the installer who put in our undercarriage mood lights last year and in about 30 seconds he fixed our problem with them. The remote and the controller were out of sync and he showed me how to correct it if it happens again. While there we inquired about and decided to replace our slide toppers and two Captain chairs. The toppers are showing their age (11 years), were sagging, and 2 of the 4 needed to be repaired/replaced anyway. So we decided to have all 4 done next week. Our chairs are frayed and giving us occasional problems so we decided to have them replaced as well with a newer model, which also includes heated seats. So next week will be busy.

We are sitting here listening to a great country music station after Nancy made a great dinner. I am so blessed to have found her. Later tonight or tomorrow our satellite technician will be here to replace a damaged HDMI cable behind the inside walls. While waiting we rearranged some of our overhead cabinets. Then a long weekend! The town rolls up it's sidewalks at 3:30 each day and all weekend so there is nothing to do here. If we have time maybe we'll drive to Tennessee and visit Shiloh Civil War Battlefield. At least since the tornado scare yesterday the weather has been sunny and will remain the same throughout the week.

Four days early...

...we made it to Red Bay, where nothing happens unrelated to RVs. But what a day! It started when closing up. The gray water valve refuses to close fully, remaining 1/2 way open. (Gray water is water from sinks, black water is from toilets.) I'll have to replace that valve on Friday, as we're expecting rain here all day tomorrow.

Next up, or not, was our levelers. Three of them raised, but not the fourth. In the last post I mentioned how uneven our site was, remember (if you read it)? The weight of the RV came to rest on that one leveler in such a way that the leg, which rises up into a housing tube, was jammed at an angle against the housing with such pressure that it could not raise. For the next hour and a half I was under the RV, trying to raise it with a 4 ton bottle jack, then moving the RV forward to relieve the pressure, and using a drill manually to raise the leg. Once it was up the weight of the RV pressed down on the bottle jack so it couldn't be removed. We had to move the RV backwards this time to force the jack free. Then we had to reset all four levelers as they were out of sync.Thank goodness they all work. It would have been a big expense to have to buy a new one. I couldn't have done all of this without the assistance of my better half Nancy.

Next we had to fill up with fuel. When we finally got going, I missed a turn because the GPS had not caught up to where we were so we had to detour around. Not so easy, we got stopped at a RR crossing while a long arsed train took its time crossing.

The entire 263 miles from Jackson to Red Bay was fraught with high winds and gusts as a remnant of winter storm Ulmer, which although it died early created high winds across Mississippi and Alabama.

The nice part of the trip was that the GPS routed us on 59 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Tombigbee National Forest. Although the speed limit was 50 mph, it allowed us to look around and see things we might have passed at a higher speed. We saw three young turkey hens and about four redtail hawks. Even better we were at the front of the line, with multiple cars behind us. At one point on the two lane road we saw a tractor trailer that missed its exit and went into a ditch blocking the southbound lane. The driver was alright, attempting to back the rig out of the ditch. As soon as we had cell service we called 911 to get him assistance.

So here we are, where we will be for at least a week or two as we get things on our list repaired or replaced. At least we have phone service.

We ain't in Texas no mo!

We know Texas is BIG, but we thought we'd never get out. Left Baytown at 11am, drove 429 miles in 7-1/2 hours, and here we are in Clinton, MS, right outside of Jackson. They don't do RV parks here like they do in Texas however. We can't get level and took forever to get in our site which is in the middle of a mobile home park.

Nice people in an RV passed us and held up a sign saying one of our bay doors was open. Stopped right away and it wasn't a bay door. The wheel well cover was flapping, the third time this has happened. The cover vibrates and in doing so enlarges the hole where the bolt attaches it to the frame, eventually cutting a path thru the fiberglass and allowing the cover to get loose and flap. I taped it closed and continued on.

We thought we would stay here for a few days and see what Jackson has to offer, but with the RV park as it is, we are just going to do the remaining 271 miles tomorrow and maybe get some work on the RV done early.

So not much more to report as all we did was drive all day.

Baytown Tx Just East of Houston

Well, here we are at our final stop in Texas. Yesterday we mentioned that we had an appointment to fix our window today but it could have been any time from 8am to 5 pm. I had set an alarm last night to wake me up so I could call at 8am and see if we could beg for a morning appointment, but it turned out to be unnecessary. At 7:15 we received a text from the repairman saying he would be at our site at 7:30 because he felt we would want to get on our way. At 7:35 he knocked on the door and began repairing the window. He showed us a second crack as well. At 8:16 he was done and gone.

We left Corpus at 10:16 and for a brief moment thought of going back to Schertz and surprising Marjorie and Mom again. We didn't, just turned off and started our drive to Baytown. Stopped for fuel at a Buc-ees, a place I mentioned in an earlier post. Fuel prices everywhere we saw were over $3, but at Buc-ees we paid $2.47/gallon. A great savings!

The ride went well until we got to Houston. They had blocked off the exit we needed which backed up traffic for miles. We went nine tenths of a mile in one hour. Overall we lost almost two hours due to traffic. Finally was able to get off highway 59, worked our way around and got to Interstate 10 and on to our destination, where we will stay until Tuesday morning, when we head to Mississippi.

The weather here should be in the mid 70's, although with a high chance of rain, but maybe we can get to the pool tomorrow or Monday. 

When it Rains...

We just finished having our lights fixed today. We were done, or so we thought. We had to turn right back into Freightliner; they had messed up our dash ac fan. An hour or so later, Mark, the service tech, and the foreman, with the foreman driving, were on a test drive down I-37. The RV in front of our RV kicked up a stone and chipped our windshield. Freightliner refused to pay or even help pay the deductible for the windshield, and they claim the problem with our ac fan is not their fault, even though we didn't have the problem before they worked on our lights . Soooooo, we are back at the Shriner's tonight, and tomorrow am we will be waiting for someone to come to us to repair the chip. Then, maybe, we can get moving and back on schedule.

Corpus Christi, Tx

As mentioned in our last blog, the weather was too cold to do anything. No swimming, no spa, no beach, no sitting outside. Also as predicted, the temps went to 79° the day we left Port Aransas. We only had to drive 37 miles to just west of Corpus Christi as we stopped at Freightliner to get our lights repaired. They didn't have the part and had to overnight it from Memphis. This will be another thousand dollar repair!

We called RV parks in the area for an overnight stay but they were all booked, as it is Spring Break. But we lucked out as one block away was the Al Amin Shrine Temple, and they had a vacancy. They actually have 10 water/electric sites and 4 full hookup sites ($25 per night). So here we are for the night. Depending on when Freightliner finishes tomorrow (the part won't arrive until noon), we may or may not be on our way to Houston. We have an appointment in Red Bay, Alabama on the 17th, so we will still have time to make it even if we are delayed a day or two

Port Aransas, Tx

While in Schertz we visited Rob at the home. He was more alert and mobile than when we saw him last month. It was a treat seeing him respond to the activities they had. Richard and I repaired a window trim around one door that was beginning to rot from the weather, and we modified two door locks that didn't work properly. This week Marjorie is having her koi pond repaired and enlarged by three times.

We left Schertz yesterday and drove southeast to Port Aransas, a city located on Mustang Island, north of South Padre Island and across the bay from Corpus Christi. The park we are at is a private RV park, but it is beautiful. Our site is real nice and the front of our rig overlooks a pond. Each site has their own private modem for wifi. Two rows of RVs past ours is the beach on the Gulf of Mexico. They have a heated pool and heated deep water spa. Of course we can't use them because as has been our lot on this trip, the weather is not cooperating. Temps tonight will go to 26, with wind chill in the teens, and a high of 38 today. We are leaving Thursday, so naturally the temp will return to a seasonal temp of 79. Here is what our site looks like:

When we leave, we have to stop at Freightliner in Corpus Christi. We discovered that when our headlights are on, they blink on and off along with our fog lights. Somewhere we have a poor connection that needs to be identified and corrected. We contacted several RV mobile repair services, but they don't have the experience to help us, so on to Freightliner, our chassis manufacturer.

Back in Schertz

Our last several posts have been vague as to our location on purpose. Since we were actively travelling based on avoiding cold weather and snow, we wound up moving further and further south. We missed half the places we had planned on going to see because of the weather, and eventually found us backtracking on our westerly route. Southern Arizona, New Mexico and west Texas, namely Fort Stockton, the home of the world's largest roadrunner.

Our purpose in being vague was so that we could surprise my mom and sister by just showing up at their home here in Schertz especially since we had shown them our original plans and stated that that path would not bring us back here.

So on Sunday we left El Paso and drove to Fort Stockton. While there we toured the remains of the Fort and the place it took protecting the San Antonio-San Diego Trail during the mid-1800s. It was the home of the Buffalo Soldiers who played a great part in defeating the Apache, then the Comanche tribes. The fort was built here because of Comanche Springs, a body of water the Indian tribes used for water (very alkaline), as well as nomadic animals, such as the buffalo. The Springs produced over 6 million gallons of water every day.

Next we visited the Annie Riggs Museum. This was a building purchased for $4000 by Annie Riggs in the late 1890s who converted it into a hotel. It was lucrative, as many cowboys would come to town with their cattle and needed a place to stay. They could stay for 50 cents for one-half a bed per night (they would have to share the bed with other cowboys). The Hotel was on a hillside, and the breezes that blew up the hill, the coolness from the water, and the adobe walls made the rooms very cool. The springs provided entertainment for the area as it not only provided water but swimming and swim suit pageants.

Annie owned the hotel until 1931 when she died. In 1955 her children turned the hotel over to the Historical Commission and it became a museum, showcasing the appliances and way of life of a frontier hotel, as well as displays showing the history of the area and the progression of the town. The sad part is that Comanche Springs no longer exists. A vineyard to the West of town and a pecan farm to the East divert all the water. All that left in it's place is a community swimming pool.

After we arrived in Schertz, we walked into Marjorie's home. She was asleep in her recliner, but when we woke her but asking where we "register" she started screaming with joy. Literally! I wish I could have taped it for America's Funniest Videos.

So we went to dinner and later that night we kind of did the same thing to Richard at the airport, although he didn't get as excited as Marjorie. He had flown in that night to visit for two weeks.

RV Driver Needed

This is Nancy writing today.We drove from West Texas to Central Texas. High winds blowing the entire way. We've been on the road so long that Mark is not my favorite person and I might have gone too far this time. Look at this picture and tell me if I went over the line. BTW, now I need a driver!

JUST KIDDING!

It's Mark. Along the way, with all the wind shaking us, a wine box holding 3 bottles fell from it's location under our table and hit the floor. It cracked the bottom off one bottle of blackberry wine and sent it all over. What a mess! Had to steam mop the floor after we were down in our knees wiping it up. RV smells like a winery now. 

Our campground is over 100 miles away from any interesting sites so we are going to stay here tomorrow to relax, then continue working our way to Alabama. At least it was warm today, 74°. Of course it will be in the 60s tomorrow, too cold for swimming, but better than back home.

Minor Interruption

Nancy hasn't been feeling well, either allergies or a bad cold, so we haven't been doing anything postworthy. Once she is feeling better and we visit places I will start posting again. Consider this a mid-season break 🤪

Snow? Bah, humbug!

We left Las Vegas yesterday, but had to take a more southerly route than the one we had planned. Flagstaff had, and was continuing to have snow, like 15 inches. So there went the Grand Canyon. Holbrook was due to get 3-5 inches, but up to 10 inches, so there went the Painted Desert and Route 66. Amarillo was going to have that white stuff too, so for sure that killed that route. Snow and cold is what we wanted to get away from on this trip.So we drove south to a little KOA on our new route. We drove thru mountains 5000 feet high

and thru dessert at 4200 feet. We drove thru the Joshua Forest Parkway of Arizona, where we saw more Joshua Trees than we saw at Joshua National Park in California. We saw Nancy's favorite cactus, the saguarro, all over the desert. Just stunning! 

We got to the campground after dark , at 6 pm, so the office was closed. This KOA was in the desert, where we were traveling.The last 1/4 mile to the campground was so full of potholes, we could have scrambled eggs. At the campground no lights were on to see our way. A map to our site was left outside the office but it was so dark we missed the turn to our site. It took us an hour to find it and get backed in and it was not a large campground. Never again!

This morning we left and drove 289 miles thru New Mexico to our next location where we will spend the next week. It has a heated pool and hot tub. With the weather dropping into the low 30s and upper 20s each night since we left in December, we are looking forward to using that hot tub every day this week.

Good night Las Vegas

This was an interesting but relaxing week. Wednesday we went to "Menopause, the musical" with Cindy Williams of Laverne and Shirley fame. Although she received top billing, she had the smallest part. If you've never seen it, do so. It is a laugh riot.

Yesterday it rained all day, so we stayed in. At most they had one inch of rain but it caused over 100 serious accidents. Most of them were from run off down the "washes". Winds were 45 mph with gusts to 60.

Today we saw a comic magician, Derek Hughes. He was on Comedy Central, MTV, and a host of other shows and competitions.

He did one set where he had people think of a town, a name from their phone list, and pick out a word at the top of a page in the dictionary. He then wrote on a pad his thoughts of what the people was thinking and got every one right. No tricks, because Nancy was one of the people. He was really good, and funny.

We decided to skip Fremont Street, saving it for another visit, as we will be leaving early tomorrow, Saturday, for Holbrook, AZ. I'm a little concerned as we have to pass by Flagstaff, which is having snow, and it makes driving very hazardous.

So, I will be posting next from Arizona. Have a great weekend everyone.

Hoover Dam

This morning we went to Hoover (nee Boulder) Dam, in Boulder City, 30 miles from Las Vegas. A mile and a half from the dam every vehicle is stopped and searched for possible explosives and weapons.

The dam was completed in 1935 and was named Boulder Dam. In 1947 it was renamed Hoover Dam. It goes across the Colorado River, and when finished the backed up water created Lake Mead. There is a sluice for runoff if the lake gets too high which would divert the water behind the damn and down into the river.

However the last time the lake deposited water in it was when Ronald Reagan was president in 1983. You can see how low the water is from where it used to be in this picture. The white calcium shows it's former height.

Here is the dam

These towers are where the water is sucked into the turbines, which in turn generates electricity. The water behind the dam goes from this

to this

Can you see the river down there?

Here is a view of Boulder Basin, which is 1/4 of Lake Mead, from an overlook 400 feet above the lake.

The north shore is 6 miles across from this view. The lake has a depth of 532 feet, is the largest water reservoir in the US, and was the first national recreation area.

We didn't go on the tour thru the inside of the dam as the line was too long. The wind today was 45 mph and almost blew me over the wall!

We will be staying in Las Vegas all week, leaving on Saturday for Winslow, AZ. We decided to stay till then as we have to drive thru Flagstaff, and it is having 3 days of snow and high winds this week, which would make the drive difficult.