First and foremost, happy 17th birthday, Kaden.

With Kay gone, inspired by the just read AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller, and all the chores caught up (at least the ones I wanted to do), I drove to the Leatherwood Wilderness for a short hike.  My objective was to view the vibrant fall colors, get a little exercise, and find the saltpeter caves Ed and Ellen told us about.

Though I have driven it many times, US Forest Service Road 1118 seemed more rough than usual.  Normally, the area is devoid of people, but today I saw at least a dozen people riding horses, several automobiles, and one ATV.  When I came to the junction where I should have parked, several riders were there on horseback, concealing the trail.  I turned and drove right, but shortly came to a private horse camp.  I turned around, drove back to the intersection, and continued left this time, I came to the Spring Creek Trailhead on the Ozark Highlands Trail (OHT).  This section of the OHT had been closed for a lengthy time following the January 2009 Ice Storm which left entire tops of trees hanging and suspended above the trail.  Rather than begin this trail, the map showed a loop trail across the road, and I hoped it would take me to the top of Almus Knob.  I followed it for a half mile (the gnats were horrible), but it’s direction was inconsistent with the map, and without proper hiking supplies, I opted to return, looking carefully for another trail, but to no avail.

I returned to the car, and drove to Spring Creek and towards Big Flat, but did not see another trailhead.  Driving back the way I came, I stopped at the intersection mentioned earlier, and found a significant trail towards Almus Knob.  After only a short hike, I came to the entrance of one of the saltpeter caves.  There is a large room with a hole in the “roof”, and beyond is a small opening to the cave itself, shown on the bottom right of the photograph, behind the pointed rock.  Following this entrance, one can crawl and explore the depths of the cave if desired, but without a flashlight and not having told anyone where I was, I did not go beyond the entrance.  However, this is on my list for a future date, hopefully with Kay, Ed, and Ellen since the latter two know where there is another cave and the location of the trail to the top of Almus Knob.  Pretty awesome, huh?

Kay will be out of town most of this week, to celebrate Kaden’s 17th birthday, see grown kids and baby grandson, and visit with “old” girlfriends.  Consequently, so that I could have a way home, we took the motorhome back to Mountain Home Glass again this morning for windshield repair/replacement.  They have been great to deal with, but unfortunately, we have leaks from their previous replacement/repair.  As has been previously written, getting the motorhome ready to travel, if only for 14 miles, is not a quick process; the cable had to be unhooked, the power cord unhooked, the tire covers taken off and stowed, mothballs removed from the engine compartment and on top of the tires, LED lights unplugged and stored (these latter two items for rodent control), and the jacks retracted.  And then, the motorhome has to be wiggled around the driveway in order to drive down the hill to the street.

Now, we’ll have to pack and get ready for an RV rally, IF the motorhome is fixed!

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, but…

If you regularly read this blog, you might recall that we received a chip in the windshield on February 1 this year near Edinburg, Texas.  A few days later we had the chip “sealed”, the $40 special, and we were back in business.  Then when camping in early August we noticed that the chip had turned into a crack and had extended several inches.  We made arrangements through State Farm Insurance to have the windshield replaced at Mountain Home Glass.  We cut our camping trip short and delivered the RV to Mountain Home Glass on August 21 for the replacement.  We retrieved the motorhome on Friday, August 24, and about a month later, September 25 returned to Quarry Park for another short “close-to-home” camping trip. After a brief early morning rain, we noticed a couple of leaks on the inside of the windshield, and they reappeared after a heavy dew a couple of mornings later.  We called Mountain Home Glass and explained the situation and we agreed to take the motorhome back to them on Tuesday, October 2.  We did, retrieving it again on October 4.  Well, with more rain the last couple of weeks, we see that the leaks have not stopped, and are in fact getting worse.  We called Mountain Home Glass again, and will be delivering it once more to them tomorrow, October 15.  Now, realize that it is a major chore to move the motorhome; it’s similar to getting it ready for a trip. They told us they plan to remove the windshield and reset it.  That’s a start in the right direction though statistically, about 60% of the time, windshields are broken during the removal process, which will lengthen the process considerable, and we have made plans to attend a rally the following week.

In all my attempts to pinpoint the leak (play on words), my neighbor and good friend pointed out that the windshield was installed at a tiny bit of a skew, making it even more difficult to remove.  As part of a forensic engineering effort, I put a strip of tape covering the bottom edge of the top gasket surrounding the windshield near where the leaks were observed.  Today, I removed the tape, and voila, at least a tablespoon of water poured poured out. It is apparently making its way to and then running along the top of the windshield glass, taking advantage of any openings to seep into the inside.  We are both concerned about damaged to ceilings, panels, and possibly delamination if this persists, and I have managed to literally worry myself sick, to the point of being nauseous. Discovering, or at least having assurance what the problem specifically is provides some relief.  Now, if we can only get it fixed! Our confidence in Mountain Home Glass’ ability to get this right is waning considerably, and it costs about $25 just in gasoline for us to make a round trip there and back, not counting the time ready the motorhome for the trip, etc.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed!

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?

There is nothing on our calendar today; amazing!  We might have to go back to work to find something to keep us busy!

Our daily walk took us down by the river, and it was amazing to see the line-up.  There were 10 fishers in a line about 30 yards long—almost within arm’s reach of one another.  Regretfully, we did not have a camera, and when we returned they had almost all disappeared.

We’ve met lots of the campground “neighbors”, and most are seniors from within a few hours who visit and stay here often.  After one has camped around the area a few times, a lot of the same faces begin to show up; it’s a small world.

After a leisurely morning, we drove back to the house for lunch and some “serious” computer work requiring WiFi.  I balanced the checkbook, got the blog up to date, sent a few emails, and surfed the net.  Since we were in no hurry, we spent the entire afternoon there.  It was kind of like a short visit, and quite pleasant.

From some reason,our high definition (HD) televisions were cutting of the picture on each side, and it had become frustrating.  Finally, after calling DISHTV, the fix was simply pushing the “*” button on the DISHTV remote control, which is also the “Format” button.  I had pushed it previously, without any results, but one must push it several times to reach the HD format.  By putting this in the blog, hopefully, we’ll remember next time.  Anyway, we watched television recorded from Friday night, wrapping up the evening.