Short Stop and Off We Go

Our time in Tennessee is always too short.  While there we were able to see family and neighbors and friends.  And we completed a project with Roadrunner Builders.  Mike had been saving the back porch so we could work on it.  He wanted some insulation in the walls and ceiling and a couple of windows trimmed out.

He had the insulation done and we got to do some of the rest.  He insisted on leaving the painting for him and since we ran out of time, that was OK with us.

We worked in the middle of 'errands' we had to do at Wiegel's and Hammer's in  Halls.  We also drove over to Powell's and picked up some things at Lowe's.  Our basic workday M-W was about 9:00 ish to 4:00 or 5:00 in the evening.

The insulation is all in place along the wall and also up top in the ceiling.  Our job was to cover up the walls, finish work on the ceiling and hide the seams.

 The first order was to cut and precisely size the sheet rock for a good fit.

 Next, Pam mudded over the sheet rock screws and taped the seams.

 We added 3" PVC trim under the ceiling where the wall joined.

While that was being done, I added 2 1/2" strips over the seams on the ceiling to cover them and the screws.  Mike's brad nailer came in handy for that.

We also took our time trimming out the windows and adding window sills.  All in all, we had a lot of fun humming along working on the back room.

The next day we headed out of town and found a gem of a overnight stop in Buena Vista, VA.  We're on our way to the Fairfax area to see out son and wife.  We hate paying $40 plus for an overnight stop. And there were quite a few of those within 30 miles of where we wanted to stop for the night.

Even among those expensive places, there is no guarantee that we would get open access for our DirecTV.  That would be frustrating.  But we found a place in Buena Vista, VA.  We checked out reviews for the Glen Maury City Park campground and they were pretty good.  Nothing great.  But we were looking for one night.

I called and asked and was assured we would be able to get an open site with satellite access.  Sure enough, we arrived, paid our $19.48 (with Passport America) and parked in the open field.  We had 30 amp service (which was fine since we did not used the A/C) and water.  Perfect.

It was a tad cloudy for a while but it was a terrific evening.  We had windows and the front door open and enjoyed the fall-like day.  We slept with the windows open and thoroughly love this place.  The cell phone service was great and we had no issues at all with our DirecTV access.  And best on all the  free wifi was excellent!  What?  I can't remember when that was the case apart from the Navy bases where we've stayed.

We will definitely keep this campground on our favorites list for next time.

It was a great time seeing Mike and Joan and all in Tennessee and getting to work on their place.  Always too short, but fun to get some work done with the Roadrunner Builders.  And we look forward to a few days seeing Adam and Melissa.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Wrapup - Maynardville Nov 2015

We left the Roadrunner RV Resort and Campground about 7:30 yesterday morning after a 10 day stay.  It's always great to hang out with Joan and Mike and to see everybody.

The two things that really standout in my mind on this visit are Joan's health and a near miss with the tree we chopped down.  I already mentioned the tree in my last post.

Joan's health though I don't think I have mentioned very much.  She hasn't felt this good or gotten around this good in years!  It was really quite startling to see her get around fine and more like her 'old self'.

I think it was about five years ago she had back surgery to relieve chronic sciatic nerve pain.  It worked for a while but a second surgery was needed six months later.  That did not work and she suffered through years of extreme pain and questionable medication.  Then in August she got up from the sofa was dizzy and fell, breaking her wrist.

After surgery and staying at the hospital overnight, her nurses found out her pain medicine and blood pressure medicine were at odds and should not be taken together.  They got rid of her heavy hitting pain meds and replaced it with Motrin.  Her life changed in an unbelievable way! She is a completely different person.  After a few weeks of the new regimen she is in better health than she has been in the last 10 years!

That is the biggest memory I will carry is how she looks and feels and her quality of life has returned. This is big!

Other memories we tucked away while there were visiting with long time neighbor Helen (and granddaughter Emma.) And grand niece Kayla returned from her studies at Middle Tennessee for Thanksgiving.

I also got to spend time with nephew Joey while playing some golf with him and some of his friends.

We were able to go out to Joan and Pam's dad's place and spend some time with him.

While we were out we made the usual runs to Walmart, Hammer's, Lowes, Dollar Tree etc.  Not to early to get some stocking stuffers.

Before we even got to Joan and Mikes, Pam made it her mission to cook and leave some food behind.  With Joan's broken hand, she has not done much cooking.  And Joan and Mike love Pam's cooking (who doesn't?) and she gladly cooked.  She not only made most of the meals each evening but made extra let at least six casseroles in the freezer for Joan and Mike.

One afternoon I painted the front bathroom.

We found a way to schedule in a couple of games of Monopoly with nephew-in-law Jeremy and his son Noah who played with us.

Over the years we've had some memorable and fun times around the Monopoly board and the evening we played was long overdue.

Mike and I took a drive up to the Kentucky border to see how far along the new bridge near Tazewell.  I always look forward to our back road trips through neighboring counties.  It has been quite interesting to drive around through the hollers and hills.

Pam and I also spent a lot of time on Brooks' stocking.  Kelly gave Pam a stocking sew kit that is one of the most intricate I've seen.  It has taken hours and hours and is almost done.

Pam does all the heavy lifting on that one and I get to thread the needles.  Hopefully it will be a labor of love from his grandmother that he enjoys over the years.

Of course there was the Thanksgiving Day meal at Mike and Joan's.

Pam and Joan and Michelle did all the cooking and we had a feast.  It was good to see Joey and girlfriend Angela, neighbor Willow and Michelle, Jeremy, Kayla, Noah.  It was a great group and we enjoyed hanging out a little bit.

And another afternoon Pam and I drove over to a new Vineyard at Willow Springs which is a couple of miles away.

Over the last 15 years we have watched this property and the surrounding acres get cleared and crops planted.  The owner has cows and a huge garden and a couple of years ago planted a small vineyard.  Then this building went up that serves as a store and office and wine processing plant.  Very interesting and quaint place.

It was another great stay at Joan and Mikes and great to spend Thanksgiving with them.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles.

Cutting Down the Tree in Maynardville

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a little nippy here in Maynardville TN at the Roadrunner RV Resort, but otherwise very nice weather.

Some evenings have been spectacular -- especially the sunsets.

While here we have been lining up a couple of projects.  The first one was to cut down the big dead locust tree near Joan and Mike's driveway.  I thought I took some pictures for the 'before' and 'after' shots but apparently I did not.

 This was not the tree but a similar one nearby that also needs to come down.

Probably best that I did not take a lot of photos.  It was a little scary because we didn't really know what we were doing.  We were very lucky the tree fell in an open area and had no problems.  Turns out I had one idea and Mike had another and we didn't realize we were not together until a significant 'notch' had been cut out.  At that point we were committed.  We had a rope on the tree tied to his Kubota tractor and were able to 'help' it along and it fell between things.  One of those 'near misses' in many ways.

Here is a photo of the tree after it had mostly been cut up.  We had not yet cut the stump down to ground level.

That little chainsaw really was awesome.

 Once the tree was down, Mike cut it up into small sections and we loaded it all onto his trailer.

Next, we took the trailer around back and unloaded the small branches to burn.

 Once that was done, we got the trailer ready to take the wood across town.

 The Union County Humane Society burns wood to heat their facility so, we took it over there for their use.

 After we unloaded it, Mike filled out some paperwork in the office and their Recipe Book caught his attention...

It took us a few hours to cut down the tree, hack it up, burn the small branches and then deliver the logs over at the Humane Society but it was time well spent.

We are very thankful it turned out OK and will log it up to Lessons Learned and be more careful and safe next time.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!
And hope you and yours have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

At the Roadrunner RV Resort and Campground Again

Over the years we have been coming to Mike and Joan's place in Tennessee often.  We love these guys and love spending some time with them.  After being in Virginia for the last few months, we decided on spending Thanksgiving here again.

 We returned to our familiar spot on their property which we have named, "The Roadrunner RV Resort and Campground".  It only has one campsite, but that is all we need.

We started out today early again and left Fort Chiswell RV Park about 7:30 AM.

It was a beautiful day and a fantastic drive down I-81, over to Kingsport, Tazewell and into Maynardville.

 Part of the reason we do this is to help people and to make friends.  Here at Joan and Mike's they have a couple of projects lined up that we will be able to work on.  Plus we will be able to see family and friends in the area.

We are really looking forward to this.  And the food.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Financials - July 2015

Roadrunner Recap
In July, we began the month at a great campground at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.  We were surprised there to meet up with a number of friends including some we didn't know had moved their from San Diego.

After a couple of weeks in the Colorado Springs / Denver area we moved on down the road heading east to see the Eisenhower Presidential Museum and Library and the Kansas State Capitol in Salina.

We met up with long time friends in Branson MO for a some golf and a couple of great shows.  Next we made our way over to Pam's sister and brother-in-law's place in Maynardville TN where we have an RV pad and hook ups with a sewer dump.  It was another busy month on the road!

• Peregrine Pines FamCamp USAFA, Colorado CO
• Buckley AFB, FamCamp- Denver CO                                                                       
• Salina KOA, Salina KS                       
• Osage Prairie RV Park, Nevada MO           
• America's Best Campground, Branson, MO                       
• Lady Luck Casino CG, Caruthersville, MO           
• Nashville East KOA, Lebanon TN           
• Roadrunner RV Resort and Campground, Maynardville, TN            

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget

We were under budget in RV Maintenance Repairs and Campgrounds as well as Household Items

Biggest Expenses
Our biggest expenses this month were in diesel and gas.  We also were way over in Computer Accessories and Entertainment.

Large One Time Cost Item
We had more than one high cost item with a hard drive upgrade on my aging MacBook laptop an iPad Bluetooth keyboard, and training classes ($309) at the Mac Super Store in Colorado Springs.
We added an expensive round of golf and two shows in Branson MO that while 'worth it' were $200. 

Monthly Average

At $304 over the monthly average, we are not on a very good glidepath to keep to our budget for the year.  We will have to have a few lean months to get back near our target numbers.

As always, if you think this spreadsheet might be useful I'd be glad to pass it along at no cost.  Just let me know.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Another Campground Upgrade

We arrived in Maynardville last week and I'm pretty excited about our latest upgrade.  The 'campground' is our private Roadrunner parking space at brother-in-law Mike's place.

Over the years we've put in a 50 amp pedestal and run a water line over to it.  The but we didn't have a septic solution.  Until last week.

Mike is on a septic system and I thought we could use it somehow but have never really checked it out.  We got a 'blue boy' and a new lid for the septic tank and problem solved.  It came together a lot faster than I expected.

The first thing to do was dig around and find the lid.

 Next, I got a crowbar and got the lid off to see what it looked like and what was underneath it.

 The beveled lid measured 19.5" inches on the top and about 16" on the underside.  What we found inside was a very full septic tank.  Every few years it is a good idea of pump these things out and it had been more than a few years.

Then we had a couple of other things to do:  get a 'blue boy" septic tote and find a septic pumping company.  

We found the nearest Camping World and picked up a small 12 gallon "Blue Boy". (Blue Boy is a generic term that refers to another company's model that is all blue plastic.

Next, Mike called and scheduled a local company to come by the next morning and pump out the septic tank.  J&J Septic from Luttrell showed up promptly at 9:30 AM and we got going with it.

 It only took about 20 minutes to drain the 900 gallon septic tank down to the bottom.  Then the washed off the hose and put things away.  We asked them about a lit that might have a removable plastic top.  Sure enough, they knew of a company over by Heiskell, TN that had a lot of models.  We drove over there and went right past the Escapees Park at Raccoon Valley.

We normally stay there for a night after our time at Joan and Mike's just so we can use there dump station/sewer.  

With our new set up though, we won't have to do that.  

On down the road past the Escapees Park, we found Knoxville Pre-Cast Concrete.  The lady behind the desk asked what size of a lid we had and I told her and to my surprise she said, "ok - yeah, we have one.  Cost is $51.02.  Pick up a round plastic green top outside and here are three screws to secure it. Drive abound back and a guy will be waiting there with the concrete lid."

 Done deal.  We put it in the back of the truck and returned to Mike's house.

 We turned it around twice to see which way fit best, put it down and Mike filled in the loose dirt around the top.

 I needed to do a "Proof of Concep" demonstration, so I emptied the black tank on the Roadrunner.

 Then I got two flat boards to make a ramp over the new dump station.

 I aimed, tipped and emptied the tote tank.

 After hosing it out and cleaning it, the job was complete.

We now have 50 amp power, water and a dump station at the Roadrunner RV Campground and Resort.  Pretty excited about it too!

Now all we have to do is figure out a DirecTV solution so we can get satellite TV again.  In the fall and winter the trees have no leaves so it hasn't been a problem.  But it the middle summer, the trees block our Winegard Trav'ler set up on the Roadrunner.

But for now, we watch local TV and don't have to worry about managing our toilet use.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!