Tuesday, June 13, 2017

June 12, Monday In Topeka

We met Sharon's brother Mark and his wife Betty for lunch and then did a little necessary shopping at Walmart afterwards.

HH in the RV park with some fresh frozen Costco salmon on the grill with a nicely chilled Chard.

During the day I made arrangements to meet up with Safe Lite auto glass at the RV park on Tuesday to replace the damaged window.

June 11, Sunday Travel to Topeka

No problems getting here, just a long day.  We are staying at Deer Valley RV Park, just off I70 near the Capitol.  We have stayed here before and it is again a very nice Park, lots of grass and level concrete pads.  You do need reservations, which we have had for about a month.  The people that came in behind us were turned away as the park was completely booked.  Did another stupid, non thinking move.   After parking and unhooking I started backing away with the tail gate still up.  Fortunately I was not going at a high rated of speed, so the damage is barely noticeable.  I plan on getting is taken care of a my favorite junk yard in Albuquerque when we return.

Departure Saturday June 10

We got away from the house at 8:30 headed for Chocktow Casino in Durant Oklahoma.  On the way we stopped at the rest stop just out side Waco and I  thought that I would give the RV park a call and make reservations.  Boy was I surprised, sold out nothing available, bummer.  So we diverted to Ardmore, OK.  Not a big deal, made reservations at an  RV park and took WI35 instead of EI35.  Put the RV park in the GPS and off we went.  Things went well until the GPS took us through down town Ardmore and out into the country down Gene Autry Road on a two lane road.  I new I was in the wrong place and call for directions, I was only about 10 miles off course, seems that I should have turned at exit 24 six miles south of Ardmore.  I tried to find a wide spot to make a U turn, but the spot I found was not wide enough and as I attempted my turn and wasn't paying close enough attention, I turned too sharp and the trailer went into the back window of the cab of the truck.  Very nasty words and I was soo  pissed that I was so stupid as to not avoid the crash, because it was avoidable.  All that behind us we made it to By The Lake RV Park.  It was a great park, built new last August with over 100 pull through sites all concrete and level with a dog park and a swimming pool.  One of the best RV parks we have run on to on the road.





At the RV park a did a little dumpster diving to get some cardboard to cover the window.  With some great engineering and plenty of  duct tape I was able to fabricate a window cover that held up, for the most part, on the trip to Topeka the next day.

Off To A Good Start

Let's start out from the beginning.

Shake down.

Each  year we do a shake down to see if there is anything going wrong with the  RV.  This year we went to the Leander KOA.  Like to do it close to home in case we have any problems.  This year we were joined by Sharon's  friend Andi and her husband David.  They are first time RV owners and have a really good looking Entegra coach.

When we hooked up at the house for some RV packing we noticed we had a leak in the kitchen sink faucet sprayer and all the water pressure was going to the leak, so I turned the water off to the kitchen sink.  We then went looking for a replacement sprayer with no luck.  Ours was a female fitting and the replacements were all male.  Tried to make a cap for the sprayer but the threads would not match.
So we said we would do without the kitchen sink until we could get an RV guy, Rick, out to take a look at it.  We also discovered that we did not have water to the water heater or the frig, for making ice.  A bad situation getting worse.  We went out on Friday and the  RV man did not come until Monday.  So we did some work arounds and a trip back home for a shower.  RV man arrived and determined that the water I shut off to the kitchen sink also controlled the water to the water heater and the frig.  He cut off the defective sprayer, kinked the sprayer hose twice tied clamped it down with and a couple of zip ties and problem solved.  We know had water to the kitchen sink, to the water heater, so hot water was now available and water to the frig, so now ICE for HH.

We had good eats, good HHs and a good shake down with our aggie friends.

As soon as we got away from the RV park we went to Home Depot and bought a brand new non RV construction faucet and called Rick over to install it.  We think the faulty sprayer, make of plastic, was caused by freeze damage.  Now we are ready to go.

We thought.  I went to go pick up the trailer and bring it to the house on Thursday evening, but I couldn't get the front left jack to retract to get the trailer on the truck.  Tried everything I could think of, but nothing.  Called Mr. RV to come and take a look at it the next day.  A really easy fix.  Two wires had come off of the solenoid and Mr. RV reconnected then and everything worked.  The jack solenoid is located in the front storage compartment and with all the stuff I have stored there something must have disconnected the wires.  So hooked up the truck and got it to the house on late Friday morning so we could get it packed up and  ready to go on Saturday morning.