A Sad Texas Journey August 1, 2010

It's a sad trip we begin. Frank's mother passed away on July 19, 2010 and we are on our way to be with his Dad and prepare for the memorial service. Her health had been failing for the last several months partially brought on by a series of mini-strokes. She passed away in her sleep that night. The service is to be held August 5th so that gives 3 days to get to San Angelo and 1 day to prepare for the service. We have pictures to prepare, scrapbooks to assemble, and speeches to write. Even though we had been mentally preparing for this since May, you're still not prepared when it actually happens.

Big Guy Gets a Checkup - July 9 to 15 2010

Big Guy is due for a checkup.  Having just bought our motorhome in March of 2010 we had not had a chance to go over the mechanical systems like we wanted to. We knew the second owner had been good about annual oil changes and filters but we had no knowledge of how Big Guy had been treated by the first owner as there were no records available.

Frank wanted to take him to Gaffney, South Carolina as that is the source for Frieghtliner motorhome chassis which Big Guy has.  Briefly motorhome chassis consist of everything that makes the motorhome go and stop.  So appointments were made, budgets were established (more on that later), and packing was accomplished.

We left Orange Park on July 9 headed towards Blue Ridge, Georgia to see friends Jim and Shelley Ward and their new mountain cabin.  The Putnam's and the Ward's had consulted their respective calendars and determined that this one weekend was probebly the only weekend we would be able to get together until November or December.

Naturally the night before we left, Big Guy developed a problem.  The hydraulic system for the slides and stabilizer jacks decided to go on strike.  Frank worked on the problem until the wee hours of the morning with limited success.

We arrived in Blue Ridge late in the day because several stops were made in an attempt to get several rv dealers to work on the hydraulics.  Every where we stopped the service departments were full and they
couldn't take time to look at our problem.  Oh well, when we bought Big Guy we knew there would be times when we would have to spend a night or two with the slides in so we'd just deal with it.

We stayed at the Mineral Springs RV Park in Blue Ridge.  It was kinda rustic but it had all the amenities.  As we were setting up, Frank decided to take a chance and put the slides out.  By golly, they worked.  We called Jim and Shelley and invited them over to take a look at the new (to us) motorhome.



The next morning we got to see their new cabin and were we surprised. The "cabin" was huge and beautiful.  The deck space at the cabin was bigger than our condo in Orange Park. 

We spent the day exploring and enjoying the house.  They also took us on a tour of the Blue Ridge area and we also looked at RV Parks for future visits.  That evening we cooked out and enjoyed catching up since we hadn't seen each other in a long time.

The next morning we returned to Jim and Shelley's and had a great breakfast to prep us for the trip to Gaffney.


After breakfast we returned to the RV to get ready to get underway for South Carolina.  One of the last items is to retract the slides and guess what?  They chose this particular moment to go on strike again.  Knowing that this situation might arise, Frank had studied the manual and determined it was possible for two people to manually retract the slides.  After much head scratching and grunting we managed to get them back in and off we went.

Our course to Gaffney took us over some pretty twisty roads and we noticed the bedroom slide was working it's way out.  That's not a good thing to have happened when you're cruising down the road.  So we found a place to pull over where there was a car already parked and managed to push the slide back again.  Frank tweaked the hydraulic solenoid valves one more time and we crossed our fingers.

Due to all the delays, we arrived in Gaffney late and then ended up going to the wrong place.  We went to the Frieghtliner factory instead of the Service Center.  However the guard at the factory gate was used to this happening and had directions printed up to hand out for lost souls like us.  We arrived at the Service Center at about 6pm and there was only one space left in their campground.  It was #13.  Frank had read some forums that said arrive early or you may not get a spot.  We were lucky.

We were prepared for Big Guy being in the shop for all of Monday and part of Tuesday as we had enrolled in Camp Frieghtliner.  This was a 2 day class that taught you about your motorhome chassis.  It was very informative and fun.  We learned about things we didn't even know we had.  The cool thing about having service done here is that they come get your motorhome ar 8am in the morning and bring it it back by 5pm.

Part way through the second day, the service people told us they were going to need to keep Big Guy for a third day.  Turns out, the maintenance that had been previously preformed on Big Guy had been superficial at best.  Just like the generator, the diesel engine cooling system was a mess.  And the radiator was a mess, and they found the right front wheel hub was leaking which explained some funny odors we had been smelling.  The list goes on.  Needless to say our carefull budget planning was out the window.

We spent the third day that Big Guy was in the shop touring the Frieghtliner factory.  We got to go out on the shop floor and watch them building several motorhome chassis.  At their peak several years ago, they were building 150 motorhome chassis a month.  Now they are building about 9 a week.

We spent Wednesday night at the Frieghtliner Service Center and headed home to Orange Park on Thursday.  And believe it or not, Big Guy performed like a new motorhome.  The service was expensive, but it was complete and it was necessary.  We now feel confident that we are ready for the big summer trip.

We’ve been a little delinquent in providing updates about life on the road.  A lot has happened since our last real update in January.  So here is a brief synopsis beginning May 2010.

This is about our second of three trips to Texas this year.  The first trip, in January, we covered pretty thoroughly in an earlier blog.  The next event was that we acquired a 34 foot diesel powered Class “A” motorhome.  Quite a step up from a 19 foot Roadtrek Class “B”.  A year’s search had finally yielded the motorhome we had been looking for.  It’s a Winnebago Itasca 34H with 2 slideouts.  It’s so big after being used to a 19 footer for 4 years.  Since our creative juices have not yet produced a satisfactory name for the new motorhome, we’re using “Big Guy”

This trip to Texas, which took place in May and June, was primarily focused on making sure Mom and Dad’s finances were in order.  Much time was spent learning Texas rules on assets, income and trusts.But Frank and EJ with the help of Frank's brother Terry and his wife Joy managed to successfully get everything into place to satisfy Texas.  Actually it was a pleasure working with the agencies here in Texas.  Everyone was very helpful.

By the time we pretty well had that wrapped up, we had endured all the 100+ degree weather we could and it was time to head to a cooler location.  Mom’s health was such that we didn’t want to travel more than a day’s drive away.  So we drew a circle around San Angelo to locate all of the mountains within a days drive.

There was no use checking North, East or South as there are no mountains or cool weather in those directions. So we checked out Ft. Davis, Tx and found it was not high enough .  The temperatures were still to hot.  The only direction left with mountains of any size were the Sacramento mountains which are West NorthWest of San Angelo.

Things were looking promising because Cloudcroft is over 8000 feet and the Solar observatory in Sunspot is over 9000 foot.  Things we’re looking good.  Temperature checks yielded figures near 80 degrees for highs and high 40’s low 50’s for overnight lows.  Destination locked in….off we go.

Ooops, side track.  In the last half hour of our trip to San Angelo we realized we had a serious generator problem.  The thing that makes 110v electricity for the coach.  It was overheating but we didn’t worry too much because we had a place to plug in at Dad’s.

They had to lift Big Guy to get the generator out - twice!!

I wanted to get it fixed before we headed off to the mountains because I wasn’t real sure where we were going to stay and we might even be boondocking.  The nearest authorized service center was Midland/Odessa where we made an appointment for noon on Thusday and off we went.  Long story shorter, everything the generator needed had to be delivered from somewhere else and always took at least overnight to get to Odessa.  5 days, and many new parts later, we were back on the road.  We still weren’t 100 percent positive the problem was fixed, but it looked promising.  (We’ve since put over a 100 hundred hours on the generator and are convinced Cummins Southern Plains in Odessa knew what they were doing)

Side track over, we’re back in search of cooler temperatures.  As we were heading up into the Sacramento Mountains, we kept checking the elevation and the temperature.  At 7000 feet things weren’t looking good.  Temperatures were still in the low 90’s.  On to 8000 feet.  Hmmmm….a little better.  Temperatures were now in the upper 80’s.  Well, on to 8663 feet, the elevation of Cloudcroft.  Temperatures were now near 80 degrees at about 5pm.  I guess this will have to do.  The campground was a little rustic but it quickly grew on us.

We had wifi, a beautiful view of the lake, a view of an open field and lots of humming birds.  This was the first time we had heard humming birds chirp constantly.

Their favorite trick was to soar way up into the sky, do a hammerhead stall, and dive bomb you. The campground office and several of the campers had hummingbird feeders out for the little guys.

And the best part, as the sun got lower in the sky it cooled off real fast.  At about sundown you needed a light jacket or sweater if you were sitting outside.

Playing tourist, we visited the Space museum in Alamagordo , a winery, the solar observatory in Sunspot, an old wooden railroad trestle just outside of Cloudcroft, the Lodge in Cloudcroft (very fancy for the area), the local cherry festival,  Inn of the Mountain Gods Casino  and Resort, a Civilian Conservation Corps fire tower, Ruidoso Downs, the Apache casino and more.  There’s plenty to do and see around the Cloudcroft area.

The first observatory at Sunspot was ordered from Sears and Roebuck.  It was a modified grain bin.

A week in the mountains was over all ready and it was time to head back to San Angelo.  We wanted to check in on Mom and Dad before we headed home.  Unfortunately, Mom had a stroke the 2nd day we were back and she had to go to the hospital again.  Another battery of tests and still no definitive answers.  Human bodies need on board computers you could plug into and read the error codes like you can with automobiles.  Although we did learn she had already had several ministrokes in the near past.  We stayed to help Dad out some more and finally we needed to head back to Orange Park.

Times are changing

We brought home our new to us 2005 Winnebago Itasca Meridian 34H on March 9th, 2010. This picture was taken at Georgia Veterans Memorial Park in Cordele, Georgia.

Classic Westerns and other Taunts

Friday and Saturday January 29-30, 2010

It's been a real treat driving through towns with names attached to western lore. Sanderson - the town too mean for Judge Roy Bean, Langtry - named after a British actress that Judge Bean liked, Comstock - Comstock Lode by Louis L'amour, Del Rio, Hondo - a movie based on "The Gift of Cochise", and more.

I had carefully plotted a course around San Antonio to avoid 5 o'clock traffic and began searching for the exit to get on the loop around town. As I got on the exit EJ said something that caught me off guard. I asked her to repeat her comment and she said "You're a wuss!" I asked why. She said I was wimping out by not going straight through town. Taking offense at being called a wuss, I had to call her bluff and get back on Hwy 90. Sure enough, my fears about heavy traffic were unfounded and we sailed right through San Antonio with no problem. But at least I wasn't a "wuss".

On Saturday we stopped by Holiday World RV in Katy, Tx to look at some motorhomes and got hooked up with a "know it all" salesman. He and I were at odds immediately and I even put on my coat(it was 40 degrees outside)and started to walk out. EJ sat there with an "if I'm really still, I'll be invisible" look on her face. The salesman and I eventually made nice, but it put a damper on the whole experience. Once again we found out that there were almost no used motorhomes for sale. We did find a new unit, a Winnebago Sightseer 33C, that has a layout we like, but it's a gasser. I still have reservations about that.

Onward to Houston and another suprise. They don't tell you until after you're committed that I-10 eastbound is closed in downtown Houston. The only indication we had of the detour route was a tiny little sign at the exit you were supposed to take to avoid the blockage. Unfortunately, we were in the right hand lane of three lanes of standstill traffic and the detour sign was for a left hand exit. We had a few choice words for the traffic engineer responsible for that snafu. In the end our trusty GPS came to the rescue and found us a way around the mess and once again we were on the way.

We wanted to make it to Louisiana tonight, but we started running out of steam and light about 6:30pm. EJ went into research mode and found us a couple of likely campgrounds. But it was dark and we couldn't find them. So we stopped and took a little break to regroup. EJ came up with plan "B" and off we went, headed for Beaumont, Tx and the East Lucas Drive RV Park. We highly recommend this park to all RV'ers. Not only did they give a discount rate and put us close to the bath house, but they also let us use their internet pass code for free for the night. Oh, and I almost forgot. Their office was open late for us to check in. What a great experience and a great end to a less than optimum day.

Cold Again

January 1-29-10

Leaving Big Bend NP we saw clouds flowing down off the mountains. We had a feeling this was the extreme cold front coming we had heard about in the park. Some of the campers in Rio Grande Village were staying there instead of going on to Chisos Basin (highest camp in the park) because they were afraid they would get snowed in at the higher elevation.
Suck it up Gator Fans, we stayed at Seminole State Historical Park last night. It was dark, windy, and pouring rain and the park had paved spaces and electric hookups. We picked a spot close to the showers (ahhh...hot water). Upon arising the next morning we decided that might not have been the smartest action since it turned out we were on the highest spot in the park and we had some pretty terrifying lighting storms during the night. It got down to 34 degrees. We actually heard what we thought was hail or sleet several times during the night. This morning EJ got this neat picture.
Today we stopped in Del Rio for about an hour to do some internet research at the local McDonalds to determine our route through the rest of Texas. We were going to go to Corpus Christi to look at an RV but they wouldn't answer the phone so we're off for Houston instead to stop at Holiday World and PPL Motorhomes. The search continues.

Casa Grande es Muey Grande

Wednesday January 27, 2010

36 degrees overnight. That wasn't too bad. The campground we were in didn't allow generators between 8pm and 8am, so it was gas heat or nothin'. Actually we don't like using the gas furnace because it heats up to about 90 degrees then shuts off and doesn't come back on until it's 50. (It's not that bad but you get the idea.)

We stopped by the visitor center so EJ could get the passport stamped and to buy some ice for the cooler. Then it was off to the Lost Mine Trail.
This was a great hike. Because we are in the Chisos mountains (as opposed to the desert) there are lots of trees and plants. We saw mexican weeping juniper, skunkbush, oaks, mexican pinon pine and more. The views of Casa Grande peak were awsome. We climbed up to the saddle and could see for miles in all directions. While we were up there, we could see the weather moving in from the west. Rain and possibly snow are forecast for Wednesday night Thursday morning.

We also hiked the Dugout Wells trail. This was down in the desert area so we learned about Prickly Pear Cactus, Octillo, Strawberry cactus and so on. Dugout Wells was another community that didn't make it. Although it has a natural spring feeding the area, it was just too harsh to survive. At one time it even had a school and was thus called the "cultural center" of Big Bend. All that's left now is a windmill to pump water (obviously rebuilt) and a dugout area that was possibly once a house or storage shed. What a contrast from the mountains.