It's WONDERFUL to see FRIENDS and FAMILY!!!!

We are now in Meridian, MS........Home town of our good Neighbor and Friend Jim Brumfield. Jim has a waste management business here and a fleet of about 30 trucks,,,,,,many Mack's and Volvo's. He has his own staff of Mechanics and they agreed to look at our Volvo and see if they could find a little fuel/air leak that no one else seems to be able to find. They are GREAT guys and I've gotten more information and learned more about my truck from them that I have anyone else in the 4 years I've owned it. Mike Holmes is the VP Operations Manager and a SUPER guy!!! Shannon Dotson, is his lead mechanic and spent a lot of the day yesterday looking at my truck and trying to figure out what the problem is......He is EXTREMELY knowledgeable!!!, as is Mike. These guys work with trucks all day long and have run into every problem that can be had....

We ordered some parts that we'll install today....Hopefully that will do the trick..... I can't thank Jim enough for taking such an interest in my situation and directing his guys to work on it.....!!!!

A lot of you have ask me to keep you posted on how I like the new Verizion AIR-CARD we started using instead of the Hughes Net for our internet connection.....

Well, this might not be the time, because I'm thoroughly disgusted with it. At our place in Custer,SD, although we are only a mile from the tower, it is EXTREMELY slow. I mean as bad as DIAL up!!! They say thats because it's not EVDO,,,,,big deal! When you do get in an EVDO (high speed) area, it's real good........ However that being said, you can't believe the places you go that are NOT EVDO..........Here in Meridian, MS is the second town of over 50,000 population that has no EVDO, so it is so slow its almost unbearable........Hughes Net is MUCH BETTER...

Now to top that off, we just got our first months bill from Verizon and it was $190.00 OVER, yes, OVER the basic $59.99 monthly charges. Can you believe that?....TOTAL= $250.00 for the first month's charges........ UNREAL............They say we WENT OVER the 5Gb monthly allowance. There is NO WAY we could have done that. No way that I can see anyhow. We don't download any pictures or movies, just surf the internet and emails........No one can believe we did nearly a Gb OVER the 5Gb.

Pat is working on it full force and we are learning how to watch the usage better, but we are mighty discouraged and disgusted with it right now...........Some of our friends use the internet as much or more than we do and they don't even get close to the 5Gb.......Maybe there is something the matter. We will let you know what we find and if any of you have any ideas, let us know. Pat has spent hours on the phone with Verizon and Mark Bruss and Jack Mayer looking for a solution.....stay tuned....Right now we're on Park WiFi, saving our PRECIOUS data usage with Verizion......:-(

Now a few pictures of our FAMILY... taken at Daughter Lisa and Randy's home south of Tallahassee.

Little Kylie and Great Grandma Pat

Granddaughter Megan, Great Granddaughter Kylie and Grandma Pat

Grandson Jeremy pitching horseshoes....he's pretty GOOD!!

Grandson Gabe taking his turn at a "toss"...he's GOOD, too!

Grandson Gabe and Son Scott.....I guess I'll have to say they're ALL PRETTY DARN GOOD!!

2 Granddaughters-in-law, Granddaughter & Great Granddaughter, Pat and Daughter Lisa!

4 Generations: Great Granddaughter Brianna, Daughter Lisa, Pat and Grandson Gabe

Cooking "Low Country Boil", Oysters & Stone Crab Legs!! YUM!!!

Lisa's husband Randy.....a great Seafood Chef!! And Fisherman!!

That's it for my first MID WEEK post..........Thank you all for checking back.........

Next post, we hope to be on our LOT in Mission, TX. where maybe it's a LITTLE warmer!!! (it was 27 deg here this morning)brrrrrrrr...

Take care

Mike

Drop back by SUNDAY for my next post.......

We are still enjoying North FLORIDA!!!

We are certainly enjoying our time here at Roger and Susan's place in the woods of North Florida. However, all good things do have to END. We will be departing this wonderful place tomorrow (Monday) morning early, so we can make it nearly 400 miles to Meridian, MS.


Our Good Friend and Neighbor at Retama Village, Jim Brumfield (Hogrydr), in South Texas has a mechanic that we are going to have work on our truck. It should only take a day or two, then we will be on our way to Mission, TX. We are anxious to get down to our place there where we built the new Coach House last year just before we took off for Arizona. Time to ENJOY it this year!!!


We have enjoyed watching the progress of the new "RV PORTE" Roger and Susan have been bulding here on their 10 acres.


Here are a few pictures of it:


(click on all pictures to enlarge to full screen)



As you can see, it is coming along nicely. This RV Porte is 32X60. Roger will park his 5TH wheel and Volvo under it and still be able to see all around.




This end will be the SHOP-GARAGE and the SAFE ROOM.

This area is insulated.and the back will be an ALL CONCRETE 12X8 SAFE room. Designed for anything you can imagine, including STORMS........





ALL FINISHED and I moved my rig back along side of it where we were before the construction. It has really been fun watching this RV Porte go up! All I can say is NEAT!!!!!! Gee, I would love to have one of these on our place in South Dakota,,,,,,,where it HAILS all too frequently....

Several days last week we spent enjoying Family, Friends and visiting places we hadn't seen for years. OH..... how times change things!!

It's going to be REAL HARD to leave this area!! We have so many wonderful friends and family here that we will miss. Please you all,,,,come see us in the Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota, or our place in Mission, TX, or North Ranch in Congress, AZ. We would love to see you...


NOTE:
Check in mid week (WED) and I will post more pictures of Family and Friends and sights we visited..........(will post mid week at times)


Thanks for stopping by.........

Hope to see you back soon.


It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!! See you down the road.

Mike

PS: We are still selling and servicing PressurePro!!

Nice time to be in FLORIDA!!!!

(click on all photos to enlarge)

Greetings to everyone from Northern Florida! We are sitting at this beautiful spot we have nicknamed "Roger's Roost" out in the woods near Monticello, FL. We are only 20 miles from our old home town of Tallahassee, FL. It's 75-80 deg in the day time, around 50 at night and clear skies nearly everyday....while up at out place in the Black Hills of South Dakota, they are having a BLIZZARD!!!! 1-2 feet of BLOWING SNOW everywhere, power outages, roads closed and huge snow drifts larger than cars. Schools and Businesses closed. WOW,,,,,,how well I remember

that kind of weather. I spent the first 45 years of my life in that area!!

Now isn't this kind of weather better????

Here Ms Pat stands by the Birthday sign I put up out on the road at the entrance so all our guests could find "Rogers Roost" way back here in the woods.

Soon long time friends, old neighbors and family began arriving......

In the top picture is the back side of: (sitting) Rhoda Roper, (standing) Tim and Lynn Deaton, both close neighbors when we had the sticks and bricks. (that's what RV'ers call a house without wheels)

Above is a picture of our old friend Robert Parke, a well known private professional Legal Investigator, his assistant and wife Ely, then Roger Haddix and Chuck Roper visiting in the background. Waving is long time friend and retired private pilot for Bobby Bowden and all the Florida Governor's for the last 26 years, Winston Montague. What a privilege it is to see these fine folks again!!!

In the top picture is Carol Montague and Lynn and Tim Deaton...

Bottom picture.... we're gathering for the BIRTHDAY dinner!!!!


Top picture: Ms Pat and her oldest daughter Lisa. That's PAT on the left! (just kidding!) Both of these young ladies are just 39 years old!!! Lisa has worked for the State of Florida for 30+ years! She started young!!! She is a neat gal!!

Just above is another NEAT gal!!! One that can do no wrong in MY BOOK! She is my(our) pride and joy!! Megan Abell, Pat's granddaughter and her children. That's our GREAT granddaughter Kylie (11 months) in Megan's arms and GREAT grandson Dathon (3 1/2) standing. This is the FIRST time we had seen little Kylie in person..........Beautiful kids!!

Megan spent nearly every weekend at our house from the time she was 9 months until she was 14 years old. Pat was working Saturdays, Megan was home with me and we went everywhere and did everything together. What cherishable memories I have of that wonderful time!! I had raised 3 boys, so Megan was MY GIRL. I will never forget our walks on the railroad tracks behind our house, our bike rides, motorcycle rides and all the Gymnastics classes and competition meets. Megan was an excellent Gymnast and won many ribbons and trophy's. She loved ballet and to dance, play office, ride her trike and go "FAST" on the motorcycle. Plus, she LOVED happy meals at McDonald's!!! I tried not to, drive by a McDonald's, because if I did, I HAD to stop for a HAPPY MEAL!!!! Oh, those were great times.......now like so many things they are just MEMORIES. Seems like that is a lot of what life is all about when you get in these so called GOLDEN years. MEMORIES,,,,,,,, Can some of you relate? Anyhow, it was FUN having a hand in raising Megan and you can see why she is my PRIDE and JOY!!! I love her very much !!


Here is Ms Pat (top) with our most gracious Hosts Roger and Susan Haddix in front of Rogers SUPER BBQ Smoker grill!! As I said before Roger is a Professional cook and loves to do it. Above is Roger tending to the 6 Chickens and 6 slabs of Ribs and homemade Wild Hog sausages......................Smells mighty good !!!!

Well, I'm sorry I didn't get more pictures, but I was enjoying meeting all the GREAT friends and family that was here and visiting. Pictures were the furthest thing from my mind......

BUT, Ms PAT had a WONDERFUL Birthday!!!! The weather was wonderful and Pat says it was her BEST ever!!!! Thanks again to our SUPER hosts Roger and Susan Haddix and all friends and family that came. I know it was very SHORT notice. It meant a lot to us !!!!

Now, TODAY we have another BIG event planned. We're having a BIG Family day get together down south of Tallahassee at Pat's daughter Lisa and her husband Randy's place.....We're have some good old "fresh" Florida seafood....Oysters, Blue Crabs, and a Low Country Boil with lots of fresh caught Florida shrimp. YUM!! Gotta get moving and get ready for that so we'll tell you about that next week.........So much happening and time is going so fast,,,,,,,

Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again next week and remember, we would LOVE to hear from you. In the comments below, on the shoutbox above, or email, phone, or come and see us!!! We have a lot to cram in during the next week!!! We only have one short week left before we head WEST!!! Leaving Monday the 17th.... Planning to be at our place in Mission, TX for Thanksgiving!!! (Lord willin!):-)

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

This Blog published every Sunday morning...

Facts: After nearly 2 years, this Blog gets just over 100 visits EVERY Sunday and an average of 50-55 every day........

Solar System work completed!!!

Good Morning!!!!! Isn't it GREAT to be alive? Exciting times!!! Wonderful weather and GREAT friends. If you remember last week at this time, we were at John Palmer's Solar farm in Lake City, Florida living off the grid and boondocking back in the woods. Check out his website: John Palmer's Energy Systems . Last Friday, we completed updating our Solar System and moved 83 miles over here to our GREAT friends Roger and Susan Haddix's place near Monticello, FL:

Location on Map

NOW, we FINALLY have the SOLAR SYSTEM that we have dreamed of and planned on having for several years....... I love it when plans finally come to pass,,,,,and work out.

We have had our 8 Solar Panels installed for a couple of years. This gave us 800 watts (48 amps) to charge the 4 batteries that the Teton came with. I knew from day one that I needed more batteries; however, Teton would not install any more. So, I have been planning this system for the 3 years we have had our new Teton....

Now we FINALLY have it!!! First, I removed the original 4 batteries

The old batteries are out. I had 2 on each side in these battery compartments. Now I can use these compartments for storage! :-)

Next, I installed this flooring back in a space that was just "wasted" empty space in the basement area.

Next, I cleared more of the "wasted" space under the belly and installed this wooden wall and mounted a NEW MAGNUM 2800K Inverter. This Inverter is TOP of the line and in my opinion, the best you can buy.

The NEW BATTERIES were delivered by truck and are ready for installation..

I removed all the old battery cable hookups and John made up these new ones from heavier 0/4 cables for me to use on the new battery bank. (the big battery you see in the upper right of the picture is one that John loaned me to use until my new ones came in)

It was a TIGHT fit and these batteries are very HEAVY, (63 lbs ea) but we got them all (8) in and hooked up. (6vt Lifeline AGM) It's so tight in this area, it's even hard to get a picture...

There,,,,,it's all COMPLETED!!!!! All back in an area that was totally "wasted" space, so I lost no usable space and gained 4 batteries. I'm HAPPY with the job and it more than doubles our battery capacity. I now have 880 amps (440 usable) where I only had 400 amps (200 usable) before. SUPERB!!!! That was my goal!!

For those of you that ask: Is this type system "cost effective"? My answer would be NO! Most Solar systems aren't cost effective. But with some people (myself included) this is a hobby, a challenge and a matter of convenience. So many things we all have are not "cost effective", but I enjoy building a system such as this and using it and making it work for us......Will we use it? YOU BET we will,,,,,,,,Will we enjoy it? IMMENSELY!!!

All the time we were here at John Palmer's Solar Farm, John was having classes and Seminars on many RV'ing subjects, mostly all directed to "DRY" camping and Solar Systems. John is one of the industry's leaders when it comes to Solar Systems. He has lots of practical experience and knowledge. If you want to learn more about it, you need to get in touch with John and attend some of his classes. He gives Seminars, not only here at his "Solar Farm" but at many of the FMCA rallies, the Escapades and several other places. What I really enjoy and appreciate about John is that he will HELP YOU do it, he will tell you what you need to do and work out any problems you might have. At the same time, he will keep a watchful eye over your work while you do it.

John "practices" everything he "preaches". He literally lives off the grid. There is no public power anywhere on his place, not even in his shop. No water well, no sewer, NOTHING!!! Just SOLAR power and GENERATORS.

This is John giving one of his class seminars. He answers everyones questions and gives all kinds of pointers on RVing. I sat in on several of his classes during my "slack" time.

Ater staying at John's place for a couple more days giving our new Solar System a "trial run" and finding that it was all working properly, we bid everyone farewell and moved on to our next destination.....:

Friday, about 1pm, we arrived at our friends Roger (JRoger on the forum) and Susan Haddix's place just North of Monticello, FL. They are having a neat NEW ADVENTURE and have purchased 10 acres back in the woods in a BEAUTIFUL spot. So here we are all set up in their yard. This place is really GREAT and we are only about 20 miles from our old home in Tallahassee. I will tell you all about it next week and show you pictures of it.

Meanwhile today we have a BIG BIRTHDAY party planned. Today Nov, 2nd is my wonderful wife Pat's birthday!!!!! We went to town yesterday and purchased 6 big slabs of RIBS and 6 whole Chickens for a COOK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOT DOG!!!! We have lots of Family and tons of Friends coming out this afternoon for an afternoon of FUN!!!! and good eating. Let me tell you, Roger is the WORLD'S greatest cook. He loves doing it and is exceptionally good at it. He has a BIG professional portable cooker and has even invented his own dry BBQ seasoning called "ROGERS RUB". It's delicious and we have used it for a couple years.........It's available by order and I'll get the email address for it next week and show you pictures of my PAT'S birthday BBQ cook out. We are all looking forward to seeing old FRIENDS and FAMILY that we haven't seen for several YEARS!!!! It's gonna be a GREAT DAY!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!!!!!!

Thanks for dropping by and be sure to come back next week............I can hardly wait to "show and tell" about this place and all the FUN we are having!!!!

We continue to sell and service PressurePro and PowerTanks. We shipped out a few PP systems this week and hope to get more orders next week. We also had orders for 3 PowerTanks. If you're in the Monticello/Tallahassee area and would like a demo of the PressurePro or the PowerTank, just give us a call. AND, please keep telling your friends about our website: PressurePro System "Word of Mouth" is the best advertisement we can get.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

This Blog is publiushed every Sunday morning.... (giving some thought to publishing ONCE during the week, what do you think?) I have so much to TELL YOU!!! :-)

We're in FLORIDA!!!!

HOORAY!! Yesterday morning we pulled in to John Palmer's Solar City way back in the woods at Lake City, FL. about 11:00am. It was misting and raining off and on all the way from Thomasville, GA. Now to rejuvenate our batteries and solar system. This may take a few days but John is an excellent Solar installer and troubleshooter, so he will have us operating efficiently without shore power REAL SOON.....we hope!

CAMPFIRES are a nightly occasion at John Palmers Solar place. Lots of old and new friends and "conversation" take place at the "nightly fire"!!!

Our beautiful campsite at The Solar Guy's place near Lake City, FLORIDA

(click on pictures to enlarge)

Last Monday in Little Rock, the Amana repairman arrived about noon and installed the new compressor that had been delivered and waiting on him! It was quite a job and took him a good 3 hours. He was a very competent repairman and has been doing it for 26 years! He did a good job and we were extremely grateful to have a FRIG again!!!

Tuesday the frig was still cooling in good shape, so we hooked up and pulled to the Goodyear tire shop and backed up to their work door. They were quite impressed when we just hit the BIGFOOT jacks and raised all 6 wheels off the ground so they could get to work. Neat, they were impressed. That sure solves how to jack this big rig up!!!

The OLD wheels and tires.(above)

And the NEW Wheels and Tires.(above) Actually I think the OLD wheels are "sportier" looking than the new ones............But thats the way it goes!!!!

When they took off the bad tire that I had changed when we had the tread separation, I noticed the back side was covered with BRAKE FLUID. Hummm, I had checked and didn't see where the hydraulic brake line was damaged, but upon closer inspection, it was evident that it had caused a crack in the line and we were losing fluid. UGH, now another problem to get repaired before we can leave. :-( About time for our luck to change!!! We had become quite friendly with the tire shop manager, so we ask him if he knew a place that could repair our broken brake line. "AH,HA", he said "I know a guy that does that kind of work a lot and his shop is just ONE block away, let me call him and see if I can get you in". WOW, maybe our luck is changing??? He came back and said "Yes, he will do it, pull on down there". After a couple hours and a new section of brake line all formed, shaped and installed, we were on our way back to the campground. Now to get all set to hit the road in the morning!!! Whew!!! Thank God for happy hours!!!!

While we were at the Tire Shop, the manager made us such a good deal on 4 new drive tires on our BIG TRUCK that we couldn't pass it up. SO, with 6 new TIRES and 6 new WHEELS on the Teton and 4 new DRIVE TIRES on the truck, we were set to GO!!!

It was a GREAT week!!!! God Bless.

Thanks for stopping by and remember, tell your kids you love them, they may not be around forever.

Mike

This Blog published every Sunday.

Still grounded in Little Rock........

Although we planned on leaving Little Rock on Wednesday, that didn't happen. Monday morning when we got up, we had 2 problems. One: a damaged tire and two: no refrigerator

Neither of which are simple matters!!!

We started calling the necessary parties. The Amana Co. and Goodyear tire Co. Soon we had a repairman scheduled to come out and look at the frig and Goodyear sending a claim form. We took the damaged tire to a Goodyear dealership so it could be FedEx'ed to their home office for inspection...


The G614 "G" rated tire had completely thrown it's tread. The tread was wrapped around the axle and wedged between the tire behind it. It had gotten very HOT and that was causing the smoke. A car right behind us saw it happen and he immediately flagged us over. That's where we got REAL lucky!! Had we gone much further, the tire would have BLOWN. If you click on the above picture of the tire, you will see it was wearing through the steel belts. Had it blown, I'm sure the damage caused would have been much worse.




The flopping tread tore the insulation above it off. It looks terrible, but really it's not that bad. It didn't bend anything or damage the fender or side panel on the fiberglass at all. Very LUCKY!!

In nearly 14 years of full-timing and 1000's of miles, this is our FIRST tire problem of any nature!!! Someone has been looking out for us !!! However, I've always worried about my tires and watched them closely. Twice before I have had Goodyear replace the NEW tires that came on our Tetons because they weren't adequate for the load. This Teton we special ordered and requested and paid extra for the upgraded "G's" instead of the "E's" that it came with. Most all the Manufacturers put just barely enough of a rated tire to get by. Then when you put anything in the rig, it's overweight. I should have gone even further and ordered it with the 17.5 wheels and the "H" rated tires. Isn't HINDSIGHT great? It's not enough to be just a little below the weight limits of your tires, we need to be considerably BELOW those weight limits......I weigh my rig every chance I get and weigh every axle and every wheel separately. It is EXTREMELY important!!!! It's interesting for me to note that this tire was loaded the heaviest of all the Coach's tires..... The tires have just over 15,000 miles on them. I carry 110 lbs of air in each tire and monitor them constantly.

I was one of the FIRST to obtain and use thePressurePro tire monitoring system, so I could watch the air pressure and be forewarned of a leak as I was driving down the road. I liked the system so well I began getting it for friends that also wanted it and soon became one of the top RV dealers for PressurePro. That was nearly 5 years ago.

Because I want more of a safety margin, we have decided to get rid of all the remaining G614's and go with the G114's. They are a 17.5" tire, while the ones we have now are 16". This requires we purchase 6 new 17.5" wheels and obtain 6 of the new G114's. They are "H" rated and designed specifically for commercial "low-boy" trailers hauling such things as back hoe's, caterpillars, etc. It will be an expensive undertaking, but necessary, in our opinion....

We are in the process of doing this now, The new wheels were ordered form HTW wheel mfg company near South Bend, IN. They arrived by UPS Friday and the 6 new tires came in Thursday. We took the new wheels over to the Dealer and they are mounting the new G114 tires on them. Now, to take the rig over to the dealer and have them all installed.....
I'm VERY happy to say that Goodyear, as usual, has cooperated with us 100% on this deal. In fact, they agreed to give us FULL PRICE credit for our G614's toward the purchase of the NEW G114's and pay for our damages. I have ALWAYS found them very cooperative. I wouldn't consider any other brand tire on my Coaches........


Our good friends Mark & Dale Bruss have also done this and Mark has documented it well with all his research on his website: Tires: New Sized Tires

They had much more damage to the side and fender well of their Coach.........

WAIT,,,we can't move!! One Amana repairman came out last Tuesday, found the frig had a bad circuit board,,,,,,,none in stock. Had to order it. Fortunately, it came UPS overnight delivery and we got it Wednesday. Another repairman came out the same day to install it. BOY, this is going smooth,,,,,,,,WRONG!!!!!

The 2ND repairman knew a lot more about what he was doing. He said " wait a minute, let me check the compressor, that's what usually causes this circuit board to go out". YEP,,,,,sure enough, compressor was SHOT!!!!! Had to order it !!!:-( New compressor came Friday morning, but no repairman was available to install it until MONDAY............So here we sit, afraid to move or go anywhere waiting for the repairman.........refer sitting out in the middle of the floor. Didn't realize how tough it is to be without a frig!!!! Boy, we take these modern conveniences for granted!!


Here is the first repairman that came out. He's ordering the circuit board and Pat's on the phone, as she has been for the last week continually!!!!


But, in spite of all these problems, we have a LOT to be thankful for!! We still wouldn't trade places with anyone in the whole WORLD!!!!! Here we sit in this beautiful Corps of Engineers park just 15 miles from our dear friends Louis and Janette Hughes. The park sits right on the shores of the Arkansas river and we have a SUPERB view right out our back picture window. Since we have " Golden Age" cards, the site costs $9.50 instead of the usual $19.00 per night. Not a bad life at all.

Monday we hope to get the Compressor installed and get the refer cooling again. Tuesday the tires can be installed on the Teton and Wednesday we can continue our journey to Tallahassee.

But,,,,who knows???? We'll see!!!

Meanwhile I have 6 lightly used beautiful Aluminum 16", 8 bolt, heavy duty wheels FOR SALE.


This is an actual picture of one of the wheels from our Teton. So if YOU, or anybody YOU know wants to upgrade your wheels to these beautiful polished aluminum wheels that will NEVER rust, now is your chance. Asking $65.00 each.......that's about 1/2 price or less. They are manufactured by HTW, the same ones that make the NEW 17.5's I just bought. I like the 16" wheels better than the 17.5's, I think they are more attractive......


SPECIAL REQUEST: Our friends, Bob & Molly Pinner, have a young niece who has Leukemia and is going through some of the same treatments Scott had to endure. Her name is Kristy and her Mom is Kathryn (Molly's sister). Kristy will be undergoing a Bone Marrow Transplant on Thursday, Oct. 23. We are asking that all of our Blog readers and friends everywhere pray for Kristy, especially on Thursday, that the BMT will be successful and that she will be on the road to recovery. Kristy has 4 beautiful children and they need their Mommy. God Bless you Kristy and keep up the good fight!! Kathryn we're praying for you, too.

See ya all next week and I'll bring you up to date on our progress. Hopefully, we'll be in FLORIDA!!! Thanks for stopping by and we LOVE your comments!!!
It was a BEAUTIFUL WEEK!!!
God Bless
Mike


This Blog is published every Sunday morning..

Life is INTERESTING !!!

Just as things are going along smooth,,,,,,BANG!!!! You have a BAD day!! That was us yesterday.
As the HDT Rally in Hutchinson came to a close, everyone was departing and heading their own desired directions. Us included. Yesterday (Saturday) morning we headed on our way towards Little Rock. Things were going along fine when a car pulled up along side us and motioned us to pull over. What in the WORLD??, was our reaction. A young fellow came running back to us saying that SMOKE was coming from one of our tires!! That causes your heart rate to increase somewhat!!! What had happened???? We jumped out and started checking, sure enough the left front tire on our Teton had thrown a tread and was caught between it and the frame and also the next tire back. The tire still had full air pressure in it. That explains why the PressurePro tire monitoring system didn't alarm. Smoke has a tendency to travel to the center and out the back. It's nearly always impossible to see!! I was watching and didn't see a thing!!!
If this young fellow had not stopped us, the tire would have soon BLOWN OUT !!!!! The damage would probably be a LOT worse than it was........It tore the insulation off from above the tire and that's about all the damage I could see. We'll check closer later.

So we were quite LUCKY!!!! Now, what to do next?? We were on a rather busy 2 lane highway south of Stillwater, OK. It did have a good shoulder. I pulled over as far as I could, put out my emergency reflectors, got out my tools, my bottle Jack, took the spare down from it's mount and changed the wheels. Pat was watching and keeping the traffic from running over me as I was laying on the edge of the traffic side. Cars, trucks, etc were whizzing by at 50-60 + mph. Not a fun situation. I could have called our Road Service, but it would have taken hours(it was Saturday) and I wanted to try it myself first and then use road service as plan "b".
My plan WORKED!!!! After about an hour of Blood, Sweat and yes, Tears, we were on our way.
Tired, Dirty, and both of our backs hurting, but we were on our way......out of the road.....Thank GOD.

We made the rest of our trip for the day, a little late, but ready to hang it up for the night...WHEW!!!!!! Tomorrow we'll go on into Little Rock,,,about 140 miles. There we will decide what to do about the tire. We are thinking about doing what our good friends Mark and Dale Bruss did and go to new 17.5" wheels with the new Goodyear G114's. It's a JOB and EXPENSE, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do!! Right?

OK, we'll handle that come MONDAY morning!!!!!

Well, when we got up this morning,,,our REFRIGERATOR had QUIT!!!!!!! It's an AMANA and has quit before and we had to put in a Start Capacitor while we were at Custer. At Custer we have another Frig to put all our stuff in,,,,,,,ugh,,,here we DON"T!!!! It's not an RV refrigerator, so an RV place can't help. It takes a Household repairman..........WOW,,,2 bad days in a row!!!!

It's a TERRIBLE job getting the Amana out so they can work on it and the repairman WILL NOT do it.........so WE must!!!! We've done it once, so we'll do it again!!! Meanwhile, all we have is a little cooler, an insulated bag and a very small frig in the Truck.......So lots of good frozen meat, etc. is gone......................Tossed out!!

What next,,,,,,,,,,We have to keep smiling and work through this,,,,,and we WILL. Like my son Scott used to say, "It's Just a Bump in the Road". We've been full timing for over 13 years and this is ABSOLUTELY the FIRST tire problem we have had..........not even as much as a FLAT before! So we were due,,,,,,,,,,,,,,right?

Just like we used to do at work when the roof fell in, we'll take these problem situations ONE by ONE and handle them..... We'll come back smiling, smarter, minus a few bucks, but stronger than ever.

Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you next week with a progress report........


Shucks,,,,,IT's still a GREAT WEEK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hang in there.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday morning......

Greetings from Kansas State Fairgrounds!!!!

This is the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson. It's a BIG place and we have lots of BIG rigs arriving.

Both sides are filling up with beautiful rigs of all sizes and shape. Last count was 34 and more are arriving.

Our's is parked right in the middle where there is LOTS of action!! We're talking "PressurePro" to lots of new and old customers...

Then along about 4:00 pm it's "pre-Rally social hour",,,,,,,,,,,,every night a few more friends showed up. Soon the crowd was HUGE!!! Pot Luck and snacks galore........What a GREAT life!!

Saturday evening at 5pm was the official opening and welcome. We set up our PressurePro display table and soon thereafter everyone was welcomed to the 5TH National Heavy Duty Truck Rally. After that, as you can see from the above picture the snack counter was quite popular!!! Lots of GREAT conversation with old and new friends and at 7pm a live band took over. Many soon returned to their home on wheels, while others danced the night away........
A very pleasant evening and the 2008 HDT rally is off to a SUPER start!!! Our PressurePro seminar is Tuesday morning and there are many others scheduled throughout the week. This is gonna be FUN!!!!!:-)
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Now a little bit on the Sad and Serious side.............


As many of you know this is a picture of my youngest son Scott. It was just ONE year ago yesterday on 10-4-07, while we were at this same Rally, that Scott called us and informed us that he had been diagnosed with LEUKEMIA....................
After a long and hard fought battle that included many, many heavy doses of Chemo and dozens upon dozens of other medications and transfusions, including a bone marrow transplant from his older brother Mikel, it was 8 months later on June 5TH that he lost the battle. He was 47 years old and such a good kid. My buddy, my pal. A guy I confided in a lot and a guy that was always very kind to Pat and I. I sure miss him, as I know we all do, but I'm so thankful that God let me enjoy him for 47 years and that I got to spend the last month of his life at his side.....

Scott loved to RV, but he was always so busy with work and all that he didn't get to do it as much as he would have liked to. But now he's gone to that GREAT campground in the sky and he is Rv'n right here with us, that's what the "empty" campsite right next to us is, it's reserved and dedicated to Scott. Scott, lets go for a walk!!

The following is a poem that Ann, Scott's wife found and we all think it describes what Scott would want. I'd like to share it with you:

"I'm Free"

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free

I'm following the path God laid for me.

I took his hand when I heard him call

I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day

To laugh, to love, to work or play.

Tasks left undone must stay that way.

I found that place at the close of the day.

If my passing has left a void

Then fill it with remembered joy.

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss.

Ah yes, these things, I too, will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow.

I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.

My life's been full, I savored much.

Good friends, good times, a loved one's touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief;

Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.

Lift up your heart and share with me

God wanted me now, He set me free.

Author Unknown

God Bless you all, thanks for stopping by. Please stop in next week, or sooner and leave a comment or a note in the "shoutbox".

Mike

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Blog is published every Sunday morning