Month: March 2016

A beautiful sunny morning. 34F at 8:00AM.

Cathy went in to pick up David and I carried things to the Brave, a seemingly endless number of things. After they got back from Grand Forks, Cathy filled even more bags.

We finally got David loaded into the motorhome about 11:30AM. Larry came over to help. It was necessary to make some adjustments to the sling that Cathy installed last night, but every thing went well.

We left Buxton at 12:15PM. We headed south on I-29. I had planned on stopping at Stamart in Fargo for propane, but decided to wait until Sioux Falls, SD and the Flying J.

Our first stop was at the SD border Rest Area.

I walked Joy and Cathy took over driving. Cathy drove to the Rest Area south of Watertown. It sprinkled a little at MM 187.

I drove on to Flying J in Sioux Falls. Since we were buying propane, we had to unload David. I parked in an end to end Handicap Zone. Took David inside the Flying J  and I went to the RV lane for Propane and Gas.

While I was getting gas, Cathy and David got some sausages on hot dog buns. The clerk suggested they go into the Drivers Lounge. So when I went in they were about half way through the sandwich. They got me two. I had Cathy drive the 30 miles to the US-81 turn to the south. I then drove on through Yankton to Norfolk, NE. We are spending the night at Norfolk in the Walmart lot. WE got here at 10:15PM. It is 47F. We drove 440 miles today.

Very nice day. Partly sunny with high of 70F.

Filled the fresh water tank  and flushed the RV antifreeze. Started the water heater. It all is working.

Went into Grand Forks and picked up the coolant over flow reservoir from Lithia Ford. With tax it cost $120.

Stopped at Walmart and Menards. Got back to Buxton and called Larry from across the street to help. What should have been simple turned into a little more work. Two of the screws holding the reservoir broke. Larry found a short piece of angle aluminum with holes in it . We used it to clamp the back two tabs. I don’t think it will be a problem. Sometime in the future I will cut the captive nuts off and replace with bolts.

Larry then drove me down to Cenex to pick up the tires we changed yesterday. They are still in pretty good shape for use as spares. Current spares are weather checked and a lot older.

We then stopped for Happy Hour and dog play time.

Went back to Brave and installed Camco Screen Door Cross Bar. We have one in the Adventurer and Cathy missed it. They are nice to have.

Cathy left to go to David’s apartment to install wheel chair sling which came yesterday.

I continued to haul things out of the Brave Now will have to start hauling other things in.

Stopped to watch a Morningstar WEBinar about their solar charge controllers.

Went back to Brave and installed new Smoke/CO Detector in bedroom.

Hooked the Rand McNally RVND-7730 GPS to computer and updated the files.

It is now midnight and we still have a long way to go. Will go to Grand Forks and pick David up at about 8:00AM.

Beautiful sunny day. High only got to about 51F, but no wind and a lot of sun.

Took the Brave down to Cenex to get the new tires put on. One bay at the Cenex station is big enough for trucks.

They have a tire machine for truck tires so it goes pretty fast

 

I got two Sailun steer tires, 245/70R19

Here is how the tire is put on the rim

After getting it back together the wheels were balanced.

Had the oil changed and the steering linkage greased. While Kelly was checking fluids , he noticed the coolant level was low. When he filled it, it came out of the front of the over flow resevoir. There is a crack in the front.

Took the Brave back to the house and parked in the front driveway.

Called Lithia Ford in Grand Forks and ordered a Coolant Over Flow Reservoir. It will be here tomorrow at 7:00AM. It cost $112.

Cathy and I went in to Grand Forks to pick up the the Chippers she ordered from Widman’s Candy for favors at the reception dinner.

We then went to C&R Cleaners and picked up the tuxedo I had had altered. Then stopped at Hugo’s to pick up $1.99 butter and 99 cent eggs. Cathy is hard boiling the eggs and making egg salad for the trip.

Joy and I went over to “Play Time” at Larry and Princesses’

We had left over pizza for dinner.

After dinner I cleaned up the vanity and bathroom in the Brave and took out some unnecessary items. Will go in early and get the coolant reservoir and get it installed. Switched the refrigerator to propane and it wouldn’t fire up. Blew out the combustion chamber and now it is working. Now just have the water pump and water heater to get going.

Saw the “Trailer Park Boys” on Jimmy Kimmel. Haven’t had time to watch any of their new shows. My daughter in law claims that my son Jay looses 30 IQ points for every “Trailer Park Boys” show he watches.

 

Beautiful day today. Mostly sunny 54F.

Didn’t get much accomplished for the trip. Worked on David’s wheel chair. Got the pommel fixed and the arm rests switched. Looked at attaching the sling straps and the motor home hold downs. I could have made better slings out of chain and saved the $80. Doesn’t look like we can tie down the chair and tip it back while tied down. He is supposed to be tipped back every half hour for a couple of minutes.

Joy enjoyed a nice walk. Molly from across the street has been going with us.

Cathy made a nice ham dinner for Easter. After dinner we took David back to his apartment. On the way home we stopped at Walmart and picked up printer ink cartridges and a screen door cross bar for the Brave.

Will take the Brave down to Cenex in the morning for the new tires and an oil change. Will bring it back and park in front driveway to load.

We have decided to leave early Wednesday morning and limit the trip to one over night stop. I am thinking of going down I-29 to I-90 and then down US-83 to I-80 at North Platte, NB.

Beautiful day. Cool, but no wind or clouds. High was about 40F, but the sun was really warm.

Scrubbed the living room/kitchen floor in the Brave. That turned out nice. Moved the router, modem and printer from the Adventurer. Got it all set up and tested.

We converted the original dinette in the Brave to a table, chairs and credenza. We used the original table, but are able to push in for travel and pull out for use.

We have receptacles under the credenza to plug in printer or any thing we put on the credenza top.

There is also 120 VAC shore power and inverter power and 12 VDC under the table for notebooks and cell phones.

We had to go to Crookston at 4:00PM to pick up our prescriptions at Walmart. North Dakota has a law to protect ND pharmacists and restricts the pharmacy ownership to ND pharmacists. None of the North Dakota Walmarts have pharmacies. Crookston is about 29 miles from Buxton. We went from Crookston to Grand Forks, another 26 miles to pick up David and go out to dinner to celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary. We went to Ruby Tuesday. Even though it was a Saturday night they weren’t very busy. We were able to watch the UND hockey game. They beat Northern Michigan 4 to 2 and are going on to the Frozen Four.

Hope to finish cleaning the Brave tomorrow. Actually we have to take a lot of things out of the Brave. Will have to put an assortment of tools in for emergencies. Printer needs ink and they didn’t have at the Crookston Walmart.

We woke up to snow this morning. It was 31F and snowing at 8:00AM.

By 2:00PM when Joy and I got back from a walk it was mostly gone

By the end of the day it was all gone.

When I checked the refrigerator the Freezer was right at 0F

And the refrigerator right at the bottom of the safe zone.

Cathy thoroughly vacuumed the motor home including all the drawers. Now I have to scrub the floors.

I checked at Cenex and the new tires were there. Will have them installed Monday morning. After that I will park the Brave in the front driveway where it will be easier to load.

Later in the afternoon we went in to Grand Forks so Cathy could take David shopping for his outfit to wear to the wedding. He made quite a haul at Penny’s for $30.

We picked up a Papa Murphy’s  pizza for dinner. We had a Gourmet Vegetable Pizza and shrimp for dinner.

We had a beautiful sunset.

Our daughter Alison made a Facebook Video Call. She had Bridgette our great grand daughter. She thanked us for the Easter Basket we sent her.

Joy and I went over to Larry’s for play time. Joy and Princess had a good time chasing and playing tug of war with a ball.

We will be going to Boulder, CO next week for our daughter Kathryn’s wedding on April 2nd. We are taking David, so going in the 1999 Winnebago Brave 35C. The Brave hasn’t been used since we took David to the WIT campout in June of 2014.

Changed out the batteries last week. Used the Optima battery I took out of the Cherokee and the three 12 volt group 29 batteries I took out of the Adventurer.

The Brave still has the original TV in the front. I had an iView OTA Digital Converter DVR installed on it, but couldn’t get a picture, so replaced it with an Insignia OTA Digital Converter I had. Also changed out the 4 x 3 Flat Screen TV in the bedroom for a 22″ 16 x 9 LED TV that was in David’s Bedroom in the old house. He has a 32″ LED TV in his new bedroom.

Next I went to activate the XM radio. Couldn’t get it to work on line, so called. They couldn’t get it to work either, just the Channel One Preview Channel. They said they would send me a new one for $36, 2 day air. An hour later it started working.

Checked the generator. It fired right up, let it run with an electric heater on for an hour or so. Turned the furnace on and it worked fine. Turned the refrigerator on, hopefully it will be cold in the morning.

Checked the Super Arm Lift that we load David with. Unfortunately one of the sling straps got miss placed when he got his new chair. Cathy ordered a new set from Denver for $80 plus $22 shipping. They got held up by the storm in Denver, hopefully they will be here on Monday.

Decided I didn’t like the rivering wear on the front passenger side tire, so ordered two Sailun Steer Tires from Cenex.

Changed out the license plate to the new North Dakota plates. Sorry to see the Lewis and Clark plates go.

At 3:00PM, UPS delivered the tuxedo for the wedding. I took it into C&R Cleaners to have the pants legs and jacket sleeves shortened. They were both way too long, the jacket mid section is tight , but no material to expand. They will have the alterations done Monday afternoon.

Hopefully will get the tires and oil changed tomorrow at the Cenex station. I will scrub the floor and clean up the wash basin in bathroom and kitchen sink. Still have to check the water pump and water heater. Will probably wait until Monday for that.

Have to move the router and printer and check that out tomorrow. Probably wait until Monday to wash the windows. Then it should be ready to go.