Plans

I called my Son's home last night to ask a question and talked to his wife for about a half an hour. We covered a lot of territory in the conversation. One of the things we covered was my pending visit there this winter. I have given some thought thought to visiting them this winter when I go to the Gypsy Journal meeting in Yuma AZ this March. I visited them last Winter for about five days and had a great time. The plans are to visit with them on my way to the Gypsy gathering and on my way back from the gathering. I am looking forward to spending sometime with them. This is a photo of where i camped while visiting them last year.

Now I have to firm up my reservations with the Gypsy Journal people, I am thinking of arriving early so will be settled in and know the lectures I want to be at and the venders where they are located. I am hoping that the Elks will be there too so I can join this year. I also want to get more information about Coast to Coast Camping Club seems complicated to me as to what to buy into and what it all means and the most important thing what are the costs! I don't want to get in over my head with these things.

Rained hard here last night I could hear the rain drops pounding on the roof it even disturbed my Lab Shelby for a little bit. Seems that there is one storm after another passing through. So far nothing as serious as the blizzard that hit the northeast this week, thank goodness. When I see people on TV shoveling snow and pushing cars I feel sorry for them and happy for me that I don't have to do that any more-I don't think I could do that anymore not with this tricky ticker (heart) of mine. Nope no more snow shoveling and car pushing for me.

I got a email informing me of a retired co-worker of mine had died, seems to me my circle of friends and co-workers is getting smaller as time goes by.

I got a package in the mail yesterday with my new curtains for the windshield in the RV. I'll try to put them up today. The curtains didn't come with tie backs, darn it. I'll just have to figure something out to hold the curtains open while driving.

Drats!

I was out in the RV today checking things out and I tried out the water heater and I found that now matter which position I put the switch in on the RV or on the water heater the gas comes on to heat the water. Darn it I guess I will have to bring it back to the shop and have them check the switches out... Darn it I thought the water heater problems were over.

Christmas was quiet, pets had their stockings hung on the mantel and we watched some holiday programs on TV. It was cold and windy with some rain as a storm front moved through heading to the east where it raised havoc with the folks in both the Ohio valley and the Northeast. I am sure glad I am not there dealing with the snow and ice. It gets cold enough here in East Texas for me and would rather be somewhere else snuggling up to a bit of warm sunshine than hearing my teeth chatter here in North Eastern Texas.





Samantha bought here own RV and is fitting it out now and will try it out later at an RV park nearby. She is having fun buying goodies for her new (to Her) RV.

Season's Greetings

Happy Holidays to all my family and friends may all your wishes come true and may the new year find you healthy, happy and prosperous.

Repairs update

I took the rig back to the repair shop the other day to have the heating element for the water heater replaced. Ya know sometimes fate moves in strange ways. The young man was taking the gas heating element off to get to the electric heating element and I was watching him and said to myself "damn I could have done that my self and saved a bunch of money" . I watched him install the new element and reassemble the unit. He asked me to go inside and try out the electric element I did and it worked and then (thank goodness) he said try the gas element...... all of sudden I hear yelling to turn it off ! Turn it off !!! Seem flames were shooting out of the unit and almost burned the guy. Several times he thought he had it fixed but still it flamed it wasn't till he moved one of his tools on the ground that he found a piece that hadn't been installed in the end of the gas line that restricts the gas flow that was the problem, once it was back in place the gas operation worked normally. I then thought to myself if I had done that I would have burned the rig to the ground-thank goodness I DID SPEND THE MONEY AND HAVE A TECH DO THE JOB! I felt I missed the bullet on that one in several ways. One if I did it I wouldn't have seen the flames till it was to late, and even if I had done it myself would I have even known what the little device was for or where it went?

After paying the bill we went to a near by town Mabank TX and stopped at a local restaurant called the Victorian Lady's Tea Room and had a lovely lunch I had a chicken salad sandwich that was delicious and Samantha had a crab salad that was just as good. Then we drove on to Canton TX and did some shopping at Wally World the parking lot wasn't full but the store was busy. Samantha has bought her own rig and is fitting it out so there is a lot of stuff for her to buy and of course I just had to get something for my rig.

I have been looking into the possibility of pulling up the old carpet in my rig and putting down some sort of smooth flooring, either pergo or some sort of tile. I think it would be easier to clean and look better then carpet. carpet in a rig just doesn't get clean after a while no matter what you use to clean it, IMO.

Repairs

I got the Rig over to the RV repair place and when they got to doing the work they found that
the brake problem wasn't as terrible as it felt; seems that a pivot point for the brake near the engine was rusty and some WD40 and rust penetrator spray loosened up the device and it appears to be working. Although I am still leery of it working properly. My problem with the heater was in the thermostat control, the contacts were corroded, The water heater wouldn't work on electric and it turns out the heating element is kaput and needs to be replaced, it is on order. The generator was not sounding right and it needed an oil change. The carburetor was adjusted the oil and filter changed and it runs smooth now able to power the AC without sounding like it is going to die. When I drove it home the brake pedal worked fine releasing the brakes as it should. Now to put fuel treatment into the fuel tank and run it through the generator and engine to clean the carburetor on the generator. A lot got done in just a few hours, sure makes a difference when you know what to do and have the right tools.

No Brake Job today

I took the RV in to the mechanic shop this morning but the mechanic that fixes brakes is still in the hospital and they guys at the shop don't know when he will be back, he is in the hospital with an infection. So, I think I'll look for another source to fix the RV.
While in town I got the Rig inspected, seeing as we are a rural community the emissions test wasn't necessary. I also got new wiper blades put on while there. Those blades wear out fast. Baby has her new inspection sticker so she's legal now.

I looked on line and found an RV repair shop that was not attached to a big sales outfit and I went and had a look at the place. They had some very expensive looking rigs they were working on, but were friendly and we talked about the work my rig needed and they seemed positive about getting things done. I'll be taking the rig there to get the brakes looked after, the generator serviced, the furnace repaired, and a couple of other little things checked. So I'll be a light in the purse when they are through fixing "HER" up.

I went by Home Depot today and got blinds cut to fit the RV, Wally World doesn't do that sort of thing. While there I was talking with the lady waiting on me and she told me that I could use my Military ID and get 10 percent of my purchase, all these years I never knew this about Home Depot. I guess I didn't get the memo :(

One of the less intelligent things I have done lately is leave my cell phone in my jeans and wash the jeans ...... Good Bye Phone,
Hello New Phone.....sigh :/

RV project

I was checking out my RV and to my surprise the blinds in the living area have deteriorated and need replacing. The problem with that is figuring out how to get them down without damaging the wall. I went on the internet to ask how it is done and sure enough someone else has done it already and they filled me in with the details, seems there are clips that can be maneuvered opened to release the blinds. I got the first one down with only a little struggle the other will be worked on tomorrow, then I will buy new blinds to replace the old ones. Then the hope is that the clips will go back into place holding the new blinds into place.

Tomorrow the rig goes into the shop to have the brakes looked at and after paying a ransom to get that up to standard I'll take the old girl in to be inspected. RVs and boats they all need constant looking after with maintenance/repairs and modifications. The next project is to get a back-up camera for the rig installed, it has one now but I cannot get it to work, it flickered once and never came back on again. I have backed into so many things over the years that having a back-up camera is a must for me, especially since I will be towing a car behind the rig in the future.

Shivering in Texas

The eye operation went well I think and then BAM I got sick with an infection and have been miserable for weeks. I think I am on the correct medication now and should be over this in a week.

The house hasn't sold yet and I am getting cabin fever being around here all the time. It is cold here in East Texas and that doesn't make me a happy camper. If I wasn't house sitting here I could be where it is warm instead of shivering in Dallas.

I need to get some repairs on the RV and get a new inspection sticker so the old gal goes into the shop this Monday morning seems that the brake pedal doesn't return sometimes. I sure hope it isn't the brake master cylinder that's expensive.....