Thursday, October 29, 2009

Taking Care of Business

Yesterday was a beautiful day with sunshine and warm temperatures.  So, Mark headed out to clean the motor home and wait for any sign of a service tech that might be roaming the campground.

My chore for the morning was the ironing.  Several have made comment that with this lifestyle they don’t or didn’t plan to have to iron.  I guess I missed out on that thought because I iron almost everything, even T-Shirts.  It’s all my mom’s fault, she made me iron handkerchiefs and pillow cases when I was a little girl.  I just learned that you ironed everything.

Soon I heard Mark talking with one of the service techs.  It was Brent, and he had come to see about our jacks.  Recently, we have had a hard time getting them to level correctly.  Plus, the front jacks don’t always extend properly.  Brent indicated that they just needed to be zeroed out and something about a memory.

So, he manually leveled the coach with a 2’ level.  Then he manipulated the control panel resetting the brain.  He told Mark to retract and reset the jacks a few times over the next several days while we are waiting to get into a bay.  Just see what happens and  then then next week they would check them out on the level service bay floor.

While Mark continued to wait for the call from another service tech.  I made a grocery run into town.  No call, but…

We finished the day with a nice quite dinner for two here at the motor home.  Grilled chicken and a spinach, tomato, and pasta side dish.  We topped that off with an ice cream from The Cardinal, which is Red Bay’s answer to Sonic.

Then on a sad note…late last night we received a phone call from our daughter, Karen, who was in tears.  Their dog, Lily, had gotten out and ran out onto the farm road.  She was hit by a car and killed instantly.  We were saddened with that news as we were all very attached to her.  She will be missed.

After a restless night, we were waken this morning by the pitter patter of rain on the roof.  Oh, no not again.  Oh, well, it was time to get up anyway.  When here at Camp Red Bay, you never know when they might call you to come to the service center, so you have to get up and dressed early as they start to work at 7:00.  By 10:00, Mark had been to the Camp Store and picked up an order for Jim and been to see what he could find out about service for today.  Upon his return, it didn’t appear that they would be calling us today, so we decided to take care of a little business away from the campground.

One of the things we wanted to have done while here was the 12 month routine maintenance for the motor home.  So, we made a trip to

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Bay Diesel.  Here, Mark talked to them about all that needed to be done, plus having the oil changed.  He was in agreement about everything they suggested and made an appointment for tomorrow at 11:30.  They will…

Change the engine oil, lube the chassis, change all the fuel filters, change the generator oil and filters, change the rear end fluids, adjust brakes, ride height, and do a computerized check on engine.  In addition they will do a Freightliner and Cummins 12 month check.  No transmission maintenance due for another 65,000 miles.  This nice little job will take about 3 hours and will cost $500 - $600.  Glad it doesn’t have to been done real often. LOL

Well, with that taken care of, we were off to

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Custom RV to talk to Brandon about installing our trucker antenna.  This is an item we purchased a while back to help boost our air card for the computers.

  Brandon presented us with an idea different to what we had in mind.  But…it meant that we would have to get a different antenna.  We discussed his idea and decided that we like what he proposed.  We then drove back into town to the Camp Store, purchased the antenna, picked up the motor home and drove back out to Brandon’s

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where we waited our turn.  While waiting, we enjoyed visiting with the couple who had a Phaeton similar to ours.  They too were having Brandon do a couple of upgrades.

Finally, we pulled into the bay and Brandon

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took his drill and up on the roof he went.  This was the part Mark didn’t want to watch, the drilling of the hole in his motor home. LOL

With the help of

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Greg, they set the antenna in place.  Now, all that was left was to pull the wires to the cabinet below.  Which by the way, is the cabinet just over the front door.  In addition, I ask Brandon to relocate my IPod docking station to the same cabinet, which will make it easier to use.  No problem.  It was just a few minutes later that both items

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were in their new home.

Thanks Brandon for another job well done.  I would like to add that this young man does an excellent job of adding nice extras items to your motor home.  And, he works on more than just Tiffin coaches.  You can see him and his work at www.customrvinc.com

We headed

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back into town to the campground.  Once, we were settled, we went to pick up Glynn and Sylvia for dinner.  Tomorrow is Sylvia’s birthday so we went to the Mexican food restaurant  for an early celebration.

After the oil change tomorrow, and when we are sure the service center won’t be calling us, Mark and I will be making a trip to Birmingham.  We are looking forward to a weekend visit with my brother and his family. 

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Camp Red Bay

Sometime during the night I heard the pitter patter of rain on the roof.  I knew the rain we left in Louisiana had caught up with us in Mississippi.

We were up again this morning by 6:00 and on the road by 7:30.  We needed to be on our way…even though it was only about 200 miles, we would be taking

Off To Red Bay 001 the rain with us and most of the roads for today are anything but interstate quality.  Well, that is with the

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exception of the road between Tupelo and Birmingham, which is the future I-22.

However, for us, we were only on it for a short time and soon we are back to

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the two lane road that would welcome us to

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Alabama and lead us right into

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Red Bay.

Arriving at the city limits, you drive down

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this main street which is lined with all these trees that are beginning to show a hint of fall.  At the next corner, you make a left turn and the campground/service center is just down the road.

We arrived around 11:30 and found that the campground was full.  That means we could check in, but would have to go to the overflow parking.  There we would wait for someone in the office to call with the next available site in the campground.  Sometimes you can wait for a day or so depending on how many rigs come and go.

In the meantime, we got the service work order completed and turned in.  I guess today we were lucky because we had just sort of settled in when Nancy called with a site assignment for us.

So, we pulled up the jacks and put in the slides and moved around to

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  Now, we will start the wait for the service writer to come and go over our list of concerns and repairs.  That will probably take place tomorrow, but it could be a few days from now, or next week.  This is were the patience is tested.

Once that happens, we will then wait for a call that will take us to

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one of the 40 bays.

In the meantime, we are going to enjoy the beauty that Fall in the South has to offer.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Off To Red Bay…

After a night of heavy rain mixed with a little wind and hail, morning came early.  We were up by 6:00 and getting the last of everything stored away for travel.  Well, at least is isn’t raining…oh, I guess I said that too quickly, because before we could leave, the rain had returned, and

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it stayed through Texas, and

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stayed through Louisiana.

The rains just seem to keep coming over areas that have already been saturated.  In East Texas, we saw water

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where water is not suppose to be.  We saw

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backed up traffic, the cause being

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an accident where two 18-wheelers decided they didn’t need to slow down for the rain soaked roads.  And there was

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more water where is wasn’t suppose to be.

It was raining really hard about the time we got to Shreveport, Louisiana and for two cents, I would have called it a day.  But, we keep trucking and

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by the time we got to the Mississippi River all was clear.  Thank goodness the rain stopped because by the time we got to Jackson, it was

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rush hour on 25-N.  After several miles of this traffic and a million or so stoplights, we once again found our way to

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the open road.  From this point we only had about 50 miles to

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dinner, fun, and a free night of camping!

A fun finish to a dreary day.

Tomorrow we will have about a 200 mile day on to Red Bay.  And,  yes there is rain in the forecast for later tonight and tomorrow with the high tomorrow in the 50’s.  I guess it is a good thing we decided to come get the heater replaced.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

A Weekend of Sports

This is a weekend filled with sports.  We started off last night at

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Zachary’s baseball game.  He is at his favorite position, first base.

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Time to bat and a good eye on the ball got him a

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walk.  Even though we came up one run short, it was a great game.  Oh, the agony of defeat.

Again, this morning, it was back to Arlington to watch Zachary

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swinging that bat in game number 2.  Today’s position took him to

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right field.  What a great day for baseball.  It was only the 3rd inning and we hated to leave, but, we had to drive across town to

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Lauren’s soccer game.  Today,

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she was named one of the team captains.  Soon

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the action started.  Great kick Lauren.  You go girl…and

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don’t let that ball get close to the goal.  Great game today…it ended in a tie.  Tomorrow we will try again.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

It’s Wednesday Already…

Wow, not sure where the last few days have gone, but it is Wednesday already.  Monday was laundry day for me, and yesterday, I had lunch with a friend.
Mark was still busy with his waxing and
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wheel polishing…wow…
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nice job.
Now that the motor home is finished, I guess his next project will be the car.  But, that will have to be another day as today
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is not fit for anything but the ducks.
So, needless to say, this has been an inside day…I have spent most of the day playing on the computer and reading.  Mark has been reading magazines and
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the atlas.  He has been researching the US National Forest Campground Guide.  Thanks, Howard and Linda for giving him something to do today.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Andrew Is 12!

Today, we celebrated Andrew’s 12th birthday.  We had a small family get together.  Poppa cooked hamburgers and

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the kids just had fun playing and hanging out together.

After the hamburgers, it was time for

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cake and

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presents.  Looks like Andrew really made out today.  I am sure he already has something in mind that will take care of most of this.

Caden

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really enjoyed big brother’s birthday cake.

Again, Happy Birthday Andrew, I can’t believe you are 12 years old, where has time gone.

Pop and I are very proud of you.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A Hometown Day Trip

As forecast, the rain is gone for today and the temperatures are suppose to reach the mid 80’s.  So, it looks as if it is going to be a great day for an outing.

My mom called and invited us to come downtown to

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her church.  Over the last several years, they have had the opportunity to be a part of the building of the

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Fort Worth Christian Art Museum.  It is located on the corner of their church property.  They had the opening and dedication of the museum while we were on this last trip, so this will be our first time to see it after its completion.

This museum was built for the sole purpose of housing

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a life-size wax replica of  The Last Supper.  It is the hope of the sponsors that this unusual and meaningful presentation will have a positive Christian influence in the community.

Many years ago, these figures were  a part of our city and on display in several different locations.  Mark and I both remember getting to see and enjoy this when we were children.    However, sadly, the figures were placed in storage where they stayed for a long time.  But, thanks to the hard work from of a lot of people, the figures have now been restored and are on display for everyone to once again enjoy.

While sitting peacefully in this room,

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you enjoy an audio presentation of what took place on that night so long ago.

This life size interpretation faithfully follows the painting done by Leonardo da Vinci which he painted on the wall of a building in Milan, Italy, during the later part of the fifteenth century.

Also, as you enter the building, there is a wall in the lobby

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named “The Wall of  Christian Crosses”.  These crosses are made of puddle bronze and copper.  They were designed by Rachel Joy Colvin, Fort Worth artist, sculptor and calligrapher.

Along with the wall of crosses, there are many other Christian art pieces to enjoy.  They are still in the process of finishing the displays, but, one piece that I really enjoyed was

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this picture of The Last Supper.  It is a needle point that took five years to complete.

This

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is my mom explaining to Mark and his mom how the museum came about.  She is very active in her church and volunteers here at the museum one day a week.

What a treat to get to see this once again on display and being enjoyed by our community and visitors from all around.  I would encourage you if you are ever in the Fort Worth area, you take the time to stop by The Christian Arts Museum close to downtown Fort Worth at Hamilton and Bailey.

The museum is open Tuesday – Saturday and there is no charge for viewing.

From the museum, Mom took us to lunch at one my favorite places.  The

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M & O Grill.  This is another spot that has been revived from part of Fort Worth’s past.  This grill is reminiscent of a grill that was in one of Fort Worth’s first department stores, Leonard Brothers.  Mark and Mom had one of their famous hamburgers while Gran and I picked soup and salad.

Thanks Mom for the invitation and a great hometown day trip.