Just heard from one of our other rep teams that Camp Club USA, one of the Good Sam enterprises, has been sold to Passport America. Here’s the info from the Camp Club USA website: “We recently announced that Camp Club USA members will now become members of Passport America, the leader in 50% off discount camping. As a member of Passport America, you will enjoy over 1,800 campgrounds where you can receive 50% savings on nightly camping. If you are a member of Camp Club USA, you will automatically receive a membership card from Passport America equal to the months remaining on your Camp Club USA membership, plus one additional bonus month free. We are working closely with Passport America to make sure this transition is a smooth one for all of our members. To read the full notice from Good Sam Enterprises Chairman & CEO Marcus Lemonis regarding this transition click here.”
More discounted parks added to the Passport America line-up is great…more choices for inexpensive camping as we travel.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Ozzie Has Some New Sunglasses
I had researched a windshield cover for our rig and as luck would have it, we got assigned a job where Magne Shade is located. All of the others I had researched were secured by screw-in snaps or suction type devices….all of which required me having to get a ladder out to put it up. This one is awesome ! It uses powerful magnets to hold the cover to the windshield. One set of magnets are in the pockets you see around the top of the cover and the other set is attached to the inside of the windshield with 3M adhesive. The material is pvc coated polyester that will last forever and it gives super privacy without making it dark inside the rig. Those were the two big things on our wish list: 1) Privacy 2) Let as much light in as possibleI was worried that the black fabric would make it really dark inside but it’s not. You can totally see outside but no one can see in. At night, when the lights are on inside, you can see a vague outline of a person but otherwise great privacy. Lots of funky colors to choose from and you can even get some custom designs but we wanted black….you can’t go wrong with black, especially with our color scheme.
Roger, from Magne Shade came out and installed the shade. He’s going to Quartzsite in January so if you’re thinking of getting a cover for your windshield, tell him Linda sent you ! Go check it out…a great way to keep the rig cooler and keep the sun’s rays off your fabrics and dash. Easy set-up and easy tear down…..Ozzie’s loving her new shades !!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Thanksgiving
Linda and I left Mocksville on Wednesday morning and went to see Linda’s kids for Thanksgiving. Hung out with the kids and grandkids, and had Thanksgiving at her daughter Laurie’s house. The new hardwood floors got installed just the day before so they actually could have the meal in the dining room. The appliances, in the kitchen, aren’t installed yet so she couldn’t cook the meal but we did have a table to sit at. She had ordered two family meals from Cracker Barrel and we stopped to pick them up on the way from Stephanie’s house to Laurie’s. The lady at Cracker Barrel took the list and double checked it (so she said) and loaded the box full of food and put it into the trunk. We arrive at Laurie’s house and unpack it to find no meat. There were a couple of slices of ham but no turkey and no stuffing. She calls Cracker Barrel and they are very apologetic but it doesn’t negate the fact that it’s a 25 minute drive (each way) back to Cracker Barrel to pick up the forgotten items. Off 
Stephanie and Jessie go to pick it up. An hour later we all sit down to our Thanksgiving meal. To show their remorse, the manager sent a chocolate pecan pie and a Coca-Cola Cake with the missing ham and turkey. My, they sure know how to make you forget about their silly mistake. I can still taste that cake…yum yum !
While in Norfolk, we took all of the dogs to the PETA dog park. Boy, is it a nice park right on the water’s edge. There is a ramp that goes down into the water so the dogs can swim if they want to. This park is actually one that was built with funds donated by Bea Arthur, from Golden Girls. I know Boomer had a blast swimming and running. PETA monitors activities in the park via surveillance cameras. Anyone seen being mean to their dogs can be kicked out of the park or fined.
On Friday night, Matt (Laurie’s husband) remembered that the light show at the Botanical Garden was going on so we went. It’s
called “Garden of Lights” and was really cute. It is a drive through exhibit and in one part, the lights are synchronized to the music playing on FM 94.5. That was pretty neat. All sorts of scenes set up…one area was like driving under the sea with a fire breathing dragon, coral, fish, etc. The kids really had a great time looking at all of the characters and lights.
On Wednesday night when we arrived, Stephanie and Jess had tickets to watch Old Dominion University and Vermont play basketball. I’ve never been to a game other than a high school game so it was fun to see all the hype, theatrics, TV cameras,etc that goes along with big time basketball. 
Such a close game too…it ended up going into overtime and each fought to stay ahead but in the end Vermont won by 2 points. Wow, it was exciting.
There was a little girl sitting in front of us that had a little cheerleader outfit on. Every time the cheerleaders got up to do their thing, this little girl would stand on her daddy’s knees and try to do the cheers along with the team. At the end, she’d jump up in the air and her father would catch her in his lap, just like when the girls come down from their pyramid. It was so cute and we got a kick out of it every time she did it.
Had a great time with the family. Lots of great memories to cherish until we get back this way next year to make some more. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day with the ones they love.
Stephanie and Jessie go to pick it up. An hour later we all sit down to our Thanksgiving meal. To show their remorse, the manager sent a chocolate pecan pie and a Coca-Cola Cake with the missing ham and turkey. My, they sure know how to make you forget about their silly mistake. I can still taste that cake…yum yum !
While in Norfolk, we took all of the dogs to the PETA dog park. Boy, is it a nice park right on the water’s edge. There is a ramp that goes down into the water so the dogs can swim if they want to. This park is actually one that was built with funds donated by Bea Arthur, from Golden Girls. I know Boomer had a blast swimming and running. PETA monitors activities in the park via surveillance cameras. Anyone seen being mean to their dogs can be kicked out of the park or fined.On Friday night, Matt (Laurie’s husband) remembered that the light show at the Botanical Garden was going on so we went. It’s
called “Garden of Lights” and was really cute. It is a drive through exhibit and in one part, the lights are synchronized to the music playing on FM 94.5. That was pretty neat. All sorts of scenes set up…one area was like driving under the sea with a fire breathing dragon, coral, fish, etc. The kids really had a great time looking at all of the characters and lights.
On Wednesday night when we arrived, Stephanie and Jess had tickets to watch Old Dominion University and Vermont play basketball. I’ve never been to a game other than a high school game so it was fun to see all the hype, theatrics, TV cameras,etc that goes along with big time basketball. 
Such a close game too…it ended up going into overtime and each fought to stay ahead but in the end Vermont won by 2 points. Wow, it was exciting.
There was a little girl sitting in front of us that had a little cheerleader outfit on. Every time the cheerleaders got up to do their thing, this little girl would stand on her daddy’s knees and try to do the cheers along with the team. At the end, she’d jump up in the air and her father would catch her in his lap, just like when the girls come down from their pyramid. It was so cute and we got a kick out of it every time she did it.
Had a great time with the family. Lots of great memories to cherish until we get back this way next year to make some more. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day with the ones they love.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Daniel Boone
After driving past this sign every day on our way into town, we finally got a chance to go in search of the Boone burial plot. Daniel Boone’s father immigrated from England, to Pennsylvania in 1713 due to the persecution that Quakers were receiving in England. Squire met and married Sarah and they built a log cabin near Reading, PA.This is where Daniel was born. I did not realize any of this until I did some research on their residing here in Mocksville.In the mid 1700’s the Boone family was expelled from the Quaker group due to two of the children marrying “worldlings” (non-Quaker folks). In 1750, Squire sold his land and moved to North Carolina. In 1759 the Boones fled Yadkin Valley to Culpepper, VA due to the uprising of the Indians in the area.
The cemetery, where Squire and Sarah are buried is small and the area is overgrown with weeds and is behind an iron gate and fence. Their tombstones have been preserved by encasing them in brick and putting a plaque on it that says exactly what was on the markers (due to erosion its really hard to read the original markers). We walked around in the cemetery to look at the old markers. There were some really interesting ones. One marker told how the woman in the grave had donated $600 so that a church could continue to exist, due to financial difficulties.
Got word today that, when we leave here next Wednesday, we are headed to Arlington, Texas to work a corporate KOA there. That job will take us up to Christmas and since it puts us close to our home office, we’ll also get to go to our boss’s Christmas party. Yippee !! No word on where to after that but at least we know where we’ll be till the end of the year. The RV Resort is close to lots of attractions, like the Dallas Cowboys stadium, 6 Flags, Texas Rangers stadium and much more. Linda said there are about 40 restaurants within a mile of the park. Wow ! Gonna be a busy time selling in Arlington !
I’ll close this post with this picture…this guy has been hitchhiking at the on-ramp to I-40 for the last two days. No takers as he was still hanging out today. Give him a ride…he won’t take up much room. He wants to get home for the holidays.
Monday, November 21, 2011
“SUPER” Disgusted
Well the deadline came and went and the appointed super committee didn’t get anything accomplished as far as cutting the deficit. Are we really surprised ? In one sense it would have been fun (more like interesting) to have been a fly on the wall and listen to the weeks and weeks of “discussions”. Naw, it would only make be more enraged. These Congressman have no sense of concern for what our country is facing. All they care about is preserving their job and digging their heels in until after the next election. The country could face another downgrade in our rating but they all seem completely unfazed by all of this. It’s disgusting ! Shame on all of them for leading us down this path again.
Short week for calling on businesses. Getting hard to reach folks as they are starting to travel already. Pushing tomorrow to get some more calls made and then we’ll go up to Linda’s daughter’s house, in Virginia Beach area, for a few days.
Still organizing…bought some more Command Center hooks to hang a few more things in the garage. Really liking how things are shaping
up. Our shoe cabinet was getting pretty beat up, having had it in the other rig for about four years now so we found this at Wal-Mart tonight and it’s perfect. It’s a hanging shoe holder (well, yeah it is handy for cans of beer too). It has 40 pockets and five center shelves for boots or bigger shoes. It has a hook on the top of it that hooks nicely over the bottom of the drop down bed frame. It makes great use of vertical space from floor to ceiling…it’s about 51” tall….and it only cost $15. All of our shoes fit nicely (and the extra beer that won’t fit in the frig does too).
Love these Command straps. Great for holding my creeper to the wall. Another set holds our patio table to the wall. They are meant to hold extension cords or something similar but I’ve found they work great in the RV lifestyle for keeping things in place. That’s it on the organizational home front..
Here are a couple other pics I took today…this handsome guy was fighting with himself, as he looked in the window glass. I grabbed my camera to catch his antics. The other is of an interesting house we saw while out today. Still want to get to the cemetery, here in town, where Daniel Boone’s parents are buried. Interesting story on that family. Will save that for next time…
Short week for calling on businesses. Getting hard to reach folks as they are starting to travel already. Pushing tomorrow to get some more calls made and then we’ll go up to Linda’s daughter’s house, in Virginia Beach area, for a few days.
Still organizing…bought some more Command Center hooks to hang a few more things in the garage. Really liking how things are shaping
up. Our shoe cabinet was getting pretty beat up, having had it in the other rig for about four years now so we found this at Wal-Mart tonight and it’s perfect. It’s a hanging shoe holder (well, yeah it is handy for cans of beer too). It has 40 pockets and five center shelves for boots or bigger shoes. It has a hook on the top of it that hooks nicely over the bottom of the drop down bed frame. It makes great use of vertical space from floor to ceiling…it’s about 51” tall….and it only cost $15. All of our shoes fit nicely (and the extra beer that won’t fit in the frig does too). 
Love these Command straps. Great for holding my creeper to the wall. Another set holds our patio table to the wall. They are meant to hold extension cords or something similar but I’ve found they work great in the RV lifestyle for keeping things in place. That’s it on the organizational home front..
Here are a couple other pics I took today…this handsome guy was fighting with himself, as he looked in the window glass. I grabbed my camera to catch his antics. The other is of an interesting house we saw while out today. Still want to get to the cemetery, here in town, where Daniel Boone’s parents are buried. Interesting story on that family. Will save that for next time…
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Beautiful Day
Weather was awesome today. Temps were close to 70 so we took the bike out for a ride before the Nascar race. As I type this the race is 
still going on in Florida, due to rain delays throughout the afternoon that have delayed the finish. It’s been an excellent race that is probably going to come down to the final lap on who will actually win the championship for the year. Lots of strategy involved with the delay, fuel conservation, take 2 tires or 4, etc. It’s a nail biter !
Here’s a picture with the bike out of the garage. The part that says “Outlaw”” on it is the queen sized bed that lowers from the ceiling. It is usually up to the ceiling but I’m storing some items on top of it right now. It’s at a height that works ok for loading the bike and gives us more storage on top of the bed. Behind the bed(which would be the back side of the bedroom in the loft) are cupboards the whole width of the garage. We use these to store our old jobs, once we’ve finished and boxed them.
As I was getting some things out of the basement storage, I found something that was puzzling to me. Most of the doors (that aren’t under the slide out) have the type of bracket on the piston that allows the door to go up about 130 degrees.
There are a couple that only open 90 degrees and they are a pain to get something out of. You either hit your head or scrape your back
crawling under the door. These pistons attach right to the door, no arched bracket. 
This doesn’t make sense to me why they wouldn’t have the first type on all of them. Perhaps they ran out as it came down the assembly line and they stuck these other ones on it ? I think I will add it to my list of warranty things to ask about when we figure out where we will be in three weeks so I can schedule the work.
Watching NASCAR outside on the TV while we were grilling….Boomer could have cared less….
still going on in Florida, due to rain delays throughout the afternoon that have delayed the finish. It’s been an excellent race that is probably going to come down to the final lap on who will actually win the championship for the year. Lots of strategy involved with the delay, fuel conservation, take 2 tires or 4, etc. It’s a nail biter !Here’s a picture with the bike out of the garage. The part that says “Outlaw”” on it is the queen sized bed that lowers from the ceiling. It is usually up to the ceiling but I’m storing some items on top of it right now. It’s at a height that works ok for loading the bike and gives us more storage on top of the bed. Behind the bed(which would be the back side of the bedroom in the loft) are cupboards the whole width of the garage. We use these to store our old jobs, once we’ve finished and boxed them.
As I was getting some things out of the basement storage, I found something that was puzzling to me. Most of the doors (that aren’t under the slide out) have the type of bracket on the piston that allows the door to go up about 130 degrees.
There are a couple that only open 90 degrees and they are a pain to get something out of. You either hit your head or scrape your back
crawling under the door. These pistons attach right to the door, no arched bracket. 
This doesn’t make sense to me why they wouldn’t have the first type on all of them. Perhaps they ran out as it came down the assembly line and they stuck these other ones on it ? I think I will add it to my list of warranty things to ask about when we figure out where we will be in three weeks so I can schedule the work.
Watching NASCAR outside on the TV while we were grilling….Boomer could have cared less….
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Great Day with an Old Friend
Another chilly start to our day today. I had opened up the curtain around the front window and we were sitting around having breakfast. Boomer 
starts barking and is looking out the front window. Here stands this little black goat, looking at the rig, and around his neck, he’s got a red collar with a big cowbell on it. He stands there and looks at Boomer while he’s barking at him…Then he trots up the road. There’s hardly anyone here in the campground so I’m not sure where he came from or who he belongs to. Guess he was just out for his morning stroll. How cute…
I got the flat tire plugged and filled with air, ready to go back on the car. Got cleaned up as we needed to go to Winston Salem. We had made a date with our friend, Ted to have lunch with him. Ted is a resident at the retirement community we managed and Linda would make his day when she’d give him a hug AFTER he’d say, at breakfast: “It’s a wonderful day at the old folks home.” We’ve been chatting with him, each month, since we left there and he’s so dear to us. Ted retired from the Air Force, after having spent 20+ years in Colorado. He loved hearing about all the areas we’d visit while we were out there in his home state. He came back to Winston because his daughter lives here. We’re going to get together again with him before we leave at the end of the month.
After lunch with Ted, we decided that we’d better get new tires on the car since I’ve plugged them at least three times now. They are pretty worn out ( my car has 214,000 miles on it), although not all of these miles on this set of tires. Ended up getting them at Discount Tire, after missing out on a set at Sam’s Club. I ran into Sam’s right before we needed to meet Ted for lunch and they only had four tires in stock to fit our car. By the time we left the restaurant and got back there, they had sold two of the four tires. So we went down the street to Discount Tire….only cost us $12 more than it would have at Sam’s but man, talk about a quick way to blow $500. They replaced our spare tire (the one that had never been used), with the best tire of the ones that came off the car since the spare was starting to show dry rot. Discount Tire is in quite a few of the states that we work around the country so we can get free tire rotations at any of their locations.
Bought a few of the “helper” shelves to help finish up our organization project in our cupboards. Everything is laid out nicely now…easy to get to and broken up into “food areas” and “work supplies”. Tomorrow I need to tidy up the garage a little bit. Things are getting a little out of hand there. Here’s some of the pictures I promised.
starts barking and is looking out the front window. Here stands this little black goat, looking at the rig, and around his neck, he’s got a red collar with a big cowbell on it. He stands there and looks at Boomer while he’s barking at him…Then he trots up the road. There’s hardly anyone here in the campground so I’m not sure where he came from or who he belongs to. Guess he was just out for his morning stroll. How cute…
I got the flat tire plugged and filled with air, ready to go back on the car. Got cleaned up as we needed to go to Winston Salem. We had made a date with our friend, Ted to have lunch with him. Ted is a resident at the retirement community we managed and Linda would make his day when she’d give him a hug AFTER he’d say, at breakfast: “It’s a wonderful day at the old folks home.” We’ve been chatting with him, each month, since we left there and he’s so dear to us. Ted retired from the Air Force, after having spent 20+ years in Colorado. He loved hearing about all the areas we’d visit while we were out there in his home state. He came back to Winston because his daughter lives here. We’re going to get together again with him before we leave at the end of the month. After lunch with Ted, we decided that we’d better get new tires on the car since I’ve plugged them at least three times now. They are pretty worn out ( my car has 214,000 miles on it), although not all of these miles on this set of tires. Ended up getting them at Discount Tire, after missing out on a set at Sam’s Club. I ran into Sam’s right before we needed to meet Ted for lunch and they only had four tires in stock to fit our car. By the time we left the restaurant and got back there, they had sold two of the four tires. So we went down the street to Discount Tire….only cost us $12 more than it would have at Sam’s but man, talk about a quick way to blow $500. They replaced our spare tire (the one that had never been used), with the best tire of the ones that came off the car since the spare was starting to show dry rot. Discount Tire is in quite a few of the states that we work around the country so we can get free tire rotations at any of their locations.
Bought a few of the “helper” shelves to help finish up our organization project in our cupboards. Everything is laid out nicely now…easy to get to and broken up into “food areas” and “work supplies”. Tomorrow I need to tidy up the garage a little bit. Things are getting a little out of hand there. Here’s some of the pictures I promised.
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Friday, November 18, 2011
Too Cold
The temps dropped down to 27 last night and although I had wrapped the water softener in an old sleeping bag, the hose going into the rig froze so we started out the morning without water. Brought the hose and water softener in the house (as I should have done before dark) and it thawed out in no time. It’s a little tough to get a garden hose through a doorway that’s frozen out straight for about six feet in length. Ha..Tonight it’s supposed to be another cold one, so I put some water in the fresh water tank and brought the water softener and hose inside (now that’s using the ole noggin). Gonna warm up into the 60’s and maybe 70 by Sunday. Yeehaw !
Yesterday, we stopped at Jiffy Lube to get an oil change in the car and to also make a sales call. I saw this sign on the wall, in the waiting room, and thought it interesting. Seems it went into affect in 1975 so if a car dealer tries to tell you that they won’t back the warranty because you didn’t get your routine maintenance done at a dealership, they are wrong. Nice to keep that in mind. Wonder if that applies to RV’s?
We bought a couple items to try and make organizing in the rig a little easier. Bought two holders for boxed things like saran wrap and sandwich bags ($5 ea. at Amazon) and 12 clips to hold spice bottles ($8 at Amazon). Really want to get a can organizer but I can’t justify spending $40 or $50 for something to hold cans although it would be very handy. Can’t find the camera right at the moment so will post a picture of all of these items installed at a later date. The saran wrap, bags and spices have been stored in the cupboard above the stovetop but the cupboard is so deep, it’s hard to get things out of it. By mounting some of these holders on the doors, it will free up space IN the cupboard and make things more readily available. Does anyone else not like to put screws in the walls or doors of their rig ? I did mount the paper towel holder tonight, using the two little screws that came with it, but I cringed the whole time I screwed them in. That’s why I so love those command strips to hang things. I look at the “Command Center” in every store I go in because you find some unique items in some stores that you don’t find all over. Love ‘em !!
Covered a lot of territory with our sales calls this week. We went to Pudding Ridge today..cute name, I thought. My uncle always used to call me Puddin’ Tane, although I never knew where that came from. Maybe an old TV or radio show ? Maybe some you have some insight into my childhood nickname. Maybe it was a weird family thing. Someone told me once that a common term around our house, “dooryard” was not really a word. Huh ?…We used it all the time. “Go out and mow the grass in the front dooryard.” I just went to Merriam Webster dictionary to look it up and it says: “a yard next to the door of a house”…Well Duh !!…yep, that’s what it is…See, we didn’t just make up words out there in Bungy. They really do exist. I’m gonna see what I can find to do tomorrow in our dooryard, outside the rig. Here’s hoping you all have fun in your own dooryards ! :)
Yesterday, we stopped at Jiffy Lube to get an oil change in the car and to also make a sales call. I saw this sign on the wall, in the waiting room, and thought it interesting. Seems it went into affect in 1975 so if a car dealer tries to tell you that they won’t back the warranty because you didn’t get your routine maintenance done at a dealership, they are wrong. Nice to keep that in mind. Wonder if that applies to RV’s?We bought a couple items to try and make organizing in the rig a little easier. Bought two holders for boxed things like saran wrap and sandwich bags ($5 ea. at Amazon) and 12 clips to hold spice bottles ($8 at Amazon). Really want to get a can organizer but I can’t justify spending $40 or $50 for something to hold cans although it would be very handy. Can’t find the camera right at the moment so will post a picture of all of these items installed at a later date. The saran wrap, bags and spices have been stored in the cupboard above the stovetop but the cupboard is so deep, it’s hard to get things out of it. By mounting some of these holders on the doors, it will free up space IN the cupboard and make things more readily available. Does anyone else not like to put screws in the walls or doors of their rig ? I did mount the paper towel holder tonight, using the two little screws that came with it, but I cringed the whole time I screwed them in. That’s why I so love those command strips to hang things. I look at the “Command Center” in every store I go in because you find some unique items in some stores that you don’t find all over. Love ‘em !!
Covered a lot of territory with our sales calls this week. We went to Pudding Ridge today..cute name, I thought. My uncle always used to call me Puddin’ Tane, although I never knew where that came from. Maybe an old TV or radio show ? Maybe some you have some insight into my childhood nickname. Maybe it was a weird family thing. Someone told me once that a common term around our house, “dooryard” was not really a word. Huh ?…We used it all the time. “Go out and mow the grass in the front dooryard.” I just went to Merriam Webster dictionary to look it up and it says: “a yard next to the door of a house”…Well Duh !!…yep, that’s what it is…See, we didn’t just make up words out there in Bungy. They really do exist. I’m gonna see what I can find to do tomorrow in our dooryard, outside the rig. Here’s hoping you all have fun in your own dooryards ! :)
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Rainy Day
This is our first week back to work, after being off visiting family. The park is a few miles from Mocksville, NC and the area overall has been hit hard with loss of jobs and a high unemployment rate. One gentleman told me that there had been 11-12 factories here at one time but they’ve all closed up or left. Ingersoll Rand, an employer here, had 6-700 employees at one time. Now there are around 100 employees. Really sad to see the affect on jobs and industry as we tour various towns across the country. Likewise, sales for me have been a little on the rough side. We’re swinging a lot of doors but I’ve only had a few sales so far. We keep on swinging the doors….it’s a numbers game till you get a “yes”. Monday night we met up with Jackie & Eric, another sales team who are in the area taking a break from work. They are our company’s #1 sales team and will be working a couple parks in the area, right after Thanksgiving. It was nice chatting with them and hearing tips on selling and how they’ve overcome some tough jobs and built their sales over seven years to being #1 in our company. They are very helpful and a wonderful resource to us.
Today we had a 4:00 meeting with the resort manager to work on the design of his guide, since it’s a new park for our company. At 3:15, we discovered that one of our tires was soft so we went to a gas station to get some air in it. Upon closer inspection, we discovered a screw in the tire and I couldn’t find my plug kit in the car to fix it. Linda was able to buy one in the convenience store of the station but it was pretty chintzy and I wasn’t able to push the plug into the tire. Linda went into the store and asked the two state troopers, taking a break in there, if we could use their muscles to help push the plug into the tire. They weren’t successful either..guess they didn’t eat their Wheaties this morning. So I proceeded to try to lower the spare tire and change the tire. I have never had to use the spare in the ten years I’ve owned my car (lucky, eh?). Needless to say, the lug nut holes were packed with dirt, the rim was rusty and a little nasty. The crank down mechanism was really rusty but finally we were able to crank the tire down. THEN, after removing all of the lug nuts we couldn’t get the tire OFF the car. UUGHHHHH !!!! Now I’m a self sufficient cuss and in the past I actually changed a flat on my truck, in about ten minutes, on my way to a wedding. This day was not going as smoothly as that day in the past went. The cops gave up and left. We called Good Sam and they were able to contact a local tow service to come and help. Mike arrived in about twenty minutes and he was very nice. When I told him that most of the work was done and I just couldn’t get the tire off the car, what do you suppose he said to me? He said, “You weren’t trying to change this tire all by yourself, were you ?” I said “Yes, I like to do things myself if I can. He told me to leave things like this to the professionals, in a nice way, but I’m not convinced. He had a 3” x 3” piece of wood that he whacked the tire with to loosen up the oxidation (the culprit so it wouldn’t come off). Note to self: need to pack my rubber mallet, my other plug kit, pliers, small air compressor and pair of gloves for future emergencies and get rid of that big box of Christmas decorations riding around in the truck of the car. We knew that we’re getting close to needing four new tires for the Xterra. If it ever stops raining, I’ll use my other plug kit and see if I can fix the flat tire and put it back on the car till we figure out where we’ll get some new tires. I’ll get out the WD-40 and lube up the spare crank and see if it loosens things up. Made for an interesting evening. We had to reschedule our meeting for in the morning…No harm, no foul ! Hope your day was more uneventful than ours was. Days like this one make you appreciate it when nothing bad happens and you leave for work and you come home without incident. Here’s wishing for only trouble free days for you all !
Today we had a 4:00 meeting with the resort manager to work on the design of his guide, since it’s a new park for our company. At 3:15, we discovered that one of our tires was soft so we went to a gas station to get some air in it. Upon closer inspection, we discovered a screw in the tire and I couldn’t find my plug kit in the car to fix it. Linda was able to buy one in the convenience store of the station but it was pretty chintzy and I wasn’t able to push the plug into the tire. Linda went into the store and asked the two state troopers, taking a break in there, if we could use their muscles to help push the plug into the tire. They weren’t successful either..guess they didn’t eat their Wheaties this morning. So I proceeded to try to lower the spare tire and change the tire. I have never had to use the spare in the ten years I’ve owned my car (lucky, eh?). Needless to say, the lug nut holes were packed with dirt, the rim was rusty and a little nasty. The crank down mechanism was really rusty but finally we were able to crank the tire down. THEN, after removing all of the lug nuts we couldn’t get the tire OFF the car. UUGHHHHH !!!! Now I’m a self sufficient cuss and in the past I actually changed a flat on my truck, in about ten minutes, on my way to a wedding. This day was not going as smoothly as that day in the past went. The cops gave up and left. We called Good Sam and they were able to contact a local tow service to come and help. Mike arrived in about twenty minutes and he was very nice. When I told him that most of the work was done and I just couldn’t get the tire off the car, what do you suppose he said to me? He said, “You weren’t trying to change this tire all by yourself, were you ?” I said “Yes, I like to do things myself if I can. He told me to leave things like this to the professionals, in a nice way, but I’m not convinced. He had a 3” x 3” piece of wood that he whacked the tire with to loosen up the oxidation (the culprit so it wouldn’t come off). Note to self: need to pack my rubber mallet, my other plug kit, pliers, small air compressor and pair of gloves for future emergencies and get rid of that big box of Christmas decorations riding around in the truck of the car. We knew that we’re getting close to needing four new tires for the Xterra. If it ever stops raining, I’ll use my other plug kit and see if I can fix the flat tire and put it back on the car till we figure out where we’ll get some new tires. I’ll get out the WD-40 and lube up the spare crank and see if it loosens things up. Made for an interesting evening. We had to reschedule our meeting for in the morning…No harm, no foul ! Hope your day was more uneventful than ours was. Days like this one make you appreciate it when nothing bad happens and you leave for work and you come home without incident. Here’s wishing for only trouble free days for you all !
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Back In North Carolina
We packed up this morning and hit the road at 8 a.m. Good thing as all the visitors get an early start, out of Pigeon Forge, to make their way back home. Three lanes of traffic till we got to the outskirts of town and then it all eased up when we headed out on 411. We didn’t have to ride any of the rollercoasters, at Pigeon Forge…this road is so twisty and rolling, that it served that purpose. Nice drive back to North Carolina. Arrived around 12:30…got set up and then had our meeting with the manager so we can get out tomorrow and start selling. Park is very quiet this time of year. Large, older park with 450 sites. We have a long, pull through site just past the office. Town of Mocksville has a population of around 5000 so should be an easy territory to cover over the next two weeks. We’re hoping to hear from our boss in the next day or so on where we are headed next. We still need to get the replacement microwave ordered, to replace our buzzing one that is under warranty. Have to know where we’ll be three weeks out so once we get our schedule we can set up delivery, of the microwave, to that “future” location. Tomorrow will be our first time out selling with our car, instead of Bertha. Will be a very nice change and much easier to get around town. We are certainly enjoying the .60 less per gallon we have to pay for gas as opposed to diesel. Sure adds up….Weather forecast is for 70 degrees tomorrow and in the 50’s at night. Colder temps coming at the end of the week…daytime highs of 50’s and freezing temps at night.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Dollywood
We got an assignment ! Our company has picked up a new park in Mocksville, NC and the othe
r team in that area can’t squeeze it into their schedule so we will add it to our schedule. Sure beats sitting around and we like North Carolina….this way we’ll be able to see our friends in North Carolina each year if we keep this job in our schedule. Since we’re leaving in the morning and don’t know if we’ll ever get back this way again, we figured we might as well bite the bullet and go to Dollywood. Our friends, Hugh and Dianne have never been to Dollywood to see the holiday lights so we knew that we wanted to do that. Dollywood is running a special till the end of the year that if you get a day ticket, after 6 p.m., you can get in free the next day. The four of us went Friday night and then Linda and I went back today to take in more of the park that we couldn’t cover in just three hours Friday night. Dollywood boasts having four million lights up for the holidays….wow, is it gorgeous at night ! |  |
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Today, we went back and everything sure looks different in the daylight. Linda and I rode the carousel, the scrambler (after the ride got cranked up and my head was spinning, I remembered why I don’t do those twirly rides anymore :( We enjoy the carousel at a Pennsylvania amusement park, called Knoebels, cause you can reach out and try to get the brass ring. It’s alot of fun but we have since to find another carousel that has it. The “southern” tradition must be yelling “Yahoo” at the top of your lungs when you go by the ride operator’s booth cause everyone was doing it. Twice the operator would return the southern holler…not sure if it was truly him or a recording. Note to self: rebel yell when riding carousel in the south next time
Speaking of surprises, I have to tell you about one we had Friday when we were out and about. We were approaching an intersection, in our car, and we hear this scraping noise. In unison with the lady in the car next to us, I turn and look at her and she at me. The look on her face was priceless….as if to say: “It ain’t us so it’s got to be you”. I wasn’t sure where the sound was coming from but once they pulled away and it isolated the noise to us,… yep it was us. I pulled off into a gas station parking lot and get under the car. A big chunk of metal was hanging, by a thread, from under the car and dragging on the ground. After kicking it for a bit, I got it off and threw it in the back of the car. I think it’s the heat shield that covers the muffler….I kept thinking about the look on that lady’s face and it made me chuckle all afternoon.
We got to tour Dolly’s old tour bus. It cost her $750,000 back in 1994 and is a Prevost bus.It’s 45 feet long, 9’ wide and 13.5 feet high. They got 7 m.p.g with it and had enough fuel on board to be able to go non-stop from Nashville, TN to Las Angeles, CA…2050 miles in 32 hours. They made more than 100 of these non-stop trips. The bus was retired with over 600,000 miles on it. She bought a new bus in the last year or so at a cost of 2.2 million. There were three bunks on board, in ad
dition to her bedroom and two bathrooms. Good darn thing there’s two bathrooms on board with all those non-stop trips. There’s bound to be a potty stop needed over all those miles !
Had lunch at Red’s Drive In….not really a drive in, more like a diner. This restaurant is in an area of the park
that’s set up like an old town. Remember these old metal type Christmas trees. One of my favorite childhood memories is of the red cellophane wreaths, with a light in the middle of them, that my mom used to put in the windows. I always thought they were so pretty and I’ve never seen them again. Nothing like smothering your burger with sautéed mushrooms and onions, pickle and the works. Wow !
Had a great day….so glad we took advantage of the opportunity to hang out with our friends until we got a new job assigned to us. Had a great time visiting Dollywood and other area attractions. Got to meet up with Froggi Donna and Stu and get to know them better. One the things that we heard said today, in the museum on Dolly Parton’s career, is that “life is about the experiences we have in our life”. That is so true and we’ve been really blessed to be able to travel and gather lots of these experiences.
Dolly seems like such a neat lady, very insightful and generous. Some of the information we put in our campground guides, for filler space, is on the Imagination Library (set up by her foundation). Dolly feels that all young children learn so much from reading and being read to and that they deserve to have books, in their developmental years. Her foundation gives one book a month, from the day the child is born up until their fifth birthday. The child will receive 50 books ! She started this here in Sevier county for the children and it has caught in various communities across the country. What a great cause and one that our company helps to promote by putting information in vacant spots in the guides. Click the link above for more information.
That’s all from Pigeon Forge…heading out in the morning for Mocksville, NC. Back to work we go….
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Smokey Mountain Ride
We got together with Stu and Froggi Donna today for a motorcycle ride through the beautiful countryside. What a gorgeous day for it ! Temps were in the high 60’s, when we got together for lunch at our place. Linda grilled turkey burgers and veggies, and we had that along with deviled eggs, beans and potato salad. After lunch we jumped on the bikes and headed out. We went up over the mountain and at the overlook, could see Gatlinburg down in the valley. The nearby mountain peak (the highest one in the picture to the left) is about a mile higher, in elevation than Gatlinburg which sits below it. This contrast is the biggest of any town on the east coast. That was pretty impressive.
Lots of folks out on bikes and in their cars 
taking in the beautiful foliage and great weather. Our route took us through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, along Little River Road and back Wears Valley Road, which brought us back to the campground. Lots of curves and switchbacks in the roads around here. Not sure I’ve seen a part of the country with such winding roads as around here. We stopped at lots of neat pull offs and overlooks to take in the sights.
Donna bought this little guy at a shop that we stopped at. He became Stu’s backseat driver for the trip home. It was a hand carved bear and he fit so nicely in Stu’s back seat. We all had ice cream at this shop, while we walked around and checked out all of the neat items they had for sale. They had moonshine jelly, which I’ve never seen before. I told my mom about it tonight when I talked to her. She had never heard of it either. It was a clear jelly and didn’t seem very solidified. Hmmm..not sure how that would taste. Reminded me of the fuel you put in tiki torches..(probably tasted like it too…haha)
It was a great day for a ride…especially with new found friends Stu and Donna. Supposed to be cooling off over the next couple of days. Rain in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon. Linda and I want to get back out again on the trike and check out some other roads. Not sure if we’re going to do the Dragon or not….with the stiff turning radius of our trike, it would be a heck of a workout for my arms to do 318 turns in 11 miles. Lots of other great roads to explore.
Lots of folks out on bikes and in their cars 
taking in the beautiful foliage and great weather. Our route took us through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, along Little River Road and back Wears Valley Road, which brought us back to the campground. Lots of curves and switchbacks in the roads around here. Not sure I’ve seen a part of the country with such winding roads as around here. We stopped at lots of neat pull offs and overlooks to take in the sights. 
Donna bought this little guy at a shop that we stopped at. He became Stu’s backseat driver for the trip home. It was a hand carved bear and he fit so nicely in Stu’s back seat. We all had ice cream at this shop, while we walked around and checked out all of the neat items they had for sale. They had moonshine jelly, which I’ve never seen before. I told my mom about it tonight when I talked to her. She had never heard of it either. It was a clear jelly and didn’t seem very solidified. Hmmm..not sure how that would taste. Reminded me of the fuel you put in tiki torches..(probably tasted like it too…haha)
It was a great day for a ride…especially with new found friends Stu and Donna. Supposed to be cooling off over the next couple of days. Rain in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon. Linda and I want to get back out again on the trike and check out some other roads. Not sure if we’re going to do the Dragon or not….with the stiff turning radius of our trike, it would be a heck of a workout for my arms to do 318 turns in 11 miles. Lots of other great roads to explore.
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