For those of us who like having a dose of reality, this is what the “Occupy Wall Street” movement is all about. Be sure to scroll down and read Tanja’s comment.
http://minimalistpackrat.com/2011/10/16/occupy-daytona-florida-raise-your-voice/
TTYL,
Linda
I recently saw this amazing video on how to quickly make perfect corn-on-the-cob and had to share it. I know, I’m not supposed to eat corn but I am absolutely going to try this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnBF6bv4Oe4
TTYL,
Linda
Winnebago found a leak! That’s good. Because if they can’t find it they can’t fix it. But find one they did. So they applied some sealant then waited for it to dry so they could test again.
Found another one! So they applied sealant to it. But their work day was ending and the sealant wasn’t dry yet so they came to ask us if we wanted to leave in hopes that it was fixed or stay another night so they could test it tomorrow. We decided to stay.
So the next day they tested that fix and it worked. But, they found a third leak! So they sealed that one, waited for it to dry and tested again. No leak! No more need to put a bowl under the corner of the bedroom slide to catch the rain! Yay!
But, it was once again late afternoon so we stayed one more night then hit the road.
Whoa! Windy! Too windy to be comfortable out here. It was supposed to be mostly a tail wind which we thought might be OK but it was more like passenger-side rear quarter gusts. So, we only drove two hours instead of the four hours we usually do and wound up in Story City, Iowa.
Which turns out to be a good place. Our park is right beside the highway but we picked a spot in it sort of down in a hollow so had very little road noise. Dave said he heard one train during the night but I never heard any. The winds are still blowing but we are not rocking; still we’ll stay here a second night to let the winds die down before getting back on the road south.
We ate a late lunch at the Happy Chef here. They had so many good things on the menu we may go back today. More than once. But, it is not a good stop-on-the-way-with-your-rig place. It has a big sign at the entrance stating the lot’s weight limit. The McDonald’s across the street has truck parking, though, in case you need to stop in this area sometime.
A truck that passed us on the way here said “liquid chicken” on the side of it. Eggs? Chicken broth? What’s your guess?
TTYL,
Linda
One of the things I love about going to the factory for service is they do updates we didn’t know we were in line for. Apparently we are getting a new door lock even though we’ve had no trouble with ours. We have friends who’ve been locked in or out of their RVs when their lock failed but our unit did not show up on the recall list so we did not think we were at risk. Now, for sure, we are not.
As you all know, one the things I don’t like about the factory is that they start at 7 am! I don’t. But, I did today. So when I felt ready for lunch I checked the time and it said 9:30 am! I managed to wait until 11 but I sure blew my eating plan today. And yesterday. And the day before. I’m going to have some remedial work to do here.
The good news, I think, is that they have been able to replicate the leak of our slide. The reason I’m not sure that’s a good thing is that they are now on their second day of trying to stop that leak. I think they have the head slide guy working on it today. I hope that bodes well for a fix.
Although, I’m not sure what we’ll do if they do get it fixed today. Forecasts for the next couple of days is for gusty winds during which we prefer not to be on the road. So, I’m doing my research on lots of potential places to stop. Right now the next storm headed right at us is currently in Des Moines which is the direction we are supposed to head when we leave here. It looks like, if we wait that one out here, we should at least be able to avoid today’s thunderstorms while traveling.
Wish us luck.
TTYL,
Linda
Today started as most of my days do–with me dawdling in bed until my body finally said, “Enough is enough. Get up already!” Soon I was settled into my recliner with my iPad doing my morning weather check which said today’s forecast was sunny with light breezes but tomorrow’s forecast was for thunderstorms with winds gusting to 25 mph. So, I said to Dave that the weather seem to be saying we should go today instead of tomorrow. He said, “Probably,” then added a comment about it being rather late in the day to start since we hadn’t finished the prep work yet.
So, I ate breakfast. He went out and got the car’s hitch from the basement bay where we store it while parked longterm and put it back on the car. Then I did a few things to prepare for moving. And Dave did a few more things to prepare for moving.
Finally, I asked, “Are we going today anyway?” Dave replied, “Probably.” Don’t you love how firmly we make decisions? 🙂
So, Dave called the people who needed to figure out our final electric bill and got that process started and I went on preparing to move. We left the park about 1:45 p.m. Which is not a typical departure time. Most of our RVing friends consider that a typical arrival time. But, we are definitely not typical.
We only made it as far south as Lakeville, Minnesota, which has now become a bedroom community for the Twin Cities, before making our first stop. There’s a Cracker Barrel there and we were ready for lunch. Then we headed on south.Â
As we traveled down the road I saw a billboard for the Diamond Jo Casino saying it was 60 miles away. I read that as 60 miles to the Iowa Welcome Center. Have we driven this road a few times? Yes, we have. Enough to know for a fact that the Diamond Jo is right next door to the Welcome Center where there is good parking, free wifi, and a dump we didn’t need today. But we did stop there for a move-your-body break.
Our first, at least, overnight will be at the Winnebago factory for one last repair. “Wait,” you say. “Didn’t you stop there last spring on you way to Minneapolis?” “Yes, we did.” “Didn’t they fix everything while you were there?” “Yes, they did.” ” So why are you going there now? You’ve been parked all summer. Surely you did’t break anything while parked?” “Yes, we did.”
Here’s the story. First, some background. Our bedroom slide is on the patio side of the RV at my head height. It has corners that can do some nasty damage to heads if the owners of those heads aren’t paying enough attention when walking by. We hosted two picnics at our RV this summer with several of the guests being about my height. So we took a tip from other RVers and cut a swim noodle to make bumpers to wrap around those corners. So far, so good.
Then one night we were awakened during the night by a severe storm with lots of wind. Enough wind to make the bedroom slide bounce. So, still half-asleep, we decided we should pull that slide in. You got it! We forgot about the bumpers. So that slide needs readjusting. Which we feel a need to have done before selling the RV. So off to the factory’s service center we go. It sure has been nice having them so conveniently located for us.
We pulled in just in time to get parked and hook up our power to their 30 amp outlet before it got dark.Â
Thus, ends the first day of our last trip as full timers.
TTYL,
Linda
