taxes done and didn't even get kissed!

We have been getting a lot of our errands crossed off our list. Monday we were up early and drove to Lebanon so I could get a blood test done. I take thyroid medicine and need a new prescription and they need to "check my levels" before writing the new Rx. I cannot have anything to eat or drink before the test so I was starting to have caffeine withdrawal by the time it was over. :-)
We did a drive through breakfast at Burger King on our way to our next appointment to have our taxes figured. :-o
This took over 2 1/2 hours to get our returns done and has to be the very worst thing involved in our mobile, working, lifestyle. We worked in two different states last year that required we file state returns to them plus we were "self employed" for our stints as gate guards. Couple all that with the fact that I cashed out a small 401K, well lets just say we were expecting the worst. We did do our best to prepare for the "hit" but were worried how big a hit it would be.
We were both pleased to find we got a refund with our federal which almost pays what we owe for our state taxes. Our wallets are not quite as empty as we feared. :-)

Next it was Rudee's turn for her doctors appointment. We had time to do another drive through meal, this time at Mc Donalds. We pulled into the medical building parking lot with 10 minutes to spare! :-)

My plan was to work on the cargo trailer on Tuesday. One of the things I needed were some type of jacks on the rear of the trailer to provide support when unloading the bike when the trailer is not connected to the motor home. Without the jacks the tongue of the trailer would fly up into the air as soon as I tried to go up or down the ramp with the bike. They make a spring loaded, adjustable jack used a lot on pop up campers and a lot of cargo trailers have these. The problem is they are just too long and you often have to drop the front jack all the way down to get the back jacks to fold down to the ground. I have been using a hydraulic bottle jack under the center of the rear end as a temporary support and wasn't sure if I would just continue using it or get the fold down ones that you sometimes have to fight with.
Rob Runion came to the rescue though and had a great idea. Most cars these days have a scissor style jack to use when you have a flat tire and I could mount these on the rear. He grabbed the one out of Jany's car when she wasn't looking and did a "test fitting". We figured out that not only was it possible but looked really nice too. Since Jany probably didn't want to donate her jack to the cause I needed to find a couple at a salvage yard, the cheaper the better. :-)
After Rudee's appointment we drove a few miles north to a small yard I knew about from my old insurance appraiser days. The guy at the desk told us to just start looking in the trunks of the cars "out back" and see if we could find what we wanted and if we did they would be $10 apiece. Cool! We walked around their small lot and quickly found two jacks that fit the bill and I gladly paid them the $20 for two jacks that have probably never been used before. Thanks for the idea Rob!

Rudee decided to spend the night at her Mom's house so I dropped her off there and headed back to the motor home. I made it back just before dark with my Chinese take out in hand. :-)

Tuesday I got up and knew I would have a busy morning. I gathered all the tools I thought I would need and headed for the cargo trailer. I unloaded the bike and got the motorcycle chock into position and then drilled the holes through the floor of the trailer. Since the floor is made of plywood panels I had fashioned pieces of 1/4" steel plates to give the chock more support. I positioned the steel plates underneath the trailer floor and, using the wheel chock bolts, fastened it all together. That sucker aint going anywhere!

My next job was to mount the E-track on the floor. E-track is about a 4" wide and 5' long piece of metal designed with slots cut into it allowing you to lock special D-ring attachments. The slots run the entire 5' length of the E-track allowing you to change the position of the tie downs with ease. I attached the rails through the floor and into the steel floor supports on the trailer using large self tapping screws and then added additional wood screws in between those. All in all it is very secure and I can attach as many straps to the bike as I want to. :-)

In a future blog I'll demonstrate how I like to tie my bike down. I tend to use more straps then others I know (I use 6 ratchet straps) but have found this works well and gives me piece of mind that I am not going to open the trailer door and find the bike on its side. :-o
Once I finished installing all the screws for the e-track it was pushing 11:30 and I was supposed to meet Rudee in Plainfield for lunch. I cleaned up my work area and put all my tools away. The weather man said it was supposed to rain later in the evening but right now the skies were blue and the temps were rising so I decided a bike ride was in order! I grabbed Rudee's helmet and headed for Plainfield. Man it felt good to be back on the bike again. I think we made the right decision to keep it! I'll keep you posted.

it's been a Whirlwind!

Wow what a difference a change of scenery makes. Last week we left the giggle weeds of the Texas oil fields. Our days there consisted of hour upon hour of monotony checking vehicles in and out of the gate. This past week we have tried to catch up with family and friends plus take care of the business and errands we need before heading for the summer to South Dakota. Needless to say, we have been a couple of busy folks.
Thursday morning we were up early and headed the 300 miles to Barberton, Ohio where our Mighty Hauler Motorcycle Lift was built. We were returning it because the steel plates were tearing and the lift was ready to fall off the back of the motor home taking the bike and our towed car with it! They had agreed to return the $$'s I paid for the unit but refused to return the money I paid them for their labor to install it or the costs we incurred for us to get the bike back home and the lift to them. We arrived just after noon and met with Joe the owner. He very briefly looked at the lift and said he would unload it with the fork lift. He gave me a check for the part price and I explained we were still out well over $1200 because of the failure of the lift. He told me he was not liable for any of that because they could not control how the lifts were used once they left his factory. I explained it was used exactly for what it was designed to be used for, showing him pictures of our set up and asking him what he thought could have caused the lift to fail. He still refused and said he was "doing us a favor" by returning our purchase price and said he had no idea why the lift failed and said maybe we "slammed on our brakes too hard". Really??!! I mean you have to be kidding me, right!!?? We presented him with the receipt for the U-haul trailer and after some discussion reluctantly agreed to pay for those fees and wrote us another check. Once the lift was taken from the truck I told him I was giving him one last chance to do the right thing by us and return all the money we paid him, once again he refused saying he was "entitled" to the $800 labor cost because they welded two additional receiver tubes to our hitch and I could get the use out those. I have no idea how I would ever put those to use and, frankly, they make the rear of the motor home look worse than before so I don't see any advantage to having them.
We left it at that and I will explore some options through Good Sam and of course let everyone know just what happened to us and how this company responded to our issues. The Internet is a powerful tool and I am thinking the company has the potential to lose a lot more than my $800 in future profits.

On to better things ...... We have not spent much time hanging around the motor home but have a couple of friends coming to hang out with us this week end. Rudee and I did make a run to Harbor Freight and bought a new wheel chock, trailer dolly and e-track for our new cargo trailer.

I will work on getting those installed this next week and are thinking of options for some shelves and a way to hang some of our motorcycle gear.

Tomorrow is tax day ....... YUCK! I used to do our taxes on the computer using one of those free tax programs but since going full time our taxes are not so cut and dried. We have several 1099's as well as a couple of W2's each and I need some help figuring out what is deductible and what isn't these days so we pay a professional to do our taxes now and our appointment is tomorrow morning. Wish us luck! :-)

There is supposed to be some rain moving into our area for the next several days. The good news is the temperatures are staying above freezing and the campground has turned the water on to all the sites. Yay! :-)
Maybe now we can take some longer showers and get the last of the Texas dust cleaned out of the rig! I'll keep you posted.

moving forward from here

After a lot of talking, comparing, discussing and general chaos we have landed on a workable solution for our motorcycle dilemma.  We bought a cargo trailer!
The plan right now is to pull the bike (in the trailer) behind the motor home during the summer and Rudee will follow along in the Dakota. Since we tend to work as gate guards most of the winter we will store the bike and trailer here in Indiana for those few months and tow the Dakota behind us. We have always migrated back to our daughters home (gotta get that grand kid fix) in both the spring and fall so this seemed logical to us. Amanda if you are reading this, can I park a small trailer behind your barn? Please, Please, Please? Have I told you recently your my favorite daughter. ;-)
We have not ridden the bike much during our winter travels and I never rode it during our stints gate guarding in the oil fields so we think this will work out OK for us.

We have been on the run everyday since we parked here in Thorntown. Monday we had lunch with friends Rob and Jany in Brownsburg where we also picked up our back logged mail. We then drove to Lafayette and went to dinner with our son Matt and his pretty wife Mandy. They have recently moved from an apartment into a small house and we were anxious to see the new digs. They are still unpacking and getting settled (does that ever stop after you move?) and the house is very nice.

Yesterday we did some serious trailer shopping and ended up buying a new 6' x 12' Stealth trailer. We purchased it in nearby Frankfort Indiana where our friends Steve and Trish live. They met us for dinner at Applebee's after we got all the paperwork done and picked up the trailer. By the time we made it back to the campground it was dark so I'll try and post some pictures soon.

Today our plan is to head for Plainfield where I will drop Rudee off at her Mom's house. She will get to visit her Mom and do our laundry while I go to Indianapolis to buy a motorcycle wheel chock and some e-track rails so we can secure the bike in the trailer. Tomorrow morning we will head to Ohio to return the motorcycle lift and get a refund for the purchase price. They are expecting us and told us they would have a refund check ready so we are hopeful things go as planned. I'll keep you posted.