Holiday Happenings

December 24th, 2017

Our original holiday plans got changed -- instead, we headed to Terrell to visit family, and have our "white elephant" Christmas. We left December 24th, and headed to Terrell. We stopped for lunch in Santo, and made good time, getting to Terrell about 3:30. We were staying at our favorite park in Terrell, Bluebonnet Ridge RV Resort and Cottages.

We arrived and got set up in time to get changed, and then headed to our home church, First United Methodist for the candlelight service. It was great to walk through the doors and see lots of familiar faces. Tony's folks and brother were already there, and we sat with them. Tori, Tony's sister sang a solo during the service. It was very moving.

I forgot to mention, a cold front was also moving in, and it was quite cold when we got out of the church. After church, we headed over to Braums, as they were still open. It was nice to get a burger and shake from Braums since they are not in our neck of the woods. After dinner, we headed home and enjoyed some TV.

Arrival at Bluebonnet Ridge. Even though the office was closed, our reservation packet was waiting, along with 2 cookies.

December 25th, 2017

Today we got up and did a bit of laundry and wrapped our White Elephant gifts. We had plans to do our Christmas with my folks and Tony's family, over at his sister's apartment in Forney. We arrived about 3pm to celebrate with them. We ate, and then played some cards, before swapping our White Elephant gifts. We had a good time and enjoyed Tori's hosting the event.

Dorsey/Lindsey White Elephant Christmas

December 26th, 2017

Today we got up and did some things around the rig, then headed over to my aunt's house in Dallas for Christmas with my side of the family. My cousin Scott was in town, so we especially enjoyed getting to see him. We had a nice potluck meal and enjoyed visiting and unwrapping some gifts my mom brought for folks. We headed home about 9PM.

December 27th, 2017 

Today we had planned to head back home to Cisco, but made arrangements to stay an extra day to spend more time with my folks and my cousin Scott. We met in mesquite for lunch and enjoyed a very long visit, before we headed back so I could do some work for some of my clients.

After I was able to complete the work, we decided to go see" Star Wars, The Last Jedi" at the theater in Terrell. They kept trying to sell us the popcorn-filled Chewbaca head, but we opted for a standard large instead, which came with free refills and no cheesy plastic "thing" to deal with. LOL! The movie was good in many ways, but perplexing in others. We both agreed we'll have to see it again!

December 28th, 2017 

We got up and got packed up, ready to hit the road about 10:30am. We stopped for lunch at the QT in Weatherford for a quick bite, and had an easy drive back to Cisco. We decided to go ahead and run to Cisco to get the trailer inspected, since we need to get our license tag renewed in January, and you must have an inspection to do that. It took about 15 minutes and $7 later, we were back home and set up.

It was a great trip, even though a fairly quick one!

December 30th, 2017 

 We prepared for an arctic cold front that would plummet temps into the teens at night, and cause freezing fog, freezing drizzle and some snow. We had no issues, thankfully, as Tony had our propane tanks filled and our heated hose was doing its job.

December 31st, 2017

We stayed put today, staying warm and staying inside out of the weather. Tony made his famous chili, and we really enjoyed it! We also made two pecan pies, with the gift Tony's mom had given us back a few weeks ago, "Pecan Pie in a Jar."

our home, with a thin layer of ice on everything

ice on the pines

January 1st, 2018

Happy New Years! Today was our 25th wedding anniversary! Unfortunately, due to the weather we didn't get out to celebrate -- We'll do that next week, when we head to the RV show.

Furnace flip

November 28th, 2017

After our RV Tech, Scott Paine, came to review the furnace in November, we found out that Suburban had authorized a replacement unit. Scott came back out to install the new innards into the housing. It did not take him very long, and thank goodness, as the temps were dropping that day to below freezing that night.

He left, and the furnace was producing the "new" smell, typical of a first time use. After running a while, the "new" smell burned off, but the old offensive smell remained, especially after the unit ran a while.

So, we felt there had to be another cause.

December 8th - 9th, 2017

We decided to do some more testing with the ductwork, thinking maybe that was the culprit. Since the area behind the basement wall is fairly easy to work in, we removed the 3 ducts that were in this area. It is called Hi-Tech Duravent M-KC Thermaflex Series Fiberglass Thermaflex Air/HVAC Duct Hose. Unfortunately, we had only one weekend to work on this project, so we opted to try another product, available at the local Home Depot. We picked up the Master Flow Insulated Flexible Duct R6 Silver Jacket, used in standard Heating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. We replaced the ducts and tried again to run the furnace for a while.

Success! The ductwork change made quite a difference. We can still smell the smell, but not so much that it is difficult to breathe or that it gets worse. We ran the furnace over the next week, and it was a great improvement. I think we have solved the issue!

So what caused it? We aren't sure. But we*think* the furnace somehow overheated at some point, some way, causing the burned metallic smell to permeate the silver fiberglass ducts. Or, it could be related to the airflow -- the new vents are more insulated, and thus more efficient. They are pushing out more air into the bedroom, bath and hallway, possibly causing the furnace to perform more efficiently than the old ductwork. Either way, we are happy with the results.

New silver insulated ductwork installed.