Back to DFW - if we had no bad luck

Stayed a couple of days longer that we had planned in Lubbock which made it much more difficult to leave.  After spending a month with Wendy, Gerald, and Jake we had come accustom to seeing them almost every day.  Knowing that we will not be seeing them for some months now brought tears to everyone's eyes, but go we must.  There are other grandchildren to visit and friends to see.

We loaded the scooter up the night before we left and that took almost an hour and a half.  The learning curve is not improving very rapidly in that regard.  Surely we will get better.  Pulled out of our spot early on Friday morning and hooked up the truck.  Thankfully we are getting much better at that, although when Dudley went back to make sure everything was in order with the pickup he managed to open the hood instead of disengaging the emergency brake.  It's always something.

Pulled out of Lubbock around 1 PM and headed for DFW.  Not much talking going on.  Sherree was mourning (her words) leaving Jake, Wendy, & Gerald.  About and hour and a half from Ft. Worth, we noticed the temperature gauge on the MH seemed to go higher each time we started up even the slightest incline, but would drop as soon as we leveled off or started down an incline.  At one time it touched the red zone and almost reached it on several occasions.  Did we say earlier it was always something?  We came upon an accident as we entered Arlington and were worried that the temperature would really increase in that situation, but it didn't.  Pulled into a Walmart for the evening and called  Coach Net, the road service people, about the temperature issue.  They contacted Freightliner, the chassis and engine manufacture, and they were to call us early Monday morning.   Checked in at Cedar Hill State Park for a few days and that was another adventure.  We had reservations and when we checked it the attendant was real excited about the newly installed full hookups.  He assigned us one that he thought we would like, but we decided to drive the pickup down to take a look before we drove the MH down.  Good thing.  The spot he gave us was barely large enough for a small pop-up much less and 40 ft. MH.  We finally found one that was big enough but it was in the sun with no shade at all.  It was the only one big enough so we took it.  There were signs every where telling everyone that it was chigger season and to take precautions.  We decided to stay out of the grass and walk only on paved surfaces.  Didn't work.  We got chigger bites around our ankles and in some unmentionable places as well.  Itch-scratch-itch-scratch-itch-scratch for the next several days.

Monday morning rolled around and Sherree headed for her Dr.'s appointment while I waited for Freightliner to call.  When she arrived at the Dr.'s office all the computers were down and the Dr. was having to hand write everything.  So much for modern technology.  Her appointment took about an hour longer than normal.  In the meantime Freightliner called, but did not seem too concerned about the overheating problem and said if the engine light did not come on, not to worry.  Now they go the all the trouble to install a temperature gauge with a red line, so one would think that it should not be ignored.  After a short discussion they suggested that I take it to the nearest Freightliner shop, which was very close, and have it checked out.  As is usually the case they could find nothing wrong.  I guess we will drive on and watch for the check engine light.  The warranty is still in affect for another year.

On Wednesday we pulled out of Cedar Hill and headed for the RV dealer to have the radio replaced as well as the light fixture in the living room.  As we headed down highway 360 we saw some debris coming our way.  It looked like a long piece of chrome and I tried to straddle it and it appeared that I did so.  When we pulled into the RV dealer we discovered that I had not been as successful as we had thought.  The debris had put a long scratch along two access doors and almost ripped off the water heater cover.  Our first insurance claim.  Due to time, the dealer could not make the repairs, but did straighten out the water heater door so we could travel.  Will get it repaired in North Carolina when we get there and stay for a few weeks.

Headed out for the nearest Walmart parking lot for the night.  As Sherree was putting out the side, one of the cabinet doors was opened and we did not notice.  As the side came out it caught the door, and fortunately for us, Sherree noticed it before it tore the door off.  It did bend the hinge and the door was then hanging down at a unusual angle.  Back to the RV dealer the next morning.  At least the repairs were made at no cost.  Finally no expenses.

As the old song from Hee Haw says, "If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all."  We are headed to Clarksville, Texas to pick up my sister, Alicia, and her husband, Jamey, to travel with us for a week.  Keep in touch as we head on down the road.

Lubbock - Chapter 3

Returned from Cap Rock Canyon to find a recall notice for our refrigerator.  No problem right?  Wrong!  The instructions called for us to immediately unplug the refrigerator and call a repair service.  Called the manufacture and he gave us 3 local dealers to call.  We called the local Newmar dealer first since we have a Newmar MH but he was less than helpful.  Did not seem too concerned about our plight and said it could take up to 3 weeks to get the part.  Since we are full time that was not acceptable at all.  We called the second dealer on the list and he was able to get the part in a few days.  Lucky for us, Wendy and Gerald had a freezer we could utilize to store our frozen food.  The remainder went into 3 different ice chests.  Lived out of the ice chests for 8 days.  Not fun.  Spent our 42nd anniversary at the dealer getting the frig repaired.  Was supposed to take about an hour.  While it was in the shop, we had to go pick up Wendy and Gerald's car at the airport, since that had flown out that morning to North Carolina to visit our other daughter.  Could not find the ticket to get out of parking lot.  Tried to call Gerald, but they had already taken off.  We looked and looked and Dudley was getting more upset.  Then all of a sudden he discovered he was sitting on it!  Took their car back to their house and went to  pick up the MH.  It was ready.

It had taken about an hour.  Went to leave and Dudley decided to turn the frig on so it would be cooling.  Not happening!  Went back to the service manager and he sent the technician back out to check it.  After doing all the things Dudley had done to turn it on,  he opened up the outside access panel and guess what?  He forgot to plug it back in.  Problem fixed?  Not hardly!  Another technician joined the first and after much head and butt scratching they solved the problem.  Seems the newer models are wired a little differently that the older ones.  Finally fixed and back in business with a fully functioning frig.

Later that day Dudley decided to listen to some music on the radio.  For some reason he could not change the channel.  Every time he tried, he got a message that the channel was locked.  Finally called Jensen, the manufacture, for some technical advise.  After talking with the technician and an engineer they had no explanation of what was causing the problem and no suggestions on how to fix it.  They decided it was a warranty issue and gave us a code to present to a Newmar dealer to have the radio replaced.  That has now been scheduled and will happen when we get back to the DFW area in early June.

We are still having some issues with our new Macbook Pro computer, so we are still needing to use Sherree's little net book and she says is like typing on a bar of soap.   Have scheduled a meeting with the Apple store to have the computer looked at when we get back to DFW.

Weather wise, everything is still totally covered with sticky orange dust....Sherree has given up cleaning....if there is a crack anywhere it will seep in and cover everything...never been in anything like this, she says.  We can't even put out our awning which has a wing sensor...we put it out..the wind blows the sensor pulls it in...we put it out...the wind blows the sensor pulls it in....We gave up.  In all the days we have been here the sky has been blue just once.  We did take one day and washed the MH and the pickup.  Hopefully they will remain clean until we are ready to leave.  The good side of it all is that the evenings are really nice after the sun sets .  Cool and gentle breezes.  Makes up somewhat for the days.

Based on a scooter ride to Ransom Canyon, a housing development east of Lubbock, some local home owners have weird tastes or many just a good sense of humor backed by a lot of money.  See below:

We have had a wonderful time in Lubbock regardless of all the issues.  Spending time with Wendy, Gerald and of course Jake has been great.  We have really bonded with Jake and Sherree and Wendy have enjoyed their Mother and daughter time together.

Lubbock - Chapter 2 - Visiting Caprock Canyon SP

We (including Wendy and her family) decided to take a side trip to Caprock Canyon State Park which is just about 90 miles north of Lubbock.  It was an uneventful drive up.  We did drive through pretty country.  Believe it or not there is some of that here in the vast flat lands of west Texas, when one drops down into some of the canyons.  We had a great time, but of course it did not start out that way.  We had reservations so there was no problem in getting a spot.  We got backed in, sides out, water and electricity hooked up and ready to turn on the AC.  Problem one, only one AC would come on.  Problem two, no electricity anywhere else.  Now what?  After a few %&*$ words and some investigating we discovered that the power pole that was supposed to be a 50 amp service was not working correctly.  One leg of the power was down.  By now we were hot and sweaty,  Jake was ready for a nap, and we were all hungry.    We contacted the park rangers and they came to see if they could make repairs but as our luck would have it, the part they needed was unavailable.  We can operate on 30 amp but only one AC can be run at at time.  We made the best of it and switched over to the lesser service and everything worked out.  It was not so hot that the one AC couldn't cool the MH very well. 

We spent time hiking around the rim of the canyon and with all the wind we spent some time flying a kite.  The following pictures highlight our trip.

First full month in Lubbock - Chapter 1

Well we have just completed our first full month of the full time RV life and we spent the whole month in Lubbock, the oasis of West Texas.  Before I get into our time in Lubbock I need to digress to the trip to Lubbock.

We left Grapevine on Mother's Day for a restful drive west.  Should take  about 6 hours, right?  Wrong!  We stopped at a rest area to stretch our legs and eat lunch.  When we got out we noticed that the scooter was tilting dangerously to the right.  We started to reposition the scooter and things went from bad to worse.  While I tried to hold the scooter upright, Sherree tried to tighten the straps.  Problem was she was outside the bed of the truck and was too short to reach the straps plus she was not familiar with their operation.  Actually I was not familiar with them either.  After much shouting and a few #%&@ words we managed to get everything firmly tied down.  By now Sherree's nice hairdo she had spent so much time on that morning, was not looking to good and she was looking at me with daggers in her eyes.  Not the way she had envisioned spending Mother's Day.  After 7+ hours we pulled into the Loop 289 RV Park in Lubbock.

The park is not much to look at but the people are very nice, it's quite and very clean.  After getting set up we headed to Wendy and Gerald's home to see them and our youngest Grandson, Jake.

Isn't he a cute one.  He has a most engaging smile as you can see.  More about Jake later.

After we settled in, things were going great until Friday morning.  We went to the mall play area to be with Wendy and Jake, but after we were there for about an hour Sherree became sick at her stomach.  We headed back to the RV, and by that afternoon we were at the Grace clinic.  Sherree had become so dehydrated that she could hardly walk.  After a quick examination the Dr. sent her directly to the ER for fluids.   While she was in the ER I went out for a quick burger.  I had not eaten since early that morning.  After retrieving  Sherree from the ER, I got her resting in bed.  Early the next morning, around 3 AM, guess what?  I came down with the same affliction.  Thankfully the ER Dr. had given Sherree a prescription for nausea and I made good use of it.  Suffice to say we stayed in the RV, resting and mostly sleeping all day Saturday and Sunday.  Gerald and Wendy came to our rescue with some jello.  If anyone is ever in Lubbock and becomes ill, I highly recommend the Grace Clinic.

Monday was a much better day and we headed for the Lubbock arboretum.  With the dry spell hanging over this entire area there was not a lot to see but we did get some great pictures.  Enjoy?

Jake really enjoyed the flowers.

 

 

 

and of course we all enjoyed Jake

 

 

 

 

When he is not posing for pictures, he is playing in the dirt.  All boy!

 Stayed tuned for Lubbock - Chapter 2.