Maybe It's Time???

Couple posts back I stated I failed my vision test for my drivers license renewal. I failed the distant part of the exam. I was referred to my eye doctor for an eye exam for possible glasses that might improve my distance vision. I stated then that I wasn't ready to give up my independence just yet. As some of you know I don't drive that much anymore anyway due to a torn retina in my right eye that did not get any better after surgery. Sandy does all of our driving in the MH and Jeep. Around here I drive a little like to the local food places, hardware store and smaller towns near our area.

I'm not real comfortable driving in larger cities with a lot of traffic congestion. My peripheral vision just isn't that good when changing lanes etc. So, I try to stay away from that and much as possible. Oh yea, I will drive in those cases where I have no other driver choice. When I do I place myself in the right lane and do not get out of it. Like yesterday I drove myself to the eye doctor in Longview for my vision test. Had no problems got in the right lane and stayed there to and from.

My doctor said my vision in my right eye was 20/80 and my left 20/40. The 20/40 was good enough to get my drivers license renewed but there would be restrictions. He also said that he didn't think glasses would improve my vision that much. So, he signs the form and records my vision test results.

Today Sandy drove me to the Texas DPS to get my drivers license renewed. I presented the form to the lady behind the counter and she said "you known with the vision you have we will only renew your license with restrictions are you sure glasses wouldn't bring your vision up to a least 20/25". My eye doctor said glasses wouldn't help so just what will my restrictions be with the 20/40. She said the restrictions would be:
1) no night time driving. I don't do this anyway no big deal.
2) no expressway driving again I don't do this unless in the case of an emergency.
3) and the biggie no driving any faster than 45mph. I said mam driving at 45mph on our highways that are 60-70mph will get you run over. She said sorry that is the law.
Here is where it states what she said:
The standards for one eye vision are as follows:
(A) without corrective lenses, 20/25 or better in best eye: no visual restriction;
(B) without corrective lenses, worse than 20/25 in best eye: refer to specialist;
(C) on all other case scores: use two-eyed vision standards;
And this is where the 20/40 places me in the 45mph category.

She said I might get the 45mph taken off if my doctor would sign a form that my 20/40 was considered safe. No doctor in his right mind would agree on doing this. I'm scheduled for a laser treatment on my left eye next month and this just may get me back to the 20/25. If not I'll drive the 45mph and hope I don't get run over. Around here that probably won't be a problem anyway. Or just maybe it might be time to just hang the keys up.

Oh......guess what we've had our first measurable rain fall in quiet awhile starting sometime last night and it has rained most of the day. So far we have nearly 2" and it's still a coming down. THANK YOU LORD! We really need the rain.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Remembering

Twelve years ago to today Sandy and I were having breakfast at the Flying J in Green La. We were taking our then 2000 Dutch Star for a wheel alignment to a truck alignment shop in Shreveport. Our waitress came to our table and said "Did you hear about the plane that had crashed into the Twin Towers in NYC."

Our first reaction was where was the punch line and you must be kidding. Then we walked over to a TV and in disbelief…..froze in horror. Like every American we could not believe this was happening on our own soil. With the details still being sketchy we decided it would be best to call first to see if they were still wanting to do the alignment.They said come on in we will get to your alignment.

Upon arrival the entire shop was in their waiting room watching the events of that day on their small TV. The owner came over took our keys and moved the motorhome to their alignment bay. He came back and we set there most of the morning watching the events before they finally went back to work. Every few minutes the workers would drift back into the waiting room for any updates.

We were their through lunch but because of the events of the day were in no hurry to leave. We learned that President Bush's Air Force One had been diverted to Barksdale AFB there in Bossier City. The owner of the shop said we might be able to see it fly near the area where the shop was located which we never did.

Finally they finished the alignment but we were so glued to the TV we were in no hurry to head back to base. We finally arrived back at base around 3pm and immediately turned the TV on and watched until late into the night.

(11:30pm) Before going to sleep, Bush writes in his diary, The Pearl Harbor of the 21st century took place today….We think its Osama bin Laden.” Washington Post, 1/27/02)

Yes, it's a time to remember and reflect. This country has and will never be the same… which we have witness these past twelve years. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost love ones that day as well as those who serve our country. May God continue to bless this great nation of ours.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

A Sign That Things Are Getting Better

The best medicine for someone that’s an avid deer hunter is for deer season to start approaching. There's something about the air that makes a guys neck swell  and I can testify that it has effected BIL James in a way that no doctor nor pill form can do. It wont be long …..yep things are better. It's been nearly five weeks since James had his quadruple bypass heart surgery.

He's come a long ways. He still has to go to therapy and won't officially be released until the third week in September. With fall approaching its time for the guys on the deer lease in West Texas to get things done before the official opening day of deer season.
So, this weekend they travel to the lease. Some of the make ready preparations is to place a new deer stand on the lease as well as do some food plots by planting clover and other forage plants. The Kubota is being used to load, unload and set the deer stand. It also has a tiller and front end bucket for tilling and clearing the land where they plan to put their food plots.

Before they started the loading procedure I asked James was he going to be able to put all this onto the trailer. His reply was it will all fit watch and see. Sure enough they got it all loaded and secured down. This trailer is only 25ft long and as you can see no room to spare. Here are some of the loading photos:

Deer stand loaded:

Deer Stand was next:

Kubota next:

All loaded and ready to travel:

The loading took a little more than four hours. James did no physical activity only supervision. Yes, he took water breaks now and then but for the most part was on the job. Welcome back James hope you continue in your recovery.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

A Little Set Back

James called last night and advised, Bev his wife wanted to drive him to Tyler for the doctor visit to have his staples removed. He asked after they had finished if we wouldn't mind meeting her in Longview where she works and drive him home. 

Sandy left a little earlier than needed as she wanted to do some shopping. About 11am James called very frustrated and said they would probably not be home real soon and for her to go on home. While at the doctors office they found his blood pressure to be high, a Irregular heart beat, a minor infection in his leg and wanted him to go to the ER for further test.

After about five hours of waiting and testing they released him to come home. They gave him a antibiotic shot for the infection he had in his leg where they took veins for his bypass. They said with the type surgery he had  it wasn't that unusual for the irregular heart beat. Also put him on Warfarin to thin his blood.  They say he shouldn't be on this  long. Hope not as I've been on it for over four years now and have to have a IRN blood test every month. I also bruise a lot easier which looks awful on the arms and hands. I've even had people ask me....."What happened to you". Believe it or not they say Warfarin is a form of rat poison. 

We are very thankful that it was no more than this and he didn't have to stay in the hospital. Sandy said when she talked to him he sounded real excited over the phone that he wasn't having to spend the night. There's nothing like your own bed.

On another note I must apologize for not posting those of you that have commented on some of my blog posts. For some reason I was under the impression  they posted automatically. Dumb me......just fat and happy I guess. Speaking of happy Sandy and I have become big Duck Dynasty fans. Really enjoyed their kick off of Season 4 show last Wednesday night.

Till next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Uh Oh Kubota Broke

We went to move the fallen tree that fell across our drive the other day and discovered the Kubota was gone. It was in the shop. Sandy would normally pick up the tree limbs with the fork on front of the Kubota and have the task done in no time.

So, instead we started to use our Jeep Liberty to drag some of the larger limbs off to one side. Before we could get started Sandy's Sister Pam and her husband Mike showed up on there Gold Wing Honda motorcycle. Before you could say let's wait tell the Kubota gets back, they were out rolling the larger limbs off to one side. We hand carried the smaller limbs and laid them on the pile. We will either burn them there or when we get the Kubota back move them to the burn pile.

Friday was our day to drive BIL James around to handle some of his manager duties for the oil lease he's responsible for. We drove over 150 mikes and I'm proud to say he handled it quite well. The Jeep is not the most comfortable ride around but not only did he handled the rough ride he handled Sandy's driving as well (I need to be careful here). The type surgery he had requires him to ride in the back seat and there were times you could tell he was having a difficult time bearing the jostling.

We ate lunch and was back home about 1:30pm. I know he crashed and burned when he got in his big recliner. We probably will take him to Tyler next Tuesday to have the staples removed. After that he'll have about two weeks before he can drive again. I know he is looking forward to that day. Besides with fall approaching his neck is beginning to swell as deer season is not far away.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers

it Happens!!!!

First an update on my BIL James stent procedure he had three weeks back. The stent collapsed and he had to have quadruple bypass heart surgery. This coming Friday it will be two weeks ago they performed the surgery. He came home four days after the procedure and is doing fine in the recovery process. We try to walk with him every day. He has his staples taken out next Tuesday. While his wife works, Sandy has been his chauffeur for the past few days and takes him wherever he would like to go. He jokingly said he might want her to drive him to his weekly card games tomorrow night. She said that would be fine with her if he wanted to go. We will see.

Earlier this week it was time to dump our holding tank (black) and the day before I had replaced the 45deg elbow that attaches to the sewer hose. As Mr. Murphy would have it..... I pulled the lever and walked to the other side of the MH and all of a sudden I heard this gushing sound and then came the smell. Yep, my installation of the elbow failed, due to the volume of the water, the hose detached from the elbow and out came the black water in a gusher. Before I could get around to shutting off the drain valve most of the tank had emptied. Fortunately the end of the elbow being below the wet bay floor none of the unpleasantries entered the wet bay. What a mess though......took about an hour to clean and decontaminate the area around the MH.

Yesterday while Sandy was in Longview with her brother, we had quite a storm come up with very high straight line winds (40-50mph category). Then came a pretty nice shower. We haven't had measurable rain for about three weeks and we were so thankful for the rain. The wind not so much as we have a nearly dead sweet gum-ball tree behind the motorhome and unbeknown to me until I went outside about a third of this tree was lying across our driveway about 25 yards from the back of the MH and RV port. As you can see we have quite a mess to cleanup when we get the Kubota back.

Couple of nights ago Sandy went to get some plates out of the pantry of the dry bar and found what appeared to be thousands of ants crawling all over the bottom shelf. We put two Terro Liquid Ant Bait capsules out and finally this morning most of the ants were gone. We hope back to their bed where this stuff is touted to kill the bed.

This afternoon we drove over to the Texas DPS Drivers License Division to renew my drivers license. When I got there both stations were busy with people renewing their license. When it was my turn the lady asked me had I filled out the renewable form. What form I asked she replied that one over there pointing behind me. Not a sign anywhere informing you had to fill out a form or you would think she could have verbally inform me of this while waiting in line. So.....after standing in line all that time I now lose my turn and go fill out the form. After I finished I got back in line (four people now ahead of me) and finally my turn. I did everything she asked without a problem one. Then came the eye test which I failed. She got my money and now I have to visit an eye doctor to get glasses that will improve my distance vision and go back within 90 says for another vision test. Hope I pass as I'm not ready to give up my independence just yet. Even though I don't drive that much anymore it's nice to hop in the Jeep and go to a local cafe or hardware store.

Yes....... we have a lot to be thankful for!

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

She’s At it Again!

Been a while since I last posted and probably have lost most of our readers. To be honest just not much happening around here. so, this is to catch up.

Had a cancer growth removed from the old noggin in March; Sandy lost her Mom in May; finally got around to working in the Man Cave (now we have a large TV and refrigerator for cold beverages) ; Sandy's brother James installed a washer and dryer in the Man Cave for her to use when at base; we are still making improvements around the base and finally but not the least James is to have a stent put in one of his arteries this Tuesday July 23rd.

Speaking of improvements we have several what we call trash trees near the MH port where we park the motorhome. These are young Elm, Sweet gum, Pine and Cedar which are about 6-8" in diameter and 20-25' tall. We do not want these to get any bigger so we decided to take them out.

So yesterday Sandy was at it again using James' Kubota to take them down and pile them on the burn pile for future burning. The trees being this small we were able to push them over and with the fork pull roots and all out of the ground.

We now need to clean up our mess but will gradually do this as our days are getting hotter. Early morning seems to be the best time for this project. We've had a very unusual July so far..... cool mornings, highs in the mid to low 90's and the best of all rain for several days just about every week now. We are so thankful as usually July for this part of Northeast Texas is usually hot and dry.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Sandy's New Kitchen Gadget and Emergency Air Brakes Problem

Sandy has been wanting an Induction Cooktop for quite some time. She spent hours on the Internet processing the different models, went on forms and contacted several company's by phone before making up her mind on the make and model she wanted. She finally decided on the Duxtop Mosel #8300ST and ordered it from Amazon.

When it arrived last week she was so excited to fire it up and try it. It looks like she made an excellent choice as she said she would put this purchase in the top three things she loves in her kitchen. They are the Cusiniart Griddler, Breville Toaster Oven and now the Duxtop Induction Cooktop. I have to agree with her she has prepared some excellent meals using these items. One of the top things is she just about has eliminated using her propane stove top burners and her Convection Oven.

The biggie in my humble opinion is the reduction of heating up the motorhome when cooking and expense of buying propane so often.
The energy produced by Duxtop Induction Cooktop Model# 8300ST cooktop is directly supplied to the cooking vessel by a magnetic field. Self-adjusting burners detect the size of the cookware base and automatically adjust so that very little energy is wasted. Duxtop Induction Cooktop is fast and safe to use, easy to clean. This versatile indoor/ outdoor cooktop is great for entertaining; use it as a stylish, elegant centerpiece on the table, for outdoor parties and in the kitchen as an extra cooking zone.

The other real advantage of these cooktops is that since the cooktop itself does not get very hot, the cooktop can be set on a counter and just plugged right into the wall and taken anywhere. The portability of the Duxtop 1800 is one of the reasons it is so popular – you can take it with you on vacation or to the office and have an easy to use heat source that just requires you to plug it in the wall. In our case this item gives her much more counter space for preparing meals as she's able to keep the stove top cover down.

Last week when starting out on a short trip to exercise the motorhome, we could not get the coach to roll after releasing the emergency air brake. In fact when Sandy pushed in on the yellow knob we didn't hear that normal push of air when releasing the brake. She increased the rpms of the engine and it didn't budge. She looked at me.....me at her and both said "what's wrong".

Being the non-technical guy I  said to my self  I have no idea why the air brakes did not release. I then thought of my friend Mark he would know but the only problem was its 5am in the morning and I didn't dare want to wake him. So, after some more pondering of the mind I told Sandy to put it in reverse and let's see if that doesn't do the trick. At first nothing happened I then told her to rock the coach back and forth by changing the transmission from forward to reverse. Nothing again happened but when she went to reverse the second time the brakes released and we were able to go forward or backwards without any problems.

I went to Google and put in the problem and low and behold there were many sites to go to about this problem. I found one that kinda explained what might be the problem. This was what I found.....

" hello?? Its a diesel pusher with air brake system
Note to OP I have seen this happen a few times when coach is left in same position over a period of time the brake shoes seize(rust) to the drum.Usually just put it in reverse and forward a couple times to rock it and they break free".

The other thing I thought was we had been sitting for about four weeks and during that period we had lots of rain and that could very well be it. Then I thought maybe the slack adjusters needed adjusting or have they been greased. Probably these have nothing to do with the problem but we have had no further problems since as everything seems to working fine. Who knows..... if it happens again we will have an expert look at the brakes.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Handywoman

There just isn't much she won't tackle. Not only does Sandy drive the motorhome, a large tractor brush hogging and on top of all that she’s a great chef. She's also quite a Handywoman. She's not afraid of tackling anything......like caulking for example.

I'm the worlds worst when it comes to pulling a caulk gun and having it look professional afterwards. She has been after me for the longest to re-caulk the bathroom and kitchen sink countertops. So, this weekend I gathered up all my tools and started in the bathroom first. Well let me tell you it didn't take long before I was fired and replaced by the Handywoman.

Sandy first came behind me and scraped all the old caulk off, cleaned the countertops and did an outstanding job in re-caulking and "tooling" the caulk on the countertops. "Tooling" is the process of gliding over the bead of caulk in order to smooth it, making it neater and further establishing good adhesion.
She was able to lay down a very neat bead of sealant and followed

behind with "tooling" the bead with her wet finger smoothing it out.

Her patience and staying with it from start to finish really made the job look very professional. She did such a great job that I may have her re-caulk some of the exterior seams on the motorhome.

 

This is one of the results of her effort. Surprising it didn’t take her long to do both jobs. Oh, on top of all this we are having her Chicken Chile tonight for dinner.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

The Verdict Is In........

After our sticker shock of $899 for a new front load washer, we decided that maybe we should see if the old Kenmore was fixable. Also we learned the LG washer that Sandy really liked was about an inch to deep to fit in the cabinet.

Earlier in the week we borrowed BIL James truck, loaded the old Kenmore and took it to a repair shop in Dangerfield. The repair man said he would look at it and give us a call for a fee of $25. We felt if it could be repaired it should be cheaper than buying a new washer.
Yesterday we got our verdict. The repair man said the machine was beyond fixing.

So, back to square one. We looked on the Internet and called our RV dealer in Carthage, Mo and found a front load Maytag 2.3 cu. ft. washer that will fit in the cabinet. It was about $100 cheaper but the freight would put it back near the $899 price. Now it's just a matter of Sandy deciding whether she wants to get the new washer or continue for awhile doing laundry at her Moms. In the meantime she's enjoying the added storage space in the cabinet where the washer use to reside.

Friday BIL James and his crew did some tractor work, moving tree limbs to the burn pit and a general cleanup of the area. Sandy and I policed the area picking up small limbs and boulders that were in the area dropping them into his front loader on his tractor. Before the day was out we had us quite a bon fire going in the pit.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travelers.

Where Did That Water Come From??

Last week Sandy did a load of laundry in the motorhome. We noticed the spin cycle of the washer was a lot louder than what we were use to hearing. Sounded like a plane was taking off. Didn't give it much thought until when Sandy went to remove the clothes I hear....."Where did this water come from"? Uh oh what happened and it had to be coming from the washer.

My first thoughts were maybe one of the water hoses let go and that was the problem. Or, perhaps the drain hose had come out of the drain pipe. The washer is ten years old and perhaps it's water pump was leaking. Being in the tight quarters there is no way one can tell until they pull it out from its cabinet. I understand most service techs won't work on an appliance when mounted in RV cabinets.
I told Sandy that I thought we could pull it out of the cabinet but doubted we could move it out of the motorhome where we could check things out. So, we decided to wait tell maybe we could get BIL James to help us. To be on the safe side I shut off both water faucets.

Yesterday we were over in the shop doing some work. BIL James and is work crew drove by the shop. They had being working on one of his large trailers they use to haul scrap metal from the oil fields to a salvage yard. Sandy told him about our little problem and asked the next time they had some free time could they come over to look at the washer. Before you knew it he said........" pile in and let's go see".

So, off we go to the motorhome. The three of them went in and looked at the situation. The next thing one of his workers asked for a screw driver and some channel lock pliers. Within minutes they had the washer outside and hooked up to our water hose. As water begin to run into the tub we noticed no leaks coming from the water hoses. We let the tub fill up and go through its cycles. During the spin and drain cycle we noticed the tub was real loose and making that very loud noise again. That's when we noticed water was leaving the tub and going down the inside wall of the washer to the ground. They suspect the bearings on the tub where probably shot.

I told Sandy maybe it was time for a new washer. It being ten years old and I just felt we would be throwing good after bad. I told her we needed to look at a front load washer instead of top load. We have very little room for opening the lid on top due to the dryer that's mounted on a shelf above the washer. Not having to look for appliances in a while I could not believe how much more expensive a front load washer was than a top load....about $300-$400 more.
In our search so far we've found the compact top load Kenmore is no longer available at Sears. LG makes a 2.3 Compact Front Load Washer that will fit. They are only asking $899.......Ouch!

In the mean time until we decide what she wants, Sandy cleaned the area where the washer was and now has a small four drawer cabinet in there for storing kitchen things and towels. I said I couldn't believe this as I know you are not going to go without a washer. She said your absolutely right but right now this will work for me. She can do laundry at her Moms until such time she decides enough is enough. All I can say is look at the money we're saving. Yea! I know since I don't do this chore I have not earned the right to be so jubilant.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

A Pleasant Speedco Experience

One of the things that really puts me on edge is getting the motorhomes' oil and filters changed and the chassis lubed. I've had some a bad experiences over the years of service techs telling me one thing and only to find out later they did not follow through.
One example is when I get the MH chassis greased is.......do they grease all the fittings.

They always assure me they did but when we had our 2000 Newmar Dutch Star we lost our u-joints on a trip into California and Arizona. We limped into a repair facility in Phoenix where we learned all of our u-joints where bad due to the lack of not being greased even though each time we were assured that all fittings were greased. The service manager showed me the u-joints and they all were powdery and dry as a bone.

Because of this bad experience I started greasing the chassis my self. This way I knew all were properly greased. Now that I'm a little older it is very difficult to do this myself so I must depend on the service tech doing the correct job again. So when the time comes for this service I naturally get a little antsy.

That time came around again and for most of our services lately we've relied upon Speedco for our maintenance. There is a Speedco facility in Greenwood, La about 90 miles east of us. So, I called them Monday to make sure they had all my filters and to make sure they used Fleetguard. They gave me an affirmative and did jobs on a first come first serve bases. I also got a tentative quote that for 28 quarts of oil and all filters it would cost me about $295.

Upon our arrival I checked in at the service counter and was informed we would be next and to drive into Bay 2 when told to do so. We waited for about 20 minutes before the Mayflower eighteen wheeler pulled out of the service bay after his service was completed.
Once in the bay I was greeted by the shop foreman who discussed what they were going to do as well pull all the right filters. One of the things I discussed with him was how difficult it was to replace the fuel filer on the engine block. For some reason this filter being located where it is on the engine and the Spartan chassis it's very difficult to remove. Something to do with respect to it been located near the starter and just not having the room to manipulate the removal tool. He assured me they would get it changed as well as grease the fittings properly. I was allowed to stay on the shop floor during this servicing.

As anticipated they had a bugger of a time removing that fuel filter. Even to the point the shop foreman going below himself and after about twenty minutes was able to git-r-done. He questioned if this filter had ever been replaced in prior servicing....hummm?
Prior to my paying the shop foreman did a walk through and reassured me all service was done to their specifications and yes all fittings were greased.

When I went in to pay the young lady behind the counter said you are not heavy duty but a medium duty service and the fee was around $245. Now that is a savings of $50 and i left there with the assurance that all service was done correctly.

Oh, I had an appointment with VA Shreveport at 2pm and asked would it be okay to park the MH behind their facility as we drove over in the Jeep. She said sure and told us where to park so we wouldn't be in the way. Now how nice is that. If you are near Greenwood and need your diesel motorhome serviced I highly recommend this facility.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Lets see............

Where do I begin? I guess I need to pickup from my last post where BIL James took our cargo trailer to his deer lease in West Texas. As I indicated he was going to use it for storage of deer corn and camo hunting gear. He also said he slept in it a couple of nights rather than at the motel in town. This allowed him to be at his stand before the crack of dawn. As to that deer with the perfect rack that he wanted to harvest he never saw it again to shoot. He did say that the Saturday evening he finally gave up on it returning to his hunting stand so he left the area. As luck would have it the trophy deer did return to his hunting stand that night as he got pictures of it with his game camera. I wish the film had better quality as I wanted to post a photo but it wasn't to be as there was too much distortion.

Our Thanksgiving was at Sandy’s sisters in Longview. Due to a bad stomach virus I did not make the trip into town. Instead I stayed at home and watched football. We would have gone to my sisters in Porter but her husband had open heart surgery the Friday before Thanksgiving. He had triple by pass and came through it in flying colors. In fact they released him the Saturday after Thanksgiving. He is slowly getting stronger each day and should go back to work hopefully after the first of the year.

December 21st I had a colonoscopy at VA in Shreveport. Those of you that have had this procedure know the prep for the procedure is relenting. Thank goodness I won't have to go through that three day liquid diet and cleansing for at least another two years as I got a clean bill of health from the doctor. The area where they took out some of my colon a year ago looked okay but they wanted the surgeon to view the film and I should hear back on it first of the year.

We had a little scare a couple days ago with our living room slide out. Sandy was busy in the kitchen making Christmas cookies and candy. I was watching TV and all of a sudden we hear the usual "five second delay" lady's voice that warns you about the pending slide out retracting or going out that everything should be clear and arms unlocked. I jumped up as Sandy was hollering hit the slide out button to stop the pending action. Fortunately I made it in time as the slide had retracted about two inches before I was able to stop it.

Can you imagine what would have happened had we not been home. Don't know what activated the switch. We hope this was just a fluke and it doesn't happen again. Will contact our RV dealer after the holidays to see what he might have to say about this. When we leave the motorhome, we will make sure everything in its path is clear until such time we get an answer to this mystery.

This brings us to Christmas Day where we had a big weather event. The system from the west that brought all the terrible weather for most of the US did its part in Lone Star. It started raining about 4am that morning and was the heaviest we've had so far this year. It rained hard all day and our yard looked like a lake as you can see in the photos.

By 5pm the rain turned to snow like no tomorrow. Hugh flakes started to fall and I told Sandy it probably won't stick because the ground was too wet. Well let me tell you before night fall it did start to stick and this morning the ground was covered with

about three inches of snow. It sure was beautiful to look at but it sure made things cold. Our low here last night was 23 degrees which froze our water hose. Fortunately we had our fresh water tank nearly full. Our high today is only going to be 31 degrees so it looks like this stuff just might hang around awhile.

We wish everybody a Blessed and Happy New Year.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Our Cargo Trailer Has Gone To BIL James Deer Lease In West Texas

When Sandy and I had our wood craft business we purchased a 8ft x 16ft Pace American Cargo trailer to haul our wood crafts and displays from one show to the next. We used it up until the time I retired 13 years ago. I built special shelving and a work table to build and assemble our wood crafts in addition to holding our inventory while traveling.

We pulled it behind our motorhome and sometimes our half ton Chevrolet pickup. When Sandy did Canton First Monday while I was still working she would haul the trailer behind the motorhome and park it behind our booth. After we retired and moved to Northeast Texas we converted its use to a storage trailer for our personal items and seasonal clothes. It remained this way up until this week where Sandy and I removed all our personal items to another storage building on the property.

Our reasoning for emptying the trailer was we gave it to BIL James who will use it on his deer lease in West Texas. He plans to store in it deer corn, winter camo outfits and other items related to the hunt.
He came over today and hooked it to his F-450 Ford Dually Truck. To our surprise after setting for 13 years all the lights on the  trailer worked fine. He put air in the tires, greased the wheel bearings and off he went.

James called about 5hrs later and said he made the trip without any problems. We had some concern with the tires as they might have been dry-rotted from the trailer just setting for the past thirteen years. I kept them covered and up on boards during this time and I'm sure that helped. After arriving he loaded it with the deer corn he thought he will need for next weeks hunt.

He's hoping that the large ten point buck he saw last week end will come around again as he says " this time I'll be ready for him". We hope he does as we love his venison sausage and chicken fried steaks. He uses a combination pork sausage and special spices for his sausage and I guarantee his chicken fried cutlets do not have that wild taste which is common with venison meat.

Oh…. the photo above was taken from the web and is shown for reference only. It did not look that good after 16 years.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Man Cave Finally Gets Electricity

BIL James has been real busy in the oil patch. So busy he hasn't had time to get his 200 amp main in and meter box for the electric company to bring their service drop and meter to the man cave. Well that has finally been accomplished. James had all his work done and his part of the owner requirements for the electrical hookup inspected and passed by the city inspector. Now it was just a matter of waiting on the electric company to come and place their service pole, change out the existing transformer to a larger one and hook up electricity to the man cave.

This past Wednesday about 11:30am three Bowie-Cass Electric company trucks, a cherry picker, a utility pole setting truck and a service/crew truck, pulled up next to the man cave. Being from the city I’ve never experienced this type of installation.The crew consisted of five guys and I've never in my life witness a precision team of workers perform their jobs as these guys. Each person had his specific area of responsibility and went about their duties like a well oiled machine. In a matter of 45 minutes they had changed out to a larger transformer, dug the hole for the service pole, set it and had their overhead power lines to the weather head on the side of the building and installed their meter.

Utility Pole Setting Truck

This not only lifted the utility pole  it also is equipped with an auger for the purpose of digging the hole for the pole. It has a level and plume gage on it that allows the person on the ground to make sure the hole is drilled correctly. It is also equipped with a air compressor and attachment for jack hammering the earth around the pole. I’m sure there are other features not demonstrated in this setting of the utility pole.

Here they are getting ready to dig the hole with the auger. They dug about five feet into the ground and after setting the pole they took the air hammer and packed the earth around the pole. You can see at the end of the boom there is a cradle that holds the utility pole upright.

While these guys were setting the pole a third began to prepare the weather head for the utility drop from the utility pole. The two guys, one in the cherry picker and the other used his pole climbing spikes changed out the transformer to a larger one.  They also prepared the utility drop for the service pole and weather head.

Witnessing this performance and the setting was quite an experience for me. These utility guys deserve a thumps up for a job well done. Their employer should be proud of their work habits. Now on to the task of setting up the man cave.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Remembering 9/11 and Part II Of The Cleaning and Waxing Mode

I don't know what got into me whether it was being inspired by The Shine Shop man, cooler weather or my knee feeling better but I got busy and detailed the Jeep Liberty. Like in the case of the motorhome I have used The Solution on it many times but decided to use Meguiar's Paste Wax. (click on pictures to enlarge)

I purchased a can of Meguiar's Ultimate Paste Wax new for 2012 and boy was it good. Little pricey around $23 but it went on easy and also hand buffed off easy. I used the applicator pad and micro-fiber rag that came with the kit.
What a difference it made too. Not only did it give a nice protective coating on the surface it also brought out the color and appeared to add a deeper gloss shine to the paint. It took me a little over two hours to do the complete exterior.

Next was to detail the interior which has been neglected on my part. Here we used a mixture of Murphy's Oil and water to clean the dash and door vinyl. Afterwards we applied the 303 to the dash and all vinyl surfaces. For the carpet and fabric seats we like the Turtle Wax or Tuff Stuff Upholstery cleaner shampoo.

While in the cleaning mode I also applied 303 Aerospace Protectant to all of my bay door gaskets. I used 303 to clean and protect the inside skin of the bay doors. I can truly say the addition of the RV port has made a big difference. Without the nice shade it provides from the direct sun most of the day these chores would have been a little tuff to do.

This Wednesday we will drop the Jeep off at a local Chrysler-Jeep dealer for the 70,000 mile tune up and 26 point safety check. I was kind a wanting to look at a 2012 Jeep Liberty but after getting the 06 all spiffed up and checked out we probably will hang on to it. Besides being on fixed income who in the world would want car payments again anyway.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Cleaning, Washing, Waxing and A Little Painting

While we were gone last week BIL James work crew painted all the support poles and trusses of the RV port. It sure looks nice. We have decided not to put the four foot panels on the South side instead we will use the panels to close out the eves at each end of the RV port. He hopes to start on this project within the next few weeks. (Click on pictures to enlarge)

It's been a while since the motorhome has had a good cleaning and waxing. I've been using The Solution on the sides but haven't put on in awhile a good coat of Meguiar’s. I know you don't need to wax if you use The Solution but I ran into a deal that I just couldn't turn down.

Since I haven't recovered completely from a fall about four weeks ago (I pulled some ligaments in my left knee) I just haven't been able to do the cleaning I enjoy doing. Like getting up on the roof being one of the neglected chores.

There is a detail shop called The Shine Shop in a small town we drive by every time we go into Longview. One day I stopped by and asked if they detailed motorhomes. The gentlemen said that detailing motorhomes was his next favorite thing he liked doing. He said we will even come to you and do a complete detail job on the exterior of the coach. I asked for a price and he said he would do the job somewhere around $100-$150 but would give a firm price before starting when he came out.

Yesterday was that day. He drove up in this 02 Thunderbird Convertible as I was providing the ladder, wash bucket and water hose. After looking at the motorhome and walking around it he said he would wash the entire coach, clean the engine and tires. He would hand wax the exterior with Meguiar's Paste Wax and polish the aluminum wheels for $160.

I said sold, so he started at 8am and finished the job around 3pm. Boy does it look good too. He did an excellent job and even went back up on the roof for me and applied 303 to all my vent covers including the A/C shrouds.

While cleaning and polishing my wheels I noticed he was using something that looked like cotton balls. I inquired as to what he was using and he replied Nevr-Dull. This is my first experience with this product and I must say it did a pretty good job on the mirrors and aluminum wheels.

This is the end results of his work looks pretty spiffy doesn't it. I also might add after he finished waxing with the paste wax he came behind with a Meguair's quick detail spray wax for his final touchup.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

A Mothers Gift

This RV port would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the love of my late Mom. An interesting side note my late Mom for sometime has wanted us to get a RV cover. She would always ask can I get you that cover for your home which I always replied no we want you to stay at Rosemont Assisted Living as long as the good Lord was willing. About a week before her passing Mom brought up the subject again  and I replied as usual. Before hanging up that evening she said well maybe you will get that cover soon. I never mentioned this to anyone until now. Her wish for us is finally a reality and I thank her for that. Most importantly and the gift above all was her love for the Lord, us kids, family and friends.

Also Sandy and I want to thank her brother, James. He took this project under hand even though he's busy in the oil patch and made sure the project was done right. Without his tender loving care, supervision and follow thru it would not have been completed. So, a big "THANK YOU" goes out to him. James, we can never pay you back for all you do for us.

With the exception of the morning sun hitting the back and a bit on the south side of the motorhome we are basically in the shade most of the day. We can tell as this cover has improved the efficiency of both A/C's. They cycle more often and our temp inside is a few degrees cooler than prior to putting up the RV port.
The 16ft eves with a 20ft peak in the middle allows for someone to stand on the roof for servicing and cleaning.

The only glitch is we can not get a DIRECTV signal with our roof mounted Wineguard Trav'ler dish. DIRECTV was here this Saturday to solve that problem. We still need to paint the trusses, support post and install the partial panels on the south side. BIL James says this just might happen the next time we make one of our short road trips.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

We Are Half Way There

Saturday the crew installed the metal roofing on the north side of the RV port. So, we are half way there. Due to the height of our roof 16ft eves with a 4/12 pitch we are right at 20ft in the middle. This makes the task of installing the metal roof panels a little difficult particularly using a one man lift bucket. It was quite interesting to see these guys work at their trade.In fact it took only 5-6 minutes per panel to install.

 

They also use scaffolding where two men rattled the panels together prior to screwing them down to the C purlins with Tek and Lap screws. They also install lab sealant tape where the two panels join together. The tape has two sticky sides and they had a person on the ground that laid the tape down on the lap leaving the protective strip in place for removable by the two installers on the scaffold prior to placing it in place.

They will install the four C purlins on the south side Monday and if things go well start the south side roofing panels. I don't look for them to finish the project before Tuesday of next week. After this they will need to install the guttering on both sides and the four foot panels down the side on the south side of the port. This will help reduce the sun hitting the side of the motorhome certain times of the day.

After the workers departed BIL James and myself set on the patio under the half completed side and had ourselves a happy hour. Sandy and her other brother joined us about 5 pm. It was certainly nice setting on the patio and where we use to have sun hitting the patio we now have most of the patio in shade. In trying to visualize the shade we will have over the motorhome we anticipate our A/C's won't have to work as hard to maintain cooler temperatures.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.