Monday, May 20, 2013

More relaxing

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Today, we slept much better, kitties didn't do quite as much exploring during the night. After breakfast, we relaxed and Tony tinkered with the soundbar settings. We even watched some of the local Methodist church service broadcast, and I did a little work on the computer. Mostly, we did not much!

Tony cooked steaks on the grill for lunch, and we enjoyed a little nap and more relaxing. In the afternoon, we decided to make a drive around the park and over to the store. This is a fairly large store for a state park, and they have a lot of neat things. 

(pics here)

We picked up some items and then headed back to our coach. We saw a North Trail that had recently arrived in the smaller sites. We didn't see anyone around and could not see the back of the coach, so we don't know if they were HOC Members or not.

After a little more relaxing, we started to get ready to leave. How did we get so spread out in less than 48 hours? I had put the harnesses on the kitties before we went to the Park store. While we were packing up, we could tell they were a little worried. They don't seem scared or unhappy about the moving process, but they can tell something is "up".  

We took Eileen's picture, and got hooked up and ready to go. Man, was it hot and humid! Where did the Spring go?

(pic here)

We pulled out of the park about 6:45pm and headed home. The kitties fussed as usual, but then about 20 minutes before we were home, they settled down and slept a little.

We got home about 8pm, and realized we only had about 15 minutes before sunset to get the rig into the driveway. I took the boys into the house, and then we got to work. Tony was able to back the coach in, while I watched and warned, in ONE TRY. We had to do some maneuvering after it was in to get it just right for other projects, but hey! A VAST IMPROVEMENT for us! Then, we unloaded. Our next trip is around the corner, so we decided to keep it home, rather than take to storage. So far, no one has complained to the HOA. Not that they should, the coach is far back in our driveway, and we can still park our vehicles in the driveway as well... but we know the rules state it should not be "stored" there. My argument will be, "We aren't storing it, we are working on it!" And, "We are still paying for a storage lot, so obviously this is temporary."

I have to also mention the weather has been challenging the past few weeks... as of this writing, Monday, May 20, there was a devastating tornado through Moore, Oklahoma. Last week, there were some F3 and F4 tornadoes in Grandbury TX and Cleburne, TX. Tomorrow is also supposed to be a severe weather day for our area. Prayers for those dealing with the destruction, and prayers for those in harm's way.


Sunday, May 19, 2013

Lazy Day

Saturday, May 18, 2013

After a toss-and-turn night, with kitties exploring and the AC still working to cool us, we got up and Tony made breakfast. We lounged around the rig most of the day, taking it easy and doing not much!

Kitties enjoyed watching out the windows and snoozing.



Watching the wilderness out the window


Tango using Mambo for a pillow.

Tony cooked out on the grill and we even put the awning out for a bit. The temps are in the high 80s and low 90s, and the humidity is very high, so it's not too much fun to be outside without shade. What happened to Spring?!


In the afternoon, we got an itch to check out a soundbar with subwoofer we were eyeing at online at Walmart, so we drove into Tyler, and looked at it. We ended up getting a newer model of the same brand, and Tony installed it. It fits perfectly under the tv in the space we had... 33.75" x 2.75".

On our way back from Walmart, we drove around the park. Lots of folks here! They've done some improvements to another area of tent and trailer sites since we were here last. Hope they pave the Big Pine Loop (where we like to camp), it needs it!

We had left-over jalapeƱo-cheese sausage from lunch, so that's what we had for dinner. Then we watched The Bourne Identity, which we'd never seen, with the new soundbar. It was much better sound!

After the movie, we hit the hay. Since the rig was cooler now, we didn't have to run the bedroom AC much to be comfortable. I think we all slept better!

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Getaway and Testing

Friday, May 17, 2013

This trip to Tyler State Park was supposed to be last weekend, but we were just too busy to get it together. We also had a few trailer projects and the extra weekend came in handy!

Since we had multiple projects, I'll mention them before talking about the trip. The trip became important, since we needed to test them before our big trip to Indiana, next month.

1. Fireplace - we found an affordable scratch and dent Dimplex electric fireplace on eBay, and it arrived much quicker than expected, so we worked to disassemble the shelf in. The cabinet we wanted it to go into, build a platform, slide it in and secure it.


Fireplace unpacking



Cabinet before

Doors and shelf removed from cabinet... Already pre-wired for fireplace.


Finished install!

The fireplace project went pretty smoothly!

2. We purchased a water filtering system from The RV Filter Store. We had to hook it up and test it, and adapt a plastic tote to house the filters.

Pic here

3. We mounted our bedroom TV to the wall, using a swing-arm bracket I purchased a while back. The Mammoth has a shelf, but was quite an ordeal to pack/unpack the TV every time. This way the TV can stay permanently attached.

4. We switched out our kitchen and bath faucets to ones with better design (a taller arch on the faucet neck) They are the same brand, so we didn't spend too much money. They make a world of difference, making the sinks seem less confining.

Bath sink


Kitchen sink

5. Tony added some eye-hooks in the basement for help in storing things, and some battery powered LED lights into the area behind the basement wall so we can see the water pump and water-heater bypass better.

6. The last "project" was reprinting the 5th wheel hitch in the pickup bed. We removed it and took it apart. I removed stickers, sanded and painted it, including the jaws white, as well as masked the rails in the truck bed and painted them. Reese sent new decals, free, just for asking!


Before


After

(The green is a Teflon hitch pin lube plate. This keeps the 5ver turning smoothly on the hitch. We had this added in Elkhart, IN in March).

So, Friday, we got Mammoth loaded with food and clothes and kitty stuff, and headed to Tyler State Park after Tony got off work. We pulled out about 4:30. Kitties did their usual fussing, but we knew the trip was not too long. We got to the park about 5:45, got checked in and found our site, 44.




After setting up we ate leftover ribs and settled in, watching a little tv and relaxing. The temps were close to 90 with high humidity, so the ACs were running full blast to cool us down.
We headed to bed, and kitties snuggled down with us.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone