February 2019 Coop

[horsespoiler]

We are off on our road trip. We left home on Friday and spent the first night in Corning, CA and found out that the roof leak on the 5th wheel was not fixed. The friend we bought it back from had told us that her dad had fixed the roof by recoating it. One layer had flaked and peeled off when they moved it to our place but he said he had put 2 coats on so it should still be fine. It wasn’t. While we were driving it was ok but when we parked it started leaking. Since the leak is over the bed it wasn’t something that could be ignored. We had a tarp with us so we covered that section and it was fine. It had been raining pretty hard all that day and then that night. We picked up some stuff to fix it with the next morning when we left. If that wasn’t enough the gusty winds in the central valley area somehow caught the leading edge of the awning and pulled a bunch of it off the roller like a sail. That caused the support legs in the front to be pulled off the side and twisted them. We had to pull off on the side of the highway and tape and tie things together so we could make it to the next off ramp. Then we had to loop a rope all the way over the roof and down under the trailer to keep the loose material from puffing out again and ripping more stuff off the side. When we finally got to Edwards AFB we were able to get DH’s cousin to bring us a ladder and help cut the whole awning off. Then we used Flex Tape on roof seam. Before we left home we had to replace a water connection on the water heater and replaced the water pump and filter for the fresh water tank. The connection between the filter and pump was leaking and I had to fix that too. We hope we have fixed everything. It was very disappointing to have to fix everything that we were told had been fixed. The repairs were the reason we paid more when we bought it back than when we sold it. The registration was still current for it until the end of May but she couldn’t remember where she had put the plate for it just a few days before and went out of town and didn’t want to let her folks look through the boxes she had just packed up with stuff she didn’t need right now and had put the plate in. That meant I had to go renew the registration and get a new plate for 2 more years, that I'll need to transfer when we move pretty soon.

Tonight we are in Williams, AZ surrounded by snow. The highway was nice and clear but the city streets have snow on them and so does the RV park. I’m glad we could plug in tonight so we can run our electric heater and save our propane. It’s 10* outside right now, much colder than it is at home and there’s finally snow at home. Let’s hope things get better.

[vsolubo]

Hope you have a great road trip with no problems but lots of friends!

Hey, anyone wanting the JL book/dvd collection, I'm selling mine. John Lyon Books Conditioned Response Training Manuals Riding Manual with all 4 DVD's, Ground Control Manual, Bringing Up Baby, Exercises For Overcoming Riding Problems & The Making of a Perfect Horse. Also John Lyon's DVD's The Best Start For the Unbroke Horse & Controlling Your Horses Speed.

Josh Lyon's DVD's: Teaching series 1-5 Foal Handling, Teaching Tricks, Spins & Shoulder Control, Lead & Lead Changes & Sliding Stop & Rollbacks.

Asking for $100 for the entire collection, all like new. Actually Josh's DVD's are still wrapped.

[ghostrider]

LMM, how cold is AZ? hope you figure out whats wrong with your heater. It's cold here but warm enough to start melting the snow/ice so everything is slick. We went to WM last night and coming home we got stuck half way up the driveway. Anthony had to leave his truck till this morn when he and his grampa pulled it the rest of the way up the drive. My truck has been stuck on our side of the house 1/2 way up the other side of the drive since Sat eve. This is the iciest storm I've ever seen!!!

V, that's really a great deal for someone. I have most of those and know what I've spent. Have you tried the other JL site?

HS, that really brings back old memories. So where are you guys now?

My SF decided to show me how to run the tractor so he doesn't have to help me get the RB's out. So I got the RB out of the enclosure with the tractor and put the ring around it. Rain ran over and started to eat but Boomer ran over and sniffed it and actually put his nose up in the air and walked off. Guess he was hoping for more alfalfa. LOL Wish I could afford to feed them alfalfa but a week's worth is $115 and they are all overweight except for Rain who isn't skinny either.

[luvmymorgan]

It was getting down in the low to mid 20's at night & mid 50's during the day-cold for Southern AZ! They did finally get it fixed-after the technician was here 5 times. I was just hoping they would replace it (it's 20 years old), but no such luck. Hoping the AC works when the time comes. I have 3 small space heaters I ran, but not while I was sleeping or at work. They kept the temperature in the house around 65-too cold for me, I like it at least 70 and keep it around 80 in the summer.
GR, did your Mom give up on her Instant Pot? Making dinner in mine again tonight. I use it once or twice a week and like to make meals up ahead to freeze & take to work for lunch. I still want to try a cheesecake in it. They look so good, but I really don't need the calories!

[horsespoiler]

We spent 4 days in Mineral Wells, TX and are now on our way back home. We spent 2 days in Abilene on our way in and are back in Abilene tonight. We spent the evening with DH’s cousin and her family. If the weather is too bad tomorrow we’ll just stay another day. Our plan is to spend a few days with another of DH’s cousins in Boron, CA on our way home. They also have a place in Montana near where we are looking for a place. My brother and nephew were in AZ last week racing in a week long series. On the next to last night my nephew got rolled pretty good in his heat race and his week was over. There was no way they could the car fixed for the next night. The car was pretty messed up. I shared the video of the wreck on Facebook. He is fine but I bet he was sore that night.
I think we have finally got all the problems fixed on the 5th wheel. We repaired the roof twice now since the first time didn’t completely fix the leak. We haven’t hit any rain yet so we still can’t be sure. Had more trouble with the water pump and a leak in the filter between the tank and the pump so tonight I removed the filter and just connected the hose to the pump without the filter. It stopped the leak and also fixed the problem with air in the water lines that made the water spit out of the faucets when you used them. By the time we get home we just might have everything working right 😂. I saw where Las Vegas got snow last night and more is expected. Snow is expected all along our way across New Mexico and Arizona so the drive should be fun. I’ve done the majority of the driving so far but I don’t know if I can do the snow. I’m just glad this 5th wheel is small and easy to tow.

[ghostrider]

No she made Ribs in it last wk. Anthony uses it too although most of the time they forget they can use it for other things. I like my house around 68' although I noticed that when it's snowy outside I like it a bit warmer, maybe it's psychological? Still have snow/ice out there in our driveway and our road but it's melted most other places. Tonight was the first time I didn't get stuck in the driveway 2/3rds the way up. WHEW that really SUCKED! Sunday we have another storm coming but they said it'll just be rain.

I saw you posted on FB but our internet was SLOW. Sorry he rolled it, hope he didn't get hurt. That's really cool that you can go visit all your friends and family. I wouldn't want to drive, although sometimes it's less nerve wracking than being passenger. So did you look at other places to move to? or is it still Montana?

[horsespoiler]

Boy did we get snow on the way home. Our drive from Texas to New Mexico ended with me having to drive on a 2 lane road in a snow storm in the dark. To top it off there were only a few cars on the road and they were all going the other direction. The town we stayed in didn’t have any snow but it was really cold. I wanted to fill up our propane tank but the guy was out of propane because it had been so cold for so long. We made it almost all the way through AZ the next day and since they were expecting snow in Flagstaff we decided to push on to Kingman. We filled the propane tank and the gas tank and kept going. I wanted to be sure we had full tanks in case we got stuck along the road. We woke up to over a foot of snow in the morning. The highway was closed so we just rested that day. The next day they had the road open so we went on to Edwards AFB to spend a few more days visiting DH’s cousin and got to meet another cousin we only knew on FB. Left there yesterday and got home this afternoon. It was over 5200 miles round trip. We managed to get everything fixed that was broken along the way. All the leaks seem to be fixed. Even though we had a ton of snow on the roof we didn’t get a drop inside. I had to take out the in-line filter on the water pump from the fresh water tank when we couldn’t get it to stop leaking. There’s a filter you can put on your hose when you fill the tank and also use when you hook up to the faucet. It takes out pretty much everything from the water. I got pretty good at unhooking and hooking up the 5th wheel. I can hook it up by myself in about 5 minutes and it usually takes a lot longer with a trailer and 2 of us. I can drive in the snow and in the wind and did most of the driving. Every time DH drove he spent the whole time complaining about the other drivers, especially the trucks. In OR there is a slower speed for trucks and anyone towing, about 5mph slower. In CA the max speed when towing is 55 no matter what the speed for cars is. All the other states just had one speed for all and that was usually 70 or 75mph. It took a little getting used to but I was still getting passed. I don’t think DH could ever bring himself to go quite that fast. I sure missed that speed going through CA on the way home. I also miss the gas being under $2.00 a gallon. $3.50 to $4.00 a gallon really adds up. Now to get back to getting rid of everything and selling the house.

[ghostrider]

Quite the adventure. I think I'd have waited for summer or at least late spring, I hate driving in the snow and ice. And I hate it when the traffic is on my side of the road because most don't slow down and when they go past in the passing lane it get's dicey. So you are a great handy man, wish I was as handy but mechanical stuff...nope, not me.
$4 a gallon, wow.

I put in for 3 vac days so I am off from today till I go back on Fri. Work Fri and Sat and off my reg scheduled days. Will be catching up on chores. Already got the downstairs floors clean and all the cans out of the back of my truck. I was saving them for this old guy who collects them but haven't seen him in a month.
Have to do some running tomorrow in town and mom needs help at the church. Need to ask Lester about trimming the boys.

Mom and SF has been picking up a little girl and taking her to church for about a year, since her mom stopped going. (she's on drugs, doesn't work etc.) Her dad is also on drugs and is an otr truck driver. She has three brothers, one is grown and one sometimes will come with her but I think it's because he's hungry and we all go to lunch afterwards. They used to rent a house from one of the older ladies at our church till it ended badly. $$$ lots of damages. About three months ago a friend started joining her. Nice girl, her GM works at the University in town but mom and dad are also on drugs. They
have been asking about salvation and thinking about what it means etc.. Today they both went forward and accepted Christ as their savior. A bunch of us all went to lunch afterwards with the pastor to celebrate. There wasn't a dry eye in church service this morn. It was one of those really special church days you know?

I'll get to go to Wed night service this week, yahoo