Saturday was blog posting day and I hope you enjoyed it. Saturday was a bit of pittling as we recovered from the previous nights frivolities of CO detector, awaken dogs, and generally not sleeping well. Did run a generator test and apparently all is well. My guess is that we were low on fuel and with the constant shaking from the rough roads, the 1/4 tank check valve somehow managed to remain closed. This lead to fuel starvation in the generator so hopefully we’ll be all right for the remainder of the trip.
Still trying to wrap my head around missing out on Arizona this winter, but I guess it will be for the best. Our Canadian Connection are such wonderful friends and miss them terribly. So looked forward to learning face to face their adventures and although facetime is certainly a good exchange, it will never replace face to face friendships. It will be nice to be around our Brownsville Clan though as I recover from the rebuilding of my right leg.
But enough whining, let’s get back to the business at hand. We’re heading to Gallup NM today as we make a series of one night stands enroute to OKC. From there it’s through Arkansas to one of our favorite parks in West Memphis, AR, Tom Saywer’s resort. It’s right on the Mississippi River and it takes serenity to a whole new level. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Vicki spent the cool part of the day cleaning the inside of the rig whilst I troubleshot the generator. Then we went to Wally World to grab a few things. Had a nice lunch and for supper it was grilled chicken, sweet potato o’brien with onions and sweet pepper. Note to self, Skinny Girl salad dressing is a hard pass. Watched the Mariners lose a close game to the Astros and then caught up with one of our favorite shows Outlander. After watching it though I feel the need to speak with a Scottish accent. Acchh! Not much else to report, other than the fact that we’re still loving retirement.
Thursday meant an arrival in OKC after a 250 mile drive from Amarillo. Tuesday we were in Cline’s Corners just outside of Morarity NM. After a hot drive from Gallup due to the fact the generator was still not working, we arrived and intended to fill up with propane at Cline’s Corners. You’d think an RV park with a gas station designed for RVers would have propane, but NNNOOOOOOOO. The nearest propane station was back 20 miles in Moriarity. So we unhooked the car and drove back the 20 miles to refill the propane. Surprisingly it only took 12 gallons to fill. While I have a 26 gallon tank. Hopefully nothing is wrong with the system, but that is another honey do list item. Got up early with the time change from PDT to MDT and headed to Amarillo.
The route to Amarillo was a bit cooler as the sun was blocked by clouds most of the trip. We stayed at the AOK RV park and while it wasn’t much to look at, the price of $17 for the night with FHU to include 50 amps made the uncut grass and dirt/gravel pull thru worth the stop. No freeway noise and no one basically to speak of. We headed to OKC at around 6 am and it was all ready getting hot!
Upon arrival Vicki laid out a three pronged ultimate. 1. Get out and under the coach and fix the generator. 2. Find someone to fix the generator. 3. We are going to buy a new coach if you can’t do the first 2. So after cooling off for 20 minutes, it was onto the phone and I was fortunate enough to find a wonderful repair guy who squeezed us into his schedule. We had to run across OKC to get a new Fuel pump for the generator and then had Brandon the repair guy replace the fuel filter and the fuel pump on the generator. We had to pay him premium time, but as hot as it was, 95+ degrees, it was worth every penny. The generator ran for an hour under full load, (Both AC, refrigerator, microwave, and TV) So we should be good going down the road. We concluded that either the fuel pump or the fuel filter were clogged with some sort of debris and when the tech installed the new pump and filter, it solved the problem. So much cheaper than buying a new rig for sure!
Today we are gong to see Vicki’s baby aunt Teresa so it will be fun catching up with them as we missed them when we came through last time. Not too much else to report, but we are still loving retirement.
Thursday brought another great day of retirement albeit really hot here in OKC. The day started out marvelously with a mug of fresh coffee, a rocking chair outside the rig and my lovely bride. After a second cup we got up and cleaned half the rig with waterless cleaner and at least half of it looks good. Tomorrow we’ll attack the other side.
We then went over to Vicki’s aunt Teresa’s daughter’s house and had a wonderful visit. Then went to lunch for Mexican food. A bit off of Weight Watchers but very delicious none the less. We then made a grocery run in Midwest City. We’ve refilled the pantry so should be good for another week. After unloading we decided that we were going to go look at a couple of RVs that Vicki had found online. One problem we discovered, we made an assumption of where it was located. We initially thought the rig was in Norman OK, just down the road. Were we wrong!!! It was located basically in Tulsa about 90 miles away! So, after 90 miles and a toll road, we arrived at the dealership.
Must say, pictures lie!!! What looked to be a great deal was actually a piece of junk on consignment. The other frustrating part was that the coach’s batteries were dead and so we couldn’t even start the coach. Also since it was 95 degrees outside, the coach inside was like 120 inside. It was not conducive to putting an offer in. Grant, the salesman, tried to show us another coach in our price range, but the same conditions appeared in that coach as well. No power, no AC, no sale. Just a heads up to RV sales people, when you have someone who is going to look at a 200K coach, have it prepped and ready for sale. Make sure it starts, the lights work, and make it comfortable for a client to come look at. Don’t make them do all the work, especially if weather conditions make the inside of the coach unbearably hot.
Since we had put in a long drive, we decided to grab a bite of supper on the way home. Had some Oklahoma BBQ from Swabley’s and collapsed with the hounds for the night.
It is Saturday so that means that its time to get this puppy ready for publication. Friday brought good times for all as we got another meaningful visit in with Vicki’s Aunt Teresa. We also were able to run a few errands around Midwest City and OKC. Vicki and Teresa then haunted thrift stores throughout the metro while I enjoyed a bit of man time while watching Gran Terino. Far from politically correct, but still has a powerful message, albeit established in a somewhat crude way. Had some country style ribs for supper and actually got a bike ride in as the weather turned cloudy making it almost bearable to be outside. Still hot and muggy here. The big test will be driving down the road and hopefully seeing the generator perform admirably. Please keep the comments coming on Facebook or on this blog. Love them all, who knows, maybe I’ll somehow convert this into a book, it becomes a bestseller, spends 30 weeks atop the NY Times bestseller list and I carouse with the hoidy toidy types…..Naw, just writing for fun. Still loving retirement.
You sure are getting around. Sounds like it is your cup of tea. Ya gotta be savvy mechanically and that wouldn’t work for us. Keep traveling, as Rick Steeves says.
Hey Fanny!! Thank you for the nice compliment. We are like the old Beach Boy song, I get around! It is so fun seeing the country at a nice pace. Although this trip has certainly been interesting. I am definitely becoming Tim the Toolman Taylor and learning to fix and repair. Glad you’re enjoying the blog and you’re more than welcome to travel vicariously with us!