Interior Changes

Linda and I made a couple of changes inside the rig that give us more living space and help keep us organized with our work. Since we have  two entry doors into the rig, we only use the rear door that goes into the garage. That way we can kick off our shoes, in the garage, and leave some of the dirt out there. Having said that, we feel that it’s a huge waste of space to have the entry area in front of the other door so we moved the Euro chair to that area. We went to Lowes and bought some 3/4” plywood and cut that to fit the stairwell. I put cleats on the underside so the board can’t move around. Linda wrapped the edge, that is up against the side of the counter, with some of the non-skid material and attached it with hot glue. It opens up the space so much….we love it ! This is also my favorite chair to sit in. I can set a drink on the edge of the counter and have a perfect view of the TV.
When we moved the printer up to the living area, we didn’t have anything for it to sit on so I used a storage tub that was flipped upside down. We wanted something small and compact but there is an area on the floor where the step motor must be located or something. It protrudes up about 4 or 5 inches so a cabinet had to have sufficient clearance to fit over it or be small enough to just go up to it. We went for the latter option. After narrowing it down to seven different options, we chose this one. We ordered it from Amazon and had it delivered here to the campground. It’s perfect for what we need. It has five drawers that can hold supplies for our job. Linda assembled it, in between our classes and functions this week. There are locking casters on it so if Linda needs to roll it over next to the banquette while she’s breaking down a job, she can do that. It’s going to be very handy to keep organized and keep “stuff” off the table.
Our colleagues are leaving today. They are starting to pack up their rigs to move on down the road. It’s a beautiful day to drive. Sun is shining bright and there’s no wind. It’s also the kick-off for NASCAR, although it’s raining in Daytona so it may not happen today. That’s ok….I don’t think we get it on the TV channels that work here in the park. Might have to watch it at the service center tomorrow. Let the fun begin !

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….

We Made it...

Well we made it to Montgomery, Texas ! We left on Sunday morning and arrived this afternoon. On the way we stayed Monday and Tuesday evening in Lafayette, LA so we could visit our friends Bobbie and Jim. We met them, in 2008, when we worked in Coffeyville, Kansas for Amazon. We've stayed in touch over the years and intercepted each other, when our paths would cross in some part of the country. They are spending a month at Betty's RV park in Abbeville, Louisiana and they are having a ball there. They came up to our rig on Tuesday, got caught up on what we've been up to and had lunch. After lunch we followed them back to their park so we could see their new rig. They have a Heartland Landmark 5th wheel that they purchased a few months ago. Wow, is it nice ! Such a great open floor plan and nice workmanship throughout. We're so happy that they found a rig that works better for them as full timers.

We were at Betty's RV park as happy hour started and all of the campers gather under the pavilion. Folks bring something to munch on and their favorite beverage. Then the fun begins....We left our friends to get back to our rig and get things ready for us to pull out in the morning. It was so great to spend time with Bobbie and Jim ! We also got to meet Bobbie and Jim's friends that they are hanging out with. What a great bunch of folks ! Just what the doctor ordered...

We only had a four hour drive to get to Montgomery today. On Monday as we were driving the personal coaches of some of the NASCAR drivers and the trucks hauling their race cars would pass us on I-10. Sunday's race had been in Daytona so now they are headed to Phoenix for the next race. It was a lot of fun to watch them go by. When Linda would see another one coming up in her rear view mirror, she'd say "Oh, here comes another one !" I was able to get the camera out and snap pictures of the car haulers but didn't get any of the personal coaches. By the time I figured out what they were, they had blown by us. I wonder if they drive straight through of if they stop to rest somewhere. In Jeff Gordon's truck,it looked like a husband/wife team in the truck so we were wondering if they trade off driving or if they stop somewhere. We were hoping to see them next to us at our campground but no such luck.

The Lake Conroe KOA where we are doing our training is a great campground ! Great pull through sites, complete with a fire pit, concrete site and patio and picnic table. Indoor heated pool, hot tub, two K-9 dog parks, lots of indoor and outdoor games, meeting spaces, etc. It's a beautiful place so we're really going to enjoy our time here even though our days will be spent in class, learning our new job. Our first activity is an hour long meeting tomorrow afternoon and then full blown training begins Friday morning. I have some things I want to do on the rig tomorrow, plus some laundry and check out the local area. We'll keep you posted on what we see and do as the week unfolds.

As you can see from the weather info, it's warm here. Saw on some of the bank thermometers, as we were driving today, that it was around 80 degrees. Supposed to be pretty much those same temps for the foreseeable  future so we're loving it ! Thinking of our family and friends back home where it's not very warm and a bit on the nasty side.

Home.....

This morning we went to the Universalist Church for services. Today's sermon was on Michiana and the meaning of "home". The pastor, from this church, will be moving soon to Indiana. "Michiana" is the tiny bit of shoreline that Indiana has with Lake Huron and is the area where Pastor Davis proposed to his wife. The Pastor grew up in Michigan, right along Lake Huron so in a sense he will be coming home. He does not care for the southern heat, although the climate zones, familiar to those who are gardeners, have been shifting and Indiana is warmer than it used to be. He said, who knows...by the time he retires Indiana may become a Zone 7, like North Carolina.

He talked about "home" and that for everyone, it holds a different meaning. It can be a place of comfort, love, pain, security or loneliness. Home may be the place where you grew up and the place you return to. It can also change, like it has for us or other RV'ers, to be wherever you are at any given time. It's that sense of belonging that draws you in and makes you feel safe. It was an interesting topic for the sermon. This pastor grew up in the Presbyterian faith but became a Universalist in 1986 when he realized that religion was more about love than about rules. The music today was superb...the choir sang and a musician, named Steve Jones sang. He was great ! He sang Neil Young's "Deep Forbidden Lake" and played acoustic guitar. We enjoyed our time there.

After church, we got the grit washed off our car from our mountain excursion a few weeks ago and then stopped at a place called Fresh Market to see if it's the same thing as the one we saw in Baton Rouge. It is....we spent some time chatting with Benny, behind the seafood counter. He's a retired banker and we talked about how sad the oil spill is for the seafood industry. Linda and I bought a cranberry/pecan/feta cheese topped salad, some red skin potato salad and some honey mustard chips for lunch. We took Boomer to the dog park and ate a bit before going in. Not much else going on today...did laundry and cleaned the apartment. Tomorrow is our big day with the behind the scenes tour of NASCAR garages and the NASCAR Hall of Fame. We're excited...should have some pics to post tomorrow night when we get back.

Till then, I'll leave you with the parting words, as shared by the Univeralist congregation:

Let us go in peace, believe in peace, create peace. May it be so...

Monday

Today is our last full day off. We go into work at 11:30 tomorrow so we'll leave the campground around 9 in the morning. Today we drove into town, which is only a couple of miles down the road, to go to the thrift shops. We had seen three of them while we were driving around yesterday but only one was open today. It was well worth it though. Linda and I found quite a few blouses that will be great for work. The thermostat is set at 77 degrees, at the community, so we've discovered that short sleeves are the only way to go. The eight blouses we bought today will put us in good shape to stay cool at work.

While we were driving around, we saw these old houses in one area right outside of town. I love the windows and detail...Gorgeous houses from a grand ole time. The town of Mount Airy is really cute. We're going to wait till the next time we come up to park downtown and walk around to all of the shops. It's a little tricky to park Bertha in small places but since we won't need to drive her up here again (until we leave here with the rig), we can drive our car up each time we come. We're only 45 minutes from work....

It's so neat here, at the campground, that it feels like you're out in the country but it's only about two miles to Wal-Mart. The campground overlooks the mountains in the distance and you can see cars and trucks on the highway down below us. At night, it's so quiet. The campground cleared out today and there were only about 25 rigs left here. Tomorrow we'll just unhook everything, pull the slides in and leave the rig sitting here. Benny, the owner, will move it to the storage area......about 200 yards from where we are now. We won't be back here next week....we're headed to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and our behind the scenes tour. We can't wait !

Goin' Camping...

They finished repairing the rig so we're going to pick it up in the morning, as soon as we get off work. We also have to drop the Xterra off at a garage across town so we can get the cruise control fixed. It won't hold a setting and the "set" light flashes on the dashboard. It's no fun driving on a long trip without cruise control. Don't know how we ever survived before we had it.

As soon as we drop the car off we'll head up the road to get the rig and then we're off to Mayberry Campground for the next two nights. Yippee !!! Not sure we still know how to set up camp....but I think we can wing it.

Calling for hot temps the next couple of days...in the nineties so we're hoping for a nice breeze up on the mountain. It will be nice to get away on our days off. Tomorrow there is a cookout here at 12:30 and then a bluegrass band at 2 and then some feeble fireworks (probably Rick standing out front with some sparklers)at 7 or so. We had alot of calls today for people signing up to come so there's around 30 extra people coming. I also called a bunch of people and invited them....many wouldn't commit but sounded interested. We left a note that there could be some drop-ins.....surprise !!

We are tired out...waiting for the NASCAR race to kick off. Rain delay in Daytona. I remember when Linda and I were there last year and stood next to the track, in awe of the banking on the one turn. This is the last race on this track before they repave it so might be an interesting race. Hope they get some of it in before we're done in for the night...not gonna be long now !

We Can't Wait...

Since learning that the newly opened NASCAR Hall of Fame is only an hour away, we've been wanting to go. Linda did some more investigating and found this....the ultimate fan experience so we've decided to do it. The first chance we can go will be on July 12 but we've got our reservations in and are really looking forward to it. Here's what it includes:

Tour participants begin their day with early admittance to the NASCAR Hall of Fame followed by an an afternoon of behind-the-scenes touring of a variety of local race attractions such as Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sam Bass Gallery, Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Curb Motorsports Museum, PIT (a private pit crew training facility) and Michael Waltrip Racing.
Ultimate Fan Experience Tour: NASCAR Hall of Fame highlights include:

* Early admittance to the NASCAR Hall of Fame
* A commemorative NASCAR Hall of Fame lunch bag

Ultimate Fan Experience Tour: Local race attraction highlights include:

* Tours of race shops including shop areas not generally viewed by the public
* Access to personal work spaces,
* Opportunities to view collections of selected celebrities
* Live pit stops
* Exclusive discounts on race merchandise.

We will drive to the Concord Mall where they will pick us up at 8:45...We'll return at 4:30. Sounds like it will be a great day. They only take around 20 people per day, since the areas inside the garages is a little tight for any more people than that. The tours only take place Monday - Thursday cause on Fridays the teams are at the tracks, getting ready for that weekends' race. We should have lots to write about when we get back....Can't wait till the 12th rolls around ! We'll let you know if the $99 per person was worth it..

Nascar Hall of Fame

This afternoon I watched some of the induction ceremony for the first batch of inductees into the Nascar Hall of Fame. The pre-ceremony coverage started at noon. That concluded at one....watched the start of the actual ceremony...laid down for a nap and got up at 3:15 and it was still on !

This new facility honors sixty years of stock car racing and is located in Charlotte, NC. There's 40,000 square feet of display space on three floors. Sounds like a good place to take a road trip on our day off....it's only 80 miles away from us in Winston-Salem !

Vroom Vroom.....

Didn't do much of anything today. Linda's nephew is out in Las Vagas for a pyrotechnics show (Winter Blast) and our friends Bobbie and Jim are nearby so they are going to see the fireworks display tonight. Last night her nephew, Bryan, put on the opening act and posted a video of it on Facebook and it was really cool. We can't wait  to hear or see how the show tonight goes.

Really hoping it will warm up a little here. Today I had shorts on but when we went up to the clubhouse, it was pretty chilly. We went up to the clubhouse to check out what channels the TV there gets. We were hoping to watch some of the Nationwide race today, to see how Danica Patrick did, but they don't get ESPN on their TV. They do, however, get FOX, so that is where we will watch tomorrow's Daytona 500. There are two comfy recliners right in front of the TV that have our names all over them for 1:00 p.m...Ha ! Friends of ours have kidded us that we need to "come into the 21st century" and break down and get satellite TV. Believe you me I've researched it to death.....Several folks around us have VuQubes....the portable, automatic satellite dishes that you can take anywhere. They love them and said they got a great deal at the Tampa RV show. This is probably the type of system that we'll go with when we do get something. Lord knows if we get a dish that needs to be aligned to a satellite, it won't be as easy as some make it appear. Would probably be a "divorce maker" and it's not worth it so we'll go the easy route and get one that does all the aligning for us. We'll get something in the near future.We're just waiting to see when we get back to work and get a paycheck coming in on a regular basis again. We're not dying without it....we've lived three and a half years without relying on cable and one off these days we'll get it again. That's why tomorrow you'll find us at the clubhouse when the flag drops......

Time For Work...

Am up and getting around to go to work. It's nice that I only have to walk out of the rig and into the office....makes for a short commute to work. Been a really long couple of weeks though. Between Linda and I we've been working everyday since our assistant quit. Linda is getting a break this weekend. Mine comes later this week. Can't come soon enough. We got word on Friday that the second highest in command, for Dahn Corporation, is coming here on December 2. So I'll have been back to work one day and he'll arrive, with the lenders for our property, the next day. Will have to scramble to get last minute tidying done. We are in good shape though. The property looks great. I put up Christmas lights yesterday so the office has lights across the front and down the side of it...should look nice from Rt 1 that runs by us. Today will be a short day at work....glad for that. Today is last NASCAR race of the season and want to watch that at 2:30 although it's pretty certain that Jimmie Johnson will take the championship AGAIN. ...He's won it several years in a row now. Time for someone else to get a turn. Well, off to shower and get in there.

Stuck...

Yesterday was the day for people getting stuck at work. About mid-day we had a couple of guys get stuck in the elevator, while the distraught wife was outside the elevator. She buzzed us in the office about the same time that the elevator company called us saying a man had just called them, advising them that he was stuck in the elevator. Roger, from the Hanover location, was over at our site doing some work so he and I went to see what the problem was. The more minutes passed, the more distraught the wife became. She was asking her husband if he had enough air in there...clearly not a problem unless he was stuck inside a ziplock baggie. Roger did some things to the doors and the doors were pried open so the two men could climb out. They had gone about 24" above the first floor when the elevator stopped. After this ordeal the couple had lost their enthusiasm for having a storage unit on the second floor so we got them set up with a first floor unit. I'm sure it will be a while before that woman steps foot in an elevator again.

Later on, that same day, I was walking back to the office through the back corridor. I could hear someone banging and yelling so I went out the exterior door to see what was going on. Nothing there.....came back inside and continued on towards the office. Again...banging and yelling. Now I could see a woman outside the restroom door and as I approached she told me that her son was "stuck" in the restroom. I asked her how old and how tall he was. Our door doesn't have a locking doorknob (probably so the key can't be locked inside the restroom) so a sliding bolt was installed but it is about 2/3 of the way up the door. This 5 yr old had jumped up to slide the lock over but then couldn't get it unlocked. I told the mom to have him turn the garbage can on its side and to carefully stand on it to reach the lock. He did so with much fanfare and dramatic "ooohhsss" and groans, coming from inside the restroom. He was successful and got out of the bathroom in one piece and armed with a story for his friends. Bet he won't be locking that door anytime soon.

Yesterday Linda and I received the gift we had bought for ourselves....a new laptop. It is great !! I'm not sure how to act since I don't have to wait 20 minutes for the computer to start up.....I barely have time to get my slice of bread in the toaster mornings and the computer is "ready to go"....WOW !! I can watch videos like the "turkey rappers" without any additional hiccups inserted or the stopping and starting of the video that usually happenes. We got an Acer Aspire....$399 on NewEgg.com. It has the Vista operating system which I've heard good and bad things about. So far it's OK....not a big deal that I can see. We do have the option of getting Windows 7 when it comes out in about a month. We'll see whether we will want to change over when the time comes. The screen is super crisp....nice big keys on the keyboard (reminds me of those large button phones)..has a separate numbers pad on the side,a webcam, 4 USB ports ( a huge improvement from the one working one we had) and is lightening fast ! Life is good....

Tomorrow is supposed to be our day off but one of our assts. has her EMT class tomorrow so Linda will go and work with the other young lady. She is new and not able to handle things yet on her own. I'll work around the house, getting some things done. Will be a short day for Linda....we close at 3. I'm hoping to watch the NASCAR race too....might be a relaxing day.

Day Off

It's our day to collapse and recover from work, then back to work tomorrow. We're going to work tomorrow so that we can have a three day weekend this coming weekend. My daughter is coming to visit and we'll go do some sightseeing in the city. We haven't had a chance to check anything out in the area yet so it will be nice to tour a little before we leave the area.

This morning I took the trash out to dump it and saw that our neighbor, who has the huge motorhome, was outside tinkering in one of his bays. I saw what looked to be a macerator laying in there and went over to ask him about it. I am getting ready to order a flo-jet macerator today so that we can dump our tanks without needing to hook up, pull out to dump, and then back in again and get settled. We are about 70' from the dump station and a macerator hooks onto your sewer line and using a regular garden hose you can pump the black and gray water a considerable distance to a dump station, a toilet, or a sewer cleanout. Makes it very convenient for dry camping if you have a house nearby or a sewer cleanout. After asking him questions about how his works we wound up talking about NASCAR. (The talk went from the amount of dry camping he does and his need for the macerator to dump long distances while at a race....ahh, now you see how we came round the horn to this new topic). Anyways....turns out he is a small investor in Childress racing. He knows all the drivers...told me all the scuttlebutt on different drivers....and how he's really close to getting sponsorship for Steve Light (not sure of spelling) for a car next year. He told me to keep an eye out for him. This guy has a three man team that tours the country racing go-carts. Not your typical back yard variety but ones that do 130 m.p.h and have no seat belts....wow !! Sounds like an adrenaline rush...It was fun to talk about NASCAR....he said that NASCAR wants to get the sport back to more of the way it used to be...bumping and pushing....hot tempers, etc. The stuff that fans like. Not sure I would agree. Seems there is enough excitement when 43 cars are traveling 180-200 m.p.h. that we don't need tempers flaring and dangerous antics just so the rednecks sitting at home with their PBR can get a kick out of it. We'll see...

Yesterday at work was rough....we arrived to find that both elevators quit working overnight so a guy that was trying to move out, when we were leaving the night before, was still sitting in the dock with all of his stuff there. So...with the elevators not working we had alot of ticked off customers. I had to lead people to the stairwells but that is not conducive to moving anything heavy. All the access doors have keypads and you can only gain entry through a door or elevator that will take you to your floor. I spent the day literally running from one problem to another. When the elevator repair person arrived at 11:30, she got them working just as a huge Mayflower moving truck backed in to unload someone. She keyed one elevator open for them to load the car and that stranded someone on the second floor....they would buzz the office...Linda would page me....I'd have to go up the stairwell and lead the person back to the first floor....Crikey !!! It was a pretty miserable day overall. The guy who was there at 8:00 when we arrived for work....he came back with the truck at 6:15 (we close at 6) so we got out really late last night by the time we did his paperwork. And there was damage on the truck....that's another whole issue.

The week was long...we are tired....today we'll rest a little...do laundry and get ready for another week.