It was a mostly gray day - we decided an outing was necessary, even if we take the car (yes, the CR-V is a cross-over SUV, but I call it a car, 'cause it sure isn't a truck). We chose a trip to Custer to have our "weekly" best burgers around (from Black Hills Burger & Bun Co.) and dine in the comfort of Chez CR-V, with a lovely view opening up to the sky (also know as: the sunroof).
A couple miles out, I got a call from the insurance guy who is supposed to be handling our three claims... I'm guessing he got the blistering voice mail I left yesterday regarding the moron who I had to deal with - for no reason). We called him back when we got to a safe place to pull over, and let him know we were recording the call. He apologized profusely for the dumbass (or moron - potato/po-tah-toe) who got me good and riled up yesterday, and said we would never have to talk to that guy again. He also had two good solutions, and one to-be-continued-but-I-assure-you-we'll-get-this-resolved-to-your-satisfaction discussion.
More on that during the buddy response in a bit.
The burgers were great. Hot off the grill as were the cheese curds... well, hot out of the deep fat fryer. Probably not healthy, since they actually have the words "deep fat" in the description. We enjoyed our meal in the car, a few blocks away from the restaurant, with a view of a park and the city swimming pool. Yes, I was surprised the pool was open. It was comfortably cool with the overcast and temperatures around 70º.
We decided to go back through Custer State Park and straight east to Hwy 79, by-passing the oh-so-great-scooter-venue, Iron Mountain Road.
We drove through some spitty rain to and from lunch, but when we got back to the coach, we put out the awning (push a button) and sat out on the patio with Rufus. After a bit, I got out the ladder and did some stuff on the motorhome: repaired a running light lens up top and made a hammer assisted adjustment to the awning metal wrap. I peeked at my roof repairs while I was up there: looking good.
Tuckered out, Rufus and I went inside to take a short nap. It's a grueling schedule. When I pulled up the internet (after giving Rufus his 5:00 meal), I saw I had a message from my buddy Merv (also known as "Grumpy"... no, I didn't pick that name for him)...
Feeling Lucky Yet?
Reading your blog and looking at the weather weasels charts it looks like:
Your trailer is trashed,
Your Honda is "dinged"
Your RV roof is roughed-up,
You have fire weather to the NW
You have a heat advisory,
S. Padre looks like a direct hit for a tropical storm.
Keep on wearing the mask and drinking the bleach
You missed a great whale season here on good ol' quiet, damp, cool, Whidbey.
Stay safe and keep posting.
Merv & kathy
Hi Merv,
Always nice to hear from you. Yes, even this delightfully accurate note.
The cargo trailer is a "buy out" - they offered to give me current market value and take it, or pay me what I consider is a good offer to keep it. We'll keep it. No "salvage title." They are paying in full for the damage on the Honda, with no fuss about considering it totaled. On their first go-around with the motorhome, they are about $14,000 off from what the body shop and Winnebago want to get it back the way it was. The insurance guy is going to visit with Winnebago (I already told him who to ask for in Winnebago's Factory Repair Customer Service), but it sounds like the insurance guy was as dumbfounded as I was at what it takes to replace the roof. I already did a repair that most would consider a permanent fix, even though none of that shows unless you are going by in a double-decker bus. We have some decisions to make there.
There is a small forest fire in the Black Hills that won't likely turn huge for another day or three.
Heat advisory? We laugh at the puny heat here in the Black Hills. We were sitting outside under the awning yesterday when it was still 96º... the humidity was around 20%... hardly worth sweating.
The storm that is currently heading for the Texas coast looks like it won't get above a Tropical Storm - predicted to go in around Corpus Christi, so our home won't see much beyond some rain, which we need. The big concern is the unending line of storms that will be following, and the Gulf of Mexico being considerably warmer than usual. I can't say much beyond: 2020 sucks.
I'll wear the mask when necessary, and keep drinking rum in my Caffeine Free Diet Coke... pretty sure that doesn't fight off those little Covids, but if applied regularly, I don't much care.
From the sounds of it, everybody is missing out on a less than great whale watch season. With the San Juan Islands basically saying, "Stay away!" to the tourist life blood until just this month, there hasn't been anyone to take out. The government telling people that "boats are the problem," when anyone with a brain can see that the Southern Resident Killer Whales are slowly starving to death because of the lack of salmon, hasn't helped the situation. Increased enforcement of stupid distance rules will likely just make any potential customers mad that they can't get closer. It's a good time to not be a whale watch boat captain.
But, other than all that, it's good to be alive!
Hugs to you and Kathy,
Jim, Joan, and Rufus (you haven't met him, but he's one very cool cat)
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So, that exchange brings you up to date on "As The Insurance Turns." So far, they are settling it to our satisfaction. It will be an on-going situation for a while with the motorhome.
I think the real take-away from this post is in the last line of my response to Merv: the part about Rufus being one very cool cat. This morning, after I got out of the shower and finished my morning clean-up routine, Rufus came into the bathroom. When he was much smaller, he used to hop up on the toilet and then up to the small bathroom counter-top (the only counter-top he's allowed on, because it is so damn cute)...
We consider that one of his "baby pictures" - the vet said he was fully grown. Two years later...
Not only is he almost twice the size, but look at the color difference: he was silver and black in that baby photo, charcoal and blond in the current photo. Check out that mane. Yeah, he is one very cool cat.
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