Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Sunday-Monday-Tuesday, Jan 6-8, 2013

Sunday

A day of rest (imposed) - as it used to be.  I remember growing up, no one worked on Sunday, no stores were open.  It was a day for church and family.  No one was open to get tires or our brakes fixed, so we found a vacant lot and parked. 

Monday

Bright and early we were up and at the tire shop by 7:45 am.  2 new trailer tires (all new now) and we're on the road.  As we traveled, we checked yellow pages for trailer brake repair.  After about 5 calls, found Century Trailer in Ft. Stockton (100 miles from our beginning point today) who could get to us.  Carefully made our way there.  Bright sunny day and hardly any traffic on the 10. 

Arrived at Century Tire about 10:30 am, a family owned business for about 40 years.  Very nice and very competent.  They not only build and repair trailers but also fabricate large overhead grain bins, primarily for ranchers who have a large feeding operation so they can drive their grain wagons underneath, pull a lever to fill their hopper and fill their fill their grain wagon and dispurse it on the ground over a large area or into a trough.  Big business around here.  They got to us about 11:30, broke for lunch and resumed work at 1 PM.  Come to find out it was the middle right brake on the RV.  For some unknown reason, the brake shoe actuating lever, with the magnet on the end of it, had broken and the magnet had wedged itself between the shoe and the drum, causing the wires of the magnet to short.  They did not have an actuating lever so they replaced the whole backing plate assembly. 

On the road again at 1:45 pm.  Stopped in Van Horn, TX for fuel, crossed the central into mountain time zone and over the Continental Divide.  Pulled over at a Flying J just outside El Paso and found a quiet parking place.  It was only 4 PM (mountain time) but 5 PM our bodies time and we had been up early, so we were stopping.  Also didn't want to do El Paso rush hour traffic when we were tired.  Decided to go into Denny's (at the Flying j) for supper.  Not busy at this early hour, but after we ordered....20-25 minutes, no food. Hadn't seen our waitress for a while, so snagged another gal.  Next thing we know the manager was at our table, saying he had just turned our order in and it would be out very shortly and on the house.  Apparently our waitress forgot to put our order in before going on break.  Duh.  He was not happy and we did see her show up shortly after that and then was gone.  Fired?  Who knows.  Our new waitress was very cute and attentive.  Oh, the woes of restaurant management...wouldn't want to do that for a living!  Crashed early.

Tuesday

Another bright sunny day even though there was 30% chance of rain/snow showers.  Still chilly - 29 at night but near 60 during the day.  9 am start and made it to Bowie, AZ, Hot Well Dunes Rec. Area by 2 PM.  (This is BLM land - $1.50 per night for us oldsters.  Almost always quiet during the week with a few campers and locals but crazy on the weekends with the ATVers all over the sand dunes here.  Got set up easily and soaked in the hot tubs for a while.  The hot tubs used to be open 24/7 but now they are on solar power, so they fill up in the morning when the sun comes up and empty out when the pumps quit as the sun sets.  Very efficient, but does curtain the early morning soaks which we enjoyed.  J took a nap, we had dinner and I crashed early.  So dark and quiet here - easy to sleep well!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Update 1-6-2013

Friday afternoon - still drizzling, cloudy and chilly.  TX in January is not the place to be, I guess.
Stopped at the grocery store for a few goodies, then to Ron and Diana's rig for Farkle games.  Back to rig by 4:30 so we could pay our bill and get ready to take off in the morning.

Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013

Well finally got on the road at noon.  Had been ready before that but the hood clips they had installed on the Dodge didn't stay so they reworked those.  Then J spotted the back trim piece has come unglued, so they screwed it in.  Then:   12:45 pm- loop 1604 around n of SanAn to get to I-10 - gridlock - 1 hr 15 min - 4 miles...they were putting up new large green highway signs. Egads...5 lanes into 1 just was a nightmare. 

3:30 PM making good progress finally - beautiful sun - hadn't seen it since we left FL! Tire blew tread...right side front this time - one of the two older tires which Discount Tire had looked at when we were in FL and bought 6 new --said these looked fine. Messed up underside of RV and blew off our new indoor/outdoor thermometer which J had finally cable tied onto the underside of the steps.

 Changed tire - back on road - lost another 45 min. Finally stopped at 5 pm - Jerry was so p..... Found pizza hut for supper. I waited for it while he parked in the hut/comfort inn parking lot nearby. Had a beer and two pieces of pizza and went to bed to read...  Thoroughly discouraged and disgusted. 

Sunday, January 6, 2013 (My Mom's birthday - 1909)

Well, at least we have sun and 29 degrees this am in Sonora, TX. Frost on the ground. I was up at 5:15 - didn't want to run generator  as we're kind of close to inn rooms.   Used what battery I had on 'puter and on cell to check QCT, aol and play words. Then put one light on and read my book. J up about 8:15.

Its Sunday, don't know if we will be able to find a tire but don't want to go on road w/o a spare. I'm ready to call this RVing quits...sick of the problems.... 
 
Hope you have a great day!  Hugs and love to all. 

Friday, January 4, 2013

Jan, 2-3, 2013; Jan 4 am

Wed. Jan 2, 2013

Settled into our spot at McQueeney Collision in McQueeney, TX (about 30 miles NE of SanAn.)  They are repair the damage caused in Dec in FL when the back left tire on the rig lost all it's tread.  (Tomas, owner, has worked on two of our other rigs and does an awesome job.  He is almost as picky as Jerry.  Ha.  We met him in 04 when we had our crash here and he fixed up our Jayco.)  Nice employees.  Late afternoon we went to Ron and Diana's rig for happy hour, snacks and killer Farkle games.  Jerry won 2 of 2 - what luck!

Thurs. Jan 3, 2013

First thing, one of McQueeney employees pulled the Ram into the shop to replace the thermostat as the truck wasn't coming up to temperature as it should have.  When they opened up the hood, look what was on the intake manifold!

Can't get picture of crab claw to load from inside the paint booth...so you will have to use your imagination....

Can only surmise that when we were parked in LA a critter crawled up into the warm truck with his lunch.  LOL

After the thermostat replacement we took the truck to Womack Diesel for a flush.  Ron and Diana rescued us as the rig was in the paint booth and couldn't be inhabited.  It is now not only freezing here...well 30's and 40's but sleeting!  Egads

They took us up to Spring Branch to retrieve the last gen. delivery package that hadn't yet arrived on 12/31 when we left there.  Then took them to Clear Springs Cafe (near New Braunfels) for lunch - awesome onion rings and fried pickles.  Such indulgence  - this has to stop...diet rest of the month.  LOL

Went back to their rig and had irish coffee to warm up and had Farkle rematches.  Fun.

Fri. Jan 4, 2013 AM

Well, we're back in the paint booth because it is dry in there.  We can be in rig since they aren't painting.  It is only 37 here at 10:30 am and more clouds and spitting precipitation.  This is NOT what it is supposed to be like!  Rig will be done so we can take off tomorrow.  Certainly hope they have the roads west of us cleared off from the ice and snow by the time we get there tomorrow and Sunday.  Will go to R & D rig this pm for more games.  They are also waiting til tomorrow to move.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Tues. Jan. 2, 2013

Sunday, December 31, 2012

It is cloudy and rainy here in TX near San Antonio.  Not too cold today - high of 64 but sure is gloomy.  Spent relaxing day in rig.  Happy hour and dinner at Ron and Diana's.  Ron did our chicken breasts on the grill and we did potatoes and salad.  Perfect after our previos days' feasting.  Played two games of Farkle and Jerry won them both, but not by much...fun time.  Finished up evening with pumpkin pie and were home by 10 pm.  Guess the fireworks in the neighborhood were loud, but didn't wake me up. 

Monday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year! 

At the Riverwalk...river behind us.

The tree in The Menger Hotel Lobby
 
Late start to the day.  Moved rig to be McQueeney Collision, about 45 min. away, about 1 pm.  They will be working on it beginning early Tuesday am.  Took Ron and Diana into San Antonio.  Toured around The Alamo - always fascinating. Then walked around the Riverwalk a bit.  Found  a Mexican restaurant that looked good.  Ate out under the propane heater next to the River. Fun people watching and looking at the boats and ducks chasing each other as they plied up and down.  Had a drink and great fajitas.  Diana had awesome tortilla soup.  Looked a bit more around the Riverwalk and headed back towards the Menger Hotel where we parked.  Ron has been talking for months about when we go to SanAn we had to eat mango ice cream at the Menger Hotel.  (He had eaten it there many years ago...and they are famous for it...and he had been craving it.)  So for dessert we stopped in there.  La de da place with very tasteful decor in the lobby (see pix below) and white table cloths and waiters/waitresses in black.  The guys had the ice cream and Diana and I shared Creme Brule which was excellent!  The coffee was very delicious, too.  A beautiful ending to a fun evening!  Home and in bed by 9:30ish.