this blog will be short and in lower case...kinda like flying the flag at half staff...we were preparing to leave decatur, alabama (point mallard campground). i had one
last job to do...i had to clear some leaves from the slideout...it was raining...i slipped from the ladder and broke my shoulder...i will write more when i can use both hands,,,
jim
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Pulling our Home to Florida
Our departure began with a temperature of 6 degrees and the snow was falling as we attempted to dig the Sunset Trail (ST) out of its winter storage and get on the road. The hook up went smoothly enough, but then the fun started. We had lowered the tongue jack down on a concrete block. To our dismay, when we raised the tongue jack, we could not move the concrete block. It was frozen to the ‘frozen ground’. Mary Ellen and I spent a half hour trying to dislodge it. Finally, after using a shovel, hammer, and an ice pick, we dislodged and removed the concrete block.
Pulling the ST out of its snowy and cold storage wasn’t exactly a fun-filled experience. After several ‘outstandingly clever’ maneuvers, we managed to get the ST moving toward the ‘gated exit’. We drove to our favorite ‘fuel center’ and checked the air pressure in our tires. Once this chilly task was completed we were finally ready to head south.
Things went well for the first 65 miles, when a passing car gave us the dreaded signal. As they drove alongside us, the passenger began pointing toward the ground and mouthing tire! Oh yes, we had another flat tire! We called roadside assistance and WAITED. Apparently they decided the best person to remove the flattened rubber and replace it with our spare was located in DALLAS! Actually, it just seemed like he had come to INDIANA from DALLAS. Two and one half hours later we were again ready to roll!!
I’m glad we had planned to only go as far as our son Dan’s house. We had planned to take Dan, Jill and their two girls out to dinner. We now opted for ‘carry in’. Dan had checked various tire retailers to see who had a replacement tire to give us a much needed ‘spare tire’. A ‘Wal-Mart super center’ or as Dan had dubbed it ‘Wal-Mart super slow’ had the tire we needed. We decided to wait until Sunday morning to pick it up. Once we remounted the spare we ventured out with a stop at one of our favorite KOA’s in Bowling Green, KY. The owners, Paul and Susan are great people. Paul is a real character. They are the perfect hosts. If you want a great place to stay in KY, make a stop at the KOA in and tell Paul I sent you.
Of course the day wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t have another minor crisis. When we parked at the KOA, I lowered the tongue jack to prop up the front end. This went fine, but when I began to lower the front a little, the tongue jack froze in place. It wouldn’t move! I started the truck thinking perhaps my 12 volt battery had died, but it still didn’t do anything. I stopped at the office and talked with Paul. He told me about a friend who could certainly fix it. He was very reasonable. However, Paul said that he had a couple ideas. I asked him for a 30 amp fuse. Paul gave me a pack of 4 fuses (cost was $2.50). He didn’t charge me anything! He said it was his way of giving me a discount! As we were leaving the office with the intention of having his friend come out in the morning, he added that sometimes tapping it with a rubber mallet breaks it loose. He was ready to give me a hammer, but I said I had one. When we returned to the ST, Mary Ellen tapped or rapped it a few times and it worked! Paul saved me a few dollars and all it took was a rap with a mallet. By the way, when we left in the morning, I gave Paul the fuses back. He didn’t want to take them. He promised me a discount next time!
We left Bowling Green at 10 a.m. and headed for Point Mallard in Decatur, AL. We’d been here once before, but somehow we managed to get lost. It is about 6 miles off I 65, but signage is non-existent. Sorta like my brain (non existent). It was 54 degrees when we arrived. Kinda rainy, but nice. Up till now, I hadn’t bothered to hook up the water. Since it was so nice I decided to do it. I turned it on, and I heard Mary Ellen YELL, “we have a flood”. Water was coming into the room with the bunk beds by the rear door. Before I could turn off the water, all our floors only required mopping! We hadn't planned to clean until we got to Florida. Thanks to the flood we can cross that one off the list. The problem seems to be the hot water heater. We sopped up the water and decided to wait until we get to Florida to have someone check out the water heater. I have a feeling something froze, expanded and busted something.
Flat tire on day one, tongue jack on day two, and now the water heater! What will tomorrow bring??? Oh, I forgot to mention that we just heard there is a WINTER STORM WATCH for tomorrow!! I don’t want to think about what that means.....
jim
Pulling the ST out of its snowy and cold storage wasn’t exactly a fun-filled experience. After several ‘outstandingly clever’ maneuvers, we managed to get the ST moving toward the ‘gated exit’. We drove to our favorite ‘fuel center’ and checked the air pressure in our tires. Once this chilly task was completed we were finally ready to head south.
Things went well for the first 65 miles, when a passing car gave us the dreaded signal. As they drove alongside us, the passenger began pointing toward the ground and mouthing tire! Oh yes, we had another flat tire! We called roadside assistance and WAITED. Apparently they decided the best person to remove the flattened rubber and replace it with our spare was located in DALLAS! Actually, it just seemed like he had come to INDIANA from DALLAS. Two and one half hours later we were again ready to roll!!
I’m glad we had planned to only go as far as our son Dan’s house. We had planned to take Dan, Jill and their two girls out to dinner. We now opted for ‘carry in’. Dan had checked various tire retailers to see who had a replacement tire to give us a much needed ‘spare tire’. A ‘Wal-Mart super center’ or as Dan had dubbed it ‘Wal-Mart super slow’ had the tire we needed. We decided to wait until Sunday morning to pick it up. Once we remounted the spare we ventured out with a stop at one of our favorite KOA’s in Bowling Green, KY. The owners, Paul and Susan are great people. Paul is a real character. They are the perfect hosts. If you want a great place to stay in KY, make a stop at the KOA in and tell Paul I sent you.
Of course the day wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t have another minor crisis. When we parked at the KOA, I lowered the tongue jack to prop up the front end. This went fine, but when I began to lower the front a little, the tongue jack froze in place. It wouldn’t move! I started the truck thinking perhaps my 12 volt battery had died, but it still didn’t do anything. I stopped at the office and talked with Paul. He told me about a friend who could certainly fix it. He was very reasonable. However, Paul said that he had a couple ideas. I asked him for a 30 amp fuse. Paul gave me a pack of 4 fuses (cost was $2.50). He didn’t charge me anything! He said it was his way of giving me a discount! As we were leaving the office with the intention of having his friend come out in the morning, he added that sometimes tapping it with a rubber mallet breaks it loose. He was ready to give me a hammer, but I said I had one. When we returned to the ST, Mary Ellen tapped or rapped it a few times and it worked! Paul saved me a few dollars and all it took was a rap with a mallet. By the way, when we left in the morning, I gave Paul the fuses back. He didn’t want to take them. He promised me a discount next time!
We left Bowling Green at 10 a.m. and headed for Point Mallard in Decatur, AL. We’d been here once before, but somehow we managed to get lost. It is about 6 miles off I 65, but signage is non-existent. Sorta like my brain (non existent). It was 54 degrees when we arrived. Kinda rainy, but nice. Up till now, I hadn’t bothered to hook up the water. Since it was so nice I decided to do it. I turned it on, and I heard Mary Ellen YELL, “we have a flood”. Water was coming into the room with the bunk beds by the rear door. Before I could turn off the water, all our floors only required mopping! We hadn't planned to clean until we got to Florida. Thanks to the flood we can cross that one off the list. The problem seems to be the hot water heater. We sopped up the water and decided to wait until we get to Florida to have someone check out the water heater. I have a feeling something froze, expanded and busted something.
Flat tire on day one, tongue jack on day two, and now the water heater! What will tomorrow bring??? Oh, I forgot to mention that we just heard there is a WINTER STORM WATCH for tomorrow!! I don’t want to think about what that means.....
jim
Thursday, January 6, 2011
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
We seem to be spending a lot of time moving stuff from storage and bringing it back home. What’s that all about? Pretty soon the storage garage will be empty and everything will be back in the house! It started because of Christmas preparations. Of course this led to a lot of decorations we weren’t going to use this year As you can probably tell, we haven’t sold our house yet. We had hopes of selling it before we left for Florida. This probably won’t happen until Spring. We’ve had eight parties come through the house. Our realtor told us that two really liked it, but apparently not enough to buy it.
Three of our four boys were here for Christmas. Actually we celebrated Christmas on the 18th. As for the 25th, we spent it at Mary Ellen’s sister’s home in Ohio. The most exciting thing about New Years Eve was watching Notre Dame manhandle Miami in the Sun Bowl. During the 1980’s, ND-Miami was labeled ‘Catholics versus Convicts’. The rivalry got heated to the point it was decided it would be best to put a halt to scheduling each other...until now! The former ‘convicts’ have cleaned up their act since the notorious Jimmy Johnson left Miami. Starting in 2012 Notre Dame will start a home and home series with Miami again. Should be fun.
Well, the time is drawing ‘nigh’ and we’ve been making plans for our journey south. Don’t you love that word ‘nigh’. It’s so much nicer than ‘near’. It has a much more literary sound to it. And I being a ‘literalist’ (I think I made up a word) chose to express my literary leanings by using the word ‘nigh’. Now that I’ve beat that to death, let’s move on. We’re planning to depart on the 22nd of January and go as far
as Indianapolis. Our annual problem on day one of our journey is finding a campground that’s open in Indiana. We would have to go into KY to find one and that violates my time on the road rule! Some of you probably remember Mary Ellen’s characterization of my traveling schedule. It goes something like, leave the campground at 10 a.m. Stop for an hour lunch at noon. Proceed for another hour and a half and stop at 2:30 for the night! Some days I actually do 4 hours! My attitude is ‘what’s the hurry’. I’ve allowed 8 days to get to our destination. I didn’t mention that we will stay with son Dan and family in Westfield, IN for our first night. This presented a whole other problem.
The neighborhood, compound, cult where Dan resides prohibits RV’s parked on the street or driveways. Even if the RV is washed! Something to do with ‘trailer trash’ I guess. Anyway, with the help of Dan and my other Indy son, Mark, we tried to find a parking spot where I could safely leave truck and travel trailer from approximately 5 p.m. Saturday until 9 a.m. Sunday. First we investigated the Wal-Mart in Westfield, NO. I than called the local Kroger store. The manager told me they didn’t own the parking lot. When I asked who did she told me she didn’t know. I called the Westfield police department. They were supposed to get back to me if they found a place. I never heard from them. Finally, after checking a couple of far-flung possibilities, I called Marsh. Marsh is a semi upscale supermarket a couple miles from Dan’s house. After my second offer NEVER to buy groceries anywhere else (I guess we’ll have to drive 3 hours for milk), he relented.
So, we’ve got day one handled. I’m always surprised how much mental and a little physical preparation goes into leaving for a few months. This is further complicated by the fact my son, Mark is no longer handling the house while we’re gone. This requires more preparation and planning. First of all is mail. This year we’ll have all our mail forwarded. We’ve never had to do this before. Of course realtors will be showing the house (hopefully) while we’re gone. This will require some notes making sure they turn the furnace back down and be certain to recheck the doors so we don’t have any uninvited “lookers” who have no intention of buying the house.
We’ll get one of the teenagers in our neighborhood to start Mary Ellen’s car at least once a week. Of course the paper must be stopped and the driveway shoveled. There are a lot more little things we need to think about for the first time. We’re now realizing just how much Mark handled in the past. I guess we’ll just have to ‘grow up’ and deal with it!
I sort of made a resolution to stay away from too much political commentary in my blogs this year. It’s not easy for me to do. There is sooooo much stupidity to point out, it’s getting very difficult to choose. I will end this blog by pointing out the folly of our socialist leader. It reminds me of a wonderful quote from Margaret Thatcher on the subject of socialism. She said, “the only problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”.
In a recent Jason Lewis show he summed it up this way. Government was first established for the sole purpose of protecting the citizens. A police force was put in place to stop people from stealing from others. So the government decided they would take over the role of thievery. They (the government) have decided they know better than any of us where OUR money should be spent. So they take it and give it (some of it that they don’t pocket) away to others. Can you say Robin Hood.
JIM
Three of our four boys were here for Christmas. Actually we celebrated Christmas on the 18th. As for the 25th, we spent it at Mary Ellen’s sister’s home in Ohio. The most exciting thing about New Years Eve was watching Notre Dame manhandle Miami in the Sun Bowl. During the 1980’s, ND-Miami was labeled ‘Catholics versus Convicts’. The rivalry got heated to the point it was decided it would be best to put a halt to scheduling each other...until now! The former ‘convicts’ have cleaned up their act since the notorious Jimmy Johnson left Miami. Starting in 2012 Notre Dame will start a home and home series with Miami again. Should be fun.
Well, the time is drawing ‘nigh’ and we’ve been making plans for our journey south. Don’t you love that word ‘nigh’. It’s so much nicer than ‘near’. It has a much more literary sound to it. And I being a ‘literalist’ (I think I made up a word) chose to express my literary leanings by using the word ‘nigh’. Now that I’ve beat that to death, let’s move on. We’re planning to depart on the 22nd of January and go as far
as Indianapolis. Our annual problem on day one of our journey is finding a campground that’s open in Indiana. We would have to go into KY to find one and that violates my time on the road rule! Some of you probably remember Mary Ellen’s characterization of my traveling schedule. It goes something like, leave the campground at 10 a.m. Stop for an hour lunch at noon. Proceed for another hour and a half and stop at 2:30 for the night! Some days I actually do 4 hours! My attitude is ‘what’s the hurry’. I’ve allowed 8 days to get to our destination. I didn’t mention that we will stay with son Dan and family in Westfield, IN for our first night. This presented a whole other problem.
The neighborhood, compound, cult where Dan resides prohibits RV’s parked on the street or driveways. Even if the RV is washed! Something to do with ‘trailer trash’ I guess. Anyway, with the help of Dan and my other Indy son, Mark, we tried to find a parking spot where I could safely leave truck and travel trailer from approximately 5 p.m. Saturday until 9 a.m. Sunday. First we investigated the Wal-Mart in Westfield, NO. I than called the local Kroger store. The manager told me they didn’t own the parking lot. When I asked who did she told me she didn’t know. I called the Westfield police department. They were supposed to get back to me if they found a place. I never heard from them. Finally, after checking a couple of far-flung possibilities, I called Marsh. Marsh is a semi upscale supermarket a couple miles from Dan’s house. After my second offer NEVER to buy groceries anywhere else (I guess we’ll have to drive 3 hours for milk), he relented.
So, we’ve got day one handled. I’m always surprised how much mental and a little physical preparation goes into leaving for a few months. This is further complicated by the fact my son, Mark is no longer handling the house while we’re gone. This requires more preparation and planning. First of all is mail. This year we’ll have all our mail forwarded. We’ve never had to do this before. Of course realtors will be showing the house (hopefully) while we’re gone. This will require some notes making sure they turn the furnace back down and be certain to recheck the doors so we don’t have any uninvited “lookers” who have no intention of buying the house.
We’ll get one of the teenagers in our neighborhood to start Mary Ellen’s car at least once a week. Of course the paper must be stopped and the driveway shoveled. There are a lot more little things we need to think about for the first time. We’re now realizing just how much Mark handled in the past. I guess we’ll just have to ‘grow up’ and deal with it!
I sort of made a resolution to stay away from too much political commentary in my blogs this year. It’s not easy for me to do. There is sooooo much stupidity to point out, it’s getting very difficult to choose. I will end this blog by pointing out the folly of our socialist leader. It reminds me of a wonderful quote from Margaret Thatcher on the subject of socialism. She said, “the only problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”.
In a recent Jason Lewis show he summed it up this way. Government was first established for the sole purpose of protecting the citizens. A police force was put in place to stop people from stealing from others. So the government decided they would take over the role of thievery. They (the government) have decided they know better than any of us where OUR money should be spent. So they take it and give it (some of it that they don’t pocket) away to others. Can you say Robin Hood.
JIM
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