Saturday, June 28, 2014

Truck Trouble

Saturday, June 28, 2014  - Granger, IN

And the adventure has begun... Today we were supposed to head to Indy.  Then we planned to stay at the KOA in Indianapolis tonight.  How does that saying..."If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans."  :)  Well we told God about our plan and he laughed today.  :)

The part for the truck arrived at about 10:00am and they started working on it as soon as it arrived.  They had it fixed and fired it up, but they were getting an error code.  So they tracked down that problem and got it fixed.  We finally arrived to pick it up at about 3:00pm.  We paid our bill and drove away, but we did not make it very far before we had to stop along side the road.  The coolant light came on, which shuts down the truck.  We gave them call and they came to figure out the new problem.  It appears the plug on the coolant sensor was broken.

The mechanic by-passed the sensor, so we could drive the truck back to MTE and they could fix it.  While we were there Mike decided he would check the tire pressure.  Well that was a very bad idea!  He broke one of the valve stems off and after a few choice words (#!@#?!), he asked the mechanic if they could fix the valve.  "No, we do not do tire repair"!   We had to call for Shrader Tire for roadside assistance.

The mechanic finished fixing the sensor and they closed up and headed out.  (The truck was sitting outside)  They let us know Shrader would be calling soon to let us know when they were going to be here.  Well about 10 minutes later they did call and let us know they would be here in 65 to 75 minutes.  So we headed for Panera for some dinner.  Just as we sat down to eat the tire mechanic called and said he would be there in about 5 minutes.  We ate quickly and headed back to MTE.  The tire mechanic was just finishing up when we arrived.  After about 30 minutes of talking to the tire mechanic we were on our way to ABC Storage to pick up the last of the items to go in the truck!  By this time it was about 6:30pm.  We will not be going to Indy tonight!  :)

We finally got back to the trailer about 9:00pm.  We will now be leaving for Indy in the morning.  We are praying the plan can work tomorrow.  :)

It was another great day!


Friday, June 27, 2014

Mike's last day of work!

Friday, June 27, 2014  -  Granger, IN

Today is Mike's last day of his career.  Now he will be a work camper!  :)

Mike called to let me know the fuel pump on the truck has a crack in it.  This is not good!  MTE told him that it is a 4 week lead time via his normal distributor, but he found one in TN that can be flown up here and installed tomorrow.  So that is what is going to happen.  I am not looking forward to seeing the bill for this.  This will delay our leave for tomorrow by several hours.  At least we didn't have to be in a hurry tonight.

Now the hard part, organize the garage.  This could be a bigger job than we thought.  We were going to put the bikes on the bike rack on the back of the Suburban, but we are worried we won't be able to get it out when we get down to Lake Cumberland.  We will need it out to put the hitch for the boat in...  :)

It was another great day!


Thursday, June 26, 2014

Thursday, June 26, 2014 - Granger, IN

Today Mike was sporting his new Batman apparel at work.  :)
You can't tell, but he is also wearing his Batman watch.

This evening we were able to get everything out of the Mishawaka storage shed that is going with us.  When Thomas saw some of the items we were taking with us, he said we are packing to much.  I must agree, but it will take Mike a while to figure that out.  :) 

The back seat is once again in the Suburban.  I don't think it has been in there since before we put the house on the market last year.  There are a few more things that need to come out of the Suburban and the totes need to go on the back of the truck.  We are almost ready to go!  I am so looking forward to it!

It was another great day!

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - Granger, IN

This morning Mike's Buell headed for California to it's new owner. It will be missed, but I am looking forward to the new motorcycle we will be getting.  :)

This evening SMP took us out to dinner for Mike's retirement.  We went to Corndance, it was a very nice dinner.  :)  Rob, Gerry, Angie, Stan, Betty, Bill, Dean, Mike, Jerry, and Phil were all there to wish us the best.

While working at SMP Mike was told he was Batman, because of the things he would carry, like his leatherman, tape measure, etc.  So Dean gave him a Batman watch and Mike gave him a Batman mask, cup, paper plates and ribbon.  :)  Jerry gave him a gift certificate and SMP gave him an iPad Air.  He really appreciated everything he received.  We had a very nice time.  Thanks everyone!

It was another great day!  :)

Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - Granger, IN



This evening I went over to La Porte to have my last weekly dinner with Diane.  I will miss our weekly dinner out.  They were always enjoyable.  We will be sure to catch up every time we are in town.  :)

Mike's motorcycle was supposed to be picked up this evening, but the U-Ship person did not show up.  The trailer he was supposed to pick up today is not ready for pick up yet.  Now he is supposed to be here in the morning.  We sure do hope so.  We only have 3 more days!

Patricia said she would be happy to open the ice cream shop if that would get us to stay longer.  :)  We will be seeing her and Thomas in January when we arrive in Uvalde, TX.  :)

Also this evening Mike went out to dinner with AB.  He has also been helping her move everything out of her storage shed.  It looks like she will have everything out before we leave also.

It was another wonderful day!

Monday, June 23, 2014

Monday, June 23, 2014 - Granger, IN

The truck has a small oil leak that we want fixed, but Bettcher's can not fix it.  So this evening we went down and picked it up and took it to MTE.  They are a Volvo dealer, so they have the tool necessary to fix the leak.  Hopefully they can get it done quickly. 

After dropping off the truck we went to our storage shed in Mishawaka to figure out what else in this storage shed we are going to take with us.  We have moved everything that is going to the front to make it easy to pull it out.  A lot of it is going in the truck.

Back at home I cleaned out the overhead storage area to figure out what else will be put in the totes.

We are getting closer to ready to go!

It was another great day!

Sunday, June 22, 2014 - Granger, IN

We went to 8:00am mass this morning, so we would get an early start.  After church we went to Hilltop in Lakeville for breakfast.  We have not eaten there in a long time.  It is very good.

On the way home from church we were supposed to stop by International Wire to drop off a filter for the Warrior we sold to Lester, but we forgot...  :)  So we had to back track later in the afternoon and drop it off.  We did remember to stop by ABC Storage to pick up one of the fire extinguisher for Holly and one of the totes, so we could fill it up.

Once we got home Mike checked E-Bay for the status of the shipping of his motorcycle.  The buyer will have U-Ship pick it up on Tuesday.... One more thing to get done...  After that, we started cleaning things out and organizing the trailer.  We took everything out of the basement and I sweep the floor.  Then we put it back in, in an organized manner.  :)

After that we decided to head to the truck to pick up the vacuum bags and drop off the golf clubs.  On our way there, Mike needed to stop by work to reset the alarm on the boiler, but it ended up being a bigger problem then just resetting the alarm.  :(  "Only 5 more days"

When we got to the truck we wanted to make sure there is room in one of the job boxes for both the golf clubs and the grill.  We went ahead and put the golf clubs in, but without the grill we only took measurements.  We shall see.  :)

Mike called AB earlier today to see if she was still planning on going out to dinner with us for her birthday, at that time she was still going to go.  When he contacted her around 4:30pm, she was not feeling well and would not be going out with us.  We then called Holly and we agreed to meet at Texas Roadhouse.  We had a really nice dinner with Holly!

After dinner Mike needed to head back to work, so we needed to get headed out.  But on our way home, John called to let us know him and Christa are expecting their first baby!  How very exciting!!!!  Congratulations!!

It was another great day!

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Saturday, June 21, 2014 - Granger, IN

Nothing exciting for last night, we just got the laundry done.  :)

Today we got up and headed down to ABC Storage to get the last load of stuff that will be going up to the storage shed in Mishawaka.  The storage shed in Mishawaka is very full, but everything did fit!  :)  We still have a couple of things in the storage shed at ABC Storage, but all of those items will be going with us.

Once we got all of the items in the Mishawaka storage shed we headed back to the trailer to pick up some of the items that will be going in the truck.  Then we headed down to Bettcher Trucking to put the items in the truck.  We have the truck down to get some service done before we head on the road.

While we there we also hung the Delta Vortex above the table.  I tried to take a picture of the planes in the back of the truck.  It did not turn out very good, but here it is.  :)
Also, I took a picture of the outside of the truck.  We had Gates in Granger polish it up for us and they did a great job!
It sure does have a nice shine!  :)

This evening Diane and Dennis came over for dinner.  When they first got here we checked out the radar to see how far away the rain was.  We decided it was far enough off that we could cook out.  We cooked up some hamburgers out on the grill, heated up some beans and cut up some watermelon.  About half way through eating our meal it started to rain.  It was not hard and we were some what protected by the trees, so we finished up and quickly took everything in the trailer.  It was a wonderful evening!

Another great day!  :)


Saturday, June 21, 2014

Thursday, June 18, 2014 - Granger, IN

I thought I would post a picture of our current location.  South Bend / Elkhart North KOA.  It is actually located in Granger.  :)
It is a very nice campground and the staff is always accommodating and extremely gracious! And a delicious Gelato Bar and Malt Shop!  :)

Mike sold his motorcycle!  He sold it to someone out in California.  The money is already in our pay pal account, now all we have to do is wait for them to get the shipping arranged.

This evening we went out to dinner with Patricia and Thomas.  We walked over to the Capri restaurant.  As always the food and company were good.  :)  Everything on the menu at Capri Italian Restaurant is made from scratch.  I would highly recommend it!  Then be sure to try a limoncello as an after dinner drink.  I my opinion they are very good.  :)

It was another great day!

Friday, June 20, 2014

Tuesday, June 17, 2014 - Granger, IN

Last night we went down to ABC Storage and picked up one more load and took it to Mishawaka.  I think we still have 2 more loads before we will have everything out of the storage shed there.  :) 

Mike also got a couple of people who are interested in his motorcycle.  :)  Hopefully we will be able to get it sold before we leave.

This evening I went to La Porte to have dinner with Diane.  As always we had a really nice time.  :)

Since we sold the Buick last week, on my way back from La Porte, I picked Mike up at work, then he dropped me off at the Verizon store, which is within walking distance of the KOA.  Then he headed out to go out to dinner with AB (Aunt Betty).  And I got a Smart Phone.  On my walk back home, I realized I left the key to the trailer in the Suburban with Mike.  :(  So I just went back to the trailer and sat at the picnic table and played with my phone for a while.  When the mosquitoes started getting real bad, I went up to the store to get away from the bugs. And I called Mike to let him know I needed a key.  They were just finishing up eating, so he came here before he dropped off AB.  :)

It was another great day!

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Sunday, June 15, 2014 - Granger, IN

Happy Father's Day!

After church we went to lunch with Cathy and Brian to Logan's Roadhouse.  They wanted to go to lunch with us before we left the area.  :)  We had a really nice time!

In the afternoon we got the third layer built on the rack on the truck.  We will need to get the plane first for our measurements for the hanger underneath the rack.  Hopefully we can get that done soon.

Finally got a hold of my dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day!  :)

We went to dinner with Holly over at the Buffalo Wild Wings in La Porte.

It was another great day!

Saturday, June 14, 2014 - Granger, IN

Today we had a lot of things we wanted to get done, so we got up early and headed for ABC Storage.  Mike wanted to get pictures of his motorcycle, so he could put it up for sale.  We also wanted to start moving the items from this storage shed to the storage shed in Mishawaka.

He has really enjoyed this motorcycle, but now he wants to get a shorter and quieter motorcycle. 
Gracie wanted in the picture also.  :)

 We got the Suburban loaded up with some of the stuff and headed for Mishawaka.  Unfortunately while we were loading up the Suburban I accidentally knocked the camera off the back of the Suburban and now it is not working.  :(

We also took the truck to the storage shed, so we could see how many planes we could fit on the rack we built last week.
We were able to fit 5 planes, but we will need to build another layer to the rack.  We are also going to build a hanger to hang another plane above the table, which is below the rack.

We re-organized the items in the storage shed and we were able make enough room for everything, plus we are now sure we will be able to get the rest of the stuff in there.  This is pretty good considering when we moved out of the house last year we had 3 different units; 1 - 10 x 20 and 2 - 10 x 10's.  Now we will only have 1 - 10 x 10.  :)

We heard from Tony that he was on his way home from AT and we all decided to meet at Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  We finished up at the storage shed and headed for the restaurant.  We all got there about 9:00pm.  A very late dinner. :)

After dinner we went out to look at all of Tony's pictures and videos from AT.  He had the opportunity to ride a Black Hawk down to Camp Atterbury for AT.  What an awesome opportunity!

We were there until about 1:00am, but it was wonderful being with Tony!

We had a really great day!




Monday, June 16, 2014

Friday, June 13, 2014 - Granger, IN

Welcome to our blog about our adventures as full-time RVer's.  This is my first attempt at a blogging, so we will see how it goes.  :)  I don't consider myself a writer, so I hope you enjoy reading about our adventure. 

Today marks 2 weeks before Mike retires from his career, at which point he will become a work camper!  :)  He is nervous about giving up his pay check, but he is looking forward to the variety of jobs he will be working.

This evening we went out to dinner with the "Wire Group".  We went to Evil Czech Brewery in Mishawaka, IN.   I had the Chicken and Biscuits and Mike had BBQ Brisket.  This was the first time any of us had gone there and it was a really good place to eat.

Ray, Lester, Kathy, myself, Dorothy, Sonnie and Mike were all at the dinner tonight.  Part of the group was unable to attend.  We hope to see them next time we are in town.  :)  As always, it was a great time!