2021 Trip To Texas

[JEBar]

happy to be able to say that its been a good morning .... I called him and our mobile RV tech stopped by .... our frig wasn't cooling .... he checked it and says he believes that the problem is the long subfreezing temps .... we changed it from running on electric to propane and increased the cool setting .... still too early to know for sure but the temp in the frig is dropping and it seems to be working ..... he also checked the camper's water pump .... early on it appeared to have frozen .... when it thawed, it started working .... I was concerned about the possibility of a leak .... looked it over and tested it .... all seems to be good ..... lastly, the truck cranked easily this morning but the rear suspension airbags didn't inflate .... I found that after piling the trash bags that have been mounting up and driving the truck over to the dumpsters .... on the off chance that some line had frozen I let it idle around the campground for a few minutes and all of a sudden the bags filled .... hopefully all's good with it as well .... next up is to replace the elements in our fresh water filtration system .... with them calling for it to get down into the high teens tonight we don't plan to reinstall it until our filter system until the temp gets above freezing tomorrow morning

[JEBar]

we are delighted to say, its been a beautiful day in the neighborhood .... a clear blue sky with warm sunshine .... this morning we drove over to Kroger in Willis ... no store butchered meats or seafood .... bread had been hit hard but most of the shelves were pretty well stocked and they had a bunch of folks putting up stock .... after getting back to the campground, we hooked up the campground water to our filtration system .... well before we got out of the campground it was clear that the truck's airbag rear suspension has been damaged by the days of subfreezing temps .... consequently, it goes back into the shop Monday morning .... as a side note, at mid afternoon it got up to 80+ degrees in the camper and we had to turn on our camper AC we were able to sit out for several hours but once the sun got low in the sky the temp began to plummet .... we are now settled in for the evening

[BigAl52]

Sorry to hear of all the issues with equipment Jim. I hope at some point it comes to an end. Great day here no issues and enjoyed an evening in town with some of our neighbors. 66 for a high here tomorrow and its supposed stay in the 50's here all night.

[JEBar]

with suspension issues that will put our truck into the shop tomorrow, no big plans for today .... a rack of baby back pork ribs slated to go into our Traveler smoker around noon .... really looking forward to being able to sit out today and watch the world slowly go by ....

[markiver54]

with suspension issues that will put our truck into the shop tomorrow, no big plans for today .... a rack of baby back pork ribs slated to go into our Traveler smoker around noon .... really looking forward to being able to sit out today and watch the world slowly go by ....

A much needed reprieve!

[Hatchdog]

with suspension issues that will put our truck into the shop tomorrow, no big plans for today .... a rack of baby back pork ribs slated to go into our Traveler smoker around noon .... really looking forward to being able to sit out today and watch the world slowly go by ....

A much needed reprieve!

Yes indeed! You’ve kinda been thru the wringer this last week or so.

[BigAl52]

68 degrees here on the Gulf today and it was a great day. Looking around here there is alot of plant damage from the sub freezing temps. Kinda sad to see the palm trees damaged like they are. Aloe plants and cactus are not looking real happy. Lots of dead fish on the beach. No one seems to know if its from the freeze or an algae bloom. No seagulls are around either not sure where they might have gone. Nature has a way of adjusting things. Maybe this was one of them.

[JEBar]

with it being a much warmer day, our Traveler smoker once again performed as we've come to expect .... the ribs turned out really well ... fall off the bone while still being moist and tender .... we much prefer the taste of the food we smoke using Pit Boss Competition Blend BBQ Pellets over the pure hickory pellets we once used .... on the other hand, the aroma of the pure hickory pellets was really nice .... since taste is by far the most important thing, we are more than willing to put up with a reduction in the aroma .. .. it was nice to see our campground coming back to life ....

[JEBar]

our day got off to an iffy start but thankfully have made a turn for the better .. .. we got on the road about 7:45 this morning to take our truck to Conroe for repair .... on our way we stopped at the same Enterprise Car Rental place where we rented a car when our truck was in the shop about a month ago .... our plan was to pickup the rental car and then drive it and out truck to where we have it worked on .... after dropping off the truck we were going out for breakfast and then some shopping at Sam's .... Plan A fell apart when we got to Enterprise and found out that they couldn't get a car ready for us until 11AM .... we made arrangements to come back at 11 and drove onto the Danny's Garage .... once there we told him about the delay in getting a car and he had is wife drive us to a local restaurant .... after breakfast she was to come back, pick us up and take us to Enterprise .... when we called her to let her know that we were ready, she said her husband was working on our truck, would have it fixed shortly and there was no need for a rental car .. .. we were very happy to call Enterprise and cancel the rental ... as it turned out, the fact that they didn't have one earlier ended up being great for us .... the problem with the truck ended up being a cable pull valve that vents water vapor out of the pressurized air in the rear air bag suspension .... there are two rear air bags each of which has a cable pull valve .... one was clearly defective, he replaced them both .... hopefully all's good to go

[Hatchdog]

The only think better than a great mechanic is a great mechanic with a great wife. Nice story, thanks for sharing.

[JEBar]

they are a nice, young (compared to us ) couple who are working hard to build their business .... he's a skilled mechanic and these days I see many Techs but very few mechanics .... we are having them over for a cookout on Saturday after they close their business

[JEBar]

we just returned from going out to eat at the local Cracker Barrel .... we had planned to do so for Valentines but tonight is the first time it has worked out ....happily, the truck performed well .... sure hope that continues .... while there my wife received a text from our campground saying that they are going to shut off the water at 9AM to repair pipes that burst during last week's subfreezing temp .... our water tank is full, we should be good to go

[BigAl52]

Good to hear all is well Jim. Hope you dont have anymore issues. I hate issues.

[JEBar]

I hate issues.

I couldn't agree more .... historically we spend considerable time and money in pre-trip maintenance and replacement of parts in which we don't have confidence .... I do have a tendency to not keep a close tab on parts that never give us trouble .... that's been the case with all 3 issues that have arisen on this trip, none of them would have raised concerns in when looking at them .... them being the OEM radiator cap, the OEM EGR cooler, and these Cable Operated Air Tank Drain Valves .... all three of these parts lasted 14 years .... sure hope the replacements make it that long .... another bit of positive news is we have found businesses in this area that we can trust to take care of our equipment

[BigAl52]

Im sure there is one but Ive not had anything on the truck that needs attention yet. But I know here there is a couple of RV repair people that frequent the park. There is also some people here that are very knowledgeable because they know Repair Vehicles well

[JEBar]

its a really good feeling to have such folks available when we are traveling

[JEBar]

another beautiful day on Lake Conroe under a cloudless sky .... with the water slated to be shut off at 9AM for them to repair water leaks, we drove over to Willis and on down to Conroe .... historically while in this are we usually grocery shop at the HEB in Conroe .... this morning we went there for the first time this trip .... its an old but very nice store .... their meats are excellent .... as with the other stores in this area they are still recovering from product losses caused by the recent long power outages .... on the way back we pumped 60 gallons of diesel into our truck .... that didn't fill its tanks but it did come close .... the last time we put any fuel into our truck was back on Jan 11th, our last days drive from home to Texas .... at $2.499 a gallon, that is the highest priced fuel we've purchased in many a moon .... we now have sufficient fuel to get to Granbury next week and my well not need more fuel until our first day's drive on our way home in March

[markiver54]

Enjoy your updates Jim.

[BigAl52]

Fuel has gone up about .45 a gallon since I have been here. I paid 2.00 a gallon when I last bought some at Sams in Corpus

[JEBar]

sadly there aren't any TA or Petro truck stops anywhere near us .... there is a Love's but its posted price is in the $3 dollar neighborhood and even with our program discount, we can buy cheaper fuel at other stations