Love that Grandson!

Well, we managed to get near perfectly level campsites on the way down here to Virginia, which is what we have to have since we cannot use our leveling jacks. I was most worried about the camp here at Misty Mountain, since the sites we like to get usually take a little bit of leveling to get perfect. As it was, our reserved site was occupied by the camp owner's "for sale" rig which wouldn't start, so could not be moved at the time. So the hostess put us just opposite on a much more level (and nicer) site. The bad part is our satellites don't work, but the leveling was much more important this time. The park has cable TV and free wi-fi, so we are getting by.

What can I say about grandson extraordinnaire, Ronan? He is the cutest, smartest little guy. I know, I know, everyone thinks their grandchildren are the cutest and smartest. . . and you know what? YOU'RE ALL WRONG! Hahaha. Just kidding. There isn't a baby that isn't cute, smart, etc. I just can't look at Ronan without thinking about the miracle of conception, growth and birth. And to think how perfect he is with his 10 little fingers and toes, etc. We haven't seen him since Christmas and I already have him reaching out to me. Course, I'm no substitute for Mom, but Grandma will at least do in a pinch.


Yesterday we walked down to the University (UVA) from Jocelyn's and stopped off at the swings. As soon as Ronan saw the swings, he starts kicking his legs and squealing. He really likes them. When we left, Jocelyn had to take him out from behind because if he sees her start to lift him, he holds on. Hah.


Today we ran a lot of errands. With Grandpa and Grandma along, it made it a little faster for Jocelyn because she could leave him in the car with us. We did make it to the mall and Terry got his walk in. Later, we drove out to the motorhome and Jocelyn and I took Ronan up to the owner's place up on the mountain. He has a little petting zoo with 3 little goats. . . one tiny baby goat. Also we met the pot bellied pig who likes to have his ears scratched. Ronan didn't care to get too close because he was making "grunting" noises all the time. He really is a social pig and I scratched his ears for him. I took a couple pictures back in our rig. Ronan likes the drawers because he could pull himself up with the handles.


Tomorrow we have to go pick up Ronan's birthday gift. We had it shipped to the WalMart store here. We got him a big Radio Flyer wagon that has a lot of features. . . not like the wagon we had as children, but one I am sure Ronan will enjoy.



Till next time. . .



Dale

Coach Care - LESS, a.k.a. The Unforgiven

Well, Coach Care-less has really dropped the ball and we are mad. We left our camp in central Indiana a day early (no refund, of course) to make it to Elkhart and Coach Care-less for a Thursday 8 a.m. appointment. We had it there parked in front of their service door on Wednesday night. What a day!

The next day Terry went over at 8 a.m. and made sure they knew what the problem was. They called around 11 a.m. to tell us that the jack in question was shot and would require replacing @ $900+. !!! Now we knew it was expensive, but we have had one replaced before under warranty and knew that their price was a bit more expensive. So Terry called Tiffin and they told him retail was just over $600. ??? AND if it is done at the plant at Red Bay they do it at dealer cost which is $400+. Well, obviously, we don't want to make a run to Red Bay just now. Terry decided to ask Coach Care-less to verify the price when they called to tell us it was done. Hah. They called back at 3:30 p.m. to tell us that they couldn't get a jack! They are built right there in Elkhart, but Atwood is "moving their plant" and wouldn't be able to assemble one until maybe sometime Monday. What? Terry said, "Forget it. I've got to be in Virginia for GRANDSON EXTRAORDINNAIRE'S birthday and I can't wait. So then he asked them what we owed for removing the jack, and the guy said . . . "Oh, nothing. It only took 10 minutes." Grrrrrrr. Terry was smokin'. Yep. If they had done their job after getting our coach in for an 8 a.m. appointment, Tiffin would have overnighted a part to Ekhart and we would have it installed. But they waited until 3:30 p.m. to tell us and by that time Red Bay was shut down for the day.

Since then we have found out a couple things. The warning buzzer on the jacks works really well. If the jack is not working, it sounds and disables ALL the jacks. If you remove the jack, it still works because it thinks it's not doing what it's supposed to and the air dumps and all the jacks rachet because it thinks they need pulled up. Grrrrrr. We got the buzzers off and aired up and went to camp Pull-Tab. Once there, Tab and Terry worked on it. Found out you cannot use ANY jacks if one is malfunctioning. Still nothing concrete, so Terry got on the Tiffin owners' forum and there someone posted a solution. Once they got the jacks disabled, he had to jump the control for the air dump and got the coach aired up. So now we are on our way. We have no levelers, so we have to find a really level site, but we are at least on track now for Ronan's birthday.

Thanks for nothing Coach Care-less.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Till next time. . .

Dale

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

The Good. . . Went to my doctor today for my increasingly painful hip. He diagnosed a type of bursitis and gave me a cortisone shot. Yay. I'm happy. I've had those before and I know it will work.

The Bad. . . Have to leave here a day early and make a run to Elkhart.

The Ugly. . . The right rear passenger Atwood Levelegs jack is up and doesn't know it. The motor is spinning and there is no movement. . . in other words, the wheel's turning, but the hamster's dead! The system thinks the jack is down and keeps trying to raise it. Since it is sending an error message, it shuts the power off to the entire system and we cannot lower the jacks. The techie said we were lucky they did this in the UP position. . . otherwise we would not be able to move. Yuck.

We arrived here in New Castle, Indiana, at Summit Lake State Park. Because they don't have the water turned on (actually, they did that today), we only have to pay $11 a night for 30 Amp. Not bad. Last night we visited with our friend Myra and met the new man in her life, Kent. What a wonderful man and a great couple they make! We took the dogs to their vet today and got their meds refilled. Tomorrow we have hair appointments and Terry sees the same doctor I saw today. Then Wednesday, we see our broker and Terry's cardiologist. Then we are taking off for parts north.

We have to be out of Indiana before the weekend snow arrives. Ugh!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Gorgeous even in the rain!

We gave up on the rain quitting and drove on over to Sunset Dock on Dale Hollow Lake. Everything was calm, a few people around. . . fisherman, of course. They fish this lake all year long and it normally does not freeze completely, although I believe there have been years that it has. There are quite a few boats/houseboats sitting in their slips.

We drove up to the storage lot and were very pleasantly surprised when we opened our door. We had put the covers on our boat and jet ski, then threw big sheets of plastic over that. The boats were in better condition than any time we have stored them. Not much dust, clean on the inside, just like we left them. We had put two boxes of damprid in the Wellcraft. That stuff works, but if you use it, be sure to set the can in something larger. It draws moisture and produces water. We set the containers in larger rubbermaid type containers and they were about half full of water. Then we also took long narrow containers that were perforated and put moth balls in there and placed those around the cabin and also on the gunwales of the jet ski. No vermin! So we were quite happy. Our job was simple. Took out that stuff, put the batteries in and got them ready for the mechanic. Then we went and talked with Chuck and told him what we wanted done and he is going to have them lake ready by the time we get down there in May.

He is working on a project boat right now, replacing all the rotted wood and fiberglassing in the new decks, etc. He said that the new boats are so expensive, people are fixing up their old ones. Even if it costs $10-12,000, it is cheaper than the $50-60,000 they are asking for similar new boats. I know our Wellcraft would be way expensive to replace. We did put a new engine in ours before we started full timing. The boat is still in great shape and we have taken good care of it.

We are leaving this morning and driving just south of Lexington, Kentucky. Then tomorrow we will drive on in to Summit Lake State Park, just north of New Castle. We will be there most of the week while we see doctors and vets, then it is off to Virginia for Ronan's first birthday! Yay!!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Here on top of Mt. Ararat

At least that's what it seems like. We got here yesterday, at Maple Hill RV Campground in Jamestown, Tennessee. We left Georgia on Wednesday and drove to Chattanooga for the night. We drove on here because we wanted to put batteries in the boats and check them out. We have a mechanic who is going to get them "lake ready" and we wanted to make sure they were ready for him. We had planned on going over to Sunset Dock yesterday and just as we arrived it started to rain. Long story short. . . it hasn't stopped since. We are high up on a hill. There has been some thunder and occasionally a gust, but nothing frightening. . . and nothing of that sort is expected. The high today is supposed to be 65*, so if it would quit raining, we would run over to the lake. Kind of hate to get out when it is pouring down rain.

I already had to bathe Neal once. Course, he just stumbles and falls when he gets out. I just let him roll around in the mud this morning until he got "the job" done, then carried him straight to the bathtub. He didn't like that much, but I am bigger than he is, so he is now one clean doggy. I will probaby have to repeat that scenario every time he goes out today. Fortunately Neal is smart enough when the weather is bad to only go out when absolutely necessary. So he goes out, "stops, squats and scores" in one "not so smooth" motion. Hah.

Tomorrow we start the trek for central Indiana. We are going to visit the doctors and then head for Virginia for Ronan's first birthday. A week there, then back to northern Indiana for a month.

Till next time. . .

Dale