After the Wednesday night Hail Strom, it rained nearly all day on Thursday…so much that it was difficult to find a time to go outside to pick up after the dogs who don’t seem to mind getting wet when they have to GO… Around 7:30 I look out my window and tell Marcia that it looks like it has cleared up enough for me to get a last sunset picture…so out the door I go. Unfortunately, as I tried to get out of the RV area, there was a boy scout troop trying to back their cargo trailer (WAY narrower than any RV) into one of the spots, blocking access to the exit from the RV park. I try to sit there patiently, as he goes back, forward, back, forward, countless times, all with the assistance of a guy outside guiding him. I keep looking out through the trees and seeing my sunset disappear. It looks like he is just about to finish….and then he pulls all the way out again. I had enough…I get out and yell, “HEY, I am trying to get a picture of that sunset, can you let me by?” He moves far enough ahead that I can pass…. I would have thought that Boy Scout Leaders would a) know how to back up, and b) have better manners. GRRRRR!
From my attempt to get a good sunset the other day, I knew exactly which pullouts to use. This pullout (picture above) gives a better view overall. WOW, what a lovely site.
And very quickly it is gone…behind a line of clouds just above the distant southern edge of the Ozarks. I stop and contemplate for a bit…I first arrived in Arkansas in January 1991…well, actually I think it December 31st when we pulled into Conway Arkansas to meet out new landlords and pick up the keys to the house we had decided to rent sight unseen. By October 2012, I retired from the Library, but have come back through Arkansas each year to visit friends and see my doctor. With Medicare right around the corner for me, and with retirement in the works for my friend who might end up moving away from Arkansas…well, I just have to wonder if I will ever be back.
As I continue around the loop of Camron Bluff, I catch this panoramic view along the north. Anyone who has taken sunset pictures enough knows that you have to check all around…the clouds of the passing storm catch the last rays of the sun and make a marvelous scene. Goodbye Arkansas…will probably see you again, but one never knows.
Our “Good Friday” story has to do with our levelers, and my stupidity. If you look to the far right of the above picture, you can see that our front left tire is on a yellow step leveler…our front right tire is on one too, but not shown in picture. At Mount Magazine, we were still leaning too far to the passenger side, so I deployed our hydraulic levelers only on the passenger side, front and back. As we got ready to leave, I needed to back up to get off the yellow levelers…which I did…without putting the hydraulic levelers up. Not only that, after I had gathered up the yellow levelers and put them in the car, moved the car, I started forward…which caused a scrapping noise, and instantly both Marcia and I knew I had the hydraulic levelers down still…again. YES, again, because this is not the first time…but it is the first time that I did it going backwards to get off the yellow levelers. I get out, open the entry door to the motorhome where the controls are and…nothing. Can’t get the controls to light up, which means I can't get the levelers back up. OH, you HAVE to have the parking break on, and I go back…and put it on again. There is an IDIOT light by the break release which is suppose to light up….I can’t get it to light up either. Now in the above picture you have to use your imagination just a bit…because in reality, not only are the front right and back right hydraulics' down….they are totally engaged…which means the foot is touching the ground. WHAT TO DO NOW????
I knew that the hydraulic jacks when they go back up, is opposite the direction you travel forward…so that “IF” I drove forward, they would move towards the direction of the rear as they ascended upward. So after much thought, and talking with Arny who did not know what I could do either, I decided to at least drive to the visitor’s center with Marcia following me in the car. Indeed it scrapped a lot at first, then the scrapping got less and less. At the visitor’s center the back ones were not scrapping at all anymore, but were still down at an angle close to this reenactment photo above which I took just a bit ago. The front one was angled closer to the ground, and would still hit on some bumps in the road. But I still could not get them to go up. We decided that we would drive slowly to the nearest town, Paris Arkansas, with Marcia following me in the HHR. By the time we got there, a 20 mile drive, the scrapping for the last 5-10 miles was non-existent. So I found a place to pull into to look it over. Well, they were still engaged, but they had moved enough that they were off the ground far enough to not scrape. I decided that we would hook the HHR up and get to a bigger town. Got Marcia into the motorhome, then I needed to turn around to face the street from the parking area we pulled into. I knew I had enacted the parking break when I stopped, and as I looked down to find the release, I see the idiot light is on. WHAT???? I hurry out to the controls and they light up….I hit the release button and the two levelers go up. WHAT??????? WHY??????? All we could think of was that it was a Good Friday miracle for us! Marcia said she prayed all the way down the mountain…guess someone was listening. Thank you Jesus….
With everything working, it is now 1 pm (we tried to leave at 10 am), and we are soon headed over the Arkansas River…is this our last time over this great river too???
It is a very windy day…but we make it to I-40 west, then to I-49 north, and eventually up over the hill and the University of Arkansas comes into view. This is where both of my sons, Michael and Ryan, graduated from with their Bachelor Degrees. Ryan (the youngest) will graduate from Chiropractic school in just six days, hence our travels up north right now.
We pulled in the Downstream RV Park around 5 pm, after getting gas at the Flying J in Joplin. This park is $30 per night, but it is a Passport America park, which means it is only $15…and you can stay for a week at that price. Also, if you register with the Casino and get a Q-Club card, you get one night free, and $7 on your Q-Club Card. Not knowing if we would be here for just two or for three, I did passport. We both had a good night’s sleep, and today (Saturday) I went over to the Casino and got a Q-Club Card. I walked around a bit, but never did use my free $7 yet. Easter Sunday, after we watch church over the Internet, we are going to do laundry in Galina Kansas, just 6 miles to our north…hoping that Easter is not a busy laundry day. More pictures of the Casino, the RV Park, and the general area tomorrow…
Good thing you didn't seriously damage your leveling system.
ReplyDeleteThat is quite an accomplishment for Ryan to have earned.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
So proud of all three of my kids, but this is a huge accomplishment for my youngest...he has been a true leader within his class, and I am not talking about grades, talking about volunteering and being a voice to the politicians in D.C. and in Kansas/Missouri/Arkansas on expanding the availability of Chiropractic Services to Vets and to low income people.
DeleteDefinitely glad they were not damaged. My rig has a really loud obnoxious bell that dings until I remember to put the levelers up. They also have release valves so you can push them up by hand rather easily. Someone was watching over you!!
ReplyDeleteNice RV park you are in ... hope you have a wonderful Easter Day. Beautiful sunset too, worth the Boy Scout aggravation.
We were thinking that we could put a small buzzer attached to the wiring of the idiot light...we will see what Arny thinks when we get to California, but I think there is enough power to run a small buzzer, and should be an easy hookup. YES, someone was and does look over us...it is AMAZING how many times we pull onto a busy highway and there is this huge gap that allows us to merge with no worries whatsoever. COUNTLESS times this has happened, and only a small handful of times that we actually had trouble merging.
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