Jack Nicklaus Museum in Columbus

Last winter Pam and I looked at our travel schedule in Ohio and decided we wanted to not only see the State Capitol, but also attend the Memorial Golf Tournament in Muirfield Villiage near Dublin, OH.  Jack Nicklaus is the sponsor of the golf tournament that he has held

It didn't work out for us to attend the golf tournament, but while we were recently in Columbus, we made a visit to the Jack Nicklaus Golf Museum on the campus of the Ohio State University.  It is next door to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

The building looks like it has been there a few years and a very nice facility to house the memorabilia  of Jack Nicklaus life and legacy.

Early on a newspaper writer took not of his blond hair and dubbed a hefty Jack Nicklaus the "Golden Bear".

Jack Nicklaus' accomplishments truly establish him as one of the Legends of the Game and the Greatest of All Time (GOAT).

In the 1950's Jack played basketball and was very much an all-around athlete.

But he found the game of golf was his passion in his teens and he rigged up a covered area where he could practice and hit golf balls in the dead of the Ohio winter.

I liked the amount of artifacts the were on display.  Each showcase had its own story.

As a golfer, accomplished a lot.  First he won a lot of golf tournaments at The Ohio State University and the U.S. Amateur.

Jack also won the four 'Majors':  U.S. Open, The Masters,  PGA, and the British Open.  A specific room was devoted to each of these tournaments and his trophies associated with each win were on display.

Jack started a tournament of his own called the Memorial Invitational Golf tournament which honors former champions and contributors of the game of golf.

He also has been involved with the design of 410 golf courses in 41 countries and 39 states.

We have played on a few of his courses.  The last one I remember seeing was in Dove Mountain outside of Tucson AZ which hosted the World Golf Championships.  It was a match play tournament that started with 64 players and was eventually won that year (2014) by Jason Day.

The museum is a nice stop and a great way to learn about Jack Nicklaus.  I liked the old golf clubs and score cards and golf balls.  His golf equipment changed dramatically throughout his career.  He started out using persimmon woods and when he quit playing he was using the metal woods with the much larger heads.

It was also fun to see some of the ads for the things he advertised during his career.

That's about it for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Thanks for taking a look!

Kentucky State Capitol

We picked a pretty good day to go see the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfurt KY.  We are staying at Whispering Hills, RV park in Georgetown KY.

We packed a lunch and left at a leisurely time and arrived about 10:00 AM.  The building sits on a hill overlooking the city in the distance.  This is the fourth and now permanent capitol building.

The dome reaches out atop the stately building which has 70 columns surrounding the building. The commonwealth of Kentucky began with statehood in 1792.  Workers broke ground in 1904 and legislators held the first session in 1910.

The exterior of the building is over 400 feet long and 180 feet wide.

Inside, we met the receptionist and assistant who gave us some details about the walking tour and information on what to see on each of the three floors.

The first think one sees entering the rotunda is a statue of Abraham Lincoln who was born in Kentucky.

Looking upward, the beautiful dome with light shining through some areas giving it different colors.

The dome is 180 feet above the rotunda floor.

Another statute:  Henry Clay - Kentucky's most celebrated 19th century statesman and favorite son. I was looking for a little more information about him and the other two statues.  Each was inscribed with names and dates.

There were two other statues in the rotunda: one of Jefferson Davis and one of Harry S. Truman's VP - Ephraim McDowell.

The building was a contrast.  Outside, it looks a little plain though it has a good look to it.  Inside, things change completely.  It is magnificent and open and regal. It reminds me of a smaller and version of the majestic capitols in Utah and Texas.

Looking up the steps to the Senate from the east on the second floor.

This is the State Reception Room.  We were told the governor often signs bills and holds important meetings in this beautiful setting.

The House of Representatives chambers.

Looking into the House of Representatives - the mat depicts the state seal and the state motto: "United we stand, divided we fall."

After our self guided tour, we drove downtown to see the old capitol and to find the replica of the Liberty Bell.  It separate from the main capitol grounds but downtown near the historical grounds

In the back of the Kentucky History Center, we found the bell and its platform.  Kind of out of the way with not much information about what it was and why it was here.

Next to the garden is the old governor's mansion.

After finding the bell, we drove over near the entrance to the Old State Capitol and had a picnic lunch as light rain fell.  Still it was a great day to visit another state capital.  We learned a lot and had a nice time.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

MSRV Solutions - New Carpet etc

We still need some help with our Habitat for Humanity Build in Sioux Falls July 30.  If you'd like to join us, please check out an earlier post and follow the links:

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We scheduled some work at MSRV Solutions and were there Monday and part of Tuesday morning.  We could not be more pleased with Daniel and Carl's work.

When we arrived just before 7 AM, the first thing I noticed was our new carpet laid out on their clean floor.  In fact the whole grounds, building and work area was well maintained, cleaned up, and well organized.  Impressive.  "You only get one chance to make a first impression" as the saying goes.  It was true here.

I had talked with Daniel a number of times and we made sure we ordered the correct thickness of carpet.  If it is too heavy, the slides won't slide in and out correctly.  Initially, we contacted Daniel for an appointment and had to reschedule.  Then as our appointment got closer, we ordered the carpeting from the Lowe's in Tupelo.  Carl picked it up and it was ready to go on Monday morning.

We went over the list of repairs that we wanted to get done. We had talked on the phone previously but the list grew longer as we got closer to Red Bay.  About 10 days before we arrived, out DS slide out would not go all the way out.  It was not the shear bolt that we had replaced a couple of times over the years so we didn't know cause of the problem.

Also we needed new arms for the main "patio" awning.  One arm was not working properly and would not retract.

Another big item for us was a leaking hydraulic cylinder for a rear slideout.  It was a slow leak but something we wanted to get fixed.

Repairs were also needed on the rubber gaskets around the DS slideouts.  We had rope lights installed near the ceiling in the front slide out interior area of the coach and one was not working.

Repairs:

• New carpeting
• DS slide out not working
• Rubber gaskets around DS slide outs
• Replace arms on patio awning
• Interior rope lights
• Hydraulic sync cylinder

Fixes:

Carpeting. We removed all the items we had stored under the bed.  The bed frame was dismantled and put temporarily in the front of the coach.  The old pieces of carpeting we removed and used as patterns for the new carpet.

 In no time the new carpet went down.  It was immediately a major improvement.

When the bedroom bed and frame were put back together, we moved the items back where they were originally.

Daniel removed the couch and only the heater hoses and seat belts remaining.  One they were removed, the grungy carpet was carefully removed.

Once the DS was done, Daniel worked on the PS.

While he was doing that Carl replaced the carpet up front in the stairwell and under the brake pedal.

Another big job was replacing the two awning arms.  One had worn out and the awning would not extend.

Inside, rope lights under the ceiling trim on the DS were not working.  Daniel found the problem, made a better connection and secured it.

Next, they worked on getting the DS slide to retract and go out.  After a lot of looking things over, Carl found a roll pin that was broken.  Instead of the normal 'shear' pin that we have replaced a couple of times, this one was located under neath and farther back behind the propane tank.  But the found a way to get to it and replace it and the slide now is working correctly.

The the rubber trim gasket around the same front slide also had to be secured.  And the rear one was leaking a bit and they caulked and glued things so water would shed away.  Good to get the rubber trim fixed up.

After we finished with the carpet, we had Brett come over from Tiffin after hours.  Our hydraulic sync cylinder was and he replaced a pressure hose fitting.  Not a very convenient location.

That was a couple of days work at Carl and Daniels MSRV Solutions.  They do great work at a fair price and we are glad to have found another good shop near Red Bay to get some work done.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Getting Painted in Red Bay etc

One of the maintenance items on our list was to get some painting done on our coach.  Over the years, some flaking and paint air bubbles showed up near the top of some bay doors.  The grill on our DS grill for the rear side radiator was also chipping and flaking.

When we think of how to maintain and take care of these issues on our 2007 Tiffin motor motor, we always think first of Bruce and Melody Deaton in Red Bay.  Their Custom Body Shop is an excellent choice for paint and body repairs.

We have been going to them for years and prefer them over the Service Center for a number of reasons.  We like to support small businesses and have been there so many times we consider them our friends.  They have a great crew in Austin, Turbo and Heath.  They do great work, do it quickly, efficiently and at a very fair price.

It was a no brainer to have Bruce and his team work on the chipped and flaking paint.  The issues were on a number of bay doors.  The Roadrunner is 10 years old now and we want to 'continuously maintain' and improve it so that it lasts another ten years and beyond.

After finishing with MSRV Solutions on Tuesday morning, we rolled it into a paint bay and Bruce, Austin, Turbo and Heath got started.  Instead of a lot of work done on most bay doors here and there, we decided to repaint them all as well as the two rear engine access doors.

I had previously ordered a new set of headlights from Brannon Hutcheson at Custom RV.  He was packed solid with appointments and could not install them, so Austin installed the new headlights after everything was primed and painted.

 Heath also repainted the top of the door awning that was starting to peel.

The before and after photos of the headlights.  The old ones were working fine but they were just that 'old'.  I want everything about our home to reflect updated and well-taken-care-of features.

This update makes it look like a newer coach.

They got all the painting done at the end of the day on Thursday but it was raining and we thought it would be better to leave the Roadrunner in the painting bay overnight.

The historic Hotel Red Bay opened a few weeks ago.  We had lunch there and I think the Railroad Rueben might be the best reuben sandwich I have ever had.  Later the next day, we ended up staying in one of the rooms with a king size bed.  The whole hotel has been refurbished and is decorated very nicely.  The restaurant is great and it was a fun evening.

We were glad to get in an unscheduled stay at the Hotel Red Bay.  Now we know what it is like and can recommend it.  The restaurant is also worth checking out.  And we were very happy with the excellent work we got done at Deaton's Custom Auto Body and Paint shop.  We highly recommend them and their work.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!