And the Road Takes Shape

We finally left home this mornin’, headed up the road to our summer adventure. Left out about 10 and got about 30 miles over the Georgia line.

Runnin’ up the road we were passed by what looked by a ‘Truckers Funeral’. Didn’t have time to get the camera on to get a shot and I was hopin’ to see it up the road further but that didn’t happen. What passed us by was an 18 wheeler with a flatbed trailer with two big ole’ black stretch limo’s followed on the trailer by a big ole’ black hearse. Looked really strange toolin’ down the highway.

Tonight we rest at ‘Walkabout Camp & RV Park, formerly King George RV Park. A cute, clean little park with a pool to rinse away the days stress of driving and nice level sites. A member of Passport America and a bargain at $16.50. The park was purchased by a young Australian couple, Suze & Troy, who are dedicated to make their customers, repeat customers. So if you’re headed through south Georgia along I-95, don’t hesitate to stop and stay at Walkabout.

Here we are at Walkabout RV Park.

Well that’s it for this short post. Hope to see ya’ down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Still Holdin’ On!

We’re still sittin’ at home waitin’ fer’ one thing ‘er another. Seems like Murphy’s puttin’ small hurdles in our way, maybe fer’ a reason.

We were waitin’ fer’ the ‘Love Bugs’ to disappear, and they seem to be gone, at least around here. We were pullin’ out on Tuesday but decided to wait as the temps in GA & SC along our intended travel route are in the upper 90’s, hoverin’ right at 100 degrees. No sense in leavin’ a nice air conditioned home goin’ into that heat, when the temps here are just high 80’s and lower 90’s. It’d be like “From the fryin’ pan into the fire”. So after lookin’ at the extended forecast we decided to wait till Friday, when things look like they’ll drop into the low 80’s with nights in the 60’s. Much better if we have to do some boondockin’.

Now watchin’ the news we got tornados springin’ up every day in the midwest gradually driftin’ towards the east. Now draggin’ a big ‘Tornado Magnet’ behind me through rough weather like that is like tryin’ to tie a red flag on a bulls horns, Not happenin’!!

So here we sit waitin’ some more, till things quiet down or slide off to the east. I’m kinda’ sorry I didn’t pull out early in the month now. I got no place to be, except PA in early August, but I sure am itchy to get!

So here I sit at the tire dealer getting’ the shoes on the truck rotated about, peckin’ on these keys.

To add insult to injury, the Passport America parks we we’re goin’ to stay at are blacked out over holiday weekends. Duh, this is Memorial Day weekend. Amazin’ how you forget about holidays that every other workin’ Joe & Jane look forward to, but it’s just another day for us retirees.

Well my trucks ready and I have to run to the grocery store for a few things fer’ Linda, so I say ‘Adios’ fer’ now. Hope to see ya down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Keep on Holdin’ on!

Well the works pretty much done. The 5’ver is packed with about all the dry goods she can handle. Just need to pack up all our personal ‘possibles’ and we’re ready to roll. Don’t know where right off hand, but it don’t matter, it’s all north from here.

We were holdin’ back to celebrate ‘Mothers Day’ & my Mom’s 86th birthday, then we were free to go. Well that was a week ago and here we sit. Ya’ see thar’s two things holdin’ us, the ‘Love Bug’ season has started here in FL and do ya’ know what a big ole’ white fiver looks like with 9 gazillion gooey bugs smashed all over the front? It ain’t pretty. Matter o’fact it’s a lot o’ work tryin’ to get them baked on bugs off after a day o’ travelin’. And seein’s how campgrounds frown on lettin’ ya’ do any washin’ of your rig, it’s downright inconvenient. Them suicidal bugs have got to come off the truck & trailer cause their little juices are corrosive. SO…. we been holdin’ back tryin’ to wait out the bugs. They only last 3-5 weeks I read on the internet today, lets hope fer’ three.

One other reason we been hangin’ back is cause my good buddy, shadow, grand fur kid  & co-editor, Abby, has got an appointment with the doctor to get her ‘Female Parts’ rearranged. I promised my son that if he got her ‘fixed’, we’d wait till she was ‘on the mend’ before we pulled out. See our son works nights and sleeps days, so someone has to attend to ‘the baby’ after her surgery, that’s me her older buddy. Hope everything goes alright durin’ & after the surgery.

Are you sure you want that picture inserted there?

You gonna eat all that tasty lookin’ stuff in that bag?

Well if all goes well and the dog is OK ,maybe we’ll have to sneak outa’ here in the night like thieves to fool the Love bugs, see they sleep at night. Only problem is I don’t know how far north they’re rangin’ this year. I guess we’ll get the rest of our stuff packed over the next few days.

As much as I hate drivin’ the Interstate system, I think with the price of fuel, I’ll get the best mileage rollin’ up I-95 for quite a spell where it’s flatter. I’d rather roll up through the mountains for the scenery and the cooler temps but pullin’ our 36’ trailer we’d sure be suckin’ down the fuel. I figurin’ to go 600 miles before fuelin’ up with the auxiliary tank in the back o’ the truck, maybe more.

Speakin’ of fuelin’ up, we just got a new BP card that offers 10% rebate on fuel fer’ the first 60 days. That should help the budget a little.

On another note I ‘d like to welcome to the Blog, new readers, The Old Geezer, Lynn at Midlife on Wheels, Dear Miss Mermaid, & Ken & Carol of Jonies Journies.

Well I’m gonna’ sign off fer’ now. Maybe you’ll be readin’ my next post from the road. Until then, Safe Travelin’ & we hope to see ya down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Got Hitch Itch?

Yea!! Slide out is done, carpet is done, everything is back where it should be. We even cleaned the trailer from one end to the other. Out with the old faded blue-green carpet, in with the new tan carpet.

Back to normal.

Now on to the 10 or 12 other things on my to-do list. Some things I have planned I will have to wait to do during our trip. There will be lots o’ time to tinker with things that need replaced, repainted, resealed or just freshened up a bit while we’re gone.

Remember I said Linda & I are getting’ a bad case of ‘Hitch-Itch’. Well she’s turning our family room into a loading dock.

I guess she’s ready to roll outa town. Don’t know where we’re goin’ when we do leave here, but that’s OK.

That’s all for now as I’m off to bed so I can get an early start tomorrow. Hope to see ya down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Our Window View’s Improvin’

Well I been workin’ workin’ on our bedroom slide out and things are lookin’ up. The floor is finished and reinstalled in the opening. Twice!! Why two installations? Well I couldn’t rely on the measurements that I took from the room with all that wood rot so when I installed it back in the opening the height was a little short. That meant removing it again, takin’ the bottom off and buildin’ up the height 3/4” more. Put it all back together and now all the wipers on the slide seals touch the room all the way around. Whew!!

Here’s the new floor frame.

Here it is with the PVC board mounted ready to be mounted to the walls.

Next was to install the hydraulic ram that moves the room in and out. Since I built the room up a little in height I built the ram mount up the same amount. This keeps the ram running level with the floor in the slide and the room. Happy Barry!

Linda had decided that the carpet needed changed and reluctantly I had to agree with her. After all we’ve gone this far, might as well do the whole she-bag. Right? So several days last week were spent lookin’ at carpet. Boy some of the prices we got for a 11 x 12 remnant were rediculous! One guy even told us they buy the end of the rolls from the carpet mills for next to nothing. We got prices as high as $350 for our little piece. Well price and color selection turned us off so we were at a standstill. We decided to drive the thirty five miles up to Melbourne as I needed an air stapler to do the re-carpet job anyway. We called our friends Bud & Linda to see if they wanted to ride along and we’ll make a day of it, Harbor Freight, Ci Ci’s Pizza and carpet shoppin’. Linda said she knew of a place where they had bought carpet in the past so off we went. Mrs. Murphy must have been smilin’ on me that day cause I forgot my coupon for the stapler I wanted, and I got a better one for a lot less money and we found carpet, at the place Linda had suggested for $80. What a bargin! I love it when a plan comes together.

Now I’ve never installed carpet before and I’ve always told My wife that it’s one thing I won’t do. Not because it’s difficult, but almost every carpet installer I’ve known has become salesman or moved on to some other trade in life because their knees give out. In all my years as a contractor and Facilities Manager I’ve had tens of thousands of yards of carpet installed and overseen it all, so I have an idea how an installation progresses. Now the construction of the bedroom in the 5’ver is such that there is a carpeted curb all around the room concealing steel beams that make up the structural members of the ‘Gooseneck’. So armed with what little knowledge I have of ‘Carpetin’, I plunged in.

I thought the carpet was all one piece that was wrapped up and over the curbs, so that’s how I bought my carpet. Turns out the curbs are all separate and I could have gotten away with a little less carpet that I bought.

Shhhh! Don’t tell Linda cause she really liked this “Yellow” carpet at the last store, but there wasn’t enough by my measurements.

The job is pretty easy, hardest part is rippin’ up the old carpet. The stapler works great and things are progressing.

New carpet in slide out & one curb wrapped.

Boy do I have this place torn apart!!! I had the trailer clean from top to bottom, now I have to do it all over before we can depart.

All the ‘Stuff’ that was in here,

Is now in here!

Oh yeah I also got the bathroom area stuffed with vacuum, mirrored doors, tools that I don’t want to keep trippin’ over in the bedroom. It’s kind of like the ‘Last Minute Overflow’ area. But I get it all put back together cause Linda & I got a bad case o’ Hitch-itch!!! We want to get somewhere cooler. We’ve had the warmest April in history here with several days where the heat index topped out over 100 degrees and lots and lots where the temps have been in the 90’s. Startin’ to fell like I’m in Arizona, not Florida. Can’t imagine what summer will bring!

Well a’carpeting we go! Till next time.

We hope to see ya down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.