A Celebration, Bad News and Good News

Happy Birthday Kaileigh!!! Friday night we celebrated Sheryl's daughters birthday with  dinner out at The Cheesecake Factory. We had a good meal and great company.

Sheryl and Kaileigh left this morning for Kansas to visit an ailing aunt, they both wanted to spend time with her before the inevitable happens and she is gone forever. It's been really hard for Sheryl, as her and her aunt are very close. We all know it's the cycle of life, but that doesn't make it any easier.

Now for the Good New's. Kevin finally got in to see the neurosurgeon about his lower back and neck. After an examination and reviewing the MRI's it looks like there is no permanent damage to either area, and nothing so out of whack that any serious damage would occur in the future......WoooHooo!!! However it looks like I'll just have to deal with the occasional back going out....boy this getting older sucks!!! The bad news in all of this is, we will not be able to make it down to Miami for the birth of our newest grandbaby, time and finances just won't let it happen.

So there it is, A Celebration, Bad News and Good News all wrapped up in one post. Let's just hope good news will always prevail over the bad for a while. That's it for now, see you fine folks back here next time.

Lake Stanley Draper, OKC, OK.

 Saturday, I thought I'd take the Jeep out and actually get a little dirt on the tires. My destination, Lake Stanley Draper on the south side of OKC. It's a pretty large lake with several large fingers extending from it. There is also a dirt road which follows the shoreline, making for approx 20 miles of dirt. This it the Jeeps maiden voyage off the paved roads and she did surprisingly well.

Some of the road was a little less travelled (yes theres a road under there....lol)

 Some areas were just long stretches with some surprisingly large washed out areas.

 And some areas were just off limits......Darn!!!

But for the most part they looked like this, just a pleasant 20 mile drive around a beautiful lake. After being cooped up in the house for a week with that darn cold, it was nice to get out.

Looking forward to getting the Jeep out more during our travels.......so stay tuned and we'll see you next time.

Scrappy's New Warning Sign

While digging around the outside storage bays this spring, I came across an old sign I had picked up while in England. Being an old Military Working Dog Handler, Sheryl and I both decided it would be cool to put it up on the rig somewhere. The previous owners had a sign on the inside of the front door we had removed, and it just so happened the holes lined right up with ours. So up it went, now you should see the looks we get when Scrappy is sitting at the steps with the door open and the sign pretty much right next to him...lol.

This last week, I managed to catch a cold from somewhere and it's had me down pretty hard. Being the good husband that I am, and sharing everything with Sheryl...........well you can see where this is going. Yup, she is now down and I'm finally getting over it, thank goodness. While were on the subject of medical news, I was supposed to have my Neurosurgeon appointment today, but they called a couple of days ago and cancelled until next week (glad I'm not in dire straits!!!) Good news is, both my neck and back are doing much better, of course I've been taking it as easy as I can, which is pretty hard for me to do. So another week of twiddling my thumbs unti I can find out just what is going on, and if it needs to be fixed or not.

Ahhh well, such as the way things are, so I'll hold down the fort and see you fine folks back here shortly.  

Flag Pole Find

We have been wanting to get a flagpole of some sort for a quite a while now, just wasn't sure on which one. I have been looking at several different types and pretty much settled on the Flag Pole Buddy that attaches to the rear ladder on the motorhome. Of course I always have a hard time parting with a "C" Note or more for anything, so I kept putting it off. Well, during my time of procrastination, a gentleman pulled into the park and set up a couple of flagpoles as the one above. During one of our evening walks, we saw them outside, and stopped for a visit. We found out he makes them and sells them to anyone who would like one. No advertising, just word of mouth or inquires such as ours. Sheryl and I talked about this new to us style, she brought up the fact of, why don't we get one we can enjoy seeing also, as apposed to the ladder mount, where we can't. The next day I walked over and picked one up from him, He also makes a couple of accessories for them, a place to mount/hang a sign, or two garden flags. We chose the sign mount style (now we just have to find a nice name sign). They are very easy to make, so we will make a garden flag one also for a little variety.
Just thought we share our find with you, it makes our campsite just a little nicer and more inviting. So if you ever see us around, feel free to stop by and peck on the door, as were always up for meeting new folks. Take care for now and we'll see you out there!!!

Kayaks and Carrier for the Jeep

 When we first started Fulltiming, we had a couple of kayaks that we didn't have room to take with us. We knew we wanted to keep them, but where? Enter our kids, Chris and Kayla had a house in Dallas and were willing to babysit our yaks (and or course use them at will) until we were able to retrieve them one day. Well, that day finally came, this year when we decided to head to Florida, we though how great it would be to have the kayaks and how much use we could get out of them. So after almost 4 years we picked them back up, now how to transport them on our travels?

 Bringing them up to OKC from Dallas, we fashioned a temporary rack to get them here. We of course needed a more permanent solution. Our solution after much research was, this Swiss Cargo rack. We liked it over several others, because it will hold 2 kayaks and also the upright part will fold down when not in use. Now on to the other issue, our Jeep did not come with the factory cross bars, but at over $200.00 for a set, there had to be a better way. I already had a set of Thule bars from a previous project, so I looked at the part from Thule to connect the bars to the Jeep rails and they alone were close to $175.00!!! So by now you know I'm a tightwad, so putting the ole noggin to use, I came up with a $4.00 solution.

 The solution, 4 U bolts and a little elbow grease. I just drilled holes in the bars for the U bolts to fit in, then attached the bars to the factory rails and problem solved. A solid base that did not cost a small fortune.

The Kayak carriers then attached to the bars via the supplied hardware. Now we have a secure way to transport them around.

We did get to use the kayaks in Arkansas before my back went out, however now they will be a couple of 12' paperweights until the neurosurgeon decides the best course of action to fix the problem. We are still waiting for an appointment with him, he just got all the MRI results so hopefully Monday we can get an appointment scheduled and get this show on the road.

Another project down, (with the help of pain pills), so until next time we'll see you right back here soon!!!

Interior Renovations

 Another project accomplished during our time away from the blog, was to renovate the inside of the motorhome and Sheryl get's all the credit for the great way it turned out. Seeing as our rig is 13 years old, the original furniture was pretty worn and broken down. So out with the old and in with the new couch and chair that is. After much research, Sheryl found a good deal on both pieces at Camping World. Picking them up ourselves and installing them helped save us a bunch in the process. Some accent pillows and nick kacks round everything out.
 

 Next item up, was the dining room bench's, this called for recovering. Sheryl found just the color and type of fabric she wanted to accent the rest of the rig. She also found a local upholstery shop to put it all together, we think they did a great job!

Along with the new furnishings, came new carpet and real hardwood flooring throughout. We managed to find a fantastic RV shop who did the work for 1/3 the price most others charged. He may be inexpensive but does quality work (this time you really get more than you pay for!!!).  Residential carpet and padding sure feels nice on the ole feet!!!

We are really happy with the way everything turned out. Another one of Sheryl's ideas, was to paint an accent wall and apply decals. You can see it in the first picture, we also painted the back wall in the bedroom the same color, so when you are looking towards the rear of the rig, it ties everything together. I think she should go into the business of RV interior designer, as good as she is at it!!!

Another installment down and more to come, so check back in a couple of days to see whats next!!!

When it Rains it Pours.......Dang It!!!

Well, along with my lower back, my neck has reared it's ugly head again (or my head, as it were). My lower back was the reason for returning to OKC, wanted to have it looked at to ensure no permanent damage could be done. That being said, now my neck, back and arm pain seems to have come back with a vengeance. This is the same injury that kept us here at the beginning of the year, but rectified itself after 3 months and just before surgery. With it coming back again, I feel the doc will recommend surgery again, which means fusing a couple of the bones in my neck. I have an MRI scheduled for Wed and then an appointment with the neurosurgeon sometime next week to go over every thing. If surgery is needed, it will mean hanging around OKC for 3 or so months as that what was said last time. We're hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. I'll post an update as soon as we know something. Next up, more remodeling of the motorhome, so take care and see you next time......................

Outside Fridge and Graphics

 I've been wanting to install a small refrigerator in one of the outside compartment of the motorhome for sometime now, however I've been to cheap to pay the price for a new one. As luck would have it, we stopped by the thrift store here on Tinker AFB and low and behold, there was a nice shinny dorm fridge that someone had just brought in. Of course I'm usually skeptical about buying electrical items from thrift shops, as they have a no return policy. So I chatted with the ladies there and they found a plug to see if it works. Since I wasn't expecting buy anything this day, I needed to run out to get some cash, they said they'd hold it for me and by then it should be cold enough to know that it's working ok. I returned with cash in hand, checked out the fridge which was already forming ice inside, so it was working fine. I returned back to the rig with my new found bounty. I cleared out one of the smaller compartments, put together a base with some scrap wood I had and she fit in there like a glove. So, now when were enjoying the great outdoors there's always an ice cold beverage close at hand.........ahhhhhhh.

Another project that has been driving us crazy is the stripes on our motorhome. In places they are looking alittle rough and faded. We have tried most everything to help bring them back to life, but to no avail. Then one day I had a though (I know that's dangerous) the graphic's are made of vinyl, just like most car interiors, so I grabbed some Armor All wipes we had and gave them a shot. Well, to our surprise they actually did a pretty good job at bringing the color and shine back out. Of course nothing like new but much better than before. The picture is not that great, but you get the idea. So if you are looking to bring the vinyl stripes on your rig back to life, give the Armor All wipes a try.

That was two more projects we accomplished while sitting for so long, with a few more to go, so stay tuned and we'll see you back here soon.