Oh No Not Again!!!!

Yesterday evening we set out on the patio under the big awning enjoying the cool breeze from our large floor fan. We like to watch the birds, squirrels and rabbits feed on our bird feeders.
It was getting dark thirty and time to let the big awning in. I usually start on the far end letting down its arm and work my way toward the front arm. Sandy with the awning stick grabs the strap and I release the awning lock to allow it to roll up.

Just as I released the lock there was this loud kaboom. I looked at Sandy and her at me. At the same time we both said "what was that"!!!! As I looked toward the back arm I saw that it was no longer in its mounting and the large C-channel arm was resting on the ground and the smaller upper support brace was laying up against the side of the MH. Now what happened I asked myself. Upon closer examination I found that the locking pin for the foot bracket had given away allowing the arm to come crashing down.

So off to the RV store we go hoping they had a replacement foot. Took a photo of the foot that was still intact with my IPhone to show the salesman the part we needed. He first said they probably would have to order the part but would check in the back to see if he could find one. Shortly he came back with part in hand.Yeaaa! I guess if it has RV connected to it you can expect to pay a premium. That sucker set me back $17 and did not include the two mounting flanges to secure it to the C-channel. He suggested I pickup two 1/4-20 x 1/2" stainless steel screws with nut and lock washer. Those set me back nearly $4.

After arriving back home with Sandy's help we began the task of removing the broken foot. With my cordless drill and 1/4" drill bit I drilled out the mounting flanges to free the foot from its mount. We then fitted the new foot to the C-channel and discovered the mounting holes did not line up. They were off a good 1/2" or better. Only recourse was to drill the holes in the C-channel with the 1/4" drill bit using the holes in the foot as my drill guide. After that we were able to mount the new foot to the C-channel with the stainless steel bolts and nuts.

The next challenge was to guide the upper support arm into its track. We first thought we could do this by raising the arm as high as it would go but to no avail. Then I remembered in the larger C-channel there were two screws in the slide channel track. By removing these we were able to slide the upper arm out of its track and insert same in the larger support tubing. Job finished without any other problems. The awning is original and I guess after ten years one can expect these kind of issues.

There was some slight damaged to the rear finder well where the paint was damaged. I hope to polish these out with some fine rubbing compound and paste wax. Other than that we are back in business until something else crops up. Oh we got this fixed   just in time the wind began to pickup and create havoc with the awning. So, we were able to let it in without further damage. otherwise no telling what would have been next.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

She Is At It Again!!!

It's been a little over two and half months since the back forty here at base has been mowed. Today Sandy took advantage of the cooler morning 68F and brushed hogged the back forty. I had asked her to give me a quick lesson on the use of the brush hog and she said I needed to stick with the smaller tractor mower. Now go figure that….. She wants to keep this a secret for her use only. Can’t really blame her as the tractor cab is air conditioned where the smaller tractor mower is open air.Talk about being hot and dusty. When we go several days without rain its one dirty job mowing with the smaller tractor.

It took a little under two hours to mow the very tall grass/weeds. I could tell she felt very comfortable in the mowing compared to when she first brushed hogged the place here. She handled the tractor and brush hog very professional. She even used the tractors' front forklift to move several large tree branches over to the burn pile.

BIL James is planning to run the electrical to the man cave this weekend. Once that is in place we will be looking at TV's, furniture and chairs for the entertainment area. He also has plans to start on the front covered porch. His plans are to install ceiling fans and screen it in. We have a good start on getting stuff out of our cargo trailer over to one of the rooms we will use for storage.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Dale Jr #88 Wins!!!!

The drought is finally over. Dale Jr. has been so close so many times this year and his winless streak finally comes to an end. One hundred and thirty four races that's how long it has been since the son of the late great Dale Earnhardt Sr. won a Cup event. His last Cup race won was four years ago at this same track, Michigan International Speedway on June 15, 2008.

 

 

 

 

Dale Jr. has been under a lot of pressure and has been working real hard to get his 19th Cup win of his carrier. This season so far he has nine top ten finishes in the last ten races and currently is in second place in the point standings. To win a race on Fathers Day I'm sure makes his late Dad Dale Earnhardt Sr. mighty proud.
All photos by Getty Images for NASCAR.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Procrastination On My Part Could Have Put Me In Deep $DO $DO As Well As The Dog House

We've been living (Full Timing) in a RV now for thirteen years. We traveled most of the states but never during this time experienced a problem with the big awning. The main reason we both are pretty good about letting it up each evening before going to bed. We never leave it up when we plan to be away from the MH for shopping.

Sandy in particular is my built in weather watcher. I believe we have at least eight weather apps on our IPhones. She usually will look at several apps and tells me what we might expect. Yesterday she did look at those apps and advised all the systems were way west of us and only a 30% chance. It looked like we would go another day without rain. Sandy went to bed earlier than usual last night. I stayed up till around 11pm. Before going to bed I thought should I let the awning in before going to bed. Nawww….. I convinced myself that it would be fine and proceeded to bed.

Well let me tell you I was awakened about 3:00am this morning with an awful sounding kaboom. What's that..... on no!! Hope that's not our awning. I could hear thunder, strong wind and saw a lot of lighting. The wind was very strong out of the west. I flipped our porch light on and there it was the awning was down on the end nearest our door. I could see part of the arm laying on the ground. The other end was still intact.

About this time Sandy was up and dressed. I told her we were a little late and there was nothing we could do until morning. I did go out in the rain and put our big floor fan into one of the bays. This is the system that rolled through and did our damage. We figure there must have been a mini micro burst in the leading edge of the storm.

This is what we saw this morning. As you can see the awning is down on the front. Also it's resting on the smaller window awning. In close examination it appears the fabric survived and just the support arm was all that was damaged. BIL James drove by on his way to work and surveyed the damage. He said not do anything until this evening when he would come by with one of his helpers and try to put the pieces back together.

I was out looking for other possible damage and noticed one of the small roof antennas was broken. I don't know if this is the radio or CB antenna but it will need replacing. I can't get up on the roof so will have to have it inspected by his worker when he comes.

Checked on line at Camping World and their 22ft A&E 9000 series runs about $1500 plus labor. Also they no longer offer the solid colors. Hope we are able to fix this one??? I've learned this could have been a very expensive lesson and not to procrastinate......get up and do it!!! regardless of what you may think the weather is or isn't going to do.

The parts that broke where the slider off the small bracing arm and the mount it attaches to on the side of the MH. Here are the broken pieces .
After $50 in parts and labor here is the awning back in place. Yes, we were very blessed as it could have been worse. They are forecasting 30% chance of more thunderstorms tonight. This time we did not procrastinate as every thing is buttoned up.

I might mention the worker was very knowledgeable about what had to be done to get us back in business. He also will come back at a later date to wash and clean the MH. He will inspect the roof at that time. As for the dog house Sandy said she would share some of the blame as she is usually very insistent that we roll it up at night before going to bed.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Little This-Little That

Gosh it's been awhile since my last post. To be honest there just wasn't much going on around here except hot and dry and more of the same. We did have a brief shower last night that brought our temperature down. I hope we are not headed into that same pattern we experienced last summer where we had one of the worse droughts on record.

My BIL did get around to putting in his water and sewer for the man cave. Next on the list will be electricity. We managed to place a few items in one of the rooms which we will use for storage and for keeping some tools. He's also talking about a 55" or 60" LED HDTV for his television viewing area. Anything bigger will not give the most pleasing viewing experience. We measured the distance from the wall to the viewing area and the 55" or 60" will be the best for the optimal viewing distance.

It's official we now have an address for our base. My friend Jim Hardin of Hardin Signs made this for us. It's been awhile since we have had an official physical address. We've had several reminders from the local EMS that an address was needed.

Sandy has been working in her flower bed and it's really looking good. We also have just about finished the small patio with stepping stones. We have two more rows of six that will pretty much wrap this project up. Next will be a BQ grill, couple chairs and end table. We will at a later date carry this on out between the two big oak trees.

Been talking and planning with BIL James about the cover for the Motorhome. It looks like we have settled on building a 24ft x 65ft or 60ft car port with 18ft sides peaking in the middle to 20ft.
We already have quotes for the roofing and gutter material. We have the steel pipes for the posts and joist. Now its just the matter of scheduling his crew that will do the work. It will have to be done when their oil field work will allow about three days for the building of the cover.

We plan to flag stake the four corner posts to see how the cover fits in relation to where we park the MH at the top of the driveway circle. We want to make sure the MH will fit as well as have plenty room for Sandy to get in and out of the space without scrapping it's sides.

An update on the Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MIFI device. We've been using it now for nearly two months and thus far very pleased. Even though we are not in a 4G area we are happy with both the down and up loading kb/s speeds.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.