It's time for a change

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Downtown Riverside Park - North Little Rock, AR

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CONTENTS

RV LIFE

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RV LIFE: 
I think fate,  a higher being, bad luck, or who knows is trying to tell us something!
It's time to settle down.  What that means is, we either start staying MUCH longer in one spot or we settle into a house. To be honest, I have only one area of the country I feel  I'd still like to see. That is the upper peninsula area. I'd like to stay around Mackinac Island. That's it!  But, I'm ok if we don't get there also.
We spent way too much time in the desert. We have been in cold weather way too long. As I've said before, I like Winter, just not in an RV. If we were in a house now with a fireplace or wood stove, I'd be happy, and say "Bring on the snow!" But we're in an RV in the cold Winter weather and it totally, sucks!
We've  had a string of bad luck, and I've had it. Stuck in Ft. Stockton for three weeks, and a $16,000. truck repair was  definitely a hard pill to swallow.
The good news is at least we're heading to a part of the country with pine trees and some green.  We're also getting closer to Dina being adopted. That is definitely bitter sweet. It is very difficult to give her up.
Today, we head out of the Dallas area with snow falling, roads icing up. Do you really think Dallas has salt or sand trucks?  Traffic very slow and backed up because of some spin outs by the idiot drivers not used to driving in snow. We are a little more cramped in the truck today. We had to include our African Grey parrot to our passenger list. Since rescuing Dina, we've left the bird in the RV during travel. She seems to do fine. Although, we thought we lost her when we drove with black exhaust. We opened the RV and the fumes were very strong. We got Swayze out and she was fine. When we arrived yesterday. The inside temp of the RV was only 36!  Much too cold for a parrot. But again, she seemed fine. We're not taking chances today. She'll stay in the small dog crate between Scott and I in the front seat, and the three dogs in the back seat.
The normal temp for this area at this time of year is 59°, this morning it was 18°.
While closing the slides this morning, one hit a small table which turned it sideways, which then moved the recliner, which then got in the way of the other slide. CRACK! There goes the molding. Put the slides out again to rearrange and secure things again. Now slides back in.
And because of Jay Leno, we broke our TV antenna. We normally watch satellite Direct TV.  But because our stays have been just overnights, we don't bother setting up the dish. Because this is Jay's last week, we didn't want to miss his last shows. So we raised our antenna to catch his show. Since we rarely use the antenna, we forgot to wind it down. Scott thought of it when we reached the exit of the RV park. He got out to wind it down...too late! We must have gone under a low hanging tree. Antenna is bent down. Scott now has to take the ladder off the RV ladder so he can climb up to the roof. With our luck lately, the antenna probably ripped a hole in our roof, or worse yet, Scott will slip off!  10 minutes later, Scott returns. He's ok, the roof is ok, and the antenna may be able to be easily fixed.
Again, thank goodness for this blog which is a great outlet to release my negativity.
Here's Scott's version of events...
"We must have really pissed off the FFoF. (Fickle Finger of Fate) We over-nighted in Grand Prairie, TX and with-stood one of their coldest nights. About 18 deg with a wind chill of who knows what. We woke to snow. Dallas people don't handle snow well. Our neighbor told us our planned route was completely blocked by accidents. A dusting of snow and they all go nuts. So, we pack up, check everything, we think, and hit the road, planning on taking the long way around Dallas. Problem? We had wanted to see Leno last night, being this is his last week. So, we'd raised our antenna for the 1st time in about 2 years. Naturally, we forgot it was up. This was also the 1st campground we'd been in with trees in I don't know how long. As we got to the exit of the campground, it hit me. Debbie? Did you lower the antenna? Deb, "huh"? Yeah, the antenna was busted, nailed by the first tree we'd camped under in months. As I climbed the ice covered ladder, onto the snow covered roof, I thought, this is it. I'm going to side off the roof and die. I survived the roof, but the antenna is dead. Luckily, no roof damage on my quick inspection. So, antenna removed, we hit the road. We managed to make it thru Dallas and the ice and snow, and arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas at 5:40 PM, in one piece ( 2, if you count the busted antenna). On the plus side, the truck ran great. :) From now on we, meaning Debbie, will be checking our "packing up" list before we we hit the road. Tomorrow, on to Lawrenceburg, TN, and Dina's transport."

On to better days ahead, I hope!