I waited out some really high wind days in Van Horn Texas and got a calm day on Thursday March 24. Having lost some days to the high winds I needed to get in a few long days of driving (long by my standards – 280 miles) so I could make Phoenix on Friday. My planning avoided any windy conditions and other than some up and down across southern Arizona the driving was great. I spent Thursday night in Lordsburg New Mexico and arrived in Phoenix Friday afternoon.
Friday evening, I visited with my friends Steve and Norm and spent the night with them – thus allowing me to enjoy their wine cellar. Grin
Easter Sunday I drove to Quartzsite Arizona where I ended up spending 3 nights waiting for low wind. Even so I did hit some 20 – 25 mph sections but that wasn’t bad at all compared to the days that would have had 50 mph gusts. I crossed the Palm Desert valley on Thursday March 31st and reached my destination of Castaic CA on I-5 near Magic Mountain north of Los Angeles. I planned the drive to reach the Los Angeles area after rush hour but still get on the road early before the morning heated up with the associated increase in wind speed. This planning worked perfectly.
After some preplanning and discussions with other RVers in Facebook groups I decided to avoid climbing up I-5 and down the Grapevine and to cut over to the coast instead and go north on highway 101. The normal route to the cost would be to take I-210 to Pasadena which becomes CA-134 and then in to highway 101 on across the north side of Los Angeles. The problem with that route is the intense LA traffic. I had noticed a route from I-5 to the coast on CA-126 that look to be out of the normal LA commute area. I queried a Facebook group of RVers and an experienced RVer and former trucker told me it was a great route and would have no traffic.
The reason for all of this planning and concern regarding I-5 and the Grapevine is that my RV is 31 years old and one of the 8 cylinders has low compression so I’m a bit short on engine power (more on that later). If you aren’t familiar with this segment of I-5 check this out. Just to get to Castaic I had to go from about 300’ over a 2500’ hill and back down to 1300’ in Castaic. From there to the central California valley there is a 4100’ peak over a 40 mile stretch. Check this out — click on the word “Grapevine” below which is actually a link to an elevation graph.
The drive to the coast on CA-126 was just beautiful. It is a gradual decline of 1300’ over 35 miles and it goes through an incredible agricultural valley. From there I drove up 101 past Ventura and Santa Barbara to Pismo Beach. On Saturday morning I drove from there to my home base at the Betabel RV Park in San Juan Bautista. This included the one 7% up and down grade. It was only about 6 miles long climbing a simple 1500’ but by the top I was down to 25 mph and in second gear, thinking about dropping into first gear. So I definitely made the right decision to not take I-5.
Here I am at my California home kickin’ back. I’ve also put in 5 tomato plants for my RV garden. This was a wonderful trip but in hindsite I’ll target 4 month trips instead of 6 months as this was. I was ready to be home about a month ago.
Now don’t be shocked but here are 3 blog posts to get caught up with my life.
On Friday the 19th I pulled the RV out of storage and started my return home. The first day was just a short trip to the Lake Panasoffkee I-75 KOA in central Florida. This was to be a 2-night stay but I fell in love with the simple campground. I ended up staying 2 weeks and used the time to adjust mentally and dodge a few Tornados.
He is a photo of the lake and 2 of my favorite 5th wheel towing truck. Check the first one, truck is huge. Now check it out again. Notice they have loaded their tow car — REALLY. I wish I’d seen the loading ramps and the process.
I left Lake Panasoffkee on Thursday March 3rd. It was about this point I realized that the south is having massive storms and I’d have to spend much of my schedule and days dodging Tornados, and huge thunderstorms.
I got to Tallahassee that afternoon and decided to unload the Honda Tow car – NOT. The tires were just at the slightest of an angle which I tried to correct — and dropped off the loading/unloading ramp. I then jacked up the car and put some large board under the wheels to get the car higher than the base of the tow dolly. Long story short – the front of the Honda caught the tow dolly and pulled the entire bumper/front-end off the car. See the beautiful photo. NEVER BUY A TWO WHEEL TOW DOLLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I stuffed the front-end into the passenger seat and figured I’d find a body shop along the way.
I arrived in Baytown TX (just east of Houston) on Monday March 7th, and upon unloading the Honda I dashed to a local auto body shop I’d contacted ahead of time. The first estimate was about $350 (not bad) but getting the parts delivered before I wanted to depart Houston (end of week after multiple days of huge Texas size thunderstorms) was not going to happen. I asked the agent to see about air shipping the one part and see if their body person could fix up the other part. Things got better right then as the body guy said something like, “sure, I can actually fix the whole thing with some bailing wire and bubblegum”. One hour later and a single hour of labor ($46) and all is well. I went and found the body guy and slipped him a $20 for a case of beer.
I spent a few days in Austin and then on the 15th of March I headed west on US-290 through the Texas Hill Country. Within 50 miles I started having shifting and power problems. By the time I reached Fredericksburg nothing was working well so I found a spot on the main street where I could park and started calling around for help. The world’s best mechanic is Steve at Superior Automotive in Morgan Hill CA and when I headed out he offered to provide advice if I had troubles. I know from past experience that if I called Good Sam for a tow they would take me to a Chevy dealer and Steve reminded me that dealers hire young mechanics aka those who have never even seen a carburetor much less a vehicle 31 years old. After some discussion he advised finding an “old timer” to check out the engine as the shifting issue might actually be fuel or ignition (lack of power) instead. So I called a local RV camp and got the names of garages they recommend. Dot dot dot, I got a recommendation to a shop 20 miles away that does engine and transmission but the next appointment was 8 days later. So I got a local, well recommended, engine shop to agree to do a test drive. They agreed it was probably engine so I got an appointment for Thursday and found a RV park less than a half mile away.
Fredericksburg is a beautiful little German tourist city so I got to check out the National Pacific WWII Museum, some great German and also Tex Mex restaurants, and a lot of local wineries.
On Thursday March 18th I took the RV to the shop and got lucky. FREEDOM, the RV, is well. Spark plugs and wires were in terrible shape causing mis-firing. Substantial more power and acceleration now. There is on cylinder with low compression 70# vs. should be 110#. My experts guess that has been the same for some time and thus I should be back to normal driving. Also the GUESS is the low power was causing the shifting issues. All this proved to be true and FREEDOM is driving well, not perfect for hugh hill climbing but I’m working on routing.
I am not thrilled with the work done by the shop I paid for a pre-purchase inspection and year ago. They should have caught the ignition wire issue and most likely the compression.
I ended up killing a few more days in Fredericksburg waiting for wind storms in west Texas to pass. Wind has been a real issue the rest of the trip.
I got to Van Horn TX on Monday March 21st and ended up there for 3 nights waiting for some calm winds to get me to Phoenix. Check out the Van Horn Weather center:
I got to Phoenix on Good Friday and spent the evening with great friends Steve Crusenberry and Norm Lucas. I stocked up on food Saturday and Sunday headed out for Quartzsite AZ (about 20 miles east of California). I’ve been here (see Picture) for 3 days now waiting for a good opening (low wind) to get into California. I’d hoped that would be today (Tuesday the 29th) but woke up to extreme warnings. As of this moment the forecast for tomorrow looks good to get to Indio, CA on Wednesday and to Castaic (near I-5 and I-210) on Thursday. That said, I’ve hoped to do this, every day this week.
The RV Park here provided a great Easter dinner for all the campers so I wasn’t alone as I had expected. I also got a chance to meet up with Jeannie Dardini, an old friend from Healdsburg CA and my catalog days. Really enjoyed that.
Wish me luck for the next 4 days cause I’m sure ready to be home.
After 2 months in the Florida Keys I packed up and departed on February 1st heading for my brother’s in Fort Myers. I put the RV into a storage lot which only cost me $80 for the month vs. $45 – $50 per night in a real RV park. This also gave me some great time with my brother, Tom, and sister-in-law, Phyllis.
I first spent a few days with them and then flew off to New Orleans to spend Mardi Gras with my grand-daughter, Anne. I flew because: a) it gave me more time in Florida including time to go see Bruce Springsteen with my brother; b) it was actually cheaper as I had a $ 100 Southwest coupon and parking at the New Orleans hotel was going to be $39.95 per night, not to mention needing to put the RV in a regular park north of Lake Pontchartrain.
I arrived on Friday evening February 5th and flew back on Thursday the 11th. My hotel was right downtown and close to the intersection where most of the parades ended so I was able to catch a lot of them without spending hours in the cool afternoon air.
Here I am with my first set of beads from the parade on Saturday. I ended up with so many beeds I just had to select the best of the best to bring home. When you live in a 25’ RV you don’t store much.
I had dinner on Saturday evening with Anne and her boyfriend Ben and we caught lunch again during the week. Really great to see my youngest grand-daughter all grown up. Love you Anne, Ben is cool too. 😉
I caught a lot more photos of parades but these are the better ones. I’m not much of a photographer.
After Mardi Gras I returned to Fort Myers and had a wonderful stay with Tom and Phyllis. On Tuesday, February 16th, Tom and I drove across the ally and saw Bruce Springsteen in concert in Fort Lauderdale. Here is a shot of Tom and I and a shot from our seats. We were a good way back but had a perfect view and that stadium has great acoustics.
For New Year’s Eve I planned ahead and reserved a room at the Saint Hotel just off of Duval Street. Hotel parking was limited especially at this time of year but I called ahead and was able to drive in rather than take the bus (20+ miles to my KOA campground). Once I checked in a nice fella hopped in a little golf cart and lead me the 2 blocks to a parking lot behind some buildings. As I parked he pointed out that my Honda had a tire going flat. I left it for the next day.
After I got settled in my room I headed out for a quick lunch and a nice restaurant around the corner on Duval St. After some wondering around and a few drinks at local bars I went back to my room and took a nap to kill some time before evening.
I had dinner at Virgilio’s, the cocktail bar attached to La Trattoria, on Duval St. Great meal and nice folks to chat with. Afterwards, I walked down to the Bourbon Street Pub, home of the Red Shoe Drop containing Sushi, the famous female impersonator, and seen on annual TV coverage.
The crowd was “unique” but once I killed enough time I decided I couldn’t just stand there for 2 more hours so I wondered down Duval St which was now store front to store front with people and the road was blocked to all pedestrians to take over the entire street.
I found a nice wine bar with space in the window for people watching and ordered a half bottle of champagne (yea, the real stuff from France, not sparkling wine from California). But just before 11 PM they came around with “last call”. Reallllllly, on New Year’s Eve, they weren’t going to stay open till midnight. From there I went back to Virgilio’s where I’d met some nice people and I toasted in the new year from my corner bar seat. Sorry, I’m not big on photos.
After that I figured I’d just drift back toward my hotel but I got as far as Margaritaville and there was space at the end of the bar, and a great band, so I took a seat and ordered a Margareta — what else!
Turned out to be a great location as passers-by would stop in and stand next to me to order a few drinks. We’d start a conversation and before you know it, I had a new drink compliments of them. I ended up closing the place down and never had to buy another drink.
The next morning, I checked out and had AAA met me at the car to put on the spare. I got the leaking tire fixed a day or two later.
I arrived at my ultimate destination, the Florida Keys, on December 6th. Being a full timer, “destination” is not totally relevant since the trip is really the destination. Still, there are so many of us on the road, if you are heading to desirable locations at desirable times – like Florida during “snow bird” season, you really need to plan and reserve ahead. I reserved this RV Campground in the Keys back in March and Sugarloaf Key (20 miles from Key West) was as close as I could get and even then I have to change physical sites twice during my 2-month stay.
As soon as the RV was parked and hooked up (i.e., water, power, TV, sewer), I headed for the southernmost point (took this picture during a rain shower) and then spent a few hours in downtown Key West (one of my favorite cities).
The only short coming here is that the insects think of me as dinner, and apparently I’m very tasty. Having worked my way through 5 different insect repellents and 6 different itch relief options I settled on a pair that work pretty well. My biggest problem is called No-See-Ums, because they are so small. They actually fly right through the screens on my windows and doors. When I have them open I spray the screen with bug spray and that seems to work pretty well.
Notice my “neighbor” on the side of this tree trunk.
I have to admit, one of my favorite things to do if I wake up early (like 10:00 AM EST) is to launch iHeart Radio and listen to SF Bay Area drive time radio.
“All lanes of I-80 westbound blocked by a paint spill at Freemont Ave. Bay bridge backup is 90 minutes.” Giggle!
Here is my commute view and “the office” in Key West.
I’ll be in the Florida Keys until February 1 and then I’m heading for my brother’s home in Ft Myers, FL for a couple of weeks during which I will take a side trip to New Orleans to share Mardi Gras with my granddaughter (driving would have cut my Florida stay short); and then see Bruce Springsteen in Ft Lauderdale with my brother. After that I will gradually head west, getting to my home base in San Juan Baptista around mid-April.
As Rosanne Rosannadanna always said, “it just goes to show you, it’s always something — if it ain’t one thing, it’s another.” But this one ends really good!
When I went to depart the Charlotte area Sunday morning I rolled the Honda up on the dolly and it goes “crunch”. Short version, it seems that when the Nashville Honda folks did the AC compressor replacement they missed a few screws, or they otherwise didn’t hold. Thus a shield on the bottom of the engine compartment came loose and caught on the dolly, pulling it almost totally off. I was able to remove the shield but two other shields were connected to the first one … I just couldn’t reach the last 2 bolts on one of the shields that was hanging down and dragging on the ground. So I had to call Good Sam Roadside Assistance. They found me a garage that was open on Sunday and only 3 miles away, tow truck arrived quickly and the job was so simple that the Firestone garage didn’t even charge for the work.
With all of that I did have to delay departure till Monday morning but off I went on Monday to Savanna and arrived Tuesday afternoon into Titusville/Cape Kennedy Florida Tuesday afternoon.
But as Rosanne said …
I backed the Honda off the dolly and there on the ground was signs of an oil leak. I got a plastic bin under it to not further dump on the ground and sure enough the engine oil was totally off the dip stick … had the Honda towed to the local Honda dealership …
The dealer in Titusville hopped on it the next morning and called with an estimate. Meanwhile I had spoken with the Nashville Honda folks and put the two companies in touch … Nashville covered the complete cost. First rate dealership.
Only issue, they couldn’t get all the parts till the following week and Enterprise Rent-a-car couldn’t get me a rental till Friday. I really didn’t need the car except I had planned to go to Cracker Barrel (6 miles away) for Thanksgiving. It just got better … I was doing my laundry and a nice lady says, “we got together with KOA and are doing a full Thanksgiving dinner in the club house tomorrow”. So better than sitting at a table alone at Cracker Barrel, I had dinner with a table full of RVers.
Life is good.
I spent Tuesday, December 1st, at the Kennedy Space Center. It was an outstanding day and a very special place for me. I worked at NASA Houston JSC in 1972 during the Apollo 16 and 17 missions. In hindsight it was the best job every. In most jobs even though you know what the company does you don’t necessarily have a real sense of being part of it. At NASA every few months you got to go over to Mission Control and watch what we did lift off the face of the earth. I’ve attached a few photos of both the Saturn V rocket used for Apollo and the Space Shuttle. There is no way to tell you how enormous they are. You can also see the assembly building with me and my tour guide in the foreground. The other shot with the building in the distance is 5 miles away and still huge.
Today is Friday, December 4th and I’m still in Titusville. When I picked up the Honda this Wednesday I discovered on the way back to the RV that the Air Conditioner was not working. I took it back on Thursday and fortunately they could recreate the problem but while searching for the cause, the problem went away. We gave up and I drove it back to the RV park. But as Rosanna said … On the drive I discovered the engine temp gauge was pegged in the red. I limped it to the RV park. This morning I had it towed back to the dealer. The good news is they discovered an intermittent temperature sensor that was causing this problem, and also explained the air conditioner problem. Cheap fix and a good one.
This evening I went to the Titusville Space View Park in hopes of seeing an Atlas V launch but there was too much wind.
Monday evening, November 16th, I had a great dinner with my friend Steve Crusenberry who lives in Phoenix. He was visiting Nashville on business. I travelled 2200 miles and Steve, 1600. A great way to say goodbye to Nashville.
On Tuesday, November 17th, I drove to Knoxville and camped in a Walmart parking lot. I was driving along from Nashville to Knoxville with time to spare ETA 3:47 PM and then it became ETA 4:47 PM. What idiot changes time zones in the middle of a state. Still good to have progressed to EST zone.
I had a great dinner with my old Bechtel friend Fred Wettling, his wife Susan and John Bobrek. John was a surprise guest and the four of us has a great evening. It was like a mini Bechtel reunion.
Wednesday morning, I headed for Swannanoa NC just east of Asheville. Driving through the Smoky Mountains wasn’t a big incline/decline problem but 16 miles of windy roads up and 16 miles down. You know it is bad when they post truck speed limits of 35 MPH. Had a wonderful evening and dinner with Sandra Abromitis and her husband Bill. Great catching up and sharing old Bechtel CFIS project stories.
Friday morning, I headed off to visit my friends, Kay and Beau Bobbitt, just south of Charlotte NC in Indian Land SC. I just dumped the RV in a KOA nearby and spent the weekend with them. It had been ages since I’ve seen them so we have a wonderful time. I also got a tour of the area in their golf cart. They don’t play golf but everyone there uses golf carts for travel around the development.
On Saturday November 14th I hopped the shuttle bus to downtown. Why drive and pay for parking when $10 covers round trip. I spent the afternoon seeing the sights:
I started with the Johnny Cash Museum, it was nice but no big deal. Just a lot of memorabilia, historical stories and videos, and gold records.
On the other-hand the Country Music Hall of Fame was incredible. I only allowed 2 hours and wish I’d had 4 hours. There are special displays that change around the year focusing on specific entertainers and then there was a huge room that covered the mixing of country and rock. Great history of Bob Dylan’s recordings made in Nashville. I especially like the section that focused on the session musicians. It is tradition in the music business to use musicians who focus on working at the recording studios when an album is cut, and not the actual star’s road band. I’ve always thought this was insane as it could create an entirely different sound than the road band. But this display really emphasized want the session musicians have brought to the mix.
I then went on the tour of the RCA Studio B which is one of the greatest studios in music history. Elvis loved this studio and recorded many of his greats here. It is still an active studio used most evenings. Sorry I’ve taken so long with this post as I’m not doing it justice.
Back at the Hall of Fame I snapped this shot of a street sign, I think it will be one of my all-time favorites.
I had a quick drink in a bar before heading to the Ryman Auditorium backstage tour. On Broadway the bars generally have a band on each floor and the music starts at noon and runs into the late hours with groups performing 4 hour sets.
The Ryman Auditorium was the home of the Grand Ole Opry for many years and at this time of the year they move the Opry back here so the new, larger, auditorium can be used for large seasonal shows. There is so much history here it is just incredible.
After the tour I stopped into Tootsies which is a very famous bar whose back door is across the alley from the Ryman back door. I grabbed a beer and a stool behind the drummer on the 2nd floor stage.
That evening I attended the first session of the Grand Ole Opry. I suspect I’ll be a regular fan via the WWW on Saturday nights.
After the show I crossed the alley and took up residence at Tootsies. I didn’t close the place but I sure came close.
I had planned ahead and stayed downtown in a hotel for convenience and at an astronomical price (big weekend in Nashville so prices were higher and availability almost non-existent). For a RVer a hotel means an actual bathtub. I haven’t been able to score an oversized one or with Jacuzzi jets but still worth the stay. Not to mention multi-ply toilet paper — the holy grail of RVing.
Sunday I hopped the shuttle back to the RV park and started preparing for departure.
I arrived in Nashville last Tuesday, November 3, 2015 and checked in to the Nashville KOA which is located northeast of downtown on the outer-belt TN-155 and very very close to the Grand Ole Opry and the general Opryland resort area. I normally try to only use “pull-thru” RV spaces as it prevents me from having to unload the Honda and even if I do unload it is easier. In this case I’m here for 2 weeks and the back in spaces are more than $ 10 / day less so I took a back-in space. No problem however this older section is gravel and dirt so with the frequent rains there is some puddles etc. Murphy’s law, and current weather prediction, says I’ll be departing in the rain Tuesday morning. Fortunately, I here long enough to get Amazon Prime deliveries and now have a nice rain parka and rain booties.
My fellow Rvers will already know this but … always travel with a water pressure regulator and water filter. I do hook up to the water supply in the RV space but with an older RV like this I don’t drink the water that comes through the RV plumbing even though it has been sanitized (an entire process unto itself). So I usually just take some empty water bottles (Yes Ralph, I am still re-using BPA bottles, the non-BPA bottles I purchased recently all leak) outside and fill them up at the water hookup. Most often there is an unused RV space nearby so I just take my little filler tube over and fill the bottles. Ahhhhh, I used the water tap at the site next to me since the folks camping there had just left; — what do I get, BROWN water. Most likely it is technically safe but UCH! I went back to my camp and disconnected the water hose that feeds my RV (through MY WATER FILTER) and filled my bottles with crystal clear water. Regarding water pressure, I’d been warned from the start that some RV camps have very high water pressure and with an older RV I have been careful from the start. You can buy inexpensive regulators that are fixed at 40-50 –psi but I consider that too high for Freedom. I have an adjustable regulator and I set it at the 20-40 psi range. I only mention this because I’m talking about water and a few campgrounds ago when I checked in the operator confirmed all I’ve read when they said, “we sell pressure regulators if you need one, our water pressure is 70 psi.”
If it isn’t one thing … it’s all in one piece!
I’d been waiting to get to Nashville so I could buy a new laptop at BestBuy (yea, but I had/have a credit from …). I hopped in the Honda and started down the access road, to the sound of “SQUEEEEEEEEEL” I went around the loop and pulled back in front of Freedom and popped the hood. Rattttttttle ratttttttle – not good. I figured I’d give it another run around the block and in the process I turned off the air conditioner. Ohhhhhh, problem went away. Well, that is good, probably just a mounting bolt broken by bouncing down all the crappy highways (US Interstate system is in serious need of pothole repair). Since it seems fine with the AC off I dashed off to BestBuy and got my laptop. With all the stress I forgot to use the BestBuy credit. Oh well, I’ll need something else later.
Thursday I took the Honda into a local Honda dealer and hung out to find out if they had the necessary parts or when they could get them in (not a lot of Honda Insights every built and not a lot left on the road from 2000 – I had to have them preorder brake pads for my last servicing). I had already decided that if necessary I’d just have them remove the belt and compressor and run without air conditioning. NOT – it isn’t a mounting bolt it is the entire AC compressor that is frozen up. My remove the belt plan promptly went down the tubes – this Honda uses a single serpentine belt to drive everything, AC, alternator, power steering … “it’s all in one piece”. The bad news — $2800 after they get the parts in. Just running with the compressor disabled isn’t a great idea as the damage has no doubt affected the other bearings. I did explore buying a used compressor … also, considered junking the Honda and doing without a tow vehicle. I’ve been exploring doing that with a new Class B RV in the future. But this RV is pretty good size and I’m not inclined to driving something this size just to go to the grocery store.
Long story short, well I guess that was the long story, parts are due in tomorrow (Wednesday, November 11) should have the Honda back on Thursday. Meanwhile I have a relatively cheap rental car.
Saturday evening, I took the river cruise on the General Jackson Showboat. It has a nice dinner and good stage show — cover band and 6 singers doing a lot of good country music. I shared a table with some interesting people so conversation was good through dinner and before the show. Having purchased a “captains” table seat we got a nice tour of the wheel house and conversation with the captain. He’s been running this boat for 30 years, his “junior” started 2 weeks after him. Grin
Sunday morning, I took a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry. Since they can have a lot of different entertainers on one show they have 18 dressing rooms but none have a closet so in the hall are lockers that can be assigned to visiting starts. Also notice the wall of mailboxes. Members of the Grand Ole Opry have an actual mailbox their and can receive fan mail at that address. These pictures are from the web as I lost some pictures when I restored my cell phone (see below).
Damaged dressing rooms are seen in the backstage area of the Grand Ole Opry House on Thursday, May 13, 2010 in Nashville, Tenn. The Opry House was heavily damaged from recent flooding. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
From their I went to a local “Willie Nelson and Friends” museum. Really a bit of a rip-off but okay for the $6.50 discounted ticket. Then I headed over to the Gaylord Opryland hotel to check out the Atriums. This place is enormous, 2881 rooms and per them “It is the largest non-casino hotel in the Continental United States outside of Las Vegas and also ranks as the 28th in the List of the largest hotels in the world”. What is really neat is there are multiple huge atriums with waterfalls, complete rain forests, and small rivers (maybe a bit exaggerated). Incredibly beautiful. Again, pictures from the web not my iPhone.
Pictures, where are the pictures – that’s another thing. If you follow me on Facebook, you know I’ve been bitching about my iPhone battery life bla bla bla. Sunday I gave up and called Apple support to schedule an appointment to replace the battery. This will be my last Apple product. I only went with it for its iTunes support and I can now get just as good service from Amazon on an Android based phone – one where you can replace your own battery without voiding the warranty and incurring the wrath of Apple. In the course of that I determined that this phone is only 17 months old. Just long enough for Apple to stick you with an outrageous battery charge – post 12-month warranty; not to mention this is way too short for such extreme battery death.
The good news is, later I thought “I bought the Verizon Total Mobile Protection plan”. So I dug through their poorly designed website and call them. Wow, bing bang, nice and very competent guy pulls down some data from the phone and says that I will have to try a full reset/reload but if that doesn’t work they will overnight me a replacement. I had a very current backup so I did the reset and restore (oops, “very current didn’t include that morning so I lost Sunday’s photos),. After restoring all of my apps from the Apple Store I was set to check out the battery life. Monday morning the battery had lost its usual 20-30% during 6 hours of sleep so I called Verizon back. Bing, bang, bong … replacement phone arrived in less than 24 hours and I’m about to restore to the new phone just as soon as it finishes a full charge.
If it isn’t one thing, then it’s another
I’ve been kicking back today and making reservations for the next week of my travels. This morning’s rains had ended and my black water tank was at 75% so I decided to do some RV support activities. For you “non-RVers”, when you dump the black water tank (technically it is brown, if you catch my drift) you want to follow it with dumping the grey water tank (water from non-toilet sources) to rinse out the dump hose before you store it. All that said, I don’t generate a lot of grey water when using a RV park as I don’t shower in the RV and washing dishes doesn’t use much water when there is just one of me. Soooooo, I turned on the water in the bath room sink to get around 10 gallons into the grey water tank. Turns out the bath sink is connected to the black water tank instead of the grey water tank as all other RVs do. I found that out when I went back to check and the sink was backed up. Worse, the toilet was backed up and overflowing onto the carpet. Shit shit shit, to some extent literally. QUICK — Turn off water, grab keys (everything outside has a small lock on it) and dash out to get my rubber gloves (I’m not crazy), hose adaptor and hose, hook up the drain hose, … and open the black water drain. One roll of paper towels and a bath towel later I have the carpet down to just damp … and now my little electric heater is over there trying to dry things out. I also have a container of calcium chlorite for absorbing moisture from the air and to try and avoid mildew. Yes, I could use a wet/dry VAC but I had opted to save space … remember this is a very small RV.
First – I went back to the hotel from Friday night because I forgot to snap this picture from the front desk. Yes, even after I went to bed after 2 AM when I woke up I could hear the music outside my 5th floor room.
It was Monday, November 2, 2015, and my last day in Memphis so I decided to take the Sun Studio shuttle into town again. That wasn’t to happen as it was not operating for the day so I took a taxi. I dropped into B B King’s Club for a quick lunch (shrimp and grits – not exactly carb smart).
My first stop was the tour of the Gibson Guitar factory which is just one block off of Beale St. Yes, the actual factory is at Beale St. Unfortunately, they don’t allow photography but it is a wonderful 45-minute tour. They employ 100 people there and it starts with blocks of wood (a lot of maple plus some others) that get milled, steamed, bent, shaped, and glued, glued, glued. They have many specialized machines for getting things right. There are multiple spray painting booths and many of the workers have been there for 10 or more years. BTW, rejects are used for training and then eventually cut into pieces and destroyed. The guide pointed out a fellow who was a 9-year veteran who was now in a 4-month training program to become one of 2 people who scrap the paint off of the little trip that runs around the side at the top and bottom. He said they had tried masking that trip before painting but it just didn’t work as well. So they paint the entire body and then these 2 people use a very sharp blade to scrape the paint off the trip (without removing wood). Yes, I really liked the tour.
From their I had time to kill because even on Beale St. music doesn’t start at 2 PM. So I snapped a few street shots (catch the steel frame holding an old facade in place). These are up and down Beale St. in the early afternoon so not much foot traffic. The main block of Beale St. is closed to traffic.
From their I wanted up to the Peabody Hotel (home of the Peabody Ducks) and sipped a few single malt scotches at the bar. Then I found a comfy chair in the lobby and continued reading a biography of Johnny Carson that I’m working on from my Kindle app on the iPhone. By this time the iPhone is having a battery fit (thanks Apple and Facebook, I’m pretty sure you did this to kill old phones). I shifted to Airplane Mode and continued reading. Then I dozed off and took a long nap in the lobby of the Peabody. No one disturbed me and I was well rested by 4 PM. Unfortunately, iPhone battery death had continued only at a slightly slowed pace so I had to completely power it off to safe enough energy for emergency calls.
I wandered back to Beale St. and the outside stage at the King Palace. Same as last week, Sonny Mack and The Mack II Band were playing. I always tip entertainers well and in this case I also purchased one of their CDs.
By 5:30 PM the opening band was working at B B King’s Club and I could get in before they start charging a cover. I grabbed a stool near the bar but facing the stage and kicked back with another Ghost River Ale. I ended up having dinner here. They lived up to their claim – best ribs I’ve ever had. Oddly (and to my benefit) I have to make sure I take in a balanced level of carbs so I don’t get a low blood sugar attack. So I did that with their Mac and Cheese. True to my belief – if they put Mac and Cheese on the menu it must be good (rule applies to liver and onions as well). Truly the best Mac and Cheese I have ever had.
I spent a few hours here listening to a good band. Kind of a mix of rock, soul, and blues; with a lot of Memphis music history in between songs. Ultimately, I hopped the shuttle bus back to my RV park and prepared for Tuesday’s departure to Nashville.
Retirement Escape 