NL 21.

Dec 98-Apr 99

Folks,

Well we're back on the road and the newsletters are again going out.  I promised to catch y'all up on what we learned this winter about our RV, and a few of the tiny adventures we had during our now annual stay in Louisiana. 

In the last newsletter we covered our estate sale and the two stories that came out of that experience.  This issue I'll catch you up on the rest of the stay from Nov 98 to our departure on 10 April. 

Boy was that a hectic time!  Since we have a phone while there, I was very active on the net with Baby Boomers International, a club for Boomers.  I became the activity director during that time. 

I found that it involved a lot of time posting and chatting with our members.  Loved it but found I was "typed out" from all the postings and hostings and had no words left for newsletters!  We did get a website on the club board where all of the newsletters are now posted at http://www.boomersint.org/rvroadie/index.html .  

Jeri, the founder of the club created it and posts our missives for us from the road.  Thank you Jeri! 

So now I have the time and the urge to write has returned.  I'd like to thank all of you who wrote to confirm I was still continuing the newsletters, and were so patient while we dropped out for the winter.

I mentioned earlier that the aluminum skin was loose on our rig, but not the extent of the problem.  On the last leg of the trip back to Louisiana last Oct, we noticed a "bulge" on the left side of the rig that was getting worse!  At first we thought it was just an effect of light, as it was not noticeable when we stopped to inspect it. 

Then we realized that it was bulging from air flowing underneath at highway speeds!  A very close inspection revealed that the staples and glue that hold the siding on had failed along several panels.  And the front cap was bulging out more than 4 inches!!!!!  Upon arrival home we made our appointment at the factory for April 12th, to coincide with the appointment our friends had for their new rig before going to Alaska together. 

We realized that before long the siding would peel off on the road if not repaired soon.  We made it back to Louisiana fine but cruised at 55-60 instead of 70, checking for flying siding the whole way!  GA's workin' overtime again!

We planned to meet Bob and Gloria, to attend the Renaissance Festival in Conroe Texas, a week after we got home.  "Home" is a full hookup pad that George (my father-in-law) helped set up for us on his property in the country just outside Bossier City, LA. 

He has three rental mobile homes, and a 40X60 workshop with a pasture and barn out back.  He keeps the trailers and property looking like a country club!  He's retired AF too, and the "property" is his daily hobby.  He does all the landscaping and grass cutting himself to his standards.  Thus it is always beautiful, with no rusty lawnmowers or tenant yard tools allowed. 

Anyway, the kids thought we were nuts!  They said we couldn't leave again!  We had just gotten there!  LOL!  We promised we'd be back in a few days to a week and the girls would get plenty of time with their Nana and Grampa!  Sheesh! 

Good trip to Conroe but much concern over the loose skin on the rig!  We hoped it would make just that trip, and the trip to the factory, without peeling off on the road. 

Boy! Were we in for surprise later!  We had never attended a renaissance anything before and were curious what it would be.  We stayed as Bob and Gloria's guests at a beautiful resort on the lake.  We met their son and his wife there, and we all left in Bob's truck the next day for the festival. 

There were thousands of cars parked in the woods outside the Festival site and I realized this was a bigger deal than I expected.  We had to get tickets outside of a permanent castle front and there were many folks in period costume milling about.  Tickets were 17 dollars each!  I told Lynn this had better be good.  We were totally unprepared for what we found on the other side of the gates! 

We thought it would be a field with a bunch of folks shooting arrows or something . . . . NOT!  We walked into another era . . . a complete medieval kingdom with permanent buildings shops taverns, shows, actors, royalty, Inns, balladeers, etc. over what seemed like a thousand acres!  Stages, artisans, shows, everywhere and a giant tournament field with jousts and contests, and more than 300 official performers not counting the shops and the personnel at the Inns! 

Lots of the customers were in costume as well, making the throngs very realistic.  The year is 1539, the King is Henry the VIII, and the place is New Market village.  This was a production to rival the best theme parks in size and attractions!  All done in 1500's garb, accents, and construction!  The shops sold period garb, boots, art, and armaments, all at really reasonable prices. 

Most of the women wore some kind of "bustier"(??)  They make today's short-shorts and bare midriff styles seem modest by comparison.  In the first half-hour my neck and ribs started to act up and I wondered if I'd make it through a whole day of it! 

My neck from constant "head-turning", and my ribs from Lynn poking me every time my head turned! LOL!  Nothing immodest or immoral for those times, but in our times sure got my attention! 

We enjoyed a full day of English, German, Italian, and Spanish, medieval entertainments, period food, and very good period "spirits"(Ales, Beers, wines, and meads).  Was it worth it?  You bet! 

We found that they were constantly on the lookout for workers and performers.  They even had an RV parking area for the actors and employees.  We made a note to look into a season working there.  In 99 it will run from Oct 2-Nov 14, weekends only. 

If you want to give it a try they can be reached toll free at 1-800-458-3435.  It is an experience for all, not just folks that are into the creative  anachronism lifestyle.  Next time we will have our portable CB's with us.  We lost Lynn for two hours, and I got lost looking for her!  I didn't think it would be worth bringing the camcorder-bad error!  Next time I'll get some awesome video. 

They have battery-powered scooters for rent at the gate.  If you can't spend a day on your feet walking definitely get one.

We invited Bob and Gloria to visit Livingston Texas with us, and see Rainbows End, the Headquarters Park of the Escapees.  We'd been trying to get them to join Escapees for awhile.  They agreed and loved it so much they joined on the spot.  (Well, actually they had to join to get in!  LOL!) 

It was peak season there so we had to Boondock the first night, and then spent two nights with full hookups.  Met a bunch of friends from the road, attended several events, tours, and headed back to Louisiana.

I backed into my usual spot at "home" and for the first time got into some trouble.  It seems while we were away, they had constant rain that turned the back edge of my spot to quicksand-like mud!  My left trailer tires began to sink, so I immediately got some leveling blocks down and got on them before it sank to the axles.  Then they started to sink again, and I added more blocks, which promptly began to sink too! 

This was not good as I was about to go down to the axles!!!  I ran for lumber and barely got the fiver out and back on the hard pack.  Whew!  Could have broken an axle! 

The rut was 12 inches deep at the top of the blocks I'd put down and they had to be dug out.  I set out some multiple layers of plywood, and finally got parked and leveled.  The plywood sank an inch then stabilized.  G.A.s again!

That night the rains returned with a vengeance.  We got 5 inches of rain in 24- hours.  Lynn noticed a wet spot developing, in the carpet under the edge of the slide.  The heavy rain continued for several days flooding the property and surrounding area.  The wet spot under the slide got much worse and we realized we had a major problem. 

When the rains stopped for a few days we tried to dry the carpet and the floor under the slide but the slide was holding the moisture under the carpet.  On our trip to Chanute and the factory we had the slide adjusted to seal the wind out and now it seemed that adjustment caused a leak!  Then another round of storms and a wet floor again.  This time however, the antenna coax boot on the roof cracked and a few drops of rain dripped through it  . . . right on my computer! 

The keyboard on the laptop fried!  Fortunately I had overnight replacement insurance from the manufacturer.  They FedEx'd a new one out that had a bad screen, and another the next day.  That unit was perfect and is what I am using now. 

They just transferred my Hard Drive into the brand new replacement unit on site, as a tech delivered it and checked it out.  I repaired the coax boot temporarily with some Goop until we could get to the factory and replace it.

The slide leak got worse as it was molding underneath in the Louisiana humidity and constant rains during the winter.  I taped the slide with aluminum tape, which stopped the leaking, but the floor just wouldn't dry!  Then we noticed that the flooring underneath was rotting and a large hole was developing from under the slide. 

I called the factory and they extended my three-day appointment to fix the skin and front cap to a 5-day appointment, which was all they had left on the calendar.  The factory is booked solidly three months in advance and I was lucky they had a cancellation.  But it was still two months off at that time. 

The possible cost of repair they quoted was a shock!  But we had to fix it to even try to trade it.  Our spirits were at an all time low.

While we waited for our appointment for several months, I started on annual maintenance and the details that would finish up the restoration that I began the year before. The previous year I had replaced the tub drain and resealed it because of a tiny leak there, and it had started up again.  Oh well . . . I could at least fix that. 

But Lynn got involved.  I was about to replace the whole thing again when she checked it out and claimed the leak was coming from the front of the tub not the drain. 

Women! I patiently explained that I had fixed it before and would get it just fine again.  But she insisted that she felt water up on the front!  I patiently explained that it couldn't be.  So she asked what was up in the front and I patiently explained that . . . . Ooooops!  The water supply tubing to the tub! 

So I went under the kitchen sink inside and all over the bathroom and couldn't find them.  Lynn butted in again and because she is only 5'2" wriggled up under the kitchen sink murmuring something about "husbands and testosterone" and claimed she'd found em! 

I started to say . . . then realized I'd better look again before I said anything.  I could have finished replacing the drain by then!  Well, sure enough they were up in the dark corner behind the sink.  She said to check them first.  I did just to make her feel better and . . . they were leaking at the nuts! 

Our travels had loosened up the connections to where I could tighten ‘em two full turns by hand!  I thanked her appropriately (mumbled about inaccessible connections) and went back out to the trap and dried all up.  I told her to run the tub because it had to be leaking from there also, and we needed to fill the tub to pressurize the drain some and see if there was any leak.  After all it was dripping from the trap before.  Bone dry!  Just two loose connections at the tub faucet inlets.  I'd have found it eventually!!!  Lynn quietly went back inside with the strangest smile and never said a thing.  It took a week before she stopped looking at me and shaking her head . . . Women!  I never even got to get out my Craftsman 18" water pump pliers! 

But I did add water connection checks to my checklist. 

The underbelly panels on this rig are plastic sheets the width of the frame and were cracked in several places, with one section hanging down.  Between rainstorms I got them off and repaired ‘em with goop and aluminum tape.  Lynn didn't get down under the trailer!  LOL!  Then I began to polish the skin and wax it.

I met Warren and Mary Ann in Chanute on our last visit, they're from Bossier City too.  We got together and I invited Warren out to the property to see the setup there. 

We walked to the back of the pasture with Bogart on a rare sunny winter day and Warren asked me about the young bull in the pasture.  I told him my father in law was raising him and he was a steer destined for the table.  (A steer is a bull that can't anymore!)  The bull was inside the fence (which was only four strands of barbed wire) and we were on the outside.  I had helped feed the bull from a little calf and he had grown to almost 700 pounds by then. 

On our way back the bull was grazing near the fence.  Bogart caught sight of him as we walked by and went ballistic barking and trying to get under the fence to the bull.  I was trying to pull Bogart away when the bull decided that he would investigate closer. 

What started out as a comic episode by Bogart quickly changed as the bull got right to the fence and Bogart went into full attack mode.  As I tried to pull Bogart away (who was only paying attention to the bull by then)the bull lowered his head and began to snort and paw the ground!  Dog and bull were 12" from each other and I realized that the bull could walk right through the fence if he wanted to, and he was about to charge Bogart, separated only by four strands of wire! 

I hollered at Warren to clap at the bull, as I knew it was afraid of humans, and hoped the bull was less focused than Bogart was.  Warren got the bull's attention and it ran away from him and us.  But for a split second it was iffy, with Bogart and the bull eye to eye, both seeing red.  That bull wanted to stomp Bogart and four strands of wire wouldn't have stopped him. 

After the fact, the thought of the bull chasing Bogart and me through the woods seemed funny.  A week later, Bogart finally got to the bull.  The bull was in white wrapping paper.  Great T-bones he made!  Bogart liked him too!  I think that somehow Bogart knew.

We replaced all the outside vinyl trim and caulked and tightened all of the seals and screws and were getting close to our appointment when things really got hectic.  The rains and storms kept delaying my outside work and then the Tornado hit. 

It started in N. Shreveport and headed due west over the Red River, hit a large trailer park (that made national news) in Benton, then veered N.E. and tore up some houses by the Lake. 

Folks that trailer park was less than a mile as the crow flies from where we were parked!  Had it continued due west, we would have been hit directly!  Now that was GA's again!  Too close.

We started the prep for traveling two weeks before Apr 12th and Brought the truck in to Dodge for Brakes, tire rotation, and a final check.  They found a seeping gasket that I asked them to replace before we went and they had to order it.  I picked up the truck at closing and found it shaking and shimmying on the way home. 

Well they were closed and I had to get it home so we went slow and made it.  The next morning I brought it back and it turned out that they had rushed mounting one of my dually rims and missed the locator pin and it was wobbling from side to side!  Sheesh!  They checked for a bent rim but fortunately no problem.  But they still had no gasket.  It was 10 days to departure and I wanted to leave three days early to be sure I made the appointment on Mon. the 12th.  Then the Doc called from the base.  Lynn needed a minor surgery (woman stuff) that was not covered by Tri-care, the military health care system. 

We had been fighting for three months to get it done to no avail and were about to pay 100% (about $5000.00) for a procedure that should be covered. 

Well the Doc called and said that he could do the surgery at no cost on the base - but could only do it on the 12th!  Acccck!  We had to be in Chanute on the 12th!   If we waited for a later surgery date we'd miss our rendezvous and be too late for the plans to Alaska. 

If we canceled our appointment at NuWa we would have to wait three months for another.  The surgery was minor and could wait, but then we would have to go through the whole hassle again, as the Doc was transferring before then and there were no other docs certified for that surgery on base. 

We decided that since it was an outpatient surgery, and Lynn could stay with her Mom and Dad, that we'd do both.  I'd take the rig up to Chanute and she'd rejoin me there. 

The only way to get there was by bus.  So we figured that with the recent expose of the lack of security in bus terminals the time was good to risk a bus trip. 

With that settled we began arrangements for mail, utility turn offs, phone turn off etc.

The next morning the hot water was off and it turned out that the electronic Re-igniter had died.  Got on the horn to NuWa and they sent one out.  I finally got the whole rig washed and was trying to get the top half waxed so I wouldn't need a ladder to do the rest.  The last ten days were cloudy and some occasional rain but I had more time than in the previous two months to do outside work. 

So I was waxing till I couldn't lift either arm, then doing other work till those muscles recovered.  I bought a CB from Radio Shack that had all the weather channels on it and weather alert, as well as all the CB channels for on the road.   We had installed it in the 5th wheel temporarily so we could know when tornados were headed our way.  The weather band was great!  So during the last week I picked up a new one from Wally World that had the weather bands too.  Most folks have one CB in the car, and a hand held for backing etc.  We decided that we wanted a unit in the truck, another in the coach, and use the handheld we had for around the park.  That way we could use the coach unit as a base when parked and my significant harassment could instantly contact me on the Handy, to extend or cancel my kitchen passes at her leisure. 

It also works great as a contact between our rig and the folks we are traveling with to see when we are all up or leaving etc.  So I permanently installed one in the coach and one in the truck.

By my target departure date, Wed, the gasket still was not in!  So I asked if it would be in by the next day and he assured me it would, I picked up a truck bed tool box and installed it to occupy my time for another day and it worked out great too. 

Lynn was doing pre-op appointments, and Bogart was having severe skin problems-not good. 

I had to leave by Saturday AM without fail just to make the appointment at NuWA!  The drive is just too much (12 hours) to do in one day.  The gasket for the truck came in on Friday afternoon at 1:00!  The Dodge guys knew I was out of time and called for the truck at two.  Lynn had a 1:00 appointment and it worked out for her to drive the truck over to Dodge from there for the promised one-hour install.  They got it done and the slight leak was gone!  It looked like I'd make it by the skin of my teeth.

Saturday morn I got all together and pulled the rig out for a final safety check hooked up and road ready.  Brake, directional, and back up lights worked.   Lynn started in about remembering to feed Bogart occasionally, and to call her if there was any problem with the appointment.  I told her I'd check on her on Monday after the outpatient surgery to make sure she was OK and all turned out as she hoped. 

She backed me out and we said bye for the first time since I retired.  It was a sunny day, perfect for driving. 

I didn't notice that the running lights on the fiver were not working.  So, with Bogart pacing in the back because we weren't supposed to leave Momma behind, we headed out for our first solo.  Piece o cake!  (I thought).

Derek, Lynn, and Bogart the wonder dog

Next newsletter- On the road alone!

            Fire in the rig!

Bogart and the motel carpet!

            Bogart's surgery!

            The fiver repairs!

            Chanute to the rescue!

The bus trip!