baby it's cold outside!

Sunday we cleaned all the snow off the truck, got it warmed up and then drove to Kadinger's shop to help with the float building. We were running a few minutes late and were surprised that we were the first ones there, then I remembered they had cancelled the workshop for this Sunday, DUH!!! :-). We went back home and just hung out for the rest of the day. The temperatures took a big nose dive Sunday night. Luckily I wasn't too busy Monday and was able to hang around the 5th wheel most of the day "working". We drove to Lebanon after getting off work and met up with Suters at the Eagles for BINGO. We had fun catching up with them but none of our group won anything. We made it home shortly after 10pm and pretty much went straight to bed.

Tuesday morning I had several appointments so I got an early start. The thermometer on my car gave me the happy news that it was +8* outside ............. brrrrrrrr!! Matthew and Mandie were in town visiting a friend who was home on leave from the Air Force. They stopped by late in the afternoon and we treated them to supper at Applebee's. They both have to work tomorrow so they left right after we got back to the 5er. We wish they could have stayed longer but we understand.

The 5th wheel has been staying warm and we are comfortable. The slideouts are the coldest areas but this is to be expected since the manufacturers are limited to how much insulation they can seal them up with. We are supplementing the furnace with our electric heaters and have found a pretty good balance between electric heaters/LP furnace settings. One thing is for sure, I absolutely love our heated mattress pad! How did I sleep without one of these modern marvels??!! Rudee usually turns ours on about an hour before bed time and YOWZER it's toasty warm under them there blankets when we crawl in!! Gives a new meaning to being "turned on" :-)

The weather is supposed to warm up some later in the week but it looks like it may be cold again by the week end. I'll keep you posted.

Winter has arrived

A few days ago was the "official" start of winter. Well I'm happy(?) to report that winter has arrived here at the KOA as well. Here is a couple of photos I took this morning out the back window of the 5th wheel of our "winter wonderland".

We had about 2 inches on the ground yesterday morning and most of it melted away by mid afternoon. Another burst of snow covered the drive last evening and then this morning it started snowing pretty heavy and they are predicting an additional 3" before it stops sometime this evening.

We braved the crowds yesterday and headed for the shopping malls (yep we're gluttons for punishment). Our first stop was Wal Mart so Rudee could get her new lenses installed in her glasses. While she was doing that I returned the jeans I got her, they didn't fit :-(

With these chores done we headed to Brownsburg and picked up our skirting that was shipped from the manufacturer in Canada. Wow that box is heavy. We ordered 110' of vinyl skirting which includes the snaps to install it. We also ordered special clamps that attach the bottom of the skirting to frame work made from PVC pipe. We will purchase the PVC pipe locally and construct the frame ourselves.

Rudee bought me a really nice 12V drill for Christmas, probably the best drill I have ever owned. The problem is I use the drill to raise and lower the rear stabilizer jacks on the 5th wheel. You need at least an 18V drill with high torque to accomplish this. The drill she bought for me just didn't have the power I wanted so I took it back to Lowes and went shopping for a different one. I found plenty to choose from and decided on a combination kit that included a 18V drill, circular saw, saws all, and a flashlight. These are all battery operated with 2 batteries and the charger included. The kit even had a large bag to carry everything. I probably did a step down in quality but they should work fine for what I use them for around here. I had a nice circular saw that I sold in one of the garage sales figuring I would not need it. I have had to borrow a circular saw and a saws all two separate times in the last 6 months so I guess I figured wrong :-).

Rudee bought her Dad a new monthly organizer for his birthday so we delivered that to him in Plainfield. We stopped at my Mom's apartment on the way back home and visited her for a few minutes as well.

Back in Crawfordsville Rudee had her shopping list all made and we ended up back at Wal Mart buying groceries. This is about the time the snow started. We came out of the store and it was coming down hard and fast. We decided it was time to head home and stay there! Rudee cooked us up a couple of nice baked potatoes and we topped them with bacon bits, onions, shredded cheese and sour cream, ummmmm good! We had a movie to watch from Netflix and just vegged out in front of the TV for the rest of the night.

The furnace has been working perfectly since I replaced the sail switch. I was worried that it may have a hic up or two when the 100# tank ran dry and it switched to the on board 30# tank. Well that happened sometime Friday night and no problems (ya!!). I had the 100#er refilled here at the KOA and hooked it back up last evening. This larger tank lasts us right at 2 weeks and costs around $80 to fill. Sounds like a lot but we were paying more than that each month for gas in our sticks and bricks home. We were on the budget plan where they average your use out for 12 months and you pay a set amount year round. Now in the 5th wheel we pay to refill when we need it, costs more in the winter but almost nothing in the summer months.

We are going to another float building episode this afternoon and of course will have to go out to eat afterwards :-)!! I'll keep you posted.

Merry Christmas

I know I'm a day late but sure didn't want to pass up wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas eve my company shut us down at 11:30 so I got an additional 1/2 day off and was able to get a few errands done. Rudee, on the other hand, had to stay hard at it until her usual quitting time of 4pm. As soon as she was done we loaded up the car with presents and food and headed to her parents house in Plainfield. We stopped in Avon on the way and picked up my Mother so we could spend some Holiday time with her. Rudee's Mom always goes all out for holiday meals and this one was no exception. She had every burner on her stove working and food spread out over every inch of counter space. Rudee has a brother and sister who also live in Plainfield and with all the nieces, nephews as well as all of our clan we ended up with 22 people celebrating together. Our son Matthew had to work and couldn't make the trip from Ohio and we missed seeing him and his girlfriend Mandie.

We enjoyed spending the evening with family and watching the kids open all their presents. We left a little earlier than we normally do (which is a good thing) because we wanted to get my Mom back to her apartment. My brother was picking her up nice and early Christmas morning so she could spend the day at their house.

We made it home about 10:30 and Rudee started getting things ready to take to Amanda and Ryan's house in the morning. She pre-cooked sausage gravy, green bean casserole and a broccoli/cauliflower salad. We decided to exchange our gifts before we went to bed and Rudee liked her shirt, jeans and fuzzy robe I got her. She especially liked the diamond earrings :-). I guess I did good. She got me a book and a new drill which I had been hinting around for. We also opened gifts sent to us by Matthew. He sent Rudee a gift card and I got an updated map SD card for my GPS, cool!!

Christmas morning I was up early and had the coffee made. Amanda called about 7:30 and said the kids were up so we got our showers and headed over. I had loaded all the food and presents into the truck and when we got there I guess some things had shifted in the short trip. Rudee opened the back door and the green bean casserole ended up in the driveway :-(
At least the dish didn't break.

We spent most of the day at the kid's house and after I fell asleep in their recliner Rudee figured it was time to go home. She made plans with Amanda and Avalynn to meet in Crawfordsville and go to the movie. She had gotten a certificate from Disney for a buy one get one free ticket to their new release. I passed on the movie and just hung out at the 5th wheel. They had a good time and even stopped and picked us up a pizza for supper on their way home.

I felt a little blue this Christmas and not really sure why. I guess it could have been from my Father passing away or maybe just all the uncertainty in my life this past year from work. I can't really put my finger on it. I can say this though, I'm confident and dedicated to our plan to retire early and be fulltime RVer's. Sometimes I just get a little impatient that we can't just pull up the jacks and go.

The new skirting arrived at our mail server (UPS store) on Thursday. I wasn't able to check the tracking number until after they closed for the Holiday so I can't pick it up until today. I had hoped to get started installing it this week end but we have snow! Looks like about 2" of the nasty stuff fell overnight. I don't mind it too bad when I don't have to go out and work in it. Hopefully it will all clear off by Monday. I'll keep you posted.

HO HO HO, I can't find a place to park!

Well the Christmas shopping season is in the final mad rush. I got a call from Wal Mart telling me that our lens' we ordered on Saturday were in. Rudee had taken a 1/2 day off to go to Plainfield and help her Mother so I thought I would run into the store and get mine installed after work. When I got to the parking lot the place was packed. I went down several aisles looking for an available space and finally found one way out in the back 40 :-). I hate to see what it's going to look like tomorrow and Thursday since it looks like a lot of people are waiting until the last minute to do their shopping. Christmas has kind of snuck up on us :-).

We have had the occasional overnighter here at the KOA even though they are listed as being closed from November 15 until March 15. The manager lives here behind the office but she doesn't keep any kind of regular hours during the winter so I'm hoping the overnighters are using the after hours drop box and not just freeloading. She does leave the power on in the entire park and we have the water turned on for our row. Besides ourselves there are 2 others here for the winter.

We got a call Sunday from Niles and Deb who made it to Florida without any trouble. Niles called to rub it in and then asked if I could do them a favor. They haul their Goldwing in a cargo trailer behind their 5th wheel and were looking forward to doing a lot of riding, only problem was that Niles had left their helmets sitting in the garage back here in Indiana. I volunteered to drive to their house, through severe blizzard like conditions, pick up their helmets and fight through the holiday traffic to drop them off at the Fedex store. You owe me big time Bro'!! :-)

We are spending Christmas Eve with Rudee's family in Plainfield and then going to Amanda and Ryan's house Christmas day to see what Santa brought the grandkids. We are looking forward to spending time with family and having a 3 day week end as well.

My new skirting is still in transit and may be here tomorrow or Thursday. I'm hoping we can get started installing it this week end, should make for an interesting blog entry. I'll keep you posted.

what's that white stuff ??

We stayed up later than usual watching a really exciting football game Thursday night. The Colts pulled it out late in the 4th quarter and we were both tired at work on Friday!

They were predicting snow for Friday evening and we were expecting 1-2" of the dreaded white stuff. Well the snow didn't come until Saturday morning and was not as bad as predicted. The ground is covered but the roads are all clear. I'm glad we are not further east where they are getting a blizzard with over 2' of snow in places.

We finished up our Christmas shopping on Saturday. We had eye appointments at Wal Mart at 9:30 and decided to let them change the oil on the truck at the same time. Between appointments and doing our shopping it was noon before we left. That's a first for me, spending that much time in a Wal Mart for cripes sake!!

Back at the 5er I watched TV and napped a little. Rudee took off and got her nails and hair done. She was a major Hotty when she got back!!

Sunday we are doing some more float building and hanging out with our friends. I'm sure food will be involved somehow, somewhere :-).

Furnace update: still working like it should, keeping my fingers crossed. I'll keep you posted.

cold again

Well I know you are probably as tired of hearing about my furnace problem as we are having to deal with it. We came home Monday and the furnace started acting up again, same old story, same old codes. I called the mobile RV repair guy first thing Tuesday morning and left him a message. I called again in the afternoon when I didn't hear from him and left him another message. Meanwhile I was able to get the furnace going using the reset/tap on the side technique and we were able to stay reasonably comfortable.

The furnace worked on it's own several times Tuesday night which is a good thing because the outside temperature dropped into the teens. The rv technician only works 1/2 day on Wednesday so I waited until after his 12:30 start time to begin calling again. I never did get through to him and just had to leave messages. We went to the Goldwing meeting Wednesday evening and the temperature inside the 5th wheel was down to 64* when we got home. I got the furnace started up and we quickly warmed up. The furnace came on a few more times during the night but still was not working properly.

I did some research on the internet and talked with a couple of technicians and I came to the conclusion that the sail switch was causing the problem. The way our RV furnaces work is the thermostat sends an electrical signal to the furnace to come on. The blower starts and the air blowing from the fan closes the sail switch which then allows the power to continue to flow through the system so the gas opens and ignites. The sail switch is located inside on the wall of the blower housing which is what I tap on that causes it to start up. The sail switch is just a simple switch with a long "paddle". When the blower starts the wind blows against the paddle closing the switch. When the mobile tech was here a couple of weeks ago he found the paddle was rubbing on the housing causing to drag and maybe stick. Unfortunately he did not replace the switch, just bent the paddle and proclaimed it fixed. I decided to try changing the entire switch as I was convinced this was the problem.

While out doing inspections for work on Thursday I found an RV dealership and they had a replacement sail switch in stock. When I got home I told Rudee I was going to work on the furnace, she gave me a look of terror and pity all wrapped up into one :-).

I already had the outer panel off so I could do my reset/tap maneuver and only had to remove 4 screws to take the blower casing apart. I got to the sail switch fairly easily although they could have made these things with a little more space to work. I removed the old switch and lo and behold one of the contacts was burned. I installed the new switch and plugged the wires back in and put it all together. I had some trouble getting everything aligned in the tiny space but eventually it all went back together. So far it seems to be working. I guess time will tell if all we needed was a $7.00 switch all this time :-(. Here are a couple of photos of the old sail switch.

I have written before about our friends Gail and Gordon Pike who we met in Florida last year. Here is a link to a you tube video of them on stage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx_bgzySpF8 I can't get over how she can sing so "Southern" and talk so "Northern"!! :-)

We are looking forward to watching the Colts play tonight. I doubt if I will be able to stay awake for the whole game but hopefully we will stay warm!! I'll keep you posted.

working away

We spent the day Saturday visiting with my Mom and sister before dropping her off at the airport for her long flight back to Seattle. We had a nice day and the weather even warmed up some.

Sunday we went to help build a float with our Goldwing buddies. Each year the state organization holds two rallies, one in summer and the other in winter. This year's winter gathering will be in Indianapolis. There will be several events, games, seminars and even some vendors. We usually take Friday off from work and make a 3 day week end out of it so we wont miss anything. Saturday night they have the "grand parade" and the individual chapters are encouraged to enter a float. The week end has a different theme each year and this years is "Island Paradise". I see grass skirts and coconut bra's in our future :-). With all that has been going on in our lives we haven't had the chance to help on the project until this weekend. I have to say it's coming along great! The rally is January 22nd and 23rd so we should have no problem finishing it up. I can't post any pictures yet, it's all a big secret since we will be getting judged so I don't want to let the cat out of bag just yet :-).

I'm a little bummed out that I have not been able to watch an entire Colts game yet this season. We have always had something going on. I have gotten to see bits and pieces of the games and keep an ear tuned to the radio when they are playing but I need to have a day where I get to sit in my sweat pants and dirty t-shirt and just watch my team!!

Monday after work we drove to Sheridan to visit the funeral home there. One of our riding buddies lost her brother and we went to pay our respects and offer our support. We picked up Niles and Deb on our way and got a chance to visit with them for awhile. Niles is a truck driver hauling grain and has been running 12 hour days 7 days a week for the past several weeks since it's harvest season. He is relieved it's almost through and they are leaving for a well deserved 2 weeks in Florida resting and recuperating. They leave Saturday morning and are really looking forward to their trip.

I ordered our new skirting material yesterday and it was shipped today. We are hoping it gets here before the week end so we can install it. I'll keep you posted.

The frost is on the pumpkin!

This week the weather has been brutal. The temperature dropped into the single digits, the wind howled and we had some snow. I finished up the home made skirting Tuesday evening and we both think it helped keep things warmed up by blocking the wind from under our RV. Wednesday the snow arrived and then the winds hit with a vengeance. 30 mph winds with gusts 50+ mph!! Needless to say several of my pieces of skirting didn't survive :-(

I was worried that we would have some freezing problems but I'm happy to report that all our utilities are working like they should. Here is what I have done so far.

1. Pirit heated hose for water supply. http://www.pirithose.com/

2. PVC sewer pipe ran at a good angle for proper flow instead of the slinky type plastic sewer hose.

3. portable heater plugged into a thermostat controlled plug in and placed in the basement to guard against freezing in case the furnace goes out. http://www.thermocube.com/

4. Vinyl skirting for the 5th wheel overhang (car port for the bike).

Inside the 5er besides the on board furnace we have a Infrared heater and 2 ceramic cube style heaters that we use to help maintain a comfortable temperature. https://www.iheaters.com/

We have been staying comfortable and the furnace is hanging in there (keeping my fingers crossed).

Our king size bed really takes up a lot of room and after reading on the Montana Owners forum that several had reverted back to queen beds we decided to make the change as well. We went to the local furniture store that advertised Tempurpedic beds and looked them over. We had decided on buying a memory foam bed. We had thought about an air bed but there are no outlets convenient to the bed. We tried out several foam mattress' and finally decided on one and arranged for delivery. I borrowed a saw from Mike Kadinger and cut the bed platform down to size. The delivery truck showed up right on time and the guys carried the old mattress out and brought the new one in and set it up. Wow what a difference. Not only do we have more room to walk around the bed but it is a lot more comfortable as well.

I have some different ideas on replacing the blown away skirting so stay tuned. We take my sister to the airport tomorrow evening for her flight back to Seattle. Not sure what other mischief we'll get into. I'll keep you posted.

catching up

The last several days have been a whirlwind and hopefully things will start to get back to "normal" soon.

Saturday morning I made a trip to Home Depot and bought several 8x10 sheets of foam board to use as skirting around the 5th wheel. Rudee and the rest of the "girls" took my Mom shopping for an outfit to wear tomorrow. When I got back I started measuring, trimming and installing my home made skirting panels. It was really cold and I had to stop several times to go inside so my hands could warm up. I got about 3/4 done and ran out of daylight so I will have to finish later in the week.

Sunday was my fathers memorial service. The family all arrived at 12:30 and everything was set to go. The folks at the mortuary really did a great job for us. The people started arriving at 1pm and there was a steady stream until well after 3pm. We got to visit with old friends and relatives we had not seen in a while. I really appreciate all of our friends coming to give us their support, it sure means a lot to Rudee and I.

After the services our whole family loaded up in our cars and went to Pizza Hut for dinner. My Mom and Dad ate here all the time before moving to Florida. We all sat at a long table and really enjoyed ourselves. My Mom did get a little confused and at one point asked"where is my husband at?". Broke my heart. Rudee explained that he had passed away and was in heaven, She said she remembered but it felt funny that he wasn't here. I guess we need to expect these things, I have even caught myself picking up the phone to call him and talk about the weather or something and I don't have the excuse of Alzheimer's.

Our son Matthew arrived Saturday and has been sleeping on our couch so Monday Amanda came over and we took them out for breakfast. Since we were not sure we would be seeing Matthew again until after Christmas we decided to surprise him with his gift. We had planned to buy him a new TV since his was on it's last leg and Amanda wanted a camcorder so we took them to Wal Mart and let them pick out the ones they wanted (within a certain budget of course!!). Matthew's girlfriend Mandie joined us after our shopping spree and we all headed for my Mom's where she was able to meet her as well as my sister and niece. We visited at my Mom's for awhile and finally headed back to the 5th wheel and ordered Pizza for supper.

Tuesday it was back to work for both of us. Monday morning we had about 1 1/2" of snow and there were wrecks everywhere so it looks like it's going to be a busy week for me.

Furnace Update. I caught up with the RV repairman Saturday morning and he actually showed up at the KOA to fix my furnace!! He took the blower casing off and found that the "sail switch" had been rubbing on the casing and sticking causing our intermittent problems. My tapping on the outside of it would cause the switch to be "unstuck" and then the furnace would work. He repositioned the switch and it has worked fine ever since. Maybe it's finally fixed!! I'll keep you posted.

Goldwing fixed at least :-(

Well you can probably figure out from the title of this post compared to yesterdays that the furnace is acting up again. Rudee and I are both off work today so we can get errands done in preparation for my Dad's funeral on Sunday. We headed to Lebanon and stopped at my Doctors office first thing. I was getting some blood drawn to monitor my thyroid. I do this about every 6-8 months so my M.D., Dr. Park, can adjust my meds if needed. I don't mind getting blood drawn, beats a colonoscopy but the discomfort is about the same. Just a big pain in the butt!! :-).

We grabbed breakfast and then went to the florist and picked out the flowers for Sunday. Rudee suggested we take the time and stop in to the BMV and get our address changed on our drivers license. We also wanted to update our weights too :-). When we were down in Florida we went to my parents bank where they had a safe deposit box that we needed to empty and close out. I had to show my I.D. (drivers license) to the gal there. She looked at the license then at me then back at the license and then looked back at me and finally asked if I had any other I.D. because I looked so different. It took one of the other employees vouching for me who had seen me in with my Mom the prior day before she would let me open the box. We figured we better get new photos taken. :-)

We headed back home and found that the furnace was out again. I took off the cover and the light was flashing the code for the limit switch/air flow problem. Looks like the circuit board didn't solve our problem. I called the repair man and he was going to call Atwood who makes the furnace and discuss it with them. He called me back in a few minutes and said they thought it was a "sail" switch which is inside the blower housing and he would be out in a little while to fix it. I told him we would have to be leaving and he said "no problem, everything I need is on the outside". We were going to the airport to pick up my Sister and brother in law who were flying in from Seattle. Rudee followed me to Indianapolis in my parents car which Frank and Paula were going to use while they were in town. Once we picked them up we stopped and got a quick bite to eat since they hadn't had a "real" meal all day.

We parted ways with Paula and Frank as they headed for his fathers house and we had a party to attend. Tonight was the Goldwing Chapters annual Christmas Dinner. We were running late but made it before the catered dinner was served and even had a few minutes to visit before dinner. We always have a good time with our biking friends. We have a small gift exchange at the party where each person who brings a gift gets a raffle ticket. They then get the gift that has the corresponding ticket on it. After all the gifts are handed out you get three minutes to trade your gift with someone elses. The traders get pretty funny and the only rule is you can't take back a gift from the person who took it from you. We always have a great time running all over the room "stealing" gifts. Once the time keeper yells stop we all open our presents and then go around the room showing everyone what we got. This year I got a hand made wooden pen in a nice wooden gift box and some peanut brittle. Rudee got 25 gold dollar coins all wrapped individually. We were both happy with our gifts and enjoyed our evening.

We made it back home around 11:00 and guess what?? Yep you are right, furnace was out. I had left the cover off so the tech could do his magic and the cover was still off which means it looks like he didn't even show up!! You would think this guy would at least call and let us know if he can't make it. He does work on Saturday so I guess I get to go and chase him down again tomorrow. I did get the furnace going again, just takes a rap on the blower case with a screw driver. Maybe if I wrap up in enough blankets I can sleep outside under the furnace door with my screw driver in hand so I can beat the heck out of it all night!! Is there no end to this furnace saga?? I'll keep you posted.

Furnace and Goldwing fixed!

We have been spending the week trying to get back into the groove. I got a call Monday morning from Grumpy telling me that we have a head gasket leaking on the Goldwing and he should have it done later in the day. I made arrangements to pick it up late on Tuesday since we had an appointment at the funeral home after work Monday. We met with the folks at Myers Mortuary and made the final arrangements for my Dad's showing/funeral. We also started the process of pre-planning and paying for services for my Mom when the time comes. Hopefully we can save ourselves some difficulties by getting things done now.

Tuesday morning we got a call from the mobile RV repairman and he told us he would be out this afternoon to fix the furnace. I told him about the new "code" and how it was acting and he is convinced it is the electrical board and says he has one in stock. When I got home from work he still hadn't shown up or called so Rudee drove me to Thorntown where we paid for and picked up the bike. The weather was cool but not terrible and I had a nice ride back home.

Wednesday morning Rudee started calling the RV guy and leaving messages. He was recommended to us but we are finding out that he is not the best communicator and so far has not followed through on his commitments. I did not have a very good day and was stressed to the max and ready to bust a vessel and finding out the furnace still wasn't getting repaired sent me off the deep end. He has a small shop here in town so I decided to pay him a little visit. Luckily his shop is about 3 miles through town and I had a little time to cool off before arriving. I found him inside on top of a class C motorhome doing some kind of repair to it. I told him who I was and he immediately started in on excuses, couldn't find the right board, had to order the part, UPS hasn't been here yet, yadda yadda yadda. He told me that the part was on the UPS truck and as soon as it was delivered he would come and install it and would call me before 6pm either way. I was a little skeptical but what else could I do. I drove back home and he called about 10 minutes later and said he was on his way. He arrived and not only changed the board but also checked the gas pressure and did the recall work on the refrigerator that I had forgotten about. I felt kind of bad for him because it had started to rain and was turning cold. He finished up around 6:30 and the furnace seemed to be operating like it should, time will tell.

We went to the Wednesday night dinner ride with the Goldwing group which was to Creekside Restaurant here in Crawfordsville. While sitting in the restaurant the rain changed to SNOW. Yuck!! The flakes were huge and the cars were soon covered. The ground was still warm enough that the snow didn't stick but it sure reminded us that winter is just around the corner.

My sister and brother in law are flying in Friday afternoon and we are going to meet them at the airport. Matthew is driving home and will be staying on the couch here in the Monty. My Dad's services are this Sunday and then we can start to work on getting things back to as normal as we can. I'll keep you posted.