PEAKS OF OTTER….

Well folks…

There you have it…the Peaks of Otter…on the Blue Ridge Parkway….bet you never thought you would see me on the Blue Ridge Parkway…well I didn’t either…and take a good look..never again!! We  stayed at the Peaks of Otter campground with Liz & Thistle…I am glad I did …but really don’t want to do it again…

Peaks of Otter Mountain

Below is the entrance to the CG…that is perched on the side of that mountain you see above…This trip north…I have really disliked the mountain driving..but on the way back it has been better with new bushings and new tires…

Entrance to the Campground

Below is Liz’s pull thru site …that in reality is just a pull off on the side of the road going around the loop…Nice home on wheels with tow car behind…but no comforts of home..no elec. no water…did have dump station…no internet …to phone..my first real boon docking camping experience …(Wal-Mart don’t count)..in bear country no less…

And this experience came with a lot of “Firsts” starting with the boon docking…Well actually just getting to the CG was the real first…Liz worked out a route so that I would not have to drive the Parkway much at all..only 5 miles…but there was rt. 43 I had to take off I-81.. 5 miles on it to get Parkway…she was not sure about it…could be a little iffy…but it was only 5 mi. …well let me tell you more than a little iffy!!!(but I don’t blame her she did not know)…the most harrowing 5 miles of my life…it was  small ..skinny road what we would call in Pennsylvania  a paved cow path…STRAIGHT  up the side of the mountain…with very sharp curves winding upward ..some almost like a switch back…OHHH MY…is all I could say.. white knuckle driving…people who know me know that I have a real problem with high places…I once froze on a 10 foot garage roof…friend had a heck of a time getting me down…any way that is the reason I didn’t want to go on the Parkway…but really want to camp and have some fun with Liz…the 43 road that I took to access the Parkway was a mess also in some places it looked like it was washed out by rain and they would threw some black top on it …no grading it or anything…When I pulled in Liz said she was surprised …she didn’t think I would come..we didn’t have much communication because of no phone at the CG for her… I have  never driven on this kind of road in my truck or van let alone a motor home… Another first…I really don’t do a lot of long term camping with out at least elec. and water…so this was the first time I used my fridge on propane…worked out fine…below is a pic of my pull thru..same as the one Liz is in..First cable TV also…but that is later at another campground…

On the other side of the rig is where the picnic table, fire ring are located…to get there you have to go up the stairs…this CG is really on the side of the mountain…You can see the steps in the pic below…

On up behind the table is a path to the rest room…just before we left I was walking down and seen a hickory nut lying on the path…I looked up and there was a big old hickory nut tree…so I started to gather some of them up…my grandmother (dads mom) use to make him a hickory nut cake every year for his birthday..he has not had one for years..he ask me to find out from my aunt if she had the recipe…I think we found it…finding the nuts would be not easy…so I was thrilled I found some…so I am going to make the cake for his 90th BD on Nov. 5th…As I look back on this experience on the mountain…I think if I would have not had the rt. 43 mountain climb first off..I would have done a lot better..I was fine coming down the mountain..we did take a different rt…but glad I did have fun with Liz…I will make a few other post on some of the things we did…thanks for looking and come back soon..blessings to all G&M

THE END OF THE TIRE SAGA….

As the storm clouds….

gathered over head we headed back to Wade’s on Mon. I had called at 11 like he said to,,,and the tires came and to come at 1pm and they would put them on…you were right Sherry they all were bad…

When we got there they took the rig right in..and started…I took Maggie for a walk and then came back to keep my eye on things…they had two guys working on the tires…(this is important on Tues. morning)…after bit  Mr. Wade came around and said …where is your spare tire? I said…oohhh you really don’t want it do you???

Yep …he did…it seems like the rim on a front tire was bent ..so they wanted to use the spare rim…so as you can see in the pic below I had to empty out the back bay….and it was packed to the gills!!! I never did get it packed back the way it was with everything…so more stuff had to come to the living area…that is full also to the gills…what a mess we are living in…I can hardly stand all the chaos..I ask how rim got bent …Wade said it was probably like that when I got the rig…

So it was after 4pm before they were done and I could leave …by then it was to late to get on the road to Winchester ….so we went back to WM and they said no problem for another nite…no problem with me either cause I was happy we were going to be on the road… I said good by to Wade and told him he was a nice guy ..but I didn’t think I would be back to see him……NOT!!…Got up bright and early with a very very low tire…so sad I was…So got ready to leave and headed straight over to Wade’s…

You should have seen Mr. Wade’s face when I walked in…told him come have a look at the tire..he was perplexed as I was…so had one of the guys jack it up , take it off and test it out…in the mean time he went to talked to the other guy that had been working on it the day before…I watched them do the testing..and no leaks…just to be safe they took the other one off and tested that one also..no leaks…Wade came back and tested also…then he said he thinks the other guy yesterday did not fully inflate the tire…he said it was their fault the tire went down…because it was only filled to 50 lbs…it got into the 30’s that night and it dropped 10 lbs in the cold…they put it back on filled it up …and told me it was good to go…I said…hmmm since you have all these big tow trucks..if I needed to call you about this tire you would come and get me …(for free) wouldn’t you?…he laughed and said he would not have to..he was confident it was ok…so off we went…about an hr. out we stopped at a rest stop and I looked at it…me being paranoid…thought it looked low..talked to a couple guys they said there was a Pilot station up the road…to make long story short…ran into a trucker that check tire and it was ok…and it has been ok ever since…so that’s my story…We are leaving here this morning soon…heard from Liz so I am going to try and catch up with her…it is really hard living in the rig with furniture bungeed to the couch and every inch of space taken…have to move stuff of the bed every night just to sleep..well I have to get ready to roll…thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings to all G&M

PS…I almost forgot…the tires that had broken belts were made in Nov. 2011…I bought the rig in Oct 2012…so they were less than 1 year old …Wade told me they should never have been put on a vehicle that big …so that was the problem… I sure learned a lot about tires…

THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES…

Sat. afternoon….

When we returned to Rouchs at Mt. Morris…they looked the rig over and thought it was the front end out of line…Jeanne Rouchs called about 5 or 6 other garages  none could help…finally found one in Waynesburg Pa….about 10 miles back north…so up I –79 we went …funny thing is I stopped at a Chevy dealership on Fri. and they would not even look at tires..but sent me to a questionable trucking company…and I went right by this place that Jeanne found for me..anyway the name of the place Wade’s is in pic below…big big business…very busy place..They took up almost a whole block and then had a lot else ware…but they could not get to me before 3pm…

So at about 3 they got the rig up on a lift and about an hr. later Mr. Wade came and got me to go back he wanted to show me while it was on the lift what the problem turned out to be…was not anything wrong with the rig its self..not front end nothing in fact he said rig was well taken care of and was in great shape…not the first garage to tell me that…any way he went thru the routine with the tires and said that 3 out of the last 5 tires had broken belts inside…remember I replaced one already..so we talked about it and decided to replace all of them…but it was late sat. afternoon and he could not get them until Mon…. also one tire on the back had some kind of soft spot…you could push it with your finger…so I could not drive it very far…certainly not back to that CG…So I ask about a WM….

Walmart was only about a mile away…so off we went….told them my plight and they were very nice and said I could stay as long as needed….so we spent the weekend at WM..We are in the Allegheny mountains..this new WM was at the top of a small mountain all by its self…biggest one I have see so far in my travels…but at least we had a great view…

 

Nice mountain views from WM

this is still not the end of the story …. I have to go play with Charley Renee ..so will post more later…I am leaving here  in the morning…so thanks for looking and and come back soon..blessings to all G&M

WE STARTED OUT….

Here in front …..

of the house …yes the one with the for sale sign in front of it!!!! On Friday morning…

and ended up here…only about 2 hrs. from the house…this is small campground in MT. Morris PA…very small…20 sites maybe…I didn’t count them….below a pull thru with elec. and water…30.00 ..a bit pricey for not much..ok for an emergency like I  had…

Below a view of the very small one loop…

Below Maggie walking around…with me of course…

And the rest of the story….

Today is Monday I am posting this.…after we left the house on Friday…on I-79 there was construction…well some places it was really tight…for a car let alone a motor home or a 18 wheeler….most of the time we were riding that rumble strip on the side…they had the pylons way past the middle of the road…you know those ones (not the barrels) the ones  that are flat and are made of hard rubber…well the big rigs had  knocked down  at least 7 out of every 10 flat…one pylon come along and hit the bottom  bracket of my awning the one in front…I never even felt it just heard a ping noise…so got that wired and bungeed up..and started out …a few miles up the road the rig started to shimmy and shake…well as time wore on it got worse..much worse…I stopped at a few places but no one could help me…so I found the camp ground above and stopped for the day and try and figure out what to do…after thinking about it and researching on the internet most of the night…at first I thought it was the front end of the rig..out of line or something …but after that night I decided it was the tires..so in the morning I ask the campground owners where I might get it looked at…they sent me to Roushs now remember this is just a tiny burg….this is one of two business…the other being a grocery store…

Some how they come to the conclusion that the shimmy and shaking  was the passenger tire…because that is where the pylon hit the awning clamp…it must have it the tire…I didn’t think so cause I never felt or saw a thing and there was not other damage not even a paint scratch…so off it came and low and behold the belts inside the tire were broke…and he just happened to have one to fit..so got that on and paid for…back out on the highway…and guess what still shimmy and shaking…didn’t know what to do…himed and hawed around and stopped at a place and ask a few questions and decided to turn around and go back …this all happened on Sat. morning…

Well this is not the end of the story by a long shot,,,but I am tired and will continue next post…thanks for looking and come back soon

blessings to all G&M

TOOK A DAY TRIP….

Maggie and I ….

Took another day trip ….we went again to the Shenango lake..it is close and an easy little get away… the lake is a flood control lake made by the Army Core of Engineers …The campground is only about 5-7 miles from my house in PA… and usually we are in need to get something from the larger city of  Hermitage…close by…like dog food at the pet store and a little visit to Jo-Anne’s…

Map of the lake….

We again went to the Giant Eagle store deli bar to get some lunch…it is kind of expensive so we don’t go there often…Got this yummy salad….this is only part..got enough for the next day….

Beside our favorite …..

Boat ramp / picnic area is Tara a country inn and restaurant…They have a very cool garden area in the back facing the lake…

Path thru the garden…

Thru out the garden they have a bunch of metal statues…Like this Indian on his horse…looks like a chief to me…

Indian chief…

Another chief in the pic below…I am not sure what these statues represent …maybe some of the  Indian tribes of this area…I have not had time to look into this…and I really did not see any signs that would tell me…

And another one…

And then there were the cowboys to go along with them…again not sure what this was..need to see sometime what it is all about maybe next year..The detail was out standing in these statues….

The cowboys or maybe the army of the day??

And we also ran into Adam & Eve along the path…seemed strange in the middle of all the cowboys and Indians…Eve is the statue in the back ground beside the tree…

Adam & Eve…

We also seen this beautiful bird swimming in a very small enclosed pond…I felt sorry for him/her…

And the rest of the story…

There has been a lot happening between this trip and now…but I will go a head and tell you about the progress on the house…I have two weeks before I plan to leave…that is subject to one major thing…I need to get some work done on the rig…new bushings are need in the back sway bar…like I had done in the front a couple weeks ago..they were needed to be ordered from Workhorse as they could not be found local…so waiting for them to show up…I want to get his work done here as it is much cheaper here than in Florida…The house is all done with the projects…and is in the last cleaning stage…and removal of my personal items…son is coming next week to put more roofing paper on the garage…and do some trim work on the kitchen  floor…this last week I have been working on scrubbing the carpet…it is a big job…lots of spots needed extra work…will take down the sewing stations this coming week also…will miss sewing/quilting with my sister…I don’t think I will get to any yard work this year..it is not that bad but  I would like to make it better…anyway I will be calling a real state company the week of the 15th…sometime I will have to put down my thoughts on all this that I have been thru with down sizing and purging…it has been quite a ride…the only problem with that is I think about it when I am working and then by the evening I have forgot what I want to write about …lol…or to tired to think …I can hardly believe that is almost the over…it has been a way of life for me the last 6 years…Well all for now thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings to all G&M

PS…I wrote this a while ago…waiting for my verizon to kick back in…still fighting this battle..not sure what I am going to do about it..will deal with it when I get to Florida…the bushings have arrived and will be installed on the 15th Monday….