Wednesday July 15, 2009-Camping World Katy

We woke this morning and showered and drank a little coffee and were out of the trailer by 7:45 in plenty of time for the workers to come get the trailer and begin working on it. We had a free breakfast from joining the Flying J savings club so we decided to eat there. It was a good choice. I had the buffet breakfast and Stella had the free pancake breakfast, so we both got what we wanted.



I got fuel while we were there. We took 25.7 gallons to go 297.6 miles for a 11.5 mpg average. I noticed that our fuel mileage has dropped off and have also been seeing a lot of black smoke when we accelerate, so I figured it was time to have the truck serviced and to have a new fuel filter put on. We found the Texas Oil Express on Hwy. 6 in Houston and Mike, the young man working there said they could change the fuel filter if I supplied the filter since they didn't have them in stock. I had one in my tool box from our experiences in February, so we were good to go. Soon after he began changing the filter, it became evident that he wasn't sure of how to do this job. He got the old filter off after a little trouble with it, but then the fun began. He couldn't get the new filter on with the gasket in place but after calling his boss Jeff to help him out, they got it on. They kept on dropping the round gasket at the top of the filter off, and about three times it fell all the way down into the work area below the shop floor. It would have been comical to watch except that this was our truck and after selling the Blazer to Jeremy the other day, our only vehicle. They finally got the filter and gasket installed but didn't know how to purge the filter of air and prime it. I had to show them how to do it but it didn't go too well. Somehow air kept getting into the filter, so the engine would lose prime and die. It took about 20 minutes of them trying to prime the filter and it not starting for them to realize that there must be another problem. I forgot to mention that I had to loan them a variety of tools to get the job done too. By now, I was doing anything I could do to get the truck running.

Mike was wrenching on the cap that is used to allow the air out of the fuel filter and apparently broke or split the plastic screw cap. When it broke, there was a lot of pressure on the filter, so he was drenched in diesel fuel. He was very embarrassed about damaging my truck and was searching for the broken parts and trying to get the broken cap out when I told him to go wash his eyes out because he had gotten diesel fuel in them. He did, but again was very apologetic. Mike went across the street to an auto supply store but they didn't have what he needed. They ended up having to go to a Chevrolet dealer nearby where they located the part. The new part was installed and the truck finally started, so all was good. We finally left after about a 3 hour stay. They didn't charge me for the labor for changing the filter and probably learned a valuable lesson in how to install a fuel filter in a GM truck. I know I learned a valuable lesson in not letting someone that I don't know and may or may not be trained to work on my truck.

The good news of the day was that we went up to Stephen F. Austin State Park just to ride through the park and look around. We have stayed at this park several times in the past but have not been here for a couple of years. While getting permission to drive through, I asked the nice lady in the office how to go about becoming a park host there. She gave me an application which I filled out while we were in the park and dropped it off on our way out. I really figured they would take the application and tell me they would call me, but I was very surprised when she pulled out a book and began telling me when she had openings. She could have used us in August through January, and March. We have plans for August through October, and didn't want to interfere with the holidays in November and December, so I took January and March. Just that easy and we have a job! Wow, I figured it would be a little more involved than this to find a park host job. This will give us a chance to learn something about the job and is something we think we want to do.

We came back to Camping World and learned that the TV is bad (like I didn't already tell them that!) but that it will be sometime tomorrow before they know how Heartland wants to handle the replacement. I told David Booth, the Service Manager and Jim Ferris, General Manager of the store that if I didn't get a television soon, I would have to start talking to Stella, so to avoid any marital problems, they decided to loan me a television until my replacement comes in. One of their technicians installed the new TV and one of the forklift drivers brought the trailer over to us. He offered to set it up for me, but I told him that I could handle it. It didn't take long to hook up the electricity and water line, so I was able to come inside and set up the new TV.

Television to soothe the savage woman I live with.......

Sorry this is so long, but it was an eventful day.
So long.