Back at our home we watched a little TV and went to bed. I was up early Saturday morning and fixed Rudee a gourmet breakfast of frozen toaster waffles and then we hit the road. Our destination was RV Surplus in Elkhart Indiana. They were only open until noon and we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us so no sleeping in today.
We made good time and arrived shortly after 11:00am. We looked around a little and I picked up a new heavy duty extension cord for our portable heater and 3 vent covers. Once I get the covers installed we can open the vents even when it's raining or when we are running down the road for a little extra air circulation in the 5er. Rudee found the table and we looked it over for any defects. Finding none we started to carry it to the cash register. A nice young man, seeing us struggling trying to pick up the heavy table offered to help. I figured he would take one end and I would take the other but noooooooo! He politely asked this old Dude to step aside and proceeded to lift the table over his head and carry it thru the store. Well alrighty then! Kind of took me down a notch :-).
Hercules carried the table out to our truck and loaded it in the back. Rudee and I covered it with plastic since it had been raining on and off all morning and then we headed out. A couple of years ago we had found a nice little cafe in Elkhart named the "Cock-A-Doodle Cafe" and this is where we headed for lunch. They have the best burgers in the state in my opinion so Rudee and I shared a cheeseburger and fries.
We made it back home by 4pm and moved the table into the 5th wheel. No, I didn't lift it over my head, I may not be the smartest guy in the campground but I do know my limitations! The new table is pretty cool. The top flips up to reveal a deep storage area. Since I use the table as my work station I will be able to put all my work stuff away when I'm done for the day. There is enough room for my lap top, camera, phone and all the chargers and cables. No excuses for a messy desk now!
Amanda had asked Rudee to color her hair and I needed Ryan to do a little welding so we climbed up into the semi and drove to their house. I dropped Rudee off and drove to meet Ryan at his shop at work.
The welding I needed was to attach a nylon hitch plate onto the 5th wheel hitch. The connection between the trucks hitch and the 5th wheel pin and plate needs to have some type of lubrication. Commercial rigs use straight grease which is best but leaves a huge mess. Most 5th wheel owners opt for nylon disks that have a hole for the pin of the 5er and once you slide the pin through, it "grips" the edges by friction that holds it in place on the plate. I have used these in the past with some success but have had them "catch" and bind when hooking up. I opted for a more permanent mounted one that Niles told me about. We both purchased one a couple of years ago and attached them. I really liked the way they performed but I did mess mine up when I didn't raise the 5th wheel up high enough when I hooked on one time and tore mine loose. I found them for sale at a hitch shop in Elkhart last week and picked a new one up. You can see the old damaged one on the hitch in this picture.
Ryan was already at the shop when I arrived. I unpinned the head from the hitch and we carried it in. Ryan had the old one off and welded the new on on in no time. I did take the time to lube all the moving parts and inspect the inner workings of the hitch before putting it back on the truck.
I picked Rudee back up and we headed back to Crawfordsville. We stopped and picked up a pizza on the way home for supper.
Sunday morning Rudee was up and in the shower early. I reminded her it was not a work day and she reminded me it was Sunday and she wanted to go to church! I took a quick shower and we were out the door. The church we attended before we moved is located in Eagletown Indiana and was about 20 miles from our old house making it about 45 miles now. We did have time for breakfast at Flapjack's and still made it with 15 minutes to spare. I must confess it had been a while since we had been to church and it was nice seeing everyone and getting up to speed on all the happenings.
On the way to church we had gotten a call inviting us on a motorcycle ride. Ron and Sandi Mendenhall were getting a ride together to Newport Indiana and we were meeting them at 1:15 south of Crawfordsville. Rudee and I made it home, threw on our biking gear and headed out by 1:00. The gang was waiting on us and we fell into formation. Ron took the lead and we were off. Newport is the county seat of Vermillion County but has to be one of the smallest county seats in the state. Their claim to fame is a large hill on the main street. The story goes that Model A type cars used to have to back up the hill because it was so steep that if they went forward the gas would not flow from the tank to the engine. They have a "hill climb" event that draws old car enthusiasts from all over. The place was truly packed. This was our first time to attend this festival but we had heard about it before. They block off the streets and have vendors of every description for blocks around the town square. On main street they "stage" the cars for the hill climb and one at a time they run as fast as they can up the hill. Here is a photo of the hill and one of the cars building up speed to make the climb.
We had a lot of fun walking around and looking at the old cars as well as seeing them in action climbing the hill.
We sure were busy this past week. Hopefully we can slow down and relax some. We are planning on going to BINGO tomorrow night in Lebanon, maybe we'll win big :-) !! I'll keep you posted
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