Retirement Escape

Blogging in Memphis

I got a bit busy and then the laptop got corrupted so I wasn’t able to get online until I backed up the laptop and then had HP do a full clean this morning.

I arrived in Memphis around noon on Thursday, October 29, 2015.  My RV park is right next to the Graceland departure center (i.e., the gate in the fence across from my RV goes right into the Graceland parking lot).  Whooo hoooo   Not so Whooo hoooo, Google Maps took me into the Graceland parking lot (yes – me, the RV, and the Honda in tow) rather than the RV park 3 driveways back.  Apparently happens all the time so with some maneuvering I was in my RV space, hooked up and walking to the Graceland ticket center.

Ticketing and a lot of the touristy displays are across the street from the mansion and they shuttle bus you over.  The tour was worth the $ 45 but it isn’t so special that you’d do it twice.  Oddly, the mansion isn’t really as large as you would expect.  They reference 10,000 square feet when it was purchased and 17,000 square feet now.  So I’d guess the mansion building itself is around 6000 to 8000 square feet (2 stories plus basement).  The living room is roomy but not huge, there is a music room beyond the living room (see attached).

You only tour the first floor (living room, music room, dining room, kitchen, family room, and guest bedroom) and the basement (entertainment room and game room with pool table).  The entertainment room is about double the size of a large family room plus a bar.  It has 3 TVs and a screen with projection set up.  Probably seats 20 (see attached).

Outback is a large yard with carport and they have added a back building where his business was managed.  Elvis also added a racket ball building with an entertainment space. They also have a large building with all the gold records and memorabilia.  The complete site is 18 acres and includes a horse setup.  The whole tour took about an hour and was, as I said, worth the visit.

On Friday I hopped a shuttle bus to the Sun Studio tour and then on to Beale St.  The Sun Studio tour is 45 minutes and really good.  You get a lot of history beyond just Elvis as a client.  Sam Phillips recorded some real greats – Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Howlin’ Wolf, etc.  They have a little museum upstairs (which wasn’t part of the original Sun Studios) and half the tour is up there.  Then you go downstairs to the small front office and the back room, the studio, that is probably 20’ x 30’ plus the control room.  This studio is still used for recording at night.  A lot of popular groups have used it, possibly to be tied to the history.  It is pretty much original, walls and ceiling are white painted acoustic tiles like you might have used in a 1950s home family room.  Floor is simple tile and the 3 marks are still there from where Elvis and the 2 musicians stood when the break thru recording was done.  The tour guide told us that Bob Dylan came to visit once and simply walked in, bent down and kissed the X were Elvis had stood, and then left.

I’ve attached a photo of the “Million Dollar Quartet” (Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis).  The Elvis contract had already been sold so the fact that, as the 4 were just fooling around and jamming, Sam Phillips turned on the recorder was illegal.

It is a place of great music history.

Afterwards I went to the Museum of Rock n Soul.  Well worth doing as they cover so much history, all the way back to the music of the sharecroppers in the south.

I spent the afternoon and night catching Blue’s groups on Beale St (no, not the Bechtel Beale St).  I had some great Creole meals for lunch and dinner – Fried Green Tomatoes, Red Beans & Rice, Gumbo, and lots of Ghost River Ale.  I had gotten a room just off of Beale St so I wouldn’t be limited to the shuttle bus back to the RV.  Good thing because Beale St is an “open carry” location (drinks, not guns) and bar closing time is 5 AM.  I crashed around 2 AM after an incredible day of music.  I just love the Blues.

One last thing, I did find my way to the Peabody Hotel at 5 PM to watch the March if the Peabody Ducks.  Maybe I can be a future Duck Master.  http://www.peabodymemphis.com/ducks-en.html

I got back to the RV on Saturday around noon and spent the day, and Sunday, just kicking back.  Not sure what I will do on Monday but might just continue kicking back.

Tuesday I head for Nashville.  Whoooo Hoooo.  More great music.

Yesterday I did the drive to Eufaula Oklahoma without incident.  My RV park was 9 miles off of I-40 in a beautiful river area.  The park was very nice other than the cable TV was having problems.  I’m sure they will get it fixed and I’m happy to give them a good review.

Today was another great drive.  I woke up early and hit the road soon after 8 AM in a light rain.  As I’m heading down the road I’m passed by a tow truck towing a good size truck (e.g., the size of a 26’ Uhaul).  Only it was being towed backwards so I caught this shot out my windshield going 60 MPH down the freeway.

I crossed over from Oklahoma into Arkansas and it was like going from open fields to wooded roadway instantly.  I’m wondering if some “Johnny Appleseed” went through Arkansas planting trees and stopped at the state line.  All of the trees are starting their fall change of color.  Not as dramatic as New England or the Appalachian trail but nice just the same.  I’m thinking of adding a GoPro to the grill of the RV so I can extract good photos of the drive.

Good news is this RV park is close to the freeway.  Bad news is it is really close to the freeway.  Catch a photo of the view out my front window.

Right now I’m checking the reviews on all of my future RV parks.  Turns out darn near any cesspool can pass a Good Sam inspection.  But I’d have chosen better if I’d read the reviews.  This place is a mud hole.  Turns out the entry to the “frontage road” is through the Shell gas station.  I’ll blame Google Maps for sending me in through the “truck entrance”.  It was all mud and I’m sure that if it weren’t for a few small cars trapped in the potholes I’d never have gotten through.

Here are a few pictures.

Also, there is no cable TV here so I pulled out the little digital equivalent of rabbit ears that I bought in Needles AZ.  Just needed to get it facing out the windshield.  Duct tape to the rescue again.

The day started with a lot of stress and emotion. It would seem that even though the incident the other day was really just a flat tire (sort of) it opened a can of worms. Still, I got on the road and had an uneventful trip to Elk City OK. I try to keep driving to less than 200 miles a day but finding a good RV park pushed me to 266 miles which ended up being over 5 hours with one stop, and one gas fill up.

Right now I tend to respond to each little vibration by becoming super vigilant – sometimes you just gotta laugh: I’m driving across I-40 and I’m getting some movement in the RV. I checked gauges, the rear camera, mirrors, etc. but found nothing out of place. Then I thought it might be cross wind, and wondered until I looked off to the right. The tip off was 3 rows deep of an unending line of electric generation windmills, all positioned to pick up a cross wind.  Grin

Also, you know you are driving in Oklahoma when the Rest Area list of amenities reads: Restrooms, water, vending machines, tornado shelter.

Tomorrow I’m off to Eufaula Oklahoma, then Morilton Arkansas, followed by Memphis on Thursday. I’ll be staying there for 4 days checking out the Blues clubs (yea, Graceland too) and other attractions. Then I’m off for 2 weeks in Nashville. That will be nice because I will finally be someplace long enough for Jill to forward mail and packages and to by a new laptop as this one is really on its last bit.

Oh, before I go, catch this shot of the 2 trailers next to me. First this beautiful tear drop pulls in and then just next to it the smallest model of the Escape fiberglass unit. Both are trailers I considered when I started planning this life.

Also attached is a distant shot of Freedom sitting under a tree in the Tucumcari KOA.

Had a few slow days so nothing to blog about, after which I got too busy get to it. Right now I’m uploading 3 posts in a row so read on down for all 3.

It is Sunday morning, I’m in Tucumcari and WAS going to Elk City OK today but decided to defer till tomorrow.  It didn’t seem stressful (just frustrating) at the time, but I was a mess in the morning.  This campground makes meals and will bring them to your RV.  Wow, a hot breakfast.

Tomorrow I’m off to Elk City OK which is a bit longer than I normally plan to cover in a day (266 miles, a little over 5 hours at 55 MPH).  I have found a national weather website and have been trying to avoid driving into a thunderstorm.  Hurricane Patricia is dumping a lot of water in Texas.  Fortunately I’m driving across northern Texas and the middle of Oklahoma.

I headed out for eastern New Mexico on Saturday, October 24^th.and got within 80 miles when I came upon an object (metal) in the freeway lane. I had a truck passing me so changing lanes was not an option. After the fact, it appears I had shifted enough for the right side of the RV to miss it but not the tow dolly. The tow dolly is one foot wider than the RV and that was enough. It shredded the right tire of my tow dolly (attached). I heard it hit but no sound afterwards (turns out that far back you don’t hear much or feel either). Soon after a pickup truck pulled up on my left and gave me an alert. I was lucky that an exit ramp was right there and I pulled off.  WOW, I’d been driving on the rim for possibly 3 miles.

I got to try out my Good Sam roadside assistance.  NOT GOOD!  I have (had) a spare for the tow dolly.  (Thanks to an old story from Rich and Clair Mortiz about their experience when their pop-up camper needed a tire.)  Good News/Bad News: I’d just inflated all tires before leaving; but discovered that the tire valve was leaking on the spare (turned out to be a bent stem valve.)  Still all I needed was a service truck to show up with a stem valve, and then inflate and mount it. Unfortunately that stuck the service call in between two Good Sam teams: simple tire mounting; and tire replacement.  The first operator (tire replacement) actually got it and tried to transfer me to the other team – got dropped.  Upon calling back the agent focused on finding a tire service (vs. a simple tow truck) that would send out a service truck.  Bla Bla Bla, no call back … Finally she decided the only solution was to send out a tow truck to take me to a tire center.  Not a good solution as I had the RV, dolly, and car and only me to drive either the RV or car.  The agent said they would tow both the dolly and the car – I wasn’t real confident about that but had no choice. After over 3 hours they finally dispatched a tow truck to a location 35 miles from where I actually was stopped.  Good news, the tow shop had been screwed by Good Sam before so they called me.  After straightening out my location the good lady (tow company not Good Sam) said “that seems like a simple fix, let me give you to my driver”. He said, “duh, why don’t I bring out a new valve, put it in, pump up the tire, mount it and let you get back to driving”. YEA!!!!! The smart guy showed as promised and in 15 minutes I was on my way.  He said the rim was reusable as the damage from the road was on the edge and didn’t affect the area where the tire seals.  NAH, I have to get the tire shipped from the dolly manufacturer (funky 10” tire that runs at 90 PSI is difficult to get elsewhere), I’ll just have them include a new rim.  ;-D At least my time wasn’t wasted. A young guy totally lost pulled up behind me and walked up.  He asked if I knew how to get to El Paso. A quick look at Google Maps and he was on his way. Then a flat bed semi truck loaded with steel drove across the bridge at the top of the ramp, stopped about 200 yards down the cross street, and walked back to me.  He asked if I knew the way to Raton NM because his map system had him going south and that didn’t seem correct.  A quick search and he did a beautiful U-turn with a big rig on a 2 lane road and off he went heading correctly — north.

<Begin Rant>

Annoyance: All day long I had two visiting flies in the cab of the RV. You’d think that during the 4 hours waiting on Good Sam, parked along the road with the window open, they would have left. BUT NO – a third one joined. Not right — I showered just a day ago; I can’t be “drawing flies” yet. Well, as I type I was successful in killing one of them. One down, one hovering, haven’t seen #3 recently.

And another thing:  why is it only the religious radio stations have the mega watt transmitters.  Jill said it is because “they are connected to a higher power.”  Ralph reminded me that some of them put the transmitter in Mexico where the wattage isn’t regulated.  Turns out watts have a significant effect on distance with AM but not FM.  Maybe they have lots of transmitting towers?  I’m guessing local stations only have a commercial interest in reaching an audience in the local area.

<End Rant>

Last Tuesday (October 20, 2015) I arrived at the Albuquerque / Bernalillo KOA. This area is an Albuquerque suburb about 15 miles north on I-25. Really nice campground and they are very good judges of people — my assigned RV space is right next to the private gated walkway through the side fence to the Brew Pup next door.

The RV ran well and while there was lots of little up / down sections of road, there was only one long 4 % + grade. Just down shifted and rolled along at 35 MPH. Since I only drive 55 MPH normally (truck and towing), being passed by trucks is no big deal, it happens all day long.

I took Wednesday as a down day to just kick back and get some projects done around the RV. I got a chance to install my side to side level on the back of the RV, as this RV space is perfectly level side to side. I needed to wait till the RV was perfectly level side to side so I could install the level. (RV refrigerators have to be level, within 3% side to side or 6% front to back. Bouncing down the freeway – not a problem.) I did the front to back level a few days ago in a RV space where my leveling blocks just happened to set the RV perfectly level front to back.

Albuquerque had some incredible Thunderstorms. The pounding rain was great to fall asleep to; driving in it – not so. The RV sprung a small leak around the window by the dining table. I’m pretty sure it was coming in behind the external window frame. (Re-caulked all windows, when things dried out.) I ended up putting a container below the leak and used duct tape to guide the rain into the container.

Thursday I took the improved weather to drive to Los Alamos. I’ve always been interested in the National Labs and the development of the atomic bomb. They now do all sorts of advanced research as well as testing existing atomic weapons for aging reliability. I went to the Bradbury Science Museum and spent most of the day there. The historical museum was closed for the day but I got what I came for in the Bradbury.  J

I decided to extend one more day to take the local train up to Santa Fe. In the morning I was stressing over the day and finally realized if it isn’t adding joy – f’ it.  I ended up just kicking back and getting some more projects done. Would have like to visit Santa Fe but shopping has its limits, I didn’t want to drive, and it turned out the train stations parking fills with commuters (like BART). I made the right choice to just kick back.  I’m gradually learning to listen to my emotions.

I just love the train; many of you know that about 6 years ago I took a 39 day Amtrak trip.  So when I got a chance to take a 65 mile train trip from Williams Arizona to the Grand Canyon National Park, I jumped at it.  This train is all restored early 1900s cars.  The engine is diesel as steam engines are not economical to run.  But I’m coming back on a holiday because this railroad has 2 functioning steam engines that they run on holidays.

I road in an observation car both ways and it was a hoot.  They start out with a funky wild west show and on the ride back there is a “train robbery”.  Morning trip has a continental breakfast and coming back there was a nice fruit and cheese bar.  And of course there is a “bar” both directions.

For a one day trip you get about 3 hours at the canyon.  That was fine for me as it let me have a nice lunch at the hotel and get in a good walk along the canyon rim.  I’ve attached a few photos.

It rained on the ride back which provided us a spectacular lightning show.  I’m in the RV now (8:45 PM) and it is still raining. I love the sound of rain on the roof.  I plan to stay here in the William KOA for one or two days before heading onward.  So I may not post again for a few days.  Rainy days are wonderful to just kick back and read or get caught up on further organizing the RV.

Loving retirement.

Had a wonderful day visiting the Grand Canyon Skywalk.  Only about 1.5 hour drive from my Kingman AZ KOA base allowing for the 45 mph speed limit the last 25+ miles for no obvious reason.  I’d say Indian Reservation speed trap but there were no police either.  What ever, time is free when you are retired.  Whoooooo Hoooo

They don’t allow you take your own phone or camera onto the skywalk, presumable to protect the glass from dropped objects.  So they have 3 photographers who will photo you and then as you leave you can purchase your photos (one for $17, four for $25, or the digital download for $60).  I think I see the real reason for no phones/cameras on the skywalk.  Grin.  Anyway I purchased the package which includes some stock shots of the walk site.  I’ve included the best here (sorry for the ones you’ll have to rotate, I’ve given up trying to get WordPress to not mess with my fine editing work.)

Tomorrow it is 120 miles to Williams AZ, all uphill.  Going from 3300 ft. altitude to 7000 ft.  Found a great publication call the Mountain Directory that provides a description of steep highway grades.  Looks like it is just a steady easy incline other than one area so I should be good as look as I watch the engine temp and use engine breaking on the down grades.

Enjoy the photos!

Monday – October 12

I had planned to delay the RV service till Thursday so I could use a garage recommended by two people at the KOA site and avoid the one I’d chosen due to their feedback.  I called the “good” garage and he said he’d love to help but they don’t do RVs anymore.  RVs don’t fit inside his garage and he said is mechanics weren’t inclined to work outside in the 100 degree heat.  Sure can’t blame them for that.

The owner recommended Mohave RV and they said to come right in.  I was able to drive Freedom to their shop about 20 miles away.  I was a bit concerned that the RV didn’t make the troubling noise on the drive there but the mechanic took no time to find the issue.  The pulley on the crank at the bottom of the front of the motor was broken.  I can’t imagine how I was able to drive it at all, he showed me a photo and there was a fan belt wrapped around the pulley.

The problem turned out to be finding a replacement pulley as this a “vintage” RV and they don’t make that part anymore.  He ended up having to  take the old part  and go to 2 different wrecking yards till he found a used part that would work.  He finished up right at 5:00 PM and the price was only $431.

I had already reserved a room at a nearby casino ($28 cheap) as we all expected it to take into the next day to finish the repair.  So I spent the night at the casino, got a good bath and had a great dinner.

Tuesday October 13

This morning I had a nice breakfast and drove to my KOA campground, loaded up my toad car and headed out.

The noise hasn’t recurred but I am on pins and needles with every little sound or odd behavior.  I’m hoping one of them is just the way my tow dolly behaves.  I’m sure I’ll settle down after a few more days of good driving.

This afternoon I’m in the Kingman AZ KOA and it is a really nice location with solid 4-5 Mbps internet access.  Really good because I’ve been increasing my cellphone data plan each month and the rate of $10/2MBs.

Tomorrow I’m driving up to the Grand Canyon west end and doing the Skywalk.  They don’t let you carry a camera out on it (claim is it is to protect the glass floor but I suspect it is more to make more money) but I’ll pay for at least one picture so I can scan and upload it.  Friday I’m taking the train from Williams AZ to the Grand Canyon National Park.

It feels so good to have all of you following me.  Thanks to all of you for your well wishes and prayers for safe travel.

Had a few interesting conversations today and concluded that the automotive shop that agreed to work on the RV Monday does not have a good reputation for honesty.  So easy to get screwed in a strange town.  As a result I’ll be waiting till Thursday to get the RV serviced at a garage recommended by multiple people.

Given I’ll have 3 more down days I’m considering taking a few side trips.

Odd how those conversations came about.  I’m sitting here in the RV taking care of some things and the air conditioning clicks off.  No problem, it has popped the breaker before.  I flip a few things and nothing helps.  Then I notice that all the RV power is off.  I went outside to check the main breaker and my power protection device (it checks the power quality and protects for spikes, etc.) has cut the power because the input voltage is exceeding 130 volts.  I checked with the office and no one else is having an issue.  I got out my multi-tester and sure enough the 30 Amp breaker is running 132 volts — but the 20 Amp breaker in the same box is showing 117 volts.  Power doesn’t work this way, so I check an empty spot across the road and the 30 Amp breaker there is 122 volts.  While there the park maintenance guy stops by and double checks my testing.  He is scratching his head too — and I have moved to a different spot (also confirmed that the RV starts and still has the noisy problem).

In the course of all of this the 2 different people I interacted with advised I wait till Thursday when the garage they and all the locals use can fit me in.

CRAP, but feeling good about the recommendations.