A Day In Summerdale, AL

That’s where the Escapees park Rainbow Plantation is.  For SKPs it’s $20 a night for FHU 50 AMP HU.  The sites are all on level (?) ground and a lot are shaded with trees.    They have a club house and a pool for the daring ones.  Their location is out in the farmland and is quiet.  Oh, Carol said more important there’s Line Dancing everyday.  We paid for 3 nights but thinking we should stay here for Halloween vice being on the road.  That would still give us plenty of time to get to Athens, TX for the tow brake appointment next Monday.  It’s 565 miles from here and that’s an easy 3 days of traveling (Fri-Sun).  The weather people are now calling for 100% chance of rain here Friday.  That might change things even more.  I avoid driving in the rain if at all possible.

We went to the local Huddle House for breakfast figuring why not.  I like taters and Carol likes not to cook.  The Huddle House is the capital of getting your taters your way.  They got about dozen or so items you can add to them.  I’m in tater heaven. 

Carol went to Line Dancing for a couple of hours.  I cleaned the bugs off the front end of the Baby.  Maybe the windshield another day.  I moved some “stuff” out of the large bay into small bays.  The big bay can hold 16 big plastic bins, four deep four deep.  I’ve got half of them empty or will be in Livingston.  These two large doors have to open to get to the sliding tray. 

A 90 gallon fresh water tank on the right plus a few soft things that I can fit in there with no problem.  Underneath the slide is a storage area.  Same same on the other side also.  On the left side is just an empty area for other “stuff”.  Kitty litter is in there now but could carry about 6-8 of them or other things of course. I will remove four bins on one side and put the 10X10 tent, fire ring and a 20 lb LP tank.  I might stick a ladder in there somewhere.  I can’t carry a fiberglass ladder in the back.  The stock ladder is way too high on the coach to attach a ladder to it.  I will figure it out in Livingston.

The rest of the afternoon was watching TV and thinking about Alaska.  We are packing as we are going because we are.  There’s not a lot of difference from what we normally carry because we try to always carry what we need thus full timing, not part timing.

See ya…..

More Red Line Roads

Red Line Roads are those roads in like Rand McNally maps that are red.  Not the interstates. They are usually the roads that go thru small towns and real America.  It’s where you see the small shops and eateries or the beaches or the small farms.  The speed limits go up and down along with stop lights.  It’s just another way to see the USA and you don’t have to be in a Chevrolet.  Us old farts remember that TV ad from many years ago – that sang, “see the USA in a Chevrolet”.  OK quick singing it.  I think I hear you.

Before I show you some pictures I have to tell you how the day went.  I called Lazydays Tech info line to find out how to turn on our dash heater because ours wasn’t working.  When I drove big trucks we could turn off the front dash heater in the summer by turning handles (water) under the chassis.  I gave a quick look and didn’t see any.  The tech said there was one on the passenger side up next to the engine.  I looked again and by George there was one.  I turned it in the opposite direction which was only a half of turn.  One hour later going down the road no dash heat. Around lunch time we stopped and I looked again but on the opposite side of the engine.  Wow, another one just like I figured.  I turned it in the opposite direction with confidence.  Down the road we went.  We now have dash heat and is it good.  Of course by now it was time to turn on a little AC which worked fine.  Problem resolved.  The automatic door locks are working again too.  I think it’s a metal contact on the door and door frame might have some goop on it.  The Baby is doing fine with another 250 miles on the odometer for a grand total of 500+ miles.

Whew…what a day…

See ya….

Red Lining It On The Beaches

Tomorrow we go about 225 miles to the SKP park The Plantation via about 200 miles on route 98.  This is a red line road along the beaches most of the way.  Hopefully I will be able to see some new styles of bathing suits along the way. 

We will be able to judge the Baby’s overall fuel mileage by staying on red line roads.  The super highways is where we get the best mileage usually at least in our other RVs.  So, if the red line roads get our worst and it stays 8.5+ that will be real good.  Not knowing more than the Baby has a 100 gallon fuel tank it’s hard to estimate MPG based on the fuel tank gauge at this point.  If I had to pull a number out of a hat it would be 8 MPG right now.

We are heading for Athens, TX to get a M & G tow brake installed ($900) on the Jeep by the manufacture of them.  We got an appointment for Monday morning 4 November.  We will spend Sunday night on their property with 30 AMP hook up.  We should be done by noon and be in Livingston later that day.

Gas in Livingston is now under $3 a gallon….yea.  Diesel is running in the $3.60s.

I got lost a little there so back to today…….a walk across the street and  

On the bottom these are what I call site lights.  The can only be turned on while parked with the key off.

These awning lights are nice at night.

See ya…..

On Our Way Via Red Line Roads

Friday we continued to have a real nice time hanging around Larry & Marilyn and their friends at Sumter Oaks.  That evening we invited Larry & Marilyn over for a pulled pork dinner.  They were our first guests over for dinner.  We all had a real good time.

Saturday we left about 8:30 AM.  We even hooked up the electrical chord for the tow behind this time.  Larry & Marilyn suggested we take several routes since we said we wanted to take the red line roads.  They suggested routes 27 to 98 and we did.  Nice red line roads.   

250 miles later we arrived at Carrabelle Beach Resort.  We got a coupon from Lazydays for 2 free nights so what the hell.  It’s $43 a night normally.  No sales pitch either.    

After setting up we realized that we lost a front hub cap off the Baby.  It’s the same one that Lazydays replaced because it was dented.  Our automatic door lock due hickeys won’t work.  They worked yesterday.  I figure it’s a loose wire somewhere.  What’s more important is that our dash heater didn’t work.  I will call Winnebago Monday and see who’s on first.

Here’s our site.  We drove forward into the sight as required.  That was weird.  That’s the Gulf of Mexico on the other side of those trees.

Think I will put my tiger striped speed O on and go for a dip..

See ya

It’s So Nice….Fulltiming

What is…..this lifestyle of living in a RV and traveling around, going wherever, staying as short/long as you want, making new friends, see old friends, seeing/visiting places that are sometimes off the beaten path and seeing famous tourist areas before the heavy season or just afterwards.  And don’t forget the ability of seeing the difference in work ethic/costs of repair shops across the country.  Plus, when you get lonely and want to see some old surroundings you can always go to WalMart.

This vehicle tag says it all.  Click on the picture to enlarge it.

A bunch of us SKPs (11) went to Oakwood BBQ place for dinner.  Wow, the best ribs I’ve ever had hands down.  The cooked in flavor was not over powering and a BBQ sauce was not needed.  I will have to try their pulled pork next time.  Carol ate a 1/2 rack of baby back ribs.  Damn there went my left overs from her dinner.  Larry & Marilyn bought our dinners and thanks guys.  I guess they know we are now broke due to our new Baby.  It’s a cute little thing.

Earlier in the day I cleaned the front of the Jeep and the rear of the Baby due to the continued Hydraulic fluid leak.  I drained some more fluid off to just above the line that says minimum cold.

Here I am with a couple of buddies, Denny, Ed and Larry.

I thought Texas had large Lilly pads.  I wonder if there is a nuclear plant around here.  These things were huge.

Damn, I don’t get my head rubbed like that.

Pics around the park…

Escapees just added a weigh station here.  It will be up and running soon.

Tomorrow, I mean Saturday, we head for the SKP park Plantation in southern Alabama.  Don’t know if the Baby can travel 450 miles in one day yet. 

See ya…..