Who Would Have Thought a Fish Would Be So Important?

One of the things that Cindy and I did not want to do is lose time that we spent with our grandkids.  We  felt that our travels would take away some of that time, and to an extent , it did.  The flip side of that coin is that the time we spend with our kids and grandkids is more precious than ever, and it was very precious before so that makes it more than golden now. 
I have eluded to the fact that many times in the past I was not there for my kids when I should have been but it seems that my sons and I have grown closer together over the past few years.  While we were out on our previous trip, my oldest son contacted me and asked if I would be interested in going on a float trip with him and my grandson.  I was elated to say the least.  It warms my heart so much when my kids include me in their plans.  Cindy and I got back on June 7 and the float trip was to begin on the 10th.  Cindy elected to stay with the granddaughters for this one so it was just us guys on a float trip with our friends from our church.
We didn't have to go very far, about 120 miles or so to get to the campground. We arrived, second ones to show up and the only ones to have luxury accommodations and not a tent. I proceeded to get set up and Franklin and Ollie went about checking out the river and other things of interest. 
One of the first things my brother, (who's advice I extremely value), told me to get was a surge protector for Matilda, not a cheap one but a good one that would warn me of possible electrical problems before they became my problems.  I must say that his advice really paid off for this campground.  I made my electrical hookup and the warning came across my protector that the polarity was reversed.  I made an attempt to get the campground to correct this but they insisted it would not effect anything.  I have spent enough years dealing with electricity and electronics to know this was not the case, so, when they weren't cooperative, I fixed the problem. 

I finished setting us up and Franklin started preparing our evening meal.  We enjoyed fresh burgers and had a good time just talking and enjoying being together as a family. 
Ollie had been wanting to go fishing since we had arrived so we prepared a rod for him and set it up from an old tackle kit that had been in the garage for about ten years.  I had bought it many years ago and just never had time to use it, the entire thing was still sealed in the package.  We figured that Ollie would be content just putting a hook in the water, we really (me mainly) didn't think that the old tackle would catch any thing but his attention.  We (me) were wrong!  Franklin taught him to cast and he got really good at it real quick.  I was going about finishing up my set up and Franklin was playing his guitar when Ollie began shouting "I got one! I got one!"  I really just figured he had snagged a branch or something but he really had a fish on his line!  His first ever catch was a crappie that was about palm size.  We kept it long enough to get a picture then released it back into the river. 

Franklin preparing dinner



The champion fisherman and his first ever catch!



The fish didn't  stand a chance now!
 

We had a fantastic time with our friends from church and went out on the SAC river the next day.  Ollie was out of the canoe every time it stopped.  He couldn't get enough of the water and we all had a blast floating down the river. 
We finished the 5 and 1/2 mile float late in the afternoon and headed back to camp. Ollie was intent to solidify his claim as master angler so while all the adults were re-cooperating, he went back to his fishing spot and proceeded to catch yet another fish!  He was the only one to catch any fish that weekend and I am proud to say that I was there.  This was a time that we all would remember. 
I close with this  simple thought, time with family is the most important time you can spend, those are the moments that are more precious than gold!

This Ain't Radiator Springs!

It was the morning of May 26th.  We had planned on starting our life of travel on May 21st.  Reality had stepped in and our timeline had to be adjusted.  We had got moved from the house and were living in Matilda in the front yard so that we could get things cleaned up and ready for the new tenants.  During the chaos of getting moved out, Cindy's mom passed away in Lebanon, Missouri so we added one more task to our schedule of thing to get done before we could begin our life of adventure. 
My current plan was to be ready to go on this Thursday morning, drive to Tennessee and get mom's deck built so that we could sit back and relax a bit before heading on to southern Mississippi to visit with my aunt and meet up with my brother and his fantastic spouse.  I woke up to yet another day of rain and found myself with even more to do before we could depart.  I had trailered a skid steer over to the house to help the owner with some drainage work and still had to get it back to the shop before we could leave.  I spent several hours hunting down a trailer to haul it with, finally succeeding about noon.  I transported the skid steer back where it belonged and went back to the house where Brutus, Matilda, Cindy, Dozer and Ginger were all sitting, patiently waiting to see what would be next.

Just a small view of the major drainage excavation at the old house.

 

Finally, about 4 pm, I decided we were heading out. 

Very happy to finally begin our journey!

My co-pilot and seat mate, Dozer

Cindy's seat mate,Ginger

I maneuvered  Brutus under Matilda proceeded to make the connections so that we could embark on the beginning of our new life journey.  I got all connected, went inside to slide the glide in, pushed the button and nothing....no noise, no movement, nothing.  I didn't really want to stand out in the rain and do an electrical diagnosis so I manually activated the room to its closed position, locked it into place and we headed down the road. 

Now, for those of you that aren't in the Kansas City area, it had rained almost every day for two weeks, and today was no exception!  We drove down the road in and out of rain and winds for several hours.  I decided that we were going to stop for the night and wanted to make the stop at a campground.  I had already researched the campgrounds along my route and selected one in Mountain Grove, Missouri, one I had ridden past several times on my motorcycle and one that I had told myself many time that it would be a nice place to camp at sometime.  This would be our very first campground experience in our rig! 

We arrived at Ozark Mountain Springs RV Park and Cabins at about 10 PM.  I have to say that if the staff and accommodations of this campground are indicative of how things are going to be in the future, then things are going to be fantastic!  We were greeted by the most friendly staff that anyone could ask for and we were treated like it was normal check in time and not like we were a burden arriving at some late hour.  They led us to our site and offered any help we might need. 
Now remember, I had manually closed the glide out and really had no idea what was wrong with it other than there was no power.  I pulled into our site, leveled out Matilda, and  now, in my normal, patient and concerned way, proceeded to diagnose the problem so that we could all go to sleep!  I found the culprit in just a few minutes ( I had been  diagnosing theories in my head since we left Kansas City) and found a circuit breaker that some dummy (no names here but let's just say Frank did it) had broken apart because of the way items had been placed in the forward storage area.  Well, I didn't have a spare so I Macgyvered it with my pocket knife and the room slid out into it's living position.  I decided that I just as well do a full set up, to get the hang of it, so I put in all the stabilizers and made all the connections and did it all right.  I finished getting all set up in a fair amount of time and went inside to get some much needed rest.  Cindy, Dozer and Ginger were already asleep.

Now, my intentions were to rise early  and get an early start.  Cindy reminded me that one of the reasons we were entering this new lifestyle was to relax and not be on a schedule, so being the smart individual that I am, I listened to her advice and we had some coffee and fresh muffins provided by the campground.  We took our time getting ready to leave and I broke down the rig, double checked to make sure I had done it correctly and we set off for Tennessee about 1030 in the morning.
We encountered some really severe storms along the way and at one point I pulled off the road into a parking lot because the winds and rains were so bad that I couldn't see the end of the hood on Brutus.  I might add that Cindy again reminded me that we were not on a time schedule and stopping would be OK. 

We made it  to Mom's safe and sound and I proceeded to set up home for the next few days.  We spent Memorial Weekend at Mom's and I fixed her deck for her and did some other repair jobs around her house for her.  Monday we went to dad's grave and in reverence memory shared some time with him.

 
Just down the road from the cemetery was a body shop, in Parsons, Tennessee and that is where I was able to get a picture of Lightning McQueen and Mater.  I would love to hear the story of theses two and how they came to be in Parsons.

Mater and Lightning McQueen

We left Tennessee Tuesday morning, this time I had only suggested a departure time, which I am proud to say, we missed.  We headed on for south Mississippi and my aunt's house.  We arrived safely and got set up in the same spot where Matilda made her first camp with us last year.  I had the slide thing figured out so I wasn't really expecting any difficulties or anything that I would have to fix and was looking forward to just relaxing.  Well, Brutus had decided that he was going to blow power steering fluid out so I had to replace a pressure hose for the power steering.  This was not a big repair but a very necessary one. 
We settled in to our new surroundings that would be home for the next week or so.  Surprisingly, the dogs had adapted to the moving lifestyle as had Cindy and I.  With each passing day I can just feel myself learning to relax and Cindy and I have become closer to each other.  Being in smaller quarters will either make you closer or let you know there are some issues that need to be resolved, we are fortunate that after over 38 years, we became closer.
I'm going to end this post for  now, I hear one of the chairs on the porch calling my name.  I am looking forward to seeing my brother and his lovely wife this upcoming weekend.  It will be a short visit but any time with my brother is valued time for me.  I hope you follow along with us because I definitely feel this is going to be a real fun adventure!

Matilda Update: She Sure Is Looking Fine!

If I must say so myself, I think that for a remodel rookie I have done a fairly good job of making Matilda look better and more modern.  Cindy and I sat down and started thinking and realized that we are in the final days of stationary housing, 27 days to be exact and we are both getting more excited as each day passes.  This won't be a long blog but I did promise an update and some pictures so here goes.
The pictures from my last posting showed the bare floor after being covered in the simulated barn wood.  Since then I have  tinted all the windows in the slide out with a real dark tint, we have fitted new curtains complete with matching sheers.  I even helped with the hand stitching of theses new curtains.  We have added our dining table and my favorite, the new power reclining love seat, complete with center console and cup holders. 
I had to try it out today, just to make sure I would be comfortable and I was not disappointed!  Tomorrow I will be installing the swing out television mounts and one of the TVs.  The time table right now is that we will be transferring things that will be traveling and living with us into  Matilda starting this week.  In order to make moving out easier, we will be getting things out  of the house daily and within two weeks, we will be living in Matilda in the front yard, allowing us to thoroughly clean our rental house.
May 21 will find us camped at my son's house, May 22 will find us on the road, headed for Tennessee!  To make my future blogs more exciting and to share the true grandeur of our traveling scenery, we bought a new camera and Cindy will be taking lots of pictures for me to write about. 
This edition of my blog will end with just some of the final pictures of the results of our labor.  I look forward to writing lots more editions and hope you will travel with us!

The new love seat with the completed curtains.

Our new dining area

You can see the open tinted window in the background

Leveled and stabilized in the front yard

You can't tell much but the new tail  lights are dual LED and are very bright.
Just the beginning of the LED modernization

I had to make sure it was comfortable

And I'm glad to say it is VERY comfortable!

Grandma and grandkid approved!

This area will be the next phase of modernizing Matilda

My view from my side of the loveseat

 
 
 
 

 Here's to many, many happy miles and experiences!

   

Modernizing Matilda!

Well, it's official, I've lost my mind, or so some would think.  A few years back, during a really depressing time in my history, Cindy and I lived in a 28 foot fifth wheel.  Now this may not seem all that bad to most of you but the real downer was that we really didn't have a choice, I was too independent to live with my kids, my situation was my fault and not theirs and this was the best I could do at the time.  It was a nice RV but Cindy and I were not prepared for the change that we had to go through in order to live in this downsized home.  I guess the thing that made it so bad for me is that I knew the fun that could be had in a unit like this, if I had the means to travel around in it instead of just living in it.  I had no truck to pull it and no money to put fuel in a truck if I did have one.
I am extremely happy to report that life and things in general have greatly improved for us, it didn't just happen, I worked for it and now we have the opportunity and the means to travel and have some fun in our lives!
I'm sure you can remember Brutus and Matilda from one of my earlier posts, if not, it will be necessary to go back and read my past posts in order for most anything I write to make sense.  Brutus, my truck, has been made mechanically strong and will undergo some facelift operations this summer.  Matilda, our RV, was in dyer need of a massive facelift to the point of a complete interior modernization.  She was in good shape for an 18 year old, she just needed some classing up and some new make-up.  We were all ready to use her in her current state of being. 
Now this is the part where you may think I have lost my mind.  Cindy and I (yea this was  joint venture into insanity) decided that we wanted to travel again like we did when we both could ride motorcycles, so we have decided to move out of our rental house and become full time RV'ers!  Just imagine, me being turned loose on the open road again. Scary, isn't it.
This change in lifestyle would call for Matilda to get her facelift surgery sooner than I hade previously planned. (In all actuality, I had planned on getting all the life out of her then just trading her off in a few years) 
     Brutus and Matilda

The original plan was to make this change in the spring of 2017.  The one stipulation that Cindy put on this venture was that she have a place to store and do her craft things.  Now for those of you that know Cindy, this would not be a small task, we have one entire room and a 9x12 storage shed that are dedicated to storing her craft material.  My plan was to save up some money and buy a container and fix it up for this.  My son offered to let me set up an RV pad down on his property so we would have a home base.  Having a home base here would allow me to still play in the shop and give us the opportunity to come back and see the family while having a place to set up home.

Well, things got sped up quite a bit when he and his loving wife offered to let her set up shop, so to speak, in their basement.  That was all the inspiration I needed to go ahead and pull the trigger on this new venture!  We have given our landlord notice that we are going to be freebirds on the road and will be vacating our house the end of May, THIS YEAR!  Yep, we moved it up a whole year.

This also meant that Matilda would have to have cosmetic surgery starting NOW!  

Now my brother is the artist with woodwork and fixing up houses and stuff and  there is no one that can do as nice a job as him, he is the best, but since he lives several hundred miles away and the job has to be done, I thought I would try my hand at performing the facelift on Matilda.  Now, I can make anything you want out of metal but my history when working with wood and stuff along those lines has not been very good.  The only thing I can (could) make from wood is toothpicks.  I had to step up to the plate and convince myself that I could do this.

I started one day just ripping things out of Matilda, ripping to the point of no return.  Now I had to do this because this was going to be our home and I had destroyed the interior.  Now I can pretty much do anything I really set my head to, or at least I kept telling myself that as I continued to dismantle the interior.  Matilda had a little wood rot from an old leak that had damaged the interior and ruined one exterior wall on the slide out so I proceeded to remove all the cancerous tissue so that new material could be put in its place.

 I decided to do something so easy that even I couldn't do it wrong so first I changed the vent fan by installing this oversized one.  Then I added an extension arm for the shower curtain so that there was more room for my upper body when I showered.  I managed to get both of these installed correctly thereby building my confidence that I could take on the task at hand and not mess it up too much.

My new high volume vent fan




and shower extension.



With the easy stuff done, it was now time to remove the dining area and the old, very nasty carpet, along with the tile that was in Matilda, then I would get a little braver and start removing the walls and flooring to replace all the damaged wood.    I will have to admit, there were more staples holding all that stuff down than  I could have ever imagined!

                       



I finally got all the old, dead  material removed.  That stuff was really mounted solid and after getting the old carpet out I shoveled out all the dirt and sand that had accumulated on the floor.  Now I proceeded to remove the old, dated interior walls and make my way to replace the damaged exterior panels as well as the flooring and walls of the slide out.

The walls have begun to come down!
 
 

 
I have spent many hours working on the interior of Matilda and still have many to go but I am very pleased with the results.  Ben came over and painted the new wood for me and helped me to reseal the roof.  Matilda is starting to take on an elegance that is befitting for our future home.  I have some upgrades that I am going to make to the chassis and I have new LED tail lights for her.  I also have installed new dump valves for both tanks. 
Cindy and I have picked out a new love seat to put in in front of the long window.  It is an electric recliner zero clearance model and is very comfortable to sit in.  The dining table will be just that, a table with fold down expansions and chairs.  The dining booth is a thing of the past.  We have also picked out some new wall lighting fixtures that will really make her sparkle.  I re-located all the outlets, except one, up higher on the walls so that we don't have to get down on the floor to plug in something.  I am replacing all the cheap paneling style trim with real wood that will be stained.  The new interior color for the slide is a very light shade of blue.  Cindy is going to be in charge of the new curtains and hanging rods.  The piece de resistance, at least for me it is, the new floor that I installed all by myself.  It is a greyish color that is designed to look like re-claimed barn wood, no more carpet for us.
I also changed the toilet in Matilda to a new, high profile (easier for us old people to get up from) that  is not plastic, like the old one but  is actual ceramic, complete with a hand wand for washing, much like a bidet. 
I'll end this post with a few more  pictures and as soon as I'm all done and the new furniture is in, I'll create a new post with final  pictures.
I am really looking forward to writing from the road.  I have already started to layout trips for us, one of which will take us through all 48 states so stay tuned or even become a follower of my blog and maybe you can see the USA through our eyes.

 Ben painting the new walls

My new barn wood floor.  This was a real challenge for me.  It required a lot of patience to make up for my lack of skill and my desire to not waste money by getting in a hurry and ruining the planks.  I am really happy with the end result.