Family Reunion has ended

Yes another year is over for the family get together.  We all enjoyed each others company and got to catch up on what has happened in each of our lives.

Of course there's the internet where we can chat to find out those things.   But its not the same as being close to each other that counts the most.

Everyone else is gone back home except Nancy and I we had reservations for an extra day, we are thinking about staying a few more days. 

It is a very nice state park with the lake and wildlife around.

We have a full hookup site that looks like it is close to the lake.  But there is a road between us and the lake.  Also it is in the back waters of the lake, still a nice spot.

 Our front view of the campground.

And the back view, the bridge over the lake of the through road.

Today will be a laundry for us while we have the chance of the park laundry room with the good rates on the washers and dryers.

Saturday's Hamburger and Hot Dog's

Yesterday was the start of the Family Reunion with an afternoon of Hamburger's.

Of course we had hot dog's also which is everyone's favorite with the home made chili.

The Mitchell sister's of the Mitchell Family Reunion.

From front to back is Nancy, Jackie and Peach (Fern).

 

Everyone was having a good time but I think these two little one's were enjoying it the most with the hot temperature that we had.

When it came time to eat everyone jumped in for their food.

 

 

 

Looks like everyone enjoyed the food and we had plenty of it.

We enjoyed our time together, but was a little disappointed that we only had half the number we usually have. 

 

One member of the family was Tyler he was there (via video chat) from Germany, stationed with the Air Force.

Tyler wanted to see and talk to each of us that was there at the Family Reunion.

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day. 

 

Beech Fork State Park

Yeah, we moved down the road yesterday.

We had a really good visit with Peach and Don that did seem mighty short.

We are now a short distance from where we were for our Family Reunion.  If you have been a follower of the blog you will know the Family Reunion is a month early and in a different location.

We have had the reunion on Labor Day weekend in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
This year it is at the Beech Fork State Park in West Virginia, which is close to Huntington.

The reason was that some of our people are getting older and the distance was getting hard on them to drive.

It really doesn't make any difference we will still enjoy having everyone here have a great get-together.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day. 

Heat wave gone

After a heat wave that saw the temps of 100* and the heat index higher.  It has cooled down, I mean really cooled down, like last night it got down to 55*.

The old motorhome decided that I didn't need to rest and had me some more things to repair.

First was to install a new sewer valve.  This is one thing I would have to do sooner or later, since it has been leaked for some time.  So I thought this would be the place with us having a sewer connection to clean the tank out good before taking the old valve off.

Well with that out of the way I guess it was time to rest a little?  Oh no my friend not so fast the Thetford Magic IV flush cable decided to break.  I ordered one from Amazon and when it came in I got started on putting it in. 
Now the instructions says to take the toilet loose and turn it upside down in order to in stall the new cable.  Not so, you can or I did it with out taking it loose.
I did have to use a mirror because the toilet being close to the wall there's not enough room to get my head in the see what I was doing.

So now its a waiting game to see what is going to be my next thing to repair. 

It does not bother me to repair thing's, I look at it as a challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.  

  

More visiting

The work on the motorhome has slowed down and now we are visiting a little more.
I don't like to be doing things on the motorhome when I'm visiting, but some things you just have to take care of and can't put them off. 

Don and I have been to Walmart a few times for groceries.  We also went to some restaurants and got some thing to bring back home to eat.

Nancy and her sister Peach have the same back problems and at this time they just don't get around as they once did.   That with the extreme heat that the eastern United States has been having is no time to be in a hot kitchen.

Don and I did go to the Flea Market yesterday, but we did not find anything that was wanting us to bring back home.  Quite a few of the vendors were closed because of the heat wave in our area.

Thanks for stopping and  have a great day.   

Step motor installed

The last couple of days have been really hot and being out in the sun is no fun.  The weather report is for temps to be 100-110 degrees for the next few days so it will be inside chores, I hope.

The last couple of days I have managed to get the water and sewer connections hooked up to the motorhome. 
Also the new step motor that I had ordered from Amazon came in so that was installed and working the best  since owning the motorhome.  The only sound now is the motor humming when the steps go in and out.
After reading the instructions on how to install it, I proceeded with it only to make no progress.
So I decided to do it my way and it went together smoothly..

I still have a few more things to do that is on the back burner at this time, that will have to wait a little longer.

There's still the laundry to do that we will have to find a laundromat where we will take it to.
I just hope wherever the laundromat is located they have good air/condition blowing cool air.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.






 

Culloden, West Virginia

Yesterday was our day to move and travel on.

Sherry really wanted us to stay longer but we had to leave so we could see other people.  
After all its not like we didn't visit Sherry came down to Florida April 22 but she can't be with us long enough and we did enjoy having her spend the time with us.

After getting the motorhome in the travel mode Sherry and Mark wanted us to have lunch with them before we got on the road.
Mark was still out but was headed home and when he arrived he had us a sandwich for Wendy's-thank you Mark.

Thank you Mark and Sherry for going overboard for us with the time we were there.

We traveled the couple of hours to Culloden that is a small town located between Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia.
This visit will be with Nancy's sister Peach and her husband Don that we visit each year in our travels.
Nancy and I love our families and we try to visit each of them every year.

After a round of hugs and catching up on what has been happening with Peach and Don it was time to dinner and we chose to have sandwiches from Arby's that Don and I went out and brought back to eat while we continued our visit.
By the time we finished eating the skies were getting dark from an approaching storm.
So Nancy and I hurried out to the motorhome because I just parked it in the driveway and connected the electric.  It still needed to be leveled and the slide out extended also the things inside had to be set out in the stand still mode.
By the time Nancy and I did all of that and took our nightly medicine it was 9:30pm,  kind of like a long day.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Along the way to Ripley, West Virginia

Friday we went to Ripley to eat out with Mark and Sherry.

This is a 33 mile drive from Spencer so I thought I would take a few photos to show you what the drive looked light.

 

There are a few places like this along the way that should have been cleaned up years ago but have not.

But more of the beautiful ones along the way, like this place with a nice pond in the front yard.

Very few stretches of straight road and more of the curvy roads.

We ate at the Ma'ke Mia Pizza Restaurant across the street from the Court House.

Here the Last Public Execution in the State of West Virginia that you can read about on the plaque in front of the Court House.

Mark drove us back along a very narrow back road or maybe it was a path?
We were surprise when al of a sudden the mountains opened up to this large man made lake.
It was very nice with a large asphalt parking area and the people out on their boats relaxing and doing some fishing.
Thank you Mark for showing us some of the nice scenery.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those darn steps

In trying to adjust the electric steps yesterday I could not get them to working just right.
So it must be something else, but what I thought?  The only thing left to do was to tear into the motor and gear assembly.
Upon doing so I found that was the problem.  First I took the motor end loose to check the long armature with the worm gear, that looed good.
"Warning"  when you do this the brushes riding on the commutator will jump off and is a booger to put back in.
Next was the gear box, I thought I might see a small brass gear but no.  It is made of some kind of plastic that was in pieces and there was my problem.

So I will order a new step  motor  to be waiting for me at the next stop along our journey.

Maybe I should gut the whole motor home and rebuild it.

On second thought I've did that on a few houses and it was no fun.   To be continued:

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.




    

Our great US Postal Service

Isn't the US Postal service great, yeah right.  Like I said I located the electric step gear I needed and had it shipped 2 days Priority.
The problem with that, it took four and a half days to get here and that cost me $10.00 more for that service.  I guess that wasn't really bad because our son a couple of years ago sent me some mail 2 days Priority and it took 5 days.

I installed the new part yesterday evening even though it was way to hot I wanted to finish it it right away,  Everything went ok except upon trying it I will have to do a little adjusting to it.

So sometime today it is back under the motorhome again,

Did I mention I'm getting to old for this stuff

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Sherry's home in Spencer, West Virginia

 

I almost forgot to mention that one evening while in Clarksburg we went out to Minard's Italian Restaurant to have dinner.
On leaving the restaurant Amanda (our grand daughter wanted to have her photo taken with Nancy and myself. 

For the 4th of July we had hot dogs and different kinds of chips which everyone enjoyed.

When it got dark Sherry , Amanda and Abby went out to see the fireworks which were going off all around the motorhome.

Then Amanda came in and wanted us to go out to enjoy the fireworks with them, which we did.

So Friday it was time for us to be leaving and continue on our journey.

I was wanting to see how the new front brake pads would do.
The first few miles were embedding the new pads to conform to the rotors and the pads.
After that we could proceed with normal speed and braking.  The new brake pads make a world of difference.

After getting to Mark and Sherry's house I checked to see what the rotors looked like and they win good shape.

We had fried chicken with different sides that evening with Mark and Sherry.

Yesterday I carried the soiled clothes over to Sherry's  so Nancy could wash them. and dry  them.

Oh don't worry, you see I was busy myself.  Yeah, when we arrived the automatic steps on the motorhome decided it was time for it to not work like it should.
It was time for me to go back to the position I have been spending in a lot,  (under the motorhome).

After taken the mechanism apart there was a gear with half of it gone.
I also checking the tag on the step under the cover that like most steps it was not a kwickee steps like most of them are.
It is a Stromburg Carlson made by the Lippert Company, well that's good because that company is still in business.

Well no, it seems as though they do not make the parts for my step any more.
They do suggest checking with one of their dealers that might have the part I needed.  I need to cut the short!

I did locate they part I needed out in Missouri and had it shipped out.

That was my day how was your day?

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day. 

Happy 4 of July

 

 

Hey all of you people I want to wish you a  Happy 4 of July.

Now get out there with you family and friends and enjoy this great land that we have.

But at the same time do not forget of those that gave their all for the  privileges you now have.

 

Wow I had a heck of a day yesterday.

While checking out the motor home in preparation to leave I noticed that the front brake rotors had an unusual wear showing on them so I took one wheel off to check the brake pads.

Just as I thought they needed replacing before we could leave.

 

So that kept me busy most of the day,  Now I've read some of the guy's that say it is just a little harder than changing the pads on a car.

I have to say this 81 year old is telling you it is a whole lot harder.  Those 19.5" wheels and rims are much heavy then a 14" wheel.

 

So now we will be leaving out tomorrow and going down to Spencer to drop Sherry off after her stay with us since we left Florida.

 

Thank all of you for stopping by and have a great day.

Food and more food

Sherry has been staying with her daughter Amanda and granddaughter each night since we have been here in order to visit more.

Nancy and I have been going over each day to visit with them and have dinner.
Sunday, it was KFC providing the dinner for us which was very good and saved Amanda time for much needed visiting with her mom.

But yesterday Amanda wanted to prepare the dinner for Nancy and myself.  I think she wanted to show us how good she can cook.

I will have to say that Amanda cooks very well indeed.   She had a ham with mashed potatoes and some other special hash brown potatoes mixed with cheese, sour cream, onions topped with corn flakes and baked in the oven.  That with the left over KFC and the sides made for a very large dinner.
Thank you so much Amanda.

After that big dinner we settled down for a while then Amanda and Sherry wanted us to go with them to the local town ice cream stand in town.
It must have been the town favorite because it looked as though half of the town was there. "man what a crowd.
After getting the cup of soft serve ice cream we could see why all the people were here.
Mighty good ice cream.

A very good day with the family.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day.