Thursday, December 8th - A Dry Day

 No rain today, but no sun either. Even without any sun the high was in the high 70's, and it is humid. We ran the dash AC most of the day. When we stopped at the campground one of the first items on the agenda was to start to rear AC. The engine does a fine job of keeping the bedroom warm.

We are spending the night at the Country Living Campground just south of El Dorado, AR, 336 miles from Red Bay, AL. We stopped and topped off our fuel, 76 gallons worth, at a station where diesel was "only" $4.39. Later we saw it for $4.19 at another station, but one we couldn't have gotten in and out of with the RV. We have put 875 miles on the coach since leaving Centertown.

Today we drove 62 more miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway. The pavement is in decent shape and there is very little traffic. The scenery is nice, but not spectacular like on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I wonder if the construction project was just another federal give away to buy some favors from MS & TN people who were in Congress at the time. There seems to be more than one bridge every mile (country roads, creeks, dirt tracks, etc.), and the Trace is 444 miles long. If the idea was to remember the "Kaintucks" who walked the Trail then a simple hiking trail would seem to have been adequate, maybe similar to Katy Trail. 

It was very  cloudy all day, until right at sunset. The sun popped through the clouds like a big orange ball. I didn't get a photo of it but did get pictures when it was almost behind the distant treeline.

The "official" official sunset here was 5:02PM. We arrived at the campground a few minutes after than. By 5:30 I needed a flashlight to see what I was doing while finishing hooking up the utilities.

The "campground" is more of a trailer park. I didn't have much of a chance to look around but it appears that many of the folks here are permanent residents.

After supper I searched for campgrounds west of Fort Worth. Of the four that looked most interesting two are booked full and one had one space left. I have to call the 4th one to check to see if they have a vacancy. I guess weekend campsites are a problem even in December. Friday/Saturday high/lows in Dallas are 48/38 & 43/40, a little on the chilly side.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you.

Wednesday, December 7th - The Anneiversary of Japan Bombing Pearl Harbor

 "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy." Franklin Roosevelt

It is a day that we should all remember, the day a sneak attack by Japan killed 2,400 civilian and military personnel. 

We moved from the parking lot back into the shop at 7AM. Bryan and crew completed a few odds and ends and around 8 AM he called a friend who runs a windshield repair shop in Red Bay. AL, to see if we could get in the schedule.

Yesterday, when looking for the leak that allowed small amounts of rain water to collect on our dash, they found that one corner of the windshield had popped out of its retaining gasket. It took 2 tubes of silicone to temporarily seal the leak.

David, at 1st Class Glass in Red Bay said if we arrived by 10 AM he could squeeze us in today.

1st Class Glass in Red Bay, AL. Note the cross.

These benches were quite comfortable. I spent several hours sitting on them visiting with other coach owners. It spit rain on and off but temperatures were in the low 70's.

All 3 of his bays were full. It looks like he is putting an expansion on the back that will double the size of the building. The couples in the other coaches are both full timers.

Next to the building David has a campground that can hold 20 units.

They have "U" shaped elevated platforms and you drive the coach up to where it is almost touching the platform. There are 2 jib cranes with reach enough that each one can reach 2 coaches.

In an hour they had removed the windshield and re-installed it. They did not get it "glued" in place and had to move over to the other coaches. We didn't pull out of the bay until after 3 PM.

We moved over to the campground, hooked up and Kathy started doing laundry. While at Lakeshore we had water and electricity but no sewer.

While the work was ongoing we drove around Red Bay a little and had lunch at a real drive in restaurant, no indoor seating. 

Seeing all the Class A motorhomes here is nothing short of amazing, many hundreds of them here for some type of service. One of the guys I talked to was having Tiffin's Service Center do some work on his 4 year old coach. When he called during the summer he was told that they had a 4 week backlog. When he checked in today he was told that the backlog is still 4 weeks. The service center we saw near us is 3 or 4 blocks long, with door after door, and each door had a coach in it. There are many times more coaches in the town at multiple other RV repair places.

Lord willing we head west in the morning.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Tuesday, December 6th - Shopping in Tupelo

 It was in the high 60's when I got up this morning. We had light rain again during the night. Today's high was in the low 70's and very humid. No rain so far.

We moved the coach to the shop at 7AM. The number of boats and RV's stored at this 4 corners was a surprise when we first came here. Photos of the intersection just down the road from us. 

SW corner

RV campground (4 FHU units) and storage area on SE corner

NW corner

Parked on the west side of us

After dropping the coach off we headed for Tupelo, about 70 miles from the shop. We stopped at Muddy's, in Booneville, MS, for breakfast.

There was an aisle on the other side of this wall. At the beginning of the aisle you placed you order then got your drink and moved to this side of the wall to the seating area. A waitress brought your food to you. We both had a breakfast plate: a biscuit, gravy, scrambled eggs and choice of meat. The gravy was okay, but not nearly as good as Kathy's. The eggs and biscuits were good. My sausage patties and here bacon slices were very good.

The first store we visited in Tupelo was Tuesday morning. By the time we arrived there I needed to relieve myself of the tea I drank early in the morning and the coffee  drank at Muddys. When we parked in front of the store I thought, "How convenient that they post directions to the restrooms right out where people can find them." Note the signs on the columns in front of the store.

Then I realized that Tupelo must be a very politically correct town. They don't care if visitors can find the restrooms, as long as they stay  6' apart while they are searching.

We (Kathy) also stopped at some other stores to check things out. By 11:30 we were ready for lunch. We chose a Mexican place that advertised a buffet. The food was good, but not great.

The tables were great.

On the way back we drove about 35 miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway. We stopped at a visitor center, watched a 15 minute video and visited with the Ranger at the center. The story behind this national park is quite interesting.

The view over 20 Mile Bottoms.

A sign at the overlook

I don't know it the text will be clear enough to be read so I'm including it: Twentymile Bottom, now cultivated, was typical of the many low areas along the streams through which the Natchez Trace passed. In 1812 Reverend John Johnson stopped at Old Factors Stand, near this bottom: "I have this day swam my horse 5 times, bridged one creek, forded several others, besides the swamp we had to wade through. At night we had a shower of rain - took up my usual lodging on the ground in the company with several Indiana." 

Then it was back to Iuka. Kathy checked out a few of the stores and then we headed back to the shop. The repairs guys are done with their list of items, except for a final check. We had noticed a leak from the top of the windshield and asked them to look at it. It looks like the top corner of the windshield has popped out away from the coach. Its beyond what Bryan works on but he has connections with a windshield place in the area. He will call them first thing in the morning to see when they can look at it.

I wore jeans, a tee shirt & flannel shirt today. By mid-afternoon I was ready to shed the flannel shirt. The combination of being in cooler weather the past couple of weeks, the very high humidity and the temperature in the mid-70's made it uncomfortably warm.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Monday, December 5th - Rainy Day

 Overnight low was in the mid 50's. Today's high was 69. Its 56 right now and temperature is on its way up to a high of 73 tomorrow. The downside is that it has been raining, although lightly, since the middle of last night and its supposed to continue doing so all day tomorrow.

We drove the coach over to the shop next door and pulled it inside shortly after 8AM, another coach beat us inside by about 15 minutes. After going over a list of repair items we headed for Red Bay, AL for a tour of the Tiffin plant. I was surprised to see a full house, at least 20 people, there for the tour. The facilities are interesting from many viewpoints. Tiffin has grown a LOT since it started up in 1972, in a single building. As they grew Bob Tiffin bought adjacent structures and turned then into manufacturing facilities. He almost never tore down a building he purchased. Even a church was repurposed and integrated into the facility.

The tour was about 90 minutes long. We were in and out of building after building, in the rain. We got to see virtually every part of coach assembly except the actual final paint job. We were just about rubbing shoulders with the workers as we walked through the buildings, some of the workers smiled and waved at us. Our guides talked about the plant turning out as many as 13 coaches a day, I think that was during the first year of COVID. The economy has really dropped since then. Last week they had to lay off more people and were down to 8 coaches a day. This week only 6 coaches a day are on the schedule.

On our way back we stopped in Belmont, MS for lunch at Sparks Restaurant. You can order off the menu or go through a cafeteria line. We went through the cafeteria line. The food was good, but not great.

After that we drove over to J P Coleman State Park. It is right on the Tennessee River. Its actually more of a lake than a river at this point, since it is just upstream from the Pickwick Dam. The 113' tall, 7,700' long hydroelectric dam opened in 1938 and is owned by the TVA. If we have time we may go over to check it out.

After dropping the coach off at 7AM tomorrow we plan on driving down to Tupelo, MS, about 70 miles, to look around. Bryan, Lakeshore Custom RV, made good progress today but because I added some items to his list they may not finish tomorrow. That isn't a problem for us but he is so busy that I don't want to back him up so that he misses commitments to other people.

An interesting side point. During the tour the guide pointed out that they put the refrigerators into the coaches before they put the slides on. She said it was the only way to get them into the coach. I mentioned that to Bryan and he said it might be true from an assembly line perspective but they don't take slides off to change a refrigerator. They take out the big window in the sidewall by the driver. They also take the door/s off the refrigerator. Four guys can then manhandle a refrigerator through the window.

When we got back to Lakeshore Kathy took a nap in the car while I went into the waiting room and visited with a guy who was waiting on their coach. They have put 90,000 miles on it over the past 9 years. It is their 3rd new, 45' long, tag axle, coach. He retired in 2005. His wife grew up in Iuka. Once the repairs are complete they are headed toward Florida. They will spend the next 4-6 weeks stopping at different event venues they are familiar with. After that they will spend the remainder of the cold weather at a campground about 40 miles west of Orlando. They are/were members of a big Baptist church in Memphis. He had a CDL and often drove one of the churches four 45' buses.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Sunday, December 4th - At Lakeshore Custom RV

 It got down to 30 degrees last night, in Sikeston, better than the past few nights. Its 44 at 7PM here in Iuka. Is is not supposed to get any colder. Tomorrow's high is forecast to be 56. I don't see any more below freezing temps in the forecast. PTL!!

All tires had air in them when I checked them before leaving.

We have traveled 503 miles. There were hundreds (thousands?) of bales of cotton in the fields. Every time we drive through a cotton producing area near harvest time we are amazed at the amount of loose cotton along the roadways.

Once again we stopped at a roadside truck parking area for snacks and hot tea on the way here. It is so nice to be able to pull over, fire up the generator, turn on the heat pumps, fix coffee or tea, take a break and then head on down the road. 

I usually have both my Garmin RV760 and Google Maps set to give us travel directions. Yesterday I couldn't understand why Garmin wanted us to get off at the exit before the campground, and drive local roads to the campground. My phone showed getting off at the exit nearest the campground. We followed my phone. It was wrong. The bridge at the exit was being repaired and southbound traffic couldn't use the the exit. We had to go to the next exit, do a "U turn" and come back.

Today Garmin showed the route in the photo below. Note that it shows 35 miles to Lakeshore. Below is a screenshot from my phone. It shows 11 miles to Lakeshore. We followed the route on the phone, it was right. The difference turned out to be that Garmin thought that we couldn't legally cross a bridge over the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway. The bridge was as wide as most interstate bridges and had no load restrictions posted.

Lakeshore Custom RV

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Saturday, December 3rd - Cool Traveling

It was an interesting morning. Kathy woke me up at 5:30 to tell me the water line must be frozen. Weatherbug had forecast an overnight low of 26, which is not low enough to freeze water lines if you are using some regularly which we did, old people having to use the toilet during the middle of the night 😀. 

By 7:30 AM the temperature had dropped to 20. I think it was 22 degrees when I went out at 5:30, unhooked the hoses and carried the softener inside the coach. We had plenty of fresh water in our tank so it wasn’t a big deal.

Kathy made biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. Some sausage from the hog Kelsey & Andy had recently butchered. YUM, YUM!

By 7:30 we were packed up and on the road to California, MO to get the tire fixed. I had put around 60 psi in it last night and the pressure read about the same this morning. Brockes Tire got us in quickly. Truck tire changing has changed a lot since I used to fix them when I worked at a gas station on the Indiana Toll Road while I was in college. The guy used a cordless 1” drive impact to get the nuts off. He rolled the tire over to a machine that attached to the rim. The machine would move the tire up and down and rotate it. The problem was a valve stem that was leaking (I hope, it was a very slow leak, it hardly made bubbles in  the soap solution). I was watching but didn’t even notice when the machine broke the bead and allowed him to stick a new valve stem through the valve opening. It was SMOOTH. We left Brockes, topped off with fuel, filled the car up with gas and were on the road before 9AM.

For lunch we parked at a weigh station along I55 where Kathy made us spaghetti. The temperature was still below freezing. We let the coach run with the heater on high and I turned on one of the propane furnaces. We never did get the temperature inside the coach warm enough to take off our coats.

We are spending the night at the Hinton RV Park in Sikeston, MO, down in Missouri’s boot heel. We traveled 295 miles today. We are 200 miles from Lakeshore Custom RV where we are having some work done. The current temperature, 4:30PM, is 41, its the highest temp I’ve seen all day. The overnight low is supposed to be 28. There are signs posted at the office asking that people unhook their water hoses during the night. The campground check-in guy politely mentioned it also. This place is right off I55 and near where I57 ties into I55. The host was pleasant. He had us follow his golf cart to our site and spotted us. It’s a nice, level, pull-through, FHU site with cable TV & good WiFi. It’s a good deal for an overnight stay, at $40.50 including taxes & and a Good Sam’s discount. The place we thought about staying in Cape Girardeau was $52.20/night.

The coach on the right has Wisconsin plates and the trailer on the left has Michigan plates.

There are quite a few RV's here. I wonder if a lot of them are staying long term.

Cool windmill.

 Its 6PM. We just finished a good supper. A bacon cheeseburger, potato salad & green beans. I'm wondering if its to early to take a shower and go to bed 😀

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Friday, December 2nd - Tomorrow We Leave, Maybe

 We spent the day today cleaning up around yard and getting things (mostly tools) that I had moved out of the coach back in it. Kathy did cleaning, laundry and shampooed the carpet under the table.

I took the thirty 50 gallon trash bags full of leaves out into the woods and dumped them. (Kathy and I had filled them and used them to "skirt" the coach.)

I also regened our water softener. The well water here is quite hard. I have to manually regen our softener every 6 days. Regening requires mixing 2# of table salt with water to make the brine, disconnecting the softener, slowly pumping the brine backwards through the softener, then flushing it and reconnecting it.

Doesn't sound like a lot but it sure seemed like I was busy all day. 

The final item on my checklist was to check the pressure in the tires. I knew the front tires were a little low. They are supposed to be inflated to 115 psi, and you are supposed to be able to do it using the onboard compressor the provides air pressure for the air brakes. The dash gages indicate an onboard pressure of around 120 psi. The most pressure that I can get in the tires, according to my tire gage, is 110 psi. I borrowed a portable 150 psi compressor from Andy & Kelsey. I managed to get the pressure up to 115 psi, but it took a long time. When checking the rear duals I learned that the drivers side inside dual is flat. BUMMER! I knew that the tire shop I normally use is not open on Saturday. I called one of the other ones in California, MO and asked if they had on-site service on Saturdays. Like virtually everyone in the country he said he is to understaffed to provide Saturday no-site service (so few people want to work)s. He told me he would fix the flat if I drove over to their shop in the morning, about 10 miles. He said that shouldn't hurt the tire. We will see.

The plan was that we would leave mid-morning tomorrow/Saturday, drive to a campground we have stayed at before, in the Cape Gerardo, MO area, about 220 miles; and spend the night there. Sunday we would drive the remaining 225 miles to Lakeshore Custom RV in Iuka, MS and spend the night there. Monday and Tuesday they are scheduled to do some work on our coach.

Having problems like slide motor failures and flat tires (on the car in Traverse City, MI and now on the coach here in Centertown) isn't fun, but.... For years I've had a scripture in my mind, one that I apparently memorized many years ago but forgot the book, chapter and verse. I had been unsuccessful the many  times, I searched different translations looking for it. Yesterday I found it while reading the New Testament portion of my daily "read through the Bible in a year" devotional. 

I always remembered it as, "nothing shall befall you except that which is common to man." From the NET bible, I Corinthians 10:13 reads, "No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it."

While the things we have been faced with are nothing more than inconveniences it does help me to think about this scripture when dealing with them. While here on Earth I will have the same types of problems as everyone else, similar problems for believers and non-believers. The difference is that when I experience those problems, in my experience, God minimized the impact. 

When we had the flat tire on the Flex and had to order a new set of tires, we were at a campground that had enough vacancies so that we could extend our stay. The flat didn't occur when we were towing the Flex behind the motorhome. If it had we might not have known the tire was flat until we saw pieces of it flying off, shredding the fender.

When the slide motor failed we were parked at my Mom's pond. I had plenty of time to figure out the problem and learn how to temporarily lock the slide in for our trip back to Missouri. Not being able to find an RV technician in the entire Jefferson City area who would change the motor was annoying, but it really wasn't that bad of a job for me to change; a learning experience.

The coach not starting when we needed to go get the propane tank filled was a bother but it all worked out OK. They had a guy in the area who stopped by where we are parked and filled up the tank. They don't normally do that, you have to drive to their place. The starting problem turned out to be a blown fuse. I got a service tech from Tiffin on the phone and he directed me to the blown fuse.

Thankfully I checked the tire pressures tonight, I don't always check them when we leave a campground. We could have been a hundred miles from here when the tire came apart because of running it flat.

It will be interesting to see what the Lord has in store for us tomorrow.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.