Quote of The Week:

"Retirement life is a game. Happy people are the players. Unhappy people are the spectators. Which would you like to be?
from Ernie Zelinski's How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free"

— Ernie J. Zelinski

We left Tyler and headed due west. Our goal was to reach Abilene, Texas by mid afternoon. As we traveled, we checked our campground directories to see if we could find a decent one for the night. We found one that accepted Passport America members, which we are. Typically, PA members get the rate for 1/2 price, and in this case, that would mean we would only have to pay $13.00. That's pretty good, so we called ahead and they assured us they would have room. When we got there, we found out why they could assure us that they would have room. It was pretty much a dump! But we figured, what the heck. We're only sleeping in the coach for one night in this park, and for the price, we could live with that. Of course, we hadn't yet heard the jets from the air base across the road. Did you kn ow that sometimes, they fly all night long?? So we parked and decided to go out to dinner. When we got back, there was a note stuck in our front door. It was from the owner letting us know that he found water leaking (yes, MORE water leaks!) from under our service bay, so he turned it off and "suggested" that we get it fixed. When I went to see what was going on, I found that the low point drain valve was stripped and it wouldn't tighten down enough to stop the water (only when the water pump was on). So we were judicous with our water usage for the night, and the next morning we looked up an RV repair facility to go to. It should be an easy fix, but I didn't have the tools or the parts for it, so we needed to a repair shop. As we packed up and got ready to go, Jenny was retracting the bedroom slide and I was outside coiling up water hoses when I heard a C R A C K! I looked up to see the awning over the bedroom slide not rolling up with the slide as it went in. I had Jenny run the slide in and out a couple of times, but it still didn't work. I believe that the nosie I heard was the spring inside awning shield break. So I rolled the awning up by hand and we headed into town.

We got to the repair facility before the mechanics did, so we just parked outside of the gate. When they got there, I explained the problem and they got right on it. I was right when I thought that the screw threads of the valve had been stripped out, because when they pulled it apart, it was just a mess. They got another one installed in under an hour. Then I asked the mechanic about my hot water problem. He said that the bypass valve was still closed after the system had been winterized. He opened the valve and promised
that we'd have really hot showers that night. He was right!

We were about 40 miles down the road when I realized I'd forgotten to ask about the awning. As I drove, I angled my left outside mirror (it's remote controlled) up to take a look at it. I saw awning flapping in the breeze that had been shredded from the wind. So we pulled over in the next rest stop, I got out our ladder and climbed up and cut it off.

When I got back in the coach, I promised Jenny that we wouldn't have any more problems for the next two days. And I always keep my promises.