Smithville, Mississippi

We have been sitting in camp a good part of the days while we are here in Fulton because it is too hot to spend much time outside. We've toured the downtown area which is not too large. What is surprising is that they have many restaurants, not only fast food, but larger restaurants and several good hotel chains. I don't know why they have all this in Fulton. It is pleasant here, but not sure what the draw is except that it is just 17 miles from Tupelo, so I suppose if a big event is going down in Tupelo and there aren't enough hotel/restaurant spaces there, people would come here for the night.

I had reported earlier about the tornado damage in Belmont, Mississippi, over close to Belmont. Last Thursday we drove south out of Fulton just to enjoy the countryside and we drove upon the town of Smithville. . . or perhaps I should say, the FORMER town of Smithville. On April 27, 2011, there was a tornado of epic proportions. The cloud was three miles tall and the swath the twister cut was a half mile wide--right down the main street of Smithville. How many times have you watched coverage of tornado damage of lesser class storms and thought how horrific it was. This was a full-blown EF5 with winds of 205 mph! I am not kidding when I say that nothing is left of the main street. 140+ houses were leveled, at least 4 churches that I saw on a map, 14 of 16 businesses, and 14 people killed and 40+ people injured. The school suffered major damage to multiple buildings and most of the roofs were tarped up. The main street curves sharply to the north and that is where the twister exited across the highway and tore up woods on its way out of town.

The Sheriff's office is now in a trailer and some temporary FEMA houses have been set up. There are signs up for "Food" and "Water" which would be difficult to obtain from normal sources. All new telephone poles sit on the north side of the road and bulldozers and other heavy equipment are doing their jobs of clearing debris and removing trash. A burn pile has been established on the south side of town to get rid of some of that trash. Crews are working daily to get the land cleared. Temporary clinics have been set up to accommodate the needs of residents who live in houses further off the main street. Everything north of the main street to the Tenn-Tom Waterway is gone, but a couple blocks off to the south, some houses with minimal damage remain.

What a tragedy. The only thing we could relate it to was the 1965 Palm Sunday tornados back in Indiana. This was a stark reminder of the destructive side of Mother Nature at her worst. I took many pictures, but we don't know what stood in these pictures. You can see driveways in one part and foundations where house after house once stood. I looked on Google Earth to get a look at what the town looked like. It was devastating to this little town.

Today we drove through it again on our way home from Tupelo. The work continues and a few more buildings have been taken down because there was no way they could be restored. Please pray for the people of Smithville.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Marking Time. . .

Last Friday we had visitors at our camp at Piney Grove. Cousin Gary and wife Jo came by to visit. They had originally planned to park their Prevost right beside us and had the site reserved, but they ended up cancelling their reservation. Gary's Mom died just a month ago and they decided to spend the weekend with his sister Shirley. We had visited Shirley earlier in the day thinking we might catch Gary and Jo, but they were out shopping. So it was a surprise when they knocked on the door. We got to visit and find out what all was happening with our families. We normally stop at their home in Louisiana on the way out of Texas, but because of spring storms, we went north instead of east when we left.

The reunion was Saturday and we had a small but faithful crowd. We do hope more of the relatives hear what fun we have every year and plan to make the effort the next year. We have lost many family members this year and two within the last month, so we are hopeful the younger family members will encourage others to come next year.

We stayed at Piney Grove an extra day because we needed to take the motorhome over to Bay Diesel in Red Bay on Monday. They were going to check the error codes to try and see why we got a check engine light upon pulling in to Piney Grove. As it was, they were not able to determine anything. There did not appear to be any old codes or anything that would explain the message. Chris did say that if it happens again, we need to find a CAT dealer who would have the comprehensive computer diagnostic software in order to pinpoint the problem and fix it. He had suggested to Terry earlier in the week that he check the overflow reservoir and put some distilled water in it. When Terry checked it, he was able to put about two liters in it. A low fluid amount there will trigger the sensor to give the "check engine" message, so it is possible that was the problem. While we had it there, I started asking Chris about an oily smell I was getting whenever I would apply the service brakes. He immediately suspected an seal in the oil-filled hubs. Sure enough, the seal was broken and fluid was spilling over the brake shoes. That was fixed, new brake shoes fitted and the other side got new brakes. He also cleared up some questions I had about some clunking and pulling I was experiencing when applying the service brakes. He was able to help that a bit as well. So even though nothing was found wrong with the engine, we did get some other issues taken care of and that was fine in my book.

We have not been able to get into Tiffin Service early, but we have our name on the list. We are hoping to get in even a day early which will make it easier for us to get back to Warsaw with time to spare for Mom and Dad's 65th wedding anniversary party. All the kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids will be there, so it will be a festive occasion.

When we left Red Bay, we drove over to Tupelo. We wanted to put some miles on the coach and make sure if we experienced any problem, we would be able to address it. We camped at the Natchez Trace RV Park. We have been there before and it is a Passport America park. It is adequate and we stayed two nights and did some sightseeing around Tupelo. We probably would have done more, but it has been 95-97 degrees and we just prefer to stay in the motorhome where it is cool.

This morning we drove over to Fulton, Mississippi, and we are camped at the Whitton Park Campground which is another COE park. It is heavily wooded, but wouldn't you know. . . our site has about two feet of clear sky in front and it was all Terry needed to get the TV satellite antenna locked on. He is happy about that. I could take it or leave it. The Datastorm is under too many trees to even get a GPS reading, but our aircard is working well, so life is good.

We went out after lunch to explore, but there isn't too much here in this town. We did go to the waterfront. There is a bike/walking trail that runs for a couple miles along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, so we took a couple pictures.

On the way back to camp, we stopped at the historic center which is a very nice building with a history display of the building of the waterway and about how it has changed commerce in the northeast part of Mississippi.

We will be here for a couple nights before moving on to Red Bay. We want to be in there over the weekend so that we get a full hookup spot and can get ready for our service appointment.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Red Bay, Alabama

We left this morning and drove over to Red Bay, Alabama, the home of Tiffin Motorhomes. We wanted to connect with Bay Diesel, the business where we were directed by Freightliner.

We met the owner, Chris, and he asked a couple questions and said that we could bring Phaeton Place over Monday morning. MONDAY MORNING! WOW!!! Really didn't think we would luck into a service appointment that quickly. He is pretty sure he can help us out and also gave us something to check before we drive it over. We did check our coolant and Terry added a bit. That could have been the problem, although we don't think it was low enough to cause a problem. We feel confident they will be able to find the problem Monday.

We also drove over to the campground and talked with the new people there. We really miss Marsha and Rod, but their stint at the office there is over and they are on their way to their vacation home in Custer, South Dakota. We talked with Peggy in scheduling and she told us who to talk to about getting an earlier appointment date at the service center. We talked with Jimmie and he told us what to do and we got that accomplished while we were there. So our time in Red Bay this morning was very productive and it was a worthwhile effort.

On the way over there we saw this manufacturing building in Belmont which was destroyed by tornados on April 27, 2011. I think that's the same day as the Joplin, Missouri, tornadoes. They had multiple vortices and many houses were hit as well as trees and buildings. When we were here in May for Aunt Teen's funeral, we saw where the tornadoes came through the Natchez Trace. It was closed for a while after the event due to downed trees. We saw them in May and saw them again the other day. The trees now have been cut up, but we noticed new trees downed and what looked like more recent damage than last month. While we were talking with the gals at Red Bay about the tornadoes, they said another storm just two weeks ago was responsible for the newest damage. We have been here when there have been bad storms. They certainly have their share.

On the way back, we drove along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Forty years ago when we visited the area, they were building this large, long canal. The picture of the lock is at the end of the lake we are camped on. We came back to the motorhome late this afternoon, so have just been hanging out. We did go down to the gate and register for Sunday night. That way we can move over to Red Bay on Monday instead of Sunday. We thought that would be preferable in the event the coach shuts down on the way over and has to be towed in. Pray that doesn't happen!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Nailed in Nashville!

We left early for us this morning, getting on the road by about 8:30. We decided to go south out of Nashville and eventually pick up the Natchez Trace. We were in some traffic and we were navigating some intersections new to me in the motorhome. I was concentrating pretty hard on what was going on and people were driving absolutely crazy. I figure most of them were on their cell phones. Where the interstates I-40 and I-24 meet we got tangled up in some traffic. It was stop and go, but people were trying to change lanes and slamming on brakes, etc. I mostly try to keep a good distance because I don't want to have to make any panic stops.

All of a sudden I start hearing some noise and thuds behind me and at that point I see parts flying through the air off to my left. We were about 6 lanes wide; I was in the third lane from the right. I hear this really loud thunk and feel something hit high up on the motorhome. Just then an SUV, a Ford Excursion I think, comes careening down the far left lane headed for the barrier. His right front tire is laying over almost flat to the ground. I'm thinking, "Nascar!" I see more parts flying, but I was looking straight ahead. You never know when someone would decide to just slam on the brakes to stop and look. There was no way for me to stop anyway to look at whatever damage may have occurred. Nothing had hit the toad and everything seemed intact, no driving difficulties, etc. Later when traffic thinned out we pulled to the side and Terry got out to inspect the coach. He could not find any knick, scratch, or dent! He found one mark on a window frame where he thinks it's possible a piece of rubber might have hit, but we aren't sure. I intended to get up on the roof when we got to the camp to check out the roof, but I didn't do that. Will have to check it out tomorrow.

We got on the Trace about 100 miles south of Nashville and drove to our favorite lunch spot, the rest area on the north side of the Tennessee River. What a great spot to sit for a bit. We both got out this time and checked the coach and could not find any spot where it was hit. So we are glad for that.

Once lunch was finished we watched the news a bit, then drove on to Piney Grove, just off the Trace near Burton, Mississippi. The camp sits on Bay Springs Lake which is on the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway and we later saw a barge going through the lake. That is the first time we have seen that, although we knew there was barge traffic here.

We did have a problem though. As we turned onto the road back to the camp, we were still about five miles out. I noticed a loss of power and looked down to see the "check engine" light on. Yuck. I told Terry, checked all my gauges, everything was perfect. We continued on but couldn't get over 1200 rpms. After a bit, the light went out and I instantly had more power. Once again before we got back to the camp, the light came on again, but eventually went out. Terry ended up calling Freightliner and they told him it sounded like one or both of the fuel filters. He told us to drive it on to Red Bay, our next destination. He thought it would make it there, but if it "redlined" it would shut down and we would have to be towed the rest of the way. Red Bay does have a diesel mechanic who can fix it. So we shall have an interesting drive on Monday.

We are here for Terry's family reunion which is Saturday.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Nashville beckons. . .

We left Dale Hollow Lake early (for us) Sunday morning. We had to be out by 2 p.m. and couldn't check into Nashville until 3 p.m., but we decided to leave early anyway. The campground was pretty full over the weekend with lots of wacky campers and we thought it better to get out and get our tanks dumped while there wasn't a line. Later in the morning there surely would be a line which we have seen here before and we wanted to avoid all that.

We stopped at a rest area on I-40 and I got out my computer and started working on re-configuring the router for the aircard. It had been giving us fits and then stopped working altogether, so I took a shot at it. I got it up and running, so we got caught up on our reading and Facebook while we were there. We also ate some lunch before heading out. We just really needed to kill some time as we only had about 100 miles total to drive.

When we drove into Seven Points campground on J. Percy Priest Lake, the attendant told us our site wasn't ready yet, but they were wrong. It had been vacated. We drove on around and unhooked the car, then we backed into our site and set up. Shortly after that it started blowing something fierce. I had read that there might be a thunderstorm and we did have some rain and wind, but nothing major. The best part of that is that the temps dropped from the 90's to the mid 70's!

We got our laundry together and went to the laundromat. After a week at the lake without full hookups, we had a lot of towels, the bedding, etc., so we got that all done. But we will have to find another laundromat if we come here next year. We have used this one for several years, but it was absolutely filthy. There was no attendant, many of the machines had "out-of-order" signs on them and there were actually some unsavory characters hanging around. So we asked at the front gate and they told us of another that they are now recommending.

Today we decided to go downtown. We have never been in downtown Nashville and we found a parking place and walked up and down Broadway. It was pretty neat actually. Some souvenir stores, lots of restaurants and some venues with live entertainment. They are getting ready here for Music Fest and they were setting up sound stages on Broadway and on the waterfront. We decided to eat at Rippy's, which is a rib and BBQ place. We got a sampler platter which we split and brought half home. It was very good food and the place had a lively atmosphere.

One thing we saw were custom Prevost buses. One was just down from the Ryman, two more were parked on Broadway in front of "The Stage," and three were in front of another venue area. One had the name Randy Atkins on it, but none of the others bore labels. I wonder what famous people were watching us as we walked by.

We are thinking of going to the Hermitage tomorrow. I don't think we want to go back downtown. The traffic was horrendous and it is very hot. We are here every year, so we may go back another time.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Great day with great friends. . .

Our friends, Tom and Carol and Sharon, invited us over to their houseboat for dinner last evening. I made some brownies in the morning to take and we also had a bag of chips and a bottle of wine. We were having a cookout and we were looking forward to a great time.

We had about 15 miles to go by water, which takes at least 30 minutes if not longer because we rarely drive as fast as the boat will go. We like to go slower and cruise along enjoying the weather and the scenery. We left Sunset and drove to the state dock, just down from where their houseboat is docked and fueled up. Then we drove on over to the inlet where we found them lounging around on the deck. What a life! The houseboat is very nice. They have had it for 10 years and did a lot of work on it to make it comfortable and it really shows they have put a lot of care into it.

We floated in the water for quite a while enjoying the solitude of the cove where we were docked. The only problem was that Tom had been in the water feeding the fish. Little bluegills. . . now I'm not afraid of fish but it is a little unnerving having these little guys swim up to you in the water and nibble on your toes or tug on your swimsuit. I was a little more than annoyed at them because you never know when their bigger brother will decide to come along. We finally moved a little farther out into the inlet and they didn't follow us.

Tom fired up the grill on the other end of the boat and we got out of the water and sat out there. We saw a snake in the water up toward the shore. He was probably a couple feet long and too far away to observe what kind he was, but he was content to swim along the bank.

We visited during dinner and caught up with what everybody's kids are doing. When we all first met, we would come to the lake and bring our children and we boated all weekend and tubed and dock hopped together. It was great fun.

Things change, though, and kids grow up and move on and have their own families and do their own thing. But we will always remember the fun times we all had at Dale Hollow Lake.

As evening closed in on us, we decided to head back so we could get docked and the boat covered before dark. So we bid our friends goodbye. They were leaving today and we are staying until Sunday. Tomorrow we will pull our boat out and clean it up before putting it back in the storage bay.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Days on the lake. . .

We got out early Tuesday and got all the stickers on the boat and trailer and took her down to the launch ramp. Flawless launch. She fired right up and has run extremely well.

We took off going up river toward EastPort, but had to scrap that plan. Dale Hollow has been in flood stage for several weeks and there is just too much debris, limbs mostly, in the water. Since the EastPort leg is a river, more/less, it makes it hard to dodge all that stuff, so we turned around and headed for the main water.

We are about 15 miles by water from the main part of the lake and we drove out to that taking in the beautiful lake scenery along the way. Very little is built down on the water. . . maybe a house or two that were "grandfathered" in when the lake was built. They are now allowing building up on the ridges overlooking the lake and it is interesting to see what has been built since last year. We took a ride over to Wisdom Dock thinking we might have some lunch, but their restaurant is closed during the week right now.

We rode over to Eagle Cove where our friends Carol and Tom moor their houseboat, but it was gone. We figured they were out on the lake somewhere. I called, but had to leave a message. Later when I checked my phone, Carol had left a message telling me where they were docked. We headed back that way and stopped at the state dock for ice cream. While we were there, Carol and Tom drove up in their boat and we all chatted and ate our ice cream. They invited us back to the houseboat so we followed them back and I enjoyed floating around in the water and catching up with the news from the last year. There were several other couples there and we all enjoyed the visit.

Later we headed for home and we were pretty tired by the time we got here. It is super hot here, in the 90's with plenty of humidity with plenty of sun, and that wears a person out. We fixed supper, took showers, and headed to bed.

Yesterday we went out much earlier in the morning to try and get some lake time in before it got really hot. I believe, however, it was hotter than the day before although it was supposed to be a bit cooler. We rode past "Diver's Rock" which usually has more rock visible out of the water as well as a ridge of rock running out to the buoy at the far right. We did some dock hopping, checking out the state dock, Willow Grove, and Mike's Landing at Sulphur Creek before heading for home. Later while we were relaxing in camp, Carol called and invited us to a cookout aboard their houseboat this afternoon. So we are going to eat a light lunch and take off, eventually making our way over to their dock and chilling out with friends. It promises to be a good time!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Dale Hollow Lake, Whoo Hooo!

Before leaving Cincinnati and heading toward the lake, we were treated with this great sunset!

It was a warm day Sunday, but I confess, we spent most of it inside watching three races. But that is what we wanted to do! The first was LeMans, which we just tuned into briefly. But we always enjoy the Indy 500. Wow! What a finish. I truly felt sorry for the rookie who made a small, yet humongous mistake on that last corner. But he did at least finish second, so he has some celebrating to do anyway.

The Nascar race in Charlotte was a nailbiter as well. I really don't have a favorite Nascar driver anymore. I like several of them. I have decided it is more fun to have multiple winners. When one driver wins constantly it takes the fun out of watching. So I was really pulling for Dale, Jr., as he took what should have been his winning victory lap, only to run out of gas between the third and fourth turns. But once again, had he gone in for fuel he would have finished further down the pack, like Biffle did. As it was, he finished seventh and had nothing to apologize for.

It took about five hours to drive over to the lake from Cincinnati. The drive over was pleasant and uneventful. We stopped in Berea, Kentucky, where they have added a new Artisan Center right on I-75. Well you have to get off, but it is right at the intersection. We were looking for a rest area, but it has been taken out. We then saw signs for this Traveler's Center, so decided to go see even though they said no trucks. It reminds me of the Tamarack Center in West Virginia. It is a place to showcase the local artists and the students' work from Berea College. And it happens the site was very accessible to even large RV's with a large RV parking lot. So if you pass by here, be sure to stop and take a break and look at all the area has to offer.

We were curious to see if Lake Cumberland was still low. They are still in the process of rebuilding the dam across the lake. The dam was in danger of collapsing and they have undertaken a multi-year plan of rebuilding it and fixing it so that the dam will remain safe. It is a critical dam in the system that helps to protect Nashville. There is a grand bridge that spans the lake that we travel over. It is very unusual in its construction. In addition, we saw so much traffic coming from the lakes that those heading out were stacked up at the lights for a considerable distance. We were glad we were going the other way!

We decided yesterday morning to shower before leaving Cincinnati. With it being the last day of a holiday weekend, we figured the showers would be pitted out and since we are in water conservation mode there, we would wait until the staff had time to clean them up. That did not go as planned. It was so hot and muggy we were drenched from setting up camp and going and getting the boat out of storage, so we went to the shower house anyway. But, they were fairly clean and we needed a cool shower to sleep good last night.

The lake is still high, and we cannot drive down to the lake to exit as the road is covered with water, but they have marked out part of the parking lot as an exit lane. We have used this before and it works well. This picture is from the bridge overlooking our marina, Sunset Dock.

We are all settled now back in our site with the boat in front. We left the boat buttoned up and will get in there today and get it ready to go out on the lake.

Till next time. . .

Dale

All work and no play. . . .

makes for a dull blog.

We have been working hard over at the apartments. We have several projects we intend to get done this summer and we planned to set the stage for those during May. In addition, I have been working on cleaning the storage condo and getting ready for the kids to visit the end of the month.

Going through 50 years old records! Whew. We have all the records of Terry's parents stored and I am going through them a couple boxes at a time shredding all the paper. I have two shredders set up and when one overheats, I switch to the other one. Between the two of them, I can pretty much shred all day. I have been cleaning out closets and storage bins. We took two truckloads to Good Will and I am working on more boxes. It's crazy when you consider you have done without this stuff for almost six years. By the time I would get around to using it again, it would be obsolete.

I also trimmed about half the shrubs at the condo. That means I did about 22. I still have the rest of them to do around the apartment. Hopefully we will have a cool day in July when I can get that finished. We have one apartment to lease. We have had several calls, but no renter so far. We took the sign down while we are gone and will put it back up when we return.

We left this morning and headed toward Dale Hollow Lake. We are in Cincinnati for the night. . . well, for two nights. This is a great place and we met two other campers before we even got set up. We can wash the coach here, so it looks like we are going to do that tonight. When we leave here we head for the lake. Our site has been underwater, but is now usable. However, they say it is "soggy" which will not work for Phaeton Place. Perhaps by the time we get there it will be okay. But that is only half the story. Our site is situated on a one way road and we cannot turn out of it and go back out the way we came in. The only way out takes you down to the lake to turn and climb back up the hill. There is still water over the road we have to take out of there. So when we get there, we will be taking the truck back to look over the site and assess the situation. We may stay or we may move on down the road. No problem either way. That's what great about fulltiming. . . we can change plans in a heartbeat.

From Dale Hollow Lake, we go on to Nashville to J. Percy Priest lake for a few days, then on to Mississippi for the family reunion. More about all that later.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Life in the fast lane. . .

We are back over here at the Elkhart Campground after a great rally over at the Goshen Fairgrounds. Lots of friends were there and we got to reconnect and met new people as well. We have had a wild week full of fun and unexpected events as well.

Last Saturday we went shopping for clothes. This is something we rarely do, but I was tired of what I was wearing and Terry has lost so much weight that his trousers no longer fit, so we went early and did the deed. We actually found quite a bit of what we wanted and we were able to make some good selections.

We called Aunt Francis while we were eating lunch and asked if we could come visit. Terry's Uncle Bill died a year ago in January and we try to keep in touch with his aunt who has many health challenges of her own. We went over and spent a couple hours with her and talked about her winter and caught up with family news.

Sunday we were just hanging around the motorhome when Aunt Francis called us to say she had heard from relatives in Mississippi that Terry's Aunt "Teen" Earnestine had died Saturday night. She was in a nursing home, but her death was unexpected. She was a sister to Uncle Bill and Terry's Dad, Henry. We talked about going down to Mississippi for the funeral, but there wouldn't be any word until later in the day when that would be. Finally we decided that we wanted to go and it would make sense just to get ready and drive down. We could find out on the way when everything would take place and were sure that we could at least be there for the funeral. Since we were planning on attending a rally at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen starting on Wednesday, We went ahead and closed the motorhome up. We figured that would save us time when we got back on Wednesday because we had to be parked over there by 5 p.m. We got the motorhome all buttoned up and went over to the house to drop off a few things and to tell our manager where we were going. Then we left Goshen about 11:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. It was Mother's Day, but my Mom and Dad and sister were driving back from Texas and they weren't around anyway. While we were on our way down, we heard the calling would be Monday evening and the funeral Tuesday afternoon. That actually fit into our plans nicely.

We drove to Union City, Tennessee, and spent the night. On Monday we drove into Baldwyn, Mississippi, to Uncle Bob's house. He is the surviving brother and he has a huge house and is all by himself. He expected us to stay with him which was great because we enjoy being with him, and I think he was glad for the company. Later in the day we got ready and went to the funeral home. We learned that Aunt Teen's death was very sudden. She had eaten dinner at the nursing home and was exiting the dining hall with her walker. At the door she collapsed and when the staff got to her, she was already gone. Her husband, Uncle Clyde, had lingered with Alzheimer's for years and she always had said she didn't want to do that. While she did have some issues with that same disease, she was not as bad, so she did get her wish in the end. We are thankful for Aunt Teen's life and the fact that she didn't suffer like her dear husband.

The next day was the funeral and we went to that. It was short, but very comforting. The family was invited to a dinner the church was doing and I would have loved to stay, but we needed to get back on the road. We drove the Natchez Trace back to Nashville. Earlier in the spring, the Trace was briefly closed when tornadoes tore through Mississippi and Alabama and downed many trees. We saw the area and I was a little slow getting to the camera, so I just have this one shot. I believe this other field is canola. It was quite beautiful and we saw several like it. We drove all the way to Clarksville, Indiana, stopping around midnight. The next day we awoke early and drove on to Elkhart, getting here about 1 p.m. We drove the motorhome over to the fairgrounds and hoped to take a nap, but there were too many people around that we ended up talking and visiting. However, when we did lay down that evening, there was nothing that would wake us up till morning came.

The rally was lots of fun and we enjoyed eating breakfast with friends every morning. We attended many seminars and got some good information. We ended up with all new lights for in the motorhome. We are replacing the florescent lights that seem to go bad every week with LED bulbs. The light is much brighter and they are supposed to last longer. I hope so. We also bought a new "Brake in a Box." This one is made by Blue Ox. We have had a Brake Buddy for about seven years. We had been happy with it, but we cannot make it work correctly every time anymore. It's a crap shoot whether it will work and we don't like that unreliability. Especially when we go to Virginia every year and traverse mountainous terrain where the extra brake is critical. Brake Buddy has been unhelpful of late, so we switched to a different manufacturer and a different type of system entirely. We are hoping it does well for us.

Friday was a different day for us. We went over to the house and got ready to go out Friday evening. We were headed to Muncie. One of my dear friends is retiring from teaching where I taught and her retirement dinner/celebration was planned. Along the way we stopped in Claypool and saw Mom and Dad who had arrived home on Monday. We visited with them for a couple hours and then visited with Jim and Nita also.

We arrived at the Country Club in time to visit with other colleagues, some retired, some not. It was a great evening. . . much like a reunion really. There were several people retiring and the evening lasted until 10 p.m. We hopped back in the car and drove back to Elkhart, arriving around 12:30 a.m. We were tired, but it was a fun evening and we are glad we made to effort to help our friends celebrate entering the next phase of their lives.

Last evening was the last entertainment at the rally. There was a men's quartet who sang for over an hour. They were exceptional. Known as the "Four Man Fishin' Tackle Choir," they entertained with songs about fishing and hunting. Many were favorites you would recognize, but adapted with lyrics about their favorite sports. The crowd gave them a warm reception and even asked for an encore.

Today we waited until there was a lull in the rain (which has gone on much of the week) and closed up the motorhome, leaving the fairgrounds behind, and returned to "home" over at the Elkhart Campground. When we arrived we saw our friends, Alicia and Roger, checking in. We were already reserved here for the month, so we pulled in past them and were parked when they came back. They are parked right in front of us. We all timed it perfectly because once we got all set up, the rain started again. They are here for a couple days so perhaps if the rain stops, we will get out and talk a bit.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Life of a Slumlord. . .

Just a parting picture of Ronan blowing out his 4th birthday candles!

We left Charlottesville for Indiana as you know from Terry's post. The weather promised rain and some bad wind, but we managed to dodge most of that. Had a little rain, but not too much wind, for which I was thankful. Terry has decided he likes navigating better than driving and that's okay with me, because he is a great navigator. He runs Street Atlas from a netbook and that program is putty in his hands. If there is a detour, etc., he can re-route Phaeton Place quickly and we rarely get slowed down.

The first major mountain we have to climb when we leave Charlottesville is Afton Mountain. We slow down considerably because it is hard to get a fast start climbing it, but a couple days after we left, another RV caught fire climbing this mountain. The pictures show it burning in the rear end, which would signal an engine fire, but I really don't know. We have a fire suppression system in our engine compartment. I don't know if that would have helped, but the main purpose in any fire suppression system in an RV is to allow the occupants enough time to get out. We also have one in the generator compartment and the refrigerator compartment. Anyone who would like information about these can go here for more information.

Normally on the way back from Virginia we spend the night in Gallopolis, Ohio, at the fairgrounds. However, when we tried to stop there on the way down, the grounds were too wet for Phaeton Place; and we ended up driving all the way through West Virginia to get a flat spot to park our rig, there being no places like that in West Virginia. There had been so much more rain that southern Ohio looked pretty much flooded and we didn't even try to park there on the way back. Instead, we stopped at Rocky Creek Camp which is a small camp we have seen for years. It is actually in a little ravine right over the edge of the road and down in the hollow. Since some bad weather was possible, we thought it would be a good place for a night camp. We had full hookups (30 Amp) and a concrete pad to park on which was good. As it was, there was no inclement weather and we had a restful night.

We moved on the next day and stopped at Tab and Deanna's in St. Paris, Ohio. We enjoyed visiting with our friends and we ended up staying for two nights because of wind. They had had a lot of rain as well and more expected. The area where we normally park was much too soft, so we backed up to their former loading dock which has long since been filled in. This was a great place to park except for the fact that we were only about 15 feet from the train tracks. Haha. We normally park on the far side of the building and don't even hear the train. But we certainly did this time. Tab said the train comes around 4 a.m., but that night it was 1:30. Even though we knew it would come and it would be loud, it rattled our teeth and sounded like it was coming straight through the windshield. Not sure we will be selecting site 402 again.

When we did leave there, we had all kinds of storm warnings in the area we intended to travel. So Terry stayed on the netbook and had a window open for the weather channel. He watched the storm cells moving through the various routes and routed me below and beyond the worst storm cells. Having a great navigator is the best. We had a little rain in a couple places and the skies looked dark, but we dodged them all. When we got just east of Ft. Wayne, we had wind, so we decided to jump off of US 30 and run red roads northwest to block most of the wind. We arrived at Elkhart Campground about 1 p.m. and got settled into the camp without any problems.

Since we arrived, we have been working over at the apartments. We have one tenant who moved out the other day and we will have to get that rented. Hopefully that is the only one we will have. Our tenants did a great job of cleaning their place, however, so we can begin the process of re-renting immediately. Things are not going well in Elkhart County again as the fuel prices affect pleasure industries first and RV's are usually the first to get parked when fuel is expensive. There are some layoffs occurring. I just hope it isn't as bad as 2008.

We have been busy cleaning out the basement of the office and clearing out stuff that will never be used. We took one truckload over to Goodwill and are working on another load. We had a lot of trash as well. Hoping to get rid of more stuff.

We have a rally this coming week. I can't wait. It's been a long time since we did our rallies in the spring and I am anxious to do it again.

Till next time. . .

Dale