Golf and Dinner out; New Truck Tires; New Recliner

April 08 – 20, 2014 

Well, this has been an expensive week!  It was no surprise that the truck needed all new tires (6) and that they were going to be costly.  The truck also needed rear brake pads, also not a surprise.  After it was all done the bill came to just over $2,500.  The good news is that we will probably not need to replace the 4 rear tires again on this truck.  The original set lasted for 65k miles, just over 6 years.  Our plan is to replace the truck when it reaches 110k miles which should get us another 3 years.

Monday the 15th was the planned tire and rear brake replacement on the truck at Hacienda Ford in Edinburgh.   I had made the arrangements a couple of weeks earlier so that the tires would be there and we had an agreed price.  I didn't plan on or have an agreement as to how long the work would take.  I would have never thought it would take 11 hours!

I arrived at 8am and was asked if I wanted to be driven back to wait for the work to be done.  I figure it will take 4-5 hours so I wanted to stay and relax and read so I declined. I also thought they may make things happen faster if I am waiting. At 9am I went to get coffee and the truck was in a service bay and the wheels were off the vehicle.  I was feeling really good that things were moving and maybe I would be out of here before noon.

There it is, our truck in the second bay from the right.  It looked like that all day!

At 11 am the service manager came to me and told me that they would be done in about 2 hours which would be 1 pm. OK, not bad I thought, a little later than I thought, but not bad.  So I went to finish my first book.

1 and 2 and 3 pm go by and now I'm concerned.  The service manager tells me that the technician has been working on just my vehicle all day and he just said that he would be done in the next hour.  Well, what am I going to do, I'm here and let's just get it done now!

At 4 pm the service manager finds me and sits down across from me and says that before they can put on the wheels they needed to put on the new brake pads and they found that one was missing in the box.  I'm thinking "you haven't done the brakes yet! Wasn't that done this morning!" If they can find a brake pad somewhere they will get the job done today for me.  

At 4:30 pm I am told that they found a brake pad and that they will complete the job tonight.  Oh yay!!

Guess what; at 5:45 pm I'm told that there wasn't enough time to complete the work and they were sorry but I would need to be taken home and come back in the morning. Wow!!

I was called the next morning at 7:30 to tell me it was done and they were coming to get me.  I was told that the technician had a real hard time getting the tires off of the rims and other than that they just didn't know why it took so long.  They gave me a free oil change coupon to make me feel better about the wait.  That's worth $100 for this truck.  You know, I really am not mad or upset as I have the time so as long as the work got done, I'm good.  Just really can't understand how it could have taken that long and the service manager could have been so wrong so many times!  It will remain a mystery I guess.

Now we have tread!

Tuesday the 16th we planned to play a round of golf and have dinner out.  We had a tee time at 2pm and we were in line to tee off when my phone rang.  Patty answered it as I was getting us a couple of beers at the club house. It was a shipping company looking to deliver my replacement recliner.  We knew we were getting a new chair under warranty from the manufacturer, but didn’t know just when. Now it looks like we were not going to get any pre-notification either.

The driver couldn’t find the resort and said that we need to sign for the chair.   He also told us that he couldn’t hold the chair and that we had to be there to receive it.  So we packed up our clubs and off we went back to the resort after getting a rain check for the golf.  I was not very happy about this situation at all! And I made Patty well aware that I was a very unhappy non-golfer! (tee-hee)

When we arrived back at our RV the truck was waiting for us. The truck did not have a lift and the box with the recliner was ticketed at 200 pounds!  So, the truck driver and I got the box off of the truck and I was surprised that we had very little trouble.  It seems that Prime Time, our RV manufacturer, sent the chair as if it was going to a business where they could easily receive the box during business hours.   Anyway it all worked out and with help from a couple of guys in the park we got the old chair out and the new one in.  It was sort of funny, I must have had a dozen people come up and want to know what was in the box.  Put a large box in front of the RV and everybody becomes very curious!

What's in the box?

This is what was in the box!

We finally got to play golf at the Los Lagos Country Club on Wednesday the 17th.  Patty was playing well but not really scoring well, that happens, and this was only her third time out in a year. I played my usual and shot a 101.  I really wanted to break 100 but it just wasn’t to be.  My biggest problem is with fairway shots from under 100 yards. 

Anyway, the price was right though, just $26 for the 2 of us and a cart.  I used my prize of one free round that I got at an outing from the resort which made the cost that low.

Nice picturesque par 3 hole.

We had a prairie dog watching us play golf.

After golf we went to a restaurant in McAllen called Lansky’s and Bratz.  We received a $25 off coupon from our mail forwarding service because Curt from Illinois used us as a reference.  Thanks Curt! Anyway, the restaurant was super expensive, like NYC expensive except this was the RGV and not NYC!  Most everything on the menu was a la carte, even the bread!  The good part was that the food, for the most part, was really very good.  With a bottle of wine, tip, and including the $25 off coupon, the tab came to $190 for the 2 of us.  Believe us, that is exceptionally high for dinner in the RGV!

Thursday the 17th I went with Bruce here in the park to the town of Monte Alto to deliver our old chair to the community center.  Monte Alto is the poorest areas in Texas.  A lot of the people there are seasonal farm workers.  When it isn’t picking season there is no money coming in.  Bruce and his wife Mary Sue have been helping out here for several years so he knows the area very well.  I have seen areas like this in other parts of the US but I didn’t have a guided tour like this time.

A watermelon field in Monte Alto TX.  The watermelon vines
are the green areas between the high grass.

The rest of the day was a maintenance day mostly.  First, the truck’s front tires had only 50 lbs. instead of the required 85 lbs.  I don’t know why the Ford service technician did that but it is what it is.  I also like to have 5 lbs. over the required pressure so that the pressure is still high enough even on a cold morning.  So I keep 90 lbs. in the front tires and 80 lbs. in the 4 rear tires.  I got out my 150 lbs. compressor and filled all of the tires to what I wanted them to be.  I also put Teflon tape on the valve stems before replacing the pressure pro sensors.  I have noticed that they can leak a little over time if I don’t do this.  I don’t like needing to put air in the tires when we are leaving our camp sites so this is just some extra protection.

After the truck tires I filled the fresh water tank with about half a quart of bleach mixed in.  Our rig has a pressure fill for the fresh water tank so I just fill the water filter canister with bleach and then turn the valve to fill the fresh water tank.  This mixes the water with the bleach.  It takes about 20 minutes to fill the tank.  After it is full, I turn off the water and replace the water filter and then turn the valve back to the regular connection for the rig.  Now I let the bleach water mix sit in the tank for a couple of days and then drain it.  We don’t use the fresh water tank very often but I try to keep it clean for when we do use it.  I do this cleaning process roughly every 3 months.

Friday the 18th we had Rainy and Greg as guests over for dinner and drinks.  We made BBQ beef short ribs, salt potatoes, and green beans.  Again, it was a very fun evening and we consumed large quantities of libations. 

Several people in the park stopped by to chat and during it was mentioned that after a couple of months here you need to rest from all of the partying and hang up your liver to dry out.  I can now see how that may be necessary.

Saturday the 20th we hung our livers out to dry so to speak and vegetated most of the day.  The sun didn’t come out all day.  The temperature was in the 80’s but it was just cloudy.

Saturday night was the usual darts night at the pool. This was the smallest crowd since we arrived here in December.  However, we still had 14 people to play (2 teams of 4 and 2 teams of 3).  A good night was had by all, especially since my team won the overall again!

Sunday the 20th, Easter Sunday, Patty and I helped with serving the Easter lunch here at the resort.  We also made a large pot of carrot casserole to share.  There were around 60 people in attendance for the lunch.  There was a lot of leftovers so we had another group get together for a leftovers dinner that same night.  Everyone who came was very full when they left for the night.

Our carrot casserole!

Patty has decided to start her own business making cut shirts.  We had never heard of cut shirts before arriving here at this resort.  They are basically a plain t-shirt that has been artistically cut into a pattern.  Each shirt is individual and can be made to order. Dresses, skirts and collars in 100% cotton are also designed. Nudists are especially fond of these. Patty is still thinking of a name for the business, so if anyone has the winning suggestion you get a free shirt!.

To get the business started, Patty negotiated a deal with one of the 3 women here who make these shirts.  The deal was that Patty would not compete here at this park and in return she got a substantial inventory of pre-made shirts at cost and lessons in how to make the shirts.  These shirts really look great!!!

Patty in one of the shirts.  Very nice!

A new update to our travel plans, again.  We have decided to go to our RV manufacturer in northern Indiana to have our warranty work done instead of doing it along the way.  Most everything else stays the same.

We are now in our last week here.  Starting Monday we will be in getting ready to leave mode.

Nice picture of the pool here.

Now we know what these are. They are called Killdeer.
They are nesting here at the resort now.

Stay Tuned!