We made it! And we are nice and warm.

We got off nice and early and headed away from Florida to Athens, TX to get our braking system installed.  We arrived right on time at 0815am and they were waiting for us, always a good sign.  They opened up two doors on their building, one for the truck and one for the motorhome, and in we went, good thing too, since it was all of 28 degrees.

Two gentlemen went right to work, opened the hood of the truck and the master cylinder was off in no time.  They had their proprietary part ready and in it went.

Off comes the master cylinder

In goes their part

A close up of the assembly

All installed

They then had to run an air line from the front of the truck up to the assembly, and a wire for the breakaway.  The breakaway is a device that should the tow bar break and the vehicle come off the back of the motorhome it will apply the brakes so the vehicle comes to a stop.  

The airline connection, the plug for the lights is still hanging
down, and to the right is the breakaway plug.
Almost complete

I even tried to lend a hand although it was not needed.

So in only about 2 hours they completed the install.  Now I have proportional brakes for the truck, activated by a brake application in the motorhome, a breakaway system should the truck come loose, an indicator by my seat in the motorhome showing when the truck brakes are applied, and no change in drivability to the truck and unless you raise the hood no sign of anything added to the truck.  Excellent!

So after 80 miles the wrong way, 2 hours for the install, and 80 miles back we get headed to Florida.  We made it to Vicksburg, MS for the night.  Funny after all these years we just don't remember some of the campgrounds, it wasn't until we pulled in the entrance that we realized we had stayed there before.  The next day we drove to Montgomery, AL and Jason was able to come and visit and spend the night with us.  So we celebrated Christmas again with him.  He arrived just as our first gremlin hit.  Go to pull out our electrical cord and nothing.  I need to explain, our electric cord is on a reel that is powered to extend and powered to retract, and unfortunately if it doesn't work for some reason you cannot just pull it out.  Now to back up a bit, when we arrived in Longview, the electric cord had somehow extended itself completely in the plumbing bay and would not move either way.  After troubleshooting, I found the motor had died and ordered a new one.  A bit of a challenge installing it because of accessibility, but Jan and I got it in, and it worked great, until now.  So Jason and I got out the meter and messed around in the 30 degree weather to find out the switch that sends it in or out was bad, but clever as we are, we found if we switched the wires around we could make it run in one direction only.  Good enough, so for the last few days I have been switching the wires so it will run in the required direction.  I have since ordered a new switch, one more thing on the to do list for Florida.

All those items I had mentioned doing to the motorhome in Texas were not done because I was too wimpy with the cold weather, so the AC unit still needs replaced and the air compressor is still not installed.  They will be added to the list, but we will be here for 4 months so no excuses.

Had one other detour on the way to deal with some awning issues which are being taken care of soon.  We are going to do quite a bit of work to the motorhome next month.  I'll fill you in soon.

Cute Song about RVing

Got a kick out of this and thought I'd share it.

Jan and I are getting ready to leave this morning to get our M&G brake system, then eastbound and down, heading for Florida!  Warm, warm Florida, Jan and I have been freezing for weeks.  It is ridiculous but we have definitely acclimated to warm weather.  It's funny, hard to believe 20 years in NH, and if it went above freezing we'd be out washing cars, and now if it's less than 60 or so we need a coat!  Kinda pathetic:-)

Recap

Now that we are back in Longview, I wanted to offer a recap of our trip to Pender, NE.  800 miles each way!  But it only turned out to be from Sat-Wed, we cut off a whole day thanks to the people at Blue Ox.  We found out we are so, so spoiled to travel with all our stuff and sleep in our own bed, and mostly eat our own food in the motorhome as opposed to traveling in a vehicle, sleeping in hotels, and eating, some good and some bad, in restaurants.

So off we go.

Cloudy and cold

We spent the first night in Bartlesville, OK, and several miles north of there we stumbled upon this.

We had no idea they started in Kansas

Their "little house"

Getting tired

It stayed very cold, but clear.  It was a much prettier ride than we had anticipated, lots of rolling hills, and of course tons of farming, fields as far as you could see.

Into Nebraska

A pretty sunset as we roll, finally, into West Point, NE
the nearest hotel 18 miles south of Pender

We drove into Sioux City, IA for lunch the first day, and even saw a movie, then we drove to Norfolk, NE for lunch the second day, about 50 miles from Pender for each one!  But they finished up a whole day early so we were able to head back south by 2pm on Tuesday.  Made it to Topeka for the night, then off at 0530am yesterday to get back to Longview by 4pm.  Very pleased with the work and the baseplate and our new tow bar!  But our new truck, not quite a month old already has 4300 miles!!!! And we still have to drive over to Dallas tomorrow for a meeting, 140 miles each way.  But things will calm down when we get to Florida, and hopefully give the truck a rest:-)

Our new baseplate, hard to see which is good!
The round holes on either side is where the tow bar connects,
and the wiring light kit on the chrome socket in the middle.
The real goods are behind the bumper.

We are now enjoying 70 degree weather, really nice after teens in Nebraska.  Looking forward to an early Christmas celebration with the grandkids, then off to get our brake system installed on Monday and on to sunny Florida!

Halfway

We were welcomed at Blue Ox and thanked for participating in their fit program.  We tried to tell them that it was a huge plus for us, but they are very glad to have people bring their new vehicles to them so they can work on developing baseplates for more and more vehicles.  Pender, NE is absolutely in the middle of nowhere and the first question I asked was why were they there?  Turns out the company started there in 1926 building and fabricating farm and ag equipment, it wasn't until the 1980's when they started in on vehicle towing equipment during a farming recession.  They have now diversified into all sorts of towing equipment, receiver hitches, motorcycle and ATV lifts, braking systems, steering aids, etc.  We had an interesting tour and learned a lot about the company.  Then since we really couldn't find anywhere to eat in town, we headed out for Sioux City, IA for lunch, about 50+ miles, and a...........movie!  We don't ever do movies so this was pretty monumental.  

We got back to Blue Ox about 5pm and got some great news that they expected to have us done by about 12-1pm today!  So we will be heading back south this afternoon, a whole day earlier than expected, maybe to Topeka.  This has been a great experience so far.

In position

Just a quick update.  Jan and I have been driving the last two days, north unfortunately and are presently in a "lovely" hotel about 18 miles from Blue Ox, the company that is going to fabricate, mount our baseplate on the truck, and wire the lights, and give us a new tow bar!  It is a balmy 11 degrees outside so we are working up our courage to go outside and head up there for our 8am appointment.  It may take up to 2 1/2 days to get it all done, but we are hoping for a shorter time.  The town we are in basically has 2-3 restaurants and we had dinner last night at Pizza Hut, so that gives you an idea of what is available, how they can even support this hotel is a mystery?  It actually looks as if we are the only customers at the inn.  This is an incredible opportunity that is requiring a bit of sacrifice on our part.  The town where Blue Ox is, Pender, is even smaller than where we are now, it will be interesting to see if there is even a place for lunch?

I will let you know how we are progressing.

Got er Done

I delivered Karen's motorhome yesterday.  It was quite a duel with Mother Nature.  As I said we went over to Weatherford, TX last week to stage it to Longview to beat the ice storm.  Good that we did as the Dallas area got 2-3 inches of ice!  Then the weather was a bit iffy so I didn't leave until Monday morning.  It was a nice drive up to Little Rock where I encountered ice and snow on the interstate and wondered if I would have to stop and wait for it to improve?  But I pressed on hoping the change in direction more due east towards Memphis would get me out of it and it did!  So I made it 500+ miles the first day, and beat sunset by 30 minutes:-)  Spent the night in a nice little campground 100 miles southwest of Nashville all ready for my last day into Louisville of only 280 miles.  After dinner I checked the weather and was surprised to find out that now my area and Nashville was expected to get snow and change over to a wintry mix overnight, then clear up mid morning although the temps weren't supposed to get much over freezing.  So I got things cleaned up and decided to put all the slides in for the night in case I actually did get snow so I wouldn't have to crawl up on the roof to get the snow and ice off the slide topper awnings.  Turned out I must have scared Mother Nature because no precip came my way all night.  Fantastic!  So off I went about 30 minutes before sunrise in pretty nice weather, and sure enough in a few minutes it was absolutely clear and sunny, but cold, about 25-30 degrees.  I started hearing some reports of ice on the roads near Nashville and reports of bad accidents and a closed interstate ahead of me.  Sure enough about 25 miles west of Nashville I see stopped traffic ahead, ice starting to cover the roads, and plentiful wrecks all over the place!  I bailed out and got fuel, conversed with Karen who was able to get online to check things out, and got back out on the road.  Well, it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to go 18 miles to my cut around road, Rte 155!  Traffic and road conditions were horrible to say the least.  But, as I headed north from Nashville things got better and better and even though I was almost 2 hours later getting there than planned, I was still able to make the airplane I had hoped for when I started the whole adventure.

So Karen's motorhome is safe and sound at Windenskye waiting on her next adventure, and I, after having to wait on 3 flights out of Atlanta to Shreveport, am back and anticipating Jan and my next trip up to Pender, NE to get the truck baseplate put on.  The weather there has been snowy and get this-------1 degree---the last few days, don't think we'll pack bathing suits!

Leg 1 complete

We beat the weather yesterday and have repositioned Karen's coach to our campground in Longview.  Good we did as they are getting snow and ice there now.  It started raining here yesterday afternoon and is still raining hard, but luckily it is above freezing.  Now it looks as if Monday morning early is my departure to Louisville.

It was a good trip as we got a chance to meet Ernie Ekberg, the man who does the floor renovations and the guy we have an appointment with next year to have our floor redone.  We are going to remove all our tile and install engineered wood similar to what Karen has done.  By the way her coach looks fabulous!  Ernie did an excellent job, and the new wood looks so much better than the carpeting.

Got thinking I should certainly add a photo of her floor!

Nice, huh?

Race Day

I said I was going to move Karen's motorhome from Weatherford, TX, a town to the west of Fort Worth, back home to her in Louisville to help her out a bit.  Mother nature is throwing us a curve ball.  There is a large winter storm with freezing rain forecast from Dallas to Cleveland.  I had planned to go on Sunday to pick it up and head north, but we are afraid if it sits in Weatherford until then I may never get it out.  The freezing rain is to start there today and the temps are supposed to stay below freezing through Tuesday so this morning we are racing over there to get her motorhome and bring it here to Longview while we wait to see what is in store weather wise.  Another challenge is that it is 180 miles from Longview, everything's bigger in Texas, so it will take a good part of the day.  Then either Sunday or Monday I will head up to Louisville.

On the Move

Thanksgiving festivities behind us, we are on the move.  Jan and I, and Jason left KY yesterday, Jay on his way home, and us on our way to Kelly's.  A little bit of a delay so Jan could climb on the icy roof and break and remove a big chunk of ice on the slide topper awning that was preventing the slide from coming in.  As I said it is way too cold!

A pleasant uneventful drive to West Memphis, AR to Tom Sawyer's RV Park, a beautiful spot right on the Mississippi River.  We had to drive separately which is different for us since the baseplate is not yet on the new truck.  Amazing, the truck got 22 mpg!  And that is super.

A barge and tow boat going by at sunset

Not a bad view right from our campsite.

We'll get to Kelly's today and we are really looking forward to seeing the grandkids, it's been way too long since I've seen them.  Then we have several projects to attend to while there.  The new AC unit needs to be installed, and the old one sold?  The new air compressor for the leveling system needs to go on, the truck needs to get it's baseplate installed, the new braking system for the truck needs to be installed, and I'm going to drive Karen's motorhome back up to her place from Dallas, actually Weatherford where she has had a new beautiful wood floor installed.  The cold weather in Louisville prevented some of the stuff from being done there.  Hopefully, mother nature will cooperate in Texas.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

The day has arrived.  We've been having a good time, a bit quieter than usual, but good nonetheless.  The weather has been cold, in fact, it is just 20 right now.  But we should get a small warming trend today.  We'll be heading up shortly for our delicious breakfast before the serious cooking will begin.  A few more friends will arrive today, travel should be fine as the snow has passed.

A lot has happened this year for our family, but there is so much to be thankful for, so give each other a hug and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Week

The culmination of our time here in Louisville at Karen and Tom's Windenskye is upon us.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year.  Those who know me realize that.  It is a no pressure gathering of family and friends to celebrate your own reasons to be thankful. We have had the whole gamut here over the years from groups as large as 50 to this year, only 12.  We are fortunate that our son Jason will be here this year as he has missed several, but are disappointed that Kelly and Todd and the grandkids won't be.  Neither of Karen and Tom's sons will be here either, the cost of growing up.  None of sister's Nancy's brood will be here either.

We'll go to the airport in a few minutes to pick up Ray and April, and Rachel is expected later today.  The others will arrive over the next few days right up to T-Day.  Unfortunately the weather isn't really cooperating, it's 22 degrees right now and only supposed to warm up to a balmy high of 42 on Friday with a good chance of snow on Tuesday.  Now in all honesty we have had snow before and some shirt sleeve weather in the past, whatever Mother Nature throws at us, we'll still be thankful to be together and have a good time.

Several pics

I had an opportunity to take a couple pictures after we got the tonneau cover and the bed step installed.

The new Truck

Tonneau cover installed

Bed step retracted

Bed step out and ready for use

That's all folks, won't bug you any more with our new truck:-)

A new toad

We have been hemming and hawing about getting a truck to replace the Jeep.  There have been and we anticipate times we would rather carry stuff in a truck bed rather than inside the SUV.  Things like our scooter or an inflatable boat and outboard motor.  So we have been doing a lot of research on trucks.  We have been, as I have mentioned, very pleased with our latest Jeep Grand Cherokee, the 2012.  The fit and finish, the air suspension, and the gas mileage have been fantastic, so it was with a bit of trepidation that we considering the change.  Most all of the pickups in the trim levels we desire come with V8 engines except for the EcoBoost engine in the Ford which is a 6 cylinder.  The mileage of all of them is about the same, but all 3 companies have been working hard to achieve better mileage and they have made a lot of headway.

We looked at all three, but the Dodge Ram got the tip of our hat.  It has an air suspension like the Jeep, gas mileage only a few mpg's worse than the 6 in the Jeep, fit and finish and the interior is awesome, and it has the RamBox system which is storage compartments along the side of the bed.  They are lockable, waterproof, lighted, and provide a surprising amount of protected storage.  The crew cab in all of the trucks is actually bigger inside than the Jeep and the back seat area is huge!  So we got a 2014 Dodge Ram 4X4 in a Limited trim package.  We had quite an experience buying it and actually ended up getting it in Greenville, SC!  We bought it at Big O Dodge and had an excellent experience, totally painless, at a fantastic price.  We then drove it down to Atlanta for a quick visit to get my permanent crown, and then back up to Louisville.  It has a Hemi in it with lots of snot, but like I said we were a little worried about the MPG, but we have averaged 20.5 mpg so far, and that makes us happy, happy.  

I have ordered a few accessories for it, a bed step to allow you to just step up into the bed and a folding tonneau cover to protect the bed, but easily rolled up to get out of the way when you need to put something tall in the back, and it also should increase the gas mileage a bit.

The Ram is towable four down just like the Jeep, so we have to get a baseplate, a unit that mounts to the truck to enable our tow bar to connect to it, a wiring kit so we have lights while towing, and a braking system so the truck has brakes while being towed by the motorhome.  I have always bought the baseplate and installed them myself, and the brand of tow bar we have been using for over 18 years is Blue Ox  So I go on their website to check on a baseplate and find out there is no listing yet for a 2014 Dodge Ram Limited! Uh oh, so I give them a call and they tell me they will check and call me back, hmmmm.  In a little while they call and say they have not developed a baseplate for our very new vehicle yet, and as my heart sinks, they say they would like to offer us to be a part of their fitment program.  What's that?  Well, we would like to be able to use your truck to develop a baseplate and instructions that we will be able to offer for sale.  We would install a FREE baseplate on your vehicle for FREE, give you a brand new tow bar for FREE, install a wiring kit for $50, including the kit itself, would you be interested?  HELL YES we would!!  Just to put this in perspective, the tow bar is about $600, the baseplate usually is about $400, and the wiring kit is about $60, all without any installation costs.  The only catch is we have to get the truck to their factory in Pender, NE.  So we have an appointment on Dec 16th and plan to drive from Kelly's in Texas up to have it all done.  Then we have another appointment to have an M&G braking system installed on our way out of Texas later in the month.  We chose the M&G because it is a seamless system in that their is no indication when driving the truck that there is any braking system installed, it uses the truck's vacuum system utilizing power brakes, and has a breakaway feature as well, one air line and one cable is used between the motorhome and the truck.

I'll get a few pictures up when we get it all done.  Counting down to Thanksgiving now, and with the cold weather descending upon us we are getting anxious to get to balmy Florida!

A little hint

A new toad?

A quick post

Not much happening so a quick update.

Karen saw her surgeon and is doing extremely well.  She will go to therapy now instead of them coming to her.  Although in pain periodically she is up and walking around very well.

Will have an announcement on a toad very soon, don't want to jinx it:-)  Some very exciting stuff.

We got the new AC and thermostat just in time for cold weather, highs in the 30's, lows in the 20's.  We will NOT be going on the roof to replace AC's while it is this cold, even if we have to cart it with us to Texas.

We have to make a very quick 3 day trip to get my permanent crown put on.  Jessica has been kind enough to check on Bert while we are gone.

Hopefully with all this cold weather, we won't have to go out and get diesel before we plan to leave at the end of the month.  Unusually cold!  We use a little bit of electric, but mostly diesel for our heat and hot water at these temps.

The Alaska plans are firm, but we haven't made our reservations yet.  We are juggling that weekly right now.  Seems the Alaska Marine Highway has a policy that you have to pay when you make your reservation even if the travel isn't until June and Aug in our case.  With the two of us combined about to spend more than $10,000, we are NOT anxious to have Alaska hold onto our money!  So we will put this off as long as we can without losing a space on the boats.

That's all for now folks!

Slow and steady

Kind of quiet right now.  Karen is steadily getting better and better, staples out and she is moving around quite well.  It is amazing.  She has made a couple small outings with Jan to the store already!

Definitely moving into serious fall here in Kentucky.  I mowed a couple days to finish up the rest of the grass, and mostly leaves.  A couple warmer days but getting cooler, with cold nights.  I ordered a new air conditioner for the motorhome to finish the project we started back in CO in summer of 2012.  This way we will have 3 new A/C's and two new programmable thermostats.  I'll need to get Tom's help to get it on and off the roof, hopefully before the snow flies:-)

Put in the new water pump and our random filling of the fresh water tank has ended, good to know that was definitely the problem.  Steve and Bobbie left last week so we moved down into the "senior" site.  

Glad to say I found some medical insurance for Jan and I, that certainly makes us feel better.  

We are working on plans for our Alaska trip for summer 2014.  Our little caravan of Karen and us are going to take the ferry north from Prince Rupert, BC to Juneau, then from Juneau to Haines after spending several days in Juneau, and then we will ferry south from Haines all the way to Bellingham, WA to end the trip.  We were having some trepidation about our freezer, that will hopefully be full of fish, but seems most people have no problem.  The boat ride is 3 1/2 days without any power to the motorhomes.  We'll make our reservations shortly.  The ferry fills up quickly especially for a 45' and a 42' motorhome!

Both Karen and us are contemplating new vehicles to tow before the trip, so that adds a little more logistical challenge also.  Want to get all the maintenance and additions to the motorhomes done, and if we get new vehicles, we'll need to get the towing and braking equipment mounted and installed as well.  To get a boat or not is still being discussed, but we haven't come up with an answer to that yet.  On one hand an inflatable with an outboard would really come in handy, but is it worth the hassle of carting it around and setting it up?  What do you think?

Whirlwind trip

Just got back yesterday from my whirlwind trip to Florida to help Jason move.  Flew out Wed, all went well, even security with one small glitch I never thought of, but got into Sarasota right on time.  Jason picked me up and he wanted to get one last excellent chinese lunch in at Yummy, and it was fantastic.  So then we had to run down to Naples, 90 minutes one way to pick up a paper, pick up the moving truck, then back to Ray and April's for dinner and to spend the night, at least I did, Jason had to get a few more things packed.

We got together early to get ready for the two man crew he had hired to load the truck, second story condo and all, so we killed time throwing away a ton of stuff.  At 10:45, 15 minutes past the scheduled time Jason calls to see where they are, and gets, "Oh was that today?  Sorry we won't be able to come."  Oh man.  Well I have to say Jason wasn't alarmed, he says he'll get someone else on Craig's List.  I have my doubts, but several hours later two guys show up that are absolutely fantastic.  They pack the truck efficiently, and Jason and I realize that if we were doing it all ourselves we would never have gotten it all loaded in the 17' truck that he rented.  So now we do the final cleanup and head over to R&A's for the night.  After a not very restful night, we launch for Atlanta at 4:45, yeah that's am, early.

Have an uneventful drive, meet with the realtor for his walk through at his new place, and we are all in place for his 4:30pm appointment for two guys to unload the truck.  All right!  Well, at 4:45 no one is there, so he calls and finds out this crew have broken down and won't be coming either!  Hard to believe.  Anyway, on a Friday afternoon at 5pm, unbelievably he gets another crew arranged that is supposed to be there in a few hours.  So we have time to run out and buy a bunch of stuff for his new house.  The unloading is delayed another hour or so because the guys GPS is leading them in circles, but they do arrive and in less than an hour have the truck unloaded.  So we pitch in, unpack, set up, make beds, etc, eat a late dinner, and go to bed.

Flew back yesterday, only an hour late, security in ATL only took 35 minutes:-(, and I won't have to fly for awhile, a long while hopefully, so all went well eventually.  He starts his new job Monday, so he still has today to get a lot done.  Good luck Jason!!

A few ramblings

The weather has been really cold, hard freeze cold, but thankfully only for a few days.  It is supposed to warm back up starting today to the mid 60's.  The 30's make walking not enjoyable at all!

Karen is kicking it!  Walking up and down the driveway.  Moving around the house.  Doing hours and hours of exercise each day, including physical therapy.  She will be running circles around all of us very soon.

Jason came and spent two days with us, also found a rental house in Newnan, GA.  Stayed busy by getting all the logistic stuff like electric, water, gas, TV, internet, etc.  arranged for, not to mention the moving itself.  I'm going to fly (yuck) down to FL to help drive his car back up to Atlanta while he drives the moving truck.  It will give us a chance to get some of his stuff out of our storage unit, and I'll be able to see Ray and April.  If it wasn't for the flying it would be a fun road trip.

Karen has been plagued with an unusual problem on her motorhome that now and then her fresh water tank fills itself!?!  Normally you use a valve, a positive acting ball valve, to allow city water to bypass the coach and go into the water tank.  And since the problem was so intermittent, it was easy to just sort of ignore.  Well, she must of jinxed us, because just the other day we go to leave our motorhome and notice water running out underneath out of our water tank overflow, so now our tank is filling itself as well!  Figure it might be a fluke, so we use the water tank for our water, run it back down to about a third, and find out the next day it is doing it again!  Well I track it all down, study the schematics, and the plumbing and find out the only way this can happen is if the water is passing through the water pump.  It has an internal check valve, non repairable, of course, so we ordered a new pump.  We would do the same for Karen, but her motorhome isn't here right now, it's in Texas about to get a new floor installed.  So we will take care of replacing her pump later this year.

I have been wanting to try Pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup for a long time, but for one reason or another never had.  Well we found a restaurant here in Louisville that had great ratings, so Jan, Jason, and I went.  Vietnam Kitchen had at least 6-7 different Phos to pick from, so Jan had a grilled beef one and I had a beef and meatball version.  Well, it was worth the wait!  It was delicious!  We will get back there several times in our time here, and Tom and Karen want to go as well.  They have quite an extensive menu, and looking around we saw a lot of very interesting food we want to try.  Wow, a new cuisine to explore.

On another note we got the dreaded note from our insurance company saying they would not be offering us health insurance in 2014, so we get to join the tons of folks in the same boat looking for health insurance for the new year.  I think I found a solution and should find out in a week or so.  More money no doubt, but we, read me, need it.

We have a couple more projects planned in the upcoming weeks to keep us busy, so in the meantime enjoy your fall!

She's home!

Karen's home.  The doctor gave her his blessing and she got home around 1pm.  She's in familiar surroundings and ready to get the recovery under way.  Lots of therapy and healing and soon she'll be as good as new!

The patient.

Karen's doing well!

Her surgery was short and sweet, 2 hours for both knees!  We wondered if the Doc forgot one:-)  Up and moving on her own power the next day.  Lots of physical therapy.  Her real work now begins.  Doctor hasn't said yet when she is coming home, looks like Thursday or Friday right now.  She's in good spirits and doing what she's told, amazing, huh?

We finally managed to get the salt off the motorhome from our Hatteras visit.  One of the downfalls of this lifestyle is getting your rig washed.  Most campgrounds won't allow it, so lots of times it gets pretty dirty before you can finally get it clean.  Also we are trying a new thing, putting Mop n Glow on the roof.  There have been a lot of reports that it keeps the streaks that inevitably come down the sides to a minimum.  We'll see, it only took about 15 minutes to apply so no big deal.

We just found out that Jason is coming up to visit for a couple days, he's been searching like a madman for a place to live in Atlanta and has put in a couple offers, so it's a wait and see game now, plus he is in such a whirlwind I'm sure he just wants to calm down for a bit.  It'll be a short reprieve since he'll need to head right back down to Florida, pack up, move, unpack in a new place and start work, all in a week!  Who knows, maybe while he's here I can get him to crawl under the motorhome and do a little project I have in mind??

The week flew by

Took a look at the blog and realized with a start it has been a week since I posted.  We've been busy with stuff, but not sure we really accomplished much.  I had a routine dentist appointment that turned into getting a crown that I wasn't expecting.  That's okay because I don't want to go through that miserable experience I had In Alabama when an old crown fell off.  We both saw our dermatologist so we both look hideous now:-)  I don't know what they'd do without that liquid nitrogen!  Jan had another doctor appointment, so we are all caught up.  The only thing I have to do is go back to Atlanta to get my permanent crown in Mid-November.  And that will be good as it will give us a chance to see our son, Jason, who is in the process of moving back there to take a new job that he just got this past week.

Now we are in Louisville and even got our oil change done on the way here at Speedco.  It is a very convenient way to get our annual service taken care of at a reasonable price and in a short time without an appointment.  Picture a Jiffy Lube for trucks and motorhomes.  Just roll in and they take care of you, and they are all over the country so it's pretty convenient.  

This will be an interesting next few weeks.  Karen is getting both, yes I said both, her knees replaced on Monday.  Quite a procedure, so we are hoping we will be able to help out for the next month or so.  Wish her luck.

Shaking Hands

We have the dubious honor of having a campsite that has a view of the dump station.  What's a dump station, you say?  A dump station is where an RV can dump or empty their holding tanks, gray and black.  Gray is the waste water from your sinks and shower and the black, well need I say more?

This campground on Allatoona Lake has only a few full hookup sites, most only have water and electric, that is typical of a campground right on a body of water, what with all the regulations for sewer near water.  So this dump station gets a lot of traffic.

Now folks all treat this chore a little differently, some like my late Father-in Law, with complete impunity, all the way up to folks that practically put on hazmat suits to take care of business.  Nowadays, most RV's sewer compartments operate pretty much the same way, hook up a 3" flexible hose, put the other end in the dump receptacle, open the black tank valve, let it drain, close the valve, open the gray tank valve to let the gray water wash out the hose, close the valve when empty, restow the hose and you're done. All in all, it is designed to make this easy and fairly clean.  Some like our motorhome make it just a even easier with a macerator that uses a 1" hose that never needs to be attached or unhooked as it is permanently attached, so never any leaking or dripping.  I digress.

Most folks deem to wear gloves, after all you are dealing with stuff you'd rather not deal with, right?  Well, believe it or not, many people don't including my FIL.  No big deal, right?  Yuck.  Jan and I fall into the middle on this, we sanitize the hose, sewer, even the electrical hookups with Clorox solution as we've seen some pretty nasty stuff over the years, and we always wear gloves.

The story this morning, an older couple pulls up to the dump station in a fairly new Class C, probably in their late 70's, both moving pretty slow, in fact she is a bit crippled up with a cane.  But they are not new to this game so she is out to direct him where to stop to make this chore as easy as possible, and after only two adjustments she is satisfied.  He gets out and makes his way back to the business area, opens a bay door and pulls out a plastic bag with the sewer hose in it.  So far so good, but then he reaches in with his bare hands and pulls out the hose.  He has to work to get down on his knees to get to the hose hookup on the motorhome, and when he goes to attach the hose, water, I will say water, pours out all over his hands, arms, and the hose he is trying to attach.  But he perseveres and gets it hooked up.  He then grabs a towel, wipes his hands off, always sanitary:-)  He then grabs the other end of the hose, opens up the sewer receptacle, and sticks it in.  Meanwhile she hasn't seen any of this because she took this time to throw away some trash in the dumpster nearby.  She makes her way back to see him happily dumping, and wiping his hands on the towel.  He finishes up, unhooks the hose getting more, remember I said I'll call it water all over his hands, she holds open the plastic bag, he stuffs the dripping hose in, hands her his towel so she can "clean" her hands as well.  They restow the bag, close up the compartments, he gets in his side, and she gets in her side and off they go!

The moral of the story is be careful and very, very reluctant to shake anyone's hands in a campground.

Atlanta

Back in Atlanta, a real love-hate relationship.  We like being here, it feels comfortable, homey, good friends, but man the traffic!  Your mind erases the bad stuff, thankfully, so when you get back and re-experience it, it is even worse than you remember.  But we need to get some Doctors and Dentist appointments out of the way.  Jan is flying out to Albuquerque to visit her mom, and Nancy and CT, and that is so much easier from ATL.  On the good side, the campground is quiet and looks good, the weather has been fantastic, fall in ATL is usually the best!  So with lots of visiting, and doctoring, we'll be here for another week then north to Louisville.

A very interesting campground!

We had to make a choice some time ago about how big a motorhome is best?  Obviously bigger is better in some regards as to living room and storage, but too big also keeps you out of a lot of campgrounds and makes maneuvering a bit challenging sometimes.  Well, as you know, we went with big, 45' long and almost 13' high.  And we accepted the fact we were cutting ourselves out of a lot of places, i.e., we can't stay in Yellowstone at Fishing Bridge anymore due to our size.  We also are in the habit of asking whenever we contact a campground if we can fit.  We use the Trailer Life/Woodall directory to choose most of our campgrounds with huge emphasis on their rating system, particularly the last number.  They rate using 3 numbers, such as 8/8/9.  The first number is completeness of the facility, does it have a pool, mini golf, clubhouse, rec hall, etc, we don't really worry about this, in fact we like a lower number on this as it means a less hectic place.  The middle number is how clean and nice are the rest rooms, showers, and laundry, we don't care about that either as we don't use the campground's facilities.  It's the last number we look at and that is visual attractiveness.  How beautiful are the grounds, how scenic is the area, is the landscaping nice, etc.  The rating go as high as 10/10/10, and there aren't too many 10's out there.

Soooo, after our mad exodus from the OBX, we were looking for a campground somewhere in the Asheville area and saw Mama Gertie's, rated 8.5/10/10!  And it was shown as big rig friendly.  Now big rig friendly means that the sites are big enough, the roads are wide enough, the trees trimmed enough, the turns can be made all for a 40-45' motorhome or 5th wheel.  We called ahead and made a reservation, they said no problem for our size, good to go.

So just east of Asheville we get off the exit, make a left and head UP a narrow two lane highway towards the campground.  Okay.  Then we see the entrance, nice and wide and well marked and notice how STEEP the road is, hmmmmm.  In we go and stop at the office, and there is such a slope that I say to Jan with a smile that I will stay in the motorhome in case it slips down the hill.  As I sit there I look around and although it is very wooded I notice other rigs parked way, way up the mountain in front of us.  Thinking wow, they are up there, well they did tell us there was a gorgeous view.  Jan comes out and says they will escort us up the hill to our site, and be SURE to drive exactly where the golf cart goes, hmmmmm.  Well straight up we go, winding our way past all the rigs I saw from the parking lot, then on up and up past another group of RVs, on up and up twisting around and scraping pretty bad in a couple spots, finally up to the top, and see the U-turn in front of us knowing I can't make it with the Jeep still attached.  Yeah, it is still hooked up, I had no idea what we were in store for and no one said to disconnect, and there was certainly nowhere on our ascent to unhook.  So we unhook and make it around to an absolutely beautiful site with an amazing view, but with the over shadowing feeling of dread knowing we would have to go back DOWN the hill and around several very sharp turns!

We had a very nice stay, met some very nice people, enjoyed our million dollar views and then the next morning went down the hill.  It wasn't pretty, very scary, front tires sliding along one time, hitting the rear end of our motorhome enough to mangle our rock guard, but we managed to get out and we have to say as nice as the campground was and as incredible the views were, we will never take our motorhome there again.  Now if we were smaller, I would go back in a heart beat, it WAS that beautiful.  Also the owners and managers could not have been nicer.  They have put a lot of work into this place and are adding more sites to the top of the hill where we were, and were willing to help and alter things to make it better.  We were the first 45'er to go all the way up, and they mentioned they have a Prevost coming next week, and they ride even lower than we do so.......we'll see.  He is going to try to fix some of the areas where we dragged and we wish him luck because this place could be spectacular.  But for us we get to chalk up another one of THOSE experiences to our repertoire. 

Our site

Looking out past our neighbor

Our view

Outta here

A quick post.  I guess Jan and I really aren't beach people :-)  I knew I wasn't but even Jan has had enough.  We've enjoyed our time here and are glad we came, but we've both had enough sand and wind for awhile.  We are even leaving a day early.  That coupled with a new neighbor that has set up loud wind chimes for their(??)enjoyment.  With their windows closed I guess they have them set up for us??  And leaves their outside lights on all night, grrrr.  We have to admit we don't experience this type of inconsiderate behavior very often.  Most folks that do this realize that sometimes living quarters are tight and it's important to be considerate of your neighbors.  That's why when it happens it makes a big impression.

So we are off for places unknown right now although we are basically headed for Atlanta.  Moved up our doctors appointments and get a chance to visit with friends before going up to Louisville.

Cape Hatteras

After an inauspicious beginning we headed south to go across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel towards Cape Hatteras.  As to our launch, we went to put in the slides like we always do, me outside watching, thank goodness, and Jan inside operating the slides.  It's the exact opposite when we pull into our site.  So in goes the driver's side front slide and just before it is all the way in, a terrible crunch and the slide is tilting like it shouldn't be!  Monaco has a locking system on this slide, our largest one.  It is simple in design, as the bottom of the slide gets near the motorhome wall it pushes on a lever which causes a lock to pop out the top inside the motorhome to lock in the slide.  Well as the lever touched the sidewall, it did not move as designed, instead it bent the lever and caused the bottom of the slide to stop.  NOT GOOD!  Back out it goes so we can evaluate what is happening.  No, I have never seen or heard of this happening before.  Evidently, the mechanism which is covered by a plastic cover has either corroded, or is gummed up by dirt or something, but the bigger problem is the lever is bent so much that the slide would not be able to go in even if we could get the lock to move.  Luckily we are able to bend the lever enough, work and lubricate the locking mechanism enough that we get the slide in and we are off, only took 45 minutes.

On to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.  It is an engineering marvel.  It is a 23 mile bridge with 2, 1 mile tunnels, that goes across the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay.  Sometimes the internet is a blessing and sometimes it is a curse.  We researched the bridge-tunnel to see, number one, can we fit?  It appears so, there is a 13' 6" height restriction and we are below that, but the reports on the internet is that the tunnels are VERY narrow and some have even lost their mirrors from impact with oncoming trucks!  We even contemplate going around, but it would add over 175 miles!  So after the initial impact of a $35 toll, off we go.  It is really something!  To cross 23 miles of ocean is amazing!  Turned out the tunnels weren't that bad, although a little scary, the 4 lanes on the bridge go down to a narrow 2 lane tunnel with no barriers between oncoming traffic, but they are only 1 mile each so not bad.

The toll booth

Initial view of the bridge

The first tunnel

A little narrow! 

We got through okay, worked our way by Norfolk and headed south to Cape Hatteras, specifically, Waves, NC, quite a way south, to a campground, Camp Hatteras.  It had been pretty windy for a few days, so the few glimpses of the ocean showed us the waves were crashing.

Lots of white water

Surf's up!

The sand was infringing on the road in several places.  It really makes you wonder what it all looks like when a big storm hits.

You can see where they plowed the sand.

The campground goes all the way from the ocean on the east side to the sound on the west.  It is windy, blustery, and really sandy, duh!  And nicely quiet since it's off season. We are just taking it easy and will go visit Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers memorial, and probably eat a couple crab cakes, and lots of fish.  We already bought and cooked a new fish for us, a tile fish.  It was delicious.  There are lots of kites flying, and lots of folks kite surfing in the blustery conditions.  Pretty cool.

Our beach, 100 feet or so from the motorhome

Kite surfer

Wild Ponies

We left DC mid morning after the traffic had a chance to mellow out.  And actually it wasn't bad at all.  Looking back I have to say the entire visit to our nation's capitol was a non event, easy-peasy.  Cherry Hill campground is definitely the way to go for any of you who are contemplating a visit.  Eastbound we headed for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and according to the internet is one of the scariest bridges in the world, well I don't know about that although the toll at $36.00 was pretty scary!  It is 4.3 miles long and fairly narrow.

The bridge

Looking a little low

It was no big deal as it turned out, now all we have to think about is the upcoming Bay Bridge-Tunnel and that is a bit scary.  More on that later.
We had a nice peaceful drive down the Delmarva peninsula to Temperanceville, VA to the Tall Pines Harbor campground.  It is beautiful and since it is off season we have the place almost to ourselves.  We are right on the Chesapeake and it is gorgeous!

View from the motorhome

View from the dock

Dusk

Not bad, huh?

Jan wanted to see the wild ponies on Chincoteague Island, but first we had to find some crab cakes.  We asked in the office and were told the best were to be found at 2 hole in the walls, of course.  Over to Metompkin Seafood we went, and as we walked in we were warned, "Don't feed the cats!"  It is takeout only, a real dive, and you cannot eat inside even though there is a table or two.  We were told the seafood platter was the way to go, so Jan and I shared a platter of fish, scallops, shrimp, crab cakes, hush puppies, fries, and cole slaw!  It was quite good and pretty unique.  We'll let you know about the other after we go later today.

Metompkin's

Inside at the counter

Half of our feast, yeah we forgot
to take the picture until half done:-)

Then we took the bikes and went to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.  Lots of sand and tidal flats.  We took a nice 5 mile bike ride around a large paved path, saw lots of birds, the lighthouse, a school of dolphin just offshore, and we did find the feral ponies.

Dolphin swimming along the shore

Lighthouse

The ponies!

We had a nice relaxing day.  I'll leave you with a few other photos of sunrises Jan caught at our campsite.  Spectacular!