Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Go West, Ol Man

On Sunday left Clarksdale about 2:30 pm after doing a lot of putting away more stuff which had been hanging around.  Made it as far as Greenville, MS - about an hour south.  Jerry too tired to go on as he had been up late Sat. night listening to the blues music.  Parked in a Kroeger lot...was fine.

Tried to start generator this am to make coffee - wouldn't start.  So found an Onan Generator repair facility in Texarkana, TX so made a 2:30 pm appointment there.  Moved on about 9:30 am after topping off our tank...30 cents a gallon more in Arkansas!   Used our Walmart gift card so we got the big discount.  Nice deal. 


Thoughts along the road:  we're now in bayou country...A bayou (play /ˈb./ or /ˈbjuː/) is an American term for a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or to a marshy lake or wetland.  (Wikipedia).  Love the names of businesses in the small towns especially - found a children's boutique named Spoiled Rotten.
Stopped in Strong, AR to get propane at AmeriGas.  Right next door was a La-z-boy store.  So I popped in there while Jerry was getting propane...(the propane pay desk was inside the furniture store - never found that before.)  Talked to them about the sag in our 10-day used La z boy chair.  They said I needed to find a Lazboy store when we park and have them fix it...apparently they forgot to put all the stuffing in the front section of the seat - the section which kind of rolls over the front of the chair.  Duh.  Not obvious, (of course) til Jerry sits on it and then gets up.  Looks perfectly normal when the chair is in upright position.  Why not - just need more issues with stuff.  Oh well, at least it will be a free repair - just more hassle!  They were all SO nice in the store as opposed to the uppity people at the Lazeboy store in Dav.
Asked for recommendation for lunch and they said the White House two streets away.  Yummy burgers but we have to start being good...last burger and fries for a while.  Sat at a table with Mike, a farmer and part-time worker at the furniture store who we met while getting propane.  He is still farming, but cattle now.  Used to be a poultry farmer.  Very interesting story...a few years ago the integrator nearby (the people who supply the poultry for the farmers to raise and then take them back for egg processing) closed.  This put 2000 employees and 246 local farmers out of business.  Egads - what an impact! 

Finally saw the sun emerge after several days of cloudy and rain off and on. 
Arrived at Wesco in Texarkana and they diagnosed carburetor trouble but didn't have the needed part.  Stopped at the Elk's in town to park overnight and found them extremely friendly and they all gave lots of suggestions where to get part.  Finally located one in Sherman, TX - about 3 hrs west of here and right on our route.  However, in the meantime, J thinks he can fiddle with it and maybe fix it without replacing it.  Anywhere from $188-$304 pricetag for a carburetor.  (We found out Onan doesn't sell kits anymore so you can fix it and put it back together...you have to buy the carb.  Why not...certainly more profitable for them.  We'll see - probably wait til Tucson to fiddle.  It did start last night while parked, so will hope maybe we can limp along.  :-)
Have a great day everyone!  

Will move onward today on US 82 - through Paris, Sherman and Lubbock.

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