Daily Archives: February 4, 2017
And Just In Time Too . . .
Well, I’m sure you’ll all be glad to know that we finally got the rig moved forward this afternoon. So now I won’t be complaining about it anymore on the blog. Now I’ll have to find something else.
Moving the rig forward about 10 feet turned out to be pretty easy. Especially since I was able to get unstuck with no problems.
We didn’t do much to prepare. I just unhooked the water and sewer hoses since they run in front of the rear wheels, and Jan opened the front curtain. Didn’t take down the TV. Didn’t pull in the slide.
I cranked up and waited a couple of minutes for the coach to come up on the airbags while Jan stood outside and watched the position of the rear wheels.
I first put it reverse and rocked back a little, and then in drive and rocked forward a bit, wanting to break the tires loose from the muck. I did this several times until I was sure I had broken any suction from the mud.
Then putting it in drive again, I started slowly increasing the throttle with as light a touch as I could, not wanting to spin the tires. And slowly, very slowly, the tires lifted out of the rut and we moved forward a few feet.
Jan signaled me when the tires were completely out of the hole and I stopped. Pulling a couple of heavy-duty door mats out of a storage bay, I laid them out in front of both rear duals. Then watching for Jan’s signal again, I pulled forward again until the wheels were squarely on the mats.
You can see from the wet edge of the tire how sunk in we were, and if you look carefully you can see the edge of the mat sticking out from under the tire. So now, even if/when we have more rain, I should have no trouble getting a moving start to get on our way in a couple of weeks. Or less, actually.
We’ve actually had these mats from a previous time we were stuck in an RV site, that time at the fairgrounds in Sioux Falls, SD that I mentioned a few days ago. I bought them at a local hardware store to try and get myself unstuck. I tried to dig out in front of the rear wheels to get the mats underneath the tires so I could drive out, but no luck.
So that’s when I finally gave up and called Good Sam’s ERS who sent out a winch truck who was able to quickly pulled me out.
And yes, the rig is filthy, from our trip over here from Columbus last October when we had a 10 mile long muddy dirt road construction area along the way. I had hoped to have a chance to get out the pressure washer while we were in Kenedy, but it was either raining a lot, or I was working.
So I’ll wait until we get back to Colorado River to take care of the problem. I had hoped there might be a Blue Beacon Truck Wash along our way, but no such luck.
So far it’s been dead slow today and tonight. They’re switching over from the first two holes to second two, so all the incoming/outgoing sand trucks are on hold. Nice, but kind of boring, since I don’t have consistent Internet to occupy my time.
Jan finally has a working cell phone again. The old battery died and wouldn’t hold a charge. You could charge it 100%, unplug the charger, and then try to call it. And as soon as the call came through, the phone would shutdown and reboot.
I knew it was the battery since if you left it plugged into the charger, you could make and receive calls. But a cell phone that has to stay plugged in all the time is kind of useless. However locating a new battery proved difficult since her LG Revere flip phone was 5 or 6 years old.
I could get one from Batteries Plus, but it had to be special-ordered and was $40. Heck, the phone was free when I got it. So I’m not paying $40 for a battery for it.
I did find a genuine LG battery for only $4.80 plus free shipping on Amazon, but it was 2 to 3 week delivery. But finally I bit the bullet and ordered it, hoping it would get to us before we left the area. And it finally showed up yesterday. I quickly figured out why it took so long to get here. It was shipped from China via DHL Global Mail.
But it was worth the wait. After a full charge, Jan’s phone is working great now. But still glad I only spent $4.80 for it.
Looks like we got the rig unstuck just in time since it’s now pouring down rain here at the gate, though I don’t know about the RV park in Cuero.
But at least it’s done.
Thought for the Day:
Apparently using the word ‘forecast’ for weather predictions was chosen by a Britist meteorologist in 1860 because he didn’t like the then-preferred term, ‘prophecy’.
Personally, based on the accuracy of most forecasts, weather prophecy is probably a better term.
adfadf