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After a pretty bad night, we decided not to travel today as planned so we could get this electrical problem looked into. It was a bad night because it was cold and we had to turn the thermostat down so the furnace wouldn't come on as often to try to conserve as much battery life as we could.
Since we were staying, we decided to go down and surprise Kim and Jeremy and the boys. They had been asking about us and when we would be back in town, so we decided to go see them. We got there and surprised Tyler but Cam was visiting one of his friends and wasn't home yet. Kim, Stella and Tyler went shopping and Jeremy and I stayed at their house and watched some television. They called us about 3 o'clock and we drove over to the Golden Corral restaurant where we had supper. The food here isn't all that great but there's plenty of it. It was good to see Tyler and Cameron again and Cam rode with me back to their house. While riding home, he asked me if he could come traveling with us this summer. Of course I told him he could if he wasn't going to play baseball this summer. That made him stop and think about it but he said he still wants to go. We'll see when the time comes.
We drove back home and found that the trailer battery was dead, which meant that not only were the lights out, the furnace wouldn't work because it takes 12 volts to ignite the propane burner. The television worked but the fridge started acting up. The readout began flashing back and forth between electric and propane and flashing a trouble code. I went outside and ran an extension cord to the fridge but the trouble code continued. We managed to piece together extension cords from the kitchen to power an electric heater and the computers. I had hooked up the satellite dish, so we had good television and our Internet air card worked, so we had plenty to occupy us but it got really cold during the night. It was a pretty bad night but we made it.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's entry.
So long.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Saturday February 11, 2012-ron Hoover RV, Katy TX
We got a good night's sleep and woke refreshed and ready to go back to the show. Of course, it doesn't start until noon, so we've got all morning to kill before we leave. Derek, one of the service advisers here, told me that he will move the trailer to position it for us to pull out tomorrow morning but since he's only moving it a few feet, we wouldn't have to pack everything up or even slide the rooms in. There was another customer's trailer sitting in the space that we will be in, so we had to wait for them to come in and pick up their trailer to get ours moved but that didn't take very long. I noticed that when we went to pull the hydraulic jacks up, they were in the wrong sequence with the electric stabilizers but we finally go it straightened out.
We were on our way to the show by 11:30 with our new Ron Hoover RV exhibitor badges that would get us into the show. We were told that we could also show the badge to get into the parking lot and were told where to drive on the back side of the Reliant Center for the exhibitor parking but when we arrived, we were greeted by a very rude man at the ticket booth that informed me that we would have to pay to park and that there were no exceptions without a parking pass. We reluctantly paid the $10 fee and went into the show. We had another great day of talking to people and saw a lot of old friends throughout the day. Some of the Boomers stopped by and I even ran into one of my college instructors and we had a nice visit. He is a retired Houston police officer as well as being retired from Alvin Community college. He said he tried a couple of years of teaching in a high school after retiring from Alvin but found that juniors and seniors in high school were too much for him to handle so he just retired and moved to his home on Lake Conroe.
We met Bill and Ornell, Tommy and Susan and Ricky and Dee for lunch at Pappasito's restaurant that is nearby. The food was good but overpriced and we all had a good time being together again. We went back to the show and learned that the first parking pass that we bought was not good for re-entry and had to pay AGAIN!! Bummer!
We stayed at the show until after 7 and again had a good time meeting people and talking about the RV lifestyle and living in our trailer. I talked to Dustin Hoover and met his brother Chris and both of them thanked us for coming to the show. It never hurts to "in" with the owners of the company.
Our problems began when we got home. The first thing we noticed was that the water pump wouldn't work, and the lights were very dim. Long story short is that somehow the converter isn't working to convert 110 volts to 12v. Also some of the plugs won't work but the television, the refrigerator and the microwave work so we had a cool night. The furnace worked early but the battery finally gave up and lost power. I think the problem is in the new power cord that was installed with either the wiring being messed up or something shorted out the converter. We will spend an extra night here and get it checked out on Monday. I'll just have to call Caddo Lake and tell them we're still coming but will be delayed. Maybe this problem will only take a little bit to get fixed. Cross your fingers...
So long.
We were on our way to the show by 11:30 with our new Ron Hoover RV exhibitor badges that would get us into the show. We were told that we could also show the badge to get into the parking lot and were told where to drive on the back side of the Reliant Center for the exhibitor parking but when we arrived, we were greeted by a very rude man at the ticket booth that informed me that we would have to pay to park and that there were no exceptions without a parking pass. We reluctantly paid the $10 fee and went into the show. We had another great day of talking to people and saw a lot of old friends throughout the day. Some of the Boomers stopped by and I even ran into one of my college instructors and we had a nice visit. He is a retired Houston police officer as well as being retired from Alvin Community college. He said he tried a couple of years of teaching in a high school after retiring from Alvin but found that juniors and seniors in high school were too much for him to handle so he just retired and moved to his home on Lake Conroe.
We met Bill and Ornell, Tommy and Susan and Ricky and Dee for lunch at Pappasito's restaurant that is nearby. The food was good but overpriced and we all had a good time being together again. We went back to the show and learned that the first parking pass that we bought was not good for re-entry and had to pay AGAIN!! Bummer!
We stayed at the show until after 7 and again had a good time meeting people and talking about the RV lifestyle and living in our trailer. I talked to Dustin Hoover and met his brother Chris and both of them thanked us for coming to the show. It never hurts to "in" with the owners of the company.
Our problems began when we got home. The first thing we noticed was that the water pump wouldn't work, and the lights were very dim. Long story short is that somehow the converter isn't working to convert 110 volts to 12v. Also some of the plugs won't work but the television, the refrigerator and the microwave work so we had a cool night. The furnace worked early but the battery finally gave up and lost power. I think the problem is in the new power cord that was installed with either the wiring being messed up or something shorted out the converter. We will spend an extra night here and get it checked out on Monday. I'll just have to call Caddo Lake and tell them we're still coming but will be delayed. Maybe this problem will only take a little bit to get fixed. Cross your fingers...
So long.
Friday February 10, 2012-Ron Hoover RV, Katy TX
When we woke this morning it was raining again. I don't think it will affect the work that is to be done and may actually make it easier to find the water leak because with the rain coming down, they can just follow the water to the source. At least today, they won't have to move the trailer, so all we have to do is stay out of their way as they work. I learned that the RV show doesn't open until noon, so we have plenty of time this morning.
Ron, one of the technicians here, came by and soon found that one of the slide gaskets was installed incorrectly and luckily they had the material to make the repair. Ron told Stella that once he found the problem, he wouldn't need to come back inside, so we could go to the show when we wanted to. That was good news because we are looking forward to the show.
We left about 10:30 this morning to go get rid of the old tailgate from the truck. The new gate looks really good and it will be a relief to clean up the bed by getting the old one out. We went to a salvage yard in Manvel that I knew of and got about $10 for the scrap metal in the tailgate, or enough to buy us a donut and coffee.
We went to the show and learned that although we had been told that we could probably show our Heartland badges and they might let us in, we were charged the full amount to park and enter the show. Bummer!
We were early to the show and had to stand in line to get in. I was kind of surprised to see as many people going to the show, with the bad weather and all on a Friday morning. We walked around a bit before going to the Ron Hoover booth and saw a few friends along the way. We spent the day meeting and talking to people and had a really good time. Ryan Scott, one of the Heartland sales reps took us to get a bite to eat at the show, which was very nice of him. He really appreciated us being there and frequently sent people to talk to us since we are full timers living in a Heartland trailer.
Bill and Ornell came to Houston this afternoon to stay for the weekend. They will be at the show tomorrow along with Tommy and Susan and Ricky and Dee. I called Bill when we left the show and met them at Pappas Bar B Que for supper tonight. We had a good meal and enjoyed their company before we left to come back home. We were very tired from being on our feet all day, but it had been a good day. Tomorrow should be even better.
So long.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Thursday February 9, 2012-Ron Hoover RV-Katy TX
We were up early this morning because our slide will interfere with the workers coming in this morning, so we had to have everything ready for them to move . They will reposition the trailer inside the fence so they can work on it, so we will have to put everything away and slide the rooms in. We didn't have that much out, so it didn't take long and we were ready to go a little bit after 7. After walking the dogs, we got a couple of our lawn chairs out and sat behind the trailer, watching the people going to work and dealing with the traffic. It was nice to sit outside in the cool morning and watch the world go by as we drank our coffee.
The workers began coming to work about 8 o'clock and after getting moved in and water and electricity set up again, we left with the dogs to go pick up my new tailgate in Pasadena. The guys might need to get inside the trailer, so we took the dogs with us.
A couple of weeks ago, AJ, one of the porters here, was delivering a new trailer to a customer when the new company Dodge truck began to smoke. Before he knew it, the truck was on fire! AJ had the good judgement to unhook the truck from the trailer and drive it away, so although the truck burned up, he saved the trailer. The point to this is, the truck was a white Dodge 3500 exactly like my truck, so I was tempted to change the tailgates-with permission of course- but I found that the company truck's tailgate had dents on it too, so it would have been pointless to trade one dented-up tailgate for another, so I went ahead and bought the one that I had ordered.
Tommy met us at the store and we went to get lunch at a place called Big Tex Burgers in Pasadena. They served a good burger and it was nice to spend some time with Tommy. We haven't seen him since before we left this area in May.
After lunch, we decided to kill some time before going back to the dealership so they could get finished with their work. We were driving down the Beltway when i decided to call my old friend Emile, who is still working at the City of Missouri City. He was working today and had time to meet us for coffee at the Denny's restaurant where he and I used to go when we worked together. It was good to play catch-up with my old friend.
We came on back to the dealership and learned that they had finished up with some of the work they were supposed to do, but hadn't gotten to a couple of the things and planned to work on them tomorrow. We'll have to stay home with the dogs in the trailer because they will have to come inside to find a leak at the slides. We were scheduled to go to the RV show in the morning, but we will likely be delayed because of the repairs. Oh well...
We got everything set back up and settled in for the evening. It turned out to be a very good day. Got to see some old friends that we haven't seen in a long time and got the truck fixed too.
So long.
The workers began coming to work about 8 o'clock and after getting moved in and water and electricity set up again, we left with the dogs to go pick up my new tailgate in Pasadena. The guys might need to get inside the trailer, so we took the dogs with us.
A couple of weeks ago, AJ, one of the porters here, was delivering a new trailer to a customer when the new company Dodge truck began to smoke. Before he knew it, the truck was on fire! AJ had the good judgement to unhook the truck from the trailer and drive it away, so although the truck burned up, he saved the trailer. The point to this is, the truck was a white Dodge 3500 exactly like my truck, so I was tempted to change the tailgates-with permission of course- but I found that the company truck's tailgate had dents on it too, so it would have been pointless to trade one dented-up tailgate for another, so I went ahead and bought the one that I had ordered.
Tommy met us at the store and we went to get lunch at a place called Big Tex Burgers in Pasadena. They served a good burger and it was nice to spend some time with Tommy. We haven't seen him since before we left this area in May.
After lunch, we decided to kill some time before going back to the dealership so they could get finished with their work. We were driving down the Beltway when i decided to call my old friend Emile, who is still working at the City of Missouri City. He was working today and had time to meet us for coffee at the Denny's restaurant where he and I used to go when we worked together. It was good to play catch-up with my old friend.
We came on back to the dealership and learned that they had finished up with some of the work they were supposed to do, but hadn't gotten to a couple of the things and planned to work on them tomorrow. We'll have to stay home with the dogs in the trailer because they will have to come inside to find a leak at the slides. We were scheduled to go to the RV show in the morning, but we will likely be delayed because of the repairs. Oh well...
We got everything set back up and settled in for the evening. It turned out to be a very good day. Got to see some old friends that we haven't seen in a long time and got the truck fixed too.
So long.
Wednesday February 8, 2012-Moving day-Mission to Ron Hoover RV
We got up pretty early to get away from here as early as possible because we're driving all the way to Houston. The big problem is that it rained all night long and is raining still. It hasn't rained all month except one night when it showered and today when we're leaving it's raining. And the site we're is a dirt/grass site but most of the grass has died because of the drought.
We made good time in getting things packed up and ready to go and we were ready to hook the truck up by 8:30. When I backed in to hook up, the truck slid sideways and wouldn't line up. I tried several times but all I did was rut up the site. It's a good thing that Tom has a 4 wheel drive because he backed up and on the second try had the truck backed under the trailer. He motored it right on out and into the street and after just a few minutes we were hooked up and ready to go. It only took us an extra 45 minutes! After hugs and handshakes we pulled out about 9:20.
We went down Hwy. 281 this time and I believe it is a little faster than staying on Hwy. 77 all the way. I had gone to the little convenience store around the corner from the park to pick up breakfast tacos for us to eat after we got on the road. BIG mistake! The tacos are very tasty but difficult to eat while driving. I spilled more than I got into my mouth and Tramp loved it but I didn't like all the food that got on the floor of the truck. At least Trampy had a feast at our next stop. He got down on the floor under the steering wheel and chowed down!
We only made a couple of stops and got here to Ron Hoover right on time, about 4:15. We got set up outside the fence for tonight and had a pleasant night. I'm going to be interested in how much they get done tomorrow. We'll see...
So long.
We made good time in getting things packed up and ready to go and we were ready to hook the truck up by 8:30. When I backed in to hook up, the truck slid sideways and wouldn't line up. I tried several times but all I did was rut up the site. It's a good thing that Tom has a 4 wheel drive because he backed up and on the second try had the truck backed under the trailer. He motored it right on out and into the street and after just a few minutes we were hooked up and ready to go. It only took us an extra 45 minutes! After hugs and handshakes we pulled out about 9:20.
We went down Hwy. 281 this time and I believe it is a little faster than staying on Hwy. 77 all the way. I had gone to the little convenience store around the corner from the park to pick up breakfast tacos for us to eat after we got on the road. BIG mistake! The tacos are very tasty but difficult to eat while driving. I spilled more than I got into my mouth and Tramp loved it but I didn't like all the food that got on the floor of the truck. At least Trampy had a feast at our next stop. He got down on the floor under the steering wheel and chowed down!
We only made a couple of stops and got here to Ron Hoover right on time, about 4:15. We got set up outside the fence for tonight and had a pleasant night. I'm going to be interested in how much they get done tomorrow. We'll see...
So long.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Tuesday February 7, 2012-Mission West RV Resort
Our last full day here in Mission began as usual with coffee with the guys. Some of them even remembered my name, but it probably helped that my name is on my coffee cup in big red letters.
We met some of our Heartland friends at Willie's Bar B Que, famous for their barcued brisket. I had the stuffed baked potato and it was delicious! We all had a nice time together but the group is splitting up. Three of us (including us) will be leaving tomorrow but many will meet in Kerrville at the Sweetheart rally there. We are sorry that we can't go to this rally, but there's always next year.
After we left, Stella and I ran some errands before leaving tomorrow. I filled up the fuel tanks on the truck. It hurts to fill all the tanks but it sure is convenient to be able to travel for 1100 miles or more before having to stop for fuel! Of course, if we find fuel at a good price, we can fill the tanks any time.
We came on back home and I took the porch down and did a few more chores in preparation for leaving. Our last day was a good one, but as I said before, there's always next year.
So long.
We met some of our Heartland friends at Willie's Bar B Que, famous for their barcued brisket. I had the stuffed baked potato and it was delicious! We all had a nice time together but the group is splitting up. Three of us (including us) will be leaving tomorrow but many will meet in Kerrville at the Sweetheart rally there. We are sorry that we can't go to this rally, but there's always next year.
After we left, Stella and I ran some errands before leaving tomorrow. I filled up the fuel tanks on the truck. It hurts to fill all the tanks but it sure is convenient to be able to travel for 1100 miles or more before having to stop for fuel! Of course, if we find fuel at a good price, we can fill the tanks any time.
We came on back home and I took the porch down and did a few more chores in preparation for leaving. Our last day was a good one, but as I said before, there's always next year.
So long.
Monday February 6, 2012-Mission West RV Resort
These two pictures are from our Ambassador meeting the other night at the Costa Messa restaurant.
Here you see me and Stella, Jim and Nancy and across the table, Kathy. That is Ken in the blue shirt and Nelly's arms.
Here you see Nelly and Kevin being serenaded by the mariachi band that strolled around the restaurant.
L-R you see Sally, Nancy, Jim and Kathy
Here you see Nelly in blue, Kevin's arms holding his food, Roy, Sally, Nancy and Jim in the gray shirt. We all enjoyed our time together in Mexico.
We went with Ted and Donna over to Mexico this morning. We met five of our Heartland friends in the parking lot and we all walked across. We did a lot of shopping and looking before we went to eat at Renee's Bakery. We spent several hours in Mexico before coming back across into the US. It was another good day with our friends.
Here you see me and Stella, Jim and Nancy and across the table, Kathy. That is Ken in the blue shirt and Nelly's arms.
Here you see Nelly and Kevin being serenaded by the mariachi band that strolled around the restaurant.These next photos are taken on our trip to Mexico in Renee's Bakery.
L-R you see Sally, Nancy, Jim and Kathy
Here you see Nelly in blue, Kevin's arms holding his food, Roy, Sally, Nancy and Jim in the gray shirt. We all enjoyed our time together in Mexico.We went with Ted and Donna over to Mexico this morning. We met five of our Heartland friends in the parking lot and we all walked across. We did a lot of shopping and looking before we went to eat at Renee's Bakery. We spent several hours in Mexico before coming back across into the US. It was another good day with our friends.
So long.
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