Well, that is crappy...

Nothing to do with the pandemic.

On Monday, mid-flush, the linkage inside our Thetford Aqua Magic II toilet gave up the ghost.  No, there wasn't a gusher of sewage or anything like that... the "flap" that closes off the toilet from the black tank stopped moving.

We checked into trouble-shooting that model toilet, and while I was on the phone (on hold) with Thetford, Joan found the problem, looked an exploded diagram, and determined what it would take (both parts and labor) to fix it.  Thetford never did answer their phone, after 20 minutes on hold.

Next, the search for the parts: we determined it would be more cost effective to replace the whole lower portion of the toilet than to go through the work involved to take it apart and replace things piece-meal.  Joan was concerned that I wouldn't be flexible enough to get on the floor in our small bathroom to separate the top from the bottom and then remove the whole toilet to do the repair.

I called a mobile RV repair guy that was recommended by one of the office staff here.  Our new friend, Doug was working on an RV in Deadwood, had another in Sturgis, and said he would come by our coach to check out the situation.

In the meantime, we went through every crap, shit, and piss joke we knew.  And checking for the replacement part on-line, we came up empty-handed.  When Doug and his son got here, we had model number, part numbers, etc for him.  The good news: he has dealt with this before, and even has parts on hand... for the tall pedestal toilet.  Ours is the short pedestal version.  The bad news: he said that because of the pandemic, getting parts (often made in China) has been a problem.  He said he would check with other suppliers to see if they had the parts in stock and give us a call in the morning.  The hunt for Brown Craptober.

When we didn't hear from him by 10:00, I gave him a call.  He was not able to find the parts at all his normal outlets, but had an e-mail into a supplier on the west coast and hadn't heard from them yet.  He said he would check with them again and call us back, but wasn't hopeful.  We told him that we were able to find an entire toilet on-line, and that would be our next step, if necessary.  He called right back and said, "I am amazed - they have one in stock and they will get it sent out today."

More crappy news: no idea how long it will take to get here, and throw a holiday weekend into the mix.  The less crappy news: we can manually open the flap, so, while not high class, we can still use the toilet.  And that is really good news... because I don't want to be using the shower-house/crappers here.  We prefer to be self-contained.

So, the part will get here when it gets here.

In the meantime, we went on with our day.  It was a cool, blustery, occasionally spitty day (better than shitty).  Joan wanted to get a US flag with a garden mount to put at our site.  I got to have a Hardee's breakfast sandwich... and, the first fountain soda I've had in three months.  Then off to the grocery store... Safeway.  There were "traffic instructions" on the floor to keep traffic flowing one way... apparently, those instructions were invisible to everyone but us.  Until I got to one corner of the store where there was no escape without violating the one-way arrows.

Back to the coach.  I decided to try recording a couple tracks on a song Mark wrote and sent to me.  The motorhome is NOT a studio.  Not even a home studio like I'm used to.  I did bring a dynamic mic and my Spire Studio, and the necessary cords to record vocal and guitar.  Sorta.  Due to circumstances beyond my control (disclaimer), I wasn't able to use the dynamic mic... it works good when recording in less than idea circumstances thanks to the pattern the mic picks up.  That meant I had to use the sensitive condenser mic on the Spire - it picks up a wide pattern.

Joan went to do laundry, giving me the motorhome to record in.  The blustery day (was only up to the mid-60s at 3:00pm) kept people inside, so I didn't have to be concerned about kids, and dogs, and big vehicles going by... until I got the equipment set up.  Then, the sun came out, and so did the kids, dogs, and vehicles.  After about 10 takes, I managed to get a reasonably background-noise-free track.  Instead of recording the acoustic guitar part on that same condenser mic, I plugged my X10 into the Spire.  Between those two, the acoustic track was doable.

Mark had done guitar, bass, drums, piano, and a vocal on the tracks he sent.  There is more to be done on the song, but this is his project: he wrote the music and lyrics.  He had the tracks he sent nicely mixed.  I added my small contribution and sent the tracks back his way.

When Joan got back, I was just finishing the guitar track.  We moved the music out to the patio, where she and Rufus were an appreciative audience.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warmer; less windy.  Yeah, we'll be riding.  :-)

Let there be riding!

This is the reason we are spending the summer here!  Out on the scoots today, and it was good!

The local weather weasel was calling for warmer than normal today, so we made it a point to get out mid-morning before the heat.  I just had a significant service done on my Vespa and Joan hasn't had the opportunity to really run her Xmax through the curves since she got it last October.  Not because of lack of desire, but she got it on our way home, and as I have said before: the roads in south Texas are less than spectacular for some spirited riding.  Oh, sure, you can ride fast (the way everyone drives there), but the roads are straight and flat.  We have been anxious to start these riding days!

One minor glitch, and nothing to do with the scoots: seems that the last time I used my Nikon was to take photos of the full moon; which means shooting on "Manual."  That allows the operator to control the f/stops and shutter speed.  I didn't switch it back to "Program"... so, there is a lot of exposure compensation happening to get images today.  If they look a bit contrasty or over-saturated - well, I'll do better next time.  I wasn't able to catch it until our first stop, which was over half way on the miles we rode today.

Um, didn't you used to be a photographer, Jim?  Thanks for asking - yes.  But I wasn't shooting portraits and commercial photography while riding a scoot.  LOL  It was an "oh, shit" moment when I had the opportunity to see what I had been taking, while stopped to re-hydrate.  The humidity is a teensy bit lower than south Texas - it is important to stay hydrated.

With that in mind...

It was on that shot above that I first switched the camera setting.

That is "yard art" on that shot above.  Tough to see in that photo, taken at 50mph, but that is a metal sculpture of a stage coach, with two horses and a driver.  Some other day, I may slow down a bit to get a closer photo.

Today, it was about getting ourselves "tuned up" for even more riding.  Both scoots were great; and Joan is delighted with the comfort, performance, and handling of her Xmax.

We got home before the hottest part of the day, but it was still plenty warm.  94º and sunny as I am writing this.  In an unusual thing for us, the "feels like" temperature is also 94º.  What a day!

All about Rufus...

In the last post, I mentioned that Rufus was going to get some outdoor time... the boy likes Hart Ranch.

Here's a look at our site now that we are set up...

And one with the Rufus content: he loves to be brushed...

With that done, it is time to munch some grass...

Lap time...

He is a happy boy!

We have arrived!

Cue the music: "Movin' on up, to the eastside..."

If you said, "The opening theme song to the TV show The Jeffersons, which ran from 1975 to 1985, sung by DuBois," you get 500 bonus points.

This morning's sunrise...

We lounged in, knowing we didn't have to check out until 11:00 and had a short trip ahead of us.  Rufus even got some leash time, but their grass wasn't great.

We drove straight through today, from last night's RV park to Hart Ranch.  All 15 miles of it.  We unhooked the CR-V and trailer from the coach and drove separate.  Rufus rode with me in the coach...

He asked, "Did we leave Momma behind?  I kinda liked her.  We should get another Momma right away."

 "No, Rufus, your Momma is right behind us.  I won't tell her what you said."

The motorhome pulls away like a sports car without the circus train behind us.  The rear camera doesn't look the same without the Honda and cargo trailer back there...

There is a security stop as you come into the resort, where they check to make sure you have your membership card, your driver's license, and the registration to your vehicle.  Normally, you go to the Lodge and check in there at the front desk... not now.  You open a box at the door to the Lodge and pull out your registration packet.  Then, go to your site.

We have been owner/members here for almost 30 years, so we know our way around.  Joan pulled into the site with the Honda, with the cargo trailer in tow.  We disconnect the trailer and back the CR-V out of the site.  I back the Aspect into the site.  Joan pulls the Honda on the site.  We are in.

That scene above will look a lot more "moved in" when we get all set up.

Then, the "settling in": getting utilities hooked up, jacks down, slide outs deployed.  On to the cargo trailer where we unstrap the scoots and roll them out.  No time for a ride today, be we take out the uprights from the chock and start arranging the trailer to be a portable garage instead of rolling storage.  The e-bike comes out of the car and gets set up.  Patio chairs - 3, one for each of us.  Yes, Rufus gets his own chair.

I took the scoots to the guard shack to get entry bands put on our mirror stalks - with those on, the guard will wave you right through, so no need to go through the "license, registration, and membership card" routine each time.  While I was doing that, Joan continued getting the patio set up.  It is a warm one today - we worked methodically, but had to sit and enjoy the shade for a moment every now and then.

When we were at a stopping point, Joan suggested we go to Popeye's for a chicken sandwich and pick up a few things we need for the coach at Menard's.  Popeye's was a fiasco - after waiting in the drive up line for 20 minutes, we were told it would be another 20 minutes before they could have a chicken sandwich ready.  I was invested at that point, so I said, "Yes, we still want the chicken sandwiches."

I was absolutely appalled when we got to the drive up window and not a single employee in the place was wearing a mask or gloves.  If I die because these inconsiderate assholes touched my chicken sandwich, I am going to be pissed.  Along with a couple other cars, we had to "step aside" while they all breathed on our sandwiches.  They only missed the 20 minute mark by 20% and when the moron boy brought our sandwiches, he gave us the wrong ones!  The people in the car next to us order theirs without mayo and the kid didn't say that until he had handed the food to us!  "Oh, sorry."  He pissed off all of us.  I don't often fill out a survey when I get a receipt from a fast(??) food place, but I did on this one.  What restaurant or fast food place does NOT use masks and gloves in these days of the pandemic?  Answer: this damn Popeye's that we will never go to again.

From there, it was off to Menard's.  That went better because we mostly help ourselves.  Then, off to a car wash... after driving through plenty of rain on the way here, then a day of wind filled with dust in Kansas, the poor CR-V was filthy.  Embarrassingly so.  "Think the expensive wash will get the grub off?"  It was worth a shot.

And finally, as the afternoon is slipping away, back to the coach.  We are both tired.  But, glad to be here.  Rufus, too.  When I finish writing this, we will take him out on the patio and see if he remembers how good it is at Hart Ranch.

That's fast!

No, not the way we drive with the double tow.

Back in the day, we were excited if an RV park had level sites and cable TV.  While most parks these days do have cable, it seems their customers expect decent wifi.  Again, most parks now have some sort of wifi, but going by the reviews people leave, most are disappointed with the park's wifi.

It isn't an issue for us - we bring our own.  My phone is our hotspot and we can run all our devices with it.  Most of the time, it is considerably faster than what the park offers for wifi.  Down for the day today: I am getting 60mg download, 10mg upload.  Nice!

We left North Platte this morning - our earliest time out this trip... about 30 miles down the road, we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone.  We made a stop at the Walmart at Ogallala, NE.  Joan went in to pick up a few things so we won't have to go shopping as soon as we get to Hart Ranch.  Well, that was the plan, but this Walmart was smaller than most and didn't have all she wanted.

It is all two-lane from here.  This part of Nebraska is the western part of the Sandhills.  A reasonably pretty drive, but thumpy road.

It gets even hillier between Alliance and Chadron...

The Walmart in Chadron was nicer and better stocked; they were not as busy, and had lots of available parking...

I guess we were a bit of an oddity there: one guy in a Tahoe circled us twice, then stopped where he would be blocking me from pulling forward.  When he saw me come to the driver's seat, he circled again, then stopped behind our cargo trailer.  I got out of the coach and started walking that direction, and he moved again.  That's the white SUV in the photo above.  I guess he was just curious.

When Joan came out with the hard stuff, Caffeine-Free Diet Coke for me, we put her bags in the coach and she put the stuff away while I went out to check the car.  Then, heading north again.

It wasn't long before we crossed the state line...

South Dakota - our former home and summer destination.  Not too far beyond that, we got our first view of the Black Hills (from a distance)...

We are staying in an RV park near Hart Ranch, since our reservation starts tomorrow.  In the meantime, we like to go in with full fuel, so we stopped at a gas station near Hot Springs.  It is a beautiful day, and this is close to Lake Angostura, and there is a BUNCH of traffic in and out of this place.  There is only one fuel pump where we will fit, so I had to wait for a guy in a pickup who had to send someone inside to pay for fuel.  Ever heard of a credit card??  When he moved, I pulled into place at the pump.  Our length limited us to this particular pump... and some dumbass pulled into a parking space in front of us... the only space that would be blocking us  from getting out.  Yes, there were plenty of other spaces available.  When he finally came sauntering out, sucking a Slurpy between his missing teeth, he went out of his way to take his dear sweet time before moving from that spot.  He checked his phone, looked at himself in the mirror (yes, asswipe, your hair is still greasy), sneered our way, started his piece of shit truck, then backed slower than anyone would think possible out of the spot.  Fun.

Heading out of there, it was only another 30 miles or so to our RV park stop for the day.  The ladies at the front desk were pleasant as could be.  I reserved a site long enough so we wouldn't have to unhook.  About 300 miles today, and this is the earliest we have stopped for the day.  I think all three of us are ready to kick back for a while.

Compare that site above with yesterday's post.  Some people might say that this site looks austere compared to that wooded site from yesterday.  I'll take a site like this one ANY day - nice and wide open; I didn't have to thread my way to the site.  Heavily wooded is over-rated for this RVer.  And I'll take level over rustic.  Tomorrow will be even better: Hart Ranch has double wide paved RV sites.  I'll let you know about the wifi.  ;-)

It's been how long?

Today is the 8th day we've been out.  It seems like a lot longer than that.  Of course, the first 5 days were just getting away from home and spending time in Austin, waiting for the Vespa dealer to be open (they are closed Sunday and Monday); Tuesday was our scheduled appointment.

Since then, we have been rolling ever northward.  Last night in Kansas, tonight in Nebraska.  If all goes well, we will be in the Black Hills tomorrow, but can't check into Hart Ranch until Sunday.  Yes, we made that reservation almost two months ago.  Working that far in advance, a lot of things have to line up.  So far, it has been working.

This morning, as we pulled onto the Interstate, it started to rain...

Good thing, because our rig wasn't quite dirty enough.  The rain wasn't heavy - certainly not enough to rinse off the layer of dust we gathered yesterday and last night.

The rain didn't last long.  Most folks think of Kansas as being flat.  They would be right.  But, the rolling hills don't recognize state borders - there are some hills in Kansas...

No, it isn't mountain vistas, but the hills do break up the flats.  Turning west on I-70, we went from a headwind to a crosswind.  It also breaks up the driving through the flats.  Joan went back to heat up some cinnamon rolls that she made yesterday...

She sat to give Rufus some attention.  You move around in the coach while underway?  Thanks for asking... yes.  We are careful, but all motorhomers use the facilities of the rig while underway - it's one of the reasons we switched from a 5th wheel back to a motorhome again.  She turned on the generator and used the convection oven to heat up the rolls.  Then, cut them into bite-size pieces, and we shared them while going down the road.

Rufus then shared the love, sitting on my lap...

It was nice - he hasn't sat on my lap much this trip.  I used to put a pad across my legs so he'd have something more level to sit on... but, he has gotten much bigger, and barely fits between me and the steering wheel.  I don't thing I've mentioned this before, but he is such a good boy!  And, a great traveler.

We turned onto a two lane to make our move from I-80 to I-70... and also move from Kansas into Nebraska...

We came up on some road construction that had us stopped for a couple minutes...

No big deal.  We were soon rolling again.  Then, a turn to the west on I-80.  Lots of traffic on this stretch, and no big cities.  We are kinda doing the 3/3 Rule right now: travel about 300 miles, try to get off the road by 3:00.  Once again, we had reservations.  The check-in process was different from yesterday's "all by text" - today, I went into the office and the two ladies working there were behind plexiglass... kinda like "Zoltar."  It went quick; I verified that we were in a long pull through... the lady told me, "That site is 70 feet long."

Not the first time I've heard that.  We are 64 feet total length, and are edge-to-edge in the site.  Not sure how they measure their sites (at a diagonal maybe?), but I measure our length from the front bumper of the coach to the back of the cargo trailer.  I am absolutely sure we did not stretch our length since I measured.

This is what I would call an "old-timey" campground.  The gravel sites are narrow - Joan had to get out to make sure our trailer would clear as we were coming around a tight corner (it was blind to me after starting the turn).  Oh, sure, it has trees and some sparse grass... I would prefer to have a paved site and no concern about fitting under trees.  I haven't "walked it out," but I expect it to be tight on our way out in the morning, as well.

In the meantime, we are down for the day and settling in.  Over-night.  Rufus and I are chilling now; Joan made us a snack when we got in and is planning supper; it's all good.

Good-bye, city life...

If you said, "The part Eva Gabor sang in the theme song to the TV show Green Acres, 1965 to 1971," you get 200 bonus points.

We left that very nice RV park at the Winstar Casino this morning, heading north.  Only two more big cities to drive through: Oklahoma City (Metro population around 1.4 million), which you have to drive through a lot of it; and Witchita, Kansas (population around 400,000), but we pretty much skirt the southwest part of the city to take I-135 north.

From here on, it is rural areas and small(ish) towns/cities.

It was about 120 miles to Oklahoma City from the Casino.  The last time we drove the Interstate in Oklahoma, it was rough and unpleasant - part of the reason we started doing back roads.  This stretch was downright pleasant...

Starting about Moore, south of OKC, the traffic thickened up.  A bunch.  We work as a team - Joan watches for road signs and drivers coming on from entrance ramps, I keep our rig between the lines and match speed with the flow.  You have to do a bit of zigging and zagging to stay on I-35, but we made it through unscathed.  The road surface goes downhill from there.

We continued our trek north.  Made a stop for fuel in northern OK, and then into Kansas...

Yep, it is pretty flat here...

As we cruised north on I-35 (toll road in KS), the wind started kicking up from the southwest.  That turned into a crosswind as our path wandered more to the northwest.  Our goal for the night is a small RV park in McPherson, KS, that got decent reviews on-line.  We have to backtrack a mile or so after turning off the Interstate to get to it.  After last night's resort, calling this one a "park" is being generous...

The wind was blowing like stink when we pulled in.  The lady I spoke with to make the reservation yesterday was nice as could be.  She told me then to just pull in and pick a site and text her to let her know we had arrived.  I paid for it on the phone.  Easy.  The whole place is gravel, but all we need is a place to park, put the jacks down, and plug in so we can run the air conditioning.  Plenty of blowing dirt in the air, so I won't be going for a walk.

We get a decent selection of channels off our antenna, and Joan checked out the laundry here and declared it small (2 washers, 2 dryers), but very clean.  While I made reservations for the next two nights, Joan did a couple loads of laundry.  We will be good to go in the morning.  Rufus won't be going outside - besides the heat, I am concerned the wind would carry him away... and he is a rather stout boy.  Oh, and a good boy.  (I mention that so Earl and Alice can participate in their drinking game: take a drink every time Jim says, "Rufus is a good boy."  Just doing my part.)