First day on the road. Everything had been checked out, tires only 4 months old with just a few (3) trips under their belts. Bearings new and greased when the tires were installed.
I brought Roamie (my 78 Roamer) home from the storage facility two days prior to our intended departure. Having had one stolen not so long ago, this was a first to have any overnight or "alone" time at home.
I went to pop him up to load up the items we'd need for our 2 week trip. I knew then and there this trip was going to be different.
Let me backtrack some. The professionals (read total ****ing idiots) I took him to at an RV center did more to piss me off than appease me. They managed to get my bunkends out of track, made it impossible to put on my spare cover and decided they'd "rather not" (their words) upgrade my electrical system.
Anyway... I thought I got the spare tire cover issue resolved. I didn't. In fact, I cracked the ABS in several places when I pulled out the bunk end.
Several people had answered my call for a door key on an Apache site. Checking that out I somehow screwed up the thumb button. When I tried to dismantle it -think screen door handle- one of the bolts proved to be unmovable. Our doors are like Dutch doors with a latch holding the top and bottom together. If the door closes with extra force that latch will spin right up and lock itself. Getting in, and yes, I've had to do it twice now, is extremely difficult.
We left for our adventure Saturday morning. We hadn't decided how long we'd be on the road, just that we'd play it by ear.
We made it as far as Atlanta when the proverbial defecation hit the oscillating cooling device. The heavens opened up with a vengenance. Traffic went from balls-to-the-wall to a crawl as first pounding rain turned to dime sized hail.
We made it to the south side of the city and called it a day.
The second driving day was uneventful with the exception of me spending an inordinate amount of time making long distance calls on the porcelain phone for no known reason. I also received a text from one of my restaurant buds about the untimely, yet somewhat expected death of his wife.
The third day was even more exciting than the first two. Somewhere, probably about 100 miles shy of San Antonio the tread on one of my aforementioned new tires shredded itself. I didn't notice until arriving at the campground.
2nd day. The stand alone AC unit is screaming its head off. The poor thing is working OT. I moved it up onto the empty bunk end and exhausted though the bed end window. If it were not for the noise I'd say it was perfect. As it, it's useful.
85F at daybreak. I decided to get the tarp up for shade anyway. I'm glad I bought 4 more poles. It made it easier to string and set up. Never underestimate the usefulness of parachute cord! I bought one strand of 100' and 4 25 footers to go with my eight Noah's poles. I also managed to stake the lines down even in this gravel thanks to my Coleman tent stakes.
Hope the rest of your trip has little or no excitement.. except for the excitement you plan ...
Pictures man.. we want pictures...
I still say ya should have come North .... Right now I could hook you up with not just 1 but 2 of your hardsided car follower ... Dude in Oshawa (I think) is selling 2 for 1...
Have a safe trip ... and next time .. "run for the boarder" 😀
Craig, I'm having enough problems hauling one, much less two trailers.
Day 3 - I think. Yes, nasty, nasty weather. Rain, wind, thunder and lightning throughout the night. The rainfall amount last night was more than the total for the year thus far. The tent stakes couldn't take it and in the middle of the night we lost the shelter provided by the tarp. We also found new leaks. Right now I've got it rigged, but it's not the best answer. We're still trying to have an optimistic outlook but it's damn difficult.
We're going for Tex-Mex for lunch then try to find a boot maker or two for DW and also a hat maker for me.
Wow, I can't believe how the time's going by.
Yesterday we walked through the Riverwalk area of San Antonio. We had an early lunch and saw lots of sights.
After coming back we spent time in the pool and hot tub. I probably should have been more energetic but that wasn't happening.
Today we did a "me" thing. I had seen a Moroccan restaurant featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives in San Antonio. I wanted to go and go we did. Outstanding! I even had a chance to talk to the owner and thank her for the wonderful food, atmosphere and service. We were supposed to meet one of my restaurant buds there for dinner Sunday. However, those plans were changed in favor of a grill out at her house.
I called a mobile RV place and they're supposed to be calling me back about the possibility of getting this spare issue done. It seems the a55es who put on the new tires decided no owner should be able to take them off. Argh, stupid! I should have checked back then.
I also stopped by a local RV place - they were "on a call" and left a note with my plight and phone number. I hope they see it and call back.
Pork steaks on the grill tonight. Anybody care to join us?
I spent a great deal of time on the phone and road yesterday trying to get somebody to help me out. I talked to geico from which we had both homeowners and auto policies. It was determined my towing/breakdown was not covered by Roamie, I tried calling one recommended by koa staff, I drove to one nearby. nobody called me back with any answer.
Eventually I stumbled on another mobile repair guy, called him and he did promise to be there bright and early Monday morning - even having the courtesy to say if I didn't have to have it done during the weekend I could save the weekend callout charges. Nice fellow.
Lori and I decided we'd celebrate and go out. We decided on either a mom and pop's Mex/Tex-Mex or bar-b-q joint. It turns out most of the restaurants in our area (except the chains) close after lunch or at 8:00pm. As it was 7:30, we chose a bar-b-q joint called Ed Smokin' Q who didn't seem like they were closing any time soon.
Lori ordered a chopped brisket sandwich, I got a two meat plate of sliced brisket and pork ribs. (Both, nay, all, were pronounced excellent.). While eating, about 8:00pm, the closed signed went up in the window. Who knew?
After returning to Roamie I was trying to remember who we were supposed to meet. I had inadvertantly deleted my PM's in a clean up mode.
I scrolled through my contacts and came up with Ray with a 210 area code. That had to be it. I was elated. Still unsure of which pop up site I knew him from I dropped him a text explaining who I was and why it took me this long to contact him.
Ray, owner of a 76? Apache Roamer, called me back within a few minutes and we spoke at length. I told him the story of my shredded tire and he reminded me he was an auto tech and would be happy to load his tools, compressor, and meet us at the camper.
An Apache bud comes through! We talked about the karma of helping and well, I'm really looking forward to meeting him today. Photos will be taken and edited to insert through here after I get them to Photobucket. They will be posted on my current Facebook photo album.
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