As the weather began to improve we debated – Livingston to Goose Island State Park to Austin or Goose Island SP to Livingston to Austin.  Don’t bother looking at a map.  Goose Island is almost to Corpus Christi, way out of the way to end up in Austin, but that is what we were facing.  We are in Goose Island State Park just outside of Rockport TX as I write this so you can imagine that Livingston will come next, unless it doesn’t.   What about those three states?  We woke up on Sunday in Alabama, east of Mobile and by the time the light was gone from the sky we were parked in the Texas Welcome Center at mile mark 880 on I 10 (that is 880 miles to the other side of Texas past El Paso).  We had crossed Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana into Texas.  That was a long day.  And we still had 5 hours to get to Goose Island. 

Sleeping in the truck parking section of a Welcome Center not more than a lane and a half removed from the highway itself requires an act of discipline to convert the road noise to a background lullaby.  It would have been better if we hadn’t been 15 feet from a speed bump in the parking area.  We slept, sort of, mostly, kinda.  By 6 we were up and about and by 7:30 we were rolling down the highway.  Went through the heart of Houston on I 10 to US 59 between 9:00 and 9:40, and never had to slow for traffic.  A miracle.

None of our drives would be worth writing about without something untoward happening.  This time it was the loss of a nut and lock washer less than an eighth inch across that caught my attention.  As we were rolling down the road my eye was caught by a screw drifting out of place on the driver side windshield wiper.  The weather was fine or this could have been a show stopper.  The screw is the pivot screw that holds the wiper blade to the arm.  Fleetwood, in its nightmares, engineered a unique wiper blade mount on many of its coaches.  The parts are only available, to the best of my knowledge, from the factory.  I was about to loose a significant part, the screw, with no means of replacing it quickly and easily.  I warned Carol and eased off onto the shoulder praying the screw would not drop out before I got stopped.  It didn’t!  Now how to fix it in place without the nut.  First a twist tie went where the nut would have gone.  Next some grey tape (I have no idea how to spell it) went in place to hold everything together for the short term.  Today, a day later, I took off most of the grey tape and used rescue tape to make a long term repair.

If you haven’t used it, this is funny stuff.  It only sticks to itself and once stuck to itself for 60 seconds it will not separate.  I took two wraps of this stuff to secure the blade to the arm and the screw in place.  Done!

Now we are settled in to Goose Island SP for a week.  We will visit the Whooping Cranes and the Sand Hill Cranes and we will see many other interesting birds here.  To be sure we get some good guidance we are set up across the street from the Birding Host who we hope to get to know.  Since arriving we have done a more complete setup than usual including awnings and lights and outdoor seating.  Oh yes it is pleasant to sit out in the sun or shade with the temperature in the high 70’s.

Finished a day later, Tuesday, sitting on a picnic bench outside the office to et wireless connection.

We left Elks Lodge 713 in Albany GA early, for us, and rolled along to Rainbow Plantations Escapee Park in Summerdale AL.  That is way south in the little part of Alabama that makes it to the gulf east of Mobile Bay. We planned on moving on today, but. . . Spent Thursday roving around with a walk in Bon Secour NWR and lunch at the Old Oyster House. 

Before we left for the day, I was walking around the coach and saw water dripping from a connection that had never caused a problem before.  When I took it apart, I found that the end of the hose connection was a little crimped and apparently eroded as well.  I was not able to get a good seal so I picked up a replacement hose end to resolve the problem.  While I was working on it Bob walked over and struck up a conversation (no idea who he is beyond the name and he is neighbor who once owned a Southwind).  I called on Carol to lend me her hair blower one more time to warm the end of the hose so I could slide the new part in.

Other minor repairs/fixes have attracted my attention and been resolved.  For some reason the builder put vinyl (or linoleum) flooring on the bottom of the cabinet that is set up for a washer/dryer.  The flooring curled up at the edge preventing the bottom drawer from closing.  I got out the staple gun and tried to staple my finger into the floor, not a good idea.   That was a few days ago and all is healed and the flooring is now nice and flat.  I noticed a light fixture over the bed had worked loose.  When I took it down I found that the builder had driven the screws directly into the wallboard with no mounting.  CHEAP!  For now I have filled the holes with wooden toothpicks and reset the screws – also CHEAP and QUICK – also works long term.

The mail came yesterday! Six pounds and over 60 pieces.  We are busy telling all we missed that our new mailing address is: 127 Rainbow Drive #2707, Livingston TX 77399  and scanning the pieces we need so we can burn the paper along with the stuff we don’t need.  Snail mail is really slow now as it has to go to Livingston and wait for us to tell them where to send, once we know. 

We are not sure when we will leave or where to.  At present maybe Sunday and maybe Goose Island SP, near Rockport Texas on the coast or possibly Livingston TX.  The weather looks delightful either place for next week. 

After leaving Williamsburg we set out to visit Mimi Caplan and Joe Feak.  Mimi is Carol’s first cousin and we have stopped by to visit several times over the years.  They live on a thirty acre farm in Ivanhoe, NC, about 30 miles north east of Wilmington, NC.  Getting in and out of there farm yard is always exciting for us as it requires bending past an old dogwood tree that leans out over the drive at the perfect angle to hit the awning on the way in or the refrigerator vent on the way out.   This trip was a no damage trip 🙂

Our big excitement was a trip to Walmart in Wallace, NC. For the  most part we sat and talked and watched the animals, horses, donkeys, geese, Guinea Hens, and assorted birds along with the dogs, Diesel and Ruben behave as animals do.  We have always enjoyed having long talks and also long walks with Mimi and Joe.  The walks did not happen as the weather was not conducive to spending voluntary time out in it.  Cold and raining or at times raining and cold.  Did I mention we also ate.  Great meals put together by Mimi almost in passing.  There was plenty of hot sauce, Joe is getting into the business of distributing Rum Island – Bonefish Joe’s, a very tasty hot sauce with a story longer than the label on the bottle. 

We cannot figure out how we want to get where we want to get.  The concept (avoid the word PLAN) is to get west quickly, yet here we are south of Charleston, SC, plainly way off route for Texas.  There is this cold blast spreading throughout the southeast (not to mention the rest of the country it seems) and Joe suggested it would be warmer near the coast, so we are going to circle south along the coast and then tomorrow begin a dash to the west hoping not to spend more than another night in freezing temperatures.  Tomorrow night it appears inevitable that we will freeze, we are not likely to drive more than 6 hours and somehow that does not get us past the Florida Panhandle.  I’ll report on our freeze avoidance results in another post – if I remember.

I think I am stretching your patience, not to mention my own.  For the RVers reading this we are in Lake Aire RV Park south of Charleston.  It is Passport America.  The entrance road is in poor shape, the person we were greeted by was very pleasant and the facilities appear to be well maintained, other than the entrance road.  It would be a nice destination stop for Charleston area in better weather.  I do love the sound of the freight train when it passes.

Here is a photo of the suspension bridge on US 17 entering Charleston, it really is quite spectacular:

Plan is a four letter word.  Every time we think we know exactly what we will be doing for the next three days – a plan – something throws a monkey wrench into the works.  A friend came over for a visit and brought her own special variety of cold/flu/virus you name it.  Sure enough just three days before our departure Alexander came down with it.  Fever and all.  There was no way to take a sick child on a motorhome to a happening that would require walking around in 35 degree weather for a day trying to grasp lots of new information.

We left without him.  No point in staying around to be sure we came down with “it.”  Propane was running low and I learned a new fact (that is previously unknown to me) that a portable propane tank when subjected to cold temperatures will not flow sufficient vapor to meet the needs of an RV furnace when it is full.  We were running through the onboard tank and would need to move soon to refill that. 

We drove to Williamsburg, the American Heritage RV Park is a very nice facility only ten miles from the the Historic Area and they had propane for sale at an only moderately confiscatory price which they assured me was lower than any in the neighborhood, and only $1 a gallon more than I had been paying in Charlottesville.  But enough of my complaining.

We had a glorious day in Colonial Williamsburg, well worth the price of admission subject to advance purchase discount and Senior discount etc.  Pat’s “twin” from 1765 gave us a wonderful account of life just before the Declaration of Independence in the Governor’s Palace and the action in the courthouse was a lot of fun especially because both Carol and I took parts in the trials that were presented.  Lunch at Chownings Tavern turned out to be a very special event for us especially because they had a nice salad for Carol and the Brunswick Stew was very delicious and warmed me nicely. 

After a tour of the Capitol and the Gaol and the Coffee Shop we went to the Museum of Folk Arts and got lost for the 90 minutes that remained to us before closing.  Worth another visit for itself.  It was too late to drive back to the coach and begin the preparation of dinner so we went to 2nd Street Restaurant which I had researched the night before.  The menu looks simple, but it was all very well prepared and the pricing was distinctly modest for the quality of meal served.  All in all a superb day.

We missed Alexander, yet we were not sure how happy he would have been with the nature of the day we ended up putting together.  It certainly would have been a different day.

While we were enjoying our day, our daughters-in-law had been putting together a gathering in Los Angeles.  We will be together from February 16 to 22.  We are now booked into Dockweiler RV Park – on the beach by LAX – for then.  So now we have a PLAN of sorts.  At least there is a stake in the ground for the third week in February. 

After our too eventful trip down here, we have been content to stay with Dan and Malena and the boys.  Thanksgiving was a joy with Malena’s mother and step-mother here and her sister Simone and husband Steve along with sister Jessica.  Add in the 6 of us and it was quite a crowd.  The turkey was more than big enough and the rest of the food was plentiful so there were plenty of leftovers for lunches. 

After everyone cleared out on Friday and Saturday we took a deep breath and then Dan left on a business trip for the week.  We have picked up some chores, you should see me collecting eggs and closing up the chickens for the night.  Then I schlep firewood for the wood stove. Then I have a scotch to be followed with wine with dinner. We have had two nice visits with Ed and Gretchen Robb, the first at Devils Backbone Brewing Company and the second at Thee Notch’ed Grill in Crozet, a little quieter then DB.

We are preparing to drive to Fredericksburg tomorrow, in the car, to visit with Helen Schwartz, a classmate from high school.  Then on Saturday David Lovenheim and Tari Bradley will join us at the farm, he too is a classmate from Monroe High and we will meet another classmate Bill Freedman, MD who is a cardiologist here and his wife Lindsay for lunch in Crozet. 

The plan for next week is to leave here on Tuesday with Alexander and head for Colonial Williamsburg.  We have campground reservations, not really needed at this time of year, at American Heritage RV and will spend two days seeing the sights then we will meet the family at Malena’s dad’s place in Unionsville to hand off Alexander then off to see Mimi and Joe (Carol’s cousin) in Ivanhoe, NC.  After that there is no plan.

We’ve burned through at least 18 gallons of propane just staying warm and warming water for showers.  That’s two refills of the 30 lb tank and one 20 pound tank (30 pound tank holds just short of 7 gallons and 20 pound is a normal grill tank, holds short of 5 gallons).  I suspect that by morning our 30 lb tank will be empty or close to it again.  Fortunately I still have most of the 18 gallons the onboard tank holds so I have no worries. 

All the finicky details necessary to keep everything operating smoothly.  Since we can use the freshwater from the house and drain the holding tanks into the septic those worries are much less, although with the cold I do think about what will freeze up at the most inconvenient time.  I am grateful for the 30 amp outlet we installed here.  Plenty of electricity for our needs.

There you have a mind dump as I prepare to curl up with a book before going to sleep.

We’ve been pushing to leave earlier than ever and finally set the date for Thursday, November 18.  We hoped that the roofers would have finished all the major work on our roof and Carol had one more medical appointment that morning.  Carol took the Tow’d to the appointment and I was to meet her there with the coach and hook up for travel there.  That part worked out great, the medical facility was on the way out of town and the timing was fine.  The roofers were held up by delayed delivery of skylights and lousy weather.  As I pulled out of the driveway, they were setting shingles under a gray sky that threatened rain.

I had changed our mailing address to Livingston, TX as Escapees is reputed to do an excellent job of mail handling for RVers.  I had my doubts about our local post office and they did not prove unfounded.  I sealed the mail slot so no mail could be delivered, also no inserts, chinese restaurant menus, or HOA communications.  Our neighbor called two days after we left to report that the post person could not figure out why the mail would not go through the slot!  Called the USPS LOCAL office and were told, “oh we will start it today” They never checked the system to see that it was supposed to have started two days previous.  AAaargh

So we are away and crusin’ south on US 15 headed for I 81 through bands of rain and chill.  As I come to the turn from 147 to 15 at Tedd’s Landing (if you have never driven the route, you are blessed) there are two lanes for the left turn and I see that all the trucks are lined up in the rightmost of the two lanes.  Silly me, I forget the simplest lesson from my safe driving course, which is always take the widest turn, and try to slip down the far left lane.  I have a stripe on my rearmost awning upright from the edge of the trucker’s mirror which I repositioned for him.  Fortunately that is the sum total of the damage, another service stripe.

The next day saw me attempting to die the rug red with some very nice red wine.  I was exiting a lay by on 250 in VA and the exit was partially blocked by a car for reasons I cannot imagine.  I went behind the car and and this put the left rear wheels on a small rise which rocked the back of the coach severely.  This is not the first time this has happened in 10 years, but it is the first time that a wine bottle hit the inside of the cabinet door just right to release the Velcro strap placed there to prevent just this occurrence. It dove onto the floor and knocked off the top.  Naturally stopping and then parking on a steep downgrade did nothing to keep the spill localized.  Somehow we got it cleaned up and through Carol’s diligent efforts there is no more than a slight blush where the wine concentrated.

Enough! 

For now we are happily ensconced in Dan and Malena’s driveway and here we will stay until well past Thanksgiving.  Then we will begin our move to the Southwest.

Bill, David, Alan and Bunny, we hope to see you all sometime in the next two weeks.

My birthday is past, the visits to family in Los Angeles and the visit of the Charlottesville family is far enough past that we have restored the house to a semblance of order.  I am ready to be on the road!  I call it “itchy tires” because they need to roll.

For those who keep score of my RV maintenance odyssey even sitting in storage has resulted in some work.  I decided that I had to have a flat screen, HD, TV in the front cabinet to not watch.  This new one weighs 12 pounds vs the former hulk weighing in at 70 pounds.  I am less afraid of its falling in our laps on a rough road than the old one.  It also uses LEDs for the back light which will draw much less power, should I turn it on.  I should even be able to run it off of battery in the desert.

Just last week the coach was in again.  This time for a major recall on the brakes that I have been waiting for for two years.  Of course the pads had 73,000 miles on them and were not included in the recall.  Another ouch.  I am hoping it is now ready for the road. 

We still have a weekend drive to Shelburne VT to spend with my sister Sandy and David and family and a flying weekend to Sarasota FL for a Bar Mitzvah.  In the mean time we are waiting for the roof on our house to be replaced, again, if the weather will only relent. 

I WANT TO BE ON THE ROAD!

Oh, yes, I am retiring.  I have some work to do to make it complete, but my life insurance license is a thing of the past, on my birthday yet.  I expect to keep my securities license for a few more months and then that will be gone too.  Not sure how I will adapt to giving up those emblems of my work identity for the past 36 years.  So far I am fine with it.  I am even giving up the CLU ChFC after my name, time to take on a different identity. 

I am ready to be on the road!  My tires are itchy.

Happy New Year, L’Shanah Tova!

I could not keep writing and posting with everything hanging in the balance, so there has been a longish silence.  I have a post about a bike ride that has been pending for a month, will get that up real soon.

I seem to have been restored to my former good cardiac health, one remaining test to be sure in October, but my workout regimen and our long walks satisfy me that everything is ticking along just fine.  I will take the tests to satisfy the medical records (and provide another boat payment for the medical staff – small boat in any case).  I had my second cataract lens surgery on 8/31 and have been told that everything is healing fine.  As I type, my reading glasses are laying along side the computer.  I am told to use them as little as possible.  Reading the NY Times with good light is just fine, but books have smaller type and the light is a bit poorer late at night when my eyes are closing.  I am in better shape than when the summer began.

As we pass through the High Holiday season, I’ve blown shofar for two services already, we look forward to visits from my sister, from Dan and family and any RVers who are passing through Rochester.  Carol is looking forward to Brighton High School Class of 1960 reunion at the end of September and two weeks later I will be seeing many of my Monroe High School Class of 1960 friends.  Since the schools were rivals in 1960 and Carol and I knew many people at the rival schools we will attend each other’s reunions.  Of course I have been gathering with the Reunion Committee from my class frequently as we have worked to put it all together.

By mid October we should be ready for a break.  Our departure to the south is planned to get to Dan and Malena’s for Thanksgiving.  If we can get there a week early so much the better.  We will eventually depart from there for our annual southern and western jaunt. 

oops, I guess I didn’t make it clear.  The TEE was good and they shocked me back into rhythm and I left Strong with my heart pumpin’ the way it is supposed to.   All that remains is follow up to be sure it holds.

Although it is still July – the 31st – as I write it will be August before I post this. 

As those of you who have been reading know, I had cataract surgery on June 29 and was scheduled to have the second eye done on July 20th.  What I didn’t remark on, at the time was the immediate follow up to the first surgery.  As we prepared to leave, the nurse handed me a copy of my EKG from the surgery and said my internist was expecting me at 12:30!  The short story is that during the surgery they saw a change in my EKG and there was now am atrial flutter showing where one had never existed at any time in the past. 

I have spent July undergoing testing and waiting for this that or the other.  The next step in on Monday August 2 and if you are reading this I got the expected result from the cardio conversion I am hoping to undergo Monday afternoon.  I will have one more test, a Transesophageal Echocardiogram, and if that is good I will be treated to a “reboot” of the cardiac electrical system.  If it works out, the flutter will be gone, I will resume long, fast walks and the second eye surgery will be planned for the end of August.  If it hasn’t worked out you will not be reading this and there will another post with humorous wisecracks about how my heart flutters for Carol.  and I will await the next steps in repairing this anomaly.

Finally, thank you to all who knew I was facing this and have taken the time to email/text/call to offer me prayers and wishes for swift recovery.  I have been buoyed on the love and caring of friends and family.  I look forward to a quick recovery and I plan to be at the gym for my daily workout tomorrow and the rest of the week. 

I still need to demonstrate that my heart will stay with the revised program on its own so I can get my other eye done and prepare to roll Gee 2 this fall. 

Carol has been, as always, my strength and support through this and I hope the strain has not been too great on her.