PLANNED REPAIRS, UNPLANNED REPAIRS

Day one of being "on the road" again.
Monday April 6

After a full day of preparations on Saturday and a full day of family time on Easter Sunday; we thought we would be hitting the road early this morning.  Well, if you consider 10:30AM early then we were right on schedule! We have sit too long in one place and find that we are "rusty" at preparing to travel. We find things will work out well if we begin our travels with prayer, this morning especially!

Everything went well as far as the drive, except for the driver being tired and quickly becoming drowsy. I rarely sleep more than six hours in a night and the night prior I slept less than six. We needed to take breaks often to ensure I remained alert and attentive ( mandatory).

At approximately 4:45PM we stopped for the night at Ameristar RV Park in Vicksburg,  MS. We have stayed here before; it is a nice park, but with hardly no level sites in the 50amp section; that is ok for an overnighter.


Tuesday April 7

Once again we get our usual early start; 10:30AM!  We were so exhausted from the previous days travels that we slept soundly (about six hours for me) and sat drinking coffee too long that morning.

Again everything went well and the driver was not as tired and drowsy. We still stopped often, having had plenty of coffee before leaving! We stayed on I20 east and took I55 North until at some point we got on the Natchez Trace Parkway for about 60 miles.

Our first time on "the Trace" was both interesting and a tiny bit nerve-wracking for Cheryl. The scenery was beautiful;  historical markers interesting; the two lane road with no shoulders and sometimes rather steep dropoffs, not my wife's favorite part of the journey!

We exited the Trace close to Tupelo, MS onto MS23 then made our way into Red Bay, Alabama around 6:00PM. We checked in at the Tiffin Service Center to find what we had already suspected, the place is packed and we were directed to an alternate campground (McKinney's across the street).
Mr McKinney has developed a portion of his property into some full hookup sites; it is a nice alternative when Camp Red Bay is full.

We had another restful evening, it is very quiet at night here (at least on this side of the street).

Wednesday April 8

After the restful night of sleep, I was feeling great and decided to empty my storage bays to rearrange. It was hard work, good for the soul, but not the back..lol. I was near finishing when a white van pulled up in front and a technician had arrived to inspect the driver's side front slide, wet bay and rails. These items were not on my list; the tech informed me it is procedure to inspect these items due to some problems they had encountered in the past. It turns out my wet bay is good, the improved design. The driver's side slide out has a floor problem; they are going to pull out the slide and replace the floor.  Also our rails are the problematic ones, that are not metal. They are going to remove them, replace them with metal, gel coat them and then paint. Sounds like my Red Bay vacation just got extended! I have not been visited by Norris yet; we will get a time estimate from him on those repairs then the rest of my planned repairs as well.

After our very informative visit by the tech and finishing the job I started in the storage bays, we decided to just relax and read for the afternoon.  The relaxation last until 2:00PM, when we received a call from the Red Bay office informing us they have a site for us in Camp Red Bay. We un-setup at McKinney's and re- setup at CRB.

We had a fairly restful night at CRB and that leads us up to this morning.

Thursday April 9

This morning I was up at 4:45AM and after checking the news/weather, began writing this post. I noticed things started getting a little noisey around 6:00AM, people were getting ready to move their rigs into service bays. I also noticed the bay doors were open around 6:30AM.

Now I am up to date on this posting and will try to post again soon. Until then, God bless us all......

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

YAHOO... we are going on the road again!

I used a sturdy pry bar to loosen Cheryl's grip on the newest grandson long enough to hit the road. Now all that is left to do is convince myself that I can leave him for a while to take this trip!

We have been "anchored" since our return from South Carolina in February. It is now time to shake off the cobwebs and make the wheels on the bus go round and round. First order of business is much needed repairs on our rolling retirement home. We have a slide that doesn't want to close unless the engine is running. What is up with that? Also our propane guage is eternally stuck on the full mark,  leading to a couple of surprises upon trying to use the gas stove! Also the rear AC/heat pump has become very noisy ($$$).

After what I am certain will be a long stay at the factory service center; we may head back to the just wander around aimlessly? I don't know how long we will be roaming, but I am sure it will only be a short jaunt before we hastily return for some grandchildren time!

A GHOST FROM THE PAST?

Has it been nearly two years since I have dusted this blog off? (rhetorical question). I image anyone who used to read this blog has long since given up on finding any new post and more than likely wonder if I am still on the right side of this earth! Well I am here to tell you that both my wife and I are alive and mostly well. However if it is more exciting for you to think so, then just think of me as a ghost from the past (lol).

We have been living here at Barksdale AFB since my last post and a lot of life has been happening to us, for us and around us!  The most exciting event being the birth of my youngest grandson, Benjamin Michael.  Funny how new grandchildren will take your mind off your dream of traveling fulltime!

As you can see, our focus has changed! Benjamin was born on March 29th 2014 and Cheryl retired in June to take care of him while mom and dad work. Since then he has spent a lot of time at our home on wheels. He has been to Gulf Shores, Alabama and Gaffney, South Carolina in the motorhome and loves traveling.

 

 

Since his birth, time has passed swiftly and lo and behold, I finally retired! Now we are free the hit the highways and bi-ways, travel at will. The only low point is that Benjamin will not be traveling with us. ( or at least not all  the time). Our first trip will be Camp Red Bay in April, after my daughter in law becomes a full time mommy and no longer needs us. We will also be traveling to Kentucky to visit our some of our family.  We may even attend a rally somewhere in between!

Anyway I will really try to post at least once a month if not more. Who knows maybe life will get really interesting and writing will come easy!! God Bless us all........

 

THE FUN KEEPS ON COMING.....

I appreciate all the tips given on locating my black water tank leak. I found from videoing in the tight places that the leak seems to be coming from the top of the tank. It only leaks when using the flushing device and the water leaked seems to be "clean" water. It pretty much soaks everything when it happens and I even found a little water by the outer wall, on the floor of the bathroom that sits above the tank. I am really debating on whether or not I can wait on the Red Bay appointment at the end of May! Until then I will not use the "no fuss flush", because some "fuss" seems to have developed!

I also found a slow, small leak beneath the generator up front (used the brown bag method). It is a coolant leak (drip). I had the generator service when in Gaffney this past November, prior to that there was no leak. This leak is not so critical and I will keep an eye on it until I can get it fixed.

Here is something new, if not exciting. I was up at 6am (this is nothing new) to use the bathroom. This bathroom has the china toilet with an electronic flush mechanism. When I flushed this morning the water that refills the bowl (it was at a high level to begin with) ran the bowl over! After the initial excitement and clean up,  I carefully flushed (with a hand on the water cutoff valve) the toilet a few times to find out what is going on. It seems the electric flush mechanism is overfilling the bowl after flushing each time. I am going to drag out the manual to see if it is adjustable. If it is not adjustable then looks like another repair on the list!

Cheryl says that the recent back to back problems are due to us sitting here and not going anywhere. I think there is an easy fix to that problem..... we will be traveling to a few repair shops soon!

All problems considered, we still love our motorhome and I am sure we are going to love the traveling part. Until next time... God Bless

WE HAVE NO HOUSE AND OUR HOME HAS WHEELS!

Well the sale of our house is completed, it is all over, Thank God! We closed this past Monday. However we are not homeless, our house has wheels and "home" is where we park it. We are officially fulltimers, although we are not leaving our jobs (excuse that bad word) immediately. I think it is prudent to sit back and take inventory of our finances and what we will need before we give up our paychecks.

In the meantime I am discovering that not having a house does not mean we will not have "house problems".  I had to make an appointment with Red Bay, Tiffin's factory service center to find out where a leak is coming from in my wet bay. It never leaks until after I have dumped the black water tank and start using the "no-fuss flush" to rinse the tanks clean. It seems the leak is clean water, which to me indicates it is coming from the flushing device before it gets inside the tank. Anyway I made the appointment, but it is not until May 29th. I am wondering if I should wait that long or try to find the leak myself.

Even though living in an RV is not without problems, we are loving it anyway. We love our home on wheels and I am sure we will love it even more when we are able to travel more. Until next time, God Bless us all.........

MEMORIES OF OUR VACATION

Things are rolling along, right on track for the sale of our house. We thank God for that. As far as everything else, it is the same ole,same ole. We work, we come home to the coach for dinner, some tv and before you know it, bedtime.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we had a two week vacation that began on the 3rd of November. We began our trip early on that Saturday morning, which in retrospect turned out to not be the best idea. There was a misty fog along I20 that morning that really limited visibility.  The pace was slow from Shreveport, Louisiana, all the way to Vicksburg, Mississippi. we traveled a little over 8 hours that day, making up some time when the fog lifted.

We crossed the Georgia state line and into the eastern time zone. We thought about changing our clocks an hour ahead for ET, but upon further thought we decided to leave them alone since daylight savings time began at 2AM Sunday morning anyway!

We pulled into a Flying J to spend the night. Cheryl wanted to search for a good place for dinner, so drove the car down the road and per chance found a "mom and pops" RV park less than two miles from the truck stop. I found the owner and the price was $20.00 for one night, full hook ups! Needless to say we moved from the truck stop to the RV park!

After a good dinner at the RVers cafe, better known as Cracker Barrel and a good quiet nights sleep; we got a not so early start on the next leg of our journey. 

I will continue the trip in the next post, since it is time to stop the daydreaming and head to the office. I pray the house sells with no problems, our finances will be sufficient and my days left for heading to the office are few. Until next time........

NEW BEGINNINGS

If there is anyone out there in blogville that still looks for a new post from me, this is the day. I am going to try for a new beginning on posting blogs, since we are entering a new beginning for our lifestyle.

My last post (some time ago) left off with the house being repaired. We still had all our furniture in the house and in the process of getting it remodeled.  We gave a lot of "stuff" to our kids, and stored some things we wanted to keep; since we were already living in our motorhome. The house went on the market on July 21st. We got the usual flurry of inquiries and showings that happen whenever a new house hits the market, but no serious "lookers".

The house has been on the market since, with only mild interest, until we got a call from our realtor while vacationing on 17 November, with an offer on the house.  We were so elated and thankful. The offer was a little less than the asking price, and the young man wanted us to give 5k in concessions for closing. We figure this is because he is 25 yrs old and has little funds saved at this point in his life. We countered to get a couple of small items he was requesting off the table, but in reality we are eager to start our next phase of life, we accepted his offer!

Now the waiting begins for closing. He has already had a contractor/inspector look at the house and give it a clean bill of health. The inspector did not find anything to be repaired in the house. Now we are awaiting appraisal, termite inspection and who know what else?  The buyer is striving for a closing before 31 December and we are praying it goes through.

That is our status in a nutshell. We are still working, waiting to see how we fare financially when all this has played out. We had a great vacation, which Iwill try to post more about later. I am going to endeavor to post more, even if they are shorter post.

Until next time, God bless us all..............

On The Right Track

We are getting closer to having the house on the market. This weekend we cleaned everything out of our attic, it was a monumental task! We have years of collecting junk in the attic, now sitting in the garage. Cheryl is going through the stuff as is the rest of the family. We are sorting things into the famous three piles,  keep in the motorhome, sell or give away and storage.

Our realtor met with us last week and gave us suggestions on what we need to do to the house in preparation for selling. I then met with a highly recommended contractor to get a bid on the work, mostly flooring, sheetrock repairs and painting. We are hoping the house will be on the market by July at the most.

In the meantime we are busy emptying out the house. The small items first, then the furniture, much to our surprise the realtor recommends we let her show the house empty. She told us that way the potential buyers would not see a home "personalized" to our liking, but see a home they can easily change to their liking. I hope she is right.

I will try to keep everyone informed of our progress. Until next time...... God Bless

PREPPING THE STICKS AND BRICKS TO SELL

A giant step towards our retirement and the start of our fulltime travels has been taken! This past Monday morning the crew to repair the foundation on the sticks and bricks arrived.

First thought? Wow all the money I am paying for these repairs and this is it? The crew arrived in a ton and a half truck pulling the above trailer. I don't know what exactly I was expecting, for the price maybe a bunch of heavy equipment, cranes, dozers and a battalion of hardened construction workers in hard hats?

No heavy equipment, or battalion of construction workers, just three guys with shovels, a heavy duty compressor, welder and a lot of  steel piers with accessories.

However, all said and done, it was a hard working crew of three and it was evident this was not their first rodeo. They worked diligently to dig through roots, around gas lines and electric lines to achieve the depth needed to install the pier systems.

The contraption pictured above is installed underneath the foundation footing.

Two hydraulic cylinders are bolted to the contraption and lots of hydraulic lines attached.

The steel piers are then installed into the hole for them in the contraption (hope I am not being too technical here).

Once the steel piers are in the contraption, they use a big compressor attached to the hydraulic cylinders to push the piers into the ground. Additional lengths are added (joints are similar to those used on tent poles) until the guage in the picture above reads 3,000 psi. The depth of the piers ranged between 25 foot to the deepest one was 28 foot.  Once all the piers have been installed to the proper depth for the strength needed, the "super" compressor is attached to all piers by hoses. Each hydraulic cyclinder on each pier is adjusted to the pressure needed to raise that pier (thus raising the house) to the hieght pre-determined by my engineer. I say "my" engineer, because I think for the amount of money involved, I bought him.

Anyway, the house was raised, it is all level now.  Best part, it carries a lifetime warranty and is certified by "my" engineer as structurally sound. Our next step is to make minor repairs to our interior walls and ceilings, moving a house around tends to make some minor cracking in a few places.

We have a realtor coming over this afternoon to meet with us. She may be able to advise us on what else we need to do to the house to sell it. I will try to keep you informed as our journey unfolds.

Until next time, God bless us all.............................

STILL STRIVING FOR OUR DREAM

I have not posted in a while, it seemed that our lives have become somewhat hectic to say the least. I don't know if I am describing it correctly or not, but it also seems our lives have become confusing.

However we are still working towards our dream, getting our "sticks and bricks" ready to sale, going through our "stuff", and going to work every day to ensure we have the funding to follow through with our plans (house repairs are very expensive).

We are living in "Big Red", our motorhome, while all this is taking place. We usually pack up our essentials from Big Red on Friday afternoons (everything we need to sleep, eat, bath, etc.) and head to the sticks and bricks to try and accomplish some repairs or sort through years of stuff trying to decide what to get rid of and what to keep/store. Sunday afternoons we end up packing up our essentials to head back to Big Red for another week of work.

The contractors are coming Monday to start the foundation repairs, then we can really get the other minor repairs (some sheetrock work is not so minor) accomplished, some new flooring installed and finally a FOR SALE sign out front! I think life will be much simpler after that? I will try to post more often as we progress, for now I need to get off this computer and start sorting out my tools in the garage. Until next time..........