Goooodmorning!!!

[cwk]

Good evening, all!

A quick check-in. All is well here. 86F this afternoon, so I guess winter is probably behind us here.

Originally Posted by Franka548

people are packing up and heading north, 2 or 3 a day.

Today included a round-trip from NE Florida to Tallahassee on I-10 (about 100 miles on the interstate each way). Heading back east just after lunch-time, I spotted a lot of RV's heading west. Mostly Class A's with toads are evidently leaving Florida and heading back up north to cooler temps.

Rail: Great photos. Reminds me of some of the beautiful architecture I visited when our ship (Navy) visited various ports in the Mediterranean.

Mike: Sorry for the loss. Glad that you are ok, but it still has to hurt.

Popeye: I thought summer started there on July 3rd and ended on July 5th.

Continuing prayers for those in need.

Later...

[sam-3]

Heard on the news today that gasoline is going up to $3.00 by summer time. Just have to wonder what the excuse is this time!!

[spritz]

^^^
Maintenances...


JS & JMO

[Lloyd in S.C.]

Mike, so sorry this happened to you. Of course we are in Yuma, gotta cross country to get home. A dangerous event this time of year with spring storms and all. As Gordon said, hotel/motels come with their own challenges.

Rail, great pics. Beautiful country!

Frank, the farewells are going on here as well, we will miss everyone. We have had such a good time here.

They did a fantastic job on our wash wax, our coach looks awesome. $120 for a 40 footer.

This afternoon we go to Mexico, Deb and Janet are seeing the dentist, I'm going for the food!

I have the motorcycle loaded in the trailer, bicycles are next. Already packed most of the outside furniture etc.. as it would have gotten wet during the wash.

Have a great day all!

L.

[FastGlassMan]

Hey all, we are still alive but things not going so good. Hopefully the weather will be getting better so I can work on the motorhome. Sally just got home from the hospital, this is the second heart attack since Halloween last year, she is very weak. We both gave up the damn cigarettes so hopefully that will help her and myself. Wish us luck as we are still hoping for getting out of here! Bobby

[cwk]

Prayers for Sally. Bobby take good care of yourself so you can take care of her. Good for giving up the cigs. I've been told many, many times that it really helps.

[sam-3]

So sorry to hear about sally's heart attack. Prayers for both of you.

[sam-3]

H-12 Mike-So sorry to hear about your hail damage. I hope all goes well with your insurance co. In 2001 we had a huge hail storm that damaged our home and truck. Keep track of all phone calls to your ins. co. I put my concerns in writting and it went in my favor. We couldn't turn on our central AC in Oct. They tried to say I would have a seperate claim for this and another deductible.Our contractor took poloroid pictures of our damaged roof. He used to work for State Farm insurance and new how to itemize and write up our claim. We esentialy got back anything we had ever paid in home owners insurance. Many people got gipped as the insurance co. tried to say only half of people's roof got damaged. Not true. Now you have to be extra careful when buying a house in Niagara Falls as it my have hailstorm roof damage from 2001. Keeep a good file on your ins. claim. Use someone that has been doing business in the city for years. Some contractors came into town just to get business. Take care

[Gordon Dewald]

Bobby - please pass on our best wishes to Sally for a speedy and complete recovery. As previously stated "take care of yourself as well", she will need you to be there.

Went to Mexico today to top up the drugs and get the last haircut until fall. Success on both tasks. Janet had a dentist appointment. They gave us free t-shirts. Apparently if you wear them to an appointment they will give us a free cleaning. Bonus.

Tomorrow is the last push to finish loading. Bikes are in the trailer and partly tied down. Will not take long to get them secured. Then the patio furniture goes into the shed. Bit more of a problem as we have to store the additional toys the children will inherit! Shed is not growing in proportion to the stuff we are buying!!

Everyone have a grand evening and wonder day.

[Charlie and Martha]

I don't know Sally, but I wish her a speedy recovery. I'm one that's been there and done that. It's no fun and very scary.

So, we haven't checked in for a few days because Martha and I went camping to do a "smoke test" of the mods, repairs and replacements we've made since last December. We are now only 60 days from departure to full time status.

Our campsite this week was Withrow Springs State Park, Arkansas. We really enjoyed this place. There are only 30 campsites in this park so, should you want to go, book early after school is out and on holidays. Also beware, there is no cell reception what so ever, and there are seven local TV channels available five of which are children's programming. There is a Walmart in Huntsville, Ar. about 5 miles away.

The Trip Wasn't All Roses

In fact the coach is still at the park because the living room slide out once again refuses to close. I have a repair guy that is going to come out to the park with me and look at it and I have printed a .pdf of the repair procedure in case he is clueless. This slide room problem stuff is eating our lunch. It is however, why we decided to smoke test the fixes. Now we just got to get it repaired correctly so that we don't worry about it again. EDIT: The coach is now at a repair shop after three big burly guys and myself pushed the room in while Martha manned the room switch. (amperage issue and the control board is toast).

Here are some photos of our RV, the park and of the woods and hiking trails. The trails are just gorgeous in the spring.











How did the testing go? Well.....

Progressive Industries Surge Protector

I was really worried about this one. I'm color blind so wiring has been the bane of my existence since forever. Originally I wired the SP and found as I went that the colors (as they look to me) didn't seem to be quite right. According to the wiring diagram there was a red and a green wire (yes, I'm red/green color blind). After I wire the device in line I got to looking and those particular wires were not as prominent as I thought they might be. So, I asked a bystander to verify which was red and which was green. Sure enough, I had them reversed. So, I rewired again and hoped for the best. And you know what? It works as it should. Phew!!!!

Black and Grey Water Blade Valves

Since we brought our coach home last year I had valve leakage into the clear 90* pipe that our sewage line connects to. The previous owner kept the cap on the bottom and each time you would hook up the sewer line about a quart of nasty liquid would pour out. As a result I replaced both blade valves with new ones. No more worries, they close tight.

Black Water Sprayer Supply Line Vacuum Breaker

Three times I tried to make the black water sprayer operate and three times the inside of the bathroom lavatory sink base got cleaned instead of the black water tank. I did a lot of research and found that this line has a vacuum breaker that prevents siphoning of contaminated water back into the parks water supply system. Our vacuum breaker was not functioning and water would come out of the vents in the vacuum breaker instead of flowing on into the black tank sprayer. I replaced the vacuum breaker and I am happy to say all works well again.

Ubiquiti High Power Antenna and WIFI

In order to optimize our possibilities for internet I purchased, set up and installed a Ubiquiti NanoStation Loco M2 and Ubiquiti Air Gateway in our coach. These two pieces of equipment let me used a high powered antenna to located and amplify RV Park WIFI systems to optimize the use of WIFI so that we can enhance our possibility of staying connected in a crowded park. The best part is that the entire system is less than $100 in cost. I used this tutorial to set up my coaches personal WIFI:

David Bott's Ubiquiti High Powered Inexpensive Park to RV WIFI System

We are now considering a cell phone signal booster. Withrow Springs proved to us that communications is needed and I am not in tip top health. We had no cell signal what so ever save the occasional one bar of 4G. This messed us over because of the slide room problem. We had to travel to the nearest Ozark Mountain top to get a signal to call the repair guy for help and he couldn't call back.

It might have been more palatable to call from the coach to arrange him coming to help so we could relay the problem more clearly. We ended up calling the repair guy off by driving back up the mountain when we managed to get the room back in. Maybe after we pay for another slide room repair we can afford the booster.

[Electra 225]

X2, on well wishes. Hope Sally feels better soon. It takes some time, gotta take it easy. My dad had heart problems bad. Go slow, the heart has to heal and regain strength. Check with your doctor first, but a Bayer baby aspirin per day may be helpful. Wishing you both the best.

Regards,
W.D.

[Wroughtnharv]

Charlie, I've had two fifth wheels with slides. Both of them had manual over rides if there was a failure. The Cedar Creek had a manual pump to operate the hydraulic slide mechanism. And the toy hauler had hand cranks to operate the electric system if needed. But then they weren't as new as your coach, progress has its own rewards.

Your leaking holding tank story made me smile. And it had nothing to do with you. The first time we took out the Cedar Creek we ended up spending five days in Lubbock while the truck got new injectors. We stayed in the coach in the parking lot, nothing but a thing. Then when we hit Roswell it was after dark. It was then that I discovered the black tank valve was worthless, huge mess when I pulled the cap. Oh yeah, one of those rv horrors stories.

As for the cell service. We have AT&T. It's totally dead in the mountains where we love to dry camp in northern Arizona. We purchased a Walmart burner and purchase minutes for it when we're there. Verizon has five bars, AT&T is dead, no service.

The health issues stories always hit home. We never know when or how but they are there for all of us. We have to grab the day and appreciate it for all it's worth. Hope everyone gets better.

[Franka548]

Good Morning Gang,
Hit 90° again yesterday, cooler today, rain south of us. a cool front coming through this afternoon, tomorrow only getting up to the lower 80's. Ahhh, the perils of being down south in the spring, lol.
Bobby,
Thoughts and prayers to Sally from Rita and I.
Charlie72704,
Hope that your slide issues are minor and that a goos adjustment and retiming will do the trick for you. Beautiful pics of your campsite and area.
Rail,
Looks like you two are having a blast, enjoy.
Have a great day all,
Frank

[octanefam]

LLoyd, Deb, Gordon, and Janet safe travels on your way back home. If there are others please drive safe!