Saturday January 16, 2016-Cottonwood RV Park

Today was a busy and tiring day but we got a lot accomplished. Dave had offered to do the work of changing out the suspension on the trailer, and we had gone over to a Camco store that sells the parts and bought the kit, a Dexter Ultra Flex, a very heavy duty replacement kit for the suspension that replaces the standard pieces that have a lot of wear on them. I estimated that our trailer has 50-60,000 miles on it! I never thought about it until now.

Right off the bat, I took my camera outside to record the work being done and it wouldn't turn on. I thought that the batteries must be dead but changed them out and still nothing. I bought this camera soon after going on the road in retirement and it isn't a high-priced brand, that I used while working and I will research getting it repaired or replaced.

We began working about 9 and worked steadily all day and finished one side about 4. It was a lot harder to do than we anticipated but we got it done. Several things came into play during this project. The site is basically sand and dirt and very uneven. We had a front blow through while we were working and the winds were high and gusty and of course, sand got into everything. The unevenness didn't really hurt anything except my blocks that go under the levelers. The rubber pads that are attached to them came loose but they are easy to repair. I plan to move the trailer anyway, so when we recover from today's work in a couple of days, that shouldn't be a problem again. The last, and certainly not least, problem is that all the sites are covered with grass burrs. Some are large and easy to see and remove, but most are very small and the only way to find them is by having one stick in your hand, foot, or any tender area on your body. They entire Valley has lots of these little buggers and up until now, they were only a problem because we tracked them into the trailer and only found them with our bare feet on the carpet. I can't tell you how many bad words were spoken by us and others about them.

Of course, during the course of the day, curious neighbors came by to check on what we were doing and to offer help or tools. I've said many times that the best way to attract attention is for a man or group of men to work on anything around a trailer and they will come! It's like a magnet.

Corbin came down to help and was soon pressed into service to take me to a store to buy more grease. I had enough to get started but soon ran out. My truck was attached to the trailer for safety, so he offered to take me. He helped as needed and we all were tired at the end of the day. I'm sure that Dave, who did the bulk of the work, was exhausted.

After finishing up the off-door side, we stopped for the day. After getting all the tools picked up, cleaned and put away, we came inside for a much-needed rest. When Dave sat down in his lawn chair, he immediately jumped up because of grass burrs that had stuck in the seat of his pants. Ouch!

Our friends Ted and Donna had picked up some tickets to the Red Head Express show tonight. We have seen the group of four sisters several times in the past on other trips to the Valley. They tour with their parents, who started the group, and their three brothers, who also perform as The Walker Boys. Three of the girls have small children, so they travel with the family of 9 (four girls, three boys, Mom and Dad), three husbands of the girls, three mother-in-laws (probably to care for the babies) and the three babies-all in a motorhome and a van pulling a trailer with gear and equipment. Wow!
The performance was great and if you ever get a chance to see them, I urge you to go.

So long.