Lucky day

Yesterday was my lucky day because of two things. OK so here's how it went down. First, the dude at MD Repair decided that he wouldn't be able to install the bracket after all because he was too busy. So he called his buddy, George, at this place called Cannon Welding and George was the one who actually installed the bracket on my truck. It was kind of scary. George didn't get to it until 12:30 in the afternoon and I checked on the status around 3. When I saw my truck, the entire front end was off of it and all I saw was the radiator. EEEK! But George got it all back together again and explained to me what Roadmaster actually did with the bracket design. There is a metal piece that runs the length of my truck in front of the radiator (and it's what the plastic front end attaches to). What Roadmaster did was to essentially replace that long piece of metal with a copy that had the mounting brackets welded to it. So you just remove the factory installed piece and replaced it with the Roadmaster designed piece and put it all back together again. It took George about 3 1/2 hours to do the work. But he still had to do the wiring for the tail lights. So I spent the night just outside the gate of the lot on the side of the road. By 10 the next morning he was finished and it was a done deal. I towed my truck for the VERY FIRST TIME!!! Woo hoo!!! I towed it about four blocks back to MD Repair because I still needed he Brakemaster put on and I wanted the oil changed in my generator and the motor home engine.

I waited in the parking lot all day till about 2 in the afternoon and this dude called Derrick came out to do the oil changes. He also checked the air in all the tires and they were all good. He took at look at the Brakemaster, went and discussed it with "Bob" (the guy who'd lived in Chadd's Ford) and decided that they didn't have the expertise to install it. Well, while they were cussing and discussing, I kind of had a look at the box which listed all the cars/trucks that needed a 'seat bracket' (the thing the Brakemaster attaches to so you don't have to drill holes in the floor of your vehicle) and my Mariner wasn't listed among them. There was an 800 number to call so I did and I left a message with Glenda (remember her?). Well she called me back and asked if I'd already installed it and I said, "No" and she said, "Don't." She told me that the Mariner's, Escape's and Hummer's all had issues with assisted braking in that they'd lock up when you pushed on the motor home brakes. Bad news.

So how fortunate is that that MD didn't want to do the install and I just happened to call Roadmaster about a stupid seat bracket (that was kind of optional) to find out that I shouldn't install the $850 Brakemaster. So now I'm going to call hitchfinders.com on Monday to see if I can send it back.

That was lucky deal #1.

That afternoon I got my Internet In Motion installed. That system cost me almost $3K. And it has issues. For some reason, I can connect OK and when I first open the browser, everything is fine. But within about 30 seconds, the connection speed slows to glacial speed and I get a lot of time outs and can't find server errors. So I have to get with David Chittam, the installer to see what the deal is on that.

After my internet was installed, I towed the truck to Flamingo Lake where I'm staying until I have to go to Orlando on Wednesday. The Bago DEFINITELY knows the truck is back there. When I went over the big bridge on Route 9A, it chugged up the incline and after it crested, that 4600 lb. truck was giving it a hell of a boost and I went from 45 to 65 mpg in no time. I can see why you need the assisted braking as my stopping distance is definitely a lot longer with the truck pushing me from behind. It's a whole new handling experience.

So I arrived at the campground and was hooking up all my stuff and guess what. I realized that I had left part of my sewer connection at the spot where I was last time I was here. (The part that screws into the sewer line) Dammit!!! So I got my purse and drove around the lake to the office to get a new piece. When I drove past the spot where I was last time I was like, you know, let me just check since the spot is empty. And do you know my sewer piece was still there?! What are the odds of that. That tells me that nobody had been there since I left. I was happy to get my sewer piece back but I was also ticked off because I'd asked for that spot when I called for reservations (because it's shady) and they told me they were full on that side of the lake. So that was lucky instance #2.

So now I'm hanging out here at the RV park waiting for my Guardian rock guard to come in (Monday or Tuesday) and once I get that, I'll be on my way to Orlando for a week.

I'll check back in in a couple days.

The bracket is in!

Friday the bracket for my truck came in. I am so glad I am in heaven. I called Camping World and was brought back to earth in a hurry. They wanted $109 an hour to install the bracket, Brakemaster, etc. and they said it would take 8 hours. I was thinking.....is that legal? That comes out to $1.81 a minute. They said it was because I didn't buy the parts from them. That's bullshit. I guess it doesn't matter that I was going to buy the Guardian from them (to shield my truck from rocks) and that thing costs $400.

So I called a few places around JAX but no luck. Theresa in the office told me to try the place where they take their trucks for service so I did. The man there (Bob) used to live in Chadd's Ford, PA and he worked at Winner Ford in Smyrna. Small world. He *reluctantly* agreed to install my bracket and towbar and his rate is much more palatable -- $75 an hour. I think he only agreed to do the work because I was from Delaware but it works for me. I'm going to call Camping World back tomorrow and tell them to either beat that rate or stick it.

I have poison ivy bumps on my foot and leg. I guess there was something in the tall grass here at the lot that got on me. I am so susceptible to anything of that nature that I can just look at it and break out. I haven't had it since I left Mississippi many years ago. Welcome back to the South. My legs and feet look pretty sad. I have so many bumps, bites, and bruises on them. I scrub my feet when I take a shower but my soles always still look dirty to me. Last week, after several days at the campground, my hands and feet finally started to look clean. But now they're grungy looking again and will probably stay that was till this event is over.

I took the boys over to play with Jim and Rose's poodles this morning since I had to go back to the office to pick up some balloons and gift forms. Jim and Rose are workampers who live at the new office while Jim recovers from knee surgery. Their poodles are Pepper and Darla. Darla loves to run and Gizmo had great fun chasing her. Giz can catch Rusty but he couldn't catch Darla as she was too fast for him. They had a blast running round and round the building. After a while he was tuckered out and gave up. But they behaved themselves and I was glad for that because they don't get to socialize with other dogs very much. I was initially sort of worried that Giz would be too aggressive but they played very well together with no goofyness.

A window broke on a Durango today. I know for a fact that it was OK this morning because I go around all the cars every morning looking for dog poop. They found it this afternoon. The only thing I can think of is the window must have been defective and it shattered from the heat. There was glass inside and out. It was in the upper 90's today and more of the same is expected for the rest of the week.

Car wash girl

Well, the towbar deal for the 20th didn't exactly work out. Actually, the base plate won't ship until the 18th and I probably won't get it until around the 25th. My event in Callahan got slipped a week so I'm spending a week off at an RV resort called Flamingo Lake which is just south of the Jacksonville airport. It's been a nice respite and the resort is very nice. All the amenities including a cafe, a beach on the lake, a rec center and lots of activities -- none of which I've participated in preferring instead to just chill out all week. The main thing that's nice is I have a shady spot for which I'm grateful after spending a week in the sun in a K-Mart parking lot. The asphalt would get so hot in the afternoon that the boys couldn't even walk on it. I had to carry them over to the grass so they could do their business. The air conditioner would run constantly all day from around 10 till 8 trying to keep the coach cool. The temp would get up to about 80 but it was still way cooler than it was outside.

My biggest accomplishment this week was getting the motor home washed and truck washed and waxed. The motor home looks brand new again. I hadn't realized how dirty it was until the next day when the sun was shining on it and it looked so white. I also paid a man named Lou $50 to get my carpets cleaned. They were filthy black from the asphalt at my last event on Beach Blvd. Then I gave him another $10 to get the rest of the bugs off the cap of the motor home. I scrubbed yesterday until my arms felt like they were going to fall off. I got about 70% of them off but the last bit I just couldn't reach. Lou had some chemicals and a pressure washer and it took him about 15 minutes but the cap now looks as good as new. I could strangle the people down at Lazy Days for not washing the motor home when I asked them to.

Speaking of which, I finally got my new radio. Lazy Days overnighted it to me and I put it back into the dash by myself -- which is obvious because I couldn't get it to fit right so now it's just kind of sitting in the hole but it works so I'm happy. While I was at it, I hooked up the input for the Zen so now I can play it through the radio too. But I got my Sirius radio back and that's a good thing. I also broke down and got a Magellan so now when I drive the motor home, I'll be able to navigate like I'm able to do in the truck.

Since my carpets are now clean, I went to the Home Depot and bought a couple rugs to put down in the aisle from the cab to the kitchen to help keep it clean. New Rule: Shoes come off at the door from now on. The boys love the new rugs because they are now the softest part of the floor.

One more week till I get the tow bar (I hope). I've arranged for one of the park office workers (Debbie) to give me a ride from Callahan back to the park on Sunday night. She'll follow me as I take the truck up there and leave it. Then I'll take the motor home up there Monday morning. Since Callahan is only 11 miles from the RV park, it's not too far out of the way for Debbie.

That's about all my news for this week.

All done with Delaware

It's been an eventful two weeks. First of all, let me say that Roadmaster called me yesterday to let me know that the part number is ready for the base plate on the Mariner. FINALLY! It has been a rough month trying to jockey around the truck and the motor home. Here's how it went down after my last event:

First, I spent several days scrounging for a driver to help me get my truck down to Lazy Days which is where I planned on leaving the motor home for some warranty work. At the last minute (like within hours) Mendy from LaborReady volunteered to come to Lazy Days to pick me up. She had to take her kids to her in-laws in Winter Haven which is about 23 miles from Lazy Days. So on Monday I drove my truck down to Lazy Days and left it in the Cracker Barrel parking lot. Mendy picked me up about an hour later and drove me back to Mascotte. Then I drove the motor home down on Tuesday morning, walked over to get my truck, loaded it up with dogs and dirty clothes and headed up to Delaware to stay with David for a few days.

So that part wasn't *too* bad. The settlement was fairly uneventful. Only one or two crises but we got everything all done. I opened up my new bank account on Friday and closed the old one. Also tied up a lot of loose ends. I couldn't bear to go out to the house. Tammie showed me pictures of my hydrangea bush and I got all choked up when I saw all the blooms.

I left Delaware around 11 in the morning on Saturday. Driving down I-95 is always a drag and this time was no exception. Between DC and Richmond there were the three morons playing idiot on the interstate. One was in a Camry and the other two were in Mini Coopers. At first I thought they were involved in a case of road rage until I saw one wave to the other. They would speed up to get in front of each other then slow down and block the one in back from changing lanes. It was like playing chicken at 90 miles an hour. Totally insane.

Then in South Carolina I saw a horrible accident. It looked like a Ford Explorer pickup rolled a couple times and then hit a tree. Two semis were blocking both lanes to keep people from running over a couple people laying in the road. One was a heavyset lady and she wasn't moving. The other was a young girl around 9 or 10 and a man was covering her up with a blanket. There was another person hanging out of the truck and that person wasn't moving either. There were parts of the truck scattered all over the place and I had to watch were I was going to miss the pieces. The cops had not gotten there yet and the several cars in my lane were using the grass in the median to get around the wreck. I tried Googling to see if there was any info on the accident but didn't have any luck.

I finally rolled into Jacksonville around 1 in the morning and found where the sale was going to be. Then I found the Budget Rent-a-Car place. After that it took me a while to find a hotel that was pet friendly and got lucky with a Holiday Inn Express. It cost me $120 for 6 hours of sleep. I needed to be at the car rental place by 9 so I could rent a car and make it to Tampa by 1. The game plan was to leave my truck at Budget in JAX then drive to Tampa, drop off the car, hook a ride to Lazy Days, get the motorhome, then drive back to JAX. The girl at the Budget in Tampa gave me a ride to Lazy Days. I get it ready for the road and headed back to JAX. When I got to the K-Mart lot, I had to wait a couple hours for Jim and Rose to bring me the big truck. They gave me a ride back to Budget to get my truck and I finally had both vehicles together again. What a day.

I have one more jockey to deal with next week when I'm supposed to be in a burg called Callahan which is about 60 miles north of JAX. And that should be the last of it. I made an appointment for the 22nd to get the towbar work done so after that I won't be having to do the back and forth routine anymore. I will be SO glad.