The cool weather has definitely put us in the mood for Texas, and it will take us a while to get packed and ready at the rate we’re going.  My to do list is pretty long, but one way to cut it down is to delete things—why do today something that can wait until tomorrow, or the next day, etc.

Reading various blogs and forums related to motor homing revealed that without electrical surge protection, it was a question of when, not if, an electrical surge or other even would fry or otherwise harm or destroy some of the appliances in the RV.  After consulting with friend and fellow RVer Jim Watts, I ordered a surge protector, and decided to install it today.  I got all the tools ready, set a chair up near the electrical cable, and began cutting the “umbilical” electrical cord—a point of no return.  This 50 amp cable is big, stiff, and unruly.  I followed directions on stripping the wires, but did not have enough room to maneuver them into the surge protector; the more I tried, the more frayed they became.  I finally resorted to stripping one at a time and inserting it into the surge protector.  This was a slow laborious process, especially when I tackled the easiest end first.  After much effort and patience beyond my normal capacity, I got the wires all seated and screwed in, the surge protector attached to the wall of the electrical compartment, and the long end of the cable fastened to the electrical compartment so that it wouldn’t easily pull loose.  I then wrapped electrical tape around the wires to pretty up the installation.

Next, was an oil and filter change.  We were definitely due for this maintenance item despite the motorhome only having 3000+ miles.  I tackled the job with overalls and an old shirt, and succeeded in getting oil all over me—not unexpectedly though.  Draining the oil and taking the oil filter off was not terribly daunting, but then trying to pour oil through into a small funnel from a 5 quart container in a severely limited space was unbelievable. Designers and engineers of RVs should have to live in, operate, and maintain one before they are permitted to design one!  (When I directed the Engineering and Construction Division for the Little Rock District Corps of Engineers, I would have future leaders interview park rangers regarding campgrounds, etc. in order for them to get as good a perspective of what worked and what didn’t as they could without actually backing an RV into one of the spots, hooking up, and using the facilities; it was quite an eye opener for some, but probably forgotten by now.)

After driving to Quarry Park this morning, we passed out calling cards to new met friends, stowed the water hose and electrical cable, retracted the slides, and withdrew the jacks.  We made the short drive to the dump station, where we left a “load”, but actually both the black and gray tanks were less than 1/2 full.  We departed Quarry Park, perhaps for the last time this year, and I drove to Mountain Home Glass for some repairs.  We’re both glad to be returning to the house, but will miss camping.

More and more RVs are arriving, and the sites along the river and on the opposite side of the road are almost all occupied though there are still some 30-amp sites near the highway.  We really don’t like it this crowded as campground traffic increases, noise increases, people tend to get in each other’s way, visitors pack the parking lots and roadsides, making driving a bit hazardous, etc.
We enjoyed a last walk around the park, and a couple of bicycle rides.  Fishers are packing the river, lined up almost as far as the eye can see, and I finally got a photo. 
Our last full day is today, as we have an appointment tomorrow with Mountain Home Glass to repair the leaking windshield they replaced a few weeks ago. Consequently, we spent some of the day packing up things for home, and getting the motorhome ready to travel.  Because we’re so close to the house, camping at Quarry Park lends itself to returning home often to do normal maintenance, keeping our usual routine in terms of schedules and appointments, and otherwise doing what we would do if staying at the house.  It really makes camping less fun as most of our time is already committed.  Another lesson learned; we’ll have to go further to get our camping fix!
As is becoming the case, we returned to the house for the rest of the evening, but will come back to the campground tomorrow morning to pick up the motorhome for delivery to Mountain Home Glass. 

Quarry Park is beginning to fill, as many folks who plan to attend the Federation of Fly Fishers Southern Council Fly Fishing Fair in Mountain Home plan to camp at the park—some bring tents, most use pop-up tent campers, others pull their travel trailer, a few haul 5th wheel trailers, and some bring motorhomes—pretty typical of the camping population in general.  Typically, about a 1,000 fly fishers and tyers register for the event, though only a small number of those camp.  However, as one of only two public accesses on the Norfork River, it means that the river is packed each day leading up to the fair, through the fair itself, and then a few days afterwards.  Consequently, I try not to fish among the crowd.

Kay and I love dogs and cats, thought we are now pet less with the passing of Jelly Bean a few years ago (the picture is going to make us cry).  As many of you know, she and Trouble, my Brittany, were important members of my family, and came with me when Kay and I married.  Anyway, I digress. It seems a large number of RVers have pets, and most are well-behaved (pets, that is).  However, there are always a few in every park that believe the rules to keep dogs leashed apply only to the neighbors, and not themselves.  A 5th wheel pulled in right next, and the folks were quite noisy setting up.  And then, I saw the lady and she was a spitting image of one of my dad’s many caretakers—the one who, with her daughter, stole unmercifully from him; she had done “time” previously, and that’s another story.  The fact to use with a yapping dog.  They would tie the dog to the picnic table and every time we went outside, the dog would start yapping.  After they got set up, the dog moved to inside the trailer and every time the door would open the dog was gone, dashing from one camp site to another, sniffing BBQ grills, peeing on everything sitting around, etc.  Most of our other neighbors complained, but to no avail.  Oh well, just another pitfall of staying in a public campground.

Kay was out of pocket most of the morning, visiting the beauty shop.  I hung around the RV, trying to catch up on things. We (mostly me) were suffering from lack of high speed internet access and wanted to watch some recorded television shows.  We spent the evening at our house, driving back to the campground for sleeping. Yeah, it’s getting time to pack up and head for home.

Our time here at Quarry Park is coming to a close, and it’s time—we have a LOT of other obligations this month: a meeting with our financial advisor, 4 birthdays, one 50th wedding anniversary celebration, a motorhome windshield leak repair, 4 Crossroads Praise Team practices, 4 4 + 1 Quartet practices, one RV rally, and 4 Sunday’s of Sunday school (Kay is facilitating a series on “Boundaries”); other than these few things we have pretty much a free month.  We always seem to allow our calendar to get too full!  The silver lining is that we get to see our kids and grandkids at some of these events.
ASs Kay and I were walking this morning, we saw Dr. Sam Bailey and Duane Hada driving to the Quarry Park access to fly fish the Norfork River.  Sam is our former pastor and Duane is one of the best fly fishing guides in the business as well as a great artist.  We visited briefly, and Duane asked if I could shuttle him to the confluence, and of course I did.
After returning we had breakfast, caught up on a few things in the motorhome, and left for a meeting in town.  We returned to the motorhome, then drove back into town for Crossroads Praise Team practice, and back to Quarry Park to end the day.  Whew…  See what I mean?  Time to quit camping.

Well, this marks the end of another month; seemingly, time goes by more and more quickly.

We were up early this morning in order to get to church early and test out the computer/television monitor combination for Kay’s Sunday school lesson.  We arrived early enough, and the room was unlocked, but there was no monitor; at least our intention was good, but my mom used to say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Randy preached a great sermon—actually he told the story of Joseph and the interaction between his brothers and him in Egypt; this is one of my favorite stories from the Bible.

After church and Sunday school, we ate at Chen’s, our usual Sunday lunch haunt, drove by the house and picked up the Sunday paper, and lounged for the rest of the day.  Is this a great life or what?