Bad luck in bunches

[Seajay]

BAD LUCK TRIP


Back in early September of last year Cathy Vogle our friend from California called and asked what we were doing. We replied very little of nothing and we were enjoying our selves. She suggested that we join she and Bill out in Vegas for gambling, eating and going to some shows and then going on a ''ramble'' for a month or so. Since we weren't busy, we agreed and we stuffed our ''stuff'' in the motor home and headed west. We were pulling Willas birthday gift on a trailer. It was a custom built convertible that I had ordered for her. I bought a trailer to haul the car so we could carry it with us on this trip. We left home full of expectations and the hope for much fun with two great people we know.
Things went pretty well until we got out in Texas when I noticed that the trailer was kinda sagging on one side. Upon close inspection I discovered that the weld at one of the critical joints on the tongue of the trailer was breaking letting the trailer get a ''sad look'' to it. This was resolved in ''Door Slam'' Texas for the small price of $125.00. We headed west again and our next stop at a rest area to ''tinkle the dogs'' proved interesting. We got back in the coach and I hit the starter and it just grunted at me. I tried again and it grunted again refusing to turn over. I said shux and hit the auxiliary switch for the booster batteries and it slowly came to life and started the engine.
''we got a bad starter''...... Willa looked on the map and called an American Auto parts store in ''Horse Shoe'' Texas..... Yep, they had a starter and they said I could change it in their parking lot. Luck was on our side except it had started raining and the ''further we went, the worser it go''. By the time we got to the auto parts store it was raining buckets.... I went inside and looked at the starter. $159.00 exchange. They loaned me a creeper and some tools that I didnt have and I did the ''deep dive'' under the coach in a wet parking lot . A couple hours later the deed was done and the new starter was on and working like a charm.
We headed west ….....
Since we were early to meet Cathy and Bill we decided to stop at Chico Canyon for a night or two. It was dark when we got to the campground and I noticed that we had no running lights on the coach or the trailer. We had no break lights on the trailer also........ I said shux again...
That evening Cathy called to give us some really bad news. It seems that that very day Bill had been killed in a hang gliding accident not five miles from their home. She asked if we could come on out to California and of course we said yes. I told her about the electrical problem but I assured her that I could get it fixed quickly and we would be on our way a.s.a.p.
The next morning I got lights on everything and we hit the trail for California......
We stayed with Cathy for a couple of weeks doing what we could to try to comfort her. It was a really tough time and I will not go into it now. She finally told us that she was OK and we should head back home. After a tearful parting we headed back toward Sams Town in Vegas. We had previously made reservations there and we decide to take a break and try to get our lives back together. We pulled into Sams Town and discovered that our house batteries were dead. I said shux again. We bought two new house batteries and all was well again. The next morning we discovered that Bobby Venton was appearing down in Lawton south of Vegas the coming weekend. I bought tickets for the show. Two hundred dollars …... The next day we unloaded the Luxxor, the car I had custom built for Willas birthday. We wanted to ''show off'' in Vegas in a truly beautiful car with a beautiful lady driving it. We headed downtown that evening and noticed that the car sat so low that it would scrub on the speed bumps. The next morning we headed out for some sight seeing down at ''Red Rock Canyon''. I noticed that the steering didnt feel just right but I didnt mention it to Willa. She finally asked me if the steering felt lose in the car and I said yes. Coming back fROm the canyon I pulled over to check to see if everything was ok. Willa got behind the wheel and I went out front to watch. At that time the steering failed in the car. Yep, you could turn the wheel and nothing happened. I said shux real loud. We were about 30 miles from the coach with no cell phone service. A nice guy stopped and offered assistance and he finally took us back to the coach. We fired up the coach and drove back to the disabled car. Getting it back on the trailer was a real trick. After much trial and error we got everything aligned and the car back on the trailer and tied down. We drove back to Sams Town......
With the car disabled we discovered that we had no practical way to get down to Lawton for the Bobby Venton show so we gave the tickets to a nice Canadian couple and we walked over to the casino for some gambling, drinking and eating and trying to forget all that had gone wrong on this trip.
I played Texas Holdum and won $500.00 dollars for getting a royal flush. This turned out to be the highlight of the trip.
The next morning we decided to head east toward home. Just outside of Denver I noticed that the transmission was not feeling right. Going down one of the long hills it stopped working all together. I coasted off the road and said shux real loud again.
We spent about eleven days behind a garage in Denver waiting on a new tranny to come in and be installed. We were luckey in that we had empty holding tanks and fresh water hook up and 15 amp electrical from the rear of the garage. We could dump ''gray water on the ground'' no problem but we were running out of propane because it was very cold and we could not use the electric heater. I said shux again. I resolved the problem by buying a 30 pound bottle of l.p. Gas and an adapter to hook it up to the tank on the coach. I got to looking at the tires on the coach and guess what …....... Yep, we had a flat tire on the inside duel. I said shux again and called road service.
About two weeks and four thousand dollars later we headed for North Carolina. The transmission was working fine and nothing could go wrong now.
WRONG....................
We got to Nashville Tenn. And my cousin gave us a call and said that at mile post 3 on I-40 there had been a land slide and the road was blocked and we would have to detour thru Mountain City, Tenn. And then back south to I-40 and then to home. I said ''SHUX'' REAL LOUD'' it didnt help...........
We finally got home and were darn glad to be there........
remember this …... the next time you feel like you are having problems just read this and you will see that you got no real problems at all ….


Seajay and Willa................... IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSER BUT I DONT KNOW HOW...

[Wayne M]

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I was in telephone communications during some of Seajay's trials and tribulations.
They did happen.

I'm not sure, but if it wasn't for bad luck, I don't think Seajay would have any luck at all.

[Seajay]

One thing I left out of the previous report was as follows.
Before we left home I found out that Wayne the Marine was going to have knee surgery. He would not tell me this and I talked to his wife Earlene and she informed me that he needed the surgery. I advised taking him to a veterinarian to save money but she opted for a real Navy doctor instead. Anyhow, since I am a wood carver and I make canes and walking sticks I volunteered to make Wayne the Marine a walking stick as a show of good will between My Navy and that smaller group called the Marines. The great problem was that there was a ''short fuse'' on this thing. Wayne the Marine was going to have his surgery pretty quick and I had to ''get it on'' with carving the walking stick. I told Wayne that I would try to finish the stick and mail it to Texas in time for him when he started ''walking'' again.
I found a piece of Aspen and started carving a finial for the cane . I put a Marine helmet on a skull, SEMPER FI and US MARINE CORPS and Waynes name, and rank on one side and on the back side I carved the ''Eagle, Globe and Anchor''. We were heading west by now and everything was going good on the cane. I woke up one morning and was going to do a little carving on the finial and found a ''crack'' all the way down the front of it. I said , shux, heck, darn, drad, oh fudge, dah gone and several other Navy words that I can not put in here. I got out my epoxy glue and tried to pinch the crack back together, No dice. I crammed the crack full of epoxy and let it set for a day. The wood stopped cracking but I had a crack right up the middle of the finial. The down side was that I did not have any more seasoned wood with me. I called Wayne and told him of the disaster and he said not to worry about it. He said he was sure he would be very happy with the walking stick. I finished the finial and attached it to a Diamond Willow staff with a raw hide thong on it. I shot it with several coats of spar varnish and mailed it to Wayne the Marine. He was delighted with the staff. I included a letter telling him that the staff was for a ''right handed'' person and if he was ''left handed'' to mail it back and I would fix it for a ''left hander'' ….... He called me and said he was right handed and the staff fit perfectly. He seemed very pleased with the staff even though it is not my best work.
Anyhow, that was just one thing more that went in the toilet on that trip.
Seajay the sailor man
God bless our troops and bring them home soon and safe
God bless our vets for their service to this great nation....

[PNWGirl]

Wow! It's a wonder that you still have such a strong sense of humor about this. It's like reading a manual on "RVing: The Fun and the Challenge". Good thing this did not happen to a newbie, they'd NEVER go on another trip again! Glad you got home safe and sound!
Sheila