Monthly Archives: November 2013
I Hear Bells . . .
or at least I think I do Every time I start to fall asleep, I keep thinking I’m hearing the ding,ding of the driveway bell on the gate. Same thing happened last year, too. And also just like last year, we both find ourselves looking at car tags to see if we recognize them. It’ll pass.
Well, if we thought the weather was bad last night, all we had to do was wait for today. It got colder and wetter. And of course I had to wait until this morning to hook up water and sewer. Doing it this morning meant I had to get down on my hands and knees in the cold water so I could run the hoses under the rig to the pedestal on the wrong side.
Fun.
But the first thing I did after getting up was to start checking on rental cars since I’m going to have to have the truck towed into the shop. And I quickly ran into a problem.
There are pretty much no cars to be had, especially from Enterprise, the ‘we’ll pick you up’ people, which is what I need. Apparently everyone rents cars to travel for Thanksgiving. Although this year it was worse because of the bad weather. They’re supposed to be bringing in more vehicles tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll luck up.
I also talked to Brock’s Automotive, the car repair shop I’ve used for years. Turns out my Dodge Dakota doesn’t have conventional front wheel bearings. Instead it has an integrated hub-bearing assembly like this.
If I I had a 2WD, it would be a quick and simple repair. Just remove the tire/wheel and then remove the 3 bolts, and then remove the old hub and reinstall the new one.
Unfortunately the 4WD repair is a little more involved.
About noon I walked up to the office to pay for the month and also get the park WiFi code. They have a very good system here with good coverage, and excellent speed. Here’s the SpeedTest results from earlier this evening.
During the day when the load is lighter, I’ve seen 20Mbps download speed. Very nice
Although it was overcast and rainy all day, we still got to enjoy the view out our windshield.
One of many reasons why we like this park so much.
Thought for the Day:
“Nothing needs reforming nearly as much as other people’s habits.” – Mark Twain
cvzxcvzxcv
Heading Home . . .
After our first full night’s sleep in 3 months, we left the Gate Guard Services’ Whitsett yard a little before 10am, heading for our winter home at Galveston Bay RV Resort in San Leon, TX. And it was really fun bringing in the satellite dish, hooking up the truck, and unplugging the shore power with 40° of cold rain, but it was worth it to be on the way home.
Our first stop was about two hours later at the Buc-ee’s in Luling for coffee and kolaches, and then it was back on the road for another two hours before our next stop. And that stop was much better than coffee and kolaches. We met Landon, Lowell, and Brandi at a gas station near their home so we could see them for a few minutes. Of course we’ll be seeing them Wednesday (for cooking) and Thursday (for Thanksgiving), be we didn’t want to wait until then.
But after a short visit we were back on the road again, this time our next stop was at another Buc-ee’s, this one located on SR 96 in League City, about 8 miles from the RV park. We always stop here on our way to fill up with diesel. It’s always better to park for an extended period with a full tank to cut down on condensation during cold, wet weather. I also add a dose of Biocide to kill any algae growth.
After unhooking the toad, we headed over to the park, only to get there and find there was a truck parked in our site. It took a while to find the owner, but finally we were parked. Our site, 77, is actually a 5th wheel site, but we just hook up the utilities underneath the coach with no problems.
About 6pm we headed up to Webster to meet Chris, Linda, and Piper at our favorite King Food. But on the way I discovered the truck had another problem. Jan had said it was making a funny noise as she followed me from Buc-ee’s to the park. And once I drove it I quickly realized I had a front wheel bearing problem.
Something else to fix.
We had a great time seeing the ‘kids’ again, to go along with the great food. Later,on the way home the noise from the bearing became much worse. So much that I’m probably going to have to do something about it very quickly.
Like tomorrow.
Thought for the Day:
‘Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays. – Red Skelton
sfdgsfg
